591/Inner Conflict: Put Flesh

Inner Conflict: Put Flesh
Date of Scene:	13 October 2023
Location:	The Forgotten District
Synopsis:	CW: Gore, Doll Horror, Too Many Dolls The increasingly creepy encounters become more dangerous, as chasing the theory that Himeko is trying to build herself a body leads to a confrontation in a doll shop...
Cast of Characters:	Pyrite, Mamoru Chiba, Laisa Samuiko, Norie Okana, Amanda Faust
Tinyplot:	Inner Conflict

---

Pyrite has posed:
    Forget-Me-Not Dolls is a combination of doll store and boutique for doll clothes and accessories.
    Dolls line the shelves all over the shop. Some stand in glass cases, and there are mannequins showing off various outfits. It is tucked away in a quiet part of the city, where old-fashioned homes and stores can be found, in a neighborhood with walls lining the compact roads that give a somewhat enclosed feeling, even when traveling on-foot.
    Mirrors at stop signs help to see around corners to prevent car accidents, and things are almost 'rustic', considering it's in Tokyo.
    It's almost like time stopped a few decades prior, and no one has bothered to start the clock again.
    The store is on the bottom floor of a two-story building, with a studio apartment upstairs.
    Really, there's nothing much to be concerned about. People not inclined to visit out-of-the-way doll shops probably wouldn't come here at all.
    Well, except for one thing...
    This neighborhood isn't on any map.
    According to official records, it doesn't even exist.
    But here it is.
    And here people may find themselves wandering into it, even if they didn't intend to. They may have stopped paying attention for just a little while, or gotten a little bit lost, or wanted to explore just a little bit...
    And the next thing they knew, they were somewhere unfamiliar. Another place.
    An Other place.
    A little piece of the Forgotten District that was once attached to Juuban...
    But this little piece is 'new'.
    The Forgotten District is spreading.
    And here is a doll shop, where paths may just seem to end for multiple people. A middle school girl with long black hair, red eyes, and wearing an outdated and unfamiliar school uniform, is just opening the door to step outside.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"..." says the boy who stops on the sidewalk a little away from her, facing in her direction, looking directly at her.

He's tall, but his face is young, mid-teens. His hair's black but shaggy; he's wearing grey military-style trousers and boots, but a loose black button-down over a white t-shirt above that. No, for the record, cape or jacket. He's still Hematite.

He's here because of a mission and a decision and good timing, and he calls out, "Himeko?" uncertainly.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Laisa occasionally goes out on walks. Sometimes it's to take her mind off of things. Other times it's to investigate the nature of her family's curse. Today, it's mostly because she doesn't really have any place in particular that she wants to go. Maybe she's just out looking for magical trouble to get into, or maybe she just wants to explore. She hasn't consciously decided yet. All she knows is that she's restless, and her body wants to move, so she moves.

    It's probably because of this aimless wandering that she ends up in the middle of a place she's never seen before, standing outside a doll shop. Did she have an interest in dolls? Not particularly, but she doesn't hate them either. There's always something interesting about their uncanny nature, as if they might just be alive. It's only once she stops to think that she wonders where exactly she is. Has she been here before? No, couldn't be. Nothing about this place looks unfamiliar.

    Laisa glances in Hematite's direction, and then towards the black haired girl. Has she seen either of them before? The tall boy, she thinks so. Probably not so much the girl. Laisa doesn't know either of them well enough to start a conversation, and instead just starts walking past the girl towards the entrance to the doll shop.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana was hunting and was drawn to the area for reasons. Not... pure heart hunting no. She kind of had holes in her and they weren't healing or going away when she turned back into Norie. oops. She had to fix this, so she was off hunting.

This was not the best area for it. There wasn't a lot of people. But that had it's own advantages-- easier to drag people into the shadows and drain them. Which she's managed to do at least one. Which was enough to heal some of her physical damage.

But not all. She needed more.

