fandoms 33-35
33.
Title: Panic Puppet
Fandom: Dynamite Headdy
Rating: T (spoilers, creepy puppets)
Word Count: 507
Summary: The boss didn't let new stagehands near Headdy or any of the other puppets involved in the incidents.
"Oh, that's Headdy," said the stagehand, "The boss doesn't let the new guys near him."
The new recruit peered as closely as she dared at the puppet in the glass cabinet. It was a traditional wooden puppet, hand painted in exquisite detail. It wasn't supposed to be a human - it only looked vaguely humanoid, with yellow skin, a beak for a mouth, exaggerated hands and feet and some sort of antennae on its head like an insect. She imagined that it was supposed to be some sort of woodland fey. The grin on its face certainly looked impish enough.
"There are some interesting rumours about that little guy," continued her co-worker.
"So I've heard. Isn't he sort of like the Phantom of the Opera, but for puppets?"
The stagehand laughed nervously, "Sort of. They say that a disaster always happens if you try and harm him or any of the puppets in his set. That you have to include him in shows every now and then or he gets bored and messes things up anyway."
"Wasn't there a fire?"
"That's right. Twenty years ago. The old theatre house burned down after they tried to throw all the old, worn out puppets in the furnace. The old puppets survived the fire, their replacements didn't. And that's not all. A few days later, the producer died, bludgeoned to death in his office."
"The newspapers said it was a robbery gone wrong..."
"They found his money strewn about him, though, none of it taken. Also, whoever it was had the access codes to his room. They just opened the door and waltzed in, no previous signs of a struggle, or of entry at all."
"An inside job, maybe?"
"It was late at night. Nobody was in the office. I mean, the night security staff could have done it, I guess..."
"You don't think it was a human, do you?"
The stagehand stared at the puppet for a long time, as if daring it to move.
"Believe what you will, but puppets this old in such good condition are valuable these days. It's been reconstructed a few times but it's still a piece of history. There's probably a Government agency somewhere protecting things like this. So don't touch it without permission, okay?"
"Got it. Don't want to make trouble on my first day."
The stagehand moved over to dust a display cabinet next to Headdy's, one with a similar, female-looking puppet, then he suddenly turned back to glance at Headdy again.
"I'm sure I remember that thing having a medal," he said.
"A medal?"
"For being the best puppet in the show. There was... another incident attached to it. The damn thing keeps disappearing, though, and we never know where we're going to find it next. If you see it while you're cleaning, do pick it up," he said, "These things are creeping me out now. I need another smoke. Hey, I'll show you where you're allowed to smoke - on our way out, how about I show you Maruyama?"
34.
Title: Lively Step
Fandom: Star Ocean: Till the End of Time / Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth
Rating: K+ (spoilers for Star Ocean 3)
Word Count: 718
Summary: Concerned by the rise of the Sphere Corporation, the Goddesses summon Tria but the ritual goes wrong and they accidentally end up with Welch.
"So, why are we summoning Tria again?" asked Blanc.
"Because she lives out in space and we don't have time to wait for a spaceship to get here," replied Noir, "And we don't have a receptor for a teleporter, and there's too much clutter to blindly beam down."
"And it's too much of an emergency to go and do it in a field because...?"
"Tria's been having trouble with another games company called the Eternal Sphere," explained Noir, "They were Tria's creations, but they became powerful and aware enough to get hold of their own divine magic, and they're seriously abusing it. It's putting a lot of innocents in danger."
"And we're letting Neptune lead the ritual despite her cluelessness because...?"
"All this science-fantasy is kinda her shtick. Tria and herself have a lot in common, actually, I hope they get a chance to geek out at each other once this is sorted out. It might do her good to remember where her strengths lie."
"Well, don't forget to make sure the job is done before you start chatting," said Noir, "I'm a busy Goddess, so let's do this right away."
Once the Goddesses were in position around the summoning circle, they began channelling their magic in unison. A column of light in the centre of the arcane runes grew brighter as their incantations grew louder and more enthusiastic. Then Neptune slammed the eldritch tome shut while yelling the last syllable. The light flared out, blinding everyone, and when they could next see again, a figure lay sprawled in the middle of the circle, rubbing her head and looking around her in confusion.
