LUCKY

Kaede let out a soft, but clearly troubled groan.

“Is it that obvious?”

It had to be, what a silly, rhetorical question, but Kaede blurted it out anyway. Still, she listened to him, feeling like she had no other choice but to pay attention. She was so tired of being lost, feeling out of place; she barely could recall a time when she felt normal. But what was normal, anyway?

“I’m… I’m fine.” She lied, like a liar.

“Everyone does?” Kaede hoped he was telling her the truth. “I, I guess that makes sense.”

Kaede tried to smile, to bury her worries under fake, happy thoughts. It wasn’t working, and it must have been evident on her face. The next thing he said, however, hardly helped her mood.

“Wh, what?” Her voice raised an octave, even if she didn’t mean to. “Please tell me you’re kidding…”

He cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy. Or bird. Or alien. “Did you want me to tell you they did bring us here to kill each other?” 

Kaede let out a short exhale of relief. She had feared that this man might ignore her completely, or otherwise rudely brush her off. So, when he paused for her, Kaede felt a bit of her anxiety ebb away… until he asked questions of her, that is.

“Uhhhhhmmmmmm.”

“I did…?”

Kaede spoke with as much uncertainty as her expression revealed.

“I mean, I think I did! I’m… not really sure, though. Everything around here is so–weird! It’s so unfamiliar, I don’t… Oh, you know what I mean, right?”

Kaede didn’t want to necessarily say that she was lost, or that she was struggling to find her way around what was supposed to be her new home. Hopefully, he would understand her anyway.

“Unfamiliar? Ah, did you just arrive?” It was a weird sensation, being the less out of place of two people. Habituation wasn’t a word that usually applied to someone so at the whims of chance as he was.

He did his best to put on a friendly smile. Welcome and reassuring. Because he really did intend to be. It was always a coin flip on if it worked or not, but such a thing meant something different to him than everyone else.

“I wouldn’t dare presume to know what anyone else means by anything, normally but..”

After what felt like hours, the melody slowly and gracefully came to a stop. He could sense the stranger still lurking nearby, and he presumed it was his music that lured them to this place. Briefly he wondered if this person could decipher the hidden tone and meaning to his melody; he wondered if the other picked up on his loneliness without his best friend and companion by his side, which were just some of what was expressed through his play.

For the moment he pushed those thoughts aside, turning to look down to where the stranger was leaning against a neighbouring tree. “Bonjour~ Did you happen to enjoy my little tune?~” he asked, his tone playful and light, a stark contrast to the music from before.

He’d be quite lost in the music, and it takes him a few seconds to realize it had stopped and he’d been spoken too.

“Ah, the opinion of someone like me hardly matters.” It was only right to make sure this person knew he wasn’t talking to anyone worth listening to on the subject.  “But it certainly was rather...” He hesitates, as if the word is hard to say, or hard to commit to, at least. “Talented?” 

The word comes out like a question. Even Komaeda can hear that, and he is usually rather oblivious to how weird words like ‘talent’ and ‘hope’ sound when he says them, the way other people can just tell there’s something odd behind the meaning he gives them.

@for-hope

Fibonacci Ward made her skin crawl– how was she expected to live here? The housing district wasn’t awful (it certainly was preferable to the academy’s run down state), but the rest of the ward… no way! She’d just have to avoid it, that’s all.

Still, the very thought of having to live in Fibonacci, the thought of having to avoid anywhere at all– it made Kaede frown, it muddled the rest of her thoughts. It did all of that and more, causing her to once again become quite oblivious to where she was going. Rather than stop at House 113, she’d gone a bit farther than intended. She paused and glanced about, realizing she might have gotten herself lost just a few minutes too late.

“Oh no…”

She gulped, and then quickly set her sights on the closest person–a tall boy with white hair. Perhaps he knew where to go?

“H-hey! Hey you! Yeah– you!” Kaede ran up to him, hardly caring about how she might be interrupting or invading the time of a stranger. “Do you know how to get to the houses from here?”

Normally, Nagito wouldn’t think anyone would be talking to him. Really, someone like him, most people stayed away. But as you got closer to downtown here, certain people seemed to be able to pick out who had money to spend. A group, by luck, he was included in. 