Today's wear was a purple hoodie with the hoodie pulled up, and otherwise a very non descript boring white t-shirt and jeans. She has her hands in the baggy pockets of the hoodie for now. She frowns a little to herself and she looks up.

Oh. Someone is calling out for someone. Is that Hematite? Who is he calling out for. She slides into an alleyway momentarily.

She hides. And changes. Dropping the Norie illusion in favor of the other.

She repeeks from around the alleyway. Just peeking with purple eyes for now.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's mind wandered while she walked. She has a lot of things to think about, so is lost in thought for quite awhile before she realizes she is also lost in fact. Except that's, y'know, not possible in 2023, or so she thinks. As she pulls her phone from her pocket, she notices the girl in a school uniform she's never seen before (or, perhaps, has she, if other Academy staff shared old pictures in some conversation at a work function?) but figures it is perhaps a costume or something from an anime she's unfamiliar with.

    If Laisa is wearing her school uniform, Amy notes that, but first, she's looking down at her phone and unlocking it and tapping the Map app.

Pyrite has posed:
+========================<* OOC Area - Nightmare 4 *>========================+

This seems to be your standard, magical holodeck. Would you imagine such a thing even has standards!? Well there are! They're rigorously controlled by the Sticky Sweet Candy Illuminati. Hail Hail Sugar Forever!

---------------------------------< Victims >----------------------------------
A Dead Girl (Amanda Faust)Lies LiesLiesParasite (La Crima)
Everyone You Touch Dies (Laisa Samuiko)Rotting Inside (Hematite)
You're Dreaming, Please Wake Up! (Himeko Soryuu)


    The girl glances over when someone calls out. Her hair is hanging over one eye, and she has a scar on her left cheek. She hesitates, moving aside when Laisa moves to enter the doll shop, the little bell over the door ringing as it is reopened. "...Do I know you, sir?" she asks Hematite in a quiet monotone.
    As Amy looks at her Map app, there is a slight schism in reality. Like a layer of consciousness got peeled back for a moment, before snapping back into place.
    As La Crima peeks around the corner, she may see that there's someone dressed the same as herself further up the street, also in an alley between the close-together buildings, peeking around a corner. The other person is also looking at someone dressed the same and... Well, you can figure out the rest.
    Inside, Laisa encounters a wall of static. Not really, but that's what it feels like for a moment. Inside, there's a pale girl with long, straight black hair, and red eyes, with a scar on her left cheek, wearing an unfamiliar middle-schooler's uniform. She is sitting on a chair across a small coffee table from a love seat with its back to the wall. She glances up at Laisa as she enters, and stares emotionlessly.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
--no.

"Yes," Hematite says, and he doesn't come any closer, not for right now. "You're older than that uniform, though. Himeko Soryuu. You kept cutting your face with a piece of broken glass. I scared you, far far underwater. Where is the shrine, please?"

He shifts his weight, his eyes falling to the door she came out of, the door that Laisa went into. His heart hurts. (But it always hurts.) He hasn't seen Amy, or Norie. Amy's met him before, chasing that witch down the street. He teleported her and the others to the roof and then left. Overprotective of Sailor Moon.

"Someone who's my sister sometimes, she resides in the shrine. I'm looking for her. She looks exactly like you."

Ghost nonsense, ghost nonsense. Hematite closes his eyes for a second, then opens them again.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Laisa is most certainly in her Radiant Heart uniform, which looks messy and untucked in such a precise way that it almost looks intentional, but aside from that is pretty unremarkable.

    The wall of static gives her pause. Did... did she see that, or merely feel it? It's strange. Something is wrong here, and she doesn't fully understand it. No, maybe she's just imagining things. That has to be it, right?

    Laisa looks over to the pale girl. Red eyes aren't that usual. Laisa, out of henshin, has them. Still, the exact combination of features on this girl... nah, Laisa shouldn't judge. She's just letting her mind run wild because of how off this place feels.

