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 Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 9:04 pm
((This is a collection of solos among other things, just don't want to clutter the thread~))
It wasn't unusual to find Ami sitting in her room with a small, brown leather book. The book itself was nothing out of the ordinary. It had weathered pages covered in her cursive scrawl. Simple comments, or elaborated story ideas. Plans. Drawings. Numbers. Whatever she could come up with at the moment would be recorded in the book. She attempted to prevent herself from reading the entries, but from time to time her curiosity got the better of her, and she was sent on a trip of ubi sunt and carpe diem.
Now though, she had decided it was time for a project. Less random ramblings, less writing down what came to thought- Ami needed more structure than that. Especially with the chaos that was upstairs (so to speak. It was far more complicated than that, but Ami wouldn't get into the mechanics of it all. Instead she'd use the simple phrase "upstairs"). It was something that provided structure to her life and she honestly appreciated that.
She began the way she always did. Every journal entry started the exact same way. Regardless of what she wrote afterwards, the first line always said:
22/6/12 Entry 27
The date, and the entry number. Some chose to start their diaries with gaudy expressions like "Dear Diary" or perhaps they'd pick a cute pet name and put something like "Dear Petunia." It was stupid. You weren't actually writing to anyone. There was no Petunia anticipating your entries about nothing excitedly. All that was necessary was the date and a simple title to your work. Nothing more than that.
At the moment she'd begun a countless detailing of the Deus Ex Academy campus. She considered the fact that it could be bad if the journal got in the wrong hands, but she wasn't detailing the secrets. Nothing that could get her in trouble, if she could help it. For now she was seated on her bunk in the hold, her pen moving quietly over the paper. It was midday at the moment, and she had finally caught a break from clearing out the insanity monsters.
It seems their waves won't end. I've detailed certain monsters earlier in this book, but it seems they're always changing, always altering. I wanted to somehow compile a monstropedia for myself- I'm sure the Death division is already gathering intel on these monsters, but I would like my own record for my own person. I can alter the info as I like and personalize it according to Junpei's needs. Unfortunately, there are simply too many monsters to record. Every time I go up there's something new. Today I found strange aquatic beings. Well not aquatic- there's no water up there, only big billowing clouds of grey shadows.
It was strange though, this particular crowd, this group- they were shaped like fish. They seemed to swim through the air. Had it not been so terrifying and disgusting it might have actually been strangely artistic.
Nevermind that though. Back to my project I suppose. Currently I am in the hold, the bunks. They're rather dreary. All identical, all entirely unsanitary I'm sure. They claim to have washed the sheets, but I know they didn't.
There are a few rooms down here. A standard infirmary. A room filled with tables and more MREs. I have to tell you after so long I'm truly getting sick of cheese and crackers. What I would give for a bowl of french onion soup from Chez Machin. I'm getting hungry just thinking of it.
Her musings were, in part, quite dull, but she was content with that. For Ami, something so mundane was a meditation for all the strange she saw in her life. If she was being truly honest with herself, it was a nice outlet for her emotions as well. It kept things equal. Even.
There is still the problem with ... the priority monster. He doesn't ... well how would he. There's no way to approach the problem. No opening from any angle. I do believe I go promptly insane trying to solve this strange enigma I've handed myself. If I told him it wouldn't even matter, would it.
She let that thought sit on the paper, and then continued lower down.
The architecture here lacks quite a bit. It has a sort of moderna to it, but I've always preferred the architecture of classic Italy. The buildings here all have very clean cuts. There are fascinating runic markings everywhere- some of them I don't even know their purpose. I wonder, is it a language? A symbol system? Perhaps they mean nothing at all- energy waves and what not. I believe I will never figure out the mechanics of this island, however long I try.
With a sigh she put her head back onto the headboard. This would take a while.
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Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 11:19 pm
She was back to the small leather book. Though she'd always been a journaler, in the past few days she'd picked up the habits more rapidly. She found that journaling kept her from thinking of other things, kept her from thinking too emotionally. On paper it was all speculative and logical. She didn't have to worry about others judging her, because no one would ever see this.
23/6/12 Entry 29
I suppose I might as well log Junpei into this as well. I've ... never bothered to ask him anything. I pick up bits and pieces. I think he must be aquatic- he doesn't like any type of edible fish. He verbally renounces the fish and chips they sell in the cafeteria sometimes. It's odd though, parts of him don't quite feel aquatic sometimes. For example, he really likes fruit. Last time I checked, there is a severe lack of fruit in the ocean.
