01 ✦ VIDEO [Day 128]

[skycrossing]

[ the day is fading. somewhere within the thor district that a video framing a new young face appears. leaning against a desaturated brick wall, the girl's hair is messier than it deserves, thick, dark locks falling into her face in jacked chunks, as if she'd been running and didn't care to brush it flat. her eyes, a dazzling violet, show obvious signs of distress and restlessness, and her thin brows are furrowed with frustration and… sorrow.

though lenalee lee had been pulled into asgard at a critical moment, she compromised with herself before leaving the palace, determining to take up this mission to repaint the land of asgard because it's better to have a goal than be stuck refusing it. however, in walking towards her welcome hall, she strayed off the path to follow a colourless cat and was eventually led to an area of depressing greyness.

overwhelmed by a sensation only she could liken to the atmosphere of a post-battle infirmary, she finds the need to stop and collect herself. somehow, seeing this emptiness strikes her soul even though she's not unused to these feelings, these smells, and overall sight of disease.

there is but one question heavily bearing upon her mind, and that is why she looks at the camera now, desperate. ]

…The letter did not say. Can anyone tell me how this place became this way? Losing all its colour, its emotion. The people's faces, even the birds and cats on the street. They all… it's like—

[ a yelled profanity. lenalee's eyes shoot wide open and she flicks her head to her left, meeting with an entity enshrouded by a dark mass and running at her with a long, bludgeoning weapon.

the connection terminates after a drop in perspective, the sound of a smash, and tumbling image of debris, pavement, and black. ]


( OOC: Late!!! But here's to a dramatic intro. Lenalee is being attacked by a Taken, and during this encounter she'll realize she can't activate her Innocence. YIKES. But she's not so helpless and uses her super! speed! to run away because… she thinks that person is still a human? SO NO CAN KILL?? please feel free to action this up, but any network responses will be answered after she's gotten to a safe, light place… also! tags may come late, as I'm getting on a plane in 12 hours! )

Comments

text

[wittlich]

[Oh, there is no fun like agitating the new people.] Perhaps it was simply made this way.

text

[skycrossing]

[ perhaps ten minutes later, after she's shaken the shadow off her trail and calmed herself. that is, to say, simply decreasing the rate of her heartbeat. lenalee isn't too happy to be greeted by such an unhelpful comment. ]

We wouldn't have been asked to "restore" what never existed.

video

[naicha]

[ That person, she looked like one of China's, or maybe one of Japan's citizens - the camera moves too fast for her to tell. Either way, she feels the need to check on this girl. She might be one of Taiwan's people, too. ]

Wei? Are you still there, miss?

I hope so, you know!

video - sorry for the wait!! italics would be in chinese; i don't speak it myself...!

[skycrossing]

[ sharp observational skills, taiwan! here's a chance to observe a little more, fifteen or so minutes later, after escaping and regaining her composure. much more gratified for this concerned comment than the previous antagonising one, lenalee welcomes the cultural address (and the full face!) with pleasant surprise and her lips crack into a smile. she doesn't get to practice her mandarin as often as she'd like. she clears her throat, eyes rising towards the camera. ]

Yes, miss, here I am. Sorry for the scare. Do you know what that might have been, though?

video - it's alright! i'm not very fluent, either.

[naicha]

[ oh, mandarin! the accent is different from hers, though. perhaps she's from the mainland. either way, she's relieved this girl is fine. ]

I'm sorry, but it's the first time I've seen it! Come to think of it, it's been a long time since something odd happened in Asgard.

video - AUGH I MISSED THIS I'M SORRY

[skycrossing]

[ she is. or used to be. that is how she was taught... in europe... ]

Then... is this an enemy attack? Is everyone taking shelter? We need to get everyone off the streets if there are more out there than it seems.

video - it's okay!

[naicha]

I'm not sure if it's an attack from outside the walls, but people are definitely getting hurt.

