One of the first things taught to Xenoanthropological Officer N!xao Cangelosi and its lesser-named comrade Prototype Two was the importance of hiding in plain sight. On a large campus as Shokushu, it was important to find a good center of operations with access to the water pipes for quick transportation. Therefore, when Cangly found a nice juniper bush planted atop the underground cistern line, the alien knew it found the perfect home. What's more, the bushes provided good cover to watch the girls pass back and forth between classes and dorms. A few times, he needed to only stretch a tentacle out to snag a daydreaming girl and tag her. And so far...none had been the wiser.

That is, until that nosey mousey girl named Juniper came along...

The warm tropical sun beamed down from high overhead, fat lazy clouds hovering in that perfect blue sky as a gentle breeze blew in from off the coast. The sweet smell of colorful tropical blossoms filled the air and made her sigh appreciatively. Even knowing that it was merely camouflage for the horrors lurking underneath, Juniper loved the vistas of Shokushu island. So much brighter and more welcoming than the dreary, rainy place she came from. Of course, she was constantly surprised at the number of transplanted greenery from decidedly more temperate climates that seemed to thrive in the soil of this place ... she wasn't certain that should be strictly possible, but if it was a clue to the island's mysteries she'd yet to decipher it.

Which, of course, could not stand. At first, she'd thought to find a grounds keeper and simply ask them directly, but days of searching had only seemed to prove to her that there was no groundskeeper. Which only deepened the mystery. Plants could be notoriously sensitive to environmental change, after all, surely the evergreens and shrubs should require a great deal of care. To say nothing of the grooming to keep the decorative bushes around the base of the school in their neat, square shape. So, she was gathering up data points, marking each out of place bush and tree and it's location so that she could look more deeply into their natures and see if there was some pattern to observe.

As she came within sight of the juniper bush near the dorms, she had her notebook open in front of her and was tapping the page with an eraser as she counted up the different species she'd manage to catalog. There was a surprisingly small number of repeats among the samples she'd located ... were they not breeding? That didn't seem to make any kind of sense either ... but, with the complete lack of creatures to cross-pollinate the plants, maybe that was to be expected. But then, by that logic, how were there any trees at all? She knitted her brows together and sighed ... the harder she looked at the illusion of this place, the deeper the uncanny valley seemed to grow.

Closing the notebook, she drew the camera strap from around her neck and removed the lens cap. She knelt down on one of her thigh-high stockings to get at the proper elevation, snapping a picture of the bush to help her identify it later. Standing up again, she started to close to examine it a bit more closely.

Cangly was busy drawing out of one of the dorm room windows, having satiated one of the new freshman girls when, horrors of horrors, she saw another girl between him and his bush! Oh if it only knew the irony of a girl named Juniper taking interest after a bush sharing her name, but no...no time for games. This is serious! It skittered quickly behind a bench, blinking as this nosy student kept taking the pictures, then went over to examine the bushes. What was she plotting? What was she LOOKING for? This had to be remedied...

It could not be said that Juniper was any kind of horticultural expert. Still, what she was was a researcher, and if she'd learned anything in that regard it was that the more data you gathered initially the more likely you were to find answers when you started cross referencing things, and the more likely you were to eliminate false positives. She took hold of one of the branches, running her hand along the bristly leaves she found there. When she checked her palm, comparatively few of the needles rested in her palm. It seemed that the plant was in good health, and pushing the branches aside to get a better look showed no evidence of pests or strange growths that might indicate disease. Like so much on the island, it seemed to be in perfect health.

Of course, even as she was studying the bush, it seemed that she was being studied in turn. As he scurried up behind the bench, she blinked and looked up from her probing. She sworn she'd heard something, and she certainly had that prickling feeling on the back of her neck that suggested she was being watched. She cast her gaze one way ... only the retreating forms of a trio of students moving off to class. She glanced back towards the dorm, a look of slight concern on her face, but there wasn't so much as a ghost on the path that way. After a moment, she twisted again, turning completely away from the bush, her eyes flitting back and forth before she looked up into the low hanging boughs of the nearby trees.

