Prodigy of Sharlayan

Had they? Her family name was notorious for it’s fair share of friends, as well as enemies. It wasn’t a part of Ada she was particularly proud of; having to make a game out of helping her mother feed lies through the officer 𝕤𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕕𝕕𝕖𝕣 , those ₘᵤffₗₑd phone calls she’d catch at the tail end of her fathers rants too. 

But, its what made her 𝓱𝓮𝓻 . Gave her enough strength to pack up in the middle of the night for a Greyhound bus to leave this damn town. Memories she forfeited and memories she was forced to reconsider for a cleaner start in front of a camera became blurred into one line, one 𝕥𝕣𝕦𝕥𝕙 ; whichever covered her ass more.

“ maybe,” she crossed her fingers under the café table, a silent hope that Alisaie was more friend than foe. Gesturing to the seat across from her, she smiled. “ but I know good company when I see it. “

Alisaie wasn’t normally enamored with the glitz of stardom, but something about the way Ada carried herself was almost intoxicating.  The amount of confidence and just elegance, that only a starlet could have. It felt like such a contrast to the cafe they were in, and honestly to Alisaie herself.

it shouldn’t have been that surprising that jack ended up with a dog somehow. even though he didn’t remember getting said dog, or giving it the collar with the tag on it clinking happily that read ZERO, it had clung to him like static fuzz, and who was he to deny such a sweet face ? it was a little jack russel terrier - which, in retrospect, was especially funny - that was just a puppy, bubbly and bouncing happily between his legs and around him wherever he went. every time he looked at the all-white pup, he was filled to the brim with warmth and nostalgia, but for what exactly, he didn’t know. his dream of falling still pervaded his nights, but since getting zero, the dread and terror had lightened. now, he was at the fairgrounds with his little canine friend, dressed to the nines as everyone else was: he was a ringmaster, fitting considering the setting, but made up in ghoulish skeletal make-up. though he wasn’t scary ,and the craftsmanship on both the costume and the face paint was incredibly good, still not many recognized him until he spoke. and that was all right - that was what halloween was all about ! even if he did orchestrate a lot of the decorating in town, it was all thanks to everyone around him.

he’d just gotten himself a snack - pumpkin beignets, a seasonal treat the cirque had for the next two months - when something whizzed past his head, not once but twice, and then settled somewhere around his hands and the box of doughnuts it was carrying. a pig, he realized, small and pink and squishy-looking, wide-eyed and ready to dig into the powdered sugar and fried dough like it was the first meal it’d had in weeks. though he and zero were both thoroughly taken aback by the aliveness of the small creature, a very human voice called out for it, catching all of their attention and making them look up. it made him smile, her statement, as she took the little thing in her hands. “ oh, it’s all right, ” he assured her. “ thankfully you stopped him before he got into the sugar. ” he laughed a bit. “ who knows how fast he’d be flying if he had. ” he was talking like he wasn’t still a little disbelieving of the little thing, like it was as normal as the dog around his feet. “ is he okay to eat fried foods ? i’ll happily share one if he’d like, ” he offered with another chuckle, holding out the first orange-and-white confection, eyebrows raised.

At least Angelo’s near victim seemed cheerful and easy going about the near loss of his beignet. Alisaie found herself breathing a little bit easier.  And the way he spoke made it sound like he wasn’t baffled by Angelo’s existence at all. Though she imagined he was just hiding it. 

           ° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ° ——  This little thing hasn’t left her side since the day it appeared in her room. Namine hasn’t figured out what it wants or even what it is. It hasn’t tried to harm her, but it hasn’t tried to help her either. It just follows her around, with it’s yellow eyes always on her. It was unsettling at first, but Namine has grown used to it’s presence. It’s become comforting in a way because although this tiny creature didn’t speak or do much of anything, she wasn’t ever alone anymore. And it’s nice, to not feel alone for once              Their at the Fairgrounds and Namine is staring down at the corn dog she’d purchased. It wasn’t so much for her as it was for the little guy. ❝ C’mon you have to eat something. I mean you are alive, right? Or else you wouldn’t be moving and…moving. ❞ When the little shadow made no movement whatsoever towards the plate, Namine picked it back up and placed it on the table. She slumped in her chair and was about to eat the corn dog when an oink and a squeal made her jump. Begging for food was a pig with wings flapping away.             She didn’t have time to react when the little one’s owner came up to them, picking up the pig in question. Finding her voice again, Namine stood up and eyed the animal and the girl holding him. At least she didn’t seem to be the only one with a strange…animal.              ❝ No, no! It’s fine, really. He- ❞  She points at the tiny shadow creature by her feet. ❝ Um…it. My friend - I think - wasn’t that into it anyway. He can have it. ❞ She gently pushes the paper plate with the half eaten corndog towards the girl and what seemed to be her flying…pig.             ❝ I’m not really a fan of corn dogs, and someone may as well enjoy it. ❞  

