a hakuoki dressing room

Despair seems to fit me well

2012-07-12T05:57:30Z

Posted by: straydogblues

In a remote part of Japan stood a village with a chilling rumor; it was like a haunted place, luring all things that embodied blight ~~suidoken and seiyuu joke~~, and consume it. Ibuki Ryuunosuke was no exception. Once again, the son of a former samurai was reminded of misfortunes that were brought upon himself, which were not of his fault. Just when he thought he had a bug-sized chance for a breakthrough in survival, while living as a dog, he ended up in further confusion. He went to sleep for the night; opening his eyes, Ibuki found himself in a dream.

Or so that was what he thought. It was a dream like no other. Thick white fog embraced him, along with the loom of a forest. Everywhere was so white that he couldn't tell if was day or night. His ears picked up the cawing of crows, which compelled him to raise his head.

"Guh!" Ibuki coughed up dirt. His body was on the ground and his face was caked in dry soil. Just like before. It was reminiscent of the day he was found by the Roshigumi, by the man who saved him. He was body was beaten, left for dead, pitifully like a weak animal.

"Ryuunosuke..." Called a voice.

Ibuki felt a surge through his body, and his jaw clenched. He arched up and slowly got back onto his feet, while the voice continued to speak to him. He looked around; it definitely had to be a dream. While the atmosphere was different, it finally hit Ibuki that he had this dream before.

"Again..." He muttered. Angrily. "Again, damnit." His hands squeezed into fists.

The voice was familiar. The voice of a crying, begging woman. It haunted him, reminded him of what he ran away from. It reminded him on how she wept out of envy, how she cried because she couldn't have everything. And even more so, it aggravated him every time.

Lacking a visual, the voice pleaded from the fog. "I want to die! You're shameful! Shameful!"

All that begging towards his father, towards the status of samurai, towards trying to be a spitting image, triggered anger.

"YOU'RE LOWER THAN ME!" Ibuki turned around and swung his arm at the voice of his mother. A rock he picked up before getting up flew from his hand,disappearing into the dog.

"Hey, dog." Instead of his mother, another voice was heard.

Eyes widening, Ibuki took a step backwards, "Serizawa?"

"Do you want to live?" The commander of the Roshigumi asked. Ibuki was speechless; of course he did, but he still felt like it was a dream, and was a little perplexed that he was asked that same question again. Rather than answering, taking the dream for granted, paced into the fog. Moments later, breaking through the forest, Ibuki gasped. The fog thinned a bit, revealing a wide settlement across a blue lake. Ibuki stared with awe.

He never had a dream like this. Now, he was incredibly curious as to what this all meant.

"What is this place? Why would I dream about it?"

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Cleaning house!

2012-04-29T04:36:55Z

Posted by: anhedonia

*it seems as though even the daytime here tends to be cloudy and dreary, but really, that suits Sannan just fine.

It's been a few days since the incident with Yamazaki, when he suddenly found himself in this bizarre place and was lucky enough to stumble upon the pair in their moment of need. His Chizuru has stayed with him since then, of course -- he wouldn't have it any other way. He has official orders from Hijikata to see to her safety, of course, but... that doesn't really have much to do with it, at this point.

At any rate, they can't seem to find a way out and there's no sense in camping in the midst of these eerie ruins forever, so after a little scouting they've turned up a suitable house to serve as their temporary home. It's a modest cottage in an area of the housing district that isn't too dilapidated, close to a well and with a few caches of abandoned supplies scattered around... in a place like this, it's pretty much the best they're going to do.

The sounds of clattering wood and creaking doors echo around the quiet neighborhood as the pair of them do their best to move furniture about, clean up dust and dirt and make the place habitable again. If only there were a few more people around here, Sannan would love to rope them into helping out...*

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fight to the last man

2012-04-20T05:40:44Z

Posted by: bickering

[ No matter the time or the place, he has a responsibility to the Vice-Commander, and in fact to all the Shinsengumi. He would gladly shoulder these obligations to his very grave, and for that reason he has barely stepped foot in the village itself since his first night. Instead he has committed himself entirely to intelligence-gathering, for he has quietly notated the peculiar happenings in this village.

The people here are largely Shinsengumi or related to the Shinsengumi. That in of itself is somewhat of a phenomenon, but furthermore there have been cases of more than a singular instance of a familiar face. There are also time discrepancies, time paradoxes, and claims of comrades returning from the dead. Yamazaki has been unable to ascertain any answers to these mysteries, but he has kept careful notes in hopes of reaching answers eventually.

