Mirandae

The Spirits Within

@71452K
No need to worry. It's delicate in the beginning. I'm trying to create situations where the characters interact as much as possible. I skipped the actual road scene to Oakridge, as out of the blue shooting the breeze might not be the best thing right now. Instead, we've got a few activities in the city itself with some random rewards to gain!

The Spirits Within

_{O A K R I D G E C I T Y W A L L}

Oakridge City was in a stir. The streets were busy with military and civilians preparing for the coming attack and the defense of Ledale. The neighbor city-state across the gulf was a vital component and strategic asset in what was to be the largest offensive against the enemy in the war thus far. There was no room for mistakes. Most of Oakridge’s defensive capabilities had been reinforced, as most of its military presence would depart in the coming days. Another chunk of resources had been devoted to more pressing issues, and several naval vessels had been prepared for it. They were to set sail in a few hours, awaiting supplies and personnel coming in from the countryside—the academy included.

Even if Oakridge City was only ten minutes away from the academy, Celise did not go there as much as she wanted to. It was part laziness, part being busy with school work. The city had a fresh scent of ocean surrounding it, uplifting breezes sweeping in from the gulf, and the markets and entertainment of the inner city never slept. Originally, the ‘inner city’ was what constituted Oakridge City, but after JENOVA, an outer layer surrounding it was constructed, which housed many of the city’s defensive capabilities including a high-tech wall. Certain types of waste facilities were kept just outside the city perimeter, especially Whale remains.

As the rear door to the APC opened up, and everyone finally go to stretch their legs properly, the buildings of the inner city towered above them. The streets were packed with people, traffic was buzzing, and holographic advertisement sounding their messages everywhere. These were the morning hours of one of the largest cities of the world. Its culture was ‘eternal hustle’ and ‘time is money’. This is where the stock market was, this is where businessmen made their fortune. The driver helped everyone to unload their weapons and gear. He registered everyone’s badges and student identification numbers, so as to complete the assigned job and return to the academy for a new one. A few moments later, after wishing everyone good luck, he was on his way.

Celise did a silent headcount of everyone present. Nobody had disappeared or taken off in some moody outburst that she would have to chase down and comfort. Not that she minded it, but it was a bit early for such things. It was rather amusing how quickly Celise slipped into her typical role in these kinds of outings. She was not a leader, by any means, but definitely the secretary that kept all the leaders in line, making sure that they were doing what they were supposed to be doing. Besides, the guys in the Warfare Division were the ones educated in leadership, so they would have to duke it out over this group. This was a military operation, after all.

“Okay, so, the boat for Ledale leaves in two hours from now, but we have to register for it at naval command, which is close to the harbor,” Celise said while scrolling through the mission document on her phone, reading the instructions. “I’ll do that, and anyone that wants to come with can do so, but you know the drill—the army won’t provide us with anything, so we have to get it now, because we don’t know how things will be over there. So, remember to get some food and water before we leave. We’ll meet at pier six, twenty minutes before departure,” the silver girl said and tucked her phone away in a pocket.

_{◆ Celise is on her way to register the group for the boat transport. She will likely visit a local shrine on the way. Reward: 1 random Catalyst.
◆ Local police are having trouble with augmented extremists a few blocks down the road. Sirens can be heard from where the group is standing. They might need help with clearing out an office complex. Lethal and non-lethal approaches to this activity will affect the ‘Daring Attempt’ mission. Reward: random item and Gil.
◆ There is a big The Spirits Within tournament taking place in the city. Massive, holographic billboards are broadcasting streams and advertisement. Checking it out and promoting your Guardian status could increase your fame! Reward: random loot.}

Notes

There are three different 'activities' here. I will not strictly moderate what happens in them, so you will have to create the narrative for yourself. Each activity has a small reward. These 'activities' have separate timelines, as flashbacks, and can continue as the main story moves along (if it will be necessary!)

