[Halloween event; Open] *The Lost Soul stands there

[oldmantiger]

Is this hell?

He thought he remembered surviving. He remembered watching Maverick be taken away in handcuffs, he remembered Kaede smiling at him, he remembered walking away with Barnaby to maybe start a new phase of his life. But maybe that had just been a pleasant dream he'd had before his heart stopped.

Now he's here, and Kotetsu can't really remember where "here" is anymore. It's a castle full of people, and none of them can see him. He can't reach any of them. He doesn't know any of them...almost any of them.

Barnaby is here, but it's not Barnaby. It's a doll that looks like him. That smiles for people in a way so desperate and fake that Kotetsu's heart hurts to see it. And there's...another him. A version of him that people can see and interact with, but called by a different name. Just like H-01...another replacement for him. Bunny certainly seems to think so. He follows them, sometimes, unseen. He watches them. And he slowly grows to hate them, for having the ability to stand there together and see each other and smile at one another. Even if this replica of Barnaby isn't his partner, the sight of him just reminds Kotetsu of how alone he is. 

When the isolation gets too much, he breaks things. He's good at breaking things. It's the only time when he remembers that he's properly real, because it's the only time anyone even knows that he's there. Windows, doors, pottery, tables, chairs. He flies through the castle like a storm, leaving ruin and wreckage in his wake as sure as any storm would. He only wishes he could feel the glass digging into his hands or the wood splintering beneath his feet.

Sometimes he does, though. Sometimes, when he's deep in his work wrenching a door out of its frame or wrending a tapestry asunder, Kotetsu is wreathed in a blue glow, and slowly grows more visible to the world for a few short moments. When that happens, he feels himself bruise as he drives his shoulder against a bookcase to knock it down, feels his hands bleed as a vase smashes against the floor. He smiles to feel as much. He laughs. And then he goes right back to breaking things. It's what he's good at. The Crusher for Justice strikes again! But there's no justice here.

Eventually, he finds his way to the throne room. And there he stays, relentlessly knocking the thrones around, tearing the tapestries down off the walls, and smashing windows. When the room reforms itself, he does so again, and again. This place...it feels like the heart of the castle. And so if he works hard enough, maybe he can crush it once and for all.

During those few short moments every hour when Kotetsu can be seen, he doesn't look...right. His eyes are white and empty and blind. But even looking at his face will prove hard for most, as it seems almost...blurred into unrecognizability and genericness. It doesn't seem to be slowing him down at all. Even when he can be seen, he seems to make a deliberate effort to tune people out. But if he notices someone hanging around to watch him, Kotetsu will at least offer a smile and a salute. 

 

"Hey there! I'm Kotetsu, the member of the superhero duo Tiger and Barnaby who's only known for breaking things and left behind by everyone he knows! How's it going?" 

Comments

[ifyoumustblink]

Kotetsu is saluting a kid made of paper and a shamisen on his back.

The first thing Kubo sees is the eyes and the blue and the glow and he's scared.

It doesn't take long for him to realize he's facing an earth-bound spirit, not a heavenly one, biggest distinction being that the ghost doesn't seem to recognize him. Any heavenly noble would recognize Kubo.

And the… the introduction speech is definitely strangely self-deprecating. He supposes that aligns with being unsettled enough to remain on this earth, to have yet to find peace. He waves regardless, saluting back. Seems like the proper thing to do.

[oldmantiger]

A kid made of paper.

How very...very..fragile. Why wouldn't he be scared, around something like Kotetsu?

He thinks about how easy it would be to hurt Kubo right now, but even now, the thought makes him ill. It's a feeling of dread, rather than anticipation. Of how he should go, now, before he accidentally hurts the child. It's not that he wants to hurt people. There are some things that still go deeper than memories or emotions, after all.

It's just...what happens. It's what he's good at. All he's good at.

Even so, Kotetsu holds himself back with an effort. Kubo will feel that the general energy in the air around him remains sullen, lost, borderline violent. But especially in these few moments that Kotetsu is physical, it's easier not to let that run wild. Instead, he grounds himself in the fact that he's briefly physical again - he runs a hand back and forth over the wall, enjoying the rough texture of the stone. All the while he stares at Kubo, frowning and with his head slightly tilted.

"...so what the hell did you do, anyway?" To be turned into a paper doll? What is it with this place and dolls, anyway?

this is probably gonna be short sorry

[itstheend]

Frisk has been having fun, enjoying their newfound freedom, the silence in their thoughts, their ability to do things without having to ask, and knowing it was wholly their idea... they think.

It's a breath of fresh air, after being cooped up in Chara, but after days and days to stretch out, they start to look for them again.

And look.

And look.

And look.