    "Oh... do you work here?" she asks. I mean, they're looking at each other. Laisa may as well say something.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy Faust, the dead girl, fights with her phone for a bit. She keeps ending up in the wrong app, or on unfamiliar error screens. What does it even mean that she's dead, anyway? How did she die? Is she in the afterlife? Maybe this is the afterlife. She should look around and check it out. Usagi's magical guy friend is here and he's not dead, but he's rotting inside, talking to the dreaming girl. If they're not dead, what are they doing in the afterlife? She should go talk to-- wait.

    Pocketing her phone, Amy checks her reflection in a nearby shop window. So, she came here as Amanda. Good. It'd *suck* to be stuck as a dude in the afterlife. She smiles, and adjusts some stray hairs before approaching Hematite. "Hey!" she waves. "What're you doing here?"

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima is peeking primarily at the interaction between Hematite and 'Himeko', and watching. She isn't. Paying too much attention to much else. But something feels. Weird. Here. Is the dusk zone layering here?

She isn't sure. She doesn't have the devices or tools to check that, just her own senses- she's trying to reach out when----

Hey who's that. She looks behind herself. And the other girl also turns at the same time. And she looks back quickly and the other girl also turns at the same time and---

That's freaky and weird. She frowns and crosses her eyes and comes out from the alleyway and seems to think a little.

"Ah. I think. The Dusk Zone is. layering." she mutters to herself. It's the only explanation she can come up with that makes sense.

La Crima doesn't dream anymore like a human. Something is short circuiting inside her right now and she's twitching a little.

She wonders if she can catch herself. She actually runs past the others suddenly trying this.

She doubts she herself has any answers. That doesn't make sense.

Pyrite has posed:
    Hematite asks about a shrine. The girl tilts her head, then she raises her left hand and points down the street. "There's one that way."
    As La Crima tries to run by her other selves, they all turn to face her, and each one points down the street, and each one is her but not, and they all have red eyes and a scar on their left cheek. They may be pointing down the street, but they're looking right at her.
    "When help is needed." the girl in the shop says as she slowly rises from her seat, moving in such a perfect imitation of a human that it is imperfect. Or perhaps uncanny. "Do you have questions? Or did you wish to see the special collection downstairs?" She gestures towards a front desk where a *static* is sitting, with a sign that reads, '500 yen'. "The ones on the first floor are for sale. The ones downstairs are not. But I really love them."
    The Himeko in front of the store takes note of Amy as she approaches. "Many unfamiliar faces this evening..." It's nearly sunset, and the sky is gold and red, fading towards black the further away from the horizon it gets. Was it always sunset? It is now.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's a taste in his mouth that matches the feeling in his heart and the tenor of the thoughts in the back recesses of his head, and he doesn't think it's him. Hematite looks at Amy, and he looks uncomprehending for a moment. "I'm looking for my sister," he says intently, and his eyes are red, but it's not the same red as his boys, as what happens to them when It comes and takes them away from him again. It's the same red as that of the girl with the cut on her cheek--

His eyes are blue, the blue of the oceans in photos from space, but cloudless and clear. They've always been blue, and the oceans are very deep. Sometimes they go all the way down and wash up in the sleeping heart of the planet.

Hematite turns back to the girl in front of the store, and he sticks his hands in his pockets. "Are you certain my face is unfamiliar?" His hands aren't in his pockets because one is covering the center of his chest, where a red stain is spreading. His hair is short back and sides, with an irrepressible cowlick flipping it up a little on top, a little wavy.

There's such a bad taste in his mouth. He swallows. "All of you should know me."

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Laisa isn't sure what to make of this. The girl seems helpful enough. She's not sure what to think about the static she keeps getting. Is the static in her eyes, or in her mind?

    This doesn't quite make sense. None of this really makes sense. Does she have questions? Why is she even here?

    "I guess I was just... window shopping," explains Laisa. She crosses her arms. This place is odd. Not really... threatening yet, unless one is threatened by girls with scars, but certainly odd.

    "If I have any question it would be... what is this place?"

