(no subject)

[jasminebloominginshadow]

Who: Jasmine, Lily, Winter [open]
What: Night of Darkness
Where: Tsukuyomi residence, outside in the city
When: June 11th

It had been an experience hurrying home in blackness. Coming home from that meeting had been... an experience. They'd managed to avoid any major traffic jams as a result of the experience, but by the time they'd gotten home, Jasmine herself was on edge.

Professor Tsukuyomi was absent again, due to work. That hadn't stopped him from sending multiple texts to Jasmine's cellphone, asking if they made it home okay. Lily had likely gotten them too. Hell, Jasmine wouldn't be surprised if Winter hadn't received a couple from him. But once they were in the house, they found it too had no power... leaving them alone in a black, darkened house, full of artifacts that looked particularly terrifying when catching the light of the moon.

And that's when it hit Jasmine. An echo. A memory.

She stood there, frozen in place, eyes wide and her arms and hands shaking. She... Dark Precure was standing in a room, next to a man in a mask, as they spoke to a group of people. Jasmine remembered them from another pulse she'd gotten earlier in the night, which caused her to reflect back to that...

A young man... sitting in the darkness, speaking to her and this man called Sabaaku... he was on a screen covered with static and marred by interference. It had been disorienting before, and in this light...

That man's whole demeanor. The way he'd been masked on the video screen. His voice. It spoke of a malevolence hidden behind... behind something innocuous. Jasmine suddenly felt very self conscious, and after lighting a candle, tried to figure out where her sister and Winter had gotten off to.

And as she did... she heard voices.

Are you aiming... to become the commander...?

A distorted sound of someone chuckling... someone... Dune?

The squishing noises made by that... that thing sitting on his shoulder... The voices of three people she'd known in her former life, saying seemingly random things, but in this context...

Jasmine bit his lower lip. Was her mind playing tricks on her?

"Lily...? Winter? Where the hell are you guys...?"

Another laugh.

----

Later into the night, it had become very apparent something was wrong. So, once Jasmine had determined Lily and Winter were alright, she'd headed off into the night to see if there was anything she could do.

She'd also started messaging Marina every five minutes, but that was neither here nor there. She needed to know her girlfriend was alright.

Of course, she was flying around, a somewhat demonic-looking figure in her own right, on a night that had people seeing and hearing things. That... that would have its issues.

[ooc: the first description is just for Lily and Winter, but the second one is free. Just have your character be anywhere and Jasmine can come upon you. :) I'm looking to try and thread with more people so I'm open to anything]

Comments

[guitar_case_vagabond]

It most certainly would, especially on one of Jasmine's stops on her late night flight around town.

The room on the other side of the partially open window is pitch black, being in one of the blackout zones. So it's probably not easy to see inside and make out the... much more childish decor than appears in the background of Raye's network videos, or that the figure sleeping in the bed beside the window is too small to be her friend.

The little girl shifts, lifting her head and blinking blearily at her window before the shape outside it becomes clear and her blue eyes widen in horror. Abigail lets out a terrified shriek, tumbling out of the bed as she tries to flee from the sight.

"Raye! RAYE! THERE'S A MONSTER OUTSIDE!"

[jasminebloominginshadow]

One of the people Jasmine had wanted to check up on was Raye, so she'd swung around to her house. She flew up to what she thought was the window to Raye's room...

... and then a voice started shrieking that clearly wasn't Raye's.

"Gahh...!" she cried, tumbling back through the air. Who was that?! Raye's... Raye's sister?! Oh dear god...

[guitar_case_vagabond]

Raye's already been on edge the whole night. Dad was out on another all-nighter thing for work when the blackout hit, and with Abby in bed that leaves her on her own in the apartment with just Senketsu for company and a few candles and a flashlight for light. Well... that and the unnerving sense that somebody else was around.

Which meant she wasn't getting any sleep any time soon, and she's sitting at the kitchen table, wearing Senketsu and resting her head on her arms as she tries to pretend the whispering voices and laughs aren't happening. And that the Echo they brought with them wasn't a thing.

She's there for awhile before the scream from Abby's room shatters the quiet. Raye's up like a shot, snatching the flashlight from the table, something close to panic setting in. Monster crises weren't exactly new territory, but it hadn't ever been an actual concern before.