In the meantime, he has been investigating every corner of the surrounding forests, using the only method he can think to employ in this place, that being the tried and true tactic of blind guessing. He's scouring the outskirts for any crack in whatever otherworldly forces are fencing them in, looking for any thin patches in that overwhelming mist.

So engrossed in his work, night set in without Yamazaki's notice, and before he knows it there's an unnatural rustling in the undergrowth around him. He goes for his sword, drawing it hastily just in time to block a flurry of tattered robes and sharp, piercing red eyes lunging at him. He pushes hard to the left, both hands wrapped around the hilt of his blade, and is rewarded by the terrible scraping sound of metal cutting along bone. He catches a flash of white hair in the moonlight and realizes his opponent for what it is a moment too late, the rasetsu staggering to its feet without even giving Yamazaki the chance to wretch back his blade. He lunges again, aiming for the heart as he's been taught, but even as his strike makes purchase, the tip of his katana sinking into the soft skin directly next to the sternum, he feels something sharp like talons sink into his shoulder. He gasps, barely maintaining his grip on his weapon as he whips around to face his next opponent.

His eyes go wide.

The darkness of the forest is alight with glittering red eyes reflecting the cold moonlight out at him, dozens upon dozens of the beasts hungry for his blood.

The line of his jaw sets as he shifts his center of balance. He'll destroy as many of these monsters as he can, so that the others will be safer in their beds tonight.

Perhaps another one of him will come and continue his work.

He digs his heels into the forest floor, darting forward into the fray. He will not hesitate, and he will not look back.

After all, he's a member of the Shinsengumi. ]

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"...in order to preserve the peace, please do not enter the forest after dark."

2012-04-09T04:23:52Z

Posted by: peregrinus

[We hope you enjoyed the party that Sano and Shinpachi threw for you, everyone. The morning's not going to be so lovely, and for reasons entirely unrelated to the hangovers.

(And those are probably bad enough as it is.)

You see, you're going to start finding public service notices scattered around town. Announcements, if you will. There's not too many, and they're easily found. This isn't an odd thing. The unusual thing is, they weren't there yesterday - in fact, if you didn't know better, you might think they'd been spirited in overnight. They look too fresh, too new, to have been part of this place to begin with.

The notices warn you of one simple thing: an oni has moved into the forest, please do not go there after dark, the town police will not be responsible for your safety if you don't listen.

(There is an addendum: wags of the village, please do not play tag in the forest after dark. Seeing as tag usually involves "it" being called "oni" 'round some parts...)

What a thing to wake up to, eh?]

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IC MEET'N GREET PARTAY!!!!

2012-04-01T20:09:13Z

Posted by: fanservicer

[ After catching up with Sano and exchanging notes on the things they've seen, the pair of them explored the village some and thoroughly established for themselves that there's no way out as far as they can tell. That out of the way, they discussed the fact that Shin's been eating nothing but extremely inadvisable flora because he's yet to be able to catch any of the fauna.

Sano being Sano declared that just wasn't going to fly with him, and some time later found them out by the lake with fishing poles. It was slow going for a while, but eventually they got a decent haul in. Then the two of them got the idea to throw a party. They couldn't be the only ones in this village, after all. Sano'd blathered something about seeing another one of himself, and Shin constantly hears stuff out in the distance.

Why not pitch a good old fashioned Shinsengumi party to draw them all out?

So they clear out a big old inn in the business district of the town, spending all day airing out futons and cleaning off the counters and floors. Eventually it gets to something near serviceable, and just as they're finishing up they stumble across a large cellar full of dry goods and booze. Sano finds himself then faced with the hard decision of whether he should go about the delicate business of stringing up lanterns, as fire-plus-Shinpachi is only a good idea when you want bonfires or arson, or starting the food going. Eventually he decides to string up the lanterns, as that comes with an almost guaranteed chance of failure put in Shinpachi's hands, whereas cooking will only probably go wrong.

He gets back just in time to see Shin trying to make rice in a kettle. ]

Look, Sano, just trust me okay? This'll work! Watch it for me for a second though, will ya? I found these firecrackers behind the rice and I wanna go light 'em. They should draw in a crowd, right?

[ ooc: Come on in everyone, for the IC meet and greet! There's (somewhat questionable) food, there's booze, there's inappropriately placed futon, and there are pretty lanterns everywhere! Mingle with anyone and everyone! Say hello to yourself! Get into fights! /o/ Do whatever you like, just have a good time! ~~Okita, don't cough on anyone okay we just got here.~~ ]

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/)_(\

2012-03-30T04:37:29Z

Posted by: yari

Admittedly, it didn't take much to draw Sanosuke into the mist. The cry for help of a woman or a child -- really, he had trouble making out the source, was enough to make his ears perk. He moved through the woods quickly, making the smallest amount of noise possible. He'd dismounted a couple of meters away, and within a few minutes, the animal was out of sight. Even as he entered plain sight, he was poised for battle, hands firmly gripping his spear.

