1st Soul | Video/Action for New Bark + beginning route

[heartandsoul]

[For the moment there's...fog on the screen, like someone breathed on it. Then a hand comes into view, writing something with the pointer finger.]

42-42--[The voice accompanies the numbers it's writing.]--564, whenever you wanna knock on Death's door.

[Nothing happens, which seems to be the opposite of what the user wanted. The fog dissipates and all that's left is the view of, honestly, something quite alarming at first glance: a close up of someone's sweater-clad abdomen where it looks as though they had been bleeding before turning on the video. The camera rolls up away from the sight to show a young girl, face just as worn down as the sweater, the only spots not touched by some kind of grime form a trail down from her eyes--tear tracks, perhaps.]

What does that mean...? He's not here? That couldn't be right, even if the book said--[The girl pulls back the 'gear, turning it so the view is focused instead on the Rufflet on her shoulder rather than her face.] This is recording, isn't it? Hmm... [She won't turn the focus back on herself despite the Rufflet appearing shy at being on screen.] Scythe Meister Maka Albarn here, is there anybody from the Academy out there? I couldn't contact Lord Death, and...

[The mission went sour. But they would know that, she doesn't need to share it on what might possibly be a public feed.]

I'm lost. Please contact me ASAP. Thank you.

[The feed ends there, Maka is left thinking about what to do next as she wanders forward--"Mom" pushed her out before she could clean up and change, just left her with a book and some vague "welcome to the world of Pokemon" instructions. This is too much considering before she was in a terrible struggle with its own set of issues to confront.]

Comments

video

[whatsacactus]

Never heard of any of that. Not much help there.

[But there is something that caught his interest.]

What's a scythe master?

[heartandsoul]

[He doesn't know...this really is a whole other world, even civilians of her world know what a Meister is. She takes a moment to scrub the worst of the crud off her face before responding.]

"Meister." A weapons technician that specializes in use of Demon Scythes in particular.

[Maka says this automatically, not putting any thought to the concept of "demon" being used in a more "old world" fashion, or that nobody uses Meister in every day conversation unless they're speaking German.]

So, in short, while I can use other weapons for fighting, scythes are my preference. Don't tell my Weapon partner that I can use others, though, he'd probably get fussy.

["He would" "my partner" as if it's a living thing.]

[lordofthefries]

Lord Death?!

[Look, Sasha's heard some strange names in her time, but who in their right mind would name their child Death? Not to mention knocking on his door. What is this girl talking about? It seems she's lost in more than one way.]

Didn't you get a map? Do you see any signs around you? Are you okay? Are you bleeding?

[The girl's state looks far too familiar in that "Everything is fucked and we're all going to Hell" way and Sasha can easily set aside the Death dude for now.]

[heartandsoul]

Mm?

[What. He's just the god of death, it's not such a strange idea, is it? Or did people in this world consider Pokemon gods? What exactly is the full theological background of this--

Stop it, Maka, this isn't the time for questioning the bigger picture.]

Yes, I got a map, but, um...I don't mean to be rude, but I want to go home, and this map doesn't look familiar. [...She pats at her side where most of the bleeding came from and checks--] Oh...I guess I was bleeding. Now I'm not. I'm okay.

Video

[a_sin_for_him]

[Oh!]

[....oh. Lust's face falls a bit, as she realizes Maka doesn't remember being here before. She wishes she knew why some remembered and some didn't.]

Hello, Maka. I'm afraid you're quite far from home, right now. But you aren't lost, you're in a place called New Bark Town, in the region of Johto.

And you're going to be perfectly fine.

[heartandsoul]

[Adult!

...Adult is telling her everything will be fine? But...]

Excuse me, ma'am, but how do I get home?

[Maybe Maka isn't actually lost, yes Maka read the book and listened to the spiel, but she certainly feels adrift.]

Action! (I'm so sorry about this..)

