⛧ Aʟʟᴇɴ "ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ᴘʀɪᴇsᴛ" Wᴀʟᴋᴇʀ ★ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
likethelight) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deercountry2022-04-08 08:41 pm
likethelight) wrote in deercountry2022-04-08 08:41 pm
[semi-open] If you're trying hard to breathe in the dark
Who: Allen & others, possibly Argonaut appearances
What: Event-log and other April-related prompts. Plotting prompt stuff!
When: Throughout April
Where: Various
Content Warnings: SAD THINGS, harm and death to NPC children, mutilation, nightmare fuel mindfuckery, high corruption and beasthood.
⛧ 1. if your screams don't make a sound (wonderkind/AKUMA) ★
[ You were probably just minded your own business doing something totally normal — and then you got caught in up in Allen Walker's vortex of bad luck. Sorry. It's just a thing that happens. He doesn't even have his unlucky rabbit's foot on him! He learned better really quickly...!!
Regardless of whether you might have been haggling with a bakery over the price of day-olds, sipping tea in some little shop, or maybe this is your house that he's... about to put a hole through. So sorry — but all of a sudden part of the nearby brickwork explodes as a slender figure is bodily slammed entirely through it.
Yeah. It's that kind of day.
It does not look comfortable. And it does not look like something anyone could have gotten away with without some broken ribs, but as the dust settles the boy that was indeed used as a wrecking ball of sorts starts coughing and trying to sit up. This is just -- ugghhh...
Coming to his senses quickly though, dressed in a black and red jacket underneath what seems to be a impossibly volumous feathered white cloak that seems to be made of moonlight itself he -- blinks. And then whirls around, realizing you're there.
His left eye has bled black throughout the sclera, and the iris has shifted to glowing red rings that shift in and out like a camera lens focusing. There's a dark, corrupted sort of smoke that seems to be pooling around it as well. His expression is wide with alarm, actual fear for a moment at seeing you there, before he stumbles back up to his feet. To square his shoulders, face the hole he just was thrown through—
And rip back, shouting at you over his shoulder as he spreads a single arm out in warning. ]
RUN!
[ Because, over the edge of the rubble... there's a faint sort of here-but-not dark glow. And the world seems to desaturate, fading from color into the black and white. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like you're even looking through your own eyes.
And then you hear a faint sobbing. Distant, but far too close as well. Like it's there in your own skull. Faintly.
And a figure floats into view, cresting the stone. At first, it looks like... an extremely mummified corpse. Bone dry, curled up in a fetal position. It isn't even the thing crawling up and through the hole, but that seems deem and distant right now. It's attached to it.
Because the sobbing stops as soon as you look at it, and the specter stiffens suddenly. Socketless pits for eyes turning right towards you as it realizes you see it —
—and its jaw falls open as it screams. ]
⛧ 2. if your heart just cries too loud all the time (butterflies/beasthood) ★
[ He knew this worked like a game of Russian roulette, he really did. And he doesn't even want to have to destroy any of the butterflies that have flocked to the Trench. It's fine when they stay up and away from people, but when they choose to land near populated areas...
It's not even for misjudging his own ability to purge corruption from his own body! It has limits, he knows that... too much can still be too much if it's all at once. But he has to keep trying. Better him than someone else. Or at least, thinking about that...
...it's easy to forget the actual consequences.
Maybe you were there when he destroyed the butterfly, a boy who suddenly transformed into into a white harbinger wreathed in what looks like condensed moonlight taking the shape of a huge feathered cloak and wielding a great broadsword as long and broad as he is. Maybe you just see the consequences of that — or hear the sudden howling gale.
What: Event-log and other April-related prompts. Plotting prompt stuff!
When: Throughout April
Where: Various
Content Warnings: SAD THINGS, harm and death to NPC children, mutilation, nightmare fuel mindfuckery, high corruption and beasthood.
⛧ 1. if your screams don't make a sound (wonderkind/AKUMA) ★
[ You were probably just minded your own business doing something totally normal — and then you got caught in up in Allen Walker's vortex of bad luck. Sorry. It's just a thing that happens. He doesn't even have his unlucky rabbit's foot on him! He learned better really quickly...!!
