cetana | [open~] October Things

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[open~] October Things

October 19th and onward.

1. Late Arrival - Castle Ruins

[The last thing Toki had seen, he thought, was a parking lot. He hadn't been able to process his surroundings at the time, and was barely responsive; disconnected from his body after experiencing multiple successive and disjointed visions of the future. It's all a blur; there was a cat, and car horns blaring, pain, and confusion. Awakening here was unexpected, and he's still unsure if he's actually awake or if this is some other weird vision shit. There's a vague recollection of spiders and talking to... something, or someone, hidden in shadows. He sits up abruptly, grateful his body seems to be responding to his brain once again. Only to realize he's been lying in half an inch or so of water. It's not a puddle, it's everywhere. This place looks abandoned mostly. It's raining outside, steadily, and everything seems cast in a muted grey.

The first thing he takes notice of is the large blood stain on the left leg of his jeans. It's left some tiny streaks trickling down onto his shoe; the flaky dark red spots added to the bright orange and white checkered pattern. With a squeak, he yanks up his pant leg to see the damage, but there is none to be found. Weird. Something happened, but he can't remember. He gets to his feet, something dislodging as he does so and landing in the water. He frowns and picks it up; a small light pink omamori with extensive shimmery embroidery, oddly offset by a black crow on one side. He doesn't bother to read the characters sewn in or try to make sense of it, but just shoves it in his pocket.

Toki attempts to gather his thoughts coherently, hoping for anything to come back to him so he can figure out where he is. He paces back and forth, splashing through the water and muttering to himself. He's surmised that he was severely injured somehow, and subsequently healed, but- how long ago did that happen? Has he missed days, months? Something brushes up against his leg. He screams and jumps, before looking down and recognizing the offending object. It's his soggy and gross-looking carry on bag. Poor Rilakkuma.]

New York!

[Toki grabs the bag by the strap and slings it over his shoulder. He was in New York for the drama club field trip. Is this still New York? Somehow he doesn't think so. The ruins give off an eerie feeling and he decides he's better off outside... in the rain. The forest isn't quite reminiscent of the one near the academy, but he thinks it's more likely he's made it back to France through unknown means. Magic. He can't hear any city noises, and it wouldn't be too strange to find more ruins on campus. A thought suddenly occurs to him- that a fey like the Giraffe occupies this place- and he's running away from the castle immediately afterward, in no particular direction.]

2. Torii

[For the first time in his life, Toki wishes he had better shoes, ones with sturdy bottoms or even just laces. He's stepped out of his four times already, trying to slog through the water and mud and unseen roots in the forest. He hates this place already. Every little noise makes him twitch and the panic keeps building. A crack of a branch somewhere, creepy mewling of far off cats, rustling of some sort, raindrops splattering at odd angles. It's all working together to create an atmosphere of tension.

Then, out of nowhere, he takes a turn and there it is. Ominous and evil in the grey light. A torii. Slightly charred, maybe, damaged by fire or lightning, but it's there. Looming above him, menacingly. A sudden panic runs through him, his heart stopping as his brain can only think that he will die here, underneath a torii, just like his sister. His subsequent screaming can probably be heard from quite a distance.]

3. Hospital

[Japan. It's Japan, maybe. At least he can communicate with people here easily, though he still stands out with his height and light hair and mismatched eyes. The blood on his clothes doesn't help, though at least the large spot on his pants is hidden underwater. He can't see it, but there's more blood around the collar of his t-shirt, from when his teeth were knocked out, turning the purple fabric a brownish color; along with some almost transparent crusty substance of unknown origin (it's dried saliva from his unfortunate time in the New York hospital). His hair is streaked a little pink on one side, dried blood washing out into the more blond strands of his uneven bleach attempt.

He's told the name of the town is Hirajiro, and he wishes he'd paid more attention in school, because he doesn't know where that is. No one seems to be able to tell him beyond that either. Several people have pointed him in the direction of the hospital, despite his assurances he isn't hurt. He goes anyway, because maybe someone there knows what happened. Arriving at the front desk, he launches into babbling of half-questions and half-explanations.]

Hello~! Okay, so like is there anyone on staff who does the magic healing thing, you know, like a demon!? Is there a network of sigils where like you can contact the guy on staff at Daybreak Academy in France? Because I think I took like a wrong turn somewhere after some kind of... incident... and I'm really confused and I tried to explain things to some people on the street and they kept telling me to come see you guys, so I am~! Can you help!?

4. Occult Shop

[He hasn't has a vision since he got here, and it's freaking him out, because he knows it's coming. He's spent several minutes outside the occult shop, debating with himself over whether to go in. In the back of his mind, he recalls telling himself he'd never try orichalcum again after the vision cluster result, but another part of him insists that he would be fine, that stopping its use was actually the problem. His hands are shaking, and not knowing when the next vision will come, or how bad it will be; it's a constant anxious thought, penetrating through everything.

