Private Comms
Jul. 1st, 2021 04:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
notsosouThe klaxons rang. The red lights flashed. The station sections slowly listed in the dark. Long past the edge of effort, long past the boundaries of hope, Stacy kept struggling, but there was no use to it; and in the end, even the static and the voices in her headset ceased to shout.
It was a jewel to her, the moment that she understood that it was over—
That willpower could not fix this. That effort could not fix this. That even “being better” could not have helped.
It was a jewel; it was an unfolding, glowing flower. It transfixed her with the simple beauty of it.
Her eyes no longer saw the console that spread before her. Her ears no longer heard the bells. Instead her eyes were fixed on that pure and clean and inner darkness, and the silver glow that burned within it; then up, beyond, and past it, to the beginning of the world.
- Glitch, by Dr. Jenna K. Moran
It was a jewel to her, the moment that she understood that it was over—
That willpower could not fix this. That effort could not fix this. That even “being better” could not have helped.
It was a jewel; it was an unfolding, glowing flower. It transfixed her with the simple beauty of it.
Her eyes no longer saw the console that spread before her. Her ears no longer heard the bells. Instead her eyes were fixed on that pure and clean and inner darkness, and the silver glow that burned within it; then up, beyond, and past it, to the beginning of the world.
- Glitch, by Dr. Jenna K. Moran
no subject
Date: 2021-07-01 05:13 am (UTC)Well there was one more danger, technically. One last game, with an indefinite time limit. The person behind her, that she least wanted to see. The only other survivor of this damn game. The only person she knew who hadn't been in on it. Not even memories of Ryoko felt warm anymore, after remembering what she did of Joe.
"Say something." She said to the wall. She raised her hand, pressing a finger up into the cool white paint of it. If she pushed hard enough, would he just die? If she focused enough, she see his face? "Anything. Aren't you going to apologize to them?"
no subject
Date: 2021-07-01 05:17 am (UTC)The part of him that was screaming for him to let Gin live, to let himself just die has gone quiet and still by now. There's only hollow space left. He's been keeping his eyes off the... bodies, and on the back of the last one left.
He buries his hand in his scarf, to avoid picking at the raw mark the collar left. Pressing it to his throat, clearing it, he shifts his legs where they've been gathering pins and needles.
"What is it you want me to say, Miss Sara?"
They both know what she wants him to say, even now. What will let her finally win the game. He's not feeling very co-operative!
oh shin you loveable scamp
Date: 2021-07-01 05:18 am (UTC)"We were trying, weren't we? To get out together?" The shadows on the back of her eyes feel distorted as she squeezes them shut. Half formed faces flash in front of her, bleeding and resentful. "I realized I really wanted that today. Not that you'd believe me. No, you just had to go after me in the trial."
She shouldn't have picked him, but she wouldn't ever tell him that. She'd stick with this decision till she died or there was a knife in her throat, and she wouldn't show Kanna the disrespect of regretting her sacrifice. Or thats how the words sounded in her mind. Maybe she just never wanted to give Sou the satisfaction.
"I'm sorry." She says to the wall. "S-sorry Gin....sniff. Sorry Keiji."
isn't he a stinker
Date: 2021-07-01 05:19 am (UTC)He's just twisting the knife at this point, into both of them, drawing on his reserve of tired spite. It's like there's a layer of static fuzz built up on top of the thick, dark, heavy sludge. In him, it's congealed into something almost solid.
'I realized I really wanted that today.' He believes her, but only because it lets him line his stomach with that same dark vindication he's been plastering it with wherever he can. "People who string others along truly are the worst, aren't they?" The tone is cheerful. You didn't want it before that, Sara? Do you really want it now, or is it just more of the same? The same promises he's watched you make, over and over.
The smile and closed eyes fall away and down into something blanker as she apologizes to the wall. "..." He doesn't want to hear this. "I don't think they can hear you," he says.
Re: isn't he a stinker
Date: 2021-07-01 05:22 am (UTC)Sou: THE TIMING....A BIT TOO CONVINVENT FOR MISS SARA TO SHOW EMOTION AFTER SOMETHING BAD AND HORRIBLE, HM?
"Do you wanna wake up another copy of Midori? I'm sure they have a spare...aaah." She's not the sort to break off into laughter, thats for Shin, but some sort of strange noise keeps bubbling up as she pants around dry tears.
"Maybe I'll see them tonight. In my dreams." Suddenly tired of the wall, she rolls onto her back, blinking up at the lights. She shouldn't be doing this, not when she and Sou are supposed to be debating who gets to live. If he tried to kill her now, would she even muster the will to fight?
Probably.
"Do you ever see them when you sleep? I always wondered...I mean I know Keiji did."
no subject
Date: 2021-07-01 05:24 am (UTC)"Don't even joke." Thanks for reminding him that all of the AI have backups and that Midori is probably still out there, in the metaphorical vents. The poetic catharsis of the Banquet is all he has (that's a lie, he has nothing).
Sou reaches for his beanie and pulls it down towards his face with both hands. What is she doing? What she always does, he thinks. He's starting to think it's not even on purpose, and somehow that stings worst of all. He barks out a short, humorless laugh.
"I'm surprised you can sleep after such a thing, Miss Sara." Translation: no he has not because he hasn't slept at all since Kanna died. Double translation: This doesn't mean he hasn't seen her.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-01 05:33 am (UTC)"I don't want to see him either." Stare at ceiling. Blink. Repeat. "He's the worst. He killed Joe." Of course that doesn't make sense, but it makes sense to her, okay? It doesn't matter if he said he didn't like it, he said it for the wrong reasons.
Technically Sara didn't sleep she passed out! Maybe if Shin slept for once he wouldn't go off and try to murder everyone in the room???
"Sleep is important for ngh..." A balanced future. That was what her dad said, but...she actually can't bare to think about that. Was every little platitude just a secret ASU-NARO creed?
shin internally: wait no his name is gonbee
Date: 2021-07-01 06:03 am (UTC)He sets the side of his brain frantically pawing at that puzzle to one side to run in parallel, because it's not like it matters now. There's no card placement to work out here.