Regardless of whether you might have been haggling with a bakery over the price of day-olds, sipping tea in some little shop, or maybe this is your house that he's... about to put a hole through. So sorry — but all of a sudden part of the nearby brickwork explodes as a slender figure is bodily slammed entirely through it.
Yeah. It's that kind of day.
It does not look comfortable. And it does not look like something anyone could have gotten away with without some broken ribs, but as the dust settles the boy that was indeed used as a wrecking ball of sorts starts coughing and trying to sit up. This is just -- ugghhh...
Coming to his senses quickly though, dressed in a black and red jacket underneath what seems to be a impossibly volumous feathered white cloak that seems to be made of moonlight itself he -- blinks. And then whirls around, realizing you're there.
His left eye has bled black throughout the sclera, and the iris has shifted to glowing red rings that shift in and out like a camera lens focusing. There's a dark, corrupted sort of smoke that seems to be pooling around it as well. His expression is wide with alarm, actual fear for a moment at seeing you there, before he stumbles back up to his feet. To square his shoulders, face the hole he just was thrown through—
And rip back, shouting at you over his shoulder as he spreads a single arm out in warning. ]
RUN!
[ Because, over the edge of the rubble... there's a faint sort of here-but-not dark glow. And the world seems to desaturate, fading from color into the black and white. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like you're even looking through your own eyes.
And then you hear a faint sobbing. Distant, but far too close as well. Like it's there in your own skull. Faintly.
And a figure floats into view, cresting the stone. At first, it looks like... an extremely mummified corpse. Bone dry, curled up in a fetal position. It isn't even the thing crawling up and through the hole, but that seems deem and distant right now. It's attached to it.
Because the sobbing stops as soon as you look at it, and the specter stiffens suddenly. Socketless pits for eyes turning right towards you as it realizes you see it —
—and its jaw falls open as it screams. ]
⛧ 2. if your heart just cries too loud all the time (butterflies/beasthood) ★
[ He knew this worked like a game of Russian roulette, he really did. And he doesn't even want to have to destroy any of the butterflies that have flocked to the Trench. It's fine when they stay up and away from people, but when they choose to land near populated areas...
It's not even for misjudging his own ability to purge corruption from his own body! It has limits, he knows that... too much can still be too much if it's all at once. But he has to keep trying. Better him than someone else. Or at least, thinking about that...
...it's easy to forget the actual consequences.
Maybe you were there when he destroyed the butterfly, a boy who suddenly transformed into into a white harbinger wreathed in what looks like condensed moonlight taking the shape of a huge feathered cloak and wielding a great broadsword as long and broad as he is. Maybe you just see the consequences of that — or hear the sudden howling gale.
A whirling gale of feathers, light, and tattered wings made from moonlight themselves that rips upwards from a doubled over figure. A white and gold gigantic masquerade mask floats above as well, twisting to and fro from the feathered cloak like it's unsure how to hold its shape, like it's too angry to remember its shape and cares not for what it was, but is trying to contort itself into something new. But the winged sort of cloak looks almost angelic, glowing white-gold and ethereal. It's beautiful, and somewhat terrible as well. Especially as the figure, with his hands clutching his head like it wants to split in two, would not seem to have a normal left hand but a great white and gold monstrous sort of claw instead. But it too can't seem to hold its form, splitting into glowing feathers along his arm that twist in the air.
It's like a howling monster clinging to the figure even as it also tries to rip away.
And if you're caught staring, an edge of that tattered, feathery wing-cloak rips out towards you and slashes into—and through the brickwork by your head. And that's when you might realize that even though it looks like a cloak and feathers, it cuts as sharply as any sword. ]
Stay— [ It's a boy beneath all that. A teenager, pale and ethereal himself as the feathers around him, with a dark red scar cutting through the left side of his face. And he pants and rasps it out, gritting his teeth audibly and fixing a surprisingly sharp and hard dark eye on you. A window of raw clarity in a maelstrom.
Anguished clarity, his face twisted in tragedy.
But that eye is blood red and black, and the scar surrounding it twists itself restlessly across his face like an angry, living thing. Black smoke bleeds from that left side of his face, mixing in with the white. ]
—back...
