daybreakacademy | When You Made Wishes: start! (player plot)

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When You Made Wishes: start! (player plot)

Imagine Wist's surprise when April rolled around and their plan for a great prank was foiled on account of all those students just...leaving??? Truly, they have become the April fool... It's what they wanted, of course -- for the pitiful humans to find freedom -- and sure there are some stragglers around, but...in the end, they decide to take the win and enjoy a short break of their own. Good thing, too, or they might have pulled out all their hair in frustration when Spring Break comes to an end and the swarm of students and faculty willingly return to their prison.

While settling back into the academy and resigning themselves to a routine, the people of Daybreak will be soothed by a gentle tune rising up from the forest. It isn't a song they've heard before, and yet, somehow...it's nostalgic, isn't it? The soft notes of the pan flute stir up something in their hearts, tugging at old memories and drawing forth a feeling of dissatisfaction and longing out from under them. Let the song lull them into taking a moment to withdraw from the hustle and bustle -- hey, turns out they sort of need it. Maybe they're coming down with a cold, or just some quick little bug...
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>> user M3G4M4G1CH4XX posted on April 6th, 2019:
Why did you come back? You don't have to live like this.

Weren't things better back then? Try to remember what it used to be like.
--
The odd message from an iris account that doesn't exist isn't up for long before the spell kicks into the next phase. However they manifest and from when differs from person to person, but those affected will all have the bizarre experience of watching some ghost of themselves from their past be born from their soul's memory. Don't think there are those that can escape this fate just by returning at a later time, either -- Wist can keep up this panpipe nonsense all day, every day if they have to. If that what it takes to get their point across...

Good luck trying to comprehend whatever point that may be, because now Daybreak is the new home to a bunch of familiar-looking rugrats and has to contend with whatever complications they may bring along with them.
---
[For more information on this plot, please see this ooc infopost!]

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[ It's a human thing, but rather than a one-off exchange, it's cyclical—- it's paying things forward, and keeps people coming back, and maybe there's a more selfish reason why Shuuya wants to keep in Michael's good graces, thinking there had to be something worth keeping him around or else he'll be tossed off to the side like garbage. To keep from being thrown away, he's got to be useful, and if he wants to be useful, he's got to hurry up and grow up and be smart and strong and capable.

He breathes in and sets his shoulders. No way he can mess this up. He's pretty sure he's tall enough to reach the buttons. ]

I can get the drinks! Just let me know which one you want, and I'll come find you!

...I've got it.

[he's an adult????? he can get his own shit?

Michael balances the tray and pours himself, frankly, an abomination of a mixed drink. Then he steps back to let Shuuya go, because it hasn't really occurred to him that the kid might have trouble reaching the buttons. He's not always the best at thinking of these things.

He stays, though. He's not just gonna go get a table and leave him. Too crowded by half in here.]

[ It's going to be little Shuuya who fights Michael if he keeps this up, brushing off his help like that even though he's perfectly capable of managing without it. Shuuya puffs his cheeks in a pout, but at the very very least, Michael doesn't have enough hands to grab a second drink so that leaves Shuuya to get his own cup and... stare up at the machine.

Easy enough. Set the cup here, stand on the tips of his toes, and press the button and hope whatever this brown fizzy stuff that's coming out isn't too gross. See? He can reach the buttons just fine!!

He just cannot see the cup and has absolutely no idea how quickly it's filling up and how close it is to overfill already. ]

[Michael, agent of chaos, just fucking watches this happen for definitely longer than necessary.]

Got enough soda there, bud?

[ Shuuya opens his mouth to retort, but it's at this moment the cup chooses to spill over, and of course he startles, and of course the action of pulling his hand away knocks the cup over and spills everything onto the ground.

Of course!! Only him!!!! Only he could be so stupid, clumsy, useless—-

Sorry about your shoes, Michael. Also, sorry to Mario or whoever's going to have to clean all this up. ]

[Michael, ever the least helpful person, laughs.

But he's not the only person present, and at the sound of other students laughing, he whips around with a glare.]

Do we have a problem?

[Because we had best not.

Once the teens slink off, Michael turns back to Shuuya.]

