Night 51: Recreational Field

[notstealing]

[From here.]

When Locke opened the door, he was greeted by a rush of fresh air-something entirely unexpected, on his part. It was too easy, wasn't it? When he looked around, all he saw was a field, a shed, and walls that blocked him from being home free. Lucky me, he thought to himself, as he looked around the surroundings. So far, he'd managed to

Comments

... LMAO please forgive her non-reaction /sob

[witchdetective]

A sweep of the field with her flashlight revealed nothing, and since Erika had her back momentarily to the wall, she didn't see the twist of the vines. It was a shame that Momo didn't want to do something about their uninvited guest, but while Erika was aware that she was named one of the group's leaders, it was probably unwise to waste their time on this. If it were any other night, Erika would have excused herself, but tonight was special, after all.

"I suppose..." It was clear to see the disappointment on Erika's face, but she made no further protest and began to climb up the wall, making sure her feet were steady first before gripping onto the vines to begin her ascent. True to her words, it looked like Erika knew what she was doing, but when she tried to move up -

There was a heavy weight, like something was dragging her down, and the irritated click from Erika's tongue was because she thought her skirt had snagged on something. That thought was denied the moment she moved her hand to try and free her skirt from whatever it had hooked onto... only to find that there was nothing there. However, she could definitely feel the skirt being pulled, both on her waist and on the fabric itself.

It was like an invisible hand had reached up and was trying to pull her down....

Erika wasn't in any position to get the flashlight out of the pillowcase slung over her shoulder and she wasn't going to get off the wall to kick at whatever was clinging onto her. There was nothing to kick, anyway. Rather than being frightened by this sort of thing, the detective found herself irritated.

"Is Landel-san seriously trying to resort to some third-rate Japanese horror trick to scare us? Pitiful," The detective grumbled to herself, but the weight on her skirt was very heavy, like she was dragging someone other than herself up the wall. That meant...

".... Xemnas, I'll need your assistance after all. My apologies." How humiliating, but what could she do? There was a definite trick here that was weighing her down and Erika had to get across the wall. "If you could, could you find whatever has attached itself to my skirt and remove it?"

I swear Xemnas is not a pedo. Ahaha.

[itneverwas]

When time was of the essence, perhaps it was to be expected that there were those that sought to hinder them in making progress and reaching their goal. Indeed, they would need to make haste; lingering needlessly would perhaps mean none of them would be able to reach the basement at all. That would truly be a shame.

The Nobody would have liked to observe whatever it was that lurked within the darkness of that field, but it would have to wait for another night.

When Xemnas reached the wall, Erika had already began climbing its surface. It would seem, however, that the detective was having trouble. The grumble that the Superior caught, however, indicated that it was not a case of prior over-confidence or something that could be blamed entirely on her unpractical choice of clothing. How inconvenient, yet leaving her behind was unfortunately not an option. Certainly, there was a reason their group consisted of four. Inconvenience or not, he had been provided with little choice but to indeed assist her.

"Very well."

But whatever it was that sought to hinder them had no apparent visible form, therefore, it was hardly a surprise that the Superior wasn't able to find anything attached to the girl's skirt by mere eyesight. But they had been given too little time to warrant a thorough investigation, so he settled for a solution that was remarkably simple; if something had indeed attached itself to her skirt, then all there needed to be done was to separate the skirt from whatever that held onto the fabric. Perhaps not the most desirable way for the young detective, but a hollow shell that did not exist could hardly have the heart to care.

There was not even the slightest trace of fear present on his features as the Nobody sought the area where the fabric was being pulled at. Locating it easily, he drew one of the knives he carried and tore the blade through the fabric, hopefully freeing the girl of whatever it was that had attached itself to her.

The Superior realized that, while being so near to their apparent enemy, he would need to move quickly himself.

[hajike_tobiume]

Whatever Erika believed to be a third-rate Japanese horror trick was far more real than the detective believed. Momo, eyes subtly flickering as she continued to quickly back toward the wall, finally spotted a concentration of spiritual energy that was out of place. The threads were dark, reminiscent of a hollows but far more malevolent and they curled up and ran along the wall they were scaling, twisting and writhing with intent to harm. Tendrils reached out toward them, thin and near undetectable, but they didn't seem to the shinigami to be attached to one specific place. It was like...

"These grounds are haunted," Momo stated, focusing on the concentration a few feet down the wall, her eyes definitely shimmering with some kind of power, though it could have just been a trick of the light. "The malevolence is spreading, focusing on us. I am not capable of binding it in this state."

Turning quickly, Momo slid Leavatein between her back and the sheath of the katana. Lithely, she sprang up, grabbed a vine and quickly pulled herself up to the top of the wall. She refocused on the malevolent energy, a tiny bit of blood starting to drip from her nose as a bit of a headache throbbed in the back of her mind.

"The longer we stay, the worse this will be." She reached a hand down for someone to take, as she continued to watch, not caring who took it. They needed to go and go now.

[per_ardua]

Raine was climbing slowly enough that the shinigami had no trouble passing her; she was hesitant to accept a hand up from someone who likely weighed less than she did, but by the time she got into reach, she'd realized that Momo had to have a strong enough grip on the fence so that helping even Xemnas up might not overbalance her.

With that assistance, Raine was able to get the rest of the way up reasonably quickly; not wanting to take any more risks than she had to, she didn't stay put any longer than it took to turn around and start climbing down the other side--given her lack of athletic skill, there was no way she was risking a jump down that far. "How are things on this side?" she asked, just to get a head's-up. So far she'd never seen an enemy cross a territory line, but there was always a first time.

[witchdetective]

When Erika asked Xemnas for help, she was hoping the other would be able to find the source of whatever had snagged her. It seemed like he had been as unsuccessful as she was, but Erika had not been anticipating his "solution" to her problem. Her eyes widened when the man produced the knife, but not out of fear. It was purely surprise - surprise that her skirt ended up being cut again.

Although she was clearly annoyed... whatever was going on, it bothered Momo and they were wasting time. The detective grimaced and continued to make her way up, much less carefully than she was before. Her poor skirt, it was ruined yet again! If it weren't for the fact that she knew the nurses (for who else could it be?) mended her skirt last night, she would have given Xemnas some choice words.

But at the same time, he had done what she asked, and she had to admire that much. Not a word of thanks was said, however, and yhe detective didn't bother to wait for Momo's answer to Raine's question, vaulting over the wall and already making her way down. She really didn't care what was on the other side, so long as she could just remove herself from this damnable wall and save the rest of her clothing from getting torn to shreds.

[itneverwas]

Had Erika indeed given him some choice words, Xemnas would have hardly cared. After all, a hollow man could not be expected to find the state of someone's skirt to be of any importance. If anything, it was her own lapse in judgment to wear something that would potentially hinder their progress during this mission; the solution had freed the young detective, so the Superior would hardly even have allowed her the luxury of complaining.

The Superior was the last to begin scaling the wall, but within moments he pulled himself on the top. The abomination that had sought to hinder them certainly had given up quickly. Had it found another prey, or did it lay in wait? It would be desirable not to allow it another chance.

He briefly allowed his orange eyes to wander over the silent courtyard. "Its silence is hardly a reason for reassurance," he merely commented to Raine's question. Who knew what lurked in its darkness? Doubtlessly, they would learn once they would set foot upon the grass.

Without any further delay, he jumped down.

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