((ooc: please refer to this permissions post for potential content warnings!))
1. this is a low-flying panic attack
After close to a minute of freezing up in pure panic, half a minute getting the latch of the cage undone (too easy-it was only jammed, not locked), and an undetermined number of minutes staring blankly at the street three stories below (oblivious to the scrape on the back of his hand, which has begun to bleed), Tanaka has settled on three possible explanations for this. One, he's dreaming, in which case at least his subconscious has decided to do something new. Maybe something good came of hanging around when Satou was playing those Western-style fantasy games. The second option is really a variation on the first: he's been recaptured and they're testing something on him - a psychedelic drug, virtual reality, the specifics don't matter as much as the situation. The third option is that he somehow, suddenly, actually in a different universe. He feels insane for even considering it, but, well, no one knows exactly what demi-humans are capable of. He remembers one of the labcoats speculating once that demi-humans don't actually revive, but replace themselves with an uninjured version from another dimension. It's not completely impossible and insane. Just mostly.
He discards the possibility that he's completely broken from reality and this is all a hallucination. If that was going to happen, it would have happened ten years ago.
So, if that's what could be going on here, what's the response? If it's option one, he'd probably be better off just sitting back and trying to get some sleep within the dream until he wakes up. If it's option two, he's still better off doing that. It would avoid giving whoever's observing the satisfaction of some response out of him. It's option three that poses an issue, because that would mean he needs to get out of here. Fast.
"Shit." He's going to go with the stupid option, isn't he. He sighs and looks down more intently. He can't just jump out - at this height, he'd probably break a lot of bones but not die. Even if he did die, he'd rather avoid resetting in public. The street seems empty now, but it looks kind of residential. Someone could turn up at any moment. That leaves climbing down, which is unfortunate, since the wall behind him looks to be very flat stone fitted very close together. He can't exactly chisel handholds into it.
...He can't. But his ghost can.
In the minutes that follow, anyone watching will see a set of horizontal grooves appear in the wall, which Tanaka uses to find purchase after climbing around the outside of the cage to get to the first one. If they're watching closely enough, they might just see what looks to be a black talon twice the size of a human finger cutting into the stone.
"Thanks," Tanaka says once he finally has his feet on the ground, seemingly to the empty air.
2. sing a song of sixpence that goes
Some time later, in a quiet corner of a public space, Tanaka pulls out the parchment to read what he's been charged with. It should probably take more than a page, but maybe they're grouping particular crimes under one umbrella. In any case, best to know what whoever's in charge here knows. What they think is important.
It doesn't take long to read. The charge is, simply, Breach of Contract.
"Huh?" He stares at the parchment, openly and completely baffled. This whole situation being some kind of elaborate prison was just about the only thing he'd been told that made sense, but that was based on the assumption that someone in charge here knew anything about him. Breach of contract? What contract?
"Did they get the wrong guy?"
3. burn the witch
As far as Tanaka's concerned, the Witch Hunt is a very stupid game that's much better avoided entirely. People think that's fun? Really? Still, when someone wearing a witch hat rushes onto the street in front of him, he can't help himself. There are too many people in the world who might take a stupid game too far.
"Hey," he calls out, before gesturing to the alley behind him. "You can hide back here."
Unfortunately if Tanaka is looking for some privacy, Kurama has a tendency to linger in shadows and corners. The question is enough to attract his attention and he steps forward as a way of announcing himself.
"From my understanding, it is not unusual for some to be charged with crimes they have no memory of committing. Or even, a crime that doesn't exist where they come from."
Tanaka starts, looking sharply at the newcomer for a moment before turning his eyes back down to the parchment. Has his situational awareness gotten worse again? He needs to be more careful.
But he did say something, and the kid is here, and did respond. So...might as well continue the conversation. He looks back up.
"Kinda seems like that defeats the point, doesn't it?"
He keeps an eye on the stranger when he starts, but then the guy looks back at the parchment with his sentencing on it as if unbothered. Slipping his hands into his pockets, Kurama also relaxes his posture.
"I am uncertain what the goal is in doing that, but it does give one the impression that perhaps rehabilitation is merely a cover up for their true intentions in bringing us here."
Whatever is going on, he can be certain of this: he, and anyone else trapped in whatever this is, is here to be used. What's the phrase? Exploitable resources. The real question to consider is why whoever's behind this woulf be so sloppy. Is it that they don't care about maintaining the lie? Is it incompetence? And if it's incompetence, how many other mistakes have been made?
It's not often he gets called out on his roundabout way of speaking, but his tone suggests his meaning was in line with the latter wording, regardless.
