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WHO: Cleo and you! (Open)
WHERE: Various
WHEN: Throughout October
WHAT: October catch-all! ... Pre-Warehouse, anyway.
WARNINGS: Violence, gore, trauma in some of the prompts!

I. Animal shelter

[It's starting to get colder. Cleo does what she can for the strays around her apartment, of course, but she's only one person, and there's so many cats. She sets treats and food out for them, and has even put boxes with blankets in them in the alleys around her apartment for them. But she knows it's a bad idea to leave them at the mercy of the elements. Not all of them can be helped, or are willing to be helped, either... But those she can help, the friendly ones, she's going to try to help.

The short version is, you can find Cleo walking down the street towards Recolle's animal shelter, with five cats tailing after her. She's just walking calmly, occasionally stopping to make sure they're still following, and the cats just follow after her like she's the Pied Piper of Cats or something. It's actually pretty funny to watch, especially with some of the cats occasionally trying to bat at her tail. Help her with her literal cat herding?]

II. Dojo

[After her... incident with Dante, Cleo's taken to avoiding sparring in the dojo. She's still attending, at Tatsuo's insistence, but instead, she's begun to work on her katas, and is improving by leaps and bounds now that she's focusing on it. She is, in a sense, actually getting a note of peace from it. Clearing her head and focusing entirely on her movements, making them fluid and graceful, is something to focus on more than the fear and nightmares plaguing her... And, of course, it means she doesn't have to worry about snapping and breaking someone's bones again.

Of course, that's as long as nothing distracts her. If you were to, say, startle her mid-kata, she'd likely jump and have a moment of freaking out. But are you that cruel?]

III. Fog

[Cleo has, of course, heard of impenetrable fog. But she'd always thought it was a figure of speech, referring to vision, not fog actually blocking you off like a solid wall. She stops, and turns around, figuring it's more of Retrospec's shenanigans, but finds she's blocked off from behind, too...

A gong rings out, and the walls of fog around her begin to take more distinct shapes. Three podiums in front of her, much taller than she is. A gate behind her, fenced and chained, keeping her locked where she is. She can't move forward or backwards, and all she can do is look up (and up, and up), at the shadowy figures above her, obscured by the fog, looking down at her.... Two figures. The third podium is empty.

"███████ of the Magic Knights," one figure intones, "is hereby accused of treason."

Cleo draws her sword, looking around, completely ignoring the fog in order to shout.]

Hello?! Is anyone here?!

[She's not just going crazy, right? This isn't another nightmare? She can't even understand the name she heard. Did they say 'Cleo'? Or was it the other her's name?]

IV. ???

[This is where it gets bad.

You, poor unfortunate soul, have walked into someone else's nightmare. The world is gone. There's nothign around by a bizarre void. Not even a white void, or a black void, but completely absent of even those colors, the void of eternity and nothing at the same time. Cleo (and it is Cleo, not the her from the visions, but the poor, unfortunate girl herself- She doesn't even have her ears or tail, she's fully human) has her sword, and is fighting... someone.

That someone is a tall man with a serene smile. He has long, black hair, horns on his head, bird-like wings from his back, and a cat's tail as well. He doesn't move, as Cleo swings her sword, and simply passes through him, and he is unharmed. She throws magic, a giant pillar of ice, but he passes through it. And then he lifts an arm, and...

The pressure of the ocean crushes her, a torrent so powerful it strips the flesh from her bones, digging in, but even as her bones become visible, her body heals itself immediately. A stream of mana flows at her, poison flooding her body, and for an instant, the man is replaced by a monster that looks like a moving tree powered by arcane flames, and its poison courses through her. Again, she heals, and the man she fights is back to himself.

This time, no mere pressure, but the water of the ocean itself, slams into her, trying to drown her, and suddenly it's Thanatos dragging her through the water, she's going to drown, but even as water fills her lungs, her body is restored, and she fights through the burning pain of drowning to strike out at Thanatos- No, at the man, with lightning.

This will continue for some time. Cleo is impaled, crushed, burned, horribly injured in ways that should kill her, time and time again, but each time, she is fully healed like magic, and keeps fighting. It seems an eternal stalemate... until she finally gets one lucky swing, slashing into that man's arm. And then, suddenly, the man is Dante, staring in shock as Cleo crushes his arms and ribs with one mighty blow.

