The beginning

[lowreaches]

Who: The cast

Where: The Belfry's front yard and parking lot

When: Morning

What: A bus has arrived, empty, causing quite the stir.

The storm fell over the town like a pall, and with it came the fog.  

 

It was a hungry, curious thing.  So thick and wet it licked at your clothes and skin when you stepped out into it, tasting you, and stealing sight and color from the world, leaving it slick and oily.  Shadows festered in its recesses, coiling and dancing beneath it like living things, greedy in the low light.  Above was no better:  the angry thunderheads hung mountainous over the city, spitting rain and blooming with lightning.  Storms were fierce in Sinjoh, and this was no exception, booming and growling its discontent, threatening to shake the bones from bodies.  The rain fell in heavy sheets, gutters and creeks swollen and fast with it.  Little rivers streamed across Blackbell.  It choked the city.  It blinded it.  

 

Maybe that's why no one noticed until it was too late.  

 

Out of that grey, pitiless gloom rose the old (new) crooked Belfry, and beneath it, a mass of children and their beleaguered teachers, their rain slickers and jackets shiny in the rain, whispering and sharing glances among themselves -- those who weren't transfixed on the cloudbursts of red and blues in the fog and the occasional ghostlight that meandered clumsily through it.  Police sirens chirped, sharp against the dull grey fog, and sometimes a walkie would crackle to life.  

 

Worse still were the keen wails as whoever stumbled out of their car up to the police barricade were turned aside, told the news, and lost themselves.

 

Because everyone remembered the cargo ship.

 

Everyone remembered what washed up to shore, only a short few weeks ago.  There were pictures all over the internet:  strange, pale figures.  Motionless.  Their mouths toothless gapes.  Their eyes worse.  Empty.  Nothing staring at nothing.  They were human shaped, but too slack, too soggy, too translucent.  They would burst if they tried to move.  Some had when the authorities had gone to collect them.

 

The bus was submerged in the fog, its bright yellow coloring strange and forbidding now.  Nearly twenty minutes ago it had lurched into the parking lot, and died.  It went still, lights and engines snapping off, and no one had noticed anything amiss -- the steady beat of the rain and growl of thunder drowned out everything else the fog didn't cover -- until a few minutes had gone past and no one had stepped off.  The door had remained shut.  Eventually someone investigated.  Called out and knocked on the side door, frowned into the empty inside.  They managed the door open, and a gentle rush of fetid, dark water spilled out.  Inside, the rows and rows of bus seats were empty.  Just backpacks and toys, even a few pokeballs, sat lonely and abandoned.

 

When the authorities arrived, they found the teachers trying to shoo the children away from the bus, many of them lifting on to tiptoe to try and get a glance inside at the back door, or smashing their faces into the side door.  The first cop car was soon joined by another, and another.  EMTs were called:  a child had fainted.  A barricade was constructed, and some order was restored.

 

Until the first parent arrived.  

 

And then the press.

 

The Belfry hunched over the small circus forming on its parking lot, bell toning with the start of the school day.  Its crooked arches and spindly lengths, occasionally thrown into fierce shadows from a lightning strike, were skeletal in the gloom.  School had been cancelled for the day.   Parents were being called to pick up children.  A line was queuing near the western port of the parking lot.

 

Comments

[azraelschild]

The pale blue light washed over his pallid face, a bright flicker beneath the encumbering mouth of an umbrella far too large for the boy’s size. The phone’s screen faded, and with it the light went, retreating from the umbrella’s curved spines, the pitch fabric reverberating with the rhythmic tap of pummeling rain. Poe loomed tall, black coat embracing his lanky frame. He could feel his warm breath sink into the raised collar, his fingers retreating behind long sleeves.

It would be a long walk home, too long of a walk. Hours, perhaps. His head lowered, a sleepy nod as he watched the water pool about his shoes in the midst of a haze. Well, there wasn’t much to be done now, was there? Mom and dad were working, surely there would be arrangements for getting everyone home. All that was left to do was wait.

Poe gave a small shrug, propping the umbrella just a little higher into the air, an invitation for anyone who couldn’t get dry. It was father’s, and therefore could easily shield at least four miniature humans. He gave a small wince as a drop slithered into the back of his collar, slipping down his neck. Ah well, it’d be done with soon enough. Home was waiting, warm and inviting, and stocked to the brim with hot cocoa mix. He could wait.

[hexalogical]

"May I join you, my umbrella was snatched away by the wind." Even in a time like this Belladonna still spoke slowly and precisely. She moved under the edge of Poe's umbrella, half under, but half holding back before she got permission to step under the umbrella's shelter. Her own 'umbrella' had been more of a frilly acessory than something to keep the rain off and it had been pulled from her hands within moments of going outside. But it had looked quite dramatic flying away in the wind so Belladonna didn't mind.

Unlike many of the other children she seemed entirely calm about what has happening. She hadn't messaged her parents, they weren't fans of texting and if she called they would have only rushed down to see for themselves. The only sign one might get that she was at all unsettled was from her pacham that she was holding tightly in her arms like a toy bear, usually she kept him in his ball, and usually he was a boisterous force of nature when out of it. But now he was simply leaning his head on her arm comfortingly.