Welch picked up her Handy Stick and pointed it directly at the purple-haired woman.
"Who the hell d'you think you're messing with?" screamed the inventor.
"Nep... that's not Tria," Noir growled through clenched teeth.
"It looks just like how you described her!" protested the recovering amnesiac Goddess.
"Yeah, if she was half the age and obviously a mortal! This looks like... like Tria had a kid!"
"Is that supposed to be a compliment? You won't get away with this through flattery!" warned Welch as she waved the stick around, "Now tell me where you've taken me!"
"Welcome to Gamindustri!" said Neptune, smiling and waving.
"The game industry? Is this another Eternal Sphere thing?" she demanded.
"She knows about the Eternal Sphere. We can still use her," said Noir.
"Don't say scary things like that, Noir, we made a terrible mistake and we owe our guest an apology! I'm sorry we summoned the wrong person, ma'am, would you like us to lead you upstairs and bring you some complimentary tea and cake?"
"Don't ma'am me, I'm Welch Vineyard! Why have you losers not even heard of the greatest, most intelligent, most beautiful..." Welch suddenly stopped, a look of dawning realisation on her face that turned into manic excitement, "You... you're the games console ladies, aren't you?"
"We're the what?" Blanc snapped. She hissed to Noir, "Go get Vert so she can translate!"
The raven-haired Goddess ran up the stairs while the inventor continued squealing at a slightly flustered and confused Neptune, "You girls are like seriously my heroes! Sexy, powerful AND the embodiment of my favourite games consoles! Did you say Vert is here? I cosplayed as her a month ago! It was at Fun City Expo in Energy Nede, which I know can be kinda hard to get to if you're not local..."
"Hey, Blanc, I think I accidentally found out that I can summon fangirls!"
"You realise how much trouble this can potentially get us into? You still want to just invite her in for tea and cake?"
"Yeah, we still put her in danger. Summoning can hurt people if it goes wrong, you know," Neptune frowned, "And Noir's right, we should ask her about the Eternal Sphere... but politely! She's clearly innocent in all of this!"
Blanc inspected the girl, frowning, "She really does look a lot like Tria."
"Can I have a selfie with you?" Welch asked her, producing a mobile phone from the pocket of her sleeveless jacket, "Or at least an autograph. It's lucky I have a new game I just bought. You could sign the manual!"
Blanc sighed, "Oh, okay, whose game is it? Neptune, put the kettle on…"
35.
Title: Day Seven
Fandom: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
Rating: K+ (spoilers)
Word Count: 753
Summary: Time is almost up and the decision is about to be made. Yuzu wants to stick to the original plan, escape the lockdown and head home, but their leader isn't quite sure that's a good idea.
Yuzu still wants to escape the Lockdown.
We all started out wanting to escape the Lockdown. Hell, we almost managed it. The barrier was weak from the amount of damage the surrounding buildings had taken, the angels were busy fighting a sudden incursion of demons, quite a few people were making a break for it in the meantime, Honda included. Then both the angels and the demons turned on the civilians and it turned into yet another massive fight for our lives. It was up to us, as the strongest COMP users, to protect everyone as usual, even though people were mostly asking for it by continuing to run towards the exit or even trying to fight the angels with barely any weapons. By the time we'd fought off both sides - there was some debate over whether we should actually try and side with one or the other but they were both willing to attack unarmed humans so I really didn't want anything to do with either of them - whatever force maintained the barrier had managed to reinforce it in that area again, so our window of opportunity was lost.
At least we knew the barrier was weak, Yuzu reassured us, we'll be able to plan for it a bit better next time, maybe scout out some good places where the barrier might be weaker, rather than just being opportunist about it. Soon we'll be back in civilisation, she promised, and we'll be able to have normal lives again. We'll be able to contact our friends and families on the other side of the blockade, warn them of the trouble in Shibuya and make sure they're okay. There'll be school and restaurants and anime and we'll all have learned not to take those small pleasures of life for granted, now we know what it's like to have your whole life turned upside down.
