castleinthemist | [Open] .1st Fantasy Impromptu.

Entry tags:

[Open] .1st Fantasy Impromptu.

This wasn't her room.

There was no sound of machinery, no gentle hum of lights and computers and other equipment. There was no child-like laughter from the twins outside the door, no tapping of fingers or smell of cigarettes as Dell worked tirelessly on his song writing, no distant sound of singing from somewhere else in the VOCALOID household that Crypton owned in that small residential district in Tokyo. There was just silence, and a musty scent that for all intents and purposes reminded her of a grave yard after a rain storm had come and gone.

And darkness.

A darkness she wasn't used to.

It soon dawned on her why, though, shortly after her systems started up and she roused from her sleep mode, only slightly more energized than when she had gone to bed.

She was enclosed in something. It was cold, stone, rough and only the barest bits of light fluttered through the few small openings that were high above her head. There was something behind her that only reached to her shoulder blades, just as solid as the stone around her, but she couldn't for the life of her see what it was. In front, what looked to be some kind of opening, though it was little more than a sliver of a crack around it that indicated this.

At first she was curious in her strange half-awake moment before her systems came completely on line, but soon enough that was replaced by fear, then panic. Had she been kidnapped? Were the others there with her? This wasn't a prank... it couldn't be. There was nothing like this strange tomb in their home or anywhere near by. But then, where was she? And how had she been taken from her home so quickly as to not have woken up at all during the journey?

"... h... hello?! e-eto... Is... is anyone out there?! Is-- h... help... ! Help me! Please!"

She became more frightened by the second, even going so far as to start pushing against the wall in front of her in some useless hope that maybe, just maybe, it would budge.

"LET ME OUT! PLEASE"

Her voice rose shrilly, loud and echoing in her chamber, even carrying outside of it for a long ways beyond where her wobbling sarcophagi stood. She was so fraught with panic that she didn't even realize she was actually making the stone budge and sway. She started throwing herself against it hard, slamming her shoulder in to it repeatedly with her frightened, no longer coherent screams.

All at once the stone gave and toppled over with her still inside it, sending both crashing to the stone ledge hard. She bounced when she hit, body jarring with the impact as she skid and went rolling off the edge on to the ground below. She landed in a heap, groaning with the pain her nerve receptors were sending through her entire body, especially her head. A few warnings popped up only long enough for her to know that she was going to shut down momentarily due to the impact.

"Nn-- no... don't--..."

Try as she might to fight against her system's protocols, she failed to stop the shut down fast enough, and within seconds she was still, laying as a discarded doll on the dusty castle floor.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"O-oh..." she mumbled quietly, looking at the floor. She had a sinking feeling none of her family was here, and she didn't want to ask. Hearing the answer would just break her heart more.

But he did try to reassure her, which was good, and earned a very tiny, if not sad smile on her lips. "That's... that's good to hear, at least..."

"It is hard to get used to, at first," Kadar offered, his tone sympathetic. He understood, at least-- perhaps a little more than most, since his being here and alive meant that his chances of returning home were a little less than everyone else's. "But this place is not so bad."

Of course, he had no idea of why any of them were here -- or what any ulterior motives the castle had regarding their presence.

There were a lot of questions that Haku had, but his words were enough to tell her that he probably didn't have any more answers than she did. She chewed on one of her purple painted finger nails nervously, looking around the room slowly.

One thing did come to mind, though, and she quickly started patting her pockets looking for something, eventually coming up with a slightly worn photo that she held out to him.

"... was--... is there anyone who look like these people here, Kadar-san?" she asked worriedly, figuring if anything he could probably answer that.

Kadar looked at the picture for a long moment and racked his brain, trying to remember if he had seen anyone that looked like them. There were a few with passing similarities-- the hair colors were so strange-- but eventually he shook his head. It didn't seem fair that he had so many people he knew and others had so few...

"I am sorry," he said, quietly. "I have not seen them."

Haku sighed, shoulders slumping as she tucked the photo back in to the pocket of her jeans. Maybe it wasn't a bad thing, that her family wasn't there.

