Fish Lenses [Plot Event :: Nighttime]

After the concert that had taken up the rest of his afternoon and evening, Haru would find himself once more back in his clothing from earlier, his hoody back in place to keep away the cooler temperatures of the night air and also to hide his face even more. Despite having his hood up and currently missing the contacts that had hide his mismatched eyes earlier, the young man had to wonder as he re-entered the Aqua Space Museum alone: would anyone actually pay him any mind?

Much like the place he had just left, it seemed this one had pulled out the big screens to captivate the audience who muttered and whispered about this big reveal. As he kept to himself, he would listen to the various theories that floated around about the reveal. Some were grand and wonderful, while others were gloomy. Just what was this reveal? And why was he beginning to feel uncomfortable as he looked at the screen that revealed the park where the event was suppose to take place?

His parents were currently away from the place. It had taken some work, but he had managed to get his parents to let him stay in the area with Lisa remaining behind with him of course. Naturally, she had allowed him to come alone to the museum saying she'd catch up with him after she had gotten something from the food court. While at first this was fine, the longer Haru stood in this crowd the more he began to feel unnerved. Maybe he should've stayed with Lisa instead...

No.

He would shake himself mentally as he tried to push away the uncomfortable feeling inside. No. Everything would be okay. Lisa would come as promised and they could laugh about his paranoia afterwards. Right!...Right?

It was near the end of the day and Maria was getting tired. She sat in the midst of a host of visitors on a bench. It had been a long and fun day for her. A moment of freedom, no matter how brief it was, felt great for once in a while. Back home was busy and stuffy no matter how she remembered it. It was a great breather and she got a camera for her 'troubles'. As the day would soon end, Maria looked up to glue her eyes on the monitor for the rumored presentation. It seemed fitting to at least end the day with this. But little would she know that this would be the beginning of a nightmare...

Haru would watch the screens for a moment longer the feeling inside becoming worse as time went on, but perhaps it wasn’t all due to whatever was bothering him from earlier in the day. Maybe the real reason he was becoming so tense was because too many people were gathering in one spot…and as more shoved their way in, the more the young man felt like he was about to get smashed to death. All these bodies moving about and getting way too close to his personal zone for comfort. Fine, right?

Yeah nope. Time to retreat to "safer ground."

As more people filed in, Haru would begin to move side ways through the crowd managing to keep his head lowered enough for the hood to keep most of his features hidden. He would keep pushing through avoiding as much contact with people as possible before finally finding an exit at the back of the crowd.

Sighing inwardly in relief as he finally got out of the meat mass and had some breathing room, he would move a bit further back and sit on a bench in the area not realizing at first that he had unintentionally sat next to a girl that was already there. He had a respectful distance from her nonetheless as his eyes scanned the crowd before him.

“What a nightmare…” he would mutter to himself shaking his head slightly at this. Just how many more people were going to come in? Were they trying to pack them in like sardines and why did the population seem to expand when night fell? Just where had the extra people not here for him come from? This was a truly baffling situation.

Sitting forward slightly, Haru would move to pinch the bridge of his nose to ease the pressure that was building across his eyes from anxiety and of course overthinking. As he did this, he would suddenly become highly aware of a presence not too far from him. Shifting the positioning of his hand, he would let his left hand slide to the right as he turned his head and rested his head on his hand for the moment as strange colored eyes peeked over the edge of his hood to view the person next to him. It was a girl.

“Oh. Did I steal this seat from someone?” he would ask in a surprising calm voice despite the inner turmoil or the sleepy expression he was giving the girl as he observed her. Speaking of people, what was taking Lisa so long? She should be here by now right? Should he call and check up on her?

Maria was almost impatient right now. She wanted this show to be over just so she has the full experience before leaving home. She was honestly struggling to stay awake at this moment. It was a long day of walking around and talking with people. It was certainly fun. Perhaps she was even tired enough to the point she actually didn't notice someone was sitting next to her until they spoke.

"E--ehhh?! Oh. No. I... don't think so. No," she stammered at him.

He really took her off guard there. Was she actually this tired? All the reason for this show to begin.

"Um," she began "How's your evening?"

Haru would raise an eyebrow at the girl's reaction to his words. He didn't expect such a reaction from simply sitting and speaking. Then again...he hadn't exactly made his approach that noticeable either.

