Scene #2964: Horticultural Haunting

Owner	Pose
Masato Sanjouin	The Sanjouin's property in Setagaya was large with a good yardspace, fenced in by trees and well kept stone walls. Outwardly, the home was two storey dream, influenced by western architecture and sleek, with modern design features blended with Japanese traditionalism. It looked like a tranquil enough place, from the gate at the street, but once inside that threshold, things felt far too still. At cardinal points about the property, some of the Mahou might have noticed passing by small crystals seeded into the earth, aligned to very particular stars and drawing upon that energy to create an energetic barrier. Stepping passed this point was when a bite of malice nipped at those present, the air thicker the closer to the house the group got. The plants and trees closer in had become slightly overgrown, crowding in and lending something oppressive to the facade as they seemed to claw toward the home. On the front door, a spell tag sat primly in place. A neglected greenhouse adjoined toward the back of the property could be glimpsed at the side, hinting at the larger garden behind. Masato clapped his hands together, looking over those presently gathered. "I'd like to thank you all for coming... and apologise in advance for the mess." His brows furrowed. "Before we go inside, there's a few things you're all going to have to keep in mind." He held a hand out towards the house. "We can go in from the front, through the house... but make sure you don't get lost. The rooms inside aren't behaving normally. They might move around. Nobody should wander off on their own." He shook his head. "The other option is to try to cut our way in through the back garden, but the plants... ''will not like that''." What an ominous thing to say.
Zoisite	"Define ''will not like that."'' A thin brow lifts, arms crossed as his green eyes were already studying the place. "As in the lights were turned on too bright and Blue will get fussy sort? Or do you mean Jumanji style vines?" He could easily handle a garden approach, but he sincerely wondered if the others would be as accepting. "I'm sure none of us would be foolish enough to get lost in a hostile mansion, if that's the route we elect."
Mamoru Chiba	Mamoru raises his hands and wiggles his fingers, making them glow faintly. "Can I try touching them? I've been like. Wanting to stick my hand in that garbage disposal chute for months," he says, letting them drop. He's wearing combat boots, jeans, and a hoodie, and his tips have regrettably been dyed back to black; his glasses are in the case in his pocket with his phone.
Kunzite	Kazuo glances toward Izou with a slight smile at the mention of the plants, and is not disappointed at the question immediately asked; there's a brief nod instead. Followed by Kazuo also raising a hand, but only as far as his face, letting it obscure his eyes for ''just'' a moment as Mamoru drops that particular metaphor. "The plants," he wonders aloud, "the rooms, or both?"
Hinote Kagari	Hinote Kagari walks along the threshold and notices the crystals and frowns a little. He looks over to Tracy, the tiny detective fairy floating near him. "It was a dark and sto---" he looks at Hinote and Hinote nods. "It was a dark and ''chilly'' night..." Hinote smiles. Progress! "-and we we're investigating this here flophouse, overgrown with plants, see." says Tracy. "And that's when Hinote pulled out his Tommy Gun and started blasting all the plants to shreds, BANG BANG BANG!" goes Tracy, making two finger guns. Hinote commiserates. "No." "Awwww. Come on." he says. "Let's Investigate then." he says as he and Tracy start looking for alternate means in. Windows? Doors? Basements? He has no clue. "Or we can bust in the front door like gangbusters." he says. "YEAH!" goes Tracy.
Amy Faust	Amy pauses when they step into the ward of ''malice''. "It feels a bit like a Witch, but... not..." she mutters to the others. "No splitting up, got it." Her hands fidget with her backpack straps. "I've got twine and paracord, if we need to stay connected across a distance." She's wearing her trusty oversized field jacket, with a red T-shirt and black cargo pants. Comfort and simplicity and familiarity have won out, for a baseline at least. Since she can change her clothes at any time, but she's unclear on if they're interacting with nonmagic family before the weirdness sets in. Although, she notices Mamoru's boots and her sneakers pink-sparkle-poof into steel-toed work boots. "When you say they won't like that... how attached are you to the plants staying unburnt? Just to check. Also when the rooms rearrange, do they work on barrier rules, or would blowing holes in the walls damage the actual house?" Amy blinks as she wonders something else and gives Hinote a curious look. "Isn't a flophouse really cheap apartments rented to travelers? This is like, a fancy old mansion..."
Usagi Tsukino	Usagi shivers in spite of her thick blue winter coat - It's nearly spring and warming up, but she's just known that a place like this was going to demand all the warmth she could muster. Listening to Masato's warning, she grimaces and is glad for the many suggestions. "Are you okay with me phoning us a shrine maiden? Between Wako-chan, Rei-chan, and maybe Ahmya-chan, I'm sure someone will be free!"
Masato Sanjouin	Masato pointed a finger towards Izou, and then tapped the side of his nose, at 'Jumanji'. That was apt. "Thorny vines, acid pools, poisonous spores... branches that hit you back." He noted dryly, settling his hands on his hips. "Pruning resistant, you could say." He wasn't about to say he'd been lost in the rooms multiple times. Sapphire eyes shifted to Mamoru. "If anyone should touch anything here, it's probably you. There's plenty inside. They're all through the house, too, just... less dense." After a moment of thought, Masato nods, bringing a hand to rub at his chin. "You know, Amy-chan... there are some things here that do feel Witch-like. Ami's preliminary readings hinted that there's a very dense 'core' hidden in there, somewhere, but getting to it isn't easy. I think that's ultimately where the problem has taken root." He shook his head. "In an emergency, I won't tell you not to try to blast your way out. Just keep in mind that this house needs to stay as intact as possible and a hole in the wall is an opening for... more trouble, usually. This is-- or ''was'' my Mother's garden." He cleared his throat, glancing at Usagi. "And... having a shrine maiden on speed dial is probably for the best. Once that spell tag comes off, I don't know how much time we'll have before things go sideways."
Zoisite	"If you're implying the ''core'' is within the house, then perhaps that's where we should go. Avoiding the garden and its rather curious domain would save us some time and grief, don't you think? Maybe on our way out we could take a detour then? Granted, if us reaching and deactivating whatever is causing this does not change the garden bit." Izou puts his two cents in. He personally would prefer not to set these plants on fire. But he would if need be.
Hinote Kagari	Hinote Kagari says. "Shouldn't we henshin before walking in?" he asks. Tracy looks at Hinote and the two look at the others to see what the consensus is. "Or is that a bad idea?" he asks. He looks to Amy. He looks to Tracy. Tracy says. "Look it's overgrown with plants. Flophouse." he says. Hinote ehhhhs. "Eh. Maybe not really." he says. He listens to Masato. "Alright, we should avoid hurting the plants then AND avoid the garden, but. Hopefully this 'core' isn't in there." he says as he considers.
Kunzite	"It's a good question," Kazuo says to Masato. "Both of them. What's your experience so far; would changing bring us more trouble than we'd have otherwise?" He does not actually ask 'is walking in in henshin going to wind up with the floor dropping us into the furnace?', because there is absolutely no need to give the house ideas.
