Katahiko!

Pew Pew | Emilia | Ch4 | Closed for Katahiko

emiliamonde‌:

The confirmation that it wasn’t done yet left her slightly disappointed to be completely honest. She knew 3 days was pretty quick, and he got sick and all, but part of her was wondering if he postponed due to their deal…

No, he would never do that. He’s a bit of a coward, but in the cute, screaming at everything way, not the taking advantage of someone due to his own fears way. Besides, if she were to think of it anymore, all she’d do was sour their current activity

“Oho, pretend? Now why would I try to imagine you as a bigger threat?”

She had only a small understanding of how the chair would get in the way. He might’ve had two legs, but she had sick wheel tricks and that’s what really mattered. She made sure her vest and gun looked alright, then proceeded to roll off

“Yep, gonna take that as a "I may or may not have fallen behind”. It’s alright, I’ve been learning some cool tricks on this bad boy in the mean time anyway" she said as she rolled in a tight circle around him, her front wheels in the air. She had been practicing a little extra in the last 2 days, admittedly, but that was beside the point

“Time for this quote unquote "fair match”. Don’t know exactly how to start it up, so whenever you’re ready I guess"

She really thought she was the one better off, huh

The disappointment in her face, however brief, still hurt. Movingonmovingonmovingon. He knew very well he still didn’t have the faculties to deal with this right in front of her. Let’s try not to compound any guilt complexes when given other options. Especially when the other option was a game, heck yeah...

Katahiko grinned back at her. Trash talk that didn’t hit anything too personal, now that’s what he’s talking about.

“It’s starting to look like you’ll just have to see for yourself, hm~? I know you’d rather hear my voice at every opportunity, but sometimes it’s more dramatic to not see it coming. And you’re still free to underestimate me at your peril—I cant stop you~”

Oh, well there she went. Time to try to suit up, apparently.

While doing so, he very blatantly ignored the first part of her statement, but he couldn’t not check out the tricks. He applauded, with the usual lack of actual sound.

“If only laser tag awarded points for style, huh?”

“Typically each team has a base on opposite sides of the course to start from. Lemme seem if I can find some rules here...”

Pew Pew | Emilia | Ch4 | Closed for Katahiko

emiliamonde‌:

An immediate scream, how thrilling! The fact that he tried to stop himself shortly after only made the reaction funnier to Emilia, although it was what she expected

However, her initial amusement soon faded somewhat with what he said

“….I thought so? Why, have you been not holding your end of the bargain or something?” She asked, a sly grin stretching across her face. She didn’t seem upset or suspicious, that was good. She was slightly upset her leg might not have been done, truth be told, but he was in the infirmary for a few days. That seemed like a perfectly reasonable excuse

“… Guess that means I just have to kick your butt here! Never played Lazer tag before, but it looks fun and nerdy! Right up your alley!”

Katahiko couldn’t say he appreciated Emilia’s taste in humor, but at least she was entertained. Not much more he could ask for, really.

“H-Hah?”

Thankfully the answer was so blatantly obvious he couldn’t not take that as a joke. He’d said three days—which in retrospect was incredibly stupid—and it had definitely been a lot longer than that. But if she wasn’t going to push it, he sure wasn’t, either.

Moving on, then!!

“Always here for fun! Not sure how it’s supposed to be nerdy, exactly, but whatever works for you.” After a brief glance around to make sure he wasn’t going to trigger any other lovely anxiety things she could have set up, he knelt to examine the laser gun. “Haven’t played with this particular kind before, so you can pretend we’re evenly matched~”

...Being in a wheelchair was probably a distinct disadvantage actually, but he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to counter it. Take off his arm? Or would the wheelchair give some of the back panels cover and even it out?

Well, if Emilia asked he’d come up with something, but no need to draw attention to it otherwise. Even if he’d announced a good deal of paralympic games, laser tag was very much not one of them.

