(Untitled)

[animusmods]

23:30:00
Silent dormitory rooms are lined with bodies--not dead, just sleeping. Throughout the tower it is pitch black and silent. At the base of the tower, countless shining eyes, watching.

23:45:00The tower hums to life. Lights blink on in one by one; only the dormitory rooms remain dark. A small army of blank-faced humanoids appear and spend

Comments

ROOM 1-04

[greennotgold]

Those thirty seconds might be the longest thirty seconds of Fletcher's life. Once he's finally able to move, he sits up with a gasp and looks around the strange room.

Not his bedroom, and not anywhere else he's seen before. The other people in the room are unfamiliar, too. He swallows nervously, but doesn't speak up. What if they're upset that he's intruded?

[thisclinchesit]

Thirty seconds in, and Shoutarou can finally move. This results in a flailing, angry crash off the bed and into the the floor. He notices that this is not his detective agency.

"What--OW--Where the hell am I?!"

He's kind of missed the fact that there are others in the room.

[greennotgold]

So Fletcher's not the only one who's been misplaced? That's slightly reassuring. He scrambles out of bed, just now noticing the strange bodysuit he's wearing, and over to the man who's fallen on the floor.

"Are you okay?!"

[thisclinchesit]

Whoa whoa whoa strange kid in a weird suit.

Shoutarou stands up, and the really strange sensation of his own suit hits him. This is not clothing befitting of a hard-boiled detective.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I--" he starts, patting himself down. He seems to have none of the usual carried items on his person, and his hat is missing.

"...what is this place? What's going on here?"

[greennotgold]

It's okay, Shoutarou, Fletcher isn't wearing his hat either. They can be hatless buddies.

"I-- I don't know." He looks around again, nervously. "I just woke up and then I couldn't move and..." His voice is shaking, but that's okay, it's not like he knows anything Shoutarou doesn't.

[thisclinchesit]

Okay, Shou doesn't know the kid, but he's freaked out too. He takes a breath, then wipes his own face down with a hand. Gotta be the adult here. If this is someone's kid, they're probably looking for him.

"Okay, okay... Let's look around a bit. See what we can figure out." The room isn't too big, there's three other beds beside's Shoutarou's own. The beds have trunks and nightstands beside them, and there's papers there?

Shoutarou grabs them, and starts to read...

[greennotgold]

Huh? Fletcher hadn't noticed those papers before, but there's two on his nightstand too. He picks his up and starts to read them.

By the time he's finished, he's about ready to crawl back into bed and hide under the blanket until all of this goes away. No, no, no, no... If his world's been destroyed then that means...

"Brother...?"

[thisclinchesit]

Shoutarou lowers the letters after reading them - he finds it all hard to believe.

Rather, impossible to believe.

The universe at large has taken away the people most important to him already, now it's finishing the job by destroying his home and leaving him here? Akiko, Terui, Jinno, Makki, Queen, Elizabeth, Watcherman, Santa-chan...

Shoutarou crumples the papers up and throws them aside, standing up and rubbing his face again. This can't be true, can it?

He's about to go find who's behind this and do some percussive interrogation when he hears the kid again. He files that rage away for a moment, then walks over to Fletcher and squats down, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder if he'll allow it.

So very half-boiled, self.

[greennotgold]

Fletcher's stuck staring at the first letter -- he hasn't been able to put it aside to read the second -- and has almost forgotten about Shoutarou, until the man puts his hand on his shoulder. He jumps, and looks up, hands shaking and eyes wide and teary.

"...it's not true," he says simply, as though just saying it will make it so.

[thisclinchesit]

Oh hell, the kid's close to crying.

So much for putting that rage away.

Shoutarou puts on a serious-but-reassuring face. "I..." He doesn't want to say it's not true. What if it is? "...I don't want to believe it. But don't worry - I'm a detective. I'll figure out what's going on here." Small reassuring smile go!

[greennotgold]

Fletcher sniffles, but wipes his eyes before he can start crying in front of a total stranger, and nods in reply. A detective? Well, that should be useful... Fletcher's detecting skills are pretty useless.

"O-okay. I... I'll help if I can," he says. He will help. Somehow.

He looks back down at the papers in his hands, and looks at the second one now. It's information on the place they're in... and a job notification? He has a job?

[thisclinchesit]

Oh, hey, Shoutarou should probably introduce himself.

He puts a hand out for a handshake. "I'm Shoutarou Hidari."

[greennotgold]

That's a weird name. Fletcher doesn't care right now, though; he eyes Shoutarou's hand, and shakes it weakly. "My name's Fletcher Tringham. It--it's nice to meet you. Mr. Hidari."

[thisclinchesit]

"Likewise, though I wish it was under better circumstance--"

Shoutarou is cut off by a thumping noise coming from the trunk at the end of his bed. He turns around, watching the thing for a moment before holding up a hand toward Fletcher to signal him to stay there while he creeps toward the trunk...

[greennotgold]

The thumping sound makes Fletcher jump. Could this situation possibly get any worse? He backs up, though there's not really anywhere for him to go at this point, and just watches as Shoutarou moves.

His hands instinctively go for where his pockets should be, but he doesn't have any in this weird suit. No chalk, nothing he can draw with to protect himself if something dangerous appears.

[thisclinchesit]

As Shoutarou gets closer to the trunk, the top swings open!

...and out flies Shoutarou's little bat-camera-robot. Shoutarou ungracefully moves back when the chest opens, but he facepalms a good bit once he realizes what came out.

Said bat flies over to Shoutarou and lands on his shoulder, while a few more noises come from the trunk. Moving over there, he peeks in and hey! Here's a bunch of his stuff.