1st Technick: Tomatoes Gone Wild

[mincingminuet]

WHO: Penelope Raban, a renegade monster, and you.
WHERE: Apprassage
WHEN: April 3rd
WHAT: Penelope regains a piece of Auracite and accidentally activates it, freeing the Alraune inside. And it runs off.
WARNINGS: Language and tomato related violence may abound.



A. Birch Hills:

When Penelope had gotten the package in her mailbox, she hadn't honestly thought much of it. She got a lot of stuff in the mail, and this was probably just her new flash drive or a spare RAM stick or something, she figured. But when she opened it and a small green gemstone popped out, she realized that there was something else at play here. Not quick enough for her, unfortunately...as the shard reacted to Penelope's touch almost instinctively. It started to glow, a flash of light bright enough to be seen by anyone who happened to be looking at her windows.

One crash, loud bang, and high pitched scream later and her apartment door bursts open and two things streak outside. The first is an enormous white cat, tail standing straight up. The second is a blur of red and brown about a foot and a half tall. It zips off in another direction, and a wide eyed, very frazzled looking Pen appears at the door.

"Hey! Both of you get back here right now!"


B. Recolle Public Library

Libraries generally are pretty quiet places, to be sure. And today's no different. It's less the noise that's a distraction to anyone who happens to be using the reading room today, and more the strange feeling that there's something moving around beneath the table. Maybe it's a brush of something against your pant leg, or maybe you're feeling watched down there, or it might just be a breeze on you as you feel something whisk by. A cat maybe? Or something else?

Or maybe the distraction is coming in the form of one out of breath Penelope, breathing heavily as she walks up.

"Hey. Uh, have you seen anything weird today?"


C. Recolle Rec Center

By now it's getting close to 9PM and most things are beginning to wrap up here, but that doesn't stop a small commotion from starting when the doors to one of the empty martial arts rooms bursts open and something small and red scurries out, being chased by a breathless Penelope. She's brandishing a wooden sword clearly borrowed from inside and takes a leaping swipe at the red streak. She misses of course, but that doesn't mean she's done. Collecting herself, she looks around wildly for wherever it ran to...

"Quick, which way did it go?!"


D. Closed to Freya


And when all of this fails, she calls up the one person she knows who can help deal with this. The little hellspawn's seemingly trapped but this is definitely a two man job. So, ringing Freya up seems like a good idea. Whenever she does pick up, a breathless Penelope sighs in relief.

"Hey, Freya. I...need your help with something. It's pretty urgent. If you could get to the student union I'd really appreciate it."

Comments

[belligerentwarrior]

"Urgent?"

Freya reaches over to turn off the stove, setting aside the knife with her other. Urgent and breathlessness never went well together. Her voice stays level among her concern. "What kind of urgent?"

Or, in translation, what do I need to bring and how many traffic laws do I need to break to get there.

[mincingminuet]

"As in...something absolutely insane happened and there's something that needs to be dealt with urgent. You won't believe me until you see what happened. Bring your bow if you have it still."

Penelope sounds completely serious, too. Which is never a good sign. No kidding around...

[belligerentwarrior]

Her hunting bow, huh? Something that absurd, even after the horses and chocobos and unfortunately vivid dreams of being stabbed by tiny green fishmen? There's a clatter as Freya dumps her utensils in the sink. "Well, this sounds like it's gonna be a riot. Ten minutes, tops."

She has absolutely no idea what Pen has in store. She won't just bring the bow—she'll bring her whole damn kit.

[mincingminuet]

"Thanks. I'm at the south entrance by the parking lot."

She hangs up then, and when Freya arrives, she'll find Penelope waiting outside on the steps leading into the Union. She's wearing heavy boots, a red hoodie, and a baseball bat rests across her lap. her face is set in a grim line, and she rises and walks over.

"Sorry to drag you all the way out here, but you're the only person I know who has any hunting experience whatsoever besides...me. And uh. I'm going to show you something on my phone. Promise you won't freak, okay?"

[belligerentwarrior]

Freya at least had the foresight to come hooded herself, since she was going to be waltzing into the student union with a weapon (or three) and all. Though at the moment she just looks suspicious, with a stuffed hiking pack and a duffel bag hanging off her arm.

