What is a man...

...but a miserable pile of secrets? Affiliated with Amnesia: ICe

[bai-the-way]

Kaleidoscopic Nightmare || Chapter 3 || Asao

Others had walked into this place and seemed to have remembered something, even if something awful, right? That’s what he picked up from listening in on people. He spent a good while thinking over whether to enter himself or not, but in the end curiosity won out. If he could remember even something horrible about himself, he’d be more at ease- or, rather, he thinks he would be more at ease, at least. So he leaves Endee out in the hallway and enters the room with some shred of confidence he made himself believe he had.

...

......

.........

When the door opens to the room Asao had entered, the unfortunate lad is basically crawling out of the room, unable to stand on two legs.

“A-Ah, waaagh...” 

Despite trying to yell, his voice comes out soft and fades before it even has a chance of getting to someone. He curls up as soon as he’s past the door, flopping onto his side while slamming his eyes shut. He grabs at his head while mumbling to himself. 

He was suppose to figure something out in there, right? Right?? That’s what he promised himself, but he’s never felt further from his own body than he felt in there.

“I- I’m- I c-can’t see-”

While one of his hands grabs at his hair, the other makes a feeble motion like he’s trying to snap but can’t poise his fingers well enough to actually manage it, just sliding his fingertips together in a pathetic silence. 

His faithful bird stands on the desk where she was left, unaware of what’s going on. But that’s to be expected. Her presence alone might be enough to get someone to look around to notice the boy collapsed on the ground, at least.

[bai-the-way]

Burnt Crumbs || Chapter 3 [Chapter Start] || Asao

The execution was awful. Watching Shizumaru break down over a cord was even worse. His awkward conversation with Chuichi went better than it could have, but still left him with an uneasy feeling. Every interaction he’s had has just been reiterations of the already constant anxiousness in the air. 

So in an attempt to feel like he’s got something normal in his life, Asao is standing in the Camilla Guesthouse making toast on the stove, prodding at the bread with a spatula while seeming lost in thought, mumbling to himself occasionally.  Endee is laying down on the pool table bored, but warm. She looks content enough.

“...... I wonder if there’s... butter. Maybe I can just use salt and pepper or something.” 

Asao ends up burning more toast than comes out all right, but he crunches it all anyway. Just a boy sitting in the kitchen eating burnt, vaguely condimented toast while sitting on the floor.

[strange-world-of-ice]

(Crash Site) First things first, let's eat some dirt. Or, just look at it.

Asao kneels down and takes some dirt in his hand…

It’s not just the colour that’s different; this dirt feels completely different to the snow you’re so used to. It’s got a rough scratchy texture to it and it falls through your hand easily, a pile of grains just trickling onto the ground. There’s a rough burnt smell to it. It’s easy to move about and even dig through but there’s nothing of interest you find doing such a thing. Just some vague pieces of metal that must’ve come from the wreckage.

[strange-world-of-ice]

(Atonement Rooms) The only thing stronger than his cowardice, it seems, is his curiosity, so Asao ends up heading into his room to try and find clues.

As soon as Asao enters, the door shuts behind him and the room goes completely black for a second. A gentle voice says ‘loading, loading’ and then, after a few second ‘complete’.

[♫♫♫♫]

It stays dark for a long time and then… thunder sounds across the room, echoing terribly. Asao looks around, bewildered and it sounds again, a sound like a whip, the whole room lighting up for just a second. He can never quite predict where it’s coming from. He whirls around, trying to somehow ground himself and prepare himself for the next potential sound. The next sound that greets him, however, is the sound of a thunderous wave, crashing against something, a boat, a beach, it doesn’t matter. And as it echoes from wall to wall, the walls and floor begin a confusing sort of dance  where the waves head in an odd rhythmic style, making it appear like the whole room is spinning somehow. Indeed, Asao stumbles over nothing and feels something deeply off in his stomach. He can’t quite think straight when the whole world feels like it’s moving like this.

A bright colour zooms across the wall, too fast for him to truly keep track of but it’s so distracting he can’t help but try to anyway. The more his eyes try to chase it, the dizzier he feels and then it finally stops and he realizes, eyes widening, that it’s a bright red crosshair.

