004 ♦ Open

[peacefulwinter]

who: Winter Adamas and anyone passing by
when: July 29th
where: Out front of the library
what: After a brief vermini encounter, Winter is extremely unsettled. But then, what else is new?
warnings: EGADS, IT TALKS Nothing comes to mind.

It's no secret that Winter spends a lot of time in the library. She reads books. It's kind of how she rolls. Today finds her, like many other days, with her Kindle set next to her in case someone from the network is looking for her, with several books at her side, her new blue diamond-shaped earrings glinting in the light. Today's complement: a children's book about a kingdom of fairies that was overrun by a kingdom seeking to bring all life into despair and had to search for legendary warriors to protect itself; a book on the basics of a simple martial art for self-defense; and the Hundred Poems again.

Today, though, she just can't seem to focus. All the children's book is doing is reminding her of what she saw on her shopping trip with Regina; her grip tightening on Raquel faintly, it comes back to her again. "The light of wisdom... Cure Diamond..." Without really thinking, she sets Raquel and her book down and stands up, holding one arm straight up and the other to her side, her two hands and her feet loosely describing a diamond around her. Face burning red, she promptly returned to her seat, hiding her face behind her plushie, returning her book to her lap. "Mmn, that was embarrassing... how does she handle that?"

Without warning, her skin starts to prickle... like she's being watched. Winter feels her blood running cold as she slowly lowers the blue wall of fabric protecting her from the outside... and there's a spider - a curious black she's not seen before - watching her intently from a thread a few inches from her face. Some small, distant part of her mind wonders if this is one of those weird creatures the others have seen. A much larger part is scared stiff, and it's a long several seconds of tense staring before she spurs into action, a scream escaping her throat. Picking up her book in one hand, she takes a heavy swing at the arachnid, sending it flying off its perch and into a nearby bookshelf, seemingly crushed well enough for her.

Still running high on adrenaline, that odd feeling of emptiness - that boy had called it a "pulse", right? - almost taking hold of her, she rises from her chair, taking a moment to carefully set her book down again before bolting from the room, paying absolutely no mind to her surroundings as she pushes through anything to get outside. The doors burst open as her panicked charge reaches them, and once she's outside she keeps going until she reaches the wall of the building across the street, eyes darting as she leans against it and watches for any sign of anything else following her, chest heaving from sudden exertion.

And then another voice made her heart skip a beat.

"Are you all right? It seems like you were running from something..."

Looking down at the thing in her arms, Raquel was looking right back up on her, seemingly worried. And her tired mind threw up its metaphorical arms and decided to let something else deal with this one. The only warning she had was a second of feeling faint before her legs seemed to give out, and her consciousness soon followed.

Anyone investigating the loud sound of the library's doors blasting open, or the path of the scream from deep within the library, will find the girl directly opposite the doors, slumped to the ground with her legs folded loosely under her and clearly not moving, the blue plush toy in her arms alternating between a fairly convincing play at being a plush toy and - when he things nobody's looking - worry for the girl still holding him.

Comments

Hey, magical girl kouhai.

[lackinginfaith]

Despite nearly every reigning beauty queen in the Big Four and their subsidiaries being required to be very intelligent, the masses would still actually be surprised to hear that Kari Acosta wanted to, you know, read books. She sighed and put down a large political textbook when she heard the slam and resulting scream.

Kari sped, or walked as quickly as she could while still being polite in the library and not drawing attention in the panic. Five hundred said this had to do with that, and authorities would put another body on the network's hands. She smashed the fire alarm with her heel and made tracks around the side of the library while everyone evacuated through the centre.

It wasn't long before she spotted the passed-out girl and made her way over there. Now how to check whether this was actually related...

S-senpai, are you sure we should be...?

[peacefulwinter]

Easy way to make that check? Probably the suddenly very suspicious-looking plushie in Winter's arms, who can't suppress the occasional eye-twitch and is attempting to not look at Kari.

Winter, for her part, hasn't come to yet, but she seems uninjured, aside from the severe stress still showing on her face.

[lackinginfaith]

Kari checks Winter's pulse, but Raquel keeps distracting her. She looks down and says the only thing she can.

"What are you doing?"

It's totally natural to talk to a plushie.

...I probably need Raquel icons soonish.

[peacefulwinter]

"I'm wondering what happened to my partner here, since she collapsed so sudd-"

He stops dead, realizing he probably shouldn't be speaking, and clams up. Winter chooses this moment to wake up, a combination of the examination and the voice next to her ear. As her eyes flutter open, she realizes there's someone in front of her, and is immediately worried.

"W-what's...?"

/pats

[lackinginfaith]

Kari blinks twice. Again, she does the only sensible thing, and sighs.

"So you are special. We need to get out of here."

[peacefulwinter]

It takes a second for Winter to realize what Kari means. "Special...? W-wait, then you're...!" She shakes her head. "Yes, y-you're right. We need to... not be here. I drew a l-lot of attention to myself, d-didn't I...?"

[lackinginfaith]

Kari smirks. "Not as much as the fire alarm did. Come on, do you need help standing?"

[peacefulwinter]

"F-fire alarm!? Um... thank you for worrying, but... I'm n-not sure that was a good idea...! And yes... I think I need help. Nothing is... working right."

"Are you sure you're okay to move?"

And just like that, she's confused again. "When... did you... learn to talk?" The lightheadedness is returning slightly, but not enough to put her at risk of passing out again. Mostly, she's just horribly confused. Of course, that's not exactly important now...

[lackinginfaith]

"We can ask later. Come on." Kari goes to pull Winter up. "Don't pass out again, we need to move."

[peacefulwinter]

"R-right..." Winter allows herself to be pulled up, still clutching Raquel in one arm. "Where are... we going, though?"

