mass destruction;

[miseris_socios]

Characters: Ken and open!
Setting: The mailroom (Monday), the graveyard (Monday), the hologram floor (Tuesday), the stairs (please indicate which day)!
Format: Doesn't matter.
Summary: Ken finds his present and buries it, and then mopes around for a bit.
Warnings: Blood, gore, a severed head.


[Mailroom - Monday]

[Ken stares at his mailbox as he opens it, not quite believing what he's seeing. He carefully reaches in, almost fascinated by the terrible sight in front of him.]

[When his fingers brush soft hair, he collapses. His knees slam the floor, and the head bounces down almost comically in front of him. He lets out a choked sob as he picks up Nanako's head and curls around it, sobbing brokenly.]



[Graveyard - Monday]

[Once Ken's managed to get himself together a little, he heads into the graveyard. He's wrapped the head in a towel taken from the bathrooms, and has a marker and a piece of cardboard.]

[He finds a spot, mostly out of the way, and starts digging a hole big enough to hold the head. Once that's done, he puts it in and carefully covers it up.]

[He carefully marks "Nanako Dojima" on the cardboard and stakes it into the ground, bowing his head and trying not to cry.]



[Hologram floor - Tuesday]

[Ken stands in the middle of the hologram - he knows it's not real, but it's still comforting, even when it still hurts. He walks through it, shaking his head a bit.]

[He misses his old house - even though he knows that he can't go back, that he can't turn back the clock, even if he wanted to. The memories still cling, though.]

[… Not to mention the few shadows following him, whispering to him.]



[Stairs - Throughout the week]

[Ken heads up and down the tower pretty frequently, so it'll be easy to find him on the stairs. He might not notice anyone else though, depending when in the week it is - he doesn't have a lot of shadow children following him, but he does have a few. And they like to talk.]

Comments

Holo-Floor-o

[morituramfides]

[This floor had never really done anything for him-- a home world could barely be called a home when you were convinced it was always out to get you, after all.

He's even got his own shadow trailing him; just one. But, well-- the level of detachment Jin as at right now was almost a blessing at the moment.

But he can at least see Ken walking through, shaking his head, dragging shadows behind him.]

Y'know you ought'a learn not to let this place get to ya.

[Then again, that was easy for him to say when he was three ways past crazy.]

[miseris_socios]

[He turns at the sound of Jin's voice, trying to ignore Minato's whispering (you failed us all, you don't deserve to be around him or anyone). He shrugs a little bit.]

I'm - trying. But... but...

[He wipes his face a little. He has to be brave.]

... I still miss Mother. And I miss other people, too. And... and it hurts. I know I have to get past it, but it still hurts.

[His voice cracks near the end, and he brushes his eyes with his arm. He's not going to cry.]

[morituramfides]

[Jin wasn't exactly the most touchy-feely guy, but he knew enough to know that normal human beings weren't totally batshit bankrupt in the humanity department-- and even more to know that Ken's brave face was pretty poorly constructed.]

Look, I know I'm not the best influence, but you don't have to pretend to be the big bad good guy around me, alright?

When I got out-- [He's not specifying where he got out of, but his reluctance to actually name the laboratory was probably a pretty good indication of what he was talking about--] I couldn't sleep an hour straight for months. You just gotta learn to get past it.

[miseris_socios]

I know. It's just... I miss her. It's hard to explain. I'm usually okay, just some days...

[He runs a hand through his hair.]

... This place. It's always got us on edge, and then what I got in the mail yesterday...

[His face pales a little bit as he thinks of it. Her shadow approaches him, her voice clear. (Why didn't you save me? It's your fault the world's gone and we'll never meet again, and even if we did I know it's your fault and I hate you!)]

Graveyard

[myblueskies]

[Romeo had been watching from behind a gravestone as Ken buried the head. That was a really horrible thing for them to get him and after giving him a few moments he moved over to him and wrapped him in a hug, tightly.]

[miseris_socios]

[The sudden movement makes him jerk, but he relaxes a little once he realizes it's Romeo. It's okay to be sad around Romeo, since he won't judge him. He leans into the other's chest a little and lets the tears roll down his cheeks.]

She doesn't deserve this...

[myblueskies]

[He's right, Romeo doesn't judge him, he just hugs him tighter because as important as keeping your spirits up was he knew sometimes things were too bad and too sad.] She doesn't, no one deserves the bad things that happen here and they shouldn't of sent you that. Because you didn't deserve it either.

[miseris_socios]

Mm. There... there wasn't anything I could do, was there?

[Be the voice of optimistic reason for him, please. :( ]

Hologram floor as summoned?

[pitiedthefool]

[It wasn't very often that he came to this floor - in actuality, he tried to avoid it as much as possible. The illusions, the memories... While the latter was nice, that's all it ever was. Yet as he was passing by the entrance, he couldn't help but notice a familiar face.

