Okuu Quest Next - A Z-Machine Adventure

[DracoOmega]

>"Although, whether it's 'that' kind of spirit or not, I don't know that a shimenawa made out of a towel would make much of a difference in any case. But still... it does seem somehow appropriate."
>Glance at Parsee. "Yeah, I know what you think. I'd probably think the same thing yesterday. Uh, no offense intended to anyone else present, really."
>To Renko/Maribel "Actually, you must get sick of getting that attitude from people, after a while. No one likes for other people to think they're nuts. Haha, for that matter, I suppose ALL of us have been there, now."
>And to think, yesterday, we might have thought ourselves one of the sane ones...

[Hello Purvis]

>"Although, whether it's 'that' kind of spirit or not, I don't know that a shimenawa made out of a towel would make much of a difference in any case. But still... it does seem somehow appropriate."
>Glance at Parsee. "Yeah, I know what you think. I'd probably think the same thing yesterday. Uh, no offense intended to anyone else present, really."
>To Renko/Maribel "Actually, you must get sick of getting that attitude from people, after a while. No one likes for other people to think they're nuts. Haha, for that matter, I suppose ALL of us have been there, now."
>And to think, yesterday, we might have thought ourselves one of the sane ones...

>"It's the thought that counts," says Maribel.
>"That's not what I was talking about," says Parsee, giving you a rather irritated look.
>"We'll figure it out," says Renko. "A few hundred years ago, people would have called you nuts for saying Earth has a electromagnetic field. It just comes down to unraveling it bit by bit."
>Renko makes a left into an alley. "We're here," she announces.
>The alley is pretty plain. It runs between a few houses; both sides bordered in with old wood fences. In the middle, it intersects with another alley. It's particularly dark here, as the street light in the middle seems to have burned out; not a particularly unusual occurrence in the Skids. Old bottles and trash litter the ground.
>Renko pulls out a notepad and reads it in the dim light of another, functioning streetlight. Maribel shrugs off her backpack and begins to head toward the center of the alley while opening it. Parsee just leans against the fence.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Follow Maribel towards the center of the alley
>Look all around you, as you go, keeping both your eyes and ears peeled for any signs of motion or anything unusual

[Hello Purvis]

>Follow Maribel towards the center of the alley
>Look all around you, as you go, keeping both your eyes and ears peeled for any signs of motion or anything unusual

>You follow Maribel. She pulls out a smoke detector, and starts to set it up along the fence. Huh.
>"There you are..." you hear Renko say. Looking back, you see her pull out something from the fence, smiling.
>Aside from the four of you, there's no unusual motion or things that really stand out at the moment

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"There what is?"
>Can we tell what it is Renko just grabbed?

[Hello Purvis]

>"There what is?"
>Can we tell what it is Renko just grabbed?

>"A geocache," says Renko, holding up the thing, "Not a really prestigious one, but every little one counts."
>She is holding a little brown hide-a-key thing. She slides it open, and withdraws a small white ribbon from her skirt pocket and puts it inside.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh, hmm... I see. Kinda co-incidental one happened to be right here. What was in it?"
>Continue to pace around slowly and keep a watch out for anything unusual

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oh, hmm... I see. Kinda co-incidental one happened to be right here. What was in it?"
>Continue to pace around slowly and keep a watch out for anything unusual

>"Actually, the Skids are kinda lousy with 'em," says Renko. "I've hit up most of them in the course of things, but there's always a few left. There was just some sequins in it, and a little paper advertising Geocaching.com if some muggles find it." She holds up her index finger, which as a bright glittery sequin adhering to it. She pockets it.
>You pace around slowly, but nothing unusual jumps out at you yet. This is pretty much just a mundane alley.
>Maribel moves on to set up another smoke detector.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Ask Maribel what the smoke detectors are for.

[Hello Purvis]

>Ask Maribel what the smoke detectors are for.

>"To detect smoke," she says. "We also rigged them up so they're a bit more sensitive to temperature. Scrapped the alarm part, too, and put in a little micro controller to keep records of when it got set off and how."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, yes, I understand that they detect smoke. I was just wondering how that helps, here."
>"How temperature sensitive are they? Are you hoping to pick up anything living that moves near them, or something? And, uh, if that's the case, wouldn't we just set them off ourselves?"
>"And, uh, sorry if I sound like a moron. I don't really know how you two do things."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, yes, I understand that they detect smoke. I was just wondering how that helps, here."
>"How temperature sensitive are they? Are you hoping to pick up anything living that moves near them, or something? And, uh, if that's the case, wouldn't we just set them off ourselves?"
>"And, uh, sorry if I sound like a moron. I don't really know how you two do things."