"It is quite possible rehabilitation was the original intent. However, things have not gone to plan here for many months, whatever that plan was. I imagine longer, I simply can not speak with any experience on events which occurred before my arrival."
Izumi hadn't tossed the parchment, but she had scrunched it back up and shoved it deep into her pockets. The crime listed? That'd made her wince sure. But it wasn't as bad as seeing her birth name written there, plain as day.
Then she'd kept moving, keeping her head down. Until she heard that very familiar voice. Did she acknowledge him are not?
"They don't seem very good at their jobs."
She stopped walking, tilting her head up to look at him.
He blinks. And blinks a second time. But she remains decidedly there - the actual Shimomura, not a hypothetical vision of her ready to tell him off for wasting her time and effort by getting captured again (that may have crossed his mind earlier).
"...Not where we'd planned to meet up, huh." Well, where and when she'd told him they could meet up. He hadn't exactly done much planning. Or anything, really.
She just stared back, impassively, waiting for him to process it. Not that she fully understood it herself. But she'd woken up with the clothes on her back, in a cage suspended from a lamppost.
"No. I don't have your paperwork with me." Keeping it vague while they were out here. Izumi had still been sorting through the things Tosaki left to her. That was it for the most part. Wasn't it? It wasn't as though they were friends.
But she made no move to leave, instead she motioned to one of the cages with her chin.
He doesn't make any move to leave either. Shimomura isn't a friend; she might not even be an ally now. But she's...trustworthy, and in the midst of whatever is going on here he's more reluctant to leave that than he should be. It's a relief when she continues the conversation.
"Yeah. Makes it pretty clear how welcome we are."
But that's hardly new.
slight spoilers for ajin, for anyone else reading?
She shrugged. At this point she was just tired. Trying to survive, being blackmailed into being a bodyguard, fighting for her life, changing her name again and having freedom for the first time in years... Now this, whatever this was.
Izumi wasn't really sure what to do. But seeing a familiar face was enough to make her stop wandering.
New people were arriving in cages. Whomever was controlling the simulation had a rather warped sense of what was appropriate and inappropriate.
So Visas was walking from block to block, ready to assist. It was easy to spot the new Chosen; they glowed in her vision. But this... this was something different. This man had a companion. A most unusual companion.
She hung back to watch as the apparition cut slot after slot into the wall so that the man could climb down to the ground. Only when he had both feet on a solid surface did she speak up.
It's the ghost that turns towards the newcomer first, its tooth-filled head snapping around, bending its legs like it's ready to spring at her. But it holds still in that position for now, as Tanaka himself turns, surprised and more than a little wary.
"You can see it?" Another demi-human? She isn't familiar, but...
Visas tensed as the apparition took a belligerent stance, hand going to the hilt of her lightsaber. But the thing held its ground for the moment, and so she refrained from drawing her weapon yet. Given its nature, she wondered if it could even incur physical damage.
"Yes, I can see it," she replied. She would explain more, in a moment, but... "Can you convey to it that I don't intend to harm it?"
For a split second, he hesitates. Then he turns his head to address the ghost. "Hey, relax."
The creature straightens up to stand there like a limp puppet. Somehow, it manages to make the movement sulky. With that attitude Tanaka is tempted to dismiss it right away, but it won't last more than five more minutes at the most anyway. The particles that make up its body are slowly dissolving.
So, five minutes at the most to determine whether he needs the closest thing he has to a weapon right now.
Visas lifted her free hand and brushed her fingers against the metal weaving that weighted her veil over her face. "I am not actually Human," she said. "My sight does not come from light entering a physical organ, but the perception of life-energy."
She watched the entity. It seemed to be... rather sullen, now, having been commanded to stop. "What is your relationship with it?"
When you've been here for as long as Claude has, seeing someone staring blankly at their parchment reading their supposed crimes has become a fairly regular practice; once a month, a new group of people arrive and are either deeply self-recriminating in ways that are helpful to nobody, least of all themselves, or baffled and upset at the injustice that's been waged upon them. This man appears to be one of the latter. Which is better in Claude's book, being that he thinks of guilt as a largely functionless emotion, and anyone with sense should be puzzled by the prospect of being sentenced and punished by an entity without any sense of legislation whatsoever.
"Do you really expect any accuracy from the sort of people that pluck people from their homes without warning?" He says, brow arched as he approaches, hand outstretched. "Claude von Riegan. Welcome to Aldrip. I hope you don't expect anything going forward to make any more sense than that piece of parchment does."
At the sound of someone else, Tanaka's shoulders hunch further, an unconscious defense, though only a bit of wariness makes it onto his face.
