failure to launch

'Space is an inspirational concept that allows you to dream big.' - Peter Diamandis. Situated in the park for now. ((Afiiliated with Asphodel valley.))

[terranfirma]

Crash-landing reality (open / intro)

[pristinebeats-deactivated201312]

"Clay Terran ain’t a very common name where I’m from." It sounded very western. Too modern for the sticks that lived in Gensokyo. “So I’d say your name is pretty unique as it is!” 

"Now, now, you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes, you know? The thrill of danger is great! Being in the middle of crossfire is one of the best feelings I’ve ever had!" Of course, the astronaut had no idea that Raiko was talking about actual crossfire. Hopefully. “You know what they say: you only live once! Gotta make the best of it, no matter what. And hey, who knew that there’s stuff after being dead! At least here, you got another chance to try out all the stuff you missed out on!”

"In any case, space sounds like a super cool thing! I’d love to learn some new stuff. It’s the joy of li- er, still having your consciousness. And… hmm…" The drummer pondered for a bit. “Yeah, I can teach you music! It ain’t too hard to pick up an instrument and learn something! You got a preference? Drums? Guitar? Keyboard? I can hook you up with lessons, yeah? Hey, maybe if you get good enough, you can even join my band!” Her yet-to-be-reestablished band.

"Man, you can’t stay outside! Your kind ain’t too resilient, y’know. Well, you’re the embodiment of it right now!" She laughed, oblivious to the dark humor behind it. “You can always find your way outside, but you gotta have a cushy place to relax, y’know? Plus…” The youkai shook her head. Maybe mentioning those shadow things she occasionally saw wouldn’t be a good idea. Didn’t wanna scare the guy, after all.

[terranfirma]

"Yeah...I can sorta see why my name wouldn't be common in some places. Because both parts of my name are a kind of earth and really easy to make jokes about, so..." The space enthusiast trailed off to give a sheepish laugh there, before speaking up once more, grinning. "Thanks for the compliment! Your name's pretty neat too, and to hear someone who agrees with living each day to it's fullest is great! Okay, so we're kinda dead and can't exactly 'live' out each day to the utmost anymore, but to keep focused and determined still applies, right? I bet the people who we knew while alive would want us to do that, at least!!"

Despite his overly-energetic manner of saying it, Clay liked to think he'd stated something pretty solid and valid there! Shame there wasn't more people around to hear it, because he reckoned such a bright, hopeful statement might have helped a few folk with how sad dying was...he'd have to remember this so he could say it again to others! (Of course, such was his oblivious nature that he would likely not remember at all.)

"Exactly, but...hey, I can understand why other people wouldn't see it this way. To each to their own, ya know? At the very least, though, I hope my energy rubs off on others!" Giving a thumbs-up, there, his gloved hand then moved to adjust his space hat regarding not only the other having a similar view on things as himself, but wanting to learn more about space!! He reckoned he'd found a pretty good potential buddy right here from this, heh.

"I don't really know how to play any instruments, but I'm willing to give just about anything a try!" As in, the last time he tried, the entire space center ended up taking said instrument OFF him. Though, at the protests he couldn't stay outside, he just grinned. "Telling me I can't do it just makes me wanna go there more, you do know that? Because of the danger! Hey, I promise I'll have a look at the places available, but I've camped outside heaps of times! What's so different about doing it when I'm dead, besides the obvious?"

Seemed quite obvious that he'd missed the trailing-off of the lady just then.

[tuzvrukave]

As he was new to Asphodel Valley, many of the intricacies and mysteries were still unknown to him, though what little he learned was more than enough for him. The Shadows, the strange townspeople—they didn’t really feel like ‘people’ to Jack, he felt that they were more like mannequins—it was all too much for the rather simple man to comprehend.

And then he heard someone scream loudly. Jack’s initial response was to level his gun towards the screamer—many a splicer had been so polite as to telegraph their presence by, well, yelling. But when he remembered that he didn’t have any of his guns, he turned around to see someone approaching him. Someone who was very… well, not threatening.

He was very talkative, though. And he was offering to help.

This young man, he was so loud. Jack was rather taken aback by the sheer volume of words that poured from his mouth. It was like a torrent, a flood of Biblical proportions that would have swallowed up the heathen masses.

