AR_NOSURGE OS 2.00

[affiliated with isola radiale]

[beyondtheglasswall]

@helpingthelongrain​

       Well. That was an embarrassing detour. 

       After he’d realized that the shop was at the edge of the Mistwoods, it didn’t take long for Takuya to find his way to it. It had a clear aesthetic: that of a building from an older era in Japan, which made it feel oddly nostalgic to Takuya. It had a feeling not unlike Tattoria or Kanon’s shops--small stores tucked away for only the adventurous and curious to find. He wondered for a moment if the place was open--and then briefly if it had any air conditioning--before entering.

“... Nope, no air conditioning...”

       After musing to himself for a moment, Takuya caught a glimpse of the shop owner. Well, he was fairly certain he was in the right place, but just to be sure...

“This is probably a stupid question, but is this place Kourindou?” He really hoped it was; otherwise, he’d be back to circling the woods again.

[beyondtheglasswall]

@deathreversed​

       He’d heard rumors of a strange shop which sold odd trinkets was somewhere in the Mistwood. Unfortunately, he hadn’t heard where it specifically was, which meant he’d been spending time wandering around in the woods. Alone. And unfortunately, Earthes wasn’t operational enough to accompany him on this journey. Thirty minutes wasn’t nearly long enough to take the robot out on even a grocery run without them shutting down in the middle of a crosswalk or something.

       That left Takuya in a very uncomfortable position. He’d heard a lot about strange creatures wandering this place, and he didn’t want to learn firsthand what happened to people who bothered them. So, he was wandering with a fair bit of caution. Carefully, quietly walking around. 

       ... He would be in some serious trouble, if someone suddenly approached without warning. But surely no one else could be out in these woods, right?

[beyondtheglasswall]

@beyond-use​

“One-two-three-four, one-two-three-four...”

       Takuya hadn’t had much time to test Earthes’s functions since he’d gotten them back. The silver robot, only about a couple feet larger than him, might have been a technological marvel. But that didn’t mean that they were foolproof, or indestructible. Just like any device, they needed to be treated with some degree of care. 

       So, while physical repairs weren’t an immediate concern, Takuya was spending his time running function tests. Nothing particularly fancy--it wasn’t like he understood the machine as well as Sarly or Ion did. But he could have the robot sync their movements to his, and do some basic motion tests. 

       (Though, he was mostly just doing random physical exercises without any real thought.)

“Phew.” He took a breather, finishing up a set of jumping-jacks as he looked up at the now de-synced and motionless machine. “Well, you seem to be holding up just fine for now, big guy.” He spoke, but it was mostly to himself. It wasn’t like the machine could reply without someone on the other end.

[beyondtheglasswall]

@mysticsever​

       Takuya was back here, which meant a lot of things. One of which was that he was no longer housed where he was before. Which meant that the fridge he’d put so much time and effort into stocking was no longer his. So, grocery shopping it was.

“(Last thing on this list...)” 

       He didn’t need much; all the young man needed to get by were some basic essentials, along with a little something extra. That ‘something extra’ in this case, being a nice dessert. At the moment, he was thinking ice cream. Heading over to the section he recalled having it, he eyed through the glass of the freezer...

“Let’s see... Jen & Carrie’s, Cyan Bell... Oh hey, they actually have H**gen-d*z, too.”

       He hummed thoughtfully, thinking over his selection perhaps a bit too much for a purchase this small.

[beyondtheglasswall]

alright, i’m still sorting through what i’m going to be properly replying to prior to my hiatus, but while i do that--here’s a general starter call! like this post for a short starter w/ takuya!! uncapped, because i’m feeling rebellious (i’ll also post the updated relationship call sometime later, so keep an eye out for that if you’re interested!)

[beyondtheglasswall]

filamentstar​:

      Ion wouldn’t call herself a conversationalist, herself, but she still wasn’t usually this bad at finding something to say. Even at the beginning of all of what happened on Ra Ciela, she had somewhat been able to talk to Tabou, Nay.. It was a little silly that she was so nervous.

      But, uh. It.. That. Her first date. Her first real one, with a living human being instead of a monitor on wheels, or Earthes. When they had gone on dates in the Dream World, she had gotten over her nervousness quicker because the interaction was barred by the monitor and the limited things he could say over Interdimend. She was more equipped to traverse emotional grounds… Ion felt a little lost. Her normal setting had been switched around.

      “S-sure… It’s fine, I can wait.” She awkwardly smiled at him in return. It was a new thing for both of them. Keep reminding yourself of that, and perhaps the embarrassment would fade away. Words would probably flow better once dinner was ready and they were able to talk while eating. Yeah.

