The Capital

[idolpro]

For one reason or another, you - yes, you - were caught to be taken to the Capital. Whether it is due to going to ultrajail or whether it is due to being a Plague Bearer, here you are.

Please contain yourselves to the specific headers provided to you; if you are provided a header that was linked to another unit, make no mistake! You guys are together now. :)

Comments

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ After an additional moment, she's calling through the intercom-- ]

We'd like to join--or rejoin--the military.

[idolpro]

There is a fffzt on the speaker as it turns on, and then someone speaks from the other end.

"Wise choice. Through servitude, may your hands become clean."

The door opens, but there is none in the stark-white hallway.

Will you go through?

[puzzlekeeper]

[ He doesn't need to check with Hiryuu - he knows they're of the same mind here. He just sweeps out of the cell with all the defiance he can put into a single stride. ]

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ she'll be following him, not quite so--uh--obviously defiant, but with her head held high. ]

[idolpro]

The path is pretty straight - there's literally no one greeting you here lol, though there are several speakers and buttons if you want to press them.

Soon enough, you reach a juncture. You could go left, right, or straight.

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ Hesitating. And pushing a speaker button. ]

Which way do you want us to go?

[puzzlekeeper]

[ Well good thing Hiryuu is here, he was just gonna walk straight instead of talking to these guys. Fuck 'em. ]

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ well I mean yes, fuck them, but we should decide whether or not we're going to deliberately disobey and know what we might be walking toward.... ]

[idolpro]

There is a long pause.

"Turn right."

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ thinking ]

This is probably a test to see if we can be trusted to follow instructions.

[ like we're still in this big ass building. we haven't actually been reinlisted into the army yet.... so... ]

It might be disobey instructions.


[ YET. ]

[puzzlekeeper]

[ It seems fuckin ominous and he hates it, for the record, but blatantly ignoring commands could very well get them sent back to option b, DIE.

Dropping his voice. ]

It's the first of many commands we're going to have to swallow for this to work.

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ oops somehow I lost the 'unwise to' in that second sentence. dropping her voice as well; ]

My thoughts as well. We're going to need to hide in plain view--which will mean acting the part. If it seems like we need to turn around, we can, but for now--let's follow the instructions.

[ gonna go RIGHT like instructed. ]

[idolpro]

The hall goes on and on forever, it feels like. . .

There's a juncture again. Straight or left. Actually, doesn't the straight path look familiar to you somehow . . . ?

[puzzlekeeper]

[ ............. fuck this

PUSHES THE BUTTON ]

Are there any clearer instructions you'd like to provide?

[ Or shall they just do w/e the hell they want. ]

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ oh boy,

whispered, ]

Having an attitude may not help us. Soldiers--obey their orders without complaint, right?

[puzzlekeeper]

[ Whispered back, ]

I'm asking for clarification so that we can do this properly - like a good, obedient peon.

[ Who ALSO has an attitude problem, yes, but, ]

[idolpro]

Quiet, for a long moment.

"Go straight."

Then, there's a pause.

"You know this place."

. . . That's not true, is it? This is definitely unknown to you - though somehow, the way the hallway tapers off and curves gently in the distance is a little familiar somehow. . .

[puzzlekeeper]

[ ... jiiii...

He's proceeding down the hallway as instructed (fuk u), but his footsteps grow less sure as the strange familiarity seems to cloud what had previously been foreign and confusing. ]

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ FROWNING. this is also... becoming more familiar.

keeping her voice low, ]

Do you think they're casting some sort of spell on us? I didn't recognize any of this before and I could almost swear I do now.

[ SHE DOESN'T LIKE THIS, she doesn't like the thought of her head getting anymore fucked with than it already has been. ]

[puzzlekeeper]

So you feel it too...

[ Her theory is much more alarming than his, but he carefully sets aside any growing alarm at the thought. ]

Maybe - this has something to do with our "characters" here. Have they been here before...?

[dragonheartedgirl]

That could also be it.

[ As long as they retain their memories super imposed over their "characters'" it--should be fine, right? ]

... It's not as though we have much choice but to go ahead and go along.

[ At least she doesn't feel any sort of sense of dread/foreboding other than her own discomfort at feeling--altered. And honestly even THAT is just one more reason to cut down the responsible parties.

MOVING FORWARD. ]

[idolpro]

You move forward.

You know without having to ask that you should turn . . . left, at the next juncture. Why?

There's a dent in the corner of the wall that meets the ceiling there. If you follow that and look down to the corner behind you, there's another similar dent. That's where you had accidentally fired a round in the middle of the barracks, while you were still training - back when you were a greenhorn, just joining the military for the first time.

This, you realize, must be the old barracks. They renovated it - into a quarantine for the Plague Bearers. That's why you know it.

[puzzlekeeper]

[ He pauses just before the turn - that he knows should be left, uncomfortably - to stare at the dent there, overlaid memories adding clarity and raising questions both. ]

I see. I wonder...

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ ahhhhh..... fuck. okay NOW she is getting a bit spooked; even though things are becoming MORE familiar and not less--it's... scary. ]

This is like in the house.

[ when SOMEONE ELSE'S MEMORIES WERE COMING TO HER. just. piece by piece. so not exactly but. enough. so sorry kitten but she is REACHING FOR YOUR HAND TO HOLD ONTO. ]

What is it?

[ please take her mind off of this she would rather be thinking about anything but that right now. ]

[puzzlekeeper]

[ Sorry, but that actually surprises him enough to distract him - he lets her have the hand with no protest, but it does derail his train of thought. ]

—Hiryuu? Are you alright?