Sakata Gintoki (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
yorozuya) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
snowblindrpg2015-06-24 09:48 pm
yorozuya) wrote in snowblindrpg2015-06-24 09:48 pm
Entry tags:
[network/log] EVEN A BROKEN UMBRELLA IS USEFUL IF YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT! [Network open/Log closed]
Characters: Sakata Gintoki, Hijikata Toshirou, OPEN
Location O3 - Building 74
Date: Part I - Network - Afternoon of Day 007, Part II - Log - Afternoon of Day 007, Part III - Log - Afternoon of Day 008
Summary: The NEET samurai is finally making his appearance on the network - though the White Noise event and his own cabin fever quickly comes to a boiling point with his current travel-mate.
Warnings: Violence, murder of a poor mayo-freak in Part III
[I - NETWORK - Open - Afternoon of 007 response]
[For all intents and purposes, Gintoki should’ve logged on to the network. He’d fiddled with it a few times during his stay at their current location - typically in the moments that he was trying to tune the Mayofreak’s presence out - but his attempts had never proved widely successful. He lacked the drive to figure out the strange piece of technology in his hand or how to properly compose a message onto the network. Usually he attempted to put it in the top bar, but he would run out of characters before he’d completed his thought.
How were they supposed to communicate like this? It was like texting all over again. It was enough to drive him mad.
Typically.
Though today, he’d decided to give it another go - and it’s absolutely not because he’s trying to distract himself from the strange shadows he’d begun to see on the wall. Those shadows absolutely could not exist in any way, shape, or form and so he would prove just how much they didn’t exist by ignoring them. That was the best way to approach a problem anyway. Pushing it back. Giving it the cold shoulder and continuing on with your life.
It was a flawless plan, up until he actually accessed the network in the afternoon. He had been attempting to make a video post when he’s greeted with a burst of white noise and the movement of a figure on his tablet that causes him to toss his tablet to the ground and let out a shriek. His attempt at a network post ends abruptly - the incomplete message going live:]
Display Name: Yorozuya
Oi!
Is the shoddy connection quality a constant here? So our piss freezes into ice shards and our little tiny computers are fritzy? What’s next? Is the convenience store going to stop stocking chips? They already don’t have mi-
[As the white noise starts to act up, Gintoki lets out a shrill shriek before the sound of his tablet hitting the floor can be heard. The transmission ends abruptly after that.]
[II - LOG - Closed to Hijikata - Afternoon of 007]
[Gintoki could hear the familiar pop of a fire. It rings in his head and he sets his jaw in annoyance. Though the thing that finally eats away at his patience is the sound of scratching. Something scratching against the wall as if someone were nervous and fidgeting. The sound only grew louder the longer Gintoki attempted to ignore it - until finally he was forced to shift his position.
He pulled his hands out from behind his hand and turned over onto his side. He’d be comfortably sprawled out on the floor - or rather he’d tried to appear comfortable despite the noises his tablet continued to make on and off.
Yup, cool as a cucumber.]
Oi! If you’re going to scratch, go outside to get rid of your fleas! You hear me?!
[III - LOG - Closed to Hijikata - Evening of 008]
[It was getting worse.
The crackling of fire he’d complained about the afternoon before had transformed. Instead of a muffled noise that sounded distance - it had grown into a roar that surrounded him. No matter where he traveled, the sound of flames eating away at the plaster and foundation of the building were unavoidable - and yet Gintoki couldn’t bring himself to leave. He couldn’t run out into the harsh winter because something about this told him this is where he belonged.
The albino would wait to be consumed. To be charred to ash just as it had been meant to be. His heart pounded as he paced the room. His eyes scanned the equations on the walls - that had long warped to take an entirely different meaning.
Instead, he swore the kana for “pinky promise” and “thank you” was scratched into the walls over and over again. He could hear the laughing of children and the scratching of the writing into the walls around him.
It grew to a roar that scrambled his thoughts and caused his heart to pound from his chest.
Until he heard the opening of a door. His eyes widen, freezing in his place as he doesn’t dare turn around just yet, the samurai’s mind running wild with the possibilities. Waiting for just the right moment for his reflex to kick in.