"I don’t need any water, but directions… yes." Jack flexed his fingers, and the flames died down. The flesh returned to a relatively normal appearance, though the scarring was evident in places. "I just arrived, you see."

[terranfirma]

As the unknown guy with the flaming hand turned to face him, Clay slowly realized not only the fact of water not probably being helpful in this situation which had been figured out before: but that this guy was really tall. Heck, he'd thought he himself was pretty tall: but this guy seemed to tower over him. Not being used to this, Clay bobbed up and down to try and stand on tiptoes, with little to no success. It sure felt weird having to do that to talk to someone properly, but that was okay!

"Ah, so you'd appreciate a bit of guidance? Why those people who actually have lived here for yonks and yonks don't just draw up maps of the place, I dunno, but in the meantime, I'm happy to help as much as I can!" The bravery of the intrepid space explorer was such that even though this stranger towered over him, he didn't show the slightest bit of hesitation or fear. Or perhaps that was more part of his 'obliviousness' than 'bravery'.

However, Clay's chipper grin turned to a look of surprise again rather quickly at the fire around the other's hand vanishing without so much as a single finger clasped over it. "Whoooaa...how - wha- wait, no, I shouldn't be running my mouth with the questions, I should actually be doing the best I can with the guidance thing like I said. I know that being new in such a big place must be kinda disorientating, because I woke up a few days ago here myself."

A few nods, before Clay then gave a wave to the fancier buildings not far away. "From what I've seen so far, this place's split into two different types'a areas: old-fashioned kind of stuff and fancy stuff like this. Maybe the town's still in development? I haven't seen any construction workers or stuff like that, though..but I bet each different part of the valley has different stuff to offer, depending on if the building's are fancy or not!"

A pause there, before he sheepishly admitted on the topic of why the 'newer' parts of town weren't being added to, it seemed - "I don't know much about that, but I do know that the hotels that people can stay in are expensive here, but the people who live here say staying in public areas like the park, where I sleep, is dangerous. So, it's up to you...would you like me to show you the hotels more, or places where it's free to stay?"

A question about direction-giving, there, he then decided to do something while he waited for the other to make a decision. Introducing himself seemed a good idea, right?

"By the way, my name's Clay Terran! What's your name, mister?"

[tuzvrukave]

Jack was dead, and he didn’t know what to do about it.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t died before—he had died time and time again, waking up in the bluish light of a Vita Chamber. But this, well, this was no Vita Chamber. It was… a town. Asphodel Valley, or so he’d learned from the street signs. There was no reason or rhyme to his being here. Other men would have puzzled on it, agonized on the circumstances that would have brought them to Asphodel Valley—and the other residents certainly did.

Well, the Vita Chamber had been shut down, hadn’t it? It seemed that he was out of its range. He had known that much when he’d stepped onto the elevator up to that last confrontation… Jack pushed those thoughts out of his mind. There were more important things to do.

He stared out at the street before him—it felt too wide, for one. Too… open. The plazas he had fought in were always perfect ambush zones, and this street was nearly as wide as most of them.

He had to find some shelter, a place to rest his head and think of his next move. Before anything else, that much needed to be done.

And so he walked off—his trusty wrench in hand, while his other was curled into a fist. If one looked carefully, they would see that the man’s hand was literally on fire—parts of it were blackened like coal. Despite the tongues of flame that trailed from his flesh, the man seemed to think nothing of it…

[terranfirma]

The encounter at the library earlier today had left Clay immensely confused and bewildered as to this place: not that he hadn't been confused already, but with the amount of knowledge of people that the library here seemed to have - it was like they had expected them to come to this place in particular after death, almost, but how could anyone do that? Were they all secret future-fortellers or something? Nah, that'd be silly. He was a space enthusiast, not a 'astrology' guy! Still, even if he didn't put stock into such tales, it was still confusing.

"I'M CLAY TERRAN, AND I'M STILL FINE! EVEN IF I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!" Shouting to himself to try and dispel some of his inner frustrations at the headache-inducing bewilderment (it was, as usual, quite happily effective...at least for him, though he sure hoped he hadn't hurt anyone's ears in the process!), Clay supposed that thinking about it wouldn't lead to anything special. He wasn't gonna try to figure this place out himself, honestly.