Sou why don't you pass out and maybe you'll calm down. Honestly he's getting there. It's pure stress and spite keeping him upright at the moment. He can't rest there's a Sara nearby.
"Ahaha. A balanced future." He also hates that he knows this. After the lantern shook loose one memory of that time more and more of it has been trickling back on it's own, little by little. It's... disturbing. How much had been missing. He doesn't even know if it's stopped. For the first time there's a flicker of... something, to his words, in his face. "Truly disgusting," he mutters into his scarf. He can't even really feel anger any more but every new thing he's learnt about the death game, like his own memories, sickens him. "Well, you're free to." That faux-friendly smile is plastered back on. "I have the feeling we'll be here quite a while!"
no subject
Date: 2021-07-01 06:20 am (UTC)His confusion is apparent, even from the corner of Sara's eye. She's not usually great at picking up on that, but it says a lot about how much time she's spent trying to figure out Sou's expressions in trials. The subtle difference between him smirking in a lie and scrabbling for ground could be the difference between...well it didn't really matter now. She won didn't she. Her and Mr. 0.0%
"Balancing. They were doing balancing." She says, as if that even clarifies anything.
The shared expression makes her press the heels of her hands into the eyes. Stop. Just stop it.
"I hate this. Maybe Midori was evil...but Dad..." She coughs and has to flip over as something in her chest catches. It's all she can do to just shoot Sou an unflinching glare. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? Just drawing this out? Don't you want it to be over?"
no subject
Date: 2021-07-01 06:42 am (UTC)That's the last piece of the puzzle he needs for it all to click into place, several smaller and slightly too convenient things snapping together; it's all he can do not to start laughing hysterically. Him and Miss 15%. Look at where all those hidden advantages got him.
It's unnerving, that she can read him so well. It's genuinely terrifying, and another reminder of just what he's trapped in the room with.
"Well, if you do want it to be over just say the word, Miss Sara." The eyes above his smile are dead, flat disks. "I don't see you hastening to volunteer." He wants it to be over. He's also got nothing left to live for except making her life as much of a living hell as he can.
COMING IN HOT WITH ETHICS
Date: 2022-01-20 08:58 am (UTC)Heeey. Hiya. Hellooooooo.
[Sara will get the feeling she's rising up from a deep sleep, maybe a nightmare she can't remember; that same feeling of disorientation and unsurety of place, head lifting from... a schooldesk she's apparently been conked out on. Maybe it's familiar?
The rest of the room is... hard to make out. It's dark... there's the thin white outline of something like a blackboard behind the thin white outline of the silhouette in front of her. There's a lamp or spotlight... but it isn't actually illuminating anything, in the way of dreams. It might not even be really there, so much as the idea of it being there.]
Sleeping in class, huh? That's not going to get you anywhere! Guess that's why you're in remedial tutoring. So let's start with an easy one for you.
[The silhouette steps to the side, the board, like a screen, revealing two stylized people, in red and blue, pointing little stylised guns at each other's heads.
MISS RED: Put down the gun, I don't want to hurt you.
MISTER BLUE: Why don't you put yours down first, then?]
Looks like these two sure are in a pickle! By the way... which do you think should lower theirs first?
no subject
Date: 2022-01-20 09:06 am (UTC)[ She lifts her head, mussed hair and muzzy lipped from sleep. The darkness fails to arrange itself into a sensible room. Sara rubs her eyes, squinting at the figure in front of her. She can't...quite remember why she's here. It must be important...in fact...she can feel the importance on the tip of her tongue, the last wisps of some kind of desperate urgency. She was trying to do something?
...
...Was it related to falling asleep in class? No, that didn't seem right. She was great at school. ]
Maybe I'd stay awake if you turned a different light on. [ She grumbles. ] I can't see a thing...
[ A click, and her eyes alight on the board. She frowns at the strangeness of the question. The sense of urgency curdles into unease. It's dancing right in front of her eyes, but the familiar(?) figures eyes are upon her, and she feels the strange need to answer. ]
I don't know, Mister Blue? [ Because she gets the weird sense Miss Red is supposed to be her. ] They both should...? It's not nice to point a gun at someone.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-20 09:19 am (UTC)Then Miss Red lifts hers and shoots Mr Blue in the head without warning, almost too fast to process. The screen goes dark, becoming the idea of a blackboard again, and the shadow tsks.]
Awww, what a shame... Just goes to show, you really can't trust anyone these days. Full marks! Brilliant answer! Sure isn't nice.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-20 09:27 am (UTC)[ Her eyes are still locked on the idea of the blackboard, a dark pit in her stomach. Supposed to be her...so she thought. She doesn't like her little mental comparison now, spurred on by the gender and slightly relevant color. She's glad the figure can't read her mind, and pick it apart. Sara's never shot anyone. It's fine. She tries to put it away, to soothe her thoughts. Look the figure in the eye (where are its eyes?) ]
What are you trying to say?
[ She says, and then stops abruptly, eyes locked with... It doesn't have eyes. There isn't a light in this room. There is wrong, dream logic afoot but everything feels real and it makes her feel dizzy with confusion. Sara shoves the chair back with a loud scrape of metal on ambigious floor, turning away from what her eyes can't make sense of. ]
This isn't right. [ She mutters. ] This isn't what I'm supposed to be doing. I have something to do.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-20 09:56 am (UTC)Hmm? What am I trying to say? It's cruel?
[The eyeless figure tilts it's eyeless head.]
Sheesh, you're not getting far with an attitude like that! These are important life lessons to learn... You know, if you want to have a successful future.
[Or a future.]
You're in a hurry, huh? Alright, since we're getting close to end of class, how about a practical exercise? Just find the way to leave!
[Eyes open in what must be the walls, round, lidless, all shape and sizes. They roll, rotate, dart, and one by one and all at once, fixate on her. Red liquid pools beneath them, begins to drip down and flow out in increasing rivulets and pools across the unfinished floor. The next time Sara glances down at the desk, there's a revolver on it, bright metal glittering in the nonexistent spotlight. Or maybe it's a knife? Your choice, Sara.]