BANG!

A gunshot followed by more thunder. Blood appears where the crosshair was but he can’t focus on that for long because the room is spinning again. Spinning, spinning. The colour of blood gets mixed in with the waves and soon disappears, as if it never happened. Round and round again. The crosshair reappears and this time fires twice. Someone screams, a bird caws, and the room moves again, constantly filling him with deep anxiety. No matter what he does, it’s useless. An outstretched hand to nobody.

After half an hour, room returns to normal and Asao collapses, dizzy and feeling nauseous at this point.

[amnesia-ice-blog1]

Asao cranks in his two coins for some goodies!

How fortunate for Asao that there are many goodies within the machine. One man’s treasure is another man’s trash, however, so you are never quite sure what you’re going to get… the two coins slot in and make a satisfying clunk. The machine rumbles for a bit before releasing the items within…

Shining Star Compact: From the newest makeup line of popular magical girl anime, Shining Star. The cover of the compact is made to resemble the protagonist’s signature weapon.

Mushroom Stew: A stew made out of three different types of mushrooms put together in an aesthetic wooden bowl. It smells like the forest and your many life regrets.

[bai-the-way]

Cracked Under Pressure || Chapter 2 [Chapter Start] || Asao || [open]

[bai-the-way]

shsllotus:

The bird looks at her but if there’s some expression she;s supposed to get from it, she can’t tell. Still, she nods at it anyway, out of courtesy. Then her attention is back on Asao who’s still crying yet denying what’s already out in the open.

“I see. I only wished to-”

And then he grabs some snow and buries his face into it. She stares, her sentence dying on her lips. Was…this a thing he does when he’s upset? Or did he really want something cold like he’d said. There must be a nicer way to do it than that.

“Well. If you are satisfied then I can go. I think maybe however the place near here has cold things that would suit you better than…this.”

She shrugs, unable to think of much else more to say.

“Do as you like, though.”

Asao stays with his face down for a bit before lifting it back up after Lotus’ is done talking. He shivers a bit, putting a pile of snow on his face probably wasn’t his best idea, and it’s not hard to see how cold he seems now.

In his favor, though, any redness on his face is hard to tell if it’s from the cold or from crying.

“... I-Is there something better?”

He finally looks up at Lotus, instead of looking around and avoiding any direct staring. That lasts for all of a second before he’s looking off again.

“Then, can you.. help me get up, m-maybe...”

[bai-the-way]

Cracked Under Pressure || Chapter 2 [Chapter Start] || Asao || [open]

[bai-the-way]

shsllotus:

The trial was unpleasant. In finding the reason for a death, another had occurred. What sort of place was she in where this was how things operated? Even if she hadn’t known the first thing about the dead ones, it was still nothing to ignore completely.

She left the elevator hoping to find a distraction from all the screaming and crying and awful feelings that everyone had had with them. As it turns out, she stumbled upon a distraction but not the kind she really hoped for. A choked noise catches her attention and well, now, there is another person crying.

“Bli…Bai?”

That was his name, right? The one with the big bird. Which, she noted was still near him and simply watching him, and maybe her now too since she’s made herself known.

“Do you need help?”

It feels wrong to ask if he’s okay. He’s not. Nobody really was right now.

Endee looked up at Lotus with her eternally stoic birdly face. Not much expression to be had, but somehow you can feel that whatever she’s feeling is far from elation.

Upon noticing someone approaching, Asao rubbed his face violently over his arm to try and hide any sign of his tears, but it’s hard to do that when he’s still actively crying, and now just sniffling quietly between soft words.

“W-Who, me?”

He looks around like he’s pretending there’s no way he looks like he needs help. 

“I’m.. f-fine. The snow is cold and r-refreshing, I just... need... s-something cold...”

Asao takes a handful of snow in his gloved hand and just... softly plops his face onto it. He’s fine, yeah. Endee stares at him again when he does that.

