Ben kept running out of the library, ducking into an alleyway. Once inside, he slumped against one of the building walls and started loudly blubbering. When Jack approached and asked him what had him running off, he looked up at him, warily and untrusting.
"W-w-w-what's it t-to you?" he asked, in between sniffles. "You're... you're probably just gonna t-t-tell me to g-grow up... that I should just.. that I should just g-g-give up on the h-hero busi... business...." He suddenly turned in the direction of the library. "Well, I did, you happy now?! HAPPY NOW?!" He turned back towards Jack.
"S-s-s-so... w-what do you... what do you want?" he asked quietly again, still crying.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.Arf and Caro didn't know what the challenge was, the former barely understood what they were and the former didn't have time to read the challenge plaque during her time in the library.
Weirdly enough, Caro also admitted that she didn't understand what the day was about. Apparently her world didn't have any of the holidays the city was celebrating in its own special way.
"The holidays. You know, Halloween, Christmas, Easter... Excuses to get people together, have fun, and eat a lot"
The group had mostly decided to keep having fun and deal with the challenge later. Rex couldn't blame them and he almost agreed to keep walking to the drop tower "Yeah... I" but he couldn't help but feel like an ass for not helping at the first opportunity. Even if this was a break day people would still gain something from beating the challenge and he owed the city a lot after accepting the extra challenge "...dammit"
"Sorry but I really need to take care of this. You guys have fun without me. I'll back be as soon as I can"
Rex ran opposite to where the rest of the group was going. His suit sprouted wings and promptly broke into pieces, letting him take off. Once in the air, it was easy spotting the library and he flew as fast as he could to the building.
He landed just outside the library and got past the revolving doors running.
edited 5th Apr '17 7:38:12 AM by DeisTheAlcano
"Whoa-ho-ho... ok." Jack stated in surprise at Ben's reaction. "I'm going to guess this is more than just a little fight with your girl friend."
The spirit crouched down next to the young boy, elbows resting on his knees as he peered at him. He asked in a calm voice. "So... what's got you upset?"
Ben winced at Jack calling Eve his girlfriend. "She's not my girlfriend," he stated bluntly. "She's a girl who I thought I could trust, who I thought that I really liked, someone who I thought actually took me seriously unlike everyone else in this stupid City. But no, she's just like everyone else, always pat-patro... whatever Thomas said the other day! I don't care, I don't care about Thomas anymore!" he shouted, his voice wavering. He sniffled some more.
"Always t-t-treating me like I'm just s-some kid, like... like I can't be a h-h-hero and like I sh-sh-shouldn't b-be a hero. Everyone... everyone always does. So I'm gonna... I'm gonna g-g-g-g-give 'em all what they want, they don't want me t-t-to be a hero, they just... they just want me to s-s-sit here and think ab-b-bout all my failures, and... and watch everyone suffer and d-d-d-d-d-die around me as I can't do a-a-anything to save them or s-s-stop their torm-m-ment or get at the guy causing all the torment," he continued, his voice becoming quieter, though.
edited 5th Apr '17 7:33:28 AM by AllHailThrall
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.Jack listened quietly as Ben spoke, his face unchanging as he took it all in. He opened his mouth briefly to correct the boy on the 'girlfriend' thing, but stopped. It wasn't important.
The spirit was quiet for a moment. "Ben, I hate to break it to you. But you are a kid." He cocks his head, giving Ben a confused look. "But why do you act like it's such a terrible thing? Childhood is special. And it really doesn't last that long. You should enjoy it while you can."
Then he leaned back and let out a slow breath. "As for the rest of it. Who says you can't be a kid, and a hero? And so what if that's what people say. People say a lot of things. Doesn't mean you have to listen to them." He chuckles and ruffles Ben's hair. "Right? I mean, I don't like the idea of you doing some of the stuff you do. But... from what I've seen you do, I think you've got a better chance than most. So if you don't want to give up, don't. Just... be careful."
