Keen

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Konpeitō didn't bring the extra weight of a flashlight because of his night vision, but Riley made a good poin: a flashlight would have been great for a moth. Kon took one and quietly thanked Riley.

A flashlight certainly would have been great for all this sudden mist. That was not something Kon had planned for. He got closer to Aranea so we would be closer to Angelo's light. As the group traveled further, his light wouldn't be enough. Kon he turned on his own to give extra light to Aranea's right side.

"I think we're getting close to our right spot... Even if this is some kind of trick, this might be the confirmation we need to find what we want." Konpeitō had serious doubts that all of this would go as smoothly as mist showing them where to go. His best hope was that it would give them a hint on what to expect.

Kon nodded his head when Angelo explained his password plan. "I don't mean to be pessimistic... I like that idea. My only concern is if someone is watching us and knows what to say."
 

Kait

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The fog put Aranea on edge immediately. At the same time, she was glad that they'd finally found something this promising out here. They probably would have had to call it a day soon.

Kon pointed out an important, but unavoidable hole in Angelo's plan. "That's true," she chimed in, "but it's still helpful to have the password. Saying the right thing doesn't always mean you're real, but saying the wrong thing means you're definitely not real."

Angelo was doing a great job at adapting to this situation. Every other day, she shed more of her doubts about him.

She stayed vigilant, watching the trees for any signs of movement. Thanks to her extra sets of eyes, she could tell the others were still with her. Hopefully they had stumbled into something relevant, and not just the lair of some spooky forest monster.
 

Bloos

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As they continued on from spot to spot, Riley was mostly trying to keep track of which way they went and which way the came from. He just stuck to marking their path on his own map and making little markings on passing trees to hopefully be used as landmarks if they indeed get lost.

When the mist started appearing once they approached the fourth spot, that made Riley concerned.
When Angelo brought up needing a password, it was a good idea, though as Kon mentioned, they was probably being watched and listened too. Riley squinted as he glanced around the area and trying to see through the mist. "I'm fine with the password but we also use more than the password."

"Unless whatever is out there did it's research on every single one of us I doubt it actually know everything about us. Like, it wouldn't know my real name but Aranea would. So if I were to disappear and reappear Aranea could ask my name and if she were to disappear and to reappear I can ask her for my name." Riley was assuming whatever was copying people didn't follow them all their lives anyway. He knew the name thing wouldn't work with Kon or Angelo because they didn't know what his name was before he arrived here.

"Or maybe that's too complicated and not something we all can use. We could also just tie us together with something."
 

Polaris

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The mist around them gradually grew thicker as they walked further into the forest. The flashlights and Aranea's enhanced vision at least let them see the trees before there was any risk of walking into any of them, but anything passed that was more difficult to make out. During the pauses of their conversation, there was another odd detail the group would notice.

The forest had gone silent.

The wind through the trees, the animals, any sound one would expect from a forest teeming with life had vanished entirely. Aside from their words, the only noise that remained were their footsteps on the dirt underneath. The rest of the forest had seemingly gone still around them.

Aranea, with her four eyes turned to the trees around them, spots something higher up in the branches as they move forward more, just visible through the fog.

A pair of four eyes exactly like hers, staring down at them.

As soon as their gazes met, the owner of those eyes suddenly scuttled back, rustling through the leaves as they retreated away from the group.
 

Romi

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Angelo had a lot to say, but he let himself go silent as the conversation lulled. It was, as the cliche went, quiet.

Too quiet.

He kept close to the group, within clear grabbing distance, and tried not to let anxiety get in the way of reacting. He had to be ready to move as needed. He tried to keep his steps quiet, but that rapidly derailed when there was a burst of sound, a flurry of movement from up above them, and Angelo jerked to a stop, head tipping back to try and see what the hell he was looking at.

Nothing. Even with his excellent vision, he couldn't see through the fog.

"What did I just miss?" Angelo said, keeping his voice quiet.
 

Kait

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Aranea stopped, staring in the direction of those skittering and rustling sounds.

"That was someone who looked just like me," Aranea said. "If I was alone, I would probably be up in the trees, just like she is. And..."

She stopped herself and thought for a moment. "I'm hoping she's nice, honestly. I always wanted to meet someone else like me."

Partly, this was a joke. Partly, she hoped that the other Aranea was listening. Maybe that would influence her copy's ideas of how to behave. Maybe she didn't mean any harm, and would relax if she thought the same about them. A lot of possibilities were still on the table here.

"Did you get any kind of read on that?" The question was mostly directed at Angelo, but anyone else could chime in, too.
 

Keen

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If alternate names were to be used, then Kon had the perfect one. Aranea and Angelo knew who he was before. He wasn't sure if Riley was familiar with Sprinkles, but two out of three wasn't the worst in this situation.

But before Konpeitō could bring all that up, he realized everyone had gone silent. No, more like everything. The forest was definitely not this quiet since they entered. Kon forced his body to loosen up. If an attack came, tensing would only hurt him more and prevent him from properly fighting back.

And when Aranea and Angelo lifted their head up, Kon did too. He only caught the sight of something returning to the fog. It took Aranea's explanation for Kon to figure out what might be going on.

"Add that to possible pieces of evidence that the doppelgangers copy our behaviors." That only furthered Konpeitō's annoyance at how his duplicate acted. "I wonder if it's possible to talk to our doppelgangers. I think this is the first time a doppelganger has come to their original... No offense, to whoever is listening. It's just the easiest terminology I can think of."
 

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"Too high," Angelo admitted. "My range isn't that big." He didn't often share details about exact ranges (because you could bet he'd specifically tested it out to figure out how far away he could read someone).

And now they were definitely out of range, having skittered back.

He intentionally didn't say his range. He didn't want the... whatever it was staying thirty one feet away from him.

"Depends on what they actually are," Angelo admitted. "But I think we should probably try following it? Maybe it'll approach if we show we're friendly."

Or maybe it'd try to jump them. Either way, they'd get the answers they were after.
 

Kait

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"If she's anything like me, she probably hates being called an 'it.'" Aranea remarked.

She wondered - could her doppelganger carry any of her memories? Her traumas? Would being called an 'it' hurt her in the same way?
 

Bloos

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Riley kinda already knew he probably wouldn't be the most useful person here when it came to sensing or tracking stuff. He wasn't really able to spot or get a good luck at whatever was up in the trees, he couldn't even tell how high the trees were up.
When Aranea said it was someone that looked like her, Riley just went "Oh boy."
Doppelgangers? Riley wasn't too sure how he felt about that. Though it was clear the group was being watched and also confirmed what happened to Ronnie did in fact happen. "I mean, was that supposed to be a warning to turn back or are we getting baited to follow other Aranea deeper into whatever this is?"
 
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