[bai-the-way]

A Shrill Songbird || Asao || Chapter 2 || [open]

[bai-the-way]

shsl-koutsukino:

This idea of investigating every little new place to settle whatever curiosities Kou had was actually kinda tiring. Kinda really tiring. They were ready to return to the bed they claimed when the shrill shriek of a whistle caught them off guard. There was a bit more noise from what Kou could tell but… well now they were curious again. 

They made their way to what they assumed to be the source of the sound and oh, the bird was here. Kou looked up at the bird that Chuichi had accused of being ugly. Well Chuichi would certainly know what it took to be ugly, Kou supposed. To Kou, the bird was rather fascinating, especially how it seemed to be looking at–

Oh there was a person here. 

Kou had followed Endee’s line of view to see Asao just… being there, they supposed. 

“Hello, were you the one who produced that awful noise?” they asked, choosing not to waste anytime with niceties. 

Asao looks at Kou for a minute as if trying to remember who this is before standing up and straightening himself out. 

“Ah, uh... Yes. It was. I had to test if this thing worked. Mission accomplished!”

He pats his pocket awkwardly while looking around. 

“Did you.. come here because you heard it, or are you just looking around? This place is weird.”

Endee is shaking her wings about and going back to her perching and chilling, flapping her wings about to jump up on top of the table.

[strange-world-of-ice]

Rooms... Asao will search for his with his ID!

Asao slides in his ID card and watches as the door slides open to reveal their room…

[♫♫♫♫]

The first thing you notice is the more dim and warm light, something that doesn’t strain the eyes too much. The walls are a dark, almost black, green and the rug covering the floor is a navy. Right as you enter there’s a bird post and next to that, a wooden bird gym with colourful blocks. A black writing desk has a variety of scented notebooks and erasers. It is sat beside a cabinet that has a variety of board games, card games and strategy games of all kinds. At the foot of the cabinet is a bag that somehow feels familiar. In the corner, there is a foresty-coloured armchair and a little table, an inviting little area. On the table are a handful of fidget toys, varying in shape, style and colour. The last thing of note is a wardrobe, stuffed into the opposite corner. It’s also quite greeny in colour, and contains a variety of clothes, mostly in darker or more subdued shades.

[amnesia-ice-blog1]

Let's slam dunk 4 coins into that bad boy machine

Throwing in four coins in such quick succession would normally be considered a terrible idea. But in this place, there’s no such thing as a terrible idea. One after another, items begin tumbling out…

Glow in the Dark Top Hat: Say yes to being fashion’s next top model with this striped top hat! While at first it may seem goofy turn off the lights and watch as your hat shines bright! That’s some next level fashion right there.

Movie Poster: A gorgeous poster from an old movie, featuring a beautiful woman in a revealing dress, decked out in diamonds. There’s a man in a suit kneeling at her feet, kissing one of her hands. The Title of the film, “Diamonds Forever” is written in bold letters across the bottom, as well as actors names and the director.

Restraining Order: While it does look professional at first, you can’t help but notice parts of it are written in very skillful crayon. Perhaps a SHSL Crayon Writer was behind it… well, it still looks pretty official from far away.

Bottle of Melon Soda: A fruity drink that’s super refreshing so long as you don’t mind sweet things.

[amnesia-ice-blog1]

I Heard Your Voice

The trial weighs heavily in the minds of those who remain. The dead body of Tsuneko Shiga is an image most won’t be able to forget but now… whatever happened to Ji-Hyun… that… equally horrific, perhaps worse ending… joins the nightmare fuel brewing in your brains.

Did she deserve it? Was it too far? Was this Tsuneko’s revenge?

No matter one’s stance, it weighed heavily. Now, more than ever, a desire to escape came to mind. The last thing anyone wanted was to be bothered. As they left the facility, however, bothered was just what they’d be as LISE’s soft toneless voice sounds across the winterscape.

“Good morning. Evening. Afternoon. Night. Sun and moon. Light and dark. Hope and despair. My programming sees little difference. Therefore, everything has to be accounted for. A greeting for every person and time. I have detected recent danger levels here to be too high for normal living. According to the 37820th line of code, I will now open more locations to you all. The ski lift is now operational. I apologize for the delay in this matter. Stay safe. Danger remains and today will be cold. Good morning. Evening. Afternoon. Night.”