This guy makes an entrance, huh? 'Von Riegen' sounds like some fancy European name. It matches some of the setting, Tanaka guesses. Does that mean anything, or is it a coincidence?
"Shouldn't it take good info to pluck people from their homes?"
Or, in his case, the condemned apartment tower he last remembers hiding out in. Which emphasizes the quality of intel needed, he thinks.
"Quite the opposite, my friend! Quite the opposite! People who are inclined to do that sort of thing aren't nearly as choosy as they would like to appear. I think they snatch us away first, and come up with some sort of stupid excuse for it afterwards."
Not one that isn't at all applicable; from what he's seen, many of them are eerily similar to their lives. They're just lacking in any sense of nuance, of evidence, of any sign that there's some sort of cohesive legal system at work.
He shrugs. "Typically, this harsh a sentence would necessitate very grim crimes indeed, but you'll find this is less a hive of murderers and villains than you might expect, Mister...?"
At the mention of harsh sentencing and what it might usually require, Tanaka's expression tightens, like someone pained by a phantom limb. He's been a murderer. But only after he was given a harsher sentence than this just for being alive. Even if he is back under government control and this is all a hallucination or simulation, the fact that it's been hours and he hasn't died at all shows more mercy than he was ever given before he had blood on his hands.
He lets out a bitter huff of breath, and the expression passes. He's just so tired. So tired of this.
He should probably give a fake name. He has a few picked out. But what's the point when his real name is right there on this damn piece of paper? And every government employee in Japan certainly knows it.
"Tanaka." He pauses, but the man had been polite enough to give his full name, so it's only right to return the gesture. "Kouji Tanaka."
"A pleasure to meet you, Tanaka!" Claude is well aware that his brittle cheeriness can be a bit of a turn-off to some people (all right, he'll be honest; it is to most people back home), but it's the way he's always operated, and he doesn't intend to stop now.
Even if he does see perfectly well that this Tanaka fellow is in no mood for it. Nor should he be. Frankly, Claude thinks this is one of the saner responses he's seen to this, aside from outright denial. The fact that some people can take this sort of indignity in stride is something that never ceases to shock him. If they're pained, if they're angry, if they're defiant -- good. That's the way it should be.
"Now, I can see you're about as happy to be here as I am, so let me give you a piece of advice: don't sit around holding out hope for the possibility of a miraculous escape. Nobody's figured it out yet, and unless you happen to be phenomenally intelligent in a way none of us are, you won't either. Find a source of income, find a place to stay, and then you can get to work doing... well, whatever it is you so choose."
There's a voice telling him rather rather casually, judging by the tone. It's kind of weird - like there's no emotion in it whatsoever, which in turn makes it almost sound a little nonchalant. Uncaring.
If Tanaka looks up to see where it's coming from, then he might spot the girl's facial expression, which very much seems to suit the tone. It's a pokerface. Just as difficult to read any emotion whatsoever off there as it is to read it off her voice.
"That stuff is total nonsense. Just some sort of weird paint coat they dropped onto this place to give it a weird crim and punishment theme."
Tanaka has spent enough time with people with blunted affect, and has an odd enough relationship with his own, that the attitude doesn't strike him as that strange. He's more troubled by the fact he didn't notice her earlier. He frowns slightly.
"If they bothered with the coat of paint, though, it must mean something to them, right?"
"Maybe. It could also just be that they drew a dart to pick a theme."
It sounds a little ridiculous, given the context. This is some sort of multidimensional place they are all trapped in, after all. But considering the attitude Ange has seen back home from similarly powerful beings, she really wouldn't put that out of the realm of possibility. Some of the witches definitely would have used that method, she thinks.
Not that it means she's happy with it. Her Tortured Teenage Sigh that follows right after those words makes that much clear. "I guess it could have been worse. We could have gotten stuck with some sort of circus-themed coat of paint in that case."
Then they would've all been clowns... even more so than they are right now...
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expiationlogs2024-10-14 08:59 am
Kouji Tanaka | Ajin: Demi-Human | TDM
After close to a minute of freezing up in pure panic, half a minute getting the latch of the cage undone (too easy-it was only jammed, not locked), and an undetermined number of minutes staring blankly at the street three stories below (oblivious to the scrape on the back of his hand, which has begun to bleed), Tanaka has settled on three possible explanations for this. One, he's dreaming, in which case at least his subconscious has decided to do something new. Maybe something good came of hanging around when Satou was playing those Western-style fantasy games. The second option is really a variation on the first: he's been recaptured and they're testing something on him - a psychedelic drug, virtual reality, the specifics don't matter as much as the situation. The third option is that he somehow, suddenly, actually in a different universe. He feels insane for even considering it, but, well, no one knows exactly what demi-humans are capable of. He remembers one of the labcoats speculating once that demi-humans don't actually revive, but replace themselves with an uninjured version from another dimension. It's not completely impossible and insane. Just mostly.