[ But Taiwan adds that there's nothing to worry about, since most people are already in safehouses. She tells Lenalee where these safehouses are, too. Because I don't know where they are, oops... ]

video;

[brokenpromise]

O-oh dear. Are you alright miss? [ what timing to be first taken, Shannon feels helpless that she can't help. ]

video;

[skycrossing]

[ it's okay, shannon. lenalee is quite the capable girl! in fact, she'll prove it, returning the message with a better appearance, if the difference between discouragement and flightiness can be considered better. either way, lenalee's no longer under attack, and the shot of adrenaline's done her some good in that it's cleared the fog of distress that had covered her mind earlier. ]

Hello, miss. [ she bows her head apologetically. ] Yes, I'm fine now. Sorry to have frightened you, if I have. I was able to outrun... whatever that was.

[ exhale. inhale. endeavoured polite smile. ] I'm Lenalee, and... I'm new here, obviously. I should really get to my Welcome Hall, shouldn't I...

[ her eyes dart to the side as she glances at her map, attempting to pinpoint her current location, but all the buildings look the same from where she's standing. ]

video;

[brokenpromise]

A-Ah. [ A response! That was a good sign indeed. ] Well, I'm glad. It's been quite hectic around here.

I'm Shannon, it's nice to meet you, Miss Lenalee. That would be a good idea or rather any shelter with light. It seems that those things don't like being in the light.

video;

[skycrossing]

Light? Okay... [ it is getting fairly dark out so this worries her. lenalee's feet start trying to find their way back to the main road. it isn't too far, fortunately. meanwhile, she smiles at the other girl more genuinely. ] Nice to meet you too, Miss Shannon.

Has it been? [ hectic. ] How long has it been since these things started showig up?

video;

[brokenpromise]

Y-yes. It seems they have a weakness to light.

Well it's been a few days since it first started, but... if we don't do something soon, I fear it'll get worse.

[ ᴠıᴅᴇᴏ ]

[corona]

[ It isn't your standard newbie introduction, that's for sure.

Someone mucking around with their powers maybe? ] Uh. It... was an epidemic. Everyone in the city lost their color because of a disease, but - uh, haha. Are you okay?

[ ᴠıᴅᴇᴏ ]

[skycrossing]

I — [ lenalee glances over her shoulder suspiciously, even though she's pretty sure that thing lost her after the second sprinted mile. she exhales deeply before turning her face back towards the screen spending a short moment focusing on the picture of the girl floating in the air. she looks as stunned as she is. lenalee tries to remedy this with a smile. ] I'm fine. I'm sorry for the scare. It tried to hit me, and I dodged as best as I could, but I guess in doing so I knocked the bracelet.

[ blinks a couple times, roughly tucking her hair behind her ear. she wishes it were longer already for her to tie back. ]

A disease, you said? To affect an entire kingdom this way... and somehow we—our "laughter and tears," as the letter said—those are supposed to cure it? [ lenalee frowns a bit skeptically. ] But who's to say we aren't immune to its effects...?

screech. i thought i entered thisss

[corona]

Oh. We aren't. [ This with much more calm than it deserves. What she really wants to ask about is what tried to hit her, which was her second thought.

Her first was that she, whoever this girl is, seems almost as good at damage control as she's gotten to be. No panic, no tirade of questions, nothing but the kind of smile Rapunzel recognizes and mimics instantly. ]

See that bracelet? It's what keeps the Grey from really hurting you. If you take it off and leave it off outside your Welcome Hall? You'll...become like the Faceless. And you'll wander the city like them until you find your way back or one of the guards finds the way back to your District for you.

But - the difference between us and them is that we can prevent it. By being here we're undoing it too. The natives though? Nothing worked to reverse the process once it started, and they had no way to protect themselves at all. [ "Supposedly," she almost says. ]

No matter how long we go without our bracelets we can always return to who we were. They just... they don't have that luxury, you know?

PERMAVID! & no problemmm i fell alseep anyway orz

[skycrossing]

The Grey...

