Memories Lost {~Intro/open~}

parasitic-symbiosis:

“That’s a weird name..! As for this place, I think Samson and I could handle it!” The re was a loud grunt from behind the girl’s head.
“I don’t know how long I’ll survive this….”
“Oh shush, Samson! She’s helping us. You’ll be fine!”
“I might need a few drinks first….”

“A safe place is a safe place! I don’t really care what it looks like, as long as I can get something to eat…”
“Something to eat?! You ate before we were sent here, you’re fine!”
“Samson! That was like, four hours ago!” 
“Yeah! FOUR hours ago! A normal person can last longer!”
“Uggh! You’re dumb. You don’t understand!” Filia looked back up to Ms. Fortune, and her voice grew low. “Maybe they’ll have something to get Samson off of my head.” 
“Hey, hey! I heard that!”
Filia shrugged. “So, What kind of monsters are there here? Samson and I saw a zombie like thingy. Are there worse things here?” 

The cat thief continued leading them through the streets, listening on and stifling a few giggles. It was pretty odd listening to Filia talk to her demon hair in a conversational tone. Whenever Ms. Fortune heard them speak, it was usually about coordinating attacks and all of that odd stuff. But now, with the fighting behind them, the two of them were almost comical. Heck, they ought to start up a comedy act in the Blue Zone. That’d raise spirits, for sure!

“Monsters? Well, all I’ve seen so far are those zombies. Glad they aren’t too tough, either. Most of them end up being my scratching posts. As for anything worse around? I doubt it. But take my advice, don’t go to the Red Zones on your own, unless you wanna be sleeping with the fishes. Alright?”

Take it to the Red Zone

surfsantadestroy:

 “Shit, you’re serious about this.”

There wasn’t a reason for Travis to believe the stranger about something as “unreal” as zombies but there was also nothing that suggested she could be lying. Sure, she literally threw her freaking head at him but that was just a precautionary measure, right? The way she spoke made it also somewhat difficult to take her seriously but that didn’t necessarily mean she was messing with his head.

The assassin curiously watched the feline stranger reassemble herself, wondering what kind of person he was interacting with and how this head and body separation thing was possible. Travis guessed a long-winded explanation involving magic was probably attached to her story. When in doubt, pin the blame on sorcery.

“By the way, I’m Travis Touchdown. I don’t suppose you have a name, too.”

It wasn’t exactly wise to stand around and chat, especially when there was a possible zombie threat looming overhead and around the corner but Travis couldn’t just refer to the girl as “hey, you” or “kitty cat” (though he does love cats). Anyway, it was best to keep this introduction short and then move to a safer spot. So far, the assassin has yet to come across anything particularly threatening other than the pun-spewing lady standing before him. However it didn’t appear she was up for a brawl so Travis might not have to swing his beam katana towards her.

Of course Nadia was beings serious about this. The guy with the laser swords was talking to an undead cat woman about the prevalence of zombified persons in the surrounding vicinity. That alone was pretty damn serious. It was a wonder that they hadn’t been attacked at this point, what with Ms. Fortune’s body reattachment making some squishy, fleshy noises. There should probably be a horde moving toward their location as they spoke.

“What, did you take a cat nap and wake up here? Is that why you haven’t seen the zombies around yet?”

“And, uh, name’s Ms. Fortune. Don’t let the name fool you, I’m not a black cat crossing your path! I’m a rescue!”

At this point, it was probably smart to skip the rest of the formalities and find some safer place to conduct a conversation. A Blue or Yellow Zone was preferable, but any safe spot around here should do perfectly. And besides, it wasn’t as if these two were hopeless if there were zombies about. A few slashes here, some claw marks there, and they would be good to go.

Memories Lost {~Intro/open~}

parasitic-symbiosis:

Filia remembered Ms. Fortune from the fights over the Skull Heart, but did it really matter now? The girl could tell Samson thought it did, then again he always hated the cat lady. He would always complain after a confrontation with her, about how she used “Too many goddamn puns!” Filia could admit it, sometimes those puns became just too much for even her.

“Fiddler’s Green? That’s an odd name. Ever hear a name like that before Samson?” Filia asked to her hat, hoping the parasite would come out. The only response she got was a loud grunt.

“O-oh! So this place isn’t safe? Oh dear…”
“Oh quit being a big baby, kid. Nothin’s gonna hurt you while I’m around.”
“Oh yeah, I feel super safe with you Samson.” The girl rolled her eyes, and Samson gave another grunt.