More closed prompts below! I'm trying to do more closed/planned things since I have a lot going on this month and a bunch that are sequential, but please feel free to hit me up on my plotting prompt and I'm happy to plan something and do a private prompt for us! He will be generally collecting the hope orbs, mostly for Viktor, getting fucked up with his restored memories/tether and hiding from people later in the month, and trying to purify and reverse the corruption/beasthood of any turned, especially as a result of the butterflies. So, especially if you want to get your character in on realizing even full beasthood can be reversed by exorcists and other sorts of purification abilities and you want them to be able to see the human souls still in them... 👉👈 hit me up.
It's like a howling monster clinging to the figure even as it also tries to rip away.
And if you're caught staring, an edge of that tattered, feathery wing-cloak rips out towards you and slashes into—and through the brickwork by your head. And that's when you might realize that even though it looks like a cloak and feathers, it cuts as sharply as any sword. ]
Stay— [ It's a boy beneath all that. A teenager, pale and ethereal himself as the feathers around him, with a dark red scar cutting through the left side of his face. And he pants and rasps it out, gritting his teeth audibly and fixing a surprisingly sharp and hard dark eye on you. A window of raw clarity in a maelstrom.
Anguished clarity, his face twisted in tragedy.
But that eye is blood red and black, and the scar surrounding it twists itself restlessly across his face like an angry, living thing. Black smoke bleeds from that left side of his face, mixing in with the white. ]
—back...
More closed prompts below! I'm trying to do more closed/planned things since I have a lot going on this month and a bunch that are sequential, but please feel free to hit me up on my plotting prompt and I'm happy to plan something and do a private prompt for us! He will be generally collecting the hope orbs, mostly for Viktor, getting fucked up with his restored memories/tether and hiding from people later in the month, and trying to purify and reverse the corruption/beasthood of any turned, especially as a result of the butterflies. So, especially if you want to get your character in on realizing even full beasthood can be reversed by exorcists and other sorts of purification abilities and you want them to be able to see the human souls still in them... 👉👈 hit me up.
FINALLY GOT OVER MY WRITERS BLOCK ON THIS im so deeply fucking sorry
Just like it's also bad that Allen is momentarily frozen in horror as well. Even for someone so used to seeing horrors like these, almost his whole life really, to have a child little mutate in such a way in front of his eyes... ]
Ah... [ It's a dangerous second to waste.
Because the child-beast begins to raise up what look like glowing tentacles around its bulbous head that wind off and raise like some fiberoptic lamp. Raising its hands up to the night sky like some sort of gentle praise or chant -- it's beautiful, really. Light gathering around it like a starburst --
And then it releases it point-blank in his face, and he's blown back with a cut-short scream. Landing in a ragged pile of his own glowing cloak and motionless as a dark, curling sort of corruption wafts off him like smoke.
Better watch out, Kokichi. It's beginning to stumble towards you. Gangly and awkward, with a childlike sort of uneven gait in utter silence. Until it gurgles, arms outstretched towards him. Does he... want to play?
Play with me. ]
tyijkijhb IT'S OK
Kokichi swallows, but his throat is dry. It's the first time he's seen beastification right in front of his eyes - not just warned about it, or read about it, or gotten it implied by hushed whispers and startled stares...there was now a monster before him where there was previously a young child.
One that would have to die.
The beast raises its arms, and if he wasn't so aware of the danger, it might almost be a compelling sight in the sense that there's no malice behind the gesture, so far as he can tell. It's light, and befitting, and--then it blasts the other boy who previously had the child in his care with the blast of light.
And then it turns its attention towards him, and somehow he can recognize what it's saying. It doesn't even fully get that it's doing harm, does it...?]
No, I can't...I...can't...
[It probably doesn't even understand him at this point as he's stumbling back. This is why he needs to learn how to fight, this is why it's such a burden being a pacifist here, he has to change that, he has to become stronger somehow.
He takes a deep breath in that feels somewhat like a dry heave before he almost stumbles over himself walking backwards. He's almost hoping that Alvin or Ochako or Sayo or anyone might suddenly appear, call him out for being a moron, and then take care of this for him because he's too weak to do it, and a bleeding heart, at that, but it doesn't feel likely.
His gaze averts to where the other boy was blown back.