Then, Jack sighed and his cheerful expression gave way to something more somber and understanding. He sat down fully. "Kid... you can't blame yourself for all that. That's stupid. It sucks... it really does, that we can't get the person responsible for this. Or help everyone. But we can still help. And anything is better than nothing, right?"
Ben winced again, as if he were stabbed, by Jack's words. When Jack mentioned that he was a kid, he shot a look at Jack and then swung his fist to try and punch Jack away, but as he punched, he wildly missed and fell down face-first. He began to blubber again. As comforting as he tried to make them, they weren't helping.
"You don't... you d-d-don't understand. I was a... I was a hero in my world. I beat a bunch of bad guys. I saved a b-b-bunch of people. And here I can't... here I can't save anyone. And that's the thing, I can't do anything, I haven't done anything, or saved anyone. In m-m-m-my world I was.... I was a loser before I got the watch. I didn't have any f-f-friends, I got bad grades, I got bullied... I d-don't wanna be just a kid. I wanna... I wanna be a hero..." When Jack reached down to ruffle his hair, Ben jerked a little bit but stayed still. He tried to listen to what Jack was saying.
"Being a... being a hero lets me make something of myself. Help people who need help without being beaten up in the process. It lets me get away from the fact that being a kid stinks. And all the bullies. It gives me excitement and adventure. It lets me be so much more than... than me..." he told Jack, opening up some more. "But instead I'm just... I'm just..." His face scrunched up.
"I wanna go home!" Ben suddenly shouted. "I want Grandpa, Gwen, Mom, Dad!" he yelled, starting to cry again. "I wanna go home! I wanna go home!"
edited 5th Apr '17 12:55:31 PM by AllHailThrall
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.Streets
It was only a few seconds before Lucas got the impression he should've worded his answer differently. But what should he have said? Saying she was smart would be an obvious lie and he had tried being careful with his wording so it didn't sound insulting.Oh well, what's said is said and can't be unsaid. It seemed they were finally going, though, so the conversation was ending.
Plague Knight would be problematic, though. He seemed to be on friendly terms with Seiga, at least enough that Yoshika was trying to dodge around her current level of intelligence. Hopefully they'd part ways with him sooner rather than later. He walked over to Simon.
edited 5th Apr '17 2:05:26 PM by pillowmantis
Why is a yam attacking me?Jackson was in the building and, from the looks of it, had taken an interest in the spear lady (who seemed to come from a world where everyone had the freedom to give high kicks, if you know what I mean). Rex conveniently needed to get to Tairee's desk so he took the opportunity to give her a suggestion.
"If I were you I wouldn't stay near this guy. And I would put on some underwear"
With that done, he took a piece of paper and a pen wrote something down to put in the suggestion box.
And what would it take to shut Jackson up?
He then looked at the challenge plaque. Like he was told, there was a king that wanted to try his hand at running another kingdom. The rewards were learning about the true nature of Tairee's powers or forcing her to stay in the library 24/7. As much as he wanted to satisfy his curiosity, it was hard for Rex not to want to give the library extra protection, specially after what was yet to come.
"I take it you can't give me any more details to know what that means, right?" he asked one of the librarians.
There was a sign that said there were more plot details available. That sure was random.
"What's that?"
edited 5th Apr '17 10:05:01 AM by DeisTheAlcano
Roller Coaster -> Streets ~ Not Bothering With The Challenge
"Personally, I think it'd make for an interesting change of pace," Arf commented as she watched the sleigh touch down, "But from what I'm hearing, it also sounds like we're just discussing this 'king's' life choices with him. Not quite where my strengths lie."
Then she glanced at Fate, who also was looking in the direction the sleigh landed with a curious expression on her face.
"Then again, I suppose I'm getting plenty of experience with that already...."
She shook her head, before seeing off the departing Rex with a nod.