Which would it be? Fight or flight? His breath caught as he waited, his dull eyes slowly drifting to the broken umbrella that was only a few paces away from him - lazily discarded from Gintoki’s first food run with Hijikata.]
Location O3 - Building 74
Date: Part I - Network - Afternoon of Day 007, Part II - Log - Afternoon of Day 007, Part III - Log - Afternoon of Day 008
Summary: The NEET samurai is finally making his appearance on the network - though the White Noise event and his own cabin fever quickly comes to a boiling point with his current travel-mate.
Warnings: Violence, murder of a poor mayo-freak in Part III
[I - NETWORK - Open - Afternoon of 007 response]
[For all intents and purposes, Gintoki should’ve logged on to the network. He’d fiddled with it a few times during his stay at their current location - typically in the moments that he was trying to tune the Mayofreak’s presence out - but his attempts had never proved widely successful. He lacked the drive to figure out the strange piece of technology in his hand or how to properly compose a message onto the network. Usually he attempted to put it in the top bar, but he would run out of characters before he’d completed his thought.
How were they supposed to communicate like this? It was like texting all over again. It was enough to drive him mad.
Typically.
Though today, he’d decided to give it another go - and it’s absolutely not because he’s trying to distract himself from the strange shadows he’d begun to see on the wall. Those shadows absolutely could not exist in any way, shape, or form and so he would prove just how much they didn’t exist by ignoring them. That was the best way to approach a problem anyway. Pushing it back. Giving it the cold shoulder and continuing on with your life.
It was a flawless plan, up until he actually accessed the network in the afternoon. He had been attempting to make a video post when he’s greeted with a burst of white noise and the movement of a figure on his tablet that causes him to toss his tablet to the ground and let out a shriek. His attempt at a network post ends abruptly - the incomplete message going live:]
Display Name: Yorozuya
Oi!
Is the shoddy connection quality a constant here? So our piss freezes into ice shards and our little tiny computers are fritzy? What’s next? Is the convenience store going to stop stocking chips? They already don’t have mi-
[As the white noise starts to act up, Gintoki lets out a shrill shriek before the sound of his tablet hitting the floor can be heard. The transmission ends abruptly after that.]
[II - LOG - Closed to Hijikata - Afternoon of 007]
[Gintoki could hear the familiar pop of a fire. It rings in his head and he sets his jaw in annoyance. Though the thing that finally eats away at his patience is the sound of scratching. Something scratching against the wall as if someone were nervous and fidgeting. The sound only grew louder the longer Gintoki attempted to ignore it - until finally he was forced to shift his position.
He pulled his hands out from behind his hand and turned over onto his side. He’d be comfortably sprawled out on the floor - or rather he’d tried to appear comfortable despite the noises his tablet continued to make on and off.
Yup, cool as a cucumber.]
Oi! If you’re going to scratch, go outside to get rid of your fleas! You hear me?!
[III - LOG - Closed to Hijikata - Evening of 008]
[It was getting worse.
The crackling of fire he’d complained about the afternoon before had transformed. Instead of a muffled noise that sounded distance - it had grown into a roar that surrounded him. No matter where he traveled, the sound of flames eating away at the plaster and foundation of the building were unavoidable - and yet Gintoki couldn’t bring himself to leave. He couldn’t run out into the harsh winter because something about this told him this is where he belonged.
The albino would wait to be consumed. To be charred to ash just as it had been meant to be. His heart pounded as he paced the room. His eyes scanned the equations on the walls - that had long warped to take an entirely different meaning.
Instead, he swore the kana for “pinky promise” and “thank you” was scratched into the walls over and over again. He could hear the laughing of children and the scratching of the writing into the walls around him.
It grew to a roar that scrambled his thoughts and caused his heart to pound from his chest.
Until he heard the opening of a door. His eyes widen, freezing in his place as he doesn’t dare turn around just yet, the samurai’s mind running wild with the possibilities. Waiting for just the right moment for his reflex to kick in.