< You know I'm right here. You could just ask instead of doing that weird stalking thing screech. >
Ami looked up from her writing as soon as his obnoxious adolescent voice sounded in her ear. Her smile quickly melted off her face, and her eyes lulled into a familiar annoyance. It's far more fascinating to conceptualize Junpei, not that you'd know anything about that.
< Isn't that like imagination? I have a great imagination! >
Conceptualize is not the same as imagine. Diction should be a key responsibility Junpei.
< Well you're never going to guess what I am. >
Okay ... well what are you?
< Hmm. Sort of like a fish. >
How long have you been that way?
< A while. >
I know what you are
< Oh? Say it then. Out loud Ams! >
Mermaid?
Junpei let out an exasperated sigh, and the eyeroll was nearly visible to Ami. < Amiiiiiiii. I'm not a stupid mermaid. I KNOW mermaids. They're so vain, I mean all I wanted to do was hang out, maybe go a bit farther but nooo she had to- >
Junpei.
< What? >
I don't care. Seriously.
Things grew awkwardly silent, and Ami went back to writing studiously. She couldn't care less if Junpei was quite or not. She'd never admit for that long week how much she missed hearing his voice when he finally shut up for her. To anyone else, she just wanted him to stay out of her head for good.
She spent the next couple of minutes writing down odd facts about Junpei like "DEFINITELY not a mermaid" and "OBNOXIOUS." Junpei didn't say anything until she put down, "Not good with the ladies." He threw an absolute hissy fit then. < Amiiiii! You can't just write that! I'm stupid good with the ghouls. You can't even HANDLE me with the ladies. Stop writing down stupid stuff and just let me tell you what's what. >
Ami sighed, but knew no good would come of arguing with him. With her pen pressed to the paper, she thought, Alright. Let's start with what you are. Mermaid still isn't right?
< Well ... kinda. Do you know much about Asi ... Asio ... I think you guys call it Asian culture? >
Yeah. Yeah like Amaterasu and moon rabbits? There's the story of the journey west too ... with the monkey king right? Ami had actually taken a short college course on mythology. They mostly focused on more western Gods, but some of the eastern stuff was in there too.
< Yeah uhm ... think ... scary. Dark Ami. >
Ami had to think for a moment, and then something struck her. Kitsunes? Those are like trickster foxes right?
< Better! Well I'm a Ningyo. >
Ning ... yo? I don't speak Japanese ... I mean I don't know what that is ...
< Well ... sort of like mermaids. You weren't all wrong. I have a fish tail and the gills and fins, scales ... >
But?
< BUT, I'm also a monkey. The whole top half is covered in hair Ams. >
Ami had to bite her lip from laughing. He was a MONKEY FISH. A ******** monkey fish. That was nearly hilarious. No that was DEFINITELY hilarious. Oh my god, you must have been hideous!
< Thank you! I was pretty ugly if I do say so myself. >
Ami was a little confused by that one, but scribbled down everything Junpei was feeding her. Every once in a while as she jotted down a description, she'd blurt something out like, "Oh so that's why its a tidal wave!" or "Like the scales on the glaive!!" It was actually somewhat interesting learning about Junpei. She'd never put much thought into what or who he was since she'd been so busy keeping him shut up. By the time she finished the little description he'd given her, they'd actually broken into a sort of personable conversation, and Ami felt rather pleased with the result. Maybe Junpei wasn't all bad.
He even threw in a little, < Oh! Ami don't forget to do your little Describe-Deux-Ex thing. >
Rather astonished at her non-annoyance, Ami got down to work.
It might seem like a rather mundane detail, but at Deus Ex we all have a sort of uniform. One white coat with golden trim depicting our division. There are five divisions, Moon (the one I belong to), Sun, Life, Death and Mist. Each hunter gets a color gradient as they progress through the years (from what I've seen. I can't confirm if this is necessarily true for ALL hunters. Might need to research more). Scarves of a matching color are to be worn at all times, so as to differentiate us all in battle.
Well to be honest, I don't know if that's the reason, but it's all I could come up with for having to wear these stupid things.
