mochizuki ryoji ([personal profile] appraiser) wrote in [community profile] recolle2017-08-24 08:14 pm

[OPEN] For me, our friendship was a miracle.

WHO: Ryoji Pharos/NPCs, OTA
WHERE: Recollé Woods, Recollé General Hospital
WHEN: 8/24 - 8/27
WHAT: Ryoji's death upon returning to Recollé; he loses all his regains and memories, and after 2 days in the morgue, reincarnates into the form of a 10-year-old boy, Pharos. Pharos will not have any of Ryoji's in-game memories (both events and people), and his memories only encompass Ryoji's AU history up to age 10.
WARNINGS: death

[ It felt as if he were falling forever, the darkness overwhelming, the numbness welcoming, the cold, wet ground Ryoji finds himself on being nothing short of a blessing— mud, bugs, grass that itch his nose, but better than the fire that still singes his clothes, wisps of the dead haunting his vision as he closes his eyes and struggles to open them again.

A canopy of leaves, so thick he can't even see the moon behind it.

But he knows this place, has spent so long hidden out here on his own, and his lips part, silent words that can be read but not heard:

"I'm home." ]



A. 8/24, Recollé Woods, NPCs: civilians, paramedics
[ It's a while before he is found. A muffled shout is heard first, and then a scream pierces the air, from a person— two? three? people just trying to escape the monsters, or perhaps they chased them all the way to the woods, now staring down at where a body lies in a crumpled heap. His clothes are torn, both hands covered with blood, glass embedded into the soles of his shoes, black sludge leaking out from his chest— what once was his chest, now a gaping hole where ribs and heart should be, filling up with the black that wells and pools like old blood.

There is a ring on his finger, glowing like moonlight.

"Call an ambulance!" somebody shouts, running forward, stopping, scared to touch. The boy on the ground does not move, but his eyes seek faces, desperate and unseeing. "Hurry!"

Desperate.

An ambulance is called, a helicopter, but the hospital is far and the streets are in turmoil. ]


B. 8/24, Recollé General Hospital, NPCs: physician, nurse
[ The boy should have been pronounced dead upon arrival.

Pulse: 0
BP: 00/00
RR: 0
O2 sat: 0%


There is no heart, but a flat line would not have been unexpected with the state of his body, half gone, still falling apart. The only thing that keeps him in a hospital bed is the black miasma that fills that gaping hole, that moves uncontained like thick smoke, drips to the ground like tar, disappearing when it does and taking a part of him with it. Sometimes, he moves, a finger here, a furrow of the brow there, but they're weak, few and far— increasingly further— in between; he's not dead, but he's dying, fast.

A phone found in his pocket identifies him as Ryoji Mochizuki, and that is the name that can be given to a nurse to find his room, but only for an hour or two before the last of his will gives, and he is moved to the morgue. ]


C. 8/25 - 8/26, Crimson Crest Apartments, NPCs: neighbors, cat
(inbox messages will fail to send; to be queued until 8/27)

> search for user Ryoji Mochizuki
USER DOES NOT EXIST

> search for user Ryoji Mochizuki
USER DOES NOT EXIST

> search for user Ryoji Mochizuki
USER DOES NOT EXIST


[ His apartment is empty, the door ajar and papers scattered about. One of the three pairs of slippers is missing— in her haste, his mother had gone out in them. She hasn't returned. The only sound in the entire apartment is that of a cat, weak cries from somewhere under the futon, hiding whenever somebody enters, and only sticking her nose out if they're somebody she recognizes... or has food. Please feed her. It's been three days. ]

D. 8/27, Recollé General Hospital
> search for user Ryoji Mochizuki
USER IS ONLINE


[ But is nowhere to be found, anywhere around the city. Calls and texts to his phone now go through, and Ryoji's Retrospec account is back online and shows up in his name and picture, but... nothing.

His hospital room has been cleaned out, and there is another boy sitting in it today, around 10 years of age. If you know Ryoji, he looks familiar, wide grey eyes that look up and a ready smile for anybody who walks through the door to visit. He doesn't expect many visitors, a nurse will stop you at the door and say, explaining that the boy was found playing around in the morgue, but must have hit his head because he doesn't remember how he got there.

"I'm not supposed to come back here," he keeps saying. "I don't live here anymore."