All he wanted was to stay supportive like his best bud would want! Maybe help others, too. Though, any efforts to stride down the place confidently were cut short at spotting a guy who's hand looked like it was on fire. "...Uhm. Do you need some water for thaaa-" Wait. Hold on a  moment. Did people who were dead even need help for injuries? He'd realized that, despite his oblivious nature.

"Okaaaaay, never mind about the water, but if you DO need it let me know. Instead, how about I offer to give you some directions? I know I needed them when I was new here...."

[burakkushuuta-deactivated201406]

★ Because knowledge is power

A wobbling throne of old dusty books.

A girl with uneven pigtails sitting upon it like a princess stuck in a tower. A perturbed expression in her crystal blue eyes, scanning pages with curious intensity.

This was the charming sight that greeted all those who entered the library. For the past few hours, Rock was engrossed in her task, trying her best to find all that she could about this town’s history. But the results were lackluster in that endeavor; not a page, quip or delightful limerick was to be found. If there were any books that could reveal it’s secrets, the librarian was being tightlipped about it.

However, her efforts were not in waste. There were some peculiar things to be found between these withering bookcases. For example, there was a whole book pop up book explaining the purpose of the organization she belonged to; the black stars. There was even a brief mention of Rock herself but the pages abruptly stopped there.

That was not the only fascinating book. There was one more she had read, one that hadn’t seemed odd until a stranger took her notice.

"You—" The girl made a motion to point, forgetting the position she was in. The tower tilted. The girl’s heart chilled with fear.

In one sudden swoop, she and the tower of books crumbled into massive heap of limbs and worn out text. Books of all sort coughed up dust and ripped pages, the collision too much for the ancient tomes.

The pain was incredible. Falling directly on your head was not at all recommended. 

"… You. You’re in this book…"

Despite that, Rock calmly raised the book she had in her hand and pointed at it as she laid on her back.

"Right here. See?"

[terranfirma]

Though there was little 'point' if he was continuing his determined search to get used to this place in coming here, of all places, Clay Terran had still convinced himself to walk to this library anyway. After overhearing it from a 'town local' who he'd asked a lot of questions, it seemed the best place to probably find maps and things like that about the town. Not to mention, maybe, if he was super lucky - he might even find a book that explained why the dead were here, of all places.

The place was much bigger than first anticipated, however, and he found himself staring eye-to-eye with a literal wall of books. ...Oh boy. Where did he even start? Some of them were in languages he couldn't even recognize, too, no matter how hard he tried, odd symbols and such littering the spines - what kind of language WAS that?! Hey, maybe someone else in the library might have luck on the matter?

With that, Clay held the book carefully as he started walking again, only for a shocked, almost shaky sounding voice to cut him short, turning to see a lady he didn't know perched precariously on a tower of books. Hey, that looked like fun! What did she want, though? The tower suddenly toppled thanks to her wild movements before he could ponder much longer, the space enthusiast giving a shout of alarm (a very loud one at that) at it all, even as the other raised the book she held.

"H-hey - that looked like a really nasty fall. How many fingers am I holding up? Do you think you might need help to stand or somethin'?" His right hand that was not still holding the book holding four fingers up was interrupted by actually hearing the other's words mid concern, and he blinked, briefly flicking his gaze to the pages of the tome she held. 

...What the heckie? The lady was right! This book said about the place he worked with such detail he'd think the writer visited the space center themselves, and not only that - they knew about top-secret procedures and saftey measures only workers should know, and his name was indeed in there - but at his name being mentioned, the brief passage on 'himself' stopped there.

"Whoa...WHOAAA. What does this mean, exactly? I came here to try and get answers, not be more confused, but...that can wait for now!" Trying to shake off how confused he felt, a gloved hand was then held out to the other. "Let's focus on making sure you have no really bad injuries after that fall, first, and THEN we can be super-confused."

Come to think of it...maybe once he knew she was okay, he should show the strange book he himself had found to her..maybe she could read the odd symbols? It was worth a try, even if it might lead to more really confusing stuff.

[symmetricson]

come, sweet death || av open

To find himself in such a place was odd, but not uncomfortable.

