Hawk and Nightingales - IC Thread

[MioDioDaVinci]

"Hey."

Their eyelids stir.

"Wake up." a gravely voice asks, gently shaking one of them on shoulder. His voice was tinted with excitement. "Wake up."

Sleepily, one of them flickers their eyelids, catching a glimpse of the room around them. A simple room, really. White walls, stained wood furniture, and perhaps a window or two in the corner. They rather adored the little wood furnace in the corner, but in all reality, they were too tired to care. They resist waking, turning over and trying to return to their quiet slumber, snuggling into the worn couch.

"Come on. Wake up." the voice asks again, using two hands to try to rouse them. "Wake up and see your new home."

That certainly caught their attention.

A few of them open their eyes once more, only to be met by the face of a young man, perhaps in his late twenties, maybe older. He wore a knitted grey snow cap, one that only barely concealed his fluffy chestnut hair. His light blue eyes were lit up with joy as he smiled warmly at them.

"Hello," he said.

 

[Meta]

Kei could hear the voice talking at the edge of his dream, the unfamiliarity of it waking him up, but he still felt groggy and didn't feel like opening his eyes. He tried to pretend he was still asleep, maybe the guy would stop talking and go away.

But with the words "new home" he suddenly sat up. He wasn't exactly alert yet, and still half-asleep, his vision slightly blurred as he looked around his surroundings. He could make out the furniture and the windows, other people scattered about in the same state as him, and the one man standing over all of them.

The man had a warm smile, but Kei wasn't sure how to respond to it. He was a bit apprehensive but if anything his face still read tired. He wondered if he was still dreaming, being in a strange place with strange people all around him. He stood up slowly, glancing out the window first, then back at the man standing across the room from him.

"Hi..." was the first thing he thought to respond with when greeted. He tried to walk closer to him, stepping around the others laying around on the floor, careful not to accidentally step on anybody. "Um, what's going on here?" he asked. "Where am I?" he looked up at the man as he asked the questions, taking his eyes off the floor, and accidentally stepped on the face of someone sleeping on the ground.

 

[SakisCookie]

"Mmmph!" The muffled cry escaped Sakura's lips when the foreign pressure of a shoe met her face. It served as the final trigger to rouse her from sleep, and the girl  wriggled from under Kei's foot.

"Fwah...wh-what's going on...?" Sakura  yawned, pushing herself into a sitting position. Gentle fingers reached to brush the crust of sleep from the corners of her gradually brightening aqua eyes, and those same  eyes began a careful inspection of the room around them. She found the room to be rather simple, but she possessed no significant talent for interior design, so it didn't matter much anyway.  What really caught her attention was the multitude of sleeping bodies around her. So many people....did she know them? Her foggy mind wasn't ready to process such thoughts.

The cheerful man that stood before her was unfamiliar as well. Yet, there was a compelling affection for him--an emotion Sakura didn't fully understand. She felt as though this capped man, with his glittering eyes and warm smile, were a dear old friend, though she was very sure she didn't know him.

"Ah...hello," she murmured, offering a timid smile.

 

[MioDioDaVinci]

"Oh, wait, sorry, gah--" the man stumbled, helping Sakura up from the floor and giving her an apologetic pat on the shoulder. He didn't have much room on the old couch so it made sense at the time to lay her on the floor. Probably not the best idea in hindsight.

"Umm... well then, " he chuckled, slightly ruffling her hair, "sorry about that. Ah, my name's Benjamin, and I'm your new user."

Their look of confusion begged him to explain.

"Ah, well, you see, I'm a music composer. Not professionally, I mean, but yes, I compose music, so it made sense to get a couple singers for my music seeing as I have the singing voice of a mule." he laughed halfheartedly. He glanced over towards the hallway that lay behind the couch, looking down to his music room. "I... I just thought it would be a good idea... to... get a few of you guys. Not to mention it is kind of lonely around here at points, being out in the middle of the forest and all."

He paused to look out the window.

"B-but never mind that! Welcome to your new home! Just as soon as everyone wakes up, we can start a tour!" he said cheerfully, motioning to the rest of the house with widespread arms.

Well, motioning up until he was met with a boot to the head.

