open post etc

[puzzlinglad]

[In the time before the puzzle room goes up and after the happy friendship party that was the last Calhoun (Zero?) Hour feel free to use this post for whatever you want. Top levels, threads with dudes, whatever, live life freely.]


[If you're interested in harassing Hershel here's what he'll be doing:

a) Asking people if they want laundry done. Not unmentionables, he's not some sort of cad here, but he's got shit all to do, can't sleep and might as well do something useful, right? Right. Feel free to find him near the stream, trying not to nod off since getting shocked in the water probably wasn't the best idea in the world. Possibly. Or trying to mend tears or something and making a mess of it. He'll never be a proper old maid at this rate.

b) Trying to play videogames maybe? And by 'play' I mean 'make faces at as they get steadily worse.' He might try a movie or two in the vain hope something will be manageable to watch but yeah. Yeah. Basically any late night lounge activity, assuming no one's already asleep in there, have at.

c) These are hard to think of, I guess trying to fencing practice in the gym with his shiny new foil, curtesy of Mr. Sasuke Sagami. Try not to get accidentally jabbed by a giant needle with a blunt bit on the end, it probably sucks.

Or whatever, do whatever you'd like. He'll basically be wandering around aimlessly mostly anyway, being completely useless to everyone because he's tired.]

Comments

[detectiveofthewest]

Playing video games, that was something Heiji could do even if he couldn't talk. Well. Not do well, he didn't really play a lot of video games and the control scheme for this one was terrible, but. You know.

Heiji was like a wizard or something, ambling aimlessly around the screen. He really should have been interested in fighting enemies, only he was too busy pissing off a ghost.

[puzzlinglad]

Maybe it's one of those games where you can make signs at your partner, like 'ok' or 'no.' Finally these games would actually be useful.

Hershel was bemused though, despite himself. Not sleeping was garbage and he was feeling it but watching Heiji annoy a ghost had it's value. "You know I don't think you can even fight that." He was probably busy trying to do something useful, collect glitchy objects for their ragtag party to use, stop his character from half sinking into the floor, attacking a rock he thought was a monster. Valuable input. "I'm pretty sure it's going to try to curse you or something."

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji looked at Hershel quizzically; what was the point of an enemy you couldn't even fight? The ghost made a scary 'woooo' noise and floated up off the screen, leaving wizard Heiji to occupy himself by hitting a gate with his spell. The gate burst open and a wyvern emerged. It made a beeline for Hershel and tried to eat him.

Whoops.

[puzzlinglad]

Heiji.

"Heiji..." Look at this. Any put off expression was kind of ruined by his amusement, even if the monster was currently chewing on his head. He was probably a paladin or something similar, as similar as an incredibly shitty game like this would allow. Shockingly he dies pretty early on since the game seemed to decide his sword could only swing to his right side for a few minutes and well out of the wyvern's reach.

He turned to Heiji as his revive countdown began, brow raised. "It's red, maybe it'll be hurt by ice or something?" Said wyvern was probably now trying to whisk wizard Heiji off in a tornado. "... or I suppose not. Your guess is as good as mine, good luck with that."

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji's wizard was blown up into the air and hit by lightning. He blinked a couple times, then ran into some sort of grim reaper character that drained his health and turned him into a pink bunny. What an amazing adventure...

The wyvern stomped around angrily with no one to savage, sorry Mr. Wyvern. Bunny Heiji, on the other hand, was busy running toward a prison cell to unlock the treasure inside. Unfortunately, bunnies did not have hands.

THIS GAME WAS TERRIBLE.

b

[not_that_sasuke]

[Hello tired friend, here's another sleep-deprived person for you to hang out with.

Ughhh nightmares suck falling asleep all the time sucks being constantly tired anyway sucks everything sucks.]

...Playing games tonight?

[puzzlinglad]

[He feels you man, two or so days without sleep isn't making him a happy camper, at least he doesn't have fun nightmares though. Seeing Sasuke at night is probably common enough since this started that he just offers an exhausted smile and moves over for Sasuke to join him.]