Let's go.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-20 10:06 am (UTC)[ It comes at a strained as it does fierce. She takes a step back, trying to put distance between her and this thing...but there isn't really any space, is there? She's not in a room, she's just here, in a place with a blackboard and a figure. It doesn't make any sense. Her shaking hands are balled into fists. ]
This isn't real. [ Fear and gritted teeth are enough to clear her thoughts that much. ] I'm not listening to you...I..!
[ The walls open, and she grips her hands to her chest with a gasp. Judgmental eyes, bloody liquid, distracting, panic inducing, not entirely unfamiliar in emotion, just in shape. The knife on the desk becomes a gun the second she grabs it, pointing it at the figure with a shaking hand. ]
Shut! Up!! [ She squeezes her eye's shut, and doesn't pull the trigger. ] Leave me alone! I'm not here for you! I'm looking for Shin Tsukimi!!
no subject
Date: 2022-01-20 10:33 am (UTC)If anything, it gets wider when she trains the gun on it. Not real? Then why are you so scared? It should be easy if it's not real, right?
...
There's a ripple, as she says the name. Across the floor... maybe across the whole of the small dream, like a single drop of water. The grin vanishes off the figure's face, leaving only the silhouette, still. Then it starts walking towards her, fearless as if the gun were a toy, a prop for demonstration purposes.]
Shin Tsukimi, huh... That's a name I haven't heard in a while.
[There's a light touch on her wrist, her elbow, hands that don't feel like anything at all guiding her arm with surprising gentleness.]
If you want to see him, then it's easy enough! Why didn't you just say so?
[That's when she'll realize the position he's putting her in, should she allow it. The gun, up to her head. The trigger still hers. The grin returns, glints like metal.]
All you have to do is follow him! Alllll the way to where dead things like him go. You're practically halfway there already!
no subject
Date: 2022-01-20 10:47 am (UTC)This is a rescue. [ Muttered to herself. A rescue a rescue a rescue. She's here for something good. Save someone in the dark, its possible. She came here alone, without any help or any magic, but its possible. There's magic enough in this school to get her through, her own soul should be able to withstand Sou's for a while, just focus on what this is. A rescue a rescue a rescue....
The blood sloshes around her feet, she cracks an eye open in time for its hands to meet her wrist, pulling her in shocked muteness into position. Up close, its face is worse then nothing. ]
W-wait. [ Her hands try to twitch, but her finger's on the trigger. With the cold metal on her temple the fear is almost to much to move, lest one small movement spell her doom. ] Y-you're wrong. He's not dead. I've met him.
[ She knows the shape of him, and this isn't it. She's not sure what to do, too scared to struggle, unsure about fighting back. There isn't anyone else here to take cues from. Just her...
...
She looks the thing in the eye. When its just her, all she can do is be brave. ]
Where is Shin Tsukimi?
no subject
Date: 2022-01-20 12:35 pm (UTC)Huh? Didn't I just tell you? Geez... I guess you really aren't listening.
[A slow shake of the head. Yareyare...]
But it's okay. Everyone goes there in the end. It's not like it matters which way... Aren't I right, Sara Chidouin?
[There's just a little lilted weight on her name. The shadow cocks it's head up at the ceiling as a faint sound slowly working on becoming audible resolves into a noise that had always been there for a while; a barely there scratching, in the ceiling, in the walls, going in and out to silence as it had moved. The shadow exhales.]
Sigh... how tedious.
[The scratching disappears. A drip of water later, two maybe, the doorknob (was there always a door?) starts rattling, insistently. Off and on... off and on. Going for a while, stopping, and then going again. The figure cups it's hands around it's mouth.]
We're not buying anything! Try the door across the hall! [This doesn't seem to affect the rattling in the slightest, but the figure turns back to Sara.] Nooo thank you... Where were we?
no subject
Date: 2022-01-20 09:46 pm (UTC)[ It's not new, its not nice...its just shallow and hateful, and not the person she's looking for. Now she can see the clear outline of who this figure resembles, but its words aren't his. Too Midori-like, too cruel. To much of what seemed forced in hindsight. She doesn't want to deal with it...but if this is Sou's soul, then shooting it dead might be a massive mistake. It's not real, but this represents...something to Sou. Sara bites her lip, wondering only now if she really knew what Sou really felt about anything. Was she going to find out?
She looks with the figure at the sound, the rattling door. The thing in the room with her seems only irritated, but to Sara it screams of a last oppertunity.]
Hello? [ Ignoring the figure entirely now, she walks across a room that is now a proper room, resting her hand on the doorknob. ] Can you help me?
[ She turns it slightly...does it feel unlocked? ]
no subject
Date: 2022-01-20 10:40 pm (UTC)[It's not sharp or pointed. It's too cruel to be; the proud, warm earnest tone of a teacher encouraging an insecure but bright student and then... underneath it, that same, empty, hollow onlooking amusement. There's nothing underneath.
There's no reply, but the doorknob... as she rotates it there's an unlocking sensation, as well as a sort of cracking sensation, like if you twist something too far and it fractures a little in warning, or if the entire thing had been coated in old dry paint arresting movement. It opens, as someone on the other side pulls it open, stopping to look down with some small consternation at the massive quantities of blood that have just washed over their shoes and across the blue wireframe carpet behind them.]
Umm... Err...
[It's... Shin Tsukimi? Seventeen years old and with blue scarf. He blinks, and then visibly seems to rally despite the strangeness of the situation.]
Hello? S-sorry to interrupt, I heard voices... I think I've gotten lost. Can you help me?
[He's glancing between Sara and the silhouette with equal uncertainty, the latter like he's having difficulty seeing anything there, or his gaze just wants to slide off it. The silhouette doesn't appear to acknowledge him, just widens it's grin.]
