open

[vitis]

WHO: john becket (steinbeck) and you! you lucky person, you.
WHERE: farmer's market, a halloween store, and generally just around
WHEN: various times in october
WHAT: some indulgent, lighthearted halloween stuff and then a significantly less lighthearted fog prompt. also probably a catch-all
WARNINGS: language? gen violence for one prompt

a. farmer's market →

[ welcome to that quaint little gathering of vendors and their goods. ... actually, that's not quite right: recolle's farmer's market has always been a bustling affair, and today, despite the horrors of the last week or so, is no exception. passing through the tables laden with crafts and fresh food and the like, eventually you may come across a larger spread of all sorts of treats. the food ranges from candied and caramel apples to marshmallow ghost krispies to slices of pumpkin pie. some of them might seem a little overpriced compared to your average freshens prices, but that's what you get when they're apparently homemade and all of that other fun, organic and locally-sourced stuff. a few of the items are labeled as "profits to charity," at least.

john's seated in some fold-out chair (as a volunteer, he should probably be standing for this, but) near to this elaborate display, addressing anyone who gets close enough with a cheery wave and a beaming smile: ]

Hey! Wanna buy some? There are free samples, too.

[ free. samples!! ]

b. some halloween store →

[ why did he come here? absolutely morbid curiosity, he tells himself.

anyway, john's stumbled into one of those seasonal halloween venues. it's jam-packed with all sorts of spooky-themed bs— it's capitalism at its best (?). john's already wearing a thing over his head because apparently the allure of dawning something stupid while in here was too much for him. the banana approaches one of the fake weapons' bins, drawing one of those weird swords containing atrociously fake blood on its inside. held upright, the blood oozes toward the sword's hilt. ]

Wow. This place is just full of dumb, overpriced crap, huh?

[ yes, he does have the gall to sneer at that pricetag. ]

c. fog, wherever outside →

[ it's dusk, the last vestiges of light fading. hopefully, by now, most people have learned that travelling at night is particularly bad news this month.

if not— well. you might stumble across john in one of his fouler moods; things are a bit different for him this eve. from a cut at his neck, grapevines bloom outward; they spiral about his arms and curl around his torso. and, but of course, he's not alone: if you squint, one can make out an outline of... humans, but they stagger and move in a way that just looks a bit off, slowing and sprinting suddenly at seemingly unpredictable intervals. and should one of these stragglers come near enough, it's affirmed that something's gone horribly wrong. they'll bellow with anger and scream promises of death at whoever might be unlucky enough to cross their path, fists flying and outstretched hands reaching for throats. ]

[ john's restrained a more recent assailant with his vines; it writhes on the floor, still crying general curses of You bastard! I'll kill you for this! ... that is, until a vines curls around the person's mouth, silencing them.

john's voice comes, lifeless, to whoever not apparently afflicted with murderous rage: ]

They're not real, I know. A real nuisance, more like...

d. wildcard →

( drop whatever, or hmu and i can start something. )

Comments

B

[thesettingsun]

[My god, that's the most hideous mask Shuji's ever seen. No wonder John's behind it.]

It's seasonal stuff, so they can afford to price things higher closer to Halloween for the people who realize last minute that they don't have a costume. And gag costumes are... popular, for some reason.

[He taps lightly on the banana's pronounced chin.]

You're not thinking of actually buying this, right?

[vitis]

[ oh ]

Heck no.

[ the banana raises its chin defiantly as it's poked at. but then john's lowering the plastic sword to his side and he's moving back toward the shelf with all the ugly masks. sorry, shuji, you're going to be tugged along whether you like it or not. ]

Here. They're all pretty bad, right?

[ yet, said in a manner like he's a showroom salesman. like, look at all this awful shit. don't you just want to try one on-- ]

[thesettingsun]

[Shuji'll be dragged along by banana vine man, sure, but...

He would die before he let any of these masks touch his skin.]

They're horrifying. I wouldn't even try one on for a joke.

[vitis]

At least they got that right! Shouldn't be sellin' too attractive of masks this time of year.

