Event Eight.

[awashmods]

To thee I'll return, overburdened with care; The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there. No more from the cottage again will I roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

he Town is quiet this week. No sudden quests on the forum post, no roars of werewolves in the distance... just peaceful, peaceful quiet. Of course, it's hot as hell right now, but that aside, it's pretty pleasant. You probably don't want to wander around the Town right now, but... Naturally, now's when the Town is going to start thoroughly encouraging you to do just that. You do want to find your doorway back home, don't you? Better get searching! And don't mind the other worlds you might end up stumbling into first. Welcome to Awash's eighth event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. You are welcome to start your own posts or logs for this event as well. If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

Comments

[swordfucker]

Yeah. The Hiiragis didn't choose their lives, either. Born into it and forced to dominate or die, that's how it was.

[There was no honor. A twisted family that's so twisted and isn't even at the real top— but Guren doesn't think details matter for this. He can tell when a kid is more than a kid, and he's known that about Damian since the day he arrived. Normal kids don't talk in the methodical way he does, first of all. The rest is pretty clear.]

Whether you got out of something like that on your own or with help, that takes a lot. [And it's not like you're ever truly rid of it, either. He's aware of that.] Good job.

[bittybat]

Thank my father. I would gladly be where I was if I had not won the right to meet him.

[He comes halfway up the stairs and stops. It feels better if Guren is in front, allowing him to keep watch. He doesn’t want to be hi-bye’d because that’s their job.]

You still owe me a fight, Ichinose. Don’t think I’ll feel sorry for you and forget.

[swordfucker]

[Guren is batman-esque, but not that batman-esque. That's too much. So, he smirks, half shrugging at Damian.]

I told you how to earn it. I'm not going to just pity you and give you one, either. Show me it'll be worth my time and go all out with Izuku.

[bittybat]

Tt. I wasn't under the impression you were a sadist interested in children fighting, but I'm not exactly surprised. You need a better hobby.

[On second thought, he ascends the stairs past Guren, though his pace is steady and easy. At the top, he half turns and smirks over his shoulder.] You think Midoriya will put me in my place so you can gloat. You're wrong. He's smart and powerful, but in the end, he's too soft. He'll be easy to trick because he cares about his friends more than himself.

[Sweeping one leg back, Damian shifts his weight and presses his heel down on one of the tiles of the platform, activating a mechanism that hastily tucks the stairs into a slippery ramp beneath Guren's feet. What Guren decides to do is up to Guren. Damian is just keeping the man on his toes.]

You also owe me a look at where your portal leads.

[swordfucker]

[Guren sighs, and just as the stairs begin to tuck away, he hops up the rest of them, landing too easily at the top, rubbing the back of his head.]

You brats just want to give me a headache. Don't you listen to anything I say? I paired people up because they can learn from each other. Both of you have lessons to learn.

[Though this attitude is one he's wishing Damian would learn faster.]

So now you're interested all of a sudden? It's just an empty school, but I can show you, if you really want.

[bittybat]

[Regardless of Guren's dodge, Damian continues to retain the smug half-smirk. It was fun to try to annoy and inconvenience the man.]

We're aware of your reasonings behind our pairs. At least, some of us are. I'll still win even if Midoriya puts up a decent fight because I've had more training. [Sorry, Guren... He'll forever be this cocky, probably even a little when he's older.]

I'm curious, not enthralled by the idea. [He's interested.] Why is an empty school the destination for your wormhole? Was it one you attended?

[swordfucker]

[Now he does hope Izuku creams him. At least once.]

I taught some classes there. Keep in mind this is after the catastrophe— the apocalypse, basically. The school feeds directly into the army, and I have an elite unit within it that I was scouting for talent for, too.

[bittybat]

[At that, Damian's face sours slightly, and Guren gets a Look even if it's hard to discern whether the look is exasperated or disgusted.]

So, the Lieutenant Colonel is prospecting for child soldiers to join his--what was it?--Moon Demon Company? You really are a piece of work, Ichinose. [There's a pause, brief.]

I want to see it.

[swordfucker]

Don't be stupid. The catastrophe killed off almost everyone over the age of 13. The population as a whole is young.

[WHO ELSE IS GONNA FIGHT. Anyway, this is why he's one of the few adults who doesn't mind seeing people like Damian trying their best, either.]

Show me the way out of here and I can take you there.