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima's....other selves don't copy her, and that causes her pause. She expected a mirrored action. She instead gets pointed, nevermind that the eyes are wrong, and there's a scar on their face. She gently pauses again and starts walking slowly as they point her. Somewhere. She follows this pointing motion, finally. Maybe she does have the answers. Maybe.

"Thank you strange. uh. Dusk Zone. Layering. Self." she says quietly, as she twitches. Her form glitches a little. Like something is wrong, little sudden pecks of dark energy flaring out. She doesn't like the way this place feels.

So maybe it isn't the dusk zone.

She stops and pauses a moment and looks backwards, before looking forward again. Maybe she's trying to make sure down didn't turn into up, and left is still right. Or something.

Amy. She knows Amy. She isn't stopping to say hi to Amy right now.

She's still full of holes.

Amanda Faust has posed:
> Hey, what are you doing here, [where I am dead so I figure it's the afterlife?] 'I'm looking for my sister.' *Oof.*
    "...Oof. I'm sorry to hear that, man. Um... what's she look like? I'll keep an eye out and let her know her brother's looking for her..." She furrows her brow in thought. "How did you--" La Crima, parasite, runs by. Ugh, that's rude! Amy rejects whatever system is applying such a label to her!

    "Hey, wait!" Amy reaches out to try and grab her shoulder. "How did *you* get here?! What's going on? I've clearly missed some stuff since, uh, y'know."

Pyrite has posed:
+========================<* Shallows: Himeko Ocean *>========================+

        Why would you ever want to leave?

---------------------------------< Victims >----------------------------------
Doll (Amanda Faust)Lies Lies Lies LiesThis Hole Is Mine (La Crima)
Stay On Your Shelf (Laisa Samuiko)LiesPyrite (Endymion)
It Will End Soon (Mamoru Chiba)LiesLieSomething (Deeper)

    The other La Crima are now all more of the same girl who is out front of the store, and also the girl who is indoors. Inside the store, all the dolls on the shelves, and in the display stands, whether large or small, proportioned like a human, or like a little baby, are duplicates of the same girl. Long black hair, hanging over one eye, red eyes, a scar on the left cheek, and the same middle-school uniform.
    "We should all know you?" the first one to appear asks with a tilt of her head towards Hematite, and then an emotionless look at Amy.
    Then she looks back to Hematite. The street La Crima is walking down is growing darker by the step, more broken down, older, overgrown with weeds, the houses falling apart, and fog rolling in.
    The sense that the Dusk Zone is near is growing the further down the street she goes.
    It seems to be high on a hill, above this street level neighborhood.
    A bunch of dead or dying trees, and a set of stairs leading up through them.
    And a Shrine that is looking back at her.
    The multiple doll-girls all start gathering together, to join the one standing in front of Forget-Me-Not Dolls.
    "We should all know you?" they all repeat at the same time, producing the eerie overlapping sound of dozens of of the same voice speaking in tandem. More of her climb over the walls that surround people's backyards, and businesses open to disgorge her. Himeko Himeko Himeko.
    "Ne," they all say inside the store to Laisa. "Do you want to see the dolls downstairs? I really love them." Then they hop down fromt their shelves, and push over their display cases to shatter the glass, and the girl standing by the door leading into the basement just watches. There's also *static* behind the desk, and *static* seems to be saying something, but it's not quite audible, and also why are they all singing.
    "Places, places, get in your places
    Throw on your dress and put on your doll faces
    ryone thinks that we're perfect
    Please don't let them look through the curtains
    Picture, picture, smile for the picture
    Pose with your brother, won't you be a good sister?
    Everyone thinks that we're perfect
    Please don't let them look through the curtains."
    Dolls begin to surround Amanda, giggling without changing their expresssions at all.
    "We should all know you?" the first Himeko asks again.
    "D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E
    I see things that nobody else sees."
    "How can we know you when you don't know yoursel?" she asks.
    The one inside says, "You should really come see them." as her glassy red eyes glow in the deepening shadows.
    The ones surrounding Amy say, "You could be whoever you want to be. Just become a doll like us. Anything can be changed if you're a doll. And you never have to die!" Then the ring surrounding the Amanda begin clamoring and giggling amongst each other. "You never have to die! You never have to die! You can just float here with us, and be safe! Stay with us!"
    D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E
    "Who exactly did you think I was?" The Himeko doll asks, except she's not a doll. She looks a mix of exasperated and hurt, as she turns to go back inside.
    I see things that nobody else sees.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"You should all know me," Mamoru says, letting his hand fall from his chest. There's a ragged hole there, in his shirt, through his skin, through him. A hole, but his chest is whole, his shirt is pristine, his shirt is leaking black ichor. "I came in after you, didn't I?"