They can't find them oh no. They're a monster right now, the castle is windy, there could be no trace... no, no. Chara's probably just avoiding them. For the same reason. Even if it's a small castle. Even if the last time Frisk had fused with someone, they couldn't save them.

There is a disstressed, borderline distraught, slightly unhinged seeming ghost tearing through room after room after room, actually managing the strength to send paper flying and knock vases over and occasionally flip a table.

It looks like someone else is having the same idea, and they stop, and just float there, staring impassively at the destruction. It's hard, when his face is obscured, but they recognize him. The other ghost. The man who tried to warn Chara.

He looks Lost.

They don't know him, they've barely met, but they have to try. No shiny SAVE button, maybe they don't have enough of a SOUL for that, but they have to try.

They give the Lost Soul a small smile and a wave. He said he was a superhero, right?

"Can you sign my autograph?"

Probably, but he'll appreciate the effort later.

[oldmantiger]

"Mm?" He blinks, drawing back a little, with a noise of surprise that sounds as though he'd just been shoved. But Frisk definitely has his attention, enough that he stops focusing on smashing the overturned bookcases into splinters.

He stares at them for a long moment, frowning intently, with the air of one trying to think, because what an odd question to ask him now...

...and then whatever he's reaching for slips out of his grasp. And then Kotetsu just frowns, his expression going stern and cold.

"Funny," he answers bitterly. "You're a really funny kid." No one ever wants his autograph. He can't give away his trading cards. He's a washed-up hasbeen who might as well have been dead even before he got shot in the chest and...

Kotetsu frowns down at the bookcase he'd been busily smashing before, and a few more boards splinter into pieces. It's getting easier, now. "Even if you were serious, not like I could pick up a pen right now."

[itstheend]

Frisk winces as the wood shatters. It was never going to be that easy, but that moment where he stared... they got through for a second, they know it.

...they really should have thought of the pen thing, whoops.

ACT > Praise

"I am serious!" they huff, as if offended by the notion they aren't. "You really helped my friend!"

Chara certainly hasn't been eaten by a crocodile man... have they? No, they can't afford to think about that right now.

[oldmantiger]

This, at least, is an easy lie to debunk. "I don't know your friend. I don't know you." He doesn't know anyone in this castle, probably not even the doll that looks like his best friend.

Kotetsu stares down at his hands after the bookshelf stops making sufficiently satisfying noises. He flexes his fingers, frowning, wishing for another few minutes of corporeality. He can physically feel the destruction then - splinters digging into his knuckles and glass into his arms. It's nice. It's real.

"...you're a ghost, too," he says, only half-hearing himself. "What did you do, to wind up here?"

[itstheend]

"I um. Died."

It's kind of obvious, really. Or perhaps not. Still, they try not to let a little snark slip into the tone; maybe they've been hanging around Chara a bit too long.

They glance towards the destruction. They know how good it feels to destroy.

"You do know my friend! You met them here, remember? They were all threatening, but you warned them anyway and didn't..." Didn't try to 'discipline' them. Actually listened to them when told to back off. They don't know how precisely to articulate it.

Frisk appreciates the kindness all the same, and so they feel they owe him to do what they can here.

I LIVE. More than Kotetsu currently does.

[oldmantiger]

The debris on the floor rattles and shakes threateningly as though the very ground is shaking when Frisk says that much. But nothing else breaks. He tries to hold himself back. He doesn't like scaring children, even if he currently can't think that he's capable of doing anything else.

It is kind of obvious. He already knew it once, after all. But he forgot, and so that doesn't make it any easier to hear.

"I haven't met anyone here besides you." And another child who didn't claim to know him. So Frisk's strategy is definitely curious enough to have gotten his attention. It feels good to destroy, but nothing else is breaking right now.

"Is this hell?"

[itstheend]

Oh. That's right. Lost Soul memories are... not good, unless restored.

The debris rattling doesn't bother them. They can't be harmed like this. They're more concerned about what it might mean. Anger? Fear? Are they getting through? They don't think so.

Kids like you should be burning in-

"Um. I. I don't think so."

They wouldn't be surprised if they ended up there, but surely it would be more... torment-y. For them as well as this poor man.

"Listen, I'm. I'm looking for my friend. I'm really worried about them. Can you help me?"

Come on. Come on. Let this be two birds with one stone. Superheroes help people, right?

There's no time. If someone is making Lost Souls, and Chara is missing...

[oldmantiger]

Can he help? Can he help?

No. Of course he can't. He can't help anyone. He's not that strong. But Frisk is right here and they're looking at him like that, and his memory is not so far gone that that doesn't still mean something to him.

