448/Dusk Scene

Dusk Scene
Date of Scene:	17 September 2023
Location:	Dusk Boundary
Synopsis:	Takashi and Norie go to play with some adorable mutant youma(?) dogs(?). And find something shiny. And make plans.
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Norie Okana

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Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi Agera and Norie Okana step through into the Dusk Zone. The transition is always one of strangeness, since the normal human world and the Dusk Zone are so radically different from one another. He's asked Norie to accompany him as he has a bit of a surprise, and one he can't share with most people - the Dusk Zone, as it is, hostile to life that isn't connected to it via Dark Energy, and pollution from Dark Energy still being hazardous to stay in for long to most people who can use the world as a waypoint. A few unqiue individuals, though, can truly roam the landscape, and Takashi and Norie are, for very different reasons, some of those individuals.

    Thier travels take them far outside of the normal range most people venture - into the spaces around Tokyo - and further into the strange wilderness of the Dusk Zone where forests, deserts, mountains, lakes, swamps - all of it starts to mush together with no real regard for climate or anything else, as the Dusk Zone grows less continuous with 'normal' reality. Takashi, at least, seems to know where he's going. "Thank you for coming, Norie-chan. I just know how much the exploration of the Dusk Zone and wildlife here are important to you. And I found something I think you'll want to study." he says, coming to a clearing in a forest. Well. Sort of. If the forest was half on the ground and half growing out of the clouds upside-down. And some of the trees moved. And all of it was shaded in dirty watercolor.

    He puts his finger to his lips. "Shh. They're getting close now, but they're also just a little skittish. But they're curious. If you can wait." he says, kneeling down a little bit. There's something moving in the treeline, now. But Takashi isn't scared or worried. He's actually smiling, almost excitedly.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana got a messenger bag. Inside was a binder, filled with paper, writing implements and some sort of Obsidian-branded tablet of some sort. She then went ahead to the Dusk Zone with Takashi and traveled along the landscape. She took notes of some various other things they might had seen along the way, reminding herself to come back later when they weren't traveling to a place with a destination in mind.

The climate was so weird. You had a swamp, next to a dessert, and it was so strange. "I like exploring the Dusk Zone. It's so wonderful." she says with starry eyed wonder somewhat, as she took notes along the way- curiosity not one of the feelingd that had been affected by her state.

Still, they arrived at the location and she had her notebook out, with a pen as she gently hunkered down and and waited, keeping quiet as she nodded.

She put down her notebook and pen as she watches Takashi smile. She looks back to the treeline and patiently waits.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    After some time, waiting patiently, small moving things begin to creep out of the forest around them. They are... quadrupedal, shadowy, and walking slowly. They have pointy ears, and as they get closer still, it's rather obvious what they are.

    Well, at least what they kind of are. They're canines of some kind - maybe wolves, maybe dogs? They move cautiously closer still, and Takashi is just smiling like a small child, himself. "I think they must have descended from someone's dogs that got in here, or something. They're clearly from here, but they don't act like most things from the Dusk Zone. They're curious and they'll come close if you're patient."

    One of them, a small one, slowly creeps its shadowy body up and sniffs at Norie's hand. "Just move slowly, they're a little skittish. But they also like scratches behind the ears."

    Though there's one thing that does make them notably different from dogs on the other side of the border - besides looking rather like they're made out of shadows. The long, thin tendril that comes out behind their necks and whips in the air, almost like a second tail.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana dips out her hands carefully. She keeps her movements slow. She gently peeks up at Takashi as he speaks. "Maybe. They seem curious. Yes." she says, as the weird dogs come and one smaller one comes for her hand to sniff it. She doesn't move her hand, she just lets the weird dog sniff it, like as if this was a normal dog in the real world. That's what you do.

She spoke softly. "They're cute." she said quietly. "I wonder what the tendril is for. Is it prehensile. Probably for hunting." she says as she "I wonder if they're obligate carnivores. Or need other things in their diet." she said, moving her other hand carefully to her messenger bag carefully, to grab around in there, quietly as she can, to remove a duskfruit.