Oh? This'll be interesting.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-21 06:15 am (UTC)[ Hunching her shoulders at the tone behind her, Sara takes a step outside the room with stiff single step. She doesn't entirely trust this newcomer, its a little too close to what she had said to the figure, like perhaps this place is showing her what she wants to see...but it doesn't matter. Behind her is blood and someone she doesn't want to be around and in front of her is...not exactly the person she's looking for, but close enough.
She grabs Shin's hand in hers without hesitation, dragging him away from the bloodsoaked room and down the hall. ]
Sara Chidouin.
[ Her grip is not gentle, shaking and too tight. ]
Don't listen to that thing. I don't care if it follows us. I'm going somewhere else.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-21 06:51 am (UTC)Class Dismissed! Ahaha, don't forget your homework!
[The door swings shut behind Sara with a soft yet loud click and no apparent master. If she stuck around to look a ripple of that shadow moves across it, not so much color so much as the sense this is now just... a door, that happens to be black. The doorknob and key hole are gone.
The hallway is dark blue, picked out in a mesh of brighter blue lines that lends it shape and feature and light; it's reminiscent of the game's first floor but... that hallway wasn't this long, and there definitely weren't this many doors, all nondescript and of varying hues, equally blank. The newcomer's fairly easy to pull down it, taken by complete surprise, stumbling a little.]
H-hey...!? Um?? Oww, that hurts...
[He does try and come to a stop once the initial shock of a strange girl grabbing his hand and dragging him wears off; how successful that is is up to Sara, but he'll keep going if she does. She seems like she knows what she's doing?]
Y-you have a really strong grip, ehehe! Er, I don't know if there is a somewhere else... I've been exploring upstairs and downstairs and there's just this place... f-for a long time... You and... um, that thing? [A careful repetition of the phrasing.] Are the first people I've seen here, I'm starting to get a bit nervous actually... My phone doesn't even have signal, my parents are going to be worrying so bad...
[He scratches a cheek with his free hand.]
Ah! Sorry, I'm rambling, aren't I?
no subject
Date: 2022-01-21 09:44 am (UTC)You don't know anything. [ She sounds defeated. Does she want to explain they're inside someone's soul? Would that freak him out, if he didn't know? Maybe she should just pretend she doesn't for now. ] I don't know much either...I suppose you could say I'm looking for Shin Tsukimi...
[ She gives him a tired stare. He really does look young, no longer pixelated by a screen but real and warm and living. Probably about her age, slightly shorter, brighter eyes, a different scarf. A thousand little details an AI didn't pick up. ]
I'm Sara.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-21 10:20 am (UTC)Oh! That's me! Right, I forgot to introduce myself... You seem to know me, though? Er, how do you know me? Have we met somewhere before? Did you need my help with something, or... is this a rescue?
[There's not a trace of suspicion to it, just puzzled interest. And... maybe a little concern, as yet unvoiced.]
Wait, that's a Sonnobenno uniform, isn't it! I go there too... I guess I must have more of a reputation than I thought, ehehe. [His face falls a bit from the small delight of finding a peer in this creepy place.] Ah but... don't tell me the weekend is over... How long have I been stuck here?
[He scratches his head, the spikes of hair fluffing and settling.]
I'm Shin. Nice to meet you! [He shakes the hand she's still holding. His poor circulation...] There, now it's been done properly, after all...
[He trails off, tilts his head a little as she looks at him, thumb rubbing his scarf.]
Um... a-are you okay? You look tired... Maybe you should rest. Even a little helps, right?
no subject
Date: 2022-02-09 06:34 am (UTC)[ It's a cool line, but she feels exhuasted saying it, nerves worn raw by that appirition. She keeps looking behind Shin's shoulder to see if its following. ]
...But we haven't met before.
[ Not this Shin, not this person. Sou would say he was dead, and even if Sara can't say she understands his strange relationship with himself...she doubts anything she knows about Sou matters with this gangly teen in the same uniform as her. She's not even sure if this is really the person she's looking for, saving Shin Tsukimi of the past might not mean anything at all...
...Well...she can't leave him. What would Sou say if she did that? ]
Rescuing is hard work. I just...I'm not sure how I got here...or how I'll get out. Have you seen anything? Maybe someone who looks a bit like you with a red scarf...?
no subject
Date: 2022-02-09 07:43 am (UTC)That's okay, we're meeting now, right? [He scratches a cheek nervously.] A r-red scarf? Um, no, I don't think so, sorry... I don't even have one that colour...
[His hand leaves his blue one as he says that, which only makes it's prior absence more glaring. It's comfortingly soft not... clutched onto like some kind of lifeline.]
Seeing another me... that'd be scary. That thing back there was kind of creepy, too. Where are we... this can't just be some big prank, right?
[It's clear he's really hoping this is just some... impromptu escape room thing.]
...I did see something but... I don't think- I didn't get a good feeling, looking at it. It, um... I'll show you! Maybe you'll have a better idea about it than me, ehehe. Err, f-follow me!
[He sets off at a fairly brisk trot; this Shin isn't a jock but he does get out and about and has more stamina than the counterpart she's more familiar with. She's still holding his hand... should he say something? Would that make it more awkward? Help... he ends up putting it off all the way there, turning blue corner after blue corner in seemingly random pattern until they arrive at the open end of a cul de sac, a dead end.
The dark blue fades into an obsidian black at door there, which will be familiar to Sara from the game's second floor, the bright blue lines becoming delineating white. A rectangular area in front of the door is marked off in yellow and black lines of hazard. The sign above it reads '01'. The actual doors look like those of an elevator, a line running down the middle; there's no sign of any buttons of any sort.
The entire thing exudes a heavy, waiting, watching air. Shin stops a good meter before the warning line, swallowing, eyes fixed on it like a deer.]
I-I don't know where it goes but... It feels kinda dangerous... you should b-be careful, Sara. Um... maybe we should go somewhere else, now you've seen it, ehehe... Some of these doors have to open, right?
