Wednesday, December 14th, The Midnight Channel

[thepull_mods]

Who: The Port's Latest Shadow Televisions Stars! And Thousands of Home Viewers!
When: Midnight, Wednesday December 14th
Where: In front of your Television Sets or Streaming NV TV. (Digital Cable? You'll still get the analog effect.)
Summary: Full Plot Details Here
Warnings: Please Put 'em In the Subject Lines As Necessary, Kids?

Comments

[leaderly]

[Video]

[This is visible on NV screens and TV screens-on or not. Static appears on the screen and an image steadily becomes clearer.]

[A guy with silvery hair and glowing yellow eyes appears on the screen. He’s wearing a sweater that is usually seen on Souji Seta. In fact, he is identical to Souji, for those who have seen him before. Save for one thing-he’s wearing a red cape. He backs up slowly from the camera, a smirk on his face. He then…flexes his arms to show off larger-than-usual biceps, the cape seemingly blowing in the breeze. It appears that “Souji” is outside during the Darkness. His voice when he speaks is bolder, more confident and commanding than usual.]

Citizens of Siren’s Port! I wanted to let you all know that there is nothing more to fear now! I’m here to save you from whatever evils befall you! I know that you’re all fairly weak and you need a leader like me, so if you’re in trouble, please don’t hesitate to call me, especially if you’re a fair damsel in distress.
[A wink and a sly smile]

[A darkness seems to

[underachieves]

[Shikamaru takes a moment to register everything he just saw on the screen, staring distantly at the snow. That was a Shadow. He remembers encountering Yosuke's once, years ago, in another world. How it was intent on replacing his friend and how it nearly killed Shikamaru when he tried to prevent it. And he remembers reports of his own Shadow. Only he never got to see the broadcast himself.

Because he was already dead when it aired.

Shikamaru's on his feet as soon as it hits him, pulling his jacket on and checking that it's stocked with wire and exploding tags. His own Shadow had been confined to the TV, but Souji's is clearly stalking the Darkness. Too late to save Souji, but this thing has to be stopped.]

[yosukecantstop]

[No. No, no, no, no, no, no! Yosuke sucks in a breath, but he can't even let it back out. The carafe from the coffee maker drops out of his hand and breaks on the tiles, but he doesn't even give it a glance. He should clean it up before Keiko or Uryuu step in it by accident, but that thought never crosses his mind either.

He's frozen like an ice sculpture for long enough to feel a strange, painful burst of hammering from the inside of his rib cage, but not long enough to realize that it's his heart making a mad kick start after skipping a beat.

And then he's out the door, so fast that he has no memory of even deciding to go, or how he got his shoes and jacket on,but they are. He should lock the door, but he doesn't. it's wide open on the hinges, and Yosuke is panting in the stairwell the next time he gets a flash of consciousness in between the bursts of panic.

In another blink he's on the ground level, at the street, and only just now realizing that it's long past evening sirens.]

[underachieves]

[It's a while before he runs into Yosuke out there, but it's lucky that he does. The kid hasn't noticed he's being tailed at a slight distance by a Night Naga, but Shikamaru sees it clearly from the rooftops as he leaps across an alley. Yosuke will probably notice the explosion from Shikamaru's kunai as it pierces the monster before he even notices the ninja himself.

Shikamaru lands weightlessly on the pavement after the Naga's body has already bloomed in flaming chunks. Yosuke's still a safe distance ahead, so he calls out:]

Yosuke! Man, what'd we say about going out alone at night?

[yosukecantstop]

GYAAH!

[He jumps right out of his skin at the familiar voice, not to mention the explosion. There are scrapes on his hands and knees, though he doesn't remember tripping over anything. He stares at them blankly for a second, panting with exertion he only hazily remembers making, then shakes his head. No, there's no time for that. There's only one important thing happening right now, and he doesn't have time to waste on explaining himself or pretending to be sorry about breaking the rules.]

I don't see your posse either, Haas.

[He's already running again. In fact, he's around the corner somehow. It's almost disturbing, but that'll be something to consider later.]

Hurry up!

[underachieves]

[He follows Yosuke, catching up to him not a second later.]

Do you even know where you're going? And do I need to point out this is probably a trap?

[yosukecantstop]

Souji-

[He can't even finish whatever he was planning to say there, because his breath bursts forcefully out of him when he trips on an uneven square of pavement and hits the wall of a building, hard. Damn it! Ow. Yosuke shakes himself off physically. That was stupid...and painful. But he's not about to let it slow him down any.]

[underachieves]

Tch...

[He presses his palm to his forehead, massaging away an oncoming headache. He doesn't have the heart to tell Yosuke that Souji's almost certainly dead, but he knows that trying to convince the kid to go home will be a waste of breath.]

Stick close to me. We'll try to find him together.

[yosukecantstop]

[Yosuke definitely has no plans to go home. He glances at Shika when he speaks, but whatever is said doesn't really register with him. He nods anyway, attempting to...he doesn't know what. The next thing he knows he's on the other side of that building and sprinting down the next street.]

Dude, hurry!

[underachieves]

[It's funny, because he could be moving ten times faster if he wasn't trying to keep pace with Yosuke. He doesn't say anything, though; not everyone gets super-speed in their basic power set.

He does jump higher, however, so that he can leap from balcony to balcony while getting a wider line of sight. He makes sure to keep Yosuke close to directly below him so that he can step in if any monster springs out.]

[yosukecantstop]

[He must trip a half dozen times before he gets to Souji's apartment, but he doesn't feel it even once. It doesn't even register with him that the total lack of monsters is probably Shika's doing, and it really should because of the explosion earlier if nothing else.

But it's like running with blinders on. There's only one thing that matters. It's not even until he gets to the door of Souji's building that Yosuke realizes he's not capable of sprinting across an entire sector of the city the way he's just done. He vomits beside the planter that he spit blood in the last time he was at Souji's -the building custodian probably wants his head on a pike- and grabs the stitch in his side that's apparent as soon as he remembers to breathe again. Holy shit that hurts. But he'll deal with it later. He spits and then darts inside, running again.]