“Dead as dead can be,” my doctor tells me--

Entry tags:

“Dead as dead can be,” my doctor tells me--

Characters: Chidori Yoshino and you!
Setting: Just pick a floor!
Format: Any
Summary: Chidori's not quite herself anymore- and when she knows it, she's trying her hardestt to do something about it.
Warnings: Brainwashing, body horror, and surgical modifications. Chidori will also be attempting to kill children when she's 'malfunctioning', so anyone with a character 14 and younger who doesn't want to chance them dying should steer clear.

[Dormitories]

The shadows in the room are off- it's noticeable if someone looks hard enough, knows what they're supposed to look like. Close enough inspection will reveal why:

Chidori, near the foot of the bed of someone nearby, or maybe even their own, head lolling forward, shoulders slumped, almost entirely relaxed save for the rapid, almost manic twitching of her fingertips where they peek out from the sleeves of her dress. Disturbing her might not be the best idea... but does anyone want to chance her malfunctioning even further inside their room?

[Working- Anywhere]

Chidori isn't hard to recognize to anyone who knows her. Her newer dresses have been replaced with a too long copy of her old dress, sleeves covering her hands past her fingertips and the whole of it mottled with blood- faint in some places, fresh in others. Whether it came from her or from someone else is difficult to tell- but she takes no notice of it. She takes no notice of much aside from her 'job', working with jerky, mechanical movements as she moves back and forth between terminals, in and out of her assigned areas. Her head is almost always lowered, the long fall of red hair matting around the ram skull attached to her head, covering her face. Despite the size of the eye sockets though, nothing can be seen inside save for the occasional bright, golden glint of an eye.

It would probably be best not to catch her gaze when it happens, though.

[Dave]

His gears are drying up. It's the first thing that comes to mind when she sees the smaller unit- younger, yes. Not quite as capable of maintaining himself as he should just yet. He must be new, must not know, must need her help.

Poor, poor child-- ^child? -- _child...? -- Command Unit. She should help, shouldn't she? It's what she was

--built for.

It _is is ^is... isn't it?

[Malfunction- Anywhere]

I won't do this anymore!

The defiance was nearly ongoing when she was lucid enough- but it was like trying to command her body by remote, like it wasn't even hers anymore. Her movements slowed, slowed, ground to a halt, save for tics, twitches, shakes- trying to move forward despite her best attempts. In the lull, a scan started, locking onto a few specific energies within the tower.

She realized who they were immediately.

I won't let you-!

Control, for a moment- and with it the agony of the dress, burning her skin with what she was sure was poison, the pull of the ram skull at its attachment points on her skull, far too heavy and yet still, somehow, holding.

Self-immolation was looking like a desirable option.

Stop!

Control lost, and movement again, slow at first, but gaining speed, slinking through shadows toward her first 'target'. She had to do it, she _had to. It was the only way. It is the only ^wa_y...

I won't-!

It's the ǫ͓̹̮̉̓ͥ͡n̵̛̘͍͚ͥ̓ͤ̉͛ͨ͐ͅl̻͎̠̼̱͉̦̹͋̍ͣ̉͠y̛̜̹̝̤͇͍̖͋͒̈͗͛̊̃͡ ̶̤̠͉͙̟͙̤̻͂̓̔ͪ͝͡w̛͚͇̘ͫͯ̅̿ͪͯͩ̔̈́a̻̮̥̱ͩͭ̈ͪ͞ỹ͉ͤ͐̌̆́̋́ͅ ̢̻̗̻͚̘̭ͬͧ͗̒ͦͩͤ͟t̡̧̘̲̺͈̹͈̠ͧͤͭͭ̑̆͑̇́̕o̡͔̞̗̗̖̤̬̓̓͐͜ ̵̘̦͔ͬ̈́ͮ͐̑s̴͉̅ͮͧ͞a͎̞͚ͫ͂ͦ̇̉̚v̩̳̼̗͆̉͌ͬͅḛ̠̺͈̞̔̓ͣ̑͛͐̽̈́̑ ̷͍̠̭̠ͮͯͨ͌ͯ͋̄͠t̬͓̦͐̀̋͆̆͡͞h̡̟͖̣̹̜͚͙̮̫̉̋ͪ͂͜͢ė̴͉̞̫̝̭̺́͘m̧̰̮̣̰͇͕ͫ̓̋̿͠.