Whenever she said that, Atsuro snorted. He asked her what the chances were that everything was going to be normal everywhere else when inner Tokyo has been invaded by angels and demons. What with the Internet and global capitalism, everything was connected these days and news travelled pretty much instantaneously, especially in cities as big as Tokyo. That was assuming other places didn't have their own demon problems, which they probably did - it made no sense for the trial to be limited to Japan. Quite apart from which, hadn't the angels warned of very serious consequences if anyone tried to escape the lockdown, even worse than what was happening in Shibuya already? Atsuro didn't like being bullied by creepy-looking divine emissaries but he was kinda worried about what those consequences might be.
I saw his point, I really did. What was more, I didn't think this was the kind of problem you just walked away from. It was eventually going to get worse, the consequences would inevitably spread beyond the Lockdown and it would all be in someone else's hands once we left the field of play. Right now it felt as though the whole thing was too big for us to deal with but we were getting stronger all the time and we had been given these tools, this potential to get stronger, for a reason.
On the other hand, I don't like being forced to stay in here like a rat in an experiment. If ths is happening everywhere, wasn't it even more important for me to get out so I could check up on my family? How do I know that the angels were even telling the truth about it being important for me to stay in Shibuya? I had already seen it demonstrated that these weren't nice people.
And then there were all the friends I'd made so far who were trying their hardest to figure out the mystery of the Lockdown, or to fight for one faction or the other...
No, the decision wasn't going to be as simple as it seemed in the first couple of days, when all we really did was scout for possible exits and try to figure out exactly how our COMPs worked.
At least I'm not the only person finding the decision difficult. I don't think anyone is getting enough sleep now, on the final day of the week we have to live unless we change something drastic. Yuzu, Atsuro, Gin, Keisuke, Midori, the cute singer, my weird big brother, that cultist girl and, of course, Black Frost...
I should probably go talk to them all.
Title: Panic Puppet
Fandom: Dynamite Headdy
Rating: T (spoilers, creepy puppets)
Word Count: 507
Summary: The boss didn't let new stagehands near Headdy or any of the other puppets involved in the incidents.
"Oh, that's Headdy," said the stagehand, "The boss doesn't let the new guys near him."
The new recruit peered as closely as she dared at the puppet in the glass cabinet. It was a traditional wooden puppet, hand painted in exquisite detail. It wasn't supposed to be a human - it only looked vaguely humanoid, with yellow skin, a beak for a mouth, exaggerated hands and feet and some sort of antennae on its head like an insect. She imagined that it was supposed to be some sort of woodland fey. The grin on its face certainly looked impish enough.
"There are some interesting rumours about that little guy," continued her co-worker.
"So I've heard. Isn't he sort of like the Phantom of the Opera, but for puppets?"
The stagehand laughed nervously, "Sort of. They say that a disaster always happens if you try and harm him or any of the puppets in his set. That you have to include him in shows every now and then or he gets bored and messes things up anyway."
"Wasn't there a fire?"
"That's right. Twenty years ago. The old theatre house burned down after they tried to throw all the old, worn out puppets in the furnace. The old puppets survived the fire, their replacements didn't. And that's not all. A few days later, the producer died, bludgeoned to death in his office."
"The newspapers said it was a robbery gone wrong..."
"They found his money strewn about him, though, none of it taken. Also, whoever it was had the access codes to his room. They just opened the door and waltzed in, no previous signs of a struggle, or of entry at all."
"An inside job, maybe?"
"It was late at night. Nobody was in the office. I mean, the night security staff could have done it, I guess..."
"You don't think it was a human, do you?"
The stagehand stared at the puppet for a long time, as if daring it to move.
"Believe what you will, but puppets this old in such good condition are valuable these days. It's been reconstructed a few times but it's still a piece of history. There's probably a Government agency somewhere protecting things like this. So don't touch it without permission, okay?"
