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[closed] there has got to be a better solution than this
Sakura stared at the Atori Teahouse, wishing she had the ability to do more than a mental frown. Well, she did, it'd just send Marco spiraling into another panic attack, which would send her into her own version of a panic attack, which would be even less okay than it was earlier with some of his friends (partners, teammates) in attendance.
Her general consensus was that this sucked, and she was highly displeased with the situation. The things she was used to doing with a thought were balked by her own check on reaching out and directing herself -- hisself -- to do anything, leading to many abortive attempts to do met with sudden stops of wait, I can't.
Look up to the roofline, she asked, frustration coloring her mental voice. Then scan right. If I'm where I last was, I should be inside.
The reason for why she asked him to check the area was also there, less coherently thought-out. She didn't plan to explain unless he asked. He could choose to sift through her general unease and discomfort in the meantime.
Her general consensus was that this sucked, and she was highly displeased with the situation. The things she was used to doing with a thought were balked by her own check on reaching out and directing herself -- hisself -- to do anything, leading to many abortive attempts to do met with sudden stops of wait, I can't.
Look up to the roofline, she asked, frustration coloring her mental voice. Then scan right. If I'm where I last was, I should be inside.
The reason for why she asked him to check the area was also there, less coherently thought-out. She didn't plan to explain unless he asked. He could choose to sift through her general unease and discomfort in the meantime.
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It was weird, looking around and waiting for Sakura to spot if anything was different. He didn't know the place well enough to notice anything odd himself, so it felt like he was just looking around aimlessly without knowing what it was that he was even looking for.
If anything, he ended up glaring more than actually looking. This whole thing sucked.
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Still, this was not the time to dwell on the oddity of the new situation, so instead she focused her full attention on trying to pick up a scent. Any scent really by this point. All she wanted was a clue.
Knowing that she had the best chance of finding something outside of the shower, where the water shouldn't have hit directly, she started there. To her surprise though, she picked up nothing until she actually climbed into the shower where there should have been nothing left as it should have been washed away by the last use, assuming that it had been run at that time.
A human had stood here. That much she knew immediately as she sniffed the ground. Given that this was Sakura's shower, she could only assume that was who the human scent belonged too, but there was something else too. Something... sweet? What was that? Whatever it was, the wolf's mind didn't seem to react to it, so obviously it wasn't something that would be important to a wolf.
Flowers? The realization came to Cassie a moment later as she nosed the ground and considered the scent. No wonder the wolf's mind had been so quick to dismiss it. What use had a wolf for flowers? Why would there be a flowery scent in the shower though? Did Sakura smell like flowers normally? Only part of it smelt like pure flowers anyway. There was a scent of something else, also flowery in a sense but far less natural smelling.
She tried to follow the scent, but it never made it outside of the shower. In fact, it never even made it to the outer part of the shower, but that made no sense at all. There was no one here and no one could walk away without leaving behind some trace of a scent, unless Sakura had some ability to hide it. If that was the case though, why could she pick up a scent in the shower at all?
< Marco? > She finally tried experimentally, hoping that she might have the good fortune of him being in range. It wasn't likely, but it was worth a try at least. Worst case scenario, she'd demorph and contact him using the omnicom, but it would be more convenient if she could talk to him directly. < Are you close? I... might need you. >
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"Shh, Cassie. Don't talk about how much you need me, my girlfriend might hear you." he called up in a mock-whisper as he hopped up the stairs, two at a time. With wolf's ears, he knew Cassie would hear it.
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< Very funny. Please do me a favor and ask your girlfriend if she has anything that might make her smell like flowers. There are two very flowery scents in the shower and... that just doesn't make much sense unless there's another explanation. > Even then it still didn't make that much sense, unless Sakura had stepped into the shower... and then vanished without ever running it. The scent shouldn't have only been in the shower.
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< I do not see any sign of Sakura's body from here, > Ax reported from the air above the tea house. Seagull morph might not be the usual eyes-in-the-sky choice, but Ax didn't relish the idea of all the flapping necessary for his harrier morph to stay aloft in the dead air of the City.
Perhaps he shouldn't have used the word 'relish'. The seagull mind was already intently focused on food. Maybe if he pretended that Sakura's pink hair was cotton candy, he could locate her more easily...
