「会いたいよ、タカネ」

🎉 Our muses have a vegas wedding!

💎 Our muses accidentally ( or purposely ) steal a valuable object!

🏫 Our muses are high-schoolers!

👶 Our muses meet as children!

💀 Our muses are held hostage!

💤 Our muses fall into a deep sleep and are stuck in the same dream!

🌆 Our muses escape the city to start a new life together!

💋 Our muses appear on the ‘Kiss Cam’ at a sports game!

🎁 Our muses exchange special gifts to each-other!

🛀 Our muses take a bath together!

🎱 Our muses play pool together and make bets!

🎠 Our muses visit the fair!

🎈 Our muses crash a party together!

🐷 Our muses visit a zoo!

🎾 Our muses get into a competitive sports battle 

🎤 Our muses do a little karaoke together! 

🚀 Our muses try to find another planet to live on because earth is dying!

⚉ Our muses go bowling together!

☣ Our muses play with an Ouija board! 

🔍 Our muses try to solve a crime together!

💰 Our muses win the lottery!

🚢 Our muses go on a cruise! 

❄ Our muses are stranded outside during a snow storm!

☬ Our muses try to survive a ‘purge’ night together!

⚓ Our muses lost out at sea together!

📖 Our muses are story-book characters!

🎃 Our muses go trick-or-treating… when it’s not Halloween!

🎥 Our muses are movie/t.v show characters!

💥 Our muses are transported to a different world / time!

🔪 Our muses are trapped in a building with a killer!

♖ Our muses live poor lives in the 19th century!

⚒ Our muses build things in wood-shop class together!

🍤 Our muses get curious and visit an ‘adult’ store!

☕ Our muses meet and share a table at a cafe together!

☏ Our muses talk on the phone to each-other in the middle of the night!

⌲ Our muses pass notes during class / work !

✎ Our muses model and draw for each other!

🏰 Our muses in the time of knights, princes, dragons, ect!

🐢  Our muses visit an aquarium !

🌠 Our muses watch the stars together and see a shooting star!

💢  Our muses get into a heated argument about something stupid!

🍻  Our muses go to a bar together!

🍺  Our muses go clubbing together!

💅  Our muses give each-other makeovers!

🔮 Our muses visit a psychic to tell their future!

🎭 Our muses go to a masked ball!

🎮 Our muses play video-games together!

🔦 Our muses are lost in a forest with only a flashlight! 

💣 Our muses must escape a building before a bomb goes off!

🎰 Our muses gamble away at a casino! 

♥ Our muses meet for the first time!

☞ Our muses in a romance related RP!

✌ Our muses in an action related RP!

☹ Our muses in a drama related RP!

× Our muses in a survival related RP!

Having gotten the stranger’s attention quite quickly with nibbling their sleeve, the pompadour-sporting sheep that was the leader of Sylvie’s flock gave a stare at the scolding the other was giving him, a rather unapologetic one at that - given he only did it to try and direct the other human’s attentions TO his master, he wasn’t sorry at all. After all, his master and friend Sylvester’s well-being was the most important thing to him! Now, how to tell the human what exactly he SHOULD be ‘doing with him’? He wanted, ideally, to make the other human follow him to where the other sheep where holding Sylvester, but it seemed the other was clueless to this right now. When he outstretched a hand, the sheep backed away - being made of sleep dust, he knew the other human would get groggy or WORSE - go to sleep - if he touched he, the sheep, directly, and that wouldn’t be helpful for getting Sylvester help at all. The sheep looked back to where the other sheep were, then back to the human, urging. “Baaa!!” He’d nibble on the sleeve again if he had to, but if the human was too confused, he might have to risk the master falling off the other sheep and get them to come forward with the master so the other human could see and know what they wanted…

“Whoa!” Haruka let out a yelp in surprise as the sheep quite evidently backed away upon his attempts to pet it. Okay, so no touching. He could deal with that no matter how much he wanted to give in to his urges to feel that soft wool against his fingers. Somehow he could swear it seemed almost impatient but sheep weren’t capable of such emotions, were they? Honestly Haruka didn’t know the first thing about the animal in general -- he was a city boy who had lived most of his life in the hospital after all. The farm life laid very far away from his knowledge.