Pew Pew | Emilia | Ch4 | Closed for Katahiko

emiliamonde‌:

Well, he didn’t seem to be falling for the vest trick, but she knew very well that one was far-fetched. Still, she could jump out from behind the wall at him

“Don’t trust notes!” She screamed as she rolled towards him at high speed (as high of one as she could muster at least). She stopped about a foot or two away from him and chuckled

“You feeling any better? I hope so, cause I gotta find some way to apologize for the minor theft that may or may not have happened. This place seemed up your alley; don’t know why, but you’d at least be up for one game, right?”

He didn’t seem too sleep deprived, that was always a good sign. Then again, she didn’t know exactly what signs she was supposed to be looking for

Apparently Katahiko was feeling much better, because his exaggerated startle response was actually in sync with Emilia’s attack. He kinda actually shrieked, but he managed to cut it off before it could do too much damage. His heart was still about to thrash its way out one way or another, and the sudden surge of stress made him dizzy enough to grip the wall for balance. Maybe not that much better, then.

He couldn’t help giving Emilia a dirty look for that stunt, but it gave way to bemusement soon enough.

“You need to apologize...?”

He shook it off. No time for that. The important part was that he hadn’t just lost the dang thing. It was hers, anyway, he’d just been holding onto it until... Hhhh. Hhhh. Maybe if he just didn’t bring it up it wouldn’t come up and everything would be okay and he didn’t need to work on avoiding her hardcore. No, what he needed to work on HE WASN’T DOING THIS RIGHT NOW.

“I mean, yes! I’m feeling much better, thank you!”

And swiftly move along before she had a chance to stay on that topic.

“I’m pretty much always up for a game of something~ Are you big on laser tag, or just think it looks cool?”

Pew Pew | Emilia | Ch4 | Closed for Katahiko

For the most part, Emilia hadn’t visited anyone in the infirmary minus the two seconds she spent stealing from Katahiko. She wasn’t completely heartless though, she fully intended on checking up on people. Just when they were up and about, and she could rely on taking them somewhere fun. That’s exactly what she did with Kat on the third morning, starting with a note taped to his door

This is the ghost of Mariko trying to lead you to your death with another dumb note. Come to the Lazer tag arena

There was no denying she was in poor taste, but at least she thought it would lighten the mood. In true Emilia fashion though, if Kat did show up, he would see that she was nowhere to be found (aka conviniently hiding behind a nearby wall). Rather, there would be a vest and gun conviniently laying on the ground. It appeared as though there was neon cloth on it. Looks like she also wasn’t fair

Thankfully when he’d first realized his collateral of sorts was missing, Katahiko just didn’t care about anything enough to freak out about it. Now he couldn’t help but be a little nervous, and the phrasing of this note was *not* helping, but...But could people just talk to him geez it was so much less sketchy.

He did want to scope out the laser tag arena a little better, obviously, but this was... But he was just being paranoid! As usual. Nothing to worry about, just a game invitation he couldn’t possibly decline, and...

He still ended up just kinda standing there when he found the equipment. The intent was obvious, maybe too obvious, and...

He was trying so hard not to be an anxious wreck now that he’d regained the strength, but it was so much harder when someone had literally been shot a few days ago.

#emilia #ch4

Perfect Match !! C3C2 !! Katahiko !! Closed for Emilia

emiliamonde‌:

Emilia can’t help but laugh a little. That had to suck; being able to destroy anything but not being strong enough

Good solution there, just be strong.

Emilia was well aware that he could just postpone work on the leg with such power, but she didn’t think that was in him. If it was, she’d ask for progress or just steal the card back anyway

Katahiko halfway did a spit-take at her immediate suggestion, but alas, he hadn’t been drinking at the moment so it didn’t quite reach peak comedy.

