RP [Illi] Doki-Doki Channel!

“I think you’d look very cute,” Yuina said with a smile as Karen held the dress up to her chest. It felt a little odd, seeing Karen with a dress, but that wasn’t a bad thing just different to the usual. It was a nice color, in her opinion anyway she thought that it suited Karen well. She nodded in agreement as Karen gestured towards the changing room.

“Good idea, it’s no good if you don’t like wearing it.” She said, offering Karen her hand before walking with her to the changing room. It was nice to do something like this with a friend, it helped make the other little things that had been bothering her feel small and far away. She was here for her friend, and that was all she needed to be.

“I’ll wait here for you.” She said, stopping outside the threshold offering a supportive smile. “And if you don’t like it, we have plenty of other dresses to try.” She added with a light laugh.
 
Yuina seemed to like the dress. Karen wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that. Happy, maybe? Approval wasn't something she was really used to, especially for something as simple as this. If Yuina liked it, though, it was certainly worth trying on.

When Yuina offered her hand, though, Karen froze. She could see, in her mind's eye, the marks on her father's arm. The scars, when they had faded to scars. The bloody rents, when they had not. They were never too deep, and he always seemed to understand, but... still, Karen was all too aware of how easy it was for her to hurt people. One mistake, and Yuina could lose a finger, or a hand.

Except Yuina wasn't like Karen's father. For all that he had raised her and cared for her, when it came to things like this, her father was helpless. Yuina... Yuina was never helpless. Yuina could stand before a Grimm with nothing more than an outstretched hand, and fracture it into nothing more than smoke and memory. Karen wasn't harmless, but... Yuina wasn't helpless.

And Yuina knew. She knew exactly what Karen was, what Karen could do. Yuina wasn't offering a hand unknowing of what it might mean - she was offering a hand because she knew, and because she had decided to do so. Didn't she have the right to make that choice, to choose for herself? Why should Karen take it away from her.

So, carefully, Karen placed her hand in her friend's, letting their fingers twine together. It was... nice. It was really very nice. She didn't know how to feel about that, either. She didn't know if she was relieved or sad when they reached the dressing room and it was time to let go. Slipping into the room gave her a minute to try to sort it out, but no answers came to her then, either. Karen supposed that she wasn't going to get anywhere thinking about all of that right now, so instead she carefully undressed, avoiding looking into the mirror until she had pulled the dress on and zipped it up.

The Karen who looked back at her looked like someone else. Someone... more confident, maybe. Certainly someone more open. Karen didn't quite know how to feel about that, either. Should she hide, or just take it off and put on her regular clothes again and not think about it? But... Yuina was waiting for her, so Karen made herself take a silent breath, then open the dressing room door once more and step out for inspection.
 
She wasn’t pushing too hard was she? Yuina leaned against the doorframe as she waited, rolling the fabric of her shirt between her fingers. She could always be overthinking things, it was easy to get caught up in your own head. It was just a dress for a little corporate party, so clearly she was worrying too much about it. But, Karen was more than just her transformation and it would be nice for others to see that, Yuina felt, and possibly even for Karen herself more than anyone else.

It was silly, but she couldn’t help but think of that little boy who had wanted Karen’s autograph and Yuina couldn’t help but more could see Karen as the boy had. Someone who was trying her best, someone you didn’t have to be scared of.

Yuina pulled in a breath as she waited, looking up as she heard one of the changing room doors reluctantly open. Yuina smiled as Karen carefully stepped out of the changing room. It was strange to see her in a dress, but it was the nice sort of strange wasn’t it? It wasn’t her usual style, more eye catching than Karen ever tried to be.

“It really makes your eyes glow, doesn’t it?” Yuina said, walking over to her friend, “you look really pretty, but,”

This was the more important part wasn’t it?

“Do you like wearing it?”
 