Filia smiled again and looked at Ms. Fortune. “Do you think you could take us to a safe zone of some kind? I mean if you’re not too busy…”
“I don’t wanna go anywhere with this crazy cat! Hell, I’d rather stay here than stick around with this cat!”
“Well, too bad Samson! We’re going with her to the safer place!” Filia crossed her arms half expecting the parasite to walk away with her. Thankfully the parasite sighed and stayed in his hat. “Lead the way!”

If the Skull Heart was anywhere around here now, it would’ve probably led up to a cat fight. But since that business had been taken care of a long time ago, Nadia thought she was on pretty good terms with most of the other girls. All of them except for Valentine and that creepy nun, though. They were a bit too much to handle. Just as long as no one was trying to crush the Life Gem out of her, Ms. Fortune could be amiable.

“You heard right! Fiddler’s Green. This area really isn’t the best place to be around. I’m used to being around here, but it might give you a bit of a bad hair day!”

“…Alright, now that that’s out of the way, we should get to the Blue Zone nearby. It’s a lot safer than this area. That is, if you count dismal and dreary as safe. Guess that’s why they call it the Blue Zone, right?”

With a nod, Ms. Fortune began walking, signaling for Filia and her parasitic hairball to follow behind. If any of those zombie freaks thought that they could make a meal out of them, they were going to get one hell of a wake-up call. That is, if zombies could wake up. Did they ever sleep? The cat thief was still a bit curious. Nadia might be undead, but she certainly isn’t a zombie. At least, as far as she knew.

Take it to the Red Zone

surfsantadestroy:

Okay, so Travis was dealing with one of those talking severed heads. This wasn’t the first time he has stumbled across such a thing so the amount of shock he felt was on the low side. This one was a bit bouncier than the last one and apparently had a taste for lame puns.

The assassin slowly lowered his weapons but kept them activated in case the head’s display of friendliness turned out to be ruse of some sort.

“Um. Sure?”

How does one have a casual conversation with a severed head? The last time something like this happened, he and his friend were threatened with death. Talk about awkward.

“So, let me get this straight. You attacked me out of the blue because you thought I was an enemy. Right.  That still annoys the shit out of me but I guess I can forgive you for that. But what do you mean by ‘undead’?”

Did he actually step into another genre without realizing it? Holy crap, that was just fucking absurd. How the hell did he get here anyway?

“You’re not referring to zombies or anything like that are you?”

The assassin half-expected a horde of brain-craving zombies to shuffle in any second now, ready to munch on the living.

This guy seemed cool enough, now that he wasn’t much of an enemy. Sure, he could very well decide to run those laser swords through her head and body, but those pieces would just skitter off and reform somewhere else, leaving him to deal with whatever lurked in this zone himself. In times like these, it was better to have someone else around, in the case that one needed to be dragged back to a safe zone. In the same way, it was even better to have a way to fight back, so that having to be dragged unconscious wasn’t a possibility.

By now, Ms. Fortune’s head and body had pulled themselves back together. A full body of a person was a lot easier to talk to than a severed head and a headless body, as far as Nadia was concerned.

“Like I said, undead! You even said it yourself! Zombies! A claws encounter of the furr’d kind! …Well, no, that last one is me. But still! I mean, I haven’t seen many of them around, but it doesn’t hurt to be on your toes, does it?”

Whether or not the man understood exactly what Ms. Fortune was saying remained to be seen. She hoped that he knew what they might have to be dealing with in an area like this, since those blades looked like they could cut through dead bodies like butter. If a zombie decided to rear its ugly head around here, it was probably going to be cut up into pieces between Nadia’s claws and this guy’s swords. That is, if they weren’t strong enough to flatten the cat burglar first.

Memories Lost {~Intro/open~}

parasitic-symbiosis:

Right as Filia called out to the figure, Samson poked his head out. He thrust out a tentacle pushing the hat off. A hairy appendage went right for Filia’s mouth, another went to pick her hat out of the mud.
“NO! Don’t. Not her. I hate that cat. C’mon Filia let’s leave before the puns start.”
“B-but Samson I—”
“Don’t ‘but Samson’ me..! Let’s go before—oh damn.”

Samson mumbled something under his breath and began to hide himself under the hat again. Filia turned her head to the cat lady and smiled. “Oh hi! I, uh, was just wondering if you could tell us where we are? You see, Samson and I just got here and Samson doesn’t think we need help.”
“I said we could figure it out on our own.” Replied a deep voice from under the girl’s hat.
“Well maybe we’d be better off with a little help, Samson!” Filia cleared her throat and looked back to Ms. Fortune. “So could you please help us?”