<...It’s more of a numbers game at this point, I think. If we just assume everyone who spins this cycle dies, resorting to... that would lead to half the damage. It seems like people should be a lot more tempted at this point. And just because you don’t think I’d be the easiest to kill doesn’t mean everyone else would agree.>

<But!! Enough of that. I’d say we have a deal!>

Not the Droids You're Looking For !! C3C2 !! Katahiko !! Closed for Dai

ultimatemahjong‌:

The knock at the door startled the gambler… So much for his tough guy persona… Not that he ever had really tried to push it too hard. He’d been hiding away in his room, keeping an eye on the events people had planned, and avoiding the ones that seemed dangerous… He had a pretty good track record. Movie night was a murder plot by Mariko, and later he’d find that his theory on spooky night being a terrible idea that would get someone killed was 100% correct. He honestly considered staying in his room, and ignoring his visitor… If they didn’t have the means to enter, they didn’t need to be there. Frankly he wished he could give Fran distance as well. He felt dirty… Like having his secret out made him any worse than he had been previously… Maybe it was just a perception thing. He however had promised to explain himself to whoever asked… Which meant actually answering the door… The man slowly opened the door to see… Katahiko. This motive would be particularly rough on him. At least Dai assumed so with how talkative the younger man seemed to be. They hadn’t really talked much before, but… Ah, who was Dai kidding, he was probably there for his roommate. Still, he stood in the doorway and offered a “Hello…”

Katahiko just stood there. For a solid five seconds he was trying to figure out how on earth the person in front of him was Fran, then eventually realized he wasn’t. Just because he had to wake up alone didn’t mean everybody else did.

At any rate, he sure didn’t want to make Dai angry!

“...”

While his foresight moments were getting less and less frequent lately, he’d at least had enough to bring his laptop for “talking.” It was kind of awkward to retrieve and unfold with a book still tucked under his arm, but he managed.

“Just checking in on people!” he typed one-handed. “Also kinda polling. Do you play Smash, and if so, what level would you consider yourself on?”

Hanging around here felt like a really good invitation for Dai to kill him, but. Maybe it’d be okay. He wasn’t sure what else he was supposed to do.

#ch3 #dai

Perfect Match !! C3C2 !! Katahiko !! Closed for Emilia

emiliamonde‌:

<Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to test it once I’m back on two feet>

Emilia no. She listens carefully to all the features, nodding. That’s… impressive, actually. She was definitely getting modifications once she got a permanent one. Maybe a gps

<Yet? You could probably punch someone pretty hard with that thing; don’t see why you’d need more weapons besides to look cool>

She wasn’t gonna bother asking what myoelectric was at this point; she’d forget it in two seconds anyway. Instead, she’d stare at him for a minute, hesitant to make a deal. She really liked that thing, and he did barely anything to initially get it. Maybe a compromise was needed

Katahiko laughed a little.

<I’ll make sure yours is ballpit-proof, then.>

<I... guess? That still requires, like, back muscles, though. I don’t have a propulsion system on here. If we’re just talking grip, then yeah, superhuman strength there, but the rest of the weapon is only as strong as the one who wields it, so to speak. Also I can’t keep spares of every part on me, so I’d hate to wreck it if I don’t have to.>

Hahhh okay. Well. It wasn’t completely a no, so that was all right. He nodded. A little weird that she was giving him reason to not finish the leg for longer, but he wouldn’t let it tempt him. Probably.

<I don’t really need it. Like I said, I’d just be more comfortable if I actually physically know where it is. If someone else manages to get their hands on it, they can just slip into my room in the dead of night and...> He swallowed. <Yeah. I’m not saying I’m sure you or Honey or Yuri would definitely lose it or get pickpocketed, I just... There’s not a lot I can do about my own safety right now, and I’d at least like that much.>

Perfect Match !! C3C2 !! Katahiko !! Closed for Emilia

emiliamonde‌:

Emilia only laughed at his frazzled state, contemplating if she should sprinkle in a little talking here and there to scare him. At the end of the day though, she didn’t want to die in this glorified nurse’s office, so she opted against that

She nodded along to his explanation of the hand, one thing sparking her curiousity especially

“Bonuses? Like, you got Inspector Gadget stuff in there?>

Probably not what he meant but a girl could dream. Maybe once she was out of here she could get something like that with her leg. At least a flashlight in her foot

Oh if she knew.