[ she repeats in a murmur, drifting into thought the more rapunzel explains. as an exorcist, lenalee can't help draw parallels along the way between this disease and that of the akuma virus. there is no cure and unless one is a parasitic type, with innocence embedded somewhere into a person's body, there is no way to prevent infection, and death is instant. it's a whole lot crueler, giving no chance for the afflicted to survive. at least these people can have hope—if only felt indirectly.

( another bracelet to depend my life on... )

though good at masking her emotions more often than not, the preoccupations are not hidden from lenalee's face. her brows knit and her lips thin until just a moment after rapunzel finishes and she nods in agreement, lifting her eyes from her ankles back to the camera. the smile she shows now is sorrowfully compassionate but nevertheless radiant. ]

I understand. Thank you for telling me all this. It isn't an easy thing to explain. I'm guessing you've been here a while?

[ carefully, gently, because she knows whoever else has these bracelets are also far from home, from friends. ]

[glistens]

[ The first half of that she'll neatly ignore. Largely because Lenalee is right. It's interesting to her, though - the cautious manner, the incongruence of panic (surprised that native but not by Asgard itself), and of course there's just the way she speaks; she speaks like someone who's been here before under worse circumstances. ]

Something like that. Not as long as some of the others, for sure, but -- [ a shrug ] It's home all the same.

But if we're going to play 20 questions I have to warn you that I am very good at it now.

action

[wristbands]

[ever since this whole... incident had started, Chie's been roaming around Asgard almost nonstop, doing her best to help people in this time of need. while she knows people from the Thor district can usually hold their own in a battle, it doesn't stop her from making the rounds around there anyway—and luckily enough, it's during this time that the new girl catches her attention. she changes direction and starts running toward her, gearing up for another battle with the Taken between the two of them.]

Hey, watch out—!

action

[skycrossing]

[ not to worry, chie, lenalee's got this. kind of. rolling and dodging out of the taken's attacks with what appears to be a piece of lumber, the exorcist rediscovers her inability to activate her innocence (the first having been upon the palace grounds, though she supposed it might have been an effect over the area, such as a magic-disabling barrier the science division utilizes). however, now caught in an ambush on the streets of asgard, she is hit with another fact of her new-found reality. with echoes of thoughts trying to figure out why she can't summon her boots, the rest of her mind focuses on how to deal with this enemy.

what is it? —then a voice rings out behind her, and lenalee turns to it after parrying and delivering a roundhouse kick to the attacker's side, sending him flying into a wall.

heart pumping in her ears, she faces chie. ]

Introductions later. Could you tell me what that is? Is it... human?

[ now that she's gotten a better look at it, it's vaguely shaped like a person, and lenalee can't attack a person the same way she'd attack a monster. ]

action

[wristbands]

[Chie tenses up when Lenalee asks that question... she's fully aware that what is now the Taken before them used to be a native... or maybe even a fellow Traveler. the thought just crushes her, but... there's no other choice. it's either it or them.]

It... it might have used to be. But no matter what it is now, there's no saving it.

action

[skycrossing]

[ there's no saving it. she's heard that sentence in too many ways too many times, so hearing it here just as she arrives is scalding, and it shows in the expression lenalee makes, a cross among rage, shock, and torment. though it's nothing against chie, lenalee's voice comes out harsher than she intends. ]

Are we just supposed to kill it, then? How do you know? Have you tried anything else?

[persistentsong]

Ah! Please be careful, things aren't safe outside.

[skycrossing]

[ huff huff, safe now but her heart is still racing. ]

I've realized... This doesn't seem to be a regular occurrence.

[ prs exprain, ranka. ]

[persistentsong]

No it's not. Normally things are a lot calmer, but I don't understand what's happening right now.

[She looks worried her hand pressed to her chest.]

[skycrossing]

Someone just told me it might be an attack from outside the walls. [ her face tightens. ] There are monsters in this world too...

[ lenalee looks up, eyes round and blazing with preparation to act. ] Do you know if anyone's in charge of a safety operation? Or maybe one of attack?