She'd offer it out, to see what might happen.

She doesn't smile the whole time. But she does watch with the most widest eyed curiosity you've probably seen from her since you've met her.

"Do you. Have a name for them?" she asks curiously.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi watches too, as one of the hounds takes a curious bite from the Duskfruit. It doesn't spit it out, anyways, and now Norie is going to find there are a few more hounds coming curiously towards her from the treeline. Well, curiously or hungrily or both.

    "Not really." Takashi says, reaching out slowly to pet another one on the head. "I mean I could just call the Dusk Hounds or whatever and continue the tradition of calling everything dusk-something, but that might get old fast." he notes. "On the other hand, like I said, I'm pretty sure they're descended from Canis Familiaris and not Canis Lupis. They do too many dog-things and not enough wolf-things, to me. I also haven't seen them anywhere else, but there's a goodly number in this forest." he notes. "It seemed like the sort of thing that might intrigue you, though. So I didn't dig too far into it without you."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana gently tried scratching the one earing the Duskfruit behind the ears. She was careful in her movements still.

"Yeah. They're strange dogs." she says quietly. "If they we're wolves. They wouldn't be so friendly. I don't think." she says softly.

"Dusk hounds is a dumb name." she says quietly. "With no offense meant." she looks at that tendril again, she wants to touch it, but she doesn't wanna anger or upset the cute thing.

"...Zarcillos." she says quietly, strange Spanish inflection in her tone. "It's. Spanish for Tendril. Like a vine. Zarcillo." she says as she nods.

"-and it's a neater name than. 'Dusk Hounds'." she says.

"Are you wanting to try to domesticate some?" she asks curiously. "It might be possible. They seem receptive to human contact. Or at least contact with us."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi nods. "I've been curious if they could be domesticated, brought back with us. Or at least, if we could figure out anything about the past of these... Zarcillos." he says, adopting Norie's name without any fuss - or the defending of his own quite bad choice of names. He knew it wasn't great, adter all. "I wonder why they're so common around here, too." he says.

    One of them sits, just like a domesticated normal dog, and tits its head, like it's listening to both of them. If she does touch the tendril the Zarcillos don't seem to mind. Out of the corner of her eye, Norie will notice something sparkling between the toes of one of the Zarcillos that has croweded around her. Something sparkling and dark, deep purple.

    "They seem to like you even more than me. I wonder if it's because you're more Dark Energy in a strict sense?" he asks, given that has two dogs and Norie has a little almost pack of them, in different sizes, near her. Of course, she also had the duskfruit. Could be that.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana gently mutters. "Creatures here don't mind me. Usually. Unless I aggravate them." she says. "I like petting them." she says as she pets the creature more properly like a real dog and purses her lips. "Good pup." she says quietly under her breath.

She notices she has a big pack around her. She doesn't mind. "It's possible." she says. "It'd be nice to try to bring one back. I think Firefly-kohai would find them cute too." she says. "But what would be the advantage over normal do--- huh?" she notices something sparkling and purple colored and leans down carefully.

She'll try to examine what's there between the toes of the Zarcillo.

"Huh."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Yeah, I think you and Yochu can explore this place even easier than I can. You're closer to it in feeling. I'm still very comfortable here, though. I just have to keep an eye on myself. I mean, when I was younger I used to sleep here. It was much more quiet than where my actual bed was." He admitted. "Not here, here. But the Dusk Zone here."

    There's about ten Zarcillos around the two of them now - seven of those around Norie and three around Takashi. Eventually, Takashi has two to pet, and the third keeps trying to push one of the others out of the way for petting. Despite the fact that on some level they look like youma - shadow bodies, red eyes, and they do have glinting sharp teeth - they also act like dogs, mostly. "I don't know. It's not so much an advantage though. It's interesting because it's really rare for things in the Dusk Zone to be so... petting-positive. They clearly enjoy the attention. And they're pack animals when you usually see solo things here."

