Year Two

The boss comes out into the shop area, looking very jittery as if expecting something to come out and bite him.

Boss: "I don't think we'll be getting anyone today. Might as well close up shop."

Six people came in.

Azuma: "All right. See you, tomorrow."

====================================

Taiyo sniffs the air. Not noticing anything, she shrugs.

Taiyo: "All Right. Where to?"

*And so they were walking along the main street, looking for something to do, when Ven stops, grabs her ankle, & starts inspecting her shoes. Aroma & Thiera turn around.*

A"Umm...what are you doing?"

V"I still smell it."

T"Smell what?"

V"The smell of cut grass. But there's none on my feet."

Dalia left a note on her desk explaining that she had gone out for a walk, and then used Alternate Space to leave the house and move to an alley way before emerging back into the real world. She checked the directions her phone had given her and set off towards the store.

<I think there is a stand over by one of the large department stores.>
---
*Cameron exits the park and starts to walk lazily towards home*

After closing shop the two exit via the back out into the alley. The alley us littered with garbage such as discarded sandwich boards from those prophecizing doom, drug paraphinalia, and children's clothing.

A bum roots through garbages for cigarette butts.

A grey sedan, windows tinted so they can't see who's inside pulls into the alley and parks behind the book store.

Azuma: "That happen often?"

Hitomi: "This is the first I've seen of it."

=================================

Taiyo: "I smell it too."

As Cameron goes down the street, he sees four girls. One is freaking out about the smell of grass.

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A decrepid young man enters Father Grimm's church, looking like he just walked in from the set of a zombie movie, sunk in face, painfully slow movements, sores on his arms that had been picked at repeatedly, severely infected.

"Well, let's go there," Jin said, glancing back over her shoulder to see if anything was going on back there.

Dalia found the store and purchased a white masquerade mask with a thin red outline. Once she had paid for it she placed it in her jacket pocket and left the store. She glanced up and down the street.

"Whoa, boy," Grimm held out a hand to signal for him to stop. "What has done this to you?"

*Thiera reaches into her pockets, causing the seeds to unfurl & become flower petals.*

V"What the--the smell just changed!"

T"Umm...maybe something else just overpowered it."

V"No, it was the same smell."

A"How would you even be able to tell that?"

V"Umm...it's a...talent."

As the two walk down the street, they pass a couple Tyranno Boys, Hitomi moving closer to Azuma as they pass.

Tonight.

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Taiyo sniffs about some more eventually moving up to Thiera, whispering unsure how to say this.

Taiyo: "Umm, it's coming from you."

==============================================

She gets some strange looks from people, even a passing pair of Tyranno Boys give her odd looks as she looks like a heroin addled beatnik.

=============================================

The man attempts to speak, a viscous black fluid dribling from his mouth. He throws a mess of it up on Father Grimm's shoes before managing to speak somewhat clearly. A close look shows the man's teeth are rotting.

Man: "The bones. The bones with their rattling in the boneyard. Then the snapping. Snapping!"

T"...You are sniffing me. Like an animal."

*Ven moves up to her & reaches into her pocket. Thiera tries to stop her, but she is a lot stronger, & pulls out a handful of flower petals.*

*Eve nods and starts walking in that direction*

<(Say, have you ever considered...becoming a hero?)>
---
*Cameron stops when he sees the group of girls, and quickly waves at them, before putting his head down, blushing*

[I look like a freaking creep.]

Dalia once again took out her phone and looked for a clothing store that would sell coats and boots.

Yeah, actually. I would definitely need to think more, though... Honestly, back there was the first time I have used my telepathy on somebody besides my parents. I didn't know exactly what would happen.
"How do you like the weather?" Jin said after passing on those thoughts, in case they were being watched or something.
Have you considered being a hero?

Grimm slammed a palm into the man's chest to send him flying back away from him and then immediately kicked off his shoes. He looked to see if the man would continue advancing.

The two pass the old city hall, an old stone three story building with adjacent clock tower. Since the construction of the new one across the street the old one was converted to a museum of sorts, the basement being used for storage.

Outside the new city hall, a gunmetal grey limo pulls up, the mayor an uncertain man rumored to be in bed with the Russian mob exits, his body guard following not far behind.

=======================================

They don't see him which is probably for the best.

Taiyo: "People are animals?"

======================================

The first address is an old army surplus store not far from her current location.

