snowblindrpg | [log] Team Katamari's Big Mistake [closed]

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[log] Team Katamari's Big Mistake [closed]

Characters: Tadashi Hamada and the rest of Team K
Location Building 54
Date: Day 21, morning
Summary: Team K forgets to be cautious? gets distracted? and finds themselves in a bottleneck situation.
Warnings: Monsters. Team K..... splitting.

The morning had started off like most mornings for Tadashi during the past month. He double checked his supplies, fitting Mochi's leash to him and packed the cat away in his shoulder bag before he struck out into the snow. Al's instructions on how to make snowshoes a couple days back helped his progress a lot. Tadashi had been amused by the idea at first, thinking that since he wasn't experienced with snowshoes they would slow him down more than speed him up.

Surprisingly, once he got used to shuffling along... they made the progress of getting through the snow a lot less tiring.

Unfortunately, taking them on and off took a minute and left him in a hurry to get into the first house they came across that day. Because of that, Tadashi didn't sense the wrongness of the place until he was already inside. The cause of the feeling didn't register fully until he stepped into the kitchen... and froze.

The creature twitched, straightening and turning to stare at them with short, unnatural movements. Light from outside silhouetted the monster, but even daylight did nothing to make it any less threatening. By now, they knew how bad it was to run into these things.

Tadashi propelled himself forward almost without thinking, throwing himself past the monster and deeper into the house as it coiled to give chase.

"GET BACK OUTSIDE!"

Not looking back to see what the others did, Tadashi sprinted into the first room with a door that he could find, shoes skidding on the floor as he fell. He quickly scrambled up, lunging to push the door closed.

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Alphonse had been hanging back just a little bit to make his usual inscription just inside the door. It took quite a while now because of the amount of names that he needed to carve, but he always did it faithfully as soon as they arrived, because it was one of the small tasks that actually made him feel as if he might be making a difference here.

He had literally just finished when he heard Tadashi's sudden shout. He sprinted forwards as quickly as he could without even thinking, and then skidded to a halt just inside the kitchen door.

"Go! Everyone go! Get behind me, get out!"

He heard a door slam shut and tried to edge towards it while keeping the monster in sight, worried that some of his team have just shut themselves in.

"Can you hear me? Get out! Climb out of the window and go!"

She had been conducting a search not too far away from Alphonse when all hell broke loose. Much like the younger Elric brother, she rushes toward the source of Tadashi's voice, although not quite as fast, and pulls up short behind Al at the sight of the monster.

Her fingers curl into her palms to quell the shaking, teeth gritting. She heard the sound of a door banging shut, too, and can understand what it might mean.

"But, Alphonse-san....—!"

"Mami--!"

It makes his heart sink when she appears behind him all of a sudden, and he immediately does his best to make himself bigger to try and entirely cover the doorway so that she can't accidentally get past him.

"I'll help Tadashi, you have to get out here now. Turn around and tell the others as you go, but leave! Run to the next house and shut the door, okay?"

It's a wise move, as her gaze had already shifted to calculate the distance between him and other solid, immovable objects. While still far from suicidal (if just for now, given how deceptively fragile her psyche can be) she would rather see her name and no one else's on the bottom line when the costs were added up. She's died before, and come back. She's expendable. She can handle it better than the others.

Plausible excuses to control her fear and negate her guilt.

"Help him how? If he's barricaded himself inside another room......"

He's either safe, or already dead.

"I said I'll help him!"

Al's voice might be slightly higher and more biting than usual in a response to fear, because he knows as well as Mami that Tadashi's foolish flight into the nearest room could well prove fatal for him.

"We don't have time to argue about this, please just go."

"Then don't argue, just listen."

Her own voice is edged, but with a deliberately controlled anger. Low, but starting to rise, masking terror and anxiety. She can allow herself to sound upset, furious, exhausted......but showing fear reaps the highest price of all, takes the biggest toll once the dust settles.

"He's either safe, or dead. Either way, you won't help anyone by joining him."

She doesn't move, eyes trained on the monster. Some part of her mind, like a broken record, begins to replay memories of when she abandoned others to a painful fate. Her parents, Kyouko, Madoka and Sayaka.

"I can't just leave him in there and abandon him, he's not a fighter."

He knows this about Tadashi. The older Hamada might be a genius, he might be kind, he might even be brave, but he's certainly not equipped to protect himself in a physical kind of way.

"I am, and I won't leave him behind. Just go, Mami, you have to warn the others and get to safety."

"Fighting ability means nothing against a creature that can't be affected by it."

