Halley had decided to take a late night stroll around the zoo after she got done with her volunteer work and everyone was gone. She was humming a song as she walked the outside of the zoo's perimeter because obviously the first choice was to make sure that the coast was completely clear before hanging out with the animals, and man eating plants.
"Little shop, little shop of horrors~." Halley had recently watched the old movie and was actually stuck with the ear worm trying to wriggle it's way out and she wasn't about to stop it since there didn't seem to be anyone around. Though the power signature that blipped to life was about to prove her wrong.
It also didn't help she wasn't completely paying attention to the power signature hoping largely it was just a youma.
Strickenized
Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2023 7:26 am
Celadon had wondered if youma bothered animals, too. It seemed a given that they were interested in people, but she neglected to ask Cybele if the Negaverse also drained energy from animals, and it seemed to her that if they did, the zoo was the perfect place for captive victims.
As she strode along, outside the perimeter of the zoo, she picked up a feeling that reminded her of the girl she met on the bench. She wasn't sure what she was feeling, but ti was different than before, and yet similar in ways she couldn't articulate well. Like they were both the same kind of feeling, but with different qualities to them. As of yet, she had no means to tell them apart.
As much as she wanted to deliberate with herself about what that could mean, she heard faint singing as well. Was it someone else, like one of the zookeepers working overnight with the animals? Or was it the origin of that strange feeling in her heard? While she felt hesitant to speak up, she knew she needed to try.
"Is someone there?" She called over the fence. Standing on her tiptoes, she clung to the chain link with bated breath, as if being still and listening as hard as she could would make sense of what she had felt.
Halley froze and sighed when she heard a voice ask if someone was there. That was not a youma for sure. Halley looked around and peered towards where she thought the voice had come from and sure enough she saw the top of someone's head.
"Yes, someone's here!" She answered as she looked towards the person, "Why not just jump over?"
The senshi of superstition was curious if this powered signature was friendly or not as there was something she couldn't quite place her finger on it. She thought it was friendly - maybe knight? It'd been forever since she'd run into one though. Thankfully they were close to the otter enclosure and not the tigers or she wouldn't've invited them to jump over the wall.
Strickenized
Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2023 5:37 pm
"I can't jump a fence this high," Celadon returned. She could climb trees and ropes, and she could probably scale the fence, but jumping it — it must have been at least a story tall. She would have been floored if she could do that.
"Besides," she added, "that's trespassing." She didn't want to be arrested as some costumed girl going for a midnight jaunt in the zoo, and she was certain they had to have some kind of security measure for exactly those occurrences. And what if there were workers working overnight? She didn't know enough about zookeeping to know one way or the other.
But the other person had obviously made it inside. "What are you doing in there?"
Halley paused as she was asked what she was doing in there. "Ahh, I was going to hang out with the animals after I made sure no staff was left." She didn't mention she volunteered there so she had access. There was a pause as she looked around, "So there's a tree a couple of yards down close to the fence, you might be able to use that. It's still far enough away from the enclosures you wouldn't end up in a tiger enclosure or something equally as dangerous."
Halley shrugged, "I mean trespassing is such a strong word." She paused, "Besides it wouldn't stop the negaverse if they wanted to come try to drain energy from the animals. We'd just be making sure that no one from Chaos was doing anything shady." There was always ways around trespassing arguments. Was she right? Probably not, but it seemed to work as justification in her own mind.
"Plus it's safer to work in pairs!" Halley started headed towards where the tree was, "Come on I'll help you over."
Strickenized
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2023 4:40 pm
She had a point about the Negaverse inviting themselves in if they wanted anything to do with the animals. She was used to following rules without thinking much of it; they were expected of her, so she observed them, since they seldom infringed on her interest. Celadon realized she might have to rethink that position if she wanted to be serious about helping Cybele.
She spent a moment deciding, then Celadon followed the girl's directions to the tree. She was no stranger to climbing trees, but she was certainly a stranger to climbing them in a dress. She looked down at herself, considering what to do with the outfit, then decided on bunching the flowing skirt up high and tying it off with the broken necklace. Sure, her underwear peeked out, but who would be looking in the middle of the night?
And even if someone was looking, she didn't particularly care.
Finally, Celadon leapt to catch the first branch and found that she nearly overshot it. Surprised at herself, she had to take a pause atop the tree branch to reflect on how high she suddenly jumped. Then she was already moving past it, standing up to climb her way up to the next great branch that drooped over the enclosure.