Evil Commander? Sure, 9S liked to complain about how demanding she was, but he’d never call her evil. Of course he was well-aware this human was probably speaking of some other commander, but the thought of pretending to fight her is amusing.

9S smiles at Haruka’s glee, drawing Cruel Oath from his belt. The sword must look like a very high-quality prop, almost a little too real… 9S had cleaned it as well as he could, but some of Snatcher’s pitch-black blood still stains the handle. “Sure, though maybe we should go somewhere inside first? Doesn’t seem like you should be out when it’s this cold..”  

Fascinated to say the least was Haruka when the very impressive prop sword was drawn, and he could swear that he saw light reflect in the blade as though it was real metal. If the guy had made this himself, he really was a top notch cosplayer, that much was for sure. The mood however changed a bit at the words the other carefully spoke.

Listing out the smart actions to do, standing in the freezing cold covered in now cold coffee was not it. But his whole body was frozen the moment this person said he knew the people in the photo. With every name that was said, confusion and relief started sinking in. At least, that was until the said the name Ayano. It was quiet, almost as if he didn’t want Shintaro to hear it, but he did.

He did and tears began flowing down his pale face.

Why did that name drive a stake through his heart? Why did a surge of regret, pain, and self-hatred fill his heart? Why did he feel the need to stop existing all over again?

That feeling wasn’t something he felt in years. Anything along the lines of his severe depression and locking himself away for years was a distant memory up until now. It didn’t help that he felt the same way looking at the man in front of him. Reaching up, he rubbed at his eyes and realized just how bad he was crying. The tears only seemed to stream down harder when the man admitted that the person in the photo wasn’t him.

But it was! It was and he couldn’t explain why, but it was! He couldn’t even begin to try to explain why he knew that because he didn’t remember him. His body remembered, but his mind couldn’t even come up with a single memory of this person. How fucked up was that?! Not to mention he knew the other person in the photo he didn’t remember plus everyone else in the picture. That means they had to know each other! But…

But he couldn’t say that out loud without sounding like a lunatic. Hell, he probably already looked like a lunatic. Crying in front of a random stranger that he just met. How fucking stupid. Every single feeling he felt in the past amplified the longer he thought about this and he needed to control his thoughts and emotions. When he opened his eyes again, they were bright red.

“I’m sorry, but I disagree. I… I don’t know how to explain it or what to even say, but that… that has to be you. You know everyone else in the photo and even the other person I don’t remember. I don’t know her and you said her name. I…”

Shintaro’s voice cracked and he stopped talking to laugh at himself for sounding so stupid before continuing. “You know my sister and Kano and Takane… You… You know them and I miss them so much…”

If he was going to be honest with himself, that’s what truly got to him. First he meets Seto, but he didn’t have this kind of visceral reaction when he saw him. Something made him forget who this was and whatever did was a sadist. Why would it take memories away? Why would it make him forget someone that he apparently felt very strongly about?

“I’m sorry. I-” Shintaro hiccuped and quickly covered his face with the red scarf around his neck if only to prevent the other from looking at him anymore. He had to leave, run, get away from this person. He obviously didn’t know who Shintaro was. This was a bad situation to be in and he’s never broken down in front of anyone except his sister. Why was it so easy to show his emotions in front of this person.

He hated this. All of this. The picture, this place, everything.

Taking a step back, Shintaro pulled the scarf down and picked up the umbrella, only to hold it out to the man in front of him while not looking at him. “You’ll need this more than I do. I need a new shirt and I’m not close to my apartment so I should uh.. I…” He didn’t want to go, but this was embarrassing. Crying so passionately like this in public while still covered in coffee and, unbeknownst to himself, eyes shining as red as a ruby.

Instead of say anymore, he just stood there holding out the umbrella, looking down at the ground, and crying softly to himself now.

A sigh left him at how hopelessly useless he was being throughout this whole encounter, but all of a sudden he heard an unexpected sound. Soft sobs filled the winter air and as Haruka looked up, he could see the tears rolling down above the other’s cheeks. Haruka was surprised to say the least -- surprised, and now the sadness began welling up inside him again, more severe than it had been before. 