"I would bloody well like to know who you think you are, kidnapping us like that." Crevan shouted from the sofa, teeth bared and tense. Obviously, she had never left home very much. With a single motion, she rose to her feet and stalked over to him, again, shouting, "And even more, why do you need seven UTAU!? What are you, some kind of sicko with weird fantasies!?"

Benjamin was unable to respond as he was too busy laying on the ground in pain.

 

[SakisCookie]

A small squeak of surprise popped from Sakura's lips, and she hurriedly knelt beside her 'user' (she still didn't understand the full meaning of the term). "Why did you do that?" she asked, turning an intimidated gaze up to Crevan. "We...we weren't kidnapped. Were we?" Her memory gave no account of such an event. Actually, Sakura realized, she could barely remember anything besides her own name.

Gently, she ran her hand over Benjamin's head, an attempt to quell any injuries. "How exactly did we get here Mister....Mister User?"

 

[MioDioDaVinci]

Crevan furrowed her brow. "I was upset. What else was I supposed to do?" she growled.

There was a sigh from Benjamin as he sat up, still tenderly rubbing his jaw. He gave the virus a hard look and she glared in return... or at least as much as a thing without eyes can.

"You weren't kidnapped, you were shipped here. The truck arrived this morning and we were moving and unpacking up until now. The mover just left, actually." he said, slowly rising to his feet and keeping a good distance between him and Crevan. "I suppose you don't remember anything from the trip seeing as you just woke up."

The virus snorted, crossing her arms in annoyance. He wasn't telling them everything, that was for sure. She could see it in the way he shifted his weight so often, how he blinked more than needed. She was a liar herself and had learned to spot one. But then again, it could just be the excitement...

Although, she did have to admit, it was rather amusing how he grew so flustered when he was overjoyed.

"You're talking like we're some sort of furniture that can be bought and moved." she spat at the man.

"Well..."

 

[Meta]

"Sorry," Kei quickly said to Sakura, though rather half-heartedly. He was a bit confused, scratching his head as he looked around.

"So... we were what... put into boxes and dumped here?" he asked a little dubiously. He had a hard time believing he would've put up with that if conscious. "And... we're going to stay here?" He glanced at the others a bit apprehensively. A lot of them looked normal... for the most part. He took a few steps to the side to make some distance between himself and Crevan. He had never seen anything like... her. It was a girl, judging by the voice, at least, but with a featureless face with nothing but teeth, he worried that those mandibles might take off a finger or hand if he got too close.

He looked back at Ben, a little more awake and alert, and ready to complain. "Well, if we ARE going to live here now, you don't expect us to sleep on the floor all the time, do you?"  He felt a twinge of joy when said they were brought there to sing, for a composer no less. But, that didn't mean he was going to put up with a stiff back for an indeterminate amount of time.

 

[SakisCookie]

Sakura tilted her head a bit at Kei's words. With every revelation, the situation only became more confusing. Put in boxes, living in this place...Sakura shook her head to try and clear the fog. "So...so you own us now?" she asked, turning to Benjamin with an expression that was neither upset nor thrilled. She wasn't happy to be labelled as an item, yet...

She knew. Did the others know? Or did they believe themselves to be more than what they truly were. Looking down, she found plenty of evidence in the number tattooed on her arm and the miniscule green light that sent a faint glow through the skin on her left hip. Sakura was a machine--her "human" emotions and thoughts nothing but the results of a magnificently advanced program. Her aqua eyes flickered to Kei; surely he knew it as well?

Her thoughts were quickly blown off track, however, as she realized that no proper introductions had been offered. "Oh...by the way, my name is Sakura. Sakura Kankura," she offered, a light smile touching her lips. Although her muscles screamed to do otherwise, she even held the expression for Crevan. Intimidating though she was, Sakura remained confident that a lovable soul resided within.

 

[MioDioDaVinci]

"Oh, no, you're not sleeping on the floor!" Benjamin chuckled, giving Kei a swift and reassuring pat on the back. "That was just for now. I wanted to fit you all on the couch, but it's not quite as roomy as expected... But I've got plenty of room upstairs for you guys to make yourselves at home. In fact, I was just getting to that. I wouldn't want any of you to feel uncomfortable." he said, smiling at the group once more and letting his eyes rest on Sakura.