This strange seaside town to which he’d been transported to…Asphodel Valley. The air was heavy with the stench of death and every soul here cried out for answers to the phrase that had been presented to them upon their arrival. You are dead.

But such wasn’t the case for Kid. He was a death god, a shinigami. He couldn’t die. So why was he here? It both made sense and it didn’t, but he wasn’t going to work himself up about it. Surely, he’d either find a way home or his friends would find him. All in due time. One had to be patient. Gather information. Consider all options and—Kid stopped in his tracks, staring at on object which hung above his head.

It was a simple, round lamp. The stained glass on it, was another story. Intricate designs woven together in a very specific pattern. The colors matched up perfectly on each side, and if you drew a line down the middle…

“Beautiful…it’s so beautiful! The symmetry, precise and neat…absolutely perfect!”

He beamed at it as he walked past, glad to see that something so aesthetically pleasing was present in such a dreadful place. Mere seconds later, and only a few steps forward, Kid heard a loud shattering sound, and he shattered too. Oh no. He turned his head slowly to find but mere fragments of the beautiful symmetrical object on the ground. Somehow, it’d fallen and broken into pieces. Right as he’d walked past.

Kid sunk to his knees in front of it, tears welling up in his eyes as he bent over, elbows and fists on the ground, forehead pressing against the concrete.

“It’s over. It’s gone. Such beauty gone in a matter of seconds. How. Why. Why did this happen. It’s me. It was my fault.”

“I deserve to die!”

[terranfirma]

Though awakening in this town the next day after he'd fallen asleep late last night - still so many questions abuzz in his head like wayward firefiles - had proven, at the very least, none of this was a weird dream, Clay supposed that just sitting in the park where he'd chosen to stay (reason one for this being he hadn't enough money to even consider staying in ANY of the apartments around here, and reason two being that he loved the night sky anyway, so he preferred camping outdoors despite the folk 'native' to the city warning of 'potential danger') wasn't going to solve anything.

There had to be someone around here who knew a bit more of this place, right? Right! If not, then, at least he could try his best to reassure and assist other newcomers. He knew that being helped himself had set his mind a little at ease, thanks to a nice missy he'd met at the train station, so...the decent thing to do was try and help a few other dead folk too. Maybe they were feeling scared, anxious or nervous, and would really need a kind hand.

Of course, the fact there were so many people here was constantly surprising. Were so many lives snuffed out much like the amount of stars that simply vanished everyday? Maybe, but it seemed kind of weird that they'd all end up the same place! Hey, he was just a space enthusiast, not some 'afterlife specialist', though, so not really his place to think about THAT.

Shaking it off and doing his best to ruffle leaves out of his hair, confident steps were taken out into the 'streets' of the city, despite the fact he still didn't know the place too well. It didn't take very long to find someone upset, either, the loud noise of complaining audible after a few minutes or so of walking. Seemed like it seemed to be coming from a guy in black, on his hands and knees near a....to be honest, Clay didn't know WHAT that shattered thing at his feet was.

Maybe it was super-important, like a model of a planet or something! Leaning down a little, the space enthusiast spoke. "It really sucks that...uhm....whatever that important thing was...broke on ya. Maybe I could help, though! I could try and find some glue to help fix it...and then if you want, I can guide you around this 'land of dead', because it's pretty darn confusing."

Clay knew if HE broke something important of his own, he'd be upset, too, so he didn't brush the shattered item off as nothing.

[terranfirma]

Crash-landing reality (open / intro)

[pristinebeats-deactivated201312]

Was he joking or not? Raiko wasn’t sure, but the sudden reaction elicited a chuckle from the drummer. “Yeah, yeah, sure!” Did Japanese people even have middle names? She gave this name to herself, so why not add that name too? Seriously, this guy was adorable!

"Sounds pretty admirable, if I must say so myself! Heard your kind gets into a lot of trouble. Getting down ain’t no way to live, y’know? Man, when I’m down, I just give a quick bang to my drums and just like that!" She twirled around her drumstick some more as she spoke. “All my problems float away on the sounds of the drums. Hell, if that saying isn’t working, I can always shove an instrument in their face and help ‘em learn! I could use some more people, since my old bandmates ain’t around!”