[ while john's vaguely disappointed in the reassurance that shinji won't try one on, he didn't have stupidity to hope to the contrary. —okay, he did, but it wasn't because of stupidity, okay. ]

[ john plucks a unicorn mask from the shelf, showing it. it sparkles. ]

Not even this one? It suits you the best outta these.

c

[protegge]

. . . They're fuckin' loud, huh.

[It's less flippant than it sounds. Mista's in a somber mood in the fog whenever he's not paranoid to the point of near-madness; the dark figure following him is slow tonight, driven away by all of this shit, maybe.]

[He ambles forward, hands in his pockets, to look at the one John's got under control. Then he looks at John, taking in the vines and all, and nods.]

I was gonna say something, but I got nothing, really. Like what do you say about this? At least yours is interesting.

[vitis]

[ a nod at the statement; as noisy as these curse-afflicted "people" can be, it at least makes potential sneak attacks nigh impossible. and since it's mista—a coworker, even if they work entirely separate from one another, but not to mention someone he's heard nothing but good things about—john can manage a smile. it's not all quite sincere, particularly in light of this situation, but it's polite all the same. ]

Oh? [ his head tilts a bit to the side, the vines redoubling about his arm as he prepares to encounter another figure, its silhouette visible as it takes its time ambling its way through the clouded air. ] This fog subjected you to some real boring stuff, then?

c

[crudest]

[It's really not in Baren's tendency to judge.

It's angry mob meeting angry mob. Behind Baren there are villagers - those dressed in tattered but simple Sengoku-era clothes - and it's with an almost practiced motion that he ducks away from the rocks and dead animals that they hurl at him. They don't approach, as if nervous of retaliation, but they don't hesitate with their insults. Monster! Cursed child! Die and suffer in purgatory, already!

Though as Baren looks between the downed assailant and John - his expression looking only slightly apprehensive as he notes the cut in his neck and the curling vines - he just snorts faintly.]

Hey, I'll trade you.

[But aside from that he doesn't ask questions.]

[vitis]

[ it's hard to miss the hard glare that john shoots his way, the expression perhaps only tempered by the quick, cursory glance he does to check for glaring injuries. but it passes as he focuses on the unignorable crowd trailing behind baren. there's a misthrown rock, and one of john's vines react by snagging it clean from the air. it curls, poised to launch it back twice as hard.

it's different, certainly. baren's circumstances seem more... personal, somehow.

he'll have to pass on the offer. ]

Why haven't you done anythin' with 'em yet?

sweet mother of god i'm late

[crudest]

[At the curling vine, Baren raises a hand as if to stop him - ]

None of your business.

[But he doesn't want to see them harmed for some reason. That much manages to slip past his lies, one way or another.]

[vitis]

Oh?

[ here, john's smile returns. there's nothing polite, nor even particularly friendly, to the sentiment behind it. the vine stills at the comment, and he once again looks on over the crowd.

even reading between the lines, ]

Like I said— You realize they're not real, right?

c

[doublesmall]

Shit, these again?!

[he's seen people like this in his memories, seen smoke over buildings and heard himself issuing orders to kill any of them who got too close. he doesn't remember how it ended, though, only that it happened--

but at least it makes them a known enemy, real or not. one of them comes for chuuya, and when the figure reaches out to try to wrap its hands around his throat, chuuya does the same thing to it first, tightening his grip before flinging them aside and turning back to john and his vines.

now that's new, at least here.]

So it finally caught up to you, huh.

[vitis]

[ that exclamation both illuminates and mystifies a few things. john hadn't know what the ever loving fuck to make of any of this; he hadn't even been certain it had to do specifically with him, and wasn't just some random retrospec bullshit thrown arbitrarily his way. but then apparently chuuya's seen something similar, which...

isn't ideal.

john purposefully ignores the last comment. he has to bite his tongue a moment, resisting in snapping some sarcastic, loaded quip. barely. he watches as the other man disposes of one of the cursed figures with relative ease. chuuya can handle himself. one of his branches snap out to trip up another would-be assailant, leaving the individual scrambling and buying john a few more moments to express indignation. ]

Again? What, the fog's been showin' you this, too?

[doublesmall]

It wasn't the fog, it was shit I remembered.

