[ When you awaken, you find yourselves in that most wonderful of places: high school! And, oddly, you feel as though you belong here. You all go to school here! Yes, even if you're pushing 30. Yes, even if you are at best a middle school munchkin. You are all high schoolers now, milling about in the hallway.
The air is tense amongst the other students milling about. Everyone is worried about the CATs: the Career Aptitude Test. No matter how much you've studied and prepared for it, it's never enough for a test that will determine the trajectory of the rest of your life. And you get the sense that this is no exaggeration; that it really is that important, and that you haven't studied for it at all. ]
[i love that rita is the only person here who's actually high school-aged.
anyway. rita has never been stressed about a test in her life. surely she studied? why does she feel this anxious about it? anyway, we are hanging out by the lockers like we're on an american tv show about high school. talking about this test.]
... Anyway, I'm sure I'll manage. You guys are probably screwed, though.
[look, she'll feel better about it if she can put somebody else down.]
[ Looking like a high schooler is Ryuki's specialty. He'll fit right in.
Ryuki has been stressed about tests before but it's typically been unwarranted. Unfortunately this freak is a genius who graduated university two years early after all. However, being smart and acting smart are different and he's staring glibly into his locker. ]
I have to pass this test. I have to. There's a career I have to get into no matter what...
[ There's just what looks like a photo of himself in his locker I guess. And a watch with a cracked glass. He grabs a book from in there and closes it. ]
[ mumble grumble, it's fine. Hanako's grades were never the best, but he'd always had something more important on his mind— and besides, he'd long decided that there's no need to prepare for a future he will never have anyways. ]
You've been working hard all school year, so you guys'll be fine!
[ From the throngs of nervous students in the hall, two in particular approach your little group. You recognize them as Sam and Tucker, two of the only friends you have outside of your little group.
...you know, if you consider the three of you as friends in the first place. I don't know your lives.
Sam speaks first. ]
Okay, I know you guys didn't have a chance to study much for this, what with all the...you know...but please tell me you at least returned the answer keys.
[ Then Tucker: ] Yeah! I mean, we even finished lunch at the Nasty Burger early just to have time to come back here to do it, before it's too late.
[ You all realize suddenly that you didn't. In addition to some leftover hot sauce packets from that Nasty Burger lunch, you still have the answer keys in your backpack--the answer keys to the CATs that you stumbled across yesterday. The answers to the test that, if you get caught, will ensure you fail, might get you expelled, and will ruin your entire life.
Sam looks at all three of you and sees the nervousness, the resignation, the tsun. She musters up a smile for you all. ] Look...it can't be that bad. I mean, even the people who did study are freaking out, so really, we're all on even ground.
[ Ryuki and Hanako blink, and now are in a large castle-like mansion. Specifically, in a large library/study, sitting absentmindedly on the couch that is somewhere outside of frame.
How long have they been there? They don't know. They don't recognize this place, but the couch feels as if it has their postures embedded into the foam.
From outside the study, a voice calls: ]
Oh, butter biscuits, how did I lose track of them... Hanako, Ryuki, are you two in the study again?
A moment ago, it was unbearable. Now it just feels like she's woken up from a bad dream. Maybe it was. That seems like the only logical explanation. But then what are these two doing here? (Wherever "here" is?)
From behind them, Rita leans over the back of the couch, between Ryuki and Hanako.
Her skin is a grayish color, and her eyes have an almost neon hue to them. Her entire body is translucent, and there's a pale glow that surrounds her. She does not seem to fully notice the fact that, as she "leans" on the back of this couch, her arms are actually clipping through it a little bit.
She looks at each of them in turn, and her mouth moves to say something, but the sound won't reach their ears.]
[ Hanako startles his daydream— nightmare?— head still foggy but tear tracks dry on his face when he scrubs his sleeve over his eyes, looking around at the unfamiliar room before his gaze settles on Ryuki.
"I'm studying."
Why the actual fuck.
