awashlogs | Into The Forest

[Okuyasu also has no idea what this lake story is, for the record. What is she talking about?? The paranoia club is killing him, here, he just wants to chill in the woods.]

I'm gonna be honest, I got no idea what you guys are talking about.

[But more importantly, there's something ahead? Thank god he can see straight over both of their heads to look past them and squint into the distance ahead. The grayscale is never not going to be disorienting, so give him a second before he makes a sort of - affirmative grunt? Go with it.]

Yeah, there's something there. You want I should send The Hand in first?

[Yeeeeeeah, Ochako is more than willing to let story time slip to the wayside once Okuyasu (kind of) confirms that there's something in the distance. Three people spotting the same thing? Definitely not a coincidence, and she's instantly on guard as she moves closer to Emma. Now there's a clear space for Okuyasu to walk right up beside them.]

I'll tell you about it later, but for now—can you really send it that far up? [She keeps her eyes on the tiny prize, but there's no doubt who she's talking to. Such range! Sugoi.] It would be the safest thing to do...

[It's still too far for her to see what, exactly, it is, but she reaches a hand out and places it on Emma's shoulder.]

Emma, can you spot anything? I can only barely see it.

[It's a good thing Ochako put her hand on Emma's shoulder because she's a few seconds away from squirreling up the tree to figure out what the tiny blotch of color is. It's a good thing she has really good eyes instead.

She peers up between the gray leaves and-]

There's more than one? There's definitely something that has color just like us up there. Okuyasu, can you get it down here?

[That way all three can deal with this mysterious colored object when it "falls".]

[now that my punk ass knows what's happening, method rp, write what you (don't) know

Okuyasu realizes a moment late that he's looking at the wrong thing, clearing his throat awkwardly as he very casually shuffles up beside them both to look... where they're actually looking. It's fine, it's all good. There's something there, too. Almost as if a forest can have more than one of the same plant. Wild.]

Uhh... yeah? [He looks pointedly down at them, like, did you both forget he's basically two Emmas stacked on top of each other? He could do this without The Hand, or he could summon The Hand only to swipe at the air, which causes a weird kind of reverberation and then a rustling, a snap, and Okuyasu holds his hand up at precisely the right time to catch... an orange, which is what this thread was about the whole time.

It's all very Cool-looking. Give him half a second-] Holy shit, real food...!

[This is the first time Ochako is seeing The Hand do anything other than... carry a couch? Okuyasu has never even mentioned the fact that his quirk has a quirk of its own, so seeing that orange fall neatly into his hand is pretty rad. He gets a brief excited look—

—but not a single word of praise, because she's honing right in on the true star.]

Wow! Look how bright it is! Do you think it's some kind of trick? [Gotta stay cautious, gotta stay cautious... but her enthusiasm for this fruit is making that hard. The spooky forest is now a little less spooky!] Open it!

[One day we'll google the size of an orange tree before we start typing, but today wasn't that day.

Emma already knows that The Hand is awesome so she's more interested in the fruit as well. It's... so colorful. A real, beautiful, colored fruit!]

I don't think so. Some of the houses got color back so maybe other things have color now too? [It doesn't necessarily have to be a trick, right?] We should try it.

[Peel that orange! She'll be the guinea pig!]

[Yeah, Okuyasu is already throwing caution to the wind and slicing it open with his thumbnail, splitting the peel all the way around so he can twist it off into two halves.

And then promptly realize there are three of them, so... Emma gets a whole half because she's a growing 5-year-old, and he'll split the other half into new halves to give Ochako a piece. Sharing!!]

Sooo... bottoms up? [You think he won't shove like 3 orange slices in his mouth at once, well, he's already done it. There's no time for being careful here!!]

[The actual child should definitely get the biggest piece. Ochako gratefully accepts her fourth of the orange, inspecting it closely before peeling off a single segment and popping it right into her mouth. She probably shouldn't, but boy, is she glad she did.

Because whoa.]

It's so good! [Understatement of the year tbh. Her face lights right up, and are her eyes... tearing up a bit? Yes, they certainly are. Ochako genuinely appreciates delicious food.] I can't believe it... Emma, isn't it amazing?

[Emma almost speaks up to share some of her bigger piece with everyone else but then they eat it and, well, she is just a kid. She plucks a segment out to eat and her eyes light up just like everyone else's. Real food.

Instantly she's eating more pieces.]

It's good! [oops, she's speaking with her mouth full. sorry for bad manners.] It's actually really good!