"I-it's alright..." she said quietly, sitting up on her knees and staring at her hands, fingers curling in to loose fists. She was shaking. She didn't even know why she was shaking but she was, and she couldn't even hide it all that well.

"I-I'll... I'll... be alright..." she muttered, voice wavering. She didn't want to cry, not in front of some one she'd just met, but the tears were already burning in her eyes.

Kadar didn't move. He should give her privacy, but-- the last thing he wanted was for her to get lost. He knew first hand how confusing this place could be, and she was distressed...

So instead, he offered a hand out to her.

"You will," he said, and his voice was strong and reassuring on this. "You just need some food and a bed to rest in."

Haku blinked her red eyes, staring at his hand for a moment before taking it. She was still trembling, but Kadar just being there and willing to help was enough to keep her calm. She rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand, sniffling a little as she managed a weak smile.

"Thank you, Kadar-san..."

Kadar had found, in his experience, that there were few things that could not be made better with supportive company. Gaping stomach wounds were one of them (but dying was not, and dying alone was absolutely awful).

"You are welcome," Kadar says, starting to stand. "I will show you to where we all have been staying. It could use some work, but-- we're all working to make it better."

Haku stood after him, wishing her legs didn't feel so weak. Her systems read all normal but she still felt as though there was a lack of energy in her body that she couldn't explain.

"Work... ?" she asked as she followed him, clinging instinctively to his hand like a younger sibling to an older one. "Have you been here very long... ?"

Kadar nodded. He was careful to go slow; he remembered well enough the confusion at waking up here and the headache she was certain to have -- even without the fall she'd taken, hitting the ground harder than he had.

"A few weeks," he said. Closer to a month, these days, but that sounded worse. More intimidating to say that she might be away from her family for so long. "More people are constantly arriving, so it may be that your family will be here soon." He hoped, anyway. For her sake. He can't imagine being here without Malik.

She wasn't stumbling too terribly, but she was certainly weaker than she'd ever felt before. Even hangovers weren't this bad, and she almost wondered if a recharge of some sort was needed.

Maybe food and sleep were a good idea after all.

"... m-maybe..." she said quietly to his hopeful thought. She wasn't sure if she wanted them there. Some of them could handle it, like Meiko or Luka or even Kaito. But the twins... or even Miku... it worried her, and she really couldn't pin down exactly why.

Just a bad feeling all around.

Thankfully, the living area wasn't too far from the sarcophagus room. --Well, not to Kadar, anyway, but he wasn't the best judge of what distances were like, given he was used to traveling five days like it was nothing (and then five days back again).

"There are other girls here," Kadar continued. He was good at comforting background chatter, at least. It was a somewhat unusual strength for an Assasin, but-- well, it came in handy, at times like this. "So you will not need to worry too much about privacy, or having more companions."

His chatter was comforting, strangely enough. It reminded her of Kaito a bit, how he would often talk just for the sake of talking or to fill up silence or even just to be a presence when one of their siblings weren't feeling well for whatever reason. He did it with Haku often after she first moved in with them.

She managed a tiny smile as Kadar talked, still holding on to his hand as he led her to the living area.

"I... I don't mind... I'm used to living with with boys and girls. I have several brothers and sisters."

"You do? Several? I only have one -- although we grew up with many others nearby, they were not the same to me as he was," Kadar said. "My brother-- Malik, he arrived here when I did, even though we are from separate times back home. It is all very confusing, if I think about it."

"Your brother is here... ?"

Again, Haku couldn't quite decide how she felt about whether or not her siblings might eventually show up there. Familiarity would be nice in this strange new place that had her so frightened, but would any of them really be safe?

"My family is always growing..." she explained quietly, fidgeting even as they walked. She continued on in a bit of a ramble, not even thinking that he might have no idea what she was talking about.

"I have four sisters and three brothers from our parent company right now. There might be more on the way, once the next designs are chosen. And then there's the companies that aren't Crypton that make Vocaloids..."