Don't worry about it, we've got this magic janitor. I'm not actually...sure what his deal is, but he sure seems magic. Want me to get that...? [Maybe you can hold his Soda Abomination for him?]

[ Being laughed at is embarrassing, and hearing everybody else explode into laughter all around him makes him want to hole up somewhere and die, but what has Shuuya snapping his head up, fear flashing across his brown eyes, is the sharp edge to Michael's tone, the threat of danger he's so familiar with and hypersensitizes himself to.

This person, he thinks to himself, can be dangerous. Even if Michael's been nothing but kind to him, the reality of it is, he is still capable of anger. If he's capable of anger, he's capable of violence, and it'll be like his mother all over again, whom he loves with all his heart but also fears her to the core and he doesn't know what to do with that.

He bites at his bottom lip and shakes his head adamantly and decides he doesn't want to see any more magic anything. Everything from his hands to his pants are sticky with syrup but at least he can stand up as high as he can and reach up to the counter and hope he doesn't knock over the salt or whatever while he grabs a handful of napkins to throw onto the ground and start soaking up the soda. ]

[...well, that's not an answer to his question...

It must have been embarrassing. Michael turns his head again, to track the offending students as they wind their way through the crowd. He's always carefully hidden his vulnerabilities - with lies, with threats, and with actual violence if need be. Any daemon who lets themselves be seen as weak doesn't last long. Seeing his human upset makes him want to drag those two back here and extort some kind of recompense.

But that wouldn't really help anything. Instead, he finds a place to set down the tray, and pours a second glass of soda while Shuuya cleans up the puddle.

He stares at the fizzing bubbles as they rise. He's not...just angry. There's another, worse feeling in there. He wishes the kid had just sniped back at him somehow, the way Kano would have. Then everything would've been fine. He wishes he'd just gotten the damn drinks to begin with.

He sets Shuuya's drink safely on the tray and turns to look at the kid again. He's covered in soda now. He was covered in blood anyway, of course, under the illusion.]

I should have gotten you some new clothes at the infirmary...

[ Is it weird to Michael that the kid he'd grown fond of does not exist yet? There was a time, very early on, when Kano was quiet like this, skittish and uneasy and too eager to please, a time before he learned how to lie and pretend and act how he believes people want him to act: loud and bright and fun, so they wouldn't look at him the way Michael looks at him and thinks he has to be taken care of. That he's to be pitied. Because nobody's ever looked at him with concern before, but pity he knows and scorns.

The napkins get tossed in the trash, and Shuuya wipes his hands on the sides of his pants, because it's not like they can get any stickier. Breathe in. Breathe out. Smile. ]

...It's okay! I'll go wash off in the bathroom and then I'll be back!

[ No he won't. The life of a liar starts here and now. ]

[Michael raises his eyebrows skeptically. There is absolutely no way to actually get that clean in a public restroom. But - okay, he doesn't have a way to do it here either.]

Okay. I'll be right over there, yell if you need anything.

[It's weird, because this isn't really the person he finally got to know, but maybe it's a little easier with Shuuya.

It wouldn't have been, years ago when this was real. When Michael first got to know Kano, it was because he was fun and interesting. An agent of chaos - when he started showing up on Earth, they got along because there was usually some form of mayhem involved. Michael's not sure when exactly his feelings shifted, but he - he's here at all because he wanted to protect Kano. To...make sure he was safe and happy, not just available for more entertainment.

But the way he interacts with Kano has never changed that much. It's easier to try and be genuine towards Shuuya, to keep him close and fuss over his injuries, because Michael knows he won't be rebuffed or laughed at for the sentiment. Maybe he hasn't been like a human would, with a child they cared for, but by his standards he's already been hideously sentimental today.

And still - still he hasn't done it right, has he? Michael sits and pokes idly at his fries, waiting for Shuuya to return. Maybe it's for the best that he wasn't around much when Kano was this young.]

[ It takes Shuuya a bit to find the bathroom, trying to see over people's heads to where there should be a bathroom sign hung high up on the walls but everybody is just so tall, he resorts to sticking to the walls and feeling his way around. The exit is where he should be finding, but it's also very uncomfortable being sticky with soda and blood, so he might as well wash off what he can.

