estoria | ( OPEN ) red light, green light

Entry tags:

( OPEN ) red light, green light

Who: Haruka Nanase (

freed), Makoto Tachibana (

cordated), and YOU!
When: IC 1/9 —1/11
Where: Nearly every district! Not limited to: CERES Food Stop, CERES Game Center, a bunch of nondescript street corners, and jail.
What: Bending the rules, breaking the rules, and ~~cheating~~ beating the system?! Or trying to, at least.
Rating/Warning: PG.

1. CANDY SHOP.MP3 (ceres food stop.)

[ upon entering the shop, a one-sided conversation ensues as the only shop attendant speaks in stifled tones to ... what seems to be himself, if his gaze wasn't stubbornly trained to a certain spot behind the counter: ]

both

[ but once the door opens with a protracted tinkle of a bell, he turns. eyes drawn in assiduous focus, he dolefully grins as he angles his attention to the customer venturing out to browse the wares. ]

[ at this point, he's interrupted by a rather plaintive mewling (miaow, miaow) warbled from somewhere around his feet. visibly paling, makoto coughs a few times and resumes speaking. ]

haha

[ one hand sweeping over the display case, he makes a point to tap the sweets display case several times in quick succession. ]

2. TMW YOU CAN'T WIN HELLO KITTY FROM THE CLAW MACHINE (ceres game center.)

[ or you might find makoto situated in one of the various arcades in the conglomerate sprawl of game centers, studiously trying his luck (and a substantial amount of his daily paycheck) on one of the claw machines. mouth puzzled open on a sigh, he's even got his head tilted a few degrees to the side in a futile effort to win the only cat plush in the glass chamber, only to come up with empty hands on his last try, not any closer to his goal than he was on his initial run. ]

[ retreating from the machine, he holds out his only inadvertently-won prize (a rather squashed-looking stuffed animal of indeterminate origin) to the bystander standing in the line right behind him. ]

[ a beat or two passes, and then: ]

3. KIND OF LIKE A SLASHER FLICK EXCEPT NOT (random street corner ... seedy alleyway, perhaps ...)

[ so: you're in a derelict alleyway sometime in the evening. nightlife solidifies with all the risqué robot models strutting over the various walkways when you get the distinct sense you're being followed.

it's just an inkling of a doubt, but it's enough to take caution, all up until the point someone's hand clamps tightly on your shoulder. assuming your heart didn't stop and leave us one man down in this scenario, you are now very near to one tall and mildly anxious looking boy with green eyes and brown hair, as well as a shorter boy with black hair and blue eyes. it is the latter of these two who speaks to you.]

[a flyer is held up to you with THIS FACE]

[a second flyer with THIS FACE in his other hand appears!

upon closer inspection (as if you need it to be closer than RIGHT IN YOUR face but you know…) one will notice descriptions under the pictures as follows:

RIN MATSUOKA:

— answers to rin-rin
— likes romcoms
— really pointy teeth

KISUMI SHIGINO:

— tends to sparkle
— liberal use of emojis when texting/speaking/breathing
— pink

if you're quiet/silent/have been startled into death for too long, well, eventually the blue-eyed one here will simply….

…blink expectantly as if to say well?…without actually saying it at all. ]

4. IN THE SLAMMER (ceres government center.)

[ the first day in central holding, makoto learns two valuable things about going to prison:

a) it's actually called jail, not prison, for a short-term stay behind bars. more specifically: an overnight stay for a benign misdemeanor, or so they inform him.
b) the "one phone call" bit is a complete hoax. if anything, calls are encouraged. not that knowing that helps him in particular, but it's good to know, nonetheless.

notwithstanding the fact he couldn't ask haru to bail him out, considering they were held up in the same communal cell with at least three other people with them, makoto's absolutely terrified. over the course of two hours, he's kept his eyes peeled staring at the clock and trying to will himself to remain silent and moderately low-key. and makoto fails spectacularly, for the most part, his voice rising entire octaves as he babbles on and on to a relatively levelheaded boy sitting beside him. ]

bad

when everyone we know publicly disowns us

streets

[ when he doesn't get the validation he desperately needs (you know, something beyond placid one-word remarks), he turns to the closest onlooker, doing his absolute best not to stutter. ]

( NOTE: this is a partial joint post with

freed for part 3 + 4! it'll go: you > one of us > you unless you'd prefer no tag order or you'd like us to tag you separately. )

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[what? seriously? minatsuki turns her attention back over to makoto, since he's the one mostly talking, and she glares at him. he is telling the truth, right? if he is, then that's even more suspicious.]

