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]

[ 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?

[dragonheartedgirl]

I'm--

[ not okay. definitely being a bit triggered here. but. she can't afford to fall apart here and now; she has to keep it together. JUST REMEMBER ALL THE GENUINELY BAD PEOPLE THAT NEED TO BE MURDERED!!! ]

--I can keep going. Sorry. Let's talk about it later--where we're not being listened to.

[ she is however going to stick closer to him now. ]

[puzzlekeeper]

[ He gives her a searching look for a moment, then squeezes her hand and says nothing more on the subject. Wordless agreement: not here, not now.

He turns back to the hallway in front of them. ]

I was just wondering why the facility was converted after the fact. If "Plague Bearers" have always been an important source of heads for the military, wouldn't it always have been in the designs?

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ the puzzle is a good distraction. ]

A greater need...? Perhaps there were fewer Plague Bearers in the armed forces before, and more housing is needed. Or perhaps there are fewer--"normal" people entering the military.

[ either way... it's to their benefit, isn't it? if these are the old barracks and now they're housing for the Plague Bearers, then you should be in contact with potential allies even sooner than expected. ]

We may find out if we keep going.

[puzzlekeeper]

Yes... let's go.

[ Guess they're turning left and just. Walking hand-in-hand into god knows what..... ]

[idolpro]

You keep going - left, right, straight, left . . . .

until you end up at the front. There are double doors, and then another pair of double doors beyond it, but through the window - the very first window you've seen here! - there's a hooded figure. . .

[puzzlekeeper]

[ He moves like he wants to draw his weapon, before remembering that he... can't...

Also probably shouldn't, for this rouse's sake. ]

It looks like someone's finally decided to join us.

[dragonheartedgirl]

So there is. Let's go see who it is. [ going through the double doors to the next room with the hooded figure! ]

[idolpro]

The hooded figure - turns out to be an older person, though it's difficult to say whether they are man or woman. They speak roughly, voice distorted - you . . . feel like you know this voice. But . . . you don't recognize this person at all.

". . . This way."

You should be sprayed down or something, given that there's all this equipment here, but the hooded figure just throws a couple of raggedy cloaks at you and turns to the next set of double doors.

[puzzlekeeper]

[ King glances at Hiryuu for a moment - before wordlessly throwing the cloak over his shoulders following Mr. Mysteriously Familiar Voice. For some reason it feels as though questions can wait. ]

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ Hiryuu exchanges that glance with King and then follows suit. It's--weird, putting the cloak over her and pulling the hood over her head. Genuinely familiar--and not entirely unwelcome, in a way that these pressed upon memories are not. ]

[idolpro]

The person leads you out - and you enter what looks to be . . . a city. This was certainly not here when you were part of the King's guard, but you do know that it was being built. This must be the Plague Bearers' quarters.

This is not where the military goes. This is where the disabled go - those who are unfit to fight. The hooded figure takes you right up to an apartment however, and opens the door for you to enter.

"Come in. You'll be safe here until we can get you out."