He didn’t like it when people cried. Not being used to being around people meant that he wasn’t used to doing things like cheering up others either, so he had no idea how to help the smaller male right now. A hand rose vaguely, shakingly, hesitantly, before dropping down by his side again. Back when his mother had still been alive she would often cheer him up when he was feeling sad, but somehow it felt as though he had lost that comfort once she died. Yes, Haruka still had his father, but somehow he had always been more close to his mother. Always understood her better.

And when she died, it really struck him that this was the inevitable path his life was heading towards. It struck him that he was going to be next.

No matter how much he wanted to, with this weak and hopeless body he couldn’t do anything for anyone. He would forever just be a burden, so maybe it was better if he didn’t try in the first place. He couldn’t even look at the other as he was sobbing his eyes out, gaze simply locked downwards, taking in the verbal assault of logic.

“Takane...” he muttered the name spoken, not sure which person in the picture was this guy’s sister and thus unable to react to that. But the name spoken was one that made Haruka’s own eyes water. Before tears could properly fester, he wiped them away with the hem of his sleeve. “Yeah, I know Takane... Takane is my--” what? Important person? Friend? Classmate? Which should he go for in a situation like this? He had always distanced himself from her, unable to truly express what he was feeling -- no unable to truly pursue it -- for he knew that he would never be able to give her the happiness she deserved. “She’s my classmate... At least she was before...”

How was he even supposed to explain this? That Takane and Ayano were the only ones he had technically met and that everyone else in this picture probably wouldn’t be able to recognise him anymore either? Somehow that hurt as well to think about. When it really came down to it, it wasn’t him who had made friends: it was Konoha. Konoha could do all the things Haruka couldn’t. The result of a wish gone awry and the beginning of the end, and the erasure of the existence known as Kokonose Haruka. In a sense he had always been jealous of Konoha, liked to imagine himself in his place but knowing that while they shared a body, they were two separate beings. He couldn’t even claim these emotions and memories even though they belonged to his body.

“Hnng...?”

Thinking back on everything and adding the stress of trying to figure out what was going on, Haruka could feel a certain familiar discomfort in his chest. Not now. Now really wasn’t the time for this. Clenching his fist he tried to calm his breath that had become ragged from being worked up (probably what caused him to feel sick right now in the first place) and his worried eyes shot upwards to his conversational partner to check if the other had noticed anything wrong with him.

That was when Haruka finally noticed the eyes. The guy’s eyes which had previously been dark now shone bright red as he was weeping to himself, handing out an umbrella. Immediately Haruka lost his focus, overwhelmed with this new information. He knew that reaction very well -- had experienced it himself when his body had transformed and knew what it meant as well.

Watching the snow slowly fall from the sky was cathartic in a way. However, with every snowflake that fell, the heaviness in his heart that he was trying to ignore only seemed to become all the more persistent. It only took about a week and a half before the dark began seeping back into his mind, plaguing his thoughts once again. Sure, he was upset that he didn’t know where he was and he felt mildly alone, but there was more to it. 

There was always more to it. 

Ever since he arrived here, he felt multiple holes appear in both his mind and heart. Some involved his sister, some involved his friends, and some involved an emptiness that he couldn’t explain. Looking down at the photo with a group of people with their faces crossed out, the empty feeling only seemed to grow. There were eleven people in the photo and most of them he could point out, face crossed out or not. Everyone wore the same outfit, or generally the same outfit, so picking them out wasn’t hard. There was Momo, Kido, Kano, Seto, Marry, Hiyori, Hibiya, Takane, himself… And then two people that… he couldn’t put names to. All he knew was that looking at them hurt him. His heart constricts from the sudden pain he felt and he quickly put the photo back into his jacket. 

Who were those last two people and way did his eyes water every time he looked at them? Obviously he knew them if his heart hurt like this, but… How could he not remember them? Apparently they were incredibly important to him, but how could they be if he didn’t even remember them? The picture was proof enough that they were all friends. That picture was the obvious proof. And yet- 

No, he had to stop thinking about it. He had to. The bags under his eyes were proof enough that he wasn’t sleeping much because this was all he could think about now. That was dangerous, especially because he was in a place that he didn’t know. From experience, new things were dangerous. New people were dangerous. Granted, no one has been murdered yet and that was the best thing to have ever happened to him. However, that didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen. 