Which would it be? Fight or flight? His breath caught as he waited, his dull eyes slowly drifting to the broken umbrella that was only a few paces away from him - lazily discarded from Gintoki’s first food run with Hijikata.]
@Enoch; voice
[Well, the white noise cut him off. But it should be obvious what that was supposed to be. He'd clearly been frightened by something, and given the things that supposedly went on in this town, he had to ask.]
video;
Of course. Yes! He should. That was probably just a temporary glitch. Computers hit glitches sometimes because they were such new pieces of technology and the people who made them were only human! Probably lazy programmers who forgot to code that little part!
Which is obviously why that man was cut off when he tried to ask questions-!
After bolstering himself up once more, the samurai picks up his tablet which is miraculously unscathed. He blinks into it before speaking once more.]
Yes.
Yes, is this bullsh- [And it happens again and Gintoki physically jumps, nearly throws the tablet away again because he swears he sees something move among the speckles of noise.] that?!
voice
I don't know, maybe there's something-... --- ...the tablets. This noise they're making... --- ...strange.
[Well at least there was one complete thought in there, sort of. He's taken to just not holding his tablet at all anymore because he knows he'll probably drop it if this keeps up.]
video;
More than...-- a practical joke?! It's bad...---... something amateurs would use as a plot tw-....
[At this point, Gintoki is unable to throw his tablet again. The other man in his company could not see him make the same embarrassing reaction twice. So now he holds onto the tablet as if his life depended on it - knuckles white from the force his hands created. Though that meant he kept the tablet at a strained arms reach from him at all times.]
video;
I'm sorry, what was that about amateurs? The... -- -terfered. I don't know what it would... --- ...with something like this.
[The only thing keeping him from just giving up on trying to talk to anyone tonight was the fact that it was so lonely here. And this week had been the first in literal centuries when he was, really and truly, alone. This tablet, this network, they were all he had even if he only had the faintest understanding of how they worked.]
video;
Other people around here were probably pretty lonely, huh?]
Amateur story writers who-..... make it more interesting. I have dealt w--... Pain in the ass if you--.....
video;
Storytelling has be-... -laborate then? Interesting. --- ...it might. This doesn't-... --- ...laughable though.
[Honestly, it's frustrating and very worrying. What if they stop working entirely? They'll have no way to contact one another.]
Re: video;
And for some reason, that works! Though he doesn't understand a thing the other said.]
I can't underst-..... rring t-.... --- Not funny in the....-- split my head!
[If it stopped working entirely, Gintoki wouldn't be at much of a loss. He's shacked up with another person, even if that other person was an annoying mayonnaise sucking freak - at least there was company. He'd probably just toss the tablet aside if that were to happen.]
video;
What?
[There's no way it can interfere in a single word, at least. Unfortunately, it makes up for that by starting right in at the beginning of the next sentence.]
...so irritating. Is something... --- ...the tablets at once?
video;
But, of course, it all goes to hell rather quickly after that.]
Oi..---- normal? I hadn't...---... technology a pain in.....--
voice; ID: SceptredIsle
Bit of a pain in the arse, when this is the only way-- [fshhhh] --hope to communicate with most people-- [kchssshhhhhsh]
video;
Ideally, anyway.]
So this...---thought it was always-- piece of shit--
Did someone forget--- the bill?! Quick pay--...foreigner with money.
voice
--don't think-- [sshsshshchchhhh] --paying a bill, as I doubt there's-- [kcshsht] --economic system in this place.
[fsstsss] --be weather interference.
video
Says you guy with a bunch of--..... --grows on trees, huh? Someday you'll--...
Weather interference?! There's al--.... out the ass. What's a little---
II
He squinted at his screen, ignoring any posts of asinine conversation in favor of a shape. There was definitely a shape, something on his screen. Like a video layered over everything else. It was creepy! Too creepy - but Hijikata couldn't tear his eyes from it.
Until Gintoki spoke. Hijikata nearly dropped his tablet, and he did slam his head back against the wall with a painful crack. After groaning and swearing, rubbing the injured area, Hijikata glared over the top of his tablet at odd jobs.] Scratching? I'm not. You're hearing things. [If Gintoki was hearing things, that meant Hijikata was absolutely seeing things. And the figure on his screen was totally not there...]
no subject
[The albino's voice rose before he shook his head. He looked over at the other, the annoyance clear on his face as he scratched at the bunching of fabric near his stomach.
