epidemiology | oo-de-lally (OPEN-CATCHALL)

Entry tags:

oo-de-lally (OPEN-CATCHALL)

CHARACTERS: open to all night wood wanderers.

DATE: from this network post up to just before the the order of the chimera meeting event

WARNINGS: gintoki is in here somewhere.

SUMMARY: just a catchall log for threads in the woods with anyone who wants to wander around in the forest. even if they weren't planning to go with Masamune and Muneshige, by all means feel free to jump in. If you change your mind or even want to make a top-level totally unrelated to exploring with them if yor own character (or small group of characters) are wandering around during this time and you don't want to make a completely separate log for it, please feel okay to use this, too.

Any prompts/starts will be in top levels.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

[ but pretend it's dark and make a top level... or feel free to reply to any of the ones unless it's for some reason marked closed o7 ]

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[As long as it's a nice ass, she won't complain. (And she'll probably look, she's an adult woman with a perfectly healthy sex drive.) For now, she keeps her eyes off his ass and on their surroundings, though it's a little difficult to devote 100% of her attention to playing watchdog when some of it's forcibly channeled into keeping up with his longer legs.

Her own eyesight's a bit poorer than his, and she doesn't notice anything off until he stops and her head follows the twist of his own. Huh.]

More fairy nests?

[Though the more she squints at it, the more the light doesn't seem to match the eerie blue glow of the slime they'd all been exposed to a week ago.]

_{[ it's a pretty decent ass, but I mean. It doesn't matter— his yukata covers himself there.
Moving right along: ]}

Dunno. I don't think so.
_{[ The more that he looks at it, the more it looks like a warmer light— like it is possibly another lantern. Gintoki casts Riza a glance. ]}

Did you invite anybody else to this party? 'Cause I didn't.
_{[ was it more wanderers who had the same idea..? ]}

[They are pretty much a hivemind here....but she shakes her head in denial.]

I mentioned we were out here to someone else, but he had other matters to attend to.

[AKA attending some creepy-ass cultist meeting also out in the middle of nowhere. She doesn't put two and two together just yet - Julius hadn't exactly specified a location for his highly suspicious meeting - but she turns towards Gintoki nonetheless.]

Should we go investigate?

[She's game if he is.]

It would be dumb to not.
_{[ Gintoki says, casting Riza a grin. It's a pretty sincere and honest grin before he decides the lead the way, surprisingly enough.

Gintoki moves off of the path and begins to enter the brush, thin, bare tree branches snapping as he asserts his body through them. He debates about calling out to the light to see if maybe it's another person, but keeps it quiet for now. ]}

[Admittedly, sneaking through underbrush with little more than a pale orb of light to guide her way is not her strong suit. She's used to being unseen, but still at the same time, and as a result, the occasional twig snaps underneath her foot. Hayate, thanks to his animal nature, is far quieter, padding obediently alongside Gintoki.

Two minutes into their impromptu stealth mission, the pinprick of light goes out—only to spark back to life some moments later. Another person then, or several clustered around a single source of light.]

It looks like someone else had the same idea we did.

[A dark forest filled with fairies is the perfect romantic getaway, after all.]

_{[ Gintoki feels himself tense slightly a the ncrease of people seen through these shadows, but as they are closer now, he mutters quietly: ]}

Ri-san.
We should dampen out lantern as we get closer.
_{[ It could be somebody or something he isn't fond of making contact with. Call him a little paranoid. Gintoki actually stops and listen, seeing if he could hear any voices. ]}

[The formality in her voice has her cocking her head, one eyebrow lifted questioningly, but she does as he suggests, lightly blowing out the candle tucked inside their lantern so that the area surrounding them returns back to its natural state of darkness. It takes a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness; when they do, she finds that there are more points of light than just the one, and blurred shapes that might very well be people.

A meeting of some sort?

She frowns, taking a step closer.]

It might not be safe to approach.

[But they also won't find out who's holding secret meetings in the forest if they don't investigate.]

_{[ Riza can probably see a rather smug smile on his face through the pale moonlight as he glances at her, his voice dragging a drawl lazily. ]}

Oiii, you don't seem like the type of girl who has let that stopped her before.

Especially when it comes to saving people-- strangers. That is your passion in this place.

_{[ Gintoki tiptoes further towards them the glancing over his shoulder. He has seen and heard about Riza doing nothing but help people during these riots-- she's obviously taking her employment here seriously. ]}

Aren't we supposed to chase our passions?

_{[ getting involved is obviously what they are trying to do here and hopefully give the two enemies some peace. ]}

[Those comments gain her full attention quick enough, Riza looking over at Gintoki with surprise clear in the lines of her face. Not because he'd picked up on her dedication - she's never been nothing but serious about her work - but that he'd thought to comment on it, and to use such lofty words as 'passion.'