I was hoping something would be exciting enough to help keep me awake. I tried some of the movies but- [The face he makes is not one that saw something worth watching. It was painful.] Well, I'd say trying my luck with these would be better. Care to give some a try?

[not_that_sasuke]

...Are you sure it's okay?

[Because he might sort of. Clock out randomly. Also he doesn't really remember ever playing video games to begin with.]

[puzzlinglad]

If you're worried about ruining the experience by falling asleep don't be. The games will do that all on their own. [Just. Sit back and enjoy.

The first game he pops in is basically going to be the shittiest version ever of creepy watson so enjoy this upcoming amazing puzzle solver. Hershel holds out one of the controllers to Sasuke, as if condemning him to his fate.]

i hope you're prepared

[fairsfair]

[ Option D, doing whatever I want, where Jake is still blind as a bat and is trying to walk around. He should be taking it slowly, one step at a time, but he doesn't even bother. It's hard to trip around here since people don't leave their shit lying on the ground and the Garden is pretty safe. Tree branches aren't really a thing, but you know what are a thing though? Hershels. Hershels lying on the grounds because Hal apparently likes making Jake's life miserable, and since Jake is a cocky bastard who doesn't believe in 'slow and steady wins the race', his foot catches right onto Hershel's leg or torso or something you choose, and he goes crashing down. Since this isn't a cartoon, he doesn't fall into the stream. Of course not, that doesn't happen, but instead, he lands right onto Hershel with the force of a giant oak tree being chopped down. Hm, well, hope you liked being crushed under beef jerky. ]

that icon

[puzzlinglad]

[Didn't fall in the stream, -10000 points.

How Hershel ended up on the ground is just great- he had been walking along, minding his own business when he made the foolish mistake of taking a seat and trying to read for a while. It wasn't long until he started falling asleep and got zapped, which was a painful, bullshit experience. The genius that he was, and since no one was around he just stayed where he was for a while, eyes shut tightly and trying to clear the buzzing feeling from his limbs so he could get up and go about his day some more. Being dead tired made that recovery time a bit longer than he wanted to admit, and maybe lying down for a spell would be fine, right? If he didn't fall asleep again.

And if he didn't miss fucking Jake walking around like an idiot. His eyes flew open when Jake started to trip over him, staring in shocked horror as Jake probably just slow mo-ed down.]

Oof- [Is basically all Jake gets, because boy, that knocked the wind out of him. He's just going to wheeze a moment, completely bamboozled by what the fuck just happened.]

i've waited forever to use that icon

[fairsfair]

[ Said oof and bamboozeld, -10000 points. ]

[ He didn't walk around like an idiot. Hershel was the one lying spread out like an idiot in the middle of the Garden. This is the worst. Jake just pushes himself up and shakes his hands, since reflexes kicked in and he managed to not smash his face onto the ground. When he sits back, he just gives an annoyed look towards Hershel like he didn't do anything wrong here. ]

What are you doing?

[puzzlinglad]

[You have such hatred for the lovely word bamboozled huh.]

Um... [He's dazed, give him a break. For a minute he honestly couldn't remember what the hell he had been doing on the floor, and when he does he turns a bit red because okay, he's an idiot. Jake's an idiot too though so eat shit.] Resting.

[He sits up, looking Jake over in, shock of shocks, concern.] Are you alright? Even scraping your knees here is a bit of a hassle.

i for it's time to fucking cuddle you piece of shit

[vengefulyears]

[Clive just so happens to be awake by chance when he sees Alfendi being taken away by Calhoun in a stretcher like so many others have been. At least he got to give Alfendi his flower crown earlier so he's going out in style, but it was a truly heartbreaking sight to behold. Clive really liked Alfendi a lot and was hoping that he would come back to them like he did last time. Part of him had a feeling that this was coming, but it didn't make losing another good friend any less devastating. He told Alfendi that he would take his picture once he was all better, but clearly that day was never coming now.