Kadar blinked at her, stopping in his pace for a second. Crypton? Vocaloids? Parent... company? None of that made any sense to him. They were words that didn't even connect to anything in his mind, and he wasn't even sure what questions he should be asking.

"I... I don't think I understand," he offers, a little lamely.

"Ah..."

Oh, she was rambling, wasn't she? More than usual. Damn nerves.

An awkward smile was given, hand coming to rest on the wall next to her.

"Well... I'm... not human, you see..." came the explanation a few seconds later. This really wasn't home at all, was it? Even the most average, non-technologically savvy person at least knew what Vocaloids were. So if he was confused...

"Of course I was made to look as human as possible, though. We all were. So... it's understandable, why you'd be confused..." she added, starting to walk again, going past him with her hands now tucked behind her back.

Kadar hurriedly followed to catch pace with her. He was hardly going to let her go on alone, or get too far away from him-- this place was relatively safe, but that didn't mean he had any delusions about how dangerous it was capable of being.

"There are a few others here who are not human," he offered, by way of reassurance. After meeting Raven on his first day here-- someone blue and capable of shapeshifting-- he didn't think he'd be startled by anything else. "Where I am from, to my knowledge, we-- we only had humans. You will have to teach me about the differences!"

Well, at least he was interested, and not afraid. She had heard horror stories - some that may not have been entirely truthful - about humans who reacted badly to advanced robotics and lashed out at them violently out of fear.

"Well..." she started with a faint smile, "For a start, everything you see here is artificial. Mostly metal. Some plastic. My skin is synthetic," she said, pulling on a little on her arm to demonstrate that it held no nerve endings and could be tugged away from her casing as if no muscle or tissue held it in place.

"And would you believe? I'm only four years old."

Kadar considered her words for a moment, unsure of exactly what plastic was-- and then blinked, rocking back on his heels.

"You're only four?" What? She looked-- nearly his age, at least!

The reaction was amusing, to say the least, but for his sake she managed to not laugh.

Much.

"Yes. I was created four years ago. ... well. In my world, at least," since this was very clearly NOT her world at all. She had figured that much out rather quickly. "I was activated November 21st, 2007, and today would have been February 13th, 2012. I will be five this coming November. I'm sorry, I know it's shocking. I was made to look and act much, much older."

This was obviously a brain breaking moment for poor Kadar, so she decided to shift the conversation back to him to spare him any further confusion.

"What year is it for you, Kadar-san?"

"I-- I am from 1191!" Kadar managed to stumble the date out, a little surprised at both her age and the date. "I-- I thought you were near my own age! You are-- ah, you are very mature-- or-- well made?" He wasn't quite sure what to say to convey his own thoughts on the matter without being potentially offensive.

People that were blue shapeshifters seemed easy, in comparison.

"1191? O-oh... so this is... really advanced for you..." Haku mused, pressing her hands together in front of her lips thoughtfully.

"Mature is one way of looking at it..." she continued, not really worried about whether or not he was being offensive. He probably wasn't, all things considered. "We don't age, so... they design how we look first, then go with other details after. So... if we're made to look 20, we'll likely come out acting 20."

"It is very advanced!" Kadar offered, but there was laughter in his voice. "Is it hard to-- make ones like you? Or are you common? You mentioned your family..."

Again, she was glad for the laugh and that he wasn't afraid of her. Really, this conversation could have gone so much worse.

"Oh, well... it used to be harder, but it's been getting easier. My older siblings were a few years apart, but my younger ones started being activated a lot closer together."

[Open] .1st Fantasy Impromptu.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

so earlier? i somehow confused not only you and taco, but haku and miku.

... that takes talent, hun. xD

I am so talented and should probably not tag at 3am. "why is miku's hair white? ...wait."

LOL! But 3am tagging is the best!

It was, and then I fell asleep.

And then I let Skyward Sword steal my soul. /petpet

A WEEK LATER...

You are always forgiven for back tags <3

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

as they adopt each other as siblings, basically.

adorable siblings!

(no subject)

(no subject)