Katahiko let out an audible whoosh of a sigh as she resumed signing. Who needs exploding nanobots to kill you when it’s so easy to give you a heart attack.

<Ahah, yeah. That would, uh... work interestingly in the ballpit. Probably come out with a couple stuck in it. Aesthetic.>

<Something like that~ No taser yet, but there’s at least a Bluetooth speaker, wi-fi range extender, flashlight, and time/battery level display. It’s only one limb, and not quite an entire one, so there’s not too much you can try to fit inside if you still want it to work, you know, as an advanced myoelectric arm, but. I do have a few things, yes~” Quite possibly he’d noticed her not catching that word earlier, so why not sound fancy? Okay, sure.

<No worries!! I build things for fun, so it’s really not that stressful. It’s like doing puzzles, except actually cool. I’ll get it out as fast as I can!!> And therein lies the stress and death. Kat don’t.

He glanced at the door, paused, then looked back to her. He massaged his wrist a bit before attempting to continue.

<I, um... I can’t ask for payment with a clear conscience here, but I kind of... Would it be okay to ask if I can be the one to hang onto our—> he had no reason to think Mariko knew ASL, buuuut it couldn’t hurt—<group purchase?>

He pressed his hands together briefly and took a step back.

Perfect Match !! C3C2 !! Katahiko !! Closed for Emilia

emiliamonde‌:

“Oh yes, if only we had similar faces” she said, feeling as if sign language was not gonna convey the pure flatness and sarcasm to that statement. Did she think she was basically cuter Katahiko in terms of features? Absolutely, but that’s beside the point. She gave a nod of pity as he started to talk about the doctor, looking around at the room. 3 people at once, that had to be some sort of record

<Excuse you I am the least of his problems, and if he really couldn’t deal with it then he’d just let me out like I keep asking. If worst comes to worst, I’m sure Lily probably has a basic pointer or two, considering she has her own now> she pointed out, once again not knowing the science but figuring that Lily would at least be able to tell him what felt good and what didn’t

As soon as she heard how long she’d have to wait, Emilia started to beam. That wasn’t bad at all; she’d be stuck roaming around in the wheelchair for about two days after, then it’d be back to business. She didn’t know what myoelectric was, but she couldn’t care less right now. Shouldn’t have left her with such high expectations

<Woah, that’s awesome! I guess an arm is kinda tougher too, given you have to be able to grab stuff. I guess I can forgive you if it’s not the best though, just as long as it can help. If you need my help with anything during the process, definitely let me know though>

Katahiko jolted at the comment, barely registering the actual content in favor of WHY ARE YOU SPEAKING WITH YOUR MOUTH. Any witty comebacks were cancelled by the frazzling of it all.

He did still laugh at the “excuse you,” though he wasn’t that chill with her already wanting to leave. Well, with Mariko here it was kinda understandable but.

<That’s true. I need to be checking up on her more, honestly, because I can’t imagine a jury-rigged prosthetic I designed in, like, one day wouldn’t have anything in need of changing. I just haven’t seen her using it yet, so I keep forgetting to ask... Maybe she hasn’t tried it, anyway. That’s her own choice.> He shrugged. It kinda stung to think his work had gone to waste, but that was better than hurting her worse. And she’d at least been polite enough to accept the offer, even if she never planned on using it. He could respect that.

OKAY. OKAY HE DEFINITELY HAD TO CHURN IT OUT AT RECORD SPEED THEN. He’d run right back to the drafting table when they were done here. His wrist was kind of starting to hurt just from today, but it was probably nothing to worry about. Pacing yourself whomst, he didn’t know her.

<I’m glad you understand~ I can probably say I have one of the most complex functional hands on the market, if not the most. The human hand has fifteen muscles, and the forearm has twenty, so you can imagine the complexity of movement involved, not to mention me building a few other bonuses in. Wrists are infernally tricky, too. Not too much for me to handle, though~>

Gh all this talking was not making his wrist feel any better. Just shake it out for a second.

