[Thread] Let's Conspire to Reignite

[ringrevolution]

Characters: AU!Rhyme Bito and AU!Neku Sakuraba
Where: First apartment building.
When: Earlier today.
Summary: Rhyme finally makes her way to one of the apartments and runs into a familiar face.
Warnings: None~

Comments

[phonespsych]

Neka closed the door to her apartment with a soft sigh. She had gotten lucky that Saya wasn't in. She still needed to get some proper clothing. It was getting rather cold outside and well, what she was wearing didn't cover a whole lot. It left her arms bare and her legs rather cold.

She also needed to get a new set of headphones and find a way to get her MP3 player charged back up. She really missed her music. She paused as she looked down the hall. Was that Rhyme? It looked like her, but older.

"Rhyme?" She asked, blinking.

[ringrevolution]

Rhyme was beginning to see a pattern in how these apartments were set up on each floor. Each had all the necessities, and a bit of her almost wanted to make herself something to eat but she had gotten off the communicator a couple minutes ago. Her room mates were apparently preparing something for her, so she shouldn't spoil herself.

Rhyme had been looking over her shoulder, considering heading back towards the stairs when she heard her name called out.

She turned forward, surprised. There weren't many people here who knew her name, much less which face to connect it to.

What she saw was a familiar figure. She stopped in her tracks, not sure if what she was seeing was really there. They looked like Neku: spiky orange hair, fairly small and thin with pale skin. There was one distinct difference though, and that was that this person was female.

"...Neku?" she called uncertainly, her feet cemented.

[phonespsych]

"Kind of." She said, walking towards Rhyme. "I'm Neka." She said as she scratched the back of her head a bit. She walked over to Rhyme with a slight smile. It was still good to see the other Player, even if she wasn't really a Player anymore.

"I'm from a different version of Shibuya than you are." She said with a slight sigh.

[ringrevolution]

She should have figured that out--this Neku, or Neka, rather must be different from the one she knew. Still, it had never occurred to her that one of the differences between people could be gender. It was almost as strange as knowing about the other Rhyme here.

Nonetheless, male or female it was still the person she had made friends with, in some essence. Even if not, it never hurt to make more, right?

She returned the smile and gave a small laugh "Oh dear, this whole different worlds thing gets really confusing."

[phonespsych]

"It does get rather confusing. There are two Grim Heapers here and everyone seems to know me as a guy." She said shaking her head a bit. "But you'll get used to this place eventually. Have you talked with Beat yet? Mr. H, Joshua and Shiki are here too." It was good to have her friends and partners around.

[ringrevolution]

"I've talked with Beat and the other Rhyme here over," she paused and held up her little commincator, looking at it curiously. She was still trying to figure out everything it was capable of, "this thing here. I haven't actually met them though. I didn't know about Shiki, though." It was be so nice to see yet another person from her past. The other two didn't ring a bell for her, however.

She'd definitely have to stop by the seamstresses place some time, see how she was doing, seeing what differences existed between her and the Shiki she knew.

"Who are Joshua and Mr. H?" she asked, curious. If Neka had mentioned them, that meant the Rhyme she knew must have been acquainted with them as well. Perhaps she knew them by different names?

[phonespsych]

She thought for a few moments. She wasn't about to tell Rhyme that Joshua was the Composer. Though she would tell her that they had been partners.

"Joshua was my partner in my second week of the Reaper's Game. Mr. H runs the WildKat cafe in Shibuya. He's a friend of Joshua's." She said.

[ringrevolution]

Rhyme nodded. The name of the cafe sounded familiar, she was sure it was the one she had passed by sometimes but never stopped in. She had noted it simply because it was one of the stores marked by the Reaper's Game, one of the places Players could enter and be seen.

"I didn't know them back in my Shibuya. At the very least the names don't ring a bell." she admitted, rubbing her arms to warm up.

"Have you guys been here for a long time?" Ssil had said she'd been here a year which was pretty surprising, though really, perhaps it shouldn't be.

[phonespsych]

"I haven't been here for very long. The others have been here longer." She said, scratching the back of her head for a moment. "Though a lot of weird things do seem to happen in this place."

She wasn't going to mention the fact that she had died again saving one of the Grim Heapers. She didn't know why she had done it, but it didn't matter now.

[ringrevolution]

"Weird?" she echoed. She wouldn't have expected that to be an adjective one would attribute to this place. The only people she had really talked at length with had mostly spoken of fear, trouble, and the threat of the Entropi. Then again she hadn't spoken with that many people, but she could imagine many people felt similarly.

"Weird how?" It must be pretty bad for Neka to acknowledge it as such. She didn't think things could get much stranger than the Game, but it was never wise to make assumptions.

"Oh! But before I forgot, I'm suppose to be finding...Loh Ennea. Do you know where that is?" Rhyme still wasn't sure how things were set up around here.

[phonespsych]

"It's right down the hall here." She said, pointing to one of the doors. It wasn't far from her own room, but she didn't stay there very often. Not with Saya around.

"As for some of the weird things that have happened, well, when I arrived everyone couldn't stop singing."

[ringrevolution]

She looked in the way Neka pointed, well that was convenient!

The comment about the incessant singing made her laugh a little, she had to be kidding, right? The look on Neka's face though seemed to say otherwise and Rhyme's expression became comically baffled. Certainly not what she had been expecting, but then again, she wasn't certain what to expect.

"Wow..yea." she wasn't sure what could be added to that. In a way though Rhyme was rather curious--she would have liked to hear people singing. Particularly her friends and brothers, her eyes became curious as she wondered what her companion must sound like.

"Mmnn. Well I ought to be going--my room mates are apparently expecting me. But you'll have to tell me more! Drop by sometime, Neka. Don't be a stranger." She smiled hopefully. Though short, it had been enjoyable to speak with Neka, and interesting to hear of the differences, and see the similarities with the Neku she knew.

[phonespsych]

"All right. I'll see you around." Neka said with a smile. "I'm just down the hall here and so is Joshua if you ever want to meet him." She said. "We share an apartment."

Neka smiled one last time before heading off down the hall towards the stairs. As soon as she was out of sight her smile slowly faded. This Rhyme wasn't her partner either. She just hoped that her Rhyme was still all right.