singing to your tune

#ic;;#prologue;;#nohr is qualité

Branch of Fate -- Choose Your Path

The fiend you’d seen previously on television under layers of static whips the bullet away with his cape as though it were little more than than a fly.

“Hm… astute. Very well, you’ve caught me. But now what will you do? Your bullets do nothing.”

“Not that we can see, but you’re bound to run out of energy eventually. And then what will you do?”

“Simple. Return to the tower and regain my energy before you boobs can catch me.”

“Then in that case, we’ll just have to destroy you on your own turf.”

Kuromaru turns back to you for a moment, his tone urgent.

“Everyone, I found a breach in the tower’s walls - we can still get to it before he does and cut him off before he’s able to lock himself in again!”

“Hmph… It’s not like you’ll be able to do anything to me either way.”

The rest of the army’s ranks turn to you, clueless. It seems this was meant to be your choice to make.

But what will you do?

[ Follow Kuromaru into the Tower ]

[ Stay and hunt the Catalyst ]

None will stand in my way! Least of all me!

“You!”

The word is spoken in unison, the tone biting from both sides.

“I found you, faker! Thought you could get away, didn’t you?”

“F-Faker?! You walk in here pretending to be me and have the nerve to accuse me of being the fake?!”

The Kuromaru that gave you the briefing retrieves a pistol from his belt and takes aim at his double. The crowd, perhaps unsure how to react, shifts uneasily; the new Kuromaru turns for but a moment to gives them a disbelieving look. You hear the click of the safety being pressed down as the one in army garb takes aim.

“I’ll show everyone the truth!”

It takes place within less than a second, but your mind somehow catches every moment of it clearly - Kuromaru fired, but the bullet that mashed into the new Kuromaru’s shoulder made a sound like shattered glass rather than the gasp of someone taken off guard. The new Kuromaru - no longer Kuromaru, perhaps - doesn’t bleed, but instead begins to shift, taking on a darker, maroon colored hue –

#ic;;#prologue;;

Sonic, what are you doin' here?

As you meander your way down the stairs and past the shops you’d been investigating for the past few days, you are met with the sight of some sort of commotion at the gate. A keen eye might spot weapons present, although nothing seems to be raised to fire yet. A voice, familiar, raises authoritively above the puzzled murmurs, becoming clearer as the crowd parts for you to approach.

“I told you already, my boys and I were scouting and–”

…Wait, that’s…?

“…? Who are these people? Are these the psychics?”

…Him? Wasn’t he the one who gave you the briefing? For someone who was all smiles during his presentation, he certainly wasn’t been too pleasant now – what, throwing around psychic and all. Hell, he doesn’t even really seem to recognize any of you, as has gaze skirts between your faces. ‘You’re supposed t’call ‘um gifteds, sir.’ You hear someone mutter amidst the crowd; he glances sidelong for a moment, seeking the source, before turning his attention back to you.

“…Gifteds, then. I see. Has the client already lost so much faith in us that they’d replace–”

“Everyone! I’m assuming this gathering has to do with the hole that’s appeared the tower’s–”

Kuromaru, sounding a bit breathless but still in full uniform, pushes his way through the crowd to stop dead in front of… himself. And for a moment, everything seems to stand still.

#ic;;#prologue;;#o fuk

Duty

Three days.

This morning marks three days you’ve been loitering around this camp, and there’s been still no sign of anything changing. No unrest to wake you up from a mob trying to barrel down the gates, no sudden siege from the tower, no zombified students… nothing. It’s been too quiet, and while in previous days the peace may have been a good thing, the sense of deja vu it’s giving you makes it less than comfortable. Even if you hadn’t stood on these grounds before this day, you can’t help but feel that… something needs to– no, has to happen right now–

You hear an alarm go off. Your instincts (?) have been answered. Before you can move to investigate, you a pre-recorded woman’s voice barks out orders from a speaker concealed somewhere within the camp;

[ ATTENTION. UNIT SECURITY HAS BEEN BREACHED. ALL PERSONNEL PLEASE REPORT TO THE FRONT GATE FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTION. ]

… A breach? You and your camp mates who have begun to gather outside of their own tents glance past the fence. It doesn’t look like anything is going on; not like the first time, as some of you may have remembered. If the alarms weren’t going off–

[ ATTENTION. UNIT SECURITY HAS BEEN BREACHED. ALL PERSONNEL PLEASE REPORT TO THE FRONT GATE FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTION. ]

… Well, all right. Approaching the front gate seems kind of risky in this sort of scenario, but it’s not like you had anything better to do today…

#ic;;#prologue;;

[Food For Thought] | Prologue | Canada + K | Closed

She smiles. “I like short guys. Though, most people are short in comparison to me…” Not always, but this seems to be the case in general. The pains of being an Amazon. She fidgets, flicking her fingers. Her smile seems to fade for a moment. The melancholy of the conversation seems to be setting in, and she doesn’t quite know how to deal with Sad Superhero Conversations in Real Life. (Though in all honesty, she doesn’t deal with them that well in fiction, either.)