Usagi Tsukino	"I'll get to making calls, but I'll still be listening. I'm with Izou-kun though, we should try not to go in if we know it's bad! Mako-chan and Izou-kun can tame a misbehaving garden faster than they can regret scorched earth." These words are offered before she half-turns, digging her phone out to text three numbers and follow them up with calls to three specific girls she knows have certain spiritual ties. A core in the house, something that might be alive. She can imagine things it could be, even without taking Witches and youma into account - this house isn't young, and it doesn't feel half-old, like her house. This is a properly old manor, sure to be filled with ancient things. There are stories about places like this for a reason.
Sailor Mercury	The blue-haired senshi was rather quiet as she tapped away at her computer, perched upon an opposed palm. Her brows knit close together while every now and then a concerned ''hmm'' managed to escape her. At the mention of her name, however, sapphirine eyes lifted to settle on Masato. "Frankly, I'm not entirely certain what I'm looking at just now." Ami confessed quite clearly before her attention flitted back to the readings in front of her again. A few more taps. "Going through the garden is likely to be quicker, but things seem to be more dense that way. It seems to be connected to the plants, so it stands to reason that the core is closer there. The house is probably easier, but... well, that's where I'm not sure about things." Ami pulled a face and continued to tap away. "I don't think these things are obeying physics anymore."
Amy Faust	Amy quirks an eyebrow. It's witchlike? There's some kind of 'core' that's turned the house into its Labyrinth? Interesting... Exploding is acceptable if necessary but better to avoid. Amy nods, "Got it." It's good that they can call for backup -- "If cell phones even have signal in there... or wait, do our communicators?" She looks at her wrist, and to Mizuno-san. And then looks back to Masato. "So... what exactly do we need to do here? Or at least, what was the plan? Do we just need to stay in this house for some amount of time as a condition of you inheriting it, or something? Or are we here to bust ghosts," She nods to Izou, "and take down that core? Although that sounds like a good objective of opportunity if we get the chance." Amy ''also'' wonders if they should henshin, and at Tracy's explanation of word choice, Amy holds a hand to her chin. "Do the plants count as... living here?" She shrugs and shakes her head. "Nevermind."
Mamoru Chiba	Mamoru levels a look back at Kazuo that's very-- sheepish. Maybe faintly apologetic, actually. But there's also an easiness to him that indicates that if it were a garbage disposal and he knew it, he wouldn't actually stick his hand in there unless someone else was stuck. So there's at least that. "Yes," he says to his boyfriend anyway, not even being an ass about it. But then he also comes closer to fold his arms over Usagi's shoulders and hug her close and warm, bending his head over hers, enveloping her in warmth and love and and the scents of roses, coffee, and chocolate. "If the ghosts need punching instead of purifying, I bet if you hold my hand you could moon tiara brass knuckles them in the face." Then he slips partly away but doesn't quite let go-- there's sleeve in the way of contact-- and crouches, putting his hand on the cold ground. "Henshining is probably a good idea," he says. "Staying attached to each other is a good idea. I'm just checking to see if there's anything... where are the mushrooms...? Anything I can talk to."
Masato Sanjouin	Sapphire eyes turn from Izou to Usagi, and Masato nods. "Henshin seems to ramp things up a bit. If I had to guess, there's a siphoning effect not unlike what I used to pull on people's energies... That said? It's probably unavoidable, past a certain point. I'd suggest going in quiet if it's through the house. Garden though?" He pulled a face. For those looking up at the house, they will see it. In a second storey window, the vague figure of a woman stands to watch them. It's hard to tell who it is, but the white of her kimono contrasts her long dark hair-- similar to Masato's own waves, they cover her face and features. Following the hollow ''thok'' of a deerscare, bamboo hitting stone, she is simply gone. "The plan is mostly trying to navigate all this in one piece. Work out why this is happening, what we're actually dealing with, and hopefully, how to get fix it. It's pretty resistant to excorcism, so I'm thinking if we can locate the source we can cut the root... and purify the space properly." He frowned gently, and his gaze lowered. "My mother passed away when I was young, and her garden was very important to her. I can't say I was always a good son, looking after this place or her grave. Especially not while I was at Obsidian." Even the grass under Mamoru's hand seems to swirl and try to tangle his fingers, gently. Something in this place is reaching out. Masato sighs, and turns towards the door to take the spell tag down. He brings a key foward, but the door opens on its own to reveal the dark foyer inside.
Zoisite	No henshin then, not yet at least. They would need to get creative if they wanted to avoid putting whatever forces within on edge. Which meant paying close attention to the environment they would be heading into. That was Izou's guess. He did noticed how the grass tangled and came alive, gentle like Blue's pawing was when they wanted something. It pulled at something familiar in him, but whatever that memory was, was shoved away quickly before turning on his heel--nose up in the air and wrapping an arm around Kazuo's, like he was looking for unspoken comfort. "Lead the way, Masato."
Sailor Mercury	The ''thok'' of the deerscare made Ami jump very slightly, a break in her concentration and a chill poured down her spine. She shifted her shoulders a little uncomfortably as blue eyes lifted again with eyebrows bouncing higher as she made to follow along behind Masato. "You weren't exactly in your own right mind, Masa-nii. I'm sure she wouldn't hold that time against you." Ami tried her hand at reassurance. Then again, most people weren't aware of Dark Energy at all, let alone enough to appreciate the corruptive nature of it. It probably wasn't particularly comforting for her to say aloud though. "There was a little spike there when that... sound happened. Did anybody see anything?"
Hinote Kagari	Hinote Kagari looks at Tracy and looks at Masato. "So no henshin... yet. But Tracy get ready and stay close." he says to Tracy. Tracy nods. "-and no forcing me to chara-change then!" he says. Tracy sighs. "I can't promise that!" he says. Tracy looks up wide eyed at the figure in the window and then tilts Hinote's head up to see it and then there's a THOK and they both jump and look around the same way Ami does as he whews. "Woah. Did anyone else see that?" he asks. Tracy pulls out a tiny shotgun and cocks it. "House is Haunted." he says as he floats towards the foyer, Hinote following after as he grabs Tracy to make him put away the tiny probably cork shotgun.
Amy Faust	"You can talk to mushrooms?" Amy looks curious and fascinated, and then grins the grin of someone who thought of something funny. "Are they... fun... guys? Dammit, it doen't work in Japanese..." Masato-san says that there's a draining effect. Amy frowns slightly and glances down at her ring. Usagi saw her finish her Grief Seed after the fight in the South Pacific the other day -- but for now, at least, there's only a slim sliver of darkness around the edge on one side. Without thinking, she takes a combat stance when he pulls the spell tag, but... nothing happens. She nods at Ami's words of encouragement to the master of this house. And then gives the bluenette a curious look. "A spike where? Of what?" House is haunted. Amy smiles and chuckles at the meme. "It sure is." "So, um... do people wanna ''try'' all holding a string to see if it matters in helping keep us from getting seperated? Or, to see if it can stabilize the path back to the entrance...?"