"What's goin--" that's as far as she gets after she opens up the door, before her little sister is rushing toward her, and latching onto her. What the hell...? The way she's shaking... something must have happened. "Hey, hey. Easy. What's wrong?"

The little girl casts a fearful look toward the window, sniffling as her big sister kneels down beside her. "It-it was right outside my window. I th-think it was trying to get in and--"

"Okay, okay." Raye forces a smile on her face, giving her sister a brief hug. "Listen, okay? I want you to go into the bathroom and shut the door. There's no windows there so you'll be okay there while I check this monster stuff out, alright?"

It's the standard game plan from whenever Abigail would wake up with nightmares of monsters outside. Except this time, Raye wasn't going to make any show of pretending to search the place before giving the all-clear. She'd already learned that monsters are real, and if one of them was flitting around her sister's window she was going to flatten the thing.

"But--"

"Don't worry." She grins, pressing the flashlight into Abigail's hands and messing up her hair a little. "Your big sister can handle anything, remember? Go on, I'll come get you after I take care of this."

Despite still being a little hesitant, Raye's encouragement seems to do it and Abigail quietly moves off, shutting the bathroom door but leaving it open just enough to peek out. Raye holds the grin until she turns to the window.. and her expression quickly morphs into a scowl. Hands clenching into fists, she marches over to the window and opens it up the rest of the way.

"Hey!" She hollers out after anything that might still be out there. "If you stupid freaks want to mess around with me, that's fine, but if you come back up here to pick on my sister again I'll make you wish you never made it out of the freak-factory!"

[jasminebloominginshadow]

Freak.

One of her friends had called her a freak.

Jasmine grit her teeth as she flapped her wing, trying to ascend upwards so Raye could see her. However...

Freak...!

Jasmine's eyes widened. No... nononono... not this again. Soon, the voices began to chant it continuously. Freak. Freak. FREAK. FREAK!

Jasmine had already endured this once tonight. She let out a scream, her hand glowing with red power. "For the love of god, shut up...!"

[guitar_case_vagabond]

"Raye, below us."

Raye's attention snapped downward at Senketsu's warning, just in time to catch the sound of a beating wing.

"Taking the invitation, huh?" She raised her hand, preparing to pull out the pin and transform. ... When she hears a familiar voice scream from somewhere down below. "Wait. ... Jasmine?"

Jasmine was out there? So, the monster Abigail saw--

Oh.

She'd said the "freak-factory" thing too.

Shit.

"Jas? Hey, is that you?" She looked down, catching sight of the red glow building up around a winged shape further down. That... was probably a sign of some shit. Red light usually meant bad stuff. "Jas!"

Shit!

[originaloddcouple]

[The sudden blackout was quite a surprise to the Dians and it quickly aroused their curiosity. As soon as they were sure Rakka was safe and sounds in the house, they raced off to get a better look at whatever was going on.

At some point or another, as they hurried down the streets, Miria couldn't help but notice that demonic shadow in the dark night.]

Hey Isaac, does that person over there look familiar?

[Isaac glances in the direction Miria gestured to.]

Now that you mention it...

[jasminebloominginshadow]

[Jasmine noticed them too... that was the Dians. She smiled in relief... these were two people she didn't want to see hurt]

Hey! You two...! Are you alright...?

[originaloddcouple]

[Their befuddled stares quickly shift into bright grins.]

Why look Miria, its Jasmine!

We're fine! Yourself?

[jasminebloominginshadow]

... I wish I could say I was, but...

[she sighed]

Look, there's been a lot of freaky stuff going on tonight... has anything happened to you?

[dragon_blossom]

It takes around fifteen minutes for Marina to respond - too busy dealing with the whole fact that it was suddenly both very dark and very unsettling, and how worried her family was, and how much they fussed over her whenever any minute thing happened.

When she finally got time, she shot back via text, hoping her phone would hold out -

feeling fine things are weird right now but no actual problems on my end as long as you and the others are fine

Although she still fully expected to hear a tapping on her window at some point that night. Why not, when Jasmine could fly?

[jasminebloominginshadow]

Marina would indeed hear a tapping on her window... but not from Jasmine. In any case, it was the wind blowing the branch of a tree against the pane of glass.