"How long have we been at this, anyway? I'm still rearing to go," she glanced again at Fate, "But perhaps not everyone is."
edited 5th Apr '17 10:37:53 AM by Yomegami
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!Abel - Streets
"No, sorry. Also, I don't think I could find it again if I tried," he looked back, and the buildings behind him were not the same as before. He could probably get Rixis to find it, but...did these guys even know about Rixis?
He shrugged. He wasn't gonna risk it. "Have you gotten on any rides yet?" Abel asked, desperate to change the subject before anybody got suspicious.
(holds pool noodle threateningly) Do you want to know what we do to artists?Curly tilted her head as Lewis dithered and fiddled with his heart shaped locked before finally handing it over. "Isn't your soul in here...?" she said quietly as turned it around to look at the back of it and, finding no indications of "Vivis" on the outside, glanced at Lewis for confirmation before opening the locket and looking at the photo inside.
It took a moment or two for her to speak up again "Oh... That's her? I see..."
edited 5th Apr '17 4:05:09 PM by BlitzTrain
Ah, Shinji made his choice to join along with him and Simon! That meant he could continue showing him that at least one person believes in him! Asides, he wanted a front row seat if his Unit ever pops up! "Great! Glad to have you with us Shinji!" At that point, Kamina caught up with Simon, who was standing with the blond haired boy. " And if you enjoy giant robots that much, I'll even let you sit in Gurren!.....once we find it of course!" Kamina's search for the Gunmen was refueled! If Shinji got something linked with his EVA Unit then something related to Gurren Lagann must be here! They just had to keep looking!
Simon smiled at Lucas and told him, "Well, we are ready to start moving. You guys are looking for.....a dog? What is a dog?" Simon never heard of a "dog" before. Pig moles and all the other animals in the surface but not a....."dog". The same for Kamina. "Whatever it is, maybe we will find it with our stuff. So, pick the way and I, the great Kamina, will lead you on your journey!"
edited 5th Apr '17 5:25:27 PM by LightToAll
Ciri - Drop The Bass Tower
"I believe this is the one," Ciri said, coming to a stop right in front of the drop tower. She tried her best to sound calm, normal, and not thrilled at the idea of a ride propelling them into freefall repeatedly for their high-speed enjoyment. As she looked over the group, she noticed that Rex had run off. That boy couldn't seem to stay in one place very long. Though she supposed she couldn't blame him, she had been much the same at that age, running hither and thither. Nobody could be hurt today, in any case, so he'd probably be fine.
"If we go on this, we should have a view of the area like a bird's own eye, perfect for getting a better view of where your Santa Claus will land."
When Curly took the locket, I couldn't help but watch her turn it over in her hands, feeling it—myself—beating against some fleshlike mass coating whatever mesh of mechanical work constituted her hands, her pale not-quite-skin that was just off enough in texture to be distinguishable as such moving over the radiant metal. I wondered if she felt warmth. If she did, she'd certainly have noticed that for a mental trinket the thing sure did feel toasty.
How strange, that of all the people, I was showing this to a little girl from another universe that until five days ago was a complete stranger.
Hadn't we nearly attacked each other on sight back then? Why had that turned around as fast as it did? Barely anything had happened between then and that time in the library, only some aimless gliding and that meeting with Cole...
What a wake-up call. I'd been intent on avoiding a repeat of that in the time after, and actually maybe I overcompensated for a while after, but. Still. It seemed like an awfully short timeframe for such a 180.
It didn't sit right, now that I mulled on it.
"...Curly?" I piped up after some deliberation and thought-collecting, idly noting the small group of people who were staring at a distance. "Are we...friends?"
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guessJack pressed his lips together as he watched Ben. He understood where the kid was coming from, and he knew the kind of things he probably had to deal with back home. The spirit had seen it countless times. But, it was obvious that he'd gotten past the point where he was going to listen to anyone.