His thoughts drifted back to his sister and a sigh of frustration past his lips, a white cloud of air appearing in the air. How was she doing? Shintaro had promised to protect her and he can’t do that here. He can’t protect anyone here! 

This was frustrating. A frown tugs down at the corner of his lips as he stands up, grabbing his steaming cup of coffee next to him. He made his way down the street, umbrella in his other hand so that the snow wouldn’t fall on him. Forgetting people that were seemingly important to him, being spirited away to this place without warning, being unable to do anything here, not even having any of his coping methods with him… It was infuriating! 

Before he even realized it, he collides with someone else on the street and he’s quick to tilt the coffee towards himself so the other person didn’t get steaming hot coffee over them. While that was all fine and dandy for whoever he ran into, his coffee spilled all over his black shirt and wow it was hot. 

“Ow! Fuck! Hot!” Shintaro hissed and dropped his umbrella to pull the fabric away from his now heated flesh. In the air, steam radiated off the spot where coffee fell on him. 

When he finally registered that he should apologize to the other person, he looked up and shook his head, “No that was my faul… t…” 

His words cut short as a different pain registered. This time in his heart. It was like before, only amplified. Shintaro didn’t notice the tears that formed in his eyes and it took him a moment to register that this person, the person in his photo, had just spoken to him. 

“Uh… No. But, what…” Shintaro just stared at him for a second before a quick gust of wind reminded him that his hand and shirt were both covered in coffee. “Fuck okay, um.” 

He had to act fast because he needed to show this person the photo but also make the burning on his skin to stop. So, he glanced around and saw a trashcan not too far by and ran to throw it away and then took his scarf off and wrapped it around his hand, jogging back and taking the photo out of his pocket and showing it to the man. “Is this you?” His voice cracked as he asked the question. 

So surprised had Haruka been that he didn’t even notice the peril the other boy was in at first. However, the loud yelp shook him out of his thoughts if only for a moment, and the taller began flailing his arms helplessly. “Aah! Are you okay?!” No matter how you looked at it, getting scalding hot coffee all over you had to hurt, and while Haruka appreciated that he hadn’t been the victim to it, he couldn’t help but feel sorry towards the other, especially since he had been the direct cause of the accident.

“What to do, what to do~...” Haruka whined helplessly. He didn’t have any tissues on him to help, and was he really about to pull out one of the drawings of his already-full sketchbook and ruin it with coffee stains? He did severely consider it for a moment. Or maybe the guy should just strip himself of the black shirt. Perfect. No wait, not perfect; it was really cold out, and he might catch a fever if he walked around without clothes on. In the end he came short of a solution before the other let out yet another swear.

Somehow it reminded him of Takane. Not just the way this guy was swearing a lot, but his whole air. Haruka couldn’t quite explain it, but that might be the sense of familiarity he was feeling. Phew, that made him feel a lot better. He would honestly have felt very bad for forgetting someone. Even if he had met the guy before and didn’t know him very well, other than hospital staff the encounters Haruka had were always very limited, so he made extra sure to remember people. Everyone were incredibly special after all.

It was because this guy resembled Takane that he felt as though he knew him. Nothing more, nothing less. Haruka let out a slightly hesitant, slightly relieved laughter coming to that conclusion, but somehow he didn’t feel completely satisfied. And that was when the guy pulled out a photograph.

“Huh? What’s this?”

It was full of familiar faces. People he had seen before, some during the school festival back then and later on came to realise were Ayano’s siblings as his life as Konoha brought him together with them again, and some he had met purely as his alter ego. All were standing together with the person before him and all were smiling except for two people whose faces he couldn’t see. One of them Haruka had a feeling was Ayano, but that couldn’t be. As far as he knew she was stuck in the Haze just the same as he was, so there was no way she could be in a photograph together with all these people who had only met after his own demise.

And the other...

