[Open!] Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods ?

[npc_kun]

Characters: Open
Date/Time: 6/14-6/19
Location: Everywhere
Rating: Varied
Summary: Edensphere needs a hero. Or several.

[This is a general open log for the Damsels in Distress event. Threads can be done in quick or standard log format, as you prefer. You might also want to mark the place and approximate time in the subject of your comment, for

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Wednesday evening, closed to Kagerou and 00

[starstruckstray]

In the middle of the Yard Sale petal on Stuff Inc, a strange sight broke up the usual rows of furniture and household items. Thorny red roses twined about a delicate-looking wrought-iron bed.

Sprawled on his back on that bed? Was Kiba, asleep in a pair of pink and white striped boxers. A soft breeze toyed with the ends of his loose hair, but aside from the occasional scratch to his belly, this damsel showed no signs of waking.

The roses would resist any attempt to prune them back, which was unfortunate. Because Kiba wouldn't wake until every last one was destroyed.

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou had been right; Wednesday had brought fairer weather with it, and she and 00 had been able to have a walk. It was more a random wandering across the islands, accompanied by her vivid chattering and 00's more subdued agreements and observations.

As they crossed onto the Yard Sale--she liked the place, there was always something to rummage, even if briefly--Kiba's reiatsu drifted into her senses. She turned her head idly, glancing around for him. Perhaps he was on patrol, and she could say hello.

"Um, sorry." She smiled a little guiltily at 00 as she realised she'd lost the thread of conversation. "I thought I... heard a friend of mine, but maybe I was imagining...

"Do you smell that?" The distinctive fragrance of roses in bloom suddenly wafted towards them. She was rather sure she'd never seen a bush on this island.

[ghost_of_00]

00 paused when Kagerou did, mildly curious about the other girl's obvious distraction. She, too, noticed the fragrance of roses, unusual for this section of the island. Much of what took place here was bartering and storage, not any agricultural or gardening activities. "Yes," she said. Unusual things had been happening since Monday. People in dangerous situations. Was this another instance? She had no idea how roses might be involved.

Without saying another word, she followed the scent to find a bed with roses growing all through its structure and strewn over the covers, with a red-haired man sleeping on top of it. Very unusual. She could have thought it was merely his personal preference if not for the plant growth. "This is the source," she said as she stared at it, not at all fazed by his state of near-undress.

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou wasted a moment more trying to spy Kiba, then had to dash after her friend as she ventured towards... what seemed to be a bed covered in a generous mass of thorny roses.

With Kiba sleeping in the middle of it, blissfully unaware of his predicament, and showing rather more skin than she'd ever expected to see on him.

She fixed her eyes diplomatically on 00.

"Yes, but what's wrong with him? He has his own bed, there's no reason for him to fall asleep he--" She frowned, then reached out carefully to shake his shoulder. "Kiba? It's Kagerou, I'm sorry to bother..."

He didn't so much as flutter an eyelid. She gave him a more vigorous shake, to no avail. "Wake up!" Bemused, she looked at 00 again. "Something is wrong. Should we call a medic? I mean, it's not exactly good for him to sleep here, even if..."

[ghost_of_00]

At Kagerou's anxiety, 00 picked up Kiba's wrist to check his pulse. It didn't seem abnormal--was it the same thing that had put Innovator and Fred into comas several months ago? It didn't explain why he would be sleeping here, nor did it explain the plant growth.

"Do you have your journal?" she asked, her voice taking on a more assertive tone in the now-serious situation. She hadn't brought her own; otherwise she would have sent for a stretcher by now. Unusual and in some cases dangerous situations had been occurring at random for the past few days. One man had been trapped in a well. Two others had become trapped inside an hourglass. "This may be another instance of the current phenomena," she suggested as she reached out to touch one of the roses. To her surprise the stem bent away from her touch. That was unnatural.

*stabs LJ and its tardy comment notifs* Sorry!

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou made a face. "Aah, of course I don't! It was in my bag, and..." There was no time to lament her oversight now. Kiba seemed to be breathing and everything, but if he'd fallen into a coma or caught an acute case of narcolepsy or been drugged by alien invaders...

At least he wasn't getting swallowed by lava! Maybe she should have considered that a step up.

"Oh, that must be it!" She brightened marginally at 00's explanation. "I'm not sure how a bed of roses would be particularly dangerous, unless..."

Noticing 00's interest, she poked at a blossom. It almost snapped the other way from her hand. "That's odd. You don't think they put him to sleep? Should we try to pull him off the bed?" Gingerly, she reached for Kiba's shoulder--he was certainly heavy, but with a good grip under his arms, maybe she could drag him.

A row of the roses suddenly rustled, the sound incongruously menacing, and bent down to block her hand, bristling with thorns.

*does too* No worries!

[ghost_of_00]

Oh. In that case, either one of them could go borrow a journal from someone--but then the situation became clearer when Kagerou reached for a rose and provoked the same reaction. Could roses put someone into a coma? In Edensphere, 00 felt that was quite plausible.

When the roses reacted violently to Kagerou's attempt to reach for Kiba, 00 moved instantly, grabbing her friend's wrist and pulling it away before the thorns could scratch her. Maybe they contained the sleep-inducing agent, maybe they were poison... even if they were just normal rose thorns, she refused to allow them to hurt Kagerou. No.

"We will need to find a way to neutralize the roses first," she said, her voice now quite clear. "Do you have something I can cut them with?"

[weaver_girl]

"Ah, thank you!" Startled, she let 00 tug her away, and the roses drew back with a sullen whisper of leaf and stalk.

