ROLE: Playtime Kitten 🙀

[saturations]

PLAYTIME KITTEN

Today, regardless of wherever Nogiku is, they will soon receive a text message from Riff.

hey. can u come through the arch? i have something for u

They don't really have time to question what arch Riff means as the ground begins to rumble and a steel, blue archway erects before them.

As Nogiku enters through the archway they'll find themselves in what appears to be a small park. Small, grassy slopes seem to stretch endlessly and a few unidentifiable buildings can be scene in the distance. Sitting on a bench under a tree is Riff with their phone in their hand. Without looking up, they send another message.

playtime kitten...ok then

RULES
1. make a choice from the list i give u
2. decide who is receiving what u pick
3. it cant be the same person each week sry
4. cant tell anyone either

After reading the rules, they will find that an image becomes the home screen of their phone and feel something...sticky...appear on their tongue as a temporary tattoo of the same image appears.

Once the brand settles in, Riff looks up from their phone, patiently waiting before there's an awkward shrug and another message.

ill try to help i guess

Comments

[pura]

... Thanks.

[She looks at her phone over, and then deposits it back in her pocket until she's ready to make her choice.]

So... You can talk now. That's new. [H-Hrm...] Was something returned to you?

[saturations]

[bye phone...]

It's...very new. Like Saturday-new. [HELP. but they nod.] Someone found something around the Prism and showed it to me. It felt like it was something familiar, and then...this happened.

[pura]

[Where they like that at execution... I, Kyuu, am in tears.]

... Familiar, huh? It's not a bad change. [She actually seems to be smiling? Just a tiny bit?] What was it that they showed you?

[saturations]

[it was probably harder to tell at the execution to be honest, but now they're just like this.

it feels weirdly like approval though, so they relax a tiny bit.]

It's a change I wasn't expecting, at least. [like. someone truly just kinda barged in and handed them a thing. and that thing is...a phone case! specifically, they reach into their pocket to pull out their phone that is encased in a black case that looks like a kitty cat. it even has ears.]

When I saw it...I started remembering some stuff. And then I changed.

[pura]

[KITTY CAT... She reaches for it, as if to poke one of the ears, before she realizes, hm, maybe she shouldn't do that.]

Change can be like that, can't it? Unexpected. [Even if Riff doesn't seem too happy about it...] Do you want to talk about what you remember?

[saturations]

[...they tilt the phone toward her? it's fine, it's a very cute case.]

Yeah, but I think there's a difference between unexpected and unannounced. [but...they pause to think that over before they shrug.]

It's not much. And I don't know how it'll help anything here either, but I think I might've been a time traveler?

[pura]

[Okay. She will boop an ear.]

... A time traveler? Really?

[But it is memshare week, so. Wowie! Maybe a bubble comes out of the blue right now and vores them...?]

[saturations]

[a poke for the mr. mew case...]

Or at least somebody who can go back in time. It's weird.

[the bubble...it approaches...and it very slowly consumes them about the point that riff notices and kind of squawks.]

Now?

[THEY DON'T WANT THIS!!! also kyuu you already know who this is so i'm making you do a memory first.]

[pura]

[FAIR AND VALID. Nogiku startles, making a face.]

Again? What's with these things?

[Sha hates these bubbles? She is looking at the bubble like it has personally offended her? Which, actually, it has. After a moment, she sighs.]

It's not just going to let us go... I guess, I'll go first.

[With that, she presses her hand to the bubble... (cw: past abuse reference)]

[saturations]

[this bubble is truly offensive, and riff is about to kick it away but then nogiku settles on fueling it with color.

the memory itself is...a lot, actually. it takes a bit for them to really absorb it and think it through, listening to her speak to this person (a friend? a foe? someone unrelated?) and the implications aren't exactly hard to miss.

they aren't sure how to address it. not right away. when the memory fades they're looking at her inquisitively.]

...did you decide to team up in the end? [let's start there.]

[pura]

[She looks a little annoyed by what was displayed, but... All in all, it's not the worst thing they could have seen.]

... Yes. Even though she would keep me from going through with my plans, it was less risky than continuing the operate the way I had up to that point.

[saturations]

[hm.]

What even were your plans?

[pura]

[...]

I mean to kill her. It's the only way to stop that monster.

[saturations]

[...hm.]

A monster that...what, steals other people's faces? Is that what you mean?

[pura]

It's not just their faces. She stole another woman's name, her career, her family... her very existence. She took everything from her until that woman decided she could no longer measure up to her impostor. And then, she took her own life.

But she wasn't her first victim, and she won't be her last.

[saturations]

...Nogiku, I think that's called identity theft. [but uh....hm.] How can a person just do that? A power? Something else? ...is killing really the only answer?

[pura]

...

It doesn't matter if you don't understand it. But it's what I have to do.

[So, yes. Murder is clearly the only answer? She is a scarlet, sir.]

It's all because of a lipstick she inherited from her mother.

[saturations]

Can't you just get rid of the lipstick? Or is it like a power that's translated now and it's too late?

[THEY JUST WANT TO UNDERSTAND.]

[pura]

You think I never tried?

[saturations]

No, I'm sure you did, but I guess I was just wondering what happened that it didn't work that way.

[pura]

...

[She looks away, with a small huff.]

That damn accomplice of hers caught onto me. Before I knew it... The tables had been turned, and I became her prisoner. "Material" to be used and discarded, just like my mother.

[saturations]

...[don't like that. very much don't like that!]

Is that still a current thing? Being prisoner to her.

