tushanshu_logs | ENDPLOT | BEFORE THE DAWN

ENDPLOT | BEFORE THE DAWN

Characters: ALL!
Date: December 1-7, 2014
Location: Under the shell and in the Dreaming
Situation: Malicant’s defeated, but it seems the Foreigners have gotten a little bit stuck ...
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

Where are you going?

What did you do?

Can you hear me?

Hello?

At first the Dreaming twists and warps around the Foreigners, radiating with the sort of unheard shriek that causes adults to wake sweating in their beds. The only problem is--they don’t. Something cracks like a thud in the skin and the surroundings of the turtle’s body dissolves, and their environment changes in a heartbeat between blank greyscale and any familiar environment.

Eventually it settles, but something is wrong. Where before the Foreigners had clarity of thought even in the Dreaming while battling Malicant, at first it feels as though their minds are shrouded, groggy with half-sleep. They might find it difficult to realize where they are--that their most familiar environment, surrounding them now, is not because they've been sent home. They’re still Dreaming, and the Dream is subtle, but can be manipulated and can be shared if they remember their comrades strongly enough. More of them converging in one place will help shed that torpor, leaving them to realize what might be happening...

They’re trapped. Every now and then they hear Eva’s voice speaking, and some of them will even see her in person, walking through their Dream with a trail of grey mist in her wake.

Can you hear me?

Follow me.

If you want to go home, follow me.

[OOC: If you’re intending to canon update your character (even if they just want to return home to "check in") OR if your character is departing Tu Vishan for good, please use Eva’s subheading! If you’re not going to canon update but your character will still try to follow Eva, she will vanish into grey mist and they’ll be unable to follow.

The rest of the log is general "mingling" while the characters who choose to remain in Keeliai are trapped together in the Dreaming. They can share details of their battles against Malicant, try to brainstorm a way to escape the Dreaming, anything they want. They will be aware of the passage of time, though they won't have any concrete way of knowing how much, only that it seems like it's much longer than it should be.

Please see this OOC post for additional information regarding timing and posting during this log, or questions. Thank you! ]

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They're both still more than aware that Agito is not exactly Agito, but they decided long ago (or not so long ago - time is an unreliable concept wherever they are) that it isn't a big deal. Or, at the very least, that they aren't going to dwell on it. Sometimes shit just happens, as Agito would say, and you just have to fucking deal with it.

"Take that!" Akito laughs, pouncing on Agito and rubbing some seaweed into his hair. Agito curses but doesn't seem upset by this development, instead retaliating by grabbing a handful of sand and dumping it down Akito's shirt. Not the best payback, but hey, he's working with limited materials.

It quickly devolves into a wrestling match, complete with biting (never hard enough to break the skin) and scratching and dirty tricks like when Akito blows a raspberry on Agito's stomach. Akito lets out gleeful peals of laughter, though is never quite as loud as one would expect from someone so boisterous. Agito sticks to his favourite vulgar words, huffed out with obvious fondness.

Neither of them bother paying too much attention to their surroundings beyond the fact that it's on a beach near a large house. There isn't anyone in the immediate vicinity, and though they play like a couple of kits they're both on high alert in case something happens. Despite Akito's strong grasp of dream manipulation, there are still things that are far beyond him and they're both aware that means literally anything could happen if they aren't careful.

That's not about to ruin Akito's fun though. He pins Agito down and blows another raspberry on his side after a quick pause to listen for any danger.

Considering how loud the two were being, it wasn't long before someone came to investigate. The only someone who was there to do so, as it turned out, because everyone else up in the mansion wasn't quite all there. Not that it bothered him, but it did mean that they weren't going to check out a pair of teens tussling on the beach.

When Romulus arrives, it's to a fairly familiar scene of brothers playing around where no one can see them. He hesitates on interrupting, then eventually calls out, "Hello!" They weren't exactly supposed to be there, after all, not on his master's property without permission.

It's Akito who detects the presence first, long before the man speaks, but it's Agito who reacts first - flipping Akito over and behind him to act as a physical shield if need be. While Agito growls irritably, low in his throat, Akito doesn't feel the need to be aggressive.

"Hi!" Akito chirps, peeking around Agito's shoulder only to be tucked back until he's fully 'hidden' again.

Romulus stopped with his feet buried in the rocky sand, watching the interaction curiously. The two of them looked like they didn't belong here and something was nagging at him very stubbornly about it, but he let the thought slide away because he couldn't help his entertainment at the protective one. This was quite a regular scene with him and Remus when strangers or people they didn't like came about.

"Are you aware you're on owned property?" he asked simply. "To be caught here would be to be taken into custody."

Akito rests his chin on the top of Agito's head, much to the latter's displeasure. His other half knows when it's a lost cause however, and doesn't bother shaking Akito off.

They both offer small, amused little grins - Agito's more of a smirk while Akito's is more of a smile - and a roll of a shoulder.

"They'd have to catch us first," Akito says. Agito adds: "And they'll have a hard time doing that."