He's forgotten Amy's there, he's forgotten he heard her grabbing someone, he's forgotten everything but--

"I know me. I'm someone who sees things nobody else sees," he says more firmly, standing taller, his bearing regal and possessed of an authority he only shows sometimes. It's different. It's not cold, but it's different, and it's always there beneath the friendliness, the geniality, the antagonism, the belligerence. It's solid, and it's the bedrock beneath the ocean, and it's the dreams beneath the bedrock.

"I see Himeko Soryuu. I found you once, twice-- I'll find you as many times as it takes. I'll come in after you again."

And he does. He follows her inside the shop, and there are dolls, and there is static, and there is singing, and he follows the chorus. "You were lost. You're lost again, there's so much of you, there's been so much of you for so long, Hime-chan. I made mistakes, but finding you was never that. Not looking hard enough, that was the biggest one. I'm sorry!"

His shirt is slick with black seeping from the ragged hole in his chest, and his hand's over his heart again, and there's the briefest glimmer of gold as his fingers sink inside, as his other hand comes out to catch at the hand of a Himeko-- the one he thinks he followed in. "How many pieces did I miss? How much of you did I lose?"

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Laisa frowns. Okay, now it's threatening. Or at least disturbing. It's overwhelming in a way that doesn't make sense, but there's someone telling her that she should go deeper in. Should she, or should she not? If she goes, will she be able to come back out? The singing is...

    Actually, the singing reminds her of home. The themes of false perfection, hiding a dark secret, it unnerves her while at the same time letting her know that her situation is actually not that unique. Was that what told her to stay on her shelf? Just sit there and be what everyone expected?

    Everyone she touches dies, not in a literal sense, but there are certainly ways in which she should not be getting close to someone. Getting close to people is dangerous, both for her and for them.

    The moment of reflection cannot last, as these dolls are still... disturbing. Someone comes in behind her. Laisa is probably expected to run away at this point, yet that's not what she wants to do. She wants to rebel.

    "Sure," she says, as if daring the universe to punish her for her insane hubris. "Let's go to the basement."

    She glances over her shoulder, to Hematite, the boy she's sure she's seen somewhere. "Are you coming, too?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
> We should all know you?
    Amy blinks. "Uhh, should you? Who are you?"

    And then a musical number begins, the dolls welcoming the newest.

    Another song comes to mind, though.

        I wanna be a mobile supercomputer                                      
        A vision of the future                                                  
        Begin the cyber revolution                                              
        Mechanical fusion                                                      
        The perfect evolution                                                  
        With systematic harmony                                                
        I will run unto eternity                                                
        And although this metal's part of me                                    
        I shall not lose my sanity                                              

    Amy looks down at her hands. Wiggles her fingers. Looks up her arm, visible doll joints at her fingers and elbows. She's dressed in some sort of elegant gothic lolita type clothes because of *course* that's what a doll is dressed in.

    Shatter the flesh and reinforce the bone
    Embrace this carbon mesh, this power's all my own

    She lifts her gaze to meet the nearest human-size Himeko's. Her face is the same shape. Her hair white, with an artificial luster. Blue eyes focus, with the faint whir of a camera aperture adjusting. Looking closely, one can see that the iris is, indeed, mechanical.