Not the Droids You're Looking For !! C3C2 !! Katahiko !! Closed for Dai

Katahiko honestly wasn’t sure what he was doing. Would this help? Was it worth taking a break from all the other urgent matters? But he hadn’t done anything for François… well, ever, but especially not since the whole face-bashed-in thing, and he couldn’t quite remember the reason he hadn’t tried to deliver this already. It seemed like a good time, if the dancer needed to rest… Right?

So after pulling up the intended recipient’s dorm room on the map and circling the block until he’d gotten enough of his bearings to find said dorm room, Katahiko stepped up to the door, a book tucked under his arm, and knocked. While he’d very much considered that François might not be in there, for some reason he’d never suspected someone else might be instead.

#ch3 #dai

Perfect Match !! C3C2 !! Katahiko !! Closed for Emilia

emiliamonde‌:

<Maybe if I had your eyes> she quickly responded, pointing to the glasses after. It was hard to be playful and sarcastic when she couldn’t use her tone, but she’d certainly try. He’d either get the joke or not give her a leg

<Don’t worry, I understand all that. I’m just really really excited about getting one made just for me, regardless of quality>

Welp, no moon boot leg, it seems. Based on that answer, she safely assumed wheelies were out of the question too and pouted. Oh well, it’d still be cool, right?

<So you need springs in it? I guess that makes sense, jumping and stuff. I’m not exactly a scientist though> she added, extending her full leg towards him. Honestly, she could continue signing all day; she had no other way to exude energy being stuck on a bed

<Well, it’s natural to be jealous of every part of me, so I can’t blame you for wanting them.> No worries Emilia, just about everything was a joke to Katahiko except when it wasn’t.

<Okay! Just wanted to make sure! Since I mean obviously you’ll want a super-rugged one for exploring later, but... Yeah. Okay!>

She was that excited, huh? He’d have to work extra-hard on it, then. Couldn’t be sure it would do any good in the end, but if she was looking forward to it despite that, then he had no excuse to slack off.

He shuffled closer carefully to start measuring before realizing he couldn’t do that and talk at the same time right now. Dang. He hurried to get everything he thought he needed (that wasn’t too awkward to try to measure) and jot it down before giving her a little more space.

<Like, design to finish? I mean, I already hashed out a lot of details last night, but I can also only base it off Yuri’s so much since I’ll have to be using different materials.> ...Had Yuri even tried hers? He hadn’t caught her with it on, but... <It’s all really too new to me to give an accurate estimate, but I’ll try to have something ready in three days.> Kat that’s literally half the time you spent on Yuri’s. Are you sure about this. <If we want comparisons just for funsies, the first time I put together an arm it took about four months. Of course, we’re obviously going with mechanical systems instead of myoelectric for yours, so that sure helps, but. Yeah. Kinda guaranteed not to be my absolute best work. I’ll figure it out, though, don’t worry.>

Perfect Match !! C3C2 !! Katahiko !! Closed for Emilia

emiliamonde‌:

Despite all the excitement with Romeo earlier, Emilia found herself incredibly bored in the infirmary. None of the other people here could exactly hold conversation, and moving around was next to impossible. That’s what made her happy to see Katahiko approach. He could solve both of those issues, and he clearly knew sign language, which helped with the whole motive issue

Please give her any idea that isn’t that, Katahiko

And okay cool, no need to segue into that conversation if Emilia was already starting it herself. That made things easier. Though, uh... Those sure were some ideas.

He let out a short breath and shook his hand out. Arm was getting tired.

<Uh, I can definitely check out what’s in there, and it’s good to have some kind of energy storage-and-release in lower limb prostheses, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to work with that here. The last thing I wanna use for a foot is something kinda slippery inside. I guess I should look at it before I knock it altogether, but. Yeah.> He huffed a tiny bit at “fake limb,” but anyway. <Do you mind if I take some measurements of your legs? Probably a better way to get a good fit than guessing off sock lengths. If this method even counts as a fit?> “Hmm.”