Sheesh, that demonic hair ball was being a bit catty, wasn’t it? Ms. Fortune wasn’t sure whether or not she could address the mass without starting a fight that shouldn’t be started in the first place. At least Filia was the opposite. So amiable, even when the fights over the Skull Heart ensued a while back. It was usually the… thing… on the back of her head that did most of the fighting, anyway.

“Help? Sure! We’re in some odd little town. I think the locals call it Fiddler’s Green.”

“This part of town isn’t too great. It’s a bit… purr-ilous. There’s some safer areas around here, if you two want to head there!”

Ah, Ms. Fortune was just going to have to cancel that freelance scavenging job. She’d made enough deals for a while, and this one wasn’t going to break her one bit. What was the worst that could happen? …Though, Nadia wasn’t quite sure if the locals in the Blue Zone would take too kindly to Filia’s living hair.

Take it to the Red Zone

surfsantadestroy:

The assassin was ready to resume his stroll when he heard someone shout rudely. Though he was certainly fucked up in some fashion, considering his bloody profession, he was a far cry from “freak show” and might have taken a little offense to that name calling if it didn’t mean there was another person within the vicinity.

“What the—“

Travis turned around and was met with a relatively small object smacking into his chest, causing him to lose his balance and stumble backwards. He grabbed the object before it fell and found himself in possession of… a severed head? Oh. Okay. Any other person would probably scream and soil himself but Travis has encountered more than enough weird shit in his life to not be particularly bothered by this odd projectile. He merely chucked the darn thing over his shoulder and detached two of his beam katana from his belt, immediately activating the weapons. Beams of red energy shot up from the hilts, forming a pair of blades that hummed steadily.

“Alright. Who the fuck threw that?”

Sadly, all that appeared to be present other than Travis himself was a headless body standing a short distance away. Was this a joke? Did the assassin step into undead territory or some shit like that? Whatever the case, he was obviously no longer in his original game. Perhaps he landed in a really bad sequel or worse.

Just as expected, Ms. Fortune’s makeshift projectile had hit its mark. Nadia didn’t quite think that her target wasn’t going to be undead. In an area of the city like this, it was rare to find someone who was a normal person, instead of a flesh-hungry savage. Her preemptive strike seemed to have accomplished a lot more harm than good, since the male with the beam swords had definitely been agitated by it. Still, tossing her head away like that wasn’t going to help the situation much.

Ms. Fortune shrugged off the way the other had tossed her head… if that was physically possible. Her disembodied head skittered back towards the man with the weaponry. Hopefully, she could just explain the situation and her methods, return back to that body of her’s, and continue with her scavenging. And if all of this happened before an actual undead appeared? Even better! …Though, technically, Ms. Fortune could be considered undead, but we’ll just skip over that really quick.

“Oh, that was me! I thought you were one of the undead in the fog. You’ll have to furgive me, I’m usually not so catty!”

Nadia’s headless body walked closer to both her head and the beam swordsman. If anything, it was going to make it easier to snatch that disembodied head in the case that an altercation was necessary. Just as long as he wasn’t too prone to hack first and ask questions later…

|| This Ain’t A Video Game No More || Open

idol5pb:

“Wh-Where am I?!”

[ Out in the fog walked a very timid looking pop idol, holding her guitar very close to her chest. She looked around at her surroundings to see a run down, primitive town. It was completely different to Gameindustri, there looked to be no sign of technology anywhere, just a think fog and broken buildings made of bricks ]

“Where is… everyone…?”

[ She continued to look from side to side, this time holding her guitar even closer. Suddenly, she heard a grunting noise come from somewhere in her area. She jumped and turn around, her lips quivering from fear. After stopping and looking from side to side with no sign of the thing that made the noise, she begun to slowly back away in the direction she was already going until…

—THUD—

She bumped into something, causing her to drop her guitar and fall onto her backside. She tried to look up at whatever she bumped into but it was too dark to see! And whatever it was, it was about to hit her, raising some kind of hand or claw to bring down ontop of her! Shielding herself, Lyrica let out a scream ]

“KYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

[ Welcome to the Yellow Zone ]

It seemed like there was no end to how much time Ms. Fortune was spending in the Yellow Zone on scavenging excursions. The thief might as well have looted half of that part of the city by now! Of course, with the way this city worked, if there was a building she’d stolen from in one place, there would be a completely new building there not too long after. It was a cat burglar’s paradise. An endless amount of loot to nab, just waiting to be taken.