He turns the faucet on, but it's very slow going wetting paper towels and trying to wipe himself down, and that doesn't really do anything about his clothes, so... this is a bad idea... This is a terrible idea, but what Shuuya decides upon is to pull his shirt off over his head and lay it inside the sink and leave the faucet running. Wash this first, and then haul himself up onto the sink and pray the basin doesn't snap under his weight of that he accidentally slips and falls and cracks his head open, but at the very very least, if he gets a concussion here, it wouldn't be anybody's fault but his own. Nobody else is responsible for him but himself, nobody can shoulder the blame for anything that goes wrong but himself, and from this moment on, when he's stopped caring about himself, that makes recklessness so easy.

...He really wishes he grabbed some fries before ditching Michael. It's really too bad. ]

[Despite his general personality, Michael is a fairly patient person by human standards. He's immortal; waiting around for twenty minutes for a kid to get out of the bathroom is nothing.

But he was already a little anxious about Shuuya, and eventually he grows restless. Maybe something's wrong? Maybe it's just that he can't get the blood out of his shirt? There's no way he can with just hand soap, but there probably isn't any reason for a child to know that. Someone should tell him not to bother. At the very least, someone should head things off before anyone walks in on all that blood evidence and starts freaking out. Maybe Michael should've gone with him to begin with; it had just seemed like kind of a weird thing to do.

Abandoning the food (his own still uneaten, what's the point of eating alone?), he goes to investigate!]

[ He cannot get the blood out of his shirt. But the soda washes out and his clothes are black on black, so the twenty minutes is more than enough time to wash out his shirt and jacket and hold them underneath the hand dryer until his arms are too sore to hold them up. The jacket gets pulled back over his head even though it's still a bit damp, and the shirt he slings behind his neck and across his shoulders. He didn't make too much of a mess, he thinks. There are wet shoe prints everywhere and his sneakers squeak more than they sneak, but he's wiped off the sinks and pushes the trashcan over to the window on the wall and when Michael opens the bathroom door, it's to Shuuya balancing on top of the trash can trying to work the window latch so he can slide it open.

The sound of the door opening makes him startle, and it's only because he's holding onto the windowsill that he doesn't fall over, turning around to stare at Michael. ]

Eh- Ojiisan? Why are you here? -—Is somebody watching the food??

[ WHY WOULD YOU ABANDON THE FOOD MICHAEL surely it's more important than his escape attempt ]

[......................................he shouldn't really be surprised.]

Yeah, campus police.

[Why is his instinct always just to make shit up]

[ Why is his instinct to make things up?? One day— soon, hopefully- Shuuya will learn to believe nothing Michael says and does and learn to mirror that exact impulse. And then they wonder why neither of them can never be honest to one another. ]

W-why?! What happened??

[ He's torn between hopping down and hauling himself out the window, because WHY IS THE CAMPUS POLICE HERE ]

...that was a joke. Cops are useless.

[Michael would literally never, in his life, call the police.

So are you gonna explain why you're trying to escape out the bathroom window, or...]

[ Why is that a joke... Shuuya can't even tell if saying it was a joke is also a joke, silent narrowed eyes at Michael to give him the chance to say otherwise. He wouldn't go so far as to say cops are useless, but they sure are worrisome and he goes out of his way to avoid them if he sees one patrolling around on the neighborhood streets.

It doesn't matter, since his escape attempt is thwarted by the presence of another person here who would see him run away anyways, so he lets go of the windowsill and slides back down to the ground.

...The reason Michael is here must be-- ]

If you had to pee that bad, you coulda told me. Then you could go first, while I watch the food.

[.......there's a short but visible moment where Michael has to remember what peeing even is. Right. Yes. The human thing that he, a human man, does. With frequency.]

No, no. You were just gone a while. Don't worry, no one will touch the food.

[It was His, and people here hopefully know better than to mess with a daemon's belongings.]

Hmm...

[ He hums his disbelief, especially at the pause, because if Michael didn't have to pee and he came here to check up on him just because he was taking a long time, that sounds suspiciously like he's being looked out for. The realization is somewhat uncomfortable, it feels like he'd been given something ostentatious like a pony as a birthday present and he has no idea what to do with it. It's a warm feeling, also embarrassing, and very scary.

