FOG Chapter 1: Episode 1

All paths converge on the university as the shutterbug of the grapevine begins to investigate strange happenings around the university.

## Characters

### Major Appearances

* Selyf
* Orobas
* Teach
* Arche
* Cassius
* Dodge
* Bijoux
* Beretta
* Mallow

### Minor Appearances

* Harpe
* Feather
* Gallav
* Poplar
* Nocti
* Salazin
* Dione
* Guileford
* Hojo

## Summary

### Short Summary

As Selyf enters the city proper, he runs into a strange supernatural figure that attempts to speak to him before Orobas appears and chases it off. Deciding he's too much of a trouble magnet to travel alone, she accompanies him into the city to keep watch as he finally makes his way to the University. Meanwhile, Teach awakes from a dream of the past to Dodge's animal-filled apartment. As the rest of the group (Arche, Dodge, and Cassius,) awaken, they share chatter about themselves before splitting up: Arche and Dodge on their usual schedules and Cassius with Teach as her "New Teacher's Assistant".

Across the city, a new character, Bijoux, walks into her job at a newspaper company, The Grapevine. The group had heard about suspicious behavior at the University and sent Bijoux over to snoop under the cover of being a student. Wishing her well, Bijoux makes her way to the University as well. Beretta and Mallow arrive at the University entrance at the same time, just in time to see Song taking note of everyone entering and exiting due to some commotion at night. Poplar and Nocti arrive as well and, despite their obviously fake names, are actually written in the attendance list and allowed to enter. The rest of the cast converges at this point, and they all share conversation before Selyf and Bijoux join Teach's homeroom due to the suggestion of Song. Teach is delighted.

After getting the newcomers signed up, Teach's homeroom class begins, which she starts strongly by deciding to have class on the roof. Once the class all introduces themselves, Bijoux suggests a class photo, which Teach agrees to heartily. As the photo goes off, Orobas separates from Selyf's shadow to be cheeky-- only to realize that most of the class was able to see her. Calming the class (especially Bijoux) down, Teach talks out what was going on with Selyf, who exhaustedly explains the situation as Orobas sulks, embarrassed. Teach decides that the group should keep Orobas a secret between them for the sake of Selyf, and quickly dismisses the class to speak to the rest of the party.

Once the group reevaluates their situation, they decide to let Selyf and Bijoux into the circle of knowledge of what's going on at night and plan a meeting at a restaurant to regroup. There, they go over the information they all know and begin charting out their plan. It's at this point that Bijoux reveals her true identity as a newsie-- but quickly reassures them that she doesn't want the fallout of their situation to break out as it would be bad for everyone involved. Instead, they work out a way to tell half-truths to keep people from asking questions. With everything sorted out, they set up a meeting at the University that night, calling their new team "The Floodlights."

End Session.

### Extended Summary (WIP)

The scene opens as Selyf arrives at the gates of Indigo, now on his own as the morning begins to break. As he goes, one of the bridges raises behind him, leaving him between raised bridges with an unfamiliar figure. The both of them stuck for the moment, they awkwardly greet him. They chatter idly, but before too long, the figure tells him to watch out for something, but the words suddenly seem lost in the mist around them. And all at once, Selyf is suddenly past the dividing wall of the city, into a surprisingly dark alleyway with no memory of walking through.
Sighing at yet another strange occurrence, he makes his way forward, noticing four statues keeping guard at the edge of the gate. He looks closer, noticing that they seem strangely articulate and, remembering the events of the night before, and quickly takes a step back as something tries to grab his forearm-- a tall silhouette with a thin layer of fog emitting from its mouth. It begins to speak, but before it can form any words, an explosion of force suddenly makes impact, the statues and the silhouette disappearing all at once as a familiar face, Orobas, touches down in front of him. She makes direct eye contact with him, gesturing wildly at him before forming a layer of dust into a single message: "WHAT."