I've noticed all the weapons have runes on them too. I have to wonder if it correlates to the runes around the campus? It must. I think I recognized one of the symbols as a Greek letter the other day. Maybe I could find some of them online? I think I'll try and start with Junpei's. His are most familiar, I think I could do it ...
< Hey Ami did you make any progress on- >
No, she answered immediately, knowing what he was referring to.
< What about the girl? >
I don't know Junpei. I think it's time to be quiet again.
< And you said I was bad with the ladies! You're bad with the- >
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 12:51 am
Then this happened... Ami hit the bed hard, rubbing the sore spots on her body. The little arrows hadn't done much damage on their own, but collaterally they'd done quite a bit. Little angry red dashes were scattered around her body, and she wouldn't be the last to admit they hurt like crazy.
She'd visited the infirmary briefly, but there was only so much they could do down here. Just basic things like bandages- the doctor had been out when she'd visited, which was a downright shame. She kept hearing rumors about this famed Dr. H, and had absolutely nothing to show for it. Most of the rumors she heard were bad, but she wasn't about to judge someone she'd never met right from the get go.
Well maybe she judged him just a little.
< You okay? > Junpei asked in a voice so innocent and sweet that Ami couldn't help but humor him for once.
Maybe she was just too tired not to argue. Everything hurts Junpei. Don't you have some kind of healing magic or something.
< Not like this ... a lot of my species can heal though ... >
Not useful. An awkward silence followed, and then Ami quietly said (thought?), Junpei I know this is incredibly childish, but will you tell me a story?
< Ah ... yeah sure. I've kind of only got one story ... It's kind of a boring one though- I mean I've heard it like THOUSANDS of times, so I- >
Jumpy just tell it. She was too tired for cat and mouse right now. Ami's face was already pressed into her pillow lightly, her eyes shut tight.
A chuckle escaped Junpei's mouth, and then he began. < Well ... once upon a time there was a human man. We'll call him Takeshi. This dude caught a ningyo while fishing and was gonna try to serve it up to his friends, as like a delicacy. Super speciest. Terrible stuff. I would've punched him a few times ...
So this dude's friend, he saw that the fish had like ... hairy monkey bits, and he told all the other guys. The guys were like "no way are we eating some fish s**t." They thought they were super smart so they decided to wrap the fish up in paper and take it home- get rid of it later, y'know?
Except this one guy got home and his little scareling were like "deaddy did you bring us a present?" So this guy is major stupid and just gives the fish to the ghoul- I mean how stupid is that? Why would you just hand your ningyo flesh over to some- nevermind augh.
So the ghoul is about to eat it, and the deaddy's like OH s**t, THAT WAS THE WRONG THING TO DO, and he tries to stop her, but its too late. They don't notice anything at first, but the Ningyo actually cursed the ghoul to live for like EVER. She had to watch her friends and family die and s**t, and never got to marry anyone or have children or anything. She pretty much got doomed and cursed to live forever.
Basically, if you catch a ningyo, just throw it back. We'll jack you up.>
That didn't have a very happy ending. It's kind of creepy actually, Ami thought groggily, halfway asleep and halfway awake now.
< Well duh. Creepy endings are the best endings. >
Ami didn't really get it, but she let Junpei go and just nodded her head. She wasn't really in the mood to deal with Junpei's musings, and decided to let him just wander free while her mind drifted off into a deep, deep sleep.
---
When she finally awoke, she rolled over on her dinky little bunk and pulled the covers up a bit higher. It was awful chilly down in the bunks. Grumpily, she pulled out her journal and began scratching some minor details down. She was way too tired for this, but it was a habit- it felt weird to go through a day without it. She liked taking down information and recording things that she found. It was all just habit for her.
24/6/12 Entry 32
Jumpy told me a creepy story today. One about immortality. It was mostly about the basic theme of "would you want to live forever?" but something about it still creeps me out. I feel such pity for the father who tried to stop his daughter but couldn't. He realized his error, and at least tried to prevent it. Then when the daughter grew older- all those years knowing it was your fault she was doomed to a cursed fate ... It's unsettling.
I'm far too tired to actually detail anything, so I'll just write down the description of this bunk I'm in. It is a sort of dreary grey in color, and about four feet by eight feet. Those are seriously terrible estimates. I'm way more tired than I thought.
She set down the pen, and decided that five more minutes of sleep couldn't kill her.
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