smash_logs | A family-friendly trip to FDC

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A family-friendly trip to FDC

Who: Vivian, Rick, Ishimaru
What: A sweet and innocent ~~family~~ outing ~~to buy gun ammunition but no one told Ishimaru!~~
Where: Final Destination City
When: Future-dated to April 10th
Warnings: Violence, maybe some snot and tears

For being a young girl, Vivian's imagination didn't stretch very far. She could speculate on the unknown and settle for a best guess, but never did she think the world was what she was witnessing now. There were dozens of people - no, hundreds. As they navigated deeper into the heart of the city, the numbers of humans escalated before she could remember to bat a lash. Yeah, there had to be more people here than bullets in her former shell! How wild! And here she thought the academy was all this world's population amounted to.

Vivian had a moment of concern when her chest began to feel tense, lungs overwhelmed due to a sharp inhale elicited by human energy. Intrigue held this little girl hostage but she was unsure of how to appease it. But aaahh, the sidewalks were uneven in some places and she had to really pay attention as she walked, but with all the pedestrians surrounding her, she was in a panic to address them all.

"Hello. Hi there. Hello! Hey. Hey. Hey! Hello. Hello!"

With her were her two chaperons, Ishimaru and Rick, and one can only hope the lesson about not talking to strangers would be right around the corner they were turning on to draw closer to a certain shop Rick had promised to take her to. She was looking forward to it, after all. You don't let a little lady down, right?

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Never ever let a little lady down. Although Rick was, for the most, concentrating on either a) making sure said little lady didn't trip, b) any good-for-nothin' punks who didn't say hello back were going to be aware how RUDE THEY WERE (and who mostly ignored Rick or simply made funny faces, much to his chagrin) and, more likely c) clomping his spur boots thickly on the sidewalk while arguing the finer points of anything with Ishimaru.

Because testosterone.

"...Because that's boring. Nobody cares, because that is boring. Ergo, you are boring."

"It is not about how fun or boring something is! Doing things only because they are interesting to you and abandoning them as soon as they become tedious will get you nowhere! It's more fulfilling to see things through to the end!"

Who even invited this guy, seriously. Ishimaru was all for traveling in groups in the city given the way things had been lately, but he would have much preferred to choose Vivian's other chaperon... But he knew that things didn't always work that way, and so he would have to just endure it and try to keep Rick from filling Vivian's head with nonsense in the meantime.

Speaking of Vivian...

"Vivian, you do not need to greet every single person we pass unless they greet you first!"

"He--" Vivian swallowed the remainder of the word as a man gave her a weird gaze and moved on. She looked toward Ishimaru with a nervous smile. "I'm sorry!"

Abandoning her line of salutations, Vivian caught back up to stand between the both of them, the expression of shame diminishing quickly as she carefully stepped over any large cracks in the sidewalk. Both her hands rose up to take hold of either man's, remembering that she saw this image in a book she read about safety. (Of all things.)

Rick pointedly exhaled out of his nose, about to further his argument but Vivian caught his attention almost immediately. His hands dwarfed hers, and a few weeks ago Rick would have struggled to control the strength of his grip but now he got a pretty good handle on the whole gentle-when-necessary thing.

"Easy there." The whole sensation was still awkward, but he curled his fingers over hers and hefted her up in the air slightly to help her over the cracks she sought to avoid.

"Just watch your step and we'll be there soon enough. Then you can say hello to all those beautiful bullets and ammunition."

Holding hands.

Holding hands in public, even.

...Holding hands in a group of three?! Ishimaru wasn't really sure what that turned it into, but he still had to think of it as indecent or misleading somehow.

However, he stopped caring about that the instant Rick spoke up.

"Bullets and ammunition?"

Was that what this trip was about? He kept a firm grip on Vivian's hand and came to a sudden halt.

Edited 2013-02-20 19:28 (UTC)

"Wheeee..." Vivian whispered, voice very, very hushed so she wouldn't be heard. Rick lifting her took her a tad off the ground, much to the excitement expressed by the glimmer of her red eye and cheerful smile. As fun as that was, however, she much preferred her feet on the ground where she knew she was safe. Not moving, thanks to a third of their party, was also a pretty secure bet for her balancing concerns.

