Reaper's Playground and a Ticket Out (2/7)

[Midna]

Through the week, Vex had changed a little. She worked better in a team. Now she understood Z. It had been a long week, but for some reason when she woke up, she felt like this would be the end of it. Maybe after today things could go back to normal.

She wondered if anyone missed her...

Over the week, she hadn't heard anyone talking about her death, which was stunning. By now, she knew that she was dead, that they both were. But she'd had a pretty big reputation. They should have been talking about her. But nobody was.

Uncertainty and confusion and a little bit of anger in her mind, she checked her messages as soon as she sat up. "New mission. Looks like we have to erase the guy who's sending them. Oh, and apparently if we win you can keep the noise." She still hadn't gotten comfortable with the Noise. "I think it's Hide and Seek?"

[Max]

Z had sat down on the edge of a lamppost, leaning against the pole itself. It wasn't that pretty of the day, skies of rolling clouds filled his vision of view. It was the seventh day, the very last day of this 'Reapers Game.' Z pet the cat that rested on his shoulders, sighing deeply. So after this… would he and Vex even be friends anymore? He didn't really know too much about her anyway, but he still felt connected to her somehow.

He listened, still watching the clouds above. "Hide and Seek… looks like we need to find this person who has been handing out our missions. The borders aren't too large anyway, we should be able to find them pretty easily." He thought for a second, thinking about the future even though he should be focused on the mission. "We should probably start looking, it'll make this day quicker and allow us to get back to our normal lives.

[Snow]

Vinyl rumbled loudly as a sort of agreement, licking his jaws. Ramen, he had discovered, was better than any fish he had previously caught. He had also discovered that while the female was tolerable, he quite liked the male.

S watched the two Players and the rouge Noise, chuckling silently to itself. It had left less missions on accident, of course, but as it went they most likely had only one pin each (unless they'd bought more?) and were weaker. Easier prey. The monstrous Game Monster, devoid of even gender, licked its lips, waiting. Let the game begin.

[Midna]

Vex looked over at Z and actually smiled. "Let's get looking then." She was a little annoyed that the cat was still there, but maybe he'd give them an advantage in finding the Game Master.

As she look, she started small talk. "What are you planning on doing? You know, after this?" She made sure to start talking when Z was looking near her so he'd notice.

Vex saw a flash of something on a roof, but it turned out to be a bird. She kept looking.

[Max]

Z followed behind his partner, looking around to try and find this mysterious 'S'. He hummed, taking the cat off his shoulder and holding it in his arms, petting it as he walked. As Vex asked him the question he paused his humming and thought for a moment. "Probably back to my animation studies. I don't have much to do really, draw and possibly hang out with my few friends." He paused for another moment looking up at her "Would you uh… want to meet up in the real world?"

Z realized that she probably had an actual life, not probably, but actually did… it was a confusing thought. "Although of corse, we are just partners and I can understand if you'd rather not… you don't even know that much about me."

[Snow]

Vinyl purred in the human's arms, before squirming to get down and trotting off in a different direction. Sitting down when he realized that the humans weren't following him, he made an annoyed meow. Well? Come on then. I don't want my favorite human to get Erased. Come on now. This way. I know where it is. Come on. Follow me. A bird was disturbed and Vinyl looked up at it, watching it fly away with mild interest. It was over there, he knew it- but the Players needed to follow him.

It cursed softly as it accidentally disturbed the bird, glaring at the noisy animal. But, it assumed, it had time to find a new hiding spot. After all, what fun was Hide and Seek without the hiding part? Sure, the Composer would get mad at it. It'd have to attack eventually. BUt until then, it would enjoy this silly little game.

[Midna]

At his question, Vex frowned. Right now, she wanted to meet up with him. But when everything was back to normal, would she still want to? Would she stop going to parties so much? She hadn't realized just how risky they were.

It still didn't seem like anyone at all had noticed she was gone. She'd taken a look at a newspaper at some point, nothing about her or her family. It was depressing, to be honest.