It bent with her weight as she slid herself down toward the tapering, gnarled edge, and whipped back up in the air with a heavy whisper once she debarked the tree. After picking a few leaves out of her dress, she let the skirts back down.
And it didn't take more than a moment to spot the girl dressed in Halloween attire who she assumed to be the one who spoke to her. She waved, though it was an uncertain thing. "I'm Celadon," she called. "Of Cybele."
Halley smiled waiting as the other worked herself out and over the fencing. The longer skirts seemed to be an issue which Halley mentally made a note of and hoped her skirt wouldn't present itself as an issue later on.
"Ah, nice to meet you Celadon; I'm Halley, senshi of superstition!" She said offering her hand to Celadon as she smiled glad the other joined her. "It's nice to have a patrolling partner to check on the animals."
The senshi of superstition looked around "Want to start with the otters? They're pretty active this early in the night." There was a grin as she pointed towards the otter enclosure. They were such cute water puppies.She looked around, "There's also bob cats that way and polar bears over in that direction that we're close to." Figuring she'd give the options on which way to head.
I may or may not be using this map as a vague idea of animal groupings lol
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2023 4:28 pm
"It's nice to meet you, too." Celadon tried for a smile, but the effort of it died before it reached her lips. It wasn't surprising to her; she hadn't been able to smile in months. She did, however, offer a firm handshake.
While she wasn't sure what it meant to be a patrolling partner, she surmised that it had to do with checking on the animals. Maybe that was something other people did? Maybe they had a perimeter all planned out, where they would check on people during whatever time they spared for patrolling. She wasn't sure something like that would suit her work schedule, though.
Given the options, she thought the bobcats and polar bears could hold their own — particularly the polar bears. "Let's check on the otters." Hopefully they'd be easier to handle if, be it by mischief or accident, they escaped.
Celadon started in the direction that Halley had gestured. "What does it mean to be a senshi of superstition?" She asked. "Does it mean you have magic?"
Halley smiled and took the offered handshake. She nodded when Celadon said they should check on the otters. "Yes, the otters are quite cute this time of night as well! since a lot of them nap this time of night."
She followed Celadon, but when she was asked a question she moved beside the page, "Ah, yeah I've got magic, based on superstitions." She shrugged, "Plus since superstitions are kind of subjective to what you believe in the magic causes illusions based on the superstition someone believes in."
She paused, "I haven't met a page before!" She added, "I'm curious what knights can do!" Halley said as she beamed. "I mean after all you have such a cool fuku."
Strickenized
Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2023 7:23 pm
"Superstitions? Wow, that's fascinating." She kept pace with Halley while they walked. "So if someone believes in Jólakötturinn, they would see a house-sized cat that's trying to eat them? Or is it usually something more general, like ghosts or bad luck?" Superstitions sounded really abstract to her; she didn't know much Halley would know about how her own magic works since she wasn't exactly using it on herself, but maybe, whatever it did allowed her to see the superstition, too.
"Can you try it on me?" Perhaps a little guiltily, she wanted to see Jólakötturinn. Her grandmother used to tell her stories about that cat when she was young and complained about getting clothing for the holiday. While Kaðlín stopped complaining because she understood the point of the story, she secretly wanted her grandmother to forget to get her clothing one year so she could pet Jólakötturinn.
She tried to smile, but she felt her cheeks heat up a little. Celadon nodded in thanks, though she looked a margin confused when she heard the word 'fuku'. "To be honest with you, I don't know what knights can do, either. All I really know is that some of them have magic, but I don't have any. Or, I don't have any that I know of." She realized this was a noncommittal answer.
They neared the otter enclosure, too, and as far as she had been able to notice, nothing was amiss.
Halley beamed "I honestly don't know how it exactly works but I believe it does cause the target to see their superstition."
She stopped when the knight asked if she could try the attack. "Oh! If you want to this would be an interesting experiment!" Halley wasn't opposed to it "How about we try it when we get to the Otters so we're in an area that's fairly safe because there is a nice open space in front of the enclosure with a few trees and benches, so we have space to work without hurting anyone or any animals."
She paused when Celadon said she didn't have magic "Maybe it comes later?" She suggested in a question as she thought about what she knew, which wasn't a lot. She saw the otter enclosure up ahead and nodded, "Maybe some other knights would know when magic happens."