And, finally, she shrugged. It must've been her imagination, she suppose, turning back to her work. Casually, she plucked one berry from where it clung to the branch and popped it in her mouth. The moment she bit down onto it, she made a vaguely horrified expression before spitting the crushed remnants of the seed away, sticking her tongue out.

"Bleh ... guess it's not food ..." she said, lightly wiping her palm along her tongue as if she could wipe the residue of the bitter taste away. It ... was probably bad policy to go around eating random things in the woods anyway, she supposed. That was when she noticed she soil around the stem of the bush, making a curious expression. She dug her fingers into it curiously ... it was soft, loose soil, moist as though it had been freshly watered. That seemed odd ... and the patterns in the soil where it was devoid of grass, the indentations. It looked, vaguely, like someone had rolled something smooth and heavy over the ground here. And recently, judging by the looseness of the rest of the soil.

"What if ..." she lightly cupped her chin, some idea tickling at the back of her mind. It was probably just her overactive imagination ... but ... Ortix was getting into the pipes somehow ... if the roots had tapped into the school's water line, would it be possible for him to soak into the soil and push his way in? No, no, he was much too dense, that was crazy talk. Right?

The girl was stubborn. That much was certain. As Juniper prodded the dirt, her finger brushed along a button in the soil. There was a click, then it seems the ground under her just...gives way. The student drops a few feet, down along a smooth metal pitfall, the sides pitted with scratch marks of others before her. It looks like she was going to plunge into the darkness below when someone...or rather something...catches her ankle, dangling upside down on the obviously man-made passage.

"Eh?" Juniper murmured as her questing fingers brushed something firm and smooth hidden in the soil. Too smooth to be a rock, she thought, as she accidentally depressed the hidden stud. Without pretext, the ground dropped out from under her, her eyes snapping wide open as the firmness of solid earth vanished and she started to tumble. There was a short scream as she dropped out of sight, darkness yawning out to accept her.

"OOMPH!" and then, with an abrupt halt, her full weight snapped against something tightly gripping her ankle. She swung roughly, banging along the inside of the shaft, her hands reaching as the notebook that had been laid on the ground disappeared, though she managed to hook the strap of her camera on a finger tip. She dangled for a moment, breathing deeply, her unsecured leg arching uncomfortably under the press of gravity as he skirt hung up around her waist her panties and backside exposed as she wound the strap around her wrist.

"Who--?" she tried to crane her neck to look around her inverted body, but she couldn't see who had a hold of her leg, though her motion caused her to swing precariously. "What the hell is this!?" she asked, her heart thudding rapidly in her chest as adrenaline surged through her system. Looking around, she tried to figure out how she was going to work her way back up, uncertain if her unseen savior was capable of pulling her up on their own.

The rescuer doesn't so much pull Juniper up as it...slithers down, like a snake, corkscrewing around the grabbed leg, congealing around her waist, two eyestalks forming, looking straight into Juniper's eyes. It gives a tsk. "You call me a THIS? Now that's just rude..."

Almost like a winch, the girl is lowered down, dangling, bumping along the shaft walls slightly as the alien just...stares. It wasn't too long to the bottom, fortunately for her. With a flourish it drops the student onto the ground, plopping down, drawing into its more familiar slime shape, complete with yellowish blinking eyes.

"And what are you doing poking my shrubbery, huh? What'd it ever do to you? Did they kill your family or something? Are you some sort of gardener? ANSWER ME!"

Juniper swayed slightly at the sensation of something winding it's way purposefully around her leg before taking a firm grip around her waist. She quickly looked "up" at the darkness stretching out beyond her head. The possibility of falling was the only thing that kept her from squirming more, though she blinked in surprise as two round eyes looked accusingly at her in the dark, bobbing at the end of lengthy stalk as he responded to her with a sharp, indignant tone. She blanched as she looked back at him, clearly taken aback.

