sevenhorrorsmods: (Default)
Seven Horrors ([personal profile] sevenhorrorsmods) wrote in [community profile] sevenhorrors2025-07-19 09:00 am

[physical education 101]

Who: transfer students
When: July 1̷̝̤̳̙̫̭̻̝͓̄̇̾̀̕͝9̸̙̱̹͍̮̈́́̀̅͛̐̔̋ 20
Where: the. . . gymnasium?
What: an ice breaker
Warnings: moderate physical injury (not debilitating), psychological horror (absolutely debilitating)

[The school is empty. The school is quiet. The only sound that cuts through the silence is the soft ticking of the hallway clocks that mark the passing of each second.]

[. . .]

[At least. . . until a stiff breeze whips through the classrooms, scattering dirty papers and jerking the curtains aside. The clock strikes 6:00 a.m.]

[The school bell chimes.]

[ Team rooms | Endgame | Rewards ]
parttimesoldier: (084)

2/2

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-21 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
[And then she just sighs.]

Well. I guess that isn't any wilder than some of the other things I've seen and heard today. Must be a pretty sweet gig having an alien dad if it means you can fly.
titlecard: (236)

[personal profile] titlecard 2025-07-21 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ ... just 🧍‍♂️ as she processes this

And then something of a thousand-yard stare at her observation.

Quietly, as he meets her eyes again: ]
Sometimes I'm not sure if I'd give it all up if it meant he'd also be normal.

[ Sorry, Suzuha... their first classroom experience might have sucked, but he's lived through worse. ]
parttimesoldier: (077)

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-21 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
[...oh. Two seconds in and already making a misstep. Right, what the hell would she know about having an alien dad? She doesn't even know what having a regular ol' human one is like.

She averts her gaze momentarily, lips turning down in an apologetic grimace.]


Ah. Sorry. [A pause as she turns her attention back on him more fully.] Guess it makes sense that'd be pretty complicated.
titlecard: (033)

[personal profile] titlecard 2025-07-21 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ ... A beat, and he's forcing himself to perk back up. ]

No, it's okay. Flying is still really cool.

[ And it's not like she knew— It's not like anyone knows the extent his dad issues go to. For as open and honest as he's been about some things here already, that's one subject he hasn't touched. ]

You take the good with the bad, right? That's life anyway.
parttimesoldier: (015)

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-21 04:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, you get it. [She's smiling then, but there's a bittersweetness to it there in her eyes.] The good's what makes it all worth it.

[A beat in which she glanced over to the scattered crowd there in the gym.]

Holding on to some good is gonna be real important if we can't find a way out of this mess soon...
titlecard: (181)

[personal profile] titlecard 2025-07-21 06:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The good's what makes it all worth it, and his smile brightens into something less forced, more real.

At least until she brings up the wider range of their predicament, and he sobers a little. Still feeling a bit warmer from talking to her, though. oh god is this how it starts i'm not even doing anything on purpose ]


Yeah... [ An awkward beat. ] I think we can do it, though.

[ Based on what? Based on his own desire for it mostly. ]

You've got something to go back to, right?
parttimesoldier: (140)

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-21 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[i'm crying. these two truly just do this on their own,,

She's grateful for his optimism, baseless or not, though. It's the kind of attitude she tries to keep up on her own, but it's so much easier when there's someone else willing to believe in it too.

The remnants of her own smile fade at the reminder that, yeah, this is kind of an unexpected detour. And not one she can really afford.]


Yeah. Something real important to me. So the sooner we get out of here, the better.
titlecard: (003)

[personal profile] titlecard 2025-07-21 07:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Their optimism can fuel one another's. Perhaps delusionally so, but does it really matter if it keeps them going?

He worries at his lip for a second. ]


Yeah, me too. Not that I think any of us want to hang around after that, but when you already had other stuff going on...

[ Mark trails off, because there really isn't a whole lot else to say there, is there.

A beat. ]


There was a monster outside, wasn't there.
parttimesoldier: (027)

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-21 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
'Bout the only thing something like that can be called, yeah.

[Her hands clench into fists at her side at the thought of it. The way it rushed for the window in a blink. That godawful sound.

Ugh.]


...Think it's still out there? Waiting for us?
titlecard: (266)

[personal profile] titlecard 2025-07-22 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah.