Voice never softening, Mami delivers her cold, blunt logic. She's not moving, although still clearly tense and poised on the edge of flight. The fading bruises on her face from where the aloe plant struck her briefly darken as her already light skin pales even further.

"Warn them with me, Alphonse-san, instead of pointlessly risking yourself again."

Edited (improper tense SORRY FOSSIL) 2015-08-08 23:05 (UTC)

The creature is clearly torn between going for them and going for the door that Tadashi had sealed himself behind, but Al knows that luck won't hold much longer and they can't afford to stay chatting about this.

So he suddenly swings around and tries to grab hold of Mami. He wouldn't normally put his hands on one of his allies in such a way, but they are running out of time and he won't let her stay here to be hurt. He will be fine, he knows he will, it's the others who need to take more care of themselves.

"I'm not arguing with you, Mami, you need to go!"

Her attention is on the threat, not Alphonse, and so she's caught completely off-guard when he nabs her for the second time. It's a lapse she'll later berate herself for quite harshly, when time and distance allow for hindsight.

"Let go of me! Don't you understand?!"

"I understand that I'm not going to let you get hurt, got it?!"

He has no idea why she is always so reckless with her own safety, but he is not about to indulge it any longer. The creature surely will be on them in only a few more moments, and Mami is clearly not about to leave voluntarily.

So he only has one choice.

If she won't leave under her own steam, then Al will just have to make sure that she gets to safety whether she wants to or not. He fumbles the nearest window open quickly, and then pulls his arm back to get a good swing on it.

"...sorry."

He mumbles the apology, but he doesn't wait for a reply. He just tries to throw her out of the open window and as far from the building as he can, putting all his strength into it.

"....-!!"

She realizes what he's about to do before he does it and attempts to cling to his arm.

"Don't you dare!"

But her fingers can't find purchase, her perfectly trimmed nails sliding off the cold armor. The angle is too disadvantageous for her to grab some other part of him, and so she's tossed through the window without complication.

The snow cushions her fall, at least, if not the blow to her pride.

For a moment Al doesn't think it's going to work, but then her nails slide ineffectually along his arm and she's disappearing out of the window. He knows that she will probably be angry at him for this - no, not probably, more like definitely - but he doesn't regret it. He'd rather that she was angry at him and alive, than happy with him and dead.

He rushes to slam the window shut as soon as she's through it, effectively cutting off any return attempt or an escape by the monster.

Sorry, Mami, he'll catch up to you later.

"What the hell is that thing?"

He couldn't help but come running when he heard Tadashi, but running farther into the house has only made things worse for all of them. He doesn't want to leave his brother, doesn't want to take his eyes off of whatever that thing is.

"You've got to get out of here, too, Al, you can't stay behind!"

But then again Tadashi and others have only one door between them and this thing. It was a difficult situation. There was nothing more they could do but run, and that sets Ed's blood on fire. "If you take down that door then there's nothing standing between them and that thing but you, Al. You can't do that!"

"Ed!"

He's actually relieved to see his brother there. There isn't anyone else that he trusts beside him in a fight more than Ed, and he knows that he can trust his brother to protect the others alongside him.

"We can talk about what this is later, right now we need to make sure everyone gets outside!"

"Don't you even-"

It takes Steph all of a second to realize what Tadashi intends to do, and she knows that she can't stop him with words. That's the trouble with her friends. They're all so damn self-sacrificing. But there's still time to make an escape and she knows (thinks) that Al is more or less safe from the monsters. He'll help her. She chases after Tadashi.

"Get your ass back here! Are you completely insane?"

"Tadashi!"

She tears after him with Steph as soon as she sees him run in the opposite direction from the door. He isn't a fighter, she knows that by now; and she's not about to watch him get himself killed.

She can't maneuver around Steph in the close quarters of the house, but she's grimly okay with the idea of being a barrier between the other two and the monster chasing them. She glances behind them a couple times for its shape, part of her desperately wishing that the thing made some kind of sound.

When Tadashi dives into the master bedroom and goes to shut the door, she lunges forward and grabs the edge of it to stop it from closing, her claws digging into the wood.

"Wait!"

Tadashi's eyes widen as Steph and Freya pile in before he can close the door. He meant to be enough of a distraction that everyone had time to squeeze back outside through the door they came in. He's baffled as to why they would chase after him when it should have been obvious what he had in mind.

"What are you -- get in!" Tadashi moved enough to make sure they have space. As soon as they get inside, his plan is to slam all of his weight against the door.