Soon enough, the two arrived at the entrance of town. Raiko continued to drag him through the New Town. “Man, you’ve been to space? Never been there myself, but seems like a pretty cool place! But here, you can just find any old vacant place and make it your home! A house, a barn, even a warehouse, as long as its empty, it’s yours! I got me a room in some old hotel in the heart of the city, but I’m thinking of moving out. They ain’t too fond of my music, sadly. And I can’t be too far from my drums! They’re a part of me, after all!” Literally.

[terranfirma]

"N-no kidding? It really is your middle name? Man, I wish I had a unique middle name like that, but mine's pretty normal soundin' - guess that isn't really here or there right now though, hah. I mean, I think trying to understand as much I can about this is a bit more important if I wanna keep to me an' my best bud's saying that 'we'll be fine' properly!" Totally believing the madam on that obvious lie, such was his obliviousness, his energy didn't fade a bit even as the topic moved to a somewhat serious one. "Yeah, people get in trouble a lot -  I used to, too! Mainly because I kind of chased dangerous stuff on purpose for the thrill, for...for the sake of the energy of it, and that it makes you feel truly alive! I've had a few scrapes and close shaves for it, too, but..."

His smile flickered just the tiniest bit, there. "But this is...the first time I haven't gotten outta something okay despite it. As you say, though, getting sad about it won't change nothing, and I owe it to my best pal to stay positive." Nodding, he tried his best to focus on the bright things instead of the looming depressing topic of death: heck, what made it even more upsetting is he didn't even know HOW he'd died yet, not even allowed to get that much closure. Talk about lame.

"Music's your thing to stay positive, huh?" Listening to how the other stayed chipper was certainly a nice distraction, though! "I love looking out at space the best! Space is so amazing that it always makes me happy, or I try to remember fun times me an' my pal have- er...well, I guess I should say 'had' now, huh? The infinite mysteries and explorations available in space - it sure is great. Maybe I should find a telescope somewhere so I can show nice folk like you how great it is, too?!"

The topic of showing someone how awesome space was certainly brought his smile back to full strength and enthusiasm very quickly indeed, and as the other led him into really modern, fancy-looking buildings through the entry part, Clay became aware that this place might be...a little bit bigger than first imagined. "Oooh, do you think they'd even let people camp out in parks here, if they have 'em? You see, staying outdoors is the best place to go for stargazin!"

Clay certainly was...enthusiastic about space, if that much had not already been made very obvious.

[terranfirma]

Crash-landing reality (open / intro)

[pristinebeats-deactivated201312]

What a cute kid! Raiko normally stayed away from the young men, but this one wasn’t so bad. She liked his enthusiasm already!

"Friendly is my middle name, dude!" She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him towards the town.

"Yeah! I can help you out. Lemme tell you, it’s been a pretty big drag, what with all these super serious people walking around. All sad and junk about being dead. You humans really take all this way too seriously. Come on, you gotta look at the bright side of everything!" After all, she wasn’t an inanimate object anymore. That was a pretty huge bright side.

On the way back, she stopped. “Oh, right, gimme a sec.” She stepped off the path and clapped her hands twice before putting one hand to her mouth and whistling. Content with her little display, she wrapped her arm around Clay’s, dragging him once again to town.

"Alright, shoot! No questions are dumb questions, after all! Just lemme know when you wanna stop for food or something, okay?" Hopefully Clay didn’t turn around to see the strange floating bass drum following behind them.

[terranfirma]

The other grabbing his hand and being willing to show him around the valley was great, but on the other's statement, he couldn't help but react in a very audibly surprised manner. "Your middle name is actually 'friendly'?! WHOA."

"Wow, I never heard of anyone who legitimately has that as a middle name before! Maybe it's the fate of the stars I met such a cool person, then!" ...And he'd missed the actual point of it by a mile, which probably made him look silly, but if he was aware of this, his chipper grin made it obvious he really didn't mind.

(Actually, he was oblivious to his flub-up, too, for now.) "I guess a lotta folk would be sad about being dead, but! I made a promise to my best friend when we were little...well, kinda like a promise. 'You're Clay Terran, and you're fine...' we used to tell each other we'd be fine all the time! It was our thing, so! It'd be pretty disrespectful to our phrase if I didn't stay fine! If you tell yourself you're fine enough times, you have the strength to do anything."

