Leave your reasoning behind [open]

[myblueskies]

Characters: Romeo and you!
Setting: Dorm halls, bathrooms and rooms
Format: Either
Summary: People with orange collars may go berserk at any moment Diarmuid and Hei are going to be the ones to stop him, but anyone else is very welcome to hurt him/be hurt by him/run away from him before that.
Warnings: Berserk twelve year old with a knife

Romeo came out of one of the bathrooms carrying the bucket of cleaning supplies. He had almost finished his job for the day and he was glad because then he could go and check that his friends were okay! Bad things were happening again, and people were acting strange and writing on the walls. Romeo had thought about writing something nice, but he knew that sometimes the tower made nice things bad.

And he didn't want to risk it. So he had concentrated on making sure his friends had enough food since the food in the cafeteria was bad again and checking that no one was hurt too much. He hummed as he skipped down the corridor, just one bathroom to go!

A moment later he let out a scream of rage and dropped the bucket, chemicals and water spilled everywhere, pooling round his bare feet but he didn't seem to care as he pulled his makeshift knife from his pocket and ran down the corridor towards the nearest room, towards people.

Comments

So tag order Diarmuid, Hei, Romeo?

[oathshackledbird]

Hearing a scream of such rage is terrifying to most people. Hearing it come from the mouth of a child is even more so. Diarmuid is just coming onto the floor when he hears Romeo's screaming. Immediately, he dashes toward the boy worried about what exactly could be going on. With all the odd rumors floating around the tower and some of them seeming to be coming true...anything is possible.

His eyes make note of the knife in the boy's hand as he steps in front of him, hoping to draw his attention from the others in the hall. Such a makeshift weapon is no threat to him, especially in the hands of a child, but it might be a lot more deadly to some of the others around.

Still, Romeo is just a child and so, despite feeling it won't do much good, Diarmuid tries to talk to the boy first, "Romeo? What is wrong? Please, calm down and talk to me."

Re: So tag order Diarmuid, Hei, Romeo?

[fusedstars]

Scouting proved useful, as it did help him find new trouble. Another such occasion, Hei running down the hallway to inspect the noise. Oddly enough, it had been Romeo. Immediately he grew worried, coming to a halt right near Diarmuid.

"What happened to him?"

[myblueskies]

Romeo didn't even seem to recognise Diarmuid, or Hei when he turned up, he just launched himself at Diarmuid, knife in hand, eyes glinting angrily. He lashed out, driving his knife towards his thigh.

[oathshackledbird]

Diarmuid's mouth presses into a thin line when the boy ignores his words and chooses to attack instead. It doesn't say much for the boy's current mental state that he would continue to attack even in the face of two people much older and better trained than him.

Of course, that scream from before hadn't said much either.

It is easy for Diarmuid to intercept the attack, carefully grabbing the boy's wrist and turning it away. At the same time, his other hand finds the boy's shoulder in order to still him.

"Enough," the word is spoken in a calm tone of voice, but it has the weight of an order. "Hei, would you please remove that weapon from his hand before he hurts himself?"

[fusedstars]

Diarmuid didn't even need to ask, Hei already moving and forcefully taking the knife from Romeo. He puts the weapon in his pocket, and stares at the child. What possessed him to do this?

"Has he been turned into a drone?"

[myblueskies]

Despite his arm being held behind his back and the weight on his shoulder Romeo disobeys the order, screaming more violently and trying to lash out, trying to struggle, ignoring any pain in his shoulder and arm. As Hei comes close to take the knife his head whips round, trying to bite him.

[oathshackledbird]

[As the boy continues to struggles and thrash, Diarmuid lightens the hold he has on his arm, trying to keep him from hurting himself. His grip is still tight enough that Romeo won't be able to break free, though.]

I don't think so. I wonder if it has anything to do with those crazy rum...

[Diarmuid's gaze falls on Romeo's collar and when he notices what color it is, his eyes widen.]

Have you been following those stupid rumors that are floating around? Didn't one of them have something to do with collar color?