"Bullets," Vivian repeated with her fingertips drumming against both their hands. She hopped once and looked up at Ishimaru. "For protecting!"

~~I'd ask if he could say no to a face like this, but everyone on this walk knows that answer.~~

Edited 2013-02-21 14:18 (UTC)

"For protecting." Rick parroted oh-so-helpfully, slowly enunciating each syllable to make the emphasis clear as the creepy eyeball in her chest.

"Bullets do not protect anything! They harm people!"

And he had seen more death than he cared to in his short lifetime. He tugged Vivian's hand back, raising his voice.

"We're going back to the school at once!"

Shouting like that was bound to attract unwanted attention...

And it most certainly did. It probably didn't help that Vivian supplied the bait for a group of ruffians' attention when she yelped out in surprise, her small wail echoing down their avenue.

The store was right in their view and Ishimaru pulling her away was not what she was expecting. Being a turret had come with some sense of tunnel vision, so when she wanted something, she'd vocalize that, and keep shooting for it so long as it was in her sights.

"Please! Wait!" While Rick may have just gotten control, Vivian had a handle on her body use rather quickly for being newborn. While impressive, she practiced little to no restraint in busting out the big guns when she wanted. That being the case, she immediately tried to escape Ishimaru's hand and gave Rick a hell of a death grip. He was going in the right direction! Her partner was not.

"I just want to protect!" Her sad gaze landed on Rick. "Please?" While crushing his fingers.

Rick hissed and grunted, biting back obscenities as best he could as she crushed his poor manly little fingers.

Indeed, a group of five burly looking men, all with white sticks hanging out of their mouths sauntered up to the trio, attracted by the struggling and shouting. "What the hell are you freaks doin' here?!" One on the right shouted, an obvious glaze in his eyes. Mostly it was Vivian they were eyeballing, her albino-esque features sticking out like a sore thumb between the two semi-ordinary looking men.

All at once Rick forgot about the uncomfortable crushing sensation, his scowl redirected at an obvious source of testosteronal conflict. "Mind your own business, guy."

One of the men seemed to notice Rick's eyes weren't quite unnatural looking, as if it were a digital cat's eye. And the other boy with them? Who the hell had freaky red eyes like that?

"Your kind ain't welcome 'round here." They started to form a circle around the trio.

"How 'bout your face ain't welcome around here?" Rick wasn't about to wait for them to strike and struck first, landing a surprise opening round punch square on the assumed gang leader's jaw. The beefy man ambled backwards, rubbing his face. When he realized Mr. Cowboy had just punched the pop right out of his mouth, he retaliated in kind.

"You little shit!" Rick wouldn't be able to dodge the next incoming punch easily, especially if Vivian were still holding onto his hand so tightly.

Ishimaru recognized the sticks for what they were almost instantly. How could he not, when they were so prevalent on the news and on campus? This group looked like they'd be dangerous on any given day, let alone under the influence. Ideally, it would just take a quick modest apology before the three could retreat to the safety of some nearby shop or restaurant until the thugs lost interest.

But the world was not ideal. As Rick landed the first hit, Ishimaru could feel his heart sink. What the hell was he thinking?! They were already outnumbered and Vivian was especially vulnerable, being so small and inexperienced.

Vivian... Vivian...!

Without a second thought he tugged Vivian's wrist again, stepping around her to place her between Rick and himself as the addicts closed in. Above all else, he was responsible for her safety right now. He made no move to attack, keeping his focus purely on defense; his weight balanced evenly, both feet ready to pivot in any direction in any moment, hands at the ready. When a fist was aimed at his face, it came all too naturally for him to grab the man's arm and use his own momentum against him and flip him onto his back.

...Which was strange, because Ishimaru couldn't remember ever learning to do such a thing in his life. The unusual reflex startled him, a dizzying sense of deja vu clouding over his mind. Something was definitely wrong, something else he wasn't remembering. He couldn't afford to be distracted by something like this, but he was already too disoriented to do anything about the kick aimed for his stomach besides double over in pain.

Edited 2013-03-09 10:15 (UTC)

It was with a breath of panic that Vivian relinquished Rick's hand and stumbled away from him with Ishimaru's influence, her unreasonable fear of toppling to the ground taking precedence over the situation at hand. Vivian wasn't afraid of these men, after all. She had no reason to be.