So he turned towards the sound, expecting to politely turn someone down, and hoping they weren’t trying to ask him to come to a casino again. That would never, ever end well. Maybe it would be a porter, offering him a quick trip past the worst of the noise of this place.  The money wasn’t the issue. It really was a trade off, coming here - between the volume of the city and the potential that his luck might interact rather catastrophically with a teleporter. 

He wasn’t expecting someone so...frazzled. He fixated first on the music motif on her hair pins, then her outfit, taking her appearance in a way that might be described as ‘creepy’ but ‘not that sort of creepy.’ As if he was trying to place something.

Tenko Shimura sat in the alleyway with a knife he had stolen from a garbage can. He wasn’t going to threaten anyone with it, he had hurt enough people already. He put his hand flat on the ground in front of him and turned it on himself. He had figured out that his quirk activated only when he touched all five fingers to something. He didn’t need five fingers. He didn’t need hands that only hurt people. More than that, he deserved this. Mutilation, disfigurement, he probably deserved worst. 

It was then a small voice interrupted him. Tenko was shocked because that voice sounded so much like his own. He raised his eyes and caught a glimpse into another world. There was a boy with white hair like his, and scars like his (though his were hidden underneath his ill-fitting clothes). The boy was much cleaner and Tenko was dirty. Yet, they were the same. 

They were strangers and it was like they had always known each other, always been friends.  It was an impossible, unlucky, chance meeting.  It was like looking into a mirror. A boy close enough to look at, and yet too far away to ever touch. 

“Do you like heroes?” 

Tenko asked him out of nowhere. 

“All Might is my favorite Hero. He’s the pillar of our society. Everyone can live peacefully because if you’re ever in trouble, All Might will come save you with a smile.”

Tenko looked at the creepy smile on the boy’s face. He was too pale, and there was just something eerie and unsettling about the way his face wrinkled. He looked like a fairy, elvin cheeks, and pale eyes, just trying to copy human behavior. 

“Your smile is really pretty.” 

Tenko said, not caring about any of those details. 

“Do you like video games? My favorite video game is minecraft. I like building things. I don’t like it when things get broken easily, it makes me sad.”

Tenko tilted his head all the way to the side. “You’re not good at talking are you? It’s okay, I can talk for the both of this. I’m just happy that someone came to talk to me.”

“Heroes?” Nagito echoed. It was a bad habit. He wasn’t supposed to do that, just repeat back what other people said to him. He’d tried to explain that he was just trying to make sure he got it right, but the doctor didn’t listen. They never did.

So he’d assumed that must have been the wrong answer. Maybe, he’d thought, he did it because if they were someone else’s words, that meant they were the right ones. As opposed to...

But what did that mean, if he said the words this boy said. Dirty, hollow eyes, a knife in his hand? That was definitely a knife. Should he be scared? He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. And he just wanted to do the right thing.

“Ah, um...” He really was so bad at talking. He was two, maybe three questions behind, and his mind was still trying to fit the pieces together. He tried to trace his own smile with his fingers. He couldn’t tell what it looked like. If he looked in a mirror, would he be able to see? Or would he just see this dirty scared boy in front of him.

“I do like games. And heroes. Games where there are heroes.” He was pretty sure he’d connected those pieces right. He had the money to buy himself game systems, and to get as many games as he wanted. He liked games because they were all just code, and they always gave you hints on what you were supposed to do, and if you didn’t know you could look it up. He liked the games best where there was only one ending, a good ending, where the hero saves the day. Where you could get strong enough to overcome all the enemies. His favorite games were the kind where if you spent enough time playing, your character could be so strong that nothing could really do enough damage to matter. He knew it wasn’t how you were supposed to play it, but then... “But I’m not sure I’m very good at them, either. Are there heroes in Minecraft?”

He hadn’t heard of that game. He hadn’t heard of All Might either, but he just assumed that this was his fault. It was only natural someone like him wouldn’t be able to follow along. Though... something about this boy... made him think, for a moment, maybe it would be different.