He's just going to pretend he doesn't know Ryuki and stand up to approach the door instead. ]
[ a heavy, weary sigh from the other side of the door, before it jiggles and opens, revealing an older man. He looks tired, worn down, and his attire is disheveled. He walks into the study and regards both Ryuki and Hanako with sympathy in his eyes before he sits in an armchair close by, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He does not appear to notice Rita at all. ]
You've both dissociated again, haven't you? I know it must be...difficult, to stay in the present and move on, but you must try. Letting yourselves relive it time and time again like this...it's not healthy, boys. [ ryuki is nearly 30. ] You're only prolonging your suffering.
[ I forgot I only tracked the first thread instead of tracking the entire entry by accident and was like hmm... at my empty inbox for like an hour, I'm sorry......
Anyway, he looks pretty listlessly at Vlad. ]
What are you talking about?
[ Who is this guy. He doesn't listen to medical professionals, it's a whole thing. ]
Now that she's in here, she will see an endless void of green, with ectoplasm oozing every which way, doors floating in nothing, and the occasionalisland speckled throughout, all suspended in the endless green. Don't worry about falling, though, Rita, because you can fly here! In fact it is by default what she is doing--and what every other ghost who passes by is doing!
Most of the other ghosts are just generic blobs of ectoplasm with faces, or glowing skeletons of some sort, but every now and then, as she floats, she'll see some ghostswho lookmore like individuals.
All Rita knows right now is that she needs to find a way to fix what's happened--and what might soon happen to the boys. She doesn't have a sense of what it might be, other than It's Coming And It's Bad. So, what now, Rita? ]
she... flies back towards one of those islands. but then some more blobby ghosts pass by and she veers way the hell away and pretty much dives to some random place to get far away from them. ]
What the hell... What's wrong with this place!? Why does everything have to be so creepy, huh!?
[ she turns sharply and it turns out that, apparently, she was right next to one of those humanoid ghosts. they probably think she's talking to them. ]
[ When the clocks and gearworks recede, they will find themselves back at: high school! While you may have once felt like you belong here, this now feels...wrong. Like a grave you shouldn't be intruding upon.
The air is tense amongst the other students who are frozen in place. Across from the door where the exam will be taking place are a different Rita, Ryuki, and Hanako, frozen in their preparation and worries about what to do with the answer keys in their bags.
Just before he disappears, Clockwork shouts: ] TIME IN!
[ and suddenly the hallways burst to life again, everyone milling about and chattering anxiously once more. For now, none of them can see or touch you, but this all depends on what you want to do next.
Do you save your other selves so that their lives can be happy? Kill them now to spare them from suffering and keep the cycle from renewing? Or do nothing and let everything play out as it would naturally in a self-sustaining time loop of tragedy? ]
Rita looks down at her own hands, as if having hoped that some part of those warnings were lies, that she could just go back to living... but no. So she looks to their living selves instead. ]
Did all of this really happen because a couple of idiots cheated on a test...?
Of course this feels wrong, time travel isn't supposed to be real and neither is any of this horseshit. That is, unless Shigure was right all along.
It's chaos theory, the flap of a butterfly's wings -- all for the want of a nail. If only he'd chosen this or that, even if 'that' is something as stupid as cheating on a test. ]
I don't know.
[ Ultimately it always boils down to that. Either way, he's here to do one thing -- fix the problems he caused. ]
[ Hanako doesn't know either. Maybe cheating was the reason. But cheating is inevitable: he knows he didn't study, he knows he was never interested in school and was never going to take it seriously, he knows that even if he took back the answer key or chose a different seat, he'd find some way to cheat the system.
What you do in life, you can't fix in death.
Hanako cannot and will not stop himself from cheating. Instead, he rushes into the classroom ahead of the others, runs to grab Nene and Tsukasa and get them out of there before they get Nasty Sauced. Who cares if he's ruining their lives by defaulting on their exams? at least they'll still have their lives. ]
We have to... There has to be a way to prevent it.
[ It feels illogical, but everything about this stupid experience has been illogical. But she's going to try and take the answer keys away from their living counterparts before they go inside. She can't be seen in this form... if she can just grasp them, she can return them without being caught. Or destroy them. ]
[ Presuming he is able to meddle with this scenario however way he wants, he's just going to make it so that the entire test is called off for the day. Pull the fire alarm, pull some power wires, whatever.