On this particular hunt, the fog had been a bit more dense than usual. Nadia couldn’t tell whether or not it was an ominous sign, but she dove into her task with the usual amount of enthusiasm, though with her hair slightly raised. What was she going to find today? Was a building going to fall on top of her again? Or would she meet another one of her acquaintances in this city?

The scenarios continued to roll into the woman’s head, though a scream from in front of her halted the flow. Just a little further ahead, there were silhouettes of two persons, one of which was cowering upon the ground, and the other looking ready to tear the poor soul to pieces. Since her hands weren’t currently full, Nadia decided to resolve the situation before it had escalated further. The thief burst into a full sprint, headed straight for the standing creature.

“Hey, paws off!”

In a flash, Ms. Fortune had reached the two, completely incapacitating the hostile party with her claws. It had been a while since there’d been blood on her hands, hadn’t it? Either way, once the cat girl was convinced that the hostile beast wouldn’t be causing a problem anymore, she turned her attention to the girl on the ground.

“You okay, there?”

Take it to the Red Zone

surfsantadestroy:

“Oh great,” Travis muttered under his breath. He was drinking bottle after bottle the previous night and suspected he passed out and some assclown thought it would be a wonderful idea to dump the assassin in a foggy, unfamiliar location. He looked around, taking note of a few natural landmarks that suggested he was dropped off somewhere other than his native California. He couldn’t imagine how that could have happened overnight.

“This is fucking stupid.”

But standing around and complaining wasn’t going to solve anything. After that last remark, the assassin stepped forward, scanning the area as he walked. There were signs of civilization—buildings and paved roads—but nothing more. People? No, it’s definitely been a while since anyone walked through this decrepit neighborhood. The place was totally void of life. Weird.

Now was probably a good time for an enemy mook to pop out of nowhere and ambush him but no such thing happened. Travis couldn’t remember the game ever being this boring and uneventful. Perhaps if he were to head inside… No, that would be stupid and unnecessary. He just needed to know what the hell was going on and not whip around the beam katanas hanging from his belt.

So how should he proceed? Continue walking until someone or something stumbles onto the scene? Oh, please. As if that would happen in this godforsaken dump. Right?

Since Yellow Zone scavenger hunts had been much less eventful in recent days, our favorite filching feline hadn’t gone outside much. It was easy enough pawning the things she’d already stolen. None of the people in the market knew, nor cared, that her general merchandise was the property of some poor soul who had to evacuate their house in the Yellow Zone. As long as it was good, they would trade for it, whether it was through items or information. Lately, one of her patrons had paid for some old candlesticks by telling Ms. Fortune that there was untouched treasures in the Red Zone of the city. And just like that, the cat girl abandoned shop, set on exploring the city’s dangerous edges for herself.

The scenery around the Red Zone was a huge difference from the commotion of the Blue Zone. It was a quiet, desolate area. There wasn’t even a zombie to behead! Oh, just great. The great thief had been tricked, hadn’t she? …Then again, there were a good amount of buildings here. Nadia wouldn’t be surprised at all if some of the houses around were brimming with jewelry and fine clothing. Those always sold for good prices.

The sight of movement coming from the corner of her eye brought Ms. Fortune’s reverie to a halt. Any soul that wasn’t hers in this place was probably hostile, right? That was probably the best assumption in an area like this. It wasn’t likely that there was going to be someone amiable walking around in the Red Zone, not at all. And, if fighting the others in Canopy Kingdom over the Skull Heart had taught Nadia anything, it was that the one who struck first usually won.

“Hey, freak show! Heads up!”

And thus, Ms. Fortune removed her head, throwing it towards the figure of… some dude with swords around his belt. Well, piss.

Memories Lost {~Intro/open~}

parasitic-symbiosis:

Filia sighed softly. She put her arms out to her sides expecting to feel the firmness of her mattress. Instead the area surrounding her felt hard and rough. She opened her eyes quickly to look around. A small squeak escaped her lips. The area around her was dark and creepy, it sent a shiver down her spine. Filia looked around some more, trying to take in everything. Wait…was she on a roof…?

A moan came from under the girl’s hat. Filia quickly took it off, revealing the parasite underneath. The parasite uncurled and stretched out his tentacle-like limbs. Bright yellow eyes opened and pearly white fangs mashed together. Filia began to speak in a quiet tone, “You alright Samson..?” The mass on her head answered.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, kid. Sooo, where’s this place supposed to be?”