But it was when she saw Ishimaru fall victim to surprise that a new sensation washed over her. It was the same thing she felt when Ms. GLaDOS had suddenly disappeared: concern. Albeit concern that she had failed as a turret and was abandoned, but concern nevertheless. This time it was designated to her partner, and as they began to rile up and live and breathe agitation, it extended to Rick, who she had to save once before and thought she may need to again.

Vivian kept her gun to her hip, however, sticking to the guidelines set by her master. No one had touched her and at this moment, her life wasn't being threatened -

But moments are fleeting, aren't they?

"Look'it this one!"

Vivian didn't recognize the response that had been elicited by a sudden sharp sensation prickling all across the map of her skull. Her throat clenched and an awful shriek stretched the air thin around them, little white roots being yanked from their earth. Vivian's hands reached for the one twisting her thick locks into his digits, entangling his hand so he could pull roughly at her hair and hang her to her toes.

"Freakiest little rat'n the bunch!" One of the group had gotten around her guardians and boy howdy did he find Vivian's make amusing. Her occupied hands had left her chest open, where his free fingers were pushing against her additional ruby eye. "Hell's this?"

"S-Stop!" Vivian cried, each hand trying to stop him from hurting her any further.

Everything became chaotic in a picosecond. One fist was followed immediately by a second, and crunched right into Rick's face. It sent him to the ground with a hard, heavy thud.

It hurt, but it hurt good. He was no sissy. HE COULD TAKE IT. He'd been through worse! ...Some punches, kicks (lots of kicks when the thought about it, especially while he was on the ground), trips, scratches, cuts and bruises; largely of his own bumbling constituting "worse" as of this point in time, yeah. Having never suffered any real repercussions of his live dangerously attitude, Rick easily and foolishly convinced himself could handle a fight like this too. The apparent risk made obliging his reckless impulses all the more appealing.

...although that "risk" now also involved Vivian and Ishimaru, which Rick didn't take into any consideration. The thought simply didn't occur to him at all until Vivian's cry sharply stole his attention. He pulled himself to his feet, groaning and blinking back the stars from his vision.

"Don't touch her!" Rick launched himself at the guy manhandling the little turret fist first, but hardly stopped there. He served up some punches and kicks, then tackled him into something of a clumsy choke-hold. It was easy to ride the adrenalin and testosterone as it pumped through his veins that had never been there before. It felt great.

"You're messin' with the wrong guy! Let her go right now!" For the sake of being able to breathe, the punk did just that, and released Vivian to try and remove Rick from his neck. He struggled and gasped for air, enough that a second guy had to turn around to pull the angry blonde off him. When that met surprisingly little success, he thought it necessary to pull the butterfly knife out of his pocket.

"Get her out of here!"

Rick didn't even register the cold metal plunging and twisting into his back over and over, but he did feel the sensation of warm liquid soaking his shirt.

The commotion of men and turrets shouting, fists and feet connecting with softer flesh, and the pain of each blow that struck Ishimaru himself all blurred together for him, and the only clear thought in his mind was the desperation not to let himself or anybody else die. But what could he do? He could only keep up trying to defend himself for so long; outright attacking any of their assailants was out of the question.

Fortunately, Rick had taken care of that part and in doing so attracted a large part of the group's attention - for now, at least. Ishimaru took advantage of the distraction from himself to kick the legs out from the nearest thug before hopping back up onto his own feet. Pity the guy never realized the importance of a proper posture.

Rick's order reached his ears at the same time that his nose was overwhelmed by the all-too-familiar scent of blood, and a quick glance confirmed that the already serious situation had become even more deadly than before. He was right, Vivian needed to get out of here immediately. But while Ishimaru was not fond of Rick by any means, he couldn't leave him to be so brutally murdered...!

"I-I'll get help!!" He grabbed Vivian's shoulders and pushed her out in front of himself, away from the fighting. She wasn't a fast runner on her own, he knew that, so he'd do everything he could for her to keep up with him. "Go, go!"

