Second Hit | Audio + Action for Route 35

[impheired]

Audio:
[If you thought Kuzuryuu would be happy about the prospect of a fancy red carpet event, then you are sorely mistaken. Though, at the moment, this might have more to do with the uh...method of invitation Clair decided to employ than the event itself. Three guesses who got beaned right in the head with a few of those ping pong balls. First two guesses don't count.]

[It was Kuzuryuu.]

Why the everloving fuck would you decide to invite people to something by dropping goddamn plastic balls on them!? That's not fucking normal, who the hell does something like this!? This better not be something that happens regularly here, I swear...

[He trails off, falling into a sort of contemplative silence for a few moments.]

What the hell is a prom, anyway? Some kind of party or something? [Hello, I am very Japanese and we do not have proms. Also I went to murderschool. There are no dances at murder school, only murders.] VIPs I get but wh-- son of a bitch!! [The sounds of a jostled struggle can be heard, along with a range of very happy Ariados noises.]

Goddammit, Meiwaku!! You can't fucking-- [What is even going on over there...] Get off you dumbass!! I swear to fu-- [Thankfully, the transmission cuts out fairly quickly into the unseen scuffle. He'll uh...he'll get back to you if anybody actually wants to answer that question about prom.]

Action:
[For anybody who happens to be out and about, they might run into Kuzuryuu mid-spider scuffle just outside of Goldenrod on Route 35. He's been out here training for most of the day (as per usual) and has two new evolutions to show for it: Bisharp and Ariados. The former appears as calm as she ever does, cradling Kuzuryuu's Pokégear in her hands and watching the scene before her with something that might be amusement. As for the latter...apparently she either hasn't noticed or doesn't care that evolving means she's quite a bit bigger than she used to be. So she's very determinedly trying to climb all over her master just like in the (not so) good ol' days. It's not really working but that isn't stopping her. Nothing is stopping her.]

[She WILL reclaim her fuzzy throne, rules of physics and everything that is logical be damned!!]

[Needless to say, Kuzuryuu is not amused and there's quite a bit of yelling going on and even more swearing.]

You're too big for that now, dipshit!! Fucking-- QUIT!! I didn't even-- DAMMIT! How about I fucking sit on you for a change, huh!? Then what, fucker!?

[He wasn't kidding about that because after a few more moment's wrestling, he definitely plants himself squarely on her back. Though...since he hardly weighs more than she does, the impact is probably not as impressive as he was hoping for. It surprised her enough to pin her to the ground, sure, but she barely seems to mind if the even happier noises and excited squirming are anything to go by.]

[Approac-- more like turn around and walk away and pretend you didn't see this. Why would you...]

Comments

[soundmind]

...[She'll give him a moment.]

It's a big party that involves dancing if you're into that sort of thing.

[Just a moment isn't enough, is it.]

[impheired]

[Yeah it's going to be a couple minutes before the oh-so soothing sound of Kuzuryuu's voice comes back.]

[...okay more than a couple. He'll get back to her though...not that he'll have much to say, apparently.]

Ugh, no. Definitely not. [PARTIES, EW. Too bad he's getting dragged there, anyway.]

[soundmind]

[Oh so soothing, almost musical really.]

Yeah...there isn't much incentive to go to one of those things, is there? Even if you go with friends they just kinda...bug you to go out on the dance floor and that's awkward.

[She sounds like this is something she's experienced and it is awful.]

[impheired]

[He hasn't experienced it personally but he can all too easily see it happening to himself and he doesn't like it. Nooooooooooooooooooo stupid lousy goddamn friends and their stupid lousy goddamn need to meddle and make you socialize!!]

Yeah...wait. If you go with friends? What's the alternative? Who else would you go to a party with?

[Dances how do they work and what do you mean they're a romantic thing? Kuzuryuu did you even read your ticket in its entirety? Or did you stop somewhere between the mention of VIPs and the mention of bringing a plus one?]

[soundmind]

[Has she



met someone even more oblivious than her.

The gods decreed this wasn't possible!!]

Oh, um...sometimes people take dates there. It's not something that happens much at my school, a lot of us are too busy to date, but I've read it's how it goes.

[impheired]

[Don't worry, Maka, you can keep your crown, this is predominantly cultural blindness on his part. You said it was a party and the inclusion of dancing wasn't quite enough for his mind to make the jump to "hey this could have romantic inclinations".]

[It also doesn't help that he's not interested in that shit.]

[...for the most part. There might be one exception, we just don't know because Kuzuryuu is defective in the area of feelings.]

...Oh.

[Such verbosity. Wow. Amaze.]

[soundmind]

...[Ah, all this awkward.]

...[It's just. His face. Is it really such a big deal??]

...Sir? [MAKA HE IS (relatively) IN YOUR AGE GROUP DON'T CALL HIM SIR.]

[impheired]

[...okay well that's a new one on him. Being mistaken for older than he actually is?? Is that what's happening here?]

The fuck are you calling me sir for? We've gotta be about the same age, don't we?

[HAHA, ABOUT THAT.................]

[soundmind]

W-well, I don't know your name and it'd be impolite to just go "hey you." [She's a child soldier Kuzuryuu, pls.] Maybe? The last time I asked someone that, it was Souda, and he seemed really unsure of it.

[impheired]

[The minute the word "Souda" leaves her lips, he rolls his eye.]

