a lonely tune

[alreadyhuman]

Who: "???", Vivi, and you...possibly?
What: Something mysterious visits Daybreak's outskirts, and the beginning of Vivi's player plot.
Where: Around campus.
When: 28th February
Notes: I'll match your format!


A. A greeting

[ If you've been wandering the campus outskirts, you might see a hunched, almost pitiful figure. It sparks and crackles with magic, and alternatively can be seen limping along the boundaries of the Academy or hunched under one of the trees that borders the campus, one bright eye glaring out from underneath its hat. It's staring, looking for something. ]

B. A farewell?

[ Vivi is a recognisable sight by now, having been on campus for a few months. What's more unusual is that Vivi is terrible at keeping secrets, and yet he can be seen sneaking off furtively under the cover of night, when everyone is busy, to greet that hunched, shrouded figure.

What they're saying to one another is hard to hear. But Vivi seems almost entranced, and the figure is beckoning to him, the gesture unmistakeable; come closer, come with me.

The only real thing that separates them is the boundary between the campus and outside of it. And Vivi looks awfully close to crossing it. ]

Comments

B

[shockingblue]

[Vivi was always the open, honest type. So when Gunvolt spied him bolting out of the dorms at night, trying not to be seen, that instantly set off a red flag or two. GV quickly abandoned his plan to cook up a snack of instant noodles, and followed Vivi out into the snow and cold, keeping his distance.

He had figured, hoped, that Vivi was running to a different building to fetch something or see someone. But as his trajectory took him further and further from central campus, a sense of dread pitted in GV's stomach.

Once they reached the edge of the schoolgrounds, GV pressed himself against a tree, peering around it. Who the hell was that? What the hell is that?! He didnt jump to conclusions, but when the beckoning started happening, GV had enough. He leapt out from cover and called out, keeping one eye on the stranger at all times.]

Vivi!! Wait! Where are you going?!

[alreadyhuman]

[ It might have been easier if Vivi looked like he'd snapped out of a trance, if it was an enthrallment; something magical compelling him to leave. But he just looks up, and around, and looks...more than a little sad, but not surprised.

The stranger curls fingers around its splintered staff and fixes an eye on Gunvolt. Just staring. Waiting. ]

There's someone I have to go see. [ He fusses with the brim of his hat. ] They can tell me about what I'm missing, I think...

[shockingblue]

[For now, Gunvolt plays it cool. His own gaze meets the stranger's waiting stare, and the boy takes a moment to size up whoever that is. He's not willing to jump to violence, not yet, but he definitely has a very bad feeling.

The lack of an obvious tell that Vivi might be compelled to leave just worries him further. Something about this really felt off, but if Vivi had his faculties, it may be less insidious than it appears. But he's still not quite ready to drop his guard.]

...But why sneak off at night, meeting with some strange individual at the edge of the barrier? Especially with all the trouble that's happened with dangerous things getting through this year?

[He shook his head.]

I know you've been carrying some heavy burdens, but why not say anything to anyone about this?

[alreadyhuman]

...I didn't...want to bother anyone. [ Vivi has trouble keeping things to himself, most of the time. When things worry him, it's written all over his body language and his face.

Apparently this is one thing that he seems to have no trouble clamming up about at all. ]

It's just...stuff that's about me, that's all. It doesn't need to involve anyone else...

[ It sounds honest enough. But there's a note of fear in it, too, some kind of hesitance, like he's not sure what he'll find.

"...all the feelings I'm having...they don't feel like they're mine. It feels like someone else's emotions in me..."

"I was happy not knowing, but...I don't think I can do that any more." ]

A

[bolderfell]

[Okay, what the hell. Therion could be doing the things he's supposed to be doing, like going to class or maintaining sociable relations with people he cares about, but an early morning walk to get some quiet before Daybreak's craziness leads him to see... this, under a tree.

Therion watches it in turn from his side of the boundary, not bothering to hide himself, eyes narrowed. After a while, he deliberately crosses its line of sight, careful to stay within the border, to see if its gaze follows him.]

[alreadyhuman]

[ Its gaze follows him for a moment, becoming piercingly intense, before it seems to just...lose interest, almost entirely.

It's still paying attention to him, but in a wary sort of way; it shifts back and forth, feathers shedding on the ground. As if it's not entirely sure what he'll do next, and wants to be prepared. ]

B

[improbablenotimpossible]

[Night time was his element, so seeing a familiar face attempting to be sneaky caught his attention, he considers the best approach to this - before deciding that being straightforward would work the best]

What's going on, Vivi?

[alreadyhuman]

Oh! [ He stops, blinking. ] Um, I'm going to see someone.

[ Well

at least he's honest about it. ]

[improbablenotimpossible]

Who is this someone?

