sticksandbones

🤡

Who: Allen + You!
What: Holy clown boy coming to a Grove near you!
When: Beginning of March
Where: ??? Around
Warnings: None yet, will be in headers as the pop up.

I. I've tasted all your sin (Forest entrance)

[ There is, perhaps, not a single person who would say arriving in the Grove isn't jarring. Some woke up here from their own slumber back home, and that is perhaps the smoothest transition you can get, even even that has yet to be graceful. For Allen, one moment he's holding the hand of his friend, trying to wake him up from what he could only assume was a horrific coma, and then next he's... here. His hand clasps in on itself, and he's suddenly looking around in a panic. He knew that the place he'd ended up may very well kick him out of his consciousness. May lend just the right amount of strength for Nea to pull him out of the "driver's seat", so to speak, but... is that what's happening now? Now, when he was so close to saving his friend?

No.

No, no, no.

The panic sets in as he darts from out of the trees, attempting to look for something, anything that might help him figure out how to get back. It's once he gets into the Grove proper that his eye activates. He has his own questions about that - if he's not in control, where is that coming from? What would his eye see... in his own head? Before he can ponder it for too long, he at least gets one of his answers. What does his eye see? Well.

Death.

It's the first time Allen's seeing souls not attached to something else, but Allen doesn't have time to process that part. Rather, he is trying to remember how to breathe again, because as of now, seeing the horrible visions in front of him - death of his friends, of those he loves, of a fire that isn't really there - all has the air he's trying to get out caught in his throat. It's only once his eye deactivates, the sclera turning from black to white and the red of his eye back to a silvery gray, does he finally have some kind of reprieve from the overwhelm. It's not much. The panic has only gotten worse, after all.

He falls to his knees, gasping for air as if he'd been held underwater for too long. ]

II. You've lost your appetite (for sacrifice) (Timcanpy, the Inn)

[ Timcanpy is a little golden golem. He is here! He isn't sure why he's here, but he is! How exciting! He's gonna...! He's...!!!

...

Where is this!!!!!!!!!! He is going to float out of the inn room he Spawned(tm) in and??? chew on the first person he sees. Hello. ]

III. How can we terminate this parasite (Around the Grove)

[ Fortunately, although the panic attack hits Allen like a train, the fact that he's so fucking hungry does as well. Which means... this is definitely his body. He's not stuck in his head. That's?? Good. Probably. Well, it's not good that he doesn't know where he is, but it's good he's still Him. Does this make sense? No. It doesn't. Fuck, he's SO hungry-

He will very hastily try to find the first person he can and catch their attention with a friendly wave of his normal-looking hand, and in a thick, British accent: ] Cheers! Uh, I have a lot of questions, but... most important, do you know where a bloke might find some food? Preferably, a lot of it?

...

Oh, also, what is that? [ He's, uh, pointing at Moder. ]

IV. If you keep digging up the Host? (Wildcard)
HMU if you wanna do something else pls I have such a strong muse for my baby boy I'm gonna be SO annoying-

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

["I'm going back to the Order. Bye," had essentially, sort of, been Kanda's last words to Allen — he did not say them but that was basically the gist of it. Saying goodbye implies finality, and Kanda had known he'd be back with whatever research he and Tiedoll completed eventually. Not... that it was planned, or that either of them knew how at the time, but Kanda had chased Allen across the country before. Surely he could do it again. Would do it again.

At some point.

Last he knew, he was standing in the rain in front of Mana Walker's empty grave. Now he's here, it's not raining, there's goddamn snow on the ground, there's SOME FUCKING GUY THAT LOOKS LIKE HIM SOMEWHERE OUT THERE, there's a Catholic Goddamn Church, and Allen Walker is collapsed in front of him.

What the fuck is happening.

Luckily Kanda has the brain to recognize that Allen may or may not be fighting his demons (literal), so instead of asking questions — he's never been good at that anyway — he runs to Allen's side and crouches down to check. Eyes normal? Not ominously yellow?]

Beansprout!

[Get it together we need to figure out where we are—]

[ No yellow. No red, either, which is fortunate for Allen. Allen barely registers what's happening immediately. Panic says to swat away the sudden touch. To push, to shove, to scream, to throw a whirlwind of fear out and make it everyone's problem. He's...

He doesn't. Though his heart is beating so fast he fears it may break his chest open, he somehow has the control enough to not completely lose it at something as simple as having someone close. Someone familiar no less.