"I didn't mean to scare you. Forgive me," Haru would say as he gave her a light smile of apology. That smile would shift slightly into a softer one as he continued. "Ah. I see. So you are alone here then?" he would ask as he looked over at the crowds for a moment and then the screens to see if anything had changed. When he saw nothing of interest there, his eyes would turn back to the girl as she spoke up again.

To her question Haru would give her tired smirk.

"Exhausting. And yours, Miss--?" he would trail off as he tilted his head at her asking without words for her name. Would she give it to him?

"Um... yes, Maria replied with a small nod.

She didn't quite know what else to say to this man. But just as she was going to reply to his next question, her whole world shook. And so began the nightmare. Where the girl was tired earlier, she jolted awake and she was apprehensive of what was happening. The building was starting to fail, causing many to panic. Maria got up her feet and would begin to start leaving the place as per the aquarium staff's orders.

"W-we should get out of here!" she bid Haru to start getting to leave.

Yet, as the crowd left the building, something was in their way. Perhaps there was some relief, but that changed into horror as the unlucky man was becoming these monstrosities' dinner. She couldn't even vomit at what she was seeing. It was grotesque and horrific, she was scared. Her knees felt weak...

But she remembered there was a family waiting for her. To get out of this place, she didn't care how many scoldings she got for leaving this evening. Maria just wanted to go home. She mustered all she could to start leaving this place. While the demons continued to feast on the unfortunate sap, she quietly tried to leave them behind without attracting any attention. It was heartless, yes. But it's not like everyone else can try to leave as well and some may try their luck back into the building.

Maria was trying hers here. It was an extremely risky gamble, but this was an opportune time. Or so she would think. Either way, she needed her family and they needed her.

Choice:

He would get one of his questions answered; however, before any other form of conversation could come into being the world around them would rock. As the ground began to shake, Haru automatically braced himself against the seat using his hands to not get pitched forward in the process. As he was doing this, he could hear the tanks in the area creaking and prayed to whatever higher being may be listening that those tanks did not burst. He wasn’t sure how much water was contained in each one of the tanks, but he was sure that it was enough to cause some serious damage and potentially drown folk. Combined that with glass and the sea creatures and yeah…that wouldn’t be cool; however, the tanks were the least of his worries. Let’s talk about the building that was beginning to collapse. Yeah. He didn’t exactly want to become a pancake either!

It was a tense moment as he sat their unable to move until the quake passed. When it was over (or at least had subside enough where it was safe to get up), Haru would get to his feet his mind whirling despite the calm nature he displayed. While he was concerned what the quake had done to other places and in turn wondered if Lisa was okay, he understood he could not let his mind wander to far from the present. No. He had to trust that Lisa was okay. Right now he needed to focus and what was that?

Haru flinched slightly as the strange green aura went through the area. He expected it to harm them, but…surprisingly it did not. Okay…now this was getting too strange, when he heard the suggestion from Maria, he would nod at her.

“Yeah. Right behind you,” he said moving in a calm fashion towards the exit the staff was trying to get the semi-panicked crowd to go through. If he could just make it through this maybe he could finally find Lisa and get the hell out of this place. He didn’t know why, but his gut was telling him this whole thing was about to get a lot worse….and worse it did become.

It all started with the crowd coming to an abrupt halt with Haru unfortunately wedged between people he wished he was not so close to. He wasn’t sure where the girl from earlier went, so for the moment he put her out of his mind as he tried to figure out what the hold up was. Looking around, he managed to find a small opening in the crowd and peaking through that window he saw what the problem was. It was some sort group of performers?

Haru would narrow his eyes at this. These beings….they weren’t here before and while he was sure the reveal might hold some surprises…he had a feeling that whatever this was wasn’t part of that surprise. Either that or the schedule keeper screwed up badly by forgetting to add this to the agenda.

…..

The mention of food from the strange creatures.

A man would be bold and think this a performance in response. He would stepped forward and spoke about the strange group there. He would stick his hand in the group and pull it back.

Gone.

The world seemed to freeze for a moment as that first sight sunk in and then the man was being devoured alive. The sight and sound…it all felt so unreal and yet the slap of blood’s scent filling the area never lied. The smell slapped Haru backed to reality as he unintentionally made a face of disgust. He honestly did not need to see that right now and neither did the crowd who suddenly went from being frozen to becoming a panicked uncontrolled wave that threaten to murder.