[he prompted gently, his hands clasping behind his back, there was some concern given the late hour - he wants to hear it in Vivi's own words]

[alreadyhuman]

...I dunno. [ Concerning! ] ...They don't have a name. I don't...think they know why people have names.

But they're like me, I think. They look..lots like me, but they're bigger... They know more about me, too. Stuff I don't know about myself...

[ He fidgets with the brim of his hat. ]

I don't know if I want to know it. But I think...I have to.

B

[unpocoloco]

[He'd seen the creature lurking around. He could see it limping. Part of him, a big part, wants to approach. He worries for it, whether a spirit or a living creature in need of help.

But he knows too well he shouldn't be facing unknown beings alone. The limp could just as well be a trap. It was this time last year, after all, that he was taken apart with teeth and changed.

And so, he doesn't approach. Not until he sees it again-- and sees Vivi running to it. He calls out.]

Vivi! Vivi, wait!

[alreadyhuman]

[ He comes to a stop, blinking as he looks around to see the source of the voice. ]

Oh! Is everything okay?

[ Like the problem here isn't him trying to sneak off the grounds.... ]

[unpocoloco]

[He frowns a little over the fact Vivi doesn't see anything off, but lets it be. Instead, he hobbles forward on his cane to fill the space between them.]

Vivi, do you know who that is?

[Or are you just meeting up with a stranger?]

B

[hawkwardness]

[Nighttime doesn't stop Tobias anymore, now that he's grown used to being an owl occasionally. They're creepier than any other night predator, but he can tolerate the morph. And he hasn't been sleeping as well lately--he didn't sleep quite as much as a human before the Galra. Sometimes stretching his wings helps, which he'd never do as a night-blind hawk.

Vivi's up late. That's odd. Reason enough to follow him, because everyone needs someone watching their back, right?]

< Hey. Can't sleep? > [Is how he announces his presence before swooping low over the kiddo's head, just for the hell of it.]

[alreadyhuman]

...A little. [ Actually, he is sort of tired. But he got out of bed, so he should keep going.

...He doesn't really want to lie to Tobias. Toby has been so nice to him, after all. ]

...But, um...actually...I'm going to see someone.

[hawkwardness]

< Outside? >

[He can't see Vivi's face, the kid's expressionless as Tobias is, but something seems... off about this. Not the time of day so much--Daybreak has plenty of perfectly nice night folks.]

< Uh, who is it? >

B

[hattersgonnahat]

[Well Puella was almost fully asleep, but then she was woken up by the sound that usually follows when someone gets out of bed. By the time she was finally aware of her surroundings, Vivi was already about to leave through the door. Into the common room.]

[That...sure is weird.]

[It takes a few moments for her to follow after him - and that's without bothering with hair or changing clothes. Kind of hoping to find where he went anyway, because it clearly wasn't the common room anymore. Which meant Vivi must have gone outside... But, why?]

[Only one way to know. ...Preferably without angry faculty hearing what happened next morning.]

[alreadyhuman]

[ Vivi is clearly too distracted to notice anyone following him, unless Puella makes her presence known. But he's going away from the buildings - towards the campus outskirts - in more or less a straight line, so he's clearly aiming somewhere. ]

[hattersgonnahat]

[He's not here, or there, but way in the distance, Puella could see someone. Thanks to a certain Dweller Mask otherwise he might've been completely lost in the darkness.] Vivi!

[She certainly had ways to catch up to him now. But why was he heading out to the wilderness? The campus wasn't in that direction!]

B

[buddinghopes]

[Well, she was busy. Lia's on her way back to her room when she spots Vivi, and...

... Well, she was approaching him to say hi, but now it's more or less out of concern.]

... Vivi? Where are you going?

[alreadyhuman]

....I gotta meet someone. [ He meets Lia's eyes for a moment, and then averts them. ] But I gotta hurry, 'cause I don't think they want to stay very long.

[buddinghopes]

... Alone? At night? [She frowns.] Who are you even meeting?

[She doesn't trust this even slightly...]

a.

[escardos]

[ it's not often that flat meets a strange creature like this in the daybreak campus.

the magic that radiates from it is impressive, so much that flat is staring back at it, trying to analyze it while he remains as still as a corpse. ]

Are you looking for someone?

[alreadyhuman]

[ To Flat's senses, this construct is a combination of interesting things. Not only are the spells that weave together to bind them to a body daemonic in nature, but their soul is...patchwork. It's not fractured, but it's pieces put together to form a whole.

They croak out a response. They know English, or at least a common tongue that can translate to it, but it's hard to speak. (They weren't expected to talk.) ]

Yes. One...like me.

[escardos]

...

[ flat feels strange, getting those sorts of results from them. it feels a little like looking into a mirror, except that the visual is nothing alike to him.

still, it makes him ball his hands up into fists, and it takes a good moment for him to recover his wits in order to respond. ]

Vivi, right? Are you going to do something to him?