At any other time, Kagerou would have marvelled at this sudden assertiveness blooming--no pun intended--in 00, but now she settled for being grateful for it. She patted her pockets hastily, then made a face at the contents: tissues and pens weren't much use against a bower of hostile flora.

"I don't seem to," she said, "but this is the Yard Sale! There must be a--a drawer of kitchen knives or something sharp nearby. Should we split up and look? I don't think Kiba's going to get worse if we just leave for a minute."

She was already looking around for any likely implements. It wouldn't be as good as going to the Scavengers' Yard, but anything with a cutting edge would suffice. The roses wouldn't allow them to the bed, and Kiba would at least catch his death of cold if it began raining again, no matter how well he was sleeping.

[ghost_of_00]

"Yes," said 00, releasing Kagerou's wrist. She walked away to begin searching, and as Kagerou had guessed there were sharp implements to be found. 00 located a pair of sharp kitchen scissors and returned to the bed of roses.

Again, the blooms moved sharply away from her hand when she approached. But 00 was determined to help this man. Why? He needs help. If he is in a coma, he needs medical assistance. If this is an effect of the Sphere, he may die of exposure. It is unsafe.

If he suffers, Kagerou will also suffer.

I don't want that.

Strange.

She grabbed a rose blossom and snipped it off. That was one.

[weaver_girl]

After a frustrating but, in fairness, not long spell of searching, Kagerou came across a stand with crossed, ornamental swords on it. She tugged one free, tested its sharpness with a bloodied thumb, and hurried back to the bed, where 00 was already at work on the roses.

Shielding her hand with her sleeve to grab the flowers, she began hacking at the stalks. It wasn't neat, but it was reasonably effective. At least the roses seemed to only react to direct touch. Soon there were small heaps of snapped-off blossoms littering the ground from their combined efforts.

Kagerou was alerted by a sharp rustling just behind her. A stalk she had divested of its blossom rose, shivered, and pushed out a fresh bud that expanded into an flower before her astonished eyes.

"Oh, no." She looked up at 00, on the opposite side of the bower. "Cut faster, please! I think they're regrowing!"

[ghost_of_00]

00's dress didn't have sleeves, but the times she got accidentally scratched didn't seem to produce any negative effects. She aimed the scissors several inches down from the blossoms--it was easier to snip them off that way; they couldn't move away as far as right beneath the flowers. 00 worked as efficiently as she could, calmly shearing them off.

At Kagerou's dismayed exclamation, 00 looked over and saw the regrowing flowers. Her lips tightened, the only visible sign of her own unhappiness at this new development. "Understood," she said, reaching out to grab the roses now and ignoring the pricks from the thorns as she did her best to clip them short, managing to get two or three at a time on the closer-set ones. It was clear that speed was of the essence here.

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou found that the length of the sword worked against her when she tried to quicken her pace. She couldn't be both fast and precise when her cutting implement was so clumsy, but she scrunched up her brow in concentration and did her best to strike a balance.

"The roses want to keep him on the bed." She could get wordy when she was nervous, but now she was more just pouring out her thoughts in the hope that she hit on something useful. "Do you think he'd wake up if we just hauled him off it? I mean, I'm not sure we can cut them fast enough, so maybe if I tried to fend them off, you could...."

[ghost_of_00]

Remove Kiba from the bed? 00 looked back at him as Kagerou presented the theory--he was very large. She didn't know if she had the physical strength to drag him off quickly enough, but it was possible. It would also put Kagerou at risk from the roses, but her sword might be enough to keep them at bay. "I will pull him off the bed as quickly as I can," she said, snipping another stem as she looked over Kiba to figure out the best spot to grab him. If she got hold of an arm and a leg, she could yank him off quickly, although it would have to be through the roses.

She snipped one more rose and then dropped the scissors, readying herself for the maneuver. "I'll move at your signal."

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou eyed 00, then Kiba, then the roses. He might suffer a few bruises and scratches if 00 pulled him off, but he seemed tough enough, and Kagerou could probably heal those easily enough. The important thing was to wake him up.

She took a steady grip of the sword, wishing she had any idea how to actually use it other than swing and hope for the best, and positioned herself so she wouldn't get in 00's way.

"All right." The roses were still, except for the occasional whispering sound of a bud replacing a cut blossom. "Ready--go!"

Planting a foot on the bed to reach, Kagerou took a swing at a cluster of flowers that immediately darted towards 00 as she grasped Kiba's arm, managing to snick off at least a few.

[ghost_of_00]

Kiba's arm was easy enough to grasp, but his leg proved more difficult. 00 ended up grabbing a handful of his boxers as well, digging her fingers in for a firmer grip as she hauled him backwards. She gritted her teeth, a fiercely determined expression on her face as she dug her feet into the ground against his weight. It seemed to take far longer than it actually did for him to tumble off the bed with a thud, 00 herself landing on her rear end.

She had sustained several scratches from the roses that had managed to challenge her, but it was nothing serious. 00 quickly checked his pulse again, managing to turn him over onto his back. "Kiba," she said in a clear, sharp voice. Had it had any effect?

[weaver_girl]

While 00 wrestled with hauling the sleeping Kiba to safety, Kagerou climbed on the bed and struck at the flailing roses. They rustled up a storm of quivering stalks, and a few whipped across her face and arms, leaving long scratches.

"Back, you--you foul floral fiends!" She cut through the blossoms, scattering petals across the bed. Could they actually corner her? Could 00 manage Kiba by herself?

Then there was a heavy thumping noise, and all of a sudden all the roses went quiet. They drooped on their stalks and their leaves began to curl up, brown and dry. Kagerou backed down, turning her eye to 00 and Kiba.

"I think that did it? Is he--is he coming to?" She frowned at the sight of 00's scratched arms. "Are you hurt?"