Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

[maikochan]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

With the intermittent light, it was hard to see much, but Anai thought she saw some sort of smoke or mist coming from the ventilation ducts at the far end of the train car. The mist looked very dark, almost inky black, but when the tunnel light passed by, it was clear the cloud was a deep purple.

The mist stopped flowing from the vent and gathered on the ground before seeming to solidify into a humanoid shape. Well, for the most part. The creature's hair still seemed to be made of the mist it formed from. Even in the adverse lighting it was easy to tell the creature was far from human. It had deep purple skin, the same colour as the cloud, with glowing blue eyes. In the occasional flashes, it appeared to be female, and was clearly naked.

The creature apparently hadn't noticed that Anai was still up as it reached down and lifted one of the passengers into a sitting position. It then put its hand in front of the man's face. A faintly glowing stream started to flow from the unconscious man's mouth to get absorbed into the creature's hand.

The creature seemed so concentrated on whatever it was doing that it remained oblivious to Anai until the girl either interrupted it somehow, or waited for it to finish.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

That thing... it's like it's almost feeding from that man!

Anai gripped the Rod of Ceres tighter and her brows creased in concern.

I can't let this happen. Whatever that thing is, someone has to stop it. If not... all these people could be hurt. And Jade too.

The thought of Jade, lying helpless on the ground to be fed upon by whatever menace this creature posed, did the trick of solidifying Anai's course of action.

She brought the rod out and held it to her lips. Instinctively, the rod had revealed the secrets of its activation to her on that first night, when she'd discovered it near her house, as if it had been meant to find her. Now she spoke clearly, filled with a rush of anticipation and destiny.

"Rod of Ceres Power! Let the melody of justice resound!"

A flash of light appeared brightly as the Rod of Ceres glowed with a serene blue, and as it did so, music seemed to fill the air about her. Anai's body was lifted into the air by unseen forces, and then her body was overcome in the same aura as the rod. Her hair fluttered wildly above her, and the clothes she was wearing seemed to melt away, leaving her glowing form naked to the power of the universe that was flowing into her.

Ribbons of positive energy circled about her, then made contact with her skin, wrapping about her and spinning her around. She felt herself being cloaked in material of pure light and magic, and as she transformed, she felt the surge of powers enhance her body and her awareness. A tiara formed on her forehead, a form fitting outfit appeared on her body, complete with boots and long white gloves. The Rod of Ceres itself now crackled with humming sonic energies that would respond to Anai's beckoning.

When the transformation was complete, the pretty senshi soldier was deposited lightly on the floor of the train cabin, looking like a true warrior princess.

"I am the Agent of Love and Harmony, Guarded by the memory of the lost planet Ceres. In the name of the Eternal Melody, I will punish you!"

Yikes. Where did I pull those lines out of?!?

Sailor Ceres quickly put those thoughts out of her mind though, as she advanced towards the feminine looking creature at the end of the train car.

"Whatever it is you're doing to that person, you'd better stop!" She said, pointing at the creature. "I'll give you this one chance to leave now!"

 

[maikochan]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

The creature didn't seem to notice Anai's transformation, but when she addressed it, it stopped drawing... whatever it was from the person and looked at the Senshi. The creature seemed a bit confused by Sailor Ceres's appearance, but after a moment of examination, hissed at her and dropped the man, none too gently, back onto the train floor. Without warning the creature swung an arm at Sailor Ceres, despite being out of reach. An instant later, a strong gust of wind struck the Senshi. It didn't hurt, exactly, nor was it strong enough to knock her down (though it did blow her skirt up), but it was definitely noticeable.

Spoiler

Creature attacks!

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And wiffs the attack. Has an ACV of 5, so 8 is a miss, Ceres doesn't have to attempt a dodge or anything.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

The gust of wind threatened to blow Ceres backward, but fortunately the creature seemed to only be firing a warning attack her way and the force of the blow wasn't that strong. She dug the heels of her black and gold boots in, while the golden trim of her skirt kicked up to reveal the rounded contours of her attractive frame.

Clearly, her foe didn't intend to give up the fight based on stern words alone. The senshi fighter would need to prove her mettle. With a flick of her wrist, the humming lash of her sonic whip whirled behind her.

"Humph! If that's all you've got to say, then you leave me no choice!"

