Up on Melancholy Hill

BP: 5 Lives: 0

[redheadedpest]

Making Friends

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

The dark man’s quiet response was clearly not the answer Herr Antonius had been looking for. He lurched forward—a brusque step transformed by the head wound—and leveled the gun at the half-hidden face, with its strange, piercing eyes and its tumbling black mane.

But there was nothing predatory about the way Vincent held himself, and so it was that the German’s finger remained a hair away from the trigger for just another moment, another, another still… In other circumstances, in other places, on other days, he would have shot the stranger for his silence, no matter how brief it had been.

Vincent answered. The masked man, or monster, or whatever he was, splattered in gore and faceless, marked trustworthy only by Reno’s willing company—he slowly lowered the weapon at last as the hingeless jaws opened to permit his rumbling voice to pass in clarity:

“Sᴘᴇᴀᴋ ǫᴜɪᴄᴋʟʏ, Vɪɴᴄᴇɴᴛ Vᴀʟᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ. I ᴍᴀʏ ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ sᴏ ᴋᴇᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇsɪᴛᴀᴛᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ: ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴍɪɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴs ɪɴ ᴛʜɪs ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ᴡʜᴏsᴇ sɪʟʜᴏᴜᴇᴛᴛᴇs ᴀʀᴇ ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ.”

While the reunited allies exchanged words, Antonius—still nameless to Vincent and Julian—swiveled the beak from side to side in re-examination of the room. Very little had changed since he had passed through here, save the addition of a red-caped man and a gentle-looking blue unicorn.

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

The gun in the face certainly hadn’t helped the big man’s case. He was dangerous, covered in blood and carried the air of something only just barely teetering on the edge of human. Vincent’s bloody gaze narrowed as the barrel was raised, soon lowered again, and if the grandmaster had paid just enough attention, he might have noticed the curious, lingering feel of something telling: a pistol pressed to his abdomen. This feeling would recede almost as soon as Hilarius’ own weapon withdrew, but now Reno was spared only quick glances before the wary Valentine’s eyes returned to their rather daunting company. The news the alchemist brought was no better than that which Vincent himself had. His premonition had been right: monsters were running amuck. Some, as their unpleasant company had confirmed, appeared almost human. Just as the towering man before him stood.  “Indeed.”   At last his attentions returned to Reno, and from a loop in his belt he produced the knife he’d scavenged earlier.  “To the west is a hallway, it might be a way outside. But it’s occupied.” yes.. occupied.

[redheadedpest]

“C’mon, guys,” Reno decided to chime in when the threat was hurled. “We’re all friends here, yeah? Shooting each other ain’t gonna help anything.”

While shooting each other may help in giving them an injured person to carry around or give someone a new weapon, what they needed to do was find a way out of this place, and in that case, strength in numbers was probably the best way to go. Especially if there was a big group of monsters down the line.

Once Vincent had mentioned where he got the weapons, Reno took a few steps forward, towards the doors that the dark ex-Turk and unicorn had gone through before, a little too eagerly. He barely stopped when Vincent warned that it was occupied, if only to take the knife that was offered to him. He quickly hid it inside of his jacket.

“Occupied? By what? More monsters?”

After a short pause, he added “That why you came back?”.

A slight jab at Vincent, though it was all in good fun, made clear by Reno’s upbeat attitude and tone.

[redheadedpest]

Making Friends

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

The grim Herr Antonius was content with silence as he strode through the eerily empty halls, reacting in subtle ways at the slightest of sounds. Several times, he reached for something at his belt, but there was nothing there, nothing but the small army of slits and loops and pouches that must have once held an entire host of items. Among them had probably been weapons, missing as surely and as inexplicably as Reno’s own.

The beak remained pointed steadfastly forward until the Turk invaded the field of vision offered by the strange lenses. His words caused the expressionless mask to turn to regard him.

"Yᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀ ɴᴀʀʀᴏᴡ-ᴍɪɴᴅᴇᴅ ᴏɴᴇ," Antonius rumbled with something like disapproval in that deep and heavy voice.

But something else moved ahead of them. The beaked man moved just as quickly, steadily raising the pistol. There was a red shadow at the other end of the room—but it did not lurch like the dead men, did not mumble with mindless woe. Its silhouette was different—crisp and flowing, not grotesque; purposed and swift, not ambling and aimless.

Perhaps it was alive. Reno’s ‘narrow-minded’ comment had provided some important information: his companions probably also spoke English. The mask’s grimace grated open.

"Iᴅᴇɴᴛɪғʏ ʏᴏᴜʀsᴇʟғ, ᴏʀ I ᴡɪʟʟ ᴋɪʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ," Herr Antonius boomed, noticing only then that there was a second figure in tow of the first. This one had the arcing neck and noble head of a horse or a deer, a beast, a furre. There was a single horn upon the head, shining even in the gloom. Surely not a unicorn, in a place like this?

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

Tracing their steps, they had managed to make it back to the main hall without incident; that was, until two figures were cast in the shadows. One was easily identified as the redheaded Reno. The other, however, was a towering creature, with a body carved like living stone and a head of a curiously grim nature. From this distance, only silence answered Hilarius’ demands. Only when the gap between them had closed would the grandmaster receive a rasping:  ”Vincent Valentine.” 