“Courage isn’t being fearless. Courage is doing things even if you’re afraid. So, going in the Big Scary Tower From Hell is brave. No matter what you do before, or after. And that, very obviously, darling, makes you brave.”

“Well, Miss Canada,” K does finger guns at Canada with a wink. Not that it’s visible since shades but, pretend that everybody just knew how cool he was. “I happen to be the shortest guy here, second shortest in this group in general, I don’t know what that does for you but hey- aren’t I just charming?”

K stops being a total idiot with his dumb finger guns, and returns to his default position of total chillness.

“The charmingest guy here will try to be brave for you, my new friend!”

[Food For Thought] | Prologue | Canada + K | Closed

“You sound… like you have a lot of life experience,” she says, mulling over the proper thing to say, her mouth quirking into a grimace. She snorts, letting it fall at ease. “But you also sound… very brave. In all honesty I have…” She chuckles, grinning and laughing. “No idea what I’m doing. At all. Which is, as a general rule, true, but… here it’s like especially real, you know. How do you prepare for saving the world? Just yesterday I was–” She stops herself, quickly and seamlessly changing gears.

“Talking to my first husband about this. He didn’t seem to think I’d be much good at this saving the world business at all. But,” she sighs dramatically, taking a sip of wine. “I guess that’s what ex-husbands are for. Draining you of your energy and giving you enough alimony for more wine and your summer home.”

#ic;;#bd canada;;#prologue;;

K chuckled, shaking his head no. He seemed to find something funny, and put a hand on his head, just continuing to shake his head back and forth.

“Brave? Haha, no, I’m fucking terrified. I mean... thank you for the compliment, but. I ain’t brave. I’m scared and just running with that fear. Besides, fear keeps ya going way more than courage ever could, hehe. That is, if you look at the fight or flight system and you run on flight. I am a runner from my problems! Though I guess in this situation, I am running into my problems against my will screaming and hiding behind all you taller folk.”

K shrugged, absently reading the label of his bottle o’ wine now.

“That’s the only benefit of being short to be honest.”

Help Meow-t Here | K | Prologue | Closed for Ana

oneeyecringedragon

Ana merely squinted for a moment before pointing at finger at him, making a muffled “mmphpmh” before spinning 180 degrees, throwing her hands into the air as she let out a short, overdramatic scream. Turning back, she folded her arms tightly across her chest.

“Why do you have to be so reasonable.” She scowled deeply, trying to keep up the angry-girl appearance before sighing, arms going slack by her sides.

She looked up at him with one tired eye.

“Fine. Sure. You’re right. I have faith. Gimme a fuckin’ peach,” she mumbled, holding out her hand for the surely-coated-in-unnatural-substances peach.

Things could be worse. She just had to keep telling herself that. Things could be worse in a variety of ways! She could be alone, she could have everyone actively hate her, she could… She could have no food! She could have only meat food. She could have only meat food that she had to kill herself.

A little niceness wouldn’t kill her, neither would a little piece of peach, no matter how processed it was.

K chuckled, seeming a little satisfied with her response. He was more than a little amused with her response, and gladly let her take one of his peaches. He also took another one and ate it, grinning like an idiot. But then again, he always grinned like that so like what was the difference. He was just smiling as per usual then haha.

“I dunno. Heh, maybe I am just naturally reasonable. Naturally likeable too, since I am so cool. I’m glad you have faith in me! I have a lot of faith in you too, so hey, it’s equal! Well, actually, you probably have little faith in me- which is wise. Considering I’m pretty dumb. Just kidding, I’m cool, heh.”

K peered up at the tower, beginning to walk in a random direction as he did so, keeping his eye on it, hoping she would follow.

“I dunno about you, but I’m actually pretty exhausted. This whole journey is bullshit! I wish we had better beds!”