While the talk of ‘danger’ seemed particularly patronizing given the situation, the new sights could perhaps at least provide a distraction. To anyone who’d check, as promised, the ski lift by the shop was indeed, still operational, though it seemed a little rickety.

Asao Bai was the first to arrive. The door to the ski lift had previously been barred. Behind the shop there was little of note other than the contraption itself. Just more snow. He took in the sights, a mild expression on his face, when a sound takes his interest. Something… static-y. Electronic. And yet, a kind of mumble, as if somebody had been trapped in a TV somewhere. It was likely no real person; if it were, surely Endee would’ve spotted them. The bird tilts its head at the disturbance but makes no move leaving Asao to do the work of locating the source himself. It seemed like he was the only one here still.

Buried under crunchy white snow, something black and shiny could be seen. Something reminiscient of a phone with what seemed to be a video up. Though, perhaps it seems… live?

“Professor, this really isn’t funny… come on, you know I have to go soon.“

Ah! The voice definitely seemed to be coming from the phone.

Yes, the person on screen was talking and they apparently brightened upon seeing Asao.

“Hello? Oh… good! Someone’s finally there.”

[♫♫♫♫]

Keep reading

[amnesia-ice-blog1]

Something flashes in your mind…

Running after his companion, the vulture, was familiar. This wasn’t the first time this had happened, was it? The vulture, no…She had a name, he knew that, and he remembered it now, it came as easily to him now as his own name did. Endee… how could he have forgotten the name of a dear friend like that?

He could feel the bond between them now, just looking at her… Endee…

But no…

This wasn’t the first time he’d run after her like this. He could remember now. They’d been messing around really, he sending her up to look around and then calling her back down. Up and then down, up and then down… but one time, she didn’t come back down.

She’d stayed in the air and had cawwed down at him to get his attention, before vanishing off into the distance. A young mind races with excitement. Possibilities. With nothing else to do and a strong sense of curiousity, he’d ran after Endee, trying to call her back down. Flying and running, the both of them eventually ended up by the shore, his feet digging into the sand, while the ocean breeze buffeted his friend in the skies. She quickly dropped to a shape on the beach, and he followed her. But what he saw there stopped him in his tracks. A corpse, washed up, washed out and hardly identifable as something that was once human lay in the sands with Endee perched nearby, like some sort of guard dog. He felt his blood run cold, staring at it, trembling slightly and taking a step back. What should he do?

A body…A body on the beach?

How long had it been there? He wanted to look away, he wasn’t prepared to deal with something like this but… before he could do as much as call for help, he blacked out, collapsing on the sands. His memory darkening to nothingness, and his recollection of what happened disappearing with it.

Asao Bai remembers Endee and the corpse they discovered together.

[bai-the-way]

A Shrill Songbird || Asao || Chapter 2 || [open]

[Therapy Center]

Asao’s looking over what he’s found in the room while sliding a red jacket over his shoulders..

“I guess I can get some weird trash from that machine with these...”

He shoves those back in the pocket that’s now officially his. Then he holds the whistle up in front of himself and stares at it.

“.................”

He raises the whistle up to his mouth slowly...

“.........................”

What’s he thinking of- oh, of course, the first instinct anyone should do when they get a whistle. Asao blows that whistle as loud as he possible can, and sends Endee into a flutter on the other side of the room. Geez, that’s a sharp whistle sound. Familiar, expected, but still extremely jarring.

Asao himself seems scared of the noise he made, jumping back and dropping the whistle on the ground in front of him.

“Waaah!”

He stumbles back, looking around to see if anyone saw that while he’s picking the whistle back up and shoving it in his pocket. Endee is near the table with the bear on it, giving Asao what you’re absolutely positive is a stink eye.

