Who told you so, dilly dilly, Who told you so? ‘Twas my own heart, dilly dilly, That told me so.
ouch is one of the most intimate, romantic ways to be close to someone else. The Town knows this very well -- the Town wants everyone to be as close as possible.
Perhaps that's why this bonding is so...aggressive.
Because you're in for quite the shock on this otherwise peaceful day when you brush against the next person on your path.
Maybe you're going out of your way to touch people. Maybe you've got a terrible urge to just see what's lurking in someone's heart. Maybe you trip over a conveniently placed rock -- whatever the cause, you're getting an up close and personal look into someone else's heart.
Welcome to Awash's eighteenth event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. You are welcome to make your own logs and posts for this event!
If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!
[ And she's watching it all with a smile on her face. Is that boy-- is that really Akira? He seems so different, and yet-- no. He's not different at all. Look at his smile, look at how much he seems to care about all of those around him. It's him, it's Akira. ]
...Do you want to join them?
[ It might be a little weird considering that some version of herself is at the table too, but eh. ]
[It's almost embarrassing, having Pyra here to see his deepest wishes like this. Yet she probably isn't surprised, either -- he never kept what was in his heart as a guarded secret.]
I do. I wish I could introduce you to everyone...
[Introduce them for real, not here, where in his imaginings, everyone is already like a big happy family. But that's something that won't ever happen, least of all with his parents.
He takes a step forward, then hesitates.]
We... should go. I don't want to keep you trapped here, Pyra.
[ She looks on at the table with everyone there; she, too, would have liked to meet all of them as well. Some, she recognizes. Others, she does not. But because they know him, she wants to know them, too.
She wants to, because of him. People who have earned Akira's affection and care are people that will have hers as well. ]
[ But when he says that they should go... ] --Oh. Already?
[ It escapes her all too easily, a slip of disappointment she shouldn't let in because she knows that it's unfair to him; this world is his. It's personal. ] I mean, yes, of course.
[He looks puzzled. He doesn't mind that she's here, but it's not as though she came along willingly. Of course he wants to help her get out, more than he wants to indulge this yearning he feels right in front of him.
Too bad his heart has other ideas. He goes for the door his other self had used: it's locked. A cursory check of the windows yields the same result.
'Come, Akira.' A voice from the table. The woman with glasses is looking at him, smiling kindly. He turns to look at her, and his resolve wavers.]
[ Pyra, ever trusting, ............doesn't see anything off with this.
(Because maybe, just maybe, she's hoping that this will be a happy sort of part of his heart.) ] ...Your mother?
[ OH, OH.... she now really wants to meet these people now! She wants to meet his parents! Unhelpfully Pyra also adds her gentle encouragement... because one shouldn't be hesitant about seeing one's mom or dad, right? ] ...She probably misses you.
[ Then, gently she encourages: ] Go on. I'll be right here.
[He hesitates for a second longer. His mother's face had been used against him before, and it was a trap. And his father...
His lower lip trembles, his eyes brimming with tears, and Pyra's encouragement is enough to push him into moving against his better judgement. He goes to his parents and pulls them both into a hug, silent tears streaming down his face as he buries his face in his mother's shoulder. He wanted this so, so badly.]
[ Pyra watches in silence, respectfully as she watches him go to his parents. How long has it been since he's seen either of them and--
.....Ah, he's crying.
Is one supposed to cry when seeing one's parents?
She can't be sure, but she does know that one would cry when seeing someone someone close after so long. She wants to believe that this is right, that it's important for him to have seen his parents... and she's glad that he has this opportunity to do so, even if this yet another illusion of a sort by Chroma. ]
[He says it softly under his breath to them both, and his mother strokes his hair and kisses his head. He stays like that for what seems like forever, even if it was only a few scant moments in time.
Then he hears it: the sickening sound of a blade plunging into flesh. His mother gives a gasp of pain and surprise and Akira jolts away from them both to see--
His father, his face demonic and twisted, with a kitchen knife he'd taken and plunged into his mother's stomach under the table. She coughs up blood, her mouth open in shock.
'Reijiro... Why...?'