"Yeah, we'll meet up at some point. Can't go through something like this without being friends after all." She meant it too. Maybe Z was the closest she had to a real friend. Funny, a week ago she would have named one of her many 'best friends'.

Oh. The Noise was leaving. Then it sat down and stared at them. She cautiously walked after it. "Maybe it knows where this guy is?" She still didn't trust it, but help would be appreciated mostly.

[Max]

Z smiled at the response "You're right. I mean, we both have battled so much… It'll be cool to hear what you actually sound like!" Over the past week, Z had picked up on reading lips better, it made it easier during battles and mainly just walking around.

He list the little cat jump out of his arms and walk away. "Kitty? Where are you going?" He watched as it sat down, almost beaconing him to follow it. "Vex… maybe we should follow him… He is a noise after all and defiantly understands this place more than we both do." Z began walking to the cat, looking back at his partner half way.

[Snow]

Vinyl preened as the human caught on quickly. See, this was why he liked humans. They were taught things so easily! Getting up and walking farther away, he turned his head back in a very humanish way, his ears brushing his neck and seeing everything somewhat upside down. A large, cattish grin on his face, Vinyl trotted towards the source of what his human was looking for.

S grinned. This was just too easy. The cat would lead them to S and then S could rip them apart and smell their blood and maybe even play a little. After all, the reason it'd been appointed Game Master was because it'd never been paid attention to before. It was feral. A playful feral beast that would just as soon rip its playmates apart as it would with prey.

[Midna]

Vex followed Z, less hesitant since she had been. She did keep stealing glances behind them though, just in case the Game Master was planning to ambush them. And her hand always rested on her pin. She kinda wished she had more. It would be nice to have something to defend with.

As she kept watching, she kept feeling like someone was watching them. It made her uneasy. "I think we're getting close..." If anything touched her, she'd punch its lights out. That's how wound up she was. "This is creepy."

[Max]

Z turned around as he felt her voice, nodding agreeing with what she said. "Yeah… it is." He turned back to look at his cat, who was grinning. "I sure hope you know what you're doing Vinyl, you've been my favorite pet." He slowly looked at the roof of the buildings, trying to use his sight more than anything. He would have to keep eyes on every crevasse, window, and trashcan. If this S person was to pop out of nowhere, it could mean erasure and that this week was for nothing, and Z was not going to let that happen.

He continued to follow his cat, looking back at Vex every few steps to make sure nothing had reached back and taken her off or killed her. "Vex if you are willing to walk beside me, it'll be better. It'll help us get ready for any battles as well as keeping an eye on each other."

[Snow]

Vinyl stopped at the end of an alley and sat down, staring into a dark corner. After a while, he seemed to twitch and he turned around, trotting back out and continuing on. This happened multiple times, him trying to locate the exact position of S while S slipped away from him in the shadows. Finally the cat got frustrated and, growling, blurred his way into the alley where S had hidden and attached his claws to its face, its surprise making it yowl. It staggered out of the shadows, managing to rip the cat off and throw him. Vinyl landed on his paws, light as always.

S pouted. "Hmph. I was having fun, you know, Vinyl. Making you look crazy was really fun. Besides... I'm not too sure I want to end the Game yet." With that, the feral little beast merged with the shadows again, making the cat howl in frustration and stamp his paws. And the cat sulked for a bit, tail flicking peevishly, before he seemed to sigh and wrapped himself around the human male's legs, meowing apologetically before slipping past and tracking again.

And all the while, S was giggling.

[Midna]

Vex nodded and moved forward to walk shoulder to shoulder with Z. It felt better having a friend next to her. Still felt creepy though.

The noise was acting ridiculous. Many times Vex wondered what it was doing. But she had to stay there when it stopped, and she spent that time searching the alley for any kind of movement or shape. Nothing. "This is getting old..." she grumbled.

At the very next alley, something happened. Vex stared as the noise jumped at something, clawing at it. Then something else spoke. She could barely see it, but it didn't look human. A Reaper who was also a Noise? Or maybe some King Noise of some kind? "What the hell was that thing?"