    "They kind of reminded me of our little group in a way. Like a little family, and scary looking sometimes but... not really when you get to know us. Though I still wouldn't want to be on the recieving end of bites from them or us."

    The glinting crystal between the toes of the Zarcillo isn't stuck in like a splinter or anything. It's just managed to wedge itself in there in such a way as to be there waiting for Norie to reach down. The crystal is cold to the touch, but in a way that's soothing to her. In a Dark Energy sort of way.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana gently takes the crystal away from the Zarcy, which is a cute shortening of the name, and eyes it. She gently makes a note of it in her book quickly as she pockets the strange feeling stone. She huhs. "That's strange. Dusk Emeralds???" she asks in a strange tone as she makes a face. "No. That's a dumb name."

"You're right. And it'd be useful to have creatures that could come into the dusk zone and hunt or act as guard dogs or similar roles." she says as she purses her lips.

"Cuties." she says, moving to pet another one...and another one and---

Okay, Norie does something creepy, tendrils emitting from her back as she starts petting five at once with them, and two with her hands. This looks odd. And weird.

She doesn't think Taka will mind.

"Let's invest a little time then." she says. "And if you don't have the time. I do." she says. "I know you have a lot on your plate. But little things like this has to make our department start to look good, right?" she asks. She looks back to the bag and produces that rock again.

"This feels soothing." she admits.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Well, I don't know if I want to share all of this with Obsidian. It's the same place that seems to think exchanging the locations of Tokyo and Dusk Zone Tokyo is a good or healthy idea." he grumbles. It's just the two of them now, and they're so far away from Tokyo and any sort of easy access or egress from the Dusk Zone, he feels he can speak freely. "It would be one thing if this discovery was an energy source or a new form of power or something. But..." he is actually quite unphased by Norie. He's been around magic his entire life, unlike pretty much everybody else, even if he's only been henshining for a while. Dark Energy, to be specific. So he has a high tolerance for... weird.

    "...but I wouldn't want to see these Zarcillos like... experimented on, or used as guard dogs in dangerous places." he offers. "I don't think that'd make us any better than a sparkleskirt who'd just wipe them out for being Dark Energy. You know? I think as some of the few people who can see all of the sides of this, we have a certain... responsibility, to protect the Dusk Zone, too." he notes. "Or at least the intelligent bits of it."

    "No reason -we- can't do non-invasive research, though." he added. "I trust us a lot more than them is all." A common refrain from Takashi. His department is fine, but everybody else sucks. "Honestly... we already look really good. I can't express how rough the witches 5 have had it lately. Not handling the Sparkeskirts well. If they didn't sell Daihmons they'd be underwater. We look real good by comparison."

    "What's that?" Takashi asks, tilting his head sideways and one of the dogs near him does too, either also curious or imitating him. "Mind if I have a look?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana nods. "If that's your desire, then we'll protect these Zarcys." she says the short name outloud. She likes the name. She's still petting multiple dogs while she can get away with it. No one can stop her from petting more than two dogs at once. Takashi most certainly isn't going to stop her.

"Here." she says, handling over the rock as she seems content here. "Ugh, are you. You talking about that dumb plan to do that Darkdumb Tokyo switch thing? I don't like it either. I intend to protest it the first chance I get. Politely." she says as she narrows her eyes.

"Unless you'd rather I not, Taka-senpai." she says quietly. "But I have my own opinions on it." she says. "I intend to go to one of the meetings on it by the end of the month!" she complains.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi nods. "Yeah, Midnight Tapioca. Or if you ever hear me refer to it, maybe just The Stupid Plan." Takashi looks up to the sky. "Buncha kids." he adds, despite the fact that all of the shitennou are absolutely at least his age.

    "It'll be a little awkward if you do, since I've asked to be tapped on helping." he says. "But I don't really intend. To help." he continues. "I intend to participate long enough to figure out how to help disrupt the project in the best ways without getting caught. I don't think our preservationalist approach is going to be... accepted... but I do think if the project starts to be SHOWN to be as stupid an idea as it IS, then maybe they'll end it early. And if the best way to do that is to cause cost overruns and surprise errors and destruction... well, it is what it is." he shrugs.

