recolle | [ open ]

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WHO: Tatsuo, Li-Na, and YOU
WHERE: in their dreams
WHEN: throughout july
WHAT: Dreamsharing!
WARNINGS: violence, human experimentation, will add others as needed

TATSUO AU1 : apartment fire [OPEN]

You ever have one of those dreams where you dream you wake up and go about your day as usual? Yeah, this is one of those. Only, this isn't going to be a 'usual' day.

It's the noise that wakes Tatsuo and the vibration. An explosion loud enough and violent enough to cause the whole building to shudder. In an instant, Tatsuo snaps awake, only to feel disoriented. This isn't his apartment... though it's filled with his things. Still, that sound and the way the building had shuddered, that didn't seem right. So he quickly rolls out of bed and starts pulling on his clothes.

He notices the smoke as he reaches for his shoes. Addias Superstars, his favorite pair of sneakers. He swears under his breath as he quickly puts them on. Smoke means fire and fire means get the hell out now.

Logically he knows he should drop everything and run. But all his brain can think about is the things he needs to take with him. He stuffs his cellphone and wallet into his pockets and grabs a sports bag from the closet. As much as it pains him, he leaves his beloved sneaker collection. Instead, he grabs his laptop and external harddrive... and then his hand reaches for a photograph of himself as a child with his mother.

Odd. He doesn't remember this photo of the two of them. The background looks like Peach Beach... but he didn't move to Recolle until university. Tatsuo shakes his head and stuffs the photo into the sports bag anyway... then turns to find the room so filled with smoke he can barely see the doorway.

Coughing, Tatsuo slings the sports bag across his back and drops to the floor. Alarmingly, he can to feel heat as he quickly crawls over to the window where the fire escape is. But to his absolute horror, the window won't open. Muttering choice words about inconvenient laws of physics, he crawls his way toward his front door. Around the center of his living room the smoke starts getting to him and he stops to cough, trying to catch his breath.

TATSUO AU1 : warehouse raid (cw: torture) [closed to Togusa]

Tatsuo paces anxiously outside a large warehouse. The area is swarming with police and first responders, and for some reason he and Derek are there. He's not quite sure what he's waiting for, but when someone shouts 'All clear!' Tatsuo and Derek both grab large bags and hurry inside the building, a cluster of EMTs right on their heels. Tatsuo can feel his head's not in the game, but he can also tell he's not about to sit on the sidelines either.

"Tatsuo, they're going to be alright. I'm sure Cleo is...she's a fighter, alright?"

Derek is trying to be comforting. It's not a very successful attempt.

"I know, I know she's tough."

His right shoulder twinges slightly at the mention of Cleo. (Wait, who is Cleo again?)

"But just because she's tough and can fight doesn't mean--"

Whatever he was going to say is lost as his nose suddenly starts picking up the odors of the warehouse. The scents of dirt and rust, but also sweat... and worse, blood. The sharp coppery smell fills his nose and his mouth until he starts to gag. He quickly clamps a hand over his mouth as he tries to get the dry heaving under control.

Dude... are you ok?

Tatsuo almost doesn't hear Derek. The odors assaulting his nose take up most of his attention, and his efforts to control his gag reflect take up most of the rest. He gives his head a small shake, no, and forces himself to breathe through his mouth. It doesn't lessen how much he's smelling, but it helps a bit with the gagging. Once he finally has it under control, he asks Derek a question in return.

"Don't you smell that?"

Derek gives him a concerned look.

You don't mean the blood do you? Cause, the chances of it getting worse are high.

Tatsuo returns Derek's look with an annoyed one of his own.

"Yes, I do mean the blood. I can practically taste it."

Derek frowns slightly, then reaches into his pocket for a handkerchief.

Take this and suck it up. We've got work to do. Now come on, they're waiting for us.

"I know, I know..."

Tatsuo is reaching for the handkerchief when he overhears someone saying Cleo's name. The scrap of fabric is quickly forgotten as he jumps over another CSI collecting some broken Christmas lights toward some EMTs preparing a young woman for transport. A young woman with a set of large black cat ears... and a gouged out eye. Tatsuo feels himself start to go numb.

"Take care of her. She's my little sister, okay?"

Little sister? What the? He doesn't have a little sister.

LI-NA OU : nightmare [closed to Noah]

It's not the first time she's had this dream. It starts off the same each time. The first thing she notices is the silence. It's not an absolute silence, but just about. She can hear the lap of the water against the ruins and the occasional tumble of stone. But there's no sounds from anything living, just inanimate objects.

If you look up, there is a black crescent moon hanging ominously in a pink tinged sky. And all around her are the broken walls and collumns of a building, slowly crumbling to a sea of black water. And for some reason, she sits perched on top of the ruins, her knees drawn up to her chest.

"Brother?"

Her voice rings out, but is swallowed by the silence.

"Guys?"

It sounds wrong to speak. Her voice seems hollow and empty the moment the words leave her mouth.