[runswiththepack]

Daine had just finished introducing herself to Diamondhoof the Ponyta when she overheard something that made her blood run cold. Lord Death? Is she referring to Tristan?

More than ever she wished she had her bow with her. Glancing around, she spotted a fist sized rock. Planting herself, Diamondhoof at her back, she called over to the girl she'd overheard talking into the communications thing, her eyes steely.

"If you're trying to contact Tristan, forget it. He's being kept busy. But if you helped him make that bloodrain, I won't let you get away."

She tossed the rock into the air, catching it again. "I warn you, I'm a fair aim."

Well hello sudden childhood how are you

[heartandsoul]

"...Who?"

She was...being threatened, right? Threatened by...a stranger. That was going to toss rocks at her. Probably not the weirdest threat Maka's gotten, but it certainly scared the bird on her shoulder into burrowing in her backpack.

"Sorry, I...Tristan? No, I'm looking for Lord Death, the headmaster of my school. As far as I know he's not named anything else." Belatedly, the girl braces herself against any rocks that might go flying at her--she's not injured anymore, but that didn't mean she wanted new ones. "And I never made any...blood rain, this all is from being attacked." Bloodrain sounded vaguely like some forbidden Witch magic, or something obscure that only reapers knew about, nothing Maka would know anyway being human.

[Text]

[bleedingunversed]

Stand in front of a stampede of angry Tauros.

Pretty sure you'd find Lord Death that way.

[Voice on her end]

[heartandsoul]

Ah.

Here's a guy with too much time on his hands.

[What kind of weirdo wastes time trolling confused and lost kids.]

[heribbon]

Miss Albarn, I'm sorry to say, but it's probably reasonable to assume that the people you're looking for aren't here.

There should be a map in your handbook, if you woke up here suddenly like me. [she gave her a worried look.] Are you alright other than being lost?

[heartandsoul]

I'm all right, really, it looks worse than it is.

[Again, if whoever brought her here went to the trouble of healing her wounds, why did they also not get rid of the grime and blood.]

At least I can say I'm not the only one who just woke up here. [...] Oh, um, also you don't have to call me "miss", just Maka is fine.

action im sorry

[sassymaru]

I wouldn't rely overly much on the device, miss.

[So says someone who sounds a) bored out of his skull and b) trying way too hard to make sure he stays sounding that way.]

[... it's the guy dressed in bright purple. Casually leaning against a building, arms folded. And regarding the Froakie at his feet with some lingering doubt.]

If they have heard of your world, none of them are in any great hurry to return you there.

[heartandsoul]

[Oddly...

That is not the weirdest or most tacky person she's seen in her life. As for trying Way Too Hard, well, perhaps he could outdo Soul in that, he who gels his hair to make it look anime spiky when it naturally lies flat.]

Probably. Considering there seems to be a bunch of people here already, some of them in this world for years, there's something weird going on.

[She balks at the sight of the Froakie herself, thinking first of a certain frog witch back in her own world. But then she realizes it's a Pokemon and relaxes.] --Is that your partner? [...It's kind of cute, on second glance.]

video;

[shiro2hero]

Hey, it's okay. If you just woke up, then you're probably in New Bark Town.

It's... a lot to take in. But you're going to be all right.

[heartandsoul]

[Hm. There's a lot of adults here, all saying the same thing. This one especially seems to be trying to speak calmly.]

Sir, my friends aren't here. Not to be rude, but I don't see how that's going to be all right.

[Text]

[puzzlemonkey]

[ What was this, the second new person to arrive in as many days? Less even? Maybe he should actually respond to one of them. ]

Maybe you should start by changing your blood-stained sweater so people don't harass you with annoying questions.

[heartandsoul]

[Hang on, give her a second to figure out how to work the texting on this thing.]

That woman kind of pushed me out of the house before I could say anything, it's fine. Nobody's really made a big deal out of the blood anyway, I'm just annoyed that whatever brought me here healed my injuries but didn't bother to clean up too.