Right now, he's simply under observation, but the nurse hopes that visitors would help him remember what happened. In the meanwhile, his only other company are the nurses, and the social worker who's in a tough situation: with his mother having passed from a heart attack three days ago, and his father having passed three years ago, he has no family, no place to live, no possessions to his name aside from a pitch black ring he wears on his finger, fiddling with it when he thinks nobody is looking. ]


----
( ooc: I will reply to prompts A, B, and C with the listed NPCs instead of Ryoji, since Ryoji is kind of dead. Replies to prompt D will come from Pharos. For messages to his inbox, there will be no response until the end of the month when some kind soul gets Pharos his own phone, whereupon he'll be able to access Ryoji's Retrospec account and messages.

Pharos' powers include teleportation (he does not like being touched unless it's on his terms, and will teleport away if somebody tries), and intangibility/telepathy (essentially disappearing into thin air and speaking to your character inside their head; this is only one way, meaning he cannot read minds and your character will have to speak out loud for him to hear. I will not do this unless permission is given, so let me know if this is something you'd like to play)

For any questions or wildcard prompts, contact me via PM or at [plurk.com profile] birdseed )
cattack: (no there isn't. I refuse to believe.)

A

[personal profile] cattack 2017-08-25 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
[Cleo's been fighting monsters as part of her Team Absinthe problems. So, with a bloody sword in hand, she's wandering through the forest, killing all the monsters she can find.

Of course... That doesn't help when she finds a crowd, a clamor for an ambulance, a body- that body?

That body looks... familiar.

No.]


Ryoji!

[She practically screams, charging forward to kneel down next to him. The healing magic she got from Retrospec is weak, it can't fix this, but she has to try, pouring all of her feeble magic power into that healing.]

Ryoji, hang on- Ryoji!
belligerentwarrior: (Hope I don't forget sights like this)

B

[personal profile] belligerentwarrior 2017-08-25 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
Don't you dare quit on me, you bastard. [Freya's voice was hoarse and quiet.] You made it this far. Don't you dare ruin it.

[Apprehension and dread was a periphery feeling, haunting the edges of her senses. Freya felt shockingly little for the situation other than raw exhaustion, the chaos of every other emotion restrained by a thin, bleak thread of hope.]

[A hope she had no reason to hold, she knew. Freya couldn't explain what that black stuff was or how he was holding on even now, or where his organs should be. But that was impossible, wasn't it? How could she be faulted for hoping he'd impossibly survive, in the face of that?]

[But his condition was deteriorating, in several sense of the word, before her eyes. Freya refused to leave him, from the woods to this damnable room. She was the highest qualified caregiver in their group, until other help arrived; she promised others everyone would make it out alive; she promised Minako she'd look out for him.]

[He couldn't die. Not now. Not after everything.]

[Bahamut, the ferocious metal beast with his healing magics, wasn't answering Freya's silent pleas; she'd called him too recently. Freya didn't hold Ryoji's hand, for fear it would crumble. But she spoke to him, every few minutes, a kind of desperate encouragement. He didn't deserve this. Minako didn't deserve this.]

[And there was nothing Freya could do but hope, increasingly in vain.]
goen: (finding emotes is hard)

mostly D

[personal profile] goen 2017-08-25 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ Yato's return to Recolle has not been nearly as happy or triumphant as he was hoping it would be.

Single-minded perseverence has always been Yato's strongest trait. It served him well while he was away, pushing down his helpless fears, helping him focus on what was in front of him so that he might eventually put his fears to rest. But turning into an animal, escaping a mad surgeon, defying death, battling aliens via mechs in space -- it all seems more pointless with every fear that becomes realized.

Everyone is forgetting. Again. Aki is missing. Because of him, a hard ache in his chest tells him. And the names in Retrospec have depleted. Yato makes the rounds, checking in with his friends, which -- yes, does include Ryoji now, because Yato always means what he says.

The Mochizuki apartment is silent when Yato enters. Strange, since the door is unlocked. It looks like someone left in a hurry, which is not too farfetched considering the state of the city. But it still feels odd. Yato spots the Mochizuki cat, which mewls at him sadly, and he finds a bit of food from the kitchen to feed it before leaving. He'll probably run across Ryoji eventually.

Eventually happens. Kind of. Yato walks by the hospital and glances at its open windows. He sees a boy...

A strangely familiar boy?

Before he knows it, his feet are taking him into the hospital and past the receptionist's desk unchalleneged. He walks until he finds the room he glimpsed the boy in, sees the boy, and then simply stares. Yato has been in Ryoji's apartment more than once, snooped around to look at all the photos framed there out of pure nosiness. This boy looks exactly like Ryoji did when he was younger.

