Lost Souls

[shimmershimmer]

[You don't wake up, exactly, but at some point you come to. There's something wrong with you, a numbness and translucency. Should you try to touch something, your hand will pass through it. Why, it's as if you were a ghost. So that's the bad news. Sorry about that. The good news is that mentally, you've woken up entirely. You remember the real truth of who you are, your relationship to your so-called "family," and all the other lies you've been fed by the Shimmering Lady.

You can move freely around what you will soon realize to be the village. The reason why it may take moment of realization is simply because it doesn't look anything like you remember it. The sky is black, the grass is dead, and the cottages are run-down and shoddy concrete buildings. The pond is dirty, and there are no animals whatsoever, anywhere.

And the temple. It's more like a storehouse than a temple. The Shimmering Lady is there, or that mass of flesh and tendrils that calls itself the Shimmering Lady...

She doesn't seem to see or hear you. When the others exit their "homes," neither will they. And there's some strange force keeping you within the walls...]

((Popcorn, mingle, curse the Lady, etc! Also! There will be a special thing for you to do here once Night 01 starts. Watch for it~ :>))

Comments

[glaciates]

I know.

[Though if he's completely honest with himself, this wasn't solely about helping people. It was a challenge to overcome and while he's not sure when it happened, Isaac had slipped back into the same mindset he'd had during the Ishval War. He'd been fighting for his own survival, not anyone else's.

It's kind of disgusting to think about, actually.]

I can try to keep the peace, but don't expect any miracles.

[...]

Oh, and you can just call me Isaac.

[McDougal's kind of an awkward name.]

[irenicly]

[Honestly, Banjou hadn't expected all of the demons to have the same motivations he did.

Being a pacifist when you're supposed to kill people to survive kind of sucks, but he's sadly used to it.]

I don't know if there's much you can do. I'm already dead so Tsukiyama-san can't do anything worse to me.

[But being asked to call him Isaac makes Banjou smile.]

Isaac-san, then.

[glaciates]

...Yeah, I'm not really sure what he can do to you here, but I'll see what I can do.

[That gets him to smile as well, though it's sort of awkward like he's not really sure what to do with his face. He tried, so that counts for something, right?]

[irenicly]

[Worse comes to worst, Banjou can survive having someone shove a fist through his chest, so

He's pretty sturdy.]

I'll be fine, Isaac-san. I've always been a good "shield."

[Just not Tsukiyama's shield, good god what was wrong with him?]

[glaciates]

That's good. I'd hate to see anything else happen to you.

[You're a pretty cool dude, Banjou.]

[irenicly]

[tbh if Banjou wasn't such a terrible liar, he'd probably be awake right now and still clueless about the giant tentacle monster that's tricking them.]

The same to you, Isaac-san.

[Admittedly, they're pretty screwed at the moment but Banjou can pretend they aren't.]

[fauxlosophical]

[Kimblee seems...actually, rather unsurprised when he comes to; it's almost as though he'd expected this.

That said, however, he isn't going to seek anyone out; he imagines the last three days are going to be more than enough to cause people to come to him. As it stands, his normally calm demeanor is permeated by a definite anxiousness not caused by anyone within these walls here; he seems more troubled by the Lady than anything.

...Perhaps that's...understandable, given everything the Lady has decided to be.

That said, if anyone is feeling like going on a punchquest against his face, they're more than welcome to.]

[glaciates]

[Once he got settled in here the only thing Isaac wanted to do was see Kimblee again so he could punch his face in. The hostage situation didn't help any.

But things are different now because Kimblee did something that was surprisingly not completely self-centered and Isaac kind of hates him for it. It's much easier to hate Kimblee when he's doing jerkass things as opposed to when he does something halfway nice, regardless of his reasons.

It just reminds Isaac why he actually trusted this man in the first place, and that's the last thing he wants to deal with right now.

He doesn't approach Kimblee right away though. First he seeks out Banjou and then he spends some time alone, trying to figure out what to say to Kimblee. Some part of him was hoping that Kimblee would show up and at least offer some sort of half-assed apology for nearly getting Isaac killed repeatedly (and then actually getting him killed). But no, he shouldn't be surprised when Kimblee doesn't show.

So he finally approaches the other alchemist, expression stoic as usual.]

It's about time you showed up.

[He hesitates for a moment and then adds onto that awkwardly.]

...Thanks for not letting me burn, I guess.

[WELL HE TRIED]

[fauxlosophical]

...We don't have a specified target for tonight.

[Kimblee, I'm quite sure no one wants to hear from you, but clearly you're going to try it anyway. He's hanging back on the edges of the group, because he's fully aware that people are...not pleased, but.]