[the fog hasn't gotten as bad for him. there have been things, sure, but he hasn't seen anything that hit him too hard (yet); it's mainly other people's visions that have been bad, and the fact that john's apparently seeing these too makes chuuya uneasy.

what was that he'd said about all of them dying? it definitely seemed like a possibility, with the smoke over the city and the state of the people they'd been fending off.

another enemy is dispatched fairly quickly, and chuuya throws the body into another pair standing too close together to knock them over. that's a little more time bought, at least.]

Don't know what's going on with them, though, just that we fought them off.

[vitis]

You remembered...?

[ john echoes, staring into one of the faces of the cursed. their pinprick pupils, the blood leaking from their eyes, the bloodlust. yeah, even with a memory of fighting any of them, he's fairly certainly he wouldn't have the faintest idea of what's happened here.

automatically, he's assuming "we" doesn't actually mean him and chuuya. ]

Yeah. I dunno, either. [ that much he's probably made painfully obvious. his roots dig into the ground, then to intermittently burst through dirt and cement to wrap around an ankle. it's strange, what with his preference to remain ignorant of it all, that he'd like to latch onto what he can. with what he's remembered thus far, it's just seems too misplaced. ] But you were fightin' these people? And they were all over... Yokohama, then?

D

[imaginex]

[A pro-tip about the bars in college cities: most give surprisingly little fucks about the clientele they bring in. The gamble of letting underaged students slip past the bouncers never goes away, and frankly, if you're old enough to be sneaky, you're old enough to deal with the consequences.

That, and the fog is bringing in a surplus of visitors. Good for business, bad for regulations. Neither the Retrospec users nor the everyday citizens want to get lost in that mess, and it's why Sakura sneaks in without showing her I.D. at the door, dead set on nursing her bad mood out of sight in a corner.

Alcohol isn't on her mind. She knows she's here illegally and feels bad enough for it. But uh, this is also America, she's quick to find, where no pretty girl is allowed to sit here without a drink in her hand. The bar's also got a Halloween special going on where the first two rounds are free, so give it thirty minutes before she's tossed back two long islands and three jello shots.

Mmmmm she takes it all back. God Bless America.]

[vitis]

[ because what better way to deal with fog b.s. by... not dealing with it at all, and instead hitting up the bar. one day, john will learn to save his money when it comes to this. tonight's not that night. (but, bless: halloween specials were going to prove themselves helpful.)

entering, he does a quick scan of the bar. there's a few people he might recognize, sure, but then there's someone he absolutely did not expect to see. in the process of shrugging off his coat so that he might sling it over a chair near to her, he approaches none-the-wiser. ]

Well! [ welly well well. ] Look who's here! Didn't take you for much of a bar person.

[ like, at all. so much so that he's joking with even that insinuation. ]

[imaginex]

'M not, I've never been in one.

[That's some painful honesty she shouldn't be admitting out loud, and done before she even looks up from her woefully empty glass (which she'd been glaring at, look at this goddamn betrayal). If she seems surprised by John's appearance, she--

... She stares at him like he's got calculus written on his forehead, please hold.]

Ah, John-san.

[... She drags her (still empty) glass closer to herself, blurting out.] I already finished it.

[MMMMm that's the only hint he gets, maybe walk away from this disaster in the making]

[vitis]

[ well goddamn ]

[ those pieces fell into place relatively quickly. john pulls himself into the seat, actually pretty sincerely glancing about the area this time: ]

How'd you get in here? [ spoken with pointed loudness. no worries, though: it's a pretty bustling place with this special; no one pays his volume any more mind than anything else going on. ] Who's supervisin' you?

[ where are? the adults? ]

d - Remodeling at Kenta's and Jirou's

[toobigtohandle]

[The work that needs to be done by whoever hired John is in one of the most expensive part of the city... no, probably the most expensive part of the city. The building has several floors with huge balconies and terraces, and you need to ring before even stepping foot in the building.... and a man in a dark suit comes to escort the craftsmen up as well.

He rings the bell next to a label that reads 'Hirata', and someone opens the door. Tall enough, and handsome enough to be a model, and wearing clothes that probably cost more than what John spends in half a year.

It's clear some work has been done in the space, which is now big and open. Some walls have been knocked down and furniture - expensive too - pushed away.