[There's a weight in her pocket... it's probably been there for a while... probably. Vaguely key-shaped.]
no subject
Date: 2022-02-09 08:52 am (UTC)[ It's cute and blue and soft. Even if Sara is tired, Shin's stuttering genuine demenaor tugs a grin out of her. It would have been nice to meet someone like this for the first time. She loosens her grip on his hand belatedly. ]
Don't worry. I'm...pretty experienced with situations like this! We should be fine.
[ He can take that however he wants. But this place is...well its not really a death game or a trial. It's someones heart. Nothing in here should really want to hurt them, so protecting Shin shouldn't be hard. She still has the gun...
...It's weird to walk behind Shin, but she lets him lead the way without much comment. Show her the door. ]
The door to the main game... [ She shakes her head. ] No, this has to be it. You can stay outside till I'm done, but...
[ She fishes around for the heavy weight in her pocket. There's no keyhole, but maybe if she holds it up to the number? ]
This is something important to you! Even if its scary, I think I should see it.
no subject
Date: 2022-02-09 09:58 am (UTC)[Well, maybe he will then? If someone this cool thinks it looks cool. His hand pulls back to himself; he's resisting the urge to shake it out because she really does have a strong grip. It feels like he's lost circulation.]
M-main game, what's that...? You've seen this before, Sara?
[The key is a thick green one. The blood drains out of Shin's face as she walks forward, shoulders squared, holding it up.]
W-wait... Sara!
[There's an odd doubling to his voice; he catches her sleeve in his outstretched hand just as she crosses the tape border.
The heaviness in the air intensifies; there's an arcing flicker of light as electricity crawls up the walls, threading static into Sara's hair and clothing. The counter above the door ticks down to 00 with a sound that seems to echo way too loudly for what it is, with all the finality of a prison door. The elevator doors slowly, glacially begin to open but she's fixed, rooted to the spot. The electricity gathers... pounces.
Then it all goes black. There's no pain to any of it, beyond the way you know, as in a dream, that it really should be there; it's simply like a book has been shut on her existence. She's right about that at least. Shin's heart can't truly hurt her.
Waking up the second time is a little less disorienting. She's lying on grass, the smell of it, as well as the acrid smell of... scorched plant? Overhead, the sun filters through wisteria petals and lands on a teal head leaning over her, concern writ across it's corresponding face. It could be a twin for the Shin she'd been with moments ago, except there's no beanie to be seen and he's in uniform now; Yogen uniform.]
Err... hello, miss? Are you okay? I don't know if that was brave or stupid... Probably stupid.
[There's a chagrined look as the new Shin sits back onto his legs where he's kneeling, and then gets up to his feet, tugging his red tie into a better position before holding out a hand for her. The grass under her will reveal itself to have a magic array scorched into it in lines and circles. The key has returned itself to her pocket. The faithful gun never left.]
Ah, that's rude, isn't it... I got you out as quick as I could when I realized... Just don't make a habit of it, okay? Haha, this is new to me too... I don't know what will happen.
[He gives her a smile. It's warm and genuine, if a little harried, and like before, utterly without recognition.]
Listen, I promised I'd meet a friend... if I don't go he might wander off, or just forget. That's been happening more and more lately so... Can you make it to the nurse okay?
[Much as he's worrying about his mysterious friend, he'll go with her if the answer is no.]
shameless copying and pasting hours
Date: 2022-05-26 05:50 am (UTC)There’s humming, too, now… In lines and threads under the street, shooting up like tree trunks, glittering. He follows it with a drunk’s uncomplicated curiosity, putting half his care and thought into not tripping over his own feet and not dropping the bottle. There’s purring interspersed with it, and the low content rumbles of larger cats, their fur sparking from rubbing against the things they own and love, which are the same to them, and a song that calls out for answer, rings out to itself in invisible hisses. The sound of the stones beneath changes, becomes harder, ripples sharper, his feet knowing the navigation even as his head is cotton. A dream takes shape in front of him, and he squints blurry eyes out across the river, the bright full roundness of the moon turning its crisscrossing ripples into a city across the way, a mirage strung with double-imaged lights that scrapes the sky and descends seven gates into the underworld.
Look, says the dream. Isn’t it wonderful? Here there is no loss. Imagine the person you love, undying, born again in stone and lightning, enumerated. All for the price of blood, of cattle kept fattened for slaughter… what a small price, when death is an inconvenience! Draw from the well as much as you can pay for. They will be exactly as wished. The heart you were given is no escape. There is no escape for you. It is the yoke around your neck. It is the hands around your neck. It is the taste of blood in your nose, your throat. Your shadow, in front of you. Change or die.
Shin throws up.
The dream wicks away from him and the gross reality of flesh, leaving only unconsciousness and his crumpled curled form lying at the cold stone base of the great mirrored edifice of the Polyhedron, blood caking his front from a nosebleed and bottle rolled out of his hand.
It's unlikely this district is going to be infected tonight - today - this early morning, as the bell tolls for the dead, but it's still not a good idea to be out.]
your copy and MY paste. eats it
Date: 2022-05-26 05:57 am (UTC)Focus might come back to Shin's eyes accompanied by a weight on his back and something batting at his face. The cracked mess of blood and bile on the front of his face has dried into a disgusting crust...several hours have passed but someone is generously and magnanimously deciding to try and scrape it off with rough burlap mitts. Or maybe they just like smacking his slackjawed face around. ]
Myaaaaaaaaaa.....!
[ A particularly powerful slap. ]
Hey! Hey loner! Hey! Are you awake yet!?
c o n s u m e
Date: 2022-05-26 06:16 am (UTC)Several hours have passed by the time his eyelids flutter and squint against the light and unidentifiable impacts, course burlap made worse by hangover sensitivity and oh god does he feel both gross and awful. This wasn't exactly what you could call restful sleep; enough to count just a little, but at what cost. He's maddeningly hungry and thirsty... with his unwilling practice at starvation twyre season is a terrible time for him at the best of times but this is not the best of times. He's all too aware that sometimes people with weak hearts just drop down dead this time of year.