...And the shadows.]

Ken-kun?

Mailroom

[frilliance]

[Edgeworth was busy trying to deliver packages and put them in the right mailbox, when he notices a certain....obnoxious boy in front of them, crying. While Edgeworth needs to get to the mailboxes, he is not douechy enough to just tell him to get out of the way.]

Excuse me, Ken. Is something wro-

[It's then that he sees the severed head.] My god-! What the hell just happened?!

Yaaay! /o/

[miseris_socios]

[Ken looks up and spots Yu, and heads towards his direction.]

Yu...

[He bows his head a bit as he gets close, before reaching up to put a hand on his arm.]

I... can you stay with me a little, please? It's... hard right now...

[miseris_socios]

[He looks up at Edgeworth and tries to stop his tears, but he can't.]

I... it's the stupid administrators. They... they had to be the ones who sent me this. I... I couldn't keep her safe... she didn't belong here, but I didn't want her to go home to die either!

[frilliance]

[Seeing a severed head is always horrifying, especially if it's a small child's. However, because of his profession, Edgeworth has had to view all sorts of murders and would have likely seen some quite gruesome autopsy reports. He would have been a terrible prosecutor if he did not have some sort of strong stomach.

Edgeworth takes a few seconds to get over his shock. This poor boy....it must have been a friend of his. Or maybe a sister? How could the administrators take in such a small child? Still, someone has to be strong here.]

This girl.....she has left the tower, hasn't she? She could very well be alive and back in her home world. [Edgeworth does not know for sure, but knowing that a lot of the tower is fake, then...] We cannot jump to conclusions either way yet.

[myblueskies]

No. You tried your best! And you are still trying and she will be safe in heaven okay. Alfredo will look after her.

[morituramfides]

[He grimaced at the shadow's approach. He couldn't hear what it was saying of course, but damn these things were annoying.]

Screw off, will you? [He demanded, taking a step forward and waving his hand dismissively at the shadow. And severely resisting the urge to take out a match, as he settled back with looking at Ken.]

Look. This place is custom built to make us feel like shit. You just gotta remember none of it's real; whatever happens next, it'll be over with soon enough. After that you just have to stick it out.

Stairs, probably Wednesdayish?

[forhislegacy]

[There aren't many people her age around here, so Ken stands out. And when she sees him tailed by shadows, she does what any good guardian - because even if she's not Ken's guardian, she's still a guardian, and she doesn't like it when people are feeling down - would do, and puts herself between him and the shadows, her hands on her hips.

She can't hear what they're saying, but she's loud enough that they should be able to hear her. Even if they don't actually listen.]

Hey, back off! Nobody likes bullies. Especially not weird shadowy ones.

[miseris_socios]

I know that. I know I have to keep going. It's just that it's really frustrating. I don't know what to do a lot of the time. It's not like I can just brush it off. I put on a brave face so no one thinks I have a problem, but I just... can't be that uncaring. I have to care, even if it hurts.

[miseris_socios]

... Tell me more about Alfredo.

[miseris_socios]

I want her to be alive, but all evidence so far points to our worlds really being dead. There's some people who have been there and come back.

It's a terrible choice either way.

[miseris_socios]

[The shadows just grin at her, and Ken looks over at her, expression tired. Who is she?]

[The shadow children just run right through her to surround Ken again, whose shoulders droop.]

[forhislegacy]

Hey!

[Anise scowls, whirling around to glare at the shadow children when they run through her. Okay, now that was just rude. Huffing, she grabs Ken's wrist and pulls him away from them.]

Come on! If they're going to be jerks we should be jerks too. Let's ditch them.

[miseris_socios]

[- Ken's mind freezes for a moment. Physical contact from a girl he doesn't know but seems about his age and she's kind of cute? The shadows back off a bit, letting her drag him away.]

[forhislegacy]

[She glances back over her shoulder - they seem to be putting some distance between themselves and the shadows, and that's good, but she's been through enough chase scenes to know it's never a good idea to stop too early. So she pulls him a little further before they finally slow down.]

Whew! That was a close one. Those things are really nasty. [She makes a face, but her collar is still relatively normal-looking - a little lighter, but not much. She's been hanging around just the right people to drive the shadows away.] You okay?

[miseris_socios]

I'll be fine. They're just... uh. Creepy. They're not like the Shadows I know.

[Those never talked, at least. His own collar is a bit lighter but also still relatively okay.]

[morituramfides]

What, you think anyone around here knows what they're doing most of the time?

[The thought amused him in a...twisted sort of way. Clearly not the reaction of a sane person.] Trust me, I've seen the big guys at work around here, and they don't know shit.

Don't let it get to you so much. We're all stuck up the stream without a paddle here.