[log] A few drifts apart, still at home in your hearts [closed]

[heroproceeding]

Characters: Zack Fair (heroproceeding), Zell (swatsflies), Kunsel (deus_es_phs), & Jim Hawkins (rattlingthestars)
Location: VV30 - BUILDING 326 (High School)
Date: Day 275 - Late Night
Summary: Kunsel and Zack manage to reunite with the boys IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.
Warnings: Amnesia? Mentions of death possible. All that other typical Snowhell crap.



BUILDING 326:
A fairly large building labeled Norfinbury High School.
All the windows are blacked out. The lights here work, but you wouldn't know at first--they only turn on when someone is in the hallway or in the room, but lack of attention means it can take anywhere between thirty seconds to a minute before they actually respond. The hallways seem to stretch, the shadows seem to shiver. Each door is decorated with a prophet symbol, and the walls are covered in graffiti honoring the prophet and talking about killing sinners. All of the doors are locked, but sometimes they rattle as you pass, or someone knocks on the other side.

Comments

[deus_ex_phs]

[Night 275]

[There's still so much that's wrong with the world right now. He's still in an unfamiliar ruined, snow town with no memory of how he got there. Doesn't remember a lot of things, apparently, from what he's discovered while digging through the network and things stored on his own tablet. The high school they've just come to is an eerie, disturbing place.

But he's got Zack with him. Zack's own memories are missing, too - even more of them than Kunsel's in fact. But he's alive and they're together, and that's enough to make the world feel a little better. That makes it a little easier to focus on other things now, like talking to the two boys they've joined up with and investigating the high school.]

So, what were we trying to do here before?

[Day 276]

[Sometime while he was sleeping, Kunsel's memories returned. Waking up the next morning, the others will find him at some point with his tablet in his lap and rubbing his chin thoughtfully.]

I should really write a message to myself on this thing - something I'll know is from me, even if I lose my memories.


[ooc: Feel free to start off with a different prompt if the conversation starters here don't work.]

[heroproceeding]

[Shortly after Arrival on Night of 275]

[ If someone had explained to Zack just how creepy the high school was, maybe he would have suggested for them to meet up somewhere else. And by maybe... it's more of a definitely. Granted, it probably hadn't helped that he and Kunsel had arrived in the middle of the night and that had felt unsettling, too. But...

Everything just keeps making noises around them and it's unnerving. At one point, he'd gotten fed up and tried to open one of the doors where the latest knocking was coming from, but it's locked and impossible to open. He thinks better of it in the end, wondering if maybe.. that's for the best, too. Considering some of the things he's uncovered on his tablet...

And that's not even getting into the writing on the walls and everything. He sits by his bag, studying the nearest one with a furrowed brow. ]

So, uh... Is this kind of redecorating pretty common around here?

[Later on that night...]

[ He should be sleeping. He tells himself that, but yet he stays up. Stays and finds himself doing squats to pass the time in the corner of the room one moment. Or he's going through his bag the next and trying to just.. get things in some kind of order. Or maybe it's less order and more just... taking inventory. ] You know, I really don't remember myself being this much of a pack rat...

[ He holds up a fly swatter in emphasis. ] I mean seriously?

[BYOS - Bring Your Own Starter]

[ 'cause sometimes starters are starter hell. ]

276

[rattlingthestars]

Maybe one that says 'trust Jim, he knows what he's doing.'

[ Jim's not even half serious, and he can't hide the relief in his voice to hear Kunsel be... well, Kunsel, again. ]

If you're looking for suggestions.

Later That Night prompt

[rattlingthestars]

You'd be surprised the use you find for random junk around here.

[ Jim's not actually sure he wants to talk to Zack all that much while he's like this. It's awkward, and he feels awful between his bruised throat and whatever's got him so sick.

There's a definite rasp in his voice when he talks, and he's keeping more than a safe distance for now. ]

Once killed a monster with some bug spray. Kinda.

Later (you can have your spoopy exploration date-o with kunsel)

[swatsflies]

[ He looks up at the fly swatter and then gives this little grin. ]

That's for keeping Kunsel in line. [ It's very important. ] What else do you got?

[heroproceeding]

[ Jim being sick hadn't been of any surprise to Zack- at least not enough that he'd seemed too worried. It would seem stranger to him that people wouldn't be sick around there, honestly. Still, that rasp sure sounds like shit and it's distracting. Enough that Zack actually has to raise an eyebrow before he finally nudges back. ]

What do you mean, kinda? Did you actually kill it or are you just pulling my leg? Heard you can't kill the things around here.

[ Giving him shit? Just a little bit. Maybe not too much shit though as he puts the flyswatter aside for now. Maybe he'll surprise attack Kunsel with it later. ]

HOT DATE-TOS, HUH

[heroproceeding]

Oh. So, that's why I kept it, huh.

[ Makes sense. Plenty of sense. In fact, it might be why he's putting it down in the "Keep" pile now before he's moving on to the next thing. Which he squeaks pretty abruptly with a grin. ] Not sure why I've got this little guy.

[swatsflies]

[ Whoa. Is that a ducky? ]

I don't even know when you got it. Either Kunsel put it there or you were going to put it in his bag. Do ducks mean anything to either of you?