"And it's nice to meet you, Sakura. And also... Not exactly. I don't own any of you. I'm merely a..." he paused, rubbing his chin and starring thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Well, I'm not sure how to put it, quite frankly. Um... I'm a..."

He snapped his fingers.

"A guardian. I'm not an owner, but a guardian, merely responsible for you guys. It's up to me to keep you in good shape, give you shelter, make sure you're happy and healthy, and so on and so forth." he grinned, adjusting his knitted cap. "So why don't you all take a minute to get yourselves together and I'll show you the lot?"

Again, the virus made a sound of defiance.

Ben sighed. "You don't like me very much, do you?"

"Hardly."

 

[Zelfie Windwalker]

"...New home..."

"...kidnapped...!"

"...like some sort of furniture..."

It was all some sort of dream. She didn't comprehend any of it.

"--not an owner, but a guardian, merely responsible for you guys. "

And then it all clicked. Upon realizing she was laying out on the floor, Mayo's eyes shot open. Where...? She thought groggily. There were several others around, who she figured she ought to ask.

When she got up it all made sense. Everything she had heard suddenly began to fall into place. She had only been awake for twenty seconds, but based on the conversation she had heard, Mayo already felt something was off. It wasn't like this...before...wait... With that thought, she came to a startling conclusion. ...there isn't anything 'before' now? Indeed, all Mayo could remember was her name.

She quickly joined the others.

 

[NaughtyPichu]

Come on. Wake up.

Wake Up. Those two words were more than enough to draw Lancelotte to her feet in spite of herself. It was beyond her how her dormant consciousness recognized the "command" as relevant to itself--less did she know how it so unwittingly triggered her body to rise from its prostrate heap on the floor to a full, standing position; it all happened a bit too quickly than what her body could immediately bear, causing her to stumble back a few steps before securing any sense of balance. Furthermore, the stark white ambience of the room assaulted her eyes immediately upon opening them, and, for the sake of her own strict ethics, she bit back a growl of irritation.

Peeking out from behind the shutter of her resultant fingers shielding her eyes, Lotte blinked a few times to adapt to the scenery--the room wasn't as imposing as it had seemed seconds ago, and it's subtle simplicity even deemed it pleasent as far as she was concerned.

She withdrew her hand and took a sturdier stance as she turned her attention to he who addressed "them"--that is, herself a the other occupants of the room who seemed to be in the same, confusing--and if not suspicious--situation. Some among them were two blondes: one, the female, notably more timid than the other. Also, a less conventional model: a snarky young woman with a chimaeric countenance.

Judging by the way the man voiced his aim to "accommodate" them, Lotte concluded that this was probably a room in his home. Naturally, her mind meandered to the question of "how she got there in the first place" but in the process of her backtracking, the man mentioned something about sleeping on the floor, and it occured to her that she had been sleeping on his floor. Even though she hadn't fallen asleep there on purpose--as far as she knew--it appalled her that she had commited such a display of insolence.

"Ah! My deepest apologies... I don't know how it came to be, but I assure you I hadn't the slightest intention of imposing your home by lying on the floor in such a rude manner... my deepest apologies..." Lotte didn't sacrifice much of her stature, but she did lower her head a bit and cast her gaze downward abashedly. Why wasn't she more vigilant? It would be hard to set aside this disgrace in her conscience, especially if the man would hold a grudge. "If I caused you any trouble by this, I'll be more that willing to recompensate." She offered, still quite feeling like scum for her "actions." Her mind was currently diverted from all other matters of importance, even the gentle tone of the man's voice escaped her and gave way to her own sense of dismay.

 

[Meta]

"Name's Kei," Kei said, holding out his hand to Sakura. "Whole name is Kumone Keishi, but just call me Kei. And, uh, sorry again, and all. But hey, whatever wakes ya up." He looked around at the others, two more had gotten up, and he grinned at them as they rose to their feet. "Good, I thought I'd have to keep stepping on faces to get you guys up."

He watched Lotte get up, amused by her huge, crazy amount of hair, and watched her stumble a bit. "Hey now, Dandelion-head, do you need me to hold you up?"