Luckily, the Guardian had something that could help. As Ben cried out that he wanted to go home, Jack gently coaxed a snowflake into existence in his hand. It glimmered unnaturally, full of his own magic. And then with a gentle gesture, it took to the air gently drifting towards the boy and hopefully landing on his nose. If it hit, Ben would suddenly find the anger, sadness and fea being washed away at the same time his happiness, joy and the fun he had felt in the past rise. It might even bring to mind the things he had enjoyed recently.
After a moment, Jack spoke. "How are you feeling?"
Shinji Ikari | Unknown City's Streets | You are (not) observant
"You...don't know what's a dog...?" Shinji said, surprised. He decided he'd give a shot in answering their question. "Well, a dog is an animal...and most people keep them as pets because they're usually friendly and protect you, I think. And I think there are lots of kinds of dogs. But they all walk on four legs, a tail, along snout and..." He blinked, a realization occured to him and he voiced it. "...I think I'm dressed up as a scary looking one."
"You said you had a dream... That dream... Make it come true! ... If anyone can, it's you!" - N (shortened) Oh, and I'm a girl.Ben continued to lay on his stomach, squirming. "I wanna go home! I wanna go—" he kept shouting, until the snowflake fell onto his nose. He blinked, staring at it, a little confused. His breathing slowed, and he just stared at it for a moment. His thoughts went from fearful pleading to go home, to thinking about the things that mattered.
He thought of the people he did save in the City. The zombie day, he had moved the bookshelves and fought valiantly to keep the monsters and zombies from getting into the library. He had participated in the fights against numerous day bosses, likely helping to prevent quite a few casualties from civilians. He cleaned up the monsters a couple days ago, with the help of his new friend Louie.
Friends... there had been quite a few friends in the City that he had made. Thomas, Louie, Sora, Caro, Eve... Eve. What she had said sounded painful before but perhaps she was just trying to show him how stupid he was sounding. It was clear that even though he felt hurt by what she had said she still cared about him a great deal. Everyone did.
And he had sounded pretty stupid. There was no way he'd be able to fight something as powerful as the Writer, he understood that now. He just had to protect the people from the repercussions of what the Writer tried to do. That way he could actually help people instead of just trying to fight the big fight. Start off small. And if he could do that he could actually make people's lives better here. And that would be great.
Oh who cared about all that right now? It's a break day! There's a ton of fun things to do, why was he just sitting there moping?
Jack asked him how he was doing. He sat up and smiled at Jack. "I feel... happy. And hungry. Looks like there's an arcade over there, wanna go play? It's a break day..." he asked.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.The radios in the buildings throughout the city finally stopped being silent as the two announcers came back on.
"And we're back ladies and gentlemen! We're here set up at the cinema where the party's gonna be; now uh, turns out there's some details to this party we didn't know about and they don't want us to share yet. I've gotta apologize here because if we'd known that sooner we wouldn't have said as much before" Jeff's voice said.
"Yes, well, as for what we can share, one thing anybody who is interested in stopping by can look forward to is a wide selection of barbeque they're preparing. They've got stuff that doesn't exist in our world and things I've never even heard of before, so it's gonna be a treat to try all-" Adam's voice was going on, but got cut off.
"I SEE REX!" Little Spiderbee's voice yelled into the channel.
"What" Jeff's voice muttered flatly.
"He's flying over the rooftops to the library! I'm sure that's him! I'm in pursuit!" Little Spiderbee's voice responded, sounding enthusiastic and just a little bit muffled by blowing wind. "It's time to get another interview!" her voice added, giddy and excited.
"... Well so much for talking about the party" Adam's voice muttered, sounding fairly neutral despite the apparent resignation. "Something tells me this is not going to end well" his voice added, still fairly neutral in tone.
"Ben..." Thomas muttered, nearly going after Ben but pausing as he saw Jack going that way to deal with it. Taking a moment to calm his worried frown, Thomas then slowly turned to Eve, and hesitantly decided to deal with her instead.