If the cause really was 'cheating', then the safest way is to surely cancel the test for the day? Whatever works as long as nobody else gets hurt. Though, if he finds any ridiculous Nasty Burger terorrists on the roof that he can interrupt, fuck it, let's ball.
Ultimately though, even if he would personally prefer to save Date and Tama first, he can't just ignore Rita's friends and Hanako's friends and Danny's friends and Mr. Lancer and everybody else in this building except his own currently ghosty little self. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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The air is tense amongst the other students milling about. Everyone is worried about the CATs: the Career Aptitude Test. No matter how much you've studied and prepared for it, it's never enough for a test that will determine the trajectory of the rest of your life. And you get the sense that this is no exaggeration; that it really is that important, and that you haven't studied for it at all. ]
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anyway. rita has never been stressed about a test in her life. surely she studied? why does she feel this anxious about it? anyway, we are hanging out by the lockers like we're on an american tv show about high school. talking about this test.]
... Anyway, I'm sure I'll manage. You guys are probably screwed, though.
[look, she'll feel better about it if she can put somebody else down.]
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Ryuki has been stressed about tests before but it's typically been unwarranted. Unfortunately this freak is a genius who graduated university two years early after all. However, being smart and acting smart are different and he's staring glibly into his locker. ]
I have to pass this test. I have to. There's a career I have to get into no matter what...
[ There's just what looks like a photo of himself in his locker I guess. And a watch with a cracked glass. He grabs a book from in there and closes it. ]
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[ mumble grumble, it's fine. Hanako's grades were never the best, but he'd always had something more important on his mind— and besides, he'd long decided that there's no need to prepare for a future he will never have anyways. ]
You've been working hard all school year, so you guys'll be fine!
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...you know, if you consider the three of you as friends in the first place. I don't know your lives.
Sam speaks first. ]
Okay, I know you guys didn't have a chance to study much for this, what with all the...you know...but please tell me you at least returned the answer keys.
[ Then Tucker: ] Yeah! I mean, we even finished lunch at the Nasty Burger early just to have time to come back here to do it, before it's too late.
[ You all realize suddenly that you didn't. In addition to some leftover hot sauce packets from that Nasty Burger lunch, you still have the answer keys in your backpack--the answer keys to the CATs that you stumbled across yesterday. The answers to the test that, if you get caught, will ensure you fail, might get you expelled, and will ruin your entire life.
Sam looks at all three of you and sees the nervousness, the resignation, the tsun. She musters up a smile for you all. ] Look...it can't be that bad. I mean, even the people who did study are freaking out, so really, we're all on even ground.
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[ Like, they can just burn the answer key if returning it risks them getting caught.
...
whispers to Rita and Ryuki, because he's never CATted in his life ]
The test is multiple choice, isn't it?
[ baseline 25% isn't bad... ]
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How long have they been there? They don't know. They don't recognize this place, but the couch feels as if it has their postures embedded into the foam.
From outside the study, a voice calls: ]
Oh, butter biscuits, how did I lose track of them... Hanako, Ryuki, are you two in the study again?
[ also, rita is here too! ]
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It doesn't make sense for him to suddenly be here now? He must've had a bad dream. Stuff like that happening to a high schooler is ridiculous anyway.
Yeah. Bad dream. It's not unusual for him to have stress nightmares about this or that. ]
...
I'm studying.
[ Helpfully. He is not studying but surely he had a stress dream about those damn CATs. ]
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A moment ago, it was unbearable. Now it just feels like she's woken up from a bad dream. Maybe it was. That seems like the only logical explanation. But then what are these two doing here? (Wherever "here" is?)
From behind them, Rita leans over the back of the couch, between Ryuki and Hanako.
Her skin is a grayish color, and her eyes have an almost neon hue to them. Her entire body is translucent, and there's a pale glow that surrounds her. She does not seem to fully notice the fact that, as she "leans" on the back of this couch, her arms are actually clipping through it a little bit.
She looks at each of them in turn, and her mouth moves to say something, but the sound won't reach their ears.]
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"I'm studying."
Why the actual fuck.
He's just going to pretend he doesn't know Ryuki and stand up to approach the door instead. ]
Who's asking?