She looked at Poe with an empty expression on her face. "Are you afraid?"

[azraelschild]

"Hm?"

Poe's eyes widened gently as he noticed the girl, a familiar pounding rising up into his chest. New people, new places, all evoked the same response. It took him a moment to grasp the words, the sound of rain flushing out his thoughts and pulling him out of the momentary anxiety. A small "mm" tumbled out of Poe's mouth as he gave a nod, beckoning with a raise of the umbrella once more. He made sure to make enough room for the both of them, glancing at the Pacham and smiling briefly before settling back into a mildly concerned expression.

"Afraid?" A strained exhale. He glanced at Belladonna with a twist on his lips, eyes then moving back to the thick of the crowd. His words were soft and steady, a gentle and calculated voice.

"Yeah. Yeah... I suppose I am. I don't really know what's going on."

He turned back to the girl, not entirely sure what to make of her expression. With a light sniffle he brushed the hair away from his face.

"I'm not going anywhere any time soon, so feel free to stay dry as long as you'd like. My name's Poe. What about you? Are... are you afraid?"

[hexalogical]

Belladonna stepped under the umbrella, she had been getting quite damp and she was aware it would probably ruin the effect of her outfit if she looked like a drowned rattata. Bamba, her pacham, wriggled and leaned forward in her arms to give Poe a friendly pat on the arm, Bamba had never understood personal space. Or how best to help Belladonna cultivate the creepy and unnerving aura she worked so hard on, instead he gave Poe a friendly little smile.

She looked at the boy, she didn't recognise him, his height at least would have made her remember him she was sure. She listened to him expressionless, and as he finished she gave a little frown, formulating her response.

"I am Belladonna." She looked out across the crowd, the barrier, all of it and looked up at Poe. "No, I am not afraid, I cannot change fate. If some grave terror should befall me there is little I can do to pause it."

She swallowed a quiet nearly impercivable sound. "Although I do feel-" She stumbled over her words and cursed herself internally, her parents would be so disappointed at her break in dramatic proclaimation. "I feel this is, a tragedy that will cause untold grief, there is no happy ending here." She finished with a small flourish of her hand, although it wasn't going to negate her falling over her words she hoped it at least added a little dramatic effect.

[azraelschild]

Poe felt the gentle pat, breaking into a small smile once more. There was something peculiar about this girl, he thought. Underneath the shade of the umbrella and against a backdrop of pouring rain, she seemed... fitting.

"Untold grief?" A sharp exhale.

"You're right though, there isn't much we can do, is there?"

A small jolt ran through his dazed expression, the umbrella giving a shimmy as he balanced it against his shoulder with his chin, unhanding it to reach for the side pocket on his backpack. Poe pulled out a small tin, zipping up the pocket and grasping the umbrella once more. It was rectangular in shape, a vibrant red, patterned in golden swablu silhouettes. The lid popped off with a nudge, revealing perfect, delicately cut cubes of chocolate underneath.

"Feel free to have some if you'd like, my mother and I make them whenever she has spare time."

He gave a glance towards the Pacham.

"Imri, my larvitar, is quite fond of them, too. Though I try not to let him have too much."

He lifted one to his mouth, savoring the rich flavor before turning back to Belladonna.

"Do... do you reckon we should get closer? Maybe someone up there knows what happened."

[sail_away]

"Hey, you doing alright?" Shizuka slipped up and behind him, the chill growing worse as her Amaura drew near behind her. It wasn't freezing, but it was always a little cooler around the big fossil pokemon. At this point, she was deciding it was a good idea to check on everyone, to make sure that there weren't any problems. Someone had to do the whole 'checking on the class' thing, after all.

"It's a little crazy, isn't it?" Everything was. For once, her usual cynicism was kind of at a loss for anything intelligent to say. What did you say about this?

[azraelschild]

A sudden chill befell Poe, the hair on the back of his neck rising. He glanced back behind him to see Shizuka, nervous green eyes peering.

"I... think we're doing alright, yes."

He gave a glance back towards the bus.

"We're safe at least. Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll be okay."

Somehow the latter part of the sentence softened with a sense of uncertainty, dampened by the surrounding bustle which seemed to grow ever more grand.

[sail_away]

For today, her eyes said, but she didn't vocalize it. She was focused on remaining 'strong' in the face of an obvious crisis. "Good," she said, settling in nearby and looking towards the bus while trying not to appear too concerned about what was happening. It really wasn't working that well. They were all probably at least a little worried.

"It doesn't seem like anyone's in danger. I wish we knew where the bus was before, though." Maybe avoiding that would be a good idea.

[phasephoros]

Emme had been hopping from under umbrella to umbrella, exchanging a few words here and there until a conversation came to a natural end or otherwise a parent finally showed up to take their child home. Poe's umbrella is her latest refuge, one she slips under without so much of a glance as if it were nothing more than an overhanging of a building, shelter meant to be shared.

"Hey, everything okay under here?" she asks, catching the wince but not its cause. She liked rain, normally, but not storms. Not the thunder that came with it, nor the muddy trails. She can't wait to go home. "If I'd known this was going to happen, I'd take my dad's Seedot this morning and have it do Sunny Day. Maybe I should call him back and ask him to bring the little guy..."