Video

[starry_forehead]

Yeah, that's not going to work.

You're in a new world now. The gear you got isn't going to reach anyone outside of it.

[At least he's pretty sure. Not worth destroying the thing to find out though. /make a note to ask McGucket.]

[heartandsoul]

Er. Weirdly that just makes me worry more. since this is something that's apparently more powerful than the jurisdiction of the god of death, so...

[This meaning whatever brought them all, of course.]

Video

[hellablue]

No one else seems to give a fuck that you were trying to contact "Death", so I'm gonna be that bitch. What the fuck?

[heartandsoul]

...Sorry, how does that make you a bitch? You're just asking a question.

[What an innocent response for someone literally trying to contact Death.]

He's the headmaster of my school, so I'm trying to contact him. It didn't work and he's not here, so that sucks.

video;

[unconchonable]

You an' all of us, tee-bee-ache.

[Eridan looks a little bored, like he's got better things to do than talk to this lost little human, yet here he is doing just that.]

Whatewer worked in your world ain't likely gonna work here, sandsucker. Better get used to that, unless you like embarrassin' yourself by publically tryin' an' failin'. If that's the case, by all means, continue.

[heartandsoul]

Better to try and fail than sit around not having a clue.

["Sandsucker"...that's such a specific insult, how would he know she grew up in a desert? Maka's certainly never seen anyone that looks like him in Death City before. She'd remember someone that looked and sounded like the personification of snobbery itself.]

Even so, does anyone really give a crap about what I do on this network? I doubt it.

[Video]

[badluckbabe]

So what kind of Academy are you trying to contact?

[Knocking on Death's door sounds intriguing enough for a gothy girl like her.]

[heartandsoul]

The Death Weapon Meister Academy.

[But she shouldn't have to say it if it's around, right? Maybe to a civilian, but Jinx honestly doesn't look like any civilian Maka's ever met with. If it weren't for the lack of an obvious animal motif, she might have signaled "Witch" to the Meister immediately.

Not that...not that it meant anything, anymore. She also looked not very older than Maka, it reminded her too much of Kim to go into the usual "rah rah rah Witch you won't hurt people in the name of Lord Death I will punish you."]

Lord Death usually responds through anything reflective, but if he isn't, then...I guess he's not here.

video;

[armoredsoul]

...I have a lot of questions, but unfortunately you're stuck here for the time being. Has anyone you know responded yet?

[Probably best to start with that...though Alphonse could swear he recognizes her. Maybe she'd been here in the past?]

[heartandsoul]

No, I think I'm the only one from...my "world" here.

[Not that she realizes it, but there are some who recognize her--the previous version of her that was here.]

You might as well get your questions out of the way right now if you have any.

[video]

[alltoblame]

[Everyone here has pretty much handled everything else, Ed knew injuries didn't last for new arrivals so he's not all that concerned about the blood. Wherever she was before it was possible her life had been saved showing up here, instead.]

That some kind of code for something...?

[heartandsoul]

Code? No, it's just Lord Death's number.

[There wasn't much of a rhyme or reason to it if one wasn't fluent in Japanese. Fortunately, Maka is half Japanese and semi-fluent.]

...I did ask Lord Death once, he only said it translated to "shin-shin-goroshi" which I think means...death-death-murder?

[Very pleasant.]

[Video]

[findingbeasts]

[Honestly he's heard stranger things so he's not worried about that. What he is worried about is--]

You're bleeding!

[Hello, miss. Pleasure to meet you.]

Are you--you should get to the Pokemon Center right away and have that looked at.

[heartandsoul]

...But I'm fine, sir.

[What's he freaking out for? Adults that aren't her parents or teachers don't have much reason to fuss about injuries. It's normal.]

It looks worse than it is. Um, also, I probably shouldn't ask to be treated at a Pokemon Center, that would distract from Pokemon that need help more.