funambulistconflicted - Tumblr blog

[funambulistconflicted]

damashita‌:

     unfortunately, they wouldn’t be getting the appreciation & acknowledgement they so desired. such is the cruelty of the haze, & it so dictates that putting up with the snake’s bullshit goes unrewarded, as it’s the way of life. survival, even. how terrible.

      ❝ ‘cause that pride a’yours is on the stake?   ❞

They rolled their eyes, continuing to mop as the snake spoke. As hard as they were trying not to be a dumbass, they were so goddamn bored. 

“Okay, jerk, I’ll bite,” they replied finally, letting out a sigh. “What’s the bet?”

[funambulistconflicted]

damashita‌:

     defensive, predictable, & noted. the funniest of humans to provoke were those of defensive natures, who were quick to bark back & sometimes even bite. they were the ones most often swayed by lies, deceiving found, as they could be gullible beyond belief — though whether mia was one or not was up to debate. still, this reaction in itself was funny enough, so much that the serpent snickers from his perch.

     ❝  i’m not helpin’ ‘cause it ain’t my job.  ❞ it’s tossed back without much edge; there is no sharpness, nor an intention to do much beyond jabbing. it’s a variable in this experimental banter, & nothing more.  ❝  but ‘ey, if you’re offerin’, why don’t we make a bet?  ❞

“Your bets are always rigged,” they replied automatically, gesturing at the fighting ring around them. “Why would I take one with you?” 

They were trying so hard not to be a dumbass. They honestly wished someone was around to appreciate just how much effort was going into that. 

[funambulistconflicted]

damashita‌:

     despite his choice of seating upon the nearby table, he hadn’t treated it as if it were a pedestal, nor a throne. this was not leverage for the ego, no — deceiving isn’t exactly the pompous sort, per se. not like that of clearing eyes. but his regard for humans is little, & an apprentice must do their jobs, mustn’t they? he certainly wouldn’t be one to aid them by any means; tasks were meant to be grueling, & while his own was far from the worst considerably, that was no excuse to make it easy on them. the ridiculous hours demanded was proof of that enough.

     ❝ ‘bout 2 am. ya still got a long way t’go, kid.  ❞

     fingers roll a cigarette between the spaces of each digit, & he hums absentmindedly as he watches them work. a snort passes by, & a brow raises questioningly, if not almost in jest.

     ❝  s’a matter? can’t handle the night shift?  ❞

They couldn’t help it. The moment their ability to handle anything was challenged, they were overtaken with a wave of defensiveness. It was kinda pathetically predictable, really. 

“Brave words from someone who’s not helping,” they said, dunking their mop into the bucket with a bit more force than strictly necessary. “I could do this all night.” 

That was a pretty dumb thing to say, but they weren’t really thinking straight. It was two in the morning, and no properly-adjusted person’s brain would be functioning at this hour. 

[funambulistconflicted]

I guess you could call this the apprenticeship of hard knocks?

@speakhellpuzzle

@ekkususen

@damashita

Mopping up blood, huh. Miasma hadn’t expected to be doing this again. Hard, nasty, backbreaking work wasn’t exactly what they’d planned on after going through all the trouble of dying and all that. Not to mention the insanity that was their sleep schedule right now. 

At least the company was decent. 

“What goddamn time is it, anyway?”

[funambulistconflicted]

shockedmia.png

[funambulistconflicted]

rebellejoker‌:

“I think there has to be a way out, otherwise, they wouldn’t offer it to us–but..” He doesn’t really want to know what happens when he goes back, if he’ll be lying against that metal desk  with blood dripping from his forehead and his eyes blown wide from the sensation of being shot through the school. He doesn’t like the thought of it, going back to a failure like that–Not when he so obviously failed.

“Believe it or not, If I get out of here? I’ll be right back into a mousetrap. I don’t even know if this worse than my first situation.”

“Mmm, well that’s fair.” 

Miasma, frankly, hadn’t thought of that. They had plenty of reason to go back themself- they had an act to start, they wanted to solve their own murder, they had a brother who probably desperately missed them. 

“Well...” they continued, biting their thumb lightly in thought, “the snakes grant wishes, don’t they? So maybe we could somehow strongarm them into getting us out of the messes we died in, but...I doubt they hand out wishes willy-nilly...”

[funambulistconflicted]

rebellejoker‌:

That brutal recreation of his own death, Hikaru’s still not certain of how long he had spent alone within there, wondering if his friends were alright–If they were going to come for him or not? It had been the very definition of hell and when he had thought he was getting out of it?  Well, here he was and here he’d be until something changed.

Either way, he doesn’t intend on killing or being killed–Not when Goro’s life hangs within the balance as well. It’s not even his Goro, but he doesn’t want to be in this alone and he supposes that’s all that matters in the end, doesn’t it?

