You vastly overestimate Dalton's ability to keep his shit together. He's already talking to himself for Chrissakes!
^ This. xD
I mean, Minami was talking to herself as well, but at least she wasn't refering to herself as "we"... Or imagening phantom versions of herself inside her own head... Plus she's got that one skill that makes bullying her ineffective now. :P
Why'chu bee-lining for the sexy vampire!? You're in the forest now! Go hang out with that scrawny, loin-cloth-wearing dood! Leave Minami to her fabulous new crib and lifestyle! D:
@ERode I hope you're not implying to run all the way to that certain castle... 'Cuz it's, y'know, all the way over by a mountain range... Not really anywhere near the ocean... Though I guess Belo could run for days to get there... ^^;
@Crimson Flame Ironic that Kenji's story reminds me of one of those D-list celeberities you hear about, going mental on set and throwing a tantrum, then being dismissed and living out the rest of their days in shame and trying to reclaim former glory.
Her noises of confusion, bewilderment and surprised echoed into an endless, hollow emptiness. There she was. On the ground. Lying sprawled unceremoniously. With a big stinkin' crack in her head, bleeding all over the concrete. But... How was she exactly seeing that? Like, she was looking at her very own corpsified corpse here... She tried rubbing her eyes. Didn't work. Tried pinching her cheek. Nope, no dice. The young woman looked around, and only then noticed.
The world... Was... Still? Stopped? It was like that moment right before she hit the ground, but a lot more prminent. Furthemre... SEverything looked soimehow... Washed-out... Grey... Was this... Was this what death was like? You, frozen in time and space, in a grey-scale world that never moved, forever to be stuck in the very moment of your demise? She was about to protest when suddenly...
Golden rays of light and hope and brilliant shining... Shininess! Suddenly burst forth from behind her, seemingly out ot nowhere. The radiant glow cast color back into the world of drab, colorless monochrome, and Minami turned, equally curious and baffled by the unannounced arrival of this divine and comforting glow. Had the doors to heaven finally opened and were ready to admit her? Was she finally going to get her eternal paradise?
... Hell no.
Instead, when she turned around, she was greeted by a big, golden glowing doorway... Torn into the very fabric of our world. And inside said doorway, stood the embodiment of Righteous Death and Punishment. Some kind of black and golden angel... With a sword for an arm. No, really, his arm was a god-damned sword! Sweet Jeesus! Was't it enough that her skull had been cracke don the sidewalk? No, of course not! Now she was going to get her soul eviscerated by some kind of Divine Angel of Wrath!
... But the weathful evisceration and destruction of her immortal soul never came. Instead, the equally awe-inspiring and terrifying figure spoke.
After which, Minami could - for whatever reason - hear the lst thoughts and feelings that she'd had just before perishing echo and bounce about, all around her... Like a whimsical recording being played from multiple speakers at multiple angles. It was... Disorienting.
Then, the figure of Black and Gold spoke again, and... Without her consen, mind you! She was pulled towards the gateway of radiant light. The lsat thing she heard, was the angelic being telling her to come find her when she was ready?
Ready? Ready for what, exactly!? There's no way someone can get ready to face off against some kind Extra Stage Last Boss-person like tha----- OoOOoOOoOOoOooh, shiIIiiIIiiiiIIiny~!
Bright light engulfed all, and a voice that was not her own spoke from inside her very soul.
Some mumbo-jumbo about skills and souls and transfer and legends? She didn't really get it... She never owned a game console or played anyhting except maybe solitaire on her phone.
But, then there was only light, and silence. The colorless world she'd died in faded away behind her, and instead she raced towards something bright and unknown... So bright... So very, vright... Actually, too bright! Blindingly, painfully bright!
??? Outside some Gothic-looking Castle
The painfully luminous light faded, into slightly less blinding brightness. When she finally came too enough to take in her surroundings, she found herslef plopped on the ground, in a very unfamiliar place. What the fudge-nuggets had just happened? Everything was, for a moment, a complete mess and blur inside of her head. She slowly stood up, trying to acquire some form of composure, and began to rub her temples. Slowly, but surely, the memories and sensations of events just prior came crawling back. Her childhood, her parents, her school-life, her teen years, her workplace... Her cat... And... Her death.