 

[MioDioDaVinci]

Benjamin's eyebrows shot up in surprise, followed by another nervous laugh. He seemed to do that quite often. "Oh! You're awake!" he said, a bit startled by Lotte's quick apology. "N-no! You're not intruding! Hardly! Not at all!" he chortled, placing his hands on her shoulders in reassurance. "If anything, I should be apologizing for laying you down there! The floor's hardly a place to put people. In fact, the more I think about this, the more I realize I probably should have set this upstairs..." he muttered, rubbing his chin in thought once more.

Crevan gave a disgusted glance to LanceLotte, eying her up and down. A high-and-mighty-sense-of-honor sort of gal, eh? Just what this place needs... she though cynically. It seemed that no matter what happened in the room, nothing could be done to improve her sour mood. Hopefully, it wouldn't last long.

"So nearly everyone's up?" Ben asked, leaning over to the last two resting on the couch. He cocked his head and placed a hand on one's shoulder. "Come on then, wake up."

 

[UtauYork]

Nothing but darkness rushed around in unseen circles, making unnecessary art that wasn't viewable to any normal person. The darkness whirled on and on, in routine circles, but after a few seconds worth of the pitch black creativity, a pale, peach color swished in, lighting everything and anything. What occured next was a brand new set of colors and shades that swept inside and were, unlike the onix color of the scene before, visible, along with a pair of legs dressed in dark grey jeans.

Looking up and away from her covered appendages, L'Aquila felt the sudden excitement of being jolted awake from slumber slow down just as quickly as it had come and looking up just a bit more, she saw an unfimiliar man leaning over with a hand placed on her shoulder. Not knowing what was going on, she kept quiet on the couch that she was on. Gazing down at it, she didn't remember ever seeing it before. Thinking back, she couldn't recall seeing that couch at all and wondered why.

'I... I don't know where I am. This is- This is all confusing.' Voicing her worries out publicly and more softly than in her head, L'Aquila tried not to show her slowly rising anxiety from the foreign place and of the strangers around her.

"What..." Looking around to the other people that were already awake and talking, she focused her attention to the man who had woken her up. "What's going on?" She asked inquisitively.

 

[SakisCookie]

Sakura watched as the remaining unconscious members were roused from their slumber. All appeared as confused as she had been; just as startled by these foreign surroundings. Her gaze swept over their new additions, finding faces that revealed no cruel intentions. They needed reassurance, she knew, and Ben was (admittedly) not the best at calming explanations.

"Um...I-I know it's startling, but we're here to help Ben. We're lending him our voices." Hopefully, they would reminder their talents as singers.

 

[MioDioDaVinci]

"Yes, exactly that." Benjamin said, pointing Sakura. He added a few details of his own, such as his responsibility for them and where they would be staying, but his main point remained with Sakura that yes, he was essentially borrowing their voices. It seemed to Ben that as the UTAU woke up, the more and more he realized that it would have been better to put them upstairs in their room and explain everything once everyone woke up. And, well, it also would have been a good idea to get over that stuttering habit of yours.

"Okay!" he said, clapping his hands together and shoving the thought from his head, "If we're all awake, we can start on the tour! Just follow me out this way."

With a quick motion, he started off with the UTAU in tow.

The group was first led to the kitchen which was connected to the living room via an open floor plan. Again, it was a rather simple room: the table and cabinets were made of a deeply stained wood with a freckled granite counter top, and the windows had thin, plain, white drapes. In the far end of the room was the counter, porcelain sink, refrigerator, worn out stove and oven set, and silverware drawer, all seemingly crowded into one end, but not to the point that cooking would be difficult. The table seated six and was clothed in a rather dull blue tablecloth that had certainly seen the wear and tear of the years.

After, they were shown to the music room that lay down the hall. One could obviously tell it wasn't a professional music studio, but it was still of supreme quality. Music stands and instruments lay scattered about and an electronic keyboard was still plugged into a computer. A half written song sat on a chair next to a desk, which Benjamin hurriedly cleaned up and put in its proper place. The florescent lights above made sure the room was brightly lit and the door had a small window so anyone could look in and make sure they weren't interrupting recording.