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Ken had noticed the people changing quickly. He had to look for people, to make sure that they were okay. He had to gather people, especially the younger kids, who didn't have powers. He had to protect them.

He had to.

The first person he looked for was Nanako. He burst into her room, looking around, and grabbed her hand, trying to lead her out.

"Come on, we have to go - we can't stay here. We have to get you somewhere safe..."

He doesn't know how many others are changed. All he knows is that he's not modified and she doesn't seem to be, either.

Nanako was keeping to herself in her room; she had been out previously, and had seen people looking and acting weird. It had frightened her enough for her to immediately dart back into her room and shut the door. That was why, when Ken suddenly burst in, she nearly jumped clean off her bed.

"K-Ken-kun?" she asked, trying to ignore how hard her heart was pounding in her chest. "What's going on?"

She's following him as he moves, and while her body is moving more or less of its own volition, Chidori is trying her best to regain some semblance of control. She manages only to slow the movements of her body enough that by the time she finds the right doorway, Ken is already up and moving. Easier to avoid her axes- one of which slips from her sleeve and into her hand- if he's moving than if he isn't.

She doesn't speak- not aloud at least, because she can't- but her voice slides into both of their minds, distorted, detached.

You both need hͩ͑̎̎͏̴̦é̡̧̫͎̯̣̪̞̊͆ͦͨ͞l̦͉͈ͤ́̇ͨ͢p̾ͪ͐ͩ͏҉̵̙̘͔̙̫͙͓ͅ, don't you?

The handle of the axe slips from her hands and it hits the ground as her fingers take hold of the chain.

His stomach goes cold, and he lets go of Nanako's hand, standing in front of her with his arms out.

"Leave her alone, Chidori!"

This is horrible. He doesn't want to fight her - he can't. But he has to make sure Nanako is safe. It's okay if he gets hurt - but Nanako didn't do anything.

There's not going to be any reasoning with her, is there? He puts his Evoker to his head, ready to fire.

"Nanako. You're smaller than me. Escape when you can. I'll be fine."

Nanako stood frozen in fear; it was one of the others... the people that had come back changed. She clung to Ken's back as he stood before her protectively, clinging to his clothes. This looked bad; this Chidori person looked horrible, and the way she was talking to them... it wasn't normal. This wasn't like Heaven, this wasn't like those dark things; this was something much, much worse, and on top of it Ken knew this person.

How was she supposed to just run like this.

"K-Ken-kun..." she managed to get out in reply, but she was too scared for anything more than that. He couldn't talk like that, he couldn't fight someone he knew... they had to both escape and get help. Her big brother and Miss Shepard couldn't be that far away, right...?

Leave her al̴͈͖̹̲̲̲̹ͭ̉̑͂ͬ̓ͬ̃͌͘ͅŏ̵̢̺̼̪̰͓̞̪̗̓̌ͣͮn̸͖̹͗̑ͤ̍̚͜͡ė͚̺́ͮ̏̚͟͡?

She doesn't understand. All she wants to do is help- they need her help, they need to leave, they need to be safe.

Who better than her to make sure that all of that happens?

I'm only going to h͉̙̞̫͚̣̤̤̭ͧ͌ͬ̃̈́̅̌́̀̕ę͖̩͇̒̓͌̊̊͑ļ̫͎̳̌̐p ^he_r.

The hand holding the chain of her axe starts to swing, and Chidori is horrified as she tries to regain control enough for Ken to escape.

You shouldn't interfere, Ken-kun.

