seigi no mikata

"Miracles and magic do exist." BP: 5 Lives: 0

[singasongofonions-blog]

“That’s not very nice!” 

“Iku thinks you shouldn’t be mean just because he speaks different! Krieg’s really nice, and he’s trying to help you and Iku figure out why you, Iku, and Krieg are here!”

Iku may not be the smartest, but she at least knew being so mean to someone because of something like that was wrong!!! Although she did have a problem understanding quite a bit of what Krieg said, she was eventually able to figure it out if they kept talking.

“Krieg has no ‘issues’,” Iku replied in a huff “Iku has a little trouble understanding, but if Iku asks Krieg to talk about it more, Iku can start to understand!”

[homicidewithlove-blog]

“IF YOU CAN’T KEEP UP WITH THE WINDMILLS IN MY SKULL…”, he trailed off. “IN TIME, in time…  DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT TIME, SAI-ACRE? PAINT ME A PRETTY PICTURE.”

He continued over to the lift. Eventually someone would have to get it working.

(This doesn’t look like most of the lifts I’ve been on.)

[sayakopter]

The sudden outburst from Iku took Sayaka by surprise. For a moment her eyes widened uncomprehendingly. Her face then followed, beggining to flush a bit under the unexpected scrutiny. She hadn't meant any offense, really, but being called out on it in such a way did sort of make her sound boneheaded.

"Right," she muttered, casting her eyes in some entirely different direction. "Sorry."

So far Krieg hadn't painted himself a bad guy. In fact, he was pretty clearly trying to help, even if Sayaka couldn't figure out anything but the very basic gist of whatever he had to say. With that being the case, she supposed she should try to be more understanding.

That did nothing to help her make sense of him though.

The girl didn't even bother answering his riddling sentiments. She wouldn't know how to if she tried, and it was probably better that she keep her mouth shut for a little while. Instead, she followed his lead and approached the lift.

"You think we should take it wherever?"

She glanced between Krieg and Iku, hand hovering over the button she presumed would open it up for entry.

[singasongofonions-blog]

“Oh no! Iku’s really sorry that she made you sad…!” Wait, did he ever tell her his name…? Oh well!

“Hi Sayaka! It’s really nice to meet you! Iku hopes we’ll be friends!!!” she then heard Krieg say something “Power tower? What’s that?”

[homicidewithlove-blog]

“I HEAR THE CREAK-O CRANKING OF THIS ELECTRO-SHAFT. ITS MONOTONOUS HUM FILLS ME EQUALLY with JOY anD DREAD like a puppy with its HEAD TWISTED BACKWARDS. MAYBE THE MONOTONY CAN BE DROWNED OUT WITH THE COLORS AND SHAPES AROUND ME, but right now, in this moment I am filled with her pain.”

He turned towards the approaching magical girl.

“HEY SAW-TACO” he bellowed, as exuberant as ever, “CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT KIND OF MAN HAS THE ENERGY PANTS TO OPERATE THIS TITTER-TRAP.” His arm was stretched behind him straight towards the lift with his finger pointing at the floor.

[sayakopter]

Sayaka's jaw dropped and face paled as the weird man continued talking. The words 'joy' and 'a puppy with its head twisted backwards' belonged nowhere near one another!!

"What the heck is wrong with you!?” she snapped in frustration and disgust. “What are you even trying to say?"

When she was finally able to peer past his massive form, mild disappointment and further confusion washed over her.

"It's just an elevator. Surely you've seen one of those before. They're everywhere."

She was now seriously beginning to ponder whether this guy had some sort of mental malfunction or not. There was no other explanation, right? Looking back towards Iku, she whispered, "hey, what's this guy's issue? Do you have any idea what all this junk means?"

Hopefully she had more of a clue than Sayaka did.

[singasongofonions-blog]

“Yay! A friend!”

Iku really liked making friends! They were really fun to have! What a wonderful thing friendship is!!!

“Yup! Iku is Iku-chan!”