Frisk lucks out, and another one of Kotetsu's weaknesses works out in their favor. This won't be the first time that he's offered help he's not remotely sure he's capable of giving, just to cheer someone up or make them stop being scared. But it's help he wants to be capable of giving, even if he doesn't believe he is. And it keeps his attention.

He settles down a little, moving to "sit" on the floor beside them instead with his legs crossed.

"What's your friend look like?"

[itstheend]

Frisk, too, settles down to the floor, coiling their tail under them, although the tip lashes with agitation that doesn't show on their face. They itch with the need to keep moving, to keep doing something, to help in two directions, and they exhale.

"They're um. Usually human but they're a skeleton right now. They're wearing a green sweater with a yellow stripe across the middle. And they're my- they're this tall?"

Frisk indicates with a hand, having remembered that their tail adds quite a bit onto their length just in time.

"I've been looking for them but I just can't find them!"

This time their tail knocks over some of the debris as it lashes. Ooops. They... didn't mean to let that much slip out.

[oldmantiger]

Kotetsu actually nods approvingly as Frisk knocks over some of the debris. It feels nice to do that, he knows, and they look like they could use a round of breaking things. Besides, this place is an evil place if ever there was one, and he'd take it apart stone by stone if he could.

But, far be it for him to lecture.

A dead child searching for another dead child also isn't the most unbelievable thing he's been told to believe today. He rests his chin in his hand, regarding them thoughtfully with blank, indistinct eyes. "What should I do?"

cw: child abuse

[itstheend]

The nod of approval nets him an odd look. Why would he approve? Nobody likes a destructive child, a little ----- who breaks things for attention. No adult has ever considered Frisk breaking or knocking over something whether deliberately or accidentally a good thing, save Undyne, and she's... well. Undyne. Even their mom and dad just thought it was a thing.

They chalk it up to him being Lost.

Time to focus on the matter at hand. Their face sets, firm. This is who they are.

"You can go through walls like me, right? If you search the um. The east side of the castle," they decide. "And I do the rest, then we can find them twice as fast! And if you find them then all you have to do is tell them I'm looking for them and to be careful because someone's..."

Someone's stealing souls. But that might be... weird... to mention to one of them.

"Doing a bad thing and to wait in the throne room and I'll go there when I'm done looking!"

Not that they'd expect Chara to actually follow that instruction, but at least there was An Attempt.

"And if you see me after to tell me where you last saw them."

Sound good? Frisk thinks they've covered pretty much everything.

[oldmantiger]

The plan is almost too complicated for Kotetsu to follow, as he is now. Especially when he knows he could just go back to breaking things and it would feel so much better than trying to listen and plan and think.

But something - maybe the memories that weren't taken from him - keeps him there and listening. Force of habit can be a powerful thing when all else fails, after all. "I can go through walls, yeah." He's more or less stopped noticing them when he's not putting dents in them, by now. Kotetsu stares blankly out the window for a long minute, but...hell if he knows what time it is. Or what day. "Which side is the easy side?" They really only just have to point

Someone is doing bad things. He should stop them. He can't stop them. But maybe relaying a message is something he can't screw up...

"Find the skeleton in the green and yellow sweater. Tell them to meet you in the throne room. Or tell you where I saw them," he repeats obediently.

It doesn't sound good, but it sounds...manageable. And different than how he's spent the last few days, at least.

[itstheend]

Frisk clasps their hands together, tail undulating in something that's kind of like if a flagellum tried to wag. They nod to confirm as he repeats the instructions. "Yeah! And um. I think it's..."

They try to remember which side the sun rises from, and then point. It doesn't matter if they're wrong, really, because it doesn't matter which half either searches. "That side."

They alight further into the air, face coloured in gratitude.

"Thank you so much!"

They pause. They want to ask if he'll be okay, by himself. They've no illusions they've fully SAVE'd him, even if they hit some good notes. They don't even know if he won't sink back into the state when they leave.

The sad thing is, at the moment, he isn't the priority, and they hate it, but not enough to stop. So in the end they just wave...

"Good luck!"

...and phase through the wall on the opposite side they pointed.

[tinyprotector]

There's someone... glowing.

Yukio has read up enough on the Blue Night and on other appearances of Satan throughout his studies at True Cross. He knows the signs of Satan's influence very well. Blue flames are probably the most obvious.

He's standing at the doorway while he tries to figure out if a blue glow is the same as flames, if he should consider this a demon. He looks human besides that glow. No tail, no pointed ears or fangs... though the more Yukio tries to look at his face, the more he feels the urge to look away. But that means all he can look at is all the destruction this... ghost is causing.

It has to be a ghost. It looks human, but broken, upset. Something is stopping him from passing on, right? So Yukio has to try to figure out what so the spirit can be exorcised. Even if he doesn't have his guns on him... he can manage that, right?