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You've both dissociated again, haven't you? I know it must be...difficult, to stay in the present and move on, but you must try. Letting yourselves relive it time and time again like this...it's not healthy, boys. [ ryuki is nearly 30. ] You're only prolonging your suffering.
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Anyway, he looks pretty listlessly at Vlad. ]
What are you talking about?
[ Who is this guy. He doesn't listen to medical professionals, it's a whole thing. ]
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which is to say, the ghost zone.
Now that she's in here, she will see an endless void of green, with ectoplasm oozing every which way, doors floating in nothing, and the occasional island speckled throughout, all suspended in the endless green. Don't worry about falling, though, Rita, because you can fly here! In fact it is by default what she is doing--and what every other ghost who passes by is doing!
Most of the other ghosts are just generic blobs of ectoplasm with faces, or glowing skeletons of some sort, but every now and then, as she floats, she'll see some ghosts who look more like individuals.
All Rita knows right now is that she needs to find a way to fix what's happened--and what might soon happen to the boys. She doesn't have a sense of what it might be, other than It's Coming And It's Bad. So, what now, Rita? ]
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... wait what the fuck do you mean, other ghosts???
A creepy skeletal ghost passes by and Rita just fucking shrieks and flies the other way in a blind panic. Get her the fuck out of here. ]
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LET HER OOOOUT
GOD
she... flies back towards one of those islands. but then some more blobby ghosts pass by and she veers way the hell away and pretty much dives to some random place to get far away from them. ]
What the hell... What's wrong with this place!? Why does everything have to be so creepy, huh!?
[ she turns sharply and it turns out that, apparently, she was right next to one of those humanoid ghosts. they probably think she's talking to them. ]
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Ĉu vi neniam antaÅe estis en la Fantoma Zono?
[ for convenience's sake, Rita will find that she automatically understands him despite the language barrier.
You have never been to the Ghost Zone before? ]
1/2
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-- Ghost Zone!?
[ help. ]
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The air is tense amongst the other students who are frozen in place. Across from the door where the exam will be taking place are a different Rita, Ryuki, and Hanako, frozen in their preparation and worries about what to do with the answer keys in their bags.
Just before he disappears, Clockwork shouts: ] TIME IN!
[ and suddenly the hallways burst to life again, everyone milling about and chattering anxiously once more. For now, none of them can see or touch you, but this all depends on what you want to do next.
Do you save your other selves so that their lives can be happy? Kill them now to spare them from suffering and keep the cycle from renewing? Or do nothing and let everything play out as it would naturally in a self-sustaining time loop of tragedy? ]
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Rita looks down at her own hands, as if having hoped that some part of those warnings were lies, that she could just go back to living... but no. So she looks to their living selves instead. ]
Did all of this really happen because a couple of idiots cheated on a test...?
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Of course this feels wrong, time travel isn't supposed to be real and neither is any of this horseshit. That is, unless Shigure was right all along.
It's chaos theory, the flap of a butterfly's wings -- all for the want of a nail. If only he'd chosen this or that, even if 'that' is something as stupid as cheating on a test. ]
I don't know.
[ Ultimately it always boils down to that. Either way, he's here to do one thing -- fix the problems he caused. ]
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What you do in life, you can't fix in death.
Hanako cannot and will not stop himself from cheating. Instead, he rushes into the classroom ahead of the others, runs to grab Nene and Tsukasa and get them out of there before they get Nasty Sauced. Who cares if he's ruining their lives by defaulting on their exams? at least they'll still have their lives. ]
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[ There he goes. ]
We have to... There has to be a way to prevent it.
[ It feels illogical, but everything about this stupid experience has been illogical. But she's going to try and take the answer keys away from their living counterparts before they go inside. She can't be seen in this form... if she can just grasp them, she can return them without being caught. Or destroy them. ]
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If the cause really was 'cheating', then the safest way is to surely cancel the test for the day? Whatever works as long as nobody else gets hurt. Though, if he finds any ridiculous Nasty Burger terorrists on the roof that he can interrupt, fuck it, let's ball.
Ultimately though, even if he would personally prefer to save Date and Tama first, he can't just ignore Rita's friends and Hanako's friends and Danny's friends and Mr. Lancer and everybody else in this building except his own currently ghosty little self. ]
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