But it's scary. There's a moment where Kanda will see those silver-grays hurriedly scanning his face in no particular pattern, and just as erratic as his hyperventilating, then away from him to where the well is.

...

Allen doesn't say anything, to stuck in the ocean of thoughts in his head to comprehend any of this, and unsure he remembers what language even is. ]

[Help, how do you deal with a panic attack— no one taught him this! Doctors treat hysteria with cocaine and Kanda doesn't have any god damn cocaine!!]

Beansprout, oi!

[Does he— does he punch him? That usually draws Allen out of whatever bullshit place his brain goes to, but it doesn't seem like Nea is at the forefront of his conscious right now. Fuck, if Johnny were here, what would Johnny do? Johnny is reasonable and thinks thoughts that people who were raised and had parents that loved them think!

Slowly, then, he puts a hand on Allen's shoulder and shakes him.]

Allen, look at me. What the hell happened?

[ It's not hard to pull Allen's gaze back to Kanda, but... it does trigger the reaction of tears welling in his eyes, pairing very well with the way he's so desperate to get the air in his lungs. He feels... lightheaded. This is too much. It's too much, it's too much, it's- ]

I saw your corpse.

[ He was dead. He and Marie and Alma, scattered so carelessly around the well, like they didn't deserve to have dignified deaths. Like...

Allen chokes on a sob. Emotional, as ever. ]

Wh-... Are you doing th-...this on purpose??

[He hears Allen mutter something, but what is completely unclear. He misses it entirely, and by the point he's about to ask, Allen says something else that completely throws him.]

Doing what, [he replies, bitchy, testy.] Looking out for your stupid ass in the middle of god damn nowhere?

[ ...Okay, yeah. This is definitely Kanda, and not some hallucination or weird Nea head not-memory, or shapeshifter, or... or something like that. Only Yu Kanda could be so stupidly callous. And yet, in this instance, Allen finds a strange comfort in it.

Enough so that only his guard falls, but that only makes way for the dam to break.

Allen lets out another unbidden sob, before he just lets go and breaks down crying, hanging his head down as he hugs himself, shaking. He was... He was so sure... they all died. That something happened and he lost... everyone.

That everyone was just gone. ]

It's you...! Thank g-... Thank goodness...! I-...! [ He hiccups, actively trying to get smaller. ] You're here!

[...what the fuck did he miss now?

Ugh. It's no use trying to get through to Beansprout when he's like this, and Kanda knows this. He'll have to wait until the other collects himself, so.

Into the snow he flops. Might as well sit down instead of crouching the entire time.]

Who else would it fucking be? [Oh I don't know, one of the like three other people with Allen after you left??? Dude.]

[ Allen... laughs. Sort of. It's in that way it mixes in with his sobbing, and only makes him lift his arms to rub against his face, as if wiping his tears away will make the sobbing stop. It won't. There will be more tears. He's trying- ]

Sorry. [ Don't apologize, comes just a little too late in his head. His shivering gets just a little more prominent. ] Give me a- hic- m-moment.

[Stupid-ass Beansprout making him sit here in the stupid-ass snow while he cries his stupid-ass tears. He hates you so much for making him do this.

(Kanda, no one is making you do anything.)

Unfortunately, he's emotionally stunted, so he's simply going to sit there until Allen collects himself long enough for the interrogation. Like, "what happened after we split" and "where the hell are we" and "what the fuck happened that has you freaking out like this also I don't care I just want to know". Normal stuff.]

[ Allen gets to a point where he’s breathing properly, at least. The hiccups die, but the tears and runny nose do not. His face is a red, puffy mess by the time he pulls his arm away and looks at Kanda. ]

D… did you… also just… blink and end up here?

Yeah.

["I was investigating your adoptive dad's grave and btw it's empty" is not the thing to say right now, but it floats on the tip of Kanda's tongue as something semi-important to bring up later. It's of lesser importance than figuring out where the hell they are, and if this is some sort of subspace like in the Ark or in someone's memories or whatever, Kanda doesn't want to immediately fight about this lest their hidden enemy use that against them.

Every goddamn day of his life is such a Situation. He's tired of Situations.]

We need to figure out where the hell we are. ...and you need to clean your nasty face off.

["I'm not going to start a fight about Mana" says man who starts a fight about something else—]

[ Biiiiiiig snotty sniff. ]

I don’t have a kerchief…

[ :( ]

[Kanda's eyebrow twitches. He doesn't have one either, so he's getting up and dusting off and stomping off through the snow. Allen does not get helped up.]