Kunzite	"Where they were looking," Kazuo answers Ami, gesturing with his free hand to Hinote and the suddenly-armed Tracy. "Second-floor window. Figure dressed in white, dark hair." The gesture shifts to approximate the length and volume of Masasto's own hair - something that Mamoru's boys can do while literally asleep if necessary. Then his hand settles down onto Izou's arm, and he guides (or, possibly, is guided by) Izou into starting to move to catch up. Not getting split up between rooms includes on the way into the house.
Mamoru Chiba	The grass reaches out to touch Mamoru back, and his eyebrows go up as his eyes close. "Oh, hello--" he starts, then sucks in a breath like he just closed his thumb in a car door in the middle of the night. The hair on the back of his neck is standing up, one can tell by the particular way he's holding his shoulders. "I think," Mamoru calls to Masato, voice a little thin, "she's mad at you. And I think she's got help. And yeah you're right henshin bad. It's like the Eclipse Zones, the more energy you bring to bear the more it'll eat." He pulls his hand away with a sound almost like a suction cup, making a face, then stands up. He sticks firmly by Usagi as they head inside after the others. "I got a glimpse of a gold butterfly's wing. But like, not one of Hawkmoth's butterflies, at least," he calls out before glancing back at Amy in amusement. "No, but I can diagnose the network, if that makes any sense? It's all sick. The plants are grieving, the house is grieving, the plants have this lancing pain-- a terrible energy running through them, holding a grudge."
Usagi Tsukino	"You've still got chances to do better, if you're afraid you weren't good to her," Usagi says, gently, once her calls are done. "You're still her son." Even if she is gone now, they are here in this house, prepared to protect a possibly man eating garden, because Masato is her son and this was once their house. Mamoru says that she's mad, but Usagi has hopes that they can do a little family counseling instead of forcible home redesign. "I couldn't get ahold of anyone directly, but I texted and left voicemails, so I'm sure someone will come around, and even if not... I'll be ready to drop as much purification as I can." Usagi is easily frightened, but ghosts, at least, are more likely to touch a tender spot in her heart. Her husband's sister was a ghost, after all. They can be cruel, but they aren't always. It's why she doesn't scream or shout when she sees the figure above, only smiles sadly. "She's pretty, too Ami-chan." Amy offers cord, and she raises a hand. "I'll take a cord! But if we do transform, nobody be scared if I drag you around with a ribbon! I'd love if we didn't get separated at all."
Masato Sanjouin	Masato nods at Tracy and Hinote. "Stay ready." The one crossed the doorway, they would be immediately hit by a chill-- the evening was cool, but this was like walking into a fridge. Though Masato tried the lightswitch, the lantern style sconces wouldn't illuminate. Even in the darkness, there's signs of disarray. Shoes are scattered. Furniture shunted oddly, a the smell of rotten fruit and iron, and a shattered vase litters the floor with debris and old, dried flowers. Petals crunch underfoot. The walls and ceiling are cracked, and through some of these come slithering vines and broad leaves, some dangling low. With a sigh, Masato leans to look at Mamoru. "There have been some butterflies in the house, the last few times I came here. But those were purple. I couldn't manage to get hold of any... they flew away from me." The lack of shrine maiden back up is discouraging. Masato nods sullenly at Usagi, accepting this. "Thanks, Usagi-chan. I have trouble remembering things from this part of my life. I don't remember much from the time, but my mother got very sick, and passed suddenly. My father was rarely home. He travelled a lot. Mother cultivated bonsais for private sale, and ran a landscaping business from here..." He smiled sadly. "I saved three of them, including the family heiloom, but her prized maple bonsai-- Izou's done everything he can for it, but it's slowly been getting worse." A string, though. "That's not a bad idea." Masato grants, "Tying a rope to the door handle here..." He looked over the others, before heading inwards further. "Does anyone have a non-magical light?"
Sailor Mercury	Ami found herself nodding along slowly to Mamoru and Usagi. Clearly, the spirit here was very upset with Masato and no attempt at reassurance on her part was going to change that. They were going to have their work cut out for them and she returned to hers. "So, apparitions as well." Ami confirmed for Kazuo and Usagi. Fingers tapped over keys as sapphire gaze settled back upon the glow of her tiny screen and her lip caught between teeth in concentration. "Oh--" Ami's attention lifted off to the left and she nodded that way. "There's something there... I'll check spectral..." ''Tap, tap, tap.'' "That's odd. It seems even colder in there, but I can't quite ''pinpoint'' anything just yet..." Regardless, she was meandering her way in that direction as though proximity would assist her technological paranormal investigation efforts.
Zoisite	The smell. It was the smell. Sewage and decomposing bodies was one thing, festering the streets and broken city of the future. A natural want to empty the contents of his gut would be more present, disgust and goosebumps crawling up his bones. But this was more pointed, sickly sweet. ''Sick,'' in fact. Upsetting. Nature trying to claim back and bury whatever was left of the home, perhaps. Very much neglected and-- A gasp leaves him. Quiet but firm as he felt a cold weight on his shoulder. Izou lets go of Kazuo's arm to turn around, dry petals dancing about his feet as he does, to confront whoever tried to get his attention, only to be met with nothing. Or something? Was it something? "..." Izou stands still, green gaze wide and glancing about.
Amy Faust	Woman at the second floor window. "Huh?" Amy glances up, but she's already gone. Amy frowns a bit. Having to stay out of henshin... she'd sort of planned for that, but she also underestimated the threat level here. "What does the butterfly mean, though...?" she wonders. Then double-takes. "Wait, her ghost is ''here''? Is she the... dungeon heart, not-witch, whatever-we're-calling-it, at the center of all this?" Usagi-chan takes the offer of cord, so Amy unslings the pack from her back and opens it. "Okay, so, I got twine like this..." She pulls out two hand-size spools of 400-500ft each of white twine, puts one back in, and ties the end of one to something right outside the door -- if lacking that, she'll tie it to a metal stake and hammer it into the ground. She'll unspool it behind her as they walk inside. "And I've got paracord, but only a 15-meter bundle," she pulls out a small bundle of thin olive-green nylon rope, "and these bracelets that come apart into 3-meter bundles." She suddenly jumps and looks around. "Did anyone else hear that?!" she waves her arm through the air near her, checking for anything or anyone invisible. "It sounded like... a woman laughing." ...She'll hand the bracelets out to whoever wants one. "As for holding us together, uh... I'm not sure what works best? I can cut it into shorter pieces, of course..." She brought stuff, but she didn't actually have a specific plan without knowing the situation, so she starts thinking about how this will work. "I'm open to suggestions..." Once they step in, she shivers. "We all feel that cold? ...Okay." She buttons up her jacket. Does anyone have a non-magical light? Amy taps the holstered mini-maglite on her belt, and opens the pack again to put a headband-mounted light on her forehead. "Also I've got one of those cardlight things and a couple of cheap flashlights... chemical glowsticks too." She ''beams'' at having found another way to be useful, although, "Of course, everyone has phones now, too..."
