Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Marlowe
Raw
Avatar of Marlowe

Marlowe Exiled Moondrinker

Member Seen 0-24 hrs ago


MENTIONS: Iwao (@HereComesTheSnow)

Sayuri could hardly hear what Iwao was saying. Lost in her thoughts, she continued to wash and rinse. It was only when he asked her a question that she broke out of her daze, glancing over at him in a mixture of confusion and curiosity. Had she hardly missed his query? That would've been awkward if she would have to asked him what he asked her... she shook her head, forcing a light smile upon her lips as she turned fully to him. "Ooh, it's nothing important. Hiro's just been so busy lately, he's hardly ever home in time for dinner and I don't get to share a bed with him that often anymore. But he says that his schedule will clear up soon and all," she sighed, resting an elbow upon the countertop and placing her chin in her hand. "I just wish that he had more time for me, that's all. Things get real lonely when you're alone. If you hadn't shown up, I'd probably just have washed those dishes and gone back to bed. It's too hot to be up and about with no one to keep you company, after all."

Wow, that was the most she had spoken in the day so far. Perhaps she was running her tongue a bit too much. Suddenly flustered, she turned back to the sink and dried off the bowls. What would Iwao even say to that? It wasn't his business to know in the first place. That, and she didn't want him to think Hiro was a bad boyfriend. What if he mentioned it to Hiro and he got upset? Her grip on the edge of the bowl tightened a little. "I guess what I'm saying is that I can't wait until he's free again. It's so nice having him around, isn't it?"

1x Like Like
Hidden 4 yrs ago 4 yrs ago Post by HereComesTheSnow
Raw
Avatar of HereComesTheSnow

HereComesTheSnow dehydration expert

Member Seen 2 hrs ago

Iwao - Central District


2:30PM


Ah, the trials of love...

Not terribly familiar a subject, unfortunately. For one reason or another, the mystical high school sweetheart and mythical high school romance had always eluded the nineteen year old, a trend that university life seemed poised to continue without worry. To him as a guy? Not the biggest deal in the world, really. Sure, every subsequent Valentine's Day got a little lonelier, but much like its infamous chocolates, the more bitter pill to swallow was better for him than the idea of something sweet.

So saying, he'd fuck a relationship up anyway. He'd fucked up a lot already without touching the treacherous grounds of ~romance~.

As such, to him as a comrade of poor lonesome Sayuri, it was a bit of an issue. He could get by coasting on his own, but when it came to quelling this strange, uneasy sense of needing to offer some kinda advice to a fellow housemate...

I don't wanna fuck this up for her.

He made a show of nodding along as she explained her disgruntled state, lazily taking another sip of the pilfered beer while his mind raced for a good response. Yes, things did get more lonely when you were alone. That was how it worked, usually. You'd have gone back to bed if he hadn't shown up? Hmm, it was a bit muggy for that, he'd personally suffocate under the sheets.

...None of this dreck would do any good.

He shoved the peanut gallery away from the thinking parts of his brain before things got out of hand. He had to choose his message carefully, approach it from his perspective... as a guy, he guessed. Best he could really do.

"Yeah," he finally replied, miserably failing to help. "Hiro's a cool dude."

He frowned. He had to be able to do better than that. Something. Not even he was satisfied with that, the hell?

She said she was lonely. In a house full of people, they could fix that. Loneliness was easy, right?

"I don't know much about what he does exactly, but so long as you guys are being open with eachother about it, sometimes work just can't be helped. Right? If that's the case then... Well, you've got us. Unless I missed something, everyone who lives here'd at least be down to hang out."

Well, hey, hold on: Romantic problem. Don't forget. Girlfriend and Boyfriend. Don't go stepping on toes.

"I mean, maybe us guys gotta respect certain boundaries, but shooting the breeze like this still works out better than solitude, doesn't it?"

Urgh. This was starting to make his head hurt. Why were people complicated, man? Couldn't whatever creational force, be they divine or genetic, have taken mercy on everybody and made some of this talking crap a little more straightforward?

"I dunno. I'm a bit of a dumbass, Sayuri, but at the very least I think you can count on everyone living here."

Clear enough. Maybe.

@Ambra



4:30PM


Who is Captain Belo?

More importantly, who isn't Captain Belo?

A piece of him was in the heart of every Man in Tenoroshi, and two of them were in every Woman. Iwao had heard that he'd once defeated Semy Schilt, the seven-foot Swede, in an underground K-1 tournament by Head Kick. There were supposedly a bevy of hospitals being constructed in the dense brush of the Congo with his name upon them and repurposed drug money funding them.

He was worthy of these photos and strings, but only because he left his life to the imaginations of his fellow man, urging them to reach for the stars and believe that man could, so long as he tried.