Finally, he led them upstairs to their room. As they arrived, there was a slight sense of skepticism among them as they realized there were only two twin beds, a couch (which was presumably a foldout), and a couple of tightly packaged sleeping bags in the corner. But their attention was soon drawn from the lack of sleeping space to the large window that took up a major portion of the wall.

Outside the window lay the forest Benjamin had mentioned earlier, where they could barely peek over the pine trees. Hints of a coastline were visible between the branches, prickling excitement in a few of them. The could spot a road to the east, one that swerved and snaked across the landscape and just narrowly avoided the house. And to the west lay mountains, the top of the tallest one tipped with ice. It was picturesque, to say the least.

"Well, this is where you'll be staying." he said, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm sad to say that it's kind of hard to fit several individual beds up here, so for now, I'm kind of hoping you guys will rotate every other night..."

 

[SakisCookie]

(...I wanna reply, but I feel like I'm already replying more than anyone. DX)

 

[UtauYork]

(I think that as long as you don't double post, it's fine. Besides, posting more than everyone or not, it at least moves things along, right? =v=)

Having been explained everything, L'Aquila officialy knew why she couldn't remember anything from 'before' she had woken up on that couch and why she still had a basic knowledge of every other important thing needed to survive. Mulling over it as they explored their new home, she felt a little saddened that she was nothing more than a program. Her thoughts were fake, but all of it seemed exceedingly real.

As they entered the bedroom, L'Aquila was shocked to find that the room they were all staying in didn't exactly have the accommodations necessary for them. Looking out the window, she admitted silently to herself that the view only slightly impressed her after the plain house they had seen.

'Maybe we should decorate the house to make everything seem more... house-like.' Of course, L'Aquila soon realized that they were there to sing, not decorate. Although she wanted to know who was going to sing what and when, she decided to keep quietly to herself in the back, despite being so curious. She mumbled an 'It's fine with me, I don't mind.' outward in reply to the room's condition.

 

[MioDioDaVinci]

"If you'll excuse me, I'm just going to pop downstairs and fix a few things up. Make yourselves comfortable and call me if you need me." Benjamin said, adjusting his cap before descending into the living room.

There was a slight pause as they examined the room. Crevan had half the mind to call him, if only to "request" to be sent back to wherever she came from, and by "request" she meant "threaten and blackmail him until either he gave in or she burned the house down out of spite." She honestly did not appreciate waking up in such strange surroundings, and in a group, no less. A group of people who most likely would try to initiate social contact. A group of people who most likely would try to initiate social contact and probably had a better voice than hers.

Actually, the thought of Ben throwing her out because she couldn't sing without her harsh American accent was quite pleasing. Get thrown out, hitch a ride on a dump truck, something else, then profit. Very pleasing idea.

The silence continued, only to be broken by none other than the virus.

"I call the sleeping bag." she barked, immediately running over and snatching up one of the navy blue bags, clutching it to her chest defensively as if she expected there to be a quarrel. She eyed them as they stared, tightening her grip on her claim. There was no bloody way she was climbing into the same bed as one of them.

"You folks can 'rotate' all you like, but the sleeping bag's mine. End of story."

 

[Meta]

Kei went over to the window, looking out, enjoying and taking in the view. The coastline to the edge made him shudder a little bit. On one hand, he was in a house full of female UTAU, now. A beach meant swimsuits. On the other hand, a beach meant swimsuits, and he did not like stripping down.

He turned as Crevan claimed a sleeping bag, pausing for a moment as she held it possessively.

"Well... ok," he said to break the silence. "Suit yourself." A sleeping bag was a strange thing to claim right away. Naturally he went over to one of the beds, plopping himself down rather gracelessly on top of it, sprawling out a bit and stretching. The mattress wasn't luxurious, but it beat a hard floor.

"I think if anyone wants a bed, we get to fight for them," he murmured.  he glanced around the room, wondering how this Ben guy thought he could house so many people in a tiny place. It was made a bit better since his roommates were pretty cute girls, he thought as the glanced over the others. Well, aside from Crevan. She seemed like the type to hide under the bed and bite his ankles. He began thinking about a blunt object he could use for defense, the kitchen probably had a few things like a frying pan he could sleep with at night.