So only the big guys in charge are allowed near there? [of course. another parallel to deadman wonderland, it seems. the guards were never allowed to know just what they were protecting, after all.]

More than a little, they are hiding something... and I doubt you'll get a time out like this if you go back there anytime soon.

I ... I think so? Or people with proper access, although we didn't see much at all before they took us away.

[ he wouldn't lie???? ????? ???

like haru might lie by omission, but makoto prides himself on being goody-two-shoes who's never done anything remotely questionable without being wracked with guilt for days on end. granted, it sounds a little masochistic out of context, but everything he's been confronted with lately has been nothing short of an exercise in futility, so he can't exactly retain the full extent of his wits in jail. like he literally shamed his entire family just by being admitted in here ... ]

You don't think they would do that to anyone else, right? It's lucky we even made it that far in the first place. We weren't even trying to expose them for anything, it's just —

... I can't imagine what they'd want to hide so badly that they'd throw people in lock-up just for trespassing.

You guys have never come across people like this before, have you?

[minatsuki has, plenty of times. it's why she has such trouble believing others. it's why she still thinks everyone is a liar- at least at first. she's far more trusting now than she ever was, but it's still difficult for her.]

If they did it to you, then maybe if it keeps happening it won't just be a warning for others, it'll become something way more fucked up. Believe me- this place already reminds me enough of Deadman Wonderland, I wouldn't be surprised if those running it here were just as sick in the head.

Deadman...Wonderland?

[the way haru tips his head is reminiscent more of an animal's curiosity than a person but he does it quite naturally, more expression in this single gesture and the glint of his eyes than anything else. he doesn't bother elucidating further, figuring his quizzical intonation speaks for itself: what is deadman wonderland? the way he fixes his gaze squarely on minatsuki might be unnerving -- or not, considering -- and definitely borderlines on too much, the kind of thing people back home would call rude. but he doesn't mean much by it except that he's paying more attention now.

sick in the head? based on how it was when they arrived, he's not hard-pressed to believe that already.]

[his gaze doesn't bother her one bit, especially since she's seen far worse. the two before her were pretty innocent, in comparison to her and other deadmen, so she felt like they hardly posed a threat. two on one and she could take them- if it ever came down to it.

they didn't seem like the type to start a fight, however, more like the kind to break it up. that sort of sappy shit amused her, because she could never go down that road.

she also had a feeling they might not react too well to what she was about to confess.]

The last prison I was at. Stayed in that hell hole for about four years. It had its own currency, rules, and distracting entertainment- kinda like this place. Only less.... digital shit involved.

[ the only way they'd prolong their stay is if they commit perjury in a mismanaged attempt to find their friends, wiped clean from the system with only negligible artifacts remaining. their homes, their occupations, their personal belongings — everything stripped bare save for their memories, and it's hard to gauge their accuracy when transposed next to the realization that he's staring up at minatsuki with wide, wide eyes.

now that's he's left metaphysically high and dry on incredulity, he's grasping for words, which come slow and stumbling, as if he's having difficulty enunciating syllables. ]

What? That can't be — how is that possible? Four whole years?

[ the highest institution any of them could conceivably landed themselves in was juvenile hall, not prison. it's ingenuous to expect that people from other worlds operated on the same terms, but still.

mercy, as it normally occurred to him, tended to be a universal concept. ]

[...usually people would be surprised that she had been in a prison at all- but this guy seems to be overly flustered about her length of time in there. actually, she still had more years on her sentence, but she had been brought here before any of that could have been carried out.]

Guess they figured my crime deserved that length of time. Private Japanese prisons like to keep their murderers.

[ look, he's getting to it. he can't wrap his mind around such a (well, not exactly sweet, but likely innocent) young girl getting caught up in delinquency?! ]

That doesn't make sense. I would've understood a detention center, but —

[ the expression that crawls on his face is priceless as he rapidly falters into distress. ]

... You ... y-you ... k-killed someone?!