[Heck, if anything counts as important exploration find this is it. The real question is if there is any more! With the thought of traps out of her mind, Emma pulls the branches away and behold! multiple bright red fruit hanging off the monochrome tree.

She's plucking another and putting it right in her coat pocket. This is dire.]

[why are they red now? it's right in the name. this thread is canceled

Okuyasu would shove this whole orange chunk in his mouth at once if it were probably any other setting than in the middle of the spooky woods, know that. But none of them are getting sick and dying all of a sudden, so this fruit is apparently fine! How weird and lucky is this!]

Maybe the end of this path has a bunch more foods. [No, that's silly... That's optimism. Allow him, too, to fill his pockets with good good fruits.]

[This is a ~*magical forest*~, where blood orange trees a) are huge and b) bear bright red fruit. Get with it.

But yes, everything seems fine and dandy! Ochako carefully eats the rest of her small portion, so darn pleased to taste something sweet in the middle of this nightmare scenario. And she does want more, honestly, but watching Emma tuck an orange into her pocket reminds her of something—well, someone—very important.]

Maybe, but let's still take as many of these as we can. And Okuyasu, can you take some back to Iida, too? [Because they're definitely getting out of here, okay. She gives him a slightly apologetic smile.] My costume doesn't have any pockets, so...

[Pretty please?]

I hope! Creating a path leading to good food would be the best result.

[They haven't seen color in weeks I'm blaming that and you can't stop me.

Actually, the sudden appearance of color is extremely apt in the coming seconds. Emma is located among the branches, reaching out to hoard as many of the fruit as she can get her hands on, when she sees a quick flash of a completely new color out of the corner of her eye. The serious face is back as she shifts from focusing on the food to looking at the leaves.

She holds the bright fruit against the leaf and lifts it away again... and again. It still looks gray. So probably not a trick of the eye with the contrast of colors? She could have sworn she saw something tinged more yellow...]

Do you guys see anything else strange about this tree?

Edited 2018-04-13 03:52 (UTC)

[What is this Iida orange mystery... but okay, yes, Ochako gets a thumbs up because he still has like 3 orange slices stuffed in his face at once, give him a second. He will do this orange thing.

Now then--] You mean besides how it's growing real food all of a sudden? Nah.

[This, as Okuyasu shoves as many oranges into his pockets as he can fit. Some of them he's just going to hold inside his jacket and button it up real good, so they're going to be two lumpy disasters and Ochako when they get back.]

[Iida is an orange-fueled Sonic, and so thank you, Okuyasu, for helping Ochako help her friend. Her appreciate look says it all. Such a pal! Even if he does look absolutely silly!

But the mention of something strange is worrying, and Ochako directs her attention back up to the tree. Everything looks... normal? Just a grey tree with red-orange fruit...]

No, I don't. It looks fine to me, but what do you see?

[They are both lumpy orange carriers at the moment. Ochako is going to have to be the designated ambassador to the ghost just because she's the only one that doesn't look ridiculous.]

It wasn't the fruit... It was a different color. [There is a moment of silence. Of course, she remembers the newly posted quests.] I thought I saw a yellow leaf but they're all gray now. It might be a long shot but I don't think it's smart to pass it up.

[And with a shrug Emma places her hand at the base of the branch and proceeds to tear out every. single. leaf. She now has a lovely bouquet of gray leaves clutched in her hand.]

It was probably one of these.

[This sure is happening... Okuyasu shoves the last few oranges somewhere in his jacket and then just watches Emma do this thing. Hmm.]

You want The Hand to grab another branch?

[Oh yeah... there was something about yellow leaves on the quest board, wasn't there? Ochako didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but thankfully Emma did. Such a smart kid.]

Good thinking! Maybe they'll all come in handy. I can help you carry them, if you need me to.

[Because seriously, that's a ton of leaves. And if the branch is coming, too...]

No, I think I've got it. [she looks back up at the poor tree, a bit embarrassed.] Plus we probably shouldn't hurt it too much.

[There were just talking about how the forest might negatively react to them and everything. Oops. Emma will hand a portion of her leaves over to Ochako. Now she is part of the ridiculous items club, congratulations.]

Thanks! We should keep going before it gets dark.

[she just fucking handed over some leaves, this thread? this thread.]

I'm gonna pass on sharing the leaves. [Look at how many oranges he's somehow holding in this single jacket - he's got enough. Now then, he'll lead the way ahead this time, with an eye out for more colorful fruit... but instead of fruit it's a clearing they come upon next, overgrown and wild, but most certainly the end of this path for the time being. And it's getting pretty late...]