He discards the possibility that he's completely broken from reality and this is all a hallucination. If that was going to happen, it would have happened ten years ago.
So, if that's what could be going on here, what's the response? If it's option one, he'd probably be better off just sitting back and trying to get some sleep within the dream until he wakes up. If it's option two, he's still better off doing that. It would avoid giving whoever's observing the satisfaction of some response out of him. It's option three that poses an issue, because that would mean he needs to get out of here. Fast.
"Shit." He's going to go with the stupid option, isn't he. He sighs and looks down more intently. He can't just jump out - at this height, he'd probably break a lot of bones but not die. Even if he did die, he'd rather avoid resetting in public. The street seems empty now, but it looks kind of residential. Someone could turn up at any moment. That leaves climbing down, which is unfortunate, since the wall behind him looks to be very flat stone fitted very close together. He can't exactly chisel handholds into it.
...He can't. But his ghost can.
In the minutes that follow, anyone watching will see a set of horizontal grooves appear in the wall, which Tanaka uses to find purchase after climbing around the outside of the cage to get to the first one. If they're watching closely enough, they might just see what looks to be a black talon twice the size of a human finger cutting into the stone.
"Thanks," Tanaka says once he finally has his feet on the ground, seemingly to the empty air.
Some time later, in a quiet corner of a public space, Tanaka pulls out the parchment to read what he's been charged with. It should probably take more than a page, but maybe they're grouping particular crimes under one umbrella. In any case, best to know what whoever's in charge here knows. What they think is important.
It doesn't take long to read. The charge is, simply, Breach of Contract.
"Huh?" He stares at the parchment, openly and completely baffled. This whole situation being some kind of elaborate prison was just about the only thing he'd been told that made sense, but that was based on the assumption that someone in charge here knew anything about him. Breach of contract? What contract?
"Did they get the wrong guy?"
As far as Tanaka's concerned, the Witch Hunt is a very stupid game that's much better avoided entirely. People think that's fun? Really? Still, when someone wearing a witch hat rushes onto the street in front of him, he can't help himself. There are too many people in the world who might take a stupid game too far.
"Hey," he calls out, before gesturing to the alley behind him. "You can hide back here."
2.
"From my understanding, it is not unusual for some to be charged with crimes they have no memory of committing. Or even, a crime that doesn't exist where they come from."
no subject
But he did say something, and the kid is here, and did respond. So...might as well continue the conversation. He looks back up.
"Kinda seems like that defeats the point, doesn't it?"
no subject
"I am uncertain what the goal is in doing that, but it does give one the impression that perhaps rehabilitation is merely a cover up for their true intentions in bringing us here."
no subject
Whatever is going on, he can be certain of this: he, and anyone else trapped in whatever this is, is here to be used. What's the phrase? Exploitable resources. The real question to consider is why whoever's behind this woulf be so sloppy. Is it that they don't care about maintaining the lie? Is it incompetence? And if it's incompetence, how many other mistakes have been made?
no subject
It's not often he gets called out on his roundabout way of speaking, but his tone suggests his meaning was in line with the latter wording, regardless.
"It is quite possible rehabilitation was the original intent. However, things have not gone to plan here for many months, whatever that plan was. I imagine longer, I simply can not speak with any experience on events which occurred before my arrival."
no subject
"What do you mean, not to plan?"
(no subject)
(no subject)
2 - ?????
Then she'd kept moving, keeping her head down. Until she heard that very familiar voice. Did she acknowledge him are not?
"They don't seem very good at their jobs."
She stopped walking, tilting her head up to look at him.
omg <3
"...Not where we'd planned to meet up, huh." Well, where and when she'd told him they could meet up. He hadn't exactly done much planning. Or anything, really.
no subject
"No. I don't have your paperwork with me." Keeping it vague while they were out here. Izumi had still been sorting through the things Tosaki left to her. That was it for the most part. Wasn't it? It wasn't as though they were friends.
But she made no move to leave, instead she motioned to one of the cages with her chin.
"Were you in one of them too?"
no subject
"Yeah. Makes it pretty clear how welcome we are."
But that's hardly new.
slight spoilers for ajin, for anyone else reading?