Hilarius’ very presence was enough to set any man on edge on its own, but with him came a pungent scent that Vincent knew well: blood. Death. What was more, as his eyes adjusted to the approaching Reno, his senses were confirmed. Though there was no limp, the man was covered in it. And though he would never say it, Vincent was reminded of the last Turks he’d been in contact with. It was a blast from the not-so-ancient past: blood, pain, and even the faintest tinge of worry.  ”Reno..” It was no secret. Valentine was not one to react in what one could call easily readable ways, but for someone that had been around the brooding man just long enough, the sign was there: though subtle, there was a slight upwards jerk of the chin before it returned to the safety of his muffling cape. “.. Is it yours?” Simply put: are you hurt?

[redheadedpest]

Reno had no reaction or response to the 'narrow-minded' comment. Perhaps he was, but the fact that he spoke and understood only English, save for a few words here and there of various languages, remained. What good would it do them if the big guy kept speaking mostly a language that nobody could understand? He was clearly capable of speaking English, as hard as it may be to understand at times, so the redhead saw absolutely no issue here to ask such a thing.

Even if he were wrong, he wouldn't admit it.

"It's fine if you, uh," he started, but trailed off as figures came into view and Herr Antonius aimed the gun at them.

Before he could say anything, Vincent introduced himself, so the Turk felt no need to do anything more and simply opted to quietly trail behind the tallest man instead. Might as well let them get introductions out of the way without interruption.

However, he soon felt eyes on him: the intensely piercing gaze that could only come from a select few people, and turquoise eyes immediately shot up from whatever Reno'd been looking at to the amber... red... whatever they were now of Vincent's stare. It almost felt like Tseng's...

Shaking off the suddenly melancholy feeling that came with the reminder that he wasn't with the other Turks anymore, he narrowed his eyes, but only slightly.

The fiery male had all but forgotten about the blood that stained the white of his shirt until he realized that that was what Vincent had been staring at. 

"He didn't touch me," he responded, a little too quickly.

While that statement wasn't entirely true, he spoke it with such conviction that it would satisfy most people. It was what he did best, though; even if he were hurt, it was something he probably wouldn't admit to unless the pain was so bad that he felt a need to complain about it.

"I'm fine," he added after a few seconds, realizing that perhaps the dark man had found monsters similar to the corpses he'd stumbled upon.

"I see ya found weapons. Any more?"

[redheadedpest]

Waking the Monster

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

"Is ɪᴛ ᴛʀᴜʟʏ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ɪғ ɪᴛ ᴄᴀɴ sᴛɪʟʟ ᴍᴏᴠᴇ, ɢʀᴏᴡʟ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴏᴀɴ?" the stranger rumbled, crushing two twisted, rotting fingers under his boot as he passed over the vague threshold that separated bodies from bloody hallway. The once impeccable floor and walls of the Raccoon City Police Department had been turned dark and slick by streaks of gore from dragging limbs and burst skulls. After some deliberation, the masked man answered himself: "I ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ʏᴇs."

He proceeded onward with the pistol held at the ready, albeit in a surprisingly clumsy grip for a man who had mauled five undead abominations and come out on top; it was as if he had never held one before. It may have simply been a side effect of the head wound, for his otherwise firm military gait was also affected, occasionally veering, subtly, into uneasy staggers as if from vertigo.

"Sᴇʜʀ ᴇʀғʀᴇᴜᴛ, Rᴇɴᴏ," he answered the Turk’s introduction, lightly slurring his words, though it was easy to miss in a foreign tongue. "I ᴀᴍ Hᴇʀʀ Aɴᴛᴏɴɪᴜs. Sʜᴏᴡ ᴍᴇ ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴡᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜʀ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅs ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɢᴏɴᴇ."

[redheadedpest]

"How can a human corpse walk around...?"

The question was more of a mumble, clearly asking himself rather than the larger man, or rather... thinking out loud, perhaps, but it was still loud and clear enough for anyone within earshot to understand, granted they could get past the accent.

Sure, he knew of things like dragon zombies, and about ghosts and the like, but those were a little bit different from dead bodies just being able to get up and do whatever the hell they pleased.

Zombie. Was that what they would be called?

As he thought harder about it, he realized that he didn't exactly know how dragon zombies worked, either, but trying to figure out how some monsters in his world came to be was beyond his grasp, and others... well, he didn't want to think about those.

Damn mad scientists, always fucking with nature and trying to play god.

Slowly, as he thought, his eyes trailed back to the other, and he finally noticed the man's odd movements. Normally, it wasn't something he'd be inclined to care about, but in this situation...

He didn't want to end up having to haul someone that size around.

The redhead upped his pace to walk a little bit in front of 'Herr Antonius', though practically remained at his side, making a face when more of that moonspeak registered in his brain.

"Can't ya speak English like a regular person?"

[redheadedpest]

Waking the Monster

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

The masked man only stared in reply for a time, perhaps parsing the less familiar language through Reno’s accent in the wake of his bleeding head, or—more likely—assessing how to answer the questions.

"Sɪᴇ ғüʜʟᴇɴ sɪᴄʜ ɴɪᴄʜᴛ Sᴄʜᴍᴇʀᴢᴇɴ," he replied at last, and slowly gestured his grimacing beak towards one of the more mangled corpses. "Tʜᴇʏ ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ғᴇᴇʟ ᴘᴀɪɴ. Tʜɪs ᴏɴᴇ: I ʙʀᴏᴋᴇ ɪᴛs ᴊᴀᴡ ᴀɴᴅ ᴜsᴇᴅ ᴛʜɪs ᴍᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ ᴛᴏ ʙʟᴏᴡ ᴀᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴇsᴛ. Iᴛ ᴅɪᴅ ɴᴏᴛ sʟᴏᴡ ᴅᴏᴡɴ ᴜɴᴛɪʟ ɪᴛs ɢʀᴇʏ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ ʜᴀᴅ ʙᴇᴇɴ sᴘʀᴀʏᴇᴅ ᴀɢᴀɪɴsᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʟʟ. I ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ɴᴏᴡ ɪғ ɪᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ɢᴇᴛ ᴜᴘ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ."