The once-pugilist leaned back, eyes scanning Aya's board with some measure of awe. Girl'd gone digging and then some.

So where's the legend start, then?

@OwO
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by ERode
Raw
GM
Avatar of ERode

ERode Odd One Out

Member Online

The Sharehouse
Time continued to pass as the day began to cool, the beachside breeze slipping through the wide-open windows of the sharehouse. The sun was beginning to dip over the mountains now, long shadows cast over the city of Tenoroshi. In the kitchen, dinner, of which stewed snapper was the star, had been served. There wasn’t a proper dining room or a table large enough for everyone to sit around, of course, and some, such as Otoya, had brought their own dinner for the night. The sentiment was there though, with a table that could seat four and a faded, leather couch that the rest could squeeze into. The rice cooker worked overtime, the instant pot steamed with miso soup, the single cutting board was bleeding with vegetable vestiges and fish juice, and someone was going to have a lot of dishes to do afterwards.

That someone though, wasn’t there.

Nothing so convenient as satellite television existed, but there was an old radio that the former members of the club left behind, tuned to the news, or to the weather, or to commercials that should have been put off the air a long time ago. A forecaster spoke of hotter days ahead, sermonizing to people about how water was God. An indifferently cheerful newscaster reminded listeners that the recent dry spell meant that anyone camping out in the mountains should watch out for empty cabins. A sportscaster spoke his spiel of in-land sports, and segued into a story a foxtailed porcupine spotted on June 15, riding the subway line from Central to Northwestern. Meaningless babble, capped off by a staticky jingle and a commercial break that ended in five seconds of awkward silence.

The radio broadcast continued again. A forecaster spoke of hotter days ahead. An indifferently cheerful newscaster reminded listeners that the recent dry spell meant that anyone camping out in the mountains is prohibited from making campfires. A sportscaster spoke his spiel of in-land sports.

The stewed fish was good. Sayuri really outdid herself this time.

The sun continued to set, gradating into the boundaries of twilight.

1x Like Like
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Crowvette
Raw
Avatar of Crowvette

Crowvette Shock Unlocker

Member Seen 22 hrs ago

Fumiko at the sharehouse

Fumiko set down her bowl. In truth, she had a craving for something fried for dinner, but she wasn't going to say no to someone cooking for her. Not that she did much with her time during the afternoon and early evening. She nearly fell asleep reading for a class, scrolled through a dozen sites with her phone, and... What else happened...?

Fumiko's eyebrow twitched. She couldn't think with the radio on. It just kept saying the same thing, over and over again. Like it was trying to lure her into a trance where the same things just continued to happen forever and everything bled into a gray mess. It made Fumiko want to intentionally start a fire in the mountains. At least if she gets caught, they could talk about how a college girl finally snapped and committed arson.

Fumiko rose out of her thoughts when she realized that she was gritting her teeth. She furtively glanced around the table, unsure if people realized it. She herself hadn't realized it, but something had soured her mood this evening. Maybe it wasn't actually anything in particular. She needed to cool off either way.

She stood up from the table, taking her bowl to the already-full sink. "I'm going to get some air. Just for a little bit." She mumbled. She wished that she could use an easy excuse like a smoking break, but she couldn't bring herself to actually do it. Even if it looked cool. "Ah. Thanks for the meal." Fumiko added, realizing she hadn't thanked Sayuri.

Her trip outside wasn't planned to be one of her city-wide nighttime strolls. She just needed to step outside for a bit. Plus, the last time she went out for the entire night, the group saddled her with extra chores because she couldn't refuse them in person. She had become wary of that ever since.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by OwO
Raw
Avatar of OwO

OwO what's this?

Member Seen 0-24 hrs ago



Central District - Sharehouse


"Where does it start?" Aya responded with a grind, "right here." She pointed to an old newspaper article tacked onto the board. This was an image of Captain Belo and his shack, but before the fame and legends. No, this wasn't a recommendation of the local paper's best spot to get fish, nor was it one of his exploits in a fishing competition. It was simply Captain Belo, in the background on a filler piece about the market place. He wasn't interviewed, nor did the photographer pay attention to him. He was simply in the background with the exact same countenance that the fisherman possessed to this day.

"The only earlier image of a man in this city who looked like the Captain was a very naked model sitting on a bed. Not the same person. A lookalike."

This conversation carried on until dinner. Belo was a very interesting man, after all.

With the poorly tuned radio giving the news, Aya couldn't help but feel stung by the announcements. More hot weather was expected, but something she didn't like. She liked hot days by themselves, of course. Sometimes, they were just perfect to laze around in them. But she had school and a job. She had to do things in the heat. That's what she disliked. Well, that was being an adult. Someone pretending to be an adult, at least.