With a quick dash, gifted by the unnatural speed granted to her by the inherited powers of the cosmos, Sailor Ceres leaped forward and brought the imbued weapon to bear on the dark creature.

Spoiler

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Rolled another five, which should be well under her ACV of 9, when counting speed and her sonic whip's bonus. This attack therefore delivers 9 points of damage (equal to her modified ACV), unless the creature succeeds at a dodge.

 

[maikochan]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

The creature looked like it tried to get away from Ceres's attack, but the sonic whip still struck it, passing through the creature as if it weren't there. The whip left a trail through the creature's body of the purple smoke, though it re-coalesced into the more solid-looking body. Despite the apparent lack of damage, the creature still reacted as if it had been struck, hissing in pain and backing up, before lunging at the Senshi, arms outstreatched.

The attack was poorly coordinated and Ceres only had to step to the side and the creature sailed through the air past her. It landed on the floor of the car and spun around, hissing at her.

Spoiler

Miasma fails both attack and defense rolls... It is a weakass servant afterall...
Miasma Defense Roll: 9 (Fail)

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Miasma Attack Roll: 6 (Fail)

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[BlueSlime]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

Despite her strike having passed through the entirety off the miasma creature's body, Ceres noticed the way it hissed and contorted its alien face in a grimace. Her strike must have hurt it, which meant that hopefully a few more might at least scare it off - back to wherever it came from.

She dashed from side to side, swinging her lash so that the contained, concussive blast would strike the miasma and hopefully disperse it permanently.

Spoiler

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Her second attack also will connect unless dodged, dealing 9 damage. Unless the dynamic of the fight changes in some way, she will continue her whip striking until it becomes clear that it's not going to have a great overall effect (it is a positive energy imbued weapon) or there is a greater need for a more drastic measure. You can do the rolls for Ceres if you would like, Maiko, if you wanted to run the combat to a conclusion.

 

[maikochan]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

Ceres's second attack also went through the creature's body, but again, it reacted as though it had been hurt by the attack, perhaps it actually was. However, rather than attempt to attack again, the creature's body discorporated back into a purple cloud, which then started to float back up towards the car's air vents. The creature was trying to flee.

Spoiler

Miasma Defense roll:

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A 7, so fails to dodge and takes the damage. Anai's got one action left before the creature gets away.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

Seeing that the villain was fleeing, Sailor Ceres decided that if her sonic whip could only discorporealize it, then perhaps she could cause some sonic concussive blasts with its whip snap that could blow the miasma creature back into the train car, stopping it before it could get away.

She didn't know if it would work, but it was worth a shot. She sent her whip cord sailing through the air, and a tremendous snap boomed loudly, right next to the creature. If her theory was correct and her aim true, then she could use the power of the concussive blast created by her imbued weapon to send the bulk of the miasma flying away from the air vent and back into the train, where she could confront it until it submitted.

Spoiler

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The roll was a 9, which is equal to her ACV, however, given that this is not a normal maneuver and might require precise aim, like a called shot, I think that the creature should get away, as the difficulty should be high enough to make this fail.

 

[maikochan]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

The sonic boom only seemed to cause the purple cloud to shudder before it slipped through the vent covering and out of range. A few seconds after it was gone, the lights in the train car flickered back on.

Most of the people in the car were still unconscious, but they sounded like they were slowly waking up again. Jade herself looked to be stirring, even opening her eyes and looking at the transformed Anai, before groaning and closing them again.

"What a weird dream..." Jade mumbled, still recovering from whatever knocked her and the other passengers out. Anai had enough time to return to normal before any of the passengers were fully awake.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

Anai looked slightly panicked as the people in the card began to wake up just as soon as the dark creature had gone. Jade stirred, and from how her eyes were opening, Anai thought for certain that the musician had seen her in her transformed state for certain. It wouldn't do at all to be recognized like this, even if the easy-going girl felt more confident and beautiful in this warrior state.

With a silent force of will, Anai let her Senshi powers slip away in a flash of light, the positive energy returning to its source in the Rod of Ceres. She was once again dressed in her street clothes, looking like the normal pedestrian girl she was used to being. She stowed the rod away in the folds of her skirt again and headed over to Jade.