He's got a massive headache also, but he tries to focus through it, and tries to sit up, straining with his arms against the weight of ??? on him... but that's not happening either. He lies there and coughs, trying to move his face out of the horrible mess. God he needs a bath... his brain is 50% occupied with the intense urge to get clean immediately. Hopefully this is a day before when the running water breaks. How did he get here...?]
No, I'm still asleep. [It's a mumble, easier to read in script, before adopting the tone one does kids and cats.] If you get off me... I'll give you some food.
[Assuming nobody's robbed him while he's been out... this is partly why he doesn't carry much... Trading makes the town go around, but now so also does theft.]
no subject
Date: 2022-05-26 06:29 am (UTC)[ The weight does shift, but only so the kid on Shin's back can lean over to look him in the eye.
Of course Shin knows this kid, he's not some out of town doctor or a newlyborn. The kid before him is wrapped in a familiar patchwork rags, at one point lovingly sewn together by a devoted mother. A long dirty yarn cape and a knitted cap with drooping ears flop over as Gin squints at Shin, the cloth covering his mouth obscuring any of his other expressions. He was so smart, covering up even before adults started freaking out about pests and disease. ]
I'm not one of Khan's cronies, I'm almost my own man. [ Trading isn't gambling, but Gin isn't here for food right now. He leans over to paw at Shin's face again. ] I'm defeating one of big sisters enemies right now. Woof woof woof! Play dead, won't you? My story is going to be someone who gets praised for defending others.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-26 06:51 am (UTC)You both wear dog outfits, don't you...?
[Maybe that isn't the best thing to say to the kid holding you hostage who also has disowned the rest of the Polyhedron kids... the world of child politics in the Town-On-Ghorkon is the kind of thing adults only catch glimpses of the edges of... and Shin's one himself now, despite everything. His 'big sis'... there's only one person that could be...]
Ugh... D-don't tell me she's watching this... Fine, if it gets you moving faster.
[He folds his arms into the dirtied ground in front of him to at least give him some distance in letting his face fall forward into them. His ears are burning with humiliation, and the horrible thing is he only has himself to blame for this particular predicament... well not the parts involving Gin.]
...What time is it?
[It's not as idle a question as he'd like it to be, because the press of seconds upon him is almost as heavy as Gin, ticking, ticking, ticking.]
no subject
Date: 2022-05-26 07:04 am (UTC)[ At some point in your young life, you usually had a moment where other kid stopped making sense. Playing dress up with the other boys and girls was fun, and Gin used to like watching their history lamp and fighting over treasures. Gin's mom...Gin's mom used to say getting into fights isn't something people who want to become adults should do and getting into fights is Khan and Notkin like doing right now. Gin wants to be a knight, he doesn't want to fight people he used to play with.
But Shin's a grown up so he wouldn't get what the Polyhedron looks like when you play on it and how Notkin's cat does have a smell, even if Teacher never believed Gin. He's stuuupid like that. ]
...You're never fun loner. Of course she's not watching. She's busy. The new doctor wanted to play with her today.
[ The weight finally lifts off and Gin steps into veiw with an extended (dirty) paw. His expression looks sad, almost distracted. ]
It's almost six thirty. You shouldn't breathe the twyre out here. Mom said you'll get flowers growing in your lungs, woof woof.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-26 07:30 am (UTC)And now that he remembers... ]
That's right... you were carrying it around everywhere.
[It had some kind of name, didn't it? He's trying to recall it, while he tries to play off the shame of Gin's disappointment in him not being able to tell burlap dog from burlap cat and also being no fun. He doesn't take Gin's hand, but he does get up, trying to surreptitiously swipe what Gin didn't already get off his face and front... it doesn't go well.]
Ahaha, are you worried? I'll just do this, then.
[He twists around his scarf until he finds an unblemished area, and then pulls it up over his mouth and nose as he's been habitually doing whenever he's ventured outside... meant to be quick dashes in and out of quarantine, and this... definitely wasn't that.]
See? No flowers for me... Let's find a pump, you should wash that off. It's even more of a health hazard nowadays...
[And also his throat is parched to hell, but shh. He searches his pockets and with a small sigh of relief finds that most of his things are still there... there's things like marbles and nuts and a beetle missing, which means kids were the ones rifling through... Gin is instantly a prime suspect, but Shin's keeping that to himself... for now. He's starting to tip towards full wakefulness, the agonies of the flesh aside]
The new doctor, huh... Wonder what the Capital dandy wants our brave heiress for?
[By all accounts, he's been going door to door to those with money and power, rubbing elbows with them... Shin doesn't like either of them, and it's making the fact that despite his light tone he's fishing for anything Gin knows about their meeting a little clearer.]
..If a beetle crawled out of Shin's pocket and Gin picked it up thats not stealing thats protecting
Date: 2022-05-26 07:57 am (UTC)[ The shame is unending, Gin is too perceptive and Myuaka is a bit of an open wound right now... Gin traded him to another kid for something precious for Mom that he's not going to tell anyone about.
Gin mostly stands around as Shin picks himself, brow furrowed but he doesn't dart off. Loner won't take his hand...but that won't stop Gin from trotting after Shin once they start moving towards the nearest spout. ]
Myaaah... I dunno! The dandy guy is kinda nice...he called me poppet and I got some candy when I ran an errand for him. But big sister gets weird when they talk, she doesn't want me in the room. They even started talking about-
[ There's a pause, and while the beanie muffles it into nothing more then an uncomfortable tap...Shin can still feel the impact as a small stone hits the back of his head.
Theres a small ruffle of the mask as Gin breathes, about to says something but he turns away instead. ]
...Don't use me to get at my big sister. I'm not your sister, I won't forgive you if she burns up because you kept fighting. I'm putting my heart away where you can't get it, and we'll be enemies forever and ever, Shin.
[ Forever and ever, unlike the older teen who used to play with Gin, before he hid away and got weird and twisty. ]
CUSTODY OF BEETLE FORM... SIGNED
Date: 2022-05-26 08:42 am (UTC)[To the point that Shin's been assuming Gin must have given Myauka away, or decided he was too grown up for that, or something... he was really attached to it at the time.