The fish was good. She liked fish, and it was cooked pretty well. It was a good fish, too. After stuffing herself on what she could eat, she gave thanks to those involved with the fish. Fumiko looked burned. Probably about today. Not her problem. Aya couldn't really help, but even if she was overly accusatory, shit happens. Can't take back the past, so dwelling over dumb little mistakes didn't do much.

Aya left the table and took another seat in her room by herself, aimlessly lying in front of a small fan. Might as well go over her camera's film. She pretty much used up the entire roll of film at this point. She grabbed the negatives from the camera and held them in front of the light, looking at what photos she took.
1x Like Like
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by ERode
Raw
GM
Avatar of ERode

ERode Odd One Out

Member Online

The Sharehouse
People continue to die on the radio. Tenoroshi was sleepy, but the rest of the world wasn't. Heart disease was a big killer today, a bunch of rich, old folk passed fitfully from it, and one even had the audacity to cause a car accident while doing so. Assaults were reported too, but only as a passing remark. It happened in the Southern District, after all. Any 'normal' person would stay far away from that undeveloped cesspool of youthful indulgence; anyone who didn't sorta deserved it anyways. Nameless minors were reported missing, the confidentiality of the matter making the description much too vague to elicit any particular memories of sightings. The radio continued on, a callous obituary for those who were gone, those who no one really knew.

In the relative quiet of her own room, Aya scanned her negatives, one at a time. The most recent ones were familiar. No surprises there, at least. Gotou and Suzuha, the shaved ice store, and some other pointless pictures. Just flights of fancy and suspicion. As she continued to look through them though, the camera-girl noticed something curious. It may have been a trick of the light, but in a couple of her pictures, there was the shadow of a cat, facing a single direction. The most recent picture that featured the shadow-cat was at an old, shut-down ryokan that Aya saw a couple days ago in the Northern District, while the oldest one stemmed back all the way to the beginning of the school term, when she took a picture of the back of Hijirido University's student union building for...some reason she no longer remembered. In total, there were 24 exposures with that shadow-cat, and she was certain too that she hadn't noticed any cheeky feline photo-bombing her shots when she actually took them.

Strange stuff, for sure.
Outside the Sharehouse
Though there was still some lingering warmth from the hot day, evening brought forth cool ocean breezes, and Fumiko almost felt a bit cold as she stepped outside the sharehouse. It wasn't necessarily quiet, with cars still driving through the relatively busy streets of the Central District, but it was better than incessantly-looping radio chatter. Wasn't like the sharehouse was ever so quiet though, not when the walls were so thin. The plumbing made it sound like a storm was brewing every time someone flushed the toilet, and Aya's snores were hella legendary on a good night, nevermind a bad one. Would have been nice if they could get a hammock going in the small backyard of the sharehouse. Give someone a chance to escape the general din of having a house of six university students with irregular sleep schedules.

The skies were purple now, gradating into the star-studded black of a proper night sky. A lull in traffic brought momentary quiet, broken immediately after by the cawing of crows. Looking off to her right, she could see thirty or so of those birds, cawing loudly and swooping up and down a neighbouring alleyway, making a general ruckus. Nasty little shits, to be sure. Probably fighting over fresh, steaming garbage.

Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by HereComesTheSnow
Raw
Avatar of HereComesTheSnow

HereComesTheSnow dehydration expert

Member Seen 2 hrs ago

Iwao - Sharehouse


A light mist of steam flowed up in ethereal wisps from the sink directly after dinner, the byproduct of enough reassurances by the assembled sharehousers and some pointed tapping on the fridge-mounted whiteboard regarding whose turn it was on the chores rotation. The boy stationed, clasping a suds-embossed sponge beneath the steady stream of hot water, didn't begrudge them. If the turn was his, the turn was his.

If anything, he was actually disappointed only now.

I oughta hold out another hour. Be safe. Drank a little.

Despite being graced with the relaxing properties of hot water, a precious commodity around here, his hands staunchly refused to quit throbbing. A dull ache that started in his knuckles had been bugging him, ever since the time Sayuri had her idea to stew the fish, and it just didn't quit. It was a familiar one, too. He could draw its line from knuckle, to metacarpal, to wrist, down the forearm and capping to his elbow. They all just felt worn down, like a one big and stiff joint that no amount of stretching could get to chill out.

The ghosts of impact, really. It was anything in the bone stack that really braced the collisions when you hit the bag, or pad, or body. Now that he thought of it, there mighta been some in the shoulders, too. Wonderful. All the pain of a first day back, with none of the pleasure.

Hadn't smacked on a bag in months.

Grimacing, he set another plate in the drying rack. Since hot water wasn't doing anything, it didn't seem muscular at all. Wasn't that lucky. He'd be calming the nerves themselves. In an hour. Another hour of living through this. Pain in the ass, but it wouldn't kill him or stop him from doing anything.