It also doesn't help that Clive was already in a very negative mood due to dwelling on the memory that he received yesterday for winning that stupid "game," so this turn of events is enough to make him just double over in his chair and cry for a good few minutes before he figures he should take this somewhere a little less out in the open. With tears still running down his cheeks, he makes his way up to the garden so he can just curl up in a corner or something, but as soon as he enters he sees Hershel sitting in the grass, awake and looking equally if not even more devastated about this situation.

If it had been anyone else sitting there, Clive would have turned around and fled back to the first floor even though it likely would have been a futile effort because of this damn squeaky chair. But Hershel is the one person that he doesn't mind witnessing his crying mess of a self right now, so he just squeaks right on over to him, not that Clive can hear because surprise surprise he's still deaf. Then he carefully removes himself from his chair and plops down in the grass next to Hershel. Without any warning whatsoever, he basically snuggles right on up to Hershel, wrapping his arms around him from the side and leaning against him and everything. He doesn't plan on moving anytime soon, either, unless Hershel is clearly uncomfortable with this.]

excellent excellent also sorry this got so long shit...

[puzzlinglad]

[Hershel probably didn't see Alfendi leave, but it didn't take long to figure out he was gone given how many times Hershel checked up on him throughout the day. Harassing Zero about it likely got him all the answers he needed on that front, and all he could really think to say was 'oh.'

Maybe it was horrible of him to push it aside and go on with his day but that's what he did. He didn't think about it, he checked on everyone, he did all the little things he did daily that were now a weird but sometimes comforting routine. He remembered once Kuzuryuu remarked on how strange it was no one really talked about the people how were taken away, and Hershel hadn't known how to tell him it was because facing the fact they were all probably dead was just too much on top of everything else. It was easier to live on hope that maybe one day they'd be back out of the blue, to keep moving forward and silently pretend that one aspect of this would be alright.

It was sometime in the middle of doing his little routine that he couldn't help but stop long enough to consider it. He was sitting in the garden, too exhausted at the moment to keep his emotions in better check, and it hit him that maybe Alfendi leaving was his fault, because he had gotten hurt in the maze for Hershel and never really recovered. It struck him he never got a real memory back about Alfendi, that when he did Alfendi wouldn't be around for him to tell him, that it was entirely possible he'd be going home to his family to tell them that they had lost someone in this mess afterall.

More than anything he just missed having Alfendi around, he was- when he was acting normally- a bright, bizarre spot in this dreary place. All his nonsense was endearing to Hershel, it made things feel... better, somehow. He swallowed at a lump in his throat as he thought of it, too distracted to really notice Clive coming in. When the squeaking finally caught his attention he didn't glance to it but away, trying to clear his expression somewhat. No use bringing Clive down when he had enough on his plate, he was just... tired. That was all.

But then Clive was sitting beside him, leaning against him, and he turned to stare a moment before it clicked. The look on Clive's face gave it away well enough, and after a moment he felt his shoulders slumping because there was no reason to pretend everything was just fine right now. Hershel swallowed at that pesky lump again before putting an arm around Clive, his other gripping the grass a little too hard. No use making stupid comments Clive probably couldn't even hear, so instead he just quietly stayed there for as long as Clive was willing to spend.]

you should be sorry that this tag almost made me cry in public

[vengefulyears]

[Feeling Hershel's arm around him somehow manages to trigger even more tears, so Clive just buries half of his face into Hershel's shoulder and tightens his grip around the younger boy as the waterworks continue, his own shoulders shaking as he makes conscious efforts not to sob too loudly. He doesn't know how successful he actually is, but Clive is a pretty quiet crier by nature anyway so all that really comes out are the occasional hiccup-like noises and sniffles.

After what feels like an eternity but is really about 20 or so minutes later, it seems that his tear ducts are finally dried up. Clive stays still for a few moments just to make sure that it's really over, then while keeping most of his weight against Hershel's side, he unwraps his arms in order to grab his journal and pen from his bag nearby. He flips the journal open to the next blank page and has to blink a few times to be able to see the page clearly. Then, he writes a single word on the top line, in handwriting that is a little less neat than usual.]