Edited 2013-04-19 18:40 (UTC)

He runs at Chidori, trying to tackle her down or at least get her to move enough and focus her attention on him. He doesn't care if he gets hurt, doesn't care if he dies, as long as Nanako's safe.

"Nanako, please! Just go!" She can't help here. All he can do is help keep her safe. Ken tries to bear hug Chidori as best as he can. Maybe he can snap her out of it. Maybe he can't. As long as Nanako's safe.

"Ken-kun!"

No, no! He could die like that! He couldn't die! She wanted to run over and pull him off, to run away with him, but she couldn't get her feet to move, even to run for safety like Ken was begging her to do.

Thankfully for Ken, Chidori was hardly what one would call 'strong'- but she was also not entirely herself, and her usual limits weren't keeping her down the way they normally would. She didn't even try to reply that time- there was simply a sudden movement of one hand and then fire- and not all of it aimed at Ken. She was going to save the both of them, one way or another.

Ken yelled, trying to knock Chidori away - trying to get her away from Nanako, trying to get a path clear. He can't let her get hurt. He can't...

"Nanako, just go! I have Dike, I'll be okay!"

He wouldn't be, he knew he wasn't likely to last long against Chidori, especially changed. Dammit Jason... not again...

"Please!"

Sorry, Ken, but Nanako was a bit preoccupied by the fact that there was suddenly fire in the room. She let out a startled scream, and instead of running away, ducking and huddling toward her bed to try and protect herself.

Romeo was so mad. So so mad that all the hate for mister Jason had come back, because his friends were hurt again. Lots of people were hurt and some people couldn't even speak. Other people were acting like the drones did, it was scary but more than that it was all mister Jason's fault.

He was supposed to be working, he had his cleaning supplies and was stood outside one of the bathrooms, but he didn't want to clean. Didn't want to do anything the bad people did when they hurt his friends like this.

"You wait mister Jason, one day we will stop you. We will."

Chidori slips out of the shadows nearby, his words making her take pause as she hears them. It cannot do to have such disobedience when it's obvious that they're all being helped. Helped as much and as best as they are able.

The sane portion of her winces at the logic, wishing that of all children, it hadn't been Romeo she'd run across.

You should worry about other ^thin̘̻͒̆́ͣ̕g̨̛̪̗̜̰̳̼̝̳̊̓ͨ͢sͥ̌҉̜̬̖̹͠.

Like getting away from Chidori when her hand reaches out toward his shoulder.

Romeo turned at the voice and his eyes widened, it was Chidori... but she had been hurt, by Jason.

"Miss Chidori..."

Romeo.

Such a sweet boy, Romeo- always so polite, so kind, so understanding.

Too kind for what this tower had in store.

She leaned forward a little, the hand on his shoulder squeezing a little tighter.

You should be more careful what you say out here.

Romeo shook his head, "They are bad and they know it, it doesn't matter what I say." He pulled a face, not worrying so much about the hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry they hurt you miss Chidori, I'll stop them!"

[Obedience was crucial. Order had to be maintained. The brain of a commander filled the space of Guy's head, and the open doors of a darkened dorm room at night were NOT the signs of a job well done.

He takes a glance, noticing the form limply hanging over on of the far beds, the silhouette of the skull possibly a terrorizing image, had Guy himself not been tampered with. How he knows it's a fellow drone can't be easily computed, but Guy's footsteps are quickly entering the room, the chains of corpses attached to his body quickly following. He pays no heed to the slumber of the other in the room - his focus is on the single drone.]

This isn't your work. What are you doing?

This time at least, Chidori knows better than to reply. Better he think she can't speak than think she's disobeying.

She merely inclines her head first at him, then at the sleeping inhabitants of the room.

Observation. Obviously.

Isn't that part of what she should be doing?

[Oh brother. He lets out about as much of a sigh as his droned mind can manage, curt and quick.]

Observation is only to be with residents who are awake and functional or with those who are deemed a threat to disorder.

[He raises a brow.]

Do you consider this resident a threat?