There was nothing else to do, so having to jerk one out was expected - but give a man a warning! He didn't want to be a spectator to such a thing. If the guy could just ask, Gintoki would slip outside for a piss or something.
Huh.
Maybe they should establish some sort of code for that.]
no subject
The code for that was keep it in your pants until we figure out what's going on here. Or it'll probably freeze off, or something. Odd jobs could risk it, but Hijikata would be abstaining.]
You're disgusting-! No! I'm watching the screen. Look at yours, and tell me if you see something. [Back to business. Or maybe just trying to get Gintoki to be just as scared as he was? But he wasn't scared-]
no subject
Not that Gintoki would put his junk through something like that. He'd been at the end of far too many nutshots in recent years. It was an important extension of himself, he had to protect it! So, no. No! He'd be abstaining too!]
If I see something-
[Gintoki trails off before he looks back to his tablet. He'd been seeing shit all day, but that didn't mean he wanted to bring attention to it. So he stares at it and absolutely sees something. It absolutely causes his entire body to tense and yet-]
See. See something? No. Nope. Nothing. Why? Is the technology scaring you? It can be frightening... [There's a tremble in his voice! Absolutely, but if he carries on like it isn't there well then...]
no subject
That's right, odd jobs. You need something to protect, right? Your precious balls could fit that bill until you found someone less competent than yourself. Though, whoever that would be has probably frozen to death by now.
Hijikata glared, eyes squinting at Gintoki as if looking at him harder would reveal the truth. He was scared, wasn't he? He saw something, didn't he? The man was barely avoiding stuttering every word that came out of his mouth. It was the voice of someone who was scared!
Astute observation skills be damned, Hijikata just wanted it to be true.]
It's not the technology, it's- [He crossed the room with every intent to slam Gintoki's head into his tablet screen.
And then it wailed.
Hijikata's back pressed against the wall immediately. Because it was comfortable. It was a good pose for him - it suited him. He totally hadn't scrambled backwards in a panic.] So. There's nothing on the screen. Nothing at all. [There was something! Reaching out and clawing at the screen and screaming in pain- Even on his abandoned tablet, he could see it! Own up, odd jobs, damn it!]
III
As if it wouldn't be repaired by simply going their separate ways and meeting up again in the morning. The static from both tablets was entirely too loud as Hijikata sat and smoked one of his precious cigarettes, breathing in every bit of the smoke that he could manage. It wasn't long after the tobacco was nothing but ash on the ground around him that the man fell asleep.
Only to wake up paralyzed. He wanted to scream, to reach out and grab whoever did this - but again he couldn't move until everything was too silent. Then he sat up with too much force, making himself dizzy and being forced to take a moment to hold his forehead in a hand before standing.]
I'm going out. I'll be back by sundown.
[He didn't care if Gintoki heard him, Hijikata gathered his tablet into his backpack and headed out the door.
Hours later, he returned with a 2x4 and nothing else. At least he'd found something. Too many days had gone by without a single moment of success, so the man wasn't cursing his luck as he opened the door and stepped back into the home.] I'm back-
[Hijikata wondered if Gintoki was even here. But he'd said something about waking up in this place in the beginning, and it was so close to food - only an idiot would leave. So, Hijikata wondered if Gintoki was even here.
Seeing the man's back answered that quickly enough.] Nothing. [Gintoki didn't ask for a report, but Hijikata gave it to him anyway. Though, 'nothing' apparently meant a board and a forsaken piece of rotten cake. Maybe he should have brought it back for odd jobs? Would he eat that? Ew.]
no subject
Gintoki steps forward, grabbing the end of the umbrella. He steps on the inner wires, ripping the rod and base of the umbrella from the top. Just as he did so, he heard a thump next to his food.
A very familiar thump and roll of something heavy and round sliding to the unforgiving ground. He catches a glimpse of blood and light colored hair before he has to turn away as if he were burned.
