-----›the place where the sidewalk [ E N D S ] ?!

[Eion Aitken]

31ST OF AUGUST, 3012: NEBULA CITY.

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Suspended miles and miles above the former residence of the human race, Nebula City acted as the epitome of human evolution. After centuries of ill care, the Earth's inhabitants had finally managed to transform their home into a corroded, inhabitable space--a situation which forced the former to find an alternative lodging in order to successfully outlive the disaster they had brought upon themselves. It was, then, after years of intensive research from this planet's greatest minds, that Nebula City was created: a revamped version of their beloved Earth--a second chance for the human race to get through yet another end of the world crisis.

The massive, floating structure seemed to glitter amongst the various suns and stars: an anomaly in an already peculiar galaxy. The curious design--a convoluted mixture of modernity and retro prehistorics--seemed to stick out like an ugly duckling amidst swans, adding to the eccentricity of the visage. Inside the city, millions and millions of tightly packed skyscrapers littered the skies; the cheap neon lights signalling each different suburb flickering on and off at erratic intervals. The sound of engines powering this beast resonated from its core, sending a constant, dull humming to the surface: the eternal droning of civilisation. The sound of footsteps from the masses of spectators who, trance-like, made their way to some clandestine location through perfectly symmetrical streets, accompanied the unvarying scherzo.

Sitting atop a cathedral's ancient, metallic steps, Eion Aitken sighed; fingers brushing grey tendrils of hair away from his face as he proceeded to observe the bizarre spectacle. A sharp, chartreuse eye skimmed over the multitude; fingers tapping the step beside him to the city's constant pulse. 12.55: he knew the time off by heart without the need of looking at the huge tower clock behind him. The march took place every day, at the same time: no exceptions. And on every single occasion, they failed to notice the boy sitting by the cathedral's steps; watching, forever watching. He was growing weary of this routine.

As the crowd disappeared behind a corner, Eion forced himself to his feet; top hat becoming a little askew at the sudden move. Correcting the imperfection with an air of nonchalance, Mr. Aitken moved away from the steps and, hands in pockets, began walking in the opposite direction.

This little charade had been playing for so long its spectators had lost interest in it. The city was hiding something and, tonight, he was going to find out what.
It was time to cue the actors for the next act to begin.
His curtain call awaited.

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[Oliver Norling]

ℋabuneku　↔　☻　↔　ハブネク

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"Come on... come on..."

A slender index finger continued to jab itself forcefully against a square button, as flame-red eyes darted fretfully between the changing numbers before her and the timer to her right. 9, 8, 7...

"Got it!"

As the abused metal box swung open in response to the correct pin numbers, a triumphant yell echoed throughout the room—despite the fact that it's intended recipient was sitting right next to her. He flinched accordingly. Habuneku turned towards him, a smug look on her visage, while one hand shoved the open box into his face and the other flicked one of her blond ponytails behind.

"See! I didn't need your help to solve this stupid puzzle."

Her partner did not look impressed in the least. "It was an easy one to see just how dismal your cognitive skills are. I guess you're not so hopeless after all, though you only got by through luck and sheer guesswork."

In the next few seconds, he found himself in a chokehold with his ear being pulled. He struggled in vain to get out of it as Habuneku hissed "Did you just insult me?" into his delicate and throbbing sensory organ.

"If I said 'no', would you even believe me?! Now, let. Go! Urgh."

She unhanded him, mostly because it would be a problem for her if she damaged her assigned and irreplaceable partner too much. The games were not too far away after all.

"So, from that little exercise, I've determined that we have a 17% chance of winning."

"That's umm... er... 20... something less than what you said before! What the heck?!" Habuneku remarked angrily as she brought down her yellow-tinted sunglasses from the rim of her hat to the bridge of her nose, to which she immediately felt calmer; the glasses made everything around her seem all that much more brighter than they really were—a definite improvement in this bland city called Nebula.

"Though it is fortunate that we are a well-balanced team of brains and brawn, the other teams are still formidable, and will strive at nothing to cover their weaknesses. To ensure victory, we must try to overcome our own shortcomings, though that will not take us far if we have poor cooperation," he explained, with a slight hoarseness to his voice; an aftereffect of the chokehold.

"Alright, alright. I'll try not to get all physical on you the next time you open that big mouth of yours to diss me," she promised a little sarcastically as she stepped out into the monotonous street.

