[Drabble ORP] All the Children in 9 Straight Lines

[its me debz]

Town

"Fight," Konstantin echoed, looking towards the house with passive disapproval, oblivious to the startle he'd given to Mimsy, only taking note as she recited something that sounded ridiculous. In his defense, Alice in Wonderland without context of it in a meta-textual sense was incredibly odd.

America's statement that they were to fight the shadows had roused the sprite in his head, spurring it on from simple excitement into what felt like bloodthirst. Mimsy's query regarding slaying prompted a near religious-fervor from the thing.

From his pocket, Konstantin produced the tamagotchi-esque toy, shaking it a bit with lips pursed. "веди себя хорошо," he snapped. "иди нахуй*."

In response, Syntax Error stopped its rambles and instead played--blared, really-- warning sirens that slowly got louder and louder. Konstantin grit his teeth, shoving the toy back from whence it came, and produced the knife instead, eyes trained on the gathering darkness. It flashed in the light.

"Normal veapon kill it?"

lizbot

nothing yet

* Behave yourself. ******** off.  

[lizbot]

town

The not having breakfast line sounded kinda badass even if it unfortunately reminded America that she hadn't either. "Listen, we're special for a reason. We're here for a reason. And this might be it! And like, even if it's not, if we stay the s**t outta them, they won't be sale yo tell on us anyway!"

With this piece of reasoning, America charged in, yelling at the voice in her head to give her a gun or a sword or something. For a moment, the shadows drew back. For the briefest moment, it looked like something might happen, like a weapon might really appear and vanquish the darkness.

And then they came together, forming a massive fist that struck the girl and sent her flying back.  

[its me debz]

He is Sad and Also Small

She'd probably seen it, once or twice. On Deus there was no homeowner's association (that anyone actually listened to, anyway) to prevent eyesores from becoming a thing. There was dilapidated and there were works in progress and then there were probably shouldn't have been approved but were anyway and now it's too late to stop it projects.

Leslie's convenience store overhaul fit nicely into that last category, in no small part because he had a hard time throwing anything out. The whole lot was surrounded by somewhat crude mesh metal fencing, and the accumulating piles of...junk outside were both vast and disorganized.

Inside, though, everything was quiet. The front door was unlocked-- hard for it not to be, given the fact that it had no lock-- and opened into an equally half-deconstructed main room. The door leading to the backroom was labeled with WORK AREA, and the closet...? DO NOT ENTER.

After some silence, the DO NOT ENTER door cracked open, revealing a too-thin and forlorn face with big eyes and even bigger dark smudges beneath them. He looked around suspiciously, opening the door further and sliding out of it in silence, somehow quieter than a churchmouse.

He looked like he needed the food, too. An inch (or two) short of a mere five feet tall, underfed and too-thin, too-tired, too-anxious to be his age. "Hi," he muttered, looking at her once before staring at his toes, fingers hiding up in his too-long hoodie sleeves.

nothing yet

 

[Huni Pi]

To Hospital We Go

Joy remembered Caroline mentioning they were going to go get the two who were still stuck somewhere. And noting that it was just her and Ro, that meant they had to go get the others.

"Lead the way, tita Caroline," she said, then motioned for Ro to walk ahead of her. The thing about having been raised in an all girl's school was that you learned how to change in and out of your bra in the classroom in front of all your classmates without needing to remove your shirt. Luckily, her daster was loose enough to make things even easier for her.

She also took this opportunity to send a reassuring message to the guy who was in the hospital that they were on their way.

Nothing Yet

Miliardo Kason

Beejoux

on the way!

MoonKitsune

 

[Nothing Yet]

Town

From where she was standing - or from her perspective in general - the scene that Caroline arrived to see was something that vaguely translated to her daughter preparing to stab a young boy with scissors, America on the ground nearby.

"Hey," she shouted, breaking into a sprint towards them. "s**t--don't move--don't move--"

Mimsy looked at her with frigid, questioning eyes as Caroline reached for her scissors-bearing hand. In the corner of her vision, she saw the form of the shadows shifting, and only then did she begin to see the real picture.

The guilt was unbearable.

Instead of taking the 'weapon' away, she shakily held her daughter's shoulder and urged her backwards, away from the shadows in the house.

"Stay back a sec, I'll handle--America, are you okay?" She could only offer a quick glance in her direction for the moment, before threateningly jabbing a runic dagger towards the shadows became a more pressing priority.

lizbot

its me debz

 

[Nothing Yet]

Town

The glare that Mimsy focused on the back of her mother's head would have lasted into infinity if America had not just been attacked by the cluster of shadows that threatened them. She turned away from the woman to bend down towards America, offering her hand for assistance.

Though she didn't repeat the question about her current state, her expression and demeanor seemed to ask without any need to do so verbally.

lizbot

its me debz

 

[Nothing Yet]

Medicating Lawr

Someone told him that they made him fat? Caroline was still struggling to feel any sort of pity or empathy for him (and still preferred it that way), but she felt that this was clear insight into some of his actions and commentary in the future. His future, at least.

She wanted to tell him that it wasn't about getting into trouble, and that he should be taking them anyway - but if the idea of getting into trouble was what got him to take the things, she didn't care. It would be fine to let him indefinitely go on believing that.

"Not a problem, kiddo." No--she had a better idea. She smiled right back at him, as happy a smile as it could possibly be. "Or I should call you cowboy now, huh?"

baneful

 

[Baneful]

Medicating Lawr

Caroline's words made his expression absolutely light up. He couldn't be upset here when people were calling him cowboy finally, he just needed a horse and he could be everything he wanted to be. There was no dad to scold him, no mum to disapprove and no Leif to make fun of him. Cowboys didn't need family.

