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Chronicles of a Middle-Aged Housewife, Act II; Eri Charinko's Awakening [Open to those who participated in the Bedlam thread, all others Ask First]
Topic Started: Oct 22 2013, 01:58 AM (941 Views)
The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
This thread takes place a short time past midnight, on the night after the events of Chronicles of a Middle-Aged Housewife, Act I and Chronicles of a Middle-Aged Housewife, Interlude, after a certain Bedlam Blotter post was made.

---

Shouta Kimura groaned, and brought his hands up to his face. His first thought was that he was in bed; his second was that his bedsprings must've gotten busted again somehow. He muttered a few swears, sat up.

And then noticed he was on the floor.

"What in the he--?! Hey!" he shouted, scrambling to his feet, head swiveling around in a clear panic. "Where the fuck is this?! What the shit, man?! What the actual shit?!"

He slipped on a wet splotch as he spun around, which caused his foot to slide outward and to the side... this triggered a fantastic split, one his legs were not flexible enough for by any stretch or measure. Which, in turn, prompted a loud shriek of "FUCK!" which echoed, like some kind of obnoxious alarm, through the surrounding halls of the ruins. That echo was audible, just barely, from the entrance, but not audible enough that a precise direction could be gotten from it. Which was unfortunate, because at that moment, Shouta noticed a stirring form on the floor across the room from him.

The "room" in question seemed to be some kind of P.A. room: there was a desk here, but the only notable thing on it was a microphone and a button to operate said microphone. Shouta looked up, and scowled in irritation at the loose tile in the ceiling above--through which water was dripping, hence the offending puddle.

Then, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, Shouta wobbled to his feet and swayed, glaring at the shifting form on the ground.

"Hey..." he hissed. "You there. Are you the one who brought me here? Speak up."

One step. Two steps. Okay, he could walk without feeling agony, that hadn't been as bad as he thought. Three steps. Four. Now the bleach-blonde boy was looming over the person laying on the floor and--

--and she turned over, blinking up at him in confusion. Eri Charinko stared at Shouta, uncomprehending. He stared back, equally nonplussed. Then, both faces registered recognition at the exact same time.

"You--!" he growled, and pounced, exactly like some kind of rabid dog. Eri screamed, and rolled away, scrambling to her hands and her her knees and then her feet. Shouta would normally have just snatched her back and pinned her to the ground, but the pain in his groin struck at a bad moment, he staggered, hissed, saw spots; and Eri managed to get away.

Unfortunately, it was the wrong "away." There was only one door in this room, and it was in the complete opposite direction. Eri stopped dead in the back corner of the room, between a wall and an overturned file cabinet whose drawers were hanging out and in two cases overturned on the floor, completely empty. She turned around, her back almost pressed into the corner, her eyes wide.

"You--stay back! Stay away from me--!"

"You, bitch--you stabbed Noburu, so I'm gonna return the favor," Shouta snarled, rummaging in his jacket's inner pockets as he spoke, trying to put as much intimidation as he could into his voice. Even in her fear Eri had the strangest thought that the boy in front of her seemed more like a bad actor in an action film than someone to actually be afraid of.

Of course, that changed when he managed to pull out the knife and flip it open, and then began to stalk slowly toward her.

"But not before you tell me where the fuck we are and why you brought me here," said Shouta, in a low voice, lifting up the knife and smiling in a predatory way. In most circumstances it would have been almost comical; now, it just looked like a slasher's smile.

Eri felt her knees begin to tremble. In that moment, she couldn't even begin to remember how she'd gotten here, let alone how he had, or where this was.

"W-wait--please, I didn't--I was just--"

She tried to take a step back, and slid along the wall, closer to the fallen file cabinet.

"I didn't bring you here, I don't even know where here is!"

Shouta shook his head, exaggerated slasher-smile widening. "Oh, don't you think you can play dumb with me, you dumb broad, I know when I'm being duped, so just--who said that?!"

And without warning or explanation, Shouta spun around, waving his knife at the empty air behind him. Eri stared, blinked, looked around--Who said... what? she thought.

Then:

Now is your chance...

She didn't even stop to wonder where the voice came from. In her panic, she simple believed it to be her own spur-of-the-moment realization.

Eri ran forward and threw herself at Shouta, snatching at his knife-hand's wrist. Shouta roared, flailed, and fell like a sack of bricks, face-first, to the floor--with a full-grown adult woman more or less perched on his back, holding him down and trying to wrestle a knife out of one of the arms he could have used to stand.

More importantly, Eri's rather modest weight was sufficient enough to knock the wind from his lungs along with the wind from his sails--he couldn't immediately throw her off, and the fall sent another dull flair of pain through the tendons connecting leg to crotch.