"That would be optimal, though fruitless. And by the way, I'll be busy, so don't bother coming again until I contact you." With that, the door locked shut in Habuneku's face.

"What?!" The door rattled as she twisted its knob to make it open again. "Why you little-" She only remembered what they were just talking about before her boot could come in contact with the door. She cursed under her breath and followed the crowd.

At that point, she had too much time on her hands and some frustration to alleviate. So instead of returning home, she went to one of the most congested parts of the city, picked a good alcove to sit in, grabbed some rusted bolts and broken pieces from the ground and looked for things to throw them at.

Like that silly-looking striped hat that some weakling decided was a fashion statement.

She barely took the time to aim before she chucked it at the guy.

[Natalie Crowe]

Towers of grey and mottled brick that vault towards the sky would, for all intents and purposes; be daunting for many people. The very thought of standing at the top of even the shortest three storey buildings would turn a persons knees to jelly, even those that work *inside* these monotonous monsters find themselves reticent to work in higher levels. And yet...
"Alright then, what was it you said? First to the Cathedral wins?"

High above the bustling crowds in the streets below, two friends stood atop one of the higher, flat topped office buildings. A young woman with long raven hair and intense grey eyes smiled curiously to her friend, a tall young man with tousled crimson red hair and bright green eyes. They both stood firm even as they were buffeted by the wind, jackets whipping violently about behind them.
He nodded with a grin, running a hand through his hair,
"Yeah, high wind too. Should be a challenge this time around."

"Right, the buildings still graduate to there... Except for that bit of construction there.."

He waved his hands about to hush her,
"Enough of your logistics Nat! Let's GO!"

With that he sprinted forward and vaulted nimbly to the next roof, she could scarcely react before exclaiming,
"Xavier!"

She followed, soon coasting through the seemingly thick air between the two tremendously high buildings. Landing on the next with a surprised shriek as her head almost connected with a hefty ventilation pipe, one that Xavier had failed to spot in time. He was sprawled on the roof nearby, gathering himself before continuing, Nat skidded beneath the pipe and continued the half kilometre race. Only barely hearing Xavier call,
"Show off!"

Soon enough both continued their flight across the roofs of the Nebula, jumping, sliding, swinging and wall-running to get to the Cathedral first. Not without their mistakes of course, exercises like this were not without injuries but as they neared the Cathedral, Xavier nearly came off worse...

Natalie made the jump but stopped her wild sprint when she, by some off chance, heard a shocked grunt and a scuffle from behind her. She turned just in time to see Xavier over-balance and topple in between the two buildings,
"Xavier!!"

She stood frozen as she stared down into the black, waiting for some kind of confirmation that he was okay. Soon enough she heard a chain of resounding *bong* sounds followed by a louder noise, like the gong of a bell told her he'd saved himself,
"Xavier? You okay?.."

"I'm GLAD I landed on the lid of this thing... How about we continue this on G-Zero?"

She laughed,
"I'll be down in a minute, wait in the street!"

He did so as she headed for the fire-escape, they weren't far from the Cathedral, but this arrangement would take longer with the crowd around them. Ground Zero was irritating that way. It was five to ten minutes before Natalie walked onto the street and sidled up to her friend, he smiled jovially as she heaved a deep breath,
"That was a little too close, are you hurt?"

"No more than usual, but let me show you something."

His smile broadened as he gestured to a noticeably short young man with a red and white striped hat, walking against the flow of the crowd,
"I've heard of individuality but thats just ridiculous!"

She grinned and jabbed him in the ribs,
"Says the man with bright crimson hair!"

[Eion Aitken]

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Eion flinched noticeably as a small piece of metal hit his hat; the object in question creating a dull thud as it hit the edge of a lopsided rubbish bin. Having failed to make it inside the garbage can, the object fell to the ground, whereon, pushed by the remaining inertia, it rolled forwards a few centimetres before coming to a standstill. A slight frown creased the youth's forehead as his mind attempted to formulate an explanation. His eye then scanned the perimeter surrounding him until it fell upon a somewhat unfriendly frame. Was it just his impression or was the blonde girl sitting on the alcove staring straight at him?

"Um, hey. I don't mean to be rude but...what'd you do that for? You could've hurt somebody, y'know?", Eoin addressed her across the street, voice shaking ever so slightly. He knew he should have acted there and then, but the yellow-spectacled female looked like the sort that wouldn't go without a fight. Plus, he had more...pressing matters to take care of now.