[ #DEAD ]

[someone? oh please- she's killed way more than that. what landed her in prison however... was because she killed her father. destroyed him and tried to do the same to her mother. that worthless cunt got off far too lucky, having died in the earthquake.

...ah but she wasn't about to spill her heart out to some strange boys in her cell, hell no. she didn't want anyone to know about that part of her.]

Oh yeah I did. What? You honestly thought everyone here was helpful and kind? No chance of murderers and liars at all? Sure there might be a fair share of you bleeding hearts around, but don't lump everyone into the same category.

I haven't gotten my hands dirty in a while but.... let's just say- I've added people to my list since the first time I killed. [wow these poor boys.] Just don't piss me off and we'll all get along fine, understand?

[ even accounting for makoto's bleeding heart and predisposition for pacifism, he'd likely take her side. granted, he'd probably end killed off like another casualty in a world where people as young as adolescents were brought before kangaroo courts and sentenced to grotesque theme parks doubling as prisons, but there's only bewilderment skittering like marbles over his features as he flinches back — quickly turning his head away, struck by his words. ]

I ... I didn't mean to assume. I'm sorry.

[ he doesn't bother to gauge haru's reaction, pulling away fast from them both, keeping his eyes pinned to the concrete flooring.

silence permeates, at first. and then, breathy and uncertain: ] I just — I think there's good in everyone. It'd be a little sad if we doubted every single person we met just because we didn't know them.

It's not like I think everyone here is obligated to be kind or anything. But if we can assist each other, why shouldn't we? In the end, we're all here for the same reason. And alone, we won't be able to change anything, but together ... we could figure out how to fix things here and return home.

Isn't that enough of a reason to help others?

[....these kids.... they would certainly be killed sometime soon, she was sure of it. she never trusted anyone, she couldn't afford to- and these guys might even be worse than ganta. at least ganta had the means to backup what he was talking about, the power to take fate into his own hands...

..do these guys even have powers? she didn't know. if not- then she had a feeling they would continue to get into all sorts of trouble.]

...What can you even do to help?

[yeah, his words are nice and all but that's all they are to her.]

All you've managed to do is get caught walking around and ended up being tossed in jail. If you wanna help- then start by figuring out how to get around the authorities.

And if you think for a second that there's good in everyone- then you're gonna end up dead one way or another. I've learned that.... [ugh.] .....that not every single person is as rotten to the core as I thought. A certain, stupid, naive, childish individual went on a rant about that sorta shit before.

There's only good in some people. And even then.... that may be impossible to find within them. [she's definitely not a good person, she knows she's not. she's a murderer that deserves to be in jail... that's all.]

You might be right. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't think the best of others. If you believe everyone's bound to backstab you if given the chance, then how can you trust anyone around you? Treating everyone like the enemy can't be the answer. We're all here for a reason, aren't we?

[ maybe it's his prerogative, subjective as it is. he doesn't know how to convey it correctly — sincerity or the way he's so prone to believe others until proven wrong. it's all he knows, really: quiet coastal shores and a life that anyone could envy. loving parents, affectionate siblings, friends that he'd go to the ends of the earth for — he's never lacked for anything in the way of moral support. never a reason to stray or deviate from the mentality of a bleeding heart. three months in tellus and his viewpoint has remained largely unchanged.

he doesn't want to challenge her perspective — he doesn't know her story, only what she's told him, stuck together in a communal cell for crimes that aren't even remotely similar. ]

They had to have made some of those laws for our own safety and wellbeing. Otherwise, there would be no point in keeping us all in here if the terrain outside of the colony is inhospitable, or why they've given us CereVices so we can all easily communicate with each other. We just need to figure out what doesn't make sense — why people sometimes disappear, or return different, or what's really in the research tower that they're all so adamant on hiding.

[ eventually, makoto lapses into silence. a few minutes pass, and then, with some hesistation: ]

... Your friend. The one who told you there was good in everyone. Are they here on Tellus as well?

[...wow this guy sure is a bleeding heart. she's listening to him, she is, but she can't help but disagree with a lot of his ideals. she knows she can't mistrust everyone- but she also can't blindly trust everyone as well.

not with the shit she's seen- it's impossible to just trust anyone.

she remains quiet as he speaks, now simply crossing her arms and huffing in response.]

...Fine, I guess it would be good to focus on the disappearances and shit- yeah.

[she an agree with that at least. as for his other question...]

