Child Event and Blackout Log

[stringmods]

Who: Anyone
Where: Around the city and in the apartments
When: November 15-18
Summary: Little kids everywhere!  Also the power grid is on the fritz.
Warnings: Hopefully none!

With the network and the city's electricity once again malfunctioning, the power to most of the city has either been knocked out or is malfunctioning.  And since inconvenient things rarely happen in a vacuum in Hinoto-Ri, a portion of the city has also been affected by some strange new curse, reverting to childlike forms.  Business in and around the city has ground to a standstill due to the power problems, and without functioning heat in the apartments, extra blankets and huddling together for warmth are the order of the day.  It's still possible to go outside as the government hasn't imposed any additional curfews, and the demons during the 13th Hour are as active as ever, but some people may just want to ride this out until everything is back to normal.

((OOC: Feel free to make your own top-level comments either mingling in your apartments or out and about in town.  The child event effects are in full swing, and taking place concurrent with the blackout from November 15th through the 18th.  Please label your posts with your character's name and location.  We apologize for the slight lateness of this log!))

Comments

Open!

[eyewillprotect]

[Daytime; any day]

Eventually, Aoi would take to the streets, looking around Hinoto-Ri and generally trying to find any sort of familiarity with the city she called home. Not even her house was exactly the same, and the fact that the city itself is so completely different is disappointing, but she's not about to stop yet!

...It is pretty cold, however, and she finds herself shivering as time goes on. It looks like all of the lights in these buildings are out, too... What should she do?

[Night; any day]

In the early evenings, she can still be found out and about, although she'll specifically be looking for other kids like herself. And in the case that she finds one...

"D-do you have somewhere to stay for the night?"

Ignore the chattering of her teeth. She just happens to know of a large house where people can stay, is all.

As for adults, they are also free to (even literally) bump into the small girl!

Night

[dontrunawayfromliving]

"Yeah. Why, don't you?"

A slight pause as she thinks.

"...do you wanna come over? It's in a really warm alley!"

[eyewillprotect]

She pauses for a second before shaking her head.

"I have a house - a really, really big one. So I was looking for people who need a place to stay."

Though that still leaves her with another question...

"Are you really going to stay in an alley...?"

[dontrunawayfromliving]

"You have a house?"

Slight pause.

"...well, yeah? S'not like I could stay on the streets, I like being alive!"

[eyewillprotect]

Aoi nods in affirmative. "When I woke up, I was in my house like usual, but some of the things inside are different from what I remember. But there's lots of room if you want to stay there instead."

[dontrunawayfromliving]

Have a hug.

"I'm Sarah. Will you be my friend?"

[eyewillprotect]

Oh. Well.

That happened.

"Umm... S-sure!" She's too surprised to give any other answer, to be honest. Sarah... That's not a name she usually hears.

[dontrunawayfromliving]

Sarah grins, effecting a dramatic change in her appearance - the entirely out of place cynicism in her expression vanishes. Suddenly, her twintails hairstyle actually fits her instead of being a jarring, out-of-place note.

"That makes you my first friend!"

[eyewillprotect]

"Really?" Now she just sounds confused. This conversation is moving awfully fast, and she's still surprised from the sudden hug and friendship announcement. "You don't have any other friends?"

[dontrunawayfromliving]

"'Course not."

Very matter-of-fact.

"Th' kids that still have families don't go near us orphans, an' the other orphans don't got enough time to have friends."

[eyewillprotect]

...Oh.

"You're... an orphan? But why wouldn't the kids with families play with you?"

She doesn't quite get the whole 'not enough time for friends' thing. She's lived in comfort all her life; it's just not something she's ever had to think about before.

[dontrunawayfromliving]

"'Cause we're bad luck."

Still very matter-of-fact.

[eyewillprotect]

"Why would you be bad luck?" It doesn't make any sense to her. Things can be bad luck. But humans, too?

[dontrunawayfromliving]

"If they were friends with us, they might try to save us when the Aragami get in. And there's no worse luck than gettin' eaten up just 'cause you wanted to help someone nobody'd miss anyway."

The stark mathematics of survival.

[eyewillprotect]

"What... is an Aragami...?"

[dontrunawayfromliving]

"Monsters. One of 'em ate my dad a couple years ago."

[eyewillprotect]

A hand flies to her mouth in her horror. It sounds like something out of a scary story, but hearing it from this other girl... She believes it completely.

"...And that's why you're an orphan?"

[dontrunawayfromliving]

"I guess? Mom hung on for a while, but she couldn't really cope without Dad, so I've been on my own for the past year."

A shrug.

"I got a couple of knives, and I'm pretty good at finding stuff before the other orphans do, so I get by."

As if this was completely unremarkable.

[eyewillprotect]

"And you don't have any other family, either?"

It sounds so... so awful.

"Doesn't anybody try to take in kids like you at all? Like... Like an orphanage?"

[dontrunawayfromliving]

"What's an 'orphanage'?"

[eyewillprotect]

"You... you don't even know what that is?" The concern in her voice only deepens. "It's where orphans all live, and there are adults to take care of them."

[dontrunawayfromliving]

...huh.

"Orphans live on the street, though. Maybe there are orphanages inside the Wall, I guess?"

[eyewillprotect]

"Inside what wall?"

[dontrunawayfromliving]

"The Anti-Aragami Wall. You can only get inside there if you're rich, though. Or a God Eater, but they make a lot of money anyway."

[eyewillprotect]

?!

"A God Eater? Th-that sounds scary..." Gods were supposed to be powerful beings, weren't they? What on earth could be so strong as to eat them?