"You okay, sleepy head?" Anai asked, trying to put on a smile for her new friend. She was worried of course, but she had to put her fears to the side for a moment. There was no use in scaring Jade or the other people on the train, or worse making herself seem crazy.

"That was really strange. Everyone started to get really drowsy. You and some others fell asleep."

 

[maikochan]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

Jade gave a tired looking smile as she got back to her feet, holding on to the train car's pole for support at first.

"Well, other than the sudden sleeping spell, I feel fine. But if it happened to everyone else, it's probably not me then. Maybe a gas leak or something? Do those happen commonly?" She asked, her smile getting stronger.

The other passengers seemed to have noticed the sudden drowsiness as well and were muttering quietly about it. None of them, including Jade, seemed to have any inkling of what actually happened, or that Anai was involved in protecting them.

"Had an odd dream though..." Jade suddenly said, looking thoughtful. "There was a dark cloud closing in around me, but was being held back by a beautiful girl." She chuckled softly. "Guess that last part shouldn't be too surprising, especially considering I just met one recently." She used the flirting to hide the fact that the dream she described was one that had been recurring for her for as long as she could remember. As is typical in dreams, the exact details of the girl were impossible for Jade to remember, only having the impression that she was both very strong and beautiful, as well as leaving Jade with the feeling that she somehow knew the girl in the dream.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

"I thought it might be a gas leak too," Anai fibbed, hoping to save Jade and those around her from the shock of such nasty creatures roaming the streets and trains of the city. It was scary enough for Anai, and she at least had a mystical artifact and celestial powers to rely upon.

"They don't happen commonly, no. But whatever it was, it seems to have passed now."

She helped the westerner to her feet, slipping an arm under Jade's shoulder to boost her up. Her body was pleasant and warm to the touch, and Anai couldn't help but wonder about the girl's admitted attraction to her when their skin touched. Jade didn't make matters any better when her dream talk swiftly turned into another flirtation. In spite of her indoctrinated embarrassment with such forwardness, Anai blushed and had to hide a smile that entrenched her dimples loudly upon her face.

"Jade-san, you don't get distracted easily, do you?" Anai giggled lightly and then tapped her fist playfully into Jade's shoulder. Her eyes glanced into Jade's for a second before bashfully she turned away to look somewhere else.

This was crazy, she had just got done defending these people from a monster and with one quick comment, this musician had gotten her flustered enough to almost forget it had ever happened. It made her wonder if there really were something there? Was this growing feeling that she couldn't explain in fact a budding attraction for the girl? Jade had quickly moved from being a rock goddess on a pedestal to a very real person - someone Anai could touch and smell and protect.

"I guess whatever it was, it's gone now. So the train will start up soon again. Perhaps we should take a rest once we get back to your hotel, just in case there are lingering effects."

Anai didn't know whether Jade might take that as an invitation to keep up her flirtation, and if she were honest with herself, Anai wasn't certain she wanted the cheeky American girl to stop. She let her supporting arm slip away slightly, but she stayed close to Jade, waiting for the train to get underway again. Occasionally she looked about to see if there were any lingering signs of a mist creature.

She didn't understand the dark creatures yet, but she knew that they were around. Ever since she had discovered the Rod of Ceres and recalled the tragic yet beautiful song, she knew in her heart that there was evil waiting to claw at peace and justice in this world, and she knew that she had been given a power to stop it. Even if she hadn't asked for that power, the power of the enchanted song had compelled her to heed the call.

Even though she knew that evil existed, today was the first time that she had confronted it directly. Her heart had been racing. Now that it had escaped and it knew of her, would she be in danger? She had no way of knowing, but she hoped that whatever dark forces were out there, they would be as easy to deal with as that last creature. She had the bad feeling that that wouldn't be the case. Was she meant to confront them on her own?

 

[maikochan]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

"How could I get distracted when you're right here?" Jade replied, gently giving Anai a friendly nudge with her elbow. Shortly after, however, she rubbed her forehead. "But some rest might be good... I think you're right about some sort of lingering effect." She had a slight pressure in her head, probably because of whatever had knocked her out. As she was thinking about it the train's PA came on as the car left the tunnel.