"GET--OFF--!"

The desperate noises Eri made as she tried in vain to twist the boy's arm so that he dropped the knife were one part snarl, two parts gasping scream. She felt Shouta's weight shift beneath her. Another moment, and he would gain purchase with his free hand on the floor, and then he would throw her off, and it would be over...
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Nonsequitur
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Yellow Bubblegum
Once the messages were sent, she was headed directly towards the ruins. Her phone was always ignored while she was driving. Besides, there was no need to answer: In the off-chance her intuition had failed her, and Eri and Noburu's associate were lost somewhere in the backstreets, she had several officers she trusted completely fanning out though the area. In the even they were in the ruins, then there wasn't a second to waste.

She parked her car in the usual spot. She'd have to rely on her service side arm. Her shotgun, when not in use was kept in her home, stowed and locked away safely. There was no time to go home and get it, especially not when she was already armed.

This time she drew the snub-nosed pistol, checked her reserve of spare bullets… a borderline-overkill sum of over two dozen bullets, most of which were held in speed-loaders and the remainder carried as loose ammunition.

She was ready, she stepped down into the entrance, holding her pistol up with both hands as she kept a look around.

"Eri? Eri Charinko? Are you there?" She called out. Knowing the name of possible butterfly-abduction victims was an advantage she usually sorely lacked. She picked a direction and walked that way, keeping her eyes and ears open.

She also alternated who she called out for. "Shouta Kimura! I know you're here! Show yourself" When she called out to Eri, she spoke in a voice appropriate for looking for someone needing rescue. On the other hand? When she spoke of Shouta, her voice was forceful, nearly a growl with a hint of menace. Fitting to imply that the Long Arm of the Law had come for him.

Given the circumstances of how they got there, Maki had to find them, and quickly. Not only was Eri in mortal danger from the Shadows, but from from one of Sadako's flunkies no doubt upset that she'd stabbed Nakano-san and had already planning to kill her under Nishiyo's orders regardless.
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
An echoing voice from somewhere, and Eri could have sworn it spoke her name. She looked up, toward the door, in desperation. And in that moment of distraction, Shouta managed to get his free hand palm-flat against the ground, elbow up. A single almighty shove of one well-muscled arm pushed his torso up and Eri along with it, up and tumbling sideways. She held onto his knife arm for dear life...

...but then Shouta twisted around, throwing his entire weight on top of her, driving her to the ground and driving his elbow hard into her stomach.

She let out a choking gag, and her grip slipped loose. In a moment, he was on top of her, she couldn't move, he was taller and heavier and there was a knife to her throat. She knew that screaming at this point was a stupid idea, but her lungs drew in air to betray that notion anyway.

Shouta's calloused, heavy hand clamped down over her mouth.

"Gotcha, you stupid bitch. Think you're clever, do you?" whispered Shouta. He glanced at the door. "Someone's out there... so, lady, here's how it's gonna go. When I get up, you're going to stand, nice and quiet-like, and put your hands behind your back. I am going to keep this knife right where it is and if anyone tries to stop me from leaving, you'll be my shield. We cool on that? Nod yes. Don't even bother saying no, because I'll just cut your pretty little neck open if you do. Go on... nod."

Eri's eyes were wide, but not for the reason Shouta thought. For as Shouta issued this thread, something moved up above. It first peeked out from the open ceiling tile that had been dripping water, and then, it slinked out, crawling stealthily along the ceiling... a pale, long-armed thing that almost looked like a human clad in a ragged loincloth... until it looked straight down into Eri's eyes, and she saw its face.

That face filled the woman with unreasoning terror long before the mental affect of its appearance set in.

It wasn't human. It was so obviously not human. Its wide, drooling mouth dripped wetness in regular tiny blobs, and it had exactly one eye, one eye positioned in the center of its face. It wasn't human, it wasn't human, it was a monster and it wasn't human, a monster like one of their neighbors before she and Akio moved claimed had caused the park incident, a monster like one of the ones that Kyo claimed were people given powers, a monster like the ones Kyo said lurked beneath the city--

--The butterfly--

It crashed in on her then, the final piece of memory. Not just her kidnapping and near-murder under the bridge, but the distracting golden glint she'd seen, and then, as she ran, as she had known only terror and a burning in her lungs and a stitch of fire in her side, Eri had seen it, the butterfly, the thing that Kyo had told her about, and just as Kyo had told her--

Just as Kyo had told her--

"Nod yes, lady. Or I swear I'll cut you open right here!" Shouta hissed in a somewhat higher voice, less sure of itself. Eri couldn't rip her eyes away from the Bundle, not even to warn Shouta as it crept up above him along the ceiling tiles. Somewhere beneath the fear and frigid inability to believe what she was seeing despite her foreknowledge, Eri recognized that Shouta would never have actually killed her, he might have believed he did, but he didn't have it in him to be a murder, not yet, not then--

And a drip of drool landed on Shouta's shoulder, and his entire frame gave an almighty twitch.