Akira steps back, an expression of mounting horror on his face. Everyone else around the table vanishes, except Ryo, who now has a handheld camera and is recording the scene, his expression one of icy calm. Akira suddenly feels sick, lightheaded. He knew something like this might happen, but he let himself get tricked again.]
We need to go. [He's talking to Pyra, even if he can't take his eyes off his dying mother.]
[ ....Pyra being the type of person who can't truly stand to see others hurt immediately rushes to his mother as blood seeps out of her abdomen.
She doesn't know the woman's name, so all she can actually call her is-- ] Mother...--I have you. [ And truly, she does. In her arms, she does, as Akira has jolted away, Pyra has leaped to her before she even fell, catching her and bringing her down gently into her lap.
Ah, she feels foolish for encouraging Akira to join them at the table now. She should have known that these visions that Chroma has manifested aren't anything good.
And although she sees the fake Ryo continuing to film them, Pyra motions with her other hand to Akira... ] ...It's... okay, if you don't want to see this. I'll be here with her. [ Even if she's fake, even if none of this is real. She'll stay here with his mother, even as she lies bleeding out in the room with an audience. ]
[Kaori Fudo's expression of shock fades into unconsciousness, and she dies quickly in Pyra's arms. Akira is shaking with grief, but his attention is on his father, because--]
Pyra, get away! It's a tr--
[He can't finish his sentence, because he has to grab what's left of his father to physically restrain him from attacking Pyra, too. The man's teeth have turned into fangs, his eyes blank and demonic, his skin turning a pale blue-grey as he gurgles.
'I killed your mother!' What's left of his father sounds happy about it. 'Let me kill you both, too, Akira!'
Tears are rolling down Akira's face, but he has to remind himself: this isn't real. The danger Pyra is in, however, is very much so.]
[ Pyra sets his mother's corpse down upon the ground carefully, a palm going to close her eyes gently. When she's finished, she stands and turns to Akira, quickly going over to him with an apologetic look in her eyes. ] Y-yes! Let's!
[ She'll be the first to make it to the door where his other version of himself had come through. If it's still locked, she'll be trying to just break it down. ]
[The door is indeed still locked, as if it wants to let others in but never allows them to leave. So when Pyra breaks it down, Akira winces at a shooting feeling in his chest, feeling a lance of pain through his heart as if she'd kicked part of him.
The demon taking over his father tries to take advantage of the opportunity to break free. Akira doesn't let go, though: he responds by cracking his head against the table hard enough to knock him unconscious -- but not to kill, though it still hurts his heart to do even this much -- and then runs to meet Pyra out in the hallway. Ryo, meanwhile, stays behind to examine the demon's body.
On the other side, Pyra will find herself in the hallway not of a house, as might be expected, but the corridor of a typical Japanese high school. The bright, sunny weather outside is replaced with darkening rainclouds, and anyone who had been in the room with them before is nowhere to be seen. The school is empty.]
Sorry... you had to see that. [Akira says with a pained grimace as he catches up to her, still clutching his chest. Hopefully his father won't wake up and chase them any time soon.]
[He takes the hand from his chest to wipe stray tears from his face, and shakes his head.]
I'm not injured. I just... feel like my heart hurts.
[He looks back through the broken doorway and at the table, where the only thing visible from the struggle from this angle is a bloodstain smearing the wood. He swallows and looks back at Pyra.]
I guess it has something to do with this place. It's like we're in my memories, or my feelings.
[Maybe a little of both, inextricably bound together as they are.]
[Safe how, when there's grief and sadness in his heart like his father that could seek to hurt her? On the other hand, he's already seen from that room that Pyra is welcome here. Perhaps that alone will be enough to protect her as they wander through.]
We're in my school now. [They could head for the exit, or stay and look for clues about the situation? He's not sure.]
Hmm... [Akira never really liked school before he became Devilman, and as he thinks about it, the empty corridors echo with voices:
'Oh, look, Fudo's crying again!'
'What, did Sato-kun hit you too hard?'
'Not going to hide behind your girlfriend again? The Track Witch?'
'What the hell did she do to deserve getting stuck with a useless freeloader like him, anyway?'