>"If something is unusually hot," says Maribel. "It'll trip them. And we check the record later. If there's a pattern, we're probably on to something. Humans are pretty room temperature, it would take something more to set them off. Or a lot colder, which is what we're really banking on. But if they kick off anything like smoke, it'll catch that too. I admit, I don't have that much faith that they'll help, but Renko likes them. No stone unturned and all that."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yeah, I suppose it can't hurt."
>"Any reason why you're banking on colder, though?"
>"So... any plan other than set these things up, and wait and watch?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, I suppose it can't hurt."
>"Any reason why you're banking on colder, though?"
>"So... any plan other than set these things up, and wait and watch?"

>"Ghosts tend toward being cold, they say," Maribel says. "So unusual coldness is more likely to be a positive."
>"You've pretty much outlined it," says Renko.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh, ghosts, yeah. For some reason, I'd thought this was a sighting of an unusual LIVING thing. But, hey, who knows, I guess?"
>Wait around and observe for a bit
>If nothing of note happens for a while, go over to Parsee and say quietly: "If nothing comes of this, I'm sorry for dragging you out here. You must be bored out of your tree. I'm not really sure what I was expecting to happen. Maybe I'm just getting paranoid. After the events of the day... well, I almost expect things to jump out at me. Another crazy stalker, some 'thing' that science probably says should not exist and so forth. Maybe this is just another in a long list of hoaxes, for all I know..."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oh, ghosts, yeah. For some reason, I'd thought this was a sighting of an unusual LIVING thing. But, hey, who knows, I guess?"
>Wait around and observe for a bit
>If nothing of note happens for a while, go over to Parsee and say quietly: "If nothing comes of this, I'm sorry for dragging you out here. You must be bored out of your tree. I'm not really sure what I was expecting to happen. Maybe I'm just getting paranoid. After the events of the day... well, I almost expect things to jump out at me. Another crazy stalker, some 'thing' that science probably says should not exist and so forth. Maybe this is just another in a long list of hoaxes, for all I know..."

>"If it were alive, the new moon thing would be really weird, don't you think?" Maribel asks, as she stands up from placing a smoke detector.
>"It's still weird," says Renko, frowning.
>"Oh you," Maribel replies.
>You wait, and time crawls by. Eventually you decide to go say something to Parsee. "Don't worry about it," She says, relaxing her stance against the fence. "You've had a hell of a day, so I don't blame you for wanting to check every little thing." She lowers her voice, "But that bitch Maribel needs to respect and stop making eyes at you like I'm not even here."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"M-making eyes at me? Don't you think you might be overreacting a bit, here? I'm sure they're not used to having anyone tag along on their little excursions. Probably doesn't know quite what to make of me."
>Lean up against the fence with her, and take Parsee's hand in yours for a moment.
>"Look, I know you don't put much stock into this paranormal stuff, but try not to hold it against her if you can. She seems well-meaning"

[Hello Purvis]

>"M-making eyes at me? Don't you think you might be overreacting a bit, here? I'm sure they're not used to having anyone tag along on their little excursions. Probably doesn't know quite what to make of me."
>Lean up against the fence with her, and take Parsee's hand in yours for a moment.
>"Look, I know you don't put much stock into this paranormal stuff, but try not to hold it against her if you can. She seems well-meaning"

>"Oh, she is," says Parsee, "Been doing it since we got here. Might've even doing it this afternoon."
>You take her hand into yours. She looks down at them, as though skeptical it actually happened. "It's not the paranormal stuff, it's respect," says Parsee. "I'm willing to give the benefit of a doubt, or I wouldn't be here. Just if that Maribel doesn't step off and stop pretending I'm not here, things might get nasty."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Nasty? Ah, c'mon...."
>"Ok, for the sake of argument, let's say she IS checking me out. And you feel that's disrespectful to you. Well, what reason would SHE have to realize this? You were only introduced to her as a friend of mine this afternoon, and she'd never seen any real sign of affection between us. If you were in her position, now, what do you think you'd be doing? Think you'd be worrying too much about the friend hanging off to the side?"

>Try to non-obviously pay attention to Maribel, to see if we think Parsee is ENTIRELY imagining things
>Sigh to yourself... one evening and it's already THIS.
(Although, frankly, I probably should have seen this coming ^^;)

[Hello Purvis]

>"Nasty? Ah, c'mon...."
>"Ok, for the sake of argument, let's say she IS checking me out. And you feel that's disrespectful to you. Well, what reason would SHE have to realize this? You were only introduced to her as a friend of mine this afternoon, and she'd never seen any real sign of affection between us. If you were in her position, now, what do you think you'd be doing? Think you'd be worrying too much about the friend hanging off to the side?"