His entire frame, including the hand that held a knife to Eri's neck, gave a twitch. Eri felt pain. Her neck--

And then Shouta twisted around, withdrawing his knife roughly, its edge shining with a small sheen of blood, he let out a snarl, and the long-limbed creature above lashed out for his neck, taking Shouta by the throat. Eri was only vaguely aware of the sight of the boy being lifted up toward the ceiling by his neck, dropping his knife on the way up. She was also only just aware of the warm fluid seeping out of a shallow slit on one side of her neck, aware enough to press a hand to it in attempt to stem the flow, aware enough to register that she could still breathe and that was a good thing and that it wasn't coming out too fast and that was also a good thing but wasn't that almost where the jugular vein was? How close to death had she just--

And then her brain couldn't shift back into any gear but get away gear, and to that end she crab-walked backwards, one-handed, putting as much ungainly distance between herself and the monster as she could, the sight of it strangling the life out of a teenage boy only enhancing the sensation of sheer, unnatural, unreasoning terror that had latched on and settled in atop her own, more natural fear.

And through this, a single conscious thought surfaced, stark in its calm amidst the storm:

These are the things my daughter has been fighting all this time...
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CDYoung

Rozen arrived at the ruins the second Maki started to enter, and with a bit of a stumble she raced after the descending officer. "Hey! Wait!" She said, just a second too late as Maki entered, probably too focused to bother looking back. Slowing to catch her breath, Rozen leaned on her knees. "I... should probably cut back..." She muttered.

'A novel idea, thou aren't getting younger. Thou should quit it all together.' Brighid said to her. 'All three of you can bite me.' She mentally snapped back as she got her wind back and headed for the far more ominous entrance then she remembered. "Man, this place didn't look that creepy when the kids rescued me." She said as she pulled out a cartridge and loaded her MX-26 lancet taser as she descended into the blackness after the officer.

When she entered the Ruins, she noticed she could see a lot better then her initial experience, but then again she's not drunk or half asleep. It was then that she noticed the uniformed officer calling out for Eri, and someone else. "Officer." Rozen said, "I'm here to assist. But... don't ask if I can sense anything. I'm not that blessed."
Edited by CDYoung, Oct 22 2013, 05:40 PM.
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Vect
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Illegal in five countries.
"~A man of intrigue, he lives for the thrill.
Always has places to go, and people to kill.~"


~Danger is the game he plays, and he holds every card.
'Cause if you wanna win, you gotta spy hard."


Harkens and Kaya meanwhile were busy searching through the Ruins, having arrived through a different entrance. They too were on a search for a mother of one of their buddies. Well, Kaya's friend. Harkens was mostly there for the ride.

So far, their search was proving to be somewhat fruitless. At the least, they haven't encountered any real danger. Still, doesn't mean they can't have their own fun.
"~A man of the world, so suave and discrete..."
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Nonsequitur
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Yellow Bubblegum
She paused when she noticed someone was coming in after her. She turned back to get a good look at her, weapon held up, securely in both hands and ready to aim and fire at the first sign of trouble. Who else was involved in that blotter? Kyo obviously, two others and one more.

"…Drunk Irish Pride, I take it? I'm afraid I can't scan, I can't heal either so if you can do that, I'd appreciate the help. Just stay close to me and pay attention for anything out of the ordinary."

With that, it was back for searching for them. She called out again. "Kimura! Think long and hard about what the consequences of your next action will be! Come out, show yourself, and release Charinko-san!" If they both recovered as she had, it was possible that they resumed what they were doing before being absconded by the butterfly: Attempting to attack Eri and attempting avoid being attacked by Shouta respectively for the wanna-be killer and the housewife respectively.

Were that the case, it might have been more prudent to focus on him. But she didn't know for certain. She could only guess, she might have heard what could have been a scuffle somewhere to the left of where she stood, so she lead herself and Rozen Moore that way, calling out to both people she expected to find occasionally and growing more concerned with the lack of response thus far.
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
"--mura! Think long and hard about what the consequences of--"

Is hands pulled pointlessly at inhuman fingers. Eri pulled herself backward along the ground, sliding across the linoleum in the general direction of where she knew the door to be. She pulled in air, and tried to release it in a scream, something the voice outside might here. All she managed was a quiet moan, a quiet shaky moan that wouldn't carry anywhere, let alone as far enough to meet someone who had to shout to make herself known.

