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

[ 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.

No. [ Said so matter-of-factly that it's like he almost believes that he has the answer to this problem. He Does Not. ] I'll figure out a way back. I have to-

Lavi needs my help. I am getting back.

[Wait. That brings up something else, something that snaps Kanda out of his moodiness briefly.]

You know where Lavi is?

[The last time Kanda saw him was... fuck, before Wisely demon-eyed his ass and Alma awoke. He's been missing all this time, him and Bookman both, though the Order had played it off as "they're Bookmen and they just disappear". Anyone who was out in the field during that attack knows that's not what fucking happened.]

[ Kanda wasn't even separated from them that long, but he sure has missed a lot, huh?

Ugh. ] Yeah. I was next to him before I showed up here. I was told I could help him - and I was going to, but...

But that means we're definitely going to get back! Just... give me some time, and I'll get it sorted.

[Look, Kanda was "dead" for three months. When he got back to the Order briefly, Lavi wasn't there to greet him in that over-enthusiastic way he does. He's been gone long enough that just hearing the other man's name is a shock.]

...is he alive?

...Yes. Just... hurting. I don't know why yet.

[Well. That's... good? Better than the alternative.]

We'll figure out how to get back, then. I was in the middle of finding out more about your situation anyway.

...Yeah? That's a little embarrassing. It feels like we've been apart for such a long time. [ It's been like a few days. Maybe a week. But also when you have years of lost memories shoved into your brain, you kind of lose track of time. ]

It's been a couple days. [fuck you mean "long time".] Don't tell me you missed me.

[Ew.]

...did anything happen after we parted?

Uh... Well! We made it to that Zoogle place! The one we talked about before you left.

...

And then I had to use the Ark again to get to the Fourteenth's home. [ Allen. ] I guess there was a lot of stuff that happened? I dunno. My head hurts. I'm hungry. Is there food?

[...

Nevermind he's done being civil. He's glaring.]

You're hiding something. There's no food and you get to starve until you fucking talk.

There’s restaurants! You’re not a fuckin’ obstacle, you wanker. I can go get food if I want.

We can talk about that stuff later, we should find more out about this place first!

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