shinjiro aragaki (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
petsthedog) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ximilialog2021-07-02 10:17 pm
petsthedog) wrote in ximilialog2021-07-02 10:17 pm
burn my dread
CHARACTERS: Shinjiro & OPEN
LOCATION: Various places on the station
DATE: 7/1
CONTENT: Exploring and shenanigans
WARNINGS: General depression themes, references to character death and suicidality
But I’m offering you that chance. To undo what you regret...in exchange for your help.
He'd assumed it a dying hallucination, he's pretty sure. Or maybe a dream. A kind fantasy to bring peace to his final moments. He can't remember what exactly he said--some wistful, sarcastic comment, maybe. But then he opens his eyes to darkness that isn't from vision fading and blurring out of focus, to flickering lights in what becomes recognizably a hospital bed. The only trace of the gunshots are scars against his skin, as though he'd had months to heal. His clothes are neatly folded within a box labeled with his name, and they are not stained and soaked through with blood.
There is an earpiece by the bed, and putting it on is the first confirmation of the voice existing outside his dreams. It's real, perhaps. There's a catch, certainly. Hopefully not the kind of catch that had come with the suppressants, with Strega. If the owner of that voice turns out as monstrous as Takaya Sakaki had, he'll feel even more pathetic than he already does.
Despite that lingering itch of suspicion and fear, though, there's something blooming in his chest that he hasn't felt in years--hope. The idea that he could fix everything he ruined back then, give Amada back his mother and the childhood he smashed along with her house...is intoxicating. He's wanted that more than anything ever since that awful night. There's little that doesn't seem worth that chance. After all, he's a dead man walking, isn't he? What else does he have to lose, at this point?
LOCATION: Various places on the station
DATE: 7/1
CONTENT: Exploring and shenanigans
WARNINGS: General depression themes, references to character death and suicidality
But I’m offering you that chance. To undo what you regret...in exchange for your help.
He'd assumed it a dying hallucination, he's pretty sure. Or maybe a dream. A kind fantasy to bring peace to his final moments. He can't remember what exactly he said--some wistful, sarcastic comment, maybe. But then he opens his eyes to darkness that isn't from vision fading and blurring out of focus, to flickering lights in what becomes recognizably a hospital bed. The only trace of the gunshots are scars against his skin, as though he'd had months to heal. His clothes are neatly folded within a box labeled with his name, and they are not stained and soaked through with blood.
There is an earpiece by the bed, and putting it on is the first confirmation of the voice existing outside his dreams. It's real, perhaps. There's a catch, certainly. Hopefully not the kind of catch that had come with the suppressants, with Strega. If the owner of that voice turns out as monstrous as Takaya Sakaki had, he'll feel even more pathetic than he already does.
Despite that lingering itch of suspicion and fear, though, there's something blooming in his chest that he hasn't felt in years--hope. The idea that he could fix everything he ruined back then, give Amada back his mother and the childhood he smashed along with her house...is intoxicating. He's wanted that more than anything ever since that awful night. There's little that doesn't seem worth that chance. After all, he's a dead man walking, isn't he? What else does he have to lose, at this point?
kitchen adventures
It turns out, soon enough, that it also means he needs to feed himself. Shinjiro forgets that he's actually hungry until he stumbles across the kitchen, at which point his stomach sees fit to remind him with a particularly loud growl. So! It's time to investigate what's available here.
...Or. Perhaps not. He's barely got water on the stove before he hears the sound of someone else's footsteps. Ah. Shinjiro stares at them like deer in the headlights for a bit before he tries to actually speak.]
Uh. Hey.
[Bzzt. Useless. Try again, Aragaki.]
I'll be outta here in a minute.
[Or maybe he'll just come back later. Cooking in front of other people is kind of embarrassing.]
no subject
By sightseeing.
And finding something to eat too. ]
Yo. [ He greats the teen casually, hoping his stomach won't rumble as part of the greeting ] Don't mind me. I came here to hunt, but I can share whateva' I can scramble.
memory lane (simulator)
But a mission doesn't boot up when he enters. Instead, the scenery shifts to something quite a bit more familiar.
a.
Perhaps you wander in as the scenery of the simulator coalesces into the Iwatodai dormitory. There's something bittersweet about seeing it again now, when he'd gone to that alley that night never intending to see it again. He almost feels like Aki could jump right out of one of the halls any minute to pester him for a jog or a spar or to start yelling about protein again or something.
Instead, the halls are eerily empty. Shinjiro's more rattled by it than he would like to admit--enough so that when he spots someone there, bearing any confusion about where they are, he'll even offer some slight context, by way of explanation:]
...It's my old dorm.
b.
Or perhaps you have found yourself somewhere else.
It's obvious this is not a good place at a glance, but this particular back alley spot seems to be of particular significance to Shinjiro, who seems frozen to the spot. Enough so that he does not and will not notice anyone's approach unless they get right up in his personal space, which may be for the best at this point--his hands may be tucked away in his pockets, but his arms seem like they're shaking. His shoulders, too. Something went terribly wrong here, at some point.
He does not walk around and investigate this memory. He doesn't do much of anything but stare at the pea-soup green stew and the full moon floating within it.
Should someone finally break into his little personal space bubble, he'll seem almost disoriented as he turns to them.]
...What?
[Should he be trying to get out of this fritzed out simulation that you're stuck in with him? Haha that sounds fake. What if he stands here staring out into the void for the rest of time instead.]
a
Still... Her powers worked while she was in this place. Maybe she should try and practice in case a situation arises where they'll be needed. She'd always been pretty clumsy when messing with the code. So she'd come to practice some when she stumbled upon a most peculiar sight. That should have been a sunny field, right...? So why did it look like... A Japanese dorm? A luxurious one at that.
