SHOWTIME ⦁ open w/closed prompts.

[deathrespect]

Who: Samatoki Aohitsugi deathrespect & co.! Open with closed prompts.
What: Event things.
When: 9.8 and on throughout the month.
Where: Prompts will have locations.

Content Warnings: Event-typical warnings. Missing person trauma. Slight self-harm + PTSD flashbacks. Bad management of breakdowns.

001 ⦁ GROWING PAINS | cassandra district | open.

( Not long after the 8th Samatoki can be seen outside of his home in Cassandra, looking over a small slip of paper with burnt edges. It says "have a nice trip!" and is written in blood-ink.

He has his mask fixed on his face as he buries the slip of paper after folding it into a neat square. Once his claw is drawn across his palm, pale blood spilling onto the soil below, a red spider lily blooms and stretches towards the sky.

There's a hidden smile from behind the mask when the flower doesn't change its bright color. NO rotting, no wilting. He knows, then, that the Blood Minister path is the right one for him.

He turns to see someone a little ways off; not removing his mask, he stands. )

What's good, boss?

002 ⦁ POST-GROWING PAINS | cassandra district | closed to orpheus.

( Heading towards Lumenwood is Samatoki; he's been location-scouting lately for an idea he has ... There's a craning of his head and a stop in his tracks when he sees someone with a guitar, heading down the street.

Makes him think of doing music again ... Even if his music was typically heavy beats, rhyme and flow. )

Ah, hey. You good with that thing?

( He calls, pulling his mask down and fixing it to his belt. Not weird at all. )

003 ⦁ RIVER OF REGRET | ???? | closed to atsushi.

( Ah, fuck. )

The fuck is this?!

( The day is idyllic and pretty, sunlight and trees and a peaceful river. The only other one in the boat is Atsushi, that kid he'd talked to the other day ... )

You got any clue?

004 ⦁ POST-RIVER OF REGRET | lumenwood district | open | self harm + PTSD flashbacks warning.

( His claws itch and flex; it feels like there's something under his skin that keeps him moving, laced with pure anger and anguish. He chainsmokes. He walks.

This isn't Hakagemachi, where his walking had more of a purpose, where he knew what to really bury himself in. Right here and now, in Trench, everything feels fucking pointless. He stops along a fence, leaning on it, breath shaky and uncertain but deep all the same.

Visions of his sister, mangled with her middle pecked out by hungry birds ... He clenches his fist and punches through the fence on reflex.

Then he beats his fist against the top of it, splinters of wood embedding themselves in his skin. )

Stop ... Stop ...

( His breathing is labored; the opposite hand is digging furrows down his face. )

Fuck ... Nemu ... Nemu, please ...

( Anyone happening across him now might recognize he's having flashbacks, eyes turned unseeing to the space in front of him ... )

005 ⦁ BLOODSPORT | prufrock district | open.

( Oh, this is certainly a way to let it out.

He's all too quick to put on his mask again, a comfort of sorts, and tear into monster after monster.

After felling his third on his own, he's not had enough. )

Gimme another. Fuck, gimme two. Things are fucking weak!

006 ⦁ WILDCARD.

( want a starter or something else? hit me up @ vandalisto if you would like to plot/discuss! )

Comments

[deathrespect]

Have you been on this fucked up ride yet?

( There's a low level of panic in his voice.

He doesn't know if he can do this again. )

[subject_013]

Not yet, though if it's anything like the delights which this world's predecessor had to offer, it's bound to take a literal turn for the dire.

[The other sounds almost resigned to the fact, but for the edge of irritation coming into his tone, as if he's bracing for anything and not thrilled about it.]

[deathrespect]

Yeah. I-I. I've been on this before.

( He looks around, screws his eyes shut, jaw set. )

'Bout to get real bloody.

( Then they round the bend, and it begins; he stiffens, claws tearing into the side of the boat. )

[CW: Blood mentioned]

[subject_013]

That arms you with the knowledge of experience, but what experience that must have been, to gauge by your reaction. Dare I ask if you've been here in this world a long time?

[There's no sentiment of sympathy in his reply, but there is an understanding. He may be new to this place, but he's no stranger to shocks.]

[Silence from the man in black, then a creak of wood in an iron grip, and a strong smell of blood.]

...Why those... Is this meant to trip some kind of survivor's guilt?

[deathrespect]

Nah. Ain't ... Ain't been here long.

( He inhales sharply and doesn't exhale for a few moments. No sign of anyone he knows yet, but something in him tells him its just a matter of moments. )

The point is you gotta flip out about it. Or at least talk about it, I think, it's ... It'll go on forever. Fuck. I hate this!!

[CW: Dead young people referenced]

[subject_013]

Not a dweller in Sodder's Nightmare either, I take it?

[There's no judgement there, simple curiosity in its place.]

It's as well that you've shut your eyes. I'm trying not to stare at a row of deceased teenagers and young adults.

