closed

[babermetrics]

Who: alumni of Hope's Peak Academy, to whom only good things ever happen
When: IC 4/24, evening
Where: Leon's apartment. his haunted-ass apartment.
What: Misery loves company, and technology-haunting ghosts kind of suck extra bad when you live in a city where your house's appearance is technologically generated. Whodda thunk it?
Rating/Warning: PG-13? Leon swears a lot. There's some horror. That kinda thing.

---

[It's early in the evening when a few people in Cerealia get a text from Leon:]

If the fucking ghosts didnt kill you get your ass over to my place before I lose it

[And then, a few seconds later:]

IF THEY DID YOURE GONNA SEE THAT WHEN YOU WAKE UP I GUESS? SHIT SORRY

[Those go out to Naegi, Togami, Hinata, and Komaeda. It's a little more familiar than he'd be with Komaeda normally—they've only met once, one time isn't really "get your ass over to my place" level of relationship here, even for Leon—but it'll have to do. He's a little freaked out right now, and in a bit of a hurry, and he's not going to invite Hinata without inviting his classmate too. He's pretty sure they'd just show up together anyway.

Kirigiri, though, gets her own.]

You ok? come over if youre alright

[Cute girl benefits, even in a crisis.

To be fair, it's not much of a crisis yet . . . well, okay, it is, but it's not as personal yet for Leon as some of them have been. He hasn't been injected with anything this time, started disappearing in front of his own eyes, or even been locked inside a building of any kind. He's had one up close and personal encounter with something that damn near stopped his heart, but . . . he feels fine, now. It's almost worse that he feels fine now. He doesn't trust that. He's been back and forth in front of the mirror for hours now, wondering when whatever curse he might be under is going to manifest, and there's fuckin' nothing at all going on and that freaks him out.

It's part of why he invited people over. Maybe they'll see something he won't.

Or maybe they're not okay after all, and if they're not, he doesn't want to be in the dark about that.

(Okay, he kind of does, but he knows he'll go crazy not knowing, too. Knowing is scary as hell; not knowing is torture.)

Once he's sent the texts, he flops down on the sofa to wait for a response, whether it's in the form of a text or a knock on the door, and grabs the remote to flip the TV on to take his mind off waiting. It's not working very well—both the distraction tactic and the television itself.]

The hell . . .

[The TV blips on and off a few times before it finally hums to life. But hey, it's working now. It's probably fine, right? Please let it be fine. Please God let there be something to focus on that isn't being cursed or all his classmates being dead.

Yeah, it's probably fine.]

Comments

[fittedgloves]

[ Kyouko's actually pretty grateful for the text. Things like this don't usually get to her, not really. But what did get to her was a ghost suddenly appearing and sticking a hand straight through her chest. That was something even she didn't expect.

So by the time she gets Leon's text, she's sitting in her apartment, waiting for whatever effect is going to inevitably take place. Nothing has happened yet, though, which is even more concerning.

A few minutes after she gets Leon's text, he'll get a knock on his door. She's happy for any company right now. ]

[luckybreaks]

[ She's joined in the hallway, at least, by Naegi. He's looking frazzled - it's not hard to guess why, exactly - and for once doesn't greet Kirigiri with a smile as he usually does even in dire times (though admittedly those tend to be a little forced). He's glancing down at his Cerevice as he runs a hand through his hair, but when he spots her he simply nods. ]

He texted you, too...? Ah, are you all right, Kirigiri-san? [ THINGS ARE RATHER LOVELY RIGHT NOW, AREN'T THEY? For some reason, he's not seeing the upside for once. Where's SHSL Hope when you need it? ]

[fittedgloves]

[ The fact that he doesn't smile immediately strikes Kyouko as odd, and instead of greeting him like she normally would, she ignores his questions and just skips to asking: ]

Are you alright, Naegi-kun?

[luckybreaks]

[ He's the only DR1 left who bothers with pleasantries at times like these, isn't he...still, it's not like Naegi minds or is unused to Kirigiri skipping to the point. ]

I'm not injured or anything. [ All right? He's...well, he feels a little weird. Honestly, no matter how bleak things seemed at Hope's Peak, it wasn't like he ever lost the thread of hope that kept him going to the end, so things suddenly seeming Entirely Bleak is...

...different. Why does this feel so much more dire than usual? ]

Ah, I had a run-in with some ghosts earlier, but besides reaching through me, they didn't seem to do much. Still...this doesn't seem like it'll end well at all, does it?