The stranger glanced towards the broken vending machines, then, and dabbed at the knot of fresh red in his hair with the clean underside of his wrist. He examined the wet that came away after, and leisurely gathered his fingers back into a tight fist. “Aɴʏᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ғʀᴏᴍ ғɪғᴛᴇᴇɴ ᴍɪɴᴜᴛᴇs ᴛᴏ sᴇᴠᴇʀᴀʟ ʜᴏᴜʀs.”

That wasn’t very long at all.

"Kᴀᴍ, Fʀᴇᴍᴅᴇ," the concussed and half delirious German continued, taking a step over the gruesome mat of bodies, back in the direction from which Reno—and he, surely—had come from. "Iғ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴇɴᴛᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀʟʟɪᴇs, ᴘᴇʀʜᴀᴘs ᴡᴇ ʜᴀᴅ ʙᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ ғɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇsᴇ ᴅᴇᴄᴀʏɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴍɪɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴs ᴅᴏ."

[redheadedpest]

It was Reno's turn to be quiet, also as if he were trying to process the information that he was being given. His silence didn't last nearly as long, however.

"So they were already dead when ya got here, and walkin' around," he concluded. There had been enough hints by now to figure out what had taken place.

While he now felt much, much safer around this man than he originally had, and was somewhat certain that a bullet wouldn't be used on himself, there was still something very off-putting about him. Perhaps it was the way that he spoke, or the way his voice sounded, or maybe it was even the fact that he sort of resembled a mad scientist, in a way. Not a traditional one, no, but there were things about him that reminded the redhead of someone else.

The Turk decided that, even though the other seemed friendly enough for the time being, it probably wouldn't hurt to keep his guard up around him.

With a nod, Reno kicked off the wall he'd suddenly realized he'd been pressed against in order to follow in the large man's wake, stepping over any bodies that were in his path.

"They shouldn'ta gotten too far."

Hopefully.

"I'm Reno," he finally offered up in response to what he assumed to have been 'come, friend', but didn't follow it with any sort of pleasantries.

[redheadedpest]

Waking the Monster

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

The masked man made a rumbling, affirmative sound somewhere in his chest. It amplified and filtered strangely through the beak as he pushed himself away from the vending machine once and for all. The empty can crackled loudly under the square heel of his boot when he steadily broadened his stance and turned his head to survey the room and its localized carpet of corpses. There was no more movement to be seen in the empty corridor, unnatural or otherwise.

"Dᴀs ɪsᴛ ʀɪᴄʜᴛɪɢ," the stranger answered more vocally through the opened teeth. After a pause, he spoke again in thickly accented, but much more intelligible, English: "Tʜᴇʏ ᴀʀᴇ ᴠᴇʀʏ ʀᴇsɪʟɪᴇɴᴛ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴄᴀɴ ᴅɪᴇ."

Smoothly, he wiped his gory hand off on the front of the coat, and used it to pull back the slide on the pistol. “Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀᴍᴇ ᴀʟᴏɴᴇ?” he asked, rotating the beak back towards the Turk.

[redheadedpest]

As the larger man confirmed the fact that he had killed all of these people, Reno's eyes scanned over the corpses, this time taking in more details about them. The amount of gore and violence left him unphased, even as he took in every gruesome detail, but the fact that the armed stranger had done them in was mildly bothersome.

Perhaps they had attacked the man, so he had to kill them in order to protect himself.

"Resilient?"

Curious aqua eyes found their way back up to the mask as the question came out.

"How so?"

He was used to such creatures. He himself was one of them: a being capable of taking hit after hit and it barely leaving a scratch. Some were even better at it than he was, too.

And while he was quite used to undead creatures, he wasn't used to undead humans, and coupled with the fact that he didn't understand the majority of the foreign language that had initially come out of the other's mouth, it left him mostly clueless. Mostly.

"How long ago did ya kill 'em?"

Reno found it very odd that the corpses already seemed to be rotting. How long had the man been lying here, unconscious? Considering this was the first day that the Turk had been conscious, it was the first day of this... game, or whatever the hell it was, as far as he was concerned. But perhaps it wasn't. Perhaps he'd been unconscious for a while himself.

To answer the question about having come alone, though, he simply shook his head, once more looking to the pile of bodies.

[redheadedpest]

Waking the Monster

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

It didn’t. It did find the gun, which it pulled into its palm and clutched as if its life depended upon it.

Maybe it did. It apparently had once before.

The beak-faced thing shivered again with the effort of pushing itself upright with its back against one of the broken vending machines, but it slowly gained more fluidity as it then proceeded to grab one of the corners and haul itself all the way up to its feet. It staggered once on its way, its great shoulders hunched, and for a moment it looked like it would fall—bad news for Reno, to be sure.

Fortunately, it kept its balance despite the nauseating slickness in the mane. When the figure finally straightened up, it towered—handily over six feet. That and its broad shoulders made it quite imposing, but there was a gauntness otherwise, only subtly indicated by the hollows where the coat clung to concaves.

