June 17th - The Woods, Before Sunrise

[independent_dollmaker]

[As Alice meets up with the others, she can't help but feel that the woods seem even darker than usual.

Maria's dead. What the hell is going on?]

Do you know anything else about what happened? Why are we out here?

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[kouyouensei]

[Haruhi doesn't like the darkness either. First of all there are tons of unnatural, un-urban trees blocking out the sky. Beyond that, the sky itself is pretty black, barely any moonlight. There was a new moon a few days ago, probably, also known as a blood moon; and there's a place in the forest that Shimamoto, or at least Alice, seem to suspect in advance. There's something Haruhi doesn't see. But even here she can hear the sound of a friendly voice... and her own voice, which she might love even more.]

You remember Maya-chan dragging off Yamane in the library? They left school together too - Maria-chan saw... [Wow, past tense verbs - those do a bit of a number on the chipper smile Haruhi is trying to maintain.] So then Maya-chan says she was with Yamane, like they're somewhere else in the woods and they found Maria-chan, and she texted me, and he called the police.

Then I called you, and Shimamoto-san, and so now we're here! [Tada! Haruhi is so proud of this totally unbiased summation. She even left in the qualifiers for the things she didn't witness herself.]

[flatview]

[ She's certain she's only been running for about two minutes, but it feels as though it's been much longer. Oddly nimble for a mere seamstress, Nui darts across the forest as fast as her legs will let her. Her lungs are burning, her feet are scratched and bloody from wearing only thin sandals across the rough terrain. ]

Alice! Haruhi! [ She can't stop yelling. This forest is huge. She could run past them five or six times if there wasn't a response, or a flash of color. ] Osaka, you goddamned lunatic, I'm gonna slice all of your fingers off one by one!

[ --what was that? A blur of gray and purple in the distance. Someone. It probably wasn't Alice and Haruhi, but someone else was out in the forest at this time of night, that was the important point. Temporarily, she adjusts her course towards the figures.

Well. She was just wearing a nightgown and jeans, so her parasol would have to be the key identifier here. Pink as ever, and trailing behind her like a makeshift club. ]