'cept maybe run, but by the time he did that, he'd have taken his way out. Didn't feel like running this early, preferred later in the night. His wraps would compress the hands too, and that always helped.

He needed something to distract himself for the last few. The more he contemplated this, the worse it got, and it was hard to properly scour a bowl's surface when it felt like you were starting to grind down your elbow with some hellish combination of hydraulic press and car buffer. His ears, normally tuning it out, now turned to the radio, quietly contemplating the rolling obituary droned out by stale, disinterested voices into the mic. Assaults in the South District? Bad, but pretty common for a "wretched hive of scum and villainy". Missing persons... in his experience, less so.

...Were they not gonna, y'know, say who?

Fucked up.

If any of them went missing, would they get the same treatment?

Mochi better get home soon.

Another dish in the rack. Close to finished up now.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Crowvette
Raw
Avatar of Crowvette

Crowvette Shock Unlocker

Member Seen 22 hrs ago

Fumiko outside the sharehouse


Fumiko looked over to the alleyway. Crows were supposed to be smart, so maybe something actually interesting was going on. The fact that they were swooping back and forth was what piqued Fumiko's interest most. Wouldn't they just fly away if it was someone throwing open a door to dump their garbage? Fumiko's knowledge of bird behavior was limited to stuff that she caught while falling asleep with nature documentaries playing on the TV, so she couldn't be sure what it really meant. She furrowed her brow. Was this a mating season for birds?

Fumiko gave up trying to remember her animal education. 'Well, if I spent this much time thinking about it, I'd probably end up wondering if I didn't go... Even though it's likely just a dumpster with a week-old lunch in it.' Fumiko didn't intend to make an excursion out of things, but surely checking out a nearby alley was within reason. She cautiously approached the alleyway, trying to take it wide. While they were interesting creatures, she also didn't really want the flurry of crows to ruin her clothes with discarded garbage... or something worse.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Marlowe
Raw
Avatar of Marlowe

Marlowe Exiled Moondrinker

Member Seen 0-24 hrs ago


MENTIONS: Iwao (@HereComesTheSnow)


Dinner came along full and well. The fish she had stewed could have come along a bit better, though. Hiro would have noticed that the fish had been slightly under salted. She didn't want to admit it, but she was glad he wasn't there at the moment. Sayuri was grateful for Iwao's company, and together they discussed things over their meal. Even Fumiko looked happy with the food. There was a little bit of gossiping here and there, tales of their day, and so forth. Not to mention, the words that he had shared had soothed her a significant amount.

And yet...

Sayuri didn't know what was up, but she felt more exhausted than usual as she relaxed in one of the chairs. Iwao was kind enough to do the dishes, and the others went to do their own thing. At least they liked the fish too, which made her feel better. But even then, she felt anxious, as if something bad was about to happen. She didn't know if that was true or not, which only made her even more worried. Suddenly, sitting down wasn't necessarily the best thing for her. Sayuri got back to her feet and walked back to the kitchen, only to see that Iwao was still washing the dishes. The radio buzzed lowly in the background. It chattered about assaults, and more insidiously, disappearances. Her mind went to Hiro, who hadn't even called since he left the sharehouse. She hoped nothing bad happened to him.

"Hey, Iwao, you're looking a little tense," Sayuri turned her eyes up towards him as she forced a smile on her lips. "If you're not feeling well, I could take over for you. There's not a lot of plates left."
Hidden 4 yrs ago 4 yrs ago Post by OwO
Raw
Avatar of OwO

OwO what's this?

Member Seen 0-24 hrs ago



Central District - Sharehouse


Wait, a cat's shadow? Was she seeing that right? No, couldn't be right. Probably an optical illusion. A simple trick of the eyes. She lowered the negative, only to lift it back up to the light. No, there definitely was a cat there. A sense of excitement overcame her as she made a dumb grin nobody else could see. Well, Captain Belo would have to wait. There was a new mystery that she had photos of. It was much more substantial than speculation... Probably.

With the negatives in her bag, she stormed out of the house like a bat outta hell. Well, less like a bat outta hell and more like a national race walking champion. She almost forgot that was an actual olympic sport. She passed by Fumiko on the way out. Why was she in an alleyway? Eh, didn't matter. Inquiring about what she was doing wasn't what Aya was going to do. After all, people deserved a modicum of privacy for their own affairs.

"Yo, Morimori, I'm going to go see if I can use the dark room at Camera & Film. Probably will be back very late."
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by HereComesTheSnow
Raw
Avatar of HereComesTheSnow

HereComesTheSnow dehydration expert

Member Seen 2 hrs ago

Iwao - Sharehouse


He was a little tense, thinking about it. Musta let the broadcast get to him a bit more than he'd realized. It was some dark shit, even for him. Brawls and slugfests were crazy, violent, scary things, but not nearly on the level of just walking out one day and never even being seen from again. Loneliest way a guy could ever go.