The thing turned, one bloody hand clenched into a fist around the gun, the other still grasping the edge of one of the sparking vending machines. The teeth of the mask grated apart.

"Sɪᴇ sɪɴᴅ ᴇɪɴ Sᴘɪᴇʟᴇʀ," came a deep and resonant voice, speaking a language Reno might have never heard before. The masked man drilled him with its white glass eyes, and then nodded his beak towards the dead corpses.

"Tᴏᴛ," he continued, presumably speaking about them. "Tᴏᴛ, ʙᴇᴠᴏʀ sɪᴇ ᴛᴏᴛ ᴡᴀʀᴇɴ." Whatever that meant. The teeth clacked shut again.

[redheadedpest]

Reno was completely prepared to run or jump or hop or skip out of the way of this... beast if need be. He watched it very intently the entire time that it struggled to get up, offering no help just because he didn't want to get too close to it again, if it could be helped.

As it got higher and higher, it looked more and more human. Or at least almost human. The shape of the body, where Reno could see it through the bloodied, messy coat, appeared to be such.

So, as it stood more and more erect, he let his guard down more and more.

It clearly did not want to kill him, or it would have attacked by now. Maybe it was another player...? Maybe, he thought, somebody could have been brave... or foolish enough to come in here by themselves.

And then... it began to speak, or what he could only imagine was speaking. Its voice actually gave him chills, and in an effort to soothe himself, he placed a hand to the back of his own neck and rubbed it.

The words sounded familiar, but only vaguely; one of his bosses had used some of them before, but hell if he could figure out what any of it meant.

Except for one word.

"Dead? Yeah, you killed 'em. Right?"

[redheadedpest]

Waking the Monster

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

A monster? Perhaps.

Mere inches away from the end of its beak, Reno could hear the echoes of slow breathing rattling inside of the brass. The thing held fast to him, tightening its fingers even as he tried to squirm out of the jacket, “staring” at him, or seeming to. Reno had not so much as undone a single button before, just as suddenly, the monster-machine carelessly heaved him aside and out of its face, not with violence, but certainly with raw power; the weight of the heavy limb alone might have been enough to topple such a light and lithe fellow, but the vicegrip had loosened and all but fallen away before it went so far as hurling him outright into the floor.

With a sound like a hollow, metallic groan, the thing’s masked head fell back to the ground. The other hand dropped the crushed soda can to raise towards the slick wetness in the tangle of hair. As it did, it slowly drew up a single knee beneath the long leather coat, probably in preparation to rise. The hand that had been on the gun slid away from the Turk and instead began to grope sluggishly for the weapon.

Fortunately for Reno, none of the other bodies moved.

[redheadedpest]

He was... surprised, to say the least, when the creature simply pushed him aside, rather than attempted to devour his flesh. The force of the push did indeed cause him to fall to the floor---or rather, on top of a corpse---and, naturally, he did what he did best once he realized that he was touching what he was certain was a few day old body. One that had its head smashed in, no less.

"Ugh, fuckin' disgusting!"

Luckily, the majority of his suit was black, but that did nothing to help the white shirt that was now smeared with the blood of the corpse.

As he made a face, he remembered the giant monster that remained only a foot or so away from him, before scrambling to his feet.

But if it was a monster, why didn't it kill him? It didn't appear to be very interested in doing such a thing, either, taking its time to get up and reaching for the gun. So he stood and watched it, but not without taking a defensive stance, just in case it attacked.

[redheadedpest]

Waking the Monster

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

Reno was greeted by the buzzing hum of broken vending machines.

Their lights flickered and sputtered around dents and cracks, the only animate witnesses to the tangle of corpses that bore gruesome testament to some sort of extraordinary violence. There were bullet holes, yes—but there were also smashed heads and splintered bones, dislocated jaws and gouged eyes, snapped necks and twisted limbs. They smelled horrible, as if they had been decaying there for days.

But the figure collapsed in the midst of the knot did not possess any such injury. All of the limbs were intact. There were wet smears of blood (and worse) spattered over the coat and handily coating the brass knuckles that studded the gloves, and there were scratches and tooth marks in the leather, but none of them had pierced. Its face was obfuscated behind a beaked mask with a grotesque metal grimace and round white lenses for eyes, knocked crooked in the scuffle but revealing very little of the head underneath save a blood-matted mane of graying blond hair.

Reno’s intrusion caused the huge body to shudder to life. Its other hand had been laid across its chest like that of a corpse in a casket; beneath it was a can glibly labeled DR. PEPPER. The flimsy aluminum crumpled beneath the weight of a suddenly iron grip as the other limb jerked under the Turk’s unsubtle touch, shivering like an unoiled machine that had just been turned on.

That was the only warning Reno received before the gory fingers lashed towards his chest, to snatch him by the tie or the lapel and pull him forcefully down to his knees as the beaked mask slowly turned its gritted metal teeth to face him.

[redheadedpest]

None of the carnage seemed to have mattered to the redhead. He had seen many gruesome and disgusting things in his lifetime, thanks to the type of job he held, if no other reason.

However, the sudden revival of what initially appeared to be a possible corpse definitely caught him off guard, and with a surprised sound, he leaned back in shock.

If he had really thought about it and taken the time to actually study the scene, it would have told him everything he needed to know about what went on. But as his hasty and sometimes even careless nature demanded, he'd decided that what had happened wasn't as important as finding a weapon and finding an exit.