"This is JR Rail's maintenance office. We apologize for the disturbance that occurred recently in this rail car." A male voice started talking. "There was a small earthquake that caused some electrical problems and ruptured a gas line in the rail tunnel. The tunnel itself is completely safe, as is the rail line itself. Be assured that our maintenance crew will be attending to the damage as soon as possible. Once again..." The man repeated the message once more before the PA went quiet again.

"Huh, guess we should consider ourselves lucky it was just a gas leak then and not something worse." Jade said after a moment with a smile.

However, it wasn't hard to make a connection between the gaseous creature and the quick excuse given by the maintenance officer. Unless the creature was released by said quake, the excuse was actually a cover-up, a possibility that had some much more serious implications...

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

"That's weird," Anai mused aloud after the rail intercom began to repeat itself. "There definitely wasn't an earthquake."

The sailor scout looked around outside the windows of the train trying to see if there was anything amiss as the train continued to rattle onward. She debated talking about her suspicions further to Jade, but decided against it. What proof did she possibly have? She couldn't declare that she had a secret identity as a super heroine and that she had just fought off a monster made of miasma to save the train. Jade would rightly think she was insane. But she couldn't just not investigate this happening either. There were other innocents riding the train, and who would look after them once Anai had gotten off the train?

She would have to make up some excuse, but looking up at the gorgeous musician, it was killing Anai inside to do anything that might ruin this opportunity. Worried that soon she'd lose any chance of contacting Jade again, Anai began to scribble down her phone number onto the back of her music store receipt. She wanted Jade to have it, just in case.

"Here," she said, handing it to Jade. "Just in case more earthquakes and gas leaks happen and you wake up in a hospital somewhere.~"

Not knowing what else to say or do at the moment, she waited for their arrival at Jade's stop.

 

[maikochan]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

Jade shrugged. "I didn't feel anything either, but then again, I was busy falling unconscious. Besides, could have been one of those small ones you don't feel, but can still have an effect. Those exist... right?" She didn't sound too concerned, though inwardly she did consider Anai's words. Still, there wasn't anything they could do regarding any such thoughts, so getting worried over them didn't seem useful to Jade. Besides, a pretty girl was giving the musician her phone number!

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" She asked with a light-hearted smile as she took the recipt. "Oh! I can give you my mobile number too. Got a Japanese number so you don't have to go putting in any country codes or anything." She put Anai's number in her shoulder bag and fished around in it for something to write her number down on. Before she could, however, the train announced the arrival at the next station, which was where she was getting off. "Oh, I can get it once we get to the hotel." She said with a shrug.

Once the train stopped and the doors opened, Jade headed out, still expecting that Anai would follow her.


Elsewhere...


"...our maintenance crew will be attending to the damage as soon as possible. Thank you."

A man, looking to be in his 30s sat in front of a bank of monitors displaying information on rail lines as well as camera feeds from the lines. He had silvery-grey hair, cut short, and a dark, tanned complexion. After delivering the announcement, he hit the button to cut the communication line and turned around in his chair to look at the creature kneeling on the ground in the middle of the otherwise bare room.

The man considered the purple-skinned female creature for a moment before speaking. "While your objective was a failure, you did acquire valuable information. But know this, should you fail again, you would be better served fighting to the death, as that is all that will await you should you return." His voice was cold and uncaring, the creature really was the definition of expendable. Not that he would have felt more emotion towards a more valuable pawn anyway.

The creature gave a hiss of acknowledgement and returned to its gasseous state before returning to the rail lines' ventilation system.

The man sighed and turned to look into a darkened corner. "I expect you're happy with this failure." He said, with even more antagonism in his voice.

A shrouded figure stepped out of the shadow, his face obscured by a heavy hood while his body was hidden under a dark cloak. "Come now... we're all on the same side here. Even if some of us are able to control our minions better than others." The hidden man's voice was deep and dripping with contempt for the man in the chair. "I was thinking that might be your third minion that you'd have lost contact with."

"I still have contact with Aggrekresh, even if it hasn't replied to my summons. It was given more autonomy than others anyway." The silver-haired man defended himself. "And what about you, hmm? Nothing to show for yourself except for a few so-called 'seeds' that you claim will bring about our master's goals." He shot back.

"All in good time. But I had a reason for coming here. I have sensed a different kind of dark energy. Still small, likely a scouting force, but this could be evidence of future competition. Well, I'm sure there's not much you can do about it, just try to not fail too often." The shrouded man gave one last barb before stepping back into the shadow.