Announcing his plans out loud like that wasn't the best idea. The guy he'd knocked to the ground before snarled, "don't let the fuckers get away!" Seconds later, a hand grabbed the back of the collar of his shirt, jerking him back. Ishimaru gave his partner a final shove forward before he could feel his tie closing around his throat (he always did insist on wearing the Smash uniform properly).

Please, run!

Vivian's feet hit the ground when her hair had been relinquished. Her bones shook, brain rattled by the sudden impact. It was perhaps the first time she found herself disliking her limbs, calculating mind disorganized by the haze of pain from every which direction. She missed her steel body. She missed not feeling things at all.

Along her flesh.

In her heart.

This was real pain. This wasn't what she thought she was programmed to understand. When Rick's shouting was a fog clogging her ears and Ishimaru shoving her away until she almost toppled, ankles sore and hair obscuring half her vision... Vivian wanted to be normal again.

What she did know and understand now, however, was what she used to be and what she was now had one thing in common: Her job was protection. No matter what she was assigned to, she would protect it. At the academy, it had been the halls. Out here, she had no assignment. Out here, she was on her own, processing thought for herself. She remembered what someone had told her... Determine your own path.

From ripples of white emerged steel, small fingers pulling it from the depths and guiding it toward the target with the greatest threat. There'd be no room to breathe between the semi-automatic in this child's hand, eyes emblazoned by the best damn applied sciences company on Earth. The hum of a red-glowing death and one last thought before she put a bullet in two brains: "I'll protect the humans."

Two shots fired. The first burned through the skull of the one stabbing Rick, the other through the eye of the man trying to drag Ishimaru away. She waited for the threats to fall before setting her sights on the remaining three men. The target that had harmed her had been subdued by Rick, so Vivian saved her bullets as merely threats. Her arm remained up and aimed, feet firm on the ground and body steeled to her position.

Just like she used to be.

The sound of bullets whizzing in the air (one right by his head) left an awful, searing ring in his ears. Bullets were great, and shooting things was great, and that definitely felt like 65% more bullet per bullet. Cave Johnson would be proud.

As a last hurrah, the guy jabbed his knife inside Rick as deep as it would go before dragging a long line down as he fell, tearing cloth and flesh alike. The guy Rick was subduing finally passed out, and now Rick felt himself falling to the ground as well. His knees crumpled under him and he felt his body slowly sink under itself, overwhelmed with pain and nausea. There was something to be said for personality cores that could feel simulated pain, but this was on a completely different level. This was pure agony. Rick felt like he was dying. He was actually dying. He was in a fleshy human body now, he could probably actually die, there would be no rebooting or resetting. LOOK AT ALL THAT BLOOD. Was that all his? Humans sure had a lot of blood, look at that. They were like walking blood factories. He could probably write his name on the concrete like five times over if he wanted. Handsome rugged dead bleeding guy looking for a good time, call--

...Crap, he was really dying, wasn't he? How did death even work? He really had no concept of it, but it was realized as a constricting feeling of fear and desperation.

NO. NO, he couldn't give up like that he could totally be rebuilt bigger and better and badder and--augh what the hell what did he just--

"GHHHCK..."

There was an excruciating stabbing pain that followed when he realized he fell on the knife before using the last bit of his energy to roll and twist his body on the bloodied concrete so it was sticking up; proudly, like a silver flag claiming another victory in the name of fleshy bleedy non-freak humans everywhere.

"Shit... Let's get the fuck out of here!" The remaining gang members clearly had no remorse for leaving behind their fallen kin or that flag behind, and bolted down the alleyway from which they came.

Rick crawled towards Ishimaru, vision blurred at the edges. That was him, right? That way?

"Man, my..." He was still conscious, but felt like he was leaking everywhere; out of his torso, out of his mouth, all over the ground...

"...blood hurts." Blood really hurt.

At first Ishimaru didn't register the new sound as not belonging to the chaos already going on, but as the grip on his tie loosened as dead hands fell away and the stars cleared from his vision, the girl with the gun standing before him made it clear exactly what had happened. He stared at her in wide-eyed disbelief, terrified of what he'd be greeted with if he looked away. But he did, gaping down at the three bloody bodies sprawled on the ground. It was fascinating how a hole in the skull caused by a bullet forcing its way out the back looked so different from one caused beneath the crushing weight of a dumbbell, but in the end it was all the same mess of blood and bone and brain matter, wasn't it? In the end, it still made his stomach lurch.