Anyone you select runs the risk of a repeat occurrence of what happened this morning - we can keep you from awakening demons, but that's about it.

I've been primarily driving the decisions; while they may choose to target the Maddened, it's possible that they won't simply because they've been doing a better job of putting everyone under than we have. We've been fortunate in that none of ours were hit, but...

[Ugh.]

If I had to try to predict the Maddened's next targets, I would say either Mr. Siebold, the Major or Clover. If I had to predict ours...unfortunately, I can't. It's either going to be the Maddened or someone at utter random - our Archdemon is in charge now, and they like to create patterns where there are none.

[fauxlosophical]

...Isaac.

[The greeting is blunt, almost alarmingly flat-affected; he doesn't seem terribly sure what to do with himself, hang on.]

It was a matter of personal responsibility, that's all. Don't read too much into it.

[glaciates]

[Yeah, he knows.]

I'm not going to make that mistake again.

[fauxlosophical]

...Good.

[He doesn't...relax, exactly; it's more that he seems to be trying to force some of the awkwardness out. It doesn't quite work; he's still obviously wound more than a bit too tight.]

None of this was your fault; I did what I could to ensure you wouldn't be destroyed simply because you didn't deserve it.

[glaciates]

Well I'm glad to hear that.

[Man, this is really awkward, isn't it?]

I appreciate the effort.

[thefinaltarget]

[What's that you say? "Punch me in the face?" Lynne will do just that, thank you.]

You lied to everyone!

[fauxlosophical]

[oh my god HE'S BEEN HERE FOR FIVE MINUTES - ]

Yes, yes, I'm well aware...

[fauxlosophical]

Don't mention it, Isaac.

[From the look of it, he seems to have decided that distance is the best way to deal with the awkwardness; his tone is becoming rather clipped, and he doesn't seem sure of what to do with his hands before finally settling on slipping them into his pockets.]

Is that all?

[thefinaltarget]

[JUSTICE DOESN'T SLEEP, AND NEITHER DO SOULS]

And the only reason you're getting off with just that from me is because I don't have anything else to hit you with and this entire situation is just plain "off"!

[Lynne, that's two reasons.]

[lasuaspada]

[Well, you can't avoid him forever, Banjou - that's the difficult part of still being trapped in an enclosed area, after all! You're also at the slight disadvantage provided by Tsukiyama actively looking for you - something he is still rather good at doing, "dead" or not.

So after a while he will approach, and he'll stop a reasonable distance away with his hands on his hips; he isn't all up in Banjou's business, but it's rather plain he doesn't intend to let him go anywhere, either.

He's smiling, but it isn't a nice expression; his eyes are incredibly hard, and there's a brightness to them that is probably...not a good sign.]

Good morning, Banjoi-kun!

[Wow, he sounds cheerful. Alarmingly so. The sort of tight cheerfulness that implies that this is probably not...anywhere near where Banjou wants to be right now.

...Good luck.]

[glaciates]

[Is that all? This doesn't feel right, but maybe that's just because of the brainwashing. He's not friends with Kimblee and this sort of distance is normal, especially after what happened in the prison. It still feels weird, but Isaac nods anyway.]

Yeah, that's it. I won't waste any more of your time.

[fauxlosophical]

[...That...seems to hit him strangely, actually.]

...Where is Oswin? If you can't point me in his direction, do you have any idea whether what happened last night was actually his doing or if he was just a random part of the dream I was having?

I understand that you likely don't want to hear from me but this is important.

[fauxlosophical]

You're not wasting my time. From the look of it, we have all the time in the world.

If you have something to say to me, then say it.

[irenicly]

[He'd been hoping to avoid this, he really had.

There's something about being brainwashed into loving someone you can't actually stand at all that's left Banjou entirely unsettled. At least they were brainwashed into thinking they were siblings and not married.

He really feels sorry for those people.

But mostly Banjou feels sorry for himself because he's about to get Tsukiyama's wrath.]

Tsukiyama-san. If you're going to try and kill me I think you'll just end up disappointed.

[glaciates]

[It finally occurs to him that he doesn't know what to say. He can finally talk to Kimblee about everything that's happened and he doesn't have a damn idea where to start or if they should even talk about it at all. He fumbles for a moment, looking both really confused and really angry.]

...I don't-- I don't know, alright? I don't know what to say to you.

[fauxlosophical]

Gather your thoughts, then. I'm not going anywhere.

[His gaze flicks a bit to the rest of the compound, uh.]

...Obviously, but other than that, I mean.

[thefinaltarget]

Oh. Yeah, that was him. I think he's over that way right now.

[He may have done pretty bad stuff, but whatever they were while Ladied doesn't matter much now.]

Besides, Isaac told me it wasn't you guys that did this to me.