Perfect Match !! C3C2 !! Katahiko !! Closed for Emilia

After a very long day of investigation and designing, Katahiko finally dared to approach the infirmary. Since Emilia knew he was doing this, it was probably best to get some actual measurements instead of all estimations. And maybe ask what she actually wanted. But it was obvious, right? If it would work, he wasn’t sure—he’d have to use materials he hadn’t already used for the other one, but there were more materials to access now—but she already had a nice cane so it would be fine? Or it was all an exercise in futility because he was not even remotely certified for this and he didn’t even know if Yuri had ever even tried hers and she probably had and just didn’t mention that it didn’t work at all because she was a nice enough person and what was he doing.

He stopped for some deep breaths before entering. Romeo had been moved a bit farther, it seemed, so he could come in far enough to talk with her, right? Well, all circumstances considered he actually needed to be in the same partition for her to “hear” him today, so hopefully he could get there. He hadn’t tried to bring his laptop, because he pretty much had all the confirmation he could ask for that she knew sign language.

It was a little hard to do so on the curtains, so he knocked on part of his arm before attempting to step into her Zone.

<Is it a good time to talk about your leg?> he said, in ASL. A weird, kinda one-handed ASL that still occasionally involved both of his hands somehow, but hopefully it was still understandable. Especially if it may have been a little sloppier than usual today. At least he was still smiling.

In Our Time | Yuri | Ch2 C2 Suffering Game + Ch3 Start | Closed for Katahiko

Her presence had been minimal for the duration of the motive, but when the time came for the Suffering Game, Yuri was there. The mysterious powers that be (read: Sorrel) had supplied her with a wheelchair - really, the least they could do after taking her leg. She was looking much better than she had the first couple of days after the last Suffering Game, but even with the light back in her eyes there was still an air of tiredness about her. She didn’t have much to say about this game, and in fact she just… watched. She watched a man spare his tongue and lose his blood, listened to dark secrets brought to light, saw golden locks shorn. Just watching. Observing. Waiting patiently. More rest would have been ideal, but nothing about this situation was ideal.

—

A new ring had been unlocked, and that meant new rooms to explore. Yuri was never one to let herself be knocked down for too long, but if she was going to do that then she wanted to be able to take notes. As much as she wanted to think she could handle everything by herself just fine, she couldn’t rely exclusively on will alone to power through an impromputation. Taking careful notes was more important than ever now. So there she was, out and about in her spiffy new wheelchair en route to the dorms. Third cycle, first day, late morning, all the time all the time. While she’s certainly trying to act like she’s fine, she’s still a touch off her game - perhaps a little too focused on getting to her dorm in the moment to be acutely aware of the surrounding area.

After rigorous testing (that probably still wasn’t enough), Katahiko had finally settled enough on his project to see how it would go over. No point working on it if it wouldn’t be finished before they made it out of here. However long that would be...

Regardless, he went to hunt Yuri down, a blanket-covered bundle tucked under his arm, and found her a little sooner than he’d expected. ...Huh. He wasn’t sure why he’d been expecting crutches instead of a wheelchair, but... Ahahah... Why did he do this again?

He swallowed and scuttled on over there regardless.

“Oh, good morning!! It’s good to see you out and about! Are you headed for your room? Can I get the door for you?”

...Did they have automatic doors? Funny how little attention he’d paid to some of these things this far in.

#ch3 #yuri

I See a Little Silhouetto of a Man !! Katahiko !! C2C2 !! Closed for Dai

Considering he’d gone back to singing loudly every time he risked traversing the hallways, Katahiko utilizing the recording studio perhaps should not have been surprising. Either way, it had been rare enough to see him sticking around anywhere since the motive. Just the occasional run for necessities, and some odd items for… unknown ends.

Still, apparently today was a good day to attempt to stitch together a rendition of the entirety of “Bohemian Rhapsody” with himself on all parts, so here he was. He kept a closer eye on the exterior door than usual, and he didn’t look like he was doing super well in general, but he was at least out of his room.

#ch2 #dai

Wake Me Up Inside | Mariko | CH1 Motive Reaction | Closed for Katahiko