       Her stomach grumbled in hunger as she noticed the scent of food after he was gone long enough for her immediate panic to fade. Was that… Nikujaga? Her favorite food, the stew that reminded her most of her mother. He was making it for her?

       He.. He remembered. They hadn’t talked about it more than that one instance, and it was when she was in her Genometrics. But he remembered… Take deep breaths. Don’t let yourself tear up at this venture, Ion!

       Quickly walking over to the couch placed near the wall, she buried her face in her hands and exhaled slowly. Ion was.. Overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the kindness she was being shown, even if they had only met once in person before. To have someone think of her so fondly, taking the time to remember what her favorite food was.. She couldn’t say that Delta, the one who originally offered that dinner so long ago, would remember. (Then again, Delta didn’t remember much, anyways…) But he did. Takuya remembered. Takuya’s warmth.. His good intentions, they were the same. The same as Earthes.

        Finally getting a hold of herself, certain she wouldn’t cry if she raised her head, she did just that and looked around the room. It was a rather common family-type room, obviously lived in by more than one inhabitant. She was kind of curious about who Takuya’s roommates were, but no one else was home for now. It seems to have been a few minutes….

      Quickly wiping her face with her hands (just in case), she got up and wandered over to the hallway. The kitchen… Ah, there it was.

      She poked her head in the doorway, glancing around to spot Takuya working away on the food. “.. Can I help? I can set the table..” She didn’t really want to be left alone in the living room anymore.

“Huh?” He turned, looking surprised for a moment before quickly regaining his composure. “Ah, sure. Sure, yeah. I’ll just be a minute, this won’t take long.”

       To say Takuya was feeling anxious was an understatement. Anxiety permeated every action he took, even if he hardly showed it.

       It was unfamiliar. All of this was. It was almost funny when he thought about it. All the enemies he’d faced, all the emotional hardships he’d endured, the entire political minefield of Ra Ciela--and the most terrifying thing to him was helping to set up a dinner date with his partner. 

       ... Why? Why was he so afraid of this? The both of them had wanted this for so long. Being blocked from one another by reality itself, only able to converse through restricted means... This meeting should have been a dream come true. Instead, he felt. Nervous. Overwhelmingly nervous. It was easy to play the heroic white knight when all she had to talk to was Earthes. But in-person? Fearful little pricks kept poking and prodding at him. His appearance, his mannerisms, his personality--what if she wasn’t interested in any of it? What if, when all was said and done, they just weren’t compatible? 

Just be quiet and focus on dinner, Takuya...

       He shoved it in the darkest, most sound-proof corner of his mind as he made his way over to the newly-set table. It didn’t take long for them to set up their servings, and before long, they were both seated and eating. 

       With his cooking now on the line and awaiting judgement, he could only ask her one question...

“So, how is it? I’ll admit, I never tried making this before recently, so...” He hadn’t yet touched his plate. The anxious lump in his throat wanted to see what she thought first.

[beyondtheglasswall]

exousiate​:

        the assumptions are so close and yet off the mark, if he were someone else, he would apologize for the trouble. he offers the slightest of sympathies, and never once his face changes into displeasure. little consolation but he is never dishonest, there is no reason for lies or deception. his retaliation is curt, a response lacking emotion. in the somber silence, he fixes the other a solemn look.

he has been bestowed knowledge few could comprehend, but his all-seeing eye renders him still ignorant towards what his creator showered praise of. he was taught the essential, how human nature is well-known for kindness and good deeds, and there are doubts — there will always be doubts, only his nature has long ceased to be the living embodiment of the worst best intentions. it does not mean he’s good-natured. he simply is.

                        the beast that was brought down by the king’s compassion.

talking of duty will never erase the sin he inflicted. he seldom speaks of it, refuses to dwell upon it, but never tries to deny it. and so, he counters the sarcasm with practiced patience. suspicions from strangers are nothing compared to the fact he is acutely aware that forgiveness is never on his agenda. he narrows his eyes, indifferent, and his words come out.

     “I was that man’s shadow. I am longer but what remains of the familiar he brought upon existence. He never gave me a name nor I expected him to, there was no need for such. But I am acquainted with the concept.”

       Takuya blinked twice, a flat yet confused expression on his face. Their answer gave him an idea of what the person was, but it gave him very little in the way of specifics. However, their tone, mixed with that rather specific description, suggested a certain idea about them.

