Cogs of War

[Ebony Debony]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:41

"Alright, lasses and lads, welcome to my little home away from home!" Abraham declared as he led the group into the theater, pointing toward a pair of trap wires so that they would step over them instead of triggering a nasty, and most definitely fatal, surprise.

Stepping into the lobby the group was greeted by the sight of a rundown, multicoloured, concession stand with a jester's hat comprising the cover, and practically covered in mounds of dust, cobwebs, and green-brown grime. However, it should be noted that the popcorn maker had been cleaned to perfection and was currently popping away as fluffy, white popcorn was automatically saturated in butter before being emptied out into a clear container. The lobby also sported a raggedy, torn gold and red trimmed carpet with the name of the theater written in bubble letters greeting would be customers as they stepped in to purchase their tickets at the crumbling, fractured remains of ticket booths now covered in dust and cobwebs.

The lobby was also fairly dark, aside from a few flickering lights that led to the bathroom and one that led to Movie 1.

As the Captain allowed his guests to take in the sights he immediately made his way over to the concession stand where he scooped up a dusty popcorn bucket, blew into it, wiped it out with his hands, and scooped up some popcorn with a nearby silver scooper.

"Well, mates, feel free to help yourself to the popcorn, there's plenty, and there's a vending machine right behind this 'er stand that still has some soda and water in it," the eye patch wearing man stated as he popped a hand full of popcorn into his mouth under the folds of his scarf and motioned toward an ill lit vending machine behind him. "Well...everyone except you lass," Abraham said with a slight frown as he pointed at the obviously Japanese girl, "First thing we've got to do with you is teach you a little English, though you can grab some popcorn if you want, then you can feel free to do as ya' please."

He then turned his frown to everyone else present and added, "Now yer only gonna wanna go in the spots that are lit, cause if you go outside of those bounds yer likely to set off one of my traps, and I promise ya' that won't end well fer ya'. Other than that, feel free to stretch yer legs, mates, you're as safe as you're going to get here."

With that said, the Captain, grinning like a madman, motioned for the ninja girl and the black man to follow him with his hand as he led her to theater one.

"Come on you two, grab some popcorn and follow me. We're going to teach little Miss. Japan here some English so I don't get the almost overwhelming urge to tape her torso to the front a cannon and firin' it every time she speaks," Abraham said as he adjusted his scarf a bit and headed into the room.

[Lathis]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:41

Izumi looked around the dusty, but surprisingly maintained building with no small amount of awe . . . and hunger.  That popcorn machine had to have been some for of blessing from the gods, because she hadn't smelled anything so nice in years.

"Sugoi," she muttered to herself as the eye patch wearing guy started scooping up some of the popcorn into a container.  He then proceeded to gesture to her several times as he spoke.  The only conclusion that she could come to was that he was offering her some of his popcorn.  She beamed the man a smile as she proceeded to follow his example and clean out her own bucket and fill it with popcorn, then, as an after thought, she filled another bucket and handed it to the adorable little bloodstained girl with the flame thrower.

"ここで、あなたはこれを食べるべきです、それはおいしいにおいがします," she explained happily.

She then noticed the popcorn man and the puffy hair man begin to head to another room, and they were gesturing for her to follow them.  So, not having much else to do, she decided to go along with it and follow them.

Of course, if they were going to try to force themselves upon her in exchange for the popcorn . . . well, she didn't exactly need them alive to work the machine, now did she/

[Author Roy]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:41

Project had wanted to get to know the group a bit in depth before doing anything else, really, but the guy with the weird accent seemed to want to teach Izumi some simple English apparently. That was another thing; he was dying to know exactly how and why she was there in the first place. Had she been part of the Ninja Corp.? He had thought they would all be actual citizens of his country, but oh well, you learn a new thing every day.

Hearing her say something, he turned to look at the girl she was handing a bucket of popcorn to. He wasn't quite sure he'd heard the first word right, as 'ここ' referred to 'here' as in a location rather than an object, and sure, it was obvious what her intention was, but he felt like translating anyway.

"She said that's for you, she thinks it smells tasty." With a shrug he turned and followed after the Latino guy. The smell of popcorn actually made him nauseous, gave him an acute headache, and made him light headed and dizzy, but there was no point sharing that with other people. Though he'd been surprised to, he'd found out that yes, some people did enjoy the taste of popcorn, and weren't just eating it because it was there, and he didn't want to ruin their experience.