That dumbass... Tch...

[GODDAMMIT SOUDA. Just. GODDAMMIT.]

Anyway, it's Kuzuryuu Fuyuhiko. So don't call me sir again, got it? I'm not your boss or your father, shit.

[soundmind]

That'd be the one.

[She values her friends truly.]

Kuzuryuu Fuyuhiko...all right, mine's Maka Albarn, I'll remember it. But, ah, for the record--I don't call my boss "sir," he's "lord." [And dad is nobody but "idiot" or "papa" but...talking about her dad is awkward.]

[impheired]

[It's truly impressive that he can simply be described as "that dumbass" and everyone in the conversation understands that they are, in fact, talking about the same guy. Fucking incredible.]

[Though what is this about a boss lord? Gurl what kind of crazy ass set up are you involved in here?]

...Lord? The fuck kind of boss do you have?

[soundmind]

A god.

[What else, geez.]

...It's not that I never call him sir, it's just he's mostly Lord [Death].

[impheired]

...what.

[No, seriously. What.]

That's some kind of joke, right?

[soundmind]

Why would I joke with someone I don't even know, that sounds like a good way to get killed or beaten up.

[impheired]

[Maka are you some kind of religious nut or...]

I'm almost not sure I should ask but what is it that you do, exactly?

[soundmind]

...[He needs a moment.

Pause.

Okay, now tell--]

I'm a scythe technician at the Death Weapon Meister Academy. We all work under Lord Death to keep the peace.

[impheired]

[Just this face, Maka.]

[Just...this face.]

[soundmind]

[That's definitely not a face she expected out of Mr. Angry-Time.]

...Do you think I'm lying? I've got scars I can show you.

[impheired]

[Look he comes from a normal world, okay??]

[...well, okay not normal but one without weirdass super natural shit like this.]

What? No! Shit, keep your clothes on! [He's not sure where these scars of hers are but he's assuming somewhere covered up so...ergo: please to not be stripping, girl-he-just-met.] Just...that sounds completely fucking insane. Are you saying you're some kind of...assistant grim reaper or something?

[soundmind]

My--? Oh. [Geez, they're nowhere intimate, but she won't push it.]

...[Assistant grim reaper, well that's a new one compared to the questions if she's actually a reaper.] I guess? I'm only human so I'm not qualified to do anything with the souls gathered and I don't know what Lord Death does with them, but we're all trained to...um, deal with monsters. [That eat souls.]

[impheired]

[Well she said she works UNDER Lord Death and...you know...THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE.]

...Monsters.

[What is this conversation just. What is...what.]

[soundmind]

...Do you need a moment? [She hasn't even mentioned the living weapons yet...] To process it, I mean.

[impheired]

I think what I need is an explanation from the damn top.

I'M SORRY KATAR...

[soundmind]

Are you sure? Um...

[Is he really sure, this shit goes back 800 years.]

...[Crud, she didn't expect to run into someone that has no supernatural influence whatsoever in their world today.] Starting from the top--there are Witches, Gods and humans in my world. Some gods represent a certain aspect that keeps the world in balance, like Knowledge, Fear, and Order to name a few. Lord Death represents order and Witches are opposed to order, so naturally Lord Death really didn't like Witches and tried to exterminate them before they caused any chaos that could hurt humans. In response, one Witch took the soul of another Witch and combined it with a weapon to create one of the original Demon Weapons.

[Yes she's interpreted "from the top" as "the whole fucking history."]

Demon Weapons are living people with the ability to change into weapons, with their creation and introduction into humanity's gene pool, some regular humans began to change themselves--gaining new abilities for adaptation. These people are classed as "Meisters," the only ones able to use a Demon Weapon and unlock their full potential. Lord Death decided to gather all of these people together and train them to fight Witches so they don't wreak havoc on humanity.

Now, this was all 800 years ago, so everything is a lot more spread out than before and new Weapons and Meisters are born every day--it's a recessive gene, but there are lots of Weapon and Meister families that have a legacy. I won't bore you with the politics behind those. [That and she doesn't know much about it since she's one of the few to come from a mixed family--in more ways than one.] Today, we have the Academy to train new Weapons and Meisters from...I think enrollment starts at 12 and you're there until you graduate at 18, anyway we're trained to work together and fight effectively, a little like an army I guess. ["A little."] But Witches aren't the only things Weapon and Meister teams fight, some humans become too afraid of everything and start to kill others and eat their souls. They think freedom from order is freedom from fear entirely, this sometimes changes their bodies and they turn into monsters--it's an unforgivable crime to eat a good soul and you have officially given up humanity once you do, but at the same time souls are like a battery power, the more you eat the stronger you get. We started to use this to our advantage and have our Weapons consume "kishin eggs"--or corrupted souls with the potential to become kishin--to become stronger themselves. As students, we're directed to gather 99 of these and then feed the Weapon a Witch's soul so they can unlock their full potential.

This "fear" that influences humans to start killing comes from the Kishin Asura, the god of fear. He's someone that despises humans and hates the idea of anyone being close to him so much that he ate his own Weapon partner several years ago. He was sealed away up until fairly recently when he was released by a Witch named Medusa, so that just added more pressure on the Academy to keep everything safe for regular humans.

...And that's everything, right from the top.

[You really shouldn't have asked, Kuzuryuu.]