Jasmine wasn't too far away, however, as she hovered over Marine's house after finally coming upon it.

I'm right here, she messaged. Can I come in?

Her lack of actually being at the window, the tree, and the overall atmosphere of the evening might add to that being a bit... disconcerting.

[dragon_blossom]

Marina jumped a bit, whirled around to look at her window -

Just a branch. Shit. She frowned, and flopped back to enjoy the dim candlelight (except not at all) when she finally got the message.

Jumping up again, she opened the window, looking out into the darkness. "Hellooooo?"

[jasminebloominginshadow]

As Marina opened the door... Jasmine just hung up in the air, waiting for Marina's reply. After scaring Raye's sister, she didn't want to accidentally terrify someone again.

So she was too far away to hear as Marina opened the window and called out. Frowning, she decided to send another text.

Sorry if you're asleep

As she sent the text, a willowy voice floated through the air near Marina. A laugh... a laugh a bit similar to Jasmine's, when she was arrogant or cocky.

[charcoalfeather]

[As soon as the blackouts had started, everything going on at the Dians houshold had come to a hault. The Dians themselves had given Rakka a rather thorough inspection to be sure she was okay before they went off to look for what might have caused this.

Rakka... less than agreed with the idea, and chose to stay behind and watch the house.

She sat at the window at one point, her halo giving off a little more light in the darkness. She had been watching out the window just in time to spot a dark shape gliding through the air.]

What...

[jasminebloominginshadow]

[that dark shape was Jasmine herself, who flew down to the house's door and began to knock. Jasmine was, understandably, a bit on edge and emotionally drained, and her knocking was a bit more aggressive than she would have liked...]

[charcoalfeather]

[Oh gosh, what was that. Maybe it was nothing and it wouldn't try to hurt her.

OH GOD NOW THERE'S KNOCKING. DOES SHE GO DOWN AND CHECK.

Well obviously, she does. Creeping up to the door, Rakka gave it one look before slowly opening it. Oh God, this was a bad idea.]

[jasminebloominginshadow]

[when the door opens, Jasmine gives a sigh of relief. Oh good... she was alright]

Hey... you're the girl from the fight with the snakes, right? So you're Rakka... I'm Jasmine.

Erm, Issac and Miria asked me to check on you...

[alilyinthemoonslight]

In the days following her injury, Lily had received a couple different memories. At the time, she wasn't sure if it was the medication or her mind playing tricks on her - walking and talking with a boy. About a man. About her - no, Yuri's - father... She'd been in France, for some reason. Yuri's father had evidently vanished there, and then... They ran into a man. "Baron Salamander." A Desert Messenger, by all accounts.

It cut to a theater, and what amounted to a history lesson for Lily - just how long that battle had been going on. Knowledge of a "Desert King," of Salamander being exiled by him, and that this young boy Yuri seemed to be fighting with him over was some sort of monster. Someone he called "Loup-Garou." Certainly disturbing, given what Lily had been bitten by.

...that, however, was weeks ago. She'd filed it away. Just the notion of what the child was... That was enough to not want to dwell on it. Seemingly, it was just random information.

However, in the darkness, something else hits her - what she knows is the moment after. Attacking Salamander, furious but graceful - she speaks in a way she's not used to remembering Yuri, so far. There is a passion and a certainty to her words, each one of them ringing out in her head as clear as if she'd spoken them herself. Berating Salamander, encouraging this boy - Olivier.

Combined with this, she'd felt something else at the spaceship - the knowledge of how to use another power returning to her. Perhaps that power itself? An ability to shield not just herself, but others...

Something she could very well have used weeks prior.

She leans heavily against a table in the house's den as the memory returns to her. It's a strange level of clarity after weeks of feeling useless and weighed down. It had been as if her own heart was in a vice, uncertain of every movement she made, and yet... Yuri's heart was not as she remembered it before in these memories.

Somehow, some way - it was much more like how she remembered her from Cure Moonlight's transformation. That heart had recovered.

For all her words of encouragement to others, Lily's hadn't quite managed that, had it?

She shakes a bit, hair falling around her face as she leans to support herself, for as little as the visibility is already.

