Issue 1 Downtime

After the late lunch, John led Zach and Sarah to the spot where the fake Marcus attacked Will.

"It was right here by the racing game."

Zach followed John in, looking around. He spotted something.

"Oh. They have Daytona 2021.."

"Yeah, the scarecrow thing interrupted our race."

"Alright. No more distractions." He walked over and placed his hand on the arcade console by the Daytona machine. "Okay. So from here, you have have about fifty yards to follow the sticks and stones Marcus. I'll rewind the event slowly so you can follow it. If you guys move out of range, someone say something and I'll move to a closer spot." He took a deep breath.

"Sound good?"

"Sounds like a plan," he nodded.

"Very well then. Lets begin."

He looked over at John and Sara, making sure to focus on them for a moment before activating his power. When it did, time around them seemed to freeze. It started to rewind at a slow pace, the speed picking up until they reached the confrontation the night before.

Zach brought the vision to point where the fake Marcus first sat down. He paused there for a moment, trying to indicate to the others this is where he'd start. For about fifty yards in all directions from his position, he began rewinding the events that happened that night backwards at a fairly slow pace, hoping to give the others enough time to look around and also follow the target. Hopefully Sara and John would come across something.

John began to follow the backwards-walking fake Marcus.

[Seems we need a mod now]

As the rewind occurs, the imposter is easily spotted. Features shimmering, changing... then settling on Marcus's features as it gets within about 20 or 25 feet. The creature stops for a moment, seeming confused.. and then suddenly walks forward with confidance.

John took mental notes as he kept following the rewinding trail.

Sara quirks an eyebrow as she notes the confusion on the thing's face and looks around for anything else nearby that might have something to do with it that might have gone unnoticed in the confusion of the actual attack.

The only other really unuusal thing about the creature's entrance is that no one seems to notice it until it 'solidifies' and then sits down at the nearby arcade game.

"Zach, can you 'loop' the replay from a few minutes before it shows up in here until it turns into Marcus? I wanna see where it came from before entering the arcade."

"No problem Sara." He said, letting out a sigh. Just letting the vision play was one thing but manipulating it to do stuff took a little more out of him. Thankfully, the event wasn't that old so it was more than in the scope of his power and the thing was still in his range. He sped the rewind up a bit faster, starting at when then creature first entered the arcade and moving back from there.

"Hopefully that'll do it. I really hope that thing didn't just waltz it's way around school grounds and not a single person noticed it."

"That would me most disconcerting."

As the rewind carries the imposter creature with its shifting features out of the Arcade, it backs up around the corner and back into some bushes and trees that have been planted by the XUB. Suddenly, as time rewinds, a short creature appears, pale and pointey eared, with beautiful golden hair. It seems male, but the features are so beautiful, so fine, that it seems a bit femanine too.

The imposter is now sticks and twigs again, with the finishing touches of vines and such being tied on by the elf.

"I knew it! It's a cobbled together puppet. And... is that... but... they're not supposed to be real!"
Sara stares at the little figure, baffled by the small humanoid creature.

"Great. An elf. Just when I thought this couldn't get any more absurd."

"Weird dogs, okay. Some creepy doppelganger, fine. But if that thing is real then I am officially freaked!"
Apparently Sara had been hoping for some other explanation, because she's quite obviously nervous now.

Despite the fact that this is a simple vision of past events... the elf looks up at John, irritated and offended at the comment... or so it seems. Maybe there was someone else standing there at the time? Doesn't seem as if there was...

Sara takes a step back, her voice low, almost a whisper. "It... it can see you..."

"That... isn't possible..."

The elf sneers at John and blows some kind of sparkling powder off his hand at him. It'll be hard to dodge all of it, even if John is especially quick on the draw. If he lags in surprise at all, he'll get a facefull of the stuff.

Either way, after the dust is blown, the elf is suddenly back in its normal, rewind state, fixing the puppet before it sends it out.

John caught a snootfull of the power and sneezed.

John feels a little light headed, almost drunk.

Sara yelps as the elf blows the powder at John.
"What was that!? Are you alright John?"

"I don't... ACHOO!" He sneezed again.

Pleasepleaseplease let it be just sneezing powder.
"Should we get you to the infirmary again?"

"Mebbe *hic* sho..."

"Yeeaah... infirmary it is." Turning around to the door to the arcade she yells, "Zach, something happened and I'm taking John to the infirmary. Come, I'll fill you in on the way over!"

Even though Zach is back in the arcade, he can still see throughout the entire vision. He kept an eye on the two and is completely baffled at the sight of the elf? Weird.

This place is already crazy. He figured this was enough and the last thing they needed were some more attacks. He cut off the his power and time seemed to shoot forward at a blinding speed. "So I've seen." He said to Sara turning to her, his eyes still white.

"Lets go."

Sara stumbles as things around her seem to move faster than they're supposed to.
"Yikes! That was unexpected. Alright, I didn't know you were able to watch us out here. Let's go."