Lonewolf685

The World of Wasted Dreams

Between a horse and a mysterious figure calling Shizune's name. Not looking good for the crew :3

The World of Wasted Dreams

Katashi Todo

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Despite his best efforts to douse the flaming picture it persisted in smoldering beneath her shoes, creating a growing feeling of dread that it may catch his pant's leg and set Katashi alight with Anri's ill conceived fire. Before he could abandon his efforts in favor of self-preservation an unexpected deluge of water which doused the fire and left his feet feeling as though he'd had the misfortune of stepping in a rather deep puddle. His first thought was that this twisted reflection of the school still possessed its sprinkler system, or perhaps one of the others had been squirrelling away a water bottle which now saved their lives.

Yet it was not water that clung to his shoes, as the substance was only marginally less disgusting then the slime which coated all the walls in this world, and it could not have come from a sprinkler without dousing more then his shoes alone. Turning his head toward the fluids origin, he looked the gift horse in the mouth with some measure of bewilderment. "Is that...that's a..."

Ultimately, Katashi let out a sigh as he accepted the cold, hard fact that bizarre events like this will just become commonplace in the World of Wasted Dreams. His hand rose on a whim to stroke the picture but halted inches away to fall to his side, finding it better not to fall into the same club as Anri and Jack. "Thank you for your aid."

If anyone wanted to comment on him thanking a portrait he'd likely remind them they will confront far stranger things over their flight for survival, and that there was a single instance of aid from this oddity was amazing in and of itself.

His attention was drawn back to Yuriya who made him aware that two more were joining their cadre. As she went to the student wailing from inside a branching room, he approached Iyato while idling shaking the spit off his shoes. "Glad to see another student hasn't succumbed here. You're...Iyato, right? I'm sorry if we can't go too in-depth as to what's going on, we've only been awake a short time, but in summary we are in a parallel universe which wants to kill us. Shizune has some experience and is our only way out.

And above all else, remember this if you want to survive, don't touch anything."

* * *

It was silent in its pursuit, the slime oozing back into place to cover what tracks it made. The World of Wasted Dreams was rife with monsters and machinations of every size and shape, as Shizune had well told the group of hapless humans pulled inside. Some would likely begin to think a monster already walked among them, and that brought a smile to its face.

"S...H...I...Z...U...N...E.

It's voice was feminine, ringing from back the way they came in low, lilting tone. Soon the sounds of doors being roughly slid open would make itself known, as though it were searching the rooms behind them. Whatever it was drew ever closer, only stopping to noisily slide open a door and search the room. An inhuman screech followed the rattling of one door, only to be subsumed with pained shrieks of mortal peril and then swiftly silenced.

It had found the creature scratching at the wall.

"S~H~I~Z~U~N~E~"

It was coming.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

Kanbaru Otoko

Following the Thursday War that sowed Chaos amidst the Black City, Kanbaru had been fairly busy with little to show for her efforts. The Blue King seemed to be disappointed in Broker and Absinthe for allowing things to devolve as they had, and stuck them with the job of repairing all the many damaged tanks that came back from the urban infighting they quashed. In the battles wake she had logged off to return to the club, only to find Retsu and Yoshino were gone and a heated conversation was going on in the room next door. She assumed it was them given it was the only room with a locked door and the muffled noises sounded like the impassioned cries of a lover's quarrel she saw the two would be having. She hadn't dared stay to attempt to eavesdrop, and left before she would have discovered two non-descript teens fornicating making out were the source of the commotion.

Now that she knew Retsu was Dark Wraith, Kanbaru couldn't say for certain but she had an inkling as to the identity of Yoshino's online persona. It didn't do anything to help her, though, as Kanbaru had no intention of leveraging her assumption in the near or distant future. Possibly stripping an ally of their wanted anonymity would only sour the relationship of Strykers/Sweepers and the Bruisers, as well as her tentative bond with Retsu Goroshi.

Kanbaru Otoko walked into their appointed meeting place in a similar disguise as her compatriot's, with the added measure of expending a roll of bandages to bind her chest for the added measure of differentiating from her casual appearance. It didn't take long to discover the only other housekeeper in the drama club who wasn't rehearsing lines on a stage and joined her with supplies in toe.

"Well it came out of my own dime, but I got the necessary supplies we need for our performance." Kanbaru said as she placed a vacuum cleaner between them while keeping a trash bag bulging from what were obviously cleaning supplies in her off hand. They had already discussed via instant messaging that the purpose of these as being twofold. First, they do actually need to clean Chiyo's home or the entire operation will be ousted as fraudulent the second she gets home. The second reason was that most security personal wouldn't take the time to disassemble a vacuum cleaner and find all the nooks they can store the listening devices.