But, if he had taken the time to study the scene, it would have told him that this body hadn't been a dead one.

Luckily, or not, before he could jerk backwards far enough to fall or get away, the gigantic hand caught him by the lapel and forced him down.

The shock remained evident on his face as he just sat there stupidly, unsure of what to do, eyes wipe and mouth agape. But slowly, his expression began to return to normal, even though he still couldn't quite believe or understand what he was looking at.

Finally, it set in that this creature may be some sort of monster, ready to kill him at a moment's notice, and so he began to quickly make his way out of his jacket.

[redheadedpest]

Waking the Monster

Reno just watched in silence as Vincent walked away, not putting up a fight for some reason. Being contrary was something he excelled at, so it was a little odd whenever he didn't open his mouth and instead just allowed the other to leave.

It was no surprise that he was left to his own devices, though, probably one reason he wasn't putting up a fight. It was no secret that he was extremely skilled, and so was Vincent, in the art of self-defense, so it wasn't as though he needed to be protected. Julian, on the other hand... well, he didn't seem to be a very combative guy, at least.

After the pair disappeared behind the double doors, Reno noticed a brown door that nobody had mentioned. Maybe they didn't see it? It would have been a little hard to see at the angle that Vincent had been standing at.

A few twists of the knob revealed that it was locked. Useless. Splitting up was the better idea, even to him, so he did just as he was ordered and rather than follow Vincent and the horse, he made his way into and through the blue door to the right of the R.P.D.'s entrance.

The first thing he noticed... the smell of death. It wasn't just ordinary death, though. It was the smell of rotting corpses that had probably been in such a state for at least a good little while. It made him want to gag, but he swallowed the feeling and pressed on.

Squish. Squish. Squish.

The sound of footsteps in blood was never a pleasant one, but this was... it seemed much worse than usual. It sounded... odd, to say the least, but he couldn't exactly pinpoint why.

All thoughts of the bloody, smelly room all but vanished when the redhead saw a few humanoid figures lying on the floor. A short sprint soon found him in the midst of what appeared to have been a violent massacre, bodies strewn out all over the place.

There was plenty of blood, and plenty of bullet holes in some of the bodies, but that barely phased him. He'd seen much worse, and while it was somewhat disconcerting, if only for the fact that there had been a slaughter in a place unfamiliar to him, the thing he was more concerned about for the time being was what appeared to be the glinting, shiny metal of a gun under the hand of the largest body.

The Turk wasted no time in kneeling next to the 'body' and not-so-gingerly removing the hand that was about twice the size of his own from the weapon in order to take it for himself.

"Jackpot," he said, simply, but not quietly.

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

oh.

[designerunicorn-blog]

Raccoon City…? Was that like a town full of Tanuki’s? Maybe even where Tom Nook’s from! That might be f-

They were already heading through?! Nobody even knew what exactly was in there! Out of worry for the others and being put on the spot, Julian also stumbled through the door and fell into the pile of bishies.

[redheadedpest]

As he entered through the door, he only had a split second to see Vincent move aside. Before he could think ‘asshole’, though, it seemed that the ex-Turk grabbed him, because he suddenly came to a stop, teetering on the very edge of the steps.

It wasn’t a long way down, he noted, perhaps about half a foot, but it was still something that could have been dangerous. Not immediately life-threatening, no, but one could easily break or twist their ankle or something of the sort, which, admittedly, could lead to life-threatening situations, if the going got rough.

When he was pulled back, he sighed for reasons that weren’t very clear, before turning his head to look at his savior. He opened his mouth, but whatever he wanted to say was quickly lost as the unicorn came barreling out of the door and directly into his back.

"Fuck!"

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

All the reflexes in the world couldn’t save Reno a second time. When Julian clambered in, the grip on the Turk’s shirt was lost, yanked away, and.. well, gravity took care of the rest.

Vincent, who had previously shifted away enough to avoid becoming part of the crumpled heap, stepped down to gather the two fallen souls: both were pulled up by the scruffs of their necks, and the former Turk’s simply chest swelled with a quiet sigh.  So much for not ringing the doorbell.

[redheadedpest]

The fiery Turk wasn't very pleased that the thing he'd been trying to avoid and was saved from inevitably happened. Luckily, he was tough as nails, and on top of that, a nice soft place for the unicorn to have landed. In the end, it turned out that there had been no damage done. To himself, at least.

After Vincent pulled him to his feet, he just flashed a smile to the dark-haired man. That was all the thanks that he was going to get. Reno wasn't very good at being vocally grateful, but on the other hand... his expression also seemed to betray slight agitation. Whether it was aimed at Julian or at the former Turk wouldn't be made clear, as the redhead decided to keep his mouth shut this time.

As soon as he was able, he finally took a good look around the place. It seemed... relatively normal, at least, but something didn't sit right with him. Something definitely felt off, but he wasn't quite sure what.

"Shouldn't this place... I dunno, be a bit more lively?"

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

oh.

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

It was difficult to keep an eye on both Reno and the strange room, but it seemed, as the clumsy redhead came barreling towards him, that he would simply have to.