"That's right... I... Died."
She said the words aloud, to nobody but herself. However, something was amiss.
"Huh? That's... Is something wrong with my voice?"
The usual, quiet, slightly squeaky sound of her own vocalization was nowhere to be heard. Instead, her speech sound soft and smooth, somehow... Or, to put in other words, it actually sounded pleasant and not at all annoying or grating. Furthenmore, she spoke a lot louder than she was used to. Even when she'd been alone in the past, she'd still spoken with a low tone, just above what most would consider whispering. This... Was very strange.
The woman looked around, taking in the surroundings of which she was not familiar. It seemed to be... Dusk? No, dawn. Very early morning at least. She didn't know how she could tell, she just could. Looking towards the sun though, she felt an uneasiness... A certain subconscious desire to get away from the glow of that slowly rising orb of radiant, ever-glowing indifferene. Her head turned, and she looked... Wait... She looked?
Minami's hand went to her face. More specifically, her nose and eyes. But... There was nothing. Nothing there. Her glasses! They weren't on her face. But... How could she see if she wasn't wearing them? Without them, everything usually just got blurry and she could only ever make out shapes and colors... But now... Now, her eyes seemed... Fine. Better than fine, actually! She could make out details and colors to such an extent it was almost jarring. Never before had she known this level of detail and depth when just looking around. It was... Amazing... And a bit unsettling.
"My voice... My eyes... They... They've changed. That angel... He said something.. What was it? About a world? His world? Is this..."
She had to mull this over. Unlike most japanese otaku who would shriek and jump for joy at the prospect of being taken to another world, Minami wasn't exactly familiar with the concept and terminology. After all, she neither read manga or light novels, nor watched anime or played any sort of video games where those themes came up. Thus, the process of figuring out just what was going on was a lot slower for her than it would've been for most people. But, as with all things, with time and thought came eventual realization and results... Plus, y'know, looking around and seeing the big stonkin' castle nestled against the unfamiliar mountain range right next to her also helped.
"Isn't that... An old european-style castle? What's... What's going on here?"
She looked away and over in the other direction. Her hearing, which also seemed to have been vastly improved, noticed something. Aside from the gentle breeze and quiet rustle of whatever nearby foligae there was... There was... Nothing. No other sounds at all. No birds chirping, no animals, no voices... She could see a village off in the very far distance, but... It was so far away... It'd probably take her more than half a day just to walk there. And the unsettling silence didn't exactly inspire the whole: Let's go on an adventure!-vibe in her.
Instead, the young woman looked back at the castle right next to her.
"So... Am I... Supposed to go inside? Wait, my clothes. I fell on the ground before... AM I... Dir... tyyyyyyy....?"
Her voice dragged on for a bit as she looked down at herself. ANd was greeted by something that shouldn't have been there. A pair of them, actually. Just sitting there. On her torso. Chilling. Taking up an unreasonable amount of real estate.
"... Where the heckin' honkin' hooswhatsit did these chernoboobs come from!? And why're they stuck to me!?!"
She was... Perturbed.
But, for the sake of confirmation and making sure things were as they should be - AND FOR NO OTHER REASON WHAT-SO-EVER - Minami slowly raised a hand, moving towards her own greatly-expanded bosom. With a gulp, she took a breath, closed her eyes, steeled her resolve and...!
Squish.
"Hyan~!"
...
...
...
Well... That was unexpected. But, hey, at least she knew two very important things now. One, they were definetely real and definetely attached to her. Two, they were frickin' amaziiiiiiiiiiing! No, wait! This wasn't the time for that. She shook her head vigorously and slapped her own cheeks slightly, trying to rgain focus. This was no time to stand around, day-dreaming and lost in your own confusion while fondling yourself in the middle of nowhere! Though on that point...
"When... Did I change into this...? Did that... oh... Oh no... He... He didn't... Right? There's no way..."