"--show yourself, and release Charinko-san!"

How could they know her name? How could they know she was here? Somehow this thought was more distracting than it needed to be. And as Eri's upper back hit the doorframe, as her hand slid across the smooth linoleum in a vain effort to regain purchase, she saw Shouta's movements slow. Registered in her brain for the first time the gagging noises, and one thought centralized itself in her distressed brain: she was watching a young man die.

Eri kicked her legs against the ground. The skirt around her knees was just loose enough that she could manage to pull one leg in and then to stand, but she realized only then how limiting the garment was when it came to movement--wished randomly in that moment that she was wearing jeans or something like her daughter would. One hand still clamped over her bleeding neck, she blindly grabbed twice with the other, and managed to find the doorhandle.

She tried to pull herself up, as she did, the doorhandle turned, and the door opened away from her--backward, out into the hallway. Startled for a moment out of her panic, Eri screamed, stumbled backward before she managed to balance herself, and fell painfully back onto the hallway floor.

But from here, her scream carried much further, and more clearly.

Those in the ruins who could hear it would have a clear direction to follow now.

Shouta Kimura's movements slowed to a point where his struggles were a token effort. As if bored with the strangulation, the Bundle let him fall to the ground in a heap. Then, from point-blank range, with Eri's eyes still on it, it cast the fatal spell: a swirl of greenish wind gathered between its long-fingered hands. The Garula spell hung there, swirling like some kind of ethereal drill. Shouta turned over exactly once, turned over so that he faced up, eyes locking on this building magic. He looked up, still enthralled by the Fear magic this monster had bound him with, his body automatically gasping, choking, lungs seeking air. A voice spoke in his mind, telling him to fight, to call out to it, to survive, to show this thing who the real man was--

And then the air killed him, slamming him into the ground with neck-breaking force. The last thing he saw was that green wind rushing toward his face.

The sound of impact cut through every sensibility that Eri was aware of, cut through it like a hot knife. And then she was blindly reaching up for the door handle again, turning over so that she was on her knees, pulling herself up, stumbling, up, running, and screaming out:

"I'M HERE! OVER HERE! HELP, THE MONSTER, THE SHADOW, IT--IT--"

Which way had that woman's voice come from?! Which way?! It didn't occur to her until she was off running, but from inside the room she hadn't been able to tell. And as it so happened, Eri Charinko was not running toward Maki Yamada. She was running in completely the wrong direction.

Its prey dead upon the ground, the Bundle let one viscous string of drool fall downward, slowly, toward the corpse before scuttling along the ceiling toward the door, and then out onto the ceiling. It remained there, looking both ways, wondering in its primitive way who to pursue--the source of that other voice, or the screaming woman who already knew it was there?

Decisions, decisions...
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Prince Arjuna
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-insert something witty here-

Isoroku went into the ruins as soon as she got the news about Kyo's mother. She just returned from her work, so she didn't change into her usual combat clothes, but she still carried her gladius with her and a handgun. She used Sukukaja and her wind spell in order to move faster. But because she's still wearing her high-heels, it was hard for her to move.

Using her wind spell to glide, she moved forward before she suddenly heard a woman's voice shouting for help. Thinking that it might be Kyo's mother, she nodded to herself and propelled herself forward. As she moved forward, there were a few Shadows trying to attack her, so Isoroku pulled out her handgun and started firing. With five shots, all the Shadows were killed.

"C'mon... I can make it..." Isoroku spoke to herself as she moved forward towards the source of the scream of the woman that she heard earlier.
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CDYoung

Rozen cringed at Maki mentioning her screen name. 'I really need to not go online when drunk.' She thought. 'What a novel idea.' Brighid quipped. "You can call me Rozen." She mentioned, after a split second to blink. Maki mentioned also not bring able to scan, then mentioned she doesn't have healing powers.

"Healing?" Rozen repeated, somewhat uncertain since this is only her second time in the Ruins, or using her facade, "I..." 'Can.' Brighid mentioned. "Can do that." Rozen said, completing her sentence.
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Vect
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Illegal in five countries.
"~Sometimes some crimes
Go slipping through the cracks
But these two
Gumshoes
Are picking up the slack-"


Harkens' singing was soon interrupted by the sound of a woman's screaming for help. He and Kaya quickly looked at each other and gave a quick nod as they ran towards the source of the sound. Kaya in particular led the pace as she used the wind to propel herself forward.
"Hold on, Lady Charinko..."

"The Rescue Rangers are on their way."
Edited by Vect, Oct 24 2013, 09:29 PM.
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