“What’s your name, blue-friend?” It seems the rainbow comment had stuck with Iku…

[homicidewithlove-blog]

“YEAH!” Krieg said with slightly too much enthusiasm, “EVERYONE KNOWS IKU-CHAN. HER HEAD MAKES ME CRY.”

(Please try not to scare away every…   person we happen to find) said the inner voice, unable to shake the frustration of being trapped inside a psycho’s mind. (We can murder the deserving all day, but we need allies if we’re going to figure out where we are.)

Hearing machinery past the two girls, Krieg sprinted over to the other door of the room and almost caught a glimpse of two figures descending. He turned his head and yelled over his shoulder,

“WHAT’S WITH THIS HUGE POWER TOWER?”

[sayakopter]

For a moment Sayaka simply stared at the strange man, unsure how to react. She sure as hell didn't know Iku-chan! And what was she supposed to make of these nonsensical comments? Was it an insult? Some weirdass foreign humor?

"Uhhh..." she finally began, looking back towards Iku. "It's Sayaka.

"You're obviously Iku, but who is--" And he was gone. Baffled, Sayaka paused and watched the guy run off and spout even more gibberish. Or her first instinct was to assume it was gibberish, like everything else he'd said so far. Strangley enough, a huge power tower actually sounded like a plausible thing in this place. It wasn't as if she had explored enough to know otherwise.

"What are you talking about?" the girl inquired, following curiously.

[homicidewithlove-blog]

Krieg, not actually knowing what skipping was, reached around Iku’s waist and lifted her securely into the curl of his arm.  He then turned to the right and began taking quick, long strides down the hallway.

Each of Krieg’s strides was about the length of one of the dorm doors, so it didn’t take long to reach an open area with a few doors visible. Stopping briefly and looking around, he was able to see a small figure in a room to the right so he began striding again towards it. 

He reached the figure and then placed Iku down directly next to it.

"IKU-CHAN I FOUND YOU A BLUE FRIEND. WE MAKE HALF A RAINBOW"

[sayakopter]

Catching the movement out of the corner of her eye, Sayaka curiously turned to face the doorway leading towards the cafeteria. What relief she expected to find in a possible new accomplice, however, was thoroughly extinguished. Her eyes widened briefly at the sight -- a rather muscular man in a gas mask, carrying a... maid? Right under his arm. And advancing upon her rapidly.

Her brow knit in worry as the intimidating stranger approached, forcing her to take a few frantic steps back. His speedy pace well exceeded hers, however, and with hardly any time to think of a battle plan, he was already hovering over her.

When his voice boomed out, the girl couldn't help but cringe and tense up. It wasn't at all the sort of words she'd expected, though.

"Iku-chan...?" she mumbled, cautiously cracking her eyes open to look beside her. Well... the weird maid girl looked unharmed and surprisingly unperturbed. But half a rainbow? They what? In the span of just a few seconds her expression went from frightened to confused and finally rested at awkward, skeptical half-smiling.

Inwardly? 'What the hell is with this place?!'

[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.

[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."

[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!"

[bloodiestvalentine-blog]

 ”Stay back,” he murmured to Julian, provided, of course, the unicorn followed him. A turn of the corner proved it. There were two alright - a young girl, and the back of a man in black. 

 Vincent said nothing.

[sayakopter]

The girl suddenly swung around to face Reno. "How do you even get away with kidnapping that many--"

Her voice died down as she noticed a figure standing just behind him, apparently having appeared out of thin air just to answer her previous question. He sure as hell didn't look like a captive, though. More like some video game baddie, actually, with that ridiculous black and red getup. And was that... a metal claw?

Sayaka's eyes narrowed some, finding herself unsure what to think of this newcomer. One thing she did know, however: he didn't look like someone she would want her back turned towards.

"Reno," she tried to warn, glancing between the two meaningfully.