Maybe he'll recover...? Hopefully...]
♥
It keeps walking towards Kokichi, arms outstretched, as slowly the tendrils begin to glow and raise again. Another charge like before coming on? It would seem so, and it would seem inevitable—
When a luminescent ribbon whips out suddenly, binding the creature round and round like a sentient thing. Coming from the cloak of the boy still lying apparently unconscious on the ground and the cuff of his right wrist. He doesn't seem to have even moved yet, like his cloak whipped out on its own. But he grits his teeth then, spitting out some blood to the side (white, it becomes an instant luminous white in the perma-moonlight) as he gets back up to his feet, holding the tether tight on the beast and keeping it from advancing.
He locks eyes with Kokichi, a hardened pale grey that's also still... afraid? ]
R— [ it's taught and desperate, his voice ] —run!
[ However what he doesn't know, that left eye of his that now almost seems to be smoking, waves of a dark and corrupted energy coming off of it and the dark, black void it seems with its glowing red iris...
A small figure appears, floating translucent just above the beast. The same little girl as before, but she appears curled in on herself. Softly sobbing, waves of inky smoke peeling off her body that seems to be withering. And this time, Kokichi can hear her as if echoing directly inside his own skull with each hiccupping cry.
"M-mommy... mommy..." ]
no subject
If only it were that easy.
The boy's eye is smoking - there's blackness coming from it. That's odd by himself, but the translucent figure truly gets his attention. It's that same little girl, and she's crying.]
N--No! I CAN'T! YOU CAN'T HURT HER, THAT'S JUST A--THAT'S A LITTLE GIRL!
[His voice cracks. It's a relief that all the trials in the Gifted Inmates Academy were just full of people around his age, people he could see himself betraying if need be, people who weren't inherently evil - never were (apart from one) - but just in a bad situation...they weren't kids.
His bleeding heart was too weak to leave this little girl to die.]
SHE JUST WANTS HER MOM, I.... [He swallows, pressing back tears.] I CAN'T, BECAUSE I CAN'T LET HER GET HURT.
[It'd be against his principles as leader of DICE. Never abandon a child in need. Ever. Because rotten adults couldn't be trusted to help them, and if they were lost, they were as good as a DICE member.
It was a stupid principle in this situation, but he stuck to it all the same.]
i kind of apologize for the trauma he's about to have, but no 8)
He looks so struck by that, eyes wide and startled in such a way where he loses his footing for a moment and gets pulled forward by the beast that's still trying to stagger towards Kokichi, as if it doesn't understand how it's been leashed. Even confronted by something that could obviously so easily hurt or kill him, something almost everyone in this city sees as a monster that should just be put down... he wanted to help her still? To argue with him not to hurt her?
(Not that he will. He never would, but... he knows how it looks.)
"She just wants her mom"—could he... hear her too? ]
Please-- close your eyes then! [ Don't watch this, he doesn't have the time to explain and it will only hurt you.
And you're both making his heart break.
Doubling down again, he braces himself before reaching with his right hand for the golden crown on his left wrist, the arm that looks like polished black stone with gleaming white blades for fingers. Grasping it, he pulls a luminous white and gold sword as long as he is tall and almost as broad out in a burst of transformative white. Spinning it round in his hand light as a feather for a moment as he gets the weight right before he, setting his jaw in a grim and sorrowful demeanor... charges.
Yanking on that tether and pulling himself forward as much as he leaps, it's blindingly fast as he raises his sword up high. And it doesn't even seem to notice, the beast. It's still just reaching towards Kokichi, only a few feet away with spindly arms outstretched as if for a hug, and the soul of the little girl hiccupping a little as she rubs at her cheek.
It only takes that one moment—one moment as he brings that sword up and then brings it down without even a moment of hesitation. Straight down through the bulbous skull, and splitting it clean in two like loose jello. Stem to stern, and the two halves of corrupted flesh quiver for a moment before sloughing off unsteadily to the side with an unpleasant blort.