[bittybat]

Doesn't mean you're any less of a bastard for making children combat operatives. [But he at least doesn't seem pissed, not enough to start trying to wail on Guren. A small sore spot. He was a child soldier, and it sucked. He doesn't want that for any other kids!] There.

[He points back the way they came.] None of the other exits are functional. A pocket dimension, I'm guessing, like Chroma itself. Come on.

[He leads Guren back along the walkways between the platforms jutting from the cave to the ground hole. Through the memorabilia, the one with the console, the display cases. Despite being in a cave, there's something stringent and hyper organized about everything. Nothing is hanging out, not even cords. No indication of weapons or gadgets or items. Even the display cylinders with the uniforms are even perfectly done.

Batman seems to be pretty anally retentive.]

[swordfucker]

[He's not even going to bother mentioning that he doesn't decide how things run, that he's just following orders. Let alone that kids sign up, so it's still optional. But!! He will make note of the organization. It just helps him think that it must be Bruce.

Not too many people come from the same world, anyway.]

Sort of. If I had to guess, these are based off of memory. Things like the books in my office are only clear when they're ones I have memorized. Some have a few passages, others are complete jibberish. Parts of the school are fuzzier than the rest... things like that.

[bittybat]

[Memory, huh. His eyes skitter quickly to the console then cut back at Guren. It would explain why the computer and Internet and server farm didn't work. The console and farm because Damian couldn't memorize the terabytes and terabytes of data his father collects; the Internet because it was likewise endless.]

Giving us access is unsystematic and strange. Another reward? Or an opportunity.

[Back on the fitness platform, Damian raises one hand and points toward the glimmering hole above. Guren can even jump on the trampoline for help.] There.

Go ahead.

[swordfucker]

This doesn't feel like a reward. It's more like the set up of a test... but I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[And then it never does, and he feels even more paranoid. But for now, he's glancing up the whole, and then at the trampoline. Okay.

He'll just go ahead and hop... boing.]

[bittybat]

You're not the only one. [Someone had been hella paranoid about the banquet food, thinking it'd turn out to be fairies. He's still so (unsure), but so far... nothing happening only makes the anxiety worse. RIP.] Don't hit your head on the way out.

[Yeah, good. Bye.

Just kidding. Damian comes up the expected way. Batgrapple. He'll install the ladder later with Minato, making it easier. The hook pops out, and then it's all simply reeling himself up to the hole to climb out.]

[swordfucker]

[This is just like when Guren anime jumped out of the well. But, he lands on his feet and glances to Damian once he's out as well, then back down to the hole that he'd ruined the covering of.]

Seriously, if you try to block it, you'll just draw more attention. Leave it as a hole, and less people will want to drop into it.

[That's his advice, and besides, he's starting to walk off now. If you want that school tour, follow him, towards Ruga!!]

[bittybat]

I'm aware. But if you think half the people in this town aren't curious enough and the other half aren't moron enough to try to go down what they think is a "magical" ho-- [DON'T JUST WALK AWAY WHILE HE'S TALKING!!!!]

Tt.

[Though he doesn't say anything about it, he hurries to catch up with a sour face that says a whole lot more than what he won't. He's quiet for a little of the walk, then he asks:] Did you bring anything back yet?

[swordfucker]

Hm? Oh, yeah. Plenty of fuda.

[A box full... of fuda spell tags. He doesn't even know if Damian knows what those are, but he doesn't stop to explain, either.]

A few parts of uniforms and a monocular, too. It seems like any time I bring someone new in, I can take back more. [Damian's being used for goods.]

[bittybat]

[It's fine. Damian is a detective as well as a stupid, mini genius. HE ALSO REALIZES HE'S BEING USED AS GOODS TRANSPORT NOW, TOO. Thanks, Guren.]

That's because you can. I haven't fully tested the limitations. I know you can take one item for a person, however.

By "fuda"... You mean, "o-fuda"? A talisman? [He already assume Guren was Japanese based on the surname. It gives him a point of reference.] Why? Are your vampires affected by demon-repelling talismans?

[swordfucker]

Sometimes they help in a fight. But I was using them since before the catastrophe.

[Religious organizations and being a sorcerer, yayy.] Explosions, sound muffling, illusions, just to name a few things. They're useful in a place that keeps throwing things at us.

[bittybat]

[Damian is only slightly behind Guren to the side. When he looks up, he tries to search what he can see of Guren's face, as if attempting to gauge whether all this is baloney.]