This guy pointed it out as Haruka himself. Somehow it felt right, but on the other hand it didn’t. Most importantly Haruka didn’t even remember taking a picture like this, especially since he had never met most of these people as himself. And although it resembled his figure in the picture, there was something off about it. As though it was him but still wasn’t. Not just in the way Konoha was him but still wasn’t.

This was weird to say the least.

“... Sorry...” Haruka finally muttered after studying the photograph. He had reached a conclusion but somehow it seemed something was still missing from his memories, that something was terribly wrong and that he couldn’t properly place a finger on it. It most likely wasn’t what the other was wanting to hear, but Haruka really couldn’t do anything but disappoint, could he? Back when he had been alive and even now, he couldn’t do anything right.

It was frustrating. So incredibly frustrating. Would he ever step away from being the helpless kid who constantly had to let down others?

“Honestly I know most of the people in that picture,” he admitted finally, pointing a finger to every member of the mekakushi dan and calling their name, pausing when he reached the girl with her face crossed over. “... Ayano...” he called out, voice barely a whisper. Although there was no way it could be true, somehow it felt right. Then his finger went to the guy in the red jacket, lifting from the photograph and pointing to the guy before him. “And that’s you. But I don’t know who you are sorry.” 

At least at this point 9S had managed to talk himself into changing into some human apparel, so he wasn’t walking around in the snow in shorts. His jacket wasn’t badly-damaged though, so he’d kept the rest of his uniform as-is. He’d allowed himself to be distracted, watching the flakes collect on the dark material of his sleeves and gloves, admiring the delicate ice crystals before they melted. He doesn’t notice the human’s approach until they speak.

9S snaps to attention, left hand automatically going to his chest, though he doesn’t properly salute this time. “Of course! I mean- go ahead. Would you like me to pose or something? I’ve never had anybody draw me before.”  His sensors chirp at him as he glances over the other boy, picking up a weak heartbeat, low body temperature, other concerning signs that this person probably shouldn’t be outside in such weather…

Oblivious to the other’s concerns as well as any sense of common courtesy one could have before randomly approaching someone to ask them such a strange request, Haruka dug into his backpack to take out his trusted sketchbook and the box that contained a variety of pencils different in sharpness and hardness. His eyes glimmered with excitement at the suggestion.

(closed starter for @sunsetglutton )   There were several Counting Sheep having been summoned from Sylvester Ashling’s sleep dust at this point, working together to support the tired boy - but it was clear that getting someone to just ‘help’ him wake up wasn’t enough, he had to talk to someone about his problems or he’d just keep overly pushing himself - they weren’t Beefton and couldn’t tell their master this directly, due to their lack of english - but at least they could try to help in outside ways, so the leader of the flock searched for someone this time. A human that might listen….he, being the leader, was smart enough to try and figure out one for himself, as the other person who’d helped before had already helped enough, and they couldn’t bother any further. Spying an familiar boy, the sheep trotted to them, baaing brashly and trying to get a grip so to tug on their sleeve to get the stranger’s attention to Sylvester still groggy on the other sheep. “Baaaa!! Baa…” Looked like the sheep was very insistent on getting the other to follow him to Sylvester. True, the sheep didn’t know this human either, but he’d take ANYONE talking to his master and helping him at this point…

Honestly he had come to accept his fate in this new city and that certain things in life were just not something one could prepare for before they happened, but even so some things were still a full on surprise no matter how much you thought yourself prepared. Having his sleeve apparently gobbled up by a sheep was one such thing Haruka wasn’t sure he could have anticipated before hand. “Uwah!” he let out a loud yelp feeling the tug and looking down at the creature nomming away on his clothes.

“No, stop, you can’t do that!” he scolded it, tugging back and trying to salvage his clothes without any harm done to them. Somehow he succeeded and the now soaked sleeve felt gross against his skin. How troublesome. He had to change clothes when he got home. Crouching down, Haruka took in the creature’s appearance with a frown of his brow. “What am I supposed to do with you~?” he hummed with a worried singsong. Was this a sheep from some nearby farmland he didn’t know about or something? Trying to locate its owner seemed like something that was going to be very troublesome.