Apparently it had disappeared again. Vex growled and followed the cat again. The next time she saw that creepy jerk who was putting them through this she was going to scream and knock it flat with a shockwave...

[Max]

Z heard his cat yowl and he ran to his pet noise. "What was that? Did it hurt you?" The cat just simple rubbed up against his leg and continued looking, which surprised Z only slightly. Noise where more powerful than normal animals anyway. He continued to follow his cat, waiting for the game master to come out of hiding.

[Snow]

And come out of hiding S did. The quasi-Noise leaped for the deaf male, only to be thwarted by the cat. The cat turned, spitting and snarling, and attached himself to its face. Again. But S just clawed the thing on the side, sending it flying. Laughing, the feral Game Master spoke in English.

"Whoops! I'm done hiding now! It's yo̭͕̞͌ͩ͌̏̑͂͘͝͞u̲͈̯̝̹͔̩͈̇̄̑̕r̩̼̪̳͎̋̓ͬͥ̄̓́ͅ ̣̱̭̗̙̅̇͠t̵̳͎͚̯͙͚̬̣̙̂̎̍̏ȕ̧̞̣̐̄ͫͧ͌ͅr̴̬̰̜̘̈̿́ṅ̼̫̐ͥͩ̂̐̒̔ ̶̡̩̳̞͉ͮͬ͛̀̂̈́͋ͤt̴̻̹̠̯̊̽͛̇̎͊ö̵̫̖̞̼̫͖͇̓̋͒̿̎ͥ̀̕ ̢̖͉͈͚͉̊ͣ͆ͬ̀͡ḥ̸̢̛̞̠̘̮͖̩͕̭̃ͯͩ͑͛ͥ̃ͣi̴̵͔̮͈͍̣͙ͮ̎͒̅̐̽̓̈d̗̟̜̆͒͋ͭͭ̉ͣ͌͡͡͠e̢̹ͫ̆͢ ̴̡͎͚̺̍ͩͪ̊͒f̶̭̪̞̮͓̼̜̼ͬ͆̓͑̂͐̒̚̕r̟̥̙̙̠̯ͪͣ͌͊̉̽ͨ͂̕͜o̯̐ͥ͗͋̂ͫ̔̿m͚̰̫̯͈̦͚̑ͤ̃̐ͭ̄ͦ̀͞ ̴̸̦̝̬̪̤̥͉͇̰̐ͥͮͮ̊ͬ̒m͔͎̲̫͊͌̆͆ͤ̈́e̿҉̟͞!̹͊ͯ͂͛́ͯ̽́͞ I hope you're ready, cause I'̐͊͂ͧ҉͖͕̼̺͢m͎̯͉̦̜̮̗͙̻̔ͨ̽͌̄̾ ̵̪̋ͣ͆͒ͧͦ͊͠͡n̨̥̙͎̲̪̜͇̫̑̿̍ͬ̒́͞ǫ̴̫̼̀̓͟t̛̖̋ͩ̚͟ ̵̴̗̩̫̎͑͂̃̈ͣ͑̎̑̀c̵͕̮̥̪̙̼̯̫ͣ̿͢o̶̢̱̳̊̓͞űͣ͐͆́͆҉̷̧͕̻̰̠n̴̹̱͈͓̭͕͆͒̎t̷̞̤̭̾̓ͫ̀͘i̿͒ͧ̓́ͭͨ͏͉͎̝͓̀n̥̪ͫ̾́̚g̫̲̱̬͍̙̏ͪ̽̋͗ͅ!̠͙̗̝̻͙ͮ̇͗͋̀́"̴̹̜͔̤̖̮͚̉ͦ"

And S lunged for the male, only to suddenly twist at the last second to claw for the female, sharp, tiny fangs prepared to embed themselves into the female and poison her. Poison was fun, yes it was! Because poison made the Player go loopy and eventually Erase themselves from sheer confusion!

S kicked the cat away when he came at it, not bothering to attack the Noise. He wasn't strong enough to do damage anyway.