Mamoru Chiba	"Well this definitely glinted gold, and it was just-- it was just the glimpse of a wing-- and Hawkmoth's butterflies ''are'' purple, can a ghost be akumatized...?" Mamoru wonders aloud, also taking one of Amy's cords, then glancing back at the doorknob. "I'll have to ask next time we fight one. But regardless, yeah, anyone with a phone, man." Masato can perhaps be forgiven for not thinking of that when in such distress, but friends can be jerks sometimes, and so it is as Mamoru turns the flashlight on his phone on and takes it out of his hoodie pocket. "Yeah, it--" Suddenly Mamoru's swinging the phone around toward the left archway, into a large living area-- the same way Ami's heading. "There's definitely something-- no, Ami-san wait--!" Mamoru takes a halfstep toward Ami, making a light grab at her sleeve with the hand holding the phone and nearly dropping it. "Don't split off, let's ALL go. It's moving further into the house."
Hinote Kagari	Hinote Kagari takes out his phone and turns on the 'flashlight' feature on it which makes the flash into a flashlight. Before he ''AWKS!'' and jumps suddenly having to catch his phone in a juggling act as Tracy turns to face Hinote. Tracy doesn't like the way this place feels. It makes him tired. "Jeez!" Hinote goes. "What the hell something touched me." he says as he tries to look behind him suddenly, over his shoulder. "Something just. Kinda touched my shoulder." he says as he looks back to the room and tries to shake it off as he says. "Colspots are often associated with hauntings look Tracy and I watch too many ghost hunting videos." he says. He says. "I'll take your rope too, Amy. We gotta be safe." he says as he looks around the room a little shaken. He'll follow the group.
Usagi Tsukino	"Your mother's bonsai is sick, and the plans are all upset, grieving and begrudging?" There's a lilt at the end of her words, just enough to make it a question, even if the lips which shaped those words are pursed in concern. Obviously, she thinks the two are connected. The paracord and twine are both accepted, the long twine wrapped around her waist, the paracord in her hand. "I have my phone, but -" Amy has better light, which Usagi expected. As they enter, the space is notably cold, but also - "Oh," she breathes, and then louder, "The plants move away from me. Hold on a second, let me count everyone -" A quick count later, and she says, "It might be the purification? Kazuo-kun is the only one here who can do that too, with his fixed up stuff." She steps bravely with the group, trying to stay close in the hopes that it continues to disturb the plants.
Kunzite	Kazuo's other hand trails over Izou's arm as Izou turns; he sets his near hand on Izou's forearm to keep contact, refusing to be separated even by that little. But it means Izou's watching behind the two of them. So he can exhale, and glance down at the floor. The smell is - unpleasant. To say the least. But if something were physically present behind him, Izou would say, and that is more of a relief. Gently, gently, he nudges two matching shoes together, in one tiny piece of order offered up among the chaos. Amy and Mamoru produce light. That's better. After a fashion. And Kazuo moves a step, reaching toward the nearest person connected to Mamoru - by touch or cord. Joining himself and Izou to the chain. "I can't do it to things outside me," he notes to Usagi. "So they probably wouldn't be worried about me, if that's it." Another half-step, careful not to lose Izou if he's still standing still. "Out of curiosity, Masato, Izou. Did you try bringing the maple back here?" That's a silly question, Kazuo. Does the house have a new central pillar that wasn't on the blueprints?
Masato Sanjouin	Masato looks almost relieved by Amy's preparedness, because it pulls the focus away from his own phone being far older and simpler than most, and not actually possessing a torchlight. Unfortunately, everyone seems to be experiencing very ghostly things already. Masato follows after Ami with equal alarm, taking up a piece of Amy's cord. "Right-- everyone stick close. We're moving through the sunroom, so watch out for any yellow flowers. They shoot this weird thorn, it messes with you." There were a few scattered about-- the sunroom looked like an atrium, large trunks and strange foliage densely populating the space. Vines here slithered and moved, and the flowers that were visible seemed to follow them. Their faces turned towards the encroaching group, the hallway beyond offering a thicket like a jungle. On the other side, a once lovely glass stairway was half shattered and half entwined with serpentlike twists of thorny bramble. A shrine on the far side was upturned and damaged by the invasive growth. A picture frame had been knocked down to shatter, and several flowers surrounded it. A single butterfly rested, purple winged, upon the wood dais on the remainder of an incense stick, still in the holder. It immediately started to flutter away, oddly swift, towards the hall. Masato shook his head, to answer Kazuo. "No. Mamoru did try to check out the Bonsai itself, but out of the three I took home-- before the worst of this came to head-- that maple was the only one that never recovered. I gave one to Mako-chan, and Izou and I brought the other back to health. Even magic doesn't stick to that plant. It wilts again no matter what we do."
Zoisite	It had been something. Spirit, one that can touch. And he had not been the only recipient of it as another one exclaimed, spooked by whatever brushed against them. It only settled some of Izou's nerves. ''Only some.'' The rest remained on edge as the smell made him feel quite upset. Finally, he turns again, gluing himself back to Kazuo's side and rushing the two of them closer to the group. "I felt someone touch my shoulder. Haunted would be an understatement." Mutters to his boyfriend. A deep breath then. "Like Masato explained, nothing cures the maple. Even Blue has tried talking to it when its just the two of them, but there isn't much of a response at all." Revealing a quiet belief in stimulus of voice or sound to nature. "But there's a thought... If we can heal this house, will the maple be affected? Or are you suggesting that it might be a possible key?"
Hinote Kagari	Hinote Kagari follows along and looks around. He listens to the stories about the Bonsai trees as he makes mental notes. He looks down at the smashed frame, and the butterfly. Tracy 'ohs!' and points at it, he starts to float after it, but Hinote Kagari stops the tiny chara from following it by putting his hand in front of Tracy. "Don't go to far." he says. He looks around and considers. "Masato. Do you remember what might be in that frame or do I need to risk touching it?" he asks as he considers options. "I'm trying to look for... things. Clues. Best I can without my powers." he says. Tracy rests a hand on his chin and considers his own options.
Mamoru Chiba	"Oh, fuck," Mamoru says, stopping suddenly as what they're looking at gets specific. "That's not an akuma," he continues, his voice heavy. His flashlight shows the butterfly fluttering toward the hall, and he calls to it, "Come back! We want to help. We have to understand!" Except he thinks he might, looking back at Kazuo and giving him a swift nod. "Suffocation, Amy-chan-- sickness, suffocation. A soul, always, but if it's near a shrine like that, it's suffocating, just like everything else. Masa-kun... Hinote-kun, the thing's pulling at me psychically. It might be load-bearing," he says, already halfway there, hesitating as he looks between them. "But if a bonsai is sick, and all the plants are sick, and the bonsai came from here, and it's ''magically'' connected with a, a red string, and there's a soul suffocating, maybe you need to bring it back to its home?"
Sailor Mercury	Ami paused at Mamoru's cautious touch, glancing his way with a short nod. "Right. Yes, that's probably a good idea. Not wandering off into the haunted house alone." Her attention drifted to the Amy's cord and then to her hands which were mostly occupied by the Mercury Computer at the moment. With her free hand, she twisted a little loop and then ducked slightly to slip it up to her elbow. Then she returned to concentrating on the computer. "Over there--" Ami lifted her gaze again to point down the hallway this time, then she frowned and returned attention to the computer. "Wait. It's gone..." A pause as she typed away for a moment before her brows furrowed deeply. "There's something ''upstairs'' and it's steady. We might actually want to check that one out."