He finds a pair of shorts that fit on him almost like pants and pulls them on under the two long shirt and, finding a pen and paper, leaves a note for whoever this is that he’s sorry for taking their things. He tries to be polite, he really does. Then he leaves the room and ventures through a house that looks lived in but empty, unsure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. He figures he won’t know without more information. He pauses at the door, looking out on a street that doesn’t even look like Tokyo, willing his arms and legs not to shake. That never did him any good.

He doesn’t know where he’s going, obviously - doesn’t even know where he is to have a destination. 

Just bad luck. Yeah, that’s all this was, more bad luck. But that just meant he should keep walking. Because luck always turns around. Bad luck, then good luck. So that meant, wherever he was supposed to go, whatever he was supposed to find to figure it out, maybe he’d just get lucky and find it. Nagito did that a lot. Got lucky.

With nothing else to go on, he follows that luck, picks turns at random, until he can suddenly hear people. Lots of people. It’s suddenly so noisy. He stops still, as if the noise were a physical barrier. He’d wanted. He’d wanted help, this was... good luck, right? But he can’t take another step closer.

Which is when he sees him. Another boy, maybe a few years younger than him, maybe not. That sort of thing is hard for him to figure out. So much about other people are. Just a mixed up series of impressions he’s supposed to sort through, to find the right answer. 

White and black. Small. Dirty.  Don’t talk to strangers.   Those eyes. Those eyes. Scary. Dirty. Scared.  You should try to make friends, Nagito-kun.  Stay away from me you weirdo.

Ah. He feels caught in the metaphorical headlights of something far bigger than this boy in front of him, then the noisy city, and so much bigger than himself. Everything is so, so big.

He tries to smile, though. He always tries to smile. “Ah, um...” Maybe he should turn around and run away. But if this was bad luck, it would find him anyway. He’s never been able to run from that before. 

“Hi.”

…He doesn’t like this. Battler feels like he is being ensnared into a trap. Of what nature, he doesn’t know - and which Nagito’s luck works the way he described it, perhaps not even the guy himself knows what exactly might entail. And it’s hard to say whether Nagito’s words are being said sincerely or not.

Battler looks around, and indeed, for some reason the fire is not going down. If it spreads down to the wire… that would destroy this area pretty badly. It’s best not to give margin for bad luck to act on this. With a swing of his hand, a large body of water suddenly covers the area, which should erase any possible trace of fire in the surroundings. Of course, Battler and Nagito are kept safe and dry inside the shield.

It should also protect them in case a couple temperamental sparks feel like going off with all of this water hitting them.

“That’s right. You could say that my ‘talent’ is pretty strong. And by the way you sound, you seem to appreciate ‘talented’ people, right?”

Nagito just stares outside this magic bubble. Stares as an entire sheet of water materializes out of thin air, vanquishing in a second everything his bad luck had brought here. Stares, eyes wide and maybe, just maybe, swirling.

He brings his hand, the one still made of fragile, easily damaged flesh and blood to his mouth covering it. His wild hair obscuring his eyes. He just stands there, shaking slightly for seconds. Maybe minutes.

Before breaking out into a loud, wheezing laughter. He laughs and laughs as he watches the water drip off the tree that is very much no longer on fire, as the hail on the ground melts under the magical deluge. Yes, yes his eyes are definitely swirling now. It takes a while for his laughter to taper off, likely only because it was clearly getting harder and harder to breath through.

“Appreciate?” he says, when he can finally speak again. “No...” He takes in another ragged breath, or half of one, unable to wait long enough before continuing again even breathier. “I don’t ‘appreciate’ talent. I love talent. I love talent more than anything. And those touched by talent--” He raises his metal hand towards the barrier, but doesn’t go so far as to touch where it would be, if it was even physical enough for that.

“You really are...” He trails off there, the words dying in his throat. Images flash through his head, flaming metal screaming through the sky, bodies and blood falling like rain. mobs of people driven by his classmates guitar into insanity, armies of robot bears mauling a city as children held back their terror behind grins. He swallows almost desperately around whatever feels stuck in his throat. 