He feels a little bad for planning on ditching Michael, now. ]

...I'm ready now! See? You can barely tell!!

[ He spreads his arms wide so he can show off his jacket, damp but at least with water and not soda. ]

So- let's go back and eat! Fries are best when it's still hot!

Yeah, that's actually not bad.

[He's kinda surprised it's that clean! But then, he's never put a lot of effort into cleaning things himself; he's got illusions and money, and one or the other usually handles it.

Also, he doesn't participate in these disgusting human customs. He takes several squirts from the hand sanitizer dispenser as he heads out.]

Can always get more if they've gone cold. Staff members don't have to pay here. [This is almost certainly not true and it's deducted from his paycheck or something, but Michael kinda doesn't pay a lot of attention to mortal money. It's there in his account when he needs it. If not, he has Other Means.]

[ Oh... He can feel his face start to glow hot at the praise, casual as it is. He never expects a "good job" or anything of the sort, but "not bad" might as well be the same thing, with how often he expects to mess things up. Yeah. He's perfectly capable. Cleaning is his job back home, so of course he can do this. He can have a little more confidence in that.

Still, he quickly follows suit and washes his hands but then wipes them on the sides of his pants as he trots out the door after Michael, because he's learned some things about hygiene and not others. Whatever doesn't kill him will make him stronger, etc. ]

Mm, cold fries are good too! It'd be a waste to throw it away, so let's just finish what we've got.

[ Things like money and food, he care a lot a lot a lot about, because it's always been so scarce to come by. ]

Alright.

[Michael shrugs; he doesn't care if his fries are cold, so the offer was really more for Shuuya's benefit.

Anyway, back to the table! The food is certainly still present, as Michael wasn't gone all that long and he was definitely seen sitting there, having already snapped at a couple people earlier. It's also pretty clear that Michael didn't touch any of his while he was waiting, though he'll start in on it now.]

You know, I took a trip to America with some of my students earlier this month. They say the burgers you get over there are the best, but I'm not really sure there's that strong a difference.

[ Cold fries are a little disappointing, but he takes what he can get, hauling himself up onto the seat across from Michael and swinging his feet as he pulls his share over towards himself. It's still good. Maybe because he hasn't eaten anything since the night before, or maybe he'd worked himself up so much and for so long that he's hungry again, or maybe he just feels better now—- happier, maybe- and the appetite comes along with it. Going out to eat is always a happy occasion. Eating with somebody else is always one too. They're rare moments. ]

It depends on where you go, I think! Where did you go? I know there's fancy places, where the food is super expensive, so I've never been... but if you go to a fast food place, you don't have to wait long at all, and it's okay to be messy, and everybody's always happy there, and it comes with a toy! All of that makes the burgers good!

[ McDonald's is the pinnacle of burgers, obviously. ]

Oh, somewhere in New York. It wasn't all that expensive. Before that, I'd mostly eaten burgers from here...

[He'd rarely eaten human food in the time before Daybreak. He'd tried it, of course, in all his years, but that wasn't really the same. For Michael, there's something of a clean break Before and After - and the delineation isn't Daybreak so much as when he decided to try a new type of Contract, see what he could of humanity before it was gone.

...oh wait, hold up.]

There's places that give you toys with the food? For free? [Michael has never heard of Happy Meals and this is groundbreaking.]

[ UM??? Everything NEW YORK sounds hella expensive to Shuuya, who comes from a tiny little town where his mental image of New York is bright city lights and Broadway musicals and New Years ball drops. Millionaires and celebrities. And Michael goes there to eat burgers. ]

Um! Yeah! But you're paying for the food, so the cost is somewhere in there... [ The food is dirt cheap, though, and the toys aren't anything fancy. But there's something just really special about a full stomach and something new to play with before his mother tells him to throw it away. ]

Is there a McDonald's around here? Otherwise, when I go home... if you want to visit... I could show you the one in my town, and we can see what the toy of the month is.

[ He's hoping for something small he can hide in his pockets and keep secret. Unlike McDonald's in France where they apparently give out entire children's books sometimes. ]

When You Made Wishes: start! (player plot)

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