Toki makes his decision in the manner he always does, he picks something and runs with it full force. He abruptly stalks into the occult shop. Or would have, if the door opened. It appears they've been closed due to flooding. Toki looks around quickly, and seeing no one in the immediate vicinity, heads to the side of the shop to try and break a window. Someone walks by at that moment, and he clears his throat loudly, both trying to appear nonchalant and also being terribly obvious about what he's doing.]

Hello~! I'm uhh, just trying to get a look inside, you know, since they're closed! I am in need of something in particular and I hope they can fulfill my request for this most precious of metals~! Do you know if they sell orichalcum?

5. Wildcard
~ anything goes

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Just like at Daybreak, Kano's got eyes and ears all over town, though it's hard with the weather being as it is, nonstop rain and flooded streets that make travelling on rooftops both a hazard and a necessity at times. With a town overrun with cats, he's comfortable in his black cat form that blends right into the packs of cats, and his Persona Ala takes the form of a crow while outside, swooping here and there to relay any news to Kano from a bird's eye view. The Persona has no idea who Toki is, but she could hear him screaming all the way from the forest, and that's big enough news to report back with. There's a hysterical screaming kid at the hospital, she tells him, which he wouldn't normally want to get involved with except for the fact that he came from the direction of the castle.

So. Alright. He'll play around for a bit, getting Ala to fly him over to the hospital and make it look like he's coming down the lobby in a more presentable form than himself, sopping wet, and just coincidentally happens upon the scene at the front desk. He approaches Toki from behind, thinking nothing of it. ]

Hey, is something...?

[ Wrong. Very wrong, when he sees Toki's face and realization crawls down his spine. What's Toki doing here? ]

Are you lost?

[ WHAT IS TOKI DOING HERE. ]

Yes!

[The answer is immediate and kind of exasperated, because he has been telling the townsfolk he's lost for like two hours. The desk clerk is ignoring him, as expected. Occasional looks of what Toki perceives as disdain and annoyance.]

I'm very lost and I don't know where this is! I mean, it's Hirajiro, yes, but where is that!? No one's listening to me! Why are there so many cats!?

[Is he dead? The black cat in the elevator heralding his death and the afterlife in this disturbing cat infested town? He grabs Kano's collar, the other hand flailing as he gestures.]

This is all really happening, right!?

[ The townspeople here really can't handle these sorts of questions, and the staff tries to shoo Toki away to talk to Terry instead. He also gets disdainful and annoyed looks, but for different reasons, and almost pushes Toki's hand away when he grabs his collar, but just leans back far enough so he doesn't get hit by a stray hand gesture. That'd be a really stupid way to get outed for disguising himself like this. ]

It's... [ what does he answer first ] Well, I'm not entirely sure, but it's probably part of the Outlands, where there just happens to be a lot of cats, I guess? Everything is really happening, though.

Do you want to sit down somewhere?

[ Please sit. Kano knows Toki is prone to having seizure fits, at least the last time he saw him before flouncing to Canada. ]

The Outlands!! Oh my god, I didn't even think of that!

[After that shriek, he's calming down a little. Which for him is not much, but he's trying.]

Are you... a student? Was there a portal? I guess it doesn't matter, really, but Outlands. Okay. That's. Fine. I don't want to sit though, because like, the chairs are underwater.

[He says the last part matter-of-factly and then his eyes widen. Because maybe the cats are real, but-]

Do you see the water?

[ Mav had mentioned to Kano that Toki was backsliding, but he didn't imagine it was this bad.

Terry nods through the bulk of Toki's rambling, slow nods of the head that mean more that he's listening, rather than saying yes to all those questions. He can wait patiently until Toki talks. It's really annoying, but he'd missed this too, so he's got to do his best to assuage Toki and make this whole thing not so terrible. ]

Yeah! It's been raining all month, so the town's gotten to be like this. It doesn't look like there'll be an end to the storm soon, so let's go upstairs. I think there's dry chairs up there.

[At least someone's paying attention to him now, but he's still very confused. He wanted to run away, but not to a place like this.]

Yeah, okay. That's a good idea. Sitting. Not in water.

[Hearing himself, he starting to think his brain is still shorting out. He's going to try not to ask any question for the next two minutes. It's about the longest he can realistically aim for.]

[ A quiet Toki is so unnerving. This is so weird. Maybe this is actually a demon, not Toki. ]

We'll just go up one floor and we'll be out of the water, so just follow me.

[ Terry leads Toki through the halls towards the stairs up, with occasional glances over to Toki to make sure he's still following and not flailing around on the ground. ]

Did you just get here today? Was there anybody else with you?

