crudest: (♚ SET FIRE TO THE RAIN)
Baren "Good End: You die." Kumou ([personal profile] crudest) wrote in [community profile] recolle2017-09-02 10:23 am

[OPEN] WATCH THIS MADNESS

WHO: Baren & YOU!!
WHERE: by Recollé Woods, or somewhere in the city, wherever your chara is!!
WHEN: forward-dated to September 7th, and ensuing time periods after!
WHAT: a ) Baren becomes a literal walking dumpsterfire. that's the log. But also b ) Baren Kaiyou: Found Dead in Miami (jk) and c ) tanuki deliveries!
WARNINGS: fire trauma in prompt a. possible mentions of child neglect, alcoholism, and suicidal ideation but those can be avoided and will be marked in threads if/as they come up.

[ A : JUST LIKE FIRE, semi-closed to existing cr ]
( content warning: threads that fall underneath this prompt will include reference to fire trauma.

they might mention child neglect, alcoholism, and suicidal ideation. if you'd still like to engage in this prompt, but would rather one of these topics be left out of the meta, just let me know! they will be dodged. will mark subjects if these arise in any thread regardless. feel free to hit me at [plurk.com profile] evergrace if you want to work something out. )
[ i ) And here Baren thought that he and Retrospec had some kind of truce.

What he'd received instead, what was bundled in his arms now as he makes his way out of the bright lights of the city, was a reminder of a past that he'd long since tried to hide. The cloth of the haori feels natural against his fingertips, it fit around his shoulders perfectly in the brief minute he'd allowed it on his person, and everything about it feels like fate. Certainty. Home.

He feels like he could retch.

It's on the outskirts of the forest that he parks his car and gets out, makes a haphazard fire pit, and throws the haori into the dirt along with pieces of brush and dried grass. It sits upon the mess, the kanji for 'Kumou' obvious and stinging Baren's eyes before he even finds his lighter. He scoffs. The words leave his mouth like every syllable is dripping with poison.]


Who's a Kumou anyway, huh?

[How could he face his mother and sister like that?

When he lifts his hand, flicks his lighter open and watches the flame dance in his fingertips, he feels the swirling pit of hesitation in his stomach. Something - his conscience? when had he last listened to that - warns him that this is a bad idea. Don't set this cloth aflame, because it meant something. In the end, he's meant to be a Kumou, no matter how far he runs or how hard he tries.

But those feelings aren't his.

He drops the lighter and watches the embers begin to burn.

ii ) For those who won't travel to the woods at night by themselves, they're in... luck?

Wherever they are, whether it's at home, they're on a walk, or otherwise, Tanuki will find them. If they've met Baren even once, he thinks that's good enough. He's still small, going up to their legs and grabbing on. The noises he makes are distressed, short, worried. His breaths come in quick puffs and he starts to wander off, looking back to make sure they follow.

A shake of his whole body, then his teeth nipping at their clothes or briefly at skin to grab their attention if they're still not.

Hey. Pay attention to him.

His family is in trouble.]


[ B : THE AFTERMATH, open ]

[As soon as September 8th, the magazines and tabloids cover the announcement in a series of headlines: Baren Kaiyou Ditches Modeling, Baren Kaiyou Says Bye-Bye, RIP Baren Kaiyou.....'s Career?!, and oh his favorite.

Baren Kaiyou - Leaves Modeling to Join Traveling Circus.

In all honesty, Baren Kaiyou is actually standing in front of the magazine stand, musing over it all. He wears dark sunglasses today instead of his eyepatch, his hair done in a bun instead of the classic ponytail with feathers and bells. The only extremely odd bit is that he seems to be wearing a long cardigan in the still warm early days of September, hands shoved in his pockets. Otherwise, he still looks every bit the ex-model that's featured on the covers.

He reads over them one more time.

Tilts his head, muses out loud:]


Well, who wouldn't leave modeling for a traveling circus? Better that than some shitty meme about being found dead in Miami....

[ C : THE BEST PROMPT, open ]

[Sorry, make way!

As you walk about your day, it looks like there's a furry tanuki friend crossing through the sidewalks, dodging this way and that between people's legs. In his mouth he carries a wrapped up box in a handkerchief. He's on a mission.

But he's still a tanuki.

Did he bump into you? Is he about to run into a busy street? Want to try picking him up?

Where's his owner anyway?

