[open] i give up on thinking of something clever for this

[frostythehitman]

WHO: James and YOU!
WHERE: The depths of James's subconscious and also just wandering around town, as you do
WHEN: 10/3 - 10/13
WHAT: Catch-all for nightmares and fog, all of them are OTA!
WARNINGS: A lot of these are going to be semi-reconstructions of his WW2 memories, so there is going to be some bad stuff in here. I'll put warnings as appropriate for each toplevel.

Comments

NIGHTMARE: surrounded by fish nazis [after 10/6 only]

[frostythehitman]

[ James stands alone on the beach, dressed in his bright blue and red uniform, but the left sleeve is empty and dangling. He's clinging to his arm stump and frozen in place while he watches an entire squadron of Atlanteans slowly rise out of the ocean on the shore of the beach, armed with swords. And they have their sights set on him. ]

Re: NIGHTMARE: surrounded by fish nazis [after 10/6 only]

[frisyr]

[ For some reason Emil is here because why not have a stroll on the beach? But he spots James and runs over ]

Hey, are you okay?

I think we need to get you to a hospital--

[ He doesn't even notice the Atlanteans until-- ]

--Whoa, what the heck is that? Are they gonna call you an ambulance?

[frostythehitman]

[ It's Emil's presence that snaps him out of his frozen state. He whips around to face him and points, with the one good arm, to all the Atlanteans. ]

Hello, do you not see the swastika armbands?

They're here to kill me!

[ The frontmost batch of Atlanteans approach closer and closer. Some of them are now drawing their swords and holding them in front of them, at the ready. ]

[frisyr]

What??

[ No he in fact did not notice. ]

Okay yeah on second hand, they don't look very friendly, let's get out of here! Do you need help? Can you run?? I can hold them off!

NIGHTMARE: clowns on a train (cw: murder, some gore, probably)

[frostythehitman]

[ It's a train, hurtling towards oblivion, and the train car is full of clowns crowding around something. If you were to push through them all to the front, you'd notice that at the center of the commotion is James, mounted atop the train conductor. They have their hands around each other's necks, but James is already soaked in blood--there's a knife embedded in his thigh. And even though there's nothing that says it, exactly, you know there's a countdown to something big, something dangerous, and the train (and time itself) are only speeding up to meet it. ]

[evidentiary]

[ ...why the fuck are there clowns? but okay. kyouko did press forward, but she's not really a great combatant here - all she has back are detective skills and purple hair and eyes, and she doesn't know james at all.

still, she has...

shoes. she has shoes. she takes one off and throws it at the one who doesn't look like a sort of decent kid. ]

[frostythehitman]

[ He watches a shoe connect with the train conductor's face and gasps for air when his hands weaken around James's throat. He lifts one arm up from the conductor's throat himself to rub at his own, gasping for air. He turns to see where the shoe came from and--

That's a girl. Who has purple hair, but is most definitely not one of the clowns. ]

What are you doing here?

[evidentiary]

I don't remember. [ how she got here. she darts forward to snag her shoe, though. ] But I know I am unquestionably on the side of the person not dressed as a clown.

[ ...

look, does she need a better reason than that to take a side? ]

[spes_phthisica]

[He'd been running from a dream of his own, dressed in the blood-spattered blue-and-white uniform and wielding someone else's sword. In his old-fashioned Japanese clothes he looks rather out of place like this... but then again, most non-clown people would.

And here he suddenly is at the middle of the tight cluster, and there are people fighting in front of him. He doesn't know what he should be doing, but one of the two is hurt, and that's what decides which side he takes.

Still, he can't quite bring himself to stab a complete stranger. Instead, he merely holds the tip of his borrowed sword against the throat of the train conductor.]

Let him go.

[frostythehitman]

[ James doesn't even look, but the train conductor does. And in that moment, the conductor's hands go slack around his neck, if only a little, and James senses the weakness. Lightning fast, he lets go of the conductor's neck to grasp the knife in his leg and stabs it straight through his gas mask through one of his eyes. Blood begins gushing, filling up the mask and bubbling out of the hole punctured through it.

