[ akira comes stalking into one of the cafe as Joonghyuk is cooking, casting a quick glance over once the smell hits his nostrils but opting to remain quiet. at least that's the plan, but after a few minutes of searching around the cafe he can be heard mumbling. ]
[ Akira is wandering around after having grabbed a bite to eat, looking out for jhk in a completely casual way after the headcount. He had heard that he was accounted for but seeing something with your own eyes is different
At least he's not hard to spot even with the all black outfit. Akira's also rocking black, but his shirt is a red gradient along with his sneakers, the only acceptable edgelord colors. Nagako pads along at his side in wolf form, ears pointed and alert. ]
I won't drown. [ It's not like he's taken formal courses but he can hold his own in the water just fine. He looks at Nagako who's currently in snake form, slithering about near the edge of the water. ]
Hey, I'll lose you if you stay like that. [ Nagako lifts her head up, tail twitching once. ]
[ Perhaps rather predictably, finding Akira is a matter of going where everyone else isn't. Joonghyuk will find him by the cave, crouched over his knees a ways away from the entrance, staring inside. His hood is drawn up over his head and his posture is tense in the silence. ]
[ Joonghyuk sees Akira and plans to approach him. Niah goes first, though he accidentally pads a bit of glass. Fortunately, the wolf isn't hurt, but... A memory starts playing.
Your name is Yoo Joonghyuk. You are twenty-eight, a professional Esports player, and you're on your way to pick up your younger sister, Yoo Mia. It is busy on the subway, as it always is in Seoul. You're used to it and keep your eyes on your smartphone... Looking up the report the private investigator you hired has finally sent you. It is then the subway abruptly stops. It's then when the world changes. A white fluffy goblin shows up and tells you the stage is ready for the upcoming apocalypse.
A blue system message pops up to every person on the train.
< Main Scenario #1 – Proof of Value > Category: Main Difficulty: F Clear Conditions: Kill one or more creatures. Time Limit: 30 minutes Reward: 300 coins Failure: Death
Of course, people protest. They try to ward off the goblin with yells and screams in their panic, but it makes an example of them. Pop pop pop, three heads explode. Participate in the scenario of die the exact same way. Blood splatters onto people and the window panes... You're scared. There's... Only people here. In less than a minute, fights start breaking out around you. No one was spared and eventually everyone chose to kill to survive—elderly, men, women, and children. You, too, choose to take another's life.
More system messages flood.
[ Great Sage, Heaven's Equal has donated 200 coins for your first kill! ] [ Maritime War God has donated 100 coins for your perseverance! ] [ Abyssal Black Flame Dragon demands more carnage! ]
You don't want to die. Mia... Will she be okay? You have to return to her. You have to find her.
But you don't last long. By the time you and the other survivors could get out of your train cart, the dead start rising and snarl. The only thing they know is hunger now, so they swarm their prey: you and the others. Screams ring again in your ears, but they taper out. You can't tell if it's because they've been caught or your senses are fading.
You've taken someone's life to live for how long? Ten more minutes? On the floor, you can feel your blood pool beneath you as human teeth snag onto your neck, eating away at your flesh. You die from blood loss.
Then you wake up again, on that train, and repeat. Again, you must take a life. Again, you have to survive. This time hopefully longer than the last.
Ah, this time you hesitated. You couldn't take the life of a small girl... She reminded you of Mia and you hesitated, so her mother took that chance to kill you instead.
You wake up again, on that train, and repeat. Again you must take a life. Again, you have to survive. This time hopefully longer than the last.
The man that helped you against those that attacked you ended up strangling you when you let your guard down. Those messages keep popping up. You're getting the sense that your life is like a drama to these... Constellations—gods—who tuned into the livestream. White hot disdain swelled inside of you, mixing in with the smell of bile and blood before your eyesight goes.
You wake up again, on that train, and repeat. Again you must take a life. Again, you have to survive. This time...