[ Because Kano's still under the impression that this whole thing is some school mission; he was on one when he'd arrived, jumping through one of those shortcut portals and he must have gotten kicked out at the wrong time. But Toki being here is great! It means other students must be somewhere out there, and faculty, and then Kano can get out of his hellhole too. ]

[He follows quietly, taking in the unfamiliar hallways and the stairwell. He doesn't recognize Terry, but that doesn't mean he wasn't a student from the academy, or someone else involved somehow. He's trying to think of all the members of the drama club, but he's coming up with just three people and he knows there's more.]

I- yeah. Today, or yesterday? I don't know. I woke up in this place that was kind of falling down, like an old stone castle? Were there people with me here or with me before here? Because, like there was no one else around in out there in forest, but I know someone was with me before- well, maybe. I mean, I left... I think... by myself, but I heard. Things. You know, I don't know~! I forgot!

[He shrugs. It doesn't matter if he was with people before he got here, they're gone now.]

[ He's really really grateful that Toki hadn't gone inside the Velvet Room door inside the castle, especially since it's suspiciously tucked away behind the throne on one end of the place. It's actually remarkable that he made it all the way to town, actually... ]

Well, that's fine! You're here now, so that doesn't matter, and it'll be easier to find people after the flood waters recede anyways. But... what sort of "things" did you hear? Was it a wild animal or a voice?

[ Both? Did it sound like a Giraffe?? ]

What did I hear?

[He has to think back over what he said. Yes, okay.]

Voices. In the parking lot. Before this happened. Maybe they're here too! I mean, I did ask them-

[He waves vaguely towards the stairs, indicating the people on the first floor at the front desk.]

About like a sigil network to contact Hieke, but he was one the voices, so maybe he's here too! I think it was him. Were you in the drama club?

[At least there's dry chairs up here, and Toki's finally going to sit down, because he keeps further confusing himself.]

Hieke!?

[ Terry can't help but look surprised and heartened by the mention of Hieke's name. He'll probably hate Kano for everything he's done back at school, but he's also one of the people Kano trusts a lot, and he should have thought of trying Hieke's summoning sigil instead of scratching Michael's everywhere instead. ]

No, I'm not part of the drama club—

[ Why does that even matter? More importantly is Kano looking around for paper or something to write on; all he has in his pockets are napkins, and they're sort of all stained with blood. He has a sharpie, though, and there are windows all throughout this hallway, so this will have to do. ]

But if Hieke is around here somewhere, we can call him here, right? His sigil looked something like this...?

[ He knows exactly what it looks like and draws it perfectly, but nothing happens once he finishes the demon summoning circle. He even presses his hand on it a little, but that does nothing. Does Hieke need blood? Sometimes Kano bleeds on Michael's sigil and that gets him over quickly. ]

[Toki smiles a little, and lets out a small laugh of relief. This guy knows Hieke. That's a comfort. Toki hadn't been really informed on Hieke's sigil and doesn't know what it looks like, so he can't judge the accuracy of the depiction on the window.]

I don't know. I never called him before.

[It's disappointing when nothing happens, but it's not unexpected. Though he has sort of the same inclination as Terry.]

Do you have to write it in blood?

[He has no idea Kano easily summoned the daemon with marker on a bathroom wall.]

[ That laugh makes him feel warm inside, even though he's also very confused as to why Toki can laugh at the sigil not working. Maybe he's just being hopeful, and Kano wants to hold onto that hope, and he really really wants to make this work. ]

He's a good person to call, so if this works, I'll draw you a bunch of them so you can use when you need them!

[ Yeah! This is totally going to work, despite Kano knowing better. The only blade he has in his pocket is Ellie's switchblade, but just in case Toki recognizes it, he changes its form into an x-acto knife instead.

...

He casts an auditory illusion thirty feet away, making it sound like a trash can or something fell over, and a person screaming in surprise. Look away, Toki, so Kano can stab himself without giving his disguise away. ]

[Toki wouldn't have recognized the knife either way, and he's easily distracted by the noise; jumping out of his chair and overturning it. He looks towards the sound, trying to see what's happening, but there's nothing apparent. He both wants to go help whoever screamed, and also scream himself and run away. The hesitancy one way or the other will allow enough time for Kano to break his illusion for a moment.]

[ Bless Toki. It stings when Terry slices open his thumb, but he needs to make the cut deep so he doesn't run out halfway through tracing his thumb over the black sharpie on the window. Gotta illusion all this too, so any people passing by can't see anything more than a janitor wiping the windows clean.