    Takashi is certainly not going to stop her. He thinks its adorable. That feeling of contentment seems like one of the better feelings she's been able to feel, and he is not gonna stop it anytime soon. He takes the crystal in his hand. "Wait, where did you get this. Did one of the Zarcys have it?" he asks. Clearly, Norie noticed something he didn't. Or had no chance, given that they seem to like her more than him.

    "There is a -ton- of dark energy in this shard for the size it is." he notes, turning it over in his fingers.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana nods. "One of the Zarcillos had it." she says. "It was stuck between their toes. Does it have a ton of dark energy?" she asks. "Could dark energy crystalize if given enough time?" she asks curiously. "Or could something be making it happen?" she asks.

"....I'm probably asking questions you don't know. Sorry. I ask questions a lot. But. I like finding answers." she says.

"I wonder if we can tag a few of them?" she asks. "Maybe we can find out where they picked it up from?" she asks. "If it came from something bigger?"

More dogs get pets. She blinks up to Takashi as she says. "I didn't bring tags with me. Just a notebook, pens and my tablet." she says. "So I can come back later."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi blinks. "That's a great idea." he admits. "I hadn't come up with it yet." Yet. Of course her'd have hit on it eventually, in his own mind. But this passed for kudos from him. "Trackers would let us figure out a lot more about them, too." he notes. "The way they move, and where they sleep. It might lead us back to wherever this came from, but even if it didn't, we'll know more about the Zarcillos." he nods. "Brilliant idea. And you can let me know what you figure out. A good little project. Something for you to do that'll help all of us. You can see if they still react all hostile to positive energy like everything else, too, if you can do it safely. If they do we'll have to leave them on this side of the divide. If not, maybe we can have a dog to go with our new cat."

    Takashi has not explained the 'new cat' to Norie yet.

    "And if this..." he says, looking at the stone "...came from something larger... that could be important to us too. Important either to share, or... to keep to ourselves. Depends on how much and what we can do. But... I'm glad I brought you, Norie-chan."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana blinks, but then mutters a little unintelligibly. She then says. "I mean. uh. Thank you." she says. "Sorry. That's what. I said first. But. Yeah. T-thank you." she says. She then continues petting the dogs and nods. "I'm going to name the ones I tag you know." she says, with a content neutral tone. Once again, like a bad Vulcan. But that's as far as 'good' she gets.

She also blinks when a Cat is mentioned and decides to not ask the question. She figures she'll find out soon enough about the cat.

"Thank you. I know it sounds lame. Coming from this tone. But that means a lot." she says quietly as she keeps petting all the dogs.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi shakes his head. "Nah, I'm actually pretty much used to it now. It's cool. I understand the limitations you're working under. You show a lot of appreciation and all that considering, as far as I'm concerned." Takashi says. "Plus, you're helpful. And you brought me that Seed. And now you're here, looking at tracking and studying the Zarcillos. I'll take your thanks in that tone and your help over somebody saying thanks falsely and being useless, any day of the week and twice on Sundays." he says with a smile.

    "Go ahead and name em'. Tell me what the names are, too." he adds with a smile. "Do you want to come back with me now, or stay a while?" he asks as he pats the three dogs around him once more each and rises to his feet, stretching his legs.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana says. "I think I'm going to back with you. I need things now. Like tracking tags." she says as she withdraws her own tendrils and then gives each pup a pat bye. "Awwww. I'm Sorry baby. I'm gonna have to go now but I'll be back!" she says

"Yeah, let's go." she says as she picks up her messenger bag, she has lots of notes. Not to mention other things she marked here along the way to check out later. But she's curious about the .... Dusk Emerald, too. Ugh. Before she leaves, she makes a note in her book.

'No more 'Dusk <Things>' Names'. she mutters to herself and shoves the book back into her messenger bag.