"Got it. Don't want to make trouble on my first day."
The stagehand moved over to dust a display cabinet next to Headdy's, one with a similar, female-looking puppet, then he suddenly turned back to glance at Headdy again.
"I'm sure I remember that thing having a medal," he said.
"A medal?"
"For being the best puppet in the show. There was... another incident attached to it. The damn thing keeps disappearing, though, and we never know where we're going to find it next. If you see it while you're cleaning, do pick it up," he said, "These things are creeping me out now. I need another smoke. Hey, I'll show you where you're allowed to smoke - on our way out, how about I show you Maruyama?"
34.
Title: Lively Step
Fandom: Star Ocean: Till the End of Time / Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth
Rating: K+ (spoilers for Star Ocean 3)
Word Count: 718
Summary: Concerned by the rise of the Sphere Corporation, the Goddesses summon Tria but the ritual goes wrong and they accidentally end up with Welch.
"So, why are we summoning Tria again?" asked Blanc.
"Because she lives out in space and we don't have time to wait for a spaceship to get here," replied Noir, "And we don't have a receptor for a teleporter, and there's too much clutter to blindly beam down."
"And it's too much of an emergency to go and do it in a field because...?"
"Tria's been having trouble with another games company called the Eternal Sphere," explained Noir, "They were Tria's creations, but they became powerful and aware enough to get hold of their own divine magic, and they're seriously abusing it. It's putting a lot of innocents in danger."
"And we're letting Neptune lead the ritual despite her cluelessness because...?"
"All this science-fantasy is kinda her shtick. Tria and herself have a lot in common, actually, I hope they get a chance to geek out at each other once this is sorted out. It might do her good to remember where her strengths lie."
"Well, don't forget to make sure the job is done before you start chatting," said Noir, "I'm a busy Goddess, so let's do this right away."
Once the Goddesses were in position around the summoning circle, they began channelling their magic in unison. A column of light in the centre of the arcane runes grew brighter as their incantations grew louder and more enthusiastic. Then Neptune slammed the eldritch tome shut while yelling the last syllable. The light flared out, blinding everyone, and when they could next see again, a figure lay sprawled in the middle of the circle, rubbing her head and looking around her in confusion.
Welch picked up her Handy Stick and pointed it directly at the purple-haired woman.
"Who the hell d'you think you're messing with?" screamed the inventor.
"Nep... that's not Tria," Noir growled through clenched teeth.
"It looks just like how you described her!" protested the recovering amnesiac Goddess.
"Yeah, if she was half the age and obviously a mortal! This looks like... like Tria had a kid!"
"Is that supposed to be a compliment? You won't get away with this through flattery!" warned Welch as she waved the stick around, "Now tell me where you've taken me!"
"Welcome to Gamindustri!" said Neptune, smiling and waving.
"The game industry? Is this another Eternal Sphere thing?" she demanded.
"She knows about the Eternal Sphere. We can still use her," said Noir.
"Don't say scary things like that, Noir, we made a terrible mistake and we owe our guest an apology! I'm sorry we summoned the wrong person, ma'am, would you like us to lead you upstairs and bring you some complimentary tea and cake?"
"Don't ma'am me, I'm Welch Vineyard! Why have you losers not even heard of the greatest, most intelligent, most beautiful..." Welch suddenly stopped, a look of dawning realisation on her face that turned into manic excitement, "You... you're the games console ladies, aren't you?"
"We're the what?" Blanc snapped. She hissed to Noir, "Go get Vert so she can translate!"
The raven-haired Goddess ran up the stairs while the inventor continued squealing at a slightly flustered and confused Neptune, "You girls are like seriously my heroes! Sexy, powerful AND the embodiment of my favourite games consoles! Did you say Vert is here? I cosplayed as her a month ago! It was at Fun City Expo in Energy Nede, which I know can be kinda hard to get to if you're not local..."
"Hey, Blanc, I think I accidentally found out that I can summon fangirls!"
"You realise how much trouble this can potentially get us into? You still want to just invite her in for tea and cake?"