But there's a burst of shadowy, corrupted energy that explodes outward at that moment, pushing back with the wind of suddenly displaced air—and completely obfuscating both the remains of the little beast-girl and the boy for the moment. ]
fucking F
And then the boy begs him to close his eyes, at least. Even that feels bad when they're stinging - stinging with tears. Kokichi, for his part, can't tear his eyes way from the beast. The arms are reaching towards him, and it's...it's like he sees himself there. One of the few memories he has of himself as a child, hiccupping and wailing because there are certain things a kid can't understand, certain harsh parts of the world they shouldn't see - not yet. That was before Kokichi Oma, Ultimate Supreme Leader. That was before Pierrot, leader of DICE, even. That was...just Kokichi Oma, child that didn't understand.
He can't remember why, or how, but he just...reflexively mumbles what he'd want to hear then.]
Please don't cry. You'll be okay...please...
[He almost extends his arms, and if he could hug that translucent spirit, he would.
And then he sees the sword.]
NO, WAIT--!!
[...it's too late. The sword swings down, and the beast is cracked open. But then there's a shadowy burst of energy, and a whoosh of air, and Kokichi is left trying to shield his eyes from any stray dust that wants to come up and knock him in the face with his arms.
He can't see what remains. He has to, but he can't.
That's a blessing and a curse right now. At least he can brace himself to see it.]
8)
No more soul -- just a little girl. Physical, and curled in on herself lying there on the ground, shaking and hiccupping with faint sobs while surrounded by the remains of the creature she'd become. Not a scratch on her... even as there would also seem to be such a giant sword that should be cutting through her as well. ]
I said you shouldn't... look... [ It's a bit unsteady as he looks a little feverish, but he breathes out shakily to steady himself. There's no actual chide to his tone either; he just sounds tired and... saddened, somehow. Pulling back on his sword and returning it to his arm in another soft burst of light, he kneels by the small body and reaches out to check her shaking form.
Not the slightest mark, even as he pulled the blade back. And closes his eyes in relief with a faint sigh. ]
It can be a little... [ inhale, exhale ] hard to bear.
no subject
Holy...shit. She's okay?! How is she okay?! How did you--
[Abruptly, he notes how weak the other boy looks, and rushes to his side.]
...Are you okay?
[He has so many questions. So many questions that need answers - he thought she was dead, guaranteed dead, doomed because of unfortunate circumstances, who is this guy, how did he do that--can anyone do that?
If so, how does he do that?]
no subject
No.. it's alright. [ He shakes his head for a moment to try and clear it, finding it hard to focus on two things at once. The other boy, and the little girl who must be so scared. ]
It's because... I'm an exorcist.
[ But he reaches out towards the little girl's shoulder -- his priority -- to encourage her to turn around. ] Miss --
[ With a faint sob, she finally uncurls from herself and looks around. Taking in Allen's appearance, the twisting cloak, his stonelike left arm with its long bladed fingers. The boy who'd cut her. The boy with the really big sword. And the other, Kokichi, who hadn't run.
Shaking wordlessly as tears were already running down her face, she starts to reach out a small hand towards Kokichi. Just for a moment, before the proximity and experience is apparently too much and gives a small shrill scream, scrambling away from them -- from Allen -- before she gets back up to her feet and runs back down the street. Full tilt, amidst a continued sob for her mother.
But entirely fine otherwise.
And Allen, ah... just sits there looking a little crestfallen. A little mournful, although he doesn't say anything for a moment. ]
no subject
The little girl uncurls herself, and looks around, wide-eyed. She's overwhelmed. Kokichi has seen this before. It's a look that is unfortunately quite familiar to Kokichi's perceptions - some particularly bad runaways had those wild eyes, too. Kids who had seen too much, been through too much at their age. So his expression softens, especially when she reaches her small hand out towards him, and he extends his own arm just the slightest, giving her a small, reassuring smile.]
...
[But before he can say anything, she's overwhelmed. She starts running away with a small scream, bawling at the top of her lungs, crying out for her mom. Kokichi's own arm falls, and he lets out a little sigh. There's a brief silence, and then he speaks.]
...I thought she was a goner. I thought almost everyone was, when they turned into--that. But I saw her when she was trapped like that, and you got her turned back.
It's just....an inherent you talent from your world? I--
[He finally looks back to Allen, and he puffs a sigh out.]
....Sorry. Uh. That looks like it took a lot. I've got a lot of questions, but, uh. Yeah. Don't worry about it.