The blood sigil is done! It's smeary instead of drippy, but it doesn't do anything either. Huh... Terry pulls a bandaid out of his pocket and wraps his thumb, although it's just for continuity's sake because he also heals the cut right away. ]

It didn't work... Hey, can you try putting your hand on it? Maybe Hieke will come if he knows it's you.

[ As opposed to Kano, who is more or less dead to the world, for what he did. ]

What?

[Toki turns back to the sigil, smeared with blood. His response to that is high-pitched and screechy.]

I'm not touching your blood!

What's wrong with my blood?!

[ It's just blood! You bleed a lot, Toki, there's no way you can be disgusted about blood! ]

As long as you don't stick your hand in your mouth after, it's safe, isn't it? Don't you want to summon Hieke?! This is a small price to pay for bringing him here!

[He looks down at his hand, as if imagining licking Terry's blood off it after. Gross. But also-]

What if it screws up the summoning because it's your blood, but my magic or whatever!? Haven't you seen those old sci-fi movies where shit gets like mutated together in teleportation!? Do you want to summon Hieke inside-out!?

[Because that's a possibility.]

[ If there is any movie like that, Kano would never watch it, he can't handle those sorts of movies at all. Toki's also wrong, because— didn't they have those emergency button sigils all over campus before? Kano distinctly remembers activating the same sigil half a dozen times in a row to see if Ekkehardt or whoever would actually answer the calls each time. ]

He's a demon, so he can handle being inside out! I'm sure he can figure it out! Have some faith in him!

Okay!

[Sorry, Hieke. Toki presses his hand against the sigil and... what is he supposed to do here? He never used one before. He makes a low humming noise, like a chant.]

Come forth, Hieke~! We call to you in our desperation to escape this awful fate of being left to die here, alone, in a world overpopulated by cats~! Rescue us from this most tragic and unwanted of destinies~!

[ Terry snorts, because what the hell, Toki? But he's nothing if not supportive, so he'll go ahead and join in on this weird summoning ritual too. ]

Yeah, we need you, Hieke!! If it keeps raining like this, we're all going to drown, so come pick us up! I think there's some rule about faculty not letting students drown!! You're not going to let us die, right?!

[ Nothing is going to happen with the sigil. The two of them are sure drawing attention from the staff and visitors on the floor, though. A janitor is coming over, armed with a mop. ]

[It's not working at all, and Toki lets his hand slide down from the sigil, smearing the blood a little more.]

I guess that's it, then! No way out!

[Things could be worse than rain and cats. A lot worse. Seeing the janitor approach, Toki points to the sigil. He doesn't know Kano's making any sort of illusions and assumes the janitor can see it and has no problem with sigil-drawing.]

Sorry for getting blood all over the wall! Or like, the marker, because that may be harder to clean~!

[ The janitor sees two troublemaker boys standing in the middle of a hallway and one of them is delusional. Making the blood and everything reappear would cause too much of a commotion, even if the people here are infinitely times better at taking things in stride than anybody back at Daybreak, but Kano expected he'd be on damage control duty the moment he recognized Toki. ]

Yeah, uh. Sorry about the, you know...

[ Terry gestures vaguely, which could be taken as referring to anything from the sigil to the person next to him, with a heavy leaning towards the latter. Layering illusions so that each person sees something different is more complicated than just the one, but he's practiced long enough that it's almost second nature:

To Toki, the blood and Sharpie still covers the wall, but to the janitor, it's completely clean. He makes a hospital wristband appear on Toki's write, that only the janitor can see, and a volunteer ID badge hanging on a lanyard around Terry's neck that the both of them can see. He's going to bank on Toki not noticing minor details like this. ]

I was just showing him around, and we didn't mean to cause such a commotion. Thanks for taking care of the "mess"— [ With an illusion only the janitor can see, Terry makes air quotes with his fingers, cants his head towards Toki, and twirls his finger by the side of his head. The kid's a nutcase; please pardon him. The man just gives Terry an uninterested stare back. ]

...We'll get out of your way. Let's go Toki.

[As predicted, Toki doesn't notice the lanyard at all. With the janitor's blank stare, he assumes there won't be repercussions from any vandalism. Toki gives him a thumbs-up and a bright smile.]

You're doing an excellent job, Mr. Janitor~!

[He starts to leave with Terry, but then it hits him.]

How did you know my name!?

Thanks, Mr. Janitor!

[ But—- Oh. Crap. He'd made this same mistake before, didn't he? He keeps doing this, assuming he's that familiar with Toki that it's second nature to just call out his name, but he can't keep doing this; they have to be strangers and Kano's got to interact in this sort of way from now on. ]

Uh... I've seen you around on the network before. "Rikugou," right? I don't think I've talked with you in person before, but I guess to formally introduce myself, my name's Terry! Is calling you "Toki" okay with you?

[ He doesn't know Terry's last name. It doesn't matter. ]

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