The conductor's hands spasm for a few moments, but then fall to the ground. The clowns gasp in horror. James finally turns to the man who gave him the opening. ]

What...why?

[ His voice is hoarse from being choked. ]

[spes_phthisica]

[Honestly, that sums up just about what Soujirou is feeling as well, with some added acute horror at the stabbing he just witnessed. The blood is kind of making him gag a bit, and he's trying not to look at it too much - which is kind of funny when he's covered in the stuff.]

I don't know. I was in another battle, and then suddenly I was here.

[He looks around, squeezing the handle of his sword a bit tighter. What the fuck is up with all the clowns?]

What about them? Are they going to try to hurt us?

NIGHTMARE: there's vampires in this one (cw: severe murder & gore)

[frostythehitman]

[ You find yourself in an old house, half reduced to rubble. Outside, there is nothing but silence and empty streets, save for periodic bursts of shouting and gunfire. But James, sat with his back against the wall in the far corner of the room, doesn't seem to react to any of it, instead focusing primarily on the soldier gripping onto him for dear life, trying to speak but only able to gurgle blood that spatters onto James's uniform. ]

[liberal_arts]

-It's a war zone, at least that's what seems apparent to Kasen. But not like any of the sort he'd personally seen. At least the dream had seem fit to arm him, though a single katana against what seemed to be guns outside the house itself... didn't seem like much armament.

But far more pressing than that, in the dark haze of the dream, he recognizes James' face, though... he was quite different in many other ways. He was quick to approach, keeping himself low and quiet. He'd never been trained, but the motions came naturally to him... he shouldn't be surprised any longer. After all, he went from suddenly owning a sword to becoming a sword master in merely a few weeks.

When he spoke, it was in hushed tones, careful for listening ears.-

Is he going to make it?

[frostythehitman]

No.

[ He doesn't even hesitate in answering. He doesn't even mind saying it in front of the soldier himself. What's the use? He's a goner. The soldier's accepted it too. ]

But I'm not just going to leave him here to die alone.

[ James would like to pretend that he's doing this to comfort a dying man in his final moments, but it's really only a secondary objective. ]

NIGHTMARE: a death in the family

[frostythehitman]

[ The house is creaky, drafty, dark, and most importantly, empty. Or it feels like it, despite the people milling about, trying to talk to James and his sister or taking furniture out of the house, or draping a flag on top of the casket in the living room. Even though James is standing here at full height, the house and everyone else in it are disproportionately huge, so the tables go up to almost his chest.

He's holding his sister by the hand, trying to make his way through the house, but constantly getting held up by people or moving furniture. He looks dazed and confused. ]

FOG: this bear is ripped as shit [before 10/6 only]

[frostythehitman]

[ James is just thinking about what a foggy day this is when he starts to hear it--a low, low growling. He ignores it at first--probably just a car starting or something, James was never the paranoid type. But it doesn't go away, and it seems to be coming from a different direction now. When he starts seeing a vague shape moving out of the corner of his eye, only then does he whip around, fists clenched. ]

Who's there?!

[ He stands still and watches, waiting for something, anything. There is only more growling and vague movement in the background. James grits his teeth--now he's on edge. Someone is clearly targeting him for something here, and he's sick of waiting in suspense for something to happen. ]

Come out here and fight me!

[digthefuzz]

[Kurt was lost in the fog himself, but then he heard a familiar voice and started to follow it...]

James? [He called out, not yet noticing the other shape moving around and growling in the fog...]

[frostythehitman]

[ It takes him a few moments to recognize the voice and the other human shape in the fog, but eventually he gets it. ]

Kurt! Where are you?

[ He starts making his way through the fog to try and get to Kurt, using their voices as a guide. It also provides a neat distraction from the growling and other shadows, which continue to get louder and closer.