[redheadedpest]

Out of the Frying pan and Into the... Well, Whatever This Is

[redheadedpest]

"More metal and cement. Kinda reminds me of home," he mused, a little quietly, perhaps even sadly, as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

All hint of any sadness was gone within seconds, however, instead replaced with a scowl and an irritated tone.

"Whaddya think they want with us?"

[sayakopter]

The girl chewed her lip in thought at the question, meanwhile trying her best to keep a cautious pace, just in case.

"I'm... not sure," she answered lamely but honestly. "It's probably just some sick weirdo looking for really creepy entertainment."

Lifting her left wrist to eyelevel and staring at the bracelet with mild disgust, Sayaka continued, "I bet it's all a bluff. All we've gotta do is figure the way out. There's gotta be a window, or an unlocked door -- something they didn't take into account."

Her arm quickly dropped back to her side, more eager (if you could call it that) to check out their surroundings than her wrist. Once past the doorway, she quickly noticed some tables out the corner of her eye. Curiosity besting her, Sayaka stepped through the entry to her left, and was greeted not by the small kitchen she imagined but a large cafeteria. It could seat a hundred easy. It was utterly incomprehensible, especially considering their tiny party size.

Which begged the question...

"We are the only ones here, right?"

[redheadedpest]

Out of the Frying pan and Into the... Well, Whatever This Is

[redheadedpest]

"Ah, I get it. You’re good, for a kid."

The puzzle was clear and quite obvious once one looked at the boxes from this angle, assuming they’ve also read the note, and for a split second, he felt like an idiot. To be fair, however… he was more focused on trying to figure out who put them in here, rather than how to get out.

A few button presses later and his box was open, the note given a quick once-over and shoved in a pocket, the keycard in his hand.

His entire group of actions only took about a minute in all, at max, and he was next to her in no time, even though she’d a head start.

"Time to blow this joint."

[sayakopter]

Sayaka's brow furrowed a bit as the sound of Reno's footsteps drew closer. The idea of them working together wouldn't be so bad -- hell, even encourging -- if she could trust him to at least try to pull his own weight. But so far all he had done was act sassy and let her figure things out for him. Even his compliment felt condescending! She couldn't help but roll her eyes at it, even if she did feel the tiniest bit more accomplished.

As much as he'd proven irksome thus far, though, they were stuck in this shitty situation together. It didn't feel right to tell him to do it on his own. Yet. 'He's not bad! Just annoying,' she assured herself.

"Alright," Sayaka sighed in defeat, bringing her key card to the door with just a bit of hesitation. After all, who knew what was out there?

It was relieving to see the door open without a mob of trained killers coming at them. Still, she was cautious stepping out. They weren't clear yet.

Instead of men, they were assaulted by a rather strange voice. It almost sent her jumping back with how unexpected it was. All it had to share was an order to head towards the living room, however.

"Now which way is that," she murmured, casting a glance in each direction. Presumably not the one that ended with a wall, and so she continued the opposite.

[redheadedpest]

Out of the Frying pan and Into the... Well, Whatever This Is

[redheadedpest]

"Uh… come to think of it, yeah, I did. I tossed it."

He turned and proceeded to look for it, but didn’t fully turn his body, opting instead to keep an eye on her as he searched. It didn’t take very long, however, as it had ended up on the floor between the beds.

After uncrumpling it, he silently read it again.

"It’s why I don’t think it’s Shinra. I don’t think they’d play games with me, even if I messed somethin’ up."

[sayakopter]

"...You tossed it." Sayaka parroted evenly. The only information they had to go off of, and he tossed it. IN HER EYE.

Thoroughly convinced by now that this guy was going to be no help at all, the girl sighed irritably and scanned the note over again. Below all the grim details, some sneaky little triangles caught her eye. If this was all some fucked up game, no doubt they held some importance.

"Hmmm."

Glancing over at the door on the opposite side, it didn't look to have any sort of directional puzzle crap attached. Just a good ol' keycard, likely locked just as her redheaded 'pal' suggested.

And then there were these suspicious chests.