She covers her ears with her hands, trying to stop that feeling of wrongness. But the sounds of the ruins continue, here and there, until a loud PLOP catches her attention.

She looks down, and feels her hands go numb with shock. There's a body in the water below. A black coat with a silver cross. A red hand with a cross on the back. The body of someone she knows and cares about. A scream starts to build in her chest, because she knows if she looks at the black water too closely, she'll see even more people she loves.

LI-NA OU : fallen ones (cw: death) [OPEN]

She's a child in this dream. A frightened child hiding behind a door while she watches the adults talk about another child. She has a terrible feeling about what is happening (it is the middle of the night), but no one she can run to for help. Instead, she just huddles behind the door, watching and listening.

The boy sees her, sees her watching them, and gives her a small wave, as he's taken away. Taken away so a large white figure the adults call Hevlaska can try to put a little green glowing piece of Innocence inside the boy. It doesn't go well.

"Stop," she pleads, her voice barely a whisper. "Stop. Stop!"

But no one can hear her voice over the howling wind and the adults own shouting as the experiment goes terribly wrong. A large torso-shaped mass appears from the mist, the boy now sticking out of its chest.

It is hopeless. Innocence will only synchronize with accomodators chosen by God.

Hevlaska's voice rings out hollowly, as the adults look upon the monstrosity they've created.

WILDCARD

See here for other possible dreams, or if there is anything on either Tatsuo and Li-Na's regain posts, LMK @ anacrusis

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[he nods his head]

I never knew you as anything BUT a cop, and I only learned about that when I joked with you that I wanted to take over the world. Ring any bells?

And Derek...well, I would always call him "Detective Derek", even though it was trying to figure out how a person died usually.

Tell me, is he still an ass that pisses people off to no end? and sucks at the entire comforting department?

[Tatsuo shakes his head]

No, doesn't really ring any bells for me. Though that does sound like Derek.

[Derek is pretty much Derek personality-wise no matter what happens to his history apparently]

Look, we should let the EMTs get on their way. There's a coffee shop in town, Good Bean. Why don't we meet there?

[Al squints at him]

Seriously? He is STILL AN ASS?

I thought with all the other changes he would be nicer....I feel sorry for his new brother...

[He walks away a bit]

Alright, but let me change clothes 1st though...I don't want to smell like a Barbecue gone wrong, soo in an hour or two?

[Why are you so confusing Al? Tatsuo just shakes his head.]

And I'll.. figure something out.

[Like why he was in a cruddy apartment like this in the first place.]

Anyway. Yeah, an hour or two.

[and he wakes up, staring at his ceiling and wondering why he has a sudden craving for coffee, which isn't exactly unusual for 6 in the morning, but he wants a caramel latte from Good Bean of all places]

[He smiles and walks away]

See ya there...

[Al wakes up, and wants to do two things

1)Take a shower
2)Go to Good Bean

He tries to go back to sleep but he keeps getting the feeling there is something important there. So he starts his morning, pick pocketing a few random people along the way to Good Bean]

Why does it need to be so freaking early...
[He mutters to himself when he enters Good Bean ]

[Tatsuo debates just going back to sleep. But no matter which way he turns, he can't get comfortable and his brain is relentlessly awake. So eventually he gets up to shower and get dressed... then heads over to Good Bean to deal with this weird craving.

As he stands in line, he heard someone muttering behind him. Someone whose voice is somewhat familiar. He glances over his shoulder to confirm his suspicions, and sure enough, it's Al.]

Oh, hey! Albert. How are you this morning?

[Al smiles at Tatsuo]

Hey Tatsuo! Haven't seen you since Derek's house warming party.

How have you been? Must have been a breeze as a police officer last month.

Or did they give you a hard time after people came back?

[Tatsuo gives Al a confused look.]

I know school is out an all, but I'm still Mr. Kihara out here. At least until you turn 18 and graduate from high school.

[But what in the world was Al going on about? Derek's house warming? Police officer?]

I think you need your morning coffee, Albert. And how exactly do you know Derek?

[Al looks at Tatsuo shocked]

Say what now? Since when have you gone by your last name?!

and what do you mean how do I know Derek?!

He's my older brother!

Well, WAS my older brother.

Since I last August when you were in my Intro to Chemistry class?

[Tatsuo decides to forego the caramel latte and orders two coffees instead. Dark roast. He hands one to Al and points at the creamer station to indicate they should take this conversation away from the counter.]

Maybe we're talking about a different Derek then. Because the Derek I know only has one little brother and has only ever had one little brother. And he's still alive so there's no reason to talk about him in the past-tense.

[Al heads toward the creamer station, and uses plenty of milk and sugar, He sighs loudly and looks at Tatsuo strangely. Then he realizes something]

Let me guess, you know Derek Marlow?

Yes, we are talking about the same Derek.

