11th pokéball

[ghostytrainer]

Characters: Johtostuck John Egbert and you! (also Rose Lalonde, Dave Strider and OU John in the closed prompts)
Format:
Setting: Various floors
Summary: Catch all for Route_29 John for the event.
Warnings: nothing that i can really think of at the moment save for swearing?

A: Tuesday CLOSED TO ROSE AND DAVE
[It began with three. For the entire first day, they hadn't said anything. They just followed him, smiling, and somehow seeming unnervingly familiar. John did his best to ignore them, and for the most part, it worked. But as the whispers grew louder it became harder and harder for even John, with years of experience in tuning out unwanted sounds, to ignore.]

[Especially when he realized just WHY they had seemed so familiar.]

[John had accepted a while ago that he, Rose, and Dave were not all actually from the same instance of Johto. But this fact was unspoken and John never even gave it much thought.]

[But he couldn't ignore it now. None of them could, if Rose and Dave were going through the same thing.]

[For the millionth time since arriving here, John cursed the fact that their Pokégears did not work in the tower as he ran up the stairs to the second dorm block, his three shadows sticking close. Or at the very least, could the admins have given them walkie-talkies? Would that be so fucking terrible?]

[He knocks on the door of Rose's dorm room, hoping she's actually in there because he is really not in the mood for a game of tower-wide hide and seek right now.]

Rose? Rose are you in there?

B: Wednesday OPEN (floor of your choice!)
[With the help of Rose and Dave, John had managed to overcome the Rose and... Dave (and also Jade). Okay, yeah that sounds a little weird when you put it like that, but the ordeal was hardly a laughing matter. And for the remainder of Tuesday, John was relieved. If that's all he had to worry about, then it wasn't so bad after all. Haha, screw you, tower!]

[But things can never be that easy, and the next day John found himself followed by even MORE shadows than the day before. The Other Father, Luke Triton, Aradia, Jake, Jane, and... Vriska.]

[Hers was the worst. What a terrible moirail he was! She really should have known better than to enter that relationship with a human. You were supposed to protect her, John. And look at all that's left of her now, thanks to you!!]

[John can be found on various floors throughout the day, just wandering as he tries his best to ignore the shadows. It's not working though, as the blue in his collar (and his body itself during the glitches) gets lighter and lighter; and John himself looks more and more tired as the hours tick by.]

[Kid was pretty damn attached to Johto, and it shows.]

C: Wednesday, 10pm: CLOSED TO OU JOHN
[Maybe going to bed earlier will help with all this. Not that 10pm is really all THAT early but whatever, it's earlier than NORMAL and that's what counts. Maybe if he hadn't trudged his way up here so slowly, he would have gotten up here sooner. By now, his collar and body are both a rather alarming shade of pale blue. Because even if he did manage to have some upswings earlier in the day with the help of his friends, he also managed to attract one last shadow.]

[Scratch what he thought earlier about Vriska's being the worst.]

[Because John is positive that there could be nothing in this world worse than listening to his dad accuse him of not looking hard enough for him. Of forgetting about him entirely. He's not proud, son. He's not proud at all.]

[John can't even bring himself to care enough to open the door to his room. Instead, he falls back against the wall next to it and sinks to the floor.]

[Fuck. Everything.]

Comments

A of course

[tentacletrainer]

[[There's no answer from Rose. At least not one directed at him. There's the sound of something slamming into the door, as if it was thrown, followed by angry shouting from a familiar voice.]]

Just shut up! You're all wrong! I don't care what you try and tell me, you're wrong!

[[Well...at least she's home?]]

[ghostytrainer]

[John jumps at the sound of the unknown thing hitting the door. Well that answers that question. Rose definitely has some visitors too. John jostles the handle of the door]

Rose, it's John. Please open the door.

[That's not me, John. I'm right here beside you! Or at least... I would be. Were it not for you.]

[tentacletrainer]

[[You're going to talk to him again, aren't you? This is really shitty of you, you know. Replacing me like this.]]

Shut up.

[[The venom in her voice was thick as she hissed that at whoever she was talking to, and it's the last thing she says before she opens the door, looking worse for wear. And she looks angry too, at least at first. When she sees John though, all emotion melts from her features and she just...looks tired. Yeah, she knew it was him. He'd asked her to open the door, after all. But...

With those shadows around...]]

John...hi.

[ghostytrainer]

[It doesn't really matter to you, does it? You just want a Rose, but any old Rose will do! And here I thought you loved me... But I suppose that was a lie, wasn't it? Clearly. Since you didn't do anything to save me, after all.]

Hi. Um... [His eyes run over Rose and her shadows, counting them. One... two... three... yup. He's pretty sure he can guess whose voices she's hearing right now.] Listen, let's go find Dave, okay?

[He takes her hand, offering a small smile as he tries to tug her gently towards the stairs leading up to the third block.]

[That's why you fight all the time, you know. Because she's not me, John. I would never shut you out the way she does. And when did I ever lock you out?]