With that, he turned and followed the latino into the room, and waited for Izumi to show up.

[Xero]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:41

Xero looked around, examining the area carefully. The place seemed currently safe enough, sure, but it didn't look like it would do much if the monsters decided to actually come inside. Of course, there were the traps the strange man mentioned, but that wasn't much assurance. The daytime monsters would likely be prevented from entering, but the nighttime creatures were much worse and any trap that could kill one would have to be incredibly overkill as far as traps go.

Those thoughts were dismissed when he noticed the popcorn, having had very little to eat over the last few hellish weeks. Just enough to survive, really, and some of it tended to be much worse as a food choice than popcorn. Helping himself to some popcorn, and noticing the black man, the japanese girl, and the strange pirate-like man going off somewhere, found himself left with just the battered girl with the flamethrower.

Popping a few pieces of the popcorn into his mouth, he considered if he should try and make conversation.

[Ebony Debony]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:42

"Harharharhar," Captain Abraham chuckled to himself as he took a seat in a red cushioned flipout seat and caught a scene from some cartoon based movie about Koalas with supercomputers installed in their brains. "Harharhar, stupid people, harhahar, never should have given them those brain chips," the Captain continued to laugh as he popped some more popcorn into his mouth from under his scarf while waiting for the other two to arrive.

When the medium fro'ed man stepped into the theater he made an arcing motion with his hand indicating that he should probably sit in the third row, where the Captain was located, or in the second or fourth.  He did the same when the Japanese girl finally arrived.

"Ar, let the lesson begin. I at least want you saying "Hello" to me instead of that "Co-knee-cheese-wad" bullshit you were saying a few minutes ago. Can't stand that damned phrase I'm afraid."

[Jupiah]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:42

The blood splattered young girl suddenly suddenly popped up behind the Captain, a large butter drenched bucket of popcorn held in her arm, courtesy of that nice ninja woman.

"Are you really a pirate?" She asked the man, hope warring with skepticism in her voice. "You didn't just play a pirate video game and decide to pretend, did you?"

She may have been giving the stink eye to a certain afro'd faker while asking this.

"Are you and the nice ninja lady gonna have to fight to the death now?" She didn't seem to be at all upset at by the idea. In fact, she almost seemed . . . hopeful.


Shindig City Ruins - A Damaged Rooftop Several Blocks Away from the Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:45

Atop the empty rooftop stood an inhuman creature, watching the theater where the recently united survivors were taking shelter with unnerving intensity. It's body was built roughly like a humans - it had two arms, two legs, a head and stood upright - but it could never be mistaken for one. It's torso, shoulders and pelvis were covered with hard, layered chitinous plating, colored a deep brown, and it's forearms and shins were similarly armored. The exposed skin between was covered with fine yellow fur. It had three fingers on each hand, and three claw like toes on each foot, two on the front of each foot and one located at each ankle. It's face was entirely inhuman, shaped like a fox's, with two large ears on the top of either side of it's head, and a long narrow snout filled with dozens of tiny, razor sharp teeth, with a small mustache hanging from the end. It's beady, sinister eyes glowed with an otherworldly power, clearly revealing the astonishingly intelligent mind it possessed.



The air around the creature seemed to pulsate, visibly rippling like the surface of a calm pond after a pebble had been dropped into it. Energy gathered around one of it's hands, condensing into solid objects - several finely polished spoons. Just as quickly as they'd formed, the silverware dissolved away again, returning to the cloud of crackling energy that cloaked the monster.

A FEW HUMAN SURVIVORS REMAIN, IT SEEMS, DESPITE OUR EFFORTS

The creature's thoughts were broadcast throughout the city, heard only by those who were intended to hear them. Horrifying, twisted monsters of every shape and description imaginable instantly turned their attention towards their leader, drinking in every word.

THIS SITUATION MUST BE RECTIFIED
THESE ISLANDS MUST BE CLEANSED

Howls and roars echoed through the streets in agreement, a chilling cacophony of bloodlust.