[Diarmuid's lips press into a frown. Now he's glad that he had gone searching out information after his brother had brought that silly--or not so silly since the other servant seemed to believe it--rumor about the bogeyman to his attention, but he's frustrated that he hasn't been able to pin down much solid information on anything. It all keeps changing too fast. Perhaps Hei will know something he doesn't?]

[neverbeamemory]

Sephiroth was avoiding his dormitory for the moment; just out of caution with regards to the orange collars rumor that he'd seen written on a wall somewhere during the last couple of days. He didn't believe it at all but it wouldn't do any harm to avoid the chance of it being true. Hidetoshi had already gotten to him off the back of a trick the Tower pulled, he wasn't going to let them have the opportunity for anything like that again.

He'd taken to patrolling the dorms instead, if only to observe others and discover what other rumors were perhaps affecting people. Just what was the point of this game? All it has done so far is illustrate how the majority of the Tower are little more than immature vandals.

Sephiroth had only a second to react, as he rounded a corner, and a kid nearly collided with him. He'd had time to register orange, and the flash of what could be a blade before he'd sidestepped away from the impact. That knife would have gone right into his lower abdomen if they'd connected. It would have been messy.

He didn't spare a moment before turning back around to face the child. Masamune already in his hand and ready to counter if needed.

[myblueskies]

A person. Romeo span round to face him after they almost collided. His eyes were wild and angry as he leaped at him, not seeming to care about the huge sword at all.

[neverbeamemory]

Orange collar. Knife.

Only one of those things could be removed and so Sephiroth would take full advantage of Masamune's range and sweep the tip of it at that knife as Romeo leapt in at him. It wouldn't take much force, only pin-point accuracy to disarm a knife. If he missed the blade itself; well then Romeo might not have fingers to pick it back up with.

Then he'd sidestep around Romeo as he landed and kick hard to his lower back to make him keep going from the momentum. Perhaps he'd end up slammed into the nearest wall, or he'd stumble onto the floor.

[myblueskies]

His knife going spinning from hand did nothing to slow him down, he just screamed louder and continued running. The kick made him slam into the wall, and crumple to the ground, but a moment later he was running towards him again. If he had no knife well he could use his fingers, and his legs and his teeth.

[neverbeamemory]

Romeo barreled inside Sephiroth's range quicker than he could have expected and there wasn't the room for him to swing Masamune around for another deflect.

So instead he vanished the sword and made a grab at the wrist that would come in first, intending to twist and swing the arm around and up behind the kids back.

[myblueskies]

He managed but Romeo didn't stop fighting, he kicked out and twisted, trying to turn and sink his teeth into Sephiroth's arm.Though the hold hurt he didn't seem to notice at all.

[mineralgirl]

Jasmine, thankfully, wasn't affected by the recent writings on the walls. However, she was still having a bit of a tough time adjusting to the Tower and handling the fact that Joto and her beloved Olivine City were destroyed. She had taken to keeping Magnemite out at all times-other than bathing or sleeping-for company. Amphy would have been better..but..she was dead too, dead and gone.

As she wandered the dorm floors and thought, she heard a scream of rage and ran toward it, curious, Magnemite following her. However, when she saw a young boy holding a knife and running towards her, any nervous feelings she might have had flew away. She hardened herself..and got ready for a battle.

"Magnemite! Thunder Wave!" Her Pokemon flew in front of her a little and shot out yellow waves towards the boy. If they touched him, he wouldn't be able to move.

[myblueskies]

Romeo didn't seem to notice or care about the Pokemon, he continued to run forwards until the yellow waves hit him and he was still, his eyes were still fighting though, ready to fight once he could move again.

[mineralgirl]

While Jasmine was happy that this boy was incapacitated for a few minutes, she was curious as to why he tried to attack her, so as she slowly backed away, she spoke. Pokemon could cry out when they were paralyzed, so Romeo should be able to as well.

"Um..why..are you attacking me?"

[myblueskies]

He screamed at her, a sound of rage and frustration, words not quite getting through the haze of wanting to kill and destroy.

[mineralgirl]

Jasmine jumped backwards at that scream. She wasn't expecting it, and she was already scared and flustered about this whole experience. However, she managed to keep her balance and took a deep breath before calling out again.

"Magnemite! We..we have to run!"