Gin your paws are filthy right now... even if Shin wasn't a neat freak, he's trying to preserve some dignity in getting up himself, not realizing that it's takeable as a rejection. He's relieved Gin at least is following him... it's strange, everything's going to hell but this at least is a little piece of the past. He's already snorting, and making to say something about wasn't Gin told to be careful around strangers, especially suspiciously nice ones? when the stone hits the back of the head. It doesn't hurt, but the surprise of it does make him jolt a little, head ducking and shoulders and hands lifting before he turns around with his mouth still open behind the scarf before it shuts, brief faint flickers of emotions running across what's visible of his face before it smooths out to neutral. Talking about- so there is something they're colluding on.]
It's not my fault she's setting herself on fire, Gin. Don't pin this one on me.
[He's pushing back against her, because she's going to doom them all, the ones left on the margins, the ones most powerless, including Shin himself. You only need to look at (or hear about, from Kanna) people throwing molotovs at the infected on the streets to see that. She's dangerous, and people are drawn to her and her words like moths to flame... including Gin. That hurts a little.]
Ahaha, if you stay too close, you're only going to get burned as well... Don't say I didn't warn you.
[Gin's not going to listen... but Shin wouldn't live with himself if he didn't at least try once to dissuade him. He's putting his own heart away, that thing his self wants to attack, so that being 'forever enemies' with Gin isn't so painful. The past is a photograph in a fireplace.]
...I'll find out somewhere else, anyway.
[Which in Shin language is him backing off on pumping for information here... he won't try through Gin. To him it's tit for tat since he's sure Kanna tells Sara things, and that Gin'll tell her about this meeting, neither of which he likes, but... well.]
his name is rupert now
Date: 2022-05-27 05:50 am (UTC)[ There isn't an accusation in Gin's words, but there is the knowledge between the lines that Shin wasn't there, that he hasn't been here for the town or anyone in it for the past five years. That's enough for a lot of trust to erode, and enough for Gin to give his warnings very little thought. ]
Fires might be scary, but I believe big sis and the city doctor when they say people need them too! [ Sara could be a fire in the heart as much as she might be the low burning glare of a steppe fire in the distance. Shin just couldn't tell the different, he hid away to long. ] Loner, your eyes got too used to the dark. You need to start paying attention, woof. What you do is important. You and big sis are more alike then you wanna think.
[ Threat or warning aside, Gin's made his point and spotting a water pump, he dashes towards it with usual good cheer and some animal noises. ]
I'm so happy, this part of town has the nicest water! You picked a good place to pass out. Meow, meow!
rupert ibushi...
Date: 2022-05-27 07:54 am (UTC)Alike, huh... [Not in the way Gin means, the mark of sunshine is what comes to his mind. The gleam of teeth, maybe.] Even if that's true... Can't see us ever getting along at this point.
[He's sure she hates him, after all. It would make sense. Then Gin's running towards the pump in excitement, breaking the moment. Shin follows behind at a paced walk so he doesn't pass out.]
Ahaha, they actually maintain the pipes over here, that's why... The Chine, too. Strange, isn't it? Looks like architects like having clean water themselves. If you took the Kains at their word they'd live on nothing but air...
[Shin takes on odds and ends jobs around town nowadays, when he has the energy, and repair of various mechanisms is one of them. If you passed him on the street you could probably get him to repair your gun... for a trade.
Well-maintained means the arm actually moves when Shin leans all his weight on it to get the pump running for Gin, too. He bends down to cup his hands and drink from them and while it's cold it's too refreshing for that to matter as much as it might usually. He gulps it down and wipes some across his forehead in the hopes it'll help with his headache, keeping the corner of his eye and his ears out for passersby. It's daytime, but people are bold and Shin's painfully aware of his ability or lack thereof to really fight anyone...]
H-hey, it's not like I chose to pass out at all...
[He was just... drawn here, and well, what happened can't actually have happened, so it must have been a waking nightmare. In the tapdance of hindsight, he thinks he might have heard a 'hey, get over here' on the way and just... drunkenly ignored it, which is just vicariously terrifying. He's never touching twyrine again.]
MISTER rupert ibushi to you
Date: 2022-05-27 08:10 am (UTC)[ He can't "see" them getting along...that was the whole problem! Gin makes some kind of gesture back at Shin as he runs, paws near his eyes and flapping as if to say "open up!"
...It's important, it really is. It's hard to place why he feels the need to tell it to Shin, something about the double shadowed importance that's hounded so many people in town these days, the gleam of something he can smell. It's probably the twyre making his nose funny, but Sara says sometimes the future is something you can touch if you look hard enough, and thats how Gin feels when he looks at Shin. ]
Water is alive and air is dead, so they need to have water or they'd be dead. It makes sense to me. [ Gin sticks...his whole face and hands under the water...and probably a large portion of his cape as well before he backs up and shakes himself like a dog. Yeah, not sorry. ]
Yeah right, you worthless drunk! [ He knows what he smelled! ] Loner, you drink now!? What would bucket girl say... Its ruff enough on her without you going to the dogs. We aren't even near your house...
[ How did Shin even get here, is the question Gin really wants to ask. ]
r-rupert ibushi sama
Date: 2022-05-27 11:07 am (UTC)Dead air more, but everything living needs water... Hey, quit it!
[You're getting water all over him - not like that! Although... he tries to splash some onto his front more deliberately to try get the gunk off... it doesn't quite completely work. Running the scarf under it and squeezing it out is a little more successful, flicking a little water at Gin with the tasseled end in return while feigning he's not.
He's going to have to hang the jacket and scarf from his window to dry when he somehow gets back, if the air is clean... and then bundle up, he doesn't want to catch a cold on top of everything else, esp since he should be taking his pills soon. He'd carried some on him, but someone didn't believe him and took the sheaf thinking they were precious antibiotics. It's somewhat a comeuppance, but he's not thinking about any results of that for his own sake.]
H-hold on...!