She shrugged. At this point she was just tired. Trying to survive, being blackmailed into being a bodyguard, fighting for her life, changing her name again and having freedom for the first time in years... Now this, whatever this was.
Izumi wasn't really sure what to do. But seeing a familiar face was enough to make her stop wandering.
"Even if the locals aren't very friendly."
(no subject)
arrival
So Visas was walking from block to block, ready to assist. It was easy to spot the new Chosen; they glowed in her vision. But this... this was something different. This man had a companion. A most unusual companion.
She hung back to watch as the apparition cut slot after slot into the wall so that the man could climb down to the ground. Only when he had both feet on a solid surface did she speak up.
"Who is your helper?"
no subject
"You can see it?" Another demi-human? She isn't familiar, but...
Hang on, how is she seeing anything?
no subject
"Yes, I can see it," she replied. She would explain more, in a moment, but... "Can you convey to it that I don't intend to harm it?"
no subject
The creature straightens up to stand there like a limp puppet. Somehow, it manages to make the movement sulky. With that attitude Tanaka is tempted to dismiss it right away, but it won't last more than five more minutes at the most anyway. The particles that make up its body are slowly dissolving.
So, five minutes at the most to determine whether he needs the closest thing he has to a weapon right now.
"How'd you notice it?"
no subject
She watched the entity. It seemed to be... rather sullen, now, having been commanded to stop. "What is your relationship with it?"
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
2!
"Do you really expect any accuracy from the sort of people that pluck people from their homes without warning?" He says, brow arched as he approaches, hand outstretched. "Claude von Riegan. Welcome to Aldrip. I hope you don't expect anything going forward to make any more sense than that piece of parchment does."
no subject
This guy makes an entrance, huh? 'Von Riegen' sounds like some fancy European name. It matches some of the setting, Tanaka guesses. Does that mean anything, or is it a coincidence?
"Shouldn't it take good info to pluck people from their homes?"
Or, in his case, the condemned apartment tower he last remembers hiding out in. Which emphasizes the quality of intel needed, he thinks.
no subject
Not one that isn't at all applicable; from what he's seen, many of them are eerily similar to their lives. They're just lacking in any sense of nuance, of evidence, of any sign that there's some sort of cohesive legal system at work.
He shrugs. "Typically, this harsh a sentence would necessitate very grim crimes indeed, but you'll find this is less a hive of murderers and villains than you might expect, Mister...?"
no subject
He lets out a bitter huff of breath, and the expression passes. He's just so tired. So tired of this.
He should probably give a fake name. He has a few picked out. But what's the point when his real name is right there on this damn piece of paper? And every government employee in Japan certainly knows it.
"Tanaka." He pauses, but the man had been polite enough to give his full name, so it's only right to return the gesture. "Kouji Tanaka."
no subject
Even if he does see perfectly well that this Tanaka fellow is in no mood for it. Nor should he be. Frankly, Claude thinks this is one of the saner responses he's seen to this, aside from outright denial. The fact that some people can take this sort of indignity in stride is something that never ceases to shock him. If they're pained, if they're angry, if they're defiant -- good. That's the way it should be.
"Now, I can see you're about as happy to be here as I am, so let me give you a piece of advice: don't sit around holding out hope for the possibility of a miraculous escape. Nobody's figured it out yet, and unless you happen to be phenomenally intelligent in a way none of us are, you won't either. Find a source of income, find a place to stay, and then you can get to work doing... well, whatever it is you so choose."
2
There's a voice telling him rather rather casually, judging by the tone. It's kind of weird - like there's no emotion in it whatsoever, which in turn makes it almost sound a little nonchalant. Uncaring.
If Tanaka looks up to see where it's coming from, then he might spot the girl's facial expression, which very much seems to suit the tone. It's a pokerface. Just as difficult to read any emotion whatsoever off there as it is to read it off her voice.
"That stuff is total nonsense. Just some sort of weird paint coat they dropped onto this place to give it a weird crim and punishment theme."
no subject
"If they bothered with the coat of paint, though, it must mean something to them, right?"
no subject
"Maybe. It could also just be that they drew a dart to pick a theme."
It sounds a little ridiculous, given the context. This is some sort of multidimensional place they are all trapped in, after all. But considering the attitude Ange has seen back home from similarly powerful beings, she really wouldn't put that out of the realm of possibility. Some of the witches definitely would have used that method, she thinks.
Not that it means she's happy with it. Her Tortured Teenage Sigh that follows right after those words makes that much clear. "I guess it could have been worse. We could have gotten stuck with some sort of circus-themed coat of paint in that case."
Then they would've all been clowns... even more so than they are right now...