THOSE OF YOU ABLE, HEED MY CALL
GATHER UNTO ME, AND WE SHALL CRUSH THESE VERMIN

Burrowing through the earth, leaping over the rooftops, stampeding through the streets. Dozens of monsters, all those intelligent enough to understand the creature and also willing to ally themselves with it hurried towards it's location, driven by their mutual desire to feast on human flesh.

THIS WORLD BELONGS TO US NOW
WE ATTACK AT SUNDOWN

The foxlike creature, known only as Alakazam, opened it's mouth, and for the first time this night made an audible noise.

It laughed. A deep, low rumble, conveying only malevolence, and born of the monster's absolute hatred. It was a jeer that mocked the very concept of joy, and any human that heard it would have voided themselves in terror. It was the laugh of a demon.

[Lathis]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:43

Izumi sat next to the eyepatch wearing man, still not sure what he was up to . . . at least until he awkwardly said 'konnichiwa' to her in a tone that made is sound like a bit of a lame pick up line.  It was about then that she realized just what was going on here.

"おお。 あなたは日付に私に尋ねることを望みました。 私はそれが最初の日付に問題がない、しかし砂糖ではないと考えます。"

It was about then that the young girl suddenly popped up and started pestering the eyepatch wearing man.  Being that she had been on her own for quite some time and was interested to see where this situation was going, she patiently made shooing gestures to the young girl.

"あなたは単独で我々に数分を与えることができますか？ 私は彼が私を誘惑しようとしていると思います、それであなたは奇妙な髪男を連れて行って、そして一瞬の間去ることができましたか？"

[Author Roy]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:43

Project Roy could not help but laugh as he heard the lady talk. He snickered several times and looked over at the latino guy.

"She thinks you're trying to taker her on a date and seduce her," He said through a laugh. It was no surprise that she'd said his hair was weird, but oh well. Her sentence structure was a bit quirky, and he was still trying to figure out a bit of what she was saying, but there were plenty of nips who played with their language like that in anime and stuff, it was supposed to be quirky or something.

[Ebony Debony]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:44

The good Captain frowned at Project's words a bit, but decided to address the hyperactive girl behind him first.

"Ay, lass, I be a pirate. A sky pirate to be more precise. Ever since my pa stole the first experimental Air-Sea Ship from a secret United State's military experimentation and weapons development outpost. Since then, after ma' pa passed, I've taken up the mantel and have been plundering and gunning down ships and planes alike," Abraham said with a cocky smile and wink, using his good eye, at the flamethrower wielding girl. "Oh, and there be some wipes by the popcorn machine if you need to wipe yer hands up after ya' get done with that snack there."

Turning away from the shorter girl, the Captain then turned his attention toward the Japanese one, who, for some reason, just wouldn't stop speaking Japanese despite the fact that he said it was literally driving him crazy.

Shaking his head and frowning a bit the Captain turned to Project and said, "Ay, mate, tell 'er I'd never hit on a Japanese. At best I tolerate them, like I'm doin' the little Miss. right now, but I'd never try to go to bed with one. Couldn't stand to have their filth on my memeber if ya' catch my drift."

"Anyway, since you seem to have a good grasp of the devil's tongue (Japanese), why don't you teach her some English before I'm forced to jam one of my explosive knives through her cute little mouth."

[Author Roy]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:44

Project nodded and turned to look at Izumi and began to speak with a straight tone.

"お前は勘違いするぞ。こいつは日本人大好きだけど・・・女なんか大嫌いだぜ。本当の目的はお前を英語を教える。こいつは、日本語を聞くとき、死んだ恋人を覚えだすぞ。だからぷりぷりしてね。お前のせいじゃないんだが・・・" (You're mistaken. This guy loves Japanese people, but... he really hates women. The real purpose is to teach you English. You see, every time this guy hears Japanese, he remembers his dead lover. It makes him upset. It's not your fault, but...) He shrugged.

[Lathis]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:44

At hearing what Roy said, Izumi's eyes grew larger, and larger and more shimmery, until she couldn't hold it in any longer!

An instant later, she burst into tears and clutched the pirate in a tight hug for a moment, before she ran out of the room in tears.

That had been the saddest thing she'd ever heard!

[Ebony Debony]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:45

Captain Abraham shuddered at the girl's unexpected touch, his face warping into a look of both pain and agony, before she abruptly released him and ran off. However, her fleeting touch had been enough to awaken long dormant memories that stirred within the Captain's subconscious threatening to spill forth.

