The Game of Life; Pre-Diamond City

Posts : 1468 Join date : 2018-09-15 Age : 34

(I felt like doing some actual writing, so I'm gonna put posting this here whenever the urge hits me. You can choose to read it if you feel like it, or if you want some inside knowledge of the NPCs/tone and setting of Diamond City)

"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."

Edgar Allan Poe

It wasn't the first time Rosette Erinforth had woken from dreams of fire and darkness. Her own screaming had woken her from her restless slumber. As she glanced through her lashes at the time displayed on the clock by her bed, she thanked her lucky stars once again that she lived alone. She could imagine the worried looks of her parents even now, and despite the lonely emptiness of her apartment, the thought soothed her.

It was several long moments before she risked moving. After these dreams she always felt heavy as if by taking one step out of bed she would fall like a stone into the very shadows themselves, lost forever to endless oblivion. But in the end it was only hard-wood floor beneath her feet, and she made her way to the balcony that overlooked Level seven. It was the highest level of the city, two whole levels above the level she was raised. Being raised by two Devil Divers, the fact that she could afford lodging for herself on the highest level was a testament to her own accomplishments.

More than the defeat of shadows, more than the victory in the highly competitive Crux Games, it was times like this where she could look up and see the unbroken expanse of sky at night that made all the work worth it. The city, even this high up, was always alight with some kind of activity. But in the very early morning, when city life was at it's most quiet point, she could even see the stars.

Rosette elicited a heavy, heavy sigh, expelling all the air from her lungs as if that would be enough to purge all the foreboding and bad memories from her mind. By morning she'd be able to tuck the memory away again. She'd call father and talk to him about something trivial and remind herself that there were reasons for the things she did. But for now, in this moment, she saw only silver eyes framed against the dark, glinting in the light of all-consuming fire.

She shuddered, and turned back to head inside. It would be a little while yet before she could head back to bed - before she could trust herself to close her eyes and keep them that way. So she headed back in through the glass-paned door, putting her hair up with a tie she found lying on the table just inside the door.

Her cluttered dining table was piled high with requests, mission reports, Crux results, and other miscellany. Atop one of these piles of paperwork, her narrow mobile phone was charging. She sat and opened the lock screen. A notification was waiting for her.

Olivia 9:25 PM
Hey, Rosie-cheeks, we still on for tomorrow?

Olivia 10:15 PM
Didja fall asleep at the dining table again? I know I'm not one to talk, but you really outta take better care of yourself.

Rosette blanched. Her face was a mask of shame and rueful amusement. She had forgotten she was meant to meet up with Olivia today. That meant no sleeping in.

Rosette rubbed her eyes against sleep, pushing the talk button on the screen so she wouldn't have to try to get her bleary eyes to focus on the text pad. "Yes, Of course -period- I'm looking forward to it -period- Sorry -comma- I fell asleep -period- " She squinted to make sure the words had been interpreted properly before sending the message, but after a moment's hesitation added, "In the bed this time -period-"

With her message sent, Rosie closed her eyes and pressed her palms against them. The unexpected messages from Olivia had freed her of the worst of the images, replacing them instead with that awkward, buzzing feeling that fluttered around in her stomach whenever she thought about meeting up with Olivia. They weren't dates per se, but they probably would be if either of the work-a-holics had enough self-indulgence to allow themselves social lives.

To Rosette's surprise, her phone buzzed again.

Olivia 3:42 AM
Lmao go back to bed, Rosie. I'll see ya tomorrow. <3

Rosette sat gawking at her phone for a moment, a slight flush coloring her cheeks, before her brow knitted together. With a small frown she tapped the talk button. "Pot -comma- meet Kettle -period-" She hesitated a moment before actually picking the phone up and adding a "<3" to the end of her message.

Thoroughly embarrassed and determined to be the one who went to bed first in the little contest, the girl pushed herself back and up out of the chair, and padded towards her bed with renewed purpose. Behind her, the phone buzzed again, signalling a reply. But Rosette decidedly ignored the message. It'd be a nice barrage of messages to read come morning, she thought. For now, she set her new alarm on her bed-side clock, and tried again for sleep.

When sleep finally did take her, she did not dream.

Posts : 1468 Join date : 2018-09-15 Age : 34

Lucien Ramporte had slept with a loaded gun tucked near his bed since he was eight years old. Now that 50 was right around the corner, no amount of apparent peace was going to break the habit. So when a creaking noise set off his keen senses, and broke him from his sleep, the first thing he did was reach his hand into the crevice between mattress and bedside table, and pulled out a loaded handgun. Sharp, if groggy eyes swept the room, gun trained, trigger ready.

It wasn't moonlight that cast harsh white lines across Luke's face, but rather the neon lights from across the alley. The building next door had a rather obnoxious flashing sign that Lucien had learned to deal with. The light would illuminate the room for a moment, then go out, plunging the room into darkness again. When the light cut through the shadows for the second time since he'd opened his eyes, there was a figure standing at the foot of Lucien's bed.

The black-haired Diver's hand tensed on the gun at first, but as recognition struck, he dropped his hand and flicked the safety on in one smooth, practiced motion. He placed the gun on his night table, and pushed himself up into a sitting position. Another flicker of white light revealed the face of someone who he hadn't seen in many years. The old man had a square-ish face, with a resting expression somewhere between amusement and apathy. It was a face that Lucien always interpreted as spiteful and mirthlessly cruel.

In the pale light Lucien's face was a slab of hard stone framed by nets of black hair on either side. His eyes narrowed further as he addressed his unwelcomed guest. "Kyouji. what are you doing here, old man? I almost shot you."

"Sharp as ever, boy. Though I suppose you haven't been one of those for many years." The voice of the old man was smooth as molten amber, and just as dangerous when it hardened. Hearing it again after so many hears sent a chilling spike through Luke's guts that he didn't think he was capable of anymore. It was fear. An emotion he'd accepted as long dead in his heart. "Did you decide not to shoot before or after you recognized me."

Lucien folded his hands over his sheet-covered stomach and replied with quick and careful wit, "I'm still deliberating." He said in a toneless breath. "What do you want?" He was, of course, not about to ask the master assassin how he got in. Kyouji had always gone where he pleased when he pleased.

"I came here because I'm looking for something. And though I haven't yet found it, now that I'm here I've sensed something of greater interest. I'd like to make use of you and the others once again while I'm here. I'll keep you appraised of the situation." The light flicked off again, bathing the room in darkness. Lucien blinked, saw for a brief moment, the flash of one of the old man's demon summoning tubes. It was a quick, soundless flash in an otherwise empty darkness.

When the light flicked on again, the apartment was empty.

Lucien sat in bed for a long moment before he finally stepped out from under the covers. The wooden floor boards creaked in protest against his late-night movement, breaking the otherwise still silence. He padded to the window that faced the street, and pulled down the blind. Glancing through, he saw no sign of the old man, but he could just make out the blackness of the night sky between the clusters of buildings that obscured his vision from the fourth level.

He lit a cigarette and stood there puffing for a few minutes, just taking everything in. Time had been moving forwards for so long, he had never realized how little it would take to turn back the clock. To put him back in those shoes again.

Fuck.

» Diamond City Daydream (Plot/subplot idea)
» Trigger Knight Arcade Game! [Game Board]
» Attendant Pearl and Diamond
» Take Me Out to the Crux Game! (Crux Game test) (AKA clusterfuck)
» Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life (Gran [Ariston])