I saw an inn. Come on.

[Stomp stomp stomp]

[ It’s fine. Allen doesn’t expect Kanda to help. He does stand and desperately at least try to dry his face the best he can with his sleeves. He does start to follow Kanda. But.

He stops at the well and just… stares down it.

…

He’ll start walking again after a few seconds. ]

What? [What's your damage with the well?] Is there something in it?

[But Allen has already started walking again, so... no? Nothing down the well? They're right out front of the inn now, though, so it looks like they're headed in.]

Water. [ Thanks, Allen. He sniffles again. ] …Besides the… this. The town, the trees, I mean. Besides that, did you… see anything?

It largely looks like a typical town. There's a church south of here. [which means christ is here obviously.] There are a few restaurants, a library, and some scattered homes. Culturally, I can't tell where we are. Everyone speaks English, but there are two Japanese buildings south of the river, and one of the restaurants is Indian, I think. Or Persian.

[He shoulders open the inn door, and sure enough, this is definitely a more western-styled inn lobby. And the fireplace's fire is pink.

Why is the fire pink.]

Other than that... there are several weird-looking monsters around that aren't Akuma, [as he was so kindly told when he tried to kill Zahliya earlier,] a woman made of shadows, and many people here have horns and tails.

[Also there's a guy that looks like him etc but he's not bringing it up because that would mean finding the guy and trying to beat his ass probably.]

I see… I… Do you think it’s… Innocence? [ A poor guess. But he’s still gooey brained. Thinking hard he just wants to lay down.

But he will take a rag from behind the counter, though. Face: clean! Sort of. ]

…Nothing else? Nothing beyond… that?

[...nevermind we're talking about it.]

There's some fucking guy that looks exactly like me. [And unspoken: I hate him.] There's a goddamn hole in the sky. The shadow woman said that the reason people have horns and tails is because some of them were blessed by dragons, and I wouldn't have believed a word out of her mouth had I not turned around and saw a giant dragon literal seconds later.

[He groans, leaning against the doorway as Allen gets his bearings, because of course he has to lean in doorways.]

It could be Innocence, but either way, I haven't been able to get in touch with Tiedoll at all. Also, you're not supposed to be here. I left you with that fucking CROW and Johnny.

[AND YOU ARE???]

[ Allen wobbles for a moment. He figures that if Kanda had seen the despair that Allen had, he probably would keep it to himself anyway. So, he supposes asking isn’t exactly a sure fire way to get Kanda to tell the truth. But also, he at least seems earnest here?

So then… what WAS that?

He wipes his nose, all red and puffy from sniffling so much, and looks back out the window. There’s a long pause while he tries to process what Kanda is telling him, and file that in with what HE knows.

Which isn’t much, but there is one vital thing: ]

I can’t… I can’t pick a destination. For the Ark.

...what?

[Okay, yeah, nevermind the other weird shit here, this is more important.]

What do you mean? You can't pick at all? Can you even open it?

[ Allen shifts uneasily, then mouths out the words to lyrics Kanda has undoubtedly memorized even himself at this point, and sure enough, the usual gateway opens.

Allen does not bother stepping through. ]

I can... I can feel it's... disconnect. I can't...

[ He squeezes the rag in his hand, and the gateway shatters as Allen turns to Kanda. ]

Whatever this place is, it doesn't want us leaving.

[His lips purse and he groans, tilting his head back to lightly knock it against the door frame in frustration. Of course... of course. He should have gotten that from the fog wall and the fact that the people here don't seem correct.]

You don't think this is any of the Noah Clan's doing, do you?

[It would be just like Road to make some weird dreamspace and lock them both in it, and invent goddamn dragons and shadow ladies to go with. But Road also likes Allen, is fond of him, and trapping them both together in this place feels like an error on her part too. Unless Allen is fake, but why make him hallucinate Allen instead of Alma, or anyone else at the Order?]

[ He doesn't answer immediately, mostly because he's considering it, like he's trying to poke holes into the logic in real time. It could be. He wouldn't put anything past them at this point, but he also feels like if they were to trap Allen, it would be just Allen. Or, if not just Allen, than anyone but the man who would kill Nea on sight. ]

There would be Akuma here if that were the case. And I haven't seen any.

[Another bonk. Kanda, ever the voice of positivity and good vibes, mutters:]

Great, so we're fucked then.

now for the main event (gay drama) (also prompt 1)

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