>Try to non-obviously pay attention to Maribel, to see if we think Parsee is ENTIRELY imagining things
>Sigh to yourself... one evening and it's already THIS.
(Although, frankly, I probably should have seen this coming ^^;)

>"I'd think it'd be pretty obvious we're dating," Parsee says, "Not like you'd normally see two people like us together."
>You try to keep an eye on Maribel, disguising it as looking up toward the stars. Not that the city lights let one see much in the way of stars. Maribel is lingering not too far from where the two alleys meet. She looks toward you and Parsee every so often, and toward Renko as well. You're not seeing anything particularly out of order from her. She does look your way more often, but with you near Parsee, it seems only natural that the two of you would be more interesting.
>You indulge in a small sigh. You don't think Parsee heard it.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Try not to let it get to you, ok?"
>Give Parsee's hand a friendly squeeze.
>"I'm going to wander around a little bit more, I think."
>Poke around the area, again. Range out a little further than people have been doing, so far.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Try not to let it get to you, ok?"
>Give Parsee's hand a friendly squeeze.
>"I'm going to wander around a little bit more, I think."
>Poke around the area, again. Range out a little further than people have been doing, so far.

>"Oh fine," says Parsee, as you give her hand a squeeze, "Geez, you're such a worrywart."
>"Alright, I'll keep an eye on things here," says Parsee.
>You look around the alley again, following it along the both it and the one that intersects with it. There's really nothing new to see in them, and with the streetlight out, it's rather hard to see at all. Lots of the intersecting alley, in particular, is cloaked in shadows from the angle of the lights that do work. Still, you prowl along them, looking for something...
>"Omigod, Renko!" you hear Maribel cry in a strained voice.

>_

[Jana]

>Headsnapturn. Don't be noisy, but try to see what Maribel saw.

[Hello Purvis]

>Headsnapturn. Don't be noisy, but try to see what Maribel saw.

>You look over toward Maribel, and you see there is a black cat walking down the alley.
>No, a black cat would be positively radiant in comparison to this. This thing looks as though it were made of nothing but inky darkness; what little light there is does not seem to reflect from it at all; it looks almost two-dimensional. As well, it has two tails.
>It is walking down the alley, seemingly unconcerned with anyone. its tails making its stride look...alien. You can't quite put your finger on what is wrong with it.
>You need to keep away from this, your every instinct warns you. This thing isn't of this world, it's not for someone like you to tamper with!

>_

[Seian Verian]

> ...But if this world is wrong, then why would would not being from it make it wrong?
> Slowly and cautiously approach it.

[Hello Purvis]

> ...But if this world is wrong, then why would would not being from it make it wrong?
> Slowly and cautiously approach it.

>You try to reason around your fear, and force yourself to approach it. Your footsteps and heavy and wooden, it's hard to make yourself move. Your breathing is starting to get rapid, and you can feel your pulse climbing.
>You get closer. It doesn't really seem to notice you; it doesn't break its languid stride at all, but you feel it is watching you. It doesn't have any sort of eyes that you can see, but you feel it's watching you.
>Behind you, you can hear...someone making a sort of quavering noise? Is it Renko? She must be terrified...

>_

[Seian Verian]

> "W-what are you...? I need to know... What's going on... This world..."
> Try to think, what does this feel like, compared to the wrongness of the world around us? We know the world is wrong... So if this isn't from it, then what is it?

[Rin Kagamine]

> Is it just a pure black cat or is it wearing anything, like a collar?

[Hello Purvis]

> "W-what are you...? I need to know... What's going on... This world..."
> Try to think, what does this feel like, compared to the wrongness of the world around us? We know the world is wrong... So if this isn't from it, then what is it?

>You try to speak with it. It doesn't answer. But it seems to slow down.
>"Camera..." Maribel murmurs behind you.
>It's deeply unsettling! Just looking at it is starting to make your stomach turn with unease. This thing...it shouldn't be! Should it?
>It sits down in the middle of the alley, swishing its tails languidly, a few yards from you.

 

> Is it just a pure black cat or is it wearing anything, like a collar?

>It it pure black. If it is is wearing a collar, you can't see it around in its silhouette.

>_

[Seian Verian]

> It's hard to be sure of anything anymore... Between what we feel, and what we know, everything that's happened today, maybe we shouldn't take anything for granted.
> Stand our ground and continue to watch it, but be prepared to move quickly if it jumps at us or something. We don't know what physical contact with it might do.