No- I arrived here alone. Not even my siscon of a brother came here with me.

[ agree to disagree. makoto's naiveté is bound to get him killed someday, like a curse that continues resurrecting in greater increments until the finish. he's already landed himself into enough conundrums dealing with the various monsters and unintelligible creatures he's encountered in ViViD alone.

if nothing else, he's content with leaving it on that note, slumping back to his spot on the bench to assess minatsuki at face-value. ]

You shouldn't call your family that.

[ but it's not like he's ever met the guy — he could be nothing short of horrible, and judging from her reaction, his expression abruptly falls. ]

So you arrived here by yourself? Weren't you scared? It's not like I can believe what CERES is telling us, but you couldn't have been fine with the way things turned out, especially while you were on your own.

It's true, though.

[he's pretty disgusting when it comes to her. whatever- she loves her brother, he's the only one she can say she actually loves.

at that next question minatsuki scoffs.]

Scared- of here? Please. I have been through far worse in Wonderland. [she's seen her fair share of hell in that place. she's lived it, she's endured it... and she's definitely inflicted it on other people. she's.... not that person anymore- but she isn't afraid to turn violent again if she really needed to.

she narrows her eyes at the thought of DW, and she simply ends up clicking her tongue in frustration.]

I was fourteen when I arrived in prison before- and I was completely alone then too. This shit doesn't scare me.

Now that we're here though, shouldn't we be trying to make ourselves better people? There's so much more out there that we need to find out — about CERES and what really happened to our homes.

[ he doesn't understand — according to CERES, everyone they've ever known and cared for has since passed, left to their own devices. it's not the clinical indifference of her words but the unreeling disquiet, speaking as if it's a commonplace habit to end up incarcerated for years on end, to speak about family with cruel savagery lit around the words. in contrast, makoto's more than content to trail off into silence like haru as, spend the rest of their time locked up in confinement merely retaining whatever semblance of sanity he has left, but he can't help but feel —

sad, in a way that sinks without pretense, the sheer belief emanating through her speech. she believes in an ideology that promotes nothing but derangement itself, and there's no way he could've ever lasted a minute in the same environment.

eyes half-lidded, he lowers his head, shoulders hunching in. ]

You shouldn't be used to something like this. It's ... horrible. Don't you want to aspire for more? If not for yourself, then for your brother's sake? I'm sure he'd want you to be happy.

[she is used to it- and that's all there is to it. she's been forced into this kind of shitty life since she was little, ever since her mother left her. that was when her problems started, but at least she's been able to move on since then.

she sighed a little, shaking her head. she stayed in the same position, arms crossed firmly over her chest and one leg resting over the other, but she seemed to visibly relax a little bit more.]

You trying to play the part of the therapist and figure me out? [not gonna happen. but-]

Believe it or not- I've already done better for myself. If you think I'm hard to handle now- you shoulda seen me at my prime. I've already moved on from acting like a psycho who keeps lying to herself.

I got plans in mind for my future.... sure- but I'd rather focus on this place first. [actually- she wants to be a vet when she's older.]

No, I just want to make sure you're taking care of yourself and looking after your own wellbeing.

[ so yes, exactly like a therapist. but as makoto isn't limited to monetary restraints, his purpose for ascertaining minatsuki's wellbeing pivots solely on the fact that no one should ever be subjected to callously unfair and unethical treatment, especially at such a young age. ]

As long as you've got something in mind for what you want to do from here on out, then things are bound to turn out alright.

[ there's a confidence about her that's surprisingly emboldening. normally content to stand at the sidelines, he's not so much as encouraged as he is impelled to change the debilitating state of CERES's government services. if not for himself then for everyone else who would presumably follow given enough time. ]

I'll even help figure out what CERES is up to. I know Haru — the guy sitting next to me — would, too. We just need to get through tonight first intact.

[ head inclining in a slight bow, makoto raises his head, doing his best to appear relatively complacent despite being locked behind bars with his best friend in the tow. ]

I'm Makoto, by the way. I wish we met on better terms, but it's nice to make you acquaintance nonetheless.

[ a vet, huh. it's definitely a job makoto would wholeheartedly approve of. ]

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( OPEN ) red light, green light

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sorry for the snail pace slowness of my tags in general :*

dont worry i am slow as well!

no worries, take your time!!

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