What had she done?! Ishimaru opened his mouth to question her, but all that came out was a strained whimpering. Why, why? He knew very well why - he and Rick were on the verge of being the ones killed if Vivian hadn't taken action, and then the thugs would have moved on to do the same to her. No matter what, nobody would have escaped the situation alive. Kill or be killed... But it wouldn't go unpunished.

He thought of the girl who had kicked down the remote-controlled bear as it came at her, about how shocked her face looked when several sharp rods skewered her body from all sides.

He thought of the boy who claimed self-defense at his trial, about his gurgling screams as he pleaded for his life, drowned out by the sound of his bones snapping under the force of hundreds of baseballs.

He thought about how he and the rest of his classmates watched and did nothing.

It was Rick's groaning that pulled him out of those thoughts. One of the bodies was still alive! Ishimaru fell to his knees, dark red blossoming up the fabric of his pants, and hovered a hand over Rick's shoulder, afraid to touch him. His knowledge of first aid was basic - how to stop a nosebleed, put pressure on a sprained ankle, make a quick tourniquet - all the sorts of things that would make do until he could get an injured classmate to an infirmary. He wasn't equipped to deal with mortal wounds like this, and who knew where the nearest hospital was?

...He could find out. He had that phone Knuckles convinced him to get, after all.

"Hold--! Just hold on! Please, focus on my voice!!"

His trembling hands fumbled for a hold on the phone before he finally pulled it out of his pocket. At some point in the struggle a large crack had formed in the casing and spread to the screen, but it was still on, which was a blessing. The problem was to get his fingers to stop shaking long enough to dial out fast enough.

Some witness already made the call; the sound of distant sirens filled the air, but Ishimaru barely heard them.

Edited 2013-04-15 02:30 (UTC)

The threat had vanished.

Vivian lowered her arm with a swing, as if she were any other girl relaxing with a basket of flowers in her hand instead of a lethal weapon. Through concrete fields of bodies blooming red petals along the sidewalks and streets, none for the picking. She wasn't particularly interested, after all.

Vivian approached Rick and Ishimaru, walking opposite to her primary caretaker and crouching down beside Rick's head. His blood hemmed her skirt as she leaned against her knees, a small, unnoticeable weight being added to only her clothes. But what of her heart?

She knew he was hurt. She understood that, of course, but unlike a third of their party, she was without reason to panic. Why?

Because - "I saved you again," she whispered down to him, lifting her equipped hand to her cheek. Gun and digits pushed into her cheek, her posture at ease, and only a smile on her face. Warm. Proud.

Edited (NITPICKING WORDS) 2013-04-15 02:50 (UTC)

In the haze that was his ailing sense of vision and hearing, Rick managed to drag his mostly limp body a few inches up Ishimaru's lap. His bloodied hands fumbled aimlessly for something to grip--something, anything to hold onto. Rick justified his own actions as figuring could probably use Ishimaru like a step-ladder, or walking cane, or some kind of support and pull himself back up on his feet... but the more he struggled the more it dawned on him that this was his limit. This fleshy, bleedy body of his had a limit and he was physically incapable of pushing it any more, trembling and struggling as he might.

He didn't know what a limit felt like. As a core, his imagination/corruption wrought with questionable delusion was essentially his limit. He couldn't really comprehend it in actual practice. At the moment he just wanted to feel warm and go to sleep. Wake up and ~~rape the day~~ start again.

He heard Vivian's soft little voice somewhere near his head. It was hard to crane his neck to look at her, but he tried. It seemed easier to force a smile in his attempts.

"...You sure did." He managed to spit out. Yeah, just lying still in Ishimaru's lap felt... sort of nice and comforting. Way better of a sleeping spot than the concrete.

"Next time I gotta'... do a better job and return the favor. So you don't have to go wastin' anymore of your bullets."

His hands didn't seem to want to cooperate, like they were locked in a fist around the bottom of Ishimaru's shirt. Stupid hands malfunctioning...

"You gotta' get her some. At least two, but as many as she wants." Rick insisted to his new mattress, tugging lightly at the stained fabric for emphasis.

"For protecting."

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A family-friendly trip to FDC

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