The hell is this? Some kinda dead end?

[badum tsh...... He marches over to the nearest lumpy pile of vines and other overgrowth to Hand-slice at the plants, revealing the worn headstone underneath. Aha—immediately he grabs handfuls of vines with his normal, people hands, trying to pull the plants back like he never was here, touching this thing.] Oh, shit. Don't tell anybody I touched their dead guy's grave.

[So dramatic! She brushes right past him, trying to shoo him away from the headstone so that she can take a closer look. A cemetery isn't the nicest place to be, especially as it gets darker and darker, but it's nothing to be too freaked out over. And besides, she's sat through dozens of Tokoyami's scary stories. She's got this.]

It's fine! I'm sure that no one minds, so let's look at it, okay?

[But sweeping away the vines he's yanked free doesn't reveal anything at all. The stone looks smooth, and it feels smooth, too; there are no grooves that she can trace with her fingers, and so, after a few fruitless minutes, she straightens back up with an annoyed huff.]

Nothing. I thought tha— [What did she think? Who knows, because suddenly there is a noise. She instinctively takes a step toward Emma.] D-Did you hear that?

[Damn... maybe Okuyasu had a point after all.]

[Is the eleven year old the only one here not bothered by ghost stories? She is, isn't she. If anything she is honestly curious, never having seen a real cemetery before in her life. She heads over to the neighboring pile of vines and leaves to pull them back and reveal another tombstone.]

It doesn't look like anyone has been here in a long time. [she checks to see if there is any writing on this one. a solid no.] If it's abandoned just like the town then who would get mad?

[Ghosts is who, Emma. Speaking of which she looks up towards the sound. It's a startling change after the complete quiet. She hadn't realized how she had already adjusted to the lack of animals and normal forest sounds.]

Mhm. I heard it. [But.. she doesn't see anything?] Maybe an animal nests here?

[Emma what if there is a HAUNTED DOLL??!! What then!!!]

Don't touch more of 'em! You're gonna piss off the dead people!

[Okuyasu is... doing his best to whisper, now, but because it's Okuyasu it still sounds like normal volume speech, just more hurried. Don't get them haunted to death, please?! He's reaching over to just grab her by the back of the shirt and pull her away from the tombstone, because he's the big brother here and he said so. Come!!]

There hasn't been so much as a fly this whole damn time...

[Ochako is trying to put on a brave face, but Emma is, without a doubt, the gutsiest one here. This is just getting too weird, okay? Fighting villains is a-okay, but mysterious noises in abandoned graveyards...]

It didn't sound like an animal. [Now she's whispering, too, but at least she's doing so quietly.] It was like someone was... crying?

[It sounded like a sob, actually. Like the one they're all hearing right now? And this is when they both look at Okuyasu—nah, just kidding. This is when Ochako gives their surroundings one last scan, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. And there's something out there. Oh, there's definitely something. It's too far away to tell what, exactly, it's shaped like, and it's almost like it keeps slipping in and out of focus, but one thing is for certain: when it's there, she can see right through it.

Goodbye, world. Ochako makes a small, strangled noise and promptly ducks behind the nearest headstone.]

It's a ghost!

[Don't worry. Even though her voice is shrill and she's clearly terrified, she'll pop up soon for ambassador duty. Crying ghosts aren't so bad... maybe...]

[Whoa! Emma is successfully dragged away from the headstone by Okuyasu. There was no way she wouldn't be dragged away considering she is a whopping 50lbs when wet.

Okay, okay, she will join in with the whispering. There confidence in the supernatural is convincing even her. It wouldn't really be too far fetched after talking furniture though.]

It could be any number of things... We need to stay calm-

[And there goes Ochako. She sees the spectral image now after being pointed in the right direction and she can hardly believe her own eyes. But there it is... a flickering shape in the distance.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to weigh herself down with fruit earlier. Reaching around to grab her gun was way harder. Which she proceeds to do while taking a cautionary step towards the strange being.

Someone please yank her back before she blows this meeting, literally, from the get go.]

[What the fuck—]

What do you mean, any number? It's not a sheet!

[Don't worry, while Ochako finds the ideal hiding spot, Okuyasu will yet again grab Emma and drag her to hide like a responsible person. He'll just not let go of her, this time, because evidently keeping safe literally a second ago didn't click into place.]

Just hang on! [Okay. OKAY...] What do we do?

Into The Forest

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