{3rd Flower; Video}

[seethelanterns]

[With recent events, Solana's usual cheer isn't quite there. As much as she tries to keep it in place, it's not as evident. More forced at least initially. She can't help dwelling on it since she saw it on the news. Mentioned on the network.]

I'm glad things seem to have worked out with the police at least? But I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with hearing about that murder. I gather she was one of us? That's...that doesn't bode well. I guess so far I'm lucky I haven't really echoed back anything majorly obvious like all that blonde hair.....? but even so I can't help but be kind of....well, terrified about that.

I'm guessing I'm not the only one? I mean. Okay, I have...a frying pan. But that isn't enough to really defend myself with? I don't have any special powers or anything. I don't suppose there's much we can do though. At least, unless this gets even more serious and more of us are attacked. I'm not sure on the details if that even is why she was attacked and killed or it was just a coincidence she was one of us. If it was....some sort of warning to all of us?

I don't know. There's probably still a lot that went down that me being so new, I've not realized, but....I just hope everyone is careful. Take care of each other, okay?

Comments

[Voice]

[espigeonage]

Hey. [Julien sounds soft, friendly.] It's all right. This is upsetting, but like you said, you're not the only one.

There's been a guy talking about giving people magic staffs, y'know. And if you're not averse and you're qualified and so on you can always get a permit to carry a gun. If not either of those, there's a lot of people here who can fight.

[Voice]

[seethelanterns]

Magic staffs? I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with getting a gun and learning to shoot. I never really thought too much on having to defend myself, really. Until this. But you reckon there are people that could teach me? How to defend myself, I mean? It is something we should probably all be considering with everything lately.

[espigeonage]

Yeah, I'm really not the violent type myself... But there's options, and they don't all have to come from the other you. Someone used to run self-defense courses for people in the numbers club, once upon a time. I'm sure if you asked you'd find someone willing!

By the way, I'm Julien. The wings guy. [He goes out in public as a tall harpy creature, so he's semi-famous.]

[Audio]

[professorwolf]

[This response sounds British, and gentle, and a little bit teacherly.]

You're not the only one. I've been at this from the beginning, and I still don't know the first thing about defending myself besides "get behind someone who does" and "run away". Both of which are legitimate means of getting by. We don't all need to fight.

... I'm a bit concerned, too. It does seem like a warning, though I'm not sure if it's a warning against us or a warning to stay focused. Not that I approve, either way, but....

[He trails off, not quite sure how to complete that thought.]

[Audio]

[seethelanterns]

[The accent intrigues her but she still understands him and what he is saying. Listening and cautious.]

Oh. It's good to know it isn't just me. I mean. For all I know I could have some really useful thing with fighting that I just haven't echoed back yet, but....yeah. I know next to nothing about defending myself. Beyond if it's at home to like. Smack them over the head with my frying pan or something.

Either way it's....not really the best omen, no.

[Audio]

[professorwolf]

I imagine I could be useful in a fight, but it would have to be at night, and it would necessitate my biting someone. Not really very pleasant for me, to be honest. And I haven't the least bit of experience doing it, so it would probably be more ridiculous than useful.

[He realizes he hasn't actually spoken to this particular girl before, and hastily corrects himself with an introduction:]

Ah. Hello, sorry, I'm Randall Lyall. Biology teacher at Locke high school. And I happen to be a werewolf, if you haven't seen my posts around yet.

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[shineonyou]

Shhh, shh, calm down, yo. You're making me nervous-- all that chattering and worry, jeez. We just gotta keep our heads down, yeah? Won't get murdered if we're not all that noticeable.

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[seethelanterns]

And if we are or...or get more noticeable? What would we do then? I think it'd be kind of hard to hide seventy feet of hair if I echo that back from the painting I remembered.

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[shineonyou]

...S-Seventy...?

[ that is 69 feet of hair too many. ]

[sylvanguard]

[Although the murder had been on the back burner of her mind,things closer to home had been occupying her time. Solana's network post, brought it to the fore front of her mind once more.