Well, she certainly had no memories of putting this new, very plain-looking black dress on herself... Nor the accompanying pair of mary-janes... Yet, they were somehow on her. Being worn. Which begged the question: Who exactly had dressed her? The answer? The shiny death seraph who'd brought her here! ... Right? There was nobody else around, after all! Minami could feel her cheeks... And then entire face... Turn a brilliant shade of scarlet. Along with her voice letting out a very elongated 'Nhnnnnnnnnnnnn!'-noise.
Though, after her little episode was finally over, she also noticed the thing strapped to her waist. She blinked and reached down for it, pulling the oject out of a small sheath and examined it.
"A... Knife? Is this meant to be for self-defense?"
She couldn't imagine it being for much of anything else. Especially since it didn't look like one of those survival knives they sold in camping and hunting stores. Quickly, she decided to put it back. Then, there was only one thing left to do.
"Well, what do I do now?"
The question was asked not so much in expecting an answer, but more in the sense of trying to motivate herself into some form of action. She was in an unfamiliar place, where she knew absolutely nothing - either about the local area, the customs, the enviroment or even if there were any locals. But, given that there was this fancy-pants structure here - and from the looks of it, it was very well maintained, along with having clear signs of someone actually living inside, the best course of action was probably...
"Right. I need to at least figure out where I am and what I should be doing. Standing around won't get me anywhere."
With a final spurt of talking aloud to herself, the woman began walking towards the large, imposing building of what must surely bn the residence of either aristocracy, or someone with more money than sense. Seriously. Who would want to live in a creepy ass castle like this? It looked like it belonged in a horror-movie!
As she drew near though, and was about ti raise her dainty hand to knock on the overly large door... The... Gateway opened... On... Its own... 'Cuz nobody was behind it once it slid open... Were... Were they automatic? Like at a convenience store...?
"Hello? Is anyone home?" She called out mildly and calmly. "Pardon the intrusino, but I'm... Lost." She added on,
What now? Did she walk inside? The doors had opened for her, so she was invited? Right? For some reason, she could feel a great discrepency in her own being. While in the past, she would've neither had the courage to call out, nor the gall to step foot into a private home without proper invitation out of fear of reprisal or infuriating someone... She... She no longer felt that way... In fact, she didn't feel concerned at all. No. It wasn't that she wasn't concerned... She wasn't... Afraid? That's right... She didn't feel the ever-present sensation of anxious worry and uneasiness which had had a vice-like grip on her heart for her entire life before.
...
..
... So, she was just going to get splattered as soon she went inside, right?
With that grim though, Minami stepped past the archway of the opened gate-like doors and entered into the cstle interior.
Curse you and your reasonable questions, Rodey...! I wanted to get right to posting, but now I feel compelled to wait for a reply to your totally fair and legitimate question! >:(
I think Belo's Drasil's favorite though... Just a hunch. xD
Updated my CS to include the dagger and the skills, by the by.
EDIT:
Oh, and I imagine Minami's simple dress looking somehting like this, ish?
[list][*]I don't use social media, discord or google docs.
[*]I suffer from Retinitis Pigmentosa and use a text-reading software to get through other peoples' posts.
[*]I'm rude, short-tempered and unserious. I'll likely say things that'll upset, offend and/or infuriate you.
[*]I consider roleplaying a hobby and a pass-time, not art.
[*]I do anime-roleplay and [b]only[/b] anime-roleplay.[/list]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><ul class="bb-list" style="white-space: normal;"><li>I don't use social media, discord or google docs.</li><li>I suffer from Retinitis Pigmentosa and use a text-reading software to get through other peoples' posts.</li><li>I'm rude, short-tempered and unserious. I'll likely say things that'll upset, offend and/or infuriate you.</li><li>I consider roleplaying a hobby and a pass-time, not art.</li><li>I do anime-roleplay and <span class="bb-b">only</span> anime-roleplay.</li></ul></div>
Lemons,
Sp00ki,
TheMushroomLord,
LupusIntus,
Dragonydas,
Einherjar 906,
CitrusArms,
BunniesOfDoom,
PlatinumSkink,
Silent Showers