[ His answer is quiet, but immediate. Holding onto the good is all well and... good, but it doesn't mean much when it's entirely possible something that wants to kill or eat them all might be pacing outside these walls right now. ]

I have no idea how we're supposed to kill it.

[ Or what any alternatives to killing it might be, considering the way he zeroes in on that. ]
parttimesoldier: (021)

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-22 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
[Killing it is probably the only thing that'd truly let her relax in this predicament, so. She kinda gets leaping right to it. And while she likes to be optimistic when she can, she's also pragmatic.]

If we all put our heads together, maybe we can figure out a way. Or if not that, some way to contain it. Trap it.

[Less ideal, but at least they'd know where it is at all times if they could pull it off.]

...Or maybe even better, we find a way out of here before it comes back.

[But that one might be a little wishful thinking, it's starting to feel like.]
titlecard: (270)

[personal profile] titlecard 2025-07-22 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ A beat; a huff. ]

That'd be the ideal, wouldn't it? I'm not discounting the possibility that we have to go past it to get out of here, though. Or that there might be more of them out there.

[ He stares at his hands, one of which is adorned with a large flower tattoo that definitely was not there before. They're big if suspiciously uncallused, but he's very much used to fighting with them... and instead they hang limply between his knees, because there's nothing he can actually do with them right now.

Looking back up at Suzuha, ]
Was there something trying to get your name too?
parttimesoldier: (104)

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-22 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh god. Just, pure dismay at the thought of there being more of them out there. She doesn't even want to entertain the thought, so she just kind of settles down next to him, gritting her teeth and shutting her eyes for a moment.

Man, this sucks so bad.]


Yeah, there was. [Eyes flutter back open as she speaks, gaze meeting his.] We told it no and it got royally pissed off. Dunno if it was that thing outside or connected to it in some way or what. But either way it turned that room into a major hazard zone.

[She lifts up her left arm to demonstrate, which got the worst of her own scattered collection of cuts. Her forearm is wrapped in strips torn from the missing sleeve of her track suit jacket, and peeking out from under them at her wrist is a flower tattoo of her own.]
titlecard: (054)

[personal profile] titlecard 2025-07-22 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ ... Yeah, he feels her, his own features softening at her frustration, at her wounds. Mark only has a couple himself, hit by two strings during their two failures and struggling against them — one on his right wrist near his tattoo, the other his left forearm. Aside from staunching the bleeding he hasn't bothered to try to see to them or anything; it's a good thing his track suit is already red! ]

Same thing happened to us. I can't decide if it's better or worse if it was the same thing as outside or if they're connected or maybe if they were separate entities entirely; I'm just glad we told it no. You give something like that what it wants and... man, how much worse would things have been?

[ A beat. ]

It's probably not going to stop there. It really has to want something from us if it did all of... that.
parttimesoldier: (028)

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-22 06:03 am (UTC)(link)
[Yeah. That'd been her worry too. She'd expected retaliation for their denial, expected that it probably wouldn't be pleasant. What they got was dialed up in a way that she hadn't really expected right off the bat, though. It's only gonna get worse from here.]

It's got us where it wants us. Wouldn't have let us out of that room if that wasn't the case. Not gonna surprise me at all if it's back for more before long, and there's no way it's gonna be pretty.

[Her eyes go distant for a moment, hands gripping fistfuls of the fabric of her pants.]

We're gonna have to keep vigilant about the names. And whatever else they might turn to.
titlecard: (079)

[personal profile] titlecard 2025-07-22 09:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ Mark doesn't even think about it; his curse is so new to him that the rules aren't entirely clear to him yet. He just sees someone stressed out, and he wants to help in some way, and grounding through physical touch seems like one way? Nothing too extreme since they just met, but he'll still slide over, bump their knees together — and if his curse is in effect Suzuha might feel an undercurrent of anger layered underneath worry layered further underneath a desire to protect.

And he'll continue on as though absolutely nothing is out of the ordinary. ]


Yeah. I think we just learned the most valuable lesson we're going to here — do not give it your name under any circumstances. Any. Ever.

[ And then, an almost lighthearted moment of sheepishness. ]

Uh... what should I call you in the meantime, then?

[ That's a problem so much more easily solved. ]
parttimesoldier: (065)

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-23 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
[Such physical gestures are pretty unfamiliar to her, but she doesn't tend to shy away despite that. It's a little bit of something nice amidst the bleakness, and she'll take what she can get in that regard.