[i promise i will give you a mem shortly this is just very perplexing and horrifying to them.]

[pura]

... Despite wanting nothing to do with them, I was rescued. By Amagasaki-san and Iku Igarashi.

[Skills: Getting kidnapped.]

[saturations]

...even if it's not the way you wanted things to go, I can't say that's exactly terrible.

[but speaking of terrible, they move, shifting on this bench and elbow bumping right into the remains of the bubble for nogiku to get a glimpse of something else.

[you're alone.

the city around you has been engulfed in flames, smoke and destruction. the last of your friends has faded right from your finger tips, her hand reaching out for yours. you can't hold onto her. you can't save her.

you weren't able to save any of them. all of them...gone.

you thought you could do it this time. you thought you could stop the erasure of the place you loved, the people you loved, if only you turned back the clock one more time.

but it didn't work.

behind you, you hear footsteps approaching. a man approaches you, laughing to himself.

"Well, well. And then there was one."

you turn quickly to face him, but there isn't enough time to get away. he looks at you, holding up his fingers with a quick snap, and you feel the source of your power shatter in your pocket.

"Shit..." you say quietly, hand shaking as you hold the pieces of your hope in your palm.

"Oh, you won't be needin' that anymore," the man cackles again, leering down at you. it's just the two of you now, the city ravaged, your friends destroyed.

"The Game's over, kid. And now, so's S̷̡̞̹̬̥͉̪̳͍̜̰̲̜͗̆̕͜͝h̷̨̙̲͊ỉ̸̢̡͖̮͕̣͕͌͑́̚b̶̨͔̺͕̱͎͇͔͈̎̓̏̕ų̶̨̻͚͓̜̫̰͖̲͇̊̃͑̆̅̍͗̏̆̕͠y̵̧͓̩̱̰͕̍̔ą̶̬̘̞̗̫͆͛!"


he holds his arms high to the sky, a tyrant praising his own evildoings. thousands of creatures swirl around you, and you know this is your fault. this was your own doing, something you had a hand in creating.

it's the end. there's nothing you can do.

a beam of white light suddenly appears in the sky, rocketing down to strike the man. the blast sends you flying, tumbling backwards into the rubble as you watch the light tear him apart and purify him. as your vision clears...

...you find yourself perfectly unharmed.

"...what was that?" you ask yourself, and with a start you notice so many people around you. you're standing in the center of several white crosswalks, people going about their business and hardly paying attention to you as you frantically look around. you can't figure out what happened. you stand there, trying to remember, but you're jostled from your thoughts as a man bumps into you. it's a feeling you haven't felt in so long that it startles you. you quickly reach into your pocket for your phone, checking for your messages.

your mother's worried about you. she wants to know what time you're coming home.

"No way..." you whisper to yourself. it becomes clear to you then. you've finally made it home. you're back where you belong, but... "W-wait...hold on a sec..." you look around again, and soon the uneasy, anxious feeling grips your chest. oh no. oh no, oh no, oh no.

"...where's F̴͍̭̦͕͒̾̌́r̸̟̟̽̈́̊͝ȅ̴̠̣̉̚͜͝t̷̮͗́̏? He's gone."

time passes. it's another day, and you're still trying to understand everything that's happened to you. your thoughts are so much louder than the city around you. it's nearly impossible to escape.

'...I'm the only one who made it home. My chat app's back to the way it was before the Game started. Except for the fact that F̴͍̭̦͕͒̾̌́r̸̟̟̽̈́̊͝ȅ̴̠̣̉̚͜͝t̷̮͗́̏ isn't in it. Nobody from school remembers him, and he's missing from my contacts. Same with N̵̺̻̿̔͝ͅa̸̞̜̘̳͋͒͒ģ̴̪̃̋̾ȉ̵̧̺̼͔̑͑ and B̸͉͆͊̑e̸̹͎̟̘̅͐̾̂͑a̷̬͕̖̅̏̌̎̿t̴͔̜͈͉̦̔̂, and N̶̥̓e̴͈͔͌̉́̋̚k̵̛̭͙̿̇̔ư̴͍̣̫̬̦̎̍--everyone. S̷̹̲̣̀̽̓h̵̼͈̦͐͊͊̒͘ǒ̵̼̩̲̟̓k̴̼̥̀ȃ̵̺̳̔̎͝͠, too. Even her alt's gone--like it never existed.'

you feel it more strongly than ever. that guilt. that grief. those nasty little feelings you never wanted to feel, that you thought you could escape if you could fix everything.

'There's thousands of people around me, and yet I'm all alone. I thought that, if i went back in time, I could save the city. And technically I did. Just not the way I wanted to...'

you feel your throat begin to close the longer your thoughts haunt you. your vision begins to blur, and you know you shouldn't cry in public but...who cares anymore? does it even matter? no one else will notice.

you sink to the ground, sitting in the middle with your back against a stone pedestal for a statue of a figure that waits. thousands of people go about their daily lives, unaware of the danger they had once been in, and paying no attention to you at all. the first of your tears drip onto your hands without permission.

'Was everything I did all for nothing?'

life goes on. life in this bustling, colorful city proceeds without a care in the world. but you're the only one left to notice it.

all that's left is a memory, even if the names can't be recalled.]

[pura]

[Ah.

She's silent for a moment. Stunned. When she finally speaks, her voice is quieter than usual. The previous topic left a bitter taste in her mouth, but now— well. Her concern for them trumps over her pettiness.]

... Riff-san?

[Hello...???? What the fuck.]