        These simple parts of mine are interchangeable                          
        Unlimited connections when you're digital                              
        Becoming one with wires is sensational                                  
        Go out with the old and in with the new                                
        My hunger for perfection is insatiable                                  
        A prototype that's fully operational                                    
        This armoured alloy shell is unbreakable                                
        My existence is irreplaceable                                          

    Mech-Amanda looks back down at her hand, closes it, opens it. "That's a good question. I barely got to find out." Her voice has a faintly tinny quality to it. "Is that why I'm here? To figure out who I am, without the limits of time or having to fight monsters while pretending to be a schoolgirl?"

    She holds her hands together over her head, stretching. Faint clicking from her joints. "I'm not gonna figure myself out if I'm just floating though, am I? What else is there to do around here?"

    She smiles at Hematite. "What about finding his sister? That sounds like a good start! I'm someone who likes helping people, I know that much."

TShe's followed him down to the basement. "Wait, is *she* your sister? Controlling all of these dolls?" She scratches her head. "Was the plan to leave here with her? I'm all for it, but like... where's her intelligence *actually*? And do you have the machinery to run it back in Tokyo? Wait, won't a talking doll stick out in the living world?" She taps her chin with a plasticcy tic, tic, tic sound.

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima is moving too fast for Amy to catch, or rather, when Amy grabs her shoulder it's like grasping through... thick air. Wisps of dark caught in Amy's hand, wispy feelings of stray dark energy. Yes, she is being rude right now, not regarding Amy but she's mentally with. Something.

Something is wrong.

She's pointed to a shrine. She looks up the way to the shrine and she starts leaking from her hole again. More black ichor. She just looks around and is surrounded by doll-madness. She sighs a little. She can feel the Dusk Zone heavier here. Something is broken.

It's that drill's fault, she thinks.

She just lets herself shift further away. Her form fuzzes and she just turns into black shadow, with an obvious wispy hole there, and the liquid leaking has turned to a short mist expelling from the hole.

She stops leaving a trail this way as she floats forward, purple glowing eyes look down at her hands as she starts floating towards the shrine.

Is this the cause of the disturbance. She hears singing behind her in cacophony somewhere.

She taps a claw against her chin. Or where it should be. This doesn't have the desired effect.

She just continues floating forward.

Pyrite has posed:
    Maybe this should all stop.
    The Shrine breathes, and the darkness descends on not just La Crima, but everyone. Just an abyss of blackness far below, and dark gray all around, like they're in the twilight zone of the ocean.
    And something is down here with them.
    For Hematite and Laisa, it's the basement.
    For Amy, it's accepting being reconfigured by dolls so that she can live forever as something that isn't even alive anymore.
    For La Crima it's... Not the Shrine. Though the Dark Energy presence of the Dusk Zone is increasing the closer she gets, it doesn't feel broken. If this is a wound then... It's an old one. It's more like a passage that has formed over time as something went back and forth repeatedly.
    There are other dead things here. Other shades, of a different sort. Ghosts of those who have passed. They can see her, just as she can see them.
    And up there at the Soryuu Shrine, there's Something sitting and waiting. But while it may have been hostile in the past, it's not now. It's... Urgent.
    Panicked.
    Trying to convey something to La Crima.
    A pale shape with writhing black tendrils on top. Like a paper doll wearing a wig, floating on the surface of the ocean. And it's coming closer.
    The Himeko by the door down into the basement moves the velvet rope aside to make way. And the one that Hematite followed in tries to move her hand away, but she doesn't try to move her hand away, because there's her hand, in his, and also why is a phone playing psycho strings in his pocket. For that matter why is *static* yelling *static* so loudly, it's really jarring and doesn't fit with the mood in here at all. It's almost like **me** wants Laisa to stop because *static*eper would *ie and th*t would be ba* and s**'s ov*r the*e yelling, and it's all just *stat*ke *ic*p, don't go deeper, if you go any deeper, I can't get you out, listen, please listen, please see me, please hear me, somebody please pay attention to me, I'm all alone in here, what did I do wrong, why has everyone ab**doned me, why don't y*u tell me what to do, I can do *static* ** *** tel* ** too--
    A pair of cold, pale hands grab La Crima's face on either side, even if she doesn't have one.
    A staticky silhouette runs up from behind Laisa and tries to spin the Accursed around.
    The phone keeps ringing and ringing and ringing.
    One of the dolls breaks from the rest, and single visible eye is fiery with something angry and hurt and hungry inside, and the scar on her cheek is a pair of them curving downwards like claw marks, and she hangs onto Amanda's wrist as she tries to get her attention.
    Simultaneously, all of these manifestations say:
    "BREATHE!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Like, that was always the PLAN, wasn't it? If Mallory lived long enough he's absolutely uploading into the internet. And that he'd rather have a female virtual body wouldn't be that weird when some people are being furries and obvious robots and stuff, right?