Amy Faust	"Maybe the bonsai will get better when this sickness is gone...?" Amy wonders. Some kind of solution is worked out with the ropes, whether holding on to the twine behind Amy or people sharing a rope or whatever. Everyone has phones... except those who don't! Amy will happily give Masato one of the cheap multi-LED flashlights if asked. Anyone is welcome to the other one too, though she didn't think to bring enough for everyone. Glowsticks are also offered. Not really good for seeing ''much'', but "If you get seperated and lose your light, at least you can pull it out of your pocket and--" She mimes bending one. Why yes, she ''has'' considered what 'dungeoneering gear' would consist of and stuffed some things that were small and relatively cheap into her backpack. It helps that light sources and good rope are ''way'' cheaper and lighter with modern technology than what fantasy adventurers have to make do with, and that multitools are a thing. > We're moving into the sunroom, so watch out for yellow flowers. They shoot thorns-- "''What?!''" Amy ''almost'' shrieks, just loud enough that her voice breaks out of the whisper-hiss a bit. Sparkles adjust her outfit to include a greatcoat and gloves, and a hardhat the light's now stuck on. When Tracy starts to fly off and is stopped by Hinote, Amy calls out, "Don't fly off! We need to stick together. Here." Amy offers him something shaped like a bulkier credit card with an LED on one narrow side, and squeezing the middle of the opposite side toggles on-off (clicka-clicka, she demonstrates it). The size and shape is kind of awkward for a chara, and it's not very bright or focused, but at least it's plenty lightweight! "If you want... or do you already have a flashlight in your coat?" Amy looks around for yellow flowers. "Do we need to get up those stairs? Without magic... I don't have a fast way to clear plants. Do those brambles fight back?" She tries to sneak over towards the shrine, not sure what she can see but... if spirits and ghosts and magic are real, there's probably something significant there. "Uhh..." she calls out in a loud whisper, "How do we tell which plants are the move-and-attack-you kind?" Mamoru calls out that the butterfly is a soul, though, so if they run after it she'll stick close instead. "Why would the shrine be suffocating it?"
Kunzite	"Something white moved, down that hall," Kazuo says to Ami. "Crossed at the far end. Right to left, from our vantage." Of course it's the hall the butterfly flitted for. The one with the jungle that might harbor any number of those ... awkwardly inquisitive yellow flowers. Armed yellow flowers. Armed with drugged distance weapons yellow flowers. Kazuo shifts to put an arm around Izou's waist. Which is absolutely no help tactically, but more of a help emotionally. "It's speculation only," he says to Izou. "No supporting evidence. But perhaps she might miss it, or it her." Or perhaps it might only be part of the same problem, connected to the house like they're literally tied to each other just now. A lower murmur: "I felt something there, too. Breath, not touch. But there." Behind them, in the last room.
Usagi Tsukino	The sun room is overgrown and eerie, as is much of the house, heavy with grief and grudges. Usagi walks at the edge of the group as much as she can, turning flowers away from her and thus others on at least one side, but when they enter the sunroom - "Oh," she says, and sees the flowers and what they promise. She clutches her handful of paracord and walks across the room carefully, and the yellow flowers close as she draws near. "The person I'm going to share you with is lovely and kind," she tells the flowers as she begins to pluck them, removing their power, their threat, "She cares about Masato-kun, too. I hope that makes you happy. I think you should know." One by one, dangerous yellow flowers are picked, sealing themselves at her approach. The photo and shrine can be approached. "It's unattended. There's been no one to care for her shrine, and... I'm sorry. When we fix this, we'll make the proper offerings. Maybe you can tell Mamochan your favorites, so we can give you plenty." This is an answer for Amy, but it's also an entreaty, as she plucks those flowers.
Masato Sanjouin	It's fortunate that Hinote prevented Tracy from getting too close to the picture frame. The broken glass was the least of the danger. The nearest yellow flowers had already turned towards the Chara-Bearer ominously, as if to take aim. This is true of anyone who gets too close-- except, oddly, for Usagi. It's something that even Masato is a little taken aback by, having been shot by the damn things multiple times, and left dizzy and nauseated for his troubles. One by one, Usagi successfully clears them from around the photo frame. That seems like a good thing, right? Maybe it is her purification at work, or mayber just her good heart, or-- He clears his throat to look at Hinote and Mamoru, after glancing back at the hall. Something white... "It's... just her portrait." If there's a psychic imprint on it, then maybe Usagi shouldn't touch ''that''. "My mother's, I mean. I burnt incense here for her, when I first came back to the house. I put the photo there myself, not all that long ago... before all this." He gestured, "But when things got bad, well... you see the shrine. I have one of my own, at my apartment, so I didn't think much of it. And I ''did'' attend her grave this year, with Mako-chan, for Obon. I didn't think there was anything wrong, but since I've been coming back here more..." Guilt lingered upon him, and he hoped that neglect wasn't too unforgivable. He had tried. But whatever was going on here was complicated. "I think anything will probably attack you if you Henshin, Amy-chan." He said truthfully, turning towards the stairs. "I haven't been up there in a months or so--" The deerscare sounded again, as crisp as if it were in the room. Suddenly, the way they had come from was different-- no longer foyer, but another sparse hallway with several doors.
Hinote Kagari	Hinote Kagari considers. "I'd use my water pistol here but I think that'd help rather than hurt flowers." he says. "Besides that'd be a ''small'' transformation and I don't wanna lure anything to us just yet." Tracy takes the credit card sized LED light and says. "Thanks, dollface!" he says to Amy, tipping his fedora a little. Hinote Kagari looks down at the picture and then at Mamoru and Kazuo and Masato and then says. "Uh. Hold on." he says as he tries to hold Mamoru's shoulder, not hard but.... he knows Mamoru doesn't like being touched, but who does without asking? "Do you ''WANT'' to touch it or do we need to hold you back?" he asks. Then Usagi handles the flowers he looks back to Mamoru and says. "Sorry." he says as he lets Mamoru go. "But be careful about it." he says. "Stuff seems dangerous to touch he---Tracy stop trying to touch things." Tracy pulls his hands back from the wall just in time for the sound to ring and he looks behind him and-- "Oh. Oh I understand now." he says. "That's gonna be annoying..."
Zoisite	With an arm pulling him close, Izou presses his face against Kazuo's side with a pout. "No one else needs to get close to you. If they want to spook anyone, it should be be." Tone was quite offended, muffled by clothes. Then he pulls away, looking forward to Usagi plucking away the yellow blooms. Whatever threat they held dissipating quickly. The flora alone were gorgeous to look at, even if hostile. If only the place wasn't so sickly... "...If Masato agrees, we could bring the maple here if nothing else works." Yet the deerscare got him this time, echoing loudly, making him glance back again--only to see a new corridor and doors. What in the House of Leaves is this..?? Nudges Kazuo to look back. "The room isn't behind us anymore."