[ Who knows with those two? ]

Oh there might be one of those mini drink umbrellas in there.

[deus_ex_phs]

Oh, like that wouldn't come off as suspicious at all.

[Kunsel can tell Jim isn't being serious, so Jim gets the same level of teasing right back. And in fact, if Jim isn't quick to dodge, Kunsel's going to reach out to muss up his hair.]

I could always teach you to quote my favorite passage of LOVELESS. Only a handful of people know which one it is.

[heroproceeding]

Can't say they do, but I'm sure I'll think of something for him.

[ He's not sure just what yet, but work in progress. He'll get there. He's distracted all the same by a- ] Drink umbrella? Seriously?

[ Already, he's digging again. One of those are pretty tiny, after all. It might take him a bit. ]

[swatsflies]

Maybe he drives you quackers?

[ While he's going through that, Zell is going to pull out the matching umbrellas from the set from his own bag. ]

It looks like these. I put it in there months ago.

[ At least if he needed more proof of them traveling together... there it is. ]

[heroproceeding]

[ It's shortly after Zell pulls out the one in his that Zack discovers his own. In just the light from the tablet, it takes a minute for Zack to compare them. ...Which might be a bit unnerving in itself but he dismisses it as he studies them both. ]

..Yep, that's definitely one of yours. [ His voice trails off as he stares maybe a bit longer than he intended before shaking his head and starting to twirl it around in his fingers. ]

Hey, you ever wonder why they give umbrellas to drinks though? I mean it seems kinda silly, doesn't it?

[swatsflies]

I found it at an old liquor store.

[ Fiddling with his own for a moment to open it. ]

I think this place is automated. It restocks, but only some of the stuff at a time. So I think there's a program still in the system that tells them what goes where.

[ Them as in spiders. ]

[heroproceeding]

Pretty crazy that program even works after all these years though. I mean they'd need someone to maintain it all this time and everyone's saying how it's that administrator but wouldn't she be a granny at this point?

[ Zack snorts at the thought. ] And why spiders? Was that her dream pet at the time? She just wanna become a crazy spider lady?

[swatsflies]

If we believe Miller's story, then they wake someone up to take over when needed. Unless they are both AIs, but they are hard to raise.

[ ITS A MYSTERY ]

Maybe. Maybe she was an avid bug collector growing up.

[ A beat. ] There was also a fish once before? Something silvery that can swim.

[heroproceeding]

Wait, a fish? How could there be a fish around here? Isn't it a bit too cold and... you know- Frozen over?

[ Zell, you are messing with him. You are totally and utterly messing with him now. But he supposes the story about waking up to take over at least makes sense... in a really creepy, unsettling way. ]

big sister is always watching

[swatsflies]

It's a robot fish a lot like the spiders.

[ He's snagging out his tablet to flip through it. ]

They decided to try to piss the spiders off in this flooded basement once to see if they could catch one, and this frickin' fish shows up instead.

[ Finding the thing! He turns his tablet to show screen caps of the footage from one of Beckett's earlier adventures. ]

The admin has eyes and ears every where.

big sister needs to find her chill, man

[heroproceeding]

[ Zack just.. kinda has to take a moment to just stare. To just let that all sink in. A fish. A robot fish. Seriously. ]

...You really weren't kidding.

[ He still can't quite believe this, but here it is and he scrunches his nose at that. ]

What's next? Robot chocobos?

[swatsflies]

Keep it down before she gets any ideas.

[ And there is a beat. ]

A guy did bring a chocobo here. An actual one.

[ How nice that would be to travel with chocobos. ]

[heroproceeding]

Really?

[ He may or may not be sounding far too excited to hear about this. But after the past few days, it's not hard to feel a little homesick. ] Man, lucky! We could really use some around here. Just imagine how much faster it would be getting around.

[rattlingthestars]

You know what I'd have to do with that, right?

[ Jim tilts his head back in Zack's direction with a grin, even as he straightens out his hair. Why always the hair, guys? ]

Do you really want to give me that much power?

[rattlingthestars]

Yeah, no, you can't. Don't try.

[ Jim's just putting that out there, 'cause he gets the feeling that Zack's the kind of guy that might. ]

It sorta... melted it. It would've been kind of cool if that didn't just make it real mad. You read me the riot act, buddy.

[swatsflies]

I wonder what happened to it... did the admin take it away?

[ He's already imagining the horror terror underground, and as freaky as that whole mess is, it's almost funny thinking about it riding a chocobo. ]

We use snow shoes and snowboards here. You should have some tennis rackets in there that you rigged into them. It makes it easier to get around.

[heroproceeding]

[ Considering the administrator apparently has pet robot spiders, the thought that they might have taken it away isn't really much of a comfort. Does the administrator turn animals into robots?

...He's probably thinking too hard on that one. At least what Zell says next makes it easy to switch gears. Or maybe it's just the odd mention of- ] Tennis rackets? [ He tilts his head quizzically. He's guessing something flat.. so maybe.. He's just going to start through his pack again curiously. ]

[heroproceeding]

What, really? 'cause uh.. I'm pretty sure I would'a tried to do that, too. I mean it's not like we would'a known it was gonna just melt like that, right?

[ Is he really that paranoid? What would even make him that paranoid? Kinda blows his mind... ]