Even as Izumi ran off in tears, the Captain's eye began to dilate until it was nothing more than a pinprick, and his mouth simply hung agape.

"Oh Abraham, yoo so funny. You make Chou laugh lots, she hope you neva leave."

The face of the woman who spoke in very broke English was blurry, but, despite the vagueness of her features, the Captain could make out her almond eyes and alluring chocolate irises. Her hair was like jet silk, and her skin pure, untainted alabaster. She might have been wearing a blue and white floral pattern kimono, but the identification of what she was wearing was just as fleeting as her features.

"Hm, I don't plan doing so anytime soon, Chou, though perhaps, if I'm going to stay, I should learn at least a little Japanese."

The voice was his, he contumaciously recognized, much to his surprise. However, the vision came so quickly and with such intensive force that he hadn't a second to dwell on the "problem" associated with him not only associating with an almost obviously Japanese woman, but also the fact that he may have been courting her. He didn't even have a millisecond to ponder on why he would ever want to learn the devil's tongue

"Ah! Really?! You stay, Captain?!"

Her eyes, which were alright bright, grew even more luminous at this as she clutched his hand. Suddenly a shock surged through the Captain as he felt his chest clench and tighten painfully, and his head begin to spin ever so slightly. He was faintly aware of the fact that he was beginning to sweat as beads formed on his brow and the bridge of his slightly pointed nose.

"Heh, on my honour, Chou, on my honour."

And just like that it was over in the blink of an eye.

When it was over the Captain felt ill as his vision swam, a wave of stomach churning nausea made him retch, and his eyes blurred back into focus.

"Damn indigestion, must have eaten too much popcorn," the raven haired man muttered to himself groggily as he set his popcorn down, pinched the bridge of his nose, and gently pushed his way past everyone.

"Sorry, mates, I'm going to need a minute. I think the smell of Japanese has made me a right bit ill," the Captain said by way of excusing himself as he headed out of the film lit theater and headed toward the bathroom.

[Author Roy]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 5:45

Project quickly moved out of the way the minute the man began to wretch, he was subject to the disgusting sight and strong stench of the man's bile and half digested popcorn. The black man simply watched as the man spoke and then made his way to the bathroom.

'I hope he's going to get something to wipe this up,' He thought. 'Wouldn't want someone to slip on it.' He climbed over the seats towards the exit and made his way to the lobby, where he looked around again. He didn't see Xero anywhere, and figured the other man had taken up the guy's offer to wonder around. If Project had his way, they wouldn't be allowed to go anywhere alone, considering that the place may have been less safe than ol' mr. spit-up might have thought, but oh well.

'The minute he's better, we're going to have to go over the layout of this place, in case of an emergency, and see if he knows how to stave off the Zubites.' Ironically, despite being unable to see, they hated bright light and would avoid it like the plague.

However, unless one glowed, it was nearly impossible to go out at night because of them, since most street lights and the like were destroyed, and the electricity for the city was out anyway. The theater and few other places he'd been to had to be powered by generators, which meant going out to get gasoline every time they went out.

Zubites were small batlike creatures that flew in huge swarms that blanketed the skies, like flying piranha, only they were much worse. He'd seen a great deal of people go from flesh and bones to dust in seconds on the first few nights, when the people had stepped out into the darkness. Even indoors, unless the building was still properly sealed, or you were in the basement, those monstrosities would just come in and tear you to shreds. Even pokebeasts didn't dare stray out into the night unless they were of the light-generating variety or, staying under a light. The things came out the minute the sun was down and went back to whatever dark spots they haunted during the day the moment the sun was up.

He looked around. 'Hmm, perhaps I should try to find Izumi or that little girl,' He thought. Though they both looked perfectly capable of protecting themselves, he felt it best for them to stick together.

[Lathis]

Shindig City Ruins - Outside the Harlequin Theater; Monday January 21st, 7:00 P.M.


Izumi sniffed several times before finally adjusting the cloak that covered her as she sat on her perch outside the theater.  There really wasn't much she could do to make the top of the telephone pole comfortable, but she still tried.  The sun had already set several minutes ago, but she couldn't be bothered to go in yet.