#ic;;#ana;;#prologue;;

Feline Unamewsed | K | Prologue | Closed for Marco

magicmanmarco-blog

Marco’s smile only grew wider when the stranger accepted his hand and gave a surprisingly strong shake. He hadn’t met many people in Japan who could give him a hand shake like that! At least, not many who were willing to try. He retracted his hand and placed it on his hip, letting himself relax a bit.

“K? That short for somethin’, like OK? Heheh, but really, nice to meetcha and your cool shades too.”

The topic shifted back to his hat. Marco reached up and slipped it off his head to reveal his unruly mess of curls.

“I guess you could call it a good luck charm. I’ve had it for… eight years now? Somethin’ like that. Dang cheap thing hasn’t broken yet, either! Looks as new as the day I got it. Became sort of my ‘thing’ back in highschool. Never wore it or brought it around when I was teachin’ here but comin’ back here now that the school’s in ruins… need a little reminder of the good times, you know?”

He probably said a whole lot more than what the other had been asking for. But wait! There was more! Marco spun the hat in his hands to reveal the inside of the hat to K, which apparently held a series of photographs taped to the side.

“… And it’s come in handy to hold stuff when I run out of room in my wallet for pictures! Granted, I gotta be careful so I don’t get anything sticky in my hair, but I’m getting better about that.”

Now he was done. The man spin the hat in his hands so that it was upright and placed the plastic hat back on his head.

“It ain’t as practical as your sunglasses and I don’t plan on carrying it around for much longer. Only until I find a good place to put it so it don’t get knocked over or swiped. By the looks of this place we might be able to find a way into this Tower before that happens!”

K put a hand to his chin, which was more like putting a hand to his bandanna scarf mask thing and nodded slowly, like a sage, humming and haa’ing. He was listening very carefully to Marco’s answer. Sure, he supposed it made sense. Maybe it was a bit silly to K, but he wasn’t going to outright say that and be rude! He would be a proper, clean up guy, who let others be happy with their things. Because he’s not a total jerk. Something seemed to catch K’s attention, though.

“You... taught here? Like, a teacher? Well, sensei, you look a bit young for that, but I’m not gonna say you’re lyin’ t’me! Anything is possible. Especially if you can shove than many pictures inside that hat there. Must be an awful lotta work getting those in there right with your hair man, hehehe. It’s so fluffy!”

K looked at the tower after, and sighed a bit though. He tried to seem in a good ish mood, but anything Tower related seemed to put an immediately dampening effect on his already fragile mood, but hey, at least he was trying to not be a downer right off the hop.

“I dunno man, it’s locked up pretty tight. I threw a car at it and it didn’t budge. Er, uh. Wait. No, you wouldn’t know about that huh, you’re a new kiddo. Okay, ignore that, you’ll think I’m crazy or something- and I don’t want you to think that the masked and heavily shaded man is crazy out for you, hehe. That’s an awful first impression and I want you to think I’m as rad as your fluffy ass hair.”

#ic;;#prologue;;#marco;;

Help Meow-t Here | K | Prologue | Closed for Ana

oneeyecringedragon

Ana shuddered.

“I’d rather not eat anything. That strategy doesn’t really work for any animal species. It’s frankly probably a wonder you’re in good health at all, but I suppose you get enough physical activity doing… Whatever you do… To sort of offset a shitty diet.”

She folded her arms, scowling, but with the hints of a smirk propping up the corners of her mouth.

“…Maybe that’s why you’re so short,” she said, unable to keep a straight face, breaking down into childish snickering.

“Before you get pissy, I’m joking, dude.”

Wiping a tear from her eye, she exhaled slowly.

“Well… Look. What do you wanna do. Because I distinctly remember being fifteen fucking shades of useless around here. I think I might have found, like, one stupid thing, I don’t even remember anymore. So… Whatever. I don’t care. You lead, I follow.”

A pause.

“…Unless you think I’m, like, too stressed out to go. That I’d be a liability. In which case, you can go fuck yourself, then come back and we can go explore shit or whatever.”

Ana folded her arms tightly and looked away.

“I clash with everyone, K. It’s what I do,” she noted as if a known fact.

“Lead on.”

Arms folded tightly, scowling, Ana seemed… Well, something.

K was getting really good at raised a confused brow at Ana at the things she says, because that is what he was doing right now, again, for the second time, because boy, Ana was a little confusing. In the good way, probably. He bristled a bit at the short comment, but seemed to ignore it, looking on to reply to something else she had said.