=====================================

The man falls back not being in any shape to brace himself, white dominos spilling from his pockets. He begins convulsing, spitting up more black stuff. Choking.

T"Like a tetrapodal mammal."

V"...The mutant who interfered at the burger shooting. That was--?"

T"(Shh!)"

Dalia began walking to that store.

Grimm hurried to the back room, left the door open so that he could see and hear what was going on, and called the police.

Not seriously, I'm not really hero material.

Eve:<Um, yeah, it's been nice.>
---
*Cameron sighs, hangs his head, and continues walking home*

As they pass city hall, Azuma keeps looking over his shoulder towards the building until it's out of view.

Hitomi: "Don't do something more reckless."

Azuma: "That's too big for me."

=========================================

Taiyo: "Burger shooting? You're a..."

==========================================

The noises eventually stop, the man having choked to death on the black goop. Grimm is informed a squad car will be on its way.

Well, you can manipulate time, right? Sounds like a pretty useful ability for a vigilante hero.

Grimm put down the phone and walked out to look at the corpse, curling his upper lip to form a snarl, "How pitiful. I feel something sinister at work here. A Mutant? Maybe he was a Mutant? And in the house of the Lord, no less."
He returned to the back room to put on another pair of shoes.

I guess, but I can't fight or anything. You'd make a great hero, not that I condone being one.

*Upon arriving at the smoothie place, Eve orders a strawberry and banana one before turning to Jin*

<What kind do you want?>
---
*Cameron sees that not all of the girls have left, so he climbs a tree near his house*

*Thiera looks around to make sure that no one is around & edges herself into an alley, so she can't be overheard. She stares hard at Ven, in particular, who stares back.*

T"Alright, yes, I'm a mutant. I have more-or-less absolute control over plants. So I started carrying some grass seeds around after we were harassed by those Tyranno Boys."

Azuma: "See yeah."

Hitomi: "Goodbye."

Azuma continues on his way as Hitomi crosses the empty driveway. Almost six and her parents were still not home.

=============================================

Taiyo doesn't appeared to be bothered at all by this sudden revelation.

Taiyo: "Okay."

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Sometime later the police arrive. The head of this investigation being a man around Father Grimm's age who looks like he fell out of an old noir piece.

Detective: "Sergeant Loeb. I take the mess on the floor here is why you called?"

"The same, please," Jin replied. I don't condone the 'heroes' who kill people, either. If I was going to do something, I'd do it as close to the law as I could... though I would need to brush up on, you know, the law...

"Father Isaac Grimm, and yes, of course," Grimm nodded, holding one of the dominoes in the palm of his hand. He gestured to his soiled shoes. "He also spewed the black liquid on my shoes before collapsing. Do you have any idea what or who might have caused this?"

V"...Grass seeds?"

T"Well, what would you suggest?"

V"Not carrying pieces of plants around in your pockets."

T"I need a structure capable of reproduction to make my powers work. If I could just put on some perfume and make vines out of it, then I would do that."

*Eve grabs the smoothies then goes over to the nearest bench. Upon arriving, she hands Jin her smoothie*

It's hard to tell heroes from maniacs in this city...Have you got any ideas on how you would do this?
---
*Cameron sighs in relief as the last few girls start to leave*

[Who knew it could take this long to have a planning meeting..]

Taiyo: "What happens if someone does this?"

Taiyo pulls Ven or at least the hand holding the flower petals to at least where Thiera is. From there she extracts the water from the petals. The withered and dead petals that don't stick to their hands as well as the water spill out to the ground. Taiyo sighs, the process taking more effort than thought to pull off.

Taiyo: "Oh crap, I shouldn't have done that."

=======================================

Loeb flags over a forensics person who takes it in gloved hands and bags it.

Forensics: "It's different from what Miller found at the mall. Those were black with white dots. These are the reverse."

Loeb: "That only tells me the two are somewhat related. What's the connection between someone puking on a priests shoes and a self-diembowleing self-cannibalizing weirdo?"

Forensics: "We're working on it."

Loeb: "All right. Now then, what led up to this?"

I don't really know, I suppose beating up criminals and dumping them at the police station would be the initial plan... But, I can't deflect bullets or anything, so jumping some Tyranno Boys might not go well.
Jin accepted the smoothie and smiled wide.

"I was about to sweep the floor when he barged in and approached me," Grimm answered. "He seemed to be out of his mind, and when he started spewing on me I pushed him backwards. Then he collapsed and I called you."