       This was a person who didn’t have any real grasp of their identity. If they did, it was focused simply on the ‘what’, and not the ‘who’. They understood their existence on a factual level, but probably didn’t grasp the type of person they were. The clear divide between ‘existence’ and ‘living’; from the comment of them not having needed a name, Takuya felt this was a being that hadn’t gotten to learn that difference.

       ... In that case.

“Being familiar with the idea of a name isn’t really the same as having one.” Takuya spoke plainly, cutting directly to that main thing he saw in the stranger’s response. He would worry about the fellow’s resemblance to another some other time. “He must’ve called you by something, right? Nickname? Even a random joke name? There’s got to be something.”

[beyondtheglasswall]

okay well i intended to do replies and so on today but tumblr had other plans

while i work on figuring out how to do stuff, a small few updates for this blog now that i’m back in isola again:

1. i’m going to be starting mostly from scratch! i say “mostly”, since i will be keeping a few threads of mine going. if you want to continue a thread we had, feel free to IM me and i’ll gladly add it to the bunch (if i’m not already working on it!)

2. this also means a fresh starter call sometime soon--most likely tomorrow!

3. i’ll also probably do a revamped relationship call later, since it’s been a while since the last one and takuya’s developed a fair bit since then! 

all that aside, see you all later! hopefully by tomorrow, when i’ve got all this mess sorted out...

[flipphonegoth]

its my god given bisexual right to be dramatic

[beyondtheglasswall]

“finally, i can come back to RP, after so much stuff i needed to take care of--”

“uh”

[beyondtheglasswall]

“Feels like I was out for a while...”

[beyondtheglasswall]

I APOLOGIZE FOR THE ON-AND-OFF ACTIVITY i recently just started work at a new job, so i’ve been doing a lot of training and so on to get myself into a comfortable routine. now that i think i’ve gotten myself set in a good daily routine, i think i should be good to resume RP as normal!!

[beyondtheglasswall]

filamentstar​:

      Dear readers, have you read this story before? The story where the main character, having died in their original world, got reincarnated into a famous person’s body in another world. After being reincarnated, they get approached by various other figures who knew the body they’re inhabiting. Thus the main character has to struggle with whether they choose to reveal they’re a fake or desperately hiding this knowledge while blending in as much as they can via clues from their enemies. Of course, they get outed pretty quickly by at least one person, and then the misfortune starts from there.. Or something like that.       It’s a pretty popular setup for fiction, you know? If Nei looked at it like this, she would say she sympathizes with that main character. Except, for her, she’s still in her original body. It isn’t a reincarnation story, but still a world-hopping saga where she continues to get mistaken for someone else. And perhaps this exhibitionist ‘Ion-san’ isn’t all that popular, but Nei was in the wrong place to make any assumptions about her mysterious look-alike. Look, see? This boy that came up to her is looking for her, too.

      She gave the stranger a cautious look, trying to figure out if his seemingly innocent question was hiding ill intent. But, honestly? He looked like a normal Japanese schoolboy.. Almost generic, in a way. The type that would be surprisingly popular with the girls if he was the protagonist of the novel type we mentioned before. Heck, it could be that he was the protagonist of one of those light novels. Rinnosuke-san had mentioned that Isola, the world they were inhabiting at the moment, was sort of like a hub-world (not that he had described it in those exact words). Lots of people from lots of other worlds were all gathered together here.

      “.. I’m sorry, but I don’t. I’m looking for her myself, actually.” Nei decided to give him a straight answer, bowing slightly in apology. “Can I ask why you’re trying to find her?”

       ... For some reason, he felt like he’d been delivered a really backhanded compliment. Was someone talking badly about him? No, wait, he’d have sneezed if they were doing that... Ah, whatever. He didn’t have time to dwell on that feeling.

“I see...” He frowned, but only for a moment. Not giving up easily was one of his strengths, after all. “Oh well! I guess that means we’re just looking for the same person, then.” 

       He took a closer look at the girl he’d run into. He didn’t know her name, but she looked fairly average, all things considered; like a regular girl who could have easily come from his own world. He’d seen more than a few of those walking around, but judging by the fact people seemed to be confusing her with this ‘Ion’ character... Maybe there was something special about her? 

       He just wished he could remember anything at all. It was bugging him, like an itch at a spot he couldn’t reach. Or that didn’t exist in the first place.

“I was hoping someone would tell me that, actually...” He instinctively bowed back--Ah, no, I was the one bothering you in the first place, there’s no need to apologize--before resuming. “It’s kind of complicated. Let me just show you, and maybe it’ll make a bit more sense.”