[ ok naegg you're failing your shsl hope duties here ]

[babermetrics]

[Oh thank fuck. He's on his feet and over to the door in a flash, opening it without asking who it is first. Possibly not the best idea when there are ghosts on the loose murdering people, but that's . . . so much on his mind that it's not even on his mind, you could say. He lights up when he sees Kirigiri and Naegi there.]

You're both alive! I mean, I knew you were, heh . . .

[NOT LIKE I'M SCARED OR ANYTHING.]

[fittedgloves]

Kuwata-kun... It's good to see you're alright.

[ She glances over at Naegi. It won't be long before Leon notices how strange he's acting, so she won't say anything about it for now. ]

[babermetrics]

'Course I am! I'm not gonna let some ghosts do a, ah—

[That's halfway out of his mouth when he chokes up, an expression of alarm immediately crossing his face. What the hell?! Is he about to cry? He hadn't thought he was that emotional about this! And there's not even any way to play this off; the words died in his throat as it closed up, and he's left looking confused, embarrassed, disturbed.

It takes him a moment to be able to swallow again.]

—Uh.

[luckybreaks]

Kuwata-kun...you don't look hurt.

[ He doesn't give out his usual smile, or feel the usual relief, but it's...probably good he's not hurt? It isn't like Naegi isn't his usual amount of majorly worried about the others. ]

Has anything happened to you since this started?

[succeeder]

[ He's kind of surprised to see Kirigiri there... But on second thought it makes sense. It just hadn't occurred to him that Leon might have been texting the whole class.

Then again, he's so dead tired that most logical connections are just not happening very well right now. ]

Is this a gathering?

[fittedgloves]

[ So it looks like Leon texted him too. Kyouko just nods. ]

That's what it is beginning to look like. It seems that we've all gotten a text from Kuwata-kun.

[succeeder]

[ Togami may have had a ghost reach inside of him, and he may not have slept in a couple of days by now, but he's not just going to get KILLED. He would NEVER let that happen!!

He's starting to feel like he's going crazy from exhaustion, though. Since they were given handy ghost-busting equipment, he was at least focusing his dwindling energy on fighting back against the troublesome ghost army, but unfortunately in a fit of frustration he chucked the vacuum into a dumpster after only half an hour of that horrific noise, before he could make it to using proper disposal methods—

So really, he's reached his limit. It is now an acceptable time to accept help from others. You win, friendship. He doesn't bother responding to the text, coming straight over to Leon's room and knocking loudly on the door. He's tense, prepared for this to be a crisis situation... but not actually prepared, seeing as he's so tired he wants to die right now. But he's trying his very best to fake it. ]

Kuwata!

[babermetrics]

[Togami also gets the door flung open on him immediately. Man, no one had texted him back first . . . they must be as on edge as he is. Well, now they can all be on edge together. Is that going to make things better or worse for them all?

Just one way to find out.

Either way, Leon opens the door for him, surprised by his insistence. He'd expected to have to fight a little bit for the "pleasure" of Togami's company. But they're all in this together, really—hence the texts in the first place.]

Guess none of us are dea—

[He chokes on saying that, making a strangled noise before the word gets out of his mouth. The hell. Leon looks briefly panicked, his eyebrows knitting and throat trying desperately to work.]

[succeeder]

...What?

[ He looks behind him. That line along with that self-interruption makes it seem like Leon just saw a ghost, and seeing ghosts seems to be a very real danger right now. But Togami can't see anything right now... ]

What was that?

[luckybreaks]

[ Well, once they're inside, Naegi will beeline for the sofa, claiming the end nearest the end table. He's been "sick" for the majority of the month and predictably as a result of feeling like crap and not sleeping much doesn't look 100%.

It probably doesn't help that he has the Super High School Level Luck to have sound as his sense and got hit by a ghost, and can't currently feel joy or anything nice but Naegi has pretty much never claimed his luck was good. Kirigiri's already pointed out to him that his lack of a hopeful outlook is Weird As Fuck, but there's not really much to do with that right now...

So instead he tilts his head back against the back of the sofa and shuts his eyes for a second, before straightening up again after a minute or two and rubbing his temples. ]

Do any of you know what happened to start all this...? I woke up to, uh...this.

[succeeder]

[ Must be nice to have have had the luxury of being asleep!! Togami definitely doesn't look in very good shape either... and has never been a particularly joyful person... but as a result, he's not as disturbed by Naegi as he could be. So far, anyway. He sinks deep into the other end of the sofa. ]

There was some sort of... explosion. Or—rupture.

