First Silver Spoon - Joint Post, Video/Action for New Bark

[shslasshat]

[The boy who appears on the other end of the feed is sitting outside, in New Bark Town, if the gently waving trees and the windmill in the background are anything to go by. He appears deep in thought. In contrast to this, a sharply-grinning face appears over his left shoulder, all teeth and claws and hard, cold, gemstone eyes. Since Sableye aren't native to New Bark Town, that must clearly be his starter.]

Out of one game and into another, then.

[Piercing green eyes meet the camera from behind white-framed glasses.]

I presume I'm far from the first person to come here. ...Perhaps, even, not the first from my world – since this obviously is not the world I come from. I may have catching up to do, but mark my words: Byakuya Togami does not lose. Anyone who stands in my way will fall. So remember my face, and don't waste your t—

[But then, abruptly, the feed goes wild and veers away from his face; hopefully nobody watching gets motion sickness, because if so, they might want to avert their eyes. But given the angle and direction of the camera shift, combined with the brief flash of the boy's astonished expression before it disappears completely from view, it seems that someone has just snatched the Gear right out of his hand.

Which would be an entirely accurate conclusion to draw, really. Suffice to say, the camera is now displaying a rather attractive shot of the tip of someone's boot and a fair expanse of slightly matted grass.]

Don't be so quick to sacrifice your anonymity with needless posturing. There's nothing to be gained from ceding that advantage — particularly not in a place where that name almost certainly means nothing to anyone.

[...Does somebody want to get this man some ice for that burn.]

[The aforementioned boy huffs in the background, his hand appearing on the camera as he tries to take it back like a nerd who's become the victim of a cruel game of keep-away.]

Have you even read the training manual? A place that asserts the goal of becoming "the very best, like no one ever was" is not a bastion of subtlety.

[Then, almost sulkier,]

When did you even get here?

[JUST WHEN HE THOUGHT HE WAS SAFE.

Eventually, though, his superior height and reach everything manage to get control of the Gear back, and amid the shuffle, the second voice speaks again.]

About twenty minutes ago. [A beat.] I've been looking around. Haven't you?

[Even when his gear is back in his own possession, he doesn't bother aiming it at his face. However, he will flash Johto a shot of the lovely, lavender-haired girl who so rudely interrupted his arrogant pontificating.]

I've been reading the materials provided about this place and the creatures who inhabit it. [A smug, punchable beat.] Haven't you?

I wanted to see what my own investigations turned up first. But it'd be useful to see how much of my evidence is corroborated by yours; turn that off and let's compare our findings instead.

[For the first time since the girl appeared, Togami actually pays attention to the gear, and he scowls at it before flicking the camera off as requested.]

Comments

[Video]

[aquatically]

[The sound of smug and insufferable is thrillingly familiar, and Asahina is quick to scramble for her gear where he'd simply left it on to listen should anything interesting happen. By the time she gets a hand on it and right-side-ups it, there's that second face. Oh man wow.

So she's beaming brightly as she chirps out a greeting.] Kirigiri-chan! Togami! You're both here! That's great!

[Nooo wait. Save the investigation there's no timeline or trial here, let her love you properly!]

[Video]

[freshprints]

[It's a little while before Kirigiri actually makes it onto the network herself; presumably, between figuring out where the "new message" beep on the Gear was coming from and then having to engage in Mortal Kombat in a slapfight Togami in an attempt to get possession of his Gear back in order to investigate it (an attempt that ultimately failed because let's be real, the guy's got six inches of height and an arm's reach on her), she got delayed. But that also means that when she does come on, it's with her own account, and one thumb firmly over the camera so there's no video showing.

She recognizes the face, though, and that chirped greeting is unmistakable.]

Asahina-san?

[So she's here, too. Or so it seems.]

[Video]

[aquatically]

[Oh, she's hiding her face. But then again, Kirigiri has always been the cautious type, right? So Asahina isn't all that surprised. Besides, that doesn't even matter. What matters is her classmates are here!]

Mm! It's me! I've been here for a while. Did you just get here, Kirigiri-chan?