She screams.]

V. Retrospec

[Cleo is wandering through Retrospec's building and maze. She has her sword out in one hand, and her phone out in the other, taking as many pictures as she can as she goes, all the way to the end.

(Team Absinthe members may find a message on their phone with a picture of the forest bunker, simply captioned "Another one?")

This is more or less your wildcard option for exploring with her.]

VI. Wildcard

[this is your actual wildcard! Post-warehouse prompts are probably gonna be here.]

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[ Something wasn't right, Matt realized, as he made his way down a familiar city block. Not only had it become unnaturally quiet, but the sidewalk didn't end in the number of steps it should. Something was off. Retrospec, no doubt.

Then he hears Cleo yelling. ]

Hello?! Who's over there?!

[ He walks forward toward her, slow careful footsteps at first, cautious in case her voice was a part of the trick. As he draws closer he can hear the murmur of others in the "courtroom." ]

[Oh, thank god. Not a voice she recognizes, but a voice.

The problem is, is this going to be dangerous?]

I'm Cleo- If you don't know what Retrospec is, whoever you are, then you need to run away from here as quickly as possible.

[ Cleo? He definitely knows who she is though he's not going to assume she'd recognize him. Matt's job had him working on investigations with those of detective rank or higher. Most of the newer recruits and beat cops were just acquaintances he bumped into in the hallway at the station. Regardless, he continues toward her voice. They'll likely be safer together. ]

Cleo Ritter? This is ADA Murdock, what's going on over there? I hear other voices...

[She lets out a breath as she tries to figure out who he is... ADA, okay. Retrospeccer. She can work with this.]

The fog appears to have me on trial.

[Her tone is dry as she looks up at the podiums. "The court will hear Bartholomew's testimony." one of the figures at the top declares.]

Also, the witness, or perhaps prosecutor, appears to be someone I have received Retrospec visions of killing in the past.

If it's a trial maybe I can be of help.

[ He's a bit speechless at her mention of a memory of actually killing someone else but with a witness coming forth for testimony there's no time for shocked reactions. Matt inhales and finds his voice again. ]

Visions of Bartholomew? The one about to take the stand?

Yes.

[maybe be more specific, Cleo? Her tone remains dry, though it gains a sense of terseness and urgency, as well.]

He seemed to have... some manner of control over a poison. I don't know much more than that.

[Well, she knows a bit more, but she doesn't want to say.

Regardless, Bartholomew begins to speak, though the fog seems to be reacting to Cleo's emotions. The podiums seem to grow even taller, until he is just a hazy form above, voice echoing around them, as she bristles in nervousness and fear.

"One of the storage bays in the Source Crystal area was breached, a hole going down through the city's floor, forming a tunnel extending down nearly to the bottom... Just a bit more, and a hole would be wide open, allowing monsters access to the source of all life in their city, and plunge them all into the ocean's abyss."]

[ "Source Crystal"- must be something important with a name like that. Accessed by a tunnel through a city's floor. "Floor" is an unusual way to put that. Between "floor" and "plunge... into the ocean" Matt figures this must take place in a world very different from their own. For that matter, Cleo had acquired a tail not long ago hadn't she? Despite the fog speaking English all of this likely happened in a different language -if it was a real event. ]

Do you know what the Source Crystal does?

[He's not wrong. Cleo would be impressed if she could tell his thoughts. Instead, she just shakes her head.]

Only conjecture. The city in my memories was made of steel, and flew. It was high above an ocean, and monsters flew from the ocean to attack periodically. As far as I can tell, the 'Source Crystal' is likely what powered the city, and allowed it to float as it did.

["You would claim ignorance, even with your crime, knowing who your grandfather is?" Bartholomew's voice hisses.]

[ Matt raises a brow at Bartholomew's dramatic testimony. ]

Whoever he is, he's very prejudiced against you. Typically witnesses are encouraged to stay calmer on the stand. It's like this is personal for him. If the fog allows a cross examination we'll see what can be uncovered...

Very prejudiced, and very mistaken. [Her tone is dry again.] I don't have a grandfather.