[ Ahh the oasis, a perfect paradise for two people who wouldn't be caught dead in the middle of the party. After all of that and after Akira is no longer at danger of dropping his spleen into the sand, he's quiet, sitting down with his knees drawn loosely to his chest. He's retrieved his hoodie from house 4, thankful that he didn't have it on for once.
Nagako is curled at his side rather than on his shoulder like usual, part of her body around his right hand which he's left fall into the sand. ]
[ Joonghyuk is also fine. He was super crispy before and it felt like he lost all of his organs, but he's fine now. Those sensations pass, much like all death throes he's gone through. Crossing his arms, he stays where he is, but Niah comes up to Akira to give some distances little sniffs to check on him. ]
[ we are... I guess they can be chilling in the dining hall, except with food that Joonghyuk cooked himself (it is very good we will go with that) and there are some papers, some pens.
[ Where are they? Who knows! Joonghyuk is however bleeding from whatever wound, but it's hard to see when he wears all black. Words trail from his step, though. We can pretend this is pre-event in the morning because he... Does wake up stupidly early. ]
I can't say I like this change of scenery, mostly due to the strange effect.
[ Akira does not wake up early so if he's up it's because he hasn't slept. Good choices all around.
He doesn't appear to be bleeding at least but he's got several bandages on his face (see icon) and who knows what on his body since he's pretty bundled up right now. There's probably a glance or two at the words too. ]
It makes even less sense than the last place, and it's a pain in the ass.
[ He is not going to hide (though he's not particularly great at hiding his emotions anyway), that he is not among that number for perhaps obvious reasons. Akira pulls up a seat, probably on something he's not supposed to be sitting on, Nagako following his cue and hopping all around.
She makes a couple of quick hops while looking at Niah. ]
I have more letters to go with those notes if you want.
[ Usually Akira sleeps in most mornings, but this week has seen him with more energy than usual; being in the city again is too exciting for a city boy, or maybe just too loud. Either way after eating breakfast they're out on the avenue shopping, or more like Akira is poorly window shopping.
At what? Well for one, that nice motorcycle on the corner. For two, he's been glancing through the window of other stores though he hasn't actually gone into one yet. ]
[ They are back at their apartment! And Joonghyuk is giving Akira another second look to know how his wounds are after the heal, even though he would be exempt for tomorrow. ]
[ Akira is a mess. Well his wounds are fine now (stray bullet grazes and something that looks like he got into a fight with a particularly angry rosebush) but most of the blood is very obviously not his.
He's compliant to jhk checking him out, though he's quieter than usual and obviously in his head. ]
Three? [ This is one of the reasons he's quiet, actually. Cause even in his haze he's sensed someone is missing. ]
[ Even without the chatter of innumerable teeth taunting in his ear, the end is coming. Other people may be prepping in practical ways, but for Akira who doesn't have much and still prefers to fight with his hands mainly (his newfound sword skills not forgotten) there's not much to do. Or at least not much to do that other people would find important. This is an incredibly roundabout way to say Akira is cleaning his bike, since he's not leaving it behind and they may need it. To become a monster shrub. ]
I wonder what this end is gonna look like. My last one was much simpler than this.
... It's likely that it will be history repeating itself—a rebellion against the Angels. Another war.
[ Joonghyuk is... basically cooking a meal, I guess. There's not much to do aside from prepare and explore New Eden. They have to figure out an alternative, they have to consider where best to plant the Tree, and they have to bring back the dead.
There are a lot of questions without answers right now. ]
Even if it's a smaller scale, I can't imagine it will be easy when we're defying Xaphania and the Authority.
WK 0 SUNDAY;
The hell do they keep the real spices...
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Spice cabinets exist.
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w0 friday
He's attacking the tower.
Yeah. ]
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At least he's not hard to spot even with the all black outfit. Akira's also rocking black, but his shirt is a red gradient along with his sneakers, the only acceptable edgelord colors. Nagako pads along at his side in wolf form, ears pointed and alert. ]
Any luck?
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w1 monday
Do you know how to swim?