[bai-the-way]

i forgot to post this meme

[bai-the-way]

Cracked Under Pressure || Chapter 2 [Chapter Start] || Asao || [open]

The trial was... terrible. The execution was terrible. The case itself was terrible, and everything is just terrible. Asao walks back out into the cold air and shivers, walking off a ways towards the nearest building before slapping his hand on his face with a groan.

“Uggh, I... I.....”

There’s a choked noise before he lowers his face onto his arm in a quick motion...

“I-I hate this place, hhhh-”

Is he crying? It seems so, since his muffled sobs only get louder as he leans his back against the wall behind him and slides down to sit on the ground. His vulture companion who was following lands beside him and watches him curiously.

There’s.. not much else to see here. Just a crying boy and his bird.

[kaizouanzai]

shelter // closed

[bai-the-way]

kaizouanzai:

What a good, smart bird. Kaizou would rank the vulture four stars for not flapping around or pecking at their clothes, but missing the fifth solely for its mildly threatening appearance. Sorry, buddy.

“You are very welcome.”

They were a little bit surprised at the other’s response. A smile… That’s… good. It was a miracle that they weren’t pissing people off left and right. Not to say that they haven’t done that to at least one person. They’re not sorry.

Asao seemed to one of the smarter guys of the group. That might be the glasses speaking or the amount of agreeing he’s done, but it doesn’t matter. Kaizou thought he was cool.

“You mean… this?”

At the mention of the keychain, they threw it into the air and caught it one-handed like a seasoned Pocket Monster trainer would with a capture ball.

Unnecessary.

“It’s cute, isn’t it? This shop is well-supplied with knickknacks not unlike this here. I was hoping for something more useful and that would aide me in my future endeavours. However, this little man of snow on a chain will do.”

Asao watches that little toss. Oh, Kaizou must be really dexterous. Asao is easily impressed, or always looking to be impressed. 

“Hmm, yeah, that is pretty cute.”

He steps forward to look more at the stands available. There’s a lot of stuff here, but... he’s not sure how tempted he is to just start hoarding items on his person. He picks up a small keychain similar to Kaizou’s, then looks through the items more.

“Oh hmm, do you think vultures like chew toys? I could give some of this junk to the bird to destroy.”

He thinks that’s a thing pets do. Are vultures pets? He’s a bit lost on what to do with this thing.

[nullifystartagain-blog]

Missed Connections / Open

[bai-the-way]

nullifystartagain:

No moon anywhere. Asao has the in side scoop.

“Well how am I supposed to know that? Natural colored hair isn’t all it’s cracked up to be anyway, who says that’s a negative bullet.” He says, pointing at the thing he’s clearly realized Asao noticed. “My hair clearly isn’t entirely natural either. Judging by the roots, it’s dark.” 

He seems interested as Asao mentions notes and memories. He even nods along and stops fidgeting with the fire or otherwise. He just sits, crosslegged, holding his ankles.

“…I agree. I’ve been trying to look into the memories we saw and guess at who belongs to what, but it’s hard at this point. I feel like it should be a priority to fish out who the more dangerous memories could belong to, and keep an eye on that group. Diving people into smaller sections makes it easy to focus.” 

He eyes the glove, though, as Asao fidgets with it. What could be under there, Chuichi wonders. Gloves inside? Sure, it was cold around here, but there are sooo many people around here that wear mysterious indoor gloves. One of them has to be covering up some kind of secret, just statistically, right?

“…a hole? I dont think I found that yet. I was in the woods too and I found, uh… some messed up stuff.”

“Yeah, finding out who the.. stranger memories belonged to would be a good idea. Are you willing to share which one was yours? I can share mine if you do the same. Whether you believe what I say, though, is up to you, I can promise that I have no reason to lie.”

He’s thinking about memories a lot- oh, he feels he should clear up the hole thing before Chuichi thinks its an important thing, when in fact it is only an aggravating thing.

“R-Right, the hole... There was a large metal walled pit in the ground in the forest, in the North-West-ish I think. Yukari walked our group right into it, we had to call out for help for a while. It’s something to avoid, nothing of real note to pay attention to, though knowing the woods have been tampered with to trick and trap people might be valuable information, I guess.”