[A pause as if to let this information to sink in before he clarifies.] I didn't kill them. But there were my technical siblings who were killed in a science experiment gone horribly wrong. Or horribly right, depending on one's perspective.

[deathrespect]

Nah. No.

( His breath hitches a bit. He practically blurts out: )

Did you know 'em well?

[CW: Unethical medical experimentation, fictional pathogen mentioned]

[subject_013]

Too bad, the knowledge gathered in that realm was excellent preparation for this place and its delights.

[The other pauses as if collecting himself.]

I grew up alongside many of them, but I wasn't close with most. We had a rather unorthodox upbringing: our intellects were nurtured intensely, but close relationships were not, for the most part.

They...we, rather, were injected with a modified virus, a mutagenic agent intended to shape us into the next phase of human evolution. Most of them didn't live to make that a reality. Only a woman to whom I was close and I survived.

((OOC: I apologize for the delay: Life has been kicking me to the curb.))

no worries!! i hope you're ok, there's no rush here.

[deathrespect]

What the ...

( He clears his throat: )

What the fuck kind'a dickstain does that to a kid? ... Even if ... You weren't close with 'em it plainly fucked with you ... somehow.

(Taking it one day at a time. Thanks for the kind words!)

[subject_013]

The kind of stain who'd seek to create a race of superhumans to steer the course of human development while setting himself as the god of that new world.

He didn't last much longer after I revealed that choice bit of information. [There might be the tiniest lilt of satisfaction in his voice.] Of course that wasn't revealed to me until long after the experiment had technically ended, or moved to another phase. Couldn't have the surviving subjects be privy to the finer details.

( of course homie! )

[deathrespect]

Fuck. Man, I can't even imagine.

( Talking about someone else's problems is enough of a distraction ... for now. )

Good fucking riddance.

( He screws his eyes shut, claws clenching on his thigh. )

Re: ( of course homie! )

[subject_013]

Don't even try, it's not worth bending your mind over.

[A harassed sigh, with a hint of something close to sorrow.]

Alex, at least you aren't on display here...

[deathrespect]

Who's that? If, uh. If you ... wanna share.

[subject_013]

My sister. Elder sister, technically, since our keepers had ...acquired her first. Also, she'd declared herself the elder when we were quite young. I never objected, and I didn't mind. We were close, despite our keepers' discouraging the relationship, though we drifted as we matured and went into different fields. I lost complete contact with her: no response through her usual dropboxes. I went in search of her... but instead, I fell into the world that preceded this one.

[deathrespect]

Fuck, dude.

( He lets the short tale hang between them, thinking. )

I'm ... I'm an older brother. I got a similar kind'a story, but ... Y'know. Shit happened and Nemu ...

( He swallows thickly, eyes slipping shut. He does not want to see her corpse again. )

Nemu got taken.

[subject_013]

Then you know ...the link that siblings can share.

[There's a thoughtful understanding, not very sentimental, but as much as someone - something - like him can admit to this, much less express it.]

I'm not one to emit polite platitudes about loss and love. But... You aren't alone in experiencing this.

[For what it's worth, he's there to have Samatoki's back, as poorly as he is at offering morale support.]

Dare I ask, by what were they taken? Or is that a book you'd rather keep closed and on the shelf?

[deathrespect]

( Samatoki stiffens, making a point to keep an eye on his comrade here instead of the bloody banks of the river. )

She ... I dunno, went of her own volition. Or that's how it looked.

( He closes his eyes, grits his teeth; this is hard for him. )

But she wasn't fucking ... right when she went. Said it was a ... friend of ours who changed her mind. But I know it was the capitol that did it. No way she was in her right mind.

[subject_013]

[He may lean in slightly, seeking to fill the other's view, blocking the sight of the ghastly shores.]

Let us hope that is how it passed, for her own sake, for yours. But it sounds as if... suffering put her into a dark place. It does that to a person, doesn't it, even to the strong among us.

[He sounds as if he knows that full well.]

cw: suicide mention

[deathrespect]

( A thought crosses his mind: if she truly went of her own volition, if she truly meant every word she said, then he might as well throw himself over the edge of the boat.

That thought — catastrophizing, frantic, desperate — makes him gag. He covers his mouth, thinking only of his mother, who had taken her own life. )

I want off. I want off this fucking ride.

Re: cw: suicide mention

[subject_013]

[He reaches out, and if allowed, takes hold of Samatoki's arm with an inexorable grip.]

I don't think that's the way off, as tempting as it seems.

[He glances about them, raising his head, looking back over his shoulders.]

We were brought here by those ravens, perhaps they, too, are the way out.

[deathrespect]

( He shakes and shivers, but the grip at his arm is welcome. Grounding, if only a little.

How did he get off of the ride during his first trip with Atsushi? )

I think we have to talk about it. I ... I talked about it the first time with someone else.

[subject_013]

[He glances over his shoulder at the canyon walls, then back to Samatoki.]

Very well. Whatever frees us both from this place that pulls at our memories.