Sailor Mercury	The deerscare sounded again and snapped Ami from her digital investigations in approximately the same manner as the first. She jumped a little and glanced around herself until her gaze settled specifically on the way they'd come. "Oh dear--" Ami was quick to return attention to the computer. "Well, that definitely explains the readings. It almost feels like a dreamscape, but in the real world." A short pause before she added, "And actively antagonistic." She wrinkled her nose a little and then shook her head. "Maybe there's something in the sub-frequencies..." Ami suggested and let her voice taper off, typing out a series of instructions as she worked at isolating and enhancing the quiet parts of the general soundscape around them. "What do they call it on those weird ghost hunter shows? Electronic voice phenomena?"
Amy Faust	Amy smiles at Tracy's thanks. Usagi's purification-aspected nature (Amy supposes) stops the plants. Able to look at the shrine with the others, Amy finds naught but a picture. Amy has not actually studied shinto, or the practiced customs of buddhism, and has only a pop-culture knowledge of the... theurgic? principles involved. Suffocating? The spirit has been left here with no offerings for so long. "Ghosts like food, right? I brought these for us to share, but she can have some too..." If the idea isn't vetoed, she'll open a lightly-squished bag of chocolate-coated mini-donuts and set a few on the shrine, and pour out a little fresh water from her waterbottle. It's the thought that counts, right? "I bet she doesn't get junk food very often..." Of course, now that they're open, people can have some if they want, before she closes the bag and stuffs it back in her pack. While Amy's moving back away from the shrine, she loops the twine around its bundle as she backtracks, only to find that it's gone slack. Pulling it, she sees the end, and in that direction... a different room than the one they came from. "Well, damn. I guess that answers ''that'' question. So much for leaving a trail." She spools the twine back up for whatever other use they may find for it, and looks up at the second floor. "Is there any other way up there than this stairway?" Amy wonders. "The plants... do they sense us by physical presence, or by our souls?" The implication should be obvious enough.
Mamoru Chiba	He's stopped where he is and then Usagi's approaching, and-- and she'd said it, before, and been quiet and watching this whole time, she'd ''said'' it, her purification. But that's based in her ''purity'', her purity of ''purpose'', and her purpose is pure, and Mamoru's eyes are wide, wide in breathless wonder as that purity closes the flowers with her gentle presence and voice and touch, soothes the hurts-- abruptly his eyes sting and he's glad he's not wearing his glasses, he can just turn away a little and wipe his eyes with his sleeve. "Usako," he says in a punched-out little voice, "you're incredible." He watches her take the danger away like a mother, almost. What comes to his mind as he finishes crossing the room, and first touches Usagi: a mental image of them healing the burn ward and then the whole hospital with their hands held, a small thing, a directed thing, not like what she did in Paris, or what Neo Queen Serenity did in Crystal Tokyo. Then: The mental image of a wispy silvery tracing of threads like roots or lightning, underground, her using him as a channel for her power to the mycorrhizal network and pulsing rainbow silver crystal energy out through it to all of the other plants, and then they-- Hinote gets an automatic grin as Mamoru focuses on the other boy after a second. "It's fine, good thought. It was a problem once for me, so it could be a problem again." He takes the picture, then, letting go of Usagi so she doesn't get hit with whatever psychic train he's about to get slammed with. What everyone can see from the outside is him taking the picture and frowning for a moment, looking closer, and freezing in place-- then starting to cough, and cough and cough, hand white around the picture frame, wheezing into the elbow of his hoodie sleeve. He looks at it as if expecting blood, and he says in a faraway voice, "Masa-kun, she told you not to touch her plants. But she was so sick. I'm so sorry. The maple's red leaves were the same color as--" Deerscare. He blinks himself back to the here and now, carefully setting the picture down and helping Amy re-settle the shrine. "Are you asking if someone can hold your soul gem while you push up your sleeves and fistfight a bramble?"
Usagi Tsukino	The flowers have been picked, which has allowed Tracy and Hinote to reach the photos, and offer it to Mamoru, for him to investigate. There's a danger there, in feeling and seeing what others once felt, but Usagi holds her peace - she has to, because this is not just about her own worries, but about the need for a resolution. The many flowers in her hands could count as a bouquet if they were wrapped by more than clumsy fingers. Masato's voice is puzzled, and guilty, as he speaks, and Usagi nods, slowly - yes, of course that's the portrait, for the shrine. "You did your best," Usagi says, because for this, in this, Usagi's tender heart will offer absolution. It isn't for her to offer forgiveness, but it is in her to offer understanding, particularly when her own heart wrenches to look upon him. It's this house, this home. It's these people, her friends. It's what it means, to see an alter, to see a home, to know them both abandoned. Usagi blinks back tears, and that, at least, isn't unusual. She's always been a crybaby. "Maybe it wants to be here?" She suggests, in response to Izou's suggestion, but then there's the deerscare, and she yelps, louder than she meant, a peeling cry of fear as she jolts, the yellow flowers clutched tight, sorrow a knot in her chest. When she turns, there's the briefest bit of sway, tiredness dragging, and she looks at the flowers in her hands in suspicion, and then, softly, with acceptance. Her skin is starting to feel hot, but that's alright. She burned with fever for weeks, as New Moon. She can handle it. And when Mamoru touches her, he'll feel it - the slightly alien sense of grief, of remorse, of regret, that she carries so well, accepts so readily. Sorrow, and tears, and flesh, to help embody a feeling that can no longer be felt. "Mamochan, so are you," she says, quietly, and kisses his forehead, as he shares his memories. She wonders, if together they could purify this house, but she doesn't think it needs purity so much as it needs to be lanced like a boil, drained like an abscess. What is this place, but grief brought home to rot? "There are so many regrets in this house," she murmurs, but she looks at Masato as she does it, and there are tears again. One rolls down her cheek, as she follows the others, taking a few donuts when offered, chewing them and restoring some of her vitality, her cheer.
Kunzite	"You did more for her this year than I did for my father, and ''he's'' not haunting anything that I know about," Kazuo says to Masato, a little wry as he leans his head toward Izou, white hair brushing bright hair while Izou's hiding his face against Kazuo. Then they're watching again - Izou watching Usagi, Kazuo glancing around while Izou's attention is in one place. Which still leaves Izou the one who catches the corridor first. Kazuo glances back over their shoulders and blinks mildly. "Well. Masato did say." Is he concerned? Probably, but it's not showing right now. "At least we're apparently now invited in." Or... something. Probably, as Ami says, something antagonistic. Ami gets an apologetic glance from Kazuo, too. Soundscapes aren't, as energy goes, his specialty. Too near physical. And Mamoru is too near ''something.'' Kazuo glances back and forth between Mamoru and Izou in notable alarm, as if he expected Izou's exposure to the maple to shed some light on what Mamoru is doing and saying. ... annnnnnd then Mamoru is asking Amy ''that.'' Well, at least they know he's fundamentally okay now.