[He extends his arm, though. If Allen needs some help, the least he can do is help steady him if he needs it.]
1/2
Ah... he's a kind-hearted person. ]
It's alright, I don't mind. [ He really doesn't, not after the other boy showed he had a good heart and isn't just being nosy or abrasive. He'd stayed and wanted to help her, even when she was likely about to kill him.
Also, this isn't about Allen. It's about people like that little girl. ]
Most beasts were once human just like her... and can still be saved. [ It really is hard to focus, there's a howling dirge of a headache inside his skull right now, so hopefully the other boy won't mind if he takes a moment to place his right hand, still fully wrapped and gloved in the same luminous white material as his cloak, against his chest as he lets his eyes close. Like someone making a pledge. ]
Even if someone looks like a monster, the human element is always still there. [ Back in the world he remembers from before, and here.
There's a small burst of light from his hand, one that pulses throughout his body like a wave and causes his hair to blow lightly from his face. If Kokichi is close enough, he might feel it and its effects as well. A residual calming serenity that is the literal thing that makes up the feathers and form of his cloak.
A living anti-corruption weapon. His left eye finally relaxes, becoming a pale grey like the other, and the restless twisting of the feathered edges of his cloak calm as well. His own corruption within normal limits again. ]
I was able to do something like this before, but...
2/2
Everything is a little different now for all of us, I think.
no subject
An unavoidable human element, at that. He's just close enough to feel the light's effect, and he untenses a bit - god, this guy had quite a few tricks up his sleeve, didn't he? The boy soon looks refreshed, and he helps him up.]
I've heard of beasts - I've done a lot of reading. I just...y'know. Going back isn't something I ever considered. It's something I would've liked to fathom, because I don't like taking innocent lives, I--...
[He clears his throat.]
Lemmie start over. I'm...I'm Kokichi Oma. I ran an organization at home that helped troubled kids who had nowhere else to go and no one to trust. [To simplify a complicated issue, at least.] I've seen a lot of messed up things, and it's made me pretty averse to the idea of taking any innocent lives, if I can help it.
Is this...saving them thing - is it something only you can do? Or can anyone learn how? ...Anyone being me, obviously. I know I was pretty useless right then. And I'd like to avoid that.
[He's trying to learn how to fight, but if he can manage to learn to spare lives, too...that'd be ideal.]
no subject
But he does keep a couple aces up that sleeve. Literally. ]
Ehhh? [ It's a brightly thoughtful sort of hum, turning a smile on the other boy. ]
Even if it isn't how I just did... it sounds like you've already been saving people, Kokichi Oma. [ He says it so radiantly and honestly, head cocked to the side and like it really is that simple. Honestly, to show up in battle and save someone is one thing. But he ran an organization for troubled children before...? And he looks like he can't be older than Allen?
That's far more impressive than him, honestly. And he reaches out to pat the other boy on the shoulder with his Innocence-gloved right hand. Heh. ]
Cleansing the corruption from a soul is something I can do only because of this. [ He gestures with his left hand, showcasing the back of it to Kokichi where there's a golden cross embedded in the black, marble-like appearance. Born with, technically, but he was admittedly a weird exception there. ] It's fortunate in that sense, I guess. I've always been able to do something like this.
But I don't think that's the only way to save someone who's become a beast.
no subject
It doesn't help that he can't remember some key details. Faces behind masks. Who are they? He doesn't know.]
Neeheehee...I'd like to think so, but it's so far away now.
[And on top of that, he's done so many terrible things since. Everyone would've understood - would've probably accepted him on the spot if he'd simply said that much about DICE during the killing game. 'We help troubled kids'. It was as simple as that, and he probably would've had Shuichi, Kaede, Kaito, hell, even Maki might've been on his side if it had just been that simple. If he could've just afforded to be honest.
Not so.
But he accepts the pat to the shoulder, and he looks at the back of his left hand. Whoa. He lets out a whistle.] Yeah, I'll say. That's something I've never seen before.