"I- I'm in the den, Jasmine... ah, Winter, are you both feeling okay...?"

[peacefulwinter]

Winter's memory in the darkness is not at all so pleasant. She's still got the stupid iPad knockoff that she got when they'd gone to the meeting, even if she's not sure what to do with it. Now, though... now, there's a memory that's a little hard to work with, but this guy really needs to not exist. Even through the filter of another life and quite a bit more maturity, the person she's seeing scares her. The aura of pure darkness (selfishness?) certainly doesn't help matters.

But even more than that... she's in the dark, the moon's light barely providing any illumination at all, and her heart's racing, and she doesn't know where Lily or Jasmine are, and this feels so suspicious that she can't help but wonder if they're going to be attacked. She's not sure she's strong enough for this. Not the way she is now. She's stretched too thin for that.

It really doesn't help that she was caught in another room, and she doesn't really have her bearings in this house yet - while Lily's presence helps a lot to make her comfortable, this place isn't her home, and she feels that strongly at this moment. "I... I'm okay for now. I'm j-just not sure-" She's cut off at the sound of a sharp peal of thunder, seemingly right next to the house. It's absent the window-shaking force, and the bright flash of light, but in her present state of mind those are happily being filled in for her. There is a very short shriek, and then a small whimper that, in the silent house save for the three girls, will probably carry. In an urgent whisper she doesn't expect to have carry, she mumbles, "N-no, I'm not okay, and I'm terrified, and I don't know what to do... Lily, save me...!"

[jasminebloominginshadow]

Jasmine's eyes widened when she heard Winter scream. She didn't hear her whisper, but she knew that couldn't be good. So, not bothering to even walk or run, she quite literally flew through the halls to the room where Winter was, throwing open one of the doors...

... which happens to let in moonlight, which illuminate the figures and artifacts on their father's shelf. In this light, they look almost demonic, their shadows looming over Jasmine and Winter both.

"Are... are you alright...?" she gasped.

[alilyinthemoonslight]

At Winter's scream, little else mattered. The odd tranquility that was drifting over her is shattered, and in the next instant Lily is taking off across the house. In the darkness and her recklessness, in spite of knowing her home like the back of her hand, she winds up knocking over several presently unidentifiable objects on her way. There are some thuds and what is probably something very expensive smashing to pieces, but she pays it little mind -

As she reaches the door to that particular room, she hears another scream. It sounds like someone - or something - crying her name again, but it sounds choked off. Struggling to scream.

She stops cold, finding both her sister and girlfriend there. But, wait... if that was the case, just what the hell was she hearing...? Either way, she tries to shake it off, rushing to Winter's side. "I'm here, it's fine!"

Another scream and she stops short, her pulse quickening.

Okay, so no - it wasn't fine. But she wasn't the only one hearing that, was she...?

[believing_heart]

Lucy Kesswick was sprawled out across the roof of the house she shared with her older brother, two hands tucked behind the back of her head. In the past few months since living in Locke City, this had quickly become one of her favorite places.

Especially on clear nights like this one. It gave her a perfect view of the stars --

-- and any people who might be flying overhead.

"Hey!" Lucy quickly scrambles to her feet, eyes wide with surprise. She's sat on the roof stargazing plenty of times, but this was the first time she ever saw anything human up there! "What are you doing?"

Was that girl one of the Numbered? Or was she maybe one of the aliens?

Either prospect excited her!

[jasminebloominginshadow]

Jasmine stopped in the air, looking around. Oh god, this wasn't another case of hearing voices, was it?

No... she saw where it was coming from. Eyes widening, she flew down.

"I'm looking to see if anyone's in trouble," she said, expression firm. "What are you doing out here? It's dangerous..."

[believing_heart]

Lucy watches, wide-eyed, as the girl descends. From in the back yard, Rayearth looks up at Jasmine, then, upon determining that the dark-haired girl was not a thread, rests his head back down upon his massive paws.

"I was just stargazing," Lucy says, with all the trademark cheeriness of a magical girl heroine. "Are you one of the Numbered, too?"

[jasminebloominginshadow]

"... well, it's kind of obvious," she said, crossing her arms. "Don't worry, I'm not a monster... and I have nothing to do with everything going dark..."