The Arrival

What charges? Do you want us to head down there?
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*Tirea wakes up and rubs her eyes, staring around her room*
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*Monu is making breakfast, while Cameron watches the news*

Astarte was still asleep, and Hector and Eduj had gone out jogging.

Grimm went down to the station.

*There is a story about a man who was arrested after trying to assault a hitch-hiking girl, who has since disappeared. The story includes a drawing that resembles Vanessa.*
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*Jane directs him to an interrogation room connected to another by what looks like a window. In the other is some guy in a dirty, ragged brown overcoat, who is even taller & broader than Grimm, & is handcuffed. He has black hair which is unkempt & knotted, & snarls randomly around the room. Then he seems to look directly at Grimm.*

<If you don't come to us, we'll take you there by force. We make the rules. Not you.>

Jane<Ignore his incoherent babbling. He can't actually see you, it's a 2-way mirror.>

*This does not stop him from sneering at Grimm.*
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Says I defaced his church. Let's meet at the cafeteria.
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*No one is answering Euryale,so she hangs up, shrugs, & looks to Taiyo.*

"Okay, well, how about the cafeteria? We haven't had breakfast yet, anyway."
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*Tirea believes she sees a dark mass when she closes her eyes. When she opens them, there's nothing there.*
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*Hector & Eduj find themselves in a kind of alley between 2 buildings.*

Sounds good. See you there.

*Eve throws on a gray sweat shirt and heads down to the cafeteria*
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*Tirea blinks several times, trying to clear the image*
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*Cameron gets out his phone and texts Astarte*

G' Morning. How are you today.

Taiyo: "All right."

She sends Mimiru a text about meeting at the cafeteria then begins rooting through her bag to get changed.

And they jogged on through.

"Hmm... that sounds a little similar to something written in the church, on one of the pews the morning prior to the bigger attack," Grimm said. "'If you don't come to us we'll take you there by force'. There was some graffiti on a pew which said 'are you going to come get us' with little trees and a horned stick figure."

*Euryale quickly gets dressed & gets ready to head out.*
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*This day, there are several people filling up the cafeteria, but with a few empty tables. As far as Eve can tell, Roatha is not here.*
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*They wind up in the wooded area behind the campus. A gate quickly swings shut behind them so they can't go back.*
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Jane<They're just meaningless delusions. When we asked him who "we" were, he said something about talking shadows & voices in his head.>

Taiyo gets dressed and follows Euryale out.

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The two head for the cafeteria.

"Hmm..." Grimm narrowed his eyes, staring back at the man.

They jogged the quickest way they knew to get back out of the wooded area.

*Eve grabs some food before sitting down at a table near the door*

*As they're running, something crawls out from behind one of the trees in front of them. It looks like it could be a child, in that it has a generally human-shaped frame & is about that size. Only it is obviously not human. It is clearly a quadruped, with limbs of almost equal length, & its flash is a dark, striated color, so that it blends in almost seamlessly with the shadows & grasses. As it turns to look at them, it is clear that dark red orbs populate nearly half of its face, & it doesn't have a "mouth" so much as some kind of beak. It begins crawling towards them, quickly reaching out hand-over-hand to grab roots, rocks, or tree trunks. It pulls itself forward in this way, then pushes off with its hind legs, so that it lurches towards them, but in an oddly fluid, snakelike motion.*
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*Euryale & Taiyo are next to enter, where they look for a table to wait for Mimiru.*
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*The man continues staring at Grimm, even though he allegedly cannot see him.*

Jane<Please, have a seat. I've been to see Roatha & some of his friends, & there is a lot that I want to ask you.>

*Eve waves at them, then texts Roatha*

Are you in the cafeteria?

Mimiru enters shortly after with Azuma. When they spot Euryale & Taiyo, they sit down at their table.

Taiyo: "So what is it you wanted to talk about?"

Mimiru stammers a bit, uncomfortable with the situation.

Mimiru: "You're an insensitive, jerk. You tell them, mutt."

Azuma: "Well...Eve I think it was called last night and uh..."

He coughs, clearing his throat.

Azuma: "The shadow...is back."

"Of course," Grimm said, taking a seat. "Thank you for following up on them."

Hector and Eduj both jumped to either side, going to the ground and rolling back up to their feet. Eduj moved to snatch his keys from his pocket.

*Even though he is supposedly unable to see Grimm, he shifts his gaze, following him as he takes his seat. Jane also takes a seat, & begins tapping a pen rapidly against the table.*

Jane<I don't know if you should be thanking me just yet. As you said, he claims you are stalking his friends. Now, why is that?>
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*No idea what he plans to do with those, but okay. Seeing the extra movement, the creature decides to go after Eduj. It leaps onto the side of a tree, & then towards Eduj, closing the 4 foot gap in about half a second. Its beak moves slightly as it makes the chattering noises that Hector heard in the forest the previous day. Looking at its back, Hector can also see a row of black quills unfurling.*
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Still on our way there.

