Saturday, December 17th, The Midnight Channel

[thepull_mods]

Who: The Port's Latest Shadow Televisions Stars! And Thousands of Home Viewers!
When: Midnight, Saturday December 17th
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

[little_bandages]

[Rather than a set or some kind of beautiful scenery, the screen shows a video game map, playing some generic, 'epic' map music. Green hills and brown patches of dirt are rendered in early 2000s style graphics, and in the center of it stands a slender boy dressed in light clothes and leather armor that suggests some kind of rogue class.

Perhaps he's not too good at it, because he's covered in gauzy, bloodied bandages - on his hands, his arms, his knees. He even wears a medical eye patch. He has a rather familiar pair of black cat ears, and a swishing black tail. But that expression - that expression doesn't look anything like Ritsuka.

He is afraid. Searching.]

Brother? Are you out there?

I'm looking for--

[The image of the boy glitches, suddenly, fading into pixilated dots and disappearing completely. He reappears somewhere else on the screen, looking further distressed and confused.]

I'm looking for my brother...

I don't where I am. I don't know who I am.

[Again, the boy disappears, and re-appears someplace else on the screen.]

Help me! I'm fading away. [He whispers urgently to the screen, his visible eye filling with tears.]

It hurts...

[The boy disappears one final time before the image of the screen wavers, distorts, and transforms back into static.]

[walkthedawn]

[Woah. What. WHAT. That's... That's not...

He watches Ritsuka's Shadow begin to cry and his heart twists in his chest. Joe had been telling him that these might be the embodiments of people's darkness, and a true part of them. And Souji had said the same. But does that mean that Ritsuka...]

[little_bandages]

[Ritsuka sits up suddenly. He had been half dozing on Riku's shoulder when the video of him started to play.]

...That's....

[He doesn't know what to think, what to say.]

That's not me! Turn it off! TURN IT OFF RIGHT NOW!

[walkthedawn]

[He does immediately as asked, turning of the television. But he doesn't say anything for a moment, unsure of what the best response should be. Ritsuka never wants to be coddled. He never wants to be treated like a child.

But this display... He feels terrible. And even if it's true, even if it's some part of him, he doesn't hold him accountable for it.]

Ritsuka.

[little_bandages]

[For one single, stupid moment Ritsuka tries to call on Soubi - it's his gut instinct to think he is being attacked. This is Seimei or Bloodless all over again, a battle of minds and wits and illusions. But this is nearly as bad as his worst fear being made material - he had never really thought about it.

That someone seeing him like that could be a fear, too.]

What the hell kind of TV show is that? [Yeah, hi, this is Ritsuka, who's been mostly sleeping since Gilbert lightened up his hours.]

[walkthedawn]

[He can see the panic in his eyes, like a spooked animal. He might have just woken up, but he knows Ritsuka well enough. He reaches over and takes him by the shoulders.]

It's just a dumb prank. It's okay.

[little_bandages]

[Ritsuka nods a little, leaning on Riku. He just tries to put those thoughts out of his mind.]

It seemed so real...

[walkthedawn]

[He pulls him close and rests his chin on his head.]

It wasn't. It's just some dumb prank. People are nasty.

[little_bandages]

I don't think so.

[Ritsuka's quiet. Intense. He's happy Riku is here, but it's impossible not to miss Soubi in this moment, if only because Soubi would understand what it is they were facing.

(Except he wouldn't understand this.)]

I've had someone attack my weaknesses and fears before.

[He stares suspiciously at the TV.]

I shouldn't have looked away. I vowed I never would.

[walkthedawn]

Like this?

[Through a TV, mimicking Ritsuka himself? That's...a little frightening, and not unknown to Riku.

He sets a hand on Ritsuka's.]

It's okay. It'll be all right.

[little_bandages]

Kinda.

[Ritsuka fidgets a little, but he lets their fingers link.]

While we were in the fight, Bloodless showed me visions of the things I really feared. Seimei, and myself as an adult, saying horrible things.

I defeated it because I wouldn't look away. Wouldn't ignore those thoughts.

[He rests his forehead near Riku's collar.]

An attack like that is just the same as using spells or fists. It's a test of the opponent's strength.

[walkthedawn]

[He looks back at the TV to hide his frown. The more he hears about Ritsuka's life back home, the more he wants to find a way back with him to help him however he can.

He hates feeling helpless, especially when it comes to how hard things are at home.]

And that all is normal for you?

[But he defeated it because he's strong. He shifts himself on the couch so he can hold Ritsuka close.]

[little_bandages]

No. It's the weirdest damned thing ever. I never had any idea any of it existed - teams and Fighters and Sacrifices, and Seven Moons, until after Seimei faked his own death and willed Soubi to me to draw me into that world.

And even before then, my life wasn't all that great. I kept wondering when it would just be over, I was numb.

[Wow, laying it out like that really does make it sound... horrible. Ritsuka fidgets a little.]

The truth is I'm pretty sure everything I've ever known is a lie. Something happened to me. And then I lost it all. I don't remember my life before a few years ago...

[walkthedawn]

[...willed Soubi to draw me into that world.

For the first time in what feels like months, Riku feels terribly, terribly angry and defensive over this news. He frowns tightly, shifting closer. He's glad his bangs can hide his eyes for the moment; the look he has is too angry to be shown.

But then he turns his gaze down to Ritsuka.]

...You don't-- And no one's told you what happened to you before then?

[little_bandages]

[Ritsuka just shakes his head.] I just remember waking up in a hospital. According to everyone, suddenly I went from behaving normally to acting like I do now, and I didn't have any memory of my life before that happened.

I was going to a doctor to try and figure out what happened to me, if I could remember anything before. But it's still totally blank.

[walkthedawn]

But no one just...told you what you used to be like, or what happened? No one tried to help you remember?