[Worthless drunk? He winces. The idea of Kanna finding out and it being both her AND Gin and probably the entire town judging him... he's not an alcoholic he swears, he knows drink can end up drinking you... it's a common affliction in this town after all.]
I'm not making a habit of it...! [Especially not now!] It's just they say twyrine can reveal secrets, don't they... Only I'm old enough for it, so you better not go trying any yourself, Gin.
[If there ever was a time to try learn more about what's going on, it's right now, when there's so much nobody including him knows, dangerous unknowns... but this still feels frustratingly fruitless, a tangled snarl of imagery and as for where it brought him...]
Not like there's anything to show for it... Everyone knows about the Polyhedron.
[Now I have to think about where Shin actually lives... Probably he works in one of the stores across the tracks from the Warehouse district, that good ol' bad side of town, and his actual house likely isn't that far from there. It's the grocery store behind the railway, I'm deciding, where lifeblood from outside reaches the underbelly of the town first. Midori's old house... that's in the Hindquarters most likely, facing the river and fenced in with semicircular wall. It's not too far from the pharmacy that's right next to a certain Broken Heart pub, which may explain some things. He's ended up walking all the way across town, which depending on which day it is means he's probably wandered through at least one infected district unscathed... alcohol sure loves to protect it's fools, in a walking across fifteen lanes of traffic way. In an eroding immunity juuust enough way.
Concerned with acquiring his own immortality Midori may have been, well-liked and accoladed... that side of town kept it's secrets better. Isidor's house was right in the center of it.]
no subject
Date: 2024-04-04 04:04 am (UTC)At least it has so far.
His coworker left their overlapping hour fifteen minutes so he's alone here. Shin deliberately doesn't think about having to walk through a sketchy area in the dark, because he has to do it near every weekday, and after a certain point stress itself wears thin.
So when the door rings as someone enters, he's caught just a little off guard. There's some clunking noises as he puts various components down and yells 'Be right with you!' And then a hiss, and flattened ears, as he hits hot metal.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-04 05:56 am (UTC)Two thousand years.
TWO THOUSAND YEARS!
Two thousand hell bound, boring hateful years! Then suddenly, light!
He doesn't really recall what he did after escaping. Seeing the seal break was like awakening a long awaited reflex, wings manifested and he dove for it like a drowning man dive for rope. The air tossed him in currents, cradling him on and on...
Sandalphon comes back to himself opening the door to a coffee shop. He can't read the sign on the door but the smell is unmistakable and draws back a sweltering wave of emotion. Is this really what he was drawn to above everything?
The man at the door is pinch browed and glaring, but his wings did vanish the second he landed, so Sandalphon appears to Shin to only be a very ruffled vagabond instead of an (ex) copy of the Supreme Primarch. The heels and tights stayed on during the prison stay.
"I don't need your help." He grumbles, still looking distracted as the sun setting catches his eye. Wow. That hasn't changed.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-04 06:19 am (UTC)"As you like," he says, keeping his tone customer service cheerful and polite instead of sarcastic as he runs his stung finger under the cold tap. Sometimes it's also a case of just coming in out of the cold, which only bothers Shin in the sense of not being able to relax in case they also decide to be a customer, but it's not quite the season for it. He's not one of the regulars either, as far as Shin knows.
He returns to rummaging with the pieces of the coffee machine as he places them back in, one ear and corner of an eye pointed towards Sandalphon's direction, tail twitching with focus.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-04 06:35 am (UTC)Did they have an expresso machine in the angel hell lab? I'm going to assume no. Sandalphon is learning a lot just watching Shin work...
"This is a mockery to the art of coffee."
Which is great, right? Because Lucifer loves coffee so naturally he should loath it. The idea some random Erune in the future is making coffee that is not to Lucifer's particular taste should be gladdening. Maybe the world has grown into something Lucifer hates...Even in his mind that doesn't sound possible.
"Where is the ibrik..."
no subject
Date: 2024-04-04 06:50 am (UTC)"Don't do that!" Shin yelps despite himself, tail tracing a puffed circle as he turns and tries to salvage things with a smile. It's very impressively done. There's no sign of strain on the edges at all. "Ahaha... Sorry, you startled me..." He thought he knew where the guy was...
The insult to the coffee does, at least, make things feel a bit more normal, even if now Shin has to shoo this guy out somehow.
"I-Ibrik? We don't have that, sir." Shin doesn't actually know if that's some obscure spice hidden in one of the many small containers under the counters, so it's the same tone as his baldfaced lies. He would like you to Leave, or at least Stop Hovering. It's aggravating...
guy who has been thinking about 1 guy for 2k years: thinking a lot about 1 guy rn, its ur fault
Date: 2024-04-04 06:53 am (UTC)He's a SUPREME BEING and you are a worm. He has never been to a coffee shop before. He is free and unfettered from the casual social niceties. How dare you tell him where to stand, peasant? Is this some magical zone only for beings with purposes to exist? Are you looking down at him?
"So now even the most common creature thinks it can order me around... Is this how you will treat me if I see you again? Do I mean so little..." Now he's muttering. It's the expresso machines fault, this damn machine. It smells like coffee and he can't stop thinking about Lucifer!
Luckily Shin snaps him out of it before he starts breaking something, but only so he can stare in unfettered scorn.
"You don't have it? Impossible. It's how you make coffee."
no subject
Date: 2024-04-04 07:16 am (UTC)The reflexive laugh trails off. He heard that mutter. Being called a common creature gets right into the cracks in his self-esteem; that Sandalphon is looking down on him makes it impossible for Shin to consider he's also feeling that way. Shin hasn't seen his own desperate arrogance in the mirror yet, because he's not been in a situation where he's had to.
So it's just mostly a wave of dislike, amongst still trying to figure out what ibrik is. He'll have to look it up later, but out of curiosity, not because of this asshole...
"Well, we can't use an ingredient we don't have, so if you'd like something else..." He gestures vaguely to the menu. The Writ. He's given up on getting Sandalphon out from behind the counter and is just trying to get through this. "Take your time...?"