can_has_vodka | For can_has_vodka: Twenty-Eighth Vision [video+spam]

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For can_has_vodka: Twenty-Eighth Vision [video+spam]

[GODDAMN THAT IS A BIG CHICKEN.]

[Sir Bertie Rooster peers down at the camera from where he's towering over its wielder, tilting his head back and forth as he considers his now tiny Mom. Arkady for her part giggles threadily at his confusion, then squeaks,]

Well! Clearly there's only one way to handle this situation!

[There is a faint flash of purple light, and Bertie suddenly calms, and settles down into a roost. The image blurs as Arkady hooks her communicator to her belt, runs over and proceeds to climb the chicken-mountain with little grunts. Once settled gripping his ruff, she gets out the communicator again and shows the view from the rooster's back.]

Onward, my chikken!

[And off he goes, walking out the door (which had been fortunately ajar) and wandering out into the hallway, occasionally letting out a rumbly cluck.]

Touko dear? Are you all right? I'm coming to check on you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm still me.

[The shot is of a room that's of normal proportions compared to Touko; she's left Toto where he needed to get dropped off so is all free for you, Arkady.]

Some people need me, don't they?

In situations like this, yes, we end up needing all the help that we can get. I am certain the others would be grateful if you lent a hand, but that is your choice.

I am mostly checking on your welfare, and I wanted to have a talk with you about upcoming assignments. I don't think you will find them all that unpleasant.

I have people to take places. [She really doesn't want to talk to you, though she feels guilty because Arkady got her all that stuff so she can work, but anything she can do for Toto, anything that gets them out of there...] As you said, I've got to help.

Oh yes indeed, and I've got to help you. So all right, let's help out your friends and whoever we run across, and I'll give you your assignments after.

Don't worry, they're academic. I'm not making you chop vegetables or such.

You don't have to follow me around.

Actually you're just a bit inexperienced at surviving here to be making that call, dear. I do have to follow you around.

Also, dodging me will only make your stay here longer. It doesn't matter what anybody says--the only way out is through, and you're going to need help with that.

Not that I expect you to believe that. The more inexperienced an Inmate is the more they seem convinced that they have all the answers about this place.

[Syo does know that Arkady can find her by reading minds, but Touko wasn't in that day. The conversation gets cut off, and Touko decides to make a break for it, hidden in a cabin next door she knows is usually empty ~~technically it's assigned to Omar but lol he doesn't use it for anything~~. It looks like a derelict house but it's better than nowhere to hide. She'll try to come back to her own in a few hours when she thinks Arkady might have given up.]

[And Arkady's waiting for her inside, munching on a full sized chocolate chip cookie and tossing the crumbs for Bertie to peck.]

Oh, now you're just being childish. Not to mention very rude. [Enormous bite]

[munch munch]

Do you really believe that you're going to get anywhere by running away? Not here. He decides when to let people go. I couldn't even send you home myself.

[And for the second time in five minutes, what is even going on here. She knows Monobear could - back at school at least - pop up wherever he wanted, but this woman isn't a robot so far as she knows, even if she seems like one of Hagakure's "greys". She just stares for a moment, and unlike with Toto, she won't lower herself to better talk.]

So it doesn't matter what I do. People disappear at random.

[She's heard people asking around about Natasha, among a couple other rumors. Nobody wanting to sit with you at lunch means you learn how to listen, and here for once it's about things she really needs to know.]

If no one's getting hurt, I don't see why you care.

Of course it matters what you do. The whole matter of disappearing people...well, it's sad, but if you don't give up, and you start to learn, that's far less likely to happen.

[Bertie wanders over, following sprinkled cookie crumbs.]

Well first off, situations like this aren't all giggles. Second, you're my first priority on the Barge and so I must make myself available. And third, I would care anyway. Though I understand you're not really used to that.

[She narrows her eyes at the little fairy and the chicken, which she tries to nudge away with her foot before it even nears her. This isn't going to end up like how she and Naegi did, where she told him secrets before he'd earned them. She just has to keep Arkady away long enough to make a break for it.]

It isn't sad. Most people want to get out of this prison. Even your kind, none of them are happy here.

[Bertie responds to the nudging by fluffing up and grumbling chickenishly. No poke me with foot! He doesn't budge.]