Ariel tries to look hopeful in order to soothe Solana.]

Hopefully it was an isolated incident that won't happen again. And if it is someone hunting down numbers, then hopefully they won't come to Locke. And if we're extra lucky, maybe they'll also get caught before long, or end up biting more than they can chew.

But if you really want to protect yourself See about taking some self defense classes maybe or stick with people who have a better chance of fighting perhaps?

[seethelanterns]

I guess we can hope. [Hope. It's something Solana always does. Recent events have scared her however, for obvious reasons in regards to the potential implications surrounding this particular murder.]

I figure it can't hurt to check out some self defense classes if I look and ask around. See how that goes.

[sylvanguard]

[Ariel nods.] Sounds good. I've thought about taking them myself, but then the thing with echos happened and now it's a little harder.

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[imbibing]

I have a kickboxing class I go to twice a week and I can bring a friend free to their first class. If you're interested, you could tag along with me!

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[seethelanterns]

Kickboxing? I haven't really considered that. It might be neat to at least give it a try though!

[She is curious. And if it might help....]

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[imbibing]

My next class is on Tuesday. Here's the address of the gym.

[Misato sends a message with the address over the network.]

I'll assume you'll be there, but if you can't make it, let me know.

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[occasus]

Keep out of sight about being on the network
It's worked for me so far
And if you need any protection let me know.
I'm staying at someone's mansion right now.
There's room for you as well.

[ Why is he worried about her so much? ...More importantly, he invited her to Shou's mansion without telling him.

Ennnh. Shou won't care. ]

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[seethelanterns]

Oh. Are you sure that's okay? Shouldn't we ask first before I show up? Wherever this mansion is. I mean, I appreciate the offer!

[Because it's kind of rude to just. Show up, right? That and. Wow, a mansion...she wasn't aware anyone here was quite that well off. Even if there is room though, Solana would prefer to be sure it is okay if she was to come over.]

text;

[occasus]

It's fine, it's fine.

voice;

[ursoreckless]

You need someone to cover your back. I think there's enough people that have abilities to help those that don't have any. Same with fighting skills too, and if you want, I could look up a dojo for you.

Kei's wrong. My house isn't a mansion. I've only got the penthouse suite on a six floor building plus part of the basement.

voice;

[seethelanterns]

Someone to cover my back....yeah. A dojo? Like, martial arts stuff? I guess that would be an option too.

A--oh. That....still sounds kind of huge, but. Okay. If you say so.

voice;

[ursoreckless]

Knowing how to move is just as important as knowing how to fight. You can fight but if you just don't know your limits, you can yourself hurt as well.

...Yah, everyone tells me that it's a little big. I guess I'm just use to it.

[Audio]

[beforeweproceed]

Who was the first victim? There was one before her, wasn't there? [He isn't unsure at all on that point; asking it more as a reminder-slash-recap of the case so far.]

I don't suppose there's any way to tell now if he was one of us.

[Audio]

[seethelanterns]

Wait, someone was killed before this? Another one of us?

[Given she is a more recent addition to the numbers club, she understands there are some things she might have missed but...]

He?

[ghostly_heiress]

It's not really a surprise if there was violence committed against us. It's only human nature. If there's another group seen as an 'other,' then people will come to hate that group. We may even be blamed for some of the things that happened.

It's part of why I've been keeping it under wraps in my personal life. I'm not in a position to really deal with that. Though I do also have the concern of when I might echo back something that's not so easy to hide.

[seethelanterns]

I know. 'Us' versus 'Them' mentality and all. I just--I'd hate for all of this to be the reason. We don't have any control over these echoes or anything. It's not our fault, we didn't choose for this. That's why...if that is the reason she was attacked. It just doesn't seem fair.

[But very little is. Nobody cares about whether something is 'fair'. This isn't some fairytale happy ending.]

I doubt many of us are really in any sort of position to deal with all of this. But I can understand the concern over echoing back something more obvious.