Masato Sanjouin	The severed cord had Masato's heart sinking. It wasn't something he'd tried before, and he'd held hope about it. Mystical means of navigating the space weren't reliable, and he had no idea how well Ami's technology would fair. Masato did take out his own phone briefly, checking it. "Well... there goes the phone signal." He sighed deeply, and slipped it back into his pocket. "Frankly, Amy-chan, this house hasn't seen much in the way of sweets or junk food inside it at all, under her watch. She was always very strict about sugar." Sapphire eyes turned to the shrine with distant mournfulness. "Still... perhaps it is the thought..." He hoped so. The prospect that his mother might be angry at ''him'' still hung upon his heart like a lead weight. Masato had made many mistakes, but as much as he could, he'd been trying to set things right. He made a face at Kazuo but he appreciated the solidarity. Masato was happy to break eye contact with Usagi-- something about the way she looked at him, just then, was awful. "My parents were not close. It was an arranged marriage, because their family's were old fashioned. My mother wasn't exactly the home-making type. They were always busy." He glanced at Mamoru instead. "I don't resent them for being hard working. But when I was a kid, it's true... I used to try to help by watering the plants, and I wanted to prune bonsai. But she never let me. I was too young and they were too valuable. But I suppose... I was just trying to be closer to her, back then." He turned his attention towards the stairs. "We could cut through them, if we summoned our swords... briefly. Or if you have a quick solution that won't set the house on fire, Amy-chan? Hinote-san?" A flash of white moving rapidly disrupted his train of thought, as beyond the brambles, the otherwise elegant figure resembling his mother reappeared upon the ceiling of the space upstairs. Only for a few moments was the apparition visible, moving with an unnatural, jerking crawl across the upper floor. Her hair swayed while pale body defied gravity and beauty, and the lights flickered on and off in the new hallway. Masato looked horrified. "What the hell was that?"
Zoisite	"Your mom." Perhaps it left his lips a little too quickly, pointedly revealing that Izou was keeping himself distant empathetically to a familial conflict of someone he cared for. A second later, it was like a peddle to the forehead in realization of why they were there. "I'm sorry." He clears his throat. "I would need to henshin to summon my sword. I doubt that would be very helpful with how much the house is reacting to us." His cheeks burned. There was enough sense for him to feel some shame. As for the maple, Izou just gave Usagi a look before nodding towards Masato. "Only he can make that decision for the Maple. I'll assist in what I can."
Hinote Kagari	Hinote Kagari says. "I don't carry detective kit with me. Maybe I need a utility belt. Like a super hero." he says. "Usually the uh. Chara Change and Transformation carries those for me." he admits. Tracy pulls his fedora down. "Kid, you don't need fancy kit, you got your wits and your brain, you're kosher!" he says. Hinote Kagari hehs. "Yeah. Yeah I get it. No worries." he says. Hinote nods to Mamoru and makes sure he's okay dealing with the picture. When he starts wheezing he winces, as the picture is finally replaced he relaxes and he looks to Amy. "Huh." "You know you shouldn't go too far from your soul right? Be careful if we're trying that." he says as he looks down the next hallway, not behind them where they came from. He then looks to Ami. "Yeah, EVPs. They record and then playback the media to see if anything is on it. Also..." he says. "We should move. Again as a group. Which way?" he asks. "Unless we're sitting here and we don't get anywhere sitting in the one room." he says. "Well." he says to Masato. "I have non-lethal, non-destructive weapons... water guns. But. I'm not sure if we can temporarily push these back with that. But I mean. It's water. And they are plants. I don't see permanent damage there." he says. then he sees that. He saw that. He was looking at the stairs trying to gauge it. When he saw that. A figure across the ceiling. "....yeah." he says. "HINOTE THAT'S A MYSTERY!" says Tracy pointing. "Oh .... no---" "Become a world class detective and solve that mystery!" yells Tracy as he points to Hinote. Hinote, who suddenly has a fedora poofing onto his head, and a holster containing a water gun. "Everyone just calm your jets. I'm on the scene now. Kapesh? Kapesh." he says in old timey tone as he raises his hands, and then removes his gun and starts hosing down the bramble with a powerful jet of water. It's not destructive and has enough power to shove multiple people over. But it isn't gonna exactly strip the walls either. Yeah no one asked him or Tracy to do this as Tracy crosses his arms approvingly. "Give 'em the ol' heater!" he says.
Sailor Mercury	Ami almost missed it, distracted briefly by Masato's question and the apparition on the ceiling, but her computer made some noise in her palm. Indiscernible to anybody not immediately beside her, a distinctly ''male'' voice that saw her brows lift higher and her attention shift back to the device. "The boy. Odd. Up there. Room, looking. Stars." Ami read aloud before glancing Masato's way again. There wasn't much question at all in her mind as to who a boy looking at stars might be. The voice, though... ''that'' was odd. "Masa-nii... What does your father sound like?" Granted, she knew that his father was alive, but perhaps there was something to her comparison with dreamscapes in memories. And then the computer started to hum in a feminine voice.
Amy Faust	Hinote-san ''wishes'' he had a utility belt. "I'll help you get a multitool and flashlight after this. Just don't let the teachers or any cops see it, I think we are not ''technically'' allowed to carry knives unless we're park rangers or hunters or the like." Or they could just pick one with a small enough knife on it, but Amy hasn't memorized that law. Amy blinks at Mamoru. "No, I'm asking if maybe I won't ''have'' to fistfight the brambles and can just walk past them if someone holds my soul." "...Ohhhhh." She smiles and rolls her eyes. "Pff." She looks to Hinote. "I know. I tested the range out to 95 meters or so. I'm not leaving line of sight and wondering off on my own, though." She's not sure what to do about the grief and regret of this house. She'll keep focusing on smaller problems in front of her. Masato mentions the woman ''didn't'' like sweets. "Oh. Well... I guess... if she's dead, she doesn't have to worry about her health and can finally cut loose?" Amy suggests, awkwardly. "...D'you think we should take the offering ''back?''" A quick solution that won't set the house on fire? Amy shakes her head. "I mean, I guess then I could try to fly up there really quickly-- hey!" Amy waves at the ghost. "Hey lady! Sanjouin-san's mom! We're here to he--THAT's not a normal way to move." "...Did she like horror movies? Would she imitate ''Ju-on'' or the like to mess with you?" Amy takes a step back from the bottom of the stairwell. "Or... that's not your mom at all, is it? Some kind of evil spirit? And then Hinote henshins. Half-henshins? Amy's not sure how to count that. Although, perhaps more to the point right now, is how will the ''plants'' count it... Anyway, she takes a ready stance, watching for the plants' reactions to dodge counterattacks.
Kunzite	Helping by watering the plants. Well. Hinote and Tracy seem to have that one covered. "That's what I've been seeing, or looks like it," Kazuo says to Masato. "That's the first time its limbs have been visibly distorted, though." Matter-of-fact things you don't want to hear. From Kazuo, for Masato, that's at least ... sort of normal. So is his not chiding Izou for the Comment; that's someone else's job. Ami's reading off her computer prompts Kazuo to frown, just a little. Up there. Room, looking. A steady power source, also up -- Doesn't mean it's the same room. Right? "Why are the stairs ''glass,''" he sighs mostly to himself, and takes a moment to try to remember the amount of weight paracord can handle. Answer: not enough, especially when wet. Well then.