“Yeah, I don’t even know how that’d be entertaining. I didn’t know Touma, I didn’t know Kisaragi-san, but I don’t see how someone cruelly killing a child for their own damn sake is entertaining–it’s pathetic.”

Miasma frowned. They seemed to have hit a nerve. Of course they had, the kid had gone through his Daze way more recently than them. It was probably still a fresh wound. Their expression softened a little bit.

“They seem like...pretty pathetic people. I think Saeru maybe has a grudge against some of the players...some of them seem to know each other from somewhere, but I don’t really know much about that. Um. Anyway, I wouldn’t go throwing in the towel yet. We’re really hoping to get the hell out of here somehow.”

[funambulistconflicted]

Send me "Come and dance" for my muses reaction to yours taking their hands and pulling them onto the dancefloor

[funambulistconflicted]

rebellejoker‌:

He’s actually surprised at the fact that someone else is actually able to give him a decent answer, given how confused he actually is about this whole thing,. It probably would require more explanation before the wildcard was able to fully to understand, what was going on here? Though Mia had given him a decent explanation.  “Yeah, um..I was wondering about that. How did they even get us here? I thought once we died, it was done–I remember getting shot in the head, so it’s just odd to find myself alive in truth.”

“But why make us go through this? Why motivate us to kill each other? I feel like they could kill at any moment and I know they’re having fun with it, but I want to think that there’s another purpose into …well, turning us into something like them.  “

“Are we just here to stay forever? Until all of us perish and become like them?”

“Well, that’s the question of the hour, now isn’t it?” Miasma asked, frowning.

They actually hadn’t given it much thought, up to this point, but in all honesty, it didn’t add up. Why would Saeru and Gattai need to make a bunch of dead people kill each other? Was it really out of pure desire for amusement? Or was it something more nefarious?

“I don’t know how they got us here. I don’t remember any of it. I just remember dying and waking up in that really kinda rude recreation of my death. But you make a good point. If those two just wanted to turn us all into snakes, they could just kill us all now like they did that girl...so there must be something else they need out of us first. Unless they really do just want to watch us kill each other for their own amusement....”

[funambulistconflicted]

Miasma nodded, a little surprised to be addressed. They recognized the boy addressing them, though. He’d done remarkably well during the trial, especially for someone who hadn’t had the benefit of being there during the investigation. Pretty impressive stuff actually. 

“Uh, hey. Hikaru, right?” they asked. “Um...that’s a damn good question actually. The best of what I know is...”

They rubbed their temples a bit as they thought, trying not to forget any important details. 

“We’re all dead...or something like that. This is something like purgatory, y’know where your soul goes before it moves on to the afterlife? The snakes snatched us all up so we basically live here now. And they say that we can get brought back to life, with powers and any wish we want granted, but to do that we’d have to kill someone and get away with it. Which, like, obviously, dealbreaker.

“So if someone dies we get time to investigate the evidence and when it’s done we have to have a trial, and whoever we find guilty gets executed.” They frowned. “But I guess you know that. And, uhhh...”

“Saeru- that’s the guy in charge around here- does this thing with the bodies...where he can reanimate them and turn them into snakes like the folks who run the shops...but. As far as we can tell, they don’t retain any memories or their old identity, so...it just feels a little gauche...”

@funambulistconflicted. 

This is one of the few people at the trial who hadn’t struck him as crazy. It’s good to know there’s still people like that out there, though he’s mainly been sticking to clinging to the elder brunette that had shown up towards the end–Hopefully,no one’s taken notice of that…though he’s sure that there’s nothing to worry about, given that the two have become a package deal.

“You’re erm..Mia, right? Do you mind answering a question of mine?…What the hell’s going on?” Of course, he knew he could ask Haruka, but the other boy seemed busy and that was that. 

[funambulistconflicted]

“I, uh, I actually was investigating. I just, ahh, stepped away for a minute.” 

Miasma shrugged, scratching her head a little. They guessed they probably should be on the investigation right now if they didn’t want to lose important evidence to decay. Still, it was awful bold for this stranger to call them out on it when she wasn’t even helping, herself. 

“I’m the one who’s mostly been handling the body examination, after all,” they continued. “It doesn’t really bother me, but...I need to step out for air once in a while.”

@funambulistconflicted

“Well don’t just stand around. Go investigate or something.” Says the one wringing her hands in a corner, not being useful to the investigation at all. That was Makoto’s shtick. Touko was the one who stood around biting her nails and trying not to pass out at the sight of blood. She’s gotten better at the not passing out part, considering her past year cleaning up the mess that was Touwa City, but her poor nails had yet to receive a break. 

“Who me? I’m a novelist, not a detective. A-And I don’t do well with corpses.”

[funambulistconflicted]

Miasma felt like shit. They hardly even felt like getting out of bed. But...if the announcement was true, (and by the feeling in their fingers, it was), there was a murderer in their midst. Killing kids, no less. And regardless of how shitty they felt, that couldn’t stand. 