A pause, before he grew slightly sheepish for going on that tangent. "At least that's what I think! Maybe I should teach that saying to everyone else to help them stay strong, too? Anyway, I totally agree! Looking on what bright sides you can is much better!" However, himself being dragged about was...cut suddenly short.

What was she whistling to...? Though, the prospect of questions distracted him. "Sure, I've got a lot of questions! First comes the most obvious one - what kind of places to stay are here? This place looks so big...not as big as space, heh, but still pretty big!" Luckily for the other, the floating drum remained unseen by the space enthusiast for now.

[expresstraintohell]

far from paraiso || av open

[expresstraintohell]

So this guy actually knew what was going on here, for the most part, anyway. Was it true then? They were really dead? Michiko’s eyes widened for a moment before they settled back down to fit the frown she wore. This didn’t make any sense. Something like this wasn’t possible was it? Then again, curses and lucky charms were real, so why couldn’t the afterlife be real?

Michiko scoffed as she pushed her sunglasses up on her head and ran her tongue over her lips. She was just trying to accept that this was her fate now. So she was dead. And what of Hatchin? 

Suddenly, she whipped her head around and looked at the kid again, eyes wide.

“Yeah…yeah you’re right, aren’t you? Since I haven’t seen her, that probably means she’s still alive right…I mean me bein’ dead is…whatever, I guess, but Hatchin’s…Hatchin’s still got her entire life ahead of her.”

But she still had to find Hiroshi on her own. And there was the matter of Satoshi going after them, and Atsuko…but Atsuko would help her at least…suddenly all this worry flooded Michiko’s mind, and she shoved her fingers into her hair, nails digging at her scalp.

“But what if she is here and I just can’t find her? What if she died too?”

[terranfirma]

Despite his knowledge of this place...probably not being a whole lot at this point, it was enough to provide the stranger with good enough answer, and despite the thoughtful, serious look on the lady's face, hey, he'd helped, and that was great! It didn't get rid of all the problems, of course: heck, there were a lot of problems about this valley in general he had no idea how to tackle as of yet! One thing at a time, though, and even solving little things like this was good.

  At least that was a positive, right? His chipper expression turned to something more serious at the lady's talk that the clown with heart hair had 'her entire life ahead of her' - oh, so she was only a little kid clown? Yeah, to think of any kids having to die and be stuck here was...not a pleasant thought. No cheerful statement could change that. Though his optimistic point of view could well be correct, the point the other made was correct, too! What if she had died, and the other had yet to find her? 

Well! He couldn't just stand there and do nothing on hearing a story like that now, could he? Clenching his fists in determination, Clay's expression became focused. "Then what if someone helped you look? Two pairs of eyes are better than one - I may be just as new as you, sure, but I'm not gonna just ignore someone who's worried as you seem to be! If she's a kid, she can't have gone too far if she is here, right? I'll help...if that's okay with you!"

Of course, what Clay didn't yet know was that there were more dangers in simply looking around the town than he thought.

"I mean, if I knew any kids, I'd be worried sick at the thought of them being here, too...and being worried stinks a lot."

He'd know a lot about that, himself, what with...past embarrassing situations and all. Which he didn't exactly want to talk about for obvious reasons!!

[expresstraintohell]

far from paraiso || av open

Dead? Like hell.

When she snapped back to ‘reality’, that had been the first thought in her mind. You are dead. But almost instantly, Michiko had thrown that aside, because there was absolutely no fucking way. Sure she lived dangerously, and sure she had had a number of close calls, but there was no way she was actually dead right now. The last she remembered, she was with Hatchin, about to see Hiroshi.

What the hell had happened? Suddenly she was here and she couldn’t remember a damn thing. She still had her scooter and a gun for some reason. If she was really dead, well then, shit. If she wasn’t, then there was something important she needed to take care of. Something she cared about more even than her own death.

Michiko found a piece of paper and pen and crudely scribbled a drawing, then wrote ‘Hatchin’ on the corner. She smiled a bit as she placed a cigarette in her mouth and lit it while walking to the nearest populated area.