He did not seem to miss Eve's current state, as his next question was not asked in an accusatory or patronizing tone, but one of genuine questioning. "Why would you say that to him?" Thomas asked her, a bit quietly.
All of Miss Tairee paused briefly to look worried and sad as Ben threw his tantrum and left, with a few of her looking that way. The one Ara was speaking to sighed slightly then got back to typing. "Alright, some simple flaps of fabric it is" the Miss Tairee copy muttered, and after a bit there was a blur in the air in front of Ara. Two items appeared: A pair of underwear, comfortable, simple, and non-hindering; and a sort of 'belt' item with two triangles of fabric hanging from it that would line up with Ara's hips if she put it on and fastened it. "Will this be acceptable?" the librarian copy asked, then followed up with, "and were either of you interested in getting your message home?"
Meanwhile at the central desks, Jackson glanced to Rex as he approached and gave a slightly sly grin. "Well well, if it ain't the most wanted man in the city. Hey, you think the militia would give me a pardon if I brought you in? Just a hypothetical" Jackson said to Rex in a cheeky tone.
The Miss Tairee sitting at the central desks looked to Rex. "I'm afraid not; what the plaques say is what you get. As for the sign, my boss is allowing me to tell people about my history from before I started working for him. But before that, you have a message now, Rex" the Miss Tairee there told him, tapping on her keyboard. A note appeared in the air in front of Rex with a blur, but before he could do anything it suddenly opened itself and then blurred, as did Rex's head; then the note vanished as the contents were imported directly to Rex's mind and locked away from where any potential mind readers could access it.
As Rex was recovering from that event, Little Spiderbee zipped in through one of the revolving doors and made a beeline right for him like a swooping hawk. "Rex! Rex!" Little Spiderbee said in an urgent but friendly tone as she zipped around in a figure eight pattern in front of Rex's face. Then she stopped herself in place. "Little Spiderbee! News channel reporter!" she introduced herself, then asked, "could I have an interview?"
A back door just a little down the alley from Jack and Ben suddenly flung open, almost slamming the wall, and with clanking footsteps, an armored figure stepped out. Kelsey's armor was unmistakable, even though it was now a pastel blue with Easter eggs in place of the symbols of Khorne, and the skull with horns helmet mask painted up to look like a crude bunny face and bunny ears.
"What's going on out here? I heard someone crying" Kelsey said, stopping as she looked over and saw Jack and Ben. "Oh... It's you..." she muttered, her tone a bit awkward.
"Uh... We got on a roller coaster one time. But other than that we've been trying to work" Nails answered Abel, still looking towards Curly and Lewis with a slightly awkward expression. Phillip did much the same, staying silent.
Silanea however slowly slithered up beside Curly and regarded Lewis for a couple moments. "... Would you like to come with us, to the hospital?" Silanea offered, quietly. "They're hoping, that maybe somebody there could make me feel better. Maybe, they'll be able to help you too?" she added.
edited 5th Apr '17 8:06:47 PM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.Eve|Library|I'M SO CONFUSED
Eve blinked a couple of times, seemingly breaking out of her reverie. However, instead of answering Thomas' question, because she wasn't sure of the reasoning herself now, she responded with one of her own, spoken just above her breath, but not by much.
"......"
"....why are people so hard?"
[TOP SECRET]As expected, Jackson talked back, joking about getting a full pardon from the militia if he turned Rex in.
"I don't know. But I'm going to take you there tomorrow, so you can ask them personally if you want"
Onto the bad news, Tairee wasn't allowed to explain what the challenge was about so Rex could only guess the fake Santa Claus had something to do with it without really knowing how. But at least the other sign was apparently an invitation to learn more about the librarian from before she sent her resume to hell or wherever her boss lived.