“I was just about to ask you that.”
“What makes ya think I know?! I was stuffed in your hat all night!”
Filia sighed and shrugged. “Dunno, sorry. I just thought that—”

“Thought what? Thought I took ya to some secret parasite hang-out?”
“No Samson…I… I don’t know. Never mind. Let’s just get down off of this roof and see if we can find someone to ask, okay?” Filia could hear Samson sigh.

The parasite stretched out to tentacles, and lifted Filia off the roof by her head. He slowly crawled down to the ground being careful not to smack the girl into the side of the house. Once on the ground, the girl said a quiet “thank you” to her hair. Samson simply grunted back, and wiggled back under her hat.
“What are you doing that for…?
“Don’t wanna scare people off. But it seems they’ve seen worse here.”
Filia nodded and began to walk. After a few moments, she spotted someone.
“Oh, hey! Excuse me! Over here!”

The current situation left Ms. Fortune in a rather… fortunate position. Many of the people who had been huddled in the Blue Zone of town missed many of their belongings from their previous homes. Using this to her advantage, she had begun to make deals with many of the townspeople, scavenging their houses for precious memorabilia, in exchange for food, clothing, or more valuable objects they could spare. Her latest deal involved the scavenging of an apartment complex, which the thief had found rather easily. The room in question was on the top floor, and yet, a few metal stairs were all that Ms. Fortune needed to make her way towards the roof. All she needed to do now was find the door that led into the building from here, and then she would be set.

Her eyes caught sight of something rather unexpected, and the thief stopped. That… That couldn’t possibly be one of the girls from Canopy Kingdom! What was her name… Felicia? Francesca? …Filia! That’s it! That poor girl with that strange, living mass of hair had somehow managed to find herself in this wreck of a city. This little scavenging deal could wait. It wasn’t as if there was anything particularly good in it for Ms. Fortune. She wanted to see how Filia would react to this sort of place, especially since she was on the roof of the building a block down from her’s.

As expected, the girl’s hair seemed to be doing most of the work, making the way down the house and onto the streets below. Ms. Fortune had to wonder if the two would make it on their own out here, and whether or not they knew if there was a Skull Heart around these parts. At the very least, she might be able to get Filia and her demon hair into a safer predicament… After, of course, they had struck a deal. The feline female once again took the stairs to her destination, down to street level. As fortune would have it, Filia seemed to be walking right towards her. Purrfect.

“Oh, hey! Excuse me! Over here!”

“Well, isn’t this the cat’s meow? Glad to see you got off of that roof in one piece. What can I do for you?”

a sinking feeling [ intro / open ]

forhewillprovide:

Hastur watched the cat-woman reassemble herself with open curiosity. He didn’t mean to stare, but it was hard not to; it seemed like she was held together by her ligaments and a bit of twine. It wasn’t something he had seen before, in a sentient being, at least. Either way, it was fascinating, and he wondered if he’d ever get a chance to ask her how she became that way.

Hastur was in the process of dusting off his hoodie for the second time when he was asked for his name. He hurried the last of his improptu cleanup and replied, “Hastur! Well, there’s a bit more tacked onto that, but none of it’s important or anything. Just Hastur will do fine.”

The wind deity smiled brightly, dusting his hands off by brushing them against each other. “And what about you? What’s your name, ma’am?”

It seemed like the makeshift search and rescue mission had left Ms. Fortune’s new acquaintance a bit worse for wear. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to dust himself off; she would have done the same thing had she been in his position. The tiring action didn’t seem to dampen the other’s spirits, however. His name might have sounded like he hailed from Little Innsmouth, but most of the residents there were part fish.

“Hastur, huh? Well, thanks for helping me out back there, Hastur. Most people would’ve run away screaming at the sight of my talking furball of a head. But as for me, you can call me Ms. Fortune. Don’t let the name fool you, I’m no black cat. I’m a purrfect widdle putty tat!”

“So, where are you from, Hastur? You’re not a local, right? Just a stray around these parts, like me?”

The cat thief smiled at Hastur, still wondering just where in the world Hastur had come from. Really, his name sounded a bit rare. Perhaps one of those names from a different country, or something like that. If anything, he wasn’t from Canopy Kingdom, and that was for sure. Then again, it didn’t seem like anyone else here was from good ol’ Canopy.