Once there, she shoved the paper in the face of the nearest passerby, speaking loudly and rudely.

“Hey, hey! Turn around!”

“You seen a girl that looks like this anywhere?”

[terranfirma]

Now, if Clay honestly said he expected his observations of places to stay (really, they all cost money, and even though the locals advised against it, he was considering just staying in the park area until he actually had the money to put into those hotels) to be interrupted by a piece of paper promptly being shoved into view, that would have been a lie, and he tugged on his hat as he tried to figure out...what on earth the picture was.

It looked like some sort of clown with heart-shaped hair? Not that he, of all people, was one to talk about weird hairstyles! People had accused him of never brushing his own hair plenty of times, and that wasn't going into his best friend's 'rabbit ears' hairstyle, heh. Well, he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted like this! It was time to answer the stranger’s question. His face registered an apologetic expression as he shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. I haven’t seen anyone like that here. I’m new here though, so they might be here further in the valley, but I wouldn’t know.”

A pause, there, before he brought a hand to his chin in thought. “Actually, it’s definitely a good thing I haven’t seen that person, when I think about it! Wouldn’t that person being here make them dead, too??”

Even here, he still kept his 'trying to look on the positive' mentality, though there was certainly very little to be positive about right now. Hey, being positive in such a challenging place would make one stronger, right?

"I mean, I could be wrong, but...the majority of folks here all seem to have the fact they've died in common, so that's gotta mean something. Maybe?" Despite missing the point a lot, he may have had a point there. Though his voice easily betrayed he was a little uncertain about that topic.

[modelo2b]

The wrong one .:Open:.

Letting out a groan, the trainer stared at the pokeball in his hand. This was so fucking fantastic. He didn’t even question the reasons for him to be dead. He just knew he probably fucked with the wrong person. No point in mourning and it wasn’t really like he gave a flying fuck about the situation that lead him to, here.

Though at least they were decent enough to let him keep that metal bat of his. Object that helped him countless times in the past to get away from annoying people.

Clicking the button of the pokeball letting out the large blue gator. That simply yawned with it’s immense jaws enough to tickle the rival off. God fuck, this lazy ass moron was dragged into the after life.

And thus, getting a hold of the stick they also gave him the red head simply launched it at the face of his Feraligtr with enough strength to make it whine.

“DO YOU SEE THIS SHIT? DO YOU FUCKING SEE THIS SHIT, I’M FUCKING DEAD AND YOU GOT DRAGGED ALONG, DON’T LAZE LIKE THAT IN FRONT OF ME WHEN I’M ANGRY.”

If someone happened to be peeking near by, they probably would get mad, but this is his pokemon and he does whatever he damn pleases with it, aside, he was angry.

[terranfirma]

Looking on the positives of all of this, though it was hard at first to see anything good about being dead, at the very least, Clay knew a little bit about where this weird place was now, but he really wasn't used to any of it yet. Not to mention he hadn't yet figured out where to stay, so now he found himself taking a walk around the place with long strides. It looked like there were people here unlike him and the person who'd informed him - they'd lived here for a long time!

Okay, he was really oblivious sometimes, and he'd admit that himself! There was something about those people who'd lived here that creeped him out. Like, incredible unease and unsettling in general, so he'd decide it would probably be better to take his chances looking around alone rather than ask them for assistance. However, it was apparent even the 'streets' of this strnage city - Asphodel Valley, he'd learned it was called - was not without sudden events.

He overheard someone in an irritable mood, and turned to spot a red-haired guy smacking a strange blue alligator with a stick. "...How'd a giant alligator end up dying? I mean I've seen enough nature docos while waiting for specials on space to think more people die than them and not the other way around...?" Wait, he'd kind of missed the point there. Shaking his head, Clay then spoke to the red-haired boy.

"I really don't think that's a good idea, not that it's any of my business to butt in. Wouldn't the alligator bite the stick in half or something, or try to bite you, if you keep doing that?"

Of course, Clay didn't know what a 'Pokemon' was, so it made sense he also didn't know about Pokemon generally not attacking their trainers.