    So like, yeah, this is all a logical part of Mallory's goals. But... how exactly did he... she end up here?

> Don't go deeper...I'm all alone here
    "You're not alone!" Mecha-Amy shouts, looking around for the source of the voice. Her shout has a ringing quality to it, like someone shouting and making a thin metal wall vibrate. "Where are you?! I'll help you!"

    And then suddenly a doll is telling her to breathe. Urgently.

    Amy gives her a look, like when someone says something silly that obviously doesn't apply. "But I don't breathe anymore." And then she realizes she's breathing.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The velvet rope's moved aside, and-- Mamoru says to Laisa, "Sure, I'll-- did you hear something?"

He pauses. He pulls his hand away from his chest and it drips, and he puts his bloody hand in his pocket and pulls out Himeko's phone, and he looks back at the desk? Counter? Desk-- there's, there was someone sitting there even as the Himeko that greeted Laisa was moving, monochrome and monotone and rigidly perfect. The static is loud, like someone switching inputs on a television, or like someone with their hand turning saintly on the radio dial.

He looks at Himeko's phone, then at Himeko's hand in his, and as loud as his pocket is he doesn't answer the phone, he holds Himeko's hand more tightly and his hand is on his chest.

"I don't think you should go into the basement," he tells Laisa politely. "But if I don't come out, maybe you can find Sailor Moon for me and tell her that she told me so, or find Naru Osaka who can find Sailor Moon, and that I'm near where I fought Inai-sensei. One of my names is Hematite."

He doesn't let go of Himeko's hand, but her phone is in his other hand, and he flips it open, and talks to **me** across the room and into the phone. "I always hold my breath underwater," is what he says, and then he whispers, "I'll come back for you again and again and again. I just need help knowing when."

He lets out an explosive breath, then gasps deeply and looks around, wild-eyed. "Shimatta--!" and he's digging in his pockets, digging, breathing hard as he catches his breath in the perfectly reasonable store. "I'm sorry!" and he's stumbling backwards for the door, is spinning to open it, to get out in the open air away from the smell of dust.

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima can feel other things and see other things. And they can see her.

She tries waving.

She isn't a ghost though. She's a vampire. In her most basest form right now. Can they even see her?

They see her.

SOMETHING sees her.

Should she stay or should she go? She doesn't know. She can still feel panic. She can feel panic right now. Should she stay or should she go----

She stays. Despite this pressing panic. Maybe she'll learn something. Or maybe something else will happen. The Dusk Zone is thick here.

"Wha..."

"What do you want?" she asks. She also 'asks' mentally. 'What do you want'?

'What do you want...?' is asked again, an in tone of two voices, one masculine- not La Crima's. The voice in her head.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Laisa goes down into the basement, merely following along to see where this goes. It probably goes to her death or something horrible, but at this point she'd feel like a coward if she turned back.

    She passes by the velvet rope, and she starts to go further in, but it's then that the static gets loud. Not that it starts making sense, but it gets loud and she's annoyed by it. She snaps, "What? What do you want?!"