_{W O L F W A T E R — " A W A T E R Y G R A V E "}

Celise peaked at her phone again. A few minutes left. The night was cool, the ocean still, and an unruly air engulfing the streets. Wolfwater had suffered flooding due to the trouble it had with constant attacks by a large creature. The report Celise had on her phone described this attacker as able to ‘bend water to its will’, which concluded that it was infected with the JENOVA gene and possibly a mutation of an amphibian animal. There were no details about why the creature was attacking the town, what it was that attracted it. The mayor of Wolfwater had desperately asked for help from Oakridge Academy to deal with this menace. This is why Celise and a few other Guardians were there. They were to meet with the mayor, shortly.

The scenery facing the silver girl was rather brutal. There were bodies of water all around the town. Certain streets were flooded with ankle-high streams. Celise frowned has her sneakers were getting soaked and muddied, eyes constantly scanning the street for the others to arrive at the rally point. Wolfwater being what it was, and usually was in terms of weather, the silver girl had equipped herself with a dark, hooded, rain poncho. A downpour could hit at a moment’s notice, which only made this Watery Grave even worse.

The oddest thing happened just then. Some wooded debris dotted with bits of flower and candle bumped into the back of her foot. Celise turned around and gazed down the darkness of an alley, at the end of which was a tiny shrine still illuminating its surroundings. It was rather crude, probably a makeshift construction by local residents. She waded down to the shrine and kneeled before it, water covering her kneecaps. The shrine had a wooded effigy on it, surrounded by herbs and a few candles. Children had drawn crayon images on the wall above the shrine of the monster plaguing their town.

The white fox emerged from Celise’s body, her beloved spirit of ice. It nestled itself on the silver girl’s shoulder and observed the tiny shrine before them. Bantam streams of light sprawled through the air from the effigy to the white fox, spirits of the shrine seeking refuge in the visitor. The candles began to dwindle as the makeshift place of prayer lost its inhabitants. The shrine had most likely not been used for several days, as the locals were probably urged to stay inside. Celise sighed, but smiled at the white fox, which curled up against her cheek.

The Spirits Within

@71452K
Wow, that's good attention to detail! That has totally escaped me since I wrote it, kind of embarrassing. But really cool that you go back to check things. I like that a lot.

The Spirits Within

I have some errands today, but I intend to write my next post anyway. Might have to split it up, though, between today and tomorrow. I was hoping to get another reply from @Rizza and @Rockette before this, but they can do it retroactively. It works just as well. This is why we have the flashback thing, so that nobody has to 'miss' any interactions.

The Spirits Within

@71452K
Hah, that's sweet. There really isn't anything you have to do. It's sort of my job to keep you around. But, getting a few decent sources of inspiration for the roleplay is always good! For example, I have the FF7 soundtrack and the FF15 game to fire up when I need inspiration for this!

The Spirits Within

Just curious, but what are the rules on secondary characters?

@Mr Rage

What were you thinking about? The only 'rules' so far is what you'll find in the character sheet. They have to be connected to your main character somehow, otherwise you'd need to make a new character sheet.

In some odd posts as we get closer to Ledale [Leddale?], I'll be doing brief inserts of post reflections for the Deep Inside hunt. I hinted within my first post of Liesabet having returned from such two weeks prior to the present; anyone else is welcome to join.

@Rockette

Ok, I won't start it separately, then? As nobody else has picked up on it yet.

I'm around, I am just waiting for Prisk to change scene as I have no active conversations going

@EurmalEye

We're moving relatively fast by my standards, but I'll move us forward soon. Right now we're in a dangerous zone of roleplaying. It's that time when the 'hype' has fully died, so the risk of players dropping is high. We'll power through it, though! My next post has to be pretty perfect to combat this.

The Spirits Within

@EurmalEye
I was a bit worried that I interpreted that wrong in my post, when Celise followed Jomen into the vehicle seats. Hah, but, I got it right after all.

The Spirits Within

@71452K
Hunts are completely optional!