The man turns to address him, smiles a bit. Yukio gasps and takes a step back, still clinging to the doorframe he's peering around. At least he sounds like he's cheerful enough...

"Um... h-hello, Kotetsu-san. Nice to meet you. I'm Yukio Okumura... are you okay?"

[oldmantiger]

Another child. So many children here. This isn't a place for them. They should be somewhere else. Somewhere better. Unless they're not really children at all. He'd almost rather think that, than to think they're all as lost as he feels.

He disappears from the middle of the room, only to reappear suddenly right beside Yukio. He kneels down to better regard the kid at eye-level with his head slightly tilted, even if his eyes don't look capable of seeing anything. It looks like a child. It talks like a child. And it's obviously terrified. Well, who wouldn't be scared of him?

"No. I'm pretty sure I'm dead, actually." Dead and gone at last, and this is hell, and he's never going to see the people he cares about again. Kotetsu still sounds quite cheerful, though, even as a dent appears in the wall nearby.

[tinyprotector]

Yukio would most definitely like to be somewhere better, with his dad and his brother, than in this strange castle with monsters and curses that can turn humans to demons and… and apparently ghosts.

Because that’s what’s happened, isn’t it? Surely this man was a normal human not too long ago until the castle changed him like it did Frisk. It’s not fair. It’s scary and wrong and once again Yukio wishes he was as strong as his brother so he could stop whoever is doing this.

He yelps in shock as the ghost reappears beside him, stumbling back before he realizes who it is. He blushes and mumbles an apology under his breath, but Kotetsu’s words (and the dent in the wall) distract him.

“Um… but you don’t want to be dead. You’re a ghost, so… so you have unfinished business with the living, right? I, um, I can help if you want…”

Maybe it’s sudden to say that, but the sooner Yukio can get things back to normal, the better.

[oldmantiger]

The apology goes unheeded. Even now, he can see it's unnecessary. In this vast, sweeping tapestry of things that are wrong right now, this child really is the least of them. In fact, this child is so very nonthreatening that Kotetsu's attention is already starting to wander again to other things to break or other places he might go when Yukio speaks again, and his attention snaps back onto the boy instead.

Help. Hah.

"Unless you can turn back time, I don't think there's any helping me." With a careless sort of shrug, he rises up again and goes to tear down a tapestry from the wall. The fabric makes quite a nice noise as he starts to slowly tear it in half. "All of my unfinished business is a long way away from here."

[tinyprotector]

Yukio is glad to see that he isn’t a threat, but a little less so to realize Kotetsu isn’t paying attention to him. He can’t just let the ghost ignore him. He has to try to help him calm down and get what he wants, something that doesn’t involve more destruction.

But Kotetsu just shrugs and continues ruining things. Yukio curls his hands into fists, trying to raise his voice so it can be heard over tearing fabric.

“Maybe not. But you could at least talk to me. Maybe that will make you feel better.”

He swallows hard, moves into the room.

“You’re… you’re lonely, right? There aren’t a lot of people who can see ghosts, even if they can see what you’re doing. But I can see you. I’ve always been able to see things like you. And it might make you feel better to communicate with someone who can hear you.”

He’s stammering, and inside, he’s already regretting his choice. Who would want to talk to him? It’s not like he wants to talk to the spirits who torment him…

[lostinmyway]

There's been at least one person who's always been able to see him. And she's becoming very, very worried.

Grune has spent a lot of time speaking with Kotetsu this month, trying to cheer him up and keep him from being too sad that so many of his friends can't see him anymore. Usually she can bring a smile to his face, even if it's just one he puts on to show her that he's glad she's there.

This smile is different. Kotetsu isn't smiling because he's happy to see her, and he isn't smiling to try to keep her from worrying. This smile shouldn't be a smile at all.

"Kotetsu," she says, and waits.

[oldmantiger]

This smile isn't really a smile at all, except in the strictest dictionary definition of the word. It's not helped by the fact that there's no recognition in his gaze at all. She's just another person to him now, someone out of reach, someone unable to help, someone with nothing to do with him besides the fact that she's there.

Though the fact that she's still here at all is a little curious. He tilts his head as he stares back at her, wondering what she's waiting for. Well, whatever it is, she's going to have to keep waiting. It's her own fault for expecting anything from him. He's not a terribly reliable person, after all.

In the end, he half shrugs and turns away to find something else to break.

[lostinmyway]

...He doesn't remember her.

There's something not right about the way he looks today. If she watches him carefully, she can see his face, but if she doesn't, it looks...foggy. Maybe that's what's making his memory not work right.

She needs to get rid of the fog.

She steps forward.

"Kotetsu?" she says again. "Why don't we sit down and have a little chat?"