Thankfully the victim Angelo had chosen seemed to be pretty willing to part with their corndog. But Alisaie wasnt going to allow him to win that easily and she crossed her arms and looked up at the oinking pig sitting on her head. 

“You really shouldn’t be eating corndogs” she said to him, “They’re made of pigs you know. Just like you.”  Alisaie wasn’t really sure if Angelo was actually a pig. He was just so small and squishy, and just...smelt weird. Smelled like freshly open Play-doh.  So maybe it was fine for him to eat pork products. It was still weird though, but she sighed, as the pig flew off her head and began devouring the corndog.

▐▐ ░ * .  — NEVER HAS BEEN ONE FOR SUCH POPULATED FESTIVITIES , and needless to say , he probably never will be , but there are times where mello forces himself out of his own comfort zone in favor of changing his scenery . trying to have fun , like most twenty year-olds on the cusp of the FINAL MILESTONE IN YOUTH , and smile a bit instead of resigning himself to the loner’s scowl & focusing on real life. real life sucks , and unfortunately , it’s forever , but halloween isn’t . he can spare a bit of his time for enjoyment - he’s figured out how to do so in OTHER PLACES , sometimes .

                  but recent developments haven’t left his head ; he’s come here in attempts to try and focus on different things for the night , maybe stroll through a haunted house , find a HANDSOME stranger and make them his company for the rest of the evening , but the thoughts still linger . the memories of blaring sirens & misguided , evil hands around his waist . blazing through crowded streets because tonight will be the night he wins and … ! not … much to go from there . and the little furball following him around , sitting as his side and rolling back at forth , only gives him vague glimpses of a person in white … hm 

                   he’s distracted . scratching the kitten’s stomach and letting out a few rare coos of his voice before he notices that an ENTIRELY different creature has nearly made a mess of the cheap hot fudge sundae he bought , paper cup clattering to the surface of the wooden picnic table . ❝ holy shit !! ❞ he exclaims , jumping back before he eyes the figure who’s stopped the collision between snout & food . ❝ uh … i don’t … think so , ❞ mello replies , raising an eyebrow . he shouldn’t be too surprised , since strange creatures have been popping up all over the place , however … ❝ feels like when pigs fly isn’t a phrase that can be used anymore . ❞

The sundae for the most part looked like it was intact, though Alisaie noticed her gloves were now smeared with chocolate when she had picked Angelo up.

She shrugged at the curious look of the owner of the sundae, “The same thought occurred to me. And to everyone who’s seen him. Not exactly the most original comment.” she laughed. The absurdity of Angelo’s existence had waned over the weeks, but it always amused her a bit to see new people react to him. 

Alisaie was becoming used to the sensation of something plopping on her shoulder and insistently oinking in her ear.

In fact it was something she was coming to expect when she was eating.

“Shoo! shoo!” She gently swatted at the pig, feeling it’s soft skin that always seemed to melt against her touch like it was made of Play-doh. “I’m eating a hot dog, Angelo! You know what that’s made of?”

Angelo just squealed as it knelt over to try to take a bite, having to flap its ears/wings to keep from falling over as Alisaie pulled the hot dog away.

“I already fed you! What, was that funnel cake you wanted just an appetizer?”

Angelo was not living up to the name that Alisaie felt compelled to give him, when he first magically appeared in her bedroom.. She kept on waking up to her parents being upset the flying pig had raided the kitchen again, getting into cupboards that logically it could not open with its lack of  thumbs, and making a mess in its quest for people food. But anytime Alisaie attempted to feed it anything that a pig might eat, it simply snubbed it, and tried to eat her dinner instead. To make matters even weirder, Angelo wasn’t going to the bathroom or or gaining weight or seemingly having any sort of digestion going on in his rotund little body.