[As if the fog hasn't heard her, Bartholomew continues. "There is no one else it could have been. As Isaac's granddaughter, of course she would know about the weakness in the city's defenses."]

I believe it is referring to the woman from my visions.

Makes sense. She's the one really on trial here. Do you remember anything about the grandfather?

[ Really, what would make someone's grandfather a clear sign they have access to some sort of passage under a floating city? Did he tell too many stories about back in his day guarding the crystal and get generous with the specific turns and doors he went through? ]

[She shrugs.]

I know that he died. Beyond that, nothing.

[So, not enough to go on. Bartholomew seems agitated, though: "I will not stand for your meaningless deception!"]

Whoever he is he must have had some sort of reputation or knowledge that Bartholomew thinks will convince others of the lady's guilt. Still coincidental though. If this court is at all sophisticated they'll know better than the reach a verdict on one convenient example of hearsay.

[ Where's your actual evidence Good Sir? ]

["You think it is just one example?" Bartholomew sneers. "I have incontrovertible evidence of her guilt!"]

I fail to see what it could-

[Cleo starts to snark at it, as she does, but suddenly, metal chains appear. Her wrists are cuffed, and she's held in place.

"Her tail fur was found at the scene of the crime. Do you have an excuse now?"]

[ Matt can't see the chains but he knows the sound of someone being cuffed. ]

Did- Did the fog just cuff you? Can you break out of it?

[ He had been optimistic, convinced the fog had produced an illusion alone. This is far more threatening. They can't afford to misstep. Tail fur. Is that the only evidence or is there more? ]

It seems like it...

[She struggles against the cuffs, but it doesn't do anything.]

I can't. It's as strong as if it was real.

["As you can see, she has nothing to say in her defense. She immediately tries to escape instead!"]

[ No running off then? ]

We have to prove the Other You was innocent. Any idea why her tail fur would be near the Source Crystal. Other important details might help. Her job or how she passed the time. Any of it.

Nothing.

[She shakes her head.]

I know she was a knight, and most of the visions I have received of her have involved combat.

[ That does make this tricky but with any luck he'll still be able to help her by picking apart Bartholomew's testimony. ]

Alright. We'll just have to work with what we have. Let's see if Bartholomew is done with his dramatic speech.

For what it's worth, in my visions, I don't think he ever stopped talking.

[Her dry humor is back, but then:]

Also, he... seemed to be a member of some cult. I don't know the precise details, but he did something involving the ocean, directing a stream of... some kind of poison.

["How dare you slander the name of a knight?!" Bartholomew's voice rings out, louder and angrier. The pedestals in front of them seem to lower slightly- They're not actually moving, exactly, but more connected to Cleo's state of mind. The more frightened she is, the higher and more imposing they are, but the calmer she is, the more reasonable they seem.]

The ocean seems to be culturally viewed as a thing of evil, as well.

[ Keeping calm makes thinking a hell of a lot easier as well. If they can stay sharp with the help of some sarcastic comments Matt is all for it. It can't be easy for Cleo with those cuffs on. He laughs and makes note of the cult and the ocean. ]

Poison streams aren't good in any world. I try not to judge but you know I really don't like Bartholomew.

[ He looks towards the judge and witness stand and clears his throat loudly. Alright Bartholomew, wrap it up so we can get to cross examination. ]

Your Honor, does the witness have anything left to add to his testimony or evidence other than personal opinion?

We seem to have mutually killed each other in our visions, so I'm not fond of him, either.

[She looks up at Matt, then the pedestal.]

... But, sir, I don't think it will be so easy.

[The judge's voice rings out now. He sounds calmer, less angry. Instead, he has a voice of absolute confidence, a calm, unshakable demeanor.

"Strange one, you seem a man of honor, so I will answer your question. However, his personal opinion is as strong as evidence. Sir Bartholomew is a Knight Commander, whose honor and devotion are beyond question or reproach."]

Thank you for clarifying, Your Honor. Sir Bartholomew, is there anything else you would like to add before cross examination?

[ Matt lowers his voice again to speak to Cleo. ] Reputable witness apparently. Alright, that's good to know. Reputable despite the cult connection. That must not be common knowledge, unless the people of the city respected that cult.