Turns and sets his sights on Hiji - who appears not at him but as a different man entirely. White frazzled hair and cruel, dead eyes--
His hand tightens around the handle of the broken umbrella as if it were the hilt of a sword. Air catches in the albino's chest and his eyes widen - a feral intent to kill coming across his features.
No siren call of cake or pastry would bring Gintoki from this. Instead he charges, quick to take a swing at the man.]
no subject
Did Gintoki know he'd left the cake behind?]
O-oi. I'll go back and get that cake for you tomorrow. [Not because he was scared, but because this was just pathetic. They were both clearly on edge, tense and high strung from the night before.
Apparently, his words hadn't reached the man. When Gintoki rushed forward Hijikata barely managed to take one step back, bending at the knees for an extra moment to swing his 2x4 and parry the blow. It scraped splinters from the wood and Hijikata could feel some slivers dig into his hand.]
What the hell are you doing!?
no subject
Gintoki is far too entrenched in a world this room had created for him. His heart pumps in his chest, the sound echoing in his own ears. Fear and desperation ripped at the organ, drove him forward.
He had to act. He had to kill this man whose soul reeked of shit, who had torn everything away from the people he held most dear.
As his blow is parried, Gintoki uses his strength to lock weapons - mind searching for another avenue of attack. Then, fluidly he takes a step back - only to rush his weight forward once again - attempting to take a swipe for the man's belly this time.]
no subject
Hijikata's back was to the door, and as Gintoki moved to reorient himself the man knew he only had a split second to escape the blow. His hand shot for the doorknob and as his fingers wrapped around the metal he heard the 'click' that meant he was locked in for the night.
Shit.
Parrying would have meant destroying his board and his hands, so Hijikata dropped down. The blow meant for his gut met his arm instead. Blood ran thick, coating his jacket and slopping to the ground as he rolled away.
This room was too damn small. He was cornered. The man's eyes strained in the darkness of the room, nails digging into the board in his hand.]
no subject
That fact alone filled Gintoki with a white-hot wave of frustration. His crimson gaze had been locked on the other, though then suddenly the man dropped from his sight and into
the darkness of the small roomthe flames that had engulfed the room. He heard liquid hit the ground (so he had landed a good hit, after all.)Though the other's shuffling didn't register in the man's ears. Too many sounds from the room's imagined ambiance had clouded his senses - a handicap on his usual abilities. He took in a breath - eyes squinting again against the brightness.
Where was he? Where?!
He steps forward, ready to swing the moment he finally picked out where Hijikata had fled to.]
no subject
He didn't find anything, and the sound of a boot heavy on the floorboards called Hijikata's attention back to his assailant.
Fine, the board would have to do. Hijikata moved it into a defensive position, though his arm fought and protested the motion. He choked back a pained grunt and stood ready. The blow didn't come as a surprise, but countering it nearly sent the board flying from Hijikata's hands. More splinters found their way into his palms and his moment for a parry passed.
Next time.]
no subject
Was he really that unfit to protect what was around him? He wouldn't even be able to see this through in the end? Gintoki's hands were already stained with the blood of a man who had given him everything - so why couldn't he add the blood of a man who took it all away?
Rage grips him and he raises his boot so that he can connect it with Hijikata's torso to throw him to the ground. The moment the man is on the ground, the samurai is on top of him and he lets out a scream - raising the end of the rod in his hands before he barrels down with all of his strength down into Toshirou's chest.]
no subject
It was all he could to do keep his handle on the board. Gintoki descending had just the right timing to win the man a blow to the head. Before he could follow through he felt a sharp pain in his chest.
Hijikata's eyes widened, fear lacing his features for the first time.
His injured arm spasmed and he yelled, following through with his intended blow. The corner of the 2x4 connected with Gintoki's skull. It wasn't enough. Hijikata's breath was growing short. A new kind of chill was spreading through him, threatening to take away his strength.
Before that happened, he'd see this through. Hijikata swung the board again and again, smashing it to pieces on Gintoki's head. By the time his hand fell heavy to the ground, it was mangled and bloody with splinters.