Akira is doggedly ignoring all of these voices, although one of them does give him an idea of what his favourite places is. He takes Pyra's hand, leading her to the stairs and down to the ground floor level.]
[ She brings a hand worriedly to her cheek as she's led about the halls, listening to what the phantom voices are saying throughout the halls. His strides are wide and long, and as she looks at him from a little behind as he pulls her through the corridors, she wonders--
....If this is his heart, or some sort of abstract memory of his, ...perhaps he had to endure these sorts of comments every day. Or worse-- that there is some part of him that is repeating these hurtful things to him in the back of his mind. ]
Akira... [ She murmurs his name sympathetically. ] ...Don't listen to them. [ She hopes she doesn't have to tell him that, but if not, there it is. ]
[Akira says nothing, but offers a small smile to Pyra. Sure, he was sensitive and a crybaby before, even easily bullied, but he didn't let other people get to him. ...At least that he showed, but hiding what's in his heart is decidedly harder.
There are darker things here, too. When they reach the stairwell down to the ground floor, Akira stops up short, looking down.
There aren't stairs there. Instead there's a giant, gaping maw of a demon, with huge jaws and rows of teeth. Its mouth open wide, waiting to catch prey. And a voice, Ryo's, clear and sharp, cutting through the whispers in the corridor.
'If possible, I want to find out the truth with you. But there's a big risk that comes with it. You might get eaten by a devil...'
Then a younger, boyish Akira: 'I trust you, Ryo-chan!'
The real Akira looks back at Pyra, trying to ignore the voices, wishing above anything that she hadn't been dragged into this at all.]
[ So, then-- he, too, knows about Akira being a... devilman? But clearly he's speaking to Akira before he became as the Akira she knows today.
You might get eaten by a devil. And, I trust you.
Something in her heart begins to sink. She can only think that the two must have delved into something terribly beyond them, and Akira was the one who paid the price... only to overcome it. Still, she's not sure what to think about it quite yet. ] Aki--
[ But then they come upon the gap in the all, and a hand goes to her mouth as she gasps. ] Into its mouth? [ Yeah, okay, she can survive it, but that doesn't mean it won't hurt either of them! ]
Yeah, that voice was Ryo. [Akira moves forward, looking over the edge and into the blackness of that maw. Yet he hesitates, Pyra's fear making him stop. On the one hand, he thinks he can be confident he'll protect Pyra. On the other hand, if this is some manifestation of his heart, the demons that have caused it so much pain are here, too. Seeing his parents made that much clear. What if he leads her deeper into danger?
He'd throw himself into the jaws of hell itself for others, but to drag them down with him... He stops, taking her hand, trying not to show how confused and uncertain he feels.]
[ Well, if he suddenly feels uncertain about it...
She looks at the maw of the demon below them.... ] It's.... not an easy choice, is it? It looks so--... terrible.
[ She swallows. And then she looks back to Akira. ] ....But if we have to do this, [ A pause, and now it's her turn to try to sound reassuring. He has taken her hand at this point, and she gives it a squeeze. ] At least we're going do it together. [ And that's saying a lot about how Chroma operates: that they needn't be alone. ]
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ouch is one of the most intimate, romantic ways to be close to someone else. The Town knows this very well -- the Town wants everyone to be as close as possible.
II; swerves in here!!
[ And she's watching it all with a smile on her face. Is that boy-- is that really Akira? He seems so different, and yet-- no. He's not different at all. Look at his smile, look at how much he seems to care about all of those around him. It's him, it's Akira. ]
...Do you want to join them?
[ It might be a little weird considering that some version of herself is at the table too, but eh. ]
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I do. I wish I could introduce you to everyone...
[Introduce them for real, not here, where in his imaginings, everyone is already like a big happy family. But that's something that won't ever happen, least of all with his parents.
He takes a step forward, then hesitates.]
We... should go. I don't want to keep you trapped here, Pyra.
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She wants to, because of him. People who have earned Akira's affection and care are people that will have hers as well. ]
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[ It escapes her all too easily, a slip of disappointment she shouldn't let in because she knows that it's unfair to him; this world is his. It's personal. ] I mean, yes, of course.