As the wave went from going forward to suddenly running back, Haru found himself fighting to stay on his feet as the crowd tried to go back into the crumbling building! Fighting against the crowd, Haru was jostled and knocked about so much that he honestly thought he was going to die; however, by some miracle he was finally ejected from the masses. As he stumbled a bit forward, he would find himself quite moody…with the situation only adding onto his agitation. As he was recovering near death back there, his eyes would drift upward as he found himself in an odd position. With the masses behind him, ahead was the horde still eating the man and from the corner of his eye another form was making its way around the messy eaters. As his eyes spotted the movement, he would focus on it briefly taking note it was the girl from before. She was…trying to run away?

While Haru didn’t approve of running in most circumstances, this was the one time he’d let such behavior slide. His eyes would focus on the munching horde. He honestly didn’t want to face this, but with one trying to escape and many others potentially about to get hurt, Haru had to do something and like now.

Think! Damn it! Think!

Haru's mind was screaming at him causing him to hesitate for only a moment and before an idea hit him. That crumbling building….maybe that would work, but first, he had to get the crowd out of the building. Already knowing what could potentially happen if he did that, he would save that for plan for later. Right now he needed to try something else.

Leveling his eyes with the monstrosities before him, he would take a small step forward to get their attention.
__________________________________________________________

Attempt #1: Negotiate:

Note:

Maria yelped as she jumped back in time as the demon swiped. Adrenaline was rushing and pulsating. Despair was forming a pit in her stomach as she was back where she started. There was no escape, no salvation. But that man from before walked up to the demons, unafraid. She would've yelled at him that this was moronic, dangerous, and nerve-wracking. One wrong move and they would all die. Yet, from hearing them talk and move to the building, there was hope again.

She hopped towards Haru with a grateful beaming smile, "Thank you. Thank you so much."

She gave him a peck of her lips on his cheek. He was her hero, right? At the least this was the best she could do for him. But time was running short for her. What of her parents? Her family? She needed to know if they were alright. There was so little information right now. "I have to go. Thank you again! I'm Maria. I hope to see you later!"

All that said and done, she quickly left while those demons would be busy eating the fish inside the crumbling building. Little did she know, there was going to be a new hell waiting for her at home...

[Exit]

The situation was baffling and the sort of situation that would numb the mind and stop it from working. This mess could easily force a person to flee or just stand frozen before it all leaving fate to decide whether or not one lived or not. It could drain free will if one bowed completely bowed to the fear that this insanity caused.

However, Haru did not bow to that fear. Sure, fear coursed through his body and perhaps to some degree made him tremble a bit. It was true he did not understand what the hell was happening or even what these monsters were, but at the same time he could not just leave people to die. Not if there was some sliver of hope that maybe there was another way. It was this hope that caused him to take a step forward to do something in the first place. It was a small step laced with fear at first, but that quickly changed when the creatures decided to attack the girl. At the sound of her yelp, Haru pushed forgot his fear and stepped forward to get the strange creature’s attention. No more death.

As he did this, he heard her words and perhaps some part of him agreed that what she said was true; however, he wasn’t going to back down now. As one of those creatures turned to him and asked a strange question, Haru found himself answering in a calm voice despite the internal wreck that he was. He held his ground and by some miracle managed to get the creatures to change their mind and go after fish instead of flesh…or at least that is what he hoped as he let the creatures go by and watched as they headed into the crumbling building. There were people back there, but if the creatures kept their word maybe there would be no more blood spilled tonight.

With one problem hopefully solved, Haru’s eyes turned to the girl. His intention was to ask her if she was okay, but that planned was shattered the moment she hopped towards him thanking him with that big smile. He wasn’t quite sure how to react her joy and before he could even figure out the correct course of action, the girl did something that further derailed him. She kissed him on the cheek.

A bit stunned, he would look at her quite confused by this action; however, before he could ask why she did what she did, she was making her escape from the area, leaving behind only her name and a more or less pleasant farewell.

“Yeah…” was all Haru could manage to get out of his mouth though between the low tone and the fact she had moved away, so quickly he highly doubted she heard him. Huh. Weird...

Anyway, shaking his head to clear it a bit he would focus on getting himself out of the area too. He needed to find Lisa and then get back home. Who knew what the chaos here had really started.

~Haru has exited the thread. This thread is officially completed.~