When he's finally finished I'll start questioning him. If the Other You and Bartholomew hated each other that much he might have set this entire thing up himself. Hopefully there's a fault in the evidence he provided.

[Bartholomew speaks up again:

"Her grandfather saved the city from monsters who were using the same weak point she exposed. Furthermore, she is the only Bast who is permitted to come that close to the Source Crystal. The tail fur is hers."]

I think none of them know about the cult, though I am not certain. That is the impression I got... Though I don't think she hated him. Rather, she respected him.

Really? This accusation must have been difficult for her. From what you told me his claims are suspect but from her point of view it would have been an entirely different experience.

[ He's guessing that Other Cleo didn't fair so well in this trial. Well they can't have that happening right now. Matt steps forward again. ]

The Defense would like to examine the tail fur in question. Is the evidence present?

It seems right... I don't believe she knew about the cult until their fight.

[The judge nods, and a shadowy figure from the fog brings forth a small cloth bag. Inside is... well, black tail fur.]

[ Matt can't see the fur of course but he can examine it by touch and he holds the fur up for Cleo to get a look before returning it to the small bag. He asks her quietly for an opinion. ]

What do you think? Does it look like the tail fur that would naturally fall out on its own? Or did it seem like it might have been cut or... taken from a brush perhaps?

[Tatsuo sees it all. Every blow, every revival, a cruel cycle of torture and torment. He sees it, but he can't do anything about it. There's something between him and Cleo, a barrier he can't see, but he beats his fists against it all the same. Beats them against the invisible wall until his skin is torn and bleeding.

And then the figure she is fighting becomes Dante and she screams. With that scream the barrier shatters, and Tatsuo nearly falls on his face as the impediment is removed.]

CLEO!

[She slowly turns, her eyes wide as she stares at Tatsuo with an expression of horror and disbelief.]

Tatsuo... No, stay away!

I won't!

[Tatsuo runs over to Cleo, ignoring the stinging pain in his hands.]

I'm not leaving you alone.

I don't know what's going on here... I don't want to hurt you again, though!

Which is why a strategic retreat is in order.

[he reaches out to grab Cleo's hand]

Come on, let's get out of here!

[... she hesitates.

But as the figure once again turns into the man from before, his face shifting from a serene smile to a furious grimace, she takes it. She has to escape.]

Okay... Somewhere, anywhere but here...

[Tatsuo has no idea exactly where they are, so he picks a random direction and RUNS, his hand tight around Cleo's]

[That's a good question. The answer is, of course, they're nowhere. It's a void, a void that defies description and comprehension. There is no color to it, no black or white, simply Nothing. It stretches on forever, and even though you run as though it's solid, it is simultaneously like running on air.

It doesn't matter. Without any movement, without Tatsuo turning, without the man moving or teleporting or anything... He's simply in front of them again, as if he'd been there all along. Like watching an optical illusion, where the space between two faces is suddenly a lamp, he doesn't appear there, he simply was there all along.

Cleo's running falters as she sees the man in front of them.]

Tatsuo... It might be hopeless.

[Tatsuo comes to a stop as he sees the man, impossibly, in front of them. There's something wrong with this space...]

Shit... did we get sent outside of reality again?

I don't know.

[She looks at the man, and draws her sword again, though her arm is so tired... Her limbs feel like lead.]

But you can run. He's after me. I'll hold him, so you get away.

No. Until we figure out a way to get home, I'm not leaving you behind.

[why doesn't he have his guns? though, would they even do anything against this guy?]

Then what else can we do?!

[She screams, and charges the man, swinging... and he's suddenly just not there, like he never was, he was always a ways away, watching her waste her strength as she finally falls once more, exhaustion catching up with her as she tries to force herself to stand up again...]

[Tatsuo is there in a moment, his hand out to help her up if she needs it.]

Cleo, do you have any idea who this guy is?

A god.

[She sounds grim as she says it, panting for breath.]

The visions I received... Involved fighting this man. But neither of us could win.

Then what if the point isn't to fight him?

[because sometimes fighting isn't the answer... and sometimes running isn't either...]

What if there's another solution?

What other solution? I can't think of anything...

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