That shadow creature is too close for comfort.

As if to solidify that point, Mochi hisses from where he tumbled when Tadashi fell into the room.

"I have to block the door. Hurry!"

Inside the door Steph finally looks back and sees that it is far, far too late for them to escape. She curses.

"You idiot!" She grabs Freya around the waist and pulls with all her weight. She doesn't doubt those fingers are going to get crushed.

"What the hell do you think you can do on your own? We stay together. You don't even know if this will work!"

She bristles when Steph grabs her and pulls her inside, but it's much better than broken fingers. As soon as she's sure all of her is in the room, she helps slam the door shut.

While Tadashi blocks the door with his own stupid brave body and buys them precious time, she ducks around the large dresser nearby and braces one shoulder against it, meaning to push it in front of the door. It's heavy, and its legs screech against the floor with every shove.

"Stephanie—let him alone, and give me a hand!"

Tadashi doesn't have time for any anger to bubble at his friends' admonitions. He can see a window on the far side of the room -- one that he might have been able to scramble out of with Mochi in another scenario. But there's no way with three of them needing to use the same escape now. His last-minute plan to split the creature's attention long enough for everyone to get outside is dissolving.

Instead of focusing on that, he just leans his body weight against the door, digging in with his shoes in preparation for an impact from the other side.

"I told everyone to get outside. You should be able to trust me."

As soon as he gets those words out, something of the paranoia that's always bubbling beneath the surface here reawakens. They really don't trust him to be able to take care of himself. And if they don't trust him, how can he trust them?

"To what, not do anything crazy?" Steh braces her back against the door now too, and sees the window as she turns. They could totally still get out, but what would be the point? They can't outrun the things forever. In fact, this sturdy door is probably just about the only thing that can stop the monsters. Her hands aren't doing much, so she takes the opportunity to pull her mask down. It makes it easier to yell at people.

"Well too bad, you don't get to go on a suicide mission."

Freya holds back from saying anything in favor of keeping all of her focus on pushing the dresser in front of the door. When the creature finally slams into the door, she feels the impact, and swallows down rising panic as she redoubles her efforts.

"Not the time!" she says, through gritted teeth. This argument, in her opinion, can wait until after they've got several sturdy pieces of furniture between them and what's on the other side of that door.

Edited 2015-08-11 05:18 (UTC)

"This wasn't a suicide mission!" Tadashi shouts. His anger dissolves when the creature slams into the door, sending a shock through his shoulder that almost causes him to lose his footing.

With a grunt, he digs in again and pushes back against the door hard, shoving it back closed painful centimeter by painful centimeter from where it was forced open for a split second.

Panic is swirling in his chest, conflicting with nauseating fear and anxiety. They should have trusted him. Now they were all in a dangerous situation.

"It definitely isn't now." Steph manages to keep her voice level, her tone a good deal calmer now that there's only one route available.

"Worst case scenario, I've gotten away from faster and smarter and I can take a few hits. You guys go out the window, and I'll play Keep Away with our friends out there. Hell, we could probably all make it out the window if we didn't waste any time. You guys ever vault out a window before?"

"Out of the way, both of you!"

She knows they're holding the door shut, but she can't push the dresser any farther until they move. She chances speaking again, anxiety and urgency making her voice sharper than she'd usually let it get.

"So you'd make it into your suicide mission? You're not the only one here who's capable. If that thing gets in, Tadashi goes through that window first, and then you and I follow. Together."

It occurs to her that she just implied Tadashi's the helpless one of their trio, but she's more worried about everyone surviving than about hurting his feelings. She glances to the side and makes eye contact with poor Mochi, who looks as freaked out as a cat can look. She knows how he feels.

Tadashi dodges aside, moving quickly to help get the dresser pushed into place. As soon as it's against the door, he leans his body weight back against it to make certain it won't be simply knocked aside from a sudden slam of weight by the creature that is likely still on the other side of the door, waiting for them to let down their guard.

With the dresser adding to their efforts, however, Tadashi has more time to feel the affront rise up like a growing flame.

For now, he presses his lips together, but his eyes are narrowed. He can see now what they're thinking of him. To his knowledge, he's done nothing to prove himself helpless in the entire time he's traveled with this group. Tadashi even feels like he's contributed in many ways.

"I'm staying here," he says levelly after a moment. Even with his paranoia, he's not willing to challenge their view of him directly and shout. "At least for a little while. I'm one of the ones they're attracted to. We know that. We need to keep its attention split until the others check in."