[ Yes. Also, Joonghyuk is asking Akira, but he's staring at Akira's Daemon. Niah is doing the same thing. ]
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Hey, I'll lose you if you stay like that. [ Nagako lifts her head up, tail twitching once. ]
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WK 1; After Trial
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[ Joonghyuk first calls out to him to make sure he doesn’t like… Spook him into punching him as a greeting. Niah also doesn’t sneak up. ]
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w2 tuesday
This again.
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The fuck? Was that a game or—again? [ Akira stares at his right hand for a long moment before looking at Joonghyuk. ]
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w2 sunday
No punching this time.
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No fighting for me, yet. But what about you?
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week 3, tuesday late evening
Hey, remember that book you found? [ No small talk and getting right to the point, but that's probably OK in present company. ]
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Yes. What about it?
[ It's okay. Joonghyuk is... Not good at small talk, actually. ]
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WEEK 3 THURSDAY NIGHT; curfew
Nagako is curled at his side rather than on his shoulder like usual, part of her body around his right hand which he's left fall into the sand. ]
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... Kijima Akira.
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week 3; friday late night
Ulkira sent me a message. [ He'll just show what it says rather than recite. ]
Kijima,
I'm not haunting your gross bathtub! How many ghosts have been in there?
It's okay, I know you tried. She is clever and liked, so it probably wasn't obvious. And I should've been more cautious
We're trying to figure things out over here - both bosses are garbage, but we always knew that.
- U.M
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He blinks slowly at the bathtub part, but moves past that. ]
We have already known the Angels of Dust are awful, but it is good to know they're working on gathering information on the other side, too.
[ But the first part. ]
Clever and liked... That would be Mikotoba Susato or Monika, it sounds like.
[ One who's dead. ]
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w3 sunday, post-execution
Kijima Akira.
[ Niah is also here, though not looking as chipper thanks to the sad twin execution. ]
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Hey. [ A breath out, Nagako still wrapped around his neck. ]
That was a clusterfuck.
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w4 sunday
Writing to the dead time. ]
I'm planning to send them food somehow.
[ Since... That is what they aske for, right? ]
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Something small...sushi? I think I'm gonna send Suigetsu a fish.
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w5 forward dates this as wednesday
I can't say I like this change of scenery, mostly due to the strange effect.
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He doesn't appear to be bleeding at least but he's got several bandages on his face (see icon) and who knows what on his body since he's pretty bundled up right now. There's probably a glance or two at the words too. ]
It makes even less sense than the last place, and it's a pain in the ass.
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w5 sunday, post-execution
This weekend seemed to be a mess for a handful of people.
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[ He is not going to hide (though he's not particularly great at hiding his emotions anyway), that he is not among that number for perhaps obvious reasons. Akira pulls up a seat, probably on something he's not supposed to be sitting on, Nagako following his cue and hopping all around.
She makes a couple of quick hops while looking at Niah. ]
I have more letters to go with those notes if you want.
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WEEK 6; Thursday morning
At what? Well for one, that nice motorcycle on the corner. For two, he's been glancing through the window of other stores though he hasn't actually gone into one yet. ]
I miss Tokyo.
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You’ll return home when this is all over. [ … ] Do you want a bike?
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w6 friday
We have three cases this week.
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He's compliant to jhk checking him out, though he's quieter than usual and obviously in his head. ]
Three? [ This is one of the reasons he's quiet, actually. Cause even in his haze he's sensed someone is missing. ]
Who?
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week 6, saturday
I should've thought to use the cane on him.
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To make him do what, exactly?
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Week 7 Wednesday
To become a monster shrub. ]I wonder what this end is gonna look like. My last one was much simpler than this.
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[ Joonghyuk is... basically cooking a meal, I guess. There's not much to do aside from prepare and explore New Eden. They have to figure out an alternative, they have to consider where best to plant the Tree, and they have to bring back the dead.
There are a lot of questions without answers right now. ]
Even if it's a smaller scale, I can't imagine it will be easy when we're defying Xaphania and the Authority.
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