Under Construction (11) : Construction in Destiny City is a constant; it is never surprising to see buildings come and go. However, almost overnight it seems as though a large project has suddenly come to life. Where there was once an abandoned strip mall and a sad, trash laden park, the ground has now been completely bulldozed. There’s no information about this project available in any media outlets or online, and all attempts to research it result in dead ends. A large fence has been put up, but twelve feet of wire isn’t enough to keep out anyone curious enough to investigate. Cameras are set up all over the place and there is a strange, almost magical energy. The space is large enough to be a theme park. Strangely, frosted glass stars in an array of colors can be found randomly across the lot. Someone obviously has big plans for this space–already, some strange, fantastical buildings are going up. The space feels strangely large, and once you have jumped the fence it feels like Destiny City is a world away. The sky seems brighter and the city lights seem far away, almost as though there is some strange barrier separating the construction zone and the rest of the city. And, oddly enough, if you are standing outside the fence and looking into the construction zone, everything appears blurry and it's hard to make out the details. It’s strange, for sure–but nothing seems wrong about it. Yet.
Sonora couldn't help herself. She'd heard about the strange construction project no one seemed to want to talk about, and she knew she had to see it for herself. Sure, she'd had some terrible experiences in the woods, but--she'd gotten to meet her Princess, and that sweet bunnyboy Senshi, so it hadn't been all bad. In general, Sonora was starting to feel like summer might be her lucky time of year.
Honestly? It was great. And she had decided, firmly, that she wanted to see this strange place, so she'd trouped out to the edge of the city to explore.
And it was exactly as exciting as she'd dreamed. Sure there wasn't much here yet, but the energy alone felt...welcoming. Magical. Special. It was covered in cameras, yes, but that was fine. She wasn't exactly planning to break in, and it wasn't as if a recording could identify Sonora of Ida as Jupiter Butterfly Kayne anyway, so even if she did take a peek over the fence, clearly it would be all good.
But the space--truly incredible. She had seen this vacant lot before, more than once, and it had always made her sad. Just an abandoned spot in the city that no one seemed to care about. Here, now, though--someone had decided ot care.
And they'd decided to care a lot.
She squinted through the fence, and frowned. How strange--everything on the other side seemed...blurry.
"Huh," she murmured, and then she boucned up, grabbingt he top of the fence and glad for the powered upper body strength that let her lift herself up to see--but even at this vantage point, it seemed strangely....fogged.
What a weird way to be, for a silly little construction site. It made Sonora itch to poke around further, but she found herself hesitating, debating on taking that final leap over the side.
genovianprince
Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2024 7:43 pm
Dunnottar enjoyed patrolling, as always. Tonight, though, he'd heard about some construction site or another that was supposed to be something fantastical. He snorted to himself at that; yeah, sure, something fantastic about a building. Whatever. Most buildings were the same, anyway. Squareish. Tallish, or actually tall. Nothing in Destiny City's architecture really ever impressed him. Maybe if he went to Italy and travelled to see the Roman Coliseum or something, he'd be impressed, but basic skyscrapers? Meh. He didn't really care.
However... hearing about some of the oddities of the area piqued his interest. Looking into potentially magical sites? Now that was something worth caring about. He made his way through the city by leaping across the roofs and pretending like he was in a xianxia (and telling himself that he was not, in fact, pretending he was in a xianxia).
Once he made it, he peered at the site, noting that it seemed... blurry. Indistinct. Okay, definitely something magical, then. He frowned, peering harder, even took his glasses off, squinted, cleaned them off, squinted again, and put them back on to continue squinting. Nope. Definitely blurry, on purpose, something magical about it.
As he pondered what to do, he did catch someone flipping over the fence and landing inside—then becoming blurry themselves. Damnit, did nobody have a sense of preservation anymore?! Without a second thought, he flung himself from the nearby roof to drop in next to them.
"What kind of idiot," he hissed under his breath a heartbeat after he landed, "jumps into an unknown site of odd magical activity without having backup?!"
It had only taken her a few minutes to make her decision, and that decision had Sonora vaulting over the top of the fence to see what she could find inside.
And goodness, she definitely found some things inside. First, stuck to the fence--one of the star charms that she'd seen handed out all over the city. This one shimmered, opalescent and rainbow, and she turned it around between her fingers fro a moment before the sound of someone else leaping after her made her look up.
She blinked at the Page in front of her, tilting her head to the side in open confusion.
"But this place isn't dangerous?" She said. "Why would I need backup?" This wasn't like the eerie, looming woods. This was just....a construction site that seemed to be a little more magical than usual. And she had no particular bad feelings here--just....peaceful ones, almost.
The sky felt brighter. The noise of the city felt miles away.
She gave the Page a smile.
"I'm Sonora, and you seem like maybe you need to relax. Do you have a lot of stress in your life? Have you gotten into a lot of trouble, this summer? Because it's really not all that bad, being a Knight."
genovianprince
Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2024 8:17 pm
Dunnottar slapped his forehead with an open palm and groaned softly. Someone save him from stupid people, or something.
"You don't know for sure if there's nothing dangerous back in here," he said impatiently. "Even if it all seems peaceful, you should have someone with you when investigation something like a magical construction site."
He sighed, rubbing his temples. Okay, calm down. She was a Squire, after all. He was still just a Page. But it just—it infuriated him when someone had so little disregard for their own health. She was right, though. Other than the blurriness, and the odd... distance... from the city proper, despite it just being right there on the other side of the fence, all seemed quiet and tranquil. Nothing seemed like it could be lurking anywhere.
He just... Maybe he would never be able to shake the feeling of danger around every corner. He wasn't sure when the last time he felt truly safe had ever been, now that he was thinking about it. Or trying to.
Wasn't that just a big bottle of depression baiju, huh?
"You could say that," he said with a sigh, dropping his hands to cross his arms over his chest instead. "Lots of strange things happening. Lots of stress. I'd prefer not to accidentally witness a fellow Knight perish to something stupid. Having someone to watch your back is smart, even if the place seems fine. I'm Dunnottar, by the way."
Sonora frowned. "Not everything is dangerous, and I'm well prepared, anyway. Look."
She focused, opening her fan, and her shimmering, magical shield popped up around her. "No one with hostile intentions can come in here. It's a sanctuary. So that'd totally give me enough time and distance to book it if there was something after me in here." Okay, so there had been times when that hadn't worked, but honestly, those were outliers.
Sonora snapped her fan shut and let her shield vanish, and smiled over at Dunnottar.
"But I appreciate you looking out for me! You're very sweet. And we definitely don't need to stay and find out if there is something nasty here." She gave a brief little nod. "Back over the fence, then. But this place really is lovely. I'm curious what it'll become."
genovianprince
Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2024 2:54 pm
Dunnottar blinked at the shield, then nodded, impressed. "Nice magic," he murmured, looking it over until her shield vanished.
He refused to say anything about not being sweet, as much as he disagreed—he sensed this woman would fight him on that front. Oh, well. At least they were leaving this place, whatever it was.