The two begin bickering-- Orobas exasperated that he once again got himself into trouble, and Selyf wondering why she came back after very clearly leaving with Bedel. Orobas calms down a bit, tagging along to make sure that he didn't run into any other issues as he is, quote, a Trouble Magnet.
Clearing the next gate with no further problems, things seem to fall more in line with city life, people bustling about the streets with a loud clamor. Orobas shuffles his notebook in his pack to write, and Selyf quickly begins worrying if people can see her. She quickly writes down that it often takes people months to see her as an apparition, while he himself took two hours. She pointedly emphasizes the last detail. Worries quelled, Orobas goes back to hiding in his shadow.

As the two bicker, two punks make their way over to him, beginning to bother him. They begin to ask (read: lightly threaten) for a tax as Orobas floats around them to prove her previous point. She offers to take care of them, but Selyf rapidly shakes his head. The two thugs approach further, but he bolts, making his way further down Main Street. Noticing that, after a bit, the thugs have stopped chasing him, Selyf looks back to notice a red-headed young man had gained their attention, and has started a brawl in the middle of the street right next to a group of guards. Selyf decides that that was no longer his problem. He scoots into an alleyway to catch his breath and take out his journal, assuring Orobas he will be okay. She (intangibly) pats him on the shoulder, and they make their way more quickly towards the University.

The scene shifts to Teach in a memory-- a vision of the war on the hill many years ago. She remembers someone even younger than she was, a courier on the battlefield. She remembers swearing that she would protect him at whatever cost. And the memory fades as she awakens in Dodge's apartment covered in dogs. Regathering her bearings, she completes the very important mental health step of hugging a large number of dogs. Realizing that it was morning, she quietly swears under her breath at Cassius, who promised to wake her after an hour's nap. He Didn't. Looking around, Arche is on the floor beside her, peacefully watching. Arche explains that she had a bit of an "aura" around her as she slept, "red and popping and violent." Teach seems exasperated for a moment, explaining she had a bad dream as she untangled herself from the pile of dogs before regaining her peppy composure.
Arche watches as she gets up, before asking her a question. In an attempt to empathize, Arche asks her if she thinks burdens have value other than to hinder. Teach takes a breath, but simply responds with a Yes. She says she wouldn't be the same person if she didn't go through what she did-- even if it sucked, she didn't want to undo any of it. With those burdens, she's learned more about what she does and does not like. Arche listens intently, saying that she's glad she's making something of those burdens. Teach returns the question to her, and Arche agrees on her point. The two chatter on the point for a while, and before too long, Cassius and Dodge rejoin the scene.
The group begins preparing breakfast (after Teach lightheartedly expresses her frustration to Cassius) and talking over the next steps for the day. They agree to meet up after Teach's homeroom and split up-- Cassius heading out with Teach as her Teacher's Assistant.

The scene switches to a new face-- someone practically dances down Hull Street, unnoticed by the passing faces despite her sparkly demeanor. She was called into the Grapevine, the news agency of Indigo, on a tip that something strange was going on at the University. Her job is to figure out what is going on at the University, and find out why it is "Super Haunted." She heads into the office, announcing her presence with a loud "Good Morning!"
Across the room, her boss, Salazin, quickly calls in the other two coworkers, Dione and Guileford, for a team meeting in the conference room. Salazin addresses the group, celebrating a tip unrelated to any factions. Upon reporting that it is, supposedly, a ghost, Dione complains that they are "not a tabloid yet." Salazin admits it's a bit strange, but has hope that it may not be a ghost at all. He turns to Bijoux as their "ace infiltrator," who promptly deflates as she'd never been to university. He explains her given role as a "mysterious transfer student," and they begin scheming on her new persona. They begin going over who to talk to (namely, Teach and Mallow) and prepares her for a long stakeout. After settling the details, Sal gets called out for another harrowing phone call, and Bijoux begins gathering her things. After a "good luck" from the team, she heads out. At the door, she runs into Gallav, who acts as their delivery boy. They share friendly conversation before he heads off on his route, assuring her she can call him if she gets into any trouble.

Switching over to Beretta and Mallow, the two head over to the University. Mallow was the first person she had over her place that she considered a friend in a long time. As they approach the university, however, they notice something off about the air around it.
[TIMESTAMP: 1:35:00]

End of Session.