Sorry

[He puts the journal and pen down in front of Hershel for him to see and write a reply if he wants to. Then after briefly glancing at the wet spot on Hershel's shoulder where Clive had been crying, he looks away as he wipes his cheeks with his sleeve because god, his face probably looks super gross right now.]

LMFAO god these sadsacks are killing me

[puzzlinglad]

[Hershel let go of the grass long enough to reach over and gently pat Clive's arm, the side of his head, finding it hard to keep swallowing down the stubborn lump in his throat. He thought for a moment what Alfendi would say if he heard Hershel was about to cry over him, of all things, and the disgusted look he imagined forced a choked sort of laugh out of him before he pushed it back down.

He didn't make much of a sound after that, stirring from his thoughts only when Clive started moving. He stares a moment, realizing in a weird sort of delay that he wanted to communicate with Hershel. That communication makes him stare for a moment more before he hastily took the pen.]

No, thank you. [He stares at his own words for a long moment before blinking rapidly. It takes him a moment to continue.] For caring about him.

i'm sorry

[skyentificmethod]

[okay so sometimes there are good days and other times in the middle of a bunch of other crap happening, your favorite crazy old man labcoat buddy disappears and you can't even get properly angry about it without spacing out. those are the times you need to trust in science, and knives, and the type of science you do with knives by cutting open severed heads you may have conveniently left in a shallow grave in the public greenspace (and then forgotten about until a couple days later)

tl;dr there's an apparently cheerful woman taking a stinky plastic bag of dead head from the garden to the bathroom for science, you're welcome]

ema's a hero

[puzzlinglad]

[thank god he knew about the head, because his poor, British heart was not going to be able to take seeing this with no logical explanation in his brain. despite having a good idea what that bag was he absolutely stops and stares, wondering if he was somehow already at the stage of no sleep where he was hallucinating things.]

[... nope, it was ema. was he really surprised. he clears his throat, probably having been on his way to the garden then seeing this masterpiece.]

Ema, is that... [he can't bring himself to say 'the head we found in the fridge.' he just can't.]

a <s>guitar</s> organ hero

[skyentificmethod]

[so adorable. Let the powers of science embrace you, my son]

Everyone else around here is still intact, so yes. Ready for your first foray into the forensic sciences? I promise you'll feel better afterwards.

i'm disgusted and appalled by that intentional or unintentional bodypart pun

[puzzlinglad]

[why couldn't they make a volcano like normal people though...]

Ah- ['let's cut up someone's decapitated head, it'll make you feel better,' says ema skye. well, at the very least that is certainly not something he'd fall asleep during, so he nods after a moment's deliberation. it couldn't be that bad, right? it was science, right?? besides he was still a little worried ema would trail off and impale her hand on a scalpel or something]

[... maybe he shouldn't take like twenty minutes to answer, how embarrassing. he hastily answers:] Alright... where exactly do you plan on doing this?

B, movie or game, up to you

[blind_badass]

*Snake's shoulder is aggravating enough that if he happens to turn wrong while sleeping that he's awake until the pain goes away. Rather than stew in his bed in the dorm, he takes a stroll. In his fuzzy pajamas with cavorting penguins. He's attracted by the sound of something playing in the lounge so he pokes his head in.* Hello?

[puzzlinglad]

[he's probably watching a very dramatic movie in russian and looking like he was about to fall asleep. thankfully Snake saved him a shock because his voice makes him jump and he turns, sounding startled.]

What- Snake? Oh, why are you up so late? Are you feeling well?

[blind_badass]

I'm fine. I think I tried to roll on my shoulder in my sleep and it woke me up. I thought I'd walk around to tire myself out again. *He's awake enough to put his left arm on and his right one in a sling.* What are you watching?

[puzzlinglad]

Ah, my apologies then. How have your arms been doing?

[And he glances at the tv.] Um... I'm not sure. I think this Russian family are having a falling out over a dinner, or maybe money. [enjoy more angry russian yelling] Or some romantic intrigue, whatever it is they are quite cross about it.