He has forgotten all memory of me. That's why I speak in past tense.

and it looks like we are going to disagree on what's real too.

Looks like one or more of us are getting more memories messed with...

[He says surprisingly cold with a clenched jaw, trying to suppress his anger, Why must fate do this to me? He takes a sip from his coffee, very sweet, just the way he likes it.]

[Tatsuo looks at Al with a muddled expression. His gut reaction to to deny anything about his own memory is wrong. It's a notion that he's found deeply troubling from the very start of this whole Retrospec process, that something other than memories being added could be done. And if it hadn't been for a couple incidents in the last six months, he'd give in to that gut reaction. Instead, he takes a small breath, lets it out, and finishes putting one creamer and two sugars into his coffee.]

Let's sit over here.

[He nods at a small table toward the back of the coffee shop.]

[Al starts to walk toward the indicated table]

I know I sound crazy as hell

But it's what I believe is going on God damn it.

[He says, a touch hurt and a touch angry, since Derek didn't exactly react well to his "belief"]

Edited 2018-08-02 22:16 (UTC)

Honestly, Retrospec makes us all sound that way at some point or another.

[Tatsuo sits for a moment, drumming his fingers against the surface of the table]

So what exactly is it that's different about us? Give me the bullet points version.

[Al looks surprised that Tatsuo is taking him seriously, so he calms down quite quickly]

Ummm, well, I assume like Derek, you have lived a completely different life then what either of you told me.

Like, someone hit the restart button on your lives and life just played out differently.

You told me your parents were dead and you were an hard headed orphan. I assume that's not the case anymore? Derek was an orphan too, but now he has an ac-

[He stops, realizing that, technically, there was nothing between him and Derek in the 1st place. From Derek's perspective, Al was a troubled punk who barged in and was a pain in the ass. He looks away for a moment then studders to try to cover up the sad expression he developed in that time]

an...an actual family, instead of being adopted.

Okay, so, you remember me telling you that I was an orphan and that I was also a cop? And Derek was an orphan, but he'd been adopted where I wasn't?

[This is some weird shit here, but Tatsuo... doesn't think Al is lying. But whether it's Al's memory that's been tampered with or Tatsuo and Derek's... well... that still remains to be seen.]

Is there anything else?

Ummm, pretty much.

I think you taught martial arts on the side?

Derek mentioned something about it a month ago.

It's not just me either, when I try to talk about Derek to the rest of the Matthews, they don't remember him. But I have texts from him.

Edited 2018-08-05 02:13 (UTC)

I do teach martial arts, though I don't really think of it as a side job?

[The Matthews not remembering Derek sounds about right... thought that name sounds familiar. A big family with a whole pack of adopted kids. If Derek had been adopted, for whatever reason, they're just the kind of family to do so.]

I had a student named Matthews last year. Amanda?

So martial arts is the same.

Yes, Amanda is also my sister. She doesn't remember Derek either.

I hear that Derek has a really small family now. Just one brother and one sister.

A doctor now, instead of CSI.

And as far as I can tell, still a major asshole

[Tatsuo sips his coffee as he considers then details Al has provided.]

So rather than being neighbors, in your memories I know Derek because we were both orphans and we work together?

Yes.

I didn't really KNOW either of you that well though, so that's about as much as I can say.

[He takes a sip of his coffee]

Truth be told...

I'm struggling to understand why I care about that prick

Well, by your account, he's family, even if not by blood. And even though sometimes family can really annoy you, they're still family.

[Tatsuo flips it around]

Besides. If you had your memory altered and he was the one trying to convince you that your memories were false, wouldn't you want him to keep trying?

[He sighs and looks away sadly]

I already said I know this sounds crazy.

And...I couldn't accept that at first okay?

It just hurt to have him taken away and I just reacted.

Besides, it's not like he is wondering alone like a madman.

He has you to back him up, a random guy dating his sister...

So why take some punk seriously?

To be honest, I'm not too wild with your version of our lives either. But it's something I have to at least consider, even if I don't like the idea of my current life being altered. It's something that I think is within Retrospec's capabilities.

[And Tatsuo really doesn't like the idea his current life memories have been messed around with. He swallows the rest of his coffee and sets the cup down with a hollow thunk.]

[He sighs]

Do you think I WANT to look at you, my...

[he bites his lip, in frustration to what he is about to call him]

Fuck! Fine! My friend! And tell you, "Hey bud, so, instead of what ever YOU think is going on, I think your life was utter shit"

Or to tell THAT asshole "hey, you know, You got a fucked up punk for a brother? And, Oh your parents are dead!"

[Al starts to cry hard, he tries to take a big gulp of his coffee and puts it down like it was a shot, only for some of it to come back on his face, but he hardly cares if it burns his face a bit.]

I wouldn't blame you, if you just brushed me to the side and called me crazy like Derek did...or my sister, or even Mr and Misses Matthews. So, thanks for even considering it. Even if its crazy as hell.

[He cries harder]

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