afterliving | voice; action for SSS members

SSS members: headquarters to pick up arms. Now. I have enough for each of you. If the shadows are going to start appearing again, I want all of you ready.

We're not going to Guild this time. We're standing and fighting and defending anyone who can't, that stupid NPC they're after or otherwise. If you can't fight, you're taking a weapon just in case. Don't do anything stupid and run if you have to. Those of you who can't fight, come talk to me right away.

[ Yuri sighs, her voice taking on a singsong tone, like she's trying to act like it's not a huge problem. After all, if everyone's terrified then it only makes things worse. ]

I've had it up to here with that stupid boy NPC's face, he should've stayed gone after I shot him in that dumb mug the first time!

{{ OOC NOTE: After a certain amount of time during this post, any threads that remain on the network will get cut off. Yuri's going to get turned into an NPC. Anyone is welcome to switch to action at that point. I'll specify a different location in each thread if your character wants to run into her! }}

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[ She's not even wearing the same uniform, or her thigh high socks. Somehow the headband managed to stick. Otherwise she just looks... normal. ]

"Yurippe"? That's some kind of weird nickname. [ She smiles after a second of giving him a weird look. ] We missed you in class today.

[ A punch to the face couldn't have made Kohaku stumble back any more than this. ]

Idiot!! Now's not the time to be joking around!

[ Yuri may be a prankster at times, but in that situation she would in no way go through the trouble of changing her clothes to play a practical joke. Kohaku knows that very well, but he doesn't want to know it. The brain is very selective at times. Right now Kohaku actively refuses to acknowledge what is going on with Yuri. There's no way she... there's just no way... ]

I've been calling you 'Yurippe' since we met! And I never go to class! Neither do you!

[ There is no point in correcting her. Neither if she was playing games nor if she... really didn't know. Kohaku can't leave these statements unchanged anyway. ]

Oh really? So I just hang around at school all day for the fun of it?

[ The world's most disbelieving look is being given to Kohaku right now. ]

I'm not the one joking around, but I'm starting to think you are.

You--

[ He breaks off before he can start and attempt to explain the SSS to her. There is no point in doing that. Now there only thing he can do is try and smash sense into her.
He has been attempting to kill Yuri before, there should be no big deal attacking her, but as Kohaku grabs her collar now and shakes he feels strange about it. It's not like fighting Yuri and it's not like hurting NPCs. The in-between is the most unsettling kind of feeling. ]

Wake up, Yurippe! I'll kill you if you really let yourself be defeated like this!

[ Yuri winces as she's shaken, reaching up for his hands to grab onto them but not really.. fighting back. ]

What are you doing!?

I'm trying to get you to wake up already!!

That's not you at all! You'd get me back for a move like this right away! You'd fucking stab me even!!

[ If there was one person he'd come to rely on in his time here, it was Yuri. In this sea of aimlessness, she provides goals and meaning for Kohaku. That she didn't remember any of that now....
This felt a bit like the time Lucille almost turned to a zombie. Now and then, he's on the verge of losing a leader. He wishes he could have as much faith in Yuri's return now as in Lucille's back then. ]

[ She doesn't seem to even understand what he's talking about, raising her voice while she tries to squirm away. ]

Teacher!

[ For all that Kohaku was going through, Yuri couldn't feel any of it. The real Yuri had been shut down, no matter how much she wanted out. It was hard to fight when she didn't have the same regrets she'd had before to cling onto, too. So there wasn't much for her to grab onto to even try. She just was this way now, no way to fight it. ]

[ Kohaku lets her go before a teacher can even arrive. It's not even that he throws her away like he would with any other NPC, he just lets go and backs away. There's no point, he feels that clearly enough now.

It has finally happened. He cares about someone but wasn't able to protect them, even try to protect them. It was only a matter of time, probably. That it' be Yuri was not something he'd have predicted. ]

Fuck... fuckfuckfuck, why now of all times...

[ Who'd even coordinate the actions of the SSS when she wasn't there for that? What a mess... ]

[ Yuri gives him a somewhat concerned look after she's released. ]

I don't know what your problem is, but you should probably talk to someone. I hear it can be pretty therapeutic.

[ This has to be a bitter joke. There is no way this twisted irony is reality.
He doesn't need to talk to anybody and the fact that this thing with Yuri's face suggests it is just so absurd. Kohaku doesn't know if he's hurt, angry or scared. He wants to feel none of them, but it's probably more all at once. It's about Yuri and also a lot about what she represents to him.]

Shut up! I don't have any use for the words of things like you!!

[ There's no point in staying here, talking to that thing. He's wasted too much time on her already... enough time for other shadows to approach unseen. ]

[ She just gives him a sympathetic look for a moment. ]

I'm going to head to get some lunch before class starts up again then.

[ Kohaku wants to yell at her to stop saying trivial things with no connection to reality, but he's aware it would only make this conversation longer. The last thing he wants is to have to look at her like this any more.

When he notices how surrounded he suddenly is, it's almost as if that was how it should be. It doesn't mean that he doesn't put up a fight, but a less distracted Kohaku might have been able to fight his way out of this situation more easily.
Now he doesn't. The last thing he wants is to become an NPC as well, but being revolted by the idea does not replace the inner motivation and focus that had just been taken from him.

It's terrifying to know he can't get away anymore, but it's only terrifying for a moment. His blood seems to turn to ice but then there isn't any negative emotion anymore. No emotion above average would be able to get through to him now. It would disgust him later, how easily he gives up on the life that made him him. It's been so painful. Forgetting is so easy once you've started.

It's not death, he's been there already, but it's something similar. The melody of an identity fades to background noise. ]

voice; action for SSS members

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