The Spirits Within

@Archangel89@71452K@EurmalEye@Mr Rage@Rockette@Rizza@deadpixel101@Panko
The garage scene is closing. On-going conversations can continue in the APC, so descriptions of it already driving is alright. @Panko can describe arrival retroactively, depending on when the first post comes. The next scene is on the road to Oakridge City, it would be mostly conversational and rather short—might even mix into arriving at the city.

I'll start the hunts in my next post, as flashbacks. @EurmalEye wanted to do Watery Grave, which I'll join. @Rockette was interested in Deep Inside, I'll join her on that as well, unless she wants to do it solo/with someone else.

The Spirits Within

_{O A K R I D G E A C A D E M Y G A R A G E}

“They’re fine. They evacuated to this nearby town a few days ago. My grandparents live there,” Celise said. “Black sheep of the family because he chose Intel? Come on, it’s not that bad. It’s good to be smart and strong, you know.” A strained puff of air escaped Celise’s lungs, as the Armstrong man assisted and finished the stretch. “Damn”, she muttered. The shapes and silhouettes of the world around her became blurred for a second, black and white dots sparkling and crawling before her vision. Montero, the mysterious and handsome man, managed to sneak her by during this brief moment of stupor. Celise’s left eyebrow shot for the stars along with her iconic blank stare of death at Duke’s comment about height. Even though she knew that there were no sour potatoes rotting behind his words, Celise could not escape that eternal anxiety about her tiny stature. There was no way around it, and she had always thought the argument about ‘short girls being acceptable’ was total baloney. However, at this point in her life, Celise sooner or later had to get used to nicknames involving references to her height. ★★★

The driver tapped his prosthetic arm and hand against the door of the vehicle, sitting ready by the wheel, urging the Guardians to load up. He seemed like a ‘no nonsense’ old man with a schedule to keep. He did not say much, however. Celise grabbed her bag and picked up her energy drink. She chucked it all right in front of Ajax, as a response to his comment about water and other such foolery. She knew he was right, but she was addicted—what could she do? As she passed the capable and bantering men, her hand grazed the arm of Jomen, as a becalming motion and gesture. No eye contact, no words, just an expression of her usual demeanor toward those approved. She followed the man of remedy closely to get seated in. ★

The second Celise rounded the rear corner of the vehicle, her eyes instantly fixed upon a beloved who had already arrived. She almost gasped—how did she miss her? Perhaps it was not that much of a surprise. Every Intel person, Lisa in particular, were professionally trained in not being detected. The silver girl immediately reached for her cellular device tucked away, constrained within a slivered pocket. There were two received, but unfortunately missed messages. Some esoteric guilt washed over Celise. She knew perfectly well that these situations, presence of the unknown and unholy places, were intense on Lisa’s perceptions. Celise’s gaze did not disturb from the silhouettes of the resting feral, as she elevated herself into the vehicle by a graceful step. Her presence settled next to Lisa, slow and dubious in her motions, head nestling on the other’s shoulder akin to a lupine cub. Such were the fluctuations this morning. Nobody knew how it worked, nor would they ever know. Celise read the messages on her phone, carefully leaning in against Lisa. Mumbling words escaped her as she read the symbols—a faint smirk on her lips. ★★

A steadfast strike,
On sunken few,
No solemn found,
Blazing Kingdom adieu.

A quick break from the screen of her phone revealed Roland and Montero seated and ready across from herself and Lisa. Her expression remained blank and voice silent. She would have taken a moment for them both, but the air between the beloved and herself not entirely harmonious quite yet. Every morning was an intricate dance of balance, certain days better than others, yet an awesome splendor of mania. To the outside observer, their kinship would appear mystifying, yet following certain common patterns of interaction. Every motion and touch had a multi-layered meaning to them. The tiniest detail unfocused would result in one dictating the other for the rest of the day. Celise’s eyes remained on her phone, its messages and progress in the card game. However, her focus was still on Lisa. The silver girl let her spare hand trail along the other’s, nails gently pressing against the skin, yet occasionally pressing against it with intention. The two knew all of their triggers, points of pleasure and pain, and pressures for desired response or action. ★

Notes

Act, React, Observe, Reflect.