[Video]

[freshprints]

[Well, it certainly sounds like Asahina, and as yet Kirigiri frankly has no reason to believe it isn't Asahina, so for the time being she's just going to go with the theory that yes, it probably is, and maintain a fairly reasonable amount of skepticism about anything she might say until it's been corroborated by some other evidence, if possible.

Speaking of evidence, let's get some testimony, shall we?]

A short while ago. What can you tell me about "here", Asahina-san?

[Video]

[aquatically]

Umm! A lot. I've started to really figure it out! Let's see... [Serious face time!] the place is called Johto, and it's a land full of little creatures called pokemon. They probably gave you one, right?

[She's actually pretty proud of herself for having actual information to give. Usually she's not a good info source, at least, not intentionally.]

And hmm. Well, that music you hear won't go away. No idea why or where it's coming from. A bunch of the others are here already too.

[Video] - DR ENDGAME SPOILERS

[freshprints]

[Well, that explains the little bug that's been riding around on her Johto-issue backpack, and corresponds to what Togami and the guidebook both mentioned, so that all seems fairly—

..."A bunch of the others"? There's three accounted for so far; there's not actually that many who could be left as far as "a bunch" is concerned.

Although maybe that means Naegi is here—]

The others. So Fukawa-san, Hakagure-kun, and Naegi-kun?

[Video] - DR ENDGAME SPOILERS

[aquatically]

[Asahina shakes her head. OH RIGHT. No yeah, that could be an important thing to mention, right? So her voice grows a great deal more serious, less bubbly for once.]

No, that's not quite right. Naegi is here. But not Fukawa-chan or Hagakure. See... this place is a little strange, I guess. But it's good. It's really really good. Fujisaki-chan, Oowada and Ishimaru are here as well.

[Video] - DR ENDGAME SPOILERS

[freshprints]

What?

[Don't mind her brief slip of SUDDENLY EMOTION in the face of all that emotional drywall — because seriously, what.

...

What.]

How can that be? We saw them...

[Well. You know.]

Re: [Video] - DR ENDGAME SPOILERS

[aquatically]

I don't really know. I mean... I think it might be kind of like time travel. Ishimaru and Oowada at least, they're from the the past, from a time before they. Well.

[A little frown.] Though I'm pretty sure Fujisaki-chan... [Whose secret she has promised to continue keeping, thus the honorifics in that case.] is from after that terrible thing. So...

I don't really know how it works at all. But they're here and alive and okay.

[Video] - DR ENDGAME SPOILERS

[freshprints]

[Ah. So we're protecting Fujisaki — after all, Asahina of all people should know that Kirigiri is aware of that particular secret, being the one who exposed it to the class at large in the first place. And that's...something, oddly enough. Something that makes it a little easier to accept, amid all the utter implausibility.

And there is a lot of utter implausibility in play here.]

If that's the case, then what's the last thing you remember, yourself? What point on the timeline were you...drawn here from?

[Memories being touchy subjects, naturally.]

Re: [Video] - DR ENDGAME SPOILERS

[aquatically]

[It's for the benefit of everyone else really, that and she can't keep it straight if she keeps switching it up depending on who knows and who doesn't. But she frowns a little at the question. Aaah, it's a little hard to talk about still, all of it.]

After the mastermind was discovered. And died. What about you, Kirigiri-chan?

[Video] - DR ENDGAME SPOILERS

[freshprints]

That's what I remember, too.

[There's that word again.]

But you realize that, if what you say is true, that particular victory doesn't mean much — the mastermind might arrive from a point before that event on the timeline, with no memory of that execution. That's the consequence of death apparently having no meaning here.

Re: [Video] - DR ENDGAME SPOILERS

[aquatically]

Even if she did, we know who she is now! And more than that, she wouldn't be in control in this place. So no matter what, nothing like that will happen again! We can't let it, okay?

That's why I told the others, so they'd know just in case! [Fool her once, shame on Junko. Fool her twice...]

But I really hope she doesn't... I hope she never comes to this place at all.

[Video]

[shslasshat]

[OF ALL THE PEOPLE TO BE HAPPY TO SEE HIM gosh Asahina you know how to make a guy feel special.

Which is why he looks a little surprised, but not unpleasantly so, when he addresses her message. That and the fact that anyone who he knows is a welcome sight, although he'd rather be flayed than admit it aloud to anyone.]