[luckybreaks]

[ Look, when you finally fall asleep after days of not, you rejoice. Or you did when you could. Naegi expects he will probably be not sleeping for a longer stretch now...this is becoming fairly normal, isn't it? ]

Where at? Were you around there? [ He peers at Togami, frowning, trying to figure out if there's anything off than just not being in good shape. ]

[particularity]

It seems like some of the wall collapsed. You know, the one in the residential district that's like...

[He gestures to illustrate. Here to clarify what some already heard, with that big explosion sound and etcetera—

That's what Hinata saw while looking out of his apartment, at least. Getting to see hell just flowing into Cerealia is always a fun way to start the day. He's sitting close to one of the windows, his arms folded over his chest, and he routinely glances out of it.]

[luckybreaks]

Ah, that one...that kind of figures.

[ THEIR LUCK IS TERRIBLE, even those of us who are not SHSL lucky ]

All that's left is the other shoe dropping, right?

[particularity]

[HINATA CAME OVER IMMEDIATELY and you can bet he would've dragged Komaeda with him even if Leon hadn't sent him a text. But, he's grateful for the text and he's probably mentioned as much to Leon after a:] Are you all right?

[He's weirdly calm. But he's had ghost experience before. He also seems to have come armed with a bag of salt.

If asked about it, he smiles uneasily and shrugs one of his shoulders.] I heard this kind of stuff can be good for keeping ghosts away— I've never actually tried it myself, though. [Man, where's someone to bless his hunting knife when he needs it? To-do list for after the ghosts are gone.

He'll just be taking up a spot by one of the windows, all the better to keep an eye on the situation outside, though periodically looks around at everyone as though he needs to keep checking on them all. It's kind of an odd feeling. Instead of being in a situation like this with a big group of his classmates—as was wont to happen—here he is with everyone from the first class.

COMPLICATED FEELINGS. But he's not chatting about that.

There might also be a moment where you can spot him with what looks to be a tiny fox-shaped charm in his hand. He turns it over and over with his thumb, occasionally squeezing it gently.]

[succeeder]

[ Togami sure asked after the salt when he saw Hinata walking in with a big bag. And now he's just staring blankly at the explanation. (He might have made an expression that was more deliberately dubious, but he's too tired to bother.) He doesn't want to end up encouraging superstition... But salt probably can't hurt anything? ]

How the hell is that supposed to work?

[particularity]

...I'm not that sure.

[HE WASN'T BIG ON SUPERSTITION BEFORE but you kind of force yourself into it when there're ghosties around. He doesn't have supernatural powers (except for the one) so he has to make do.] But I don't have anything else that can really work against ghosts, and there's always been superstitions with salt, so I figured I might as well.

[babermetrics]

[After getting everyone a little more settled in, Leon wanders restlessly between them. He's not the mother hen type, not by a longshot, but he also hadn't been expecting everyone to be suffering from their own little maladies when they showed up. In retrospect, he's not sure why he hadn't; isn't that just how things go here? Congratulations, being hunted down by ghosts wasn't enough, now you're cursed too? Sure it is.

Of all of them, Hinata's the least concerning; the guy seems relatively chill and untouched by ghosts and maybe even like he knows what he's doing to some degree. At least more than anyone else here. But Leon catches one of those quick scans of everyone in the room as he heads over to talk to him, on his meandering and not very regular rounds of seeing what's going on with all his guests. He leans up against the wall by the window, crossing his arms, and chooses his words carefully—something he's not generally in the habit of. But this curse he's got makes it kinda necessary.]

'Sup? You just checking up on us?

[particularity]

Yeah.

[Hinata brings his hand up to his head.] Seeing how you guys are holding up with all... this.

[It's not every day that there're GHOSTS. So far Hinata's managed to AVOID THE HELL out of them but he wonders how long that'll last... At least they aren't trapped in a building with the ghosts.]

slams in here super late

[fittedgloves]

[ At some point in the evening, Kyouko approaches Hinata while he's over at the window. ]

I see Kuwata-kun invited you here as well. Are you alright? [ Because everyone seems to be having some... issues. ]

[particularity]

Kirigiri. [Hinata nods in greeting.]

Yeah, I'm doing fine. I don't think I'm being affected-- er, if you notice me acting weird, though, lemme know. [He just might not be able to recognise it in himself.]