This version has considerably less trauma.]
chessking: (pic#11622534)

a because this dumpster fire cr is a dumpster fire

[personal profile] chessking 2017-09-02 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ to be honest, he's kind of joked about the ugly tanuki raccoon dog following baren around ever since retrospec has allowed him to see the... oddities that have been present in the world. so when tanuki nips at the hem of lelouch's jeans and his shoes, it's... alarming, when baren doesn't immediately follow after.

and yeah, he'll follow, because he's concerned. it might take a while because of lelouch's unfit ass and his general reluctance for physical activity in any form, but when he's being led to the woods, into an area of town where he's not familiar with, that's when he's actively worried. ]


Baren? Baren?!

[ what is tanuki-san going to lead him to and why does he have a bad feeling about this. ]
doublesmall: ((what did she say?))

a- ii

[personal profile] doublesmall 2017-09-02 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[chuuya doesn't tend to go out to the woods much, no, but when a familiar little furball finds him in distress and tries to get him to follow--

there's no second thoughts, no time wasted wondering what it wants. it's baren's, it's here without him, and it's upset; the tanuki doesn't need to make much of an effort at all to get chuuya's attention.]


What's the big deal, huh-?

[chuuya it's a tanuki it's not like it can tell you... but he follows after it without much hesitation.]

Alright, alright, let's go.
roseblooms: quick hold me back so i look wild and dangerous (SLEEVE ❁ let me at him let me at him)

A!

[personal profile] roseblooms 2017-09-02 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[It turns out that there's no amount of walking that can get the sound of his own screaming to stop ringing in his ears.

Oh, he's trying, certainly. He's trying and trying, he's trying everything he can think of to get the sound of a young man's panic out of his head, to cover over the words burned into his mind's eye, to stop seeing the flashes of light and smelling the gunpowder smoke and feeling the fireburn of agony humming along his nerves every time he lets his guard down for even an instant. He's trying, and lately the trying has been leading him to wander, and he's wandering when Tanuki finds him, which actually proves to be a welcome respite from the all-encompassing quicksand of his thoughts.

It's easy enough to follow him. Tanuki is urgent and agitated about something, and that makes for a good point of curiosity to focus on, and even if it means following him through the woods at a full-tilt run, well —

Running through the woods always feels natural to him these days, anyway.

So he follows, without complaint, and he can smell the smoke and the fire before he ever sees it, and for a second he thinks that's only in his memories, too, except that this time the memory is more vivid than it's been even in his dreams.]
originallutece: awful tough lately (talk; you've been acting)

B;

[personal profile] originallutece 2017-09-02 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's not that she follows his career like a hawk, but he's starting to become a name she subconsciously looks out for. Baren is a fairly unusual name to begin with; it's hard not to skim the headline when she sees it.

Of course, why bother to read a headline when the boy in question is right there?]


I don't think you'd fare too well in the circus, frankly, tanuki or not.
goen: ((ono))

a-ii

[personal profile] goen 2017-09-02 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Sup tanuki bro. Yato is heading home from work at the Inkwell when a familiar dopey little raccoonguy runs up to him, clearly in a panic. ]

Hey, Tanuki. Pigeonshit fall down a well?

[ The amount of concern Yato shows over that possibility is microscopic. But when Tanuki-san starts walking off, Yato will follow. For Tanuki-san...!! ]
chessking: (pic#11556980)

[personal profile] chessking 2017-09-02 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[ can i just say that lelouch is getting picked up a la that manga panel because one, it's hilarious, and two, it's definitely going to alarm him even more.

when baren glances back at tanuki-san, lelouch is climbing off him and looking decidedly alarmed. to his credit, when baren looks relatively unharmed, the tenseness in his shoulder recedes slightly, and while he still looks wary, he looks a little relieved that baren seems mostly alright?

there is that thing about him standing near the flames, and lelouch does look like he's waiting for an opportune moment to reach out and grab at baren, pull him away from the steadily growing flame. of course he spots the red cloth. ]


... What's going on?
originallutece: great name for a band (talk; whispers through the walls)

[personal profile] originallutece 2017-09-02 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
It's filthy living, or so I've heard.

[Hm. It doesn't take a genius to see something's up. Her eyes dart down, focusing on his sleeves, and she doesn't bother to hide the fact she's looking.]

That's a rather abrupt retirement.
roseblooms: we're just statler and waldorf on the sidelines, really (WATCH ❁ time for some color commentary)

[personal profile] roseblooms 2017-09-02 06:18 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know.

[He really doesn't. Oh, he could make guesses, of course, but that's all they would be, is guesses. But somehow he doubts that that's really a question that needed an answer to begin with, when quite clearly the reason that Tanuki has brought him here is because of whatever it is that's going on in front of him, in and of itself.

