[ The heat is gone. The sunlight is gone. The newfound land they'd found fades from view, blotted out like the drip of ink on a canvas. It peels back to glasslike water and the stink of mud mixed with iron, the dark sky tinged a murky green that casts a sickening light over everything in sight. The water itself is bright, too bright, and once glance will tell you why—
The moon stares back, large, distortions in it's cratered surface from the water it's sunken beneath.
A step backward will result in stepping in a puddle of red, similar ones dotting the muddy landscape, whilst a similar colors runs down the bark of the trees. Careful, lest you trip on the things half-submerged in the blood-tinged mud, the masks carrying an ominous weight.
Who is there, but Shinjiro? There's an axe hefted onto his back, a holster at his hip. His feet lightly sink into the muck at the edge of the water, gaze locked onto the distorted moon, and if he realizes he's not alone—
[What a gloomy world - the type to make your hair stand on end, too. Hansa glances around. He's not nervous, but at the same time, this is nothing like he's seen before, and he's tense.]
[He glowers at the masks, before he sees that familiar figure, and calls out:]
[One day you, too, Shinjiro, will be "old-man"ed....]
So. Um. [Right....Dark Hour. He's frowning, even as he's settling back into a stance - he's ready to fight whatever comes at him. It feels like that sort of place.] What is this Dark Hour?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
WEEK 3. MONDAY
Date: 2025-11-26 04:44 am (UTC)The moon stares back, large, distortions in it's cratered surface from the water it's sunken beneath.
A step backward will result in stepping in a puddle of red, similar ones dotting the muddy landscape, whilst a similar colors runs down the bark of the trees. Careful, lest you trip on the things half-submerged in the blood-tinged mud, the masks carrying an ominous weight.
Who is there, but Shinjiro? There's an axe hefted onto his back, a holster at his hip. His feet lightly sink into the muck at the edge of the water, gaze locked onto the distorted moon, and if he realizes he's not alone—
well, he doesn't much care, right now. ]
(no subject)
Date: 2025-11-29 12:33 am (UTC)[He glowers at the masks, before he sees that familiar figure, and calls out:]
Shinji!
(no subject)
Date: 2025-12-04 04:00 am (UTC)It's fine if the Dark Hour doesn't exist here, because it does in his dreams.
The name makes him jerk, but not in the way you think. When his gaze turns to meet Hansa's, it's a bit sharp and unwelcoming. ]
Don't call me that.
[ Too familiar, too unpleasant from another mouth. The ripples in the water grow stronger, like something is moving beneath it. ]
(no subject)
Date: 2025-12-04 05:06 am (UTC)[He means it, a little startled and apologetic. Hansa doesn't like the look of the waves, though, and comes closer.]
What in the world is this place?
(no subject)
Date: 2025-12-04 07:48 am (UTC)Shinjiro doesn't regard Hansa with much after that, merely a sideways glance.
The nooses hang a little lower, as if in preparation. ]
The Dark Hour.
[ A mask cracks underfoot. ]
If you're here, then you're just unfortunate, old man.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-12-05 02:25 am (UTC)[One day you, too, Shinjiro, will be "old-man"ed....]
So. Um. [Right....Dark Hour. He's frowning, even as he's settling back into a stance - he's ready to fight whatever comes at him. It feels like that sort of place.] What is this Dark Hour?
(no subject)
Date: 2025-12-05 08:20 am (UTC)[ At least he can manage a bit of bite.
The question merely earns a shrug, Shinjiro opting to walk closer to the water. ]
Nobody knows. [ Or at least, nobody he knows does. ] It just appears at midnight. The 25th hour of the day nobody lucky gets to see.
[ Among the distorted clockwork, it sounds like grinding gears, shifting stone. Something is beneath the moon on the water, and it's getting closer. ]
(no subject)
Date: 2025-12-06 12:44 am (UTC)[yes he will just
say that in reply, even as he's grinning about it]
Mysterious 25th hour. I could do a lot with an extra hour, and-
[...The moon.]
Shinjiro, seriously. We need to get out of here. This isn't real.