Asahina?

...How is that "great"?

[Video]

[aquatically]

[She'll remember why he is punching-worthy soon enough. Right now she's just thrilled to see more of her classmates in this place. So for the moment she's all about forgiving and forgetting. Righteous righthooks come later.

...though she might have mentioned just a little that someone messed with Fujisaki's corpse post-mortem. HEADS UP TOGAMI.]

It's great because so many of us are showing up here. And it's good to see everyone. Besides, this place is really peaceful and safe. And kind of fun.

Naegi and Ishimaru and Oowada and Fujisaki-chan are here too, after all. [Yeah dead classmates, no big deal it's totally normal.]

[shslasshat]

[...Asahina what do you mean "good to see everyone" Togami saw you an hour ago if that. His brows knit together at her words - though if he's affected by her mentioning the presence of their dead classmates, as well as their living one, he doesn't show it too much.]

So this place shows no regard for time or death when choosing its victims.

And where are you now?

[New Bark is tiny, if you were here he would have seen you already.]

[aquatically]

[A nod at that.]

Victims makes it sound pretty vicious. But... it's not like that place at all. Though... everyone says that while we're here, it's like someone pressed the pause button on the world that we left, so if we ever go back it's the same moment it was before we left.

[Her nose wrinkles.] It all sounds really like a scifi comic, but I guess that's how it works though.

Oh! That's right. I'm in Violet City with the others. You must be in New Bark Town, right? That's where most people arrive I think.

[shslasshat]

[Togami scoffs.]

I'm surprised that that overgrown infant Yamada isn't here. What this place sounds like is a child's video game.

The idea that time stops at home seems remarkably convenient.

[Is it possible that this is all a dream? ...Surely to god he wouldn't dream about his classmates, let alone himself doing something as mundane as sitting on the steps of a house next to one, communicating with the other over a strange electronic device.

Besides, the creepy-eyed creature keeps staring at him.]

[aquatically]

[Asahina smiles a little despite herself. Yamada probably would do okay here, right?]

We don't really get to choose who comes and goes, so maybe that's why.

[Hey she was all on board the "this has to be a dream" train when she first got here. Totally and completely.]

I don't know if it's convenient or not... but that's what everyone tells me happens. [Actually she's terribly nervous about the idea of going back home, for what they'll find outside the school after what the mastermind told them.]

[shslasshat]

[He would be right at home. Too bad no one plays him.

All of this still sounds pretty convenient.]

I deduced as much, since I had no idea this place existed, much less would have chosen to come here of my own volition.

[He regards her coolly.]

What's the last thing you remember from back at the school?

[aquatically]

[Or his little heart would break about a perfectly good 2D videogame being in 3D. Well there was the one in that smut game for a while.]

I guess this really isn't the type of place I'd expect you to pick out, Togami.

[Nope. Though the idea of Togami camping out on the road sounds hilarious and now she wants to see it really bad. Not that his suffering is something she enjoys so much as, well, it can be entertaining.]

We'd had the last trial and the mastermind was dead. And we were going to leave. And then I was here! But that was about a month ago.

[shslasshat]

[Wow all of you are so rude for wanting to see Togami camping in the woods TOO BAD only Kirigiri and Hagakure and maybe Kuwata get to put up with the wonderful sight.

His frown deepens in thought.]

That's what I last remember, too.

But if that was a month ago for you, and only a couple of hours or so ago for me...

[He doesn't like this.]

[aquatically]

[Who would not want to see that though? His little snap on tie and all would do so well in the wild.]

Oh! So you're at least from the same when. I guess time kind of moves really differently here. I don't know how it's possible, but that's the way people talk about it.

[shslasshat]

[He can poop delicately in the woods with the best of them.

"From the same when". Asahina.]

Apparently.

By "people," do you mean our classmates, or other outsiders?

[aquatically]

[Oversharing, Togami.

From the same when describes it perfectly, and it helps her to think of timelines like a hallway okay?! This is all really confusing, and she's much better at just leaving the thinking about those sorts of things up to Naegi and Kirigiri and Togami, okay? So start picking up the brain slack!!!]

Mostly other people, since none of our classmates have gone home and come back. But other people have, and they went back right to the instant they left!