"If you've got the props, we could go to theater whenever you want, senora."

The War of the Three

@Ryonara

YOU HAVE A LEVIATHAN SLAYING SWORD! WHY AREN'T YOU USING IT!?

NCQ — Polaris

A G A T H A

NC Pilot Barracks, New Anchorage CC

[[ Around 0200 Hours ]]

Despite the horrific odds the were likely stacked against the motley crew of poorly armed pilots, Agatha had a feeling they were going to turn out alright. She sidled up beside the left door, back pressed against cool steel as her finger slipped inside the guard and caressed the trigger of her sidearm. There was comfort in armament, and protection in a hardened wall, but more than anything else the aged lioness found assurance in the skill of her squad mates. Agatha knew that Stein didn’t share her thoughts on the roles of leadership even if she was proving her point with the level headed direction she offered in their time of crisis.

Eli came forward with a succinct declaration of two pilots absent, revealing yet another child was somewhere out there in harm’s way. The savage grin working its way across her face abated and turned into a taut line that was more appropriate to the situation.

”Look Eli, I’m sure that Vera just went to the bathroom or maybe saw a doctor for post surgery discomfort. Tahlia, well, a woman who smells like a smoke box is probably doing as she does.”

The look Agatha received in return said enough, it was clear Eli wasn’t about to leave it at assumptions. The frigid girl looked on, as though trying to glare through the wall and see the restrooms, the offices, the halls in all. A brief scowl flickered over her face, sour but sure, something was clawing at her, something nigh unnegotiable.

It was brief moments like this that Agatha had to wonder why there were so many mothers among the pilots, Eli being as good a birth mother to Vera as Agatha was to her own kids. Agatha would have been liable to skin her husband alive if he took the girls out for ice cream without telling her beforehand, so empathy abounded for the tensed knife aficionado.

”And by all that is decent in this world, give us a call out before you close in with that knife. If I wind up shooting you in the back outside of VR i’d never be able to look Vera in the eye again.” Agatha spat out, recalling their first squad VR simulation together. It was remarkably similar to their current scenario, barring that there were now very real consequences for their actions and if Eli were to come down with a sudden case of tunnel vision then she’s liable to step into heat from the wrong direction. I swear those two were glaring at me for days after that. Kind of adorable if they weren’t doing it to me.

Again Eli gave her a look, less narrowed but hinting at incredulity, like she was almost offended at the idea. ”I won’t stab you unless you give me a reason to.”

Agatha smothered a chuckle, assuming this was Eli’s attempt at humor. She watched Alan’s group leave out the right without being perforated in the process and reckoned they’d be good on their end. As Stein hit the manual release and pulled the door open she had her Tenormin leveled on the left side, ready for anything. “Clear.”

“Keep your eyes open — it’s dark, but we aren’t blind.”

The eldest pilot stepped into the hall, swiftly crossing to press herself against the wall and creep down to the corner, sidearm ready for anyone that may approach as she peeked around. ”Clear.”

With no enemies in her sights she motioned for Eli and Stein to move forward while she covered their rear. As mobile as she may have been in the Charon, on foot it was better to leave pointman duty to the young woman who could react far more quickly. That Eli had a knife rather than a handgun, and had abysmal accuracy in comparison to the others present, was why Agatha thought she made the best pointman with Stein nestled safely between them.

Into the darkness they went, steel bared in defiance of the intruders upon their home. They hoped they wouldn't encounter the enemy before they linked up at the armory, but the distant staccato of weapon’s fire told her otherwise.

The War of the Three

Never mind.

The War of the Three

And for the love of good, put a mention on your post when you have a question or need arbitration.

The War of the Three

@The 42nd Gecko

I see what you mean. if you want, go ahead and edit your post to fit the current narrative or make a new post now to balance it out.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

And I'll be posting around Wednesday now that I've cleared most of my posting back log.

The World of Wasted Dreams

Katashi Todo

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Much like Yuriya, Katashi was stunned by Anri's actions, though not nearly as much as he was by her mannerism during the burning. While the pyromaniac was being restrained by a concerned student Katashi decided to let nothing go to waste and recovered the discarded lighter before the fire got to it, the hairs along his hand getting a light singe in the process.

"Here, let me help with that." Katashi said before stamping out the burning picture beneath his shoes, thankfully they were made of sturdier stuff then the girl's uniform had for their footwear. It appeared that whatever the slime on the floors and walls was, Katashi could say that it wasn't as combustible as it looked, keeping the fire isolated to that square of paper which was rendered to ash upon the floor.

* * *