[ . . . ] Let's find a way out of here.
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[He looks puzzled. He doesn't mind that she's here, but it's not as though she came along willingly. Of course he wants to help her get out, more than he wants to indulge this yearning he feels right in front of him.
Too bad his heart has other ideas. He goes for the door his other self had used: it's locked. A cursory check of the windows yields the same result.
'Come, Akira.' A voice from the table. The woman with glasses is looking at him, smiling kindly. He turns to look at her, and his resolve wavers.]
Mom...
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(Because maybe, just maybe, she's hoping that this will be a happy sort of part of his heart.) ] ...Your mother?
[ OH, OH.... she now really wants to meet these people now! She wants to meet his parents!
UnhelpfullyPyra also adds her gentle encouragement... because one shouldn't be hesitant about seeing one's mom or dad, right? ] ...She probably misses you.[ Then, gently she encourages: ] Go on. I'll be right here.
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His lower lip trembles, his eyes brimming with tears, and Pyra's encouragement is enough to push him into moving against his better judgement. He goes to his parents and pulls them both into a hug, silent tears streaming down his face as he buries his face in his mother's shoulder. He wanted this so, so badly.]
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.....Ah, he's crying.
Is one supposed to cry when seeing one's parents?
She can't be sure, but she does know that one would cry when seeing someone someone close after so long. She wants to believe that this is right, that it's important for him to have seen his parents... and she's glad that he has this opportunity to do so, even if this yet another illusion of a sort by Chroma. ]
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[He says it softly under his breath to them both, and his mother strokes his hair and kisses his head. He stays like that for what seems like forever, even if it was only a few scant moments in time.
Then he hears it: the sickening sound of a blade plunging into flesh. His mother gives a gasp of pain and surprise and Akira jolts away from them both to see--
His father, his face demonic and twisted, with a kitchen knife he'd taken and plunged into his mother's stomach under the table. She coughs up blood, her mouth open in shock.
'Reijiro... Why...?'
Akira steps back, an expression of mounting horror on his face. Everyone else around the table vanishes, except Ryo, who now has a handheld camera and is recording the scene, his expression one of icy calm. Akira suddenly feels sick, lightheaded. He knew something like this might happen, but he let himself get tricked again.]
We need to go. [He's talking to Pyra, even if he can't take his eyes off his dying mother.]
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She doesn't know the woman's name, so all she can actually call her is-- ] Mother...--I have you. [ And truly, she does. In her arms, she does, as Akira has jolted away, Pyra has leaped to her before she even fell, catching her and bringing her down gently into her lap.
Ah, she feels foolish for encouraging Akira to join them at the table now. She should have known that these visions that Chroma has manifested aren't anything good.
And although she sees the fake Ryo continuing to film them, Pyra motions with her other hand to Akira... ] ...It's... okay, if you don't want to see this. I'll be here with her. [ Even if she's fake, even if none of this is real. She'll stay here with his mother, even as she lies bleeding out in the room with an audience. ]
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Pyra, get away! It's a tr--
[He can't finish his sentence, because he has to grab what's left of his father to physically restrain him from attacking Pyra, too. The man's teeth have turned into fangs, his eyes blank and demonic, his skin turning a pale blue-grey as he gurgles.
'I killed your mother!' What's left of his father sounds happy about it. 'Let me kill you both, too, Akira!'
Tears are rolling down Akira's face, but he has to remind himself: this isn't real. The danger Pyra is in, however, is very much so.]
Pyra, we need to go!
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[ She'll be the first to make it to the door where his other version of himself had come through. If it's still locked, she'll be trying to just break it down. ]
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The demon taking over his father tries to take advantage of the opportunity to break free. Akira doesn't let go, though: he responds by cracking his head against the table hard enough to knock him unconscious -- but not to kill, though it still hurts his heart to do even this much -- and then runs to meet Pyra out in the hallway. Ryo, meanwhile, stays behind to examine the demon's body.
On the other side, Pyra will find herself in the hallway not of a house, as might be expected, but the corridor of a typical Japanese high school. The bright, sunny weather outside is replaced with darkening rainclouds, and anyone who had been in the room with them before is nowhere to be seen. The school is empty.]