Stepping on over to the box beyond her own bed, Sayaka squatted and inspected the strange thing, sure enough finding exactly what she sought. A small victorious grin found her as she punched each key and was finally rewarded.

"Yes! Time to get the hell out of here!" Armed with her new keycard (and some math notes that she hoped to never have to consider), Sayaka stood and scurried off to the door without regard to her annoying roommate.

[redheadedpest]

Out of the Frying pan and Into the... Well, Whatever This Is

[redheadedpest]

"You don’t know? Shinra is only the biggest company on the face of Gaea…"

Now that he thought of it, she hadn’t seemed to realize that he was a Turk. Course, most anyone could dress up in a black business suit, but… most people would do no such thing, unless they were trying to purposefully pose as one. Had this kid been living under a rock?

"I work for ‘em. I thought it may be their doing at first, but… the cell ain’t right. It’s too fancy."

[sayakopter]

"The face of what?" she half repeated dumbly, staring at the guy with absolutely no comprehension. "Are you a foreigner?"

And then her face dropped into one of shock.

"Holy crap am I even still in Japan!?"

Suddenly she wasn't interested in hearing the rest of what he had to say. Not right now. Instead she frantically dug into her pockets in the vain hope that some stupid kidnapper left her phone there. She wasn't particularly surprised when she didn't find it, but she did produce a note.

Unfolding it, the girl curiously read the fist line, "Welcome to the Nonary Game," aloud. After that, she chose to silently and thoroughly read the rest. By the end, prison sounded like a much nicer alternative.

"Did you get one of these?" Sayaka questioned, raising her head to look Reno in the eye.

[redheadedpest]

Out of the Frying pan and Into the... Well, Whatever This Is

[redheadedpest]

As she finally noticed and addressed the issue that was her bracelet, he looked down at her face, and then to the object she was looking at.

"Ever seen prisoners with numbered collars? I figured that maybe it’s something like that… I got one, too."

[sayakopter]

Taking a moment to look over at him with a raised eyebrow, Sayaka responded, "No... I've never seen a prison with collars. Where the heck do you find those?"

Her attention didn't remain on him for long as she went back to inspecting the bracelet. "5 seems like a pretty low prisoner count." That seemed to be the only notable thing about the device. No names or anything to draw hints from to be found. With that said, she tried her hand at removing the bulky thing. A few rough tugs later made it painfully clear how intent someone was on keeping them there.

Her new cell buddy had mentioned a name right?

"You said something about some 'Shinra' person or... or place or whatever. Who is that?" Blue eyes dragged back up to his face. He seemed confident in their innocence, but it was the closest thing to a lead they had right now. Something had to have made him suspect them in the first place.

[redheadedpest]

Out of the Frying pan and Into the... Well, Whatever This Is

[redheadedpest]

The comment on his attitude just left him with a chuckle and a smirk. He didn’t know who this Kyouko person was, nor did he honestly care, but there was just something to be smug about when someone mentioned it. Perhaps it was out of sheer amusement more than it was the actual feeling of being proud of it. He wasn’t exactly sure, but it didn’t really matter.

After patting himself down a little bit more, this time checking for wounds rather than inventory, he fully turned his attention back to Sayaka.

"I dunno shit. Was kinda hoping you’d know something and could give me a hint."

[sayakopter]

That irksome smirking... Way too similar, the girl thought. It was starting to creep her out.

She shook her head to banish the similarities (and maybe show her disapproval), scooting herself off the bed in the process.

"Have you checked the doors?" Hastily walking over to the closest one situated right behind their beds, Sayaka tested the knob. For a moment she was surprised by how easy it was, but what excitement may have followed crashed and burned at the sight of more doors and a closet.

"Figures..."

Still, she continued inside, trying each door. To nobody's surprise (she assumed), it was just more living essentials. On the plus side, if they were stuck there forever, at least they wouldn't be sharing pee buckets like some of her prison movies implied. Still, she shuddered at the thought.