It'd probably be worse if it didn't wig him out some, knowing that.

"I'm all good," he replied, with a note of reassurance in his tone that likely was sort of aimed at himself as well as her. "Just the radio. Nasty stuff."

As for her offer, he took a moment to regard the girl before him, smile plastered on her face as she sweetly presented him a way out. It was kind of her to spot it and offer her assistance, but a little something like bad vibes shouldn't stop a man from doing such a basic task as dishwashing. She'd already gone and cooked the fish for them all in the first place. Saddling her with the cleanup, when it wasn't anybody's job but his, could only speak to a paragon of sloth overtaking him. Was he okay with that? Even if she was just trying to help, was he really gonna quit after frowning a little?

Oh, thank you, but I can handle it. I'm a man of my word.

He should have said that. He should have framed it like that. He knew so, deep within the fog, that it was the correct way to frame things. That positive was what he needed to be to shake everything clear. Positive and accountable. Owning your responsibility, action, and motivation. He knew. In this age of free information, it was impossible not to know these guidelines for living.

It wasn't what came out of his mouth.

"It'd be lazy of me when it's my turn, wouldn't it?" he said, a rare wry edge creeping into his voice as he rinsed the next plate. "Thanks, but you shouldn't let me."

Ah, dammit. Too late now.

@Ambra
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by banjoanjo
Raw
Avatar of banjoanjo

banjoanjo Still likes pistachios

Member Seen 13 days ago

NAGAKU OTOYA - Central District: Outside Sharehouse

Not a fruitful session.

Otoya wondered if he was losing his touch. His emotions were the core of all his songs, a good third of the band’s discography, but it was getting stale. Frustration, that bitter anger crusted into his psyche, it was all he had. Their followers always commended the relatability of a new track, but he could feel doubt creeping up his throat. Surely, they were getting as worn down as he was.

He tried to get something out today, strumming away by the riverside. Dead cats and assaults, shouldn’t have been hard to get a song out of that, right? A harsh melody and a few chords were all his creativity could produce.

His ribs were sore. His bruises were still fresh. He decided to head back.

An early promise the clubhouse had made between itself was to keep attention away from their living situation. For Otoya that meant no disturbing the neighbors with his music. Friggin’ annoying but whatever. It didn’t stop him from singing as he walked back, trying to knock out some decent lyrics into his Notes app.

Voice recording would have sounded fine if it weren’t for those loudass birds.

Strange stuff. As a Southern kid he knew what kind of fauna flocked around the garbage heaps. Whatever was going down in that alley seemed… excessive.

More out of idle curiosity than anything else, he wandered towards it. Fumiko was already there, and he greeted her with a casual, “Oi.”

Hopefully, it wasn’t gonna be another dead stray.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Marlowe
Raw
Avatar of Marlowe

Marlowe Exiled Moondrinker

Member Seen 0-24 hrs ago


MENTIONS: Iwao (@HereComesTheSnow)


Sayuri knew something was wrong. The way that Iwao was so tense, and the way he was washing those plates... she really didn't want to pry. She didn't want to seem like she was extremely nosy either, so she backed off as soon as her offer was rejected. "O-oh, okay then," she murmured, her smile becoming a bit strained as she took a step back. "I'm actually really tired right now, so I'm going to head to bed. If you're awake by the time Hiro comes home, tell him there's some leftover fish in the microwave. Nighty night!"

And with that, she was gone.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by ERode
Raw
GM
Avatar of ERode

ERode Odd One Out

Member Online

The Sharehouse
And like that, Iwao went back to work, alone now in the kitchen. The silence was heavier now, the sharehouse as empty as it would ever be. Mochizuki didn’t return, and Aya just recently left. The radio droned on, switching to larger scale news. Politics. Elections. Corruption. Big enough that humans were numbers, enough to remind one that even though Tenoroshi may have been infamous for apathy, the outside world wasn’t much different. It took a lot to feel for someone you never knew.

Armed conflict in the Middle East. A hole in the atmosphere. A European heritage site set on fire. An oil spill in the Pacific. Small tragedies, building up to a quiet apocalypse. The radio continued to fill the silence, the silence continued to smother the mind. How long would it go on for? How many more until everything falls apart, breaking into molecular dust?

Crack.

The plate broke, split in the middle in a perfectly straight line. Mochizuki’s plate. They used it to hold the greens tonight. His sister got it for him, didn’t she? So he stopped eating out of plastic containers.

“You just keep fucking up, huh?”

The radio dissolved into static.