"Ah," she said, blinking slightly as her mind finally shifted into gear, "I ... didn't mean you. The shaft ... " she said hesitantly pointing at the walls around her. " ... never seen one of you things set a trap before." This was the first time she'd seen one of the things on this island react to her presence like this. She was a little more used to dismissal, or gloating, or even a vaguely predatory kind of pleased. This thing seemed peeved ... like if someone had just blundered into it's home.

"It's a very nice trap?" she offered in a conciliatory tone before the coils abruptly loosened around her, a quick snap turning at the ankle flipping her end over end before she landed with a gentle bump on her backside at the bottom of the pit. Somehow, she felt like she'd blundered into a Jim Henson movie as one end of the creature reaching up to the lip of the pit dropped down, landing with a juicy "plop" as the mass began to gather itself together into a mound in front of her, those round blinking eyes looking up at her.

"Ah..." she scratched the back of her head, honestly feeling a little embarrassed at the barrage of questions hurled at her. She caught a glimpse of her notebook flopped open on the ground off to the side, but she didn't think it was wise to make any sudden moves just yet. Instead, she reached out a hand to her pudding-like inquisitor, forcing a crooked smile.

"Juniper Modnar, investigative journalist." she wasn't really sure if she expected this thing to shake her hand or sniff at it, but a non-threatening gesture seemed appropriate, "I've been researching the school, hoping to bring to light the rich, multicultural history so that the current crop of students can fully appreciate the opportunities afforded to them." That was sugar coating it more than a little bit, but if there was one thing June understood it was spin control.

"Your bush, and more than a few other plants I've seen since arriving, don't normally thrive in this biome. I thought that maybe that was some special quality of the soil, I certainly didn't mean to intrude Mr ... ?"

The blob looks patient as Juniper introduces and explains herself. Journalist, eh? Must be one of those school paper impresarios trying to find water gates and leaks. Never understood why media was so interested in plumbing anyway. Still, it shouldn't have been surprised considering the water main closeby.

"I'll ask the questions here, Missy!" it retorts when asked. "You're in my territory now! And if you head back up and blab all about me, my reputation will be ruined! How can you be so heartless?". It seems like it's trying to stifle a sob.

"Okay, okay." Juniper said, doing her best to keep an ingratiating smile on her face as she raised her hands defensively in response to the sharp snap from her host. Not having a name to differentiate this creature from the others she'd cataloged was a little annoying, but she had no evidence to gainsay his claim on this territory so it seemed her best option was to try and respect his authority.

"Well, that certainly wasn't my intention." she cooed soothingly, hoping that she could still set him at ease, "I simply wanted to expose your cunning and craftsmanship to a new audience, so that they could be fully appreciated." She gambled on an appeal to his ego, most of the creatures she'd encountered so far were self-important, at best, after all. Even if he didn't want his presence advertised, well, she was already here, and an opportunity to puff himself up and brag a little couldn't come along all that often.

"It's not cruelty, honest!" she said, closing a hand over her chest and covering it with the other, "I'm really interested, but you're all so secretive ..."

"Secretive? Of COURSE we're secretive! What, do you think we do these things for fun?" Cangelosi sidled closer to Juniper, jumping up suddenly into her lap, feeling like a heavy sack of grain, enough to flatten her legs to the ground as those eyestalks keep narrowed, tentacles still poking at the girl's chest. "This is a serious project that benefits both of us and you want to go all Pullet-Tsar and noble prizey and act all high and mighty because ooooh, you found how things work! Not a single care for the blobs who are studying the student body in an enclosed environment and their behaviors in..." It stops, almost as if it has said too much.