*Presumably at a table nearby, Euryale ceases waving at Eve, & sighs.*

"I was hoping it was gone, but I suspected it wasn't. I really do think it's involved with whoever is following us. The only question now is this: Who wears the pants in the relationship? Because if we can get rid of the shadow by getting rid of our stalker...well, then I guess it's only a matter of finding out who it is & hitting them hard enough, for long enough."

*Euryale cracks her knuckles.*

Taiyo seems quite scared.

Azuma: "You're certainly taking the news well enough."

Grimm looked displeased but unsurprised, "Back when they were finally recovered from that forest, I waited for a little while and contacted two members of their circle, asking them to meet with me at the church. I contacted Astarte Cyprus and Cameron Sorenson, and told them they could bring anybody they liked. My intention was to offer council, and ask them about the strange claims they apparently made about things in the forest. Ms. Cyprus and Mr. Sorenson each turned up with friends and or relatives."

Without time to do his thing with the keys, Eduj just tried to swing a punch into the oncoming creature's big red eyes.

Alright.

*Eve sees Euryale waving and heads over*

<Good morning.>

*Euryale puts a hand on Taiyo's back.*

E"Fear won't keep the Shadow away from the people I love. If anything, that's what fuels it. We've already seen that it can be impeded, now I just have to figure out how."

*Euryale looks up at Eve, & also notices Thiera, Roatha, & Nero coming in behind her.*

E"Tell you what. How about we all order some breakfast, & fill each other in on what's going on?"

R"Jeez, are we honestly at the point where she sees us & just knows that something is wrong?"
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*It is far too fast for him. He is on the ground in an instant, the creature rearing back & slapping him in the face. Though it moves lazily, not bothering to make a fist or use its claws, every blow feels like someone is stomping on his head with thick boots. He quickly becomes disorientated, but through the haze, can see that the creature's "beak" is made of several long teeth, which spread apart to reveal a gaping hole of a mouth. Something shoots out of it & jabs him in the neck, & he can feel himself getting very cold.*
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Jane<That doesn't tell me much. Was Roatha among them? Did an incident occur? And why would you want to ask them about their delusions in the first place?>

*Dude is still not taking his eyes off of Grimm. He starts murmuring the word "trees" several times, occasionally with "squirrel" or "birdie" mixed in.*

Eve:<Pretty much. What's this about the Shadow?>

Taiyo smiles and kisses Euryale on the cheek.

Taiyo: "I guess I should be brave from now on."

Azuma: "As you know, it's back."

<What? This is the first I've heard of it being back.>

Noct rolls on out of bed with a long groan. She rubs her head, and lets out a yawn. She walks out into the hall and nearly bumps into Mortal as she exists her room, "Oh, sorry."

"Hey, what's up?" Mortal asked, heading to the kitchen.

"Not so loud," Noct said, moving towards the bathroom.

"Drinking last night?" Mortal asked.

"Must have... I barely remember it. There was cake... Sab and Aroma were there, and Astarte."

"Who?"

"That one girl. Brunette, kinda short," Noct said, coming back into the hall with a toothbrush in her mouth. She had her hand out at the approximate height of Astarte.

"Oh, how is the war on that front?" Mortal asked, pouring some milk, and cutting herself a slice of cake.

"Alright, I suppose. She seems to enjoy my company, and I enjoy her's."

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Sab stirs awake, and looks groggily up at Aroma. She did, indeed, have a slight headache, but it was manageable, and she didn't want to tell Aroma she was hungover off of half a martini, "No, I'm fine. Good morning." She leaned up, using her elbows for support, "What time is it?"

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Gabe was out jogging, trying to maintain her shape in the off season.

*She tilts an alarm clock towards her.*

"Looks like about 12:45. So...good afternoon."
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R"I didn't know that."

T"Oh God, what do we do?!"

*Euryale shouts at them from in line, some Asian kids looking pissed off at her.*

E"Hey! What do you want?"
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*Gabe cannot believe what she is seeing when she stumbles into the wooded area & sees an emaciated green-black ape thing with leathery skin beating the shit out of Eduj. The quills on its back quiver & it looks at her, its face dominated by large red orbs & freely clicking mandibles before spreading its arms, batlike wings unfolding with them. Instead of attacking her, it leaps into a tree, clutching it with its hind claws, & pushes off, gliding away into the denser, darker portions of the forest.*

<For starters, we don't panic.>

*Eve pats Thiera on the shoulder, trying to be reassuring*