You're not that old. You talk as if this catastrophe occurred recently, during your lifetime. If it was cataclysmic enough to destroy much of the population, what happened exactly? How did you survive? Are the vampires and the catastrophe related?

[swordfucker]

[His face looks serious. Not really readable, but not trying not to be, either.]

Eight years ago, a virus wiped out anyone over the age of 13 who wasn't able to obtain the vaccine. Monsters began to appear shortly after, called the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and started killing off the remaining humans. The vampires, who had stayed mostly hidden and avoided us until then, came out now that their source of food was in danger.

They gathered up children to keep as livestock. It grants them safety from the monsters, but they're walking blood bags.

Those of us who didn't die regrouped as much as we could.

[By now, he walks them down the exact part of the street in Ruga that takes them into his world. Green trees, a blue sky, a school building... all completely empty. The city looks fine around them, but from the roof, Damian would be able to see the destruction around the walls.]

The Japanese Imperial Demon Army is trying to reclaim what they can and save humanity.

[bittybat]

[Damian’s brows pinch in the center of his forehead. Not confusion or judgment, simply organizing information, considering. The expression fades slowly away as the scenery warps. It isn’t like jumping through the Batcave hole. From one place to the next, not like opening a door necessarily.

It just... is. He slows to a momentary stop, glancing around, eyes flicking and taking in everything. Even without seeing the destruction, he can tell. It’s different. The lack of noise per say, a feeling. Empty. No people of course, but perhaps that is what helps solidify it.]

Sounds too simple. I know there’s more you’re not telling me. Like why you have so much physical power. I’ve been hit plenty of times by humans. You hit like a metahuman. [His eyes level back on Guren.] Why can’t you and the vampires work together?

[swordfucker]

That's just what they tell the kids who go to school.

[A summary, nowhere near enough of the truth. Guren frowns, like he's trying to consider what more he can say. His hand rests at the hilt of his sword as he takes his steps closer to the school, meaning to go inside.]

Vampires view humans as livestock and nothing more. It's in their nature. Would most people work together with cows?

[It's the simplest way of putting it, even if he happens to be working with a vampire or two, himself.]

Normal humans don't stand a chance against vampires. Even the weakest ones are at least seven times as strong as a human. Their speed can't be registered, their strength is immeasurable— it's only with the development of demon weapons that we're able to stand a chance.

Even then, we're largely outclassed. In this school, the kids who signed up to be part of the demon army study and train to be able to handle a demon of their own. I have a contract with one of the most powerful types.

[He glances his way.] Before you say anything, it's the head family that decides all of this. The Hiiragis. I'm from the lowest branch family, so it's unheard of that I've even been able to climb the ranks as much as I have, but that's where my influence ends.

[bittybat]

[Excuse??] I would work with cows. [But he's also... Damian. Guren receives a deadpan look, as if working with cows is literally the most normal thing, something anyone and everyone would do.]

A proud, stubborn family at the helm of an army bent on eradicating vampires to save humanity? Tt. I'm not surprised. [That they "decide all of this," he means. Carefully, he picks his way after Guren without stopping to tarry. The school... doesn't look bad? He's still not a fan of child soldiers.

But this is no embryonic island isolated from the world and used to craft a merciless Demon's Head heir.] So you get your power from a demon. [Ughhh.]

Handling a demon means it's dangerous, and study means it's experimental at best. Danger and experimental means there's students who aren't able to control this kind of power sometimes.

What happens to the ones who can't?

[swordfucker]

[You know, he knew exactly that Damian was the type to work with cows, and that is precisely why he said "most people." This child. He just sighs as he walks, pushing open a door with enough force that Damian should be able to trail along without also holding it. Inside, the school looks like a normal high school. Classrooms, lockers, and it's all clean. Used.

He's quiet at all of the comments on it being dangerous and experimental. He knows that well. He knew that when he was forced to pick up a demonic sword to save his friends. When he was injected with a demon. When he was tortured and experimented on all for this research.

But at the last question, he does toss back a cold look.]

What do you think? They die.

[Spoken as if it's a natural fact, as if he doesn't care even when he does. He hates every part of this. He wants to stop all of it, but he's still not close enough— he moves to the stairs, heading down.

He's being open with Damian for a reason, so he doesn't mind walking him all the way down to the sketchy lower levels.]