"Yeah, we still put her in danger. Summoning can hurt people if it goes wrong, you know," Neptune frowned, "And Noir's right, we should ask her about the Eternal Sphere... but politely! She's clearly innocent in all of this!"
Blanc inspected the girl, frowning, "She really does look a lot like Tria."
"Can I have a selfie with you?" Welch asked her, producing a mobile phone from the pocket of her sleeveless jacket, "Or at least an autograph. It's lucky I have a new game I just bought. You could sign the manual!"
Blanc sighed, "Oh, okay, whose game is it? Neptune, put the kettle on…"
35.
Title: Day Seven
Fandom: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
Rating: K+ (spoilers)
Word Count: 753
Summary: Time is almost up and the decision is about to be made. Yuzu wants to stick to the original plan, escape the lockdown and head home, but their leader isn't quite sure that's a good idea.
Yuzu still wants to escape the Lockdown.
We all started out wanting to escape the Lockdown. Hell, we almost managed it. The barrier was weak from the amount of damage the surrounding buildings had taken, the angels were busy fighting a sudden incursion of demons, quite a few people were making a break for it in the meantime, Honda included. Then both the angels and the demons turned on the civilians and it turned into yet another massive fight for our lives. It was up to us, as the strongest COMP users, to protect everyone as usual, even though people were mostly asking for it by continuing to run towards the exit or even trying to fight the angels with barely any weapons. By the time we'd fought off both sides - there was some debate over whether we should actually try and side with one or the other but they were both willing to attack unarmed humans so I really didn't want anything to do with either of them - whatever force maintained the barrier had managed to reinforce it in that area again, so our window of opportunity was lost.
At least we knew the barrier was weak, Yuzu reassured us, we'll be able to plan for it a bit better next time, maybe scout out some good places where the barrier might be weaker, rather than just being opportunist about it. Soon we'll be back in civilisation, she promised, and we'll be able to have normal lives again. We'll be able to contact our friends and families on the other side of the blockade, warn them of the trouble in Shibuya and make sure they're okay. There'll be school and restaurants and anime and we'll all have learned not to take those small pleasures of life for granted, now we know what it's like to have your whole life turned upside down.
Whenever she said that, Atsuro snorted. He asked her what the chances were that everything was going to be normal everywhere else when inner Tokyo has been invaded by angels and demons. What with the Internet and global capitalism, everything was connected these days and news travelled pretty much instantaneously, especially in cities as big as Tokyo. That was assuming other places didn't have their own demon problems, which they probably did - it made no sense for the trial to be limited to Japan. Quite apart from which, hadn't the angels warned of very serious consequences if anyone tried to escape the lockdown, even worse than what was happening in Shibuya already? Atsuro didn't like being bullied by creepy-looking divine emissaries but he was kinda worried about what those consequences might be.
I saw his point, I really did. What was more, I didn't think this was the kind of problem you just walked away from. It was eventually going to get worse, the consequences would inevitably spread beyond the Lockdown and it would all be in someone else's hands once we left the field of play. Right now it felt as though the whole thing was too big for us to deal with but we were getting stronger all the time and we had been given these tools, this potential to get stronger, for a reason.
On the other hand, I don't like being forced to stay in here like a rat in an experiment. If ths is happening everywhere, wasn't it even more important for me to get out so I could check up on my family? How do I know that the angels were even telling the truth about it being important for me to stay in Shibuya? I had already seen it demonstrated that these weren't nice people.
And then there were all the friends I'd made so far who were trying their hardest to figure out the mystery of the Lockdown, or to fight for one faction or the other...
No, the decision wasn't going to be as simple as it seemed in the first couple of days, when all we really did was scout for possible exits and try to figure out exactly how our COMPs worked.
At least I'm not the only person finding the decision difficult. I don't think anyone is getting enough sleep now, on the final day of the week we have to live unless we change something drastic. Yuzu, Atsuro, Gin, Keisuke, Midori, the cute singer, my weird big brother, that cultist girl and, of course, Black Frost...
I should probably go talk to them all.