"Oh really? Interesting"
The good news were that Rex quickly got an answer to the note he had written, being a break day and all but the physical paper the response was written in quickly disappeared from his hands. He could still "read" the contents of the note, though—more like got the information shoved into his brain—but regardless, it made Rex throw up in his mouth a little. It was... disheartening to say the least.
As he was trying to cope with the new information and ramifications of his actions—I know, shocking—a small fairy entered the building flying at top speed and yelling his name. Apparently, she was the news reporter that had interviewed Ben earlier that day. Rex didn't expect her to be so tiny.
"uh... shoot?"
Gon in the library
With the call made and done, Gon knew that sooner or later, he'll be expecting a warm reception from his old handler and colleagues.
"I need to head out."
Gon didn't like his new outfit, but it would do until he can find his old hideout.
He decided to thank Ms. Tairee for her time before he stepped out.
I stared at her, not satisfied with the non-answer. Acting like it was the most obvious thing in the world...
I tried to coax more out of her. "Well, we...we were one misplaced comment from trying to kill each other when we first met and...maybe an hour later at most we were getting lunch together with five other people and...it seems...improbably sudden of a change. You've been so nice this whole time, and..."
I hesitated for a moment.
"Truth is..."
Someone offered to let me come with them to the hospital to get some help, interrupting what would have been a confession involving a certain man.
"What? I—it's, it's, fine. I don't think...it's not that big a deal. Really. I'm not..." I stammered, trying to communicate that sure, I felt like shit, but medical attention seemed a bit extreme. My mental state wasn't that far down the shitter...was it?
Fuck, it was, wasn't it. This was awkward...
I belatedly registered who I was talking to.
"Wait, you're...Silanea, right?" I blurted, not sure if I was pronouncing her name right. "From the...Non-Human...Alliance...thing? Ah..." I tried to recall what little I'd picked up about her, just enough to relate beyond simple empathy, from that short time early yesterday when I'd stumbled upon her breaking down. All things considered, I doubted she'd improved much. "I don't know much of what happened with you but it...sounded pretty bad. Sorry things didn't...pan out..."
Ah, the curse of a limited Deus ex Machina supply. What a great time to remember it. Funny how what I'd expected to be consolation for forfeiting my own wants had gone so wrong.
I wiped my eyes again (getting purple stains on my cape ugh ugh), and curled in a little further.
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guessNearing Drop Tower - Gonna have to drop the chance for now
After explaining that all the themes tied in with holidays, which did seem to match the whole festive air pretty nicely, Rex, unlike seemingly everyone else. decided to go for the challenge anyway, running off and then taking to the skies, ruining his disguise in the process. She hoped he wouldn't immediately go to a crowded place, like the library, when now he would be instantly recognized and subsequently mobbed again ...
In anycase, they soon reached the ride, a rather tall tower from which a ring of seated people was constantly brought up and then down rather quickly. It did seem rather scary, but also quite exciting.
At Ciri's comment about using the ride to get a better view of the area to find the possible boss, Caro then said, "Well, even if we were intent to do it for that purpose, the way this place goes, the place we might sight could get shifted away by the time we get brought down and off the ride ..." taking one for look at the ride and then at Cole and Fate, she then added, "Anyway, we probably should take turns at this again. I think I will sit this one out first this time around."

"Hmmm..."
There were many options, so I had to think about my decision carefully. But... I couldn't. I heard a familiar voice behind me and I instinctively turned to face the man behind it. And I found... Jackson.
"Ahh... uhh... thanks," I replied. I was surprised by how relaxed his attitude was all the time, which wasn't really a bad thing, but... the way he treated me and the librarian was a bit creepy. Well, at least until he asked if he could see her naked, which was less creepy and more... well, disgusting is a strong word, but that's how I felt at the time. I felt disgusted... and also nervous. What if he tried to peek under my dress again?
I had to decide quickly.
"I'd like the fabric... please make it quickly," I begged the librarian nervously, trying not to glance at Jackson every now and then. "And for the first thing... anything comfortable, just anything."