“I mean. Why would I straight up say you’re a liability, that’s incredibly rude. Just because you clash with people doesn’t mean I’m gonna straight up insult you for how angry you get and how stressed you can sometimes seem, oh my gosh.”

K was laughing a little bit as he said that, but he lowkey sounded offended. But only lowkey, so it’s okay.

“Listen, I’m not into getting all deep and shit with somebody I barely know so I wont, but what I will say is have a little faith in me man, I happen to like your company, thank you. Even if you clash a lot and make me want to insult you sometimes.”

How charming. But he seems to be saying this humorously, and not too seriously. He gave her a smile, even though he looked a little bothered before.

“Give me a little credit here... also fine, fuck you, I’ll keep my delicious, healthy, sustaining peaches all to myself and you can keep your expert dietary expertise over there in the no-fun non-liking-of-the-best-fruit-ever corner.”

#ic;;#ana;;#prologue;;

[Food For Thought] | Prologue | Canada + K | Closed

“Typical,” she sighs. And then she looks at him sympathetically. “Was anyone hurt last time?” The thought is more traumatic than the thought of herself getting hurt. Canada seems to have completely accepted K’s theory that they have all already been in and ejected out of the tower. Makes about as much sense as anything else in her mind.

K sighed as well, putting his head in his hands for a moment before having another sip of wine. “I... man, the memories are a little fuzzy at that point. Don’t think so. I think I would have remembered if they did. I remember a few innocent guards got shot, though, it was awful,” K wriggled a bit uncomfortably, not liking this topic much at all, but he continued on like the brave soldier he was! He wouldn’t let a little uncomfortable topic make him avoid talking about it completely! He was stronger than that...

“It was honestly really scary to be in a riot? But it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

Feline Unamewsed | K | Prologue | Closed for Marco

magicmanmarco-blog

Well, that certainly happened.

Marco was a little too excited to head out of Camp B. He found that his legs had carried him back to the Tower that he knew so little about. Really, how was it possible to build something so high?

It was time to start doing a little less staring and a little more doing. He remembered Kuromaru mention that they had practically thrown everything at the Tower walls but couldn’t even make a dent in it. But they didn’t have gifts, did they?

If all else, at least Marco could hold hid head up high and say he tried to get in!

Right as he was about to step closer towards the tower he heard someone say ‘you’. Hey, he was a ‘you’! And the voice wasn’t yelling at him! He was only half nervous to look around and see who was calling out to him (Or to someone else. In which case he’d try to play it cool and pretend he was casually looking around). Marco watched another one of the individuals who had collapsed before approach him in a manner that didn’t immediately make him worry. Instead they mentioned his hat, which caused a bright smile to appear on his face.

“Hah, yeah, isn’t it? One of it’s many fine qualities. I like your sunglasses. Ain’t bright enough for me to wear a pair but you seem like the sort who can pull off the look any time of the day.”

Marco extended his hand, his smile unwavering.

“I’m Marco Mason. What’s your name?”

#ic;;#marco;;#prologue;;#i am so sorry for taking a bil years

Oh god this kid was a ray of fucking sunshine wasn’t he? K couldn’t help but snort at how fast Marco has given him a cheerful smile, and he chuckled right after. Regardless, K took Marco’s hand a shook it firmly. K was a short guy but his hand shake was strong. As if he were compensating for the lack of stereotypical manliness is his short frame.

“You can call me K. Nice to meetcha. Glad you like my shades, they’re a staple of mine. Really shows how cool I am, to be honest. But enough about my totally fuckin’ amazing shades. But Marco, what’s up with the viking hat? I mean, no judging, but it’s a little odd.”

K was still brushing off dust as he spoke, shaking his head vigorously to get the dust out of his hair. This was until he remembered he was wearing a beanie, and he noticed it launch off his head from the momentum. Not to worry though, he catches it with one hand before it hit the ground (not that the dust on the ground would make a difference at this point) and continued to speak.

“Like. I seriously can’t judge since I know I look dumb but come on. You can’t walk around with a hat like that and not expect a question. I mean. It somehow suits you but I’m still curious.”

when ur campin and stuck on mobile and all u wanna do is join a hopeful chat but mobiles like lol nah, wake me up inside(save me) also hi friends

#ooc;;#unrelated;;

[Food For Thought] | Prologue | Canada + K | Closed

She frowns. “But they have… the gates. And the tanks. The soldiers? I thought they were supposed to be protecting us.”