She hadn’t let him out of the house until now, but with the strange creatures she’d been seeing accompanying others, she knew that at least it wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows. Also maybe someone could figure out exactly what this pig was and why it was now glued to her side, and maybe even why she felt compelled to keep him around.

Everytime she looked at him, all she could think of were her dreams, of that strange out of body experience of feeling like her mind and body had been separated and suddenly becoming whole again, that disorienting vertigo that haunted her everytime she slept. 

Also because having a flying pig was a cool as hell accessory to her with costume she wore to the fairgrounds tonight, 

Angelo seemed accepting of the fact Alisaie was not going to share and she felt him take off and heard the sound of flapping ear wings. She sighed as she took another bite of her hot dog, before hearing squealing and oinking at the next table over.

VICTOR STONE  &  YOUR CHARACTER,  @everyone​. location:  midtown.

VICTOR’S BEEN HAVING WEIRD VISIONS LATELY,  of a city he doesn’t recognise.  but the visions are so vivid,  that he has no idea where they’re coming from,  if the images are real or not.  it doesn’t help that his body has been aching more and more lately;  phantom pain from the accident,  or at least that’s what he keeps telling himself.  it doesn’t help,  really doesn’t,  not when some of these visions are too real to be fake,  when he’s more machine than human in his visions.

HE HAD TO GO ON LEAVE FROM WORK JUST TO COPE,  especially after abusing his body,  going days without sleep or food.  he hadn’t been this bad since the accident  -  he’d managed to recover after a while,  but it was as if the circus had brought all of that back again.  he felt mildly guilty for going on break,  knowing his co-workers also weren’t doing great.  so,  after finishing all the errands he’s had to run and bringing boxes of pizzas as his apology gift to his coworkers,  he’s just on his way to the mechanic shop when he bumps into a figure.  the boxes fall to the ground,  and vic winces.  oops.

HE’S ACTUALLY ADMITTEDLY SPEECHLESS for a moment before finally,  “ well,  shit.  it’s a good thing dominos has carryout insurance,  i guess.  ”

Alisaie had simply arrived to pick her car up.  It had been simply cosmetic damage from jumping a curb, but her parents had insisted she get it fixed, if anything for the sake of responsibility. She’d be less likely to jump a curb again if she had to take time out of her day to get her paint fixed.

Of course she hadn’t jumped a curb for the sake of shits and giggles, and it frustrated her that she had to take time out of her day to ride the bus to go pick up her car, especially since it was a bit of a walk to get to the mechanic shop from the nearest bus stop.

She was busy fuming over how annoying and pointless this felt, when she bumped into someone, and she cringed as she heard the sound of things falling to the floor and something...splatting? 

She looked down at her feet, the red sauce caking the sidewalk made it look like a crime scene. In some ways it was a crime scene, that poor pizza. 

She was about to apologize when the owner of the pizzas said his piece  “𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘋𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦”

(Firefly, 26, MST )  ─  the mirrors surrounding you did as they were meant to, reflecting back a spitting image of CHINA ANNE MCCLAIN  -  but it’s clear something is wrong from the moment that a vision of  REAWAKENING IN THE RISING STONES AFTER YOUR TIME IN THE FIRST strikes you.  perhaps it was a passing daydream in the frenzy of the funhouse. you reassure yourself  -  you’re ALISAIE LEVEILLEUR,  a  NINETEEN YEAR OLD COLLEGE STUDENT AND CHAMPIONSHIP FENCER  whose virtue lies in your + DETERMINATION & + EMPATHY, although you’ve been told that you tend to be quite - UNDIPLOMATIC  & - IMPULSIVE,  and you’re associated with THE SHEEN OF A METAL RAPIER, AND THE SMELL OF DUST AFTER AN EXPLOSION by those around you.  suddenly,  however,  you’ve found THE GRIMOIRE GIFTED TO YOU THE LAST TIME YOU SAW YOUR GRANDFATHER  on your person - was that always there? from the moment you leave the funhouse,  memories from your life in FINAL FANTASY XIV have begun to return - leaving whoever you had been before in the mirror’s reflection behind you.  you can almost hear INVINCIBLE  by KELLY CLARKSON following in your wake.

BEFORE ALUCARD:

(Note: Alisaie’s last memory is from the last patch of the game as of writing this, 5.3, so there are spoilers for the entirety of FFXIV!) 

CW for relative death mentions