LU 119 - Space 24

On my way back to my office, I heard some guy talking with Vice. So I barged in at the right time and introduced myself to this guy, Electric. After waiting for the sun to come up, since he's a floran, we took off to figure out this issue he has under his house. Turns out it's this impenetrable, alive plant monster thing that's dangerous and worrying.

After failing many times trying to kill it, the three of us went up to Electric's house and discussed strategy. We agreed to just leave it be for now, and after trying to kill it again with Electric I went back to Spawn. There, I confronted Vice about being weird lately, and he explained that he was just upset about Frezz dying. Fine, but apparently he's also "moving away". I went to what Vice said was the new house, but it was just a dirt hut. I called Vice out, and he began to flounder. I tried to squeeze the truth out of him, but he was stubborn; oh well, I don't care too much.

Things got awkward after I pushed the Frezz topic too hard, so we went to my place. I reminisced about Koratai and Boulty, which Vice seemed sympathetic (idiot). After some inner turmoil, I agreed to support Vice's relationship and help him fine/mourn Frezz; he seemed really happy to hear that. After some emotional talk, he took off and left a note I was unaware of until later. It simply read:

**"I'm sorry, I'll be back."**

So I was right. Frezz is alive, and just sealed the deal on Vice. Great. Wonderful. My only puppet is gone, and I'm yet again alone. I sat inside and debated what to do, then made up my mind; if Vice is willing to abandon his mayor duties for Frezz, who am I to stop him :).

I went to Ribbuns' station, looked at their article, then tweaked it a bit to fit *my* agenda. I wrote a script on the back, and told Ribbuns to publish it all. Before I left, I decided to promote Ribbuns to a postion where they could control and publish all forms of media, but since I'm the only mayor now... I control Ribbuns' every public word.

I left their station, and went to relax. However, I ran into Illios. *Perfect.* I got talking to her about the trees and what to do about them, and learned some things.

1. Zinnia went into Edelle, which means she lied to me.
2. Illios was apparently too busy to see me, which is totally fine.
3. Nat can somehow turn into what I assume to be magic, which I can definitely exploit.

I decided that if I'm going to make the trees my problem, I may as well do things efficiently. So, Illios and I rounded up Mira, Chizzy, and Jeremy (who no one was happy about but me) with some expert persuasion and lengthy discussion. Once everyone was in the same room back at Spawn (including Edelle and Nat), we talked strategy. We went over the plan to fight each tree after weakening it with Zinnia and Nat, then discuss who would go to the remaining three trees that I was unaware of.

We split into groups, then discussed recruiting more people. Chizzy and Mira went to find Syt, and the rest of us just kinda went back to our lives. While I was waiting for the two to return, I noticed a man walk up to Spawn's town square and give some nonsensical speech about gods and stuff. Thankfully not many heard him, but Mira sure did.

We chased the guy all the way to Chizzy's house (I ran into Chizzy previously, and assumed they persuaded Syt into joining because he was with her and Mira), where he tried to persuade Chizzy of all people. I quickly put together that this guy was Tori, and he began to panic. His way of soothing the mood was saying that he fell in love with Chizzy but found out that was wrong later, which dumbfounded everyone there. Once ironing out *that* issue, we got to how Tori somehow knows the trees. Turns out Nat showed him to them, which was confusing but concerning. Mira and I agreed to silence him and try to make him join us, but he just ran off at the first chance he got. Mira and I left to leave Chizzy and Syt be, then attempted to go our separate ways.

Electric came for help again and Mira was curious. So, we went back to Electric's place and Mira got a good look at the red plant mass, where she also failed to stop or harm it. We brainstormed ideas, and I waited at Electric's while the two ran off to find help. When I woke up, that smoking guy from before (Thankful) was here, who was also stumped. We ran into this Kudos guy as well, who *also* couldn't do anything.

Something happened to Electric while I was smoking Thankful's cigars as way to calm down, but he was fine so it's cool. We all went our separate ways for real this time, and I somehow found Frezz in his shop packing his things. He seemed like he found closure, and was ready to live peacefully, but I wasn't peaceful so I wasn't going to let him get away that easily. I thanked him for pulling Vice out of his mayor position, and asked if he wanted to help me with the trees. He initially said no, but after showing him Wrath was alive and explaining that I could get more wardens, he changed his tune. On our way to Edelle's house and meeting room, I heard something.

A sculk picked something up too, so we knew something was off. After some very scary threats and some more harsh words, we found Mira backed into a corner. I asked Frezz to give us a second, and I explained everything to Mira. She seemed hesitant to trust Frezz, but knew this was just to stop the trees. So, she sucked up her fear and made friends with Frezz. We made our way to Spawn, and I fell asleep before I could hear Mira explain things to Frezz.

When I awoke, Frezz left for now and Mira caught me up to speed. When she left, I made sure to enjoy my seemingly fleeting moments of solidarity. I went to my office, and fell asleep. Vice might've been right about all this being too much to handle, but unlike him I'm tough enought to handle all this.