She blinks once, then twice, letting her gaze drift out into the lights before them.]

I don't want to watch more people die.

[Doesn't want to be the cause of those deaths if they're not warranted. The moment's over quick as it comes, wall carefully reconstructed back up, and her voice turns brisk once more as her gaze sharpens, the touch of sadness from before gone completely.]

Let's go then.

_{[ Gin seems content with her response, though he doesn't comment on it. He respects her a lot already by her attitude in with dealing with this place— he thinks he could maybe learn several lessons from her. He feels a little guilty, though, that he was probably the cause of some of those deaths.. but it was to defend others who needed it.

He won't think too long on it.

Gin continues to tiptoe, making sure Riza is staying close by, whispering to her: ]}

Who are these guys?
_{[ hard to see.. they're still a bit away. ]}

[She pauses, letting a few silent moments pass by as she tries to piece together the few bits of information she has into a coherent goal.]

I've been told that there's a secret meeting being held somewhere in the woods tonight, for the group called the Order of the Chimera.

[If that sounds super sketch, that's because it is.]

This could be that meeting.

_{[ Gintoki looks very unimpressed. ]}
And Gin-san isn't invited?

_{[ We'll see about that. ]}
Any idea what they're meeting about?

[Too bad, so sad. He can go sulk about that later. For now, they should probably be on the alert in case random strangers encircle them out of nowhere and demand to know why they're out here.]

The invitation I was shown spoke of bringing justice back to Chantes.

[Whatever that vague as hell wording is supposed to mean. Clearly, there's only one thing they should do here: Crash this party.]

That sounds like something that is going to benefit what were supposed to do, isn't it?

_{[ Gin whispers to Riza, making sure they don't hear him and making sure they don't miss any words these people may speak.
Gintoki can't really hear anything very well, so he continues to advance toward them, but he's moving very slowly.

He is also looking upward. Is he getting ideas? ]}

One can only hope.

[Or this whole thing could be a trap designed to catch the nosiest of the ALASTAIR recruits in order to shut them up and prevent any interruptions to the ultimate goal of this mysterious Order of the Chimera. They'll never know unless they wait it out.

Riza notes Gintoki's gaze, follows it upwards.]

What is it?

Maybe we can get closer without being caught if we climb.
_{[ this seems like a wonderful idea that couldn't go wrong whatsoever.
like the branch breaking and making a lot of noise or even him falling on top of a chimera in the middle of the meeting?

yeah, none of these things cross his mind as he advances even further, looking for a nice tree to hopefully use to his advantage. ]}

[Doubt flutters across her face, lifting one eyebrow up as it passes quickly by. Climbing trees is all well and good, but when it's used as part of an impromptu stealth mission...]

I'm afraid my tree-climbing skills need some work.

[AKA no, she's not doing this, there has to be an easier way out of it. Thankfully, the eclectic group of people before them seem to be in various states of disarray, a few people keeping to the sides of the clearing while others stumble around in confusion.]

It doesn't look like they're checking for invitations. We should be able to walk in without raising too much suspicion.

_{[ Gintoki stops, looking over his shoulder at Riza. ]}
Oi, so the whole play it cool route. _{[ He hates this route? Why, Riza. .. mainly cause he knows he has a hard time playing it cool, so to say. ]}

It's just like that, ah? This is like crashing grandma's house just to eat the food from the potluck and not bringing anything yourself. Grandma gets her pay back later when its New Years and you don't receive a new years envelope with money inside. _{[ ?? ]}

_{[ An indignant huff as he turns right back around. ]}
Maybe we should split off and go different ways then.

['Cool' is her schtick, don't hate....

Just like spouting nonsense seems to be his schtick, her normally unflappable expression creasing back into vague irritation at his throwaway lines about grandmas and new years envelopes. (Maybe she'd be more receptive to grandma jokes if she'd ever gotten the chance to know either of hers.)

In any case, his suggestion is a good one, and she nods in brisk approval.]

That might be for the best. If the instructions were to tell no one, the two of us entering together would rouse suspicion.

_{[ ....
Gintoki coughs, keeping his body half hidden before a tree trunk. ]}

... I guess this is where we — you know. It's where we part ways ... and wish each other luck and crap.
_{[ don't you wanna say goodbye, Riza. ]}

[Does he want a goodbye kiss or something.....'cause he ain't gonna get it. But okay, fine, she can settle for some sort of touching goodbye message.

Here it is, as she detaches herself from their assigned tree trunk and starts circling around to the left.]

Take care. Try not to die.

[She cares??]

_{[ Shouldn't he top her? Maybe say something to her? Maybe he has a touching message for her too? This could be really dangerous, you know. What would he even say?

Why is nice ass the only thing that comes to mind? ]}

_{[ ................ ]}

Yeah, uh.
You too.
_{[ circles around his tree to also split off. They'll do this together! But separately. ]}

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