If she slept now, maybe she'd be hitting her REM cycle by the time Hiroyuki came back? Maybe he'd be tired too, but maybe they could exchange some words, snuggle up warm, and pretend that she hadn't messed up her sleep schedule just for the sake a stupid fantasy. Her, no, his room was as messy as always. Mornings and evenings never seemed to be Hiroyuki's times, really. For all his sharply-dressed outfits, he certainly didn't care to put them where they oughta be. The sweater he wore to sleep in laid at a bundle in the corner of the room. It was a present. Cost her a month's wages to get something from that foreign export boutique out in the Southwestern District, and even now, it wasn't so clear. Was it good that he was comfortable using it as loungewear, when he used to have none? Or was it bad that he never wore it when going out with her, or even going out at all?

Aya slipped in bed, soon enough, shifting to her side. Something hard pressed against her leg. Right, her phone. Should empty your pockets before sleeping. She brought it out of her pockets, and a note slipped out as well. Though she had a skylight in the room she shared with Hiroyuki, it was too dark to read by moonlight, or even by citylight. Above, the window looked pitch-black.

If she decided to turn on a light to read, the note's contents were simple enough.

Flying hand squashed building.

A prank, maybe from Aya? That handwriting looked like her's though...
Outside the Sharehouse
It was the smell that hit Otoya and Fumiko first, the smell of garbage, freed from its odorless containers. A fishy, moldy, meaty stench, underscored by the knife-like scent of rust, iron, blood. Another dead stray? Another dead fucking stray, so close to their sharehouse? That cat killer was right beside their fucking home? What the f-

A car drove by, headlights briefly illuminating the contents of the alleyway.

It was just a dead crow, wings twisted and feathers scattered all over the place, blood speckling the pavement. Above, the crows continued to dive down, some feinting, others swiping with their talons at a shape that darted from one corner to the next, bursting in and out of the spilled garbage like a soldier taking cover. Another crow dived down, but went too low. The creature leapt out, snatched it by the throat, and slammed it into the concrete. The crow twitched and squawked terribly, but more brutality followed, its body slammed to and fro by the alleyway creature until enough bones snapped that it no longer moved.

Above, the remaining flock circled or roosted, uncertain, and below, the two clubmates could see what the creature truly was: a rat. A rat of freakish size, its naked tail whipping about as it tore into the creature. It was a blessing, really, that the shadows were enough to obscure most of the large rat's features. Like seeing a fruit fly up close, like seeing a slug that had grown too big, it was uncanny, disturbing, to witness something become larger than what you think it should. And this one...this one was the size of a small dog, discounting its tail. Its teeth chitter-chattered, gnawing through flesh and into pulverized bone.

Another car passed by, momentary illumination lighting up its eyes, the fleshy gristle running down its chin, the scratches and naked patches of its hide. The car passed by. The shadows returned.

But the rat was no longer chewing.

It was staring out, towards the two that stood at the mouth of the alleyway.

And without any signal, any warning, it scampered towards them, claws clickering against stone.
En Route to Western District
Other than salarymen rushing to catch the train, or rushing to join their bosses in 'optional' after-work drinking parties, the streets of the Central District were fairly empty. Those who looked for edgier entertainment would go Southwest and hopefully not find themselves encased in concrete and tossed out under the docks. Those who looked for classier entertainment would go North and hopefully not find themselves bankrupt after indulging in one too many fancy snacks. And for the rest, the Western District was always willing to serve them with generations-old izakayas. No one hung around in the Central District for fun, after all.

Which made things just a little bit unnerving. Talk of disappearances within Tenoroshi seemed like a favorite topic of the radio host tonight, and there wasn't even a taxi for her to hail too. Not that there was a need to. She could see the station now, with its bright lights and slightly higher pedestrian presence!

Her shadow grew long. An unmarked vehicle slowed down beside her, and the tinted window scroll down, revealing a man with sunken cheeks and a thin nose. His hair was slicked back, like a yakuza enforcer, and his shark-like eyes stared into her very soul, assessing her worth as a human being.

"Da," Atsushi said, his voice accented by the Russian he had been practicing for the last coupe months. "Not good times to be stomping about alone, Aya. Need a lift to Tsunoda's?"
1x Like Like
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by OwO
Raw
Avatar of OwO

OwO what's this?

Member Seen 0-24 hrs ago



Central District - Sharehouse


"That'd be lovely" Aya replied to Atsushi. Despite his appearance, he was always a shockingly nice man. She entered the car. As capable as she was on her own two feet, the danger of the night still made her feel a touch unsafe. Plus, she was easily carrying a ju man worth of camera equipment. Probably even more thanks to her DSLR. The film camera was practically worthless in this day and age. "It looks weird when an ojisan picks up a girl at night."

Before he could quip back or rebuke her, Aya was already in the car and putting on the seat belt.

"Weird day today." She made an effort of small talk. "Chased a girl with auburn hair across the western district. She didn't even have shoes on. Got her restin' in a cafe after she collapsed. A bald ojisan picked her up after a while."