She spots
her son in another lifethe young man standing there when he speaks up. Oh. So that place was built after his memories... ]It's a really nice dorm. [Not that she has any experiences living in one.] Better than the rooms we got on this station, ahaha!
[ She looked around a bit. It would be rude to mess with the code of someone else's simulation... She'd have to come back later to do her stuff. ]
no subject
I guess. The people who built it were crazy rich. Only reason I could stay there was because I was part of their group for fighting these monsters called Shadows.
[Then again, building a space station probably costs a pretty penny too. So who knows. Maybe Mr. Dream Voice is saving resources on decorations for fixing regrets? Or less charitably, maybe he's just cheap.]
no subject
[ Okay, so... Let her get this straight. By the look of the place, it's Japanese. He called it a dorm and given his apparent age, it was probably for high-schoolers. And they fought monsters called Shadows?
Oh gosh, he comes from a video game, doesn't he? Like, there's no reality where this doesn't read like the premise of a video game. Okay, okay. Keep an open mind, Monika. They're on a space station, the people here have managed to give her a real body and she cannot feel a reality beyond their own. So maybe... Maybe there is a reality where this can happen and not be a video game.
None of this has to be fake. It doesn't have to be a simulation. It can be real. Real. ]
I, um... I-I see.
[ She's more acutely aware of the simulator than ever. That feeling... It's oppressing. Painful. She needs to leave it before it gets worse. But she can't just run away and let the boy alone, wondering what he's done wrong. She takes a deep breath. ]
A... Ahaha! Sorry, I didn't get enough sleep. [She forced a smile.] Shadows you said? What kind of monsters are they?
b
But Yuri is back here, walking into the simulator and looking around. This is unfamiliar, strange. A city, maybe, but nothing like any of the city's he's ever been in.
As soon as he's in the room, it starts to shift, adding in pieces of Yuri's own memories, a sea breeze, a large crystal floating overhead, radiating light. Yuri's lips twitch into a frown. This isn't what he would have chosen this place to show. Maybe coming here was a bad idea.
After a moment, he notices Shinjiro, hears his voice. ]
Oh, hey.
[ He blinks, seeing the expression on Shinjiro's face. Yuri quirks an eyebrow ]
You doing alright?
cw mention of blood/death
--Except, it shouldn't be that way at all. He's going to fix it. That's right, this isn't Iwatodai. This isn't even on Earth, because he'd made a deal to undo his regret and he's here to learn about the mission, and to do that he needs to get through this simulation.
Shinjiro doesn't respond for long enough that Yuri might think to try another method of getting his attention, before he finally speaks up again.]
M'fine.
[An obvious, blatant lie.]
That floating stuff is yours, huh. Well, this is new. [It's only shown him his own memories, so far.] What do we do now?
no subject
[ Yuri looks up at the crystal placidly. He doesn't question Shinjiro again, though, just takes everything in. If he doesn't want to answer, he doesn't have to answer. But Yuri can tell the time, and stays where he is. ]
I guess it's mine. Last thing I saw, before I came here.
[ Not that he really wants to have any claim on Zaude. Even if it is partially his fault that it's above water anymore. He glances over at Shinjiro ]
I dunno, man. Last time I found something shiny and it let me out.
no subject
[And he super didn't want to see it again, not really. Maybe they have that in common too. Who knows.]
Guessin' the big shiny rock up there ain't gonna work, huh. Not sure there's any shiny crap to find in this alley, but we can give it a shot, I guess.
a
It's something of a relief when a voice from behind him offers a quiet explanation. Flynn turns from his inspection of a door—is that the royal seal inscribed on this unknown door?—to face Shinjiro, his face already smoothing from confusion into a mask of calm collectedness. ]
Oh, of course. It's a place from your memory, then. You were a student here?
[ Like the students of the noble houses, Flynn thinks. He'd always heard the knights from those families telling stories about dormitories and the academy, joking around with each other. A world Flynn could never figure out how to interact with or touch in any way.
Oh, but Flynn's being impolite, he realizes. He can't just pepper a stranger with questions, even if they are stuck in his memory. After a beat, he extends a hand. ]
My name is Flynn. It looks like we'll be working together if we'd like to get out of here.
no subject
Oh yeah, I guess I was at one point. [He shrugs, then.] Dropped out a long time ago, though.
[He was just here for SEES, that last month he spent here. It's easy to forget he was once just a normal kid, even after the Dark Hour first came.]
Name's Aragaki.
[Ah, right. Western people shake hands. He pulls one out of their typical home in his pockets to do so. Unfortunately, it's the left one. Oops.]
How do you think we get out?
no subject
It's a pleasure to meet you, Aragaki. I was trapped in this room a few days ago in a memory pulled from my friend Yuri and I. We found our way out by finding something out-of-place. I hope you know this place well?
no subject
Huh. Guess this simulator thing is just kind of glitchy. They oughta fix that. ...Anyway. I know this place enough, yeah.
[He spent the last month of his life in it, after all. It's probably clearer in his mind than anywhere else, right now.]
The lounge's the best place to start. It's the biggest, so there's the most room for shit to be wrong.
no subject
[ He really must be a noble, because none of Flynn's barracks ever had something like that. The only communal spaces he had access to in those days were the bathrooms.
There are some perks to rank besides just having people listen to you. ]
In that case, lead the way. I did see a familiar seal on a door just past here. A seal from my home, which I assume you don't have. Perhaps that will work.
no subject
[He wouldn't know. He lived in an orphanage before that, and the dorm was kind of specifically for SEES members, after all....]
We can try the door first, then the lounge. I ain't got any better leads.