[tentacletrainer]

[[Rose just stares tiredly at him, eying his shadows in return, before following after him.]]

Sure.

[[Go ahead. Go with him. Whatever makes you feel better. I just want you to be happy, Rose, even if you don't care about me. Me me. Just keep pretending everything's hunky dory!

Are you going to go get that other John too? Is he your back up for this back up? So when you abandon him too, you'll still have a replacement?]]

B!

[reassures]

[Nill herself hasn't handled this thing very well at all. Not only is she hearing and seeing her own shadows, but she keeps catching glimpses of other peoples' shadows, the voices that don't belong to her future. Such is the luck of a telepath in a tower full of miserable living beings. Shit sucks.

But as it so happens, Nill and John are actually neighbors. And while she hasn't been around all that much lately, she does step out of her door without looking - right into John as he was walking past her door, actually. She jumps and steps back, her wings slamming back into her own door as she does. Her collar doesn't look that much better than his, but after getting a look at him some of the initial shock leaves her, and she stands there awkwardly for a second before reaching for a tablet in her pocket. Cue typing on it very quickly and holding it up in his general line of sight.]

are you ok?

[ghostytrainer]

[This would be one situation where John would actually be GLAD of the fact that he's not telepathic. Or at least, he would be if he had any idea just what telepaths had to deal with right now. He's having enough trouble with just his own shadows. Especially Vriska's, who is not only the loudest, but also keeps talking over the others, hardly letting the rest of John's shadowy entourage get a a word in edgewise.]

[All that hard work I put into making you a hero and this is the thanks I get?! You're no hero, John Egbert! You're no hero and you're no moirail of mine!]

[He's so distracted that it takes him a couple of seconds after the collision to even realize that there WAS a collision in the first place. But the moment he does, he immediately starts apologizing. It's almost automatic, really, he still doesn't even know who he hit.]

Ah! Sorry, my bad I-- oh? [He cuts off as he notices the tablet.] Um... yeah. I'm okay, no worries. Hehe... are you?

[reassures]

[It's kind of weird. She's known a John before, and at first glance this one isn't that much different, but... This one is definitely different.

Ah well. It doesn't matter, save for one of the voices talking to her, telling her she could have saved them, could have kept everyone alive, and at some point she would have met another John and been friends. There are a few dozen - a hundred, maybe - voices, a million branches of different timelines that could have been if they had made the right choices, and the voices that only Nill hears are her dead futures, angry that they would never get to be. Idly, Nill wonders if she's known too many people named Dave for this, but she doesn't linger on it long because that makes their voices get a little louder than the others-- though never as loud as the loudest one.

She's more than grateful for the distraction. It lets her push the voice of her (long dead) boyfriend a little further down.]

Im fine.

[After she shows him the message though, she gives his collar a pointed glance. He certainly doesn't seem fine. But he might miss that if he's not paying attention.]

[ghostytrainer]

Oh good. Sorry, I really should have been paying more attention to where I was going and maybe not... walking so close to doors. That probably would have been smart, haha!

So uhh... [He bounces a little on the balls of his feet, rocking back onto his heels. He's not sure if he should linger and have a little chit-chat or if he should just keep... going. Normally, he'd be all for meeting new people and chatting it up, but these are hardly normal circumstances.] I'm John, by the way. Heh... figure I should probably at least tell you that much what with bumping into you and all.

B

[secretcharm]

[[She didn't know where she was going, she just wanted to get away from him. So she ran. She ran and ran and didn't stop until she ran straight into something. Or, rather, someone.

Hitting the floor with a loud squeak, Yuka whimpers and rubs at her butt.]]

S-sorry! Yuka's sorry!

[ghostytrainer]

[While John is hardly the tallest person in the tower, Yuka's so small that she barely even knocks John off balance when she collides with him. So needless to say, he's still on his feet as she connects with the ground, butt-first.]

Woah, hey! It's okay! Don't worry. [He reaches down, offering Yuka a hand. His shadows aren't too crazy about this, immediately jumping on his offer to help her as a perfect time to try and heap more blame on him. Sure, he can help some little girl he barely knows but he couldn't help them?! Some friend.]

[secretcharm]

[[He's not alone in opportunistic shadows. She may only have one, but his words sting just as bad. After all, he thought she looked to him for help. He was her protector. Not that he could believe any of that now. Not after what's happened to him!

Staring at his hand, she reaches out for it at first, but bursts into tears as she takes it.]]

Y-Yuka's s-sorry! I'm sorry!

[[No you're not.]]

[ghostytrainer]

Hey, hey! [Once she's up, he kneels down so that they're more on eye-level. Gently, John brushes her off a bit, keeping a smile up for Yuka's sake.]

It's okay, Yuka. Really! It happens, there's nothing to be sorry for. Come on now... [He wipes his thumb across her eye.] Come on now, let's dry those eyes up.

C of course!

[longwinded]

[John had just happened to come back from his trip to ruined Sburb take two as his alternate self was having his biggest trouble of all. With no prior knowledge of what was going on John began his normal trek to the music room, but of course out of instinct he would make sure to walk by his friends rooms to make sure they were all still there..