Yato will just keep standing and staring there until the boy notices him, assuming as he often does that he won't be seen. ]
complementing: (✿ pain of separation [ VALKYRIE ])

[personal profile] complementing 2017-08-25 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
[She knows. She knows he's here, can only think the worst knowing that this is the place he's in. Trying to call out to him through their connection doesn't get her any answer, and that frightens her even more. He's always answered, always, he promised he always would, so why isn't he answering now?

He's hurt, he's hurt and he needs her, that's the only reason why.

Minako urges herself to go faster and barely bothers to ask the nurse where the room was as she sprints into the hospital. The tingle in the back of her mind, their connection-- it's telling her it's this way,

down the hall,
left,
through the second door
and across another hallway,

this way,

this way, stop feeling like he's slipping away the closer you get, it's not true not true not truenottruenottrue

BANG

She falls to her knees with one hand on the doorknob, the other covering her mouth.]


No. No no, no. Please no. Freya. Freya, he's not--
belligerentwarrior: (Here to take care of a broken l'Cie?)

[personal profile] belligerentwarrior 2017-08-25 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
[The dread Freya's been holding back floods her when that door bangs open, its touch as icy as the ghosts she's felt. Freya staggers to her feet as her gaze turns to Minako, eyes wide, her throat suddenly too tight to speak.]

[What could she say?]

[Freya herself looks like utter hell; her arms are covered in healing wounds, the angry pink flesh taking the shape at least a dozen small bites. The sleeves her shirt are shredded as a result of the wounds, and significantly fewer peppering her torso and her legs. The clothing's ill-suited to her size, hanging baggily, and the cloth stained with the faint ruddy brown of rinsed-out blood. She's pale, and on top of it all, sporting a black eye.]

[But that didn't matter; she hardly felt it herself, what with Ryoji lying there missing parts of his chest. Not with Minako in the doorway, looking to her to change the awful reality of it all. It's the weight of Minako's desperation that the little thread of delusional hope snaps. Freya couldn't lie like that, say that Ryoji's going to be okay.]

[But what could she say?]

[Freya's face twists in agony in answer, her hands clenching until her knuckles ached and turned white, a sickening feeling hollowing out her chest. She couldn't fix this.]
complementing: (✿ the bond is broken [ ATTIS ])

[personal profile] complementing 2017-08-25 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
[She stumbles, actually stumbles, as she pushes herself up and lurches forward until she's hovering over the bed and sees the full extent of the damage done to Ryoji's body. Oh god. Oh god. He's in pain and she can feel it too, it's destroying her now too, the hollowness in her chest that's ice cold and spreading to every part of her body.

Her hands dart out to cup Ryoji's pale face, rubbing circles under his eyes and the apples of his cheeks, as if she could transfer the warmth of her hands to him, share half of her life force with him and keep him here on this earth with her. This face that has turned to her so many times during Skype conversations to give her a smile. This boy who has held these hands in his when she was crying, wrapped his scarf around her so she could feel safe.

The warmth of her tears soon join her fingers against his skin.

Don't take this boy away from her.]


Ryoji, no. Don't leave me. You promised. You p-promised. You always keep your--

[Her voice cracks, and she pitches forward to press her forehead to his, trembling badly, whispering tiny nos of denial as she bites her lip against any screams that might escape her.]
esperimental: (limits)

C, cw: mention of self-harm

[personal profile] esperimental 2017-08-25 10:21 am (UTC)(link)
"I am the one to blame for the death of Ryoji Mochizuki."

[ The short post has remained unsent in Ritsu's freshly charged phone, apology deleted, reworded, deleted again, staring at the Retrospec application with dead eyes. Type. Backspace. Type. Close eyes. Ignore dinner call. Don't stir when the door opens. Feel cold even under all the covers. People won't believe him at the station if he turned himself in, the city had returned to its illusion of normalcy. He felt sick. He wants to hurt himself. He acts on it, to some degree.

Why was he the one alive? He wants to be punished. Surely everyone would hate him if he posted his confession. But Ritsu's fingers were frozen. Is that what he wanted? Or was it too heartless to post it like just a matter of fact. Maybe he just didn't want to deal with answering questions. Because he didn't understand the human heart. Because he didn't want to deal with this conflict. If only he can pretend it never happened; envying the blissful masses once again.

Coward.

Still, he's not the one who would be the most affected by this, and he knows that. By the dawn of the next morning, Ritsu forces himself away from his bed, dark circles under his eyes, looking for the address Ryoji had once given him. But he had to leap through this small window of bravery before he starts wanting to shut himself away again. Though truth be told, with each heavy step he already does want to turn.

Stubbornness, see him through, so a parent knows not to wait for a dead son. ]


I... is this where the Mochizukis live?