Canada remembers thinking vaguely that the soldiers were really trying just to keep them inside. That they were the freaks that everyone else had to be protected from. But… hearing that there was a riot, that people other than the Catalyst might be trying to hurt her… again… she wasn’t quite sure she was ready for that possibility. Again. Strangely, she found that that was not because she was scared.

K snorted with contempt this time. “As if. They can’t do shit, if civilian rioters can get in. And the fuckin’ rioters... as if they could advance in the tower, man I’m still bitter they even attacked us...” K was probably spewing nonsense to Canada as to her, they had all just arrived, and not got through the tower and all that. Yet K seemed so genuinely bitter about this, haha. “We are tryna help everybody! And that’s how they repaid us. I hope we don’t need to suffer that bullshit again.”

[Food For Thought] | Prologue | Canada + K | Closed

She snorts, feeling warmth in his hand, and resting her hand on it gently while its on her shoulder before letting him slide it away. Friend. That’s a nice word to hear aloud, even if it isn’t in her own native language. When’s the last time she heard it in any language? “Thanks. LIke I said. Not a big deal. You sound a bit tired, though, Special K. You gonna take a nap?”

“HAHA. No. I’m going to get drunk and wait to be let into the tower. Believe it or not- I am a stressed cat man. I got this wine as a gift and I intend on making the best of it.” K smiled. “Besides, I don’t feel like... safe, sleeping here. Last time, most of us- other than you newbies of course, had to go through a riot. It was awful.”

[Food For Thought] | Prologue | Canada + K | Closed

She sighs. “Don’t worry about it. It was a long time ago. I’m not really a celebrity anymore. I had… sort of an accident… and then…” She looks down at her scars, and laughs. “It’s hard to be Canada’s sweetheart when you’re also Canada’s living Ticking Time bomb…” She closes and opens her hands. “I was less of a child star and more of a… public spectacle-slash-freak show. But at least I went out with a bang, right?” She smiles. It doesn’t even look all that different from her other smiles. She still doesn’t meet his eyes.

“I have my powers under control now, and… I don’t have to worry about what other people think anymore.” She shrugs. “Well, except for my husband, Felix. If he thinks he’s getting the house in the divorce, he’s got another thing coming. Especially after that stunt he pulled with our maid in the Alps…”

“Hey, man. I understand how that is, at least. Bein’ a public spectacle. Though, I became one of my own accord. Because of the stunts I pulled, I also had an accident. So no need to feel sad here!” K tried to offer her a heart warming grin, reaching over to give her a pat on the shoulder. “I nearly died from jumping out of an exploding building. What’s your baggage? We’ve all got some. Nothin’ to be ashamed about.” K sneezed. All the dust on him was still intense. It was a small, cutesie sneeze. Because K is tiny and cute. “It’s good you’ve learned to not care what others think, though. I think past your weird little stories you keep saying- is that a shtick of yours if it is I wont ask you to stop, heh, anyways, past all that you’re pretty cool. I don’t really think you’re really showing me like... you, but hey. We just met. What can I expect, kehehe. I’m not high enough level to achieve Premium Canada. Canada Supreme.” K stretched, yawning a bit before continuing to speak. “A shame you had an accident, though. Sorry about that, friend.”

[Food For Thought] | Prologue | Canada + K | Closed

“Well,” she says, smirking wryly. “I am quite the fan of grinding.” She snorts, taking a sip. Canada is ambivalent when it comes to ‘challenges’ and ‘hardships’ but she is one hundred percent committed to winning video games, and especially one hundred percent committed to winning video game analogies.

“This might surprise you, Special K, but I’m actually… something of a celebrity.” She closes her eyes, swirling her wrists. “It was a long, long time ago, though.” Her smile is tight-lipped and calm. “I’m sure you don’t even remember little ol’ Cassie Dre. I didn’t do any Japanese interviews, after all.”

K wasn’t drinking slowly, but he was drinking at a relatively steady pace. It really showed his true state of emotion which was stressed, but he managed to remain polite looking and listened to Canada intently. K laughed nervously this time. “Well you see, I didn’t grow up with TV. Well, much of it. Could never afford it. Shows and movies were lost to me, even Japanese shows. Don’t feel bad that I have absolutely no idea who you are except a nice wine lady.”

K ate a peach, and then continued drinking the nice wine. “I can hack sure, but talk social media and pop culture to me and you’ve pretty much got me at a loss. Anyways, I didn’t know I was talking to a celebrity. It’s weird to meet somebody who is like... known, heh.”