Group Bs don't malfunction in mind. Only by body. They're so cleanly brainwashed that there's absolutely nothing that indicates that there was someone else in that mind. When they do malfunction, it's more dangerous than anything for everyone else. But he seems normal right now. As normal as a unit can be. Dave doesn't reply to Chidori for an entire minute. He has to wait after stopping. He has to do things in 60s. He's not worried about his gears because that means no one has really disobeyed recently.

He finally speaks to Chidori. "Everything is under control here?"

Edited 2013-04-18 23:53 (UTC)

The part of Chidori that's constantly rebelling, constantly trying to stop herself, balks at the sight of him. Dave is almost family to her- she almost can't bear to see him like this. That part is quickly enough overshadowed, however, by the part that snaps to when he speaks, and she cants her head in a nod.

Under control-- yes.

As far under control as the dormitory floors ever need to be, at least.

Have you any o r d e r s?

Dave doesn't think there's anything wrong with him. He thinks he's completely fine. He doesn't know why someone would be horrified at his appearance.

"I plan on making rounds. You'll help me catch people who are misbehaving, right?" It isn't a suggestion by any means. It's pretty much an order, even if Dave presented it as a question.

Chidori knows there's something wrong with her- even the parts that are brainwashed do. She shouldn't move like she does, ache like she does-- her skin shouldn't react to the fabric of her dress like there's acid draped loosely over her skin instead of lace. But the parts that aren't rebelling just take that in stride, consider it a necessary side effect of her functions.

After all, if there was something wrong with her, they would fix her.

Of course. I am at your dḯ̲͔̞̬͚͎̠ͪͯ̀̐s̨̢̹̣̹͖̱͔͓ͮ̏̑̌ͬ̐͠p̷͇̪̗͈ͮͧ̂̃͆ö̺̹͖͖̞̖̘͔́̀͒ͫ̏̑ͩ͛͠sal.

Dave doesn't think there's anything wrong with her. She's fine as she is like how he's completely fine as he is. Why would there be anything amiss? He smiles at her. Sweet Chidori. Lovely Chidori. Such a good older sister figure.

He motions her to follow.

[This was shaping up to be one of, if not the absolute worst birthday week of John's life, he had to say. It was bad enough that all his friends missed his birthday but their reason FOR missing it just made everything ten times worse.]

[He definitely would have preferred that they had all just forgotten.]

[It had taken a bit of convincing for John to leave Rose after the meeting with the most horrifically modified residents. But eventually he had left the fourth floor, heading upstairs with no particular destination in mind. So when he found himself on the 12th floor, he had no qualms about it. Seemed as good a place as any to stop for now and just turn his brain off for a little bit. At least he had something to watch, depressing though it was.]

[She'd begun following him with the intent of making sure he wasn't up to anything untoward in any of the more delicate rooms. After all, some of the children in the tower just didn't really know their own strength.

After a few minutes of watching him though, she realizes he looks... despondent. Not like what she remembers of him from before.]

Why do you look so distressed...?

[She slinks out of the shadows slowly, face hidden by the skull grafted to her head. As the week has gone on, her movements have gotten a little jerkier--pained by the way the dress burns at her as she moves.]

I can help--

[He probably shouldn't have turned his brain off as much as he did. Maybe he would have noticed Chidori sooner. As it stands though, it takes him a while to notice the jerky movements and even longer to realize that that's a person coming towards him.]

[He jumps, jolting back to full alertness and instinctively stepping back. He begins to reach for his hammer before he realizes that he recognizes those long red locks.]

Chidori?

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“Dead as dead can be,” my doctor tells me--

Ken -> Nanako -> Chidori? [Also, dorm floors.]

//okay with this

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Oh my god DW tell me when I get tags sob.

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Sorry for the slow, guys.

Dorm hallways. Malfunctioning is fine

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Dormitories (Guy's malfunction = killing chicks, he can either injure or kill her if you want)

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Dorm Floors

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malfunction; universe destruction projection floor (sorry for the late)

not at all!

i'm assuming he can't hear the italics, yes?