She merely grins, despite Pen's severe approach. "You know who you're talkin' to, right? C'mon—me, freak out?"

C

[bold_in_deed]

Well, uh. That's a tomato man running straight at Ilia.

Yep.

One would think her instinct would be to leap out of the way or something, but oh no. She pivots on her heel instead and aims a hard kick at the thing. She misses by inches, and the damned thing runs past her.

But before she can collect herself, she hears Penelope call out. She's not even going to question why she has a sword.

"I think you lost something!" she shouts to her, pointing at where the tomato man ran.

[mincingminuet]

It's a good instinct to have, when it comes to renegade tomatoes but yeah, it's a fast little goober and it ducks away, rolling between her legs and whizzing off down a hallway.

When Pen hears a familiar voice, she charges up, panting and frantically waving the weapon down the hallway.

"That way?! Okay! Towards the racketball courts?"

She pauses a heartbeat, catching her breath.

"Think you can help? Little thing took off this afternoon and I've been trying to catch him ever since."

[bold_in_deed]

"Yeah, I'll do what I can." Penelope is obviously a bit winded, and that thing should not be loose in the city. God only knows what it's going to do. Ilia jerked her head in the direction it went, turning on her heel and starting to go after it. "Isn't that the same thing you saw in your dream?"

[mincingminuet]

"Close. Head's a little different, but it's close enough."

This one also looks kind of mad...but a pause, because there is an important detail.

"Well, on the bright side this one doesn't have teeth. That other one had some pretty nasty little fanglies."

[bold_in_deed]

"Oh good, the worst it'll do is gum someone." Hopefully. Ilia begins to run in the same direction as the rogue tomato. It's not too hard to find its trail, given the shrieks and the weird looks on people's faces.

Birch Hills

[wordcarvings]

Koutarou had just been coming home after leaving very early in the morning to drive his best friend to the doctor for an emergency, and doesn't expect to return to the apartment building being in a ruckus. He was just going to pass and head toward his own apartment but he stopped in the stairs when he reached the floor the ruckus came from, and has to sidestep to not get knocked over.

"What in the world?!"

[mincingminuet]

Penelope skitters to a halt a few inches in front of Koutarou...and the little creature hops through his legs, chittering merrily and pausing a few steps down.

"Sorry! Um. I'm trying to catch him!"

[wordcarvings]

“Oh!” He hurriedly steps to the side so she can follow the creature down the stairs, and looks at it. “I’m sorry, I’m in the way."

[mincingminuet]

"It's fine. He didn't...bite you or anything did he?"

She starts moving past him but just in case it is a were-tomato...

[wordcarvings]

"No? It didn't." At least not as far as he knew. It didn't even touch him. "It has teeth?" He couldn't see it very well but it was an odd-looking thing for sure.

C! as i roll in here late~

[darkinferno]

Dante's been at the rec center getting in a workout--after all, if he's going to learn to fight he'd better have the strength to back it up--when the doors to one of the rooms burst open. Seeing the first thing bolting out of the room is strange enough, but when Pen comes bursting out after it, wielding a wooden sword of all things, Dante gives up on his workout and jumps up.

"Pen, what's going on? What're you chasing after?"

Unspoken, he's wondering if he's going to need to grab one of those swords himself to help her deal with it.

s'ok.

[mincingminuet]

"I'm...not really sure what to call it. But it's definitely something I need to catch. I'll explain when we get him pinned down!"

She bolts off, tearing past him and just expecting him to keep up. Dante's a taller dude than she is, and the little tomato is fast...whipping around a corner towards an empty workout room.

[darkinferno]

It's not much of an explanation, but it's enough for Dante. "All right!" He ducks into the room that Pen's just come out of, glancing around until he finds the wooden practice swords himself. For some reason, he feels a little more confident holding the sword in hand, facing down an unknown creature...

He doesn't luxuriate in the feeling, though, instead darting right back out and after Pen. He catches up to her just as she's turning the corner towards the workout room, and he brings his sword up instinctively in a guard just in case something's awaiting them.

But instead he sees... nothing?

That can't be right.