Th man who opens the door seems surprised to see them here until the guy in a dark suits tells him a few words in Japanese and then he nods.]

Come on in. Did you receive the work order by e-mail? I also have a list of what needs to be done somewhere around...

[vitis]

[ john has to actually look upward at the man who answers the door: he wonders if this is who jirou spoke of before? that they were to hopefully move in with each other? something like that. it's hard not to notice how he matches the richness of his surroundings. granted, while he only vaguely remembers this place, it's one of those places that are difficult to forget. he feels his stomach curdle at the sheer parade of wealth; there's no effort at even false modesty, here. ]

Hey! [ his smile's perfectly pleasant, the tone cheerful.] ] And no, I didn't... more like a phone call. Takin' a look at your list—if it's not too much trouble findin'—wouldn't hurt either, though.

[ off to a great start, there, john. he really needs to pry open his ancient stone tablet of a laptop more often. ]

[ he's lucky, he knows, that his name's been recommended to people; even if he's just an extra laborer to some contractor. and he doesn't want to butcher that, as tempting as it is to make an uncalled for comment or whatnot.

but john does as bid, stepping inside along with his own bag of various things and surveying the area-- the furniture, the walls or the lack thereof, all the differences from the last time he'd been around. ]

[toobigtohandle]

[Definitely no false modesty. The decor is simple, but not completely minimalistic, and it's tasteful in a way that shows it's here because the people who live in this place like it, and well, it just happens to be expensive because they have the money for it, really.

Thankfully, Jirou left the list in a very easy place and Kenta finds it quickly.]

Here. I hope it's detailed enough. I have't really been taking care of all of this except for choosing colors and some of the general layout, but Jirou should be home soon if there's anything that's not clear.

[Hopefully, at least.]

[vitis]

[ accepting this, john scans through the list and, hm. seems self-explanatory enough that he can get right to work-- which john does. thankfully, he's adept enough at work and talking people's ears off that he can simultaneously do both without flaw. he begins picking out some items from his bag, looking to a nearer section of the apartment. ]

Thanks! I'm John Becket, by the way. ... I don't think you'd know that. [ he's but a lowly construction underling, after all. and while he's familiar with the name "jirou," well: ] What's yours? If you don't me askin'. I don't think they included your name in the call...

[ probably because it wasn't an absolute necessiry for everyone to know. ]

d, 10/15 may

[vitis]

[ ah, yes. 1am.

while the neighborhood isn't affluent enough to sport a gate, the occasional glow of a lamppost does show-off neat and pretty houses, manicured lawns, gleaming cars parked away in driveways. john can't help but admire how perfectly ripe for vandalization it all looks. this is such a stupidly indulgent venture. and, as stupid as it is, he knows he has to keep his wits about him— while the fog's yet to roll into this area, and he knows that he can handle his fog apparitions, he wouldn't know what to expect from his cohort.

john stands a little ways off from the street's corner, dressed appropriately with few rolls of toilet paper gathered in the crook of one arm and a stack of two containers of expired eggs in the other. the kimuras had allowed him to take the stock without much questioning. he's parked his own truck a few lots away for safekeeping (it tends to stick out like a sore thumb, in an area like this).

john waits, then to wave when he can make out may in the dim lighting. ]

Yo! [ shoot. even if only a customary friendly greeting, he should remember to keep his volume down. cracking eggs will be loud enough without his help... ] Glad to see you could make it.

[me_matey]

Sup, stranger. -May came prepared, dressed largely in black, with a hiking pack slung over her shoulders. Oddly, attached to the pack was a steel pipe, less conspicuous than her usual weapon of choice, but given the fog lately, there was a good enough reason it was there. May wasn't about to start knocking mailboxes over.-

That the ammo? I brought some more teepee, myself, but couldn't manage to get any eggs.

[vitis]

... Nice pipe.

[ yeah, his gaze was pretty much instantly drawn to that unique choice of... something. well, he doesn't think she's off to fix some plumbing with that, anyway. at her question: ]

Yep! [ if she has enough space to carry one, he'll pass her one of the cartons. this gesture comes complete with a wider (very proud) grin: ] They'll stink.