If Kurt manages to glimpse it, he'll notice that it looks very big and very...fuzzy. ]

Re: FOG: this bear is ripped as shit [before 10/6 only]

[mercurio]

Dude, what are you talking about? I don't wanna fight you.

[prompto appears on the other side of the street. he was going about his business when the fog slammed down like it owned the damn place. despite visibility being at an all time low, it wasn't hard at all to make out the sound of james' voice.]

It's just me.

[frostythehitman]

[ ...Huh. He could've sworn the silhouette he was seeing wasn't human. But now that he's getting a headlong glance at it, that's definitely a person. And the voice just confirms it. ]

Not you! There was something else here a minute ago--or I thought so, anyway. It's hard to tell through all this fog.

FOG: spooky scary medicine [after 10/6 only]

[frostythehitman]

[ By now, James has learned that the fog is bad news, but he doesn't even notice when he wanders into it this time. His focus is squarely on his feet, trying to avoid eye contact with people in the street and the stares he gets at his arm, so James's first sign that he's in danger is he starts feeling woozy. He has to stop walking and brace himself up against a set of bike racks, trying to catch his breath and get his wits about him.

But other than the disorientation, he seems to be fine. He heaves a sigh of relief, but at that moment, he starts to hear unintelligible murmuring. It seems to echo and it's coming from every direction. It only makes him dizzier. He mumbles, his words half-slurred: ]

Oh god, great. Now I'm hearing things. There's voices in my head.

How do I get out of here...

[ He pushes off the bike rack to try and make his way out of the fog, but his balance has gone completely out the window. He stumbles and nearly falls on the ground. If you try to help him, though, you might find that you start feeling dizzy and disoriented yourself... ]

[usurpers]

[ as october rolls, the less people probably stay out to get caught in the fog. even eren's experienced enough of the dangers to avoid it, but avoiding duty has never been his forte. some people would still wander around, or get lost, or have to trek the streets to get home with no better choice, so he's sure to keep an eye out for anyone by taking slow drives around the city. there’s fog here . . . . time to turn on the fog headlights.

it's when he spots james stumbling about that he comes to a stop and gives the horn a few beeps. he’s about to slide the window down when the other actually trips to the ground, in which he jumps right out of the car to aid him, keys still in the ignition and all. ]

James? James, it’s me— [ he quickly offers a sturdy hand to steady him back up, but— eren missteps once he’s got that arm on james to lift him, sees his vision spin and . . . sorry dude, his weight is dipping all on you. he attempts to regain his motion just as soon as he tips to the side, but all that does is lead him staggering to its opposite.

the last time he felt remotely like this was the first and last time he drank jaegerbomb. oh boy. ]

[frostythehitman]

Damn it, get--off--!

[ James topples under the force of Eren's weight and lands on the ground. ]

What are you doing!

[heroforall]

[The fog has grown hard to avoid despite Izuku's best attempts, so he does his best to move through it as quickly as he can, as if he can outrun the horrible things it can create. Sometimes he ends up getting lucky. But this isn't one of those times.

He's trying to keep his head down and focus only the path ahead of him, or what he can see of it anyways, when he notices another figure in the fog. A familiar figure, for the most part. Bucky. His feet shift direction with conscious thought, immediately moving towards his friend. As he grows closer he can notice that something is wrong. The other teen is wobbling like he's being pushed off balance.

When he begins to fall over Izuku rushes over and wraps an arm around him to catch him.]

Bucky? Are you okay?

[...And then his knees give out, causing them both to topple.]

[frostythehitman]

What the...?

[ He has no idea how he got here on the ground. He's on top of someone, and even with his head spinning like this he can see their face just fine, but it doesn't register. He should know this person. It's on the tip of his tongue. He knows this.

But he can't figure it out. Between Izuku and all the shadowy figures approaching him from all sides, he can't tell who's even real. The figures (doctors, maybe?) have their hands up in placating gestures, but with the tension of people ready to attack. ]

Who are you? What's going on?

[ He can't help but slur his words a little. ]