Mamoru Chiba	Mamoru's hand withdraws from his pocket holding the folded up receipt he'd been fidgeting with, and flicks it with deadly accuracy to bounce off the cattiest of the Shitennou's ear. And he glares for good measure. "''Loads of dark energy'' filling up a ghost will certainly do stuff like that to them, if Himeko was any indication. But your mother's not the same kind of ghost and we don't know if that ghost is your mother," the prince adds hurriedly, trying to be reassuring. AND THEN AMI'S COMPUTER and the voices are like ice in his veins, ice down his back, ice at the back of his ''teeth''. So, he does that thing he does when he's being a medium specifically, when he's ''looking'' for ghosts that are hiding-- he starts to glow a little. And then Mamoru watches Hinote and Tracy Change and he nods stiffly, but he's looking for ''Usagi's'' cue, carefully. "We can henshin and go upstairs and then see if just being in henshin is an active hard drain or something, or just when we use attacks. I'm sure everyone would be happier with everyone in armor right now," he suggests. "I can try to read the room -- pffha -- sorry -- when we get upstairs."
Masato Sanjouin	"Un-fucking-cool," Masato hisses at Izou with frenetic pique, but the worrying thing is, he might be right. His attention turned tot he EVP reading, trying to collect himself as he shook his head. "What, I don't know, he's-- formal. Cold." Given a moment to think on it after his shock though, he nodded slowly. "He did always call me odd. He never appreciated the skill it took to map the heavens. He didn't think Astrology was real. He didn't care about her plants either, he used to scold her and tell her she should focus on motherhood. I remember overhearing them fighting from my bedroom balcony, when I was looking through my telescope." He frowned at his feet, before peering up to the second floor again. Masato watched Hinote,considering that approach. The water is doing a pretty thorough job of blasting the brambles and moving them around, but not quite blasting them apart. They're stronger than they look, but the pressure is bending them enough to henshin and jump past the bulk of it. That said, some are rearing up and trying to attack Hinote, striking out beyond the blast and looking to cut and whip at the Chara-Bearer. It's fighting back! Masato wasn't going to hesitate any longer, after seeing that ''thing'' imitating his mother. Unfortunately, the hallway with the dense foliage is reacting too-- a cloud of spores puffs out to catch Masato off guard and spreads like a fog to obscure things and irritate others. Several thick vines lash out from the doorway, along with several escaping purple butterflies, looking to entangle and ensnare anyone nearby and drag them in. Unfortunately, that includes Masato.
Sailor Mercury	Well, if there was going to be water splashed about, Ami might as well offer some help on that front. Surprisingly enough, she didn't even wait for Usagi's reply to Mamoru before making her own decision. Her free hand sprouted her pen which she thrust upward to call out, "Mercury Power, Make Up!" Ami was replaced by Sailor Mercury. A Sailor Mercury who was already extending both hand and her magic out toward the water that Hinote had sprayed. "Sabao Spray Freezing!" A blast of freezing mist sprouted from her palm to join in the efforts against the brambles. "Masa-nii!"
Hinote Kagari	Hinote Kagari, still Hinote in technicality, is blasting plants and they whip out and the whip out, the striking rips through his jacket and side and----this is not a full henshin and the sheet pain of that knocks him OUT of it as he says. "DAMMIT TRACY!" he says as the fedora and gun disappear. "MY HEART UNLOCK!" he calls out finally, making an unlocking motion with his hands in front of him as Tracy glows, and Hinote glows and--- Pulp Noir appears. With a jazzy undertone involved. He quickly grips the edge of his fedora and pulls out the gun again, looking like a more proper gun now, and starts blasting water at the plants, trying to stop them from grabbing Masato away too far "Hey. Stop that." he says as he shoots back at brambles trying to grab him. If it's important to not destroy the plants, he can do that. But he can make them wish they weren't misbehaving right now.
Kunzite	"Earth Power, Make Up!" ... sometimes Kazuo actually says the words. This is one of those times. Kunzite does not fight the plants. Not directly. What he does is lift both hands - taking his arm from around Izou in the process - and flood the room with dim shadows. The energy drain responds to the amount of energy; he is drinking down the ambient energy, trying to keep whatever is behind the drain from 'seeing' the transformed Mercury and Pulp Noir clearly. Trying to blunt and minimize that aspect of the house's malignance; to make it safer for the others to change.
Amy Faust	Hinote and Mercury's efforts move the brambles aside enough to get past-- Amy's engulfed by an orb of light which instantly breaks, flames fading from her body as she flies up the steps in 'super mode' to land at the top. She doesn't dare go further. She turns, launcher appearing on her shoulder, and fires, blasting the brambles close to her, and the area behind her, with saltwater mist to contribute to the assault the other two are doing without burning things. Then she conjures some spares, and a pistol, and dehenshins. ...Does that even ''work''? She doesn't know, she's never had a reason to try to keep weapons around while out of henshin before. But she's going to find out now!
Zoisite	It was good the Kunzite released him, as his earrings began to shimmer. "Earth Power, MAKE UP!!" Burning petals and fire swirl around him like fireflies, stitching together his uniform of silver grey outlined by spring green. "Spring's Mercy!" A flicker of green between gloved hands before he begins to throw one small bloom after another. One Ami, another at Hinote, Amy, and gently placing one on Kunzite. The blooms are preventative first aid and stick effortlessly to whoever receives one. Not himself though. He deserved the flick of paper to the ear. It still ached, just a tad.
Mamoru Chiba	"NEPH!" yelps Mamoru, scrambling to yank on the cord connecting him-- and then aggravatedly pulling them off his own arms and yelling "Earth Crystal Power, Make Up!" And that's when he realizes, with a shriek, "USA!" and he dives for her, mid-henshin, and her her feet are vanishing into the shadow a half second before Tuxedo Kamen's gloved hand can reach her. He... does ''not'' vanish through the door after her, he scrambles back toward the Amies and the boys with this bereft look. "I can teleport to her if she needs me to help her," he says, firmly, promising himself as much as everyone else. "Okay I guess we're going upstairs." He superjumps up the bridge-mess with only the lightest of ringing taps against glass shards, his dress shoes providing both armor and grip.
Masato Sanjouin	Kazuo's efforts succeed in helping to 'hide' the sense of the others from being directly targeted with the same aggression, though the darkness deepening lends itself eerily to the shimmer of the thick fog of spores. The aid Izou sends out seems to have an affect against the dizzying, sickly affects the spore cloud could otherwise cause those caught closest to the source might experience. Preventative medicine, as they say. But the house creaks and groans with a yawning protest. The floor beneath their feets holds a tremor, as if the magic swelling here has made the deep well of spiritual density shiver in anticipation. Despite the struggles and the efforts, there are too many vines wrapped about Masato. Far too quickly, he disappeared beyond the range of water blasts or other aid, dragged into the jungle-like depths of the mysterious hallway. By the time Tuxedo mask turns around, intent on moving forward, it would be easy to miss one brown-haired head in all the chaos not following them. Though the muffled words and the power of his own Henshin can be heard, he's already on the other side of the threshold when that dreaded sound occurs again, regardless of where anyone is. The deerscare drops.