[terranfirma]

Crash-landing reality (open / intro)

[pristinebeats-deactivated201312]

To think that some of the locals of Asphodel Valley were so against wonderful music. It was a tragedy! All the drummer wanted to do was play some sick beats for everyone around, and yet not one person appreciated it. Being told to keep it down was one of the worst insults a musician could ever be told!

…Maybe it would have helped if Raiko didn’t get inspiration in the wee hours of the night.

Because of this, the youkai began her practice near the entrance of town, on the path leading from the station. Despite her own experience, she had yet to find a new arrival on the path in her short time practicing there. This changed today.

The drummer walked along the side of the path, twirling her drumsticks around her fingers in an almost inhuman speed, whistling her favorite tune. After all, even great drummers like her needed a break. She was interrupted by a strange yell not too far from her location. Curious, she moved forward.

"Well, would you look at that? Looks like this place isn’t as empty as I thought. Normally I’d retort, asking who you were, but you’ve already answered that, haven’t you, Mister Clay Terran?” She gleefully responded, waving around her stick. “Raiko Horikawa is my name, and you are a new one, aren’t you? Or maybe you were just visiting the station out of pure curiosity?”

[terranfirma]

Clay blinked in brief surprise at hearing that he was certainly not the only one in this situation who hadn't expected to see anyone else around right now - this lady must have died too, right? Maybe he wasn't as alone in this strange area as he first expected, if more than one 'dead' person found themselves here so inexplicably. "Raiko? Well, it's really nice to meet a friendly face in such confusing circumstances! As for your question, I just woke up here a few seconds ago."

Tipping his hat to the other with a trademark enthusiastic grin, Clay then grew serious for once, regarding the situation itself. "You seem to know a little about this place already, actually! Hate to be a bother an' all - I mean, you must be really shocked about all this too - but can you pass on some information? It'd be super helpful, and I promise I'll return the favour when I can!"

Yes, he wasn't so oblivious that he did not know that here was a chance to clarify some things! The more he understood about this, the better he could keep his promise to his best friend...even though he was dead now, right?

"Okay, so I don't exactly have any money on me or stuff like that right now...but I'll pay you back when I can, totally! Unless you're kinda busy right now?" 

He was totally lost, so even a tiny hint would help a lot!

[terranfirma]

WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

"The one place I'd like to most visit isn't even on our planet, though! Unless going to and reassuring my best pal everything'll be fine counts."

[terranfirma]

Crash-landing reality (open / intro)

The immense amount of pain which had him just lying there, unable to move - where had it come from so suddenly? As much as he strained his mind to recall something, anything about it, the reason why he felt such jabbing sensations was as far away from his grasp as Pluto, right about now. How lame was that? However, there was one thing he seemed certain about - he was dead. ...Okaay. Hey, wait, no, that wasn't okay at all! That was the very furthest from okay. Attempting to mentally re-trace things, the last thing he remembered was being accepted to go on the launch flight with Starbuck, his hero: but whatever happened after that?

It was all one big blank, and then the pain faded just as soon as it had come, leaving him to snap his eyes open in alarm and take shaky, sputtering breaths in. (Kind of a moot point, given he was apparently dead and all.) It seemed like he was in some sort of train station, but being in completely unfamiliar terrain was the least of his concerns right now.

How was he supposed to keep the promise to his best friend now? For that matter, how was he even reacting to knowing he was dead? Despite his bravado, Clay found his gloved hands tugging at his favoured cap. What...what was he going to do now? He couldn't fix this as easily as a problem in system checking when helping prepare for launches.

Firmly letting go of his hat, Clay shook his head. Hey now, that was no way to think - his best friend wouldn't want that. No, what his best pal would want if he could know about this would be one thing and one alone.

"I'm...I-i'm..."

Only a whisper, there?

No, he couldn't relapse into old timid, faint-hearted ways! Clenching his fists and willing himself to believe things would get better if he did that one thing, he then shouted in his usual loud voice.

"I'M CLAY TERRAN, AND I'M FINE!"

Huh - wait a second, as he finished his shouts, which as always, did wonders to help -something, or rather someone, caught his eye.

"...There's someone else here? I thought I was all alone! Who're you?"

In being so swept up in curiosity, he failed to realize that the person he was speaking to may have only approached due to being startled by how loud he was. Missing the point by 1000 light years, as usual.