If he had real talent. If he had had this talent. If anyone had --

He’s frozen there, staring at his hand. He speaks again, quieter now, quiet enough that it’d have been lost to the storm if not for this magical barrier. This magical wall of protection this strange man had been able to create as if it were nothing at all. “It’s a one sided love, of course. Someone like me... I would never want to impose...” He’s getting even less of his thoughts out now than usual, still out of breath, around the lump that seems to be growing, down his windpipe, into his lungs, joining whatever disease is already taken route in his chest.

    Did she know what she was doing, at this point? No, absolutely not. She did have things at least somewhat in check when all of this calamity has started, but with what she’d simply call a temper tantrum from the other, everything was thrown entirely out of the loop. It was dealt with, for now, but it’ll … be an issue, as soon things have calmed down. Presuming, well, there will be an after.

    Nevertheless, she was no wonderworker; just because she’s back, in a sense, doesn’t mean she instantly knows what to do. Quite the contrary. Which was probably why she found herself here.

    Caught off-guard by someone who might as very well be a sea creature at this point, tripping and inevitably dirtying her clothes.

     … Not, not something to make a fuss about, considering the circumstances, but this man was giving countless red flags, really. Was that … seaweed? Under the impression that they were about to stand up, she almost instinctively reached for the pepper spray that she didn’t even have anymore since she’s been in Spirale — but it turned out like it didn’t matter anyway, as they were merely close to wheezing, sitting on the sand like this.

    You might not want to stick around here, he said, which in turn Cecile was just about to scoff at — but instead, she raised an eyebrow, perplexed. ❝ …Robot bears? ❞ Ah, someone would be excited to hear about these. Not her.

    She glanced back to where the stranger came from, realizing she never been near this beach before — before turning back to him. ❝ Think you’re up to running more? ❞ doubtful, but. 

     ❝ The Spiral Dome still works as a Shelter, if we can get there quickly. ❞

“A shelter?” He pushed himself slowly to his feat and tried to shake off some of the sand and water from his hair. Then he picked a piece of seaweed off his coat and flung it to the ground. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. You wouldn’t want to bring Killer Robot Bears to a shelter, right?”

Yeah, he’s pretty sure of that much, at least. “But I won’t hold it against you if you want to go anyway.” He didn’t mean it to sound as passive aggressive as it probably did. He really wouldn’t. 

Which was when there was movement from behind him. Clawing its way out from under the water was a half white half black robot bear. It was sparking dangerously.

Komaeda smiled at her then. “I’m really sorry about this,” he said, before grabbing the woman by the wrist and yanking her up the beach, moving as fast as he could despite the exhaustion, and trying to keep himself between her and the monokuma unit that was about to --

There was a loud explosion, lighting the beach and Komaeda from behind. He was probably still smiling - he had a habit of doing that longer than he should. Lucky for them, the shrapnel all flew off in other directions. 

Soon the flames died back down to just the rubble, soon to be put out by the tied. He needed to check if she was okay. He let go of her wrist, and did his best to ignore the mental images of all the horrible ways she could be injured when he looked back, of the countless people he’d seen hurt, or worse, from his luck.

      How peculiar… The Count takes a break away from the fighting, only to find more strange sights wherever he goes. Even the gateway to the grand sea had interesting sights to behold… just ones he didn’t quite expect to see. Seeing a young man out in the water, barely conscious while clinging to driftwood for dear life? Even in the middle of this war between Stars and Invaders, this was hardly the time for a “stranded island” tale.

     Cautious steps were made in his approach, the Count paying no mind to the wet sand clinging to his shoes with every move made. He continued his stride until he reached the youth’s side, his cape flattering against the salty winds. Another peculiar detail… the boy’s appearance. It would be disingenuous to claim the boy was abundantly similar to the Servant. And yet, there was no denying that a few comparisons could be made… The thought was shoved aside for now, it was a pointless train of thought. The youth managed to come to his senses, rolling off his driftwood and landing on the sand next to him.