....whoa.

Was that who he thinks it is?]

John?

[He was a heap on the floor and fuck he didn't look so well right now.]

What the fuck happened while I was gone?

[ghostytrainer]

["didn't look so well" really doesn't even cover the half of it. But of course, how he feels right now is really nothing compared to how he looks. Though the small cluster of ever-smiling shadows gathered around him probably aren't helping things. Talk about creepy.]

[John looks up and offers his doppelganger a weak smile.]

Oh hey... you're back. Hehe, man you really gotta stop leaving. You keep missing all the [There's a momentary glitch in the glamour as John talks, revealing his wireframe form. There's not a whole lot of blue left in there now...] fun stuff.

[longwinded]

[He kneels next to his alternate self, a worried look spreading quickly across his face. This is the first time he's actually seen the glamour fail before his own eyes. So it was pretty creepy.

John isn't fooling anyone.]

Yeah this totally looks like a pile of fun.

[He reaches to touch his alternate self on the shoulder.]

[ghostytrainer]

It totally is! Hehe... you missed a break in too. Mmm... [His eyes move from his alternate self's eyes to rove the general vicinity around him. For a moment, he almost looks worried. But it's hard to say whether or not he actually did.]

Looks like you don't have any groupies though. Good, means I don't have to worry about you.

[Because he wouldn't wish this on anybody. And they're basically the same guy, right? So... chances are high that his alternate self would have a Dad shadow too.]

A floor of your convenience

[imperialsun]

[Do you remember one of the infiltration buddies? Well here he is, with about twelve or so shadows trialling behind him, in the curse of a protag.

Yet he seems for the most part quiet and talking to continue along. There's pain in his eyes, that's for sure. When he sees John he gives him a small, a pthetic attempt of a wave.]

rng says floor 50 aww yeah strobe lights.

[ghostytrainer]

[After something like elevator diving? There's no way John could forget Naoya. It's just one of those things. Admittedly, John had been spacing out a little, staring at the light patterns on the floor. This was one of the floors that John sometimes came to train on. But right now, he couldn't even be bothered with taking his hammer off his back. Even if it would be a pretty good distraction.]

[But he did catch movement out of the corner of his eye, despite the spacing, and when he turns to face him, John offers Naoya a small wave in return, as well as the best smile he can muster under the circumstances.]

Hey, Naoya. You holding up okay? [Clearly, he's not. John has eyes, he can see that much. But even after a few days, it's still kind of hard to address this situation.]

looks up the floor info / realize I'm the one who made it

[imperialsun]

[Fair enough naked men persona do tend to linger on with people as do near-suicide dives and all of that. He nods back at him.]

Yeah it's just...

We're dead because of you!
All of us! I'll never grow up to be what I wanted...
Is this why you ran away? Don't you care about what happened?

...they're quite loud.

[It is, perhaps an understatement.]

a+

[ghostytrainer]

[This is true. It's very hard to forget team member #8.]

Ha, tell me about it. I swear they're getting louder. The three I had to deal with yesterday seemed to have a better grasp on their indoor voices. Or maybe it's just her...

[What? Feeling too guilty to say my name now, John? Oh but wait, guilt would mean that you actually acknowledged the fact that you killed me. Soooooooo... guess not then.]

B, Aquarium

[keybearer]

[John isn't the only one being stalked by a herd of shadows. This particular Riku has been fleeing from floor to floor, and he's arrived among the fish in hopes of finding a distraction from their constant chatter. Like John, his collar's gotten lighter. As much as he's tried to ignore the voices, it's hard. Too many people he misses, too much unfinished business.

Thankfully, John's presence catches his eye, and he heads towards the other boy, all while trying to drown out the voices.]

They've got you too, huh?

[ghostytrainer]

[John's line of thinking must have been similar to Riku's because he seems to almost be spacing out in front of one of the watery displays. For a moment, he wasn't sure whether or not Riku's voice belonged to the actual thing or if another shadow had manage to pop up. It wouldn't surprise him, to be honest.]

[He turns his head, and upon seeing that this is (thankfully) not the case, offers Riku a small smile.]

Better question: who haven't they got at this point? Seems like everyone I bump into has their own little personal entourage...

[keybearer]

[A smile, huh? Well, here, he'll crack an equally small smile. It doesn't last long, though. At the sound of more whispering, he casts a glance at the shadows behind him and scowls.]

And I take it yours won't shut up about how much you failed, either.

[ghostytrainer]

Nooooooope. [He smiles as he watches a particularly violently colored one drifts by.] Or well... I take that back. Some of them will stop talking on occasion. Mostly because another one decides to talk over them and I guess they realize it's pointless to try and get a word in edgewise against her.

[John gives a sort of humorless little laugh.]

She always did like to be the center of attention. [A beat as he watches some fish swim by.] Man, check out the teeth on that one. [Like, dang it puts an Angler-fish to shame.]