She knew of the various beasts that hunted the night, but she also had several tricks for avoiding them.  Take those accursed bats, for instance.  She could already hear them fluttering around her, but as long as she remained perfectly still, using her cloak to obscure the shape of her body prevented them from finding her, and she'd long since taken precautions to cover her blatantly human scent.

They were beautiful, in a way, hateful little beasts that they were . . .

Her ruminations were interrupted by a different sound in the distance, followed by several others.  Hideous, monstrous bellows which reverberated with bloodlust and rage.

More disturbing, though, was the fact that they seemed to be coming from all around them . . . and they were getting closer.

Despite the danger to herself, with all of those bastadly bats floating around her, she launched herself off the pole and towards the entrance of the theater.  Several of the creatures nipped at her back, but her armored clothing protected her from the worst of it.

A second later, she burst in the front door and yelled, more or less incoherently, to get everyone's attention.  She then made her point more visual by grabbing up her naginata and shaking it as she called for help.

[Jupiah]

Shindig City Ruins - Harlequin Theater Lobby; Monday January 21st, 7:00 P.M.

The girl sat on the counter of the snack stand, surrounded by a small mountain of nonperishable snacks and with a jumbo super sized slushy held between her knees. She stared longingly into the distance, giggling to her self occasionally, between stuffing her face with candy and taking long slurps of her drink.

Oh, to think that she'd be witness to such a beautiful and spontaneous romance. She'd thought that love at first sight was something that only existed in books and movies, but just moments before, she'd gotten to see it with her own eyes.

She stuffed a large bite of chocolate candies into her mouth, and then held her face with both hands and shook it gently, blushing intensely as she chewed.

She would never have thought that a kunoichi and a pirate could overcome the ancient enmity between them! She'd nearly swooned when the darkly clad woman had embraced the pirate with tears in her eyes, and then run from the room in embarrassment. She'd actually squealed with excitement when the pirate had run off after her, obviously overcome with emotion and unable to live without her.

Wiping a tear from her eye (and leaving a long streak of melted chocolate underneath it), she put her hands together, moonstruck.

She could only hope that one day she too discovered such a wonderful and exhilarating feeling. She sincerely hoped those two would be happy together forever.

Her disturbingly exaggerated daydreams of handsome and charming bloodsoaked barbarians proclaiming their undying love and devotion to her while showering her with the severed heads of her enemies were suddenly broken when the kunoichi crashed through the front door of the theatre (skillfully avoiding all of the traps the pirate had warned them about in the process) and skidded to a stop, shouting and waving her weapon around frantically.

The young girl waved back at her with a cheerful smile. She must be looking for her new boyfriend!

"Hi Miss Ninja! Mr. Pirate is in bathroom, I think. Probably sulking cause he couldn't find you. Either that or he really had to go number two." She gestured to the small mountain of candy surrounding her. "Want some candy while you wait for him to finish up?"

The ninja woman stared at her incomprehensibly, before waving and shouting again.

Oh, right! She only spoke Japanese. As the girl tried to remember how to translate what she'd just said, a dark form slowly slid through the door behind the ninja, unhindered by the solid wood. A dark purple mist seeped from the strange object, somehow seeming to glow despite not giving off any light. As the creature came further into view, she could see that it had a round, dark violet body, with spikes angled backwards on the sides of it's face. It's cloudy eyes glowed with the same nonluminescent light as the fog she could now see was it's breath, escaping from a wide maw filled with sharp triangular teeth. A pair of sinister, disembodied hands floated before it.



She watched, unable to speak, enthralled by the scene that played out slowly before her. The ninja continued to wave about, unaware of the danger she was in, and the creature closed in on her. It's mouth opened up, terrifyingly wide, and a long slick tongue emerged from the void within it. The creature stared at the ninja's back hungrily, and reared back, predatory intentions clear.

The entire time, the monster had made not a single sound, a fact that enhanced the convincingly dreamlike quality of what the girl was witnessing. Just before the monster could touch the ninja, a single drop of saliva fell from it's tongue, hitting the ground with a resounding splash that finally broke the girl out of her dreamlike state.

She leapt off the counter, scattering her collection of sweets, pointing and shouting desperately at the kunoichi. "Behind you!"