[ Someone happens to be outside today. They should help him find the right apartment. ]
strawberrypunch: ([Surprise] we were blessed)

A

[personal profile] strawberrypunch 2017-08-25 05:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[The final call was enough to drag him from his home, determined to help even a little in spite of his fears for his grandparents.

It is, perhaps, a mistake to think he could do anything to help.

As he approaches the woods, there's a sense - a pinging in his mind that draws him in, so different from the pull that tugged him there in previous times and yet reminding him of those very instances. He follows the sense... only to forget about it entirely as he sees just what lays waiting for him.
]

Ryoji!

[Tatsuma is a soft-spoken person, and it's rare that he ever raises his voice. But he does so now just before sprinting to Ryoji's side, quickly checking him over, quickly realizing this is... far beyond anything he could help. Feeling sick, yet unable to leave his side.

No. No, no, no, no-
]
cattack: (pic#4867984)

[personal profile] cattack 2017-08-25 06:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Don't- Don't say that! He's not- He can still be saved! He has to...

[the denial is strong, but the healing is weak, and soon peters out. even so, she looks down at him, trying to get into his line of sight.]

Ryoji, focus! Look at me! Please!
erythristic: (flame.)

8/25

[personal profile] erythristic 2017-08-25 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[she's called in early, meaning she gets in at sunrise, and despite how her body protests after fighting for so long yesterday, she comes. something strange, she's told, and they wanted her to investigate.

when she comes in, she's not prepared for the face she sees under the sheet. Ryoji Mochizuki hadn't been the name she had heard from him when they'd met, and while her eyes had caught the age on the file and she'd braced herself...it still wasn't something she wanted to see.

she has a job to do. she has a job to do, she tells herself, and one she knows how to do. later, she can be upset over this, and the practiced calm of many years slides back into place. essential, for this.

first things first. identify the body's condition and cause of death.]
erythristic: (consideration.)

[personal profile] erythristic 2017-08-25 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[when she sees that darkness, it's enough that she pauses and slips out to her office, coming back with a glass bottle in hand. the holy water saved from team Absinthe that countered dark energy...honestly, she doesn't know if it's still effective, but if something's gone wrong, then she wants protection. when you're horror genre savvy, you can't take chances.

recording down all that she finds, the cloth strikes her as odd, and she sets it aside for testing, first holding it up to the light to see what might have chilled it. checking his eyes confirms the time of death, and Grell pauses, remembering questions that she had. if...there was truly something in the body that Retrospec could change, then...

whatever choice she has to make, she'll make it soon. first, taking care of his hands to run the blood for analysis - there's a lot that can be explained through the sheer fact of monsters, but she'll need to independently contact team members for a better report instead of dithering around in uncertainty. and then there's the black.

which. she takes the longest of her tools she can find to very carefully poke at it, confused as it disappears. energy? not dark energy? if she pries too deep, will he fall apart?]
prometheanflame: (notice)

D-ish

[personal profile] prometheanflame 2017-08-26 01:04 am (UTC)(link)
[Mohammed had not know Ryoji for long. He was a teenager - a boy, even - with a terrible power and a willingness to die for perceived safety of the world. He was a kid that deserved to live like anyone else.

He should have known better than to assume everyone would be alright. The monsters were a glitch on Retrospec's end and they couldn't have put in protections that their precious experiments would live. He had grown too cocky and now someone is dead.

After receiving the news, Mohammed didn't know who to talk to. He didn't know where Ryoji lived, he didn't know how to help, he didn't know how to do anything. He was just as complicit in his death.

And then, on the 27th, he checks Retrospec and sees a green circle by his account. His first thought is someone stole his phone or hacked into his account.]


Who is this?

[There is no reply.

Where can he go? Ask the hospital what happened to Ryoji's phone? Find his mother? He sets out to the beach, near the woods. The place where he and Ryoji showed off their powers, and where Mohammed hoped he would keep himself safe.]


This isn't funny.
prometheanflame: (notice)

[personal profile] prometheanflame 2017-08-26 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
[The message was send mostly out of frustration; Mohammed hadn't expected the thief to actually answer. Whoever this "Pharos" is, they must have a similar sense of superiority as Jim. Of course they would act all innocent.]

This is Ryoji's account. What are you doing signed into it?
esperimental: (uncertain)

[personal profile] esperimental 2017-08-26 01:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ritsu blinks, feeling a pit in his stomach. Could something bad have happened? Please, no. ]

How... can you say something like that for sure? Did they not use electricity or water? If someone was feeling unwell, then...

[ "That'd be why I'm here" would come out, but that's a lie, so he just trails off. ]

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