[lackinginfaith]

"Out of the way." She heads to the elevator, ducking for cover as the assistants herd everyone else out. "I don't suppose you have a more concrete idea."

[peacefulwinter]

She shakes her head. "S-sorry. I'm not... good for much right now. I'm still... a little f-fuzzy."

[lackinginfaith]

"I can see that." She shushes her and hides the three of them behind a mobile book cart. It's a bit small, but they fit.

[argents]

Meanwhile, up until that moment, it'd been like any other run-of-the-mill day for Banagher. Get up, attempt to look presentable, water the mint plant on the kitchen windowsill, stuff the books he'd been meaning to bring back to the library into his bag, get to work on time.

It'd all gone pretty well until he stepped off the bus on the opposite side of the street from the library, squinting at the bright, early afternoon sun glaring off the sidewalks. Once the initial burst of people from the bus stop had trickled off here and there, he's finally treated to an uninterrupted view of the marbled gray exterior of the bank building jutting up from this side of the street.

Or, more importantly, who was slumped, unmoving, outside of it. Banagher stops cold, fear being the first instinct to grip him, and the need to move forward regardless being his second.

"— Winter? Hey!"

[peacefulwinter]

The girl doesn't seem hurt or anything, just... absent, and still not waking. What's perhaps more troubling is the blue plushie still in her arms... which is now giving Banagher a look of understanding.

"You're..."

[argents]

Whereas the look he's getting from the plush is startlingly intelligent, he, on the other hand, has to muster up every thread of self control he can to not yelp, stumble backwards, and scramble away. Instead he jolts, then freezes.

"Raquel?"

[peacefulwinter]

"Yeah... I'm not entirely sure what happened either. One moment I'm still a stuffed toy, the next I can talk. It's weird. So, uh... nice to meet you?"

There is no good way to explain this away, so he's not even going to try.

[argents]

"Definitely weird," he affirms, though not without unwinding enough to return the sentiment. "And yeah, you too... um," he trails off, shuffling in close enough to make it seem like he was just worrying on his lonesome rather than talking to a toy. The bystander effect leaves them mostly unnoticed, but he can't risk keeping this up for long. A police car rolling up to check on what the fuss was about was the last thing they needed — outside a bank with cameras, no less.

"We should probably try to get out of here. Nothing happened to her, right?"

[peacefulwinter]

"She's okay. I think I just surprised her. I hope she- oh, hey, I think she's coming around!"

Indeed, Winter finally starts to stir. "Mmn... what..." It's a long several seconds before she finally takes in her situation. Collapsed on the side of the street, something warm shifting in her arms, Banagher looming worriedly over her.

...wait, what?

Almost immediately, Winter tenses, wondering if she'd done something, but she relaxes a moment later, realizing he probably found her here, gratitude replacing the panic. "I... feel like I missed something."

From his position, Raquel snorts, muttering under his breath, "and isn't that the understatement of the century."

[argents]

Once she comes to, Banagher can only react with something of a stunned smile.

"If you feel like you missed something, then I know I did," he answers, shifting back on his haunches. Though he's unwound some, he still appears restless. "Are you okay to stand?"

[peacefulwinter]

"Yes..." With a little difficulty, Winter forces herself up on her legs; she's a little wobbly, as they've apparently fallen asleep, but she stabilizes soon enough, her grip on Raquel tightening a little. In response, the stuffed toy whines faintly, but doesn't speak up. Winter still catches it, though.

"It seems like... I got one of those p-pulses again..." She looks down at Raquel again, a frown coming to her lips. "I'm... n-not sure it was something I was... expecting."

[argents]

"A pulse that affected someone other than you, even," Banagher observes, still finding it hard to not focus on the suddenly lively plush toy, even when he stands to match. "It's no wonder you got so surprised."

It wasn't like Haro, whose sentience was dubious at times. And you know, talked from the get go. Banagher still looks partly concerned, as if he was ready to reach out to keep her from taking another topple if he needed to, but figures she has it under control for now. Exhaling thoughtfully, he twists to glance across the street, putting two and two together.

"Did you come from the library or something?"

[peacefulwinter]

"Mm..." The fog's starting to clear from her mind, and she's starting to put the incident together. "It's... unusual, that the p-pulse affected Raquel. But... Raquel e-exists because of a pulse... so maybe he g-got another pulse from me?"

It's as good of logic as she's going to be getting at this point.

"I was in the library, reading a book... t-then a spider with a lot of hair... dropped in front of me, and just... stared at me... and I... freaked out j-just a little," she admitted. "I ran out h-here... and when Raquel talked to me... I passed out."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

[argents]

"We're going to have to assume that's what happened, I think," Banagher replies, gaze flickering down to Raquel when he pipes up again. "I didn't know we could affect the things we got back like that, but... we're still in the dark a lot too."

It sounded just like one of those little dandelion puffs that first appeared when everything started. Grues, they'd been referred to as. The more and more he hears about them, the less harmless they seem. He was just grateful nothing else ended up happening, and he'd found her before someone (or something) else did.

"I was probably pretty rude before, huh?" A somewhat vague smile pulls at his mouth as he watches Raquel. He looked so much smaller now that he was somehow alive. Banagher offers the plush his index finger, since he couldn't exactly shake hands.

"Nice to meet you for real."

[peacefulwinter]

"It's p-possible... that it still counts as me. That might b-be the reason," Winter offers. "If Raquel... is still an e-extension of me, then it would make sense... right?"

"I don't really blame you - you were a little more concerned with her than with me."

Winter looks down and pokes the plushie's face. "C-call me Winter, would you? It's... weird, to hear you being distant, when... you're so important to me. A-and to not-me."

"Okay, okay. Sorry, Winter. And anyway, it's nice to meet you, too... Banagher, wasn't it?"