Steph moves her weight back in front of the door as well, apparently oblivious to any slight she may have made against either of them. Her main complaint, in fact, is that nobody seems to care how good anyone else is at vaulting through windows.

"If that's your logic, I'm stuck too. But that's no reason not to have an escape plan ready, and two people are not going to fit through that window at the same time. Not very quickly, anyway. I'm good with windows, seriously, I think I should go last."

Freya leans against the dresser, too, since there's no better place to be, and looks to Steph.

"I don't doubt that you are. All right, leave last if you want; so long as we all leave."

She gives Tadashi a sharp look with that, but its a distracted one. She's been listening carefully for any more sounds outside the door, like all of them, but for a while now she's only picked up the one thing she hadn't dared to hope for: silence. She holds up one hand to keep the others from saying anything, and tilts her head towards the door behind them.

"Wait—listen..."

Edited 2015-08-25 05:07 (UTC)

Thankfully, Ed had not gone too far into the house when he heard Tadashi's cry, but the distress in their team mate's voice only brings the elder Elric running. His first instinct had been to get to his brother, help Al get out, but it became quickly apparent that none of them were leaving the home with any manner of ease. In fact, it was only Al's suggestion to use the windows that has Ed outside at all.

What he doesn't expect, however, is for Mami Tomoe to come tumbling out after him. Or, rather, much like she's been tossed.

"What the hell?!"

If he had his alchemy, at least he would be able to help, build walls and barriers and provide them with weapons, but instead, he's trudging in the snow to bend and help Mami up. "C'mon, we have to go. We have to trust Al. He can help them, okay? He's my brother, he'll be fine."

But even he feels a stab of worry, because everything is different here, everything has changed now that they don't have their alchemy.

Alphonse was right when he guessed that Mami would be angry with him. But the truth is that she's far angrier with herself. For being the weakest, physically, of the entire group. For not being able to talk the others out of foolhardy gestures. For being a burden, for being easy to dismiss, for not being good enough. It's all her fault, always and entirely her fault.

Mami picks herself off the ground under her own power, deliberately refusing Ed's help. His words make her want to slap him, but she clamps down on the spiteful urge. It's misdirected frustration, secondhand irritation. Survival comes first.

"Or he'll be dead because he tried to play hero when it was all risk and no gain. But trust your brother as much as you'd like, Edward-san. You're not the one he threw out of a window."

Her voice is edged, her expression as cold as the snow she's brushing off herself with curt motions. A glance around, then she's running off without waiting for a response from the older Elric, continuing to speak.

"There's a house in this direction. It should be safe. We can regroup later."

Mami doesn't have to accept his help, but they do need to work as part of a team, at the very least, if they're both going to survive. He doesn't like leaving Alphonse behind anymore than she does, but he knows his brother will be okay -- if Al believes he'll be fine then Ed has to believe it to. That's how they've always functioned together.

"He's not going to die, dammit! He's trying to help."

There's not time to argue, as she's off running and Ed follows behind, running as fast as he can. "As long as we find somewhere before dark. It doesn't look like anything's following us yet."

The cold air stings his lungs but his blood runs hot, fueled by adrenaline and anger as he runs up alongside Mami. "They're going to be fine. We have to believe that, if we don't, they won't stand a chance!"

"He thinks that armor makes him invincible. That's the kind of thinking that gets a person killed, no matter their intentions. Belief has nothing to do with it."

Cold words with a bitter edge, snapped out with calculated scorn as she keeps the pace. Her narrowed eyes scan their flanks as well as ahead, just in case of an attack from an unexpected angle.

"I suppose you agree with him?"

"Yeah, well, at one time it basically did. He's stronger than us, anyway."

Though he's just as worried, he cannot stand to sit around and do nothing. Even if they're running away, he's always prepared to go back at the drop of a hat if he needs to. That's his brother and friends in that house, after all.

"So yeah, I agree with him. He wouldn't do anything he couldn't do. I trust Al with my own life -- if he says he can do it, he can do it! I believe in him, and that's all we need. It's enough."

She could laugh, high and mocking and full of icy fury at such dangerous nativity. In fact, she almost does — there's the bare threads of it in her response, as though her words will soon collapse into a spate of bitter chuckles.

"Belief alone is never enough."

But then they're coming up on a house. With more of an effort that she, in all her pettiness, refuses to admit, Mami refocuses on the task at hand.

"I'll investigate the inside. You can check the perimeter for anything troublesome."

She puts on an extra turn of speed to do just that, clearly intending to break away from Ed.

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[log] Team Katamari's Big Mistake [closed]

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