She'd get a taxi home, that was for sure. She didn't feel like walking back, especially even later in the night.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Crowvette
Raw
Avatar of Crowvette

Crowvette Shock Unlocker

Member Seen 22 hrs ago

Fumiko Outside the Sharehouse

Fumiko gave a quick nod to Aya as she passed, and then to Otoya as he greeted her. She was actually a little surprised that there was so much night traffic, but given how awful the days had become it could be easily explained. The smell of the alleyway could also likely be explained by the awfulness of the day. This was not the kind of aura that garbage normally gave off. It had to have been worsened by a combination of heat and humidity blasting the area. And then she saw it in the passing flash of a car's lights. A giant rat.

Fumiko had dealt with various messy areas when she started wandering the city. Lots of dusty alleyways, abandoned garbage, graffiti, you name it. Despite that, she had never really made her peace with the type of creatures that skitter around in darkness. If she had to say what it was that really unnerved her, it was the mere sound of them moving. Adding in darkness to the situation, where your ears can only barely hear it - not enough to know where exactly they are, but enough to know they were near. She even got uncomfortable when she heard the clacking of dog's nails against a hard floor, despite dogs being much more friendly. Maybe she wasn't really an animal person, deep down.

Fumiko backpedaled behind Otoya, gripping his arm and putting him between her and the rat. "H-How is that so huge?!" Her voice cracked slightly as she stuttered, betraying her fear. She wasn't interested in playing tough with something so big. Plus, she was better off trusting in Otoya than she was fending it off on her own.

'I really need a collapsible baton or something to carry...' Fumiko grimaced as she thought about her options for striking the animal. She probably would be best off just running if it kept coming.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by banjoanjo
Raw
Avatar of banjoanjo

banjoanjo Still likes pistachios

Member Seen 13 days ago

NAGAKU OTOYA - Central District: Outside Sharehouse

Otoya grimaced. “What the fuck is tha—nngrh!”

It came from nowhere. A sharp noise screeched through his skull, piercing, causing him to block his ears. Not that it appeared to be necessary. Though his eardrums still ached, the sound stopped as abruptly as it started.

Before he could dwell too much, there was a pressure on his arm. Huh?

A glance back showed Fumiko, noticeably unaffected by whatever noise that was, cowering behind him.

“T-The hell you want me to do?” he said, backing up with her. Goddamn, surely this fatass rat wasn’t gonna chase them, was it? There were so many better things to snack on in this alley.

It didn’t stop its approach.

Otoya’s hand tightened reflexively around his guitar strap. Not because he was going to beat that thing with it; no, he’d rather jump into traffic than damage his baby. He just needed to secure his valuables before going on a dead sprint.

“Fuckin’ hell.”

He grabbed Fumiko by the wrist and ran.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by HereComesTheSnow
Raw
Avatar of HereComesTheSnow

HereComesTheSnow dehydration expert

Member Seen 2 hrs ago

Iwao - Sharehouse


He stared at the halves he held, split as though cut by some great knife, and numbly contemplated the pit sinking into his stomach. Like he was falling into the emptiness he'd been contemplating. Or a slow sink into something like tar mixed with quicksand, you could say it was that too.

Shit.

He knew that was a gift. A housewarmer from Mochi's kid sis, more important than just any random plate. It wasn't enough that he carelessly broke some porcelain— no, he'd done it to something that meant something to somebody. Wasn't enough to wallow in his own meaninglessness. Nope, he evidently had to spread it to other people's lives too.

Chase off a helping hand. Snap clean the sentiments of Mini-Mochi. Next he'd set the house on fire, or something.

Fuck, man. What are you doing?

"You just keep fucking up, huh?"

What did you even wake up for toda—

...He shut the water off, that having been the last dish to begin with. Setting the two halves to the side on the countertop, he found himself eyeing the radio as it spewed white noise, now finished with the log of a rotting world. He didn't want to trash the plate, couldn't bring himself to.

He had... heard that. Slipped right in the middle of his own interrogation, he'd heard a voice, not his own, right before the signal winked out and gave way to static.

Was it in his head?

Was it a spot he'd missed on the radio?

Was it something else?

Reaching to switch dial off, his eyes slid back to the former plate, and he wondered if it really made a difference. He'd have said the same shit anyway... either supernatural or simple serendipity, he was never gonna escape it either way.

His knuckles throbbed again, as if piling a little extra on top for the sake of it. He needed to get to his room and take something already. It was gonna drive him nuts.

Shoulders slouched, he studied the floor as he ambled out of the kitchen and towards his little corner of the sharehouse, unable to refrain from straining his ears in case another message came through the dormant radio.