 Something akin to a grunt rumbled in his throat as he stepped aside, clearing the way for the falling Turk to go right down the small steps before them.   But as tempting as it was to let him fall, Vincent’s hand shot forth to grab ahold of the pesky man’s suit collar, and if successful, Reno would be left to dangle for but a moment before the dark man pulled him to his feet.  There were several logical explanations behind this: one, if Reno managed to hurt himself, Valentine would be saddled with carting him around in a potentially dangerous ‘game’, where both of their lives, and Julian’s, would be endangered. Two, if someone or something was lurking in the shadows of this department, they didn’t need a doorbell. Naturally, an agitated crimson gaze fell on Reno, be him at the top of the steps, or the bottom.

[designerunicorn-blog]

Raccoon City…? Was that like a town full of Tanuki’s? Maybe even where Tom Nook’s from! That might be f-

They were already heading through?! Nobody even knew what exactly was in there! Out of worry for the others and being put on the spot, Julian also stumbled through the door and fell into the pile of bishies.

[redheadedpest]

As he entered through the door, he only had a split second to see Vincent move aside. Before he could think 'asshole', though, it seemed that the ex-Turk grabbed him, because he suddenly came to a stop, teetering on the very edge of the steps.

It wasn't a long way down, he noted, perhaps about half a foot, but it was still something that could have been dangerous. Not immediately life-threatening, no, but one could easily break or twist their ankle or something of the sort, which, admittedly, could lead to life-threatening situations, if the going got rough.

When he was pulled back, he sighed for reasons that weren't very clear, before turning his head to look at his savior. He opened his mouth, but whatever he wanted to say was quickly lost as the unicorn came barreling out of the door and directly into his back.

"Fuck!"

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

oh.

[redheadedpest]

Reno knew when he wasn’t wanted, and Vincent’s silence told him a lot, but that didn’t deter his spirit. Despite being a somewhat cynical person, he didn’t like to dwell on terrible or hurtful things too much. He knew that doing so would definitely turn out for the worst.

"I’m right, ain’t I?"

This time, rather than badger the ex-Turk with questions and more harassment, he just left it at that.

Whether or not he got an answer, the question was all but forgotten as soon as the lift came to a stop. Doors seemed to be everywhere as the redhead checked the place out, and his curiosity immediately got the better of him as he felt the need to inspect each of what he assumed were the doors’ nameplates. Or… something?

"Mystery Dungeon. The Dragon Realms? The hell is this?"

As he turned back to the direction Vincent had gone in, he called out.

"Yo, Vinny, where ya goin’?"

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

Vincent still had no answer for Reno.  He’d enjoyed his time in the Turks, yes. But it wasn’t as cut-and-dry as the redhead tried to make it sound. His job had become a death sentence; even more, when his body had begun to deteriorate, he was turned into another science experiment. Why she had brought him back.. well, she had always been like that, hadn’t she.  Thankfully, his chatty company seemed to drop the subject when the new room sank in - and Valentine wasn’t going to wait for another conversation to start back up.  ”Zone one, Raccoon City,” he finally murmured in reply as he approached the door.  It seemed.. harmless enough, for the time being. The brooding man didn’t hesitate, stepping past the curious door and into.. what seemed to be another realm.  It was dark, deathly still and strangely quiet, as if frozen in time. One could just barely make out the large insignia of the Raccoon City Police Department on the floor. Being a police department, the party should have felt just the slightest bit relieved, but the discomforting silhouette of the stone statue that faced the entrance took that luxury away. Here Vincent paused, eyes flicking about the hall. Something was wrong.. they were not alone.

[redheadedpest]

It was probably a good thing that Vincent chose not to answer. After all... he had sort of dug his own grave by even thinking about trying to confront an executive and call them out on the terrible things they were doing, and Reno would have said exactly that. It was a Turk's duty to be a quiet, obedient little lap dog, whether or not they agreed with some things the company might have done.

Not that Reno was quiet. Especially not when talking to others about things that bothered him. But bitching to someone else was all he could do, as a Turk, unless he wanted to get shot down where he stood.

It was what they were hired to do in the first place. Shut up and do whatever the higher-ups asked them to do.

As Vincent neared the door, Reno broke out into a run, trying to reach for him.

"Are you fucking crazy?!" he shouted as Vincent began to pass through. After all, they had no idea where the doors lead or what they did. They didn't even really know what they were supposed to be doing.

It may have been an easy thing to figure out, if one thought hard enough about it, and while Reno was (surprisingly) one for figuring things out, he was still wary. You didn't just... go pass through doors and shit all willy-nilly!

Losing his balance, as his target had disappeared right before he was able to reach him, he ended up stumbling through the doorway and probably landing on top of Vincent, assuming the broody man hadn't moved.

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

oh.

[redheadedpest]

"He’s ruined plenty of lives. Probably too many to count. I didn’t like him, either."

It appeared that he wasn’t going to give up his fight, no matter how futile. He knew all too well that he was just a pawn, just a dog for the executives to do with as they pleased, but he didn’t like to think of it that way.

Even though it was probably all he was good for.

But c’mon… you can’t judge an entire company on one guy. You must have liked it too, at some point, right?”

While most of the executives had been horrible, ruthless people, not everyone in the company was that way. The way Reno saw it, Shinra also did a lot of good.

Most of the time that Shinra had destroyed anything or killed anyone, it was to stop terrorist organizations that were attacking their own people.

Not that that was an entirely good thing on either side, but… as long as people had disputes, there would have to be war.

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

Nobody liked Hojo, not even Hojo. That one was a given. But if Reno thought attempting to reason his position or explain away anything to the broody former Turk was going to win him any points, he was sorely mistaken. His futile words were met with silence, save the rumbling and shuddering as the lift fell into the depths of the facility — or whatever this maze happened to be.