          “My, my… Quite the odd resting place you’ve chosen, young man.“ He speaks with a casual tone, soon extending a gloved hand to offer the youth help back onto his feet. “Come now– there is still work to be done. You can still rest if that is what you require, but a more appropriate spot should be located spot. You’re quite lucky that someone was here, lest you wind up another victim of the cruel sea…”

“Lucky,” he repeats back, “yeah...” 

He starts to reach towards the outstretched arm with his real hand, pale and shaking from the cold, and then reconsiders, pulls it back. The man is wearing gloves, sure, so he wouldn’t be insulting him by touching him skin to skin but - its more fitting to use the work of real talent when he can, right?

Still a little light headed he reaches out his robotic hand instead. Amazing, the talents that went into this. It works find despite the sand and the sea water. He lets the stranger pull him to his feet. He tries to look around but he keeps coming back to the man across from him. 

The world could be ending, and Komaeda Nagito would still always look to talent. Really, the more chaotic the world became, the more he would. He’s had moments where he’s realized that, but now isn’t one of them.

“Ah, I don’t mean to inconvenience you, someone like me would just be wasting your time. Really, I should have fallen out of that plane somewhere else, and not gotten in your way, I-” he pauses, taking in another slightly wheezy breath, only to inhale some grain of sand kicked up by the gale and start coughing. He does his best to turn away from the man, forcing someone with talent to see such an ugly sight, really he was the worst. It takes him longer than he’d like to be able to breath again. He half expects the stranger to have moved on.

Just his luck…

This whole series of events, really. Where should he start. when he was born? When his dog died? When that plane crashed? When he’d gotten into hope’s peak? When the world had ended? when he’d ended up in a strange new city? when the world had ended again? Or maybe with the more recent plane crash. Yeah that seemed like a place to start.

He’d actually been hiding on that plane, from an army of robot bares and shadows and monsters and soldiers and, well, just about everything else. If he’d known it was in working order, he never would have hidden in there, of course. He’s not… the biggest fan of airplanes.

They had a tendency to fall out of the sky while he was on board. Maybe it doesn’t count if the world is ending and things are streaking down from the sky, maybe, in a situation like this, a plane not crashing would be the unlikely event, but he’s only seen the end of the world a few times, he wouldn’t know.

But he survived, of course he did, almost completely uninjured, and happened to land himself relatively close to this beach. Still far enough away that his meager stamina was strained to reach it, but he had. How lucky.

He has no idea if its one attached to the mainland, or some island or reef, just that its solid and there don’t seem to be any monsters here, for now. But he’s exhausted, and a little scraped up, and freezing, so for now, all he can do is sit there on this piece of driftwood and stair at his messy reflection in the water left by the tide.

Then, the reflection ripples, just a little, in the winds that are still whipping around. Changes. Maybe he hit his head a little harder than he thought. It takes him a second, staring at the new face in the puddle, before turning around and looks up at- Someone who definitely wasn’t him.

Komaeda was absolutely soaking wet, which was inevitable really, not even his luck was going to keep him dry in the ocean, even if it did get him to shore. Still, he was completely out of breath, and definitely had seaweed in his hair and maybe a crab clinging onto the edge of his coat. But he still had his coat so, good luck right?

He stumbled forward on the beach, constantly glancing behind him at the waves he’d crawled out of. So focused on those, he hadn’t seen the person he almost bumped into. Instead, he tripped, and sort of fell just to the edge of her, probably splashing her with water and sand as he did. 

He only really had enough energy to push himself back into a seating position in the sand. He glanced back at the waves again. “Ah,” he said, still very much out of breath, “You might not want to stick around here,” He managed, having to stop to breathe in the middle of the sentence. “There might be some robot bears still following me.” 

Just his luck that the entire city is a battlefield, huh.

Give this a like for a starter set mid event, on his birthday! Komaeda isn’t much of a fighter (like. at all.) but his luck might get you out of a pinch. Or into one.

Also, if you want to use the enemies from his canon, there are a load of very deadly robot bears and a few other things to pick from [here]. If your character has a thing for or against robots, or bears, or is a very good hacker, those might be fun. But I’m open to using your muses stuff instead. Or doing something completely non-combat, since, again, no talent for fighting here. 

If you have a strong preference on this front, just DM me! roulette