"I don't get it. A vanity? What's the point of a vanity in a prison?" she wondered aloud. Perhaps it had more purpose than she gave it credit for, however, as it sure clued her in to the gigantic watch she had somehow missed entirely.

"What the hell is this?"

[redheadedpest]

Out of the Frying pan and Into the... Well, Whatever This Is

[redheadedpest]

"I’m not Kyouko, you’re not Rude, blah blah blah. I guess that makes us even, yeah?"

The idea that she might be afraid was only reinforced when she backed up against the wall. He didn’t move aside from putting his shirt back down to cover his stomach.

"Name’s Reno. I take it you know about as much as I do about what the hell’s goin’ on?"

[sayakopter]

"Got attitude like Kyouko," Sayaka grumbled with an indignant scowl.

As he played with his shirt, the girl took a few seconds to distract herself elsewhere. The room was even more bare than she'd first thought. Some boxes, beds, and doors -- doors hopefully left unlocked.

Once the redhead announced his name, though, her attention was back on him. It was a bit baffling how he could seem so calm about being kidnapped and held hostage, assuming he wasn't lying to her from the get-go.

"I'm Sayaka," she began with a bit of caution. "And I guess that depends. What do you know?" More baffling than Reno's calmness was how she couldn't recall the events leading up to this at all, no matter how hard she pushed. Maybe she was just too worked up, however.

[redheadedpest]

Out of the Frying pan and Into the... Well, Whatever This Is

The numbered symbols were lost on him. After staring blankly at the piece of paper for a few moments, he crumpled it up and tossed it in no direction in particular.

It wasn’t that he was dumb… if he was, Shinra would have never bothered to hire him. Perhaps it was more like… he wasn’t exactly motivated enough to learn what that shit meant.

Surely, if he was being held prisoner, the rest of the Turks would show up and bust him out, right? That was something they were supposed to do for each other.

[sayakopter]

On the opposite side of the room, Sayaka shifted uncomfortably. Rolling to her side with a groan, she finally began opening her eyes just a bit only for one to be greeted by a mass of balled up paper.

"Ack! Kyoukooo!" the girl hissed, swatting in front of her face with one hand and rubbing the stinging eye with her other. "Y'know you could just shake my shoulder like a normal person! Maybe say, 'good morning Saya--"

Her good eye glared at the messy red haired figure before her, widening as the circumstances finally dawned upon her.

"Wait. You're not..."

It suddenly struck her that this wasn't at all what she was used to waking up to. No bright sunlight filtering through blue curtains, no warm bunny comforter -- even Kyouko usually had more tact than that when waking her. Usually. Instead she now faced a lifeless room of cement and a totally foreign man.

Sayaka bolted up and back, hitting against the wall but keeping her eye on the stranger before her. "Who are you?" she questioned, trying to keep the bubbling panic from her voice.

[booksandashes]

Nageki didn’t flee, and just stood there staring at Quatre until he replied by saying

"I do not know. I just found myself stuck in a room with a large, rather frightening man in goggles,"

"If I may ask, where are are we? Also, please do not speak to me like I am a non-sentient being,"

He was sure the other did not mean to speak to him that way, but it was still just a tad annoying. The greenette then looked at the others, stopping at Seyiku.

"You," suddenly, the blue haired girl would find a tiny baby bird glaring up at her.

  "Do not insult the library, or the concept of them. Or books. Do not insult either one. Understand?"

[sayakopter]

Sayaka gawked at the strange creature. Where were all these talking animals coming from all of a sudden!? It was as though she had stumbled into some twisted children's show. And more importantly...

"You can read minds!?" she questioned incredulously, her face becoming a little heated under being called out. The girl was pretty positive she hadn't voiced her disdain for libraries aloud. Like 98% or so. Although the last talking animal... thing... she met could also read minds (sort of. It could relay thoughts or whatever -- close enough!)  so really these things shouldn't have even been coming as a shock anymore.