And with that, Jasmine would start to run the other direction, her Pokemon following her, keeping an eye on the boy.

[myblueskies]

Romeo was still frozen but when he could move he ran after them, screaming again. However if they were too fast, or he got distracted by other people to attack he would leave them alone.

[myblueskies]

They had managed to get him to a cell where at least he was unable to hurt others. That hadn't stopped him trying though and he had spent his waking hours throwing himself against the walls screaming with range, punching the glass and trying to claw himself out, to get to people, to kill them.

It had gone on for a few days but finally as the carvings on the walls faded so did his madness and Romeo slept, his body exhausted and injured from Sephiroth's attacks and his own attempts at escape.

He woke up and he hurt everywhere, he blinked, scared and confused. And then horrified as the events of the last few days let themselves be known to him. He had done that? Tried to hurt all those people? He crawled to the edge of the cell and stared out, scared and confused. Worried that he might try to hurt people again.

He never wanted to hurt anyone! Why had he done that?

[oathshackledbird]

If it hadn't been the only choice they really had, Diarmuid would never have agreed to leaving Romeo locked in one of the cells on the prison floor. Just because the cells could only be opened from the outside didn't mean he would be safe there. What if someone let him out? Unfortunately, it had been the only thing he and Hei think of to keep the boy from hurting himself and others and so, while an imperfect plan, they had gone with it.

Every few hours, Diarmuid had gone to check on the boy. He hoped each time he went that there would be improvement--that Romeo would be back to normal--but that had never been the case. Every visit was met by the same berserk anger as Romeo had shown when they first had taken him there.

At least he had eventually found out that there had had indeed been a rumor about people with orange collars going crazy, but that did nothing to help him find a way to help Romeo.

Finally, things return to normal. Suddenly, like they so often do in the tower and as soon as Diarmuid realizes whatever was going on has passed, he makes his way to the cell where Romeo is. He is actually happy to see the boy is much calmer than he has been on any other visit.

Diarmuid hopes that is as good a sign as he thinks it is. He walks over to the cell and then crouches down besides it, "Romeo? Do you recognize me? How do you feel?"

[myblueskies]

"Mister Diarmuid?" Romeo's voice is quiet and lacking it's usual cheer. He remembered attacking him and mister Hei and wanting to hurt them. How he had screamed at them and wanted to kill them both.

He didn't know why he had done that. He'd been acting like Gamzee sometimes did and he wondered if the trolls problem of sometimes being nice and sometimes being awful and angry was like a sickness, and if Romeo had caught it.

He wrapped his arms round himself and winced because he hurt a lot. "I'm sorry sir."

[oathshackledbird]

Diarmuid's expression softens and he is opening the cell door before he even has to consciously think about it. Once he has, he motions for Romeo to come out, "Don't be sorry. There is no reason to be. I know that it might be hard to understand, but what you did wasn't your fault. It was one of the tower's experiments. I just wish there was more we could have done to calm you down. I hated locking you in here, but it was the only option we had."

When he sees the boy wince, his expression grows concerned, "Are you hurt? Shall I take you down to the infirmary?"

[myblueskies]

"I know. They like making us be bad and hurt each other." His voice was still quiet, he didn't blame mister Diarmuid for putting him in the cell at all, he was glad they had done it before he could hurt anyone.

At the mention of the infirmary he paled and shook his head, "They're bad I don't want to go there sir. I'm okay promise." He gave a smile, slightly forced because it did hurt but he didn't want Diarmuid to worry.

[oathshackledbird]

Diarmuid nods, offering a hand to help him out of the cell, "Yes, that is exactly right so I hope you won't blame yourself too much for this. However, if you want to talk about how you feel, I will be glad to listen. Sometimes it helps to talk about things like this."

He tilts his head slightly, looking confused at Romeo's fear of the infirmary, "Did something happen there? Usually when I am there it is empty except..." His voice trails off as something suddenly crosses his mind, "Oh! Do you mean for collar check ups? Don't worry. If we go now, it will only be the two of us. I don't want to push you, but I am worried about your injuries. Maybe if you tell me where you hurt I can go grab a few supplies?"

It would take a while, even with his speed, but it would be better than leaving Romeo hurting.