Not that he noticed. All Hijikata noticed was how much harder it was to breathe.]
no subject
And again.
And again.
Blood spilled down his face - collecting in silver hair, but the samurai was rooted to the ground. Rooted to the end of this umbrella rod.
But then as the board pounded into his skull, splinters lodging into his temple and jamming into his skin - the fires around him began to quell. His heart caught and eyes wide with feral fury slowly lost their intensity.
Rage was swallowed only by fear as the image of Oboro withered and vanished - leaving way for a different form. An utterly different man. A man he'd wanted to protect. To return to his family- His grip loosens on the end of the umbrella - but he can't bring himself to let go just yet.
Shit. Shitshitshit. No. No.
The fires are gone - in their wake the loud scratching returning. "Pinky Promise" carving itself into the walls over and over again. Becoming oppressive and the vision of a too-gentle smile comes to his eyes. A smile that withered into a frown of disappointment at just the mess Gintoki had become.
His breath tears from his chest, his surroundings beginning to warp as if things were beginning to spin.]
Hijikata.
[Comes the ragged admission of guilt as he watches the other's breathing become more shallow. His mouth opens, but words never come for the other.]
no subject
Hijikata couldn't even move them. When had it gotten so cold in here?
He registered that he was laying in a pool of blood. Looking at odd jobs, he wondered if it was his own or the other man's. His hands were shaking, and for a moment he wondered if it was fear.
Did he look afraid?
His shoulder rose and fell, a failed attempt at sitting up along the pole of the umbrella and somehow shoving Gintoki off of him. Instead, Hijikata's head lulled to the side. He heard his name, but couldn't connect it to a source. Breathe. He took in air with a gasp, mouth open wide. Stale breath caught in his throat and he coughed. Blood pooled in his mouth.
He didn't have the energy to spit, only to let it drip from his lips like drool. Hijikata swore - at least he tried to. His voice failed him and all he could do was gasp desperately for another breath. Nothing. His hands were shaking and he didn't even feel cold anymore.
What was he so afraid of? Or was he mad at odd jobs, for attacking him like this. No, those were both powerful emotions, and Hijikata felt little other than numbness. He closed his eyes and for a moment he was back in his yukata, shaking his head at something Kondo said. He gasped for breath because Sogo had punched him in the gut. Those guys - he'd wanted to see them again.
His hands weren't shaking anymore.]
no subject
Gintoki would see his sins through to the end.
And that he did.
Only after the other's hands lost their function did Gintoki's hands lose his. Aching fingers pull away from the broken stem of an umbrella. The same umbrella he and Hijikata had argued over to see if it had any use.
Well, apparently. Gintoki had found the use.
He won't that argument. Funny, how there was no joy in such a victory. No air to be sucked into his own lungs from the oppressive environment of scratches and broken expectations and failures.
Failures. Utter failures. He slowly moves to stand, his world shifting in an unsteady wobble. His head felt as if it were barely attached to his shoulders. The silver-haired man stumbled away from the corpse, his hand moving to his wounded head.
When he pulls his hand away - he doesn't register the blood as his own. It would be more fitting if it was the proof of the life he'd snuffed out for no reason.
No reason, what-so-ever.
The man trips over himself as coordination leaves him, his head connecting with the wall to leave a smear of blood. The force had him giving up on walking. He moved to sit down and take in a breath.
He'd wait. Wait this out. Wait and collect his thoughts.
Gintoki would find his next plan of action. Find a way to fight the room. Maybe he'd wake up to find it all fake. All a ploy of some sort just like the others the room threw at him.
Sure, it was a lie - but adults had to lie to themselves to keep going sometimes.
The man cracks a smile, clouded eyes staring into the darkness of the room. A chill nips at his body and his stomach growls from hunger.
This feeling was becoming more and more familiar, was it? History would only repeat itself for the White Demon, after all - all the points would converge-
Huh.
There were a few good people back home that'd give him a good knock in the head for that.
Fatalism didn't help anyone after all.
But what happened when there was no one left to help? His vision begins to leave - though his eyes never close. A dull crimson gaze stares forward - lost in thought long after the thoughts had all withered away.]