And yet still, the moment their knees bump together she's jolting as if startled. There might be a lot of familiarity in those feelings, but they're not hers and it feels incredibly disorienting to be privy to them. So much so that she's only half-aware that he's started speaking again. Finally after a moment she blinks herself back into focus, gaze drifting from where she'd been staring at their knees brushing together and back up to his face.]


Oh. Uh. [What had he just said? What to call her, right.] Another girl I just met suggested Hanabi, after fireworks. So I figured I'll go by that.
titlecard: (029)

[personal profile] titlecard 2025-07-24 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
[ ... Did he do something wrong?

Mark isn't sure what just... happened... but he'll give her a little bit of space, just in case, shifting a couple of inches away. It means they aren't touching anymore, but still close enough to chat, which he's hoping is still okay. ]


After fireworks? That's pretty cool. Hanabi... it sounds nice.

[ It does, in his opinion; an unfamiliar name, and he can't speak to how it might suit her, but it is pretty cool to be called after that, he thinks.

And, awkwardly adding on, ]
I'm going by Hiro here. The more I use it, the more I think I like it? So at least we've got that...

[ ... are things okay again now... ]
parttimesoldier: (047)

1/2

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-24 06:41 am (UTC)(link)
[...is she losing her mind? Because the weird echo of feelings definitely stops the moment he scoots away. She kind of blinks at the abruptness of it, but at least stays fully tuned in on the conversation this time.

She does manage a smile when he compliments her new name, though. It is pretty cool, and she's glad others agree.]


Right? And it sounds like you made a good choice for yours too, then. Nice to meet you, Hiro.

[And that smile gets a little fuller, because she means it.]
parttimesoldier: (017)

2/2

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-24 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
[...though it does falter a little a moment after, because like. Man, it's nagging at her.]

Hey, so uh. Gotta ask. Was that like, an alien thing too? When you touched me?

[That is surely not a question that is going to get misconstrued.]
titlecard: (012)

[personal profile] titlecard 2025-07-24 09:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ Oh, thank god things are back to normal now. He isn't sure why, but maybe that's not important; he's about to protest that he got help with his new name and there are others who should get the credit when her smile falters again.

What now—

Mark blinks.

Opens mouth closes mouth.

Stares. ]


N- no.

[ Resumes staring. ]

Did you, um... feel something?

[ He's got an idea of what this is, dread seeping into the back of his mind, but he doesn't want to lead her or anything. Just, if it's what he thinks it is — oh, god. ]
parttimesoldier: (058)

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-26 12:30 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh. This is awkward. Did she just… imagine it? Is she losing it after the ordeal in the classroom?

No. That can’t be right, she’s sure she’d noticed something.]


I thought I did… [Her brows knit together.] It was like, these feelings. I dunno how to explain it—

[She’s just gonna. Reach across that space he’d made between them and try to place a hand on his arm.

Only one way to be sure, right? how funny would it be if it’s not in effect this time]
titlecard: (005)

[personal profile] titlecard 2025-07-26 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ It was like, these feelings, and Mark's eyes widen. It had to have been his, this is a problem—

She reaches out to touch him and his eyes widen further. And if his curse is in effect this time... well, in that case she'd feel his surprise (which is probably obvious, considering how it's written across his face), along with a gradually building thrum of panic. ]


Um.

[ No but can she feel this. Um. Um. ]

I'm not feeling anything from you, though.

[ Because in the room, with his teammates, he'd noticed it could be a two-way street, but here it's... not...?? ]
parttimesoldier: (065)

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2025-07-26 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
[Surprise and panic, that's unmistakable. And so is the effect it seems to have on her—a mirror of it flashing across her own face for just a moment, before she's sitting up much straighter, alert and tense. Just the knee-jerk instinct doing what it always does when those particular feelings come knocking.

She withdraws her hand, staring hard at that surprised face of his.]


Are you supposed to? I definitely felt it. The way you're kinda freaking out about it.

[Which, oh—]

...maybe I shouldn't have done that without asking. Sorry.
titlecard: (032)

[personal profile] titlecard 2025-07-26 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ He exhales a shaky breath, offering up a weak smile. ]

No, it's okay. You didn't know. I didn't know— This only started happening in that room. I could feel others' in there, but... we were all wearing red.

[ And she's. Not. ]

No, this is definitely new. It shouldn't be happening— Shit, I'm sorry if that was weird for you.

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