Scaredycat Club in: Total Eclipse [open]

[moonlitlove]

Date & Time: November 16th, all day
Location: Housing areas, mess hall
Characters: Usagi and OPEN
Summary: The world is ending. Usagi freaks---and then maybe realizes that other people are scared too. Useless people unite!
Warnings: dramatic teenage wailing, maybe some silliness as she tries to keep busy

[a]

It's dark. The atmosphere can't seem to keep it together---she feels heavy, then light, then she keels over. There's no message from anyone about what might be going on, and she can't call either. Most doors are locked. Sure, the place is dreary, but it's even worse now! There's nowhere to go. The ship is sinking! Or...it would be sinking if they were on a ship, but this is the non-boat version of the same thing.

They're gonna die. Usagi knows that much.

So she can be found curled in a tight ball in one of the few open hallways, making enough whimpering noises to be heard even in the dark. She's shaking, muttering to herself.

"...no, this can't be happening. I can't die yet! No one will ever know what happened to me. We'll just rot up here in this place forever unless we get to be zombies too? Oh, that's gross.

And I haven't even had a boyfriend yet!" she wails, burrowing her head in her knees.

[b - some time later]

Eventually, after hearing the hustling of feet and the mutterings of people who would probably help, Usagi manages to dry her tears. Is she still scared? Oh, of course. But even though she's not a fighter, she has to be brave like Sailor V and the cool people who protect them, right?

Easier said than done. But she tries anyway, channeling her energy into playing with some stray paper scraps she's picked up. Mama tried to teach her how to fold paper cranes once, and so Usagi tries this to calm herself. They're messy and they would look more like sea urchins if she could see them well, but it helps.

If someone who doesn't seem too sure of where they're going passes by, Usagi calls after them.

"Hey, wait! Wanna sit down?"

Comments

[moonlitlove]

"Do you just go there anytime?" Usagi wondered aloud. "Snap your fingers? Because that would be so cool."

She leaned her head against her hand. "But it's safe in there even if something happens out here?" she had to ask again.

[have_hat_will_travel]

"Well, I can move the door with a command word, that's close to as easy as snapping the fingers. But no, you just gotta see the door. It's a shimmering stretch of wall near the living spaces, right now at least."

Pidonus blinked. "And it should be. It's not powered by any of the base systems - just arcane magic. Combined with my teleportation abilities..."

[moonlitlove]

"Wow, that's a lot of magic. How'd you get all of that? Are you a witch?"

Had she seen any proof yet? No. But that wasn't going to stop Usagi from questioning, enough of a distraction from her fears.

[have_hat_will_travel]

They're magic items gifted to me by a powerful one, actually. I have my own magic as a Bard, but that's much lesser stuff.

[Pidonus considers whether to drop the honesty bomb now about her true nature or not...]

[moonlitlove]

A bard? Uh...they use music, right?

[Hey, she saw it in a video game once!]

[have_hat_will_travel]

Most people don't even get that much, honestly.

My world's... Different like that. Doubly so for a succubus.

[moonlitlove]

"...what's that?"

Now there's a term she hasn't encountered. She'll just sit here and blink.

(Okay time to stick to the right format here sorry...)

[have_hat_will_travel]

"... Well..."

Pidonus blinked.

"My world's got humanoids - elves, dwarves, and the like - along with monsters of various sorts. A Succubus is a specific kind of monster - a demon who uses people's desires against them. And, uh... That's me. Yeah."

Honesty was so uncomfortable when she had to explain it.

[moonlitlove]

"Huh?"

Usagi was more confused than frightened, thankfully. "You mean you'd give me the best video game ever and then suck my blood?"

[have_hat_will_travel]

... Pidonus blinked a few times. THAT was not the response she expected.

"Desires in the abstract, since... Erm, I only loosely know what video games even are. They weren't a thing on my world. And no, I don't drain blood. I can take lifeforce, but I haven't done that since I got here. I'm sorta trying to be good? Ish?"

[moonlitlove]

"You've never played a game?"

That sounded horrible! Usagi latched onto the stranger's arm with a firm nod. "Don't worry, we'll find one! ...as soon as we can. It might be a little while here."

[have_hat_will_travel]

"I've heard that one a few times."

[moonlitlove]

"Yeah. Like things are never going to get better here, huh?"

Usagi shivered a little, wishing she'd found her way back to her bunk already. It was crowded and cold but at least she could burrow under something.

"...you don't carry pillows in there, do you?"

[have_hat_will_travel]

"Wait, in where?"

The question, being a bit of a jump in topic from Pidonus' point of view, threw her off.

[moonlitlove]

"Your space thing?"

[have_hat_will_travel]

"Oh. Uh... Well, I have a bunch of fabric. But I wasn't really thinking of pillows - there aren't a lot of beds in the private rooms. Since I didn't have a lot of interest in those..."

[moonlitlove]

"Fabric's nice. I mean...don't you want somewhere to burrow under?"

She does. It's weirdly cold out here, and it doesn't help that it's scary too.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Pidonus paused.

"Erm... Not usually? I mean, this place isn't the greatest, but I'd rather keep trying to improve it."

[moonlitlove]

"How can we improve it now?" she wondered. "Dark and cold and spooky and...whoa!"

There went the gravity. She found herself floating upward, flailing for something to grab.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Almost as if reflexively, Pidonus's legs raised a little, bat-like wings dramatically unfurling out from... Wait, they weren't there a second ago!

But now there they are, stabilizing her. Only once she's sure she's stable does she reach a gloved hand out for Usagi to grab onto.

"Okay, that's not good."

[moonlitlove]

Usagi latches onto the girl's hand.

"This is super weird. I think I might be sick. Uh...but it's neat, I guess?"

She idly watches as the slightest movement sends her pigtails flying every which way.

[have_hat_will_travel]

"... Now we get to figure out what caused this. I'm pretty sure gravity will be stable in the Lounge, but..."

[moonlitlove]

"Do you think we're losing power?"

It sure feels like the end times. More monsters, maybe?

[have_hat_will_travel]

"Nope. The air is stable... I think. So it's something else. Could be the United Earth is up to something..."

[moonlitlove]

"They're the bad guys, right?" She bites her lip. "Oh no. We really need someone to save us now! They said there were heroes here, right?"