#ascarletflame 01

He’s missed having the NEO-ONE for travel in otherwise-inaccessible environments, but Todd has to admit that it’s nice to be working on foot again, too. Freedom of movement means a lot, especially in unexplored areas, and today he’s taking full advantage of it here in the forest to follow a strange and ethereal melody drifting through the trees.

It takes him a few minutes of picking his way over thick underbrush and tangled roots to locate the source of the sound, but there’s no mistaking it once he does; the figure in the clearing is unlike any he’s seen before.

Out of all the creatures he’s observed in these woods so far, this one seems somehow the most familiar-- it’s obviously intelligent, and there’s a sense of power about it that sets it apart from the other Pokemon-like creatures that make the forest their own. This place as a whole is so new and so different that it’s difficult to tell at first glance whether this is an undiscovered Pokemon, or something for which Todd has no name.

He’s on his knees in an instant to set up a shot of the being, and winces as a twig snaps under his weight. It’s not the end of the world if this creature sees him-- and it sure seems as though that’s the case, now that the strange figure’s head has tilted ever-so-slightly in his direction-- but he had hoped to get a few pictures in before he was noticed.

“...Ah,  I am in the talent agency, correct?”  She thought this was the right place.  But...This guy looked more like a horror movie set, if you asked her.  She wasn’t going to be outright rude.

Biker zoned out about twenty minutes ago while on a walk and only came back now when a goddamn fairy just flew by him. Blinking, he takes in the scene. It seems like a normal park... if a little girl’s fantasy novel barfed all over it. This... sucks. Is he even in the same city? This place feels like a different world entirely.

What does catch his eye, though (at least slightly more than literally everything else here) is a... person? Standing over by a fountain. Honestly, Biker’s not sure if this guy is even a person, or if he’s just a very large, weird looking fairy. He also hates that he’s becoming accustomed to the idea that he’s just willing to accept fairies now.

“So, uh... this sucks, right?” He says, approaching the stranger. “You come by here often, or are you lost like me?”

He’s learned a lot since opening his flower shop, and he’s able to identify a few of the plants around him as he walks idly through thick undergrowth, careful not to let too many leaves caught in his plating. Regardless of his mixed feelings on Spirale and his captors, he’s grateful, always, for the opportunity the island has presented for growing his understanding of and appreciation for organic life in all forms.

...that appreciation extends to the insect life common in this area. The blue of Rung’s sparklight illuminates the blue of a kaleidoscope of butterflies up ahead, and he pauses to admire the flitting of their wings. He’s gotten pleasantly lost in the display and in the gentle solitude of the forest by the time that solitude is broken by a flash of red against the cool palette of the forest.

Rung’s eyebrows raise and his antenna flicks in surprise. The forest isn’t large enough that one never sees other residents inside, but it has a way of twisting and turning in ways that can make unexpected meetings rare enough to be interesting. ...assuming, of course, that the little creature at the edge of the clearing is a fellow resident-- there’s something vaguely familiar about the newcomer’s odd form, but Rung is certain the two of them have never met before.

“Er, hello,” the mech says softly, doing his best not to disturb the butterflies nearby.

“Have you... come to bug-watch as well?”