Oof. He was a little heavier than she would have guessed, but then, it was all fluid weight and he seemed to be denser than water, so she supposed she shouldn't have been expected. That concillatory smile faded as he jabbed at the center of her chest with the tip of a smooth tentacle while it punctuated its statements, the end deforming slightly with the pressure.

"Well, I'm sure I don't know." she huffed, puffing her chest up as if it would make her seem a little bigger, "Some of you seem to be at it for sport, and others claim they're using us as food." she said, setting her hands on her hips as she leaned back at him to look into the irritated yellow eyes that bobbed up at her from the ends of stalks. "If I'm supposed to live on a game preserve for four years, yeah, I'd kinda like to know why!"

Juniper blinked at almost the same time the slime creature abruptly cut himself off, the two of them each realizing what he'd said at roughly the same time. A slow smile crept its way across her lips as she leaned back slightly, rubbing her chin as she mulled that over.

"Well now ... that's the first I've heard of that." she murmured, though the expression on her face suggested she was checking it against everything else she'd heard from the creatures of the island. There was something ... a thread in some of the taunts, and the tantalizing bits some dropped to provoke her. "So ... some kind of anthropology experiment then, a behavioral study ... and, of course, if the subjects knew they were being studied it would skew the results ..." she muddled through it, murmuring under her breath. Underneath him, Cangelosi could feel her trying to shift her legs, not struggling exactly just unconsciously trying to stand. It seemed he'd managed to catch a pacer.

Shifting the legs did help balance the weight of the blob, but Juniper would slowly realize with every poke Cangelosi had made, it had taken buttons off her blouse, and now her bosoms had spilled out, luckily supported by her bra...for now anyway. It gives what feels like an uncomfortable clearing of the throat."Well, it's what I do anyway. Dunno about the other monsters. They got their own reasons just like you have yours. Sure the others might just do it because they think it's fun, but I happen to be a professional." The blob rears itself up, self-important, then leans in. "Sayyy...you ain't planning to start spreading all those rumors around, huh? Last few nosy girls ended up in detention for a few years. That what you aiming for?"

As Juniper turned her head to stop contemplating the ceiling and look back at the creature currently standing in her lap, she blinked a bit in surprise. The light, white cotton of her uniform top hung down along her sides, meaning that from collar to navel she was showing a trail of smooth peach flesh, broken up only by the red tie still around her throat and the low cups of a white bra embroidered with a bevy of tiny white blossoms along the tops of the cup, the catch apparently arranged in the front.

A flush of color stained her cheeks as she abruptly crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from him as best as she could. She wasn't entirely certain why she'd expected anything else from this creature.

"Well, I'll take some small comfort in knowing that at least some of the creatures out here think humanity has value as something other than fuckmeat." she said, it apparently being her turn to sound peevish as she hugged herself, inadvertedly pressing her modest breasts together in the process.

"As "fun" as an extended "reeducation" program sounds, no, I'm not in any particular rush to publicize my full findings." she said, shrinking back a bit as the blob drew himself up to a more imposing height, "Unless I can expose and convince the entire student body at once, the faculty will just plug the leak ... and even if they knew, what then? Are you trying to tell me a dozen young women coming after you at once would be anything other than an exercise in multitasking?" she offered a smirk at that. No, starting a revolution wasn't the way to go, at least as far as Juniper was concerned. There were better, more subtle paths to freedom, with better chances of success. At least, she prayed there were.

BOY was this girl talkative. Usually by this time Cangly would have had Juniper face down and ass raised, but still, it's refreshing to see some spunk. It settled more into her lap, pseudopod easily pushing up the front of her skirt, applying a series of vibrations to her covered sex, all the while having tendrils snag for her wrists, letting covered breasts bounce free. "you have no idea how lucky you are that I'm the first one to snatch you. Give other monsters here that sort of lip and they'd probably rape you for months on end, or turn you over to the principal.". Those eyes narrow. "So how about you stop with the questions, nosey? I not a quota to fill!"