 When the machinery finally tremored to a grinding hault and a stark quiet settled over the party, Vincent stepped off with nary a word. It seemed Reno’s invasive prodding into business that wasn’t his had only prompted Valentine to speak even less now, almost as if.. he was being ignored.   The room before them was peculiar. Doors were all around them, each labelled with zone numbers - presumably, considering there were eight, whomever had thrown them into this tricky little game probably wanted them to go through each, starting from the bottom and working their way up.  That meant Zone 1 was the first on the list.  His intentions didn’t need an explanation. He started towards the first door.  

[redheadedpest]

Reno knew when he wasn't wanted, and Vincent's silence told him a lot, but that didn't deter his spirit. Despite being a somewhat cynical person, he didn't like to dwell on terrible or hurtful things too much. He knew that doing so would definitely turn out for the worst.

"I'm right, ain't I?"

This time, rather than badger the ex-Turk with questions and more harassment, he just left it at that.

Whether or not he got an answer, the question was all but forgotten as soon as the lift came to a stop. Doors seemed to be everywhere as the redhead checked the place out, and his curiosity immediately got the better of him as he felt the need to inspect each of what he assumed were the doors' nameplates. Or... something?

"Mystery Dungeon. The Dragon Realms? The hell is this?"

As he turned back to the direction Vincent had gone in, he called out.

"Yo, Vinny, where ya goin'?"

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

oh.

[redheadedpest]

"Yeah," he replied to Julian, but quickly went silent as the ex-Turk spoke up.

Reno just stood there, quietly, almost seeming dumbfounded, after Vincent’s little message.

He wasn’t stupid… okay, he wasn’t that stupid enough to not realize that to most of the executives, he was expendable. But ‘most of the executives’ were all dead. Rufus would never…

He was drawn out of his mind when Sayaka responded to Julian, and any despair that may have been showing quickly turned back into a scowl. What was the matter with this chick? She didn’t even know anything, but was definitely quick to judge.

"They aren’t bad," he said, again.

As Sayaka began to follow Vincent, so did he.

"I know… I’m expendable, but…"

He was more than willing to put up a fight, but he felt like nothing he said would convince Vincent otherwise. After all, Vincent had once been exactly as he was, and well… look how that turned out.

"Hojo’s dead," he muttered as he followed, not really expecting to get any sort of answer to that.

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

It may have been uttered out of the redhead’s mouth as a harmless little comment, but Vincent’s eyes narrowed as he walked, and his chin tucked into the comfort of his muffling cape. His steps seemed to slow for a moment. Hello, Vincent, how long has it been? “How many lives.. do you think that monster has ruined, Reno.”  Yes, Hojo was dead, and he would rot for eternity. Even if he made a third attempt at recreating himself, Valentine would see to it that every little piece of the Professor would die again, regardless of how much it cost him or his own body. That was simply his prerogative. But even if he was gone now, his past influence would never be erased. The former Turk was living proof of that enough as it is - and that didn’t even account for SOLDIER, or Lucrecia, or Deep Ground, or Gaea in general. Hojo’s experimentation with Jenova’s cells had led to Sephiroth’s rampancy, which had led to Meteor, and the death of Aeris…. the Professor’s handiwork was a neverending chain or horror, misery and despair; everyone was prone to the effects. And that was only one of the Shinra executives.  Not interested in Reno’s answer, Vincent’s pace picked up again.   He walked in silence until they reached the lift, peering at the control pad. Didn’t quite matter where he sent the lift, it was probably set to go to one place or another automatically. And so, once the party had boarded the lift, he pressed the button.

[redheadedpest]

"He's ruined plenty of lives. Probably too many to count. I didn't like him, either."

It appeared that he wasn't going to give up his fight, no matter how futile. He knew all too well that he was just a pawn, just a dog for the executives to do with as they pleased, but he didn't like to think of it that way.

Even though it was probably all he was good for.

But c'mon... you can't judge an entire company on one guy. You must have liked it too, at some point, right?"

While most of the executives had been horrible, ruthless people, not everyone in the company was that way. The way Reno saw it, Shinra also did a lot of good.

Most of the time that Shinra had destroyed anything or killed anyone, it was to stop terrorist organizations that were attacking their own people.

Not that that was an entirely good thing on either side, but... as long as people had disputes, there would have to be war.

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

oh.

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

He didn’t have much to say. This.. creature wasn’t Reeve, though there was still a sliver of a chance that it was indeed a puppet, or even an animatronic. But if it was Reeve’s handiwork, well, it was rather clueless. Perhaps it was a failed attempt, or the circuitry had been jumbled. Either way, it was of little use to him at the moment - and neither was anyone else. If Reno was just learning that he was a pawn, chances were, he had no input on where they were or what they were going to find in this Nonary Game.

 And so he turned on his heel, heading back to the hall.

[sayakopter]

"There is if you’re protecting the wrong people," Sayaka unkindly interjected in response to Julian’s ridiculously naive outlook.

Glimpsing between Vincent’s retreating form and Reno, she was stuck for a moment on whether she should be more upset that the redhead would defend such a company or pity him for seeming to trust them so. Enough time had passed already, however. In the end, all she wanted was out of here, and if Reno thought there were expendables, she wasn’t sure she wanted her life riding on his cooperation.

"Good luck," she finally muttered, stealing one last disappointed look at Reno before following Vincent out in search of the living room.