His eyes widened as he came upon the village, his pace slowing down a little. Was this where the commotion was going on? But it looked so... empty.

The buildings were in a state of disarray, and while that was a fairly common sight in these war-torn times, it wasn't often that they ran into a town that was completely deserted. Not one that hadn't been burned down, at least. A quick survey of the area only made the situation more confusing. He walked past a warehouse and upon prying its doors open, found plenty of food supplies.

Who would leave behind perfectly good food?

And where was this person in danger, exactly?

Frowning, he continued on towards what looked to be the main shrine, relaxing his hold on the spear for the time being. If he had any hope of finding someone in this deserted place, experience told him to look inside the shrine first.

(( Action or prose is fine! Although I'm lazy and will probably reply in action. 8D ))

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after moonrise.

2012-03-30T04:35:42Z

Posted by: unlife

*no, those aren't a pair of red eyes lurking in the night outside the cluster of rickety houses. That's obviously your imagination.

Sannan has been stuck here for a few days now; he's still not sure how in the world he ended up somewhere like this in the first place, but it's becoming plain that he won't be able to get out any time soon. He's been taking refuge in one of the less-dilapidated cottages during the day, venturing out to try and explore a little more once the moon rises -- searching for any sign of life. So far all he's run across are local animals and a few slavering, bloodthirsty cousins; it's this fact that keeps his hand close to his sword as he heads forth again tonight, with only a small lantern to light his way.

Really, he's not yet entirely sure that he's not having a very extended bad dream.*

((haha wow world's most boring intro post. Action tags only please, thank you ♥))

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IDK BRO

2012-03-29T22:13:40Z

Posted by: youngestsword

So you see, Heisuke hasn't exactly had the best day ever. He just so happened to find out a little while ago that, apparently, he was dead. And not even just a little bit dead, either; his body had turned to dust. He was so completely dead that he had absolutely no business being up and walking around like this. He should have been dust on the wind, scattering far and wide across glorious Nippon. Not stuck in some creepy abandoned village being very much not dead.

He let out a sigh and finally fell to the ground outside of a house (or what he thought was a house; it could have been a stable or restaurant or anything else, he really hadn't bothered to check) and leaned against the wall. His legs were pulled up and his arms were draped around them as he stared into the unsettling darkness of the village. That little four letter word, dead, kept circling around in his head despite his wishes.

Well, there was no point in moping about it, right? If he was dead, he was dead. Not a lot anyone could do about it, no matter how hard they tried. Heisuke absently lifted a stone at his side and chucked it across what he assumed was a street, though he winced when it hit a house with a loud smack, only to ricochet off into the darkness somewhere. Oops. Ah, well. He was sort of lonely, anyway. And bored. Maybe someone fun would follow the sound and rescue him from his own head.

(ooc; action or prose, whatever floats your boat /o/)

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tag at your own risk

2012-03-29T21:43:20Z

Posted by: derisive

If anyone should ask what Kazama Chikage was doing in this wretched little hovel of a village, he would tell them that there was no reason and possibly that it was none of their miserable business what he did or didn't do with his time. Then he might draw his sword and taunt whoever the sorry offending party was for a time.

Truth be told, Kazama had only come this way because he heard screaming. He'd been certain he could hear the sound of crackling fire and children crying, and while he was no bleeding heart sympathizer to mankind, he did thoroughly enjoy himself a bloodbath of arrogant humans possessed with the laughable notion that they could do whatever they please without answering to any kind of higher power. The stories the survivors would tell rather tickled him as well.

It was only supposed to be a pleasant detour, something he would vent out his frustrations on before departing.

Imagine his surprise to find himself in an abandoned village with no fire, no ronin, and no road back out. Upon finding himself mistaken, the first thing he attempted to do was simply leave, but--

This was absurd. His senses were far superior to that of common men, and there was absolutely no reason he should be unable to navigate out of even the thickest fog.

There was something sinister at work here, something with the audacity to try to keep the likes of him captive. When he found the offending party, he would flay them alive. But not before he turned each and every member of his family inside out. Scowling, Kazama drew his sword and split a barrel that was clearly mocking him by being in his path in two, kicking it hard to one side as he stormed forward.

He'd have to find some kind of serviceable shelter for now, as he'd spent so long trying to leave that even he was worn out. Ugh, everything about this place was unsightly.