    It's then that she starts to really hear it. No, she doesn't hear it. She feels it. She knows it, somehow. Something is telling, asking, pleading with her to stop. A static figure rushes up to her, and she holds up her arm to protect herself, but all it does is try to keep her away.

    To Hematite, she says, "Yeah... I hear it... I just don't get it." To the rest of what he says, she responds, "Uh... Right... I'm sure I could find one of those people." Wasn't there an Inai-sensei at her school?

    None of this makes sense to her, and she's getting mad, and it's only when she's told to breath that she stops to think about when was the last time she inhaled.

    The first breath she takes in is deep, desperate, and is punctuated with a cough. A few more coughs follow. "Gee thanks. Now I'm breathing manually."

    A few more intentional breaths, and she says, "Okay, okay I'm listening. I'm listening."

    Listening to who? Who was even there? What?

    Laisa stands at the entrance of the basement, looking at the doll shop. She glances towards Hematite. "So... you're real, right?"

Pyrite has posed:
    The unnatural darkness is gone, but it's still night now. Time passed during all of that. The sun has set. How long were they in that state?
    The spirit at the Soryuu Shrine is trying to pull La Crima back towards the ground, the two immaterial beings gaining gravity through interaction. A straight path, and then a long series of steps leading up, then an open space that is a rather damaged temple grounds, and then a one-room shrine that has seen better days. Inside is a path directly into the Dusk Zone.
    The ghost is a small girl. Pale, with long black hair, red eyes, in an RHA 5th grader's uniform. She transfers some of the life energy she has absorbed to La Crima if the vampire is willing to accept it. "Take a step back. You almost stepped into the abyss." she says sternly in her oh-so-is-serious little girl voice, still trying to find somewhere to hold onto the misty vampire. "Nothing good down there. No coming back if fall down."
    There's an old woman sitting behind the front desk on a stool. She is just smiling vacantly, her eyes closed, with a walking stick within range. "Come again~." she lilts as Hematite rushes out of the shop, sending the bell above the door to ringing.
    There's a girl who looks similar to the one she saw in that... Other... Place with her. Black hair in a side-braid, red eyes, a scar on her left cheek, and an oversized motorcycle jacket, with a graphic t-shirt and jeans. She's holding onto Laisa tightly. "The dolls in the basement here are lovely. There is even one that looks like me. But not the ones in the Deep. Nothing good comes from down There."
    She then turns towards Amy. "You're perfect how you are. You don't need anyone else to change you." She looks at a wooden doll whose hand has not yet been attached, so there's just a metal hook where the hand will eventually be. It is hanging from Amanda's wrist. Clothing, or skin, either way it's very close to a major artery. "Don't trade yourself for immortality. There are some things you cannot get back. My name is Himeko Soryuu. I... Will hopefully see you again. I have to find the one behind all this."
    Then she runs out the door after Hematite. She doesn't bother opening the door before she does so. She just passes right through, and disappears.
    'There is even one that looks like me.'

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blinks as she's suddenly awake, and flesh and blood, and confused. She stares at the doll, and squeezes her arm, feeling its fleshiness. And then looks shocked at someone bringing up immortality. *How do they know?!* She stares at Himeko. "Umm," she starts to reply, but the words "The one behind all this? Let me help--" are said to a fleeing back and empty air. Usagi's friend ran out. She removes the doll clinging to her and gently sets it down before walking up the steps toward Laisa. "Uhhhh... This is gonna sound weird, but did you see me come down here?"

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Laisa was talking to no one. Or rather, she was talking to a boy who is no longer her. She doesn't blame him, really. He seemed so ready to accept fate, but... why? That wasn't suicidal ideation that she saw. It was more like... devotion.

    Would your ex ever go that far for you? Would you believe it, even if he did?

    An unfair question to ask herself, Laisa decided. It would be too much to ask. She pushes away the thought.

    To Amy she says, "Not really, but... God. I need to go. Sorry."

    Laisa promptly leaves. This is too freaky.