[redheadedpest]

"Yeah," he replied to Julian, but quickly went silent as the ex-Turk spoke up.

Reno just stood there, quietly, almost seeming dumbfounded, after Vincent's little message.

He wasn't stupid... okay, he wasn't that stupid enough to not realize that to most of the executives, he was expendable. But 'most of the executives' were all dead. Rufus would never...

He was drawn out of his mind when Sayaka responded to Julian, and any despair that may have been showing quickly turned back into a scowl. What was the matter with this chick? She didn't even know anything, but was definitely quick to judge.

"They aren't bad," he said, again.

As Sayaka began to follow Vincent, so did he.

"I know... I'm expendable, but..."

He was more than willing to put up a fight, but he felt like nothing he said would convince Vincent otherwise. After all, Vincent had once been exactly as he was, and well... look how that turned out.

"Hojo's dead," he muttered as he followed, not really expecting to get any sort of answer to that.

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

oh.

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

 ”Shinra Electric Power Company. On top of harnessing the power of the Lifestream and converting it to mako, they experiment in genetic engineering, build military forces.. and specialize in ruining the lives of every single man, woman and child on the Planet.” Ladies and gentlemen, the single most wordy response Vincent Valentine had ever given.

 Reno’s somewhat hopeful rebuttal earned nothing more than a dry, quiet grunt, just barely akin to an unamused laugh. Something was funny?  ”It wouldn’t be the first time a Turk was used as a lab rat.” the statement was quiet, almost a tinge.. bitter.

[designerunicorn-blog]

Julian jumped ever so slightly at Reno’s glare.

Yikes…

"…E-Erm, what is ‘mako’? O-Or a ‘turk’?" Julian asked, very confused "A-Are they food and animals? Or are they special fish or something?"

[sayakopter]

"So they’re bad guys," Sayaka stated. She was just as clueless as the toy horse about what the hell things like ‘mako’ and ‘lifestream’ meant, but everything else didn’t sound right. Especially the ‘specialize in ruining lives’ part.

"And you work for them." The girl’s eyes were drawn to Reno again, this time more glaring than glancing. Now it made sense why he wouldn’t want to reveal anything more about Shinra to her, and that made it all the more bothersome. A criminal wasn’t exactly the sort of person she hoped to team up with.

Suddenly full of conviction, she declared, “they sound like a pretty prime culprit to me.”

[redheadedpest]

Reno was ready to defend Shinra once Vincent began to explain what exactly the company did, but slowly shut his mouth at the dark man's last statement. For once, he was eerily quiet as he stared at the ground.

It wouldn't be the first time a Turk was used as a lab rat indeed.

He could feel his face flush, and he instantly cursed himself for being as emotional as he was. It didn't help that his stomach was starting to feel like it was being twisted in knots.

That could explain why none of the others had shown up yet. Maybe he was specially chosen for... something.

"I'm a Turk," he replied solemnly. "We, ah..."

Just do Shinra's dirty work, but now that Sayaka was eyeing him like he'd done something wrong, he was less willing to elaborate.

"We're just bodyguards and stuff. Y'know, for the higher-ups."

Whatever the executives wanted, the executives got, and he couldn't refuse. That was simply a side effect of selling your soul to Shinra.

"They ain't exactly bad guys."

Narrowing his eyes, he looked up again.

"I thought it was them, but it can't be. Why would they use me as a lab rat, when they have... hell, I don't fuckin' know. More expendable employees than me. Doesn't make sense."

Perhaps Julian would get an explanation of mako at a later time.

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

oh.

[designerunicorn-blog]

Julian had no idea what was going on, but it seemed these two knew each other, and the tension was getting unbelievably high here… Unicorn intervention time!

"U-Uhm, so your names are ‘Reno’ and ‘Valentine’? Cool names…!"

"I-I’m Julian. Let’s all be friends!"

He then noticed there was another person with ‘Reno’.

"Oh, what’s your name?"

[sayakopter]

For the time being, Sayaka opted not to acknowledge the existence of the talking unicorn thing, which honestly looked like it belonged on her friend Madoka’s bed more than it did in some crazy death game. At this point she was beginning to believe this entire place was just some crazy dream she was having a hard time waking up from. But just in case it wasn’t, there were more important things at hand. Such as…

"Wait, you two know each other?" Her tone gave a good feel of how incredulous she was feeling. After all, what were the chances?

"And who exactly are Shinra!?" Disbelief had now become frustration, in no small part thanks to feeling so out of the apparent loop. "You people keep mentioning them!"

[redheadedpest]

'Let's all be friends'? He hadn't noticed Julian at first, too preoccupied with the former Turk, but those words immediately drew aqua eyes to the speaker. Let's all be friends... perhaps, if this encounter had been under different circumstances, but in a situation like this...

After a slight scowl at the unicorn, the redhead sighed, and in an uncharacteristic tone that made him sound a little sad, said "I told you, Shinra is the company I work for."

It didn't last very long, however. Within seconds, he seemed back to his regular peppy self, even smirking smugly, as if Vincent's 'question' was completely absurd. "I'm here, right? You think I'd be here if it was Shinra?"

Such an idea probably wasn't as far-fetched as Reno was trying to make it out to be, but if this was some way to punish Avalanche and anyone else who opposed Shinra, well... why would he be here? It just didn't make sense to him. If he'd been put here to keep them in line, he wasn't informed, and if that were the case, he was sure that he wouldn't have been sent in alone.