Well, that answered that. They were here unannounced but unafraid. Romulus made his way closer and sat down, still several paces away. He was rather fascinated by the two. Meeting other twins was incredibly rare; having the chance to speak to them was unheard of. He studied them for a few moments longer.

"Where do you come from?" he asked.

"Tokyo," they answer in unison; Akito somewhat wistfully and Agito irritably. Both of them tense at Romulus' movement, but relax again quickly enough. They're still in a position where they know they can outrun any danger, so they're not as on edge as they could be.

Well. Agito is on edge, but he's always on edge when it comes to Akito's safety. Meanwhile Akito is just curious and curiouser. "What about you?"

Wistfully, Romulus observed their carefree attitude. He wished he could have something similar, an assurance that he and Remus could leave whenever they wanted and have no regrets or shadows in their past. An idea had been forming in his mind for quite a while and he and his brother were attempting to prepare for it, but sometimes it seemed just somewhat out of reach. No matter what, Romulus was determined to make it happen and escape their life.

"Tokyo?" he murmured to himself. Tucking the name away under the idea of it being a place, rather than a person or a thing, Romulus shifted and considered the question. No one had really bothered to ask it before. "It was... somewhere east, I think," he said after a moment. He was unsure of the specifics anymore, but he knew they were much further west than they had been.

Akito continues observing, tilting his head as he tries to place where he's seen this guy's face before. He knows he's in the Dreaming at this point, and because of it he likely won't be able to remember small details, yet he isn't going to stop trying.

"So where's this place?" Agito asks suddenly, startling Akito out of his thoughts.

For all that Akito was aware of where he was, Romulus certainly was not. This was his reality for as long as he wanted it to be. It was a simpler time, one where he had his brother and the world wasn't fair but at least it never failed to make sense. Part of him missed it while the rest wanted it to be put to rest.

"The master's estate," he answered. Although he actually did know where they were located, it was not his place to say as such. Any visitors would know where they were, and any trespassers would only know they were there by the tenuous grace of the landlord. The longer he watched the two of them, the more his heart began to ache. It was like... it was like—

"There you are, Romulus," said another voice. Or was it the same? They were certainly very similar, and the man that owned the voice had a face identical to Romulus. He stopped momentarily at seeing Akito and Agito, and then his stride became more purposeful. He stood aside Romulus and placed a protective hand on his brother's shoulder. "Who are these people?"

"And where is this 'master's' estate?" Agito growls out, earning a gentle knee to the side for being an asshole because being an asshole won't get them answers. The appearance of this Romulus guy's twin sets them both on edge; metaphorical hackles raised. Agito knocks Akito back down behind him with an elbow, effectively hiding him from view again.

Akito whispers out both a story and a joke, though not necessarily in that order. "Five chocolate bars says his twin is named Remus." Agito, not as well-versed in literature, doesn't get the reference. "And if we're in trouble we, um... Escaped from a captive ship and washed up here, so that's why we don't know where we are."

"Remus," said Romulus with a look up to his twin. He moved to stand alongside his twin, who kept his hand firm on Romulus' shoulder and instead sat down next to him. Remus wasn't going to go as far as outright blocking Romulus from the teens but he was obviously on guard.

Although Romulus looked rather reluctant to answer, his twin had fewer qualms about the decorum they were supposed to followed. Especially with two strangers that looked as though they were horrifically out of place. "It's in Tuscany," he answered. It wasn't quite right, actually, that wasn't what the area would be called for quite a while and yet neither Romulus or his twin seemed to notice the displacement.

Breathing through his teeth and giving Remus something of a nervous look, Romulus turned back to the two with a furrowed brow. "What is your business here if not with the master?"

Akito and Agito don't find anything strange with the answer, and so accept it as it is. Akito manages not to giggle at the confirmation of the other man's name, but does hide a smile in the skin of Agito's neck.

"We ran away," Agito answers easily, both of them aware of how to embellish Akito's planned excuse.

"People were hunting us," Akito adds. "Because we're twins, and have strange colouring, ne?"

Agito shrugs. "Had to jump the ship we snuck on since it got captured. It was fucking shitty."

"Really shitty..." Akito mimics Agito's motions. "People get pretty determined when they want to use you for nefarious purposes." A sigh, because the story is not entirely a lie. Just not related to how they got here.

"Washed up here like, what? A couple days ago?"

"Un, yeah, this is day three of our beach vacation! You caught that crab yesterday, remember?"

Romulus and Remus shared a look at the story told by the two of them without apparent prompting. There was a small smile on the older brother's face, while the younger seemed less inclined to hide it. They had never met other twins outright before and this was obviously something they were both enjoying.

"What sort of people?" asked Romulus. If there were slavers around, the master wouldn't take kindly to them poaching in his property. Perhaps he could use that to get these two time to escape and give them a head start in getting away...

"Killers," they say in unison.

Sensing Akito becoming distressed, Agito holds a hand out casually at his side for his other half to take. Once Akito does, he weaves their fingers together securely.

"We're far enough away now that they can't get to us."

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ENDPLOT | BEFORE THE DAWN

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