Above him, thick masses of clouds began coming together in disarrayed clumps; their colouration and consistency promising a deluge. As the first few drops started plummeting downwards towards Nebula's spectators, Eion got himself into a sitting position, legs crossed in the semblance of a semi-lotus, and removed the red-and-white hat from his head. Placing it directly in front of him, he began rummaging inside it as if it were a bag: the hat swallowing up his arm to the shoulder, revealing the deceptiveness of its depth. At length, the boy extracted a tall ivory-coloured umbrella (which was double the length of its hat) and opened it above him. Rain: a new development of Nebula city. Not that people minded, either way.

A second glance in the previous direction found the girl still sitting there. Eion sighed.

"Hmph. Might as well. Wouldn't want to get in trouble with the higher-ups.", he mumbled, getting to his feet and walking in the direction of the girl. As he approached her, a group of six, black-clad men materialised around the boy; their identities concealed by the bandages wrapped around the faces. When he found himself but a couple of metres away from where the other was sitting, he stopped; the sound of footsteps reaching his ears.

The youth turned and, pointing in the direction of the two newcomers, announced:

"'Kay. You two are witnesses". Producing a badge from his jacket's pocket, he flashed it before the girl; the crest--a silver-white skull similar to the one on his blazer's lapel--catching the light of a lamppost nearby.

"Ante Mortem Police. You are under arrest on the grounds of bodily harm".

Beneath the bandages, the faceless figures grinned macabrely.
Eion Aitken, upon the contrary, sported a mask of misery.

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ooc;; Hey, guys. Thanks for the posts c:!
Um, um. I hope I didn't G-mod! Apologies if I did.
Oh, and lulz at the unanimous dislike of Eion's hat XD.

[Oliver Norling]

ℋabuneku　↔　☻　↔　ハブネク

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She saw the metal bit she threw make contact with the trippy headgear, but was surprised to see that it didn't even budge from the impact. Habuneku was no physics expert, but she knew that the hat shouldn't have stayed on. She glared at its owner, wondering what on earth did he do? Glue it to his head?

"Um, hey. I don't mean to be rude but...what'd you do that for? You could've hurt somebody, y'know?" It wasn't hard to hear him over the largely silent crowd. She didn't call back, wanting to see if he had the guts to come up to her and make that accusation count.

That was when it began to rain. In truth, Habuneku thought 'rain' was stupid. Why were they wasting water by having it fall from above and making everything wet, when everyone could get it from taps or bottles?

Her brief lapse in attention caused her to lose sight of her accusor for a moment. She found him on the ground with... his...

Her brows furrowed with perplexity because it looked like his arm was swallowed up by the hat. Then he pulled a long, white thing out of it. She quickly gave her sunglasses a quick rub; maybe the rain or a smudge was causing her to see things, but she knew her sunglasses always made her see things better—even if it did skew her colour perception a tad at times.

After he had his 'umber-la'—or whatever people were calling that newfangled thing— out, the guy looked at her again, this time with a terribly annoying expression on his face before he seemed to mumble something. She scowled at him; there's no way she'll be budging from that dry spot anytime soon.

He walked closer. Black figures started to flank him out of nowhere, which caused her to sit up from her previously slumped position in surprise. Sneaky bastards.

They stopped some ways away from her. It was after he called out to two people standing nearby that he spoke to her again while holding a badge out. "Ante Mortem Police. You are under arrest on the grounds of bodily harm".

Habuneku eyed the policeman-wannabe and his lackeys up and down. The guy with the weird hat made a really sad face and the mummy heads were making stupid grins. "Well, excuuuuuse me. I may be blond, but I'm not dumb enough to fall for that. I've been arrested enough times to know that you're not the police. You're not even wearing the right uniform. Hell, you're even getting the words mixed up. They only say 'bodily harm' after I actually whoop someone's a**." A smirk settled on her own features. "Or maybe the baby's upset that a girl messed up his favourite hat, and called up his B-movie buddies for backup?"

All she knew just then was that a couple of guys were ganging up on her and that she might be in trouble. 'Trouble' just happened to be her middle name—or at least, that's what the people who knew her usually say. Good thing no one other than her parents use her real name anymore.

Because it would sound really stupid.