[ As usual, feel free to reply in action or prose! ]

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Because wandering in an abandoned village is ALWAYS the best idea..!

2012-03-28T15:14:39Z

Posted by: cannotcrossdress

There was a lesson in Chizuru's childhood that she thought she would never deem to use. 'Always follow the river.' The logic being that human beings always needed water, and would settle someplace nearby.

Fish was a precious commodity, after all, and rice fields needed the water. But this river was smaller than the rivers she was used to. It wasn't Kamogawa or Sumidagawa by any means, and Chizuru couldn't imagine it sourcing any offshoots that would serve a farmer's needs substantially.

The odd thing though, was that it was barren of life. The waters were clear, and clean. She had tasted it (something that Hijikata-san would have probably advised against) and it wasn't salty.

Which, if she recalled, meant they weren't close to the ocean. So maybe she wasn't that lost after all...

True to the advice given so long ago, Chizuru eventually happened across the remains of what looked like a small village. Her chest tensed for a moment, fear seizing her heart at the familiar.

People had lived here, at some point...but what would bring a village to fall to ruin like this?

She wasn't sure if she wanted to find out, but that curiosity so prevalent in her--that curiosity that seldom resulted in cementing her safety--pressed her forward.

[ooc: because I like prose too ok! ;_; But reply as you like! ~~Please reply and play with me sob.~~]

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/scares everyone off with prose

2012-03-28T07:47:22Z

Posted by: ensanguines

It was madness which led Hijikata to this place.

Sheer madness. Even as he spurred his horse deeper into the mists, eventually abandoning the mount altogether when it spooked and tried to turn back, Hijikata knew that there was no sane reason for him to be doing this to himself. And yet he could not stop, stumbling through the twisted undergrowth and treacherous terrain as though his very life depended upon it. His foot caught on a large root jutting out of the earth and sent him sprawling, but he did not stop or even falter. He clawed at the earth, pressing forward half crawling until he was back on his feet.

It was Kondou's voice he was hearing in the distance, somewhere on the other side of the mist. Even as he ran, he cursed himself, damning himself for not being stronger than this. Kondou was dead. He was never coming back. They cut off his head like a common criminal, wrenching from him even the most basic honor and dignity. Kondou was gone, and Hijikata was an idiot for letting himself buckle to his emotions this way.

If nothing else, he would hunt down this voice to its source. The further Hijikata ran, the more he came to his senses and came to see what a foolish chase this was. However, that realization did not make him stop and turn around. He wouldn't. He couldn't. He had to see this through, to whatever ends. Perhaps by some great stroke of fortune or fate, Kondou lived. Reports could be falsified, events could be faked. Hijikata wasn't quite that blindly optimistic now that his momentary madness had ebbed away, but there was also the second possibility that someone out there was stupid enough to think it wise to use Kondou's memory to lure him into a trap.

Hijikata would see this through, follow this trail to its very end. And if he found people trying to use Kondou's memory against him, there would be hell to pay. He would show them that the 'demon commander' was not simply a term of endearment for him among the Shinsengumi but a horrifying fact of reality.

After what felt like an eternity of stumbling blindly through the fog, Hijikata found himself standing on the outskirts of some kind of old village. But hadn't he just been half a day's ride into a mountain pass just earlier? There shouldn't have been anyone living out this far into the mountain range.

In fact, upon closer inspection it seemed that there weren't any people living here after all. Every window Hijikata peered through showed only dust and decay, the village clearly long since deserted.

The voice which had lured him here had stopped as well, and Hijikata noticed that a near oppressive silence was blanketing this town. What the fuck was going on here?

"Hello?" he called out into the vast emptiness that spanned around him on all sides, his brow knit deeply and his hand at ready on the hilt of his sword. "Is anyone out there?"

[ ooc: ...feel free to totally not reply in prose, I just wanted to stretch my prose-legs. ]

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chasing shadows | arrival

2012-03-28T05:08:06Z

Posted by: worstdisguise

[She thought she had seen her father in the fog.

It was reason enough to go hurtling off the path she was walking on, heedless of anyone or anything because finally, finally she could speak to Father again. He was right there, after all.

...As it turned out, that wasn't the case, and Chizuru finds herself in an abandoned town soon enough. All she can do now is stop...and stare.

This wasn't on the maps. It also wasn't visible from the road, and she is pretty sure she is lost.]

What happened...?!

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hakuokidr @ 2012-03-24T21:03:00

2012-03-25T01:04:44Z

Posted by: ensanguines

Housekeeping tags post. Ignore this.

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