[funambulistconflicted]

speakhellpuzzle‌:

“An excellent idea,” Rouxls rubbed the back of his neck.  He had never been in charge of much that was important before, being the younger, less successful brother.  But it wasn’t like he had a choice, responsibility was being hoist upon him either way.

“Where shall we meet?  If you gather half the other adults, I shall gather the rest.  Perhaps the Kozakura family will be especially interested, given the large amount of family they have here.”

Miasma nodded slowly. 

“I have a phone, so at the very least I have everyone’s names and a way to contact some of them....It might just be easier to split the job up by West and East City...”

They opened the full list of players on their phone and held it so Rouxls could see the screen. 

“I live in...Superbia, so I could talk to all the adults in the West. But...maybe a little later. I think I need to get my roommate.”

[funambulistconflicted]

strodehellfire‌:

        the touch of a hand against hers made her gaze flick towards the source, and tears welled in her eyes at the sight of her roommate. they said something, probably something along the lines of needing to get a move on ( although much more nicely, miasma was a good person and roommate ).

       yet it wasn’t despair that caused those tears to fall as she nodded.

       it was DREAD.

       dread that ultimately couldn’t be resolved right now, or put to rest in this terrible place, and so all she could do was mumble, “okay, mia”. her arms lowered, falling to her side, but it wasn’t likely that she’d have a smile for at least a few hours, perhaps even a day.

Miasma squeezed Magdalena’s hand lightly as the two of them headed back towards the Superbia ward. They had to glance down every so often just to make sure Magdalena’s hand was still there, given that they couldn’t feel it in their own. 

This was....a weird position to be in. They’d never been a very responsible person. Back in the circus, Sammy had always been the “older brother” of the two, even if they were technically the same age. But now...they were surrounded with kids and teenagers, and they couldn’t feel anything but the overwhelming desire to keep them safe. 

Especially Magdalena. They guessed it was just that they lived in close proximity, and the evolutionary response to having a younger person around was to immediately need to protect them, but. All the same, even if it was just chemicals in their brain...they wanted her safe. 

They found themself holding her hand a little more tightly for the rest of the walk.

[funambulistconflicted]

speakhellpuzzle‌:

Rouxls sighed.  Even he didn’t have all the answers.  “There are more questions than answers, but if we put our heads together, I’m sure something will indeed come of it.  …And, more than anything, appearances are important.“

“Won’t it bring comfort to the children to know that we’re at least trying?  They need a strong figure of authority and rules.  If we just run around individually, things will slip through the net, and the consequences could be dire.”

Miasma mulled that over for a second or two before nodding firmly. The stranger was right. The kids didn’t need them freaking the hell out right now, they needed proof that everything was going to be okay. If they looked to their authority figures and found them losing hope, there would be nothing to keep them going.

Ugh, responsibility. A burden that had never particularly suited them well. 

“You’re right,” they admitted. “We should...gather the other adults, maybe. Build a...council or something.”

[funambulistconflicted]

speakhellpuzzle‌:

There was much to do.  Rouxls’ head was spinning- he didn’t want to see any more of this.  He couldn’t.

He had to make up his mind.  The adults, they had to rally together, he thought, to keep these children from further harm.  He put a hand on her shoulder, “You’re Miasma, right?” his voice was different than usual.  Deeper, less fluttering.

“We can’t just stand around like lemmings.  We need to gather and form a plan.”

Miasma didn’t feel when a hand was placed on their shoulder, and they startled a little bit when they heard the unfamiliar voice, sure that it was about to precede an attack. When it became clear that they were in no danger, they relaxed a bit and took a deep breath. 

“For what? I mean, I’m all for doing something, but what even can we do, besides try to keep the kids out of danger as best we can?”

[funambulistconflicted]

Miasma was still recovering from the shock of the horrible event themself, although they had to admit that their lack of touch was helping. It was easy to get back on their feet when they couldn’t feel their stomach churning, couldn’t feel the tears involuntarily rising to their eyes.  And anyway, now wasn’t the time to wallow. There were kids here. It was on them to be the grown up. And here was their roommate, still in shock from the looks of things. They swallowed and walked up to her, folding a hand around hers. They knew she wouldn’t be able to hear anything they said, but maybe talking could help calm her down all the same. 

“Come on, Maggie. Let’s go home.” 

        “w-wait, what? what…?” her proficiency to reading lips was practically bare minimum, but when she saw the snakes, all she could do was gasp.

        one of the other girls was dead. she…she didn’t even know her NAME.

        even after the crowd cleared, one could still see magdalena standing there, trembling, arms wrapped around herself. she had seen the results, had seen the girl’s changed appearance, and yet, all she could murmur without hearing herself was “why”.