"Is it hiding?" he asks in an undertone, eyes scanning the room and its contents slowly. There are cubbies near the door for patrons to stow their bags or shoes in, a pile of mats in one corner, several freestanding punching bags across the room... "It's gotta be in here somewhere."

[mincingminuet]

Penelope nods and starts into the room, sword waving a little unsteadily. She's no sword fighter, and the wooden blade is unfamiliar in her hands.

"It has to be, yeah. Check in the corners. I'll have a look in the cubbies. Process of elimination says he's here somewhere."

She heads over towards the little boxes and starts sticking the sword into each one, methodically checking them. What she doesn't realize is that the tomato creature has actually climbed up one of the punching bags and is hanging from the metal bit holding it to the ceiling. It's obscured, and she's not really looking at it, but if Dante gets close he might see something out of line. Or hear it's labored breathing. It's been running all day after all.

[darkinferno]

"Got it." Dante keeps his sword at the ready as he progresses further into the room, scanning slowly to make sure that he won't miss a thing. But the room seems to be completely empty, and it's not until he's almost made it into the far corner that he realizes that something feels off. That it feels almost like... he's being watched.

The hairs on the back of his neck seem to prickle, and Dante comes to a slow halt. Where... is...

A-ha.

The tomato creature seems to realize that it's been spotted at almost the precise moment that Dante realizes what it is he's looking at--"Pen! Get the doors!" he shouts out, but whether or not she hears it is another story entirely, as the creature is leaping toward him and Dante's swinging his sword in an attempt to strike it out of the air. (Is it trying to attack? Is it trying to flee? He's got no idea, just the reflexes to try and strike it down!)

B

[commandertoolbelt]

History has got to be one of the worst classes in school. Math? Logical, easy to follow. English? Less so, but it making up some crap as you go wasn’t the hardest thing to do. P.E.? A lot of suffering, but at least it didn’t come with homework. But history was boring and gave you research papers to do. Ugh.

If it weren’t for that, he wouldn’t be in the library at all, but he was just heading back to his table with a few books in hand when he felt a light breeze, and when he looks up, there’s Penelope.

“You look like you just ran a marathon,” he tells her, eyebrows raised. And then he realizes what she’s asking and his face falls. “...Please tell me there aren’t actually were-tomatoes running around the city.”

Then again, if it gets him out of homework...

[mincingminuet]

"..."

Pen takes a breath and just kind of glares at him. He's joking, she thinks, and that kind of annoys her, but as she sags into a seat next to him she pulls out her phone.

"Actually. Yes. I don't know how. But one actually showed up."

Flipping it to video, she calls up a file of a very real, very hyperactive looking little guy running down the street.

"He just showed up in my apartment, freaked out the cat, and ran off. I saw him run in here.

[commandertoolbelt]

Oh god, she’s serious. There are actually manic tomatoes running around town? Should he even be surprised after the fruit thing?

“But it’s not even a harvest moon!” he blurts out, staring at the video in disbelief. This can’t be happening. “What would a tomato want in a library? Shouldn’t it, I don’t know, be seeking justice for its fallen comrades at some Italian restaurant?”

[mincingminuet]

"Leo..."

Penelope sighs heavily, just trying to keep herself from screaming in frustration and laughing at the sheer insanity of it. It partially works, an uncomfortable titter the only sound she makes.

"I...have no idea what it wants. I just. It freaked me out. And ran off. And I thought that I really can't let it run loose. I mean, hell! It's a freaking tomato monster!"

[commandertoolbelt]

“Great, we’ve been upgraded from dancing fruit to a tomato monster running loose through the city. What’s next, a swarm of string beans? Killer peaches?”

Don’t answer that.

Okay, okay. They can’t just let a wild tomato run around the city, right? And definitely not in here - the librarians are going to freak out if they learn about this. There’s no telling if it’s out to hurt people or what. So Leo’s just going to put down the books because look, this is way more important than some dumb history report.

“Do you know which way it went? We should probably find it before it finds someone to recruit for its heirloom or bushel or whatever.” He pauses. “You wouldn’t happen to have a sack on you, would you?”

They’ve got to catch it somehow.