I'm afraid that you still don't understand. Until the Admiral restores you to life, you can only leave for a few days, and that is if we dock at Port. The people who disappear....

...well, they disappear into death. They're gone. They don't go home. They don't go anywhere.

The only way to leave for good is to convince the Admiral to restore you to life. And no one can convince or force him to do that before he considers it time.

Whatever's happening here isn't really death. Everyone just gets back up like nothing happened a couple days later. It's the same as what put me here.

If I was dead, I wouldn't know anything, or I'd be somewhere a lot worse.

God, you can be really dense sometimes. Yes, while you're under the Barge's influence you get right back up. But back home, right now, you are a corpse. You are dead. Only the Admiral's power sustains you, and if he decides to stop, that's it. You're gone. Even if you found a way to leave before he restores you, all you will be able to do in the outside world is rot.

[She sighs and shakes her head.] Maybe you wouldn't be acting this ridiculous if you remembered everything clearly. Maybe I should start there. With what you've been forced to forget.

[Everyone's been insisting you die to get here, but Touko knows she couldn't have. She remembers the dead girl in the garden, but after that, nothing. For weeks, the suspicion's been building, and Arkady clearly knows enough to give her the answer. So when she speaks, she's bitter, but thinking it through.]

Did she get me into trouble I don't know anything about? She had to have, and you know all about it.

Tell me what you know. Do what you say your job is.

Yes, she did. There is a lot you are missing. It isn't all Syo's fault, what you're missing, either. Let me just warn you right now.

If you want, I can let you read your file. It has your history in it. But what would really work is restoring your memories entirely so you can see, feel and understand for yourself.

Oh Touko, I may get angry at you but I feel terrible about what you have gone through. If you do get back your memories I wish we could do it a bit at a time. It is your mind and your decision, but I worry.

[She shakes her head, nose wrinkled in disdain. She remembers the fake suicide note Monobear shared around after the Ogre killed herself. For all she knows, the Admiral might use the gaps in her mind to stir her up in the same way.] I don't trust anything this place would let me read.

But what else can I do? Let you inside my head?

I understand. He's really not very good at understanding feelings or how easily people can be hurt. I think he's too alien.

Technically you could come inside my head and have a look from there. It might be more comfortable for you.

[The chicken peers up at her and boks. Hey, I'm here too!]

[That climbing into heads is a real possibility, rather than the subject of a sarcastic retort, is part of what Syo knows, not Touko. The idea makes her skin crawl a little bit, but it isn't her head, is it? Maybe she should find out what kind of madness this is. She slouches to the floor, leaning against the wall with one of her hands out listlessly. Bertie might take it as an invitation even if it isn't.]

I'm sure there's plenty of room in there. [The malice is almost a reflex rather than intended.]

[Arkady scoffs slightly. The girl can be so childish sometimes. But she doesn't rise to the bait.]

I suppose we'll see.

[The room goes white for a moment, and then turns into what looks like a hippie crash pad with various baskets lining the walls. In the baskets are various chaotic stacks of papers which rustle and rearrange themselves occasionally. A large old fashioned television gives static and quiet white noise. On the couch facing it Arkady sits, pair of chickens on lap, glowing faintly purple.]

Here we are. We can look at your memories from here.

[She's slouched against a basket now and tilts her head backwards, trying to get up, only for a wrinkled sheet to fall back on her face. She looks at it before she can help it, but can't read a word. What this means, she doesn't know, but isn't too sure about it.]

What is this?

The inside of my mind! I figured we could watch your memories on the telly.

[The sheet forms a cheery purple smiley face with a cartoon chicken next to it.]

[She crumples the paper back up and tosses it into the basket, but slides forward a few feet to get a better look at the television.]

If it's what I know, how does it get in your head?

You're assuming that there is no connection between people. [The screen flickers white for a moment, then reveals several human outlines standing on a flat plane. A network of faintly purple energy interconnects them.]

Not only do I know from your file, but I can use the connection between us to communicate and know things. Right now you could do the same with me, if you so chose. Go ahead, if you want.

[She's skeptical, it's clear, and shrugs, not trying to communicate anything except that she doesn't get how this works.]

Don't believe my file. [She accidentally sends.]

For can_has_vodka: Twenty-Eighth Vision [video+spam]

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