"Damn him..." The now-lone man muttered and turned back to the monitors, working on a way to cause the kind of damage he had claimed to ensure his tracks were covered.

Spoiler

The "Elsewhere..." bit should not be considered to be in-character knowledge. Just a look into the politics of the bad guys like what happens in the series at times. And those voice colours will probably get switched around as time goes on. Interestingly darkgrey is actually lighter than grey, who knew?

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

Anai stood for a moment, sweating slightly and wondering what she could do. Jade had walked right off the train and onto the platform. She was waiting for her to come with her. She didn't want to be deceptive, but she couldn't be truthful with Jade either, and people's lives were potentially at stake.

In a sudden rush, her brain came up with an idea. A lame one, but it just might work. Hiding her side from Jade, she unplugged her phone from her headphone plug and slipped the item onto the floor as she reached down to pick up her bag with the album in it. She slid the phone a little so that it would go under a seat. Then she picked the bag up and walked out of the train.

She walked slowly towards Jade, and tried to crease her brow as if something was wrong. She twisted her lips one way and then the other, scrunching up her face as if in thought.

"Something doesn't feel right," she would say, waiting until the signal for the doors closing would sound. Then, taking that as her cue, she would make her eyes go wide as if she had just realized a horrid truth.

"My phone! It got knocked loose! All my playlists! Aaaiee!"

Pivoting quickly, Anai would make a mad dash for the train, slipping through the doors and looking wildly this way and that for her phone. Inside her heart was racing. Would she time it properly? Would she be able to get to the root of this problem and save these people from the train? Would Jade call her ever?

She hoped that the doors would close, either with Jade inside or out, but in a way where it would seem that she wasn't simply choosing to abandon the pretty guitarist.

 

[maikochan]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

Jade paused and turned back around as Anai called about her missing phone. She seemed a bit surprised, but didn't look as though she had seen through Anai's ruse. She did turn to try to get onto the train, but the door closed just as Anai got past it. It was so close that the doors briefly caught the hem of Anai's skirt.

After 'finding' her phone, she looked out and saw Jade standing on the platform as the train started to take off. The musician was looking down at her own phone, fiddling with some buttons. Promptly, Anai's phone chimed, indicating a new text message.

"ill sgn ur cd ltr qt ;D" The text read. Looking out the window, Anai could see Jade waving as the train left the station. A moment later Anai got another text. "my addy" It read, with the address of a hotel and room number.



After a minute on the train, Anai realized she wasn't on the right line to get to the stop that would take her home, but then, if she was going to try to get to the bottom of whatever that smoke creature was, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

Anai replied to the message with a quick embarrassed-face emoji, followed by a quick message saying that she'd meet Jade at the hotel.

At least her ruse had worked. She would have hated to have lost face in front of Jade. Now at least she could get to the bottom of this smoke creature. She kept a hand on the Rod of Ceres as she patrolled up the cars, looking towards the air vents. She wanted to make her way towards the conductor, who had sounded a lot like he was trying to cover something up.

 

[maikochan]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

The air vents remained smoke creature free as Anai made her way up the train. The other passengers looked at her oddly from time to time, but none said anything. She made it to the engineer's cabin without incident. The door was closed, but through the window she could see the train's engineer sitting in his chair, reading a magazine.

The engineer didn't look all that old, barely into his 20s by the looks of things. His back was to Anai, and obscuring just what he was reading exactly. Beyond him, Anai could see the tracks ahead of them as they moved along.

If Anai had looked at a map of the line while on her way to the conductor's cabin, she would know that the train took another tunnel before the next stop.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Fancy Omazinai House (maikochan/Blueslime)

The tunnel must be when it will try to attack. If I'm ready for it, I can try transform and make sure to investigate the problem thoroughly.

It was the best that Anai could hope for. Just to make sure that she had a good chance of not being knocked out by any sort of gas attack, she stayed by the door to the train, where the small gaps in the door let the outside air in. She'd hold her breath in the tunnel as best she could and try to resist the effects of the gas, and then, if the creature came back, she'd transform and be certain to stop it and not let it get away.

If no attack materialized, she'd probably start to feel a little stupid about her little delay, but better to be safe than sorry.