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She had to remind herself they were working with constraints within constraints. She knew that if her body were under her control, it was more than simple to hide from folks relying on the particular senses Marco and his friends used, without a little crafty thinking on their own part. Yet a body without a soul? How did that even move?
By finding itself a new soul, she thought, wishing it was just to herself, knowing it was more than public enough for Marco. Against the backdrop of her ongoing stream of consciousness, it stood out as a coherent concept.
Still, listening to their mental chatter, she had a half mental shrug of her own, addressing Marco since she had no ring (or other means) to talk to the rest even if she'd -- well. That was a lie. She just wasn't going to use the means she did have.
My shampoo ran out, so I can't really say it's anything like that. Unscented soap for washing, nothing that should make me smell floral. Perfume didn't occur to her. She didn't wear anything of the sort, so the possibility slipped her mind.
His own banter with Cassie elicited something like half-hearted amusement, and nothing much else. Sakura wasn't in a mood to be amused, and was trying, very hard, to slip into mission mode. It was damnably hard when she couldn't do her mission mode things, and trying to instruct Marco as to what those things were was only frustrating them both.
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The flash of gold had disappeared behind taller buildings, at the wrong angle for easy viewing even with those at a fantastic bird's eye vantagepoint. Still, not like that was much of an obstacle, at least for long...
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Maybe if she had still been in her own body, it'd be different.
"She says there's nothing," Marco said, finally reaching Cassie. His expression darkened. "Maybe someone has taken her body. It doesn't make sense for her scent to to just disappear like that otherwise." He didn't vocalise the thought that maybe her body had been destroyed, but he wouldn't be surprised if Sakura was thinking about that possibility too. "And seriously - flowers? Why flowers? What, has she been kidnapped by hippies?"
He cocked his head, listening to Ax and Tobias. No scent of hers to track, no sign of her in the air...so far, it wasn't looking very good.
"What about that flower scent? Think we could track that?" he said, turning back to Cassie. I might need to morph again, he added, just talking inwardly to Sakura this time. As soon as he got a (begrudging) okay form her, he started morph wolf. Two noses would be better than one.
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< Tobias, Ax, if you two can please try looking in the nearby windows. Maybe Sakura's body is inside one of them... or there might just be some clues there. > By this point, she wasn't willing to discount anything, even if it seemed somewhat far-fetched.
< That's certainly... possible, > Cassie admitted reluctantly to Marco's suggestion as she tried to bite back her worry. < Why would someone do something like that though? I don't see what anyone gains by doing this other than upsetting others. >
She sniffed at the floor, trying to pick up the scent of flowers again. < I... don't know. Maybe. I can't actually seem to find a scent path to follow though. > There was some relief as Marco started to morph. It would be good to have another nose on the trail. Maybe she was just missing something?
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< I saw. . .something. Something gold and shiny. It was way off in the distance, though. > He wasn't sure what else could be said.
< Probably not related. >
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< Sakura, do you have any clothes that are gold and shiny? > Ax asked, half-flying and half-hopping between the windows. Fortunately, his seagull eyes were meant to see through water, so the reflections in the window glass didn't present a particular problem in his investigation.
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Why?
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Flower petals, actually, and goodness knows how she got them.
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He trotted into the bathroom, sniffing around so that he could pick up that flowery scent. Walking back out again to where Cassie was, he could tell that she was right - the smell just stopped.
<And who says they'd have to gain anything from it? Some of the people on this ship are nuts. For all we know, all of this is just for someone's kicks.> Marco said, answering Cassie's earlier question.
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< Did you find anything? > she asked anxiously as she watched Marco come back out of the bathroom, trying to pick up the scent that she'd been unable to follow.
Cassie was silent for a moment as she considered Marco's response. < I... I can't believe that anyone would do something like this so carelessly. > In this case "can't" and "don't want to" where synonymous. < This... seems so cruel. There must be a reason for it. We just need to find out what it is and then maybe we can figure out how to put things right again. > She hoped at least. Cassie couldn't bring herself to put her fears into words as though if she kept quiet about them then they wouldn't come to pass.
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< Brainiac 5's mother is still running about undetected aboard this ship, > Ax said. < From what I understand, cruelty is something of a hobby of hers. I am not sure how or why she would have transferred Sakura's mind to Marco's body, but it might be well within her capabilities. >
He cocked his head, peering through another window. < I haven't found anything yet. >