[That last sentence, however, catches his attention more than any other--]
How so? What'cha mean?
no subject
Don't they still tell what kind of people they are? ]
Ehh, well... [ He waves a hand slightly as he lets his invocation go, the whole of it -- luminous white cloak, claw-like left hand, all of it -- winking out like someone turned off a light. Gone in a small glimmer of light like snowflakes, and he's just a teenager in a long black and red coat that looks a bit like a uniform of sorts. ]
A friend of mine is working on something... he thinks we might be able to use lunar energy to find other ways to reverse beasthood and corruption. [ He flexes his left hand for a moment, now gloved in black leather, to let each of the knuckles pop and realign. ]
I think the crystals that some of us got after getting out of the catacombs last month might be of similar use, too. [ There's a presence in them that feels similar to the crystal in his own hand, at least. ]
no subject
...He is, huh? Lunar energy...I've kind of been wondering how to harness that, myself. I've done some tinkering with stuff - here and there - but it's...it kinda makes you think, right?
[He nods slowly.]
That makes sense...well. If you need another mind to kinda buckle down on this, people've called me a prodigy before. Kinda went to a whole school dedicated to 'em. Not to flatter myself, or anything.
[Even though he kind of might be. He crosses his arms behind his head.]
I guess that might be up to you and your friend, though. What's your name, by the way?
no subject
Also you probably shouldn't wish for that. Being made into a living weapon of a child soldier on the losing side of a holy war by a parasitic, dickish angel-type entity that's burning up your lifespan in order to power itself. The thing he's most grateful for is what it lets him do, but the cost on people... ]
Oh -- ! [ He forgot, what with the aftermath of the fight. ]
It's Allen. Allen Walker. I'm sorry. [ His manners.. ]
My friend's name is Viktor, he runs a lab in Willful Machine. [ It's supposed to be "we" and Allen does see it as that, he does, but saying he also helps run a lab would be a gross overstatement. He's a spiritual prodigy, not a technical one. Not at all...
Speaking of, the blatant self-flattery isn't missed. Not his cup of tea, although he's too polite to say anything. And he would normally be a lot more guarded around a stranger -- it is the Trench after all -- he just met, especially around Viktor, but... Kokichi already showed his true colors with the little beast-girl. That isn't something that could be faked, and was tellingly genuine.
And rare. ]
He's a very kind man... and very smart. [ rambles on in his nerd mode in ways that make Allen's eyes glaze over ] If it's something you have any interest or knack for, I'm sure he'd love to talk with you about it.
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And yeah, he doesn't know the inner depths of it. He might be more apprehensive if he did, but right now...he just sees someone with the capability to save people. It seems like running into people with costly powers was somewhat of a theme in his life now, though...Kaneki might be able to relate.]
Walker-chan. [He nods, taking note of that.] Viktor-san...in Willful Machine. [He'll remember that.] It's definitely something I've got interest in. Anything I can help with to...make things better. I'm not really a fighter type - at least, not yet, anyways - so this project sounds right up my alley with more scientific stuff.
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He gets a bit of a curious headtilt and a blink at that, although he doesn't ask. Maybe he can suss it out from context... Why's it different from what he uses for Viktor though...? ]
"Not yet"? [ That's an interesting way of phrasing it that gets a curious look. No judgment against Kokichi's appearance or that he doesn't look like the typical "fighter-type" though. Honestly Allen isn't either, and there are many ways of fighting than running in like a meathead. Especially if the goal of fighting is to protect or save others. And he's known a few of that type...
But, oh. He thinks he gets it. Politely: ] Are you in training?
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But he lets out a little huff.] Yeah, I know. I look like a limp wet noodle boy right now. And that's because I am! But...yeah. [He nods.] I met a 'Professor Ozpin' over the network. He invited me to join his classes. So. I'm gonna pick up skills there, hopefully.
[He tugs his arms to his chest, determined.]
Don't underestimate me. I'm tiny, fast, and I steal kneecaps for fun.
[Okay, that last part is obviously a lie.]
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A-aah, no, I meant no disrespect...! I'm sure you are! [ Hands up, hands up! See, totally genuine. Seriously, look at Allen. He's extremely slender for a melee fighter even in his own world. He's really got no room to judge...! He knows what it's like to be mocked for your stature and it sucks!!
But, um. What. ]
"Steal kneecaps"...? [ What... what is he, serious. Does he make a necklace out of them or something. ]