"Yeah!" he beamed. "Sheriff Larry!" he said. "Gonna fight injuns!"

 

[Nothing Yet]

He is Sad and Also Small

On her way through the door and the clusters of what she could only assume were scavenged materials, Caroline reverently touched nothing, and was careful to avoid bumping into any of it if she could manage to do so.

She waited in silence for a moment, long enough to consider sending the kid another message, when the door finally opened.

"Hey," she gently responded, already making her way towards him. Knowing that this would be more than the usual retrieval of a wayward teenager, she'd brought a blanket, pillow, and several other comforts in addition to the food he'd asked for. Though her personal stores of Little Debbie cupcakes were becoming depleted between her comfort eating and her offerings to Mark, she'd brought one for Leslie as well.

With a warm smile, she slowly knelt down, as though she were beginning to coax a stray cat into accepting her affections.

"Brought some stuff." It was not quite extended towards him - just pushed an inch or so away from her, avoiding piercing his bubble of personal space. "In case you wanna stay here--not out in the dorms and stuff with the others."

its me debz

 

[its me debz]

Town

Special, she said. Here for a reason, she said. All that, and all Konstantin could think of was how utterly optimistic that was. He couldn't determine if it was annoying or charming, so perhaps the answer was "both".

Watching her lead the charge was heartening until the shadows quite literally pummeled her into the ground, and his startled gasp gave him away.

He unsheathed the knife, looking quietly between America, Mimsy, and this new woman who seemed awfully urgent.

While they tended to her, he slid around to the side of the lump of darkness, slashing out with his knife-- and missing. Hissing ominously in either distress or fury, the shadows swiped out at his feet, sending Konstantin tumbling forward, hitting the grass face first.

nothing yet

nothing yet

is it too cheeky to quote you twice when amused by the double rp askin for a friend

lizbot

 

[MoonKitsune]

Infirmary

Kai was sitting in a room in a wheel chair, mainly because he had felt dizzy from standing and the crutches hurt his shoulder. So instead, he sat in a room with a backpack with random snacks from a vending machine and various other things he had taken from the place that were hidden under some chips.

When he got the text, he responded that he would be waiting. Child services was really weird around here.

Huni Pi

Nothing Yet

Miliardo Kason

Beejoux

on the way!

 

[its me debz]

He is Sad and Also Small

Sharp grey eyes trained onto Caroline's offerings, chewing on his lip sharply as she approached. It was idiotic, to stay where he wouldn't be able to stay where he couldn't escape, but she seemed to be overly concerned with other people's affairs, and he'd always retreated to small, tight places in times of crisis.

"I do," he muttered, suddenly darting forward at the speed of light to grab the things and pull them backwards in a scramble, much like a dog that had always had to fight for its lot in life. He tore into a bag of chips and practically unhinged his jaw to eat it all, which proceeded for several minutes as he scarfed down everything in sight. "There are ******** dorms in this place? How many?"

The blanket had found its way around his shoulders as he sat cross-legged by the still-cracked door, drowning him. He gave Caroline the stink-eye in advance, back pressing back against the wall as he realized how much he Owed.

"So," he said, "what do you want? In return?"

nothing yet

 

[lizbot]

Town

America's eyes stared up, blinking furiously for a moment and then she was suddenly sitting up and not at all listening to orders like don't move since those were definitely meant for other people. Taking Mimsy's hand she hopped onto her feet excitedly.

"That should have hurt like...a ton more! I think we're like supergirls or something, Mimsy!"

The voice in her head made a sound of interest.

I suppose that makes me a super...thing, as well. I am not a ghoul, though. The voice seemed very firm on this point.

"Who are you?" America asked, looking up, away from Mimsy and to the place where voices in your head reside.

Stryker.

"Stryker? Hella cool! Mimsy my voice's name is..."

And very suddenly there was a golden chain in her hands, a heavy bladed ball at one end. It was beautiful and shining, with glowing symbols and a heft to it, enough to make her more aware that she was strong. Maybe really, really strong in a way that mattered. There were implications here, maybe, about the path forward, but for now that path and train of thought had a ******** hurdle.

"Mimsy! Foreign Kid!! Miss Caroline!!! LOOK HOW COOL I AM!"

With this truly inspiring battle cry she rushed at the shadows, golden ball spinning in the air, and managed to smash off half the hand's pinky finger. Reaching the boy who had maybe been hurt??? She asked, solemnly, "Did you see that? That's why America is best country forever and you should convert."

nothixng yet

its me dxebz

 

[Nothing Yet]

Town

From the corner of her eye, Caroline could see the third teenager specifically not listening to her.

"HEY, hey uh--OTHER KID, I said stay--" But America was doing something amazing, and she forgot all about scolding him for trying to go fight some shadows. As much as she tried to give a similar level of care to everyone, she definitely played favorites.

"WOOHOO! HELL yes, look at you go!" She whooped and cheered and laughed a little about her comment about converting, almost forgetting the shadows at hand. The shadow hand, more specifically.

Her attack didn't do much to deter it - less than America's blow to it had, really - and she felt her stomach knot as she realized she should be summoning her own weapon. She wasn't being a very good example.

"Okay--Okay, the voices--the things you're hearing, the little object stuff--that'll turn into a weapon." This was their best chance of survival. Aside from her using her weapon. "Just--uh, just use what you're feeling right now. Channel that. Let the voice thing know you need 'em, and think about them coming out to help. As a weapon. Names can help! Try the names!"

lizbot

its me debz