Sorry... you had to see that. [Akira says with a pained grimace as he catches up to her, still clutching his chest. Hopefully his father won't wake up and chase them any time soon.]
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But when she does, her expression immediately turns to that of concern, her apology forgotten. ] --What happened, are you injured?
[ She could have sworn no one hit him, so then-- why does it seem like he's in pain? ]
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I'm not injured. I just... feel like my heart hurts.
[He looks back through the broken doorway and at the table, where the only thing visible from the struggle from this angle is a bloodstain smearing the wood. He swallows and looks back at Pyra.]
I guess it has something to do with this place. It's like we're in my memories, or my feelings.
[Maybe a little of both, inextricably bound together as they are.]
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She looks back to him; leave it to him to connect this place to the heart, because his is so big. ] ...What is your heart telling you to do now?
[ That could point them in the right direction. ]
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[Safe how, when there's grief and sadness in his heart like his father that could seek to hurt her? On the other hand, he's already seen from that room that Pyra is welcome here. Perhaps that alone will be enough to protect her as they wander through.]
We're in my school now. [They could head for the exit, or stay and look for clues about the situation? He's not sure.]
1/2
And even back there, in the other room, a version of her had been at the table. There, among his other friends, among those of his family.
Ah, when did she get so careless, to be accepted into his heart so readily? Have others here done the same? ]
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[ As she walks up to him, she lightly pats him on the upper arm once. ]
Let's go see.... your absolute favorite place in this school.
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'Oh, look, Fudo's crying again!'
'What, did Sato-kun hit you too hard?'
'Not going to hide behind your girlfriend again? The Track Witch?'
'What the hell did she do to deserve getting stuck with a useless freeloader like him, anyway?'
Akira is doggedly ignoring all of these voices, although one of them does give him an idea of what his favourite places is. He takes Pyra's hand, leading her to the stairs and down to the ground floor level.]
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....If this is his heart, or some sort of abstract memory of his, ...perhaps he had to endure these sorts of comments every day. Or worse-- that there is some part of him that is repeating these hurtful things to him in the back of his mind. ]
Akira... [ She murmurs his name sympathetically. ] ...Don't listen to them. [ She hopes she doesn't have to tell him that, but if not, there it is. ]
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There are darker things here, too. When they reach the stairwell down to the ground floor, Akira stops up short, looking down.
There aren't stairs there. Instead there's a giant, gaping maw of a demon, with huge jaws and rows of teeth. Its mouth open wide, waiting to catch prey. And a voice, Ryo's, clear and sharp, cutting through the whispers in the corridor.
'If possible, I want to find out the truth with you. But there's a big risk that comes with it. You might get eaten by a devil...'
Then a younger, boyish Akira: 'I trust you, Ryo-chan!'
The real Akira looks back at Pyra, trying to ignore the voices, wishing above anything that she hadn't been dragged into this at all.]
We have to jump. It's the only way down.
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[ So, then-- he, too, knows about Akira being a... devilman? But clearly he's speaking to Akira before he became as the Akira she knows today.
You might get eaten by a devil. And, I trust you.
Something in her heart begins to sink. She can only think that the two must have delved into something terribly beyond them, and Akira was the one who paid the price... only to overcome it. Still, she's not sure what to think about it quite yet. ] Aki--
[ But then they come upon the gap in the all, and a hand goes to her mouth as she gasps. ] Into its mouth? [ Yeah, okay, she can survive it, but that doesn't mean it won't hurt either of them! ]
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He'd throw himself into the jaws of hell itself for others, but to drag them down with him... He stops, taking her hand, trying not to show how confused and uncertain he feels.]
Maybe we can find another way.
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She looks at the maw of the demon below them.... ] It's.... not an easy choice, is it? It looks so--... terrible.
[ She swallows. And then she looks back to Akira. ] ....But if we have to do this, [ A pause, and now it's her turn to try to sound reassuring. He has taken her hand at this point, and she gives it a squeeze. ] At least we're going do it together. [ And that's saying a lot about how Chroma operates: that they needn't be alone. ]
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