There's something burning, but the way that they're positioned makes it difficult to see what it is. Instinctively, he drifts a little to one side, trying to get a better look at the flames and their forthcoming fuel both.]


I couldn't very well have ignored him, upset as he is. What are you doing out here?
odapologist: (yagen50)

C

[personal profile] odapologist 2017-09-02 06:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ That is a weird dog running through the sidewalk. Or raccoon? It runs past Yanagi's leg for him to notice, and he wonders if some lost their pet? It has something in its mouth... But when he looks ahead to the crosswalk, the timer on the sign ticks to zero and it's now a bright orange hand. Do tanukis follow traffic laws? Oh no. ]

Hey-!

[ He picks up the tanuki just inches before he can hop off the curb into the crosswalk with cars going through now. People are giving them (or just him) funny looks, but he's holding fast. The kid's bracing to get clawed because up close, this is definitely not a normal pet he grabbed. ]

When the signal is white, I'll let you go.

[ He's not even sure if a raccoon dog can understand him, but he's willing to bargain with it if it could. ]
adoringpast: (Default)

b

[personal profile] adoringpast 2017-09-02 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it's not just the magazines - everyone in the agency's abuzz with rumors on why someone like baren suddenly quit in the first place. whether it's because he was involved in some sleazy scandal or due to a death of a loved one or whatever, the other models have been talking about it - and it seems as if they've been wanting to do it for for a while now. this industry has always been a dog-eat-dog world, and someone like baren is certainly not exempt from its viciousness.

which is why sena needs to find him as soon as possible but he doesn't know whether to start, since he just went up and left one day without any warning except a word from his agent, which sparked the gossip among their fellow models. and it just so happened that they're both standing in front of the same magazine stand one day, and despite the disguises models have to put on so as not to be easily recognized on the street, sena can still tell who it is with that mocking voice of his, and he's doing all he can to hold back, but - ]


Didn't know you'd rather be seen as a fucking circus act of all things. Don't you have any dignity anymore?

[ he says, eyes not leaving the various magazines in front of him. hey asshole it's me, ya boy. ]
doublesmall: (it's complicated.)

[personal profile] doublesmall 2017-09-02 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Wh-- hey! [chuuya grabs on, though, more out of reflex than anything, and once they're off he mutters a petulant little-] I'm fast on my own, y'know...

[he could probably gravity-parkour to keep up... but this is fine, he'll accept this.

and if he thought he was concerned before-- the sight of the smoke certainly isn't reassuring. he'd be urging the tanuki on if he weren't already moving faster, and when they arrive he's just leaping right off tanuki-san's back and skidding to a stop.]


Baren-! Hey, what the fuck-
goen: (then it must be true)

[personal profile] goen 2017-09-02 06:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Why the hell not. Yato shrugs and hops onto Tanuki-san's back, settles comfortably behind Tanuki-san's head, and hangs onto a couple handfuls of fur. He's seen how fast Tanuki-san can run... and Yato weighs like a pound or something, so he shouldn't slow down Tanuki-san much at all. ]
originallutece: that's really original (talk; oh another sexist remark)

[personal profile] originallutece 2017-09-02 06:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Not with a phrasing like that.

[This really isn't any of her business. She's not Baren's best friend; she's certainly not his caretaker. But she's always nosy, and it isn't as if he can't refuse her.]

And your arms?

[He could just be cold, but let's be real, he's not. Too much has happened this past month for her to suspect something so benign as he's just cold.]
roseblooms: yoga pants are not an invitation to stare (PONY ❁ hair up sweats on chill now)

[personal profile] roseblooms 2017-09-02 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's an answer that does nothing to actually answer the question asked, but that sounds good enough on the surface that one might not notice if they weren't paying careful enough attention to it. It's an answer that only implicates an action — it's cold out and therefore I started a fire — and tricks the listener into simply stopping there, upon following the thought to its next step, without realizing that the next step actually doesn't explain his presence out here to begin with.

He's the type to notice. He always has been. And goodness knows he'd lived in Japan prior to coming to Recolle long enough to be able to pick out the meaning of the symbol he spots on the cloth in a natural instant.

So what he has, really, are facts without explanations, discrete pieces of information with no context to weave them together. But whatever it is that's in the firepit seems to be the centerpiece of the tableau, and it makes him wonder.]


So come back in, then. I'll walk with you.

[He knows he's going to be refused, of course. But the way Baren answers it will tell him something more than he knows now, and sooner or later the pieces of information will start falling together like a puzzle, if he can gather up enough of them.]

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