Maybe he already was losing it.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Marlowe
Raw
Avatar of Marlowe

Marlowe Exiled Moondrinker

Member Seen 0-24 hrs ago


MENTIONS: None

The room was quiet. Too quiet, really. Even though some light filtered in, Sayuri felt sad and alone. Hiro still wasn't home, and the announcements from the radio chilled her to the bone. She laid on her side, trying not to think much of what was happening to her relationship. The clothing she had bought for him laid in a heap in the corner of the room, as if it was a pile of trash. It was strange to her that such a usually clean, organized young man would just toss clothing to the side like that. Maybe he had been in in a rush when he did it. Maybe he would come home and fix it as soon as he found it.

She shifted slightly, wincing when she felt something in her pocket. Sayuri was quick to remove it. What was this? A note? She opened it, squinting at the words hastily scribbled upon the surface of the paper. Flying hand, squashed building. She squinted further. Was this her handwriting? Or was someone messing with her? Wait, it was her handwriting. When had she written this? Was it a song lyric, a poem, perhaps? It wasn't like her to write something completely out of the blue.

Sayuri folded the paper together again and placed it on her nightstand. She would figure it out later. Right now she had more important things to worry about, like Hiro. Pulling out her phone, she scrolled through her contacts to find Hiro's number.

Hey, you ok? Coming home soon? The streets are scary, lately. Get home safe please!


Sayuri hesitated before pressing the send button, but decided to press it anyway. Who knows, maybe Hiro was on his way home.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by ERode
Raw
GM
Avatar of ERode

ERode Odd One Out

Member Online

The Sharehouse
Iwao had to be losing it if he was expecting a radio to sound out when it was rather decisively turned off. Nothing ominous or ordinary came out of the machine, and instead, his ears simply picked up the ordinary sounds of an empty house. The clock ticked, the faucet dripped, and old injuries seemed to throb in synchronization with it. His own room was quieter, but not by much. The traffic sounded infrequently outside, while the crows cawed frenetically, a flock scattering away in the last shades of evening. The walls were thin in the sharehouse, sound-proofing non-existent.

So he could clearly hear when the radio was turned back on, a distinct click sounding, followed by the garbling of voices as it changed frequencies. Did Sayuri head downstairs after all? Did Fumiko come back? From within his own room, Iwao couldn’t tell, but the program itself seemed normal enough. ‘Tenoroshi Tonight’, an evening news segment done by a Takahiro Tatsuya, reporting on new happenings around the city on June 15. The police investigating reports of gun shots heard in the Northern District. Another missing persons report, this time for a young man with black hair and square-framed glasses last seen in the Northwestern district. And on lighter news, a runaway goat from the local petting zone having escaped down the train tracks stretching from the Southeastern District to the Central District.

The youth was focusing this time. Paying attention. It was easy enough to remember that today was the 14th. A radio gaffe? Or something more?

Iwao would have to wait though. Through the thin walls of the sharehouse, he could hear loud steps going up the porch, followed by a door being thrust opened, then slammed shut. Someone was home.


Sayuri’s message went unread.

Well, it wasn’t like that was all too uncommon. If Hiro was going to be so busy that he couldn’t even make it home for dinner, he wasn’t going to be able to immediately read and respond either. Or maybe he didn’t bother reading it because he was already home?
The walls were thin, after all. She could hear it too, the sound of a door opening and then closing downstairs, accompanied by the indistinct murmurs of the radio she thought had already been turned off.


Fumiko and Otoya ran hard, and it wasn’t as if they needed to run far either. The skittering of the giant rat continued to dog them, but as they made the turn at the entrance of the alleyway, as they bounded up the steps of the sharehouse, wrenching the door open, the two both noticed that they were no longer being chased. The rat had turned the opposite direction that they had, nothing but a lump of black fur in the amber light of the streets now.

Except...if they narrowed their eyes, was that another oversized vermin, pushing its form out from a storm drain to follow the first?

Fucking gross. Tenoroshi seriously needed pest control, huh?
Western District
“What are you talking about?” Atsushi replied, a brow raised. “I’m an Uber driver.”

The streets were empty, but the detective still obeyed speed limits and uncooperative traffic lights. The ride was comfortable, but the interior smelled of faded air freshener. One hung from the rearview mirror, shaped like a pine tree yet not smelling of either pine nor tree. A couple minutes passed before he replied, tapping a finger on the steering wheel. “Did he have her shoes?”

The car pulled over to the side, one of the front wheels grinding up against the curb. Atsushi grimaced; he was a good driver when it came to following traffic regulations, but that was just about it. Outside, the neon sign of ‘Camera & Film’ buzzed like a mosquito, moths bouncing against the surface of the ‘lamp’.

He waited for Aya to exit before rubbing the stubble of his chin.

“Department’s not gotten any reports about missing children. Careful on your way back, Aya.”
↑ Top
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet