I think I deserve a drink.

I'm glad to hear things have finally settled down out there. It seems this place is very good at dealing out harsh lessons in common sense. I'm tempted to go home before I can see what happens next.

Here's to better weather.

... I remember curse this from last year.

Hn. It was fairly easy to avoid last time, so this time shouldn't be any different.

[ooc; I missed out on this last time, so I'm affecting him this time around. He's just out walking if you want to run into him!]

[The feed comes on--the device clearly on the ground, picking up a familiar face. Kenshin is standing a few feet away with his right arm in a sling and bandages visible around both hands and going up his arms under his kimono. His eyes are closed and he was speaking before the feed even came on--and probably hasn't noticed anything has happened yet.]

--ame as Kaoru-dono. "Thank you." That, and "Sorry..."

And "Goodbye..."

[He shifts, turning toward the feed and starts to speak again, reaching out with his un-slung left hand with a soft smile.]

Shall we be going s--

[and right about then he takes note of his surroundings.]

--oro!?

[Blinks widely, taking a step back and glancing around dumbly.]

Kaoru-dono?

[It takes him a moment. A long moment, manages to turn all the way in a circle a couple of times--before stopping to plainly stare right at the carousel behind him, his back to the feed.]

...................................................

[After a good minute of just staring he starts patting himself down, focusing on his sleeves and inner pockets of his kimono, then glances around until he spots the device, a mildly sour look on his face in comparison to calm expression from before. He leans down, picks up the devices, notes it's already recording of course, gives an exasperated sigh and speaks.]

How long was this unworthy one gone this time?



[ooc; he's back! updated to chapter 251, post Jinchuu arc--pretty much fully updated now. And I fibbed a bit, he had his eyes open in the second part of that scene I just wanted him to get the whole line out before going buh-zuh.]

[action/video/whateveryouwantbb]

[Tis the season to be jolly, right? Tis also the season to shop like mad for Christmas presents, and any idiot with a two-inch forehead would know that to start early is key. Unfortunately, Sakura's forehead is way, way larger, and she's also busier than that (complete bullshit), so she is out in town today, scouting for presents.

The mistletoe tailing her everywhere? Apparently the City thinks she's a prude in need of a lay, too.]

Okay, so, purple for Ino...obviously...

[ooc; It's also, actually, her first serious curse ever, so please, please, please break her. Assume action, if you want. There's enough saliva in her mouth to go around. Wait that sounds wrong.]

For those who have been forced to stay over two years, we have become used to a theme that links December to zombies in a way or another. In the Hospital, there is even a special wing in the last floor to suppress the outbreak. Unfortunately, this year has repeated itself in a less expected way by forcing us dig out our tombs. I hope that would be the last we see of the unsettling event.

[Hospital]

Is everybody all right after that experience? Nobody has..., ah--I pray the Lord this isn't the case.

[Abel]

I was thinking that you are the only priest in this city, would you start the Church services for Christmas and Advent observation, Abel?

[Voice Post]
((Click.))
((There's a cough, a clearing of a throat, another few coughs... Then Cain's voice, scratchy and fatigued.))

I shouldn't be surprised to have fallen ill after everything that happened this weekend. The carousel animals attacked us, a man who claimed to be the architect of the City--or at least its walls--appeared, those walls started to crumble and bleed, I thought I had a chance to go home and I fell through one of the holes in the wall, only to find myself trapped again--and trapped in a grave, which I then had to dig myself out of.

((A brief cough.))

It's no wonder I've fallen ill after a day locked up in a tomb and then buried alive. My aunts would have something to say about the dampness.

And is it suitable enough, I wonder-- ((A moment of quiet... When he speaks again, his voice is quiet, distant...))

But the air never thinned, it never tasted of the inevitable onset of death. And the earth that flooded that chamber was soft and loose, and I could dig my way through it.

((Another pause...))

I knew of someone once who was buried alive and who dug herself out of her own grave...

((Another pause, a longer one... Then a cough and a sneeze and the mood changes, and he's cross again.))

But we're still not given a moment's peace. No sooner have I dug myself out of a grave--my own grave--been retrieved from a trap that either the 'deities' or that architect set up, found the sky healed and mended, and the City restored to whatever one might call 'normal' here but I find myself cursed yet again.

((Mumbles, groans, shuffling--he's trying to make himself more comfortable and it isn't going well.))

No, I am not well enough to receive visitors. I doubt anyone wants to pay a call on me anyway--((His voice dissolves into new round of coughing--!))

((Which passes quickly enough, with a groan and a sigh at the end...))

I can't even close my eyes without seeing this stupid light even through my eyelids. It's impossibly in my eyes. Everywhere I look, there's the light. I'll end up sleeping with the bedclothes over my nose just so I can sleep--if only until midnight--((More coughing--a little harder this time--!))

((But it also ends in due time. And it ends with a sigh or two. He groans a little, rolls over, mumbles something that might be 'To hell with all this'...))

Riff, where are you? I'd rather you were here.

((One final, feverish sigh, another rolling over, and...))

((Click.))
[//voice post ends]

[ooc: This curse just amused the heck out of me. No, Cain is not a happy fellow at the moment--being buried alive does that--but I couldn't resist. He's musing on the things that happened, but he's not talking much about it all yet. He's mostly cranky about his amazing glowing nose yay! Yeah, he's not happy, but I'm loling. Also, YAY NOTIFICATIONS~!!]

[The feed flickers to show a medium sized hole in the ground of the Graveyard. The edge of the hem of a formerly pristine gown is stained by the dirt. Rue collapses, knees shaking weakly, with her disheveled black hair falling tangled with mud and grass while her other hand grips at her golden crown. She's still spitting out the the taste of death from her mouth, looking slightly alarmed as she turns to address the camera.

She just can't believe what close has that been like to be buried beneath the soil. How trapped she has been without any Prince rushing to her rescue, how she has to struggle to survive alone in the end. Because she has to return to Mytho who is waiting for his Princess in their real kingdom. Her. Rue is, however, proud, catching her breath, she asks with only a noticeable quiver.]

A-Ahiru... Fakir? Somebody?

(ooc; Action for whoever is around! Voice/Video to the others!).

[Voice Post]
((Click.))
((Slam! Slam! Bang! Slam! Collision on collision on collision--and a few groans or growls. If one knows the voice and one knows the sounds, one could recognize it as Cain trying to kick down a door. A heavy door. Perhaps a stone door?))

((One more good hit and then a pause. Breathing hard now, catching his breath--such a waste of precious air in a space like this...))

It's not only a trap. It's far from just a trap. It's also agrave!

((One more good strike, then silence. Breathing. Nothing. ... He speaks again.))

Don't you dare follow me, Riff! Don't you dare! Don't even consider it! ...no matter how much I want you here, don't you dare fall into this trap!

Seal up the hole. Use...brown paper, bandages, I don't care.

It's not just a trap, it's a grave...

((A pause, a brief silence.))

And all of you who said it might be trap, you'll have time to gloat later. I don't need or want to hear it now. So shut up!

((Silence...one, two footsteps. A pause. He must be leaning against some dark, marble wall, and he slides down to the floor. A long silence... So long that, perhaps, it almost sounds like the recording has ended. But then, quietly...))

The things that happen to a person if one is buried alive--can you imagine it? Can you imagine waking up in the dark, unable to move, hardly able to breathe, perhaps still weak from having been so deeply asleep even the doctors thought you were dead?

And more than that, the cold, dark loneliness when she realised that the man she loved was not coming to dig her out and rescue her. She realised that she had been betrayed by the man who still wore her ring on his finger.

The darkness and the loneliness, and the air thinning with the inevitable onset of death drove her to madness...

Suzette...

((One long, slow, ragged breath...then silence...))
((Click.))
[//voice post ends]

[ooc: Okay, I don't like posting twice in one day (stfu, Caru!), but it seems worth it to post with Cain in the mausoleum, yessss~? Yes. So. Buried alive Cain is buried alive. He fell through the tear accidentally (really!) and found himself in his own bedroom at home and tried to run out into the hall beyond it...only to end up in his own grave. He found the Network device in the middle of the floor, taunting him. He'll dig himself out tomorrow and survive, even if he'll be unhappy about it for a while yet.]

[AUDIO- POINTED, VERY CLEAR AUDIO, BECAUSE HE IS SPEAKING THIS SO THAT SOMEONE CAN HEAR EVERY WORD. THERE IS A NOT SO FAINT CLAMOR IN THE BACKGROUND. LIKE THAT OF MORON ATTACKING DOOR]

I would like to make this very clear--

At no point in time did I think that the "tear" in the barrier would in fact lead to freedom and the return to my world. It was too flawed a proposal; after all, the fountain claims to reflect a reality as well.

That said, I was unable to thoroughly examine the other side before being plunged into this place-- so, should the subject ever rise again,

I did not willingly set foot into Kurosaki's bedroom.

I do not presume to speak for Kuchiki-san.

By the way, Kurosaki, you might want to listen to me after all, given that the popular network opinion is don't open the do-

[OMINOUSLY CUT OFF BY UH, IDK, DOOR BREAKAGE.]


[ooc: fffffff ... yis. OK some circus animal was harassing one of hie neighbors, that is the story as to ishida in the room, believe it mmk]

Excuse me, but what is the situation with mending as the deities requested? Do we have more information? Has someone managed to escape? Thank you.

I implore to those who find themselves in a familiar landscape to remain there, don't try to escape by destroying the door. You will continue trapped, however the accommodations will be traded by something far more uncomfortable. Don't forget this warning, please.

[Hospital]

Unfortunately, I am unable to attend my shifts. I was caught up in this. I beg you all to report me how is everyone faring inside the installations.

( [Closed Action: Abel Nightroad and Aion] )

There are holes in the sky--holes in very sky. It looks like a trick, like an illusion, to see the horizon in the distance, but a hole so close. It's beautiful in a terrifying way. The animals have escaped from the carousel, the barriers have closed around us--perhaps this really is the End of All Worlds. I still hear the ticking, but how long with that continue? Perhaps that madman who turned up on the Network raving about the barriers and the City was right. Perhaps it is collapsing. Perhaps it's only the City that's collapsing. Will they rebuild it? Will they recapture us all?

Maybe his offer is the genuine one. The 'deities' would never send us home again, and we saw proof enough of that with those boxes--those damnable boxes--but perhaps he has opened a few paths for us. I don't know whether I should believe him or not. The 'deities' are telling us to ignore him and to patch up these holes. He's shouting at us that we should go through while we still can.

And now, of course, those holes and tears in the sky are bleeding. It's fairly raining blood now.

I shouldn't be surprised. I'm not, really. Of course these tears and holes in the City's walls would bleed. We blame the City, not the 'deities' for curses. Why shouldn't it bleed? The carousel or the Clock might be its heart, and here holes have been torn in the skin of the thing.

I can see our house through this one, Riff. I don't care how much it all bleeds on me. I've seen blood before. It was a year ago that the City let me go back for a fortnight, just two weeks. It gave me a glimpse of home and I was oblivious to any chance of being dragged back here. All of this was a stupid, mad dream. It sent me out as it pleased and dragged me back again. I walked down an alley in London towards a carousel in the City and crossed some threshold in between. I walked down an alley in the City and found myself in front of a toy shop in London. And then a London alley became a City alley once again. It's been a full year.

This is my house and my garden. I can reach through, I can feel the air on the other side. It's still spring there--of course it is, since that's when I left.

Riff, you're all that's keeping me from running through this hole this very moment, you know. If you were here, if I hadn't sneaked away, I'd say we were to run through immediately. But you abandoned me here more than once. I won't do the same to you, Riff.

I pressed the button that threw Mr Witwicky into a nightmarish trap, I admit it--or so the carousel tiger told me I did. And I did it because I've not even seen this much of my world and my house for an entire year. I was alone in the City for months on end. What would you not do for the barest taste of home. I explained my reasoning enough the day I decided to press the button. If my suffering here is for the survival of my world, then I wanted some proof that my world still existed. I suffered in my own world to save it, I'll suffer here to save it too, now that I know it's still real and that my father hasn't won.

There's little else about this place that's worth keeping. Most everyone I've known has come and gone, and I'm still trapped here. It's never been my intention, nor is it really in my nature at all, to befriend everyone. I'm more familiar with enemies, or at least reputation and dislike. That's been the whole of my life. And it seems it's followed me here at last. If Mr Witwicky has set his mind against me, then so be it. I shall not trouble him with my presence any longer. When one is with unpleasant company, sometimes one has to make an early evening of it. I'll say that's what I'm doing. If I do decide to pass through, if I can collect Riff in time, then give Mr Witwicky my farewells, Princess Rosella.

Megumi, thank you for all that you've done for me in the time we've been acquainted. That doesn't begin to thank you enough in the least, but perhaps you still understand. I suppose this will break the ties between us-- I haven't decided whether I should take this chance or not, but you deserve thanks before I go.

Do I believe this madman more than I believe the 'deities'? I can't be certain yet. But he's given me more than they ever have.

Riff, I need you here.

~C.

[ooc: And so, Cain goes to the edges of the barrier. He's not entirely in his right mind at the moment, so please bear with him. I mean, really, he was attacked by Yuri, then attacked by a tiger, then verbally attacked by Sam... All in all...not such a great start to December. I haven't entirely decided if he'll go through. If he does, it'll be accidental, certainly, since he is weak from everything. That would make for a nice conclusion: ending up buried alive like the woman he loved... (How evil am I~?) If he does fall in, it'll be later today. I hate posting twice in one day, but...we'll see.]

[Snowy screen, then focus on some rifts in the sky.]

Krrzrrsttchtzz.

[These particular rifts look a bit red.]

Fzzzsrgkkrszzz.

[Then...red splats on the lens.]

MOUSE IS BLEEDING?!?

[Oh wait. The lens is wiped clean to tilt towards a now messy Mouse.]

UMBRELLAS TO ALL BATTLE STATIONS. NOW.

Mouse is pink! Pink! Messy sticky gooey pink! It smells!

CITIZENS DO YOUR DUTY. PATCH. PATCH. PATCH.

[Sob.]

Mouse is all wet...

[ooc: Those red rifts are spilling blood on the City beginning now, 12:00am EST Dec 7! It will last till the end of the event on 11:59pm EST Dec 8. Feel free to have your characters getting dripped or rained on! It's not all over the City so players can avoid having their houses stained if they want to. Vampires and other blood drinkers take note: the blood might make them sick, from minor tummyaches to vomiting 83]

[ voice ]

Reports say the barrier around the City is breaking in places. Mostly at the perimeters of the island itself. People, myself included, doubt that what we see beyond it can be anything good or believable - especially when it shows us something like home.

But I live in the City proper and there's a rip in the barrier in my apartment.

I've gone home before. I know what it looks like. This feels right.

... I didn't push that button to make the trade, but it looks like I didn't have to, after all.

[A long, breathless pause; Holly doesn't know what to say.]

Three years here and I finally started to think this place felt like... like a home. [Quite chuckle.] That probably means it's time to go.

I think this might be it.


[ooc; This departure post will be open to comments as long as they keep on coming. Make your goodbyes if you so wish! Holly will miss this place and all of you.]

I have no use for my 'ticket'. Anyone interested may claim it if they wish.

A shake in the system. A change of routine.
The horses were against the barrier.

Thread carefully against this place invisible bars.
I have no interest to leave.

... Are the aliens back?

[Voice Post]
((Click.))
((Silence. Is there even anyone there? Yes, there's the sound of...something... Breathing? A groan? ... Then, gradually, fumbling sounds as if he isn't sure his Network device is turned on or working...or perhaps he's having trouble holding on to it, getting to it, using it properly; slow, ragged breathing as if he's been running...or fighting...))

Riff--!!

((Only Cain would call for Riff like that. There's a dragging sound--he's pulling himself to his feet and then...))

((Thud.))

... Damn.

((For a long moment, there's only the sounds of breathing--heavy, injured, pained breathing... Just breathe. Just breathe.))

Riff--?
Riff, where are you? I know you're there...

...come quickly...

((Briefly, some faint shuffling, the sounds of one more try, one more attempt to stand...and then, slowly, the sound of someone sliding down against a wall, collapsing... And then...))

Riff...

((Click.))
[//Voice Post Ends]

[ooc: See that icon? Yeah. Like that. Cain met up with Yuri today, in the change between day and evening. And Yuri was attacking an NPC--gouging out her eyes, cutting off her fingers, cutting up its back, that sort of lovely stuff--and Cain was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course he tried to fight--he has a blade in his cane (didn't you know?) and a small pistol (most of the time) and his poison (but you didn't hear that from me). Too bad Yuri completely topped him. He's now bleeding in an alley somewhere. Do come collect him, Riff ;3;]

Dr. Chase, thank you for the vote of confidence the other day. I'm very satisfied with the possition I've been offered on staff, but wanted to ask you--you mentioned you wanted me to meet someone?

[private to Ino]

Alright, tell me. I saw something weird with your 'friend with benefits' yesterday. He didn't seem that much of a jerk before...