       Before he’d finished speaking, she’d see him pulling a small journal out. It looked tidy and organized, yet still had some noticeable wear and tear on it. It was clearly used recently. He offered it for her to read, explaining his situation as she did as she pleased.

“The stuff written here is in my handwriting, and kinda sounds vaguely like me, but I don’t remember any of it. The ‘me’ who wrote it honestly sounds like a totally different person.” He cupped his chin, muttering to himself out loud. “I mean, I can’t rule out amnesia, but this whole situation is so bizarre, it could be just about anything... I still haven’t ruled out Everett actually being right, either.”

[beyondtheglasswall]

@deludedparasite​

       It seemed like everyone was just a bit confused in this place, and for good reason. Being taken from your home, stuck in some place you didn’t know, and expected to survive on your own--it was all so unfair. Takuya himself was managing to adjust (mostly due to the ‘cheat-sheet’ he’d woken up next to), but he was aware that many others might not be so fortunate. 

       Such seemed to be the case with the individual in front of him, but something seemed a bit different about her case. She seemed confused, but in a way that was... Well, it seemed different from everyone else. What could her problem be? Not being one to shy away from involving himself in other peoples’ business, Takuya decided to step in.

“Um, excuse me.” He probably looked more than a little bold, approaching her so suddenly, but he tried to put on an easygoing smile to set her at ease. “I’m probably assuming a bit, but do you need some help?”

[beyondtheglasswall]

@losingmyjustice​

        Searching for the truth seemed to be a running theme for everyone here; if what Takuya had seen around him was any indication, it seemed that the entire city had just woken up here overnight. The more he thought about their predicament, the closer it sounded to a story out of a novel than anything resembling reality. It was almost kind of funny, except it really wasn’t.

       Still no closer to any answers, though. Takuya sighed to himself, walking through the upper streets of Fibonacci. He grimaced as he flipped through the journal in his hands, never seeming to find an answer in their tidily scribbled pages. And even besides that, there was the matter of how exactly he’d get out of--

“Oof?!”

       That’s what he gets--distracted walking was always bound to get one into an accident. In this case, he’d collided directly with someone else. Losing his balance, Takuya tumbled over onto his side, though he didn’t seem seriously injured. His own journal, on the other hand, flew out of his hands, landing right next to the individual in-question.

“Agh, that one’s my fault, sorry...” Takuya quickly got back to his feet, dusting himself off and moving to help the young man he’d literally run into. “You alright?”

[beyondtheglasswall]

@gempathic​

       This definitely wasn’t an ordinary place. Around every nook and cranny, there were things, places, people, creatures--all of them completely unfamiliar to Takuya. The longer he wandered around, the more he began to realize he’d have to change his definition of ‘normal’. 

       Maybe that was something the ‘Takuya’ in the journal had done. His seemingly strange outlook on things suddenly made a lot more sense.

       Regardless, there was a limit. Some things that, for all his calmness and usual self-control, Takuya just wasn’t ready to see or experience suddenly. Such was what he ran into tonight, when he rounded a street corner and came face-to-face with something (or someone) truly unexpected.

“---” What sound was he supposed to make when he locked eyes with them? A scream? A yell? For all he knew, he was going to be attacked right out the gate. 

       His mind and body, still uncertain of how to respond to the entirely unfamiliar scenario, froze for far longer than they probably should have.

[beyondtheglasswall]

@filamentstar​

       ‘Ion’. Every time he took a turn, he thought about that name. ‘Ion’. Who was that? She sounded so important, but no matter how many times Takuya repeated the name to himself, he just couldn’t recall who she was. It felt kind of rude, in a way; she meant so much to the ‘him’ who wrote that journal, and he just didn’t remember anything about her. He couldn’t even remember her face. How messed up was that?

       Takuya didn’t count on running into her anytime soon, but...

“Ion-san?”

       It’d been just a stray word, overhead by chance. But it was enough to immediately snag his attention. He turned, seeing the two individuals talking--it seemed like there’d been some kind of misunderstanding, but the utterance of the name was enough. If that girl had been mistaken for Ion...

       ... Also, putting even that aside, she seemed... lost. Confused. Like she needed some help. Whether she was Ion, knew Ion, or was someone completely unrelated, he decided he was going to help her. He just needed to ask one question first, now that she’d finished her prior conversation--

“Excuse me.” He approached her carefully, trying to not startle the girl. She looked about his age, but maybe twice as nervous. “You wouldn’t happen to know a girl named ‘Ion’, would you? There’s no problem if you don’t, but I just wanted to see if I could find her.”