Karen wasn't sure quite why she had been so nervous, waiting for Yuina's approval or disapproval. She was nervous... well, all the time, really, or at least she always had been. That had faded a little, lately - since she'd met Yuina. Since she'd made a friend. Somehow, though, all of it had come rushing back for a moment - what it Yuina didn't like it? Somehow that would have been worse than never having tried it on at all.

But... Yuina did seem to like it. And she said it was pretty.

Actually, she'd said Karen was pretty. Karen wasn't sure what to make of that comment, but her cheeks felt warm. She tried to focus on the other question - do you like wearing it? Karen wasn't sure about that. She shifted a little bit where she stood, and the skirt swirled, swishing about her legs. That was... what was the word for it?

Fun?

She moved again, the skirt swishing back the other way, capturing something that was almost a smile. Karen hid the expression again, quickly, then shrugged her shoulders a little. No, that wasn't strong enough. She straightened a little bit, then nodded.

Yes, she rather did like it. For... a few different reasons, maybe.
 
Yuina smiled while she waited for Karen to contemplate the question. She wiggled in place, not quite spinning but causing her skirt to swish around her legs as a faint smile crept onto her lips. The smile didn’t linger with Karen for long, but it was sweet and Yuina couldn’t help but smile herself. Karen always kept her emotions close to her chest, so even if it was just a little slip behind the mask Yuina couldn’t help but feel her heart flutter at the little twitch of a smile.

“I’m glad you like it, we’ll need to find some excuses to dress up later.” Yuina said with a light laugh. Was that a silly thing to say? Yuina shifted in place, a little awkwardly as she watched the skirt sway before she looked back over her shoulder, if only to hide the touch of embarrassment she felt.

“Right, uhm,” she brushed off her skirt with the side of her hand as she looked back to Karen. “We didn’t get to go to the cafe a few days ago, would you like to try today?”
 
Somehow, they had accomplished something.

It seemed silly to think of it that way - an accomplishment. All it was was buying a dress, after all. Still, it felt meaningful somehow. Maybe it was just that it was something out of the ordinary for Karen, or maybe it was that they had managed to succeed at it without anything going wrong. Or maybe it was something else, something she didn't quite have the words for just yet.

Still, it felt... nice. The store attendant had wrapped up the dress to be delivered to the dormitory later, so that they wouldn't have to carry it around. The transaction went... smoothly. Karen hadn't been sure about that, about interacting with other people, even with Yuina there. She didn't need to talk, though, it was all... not quite scripted, Karen wasn't sure if that was the right word, but there were expectations of what came next that made it easier. A nod or a shake of the head was all that was needed, wasn't it? Maybe... maybe people weren't quite so terrifying, after all.

She still didn't know if she could have done it, without Yuina there. Karen just felt... better, with her around. Even if things went wrong, she felt like it would be okay somehow, just because Yuina was there.

They started the walk towards the cafe, slowly, not in any particular hurry. The day was pleasant, or it had been so far. She didn't feel scared right now, or worried, or anything like that. Just... quiet. Maybe happy.

Maybe a little hungry.

What if - what if - they could just devour something, eat... anything, something, something must be able to fill the-

Karen blinked, clearing the golden shine from her eyes, then frowned slightly, reaching out to touch Yuina's arm, her expression concerned.

Something wasn't quite right.
 
Yuina tilted her head up as the two walked, enjoying the pleasant warmth of the sun against her skin and the warm summer breeze. Together it made for the sort of day you wanted to spend under a tree reading, or maybe simply taking a nap. Maybe they could spend some time in the park today? After swinging by the cafe and dropping the dress off at her room, anyway. Sitting around in a park with a dress in a bag would be weird, probably.

Yuina’s eyes widened as she felt Karen’s fingers brush against her arm. It was… gnawing. Not empty, but wanting to be filled, to consume. Yuina blinked as her skin bristled at the feeling, and she turned to look at her friend. She wasn’t transformed now, so why was she currently so… so hungry?

Yuina raised her hand, it hovered between them not quite touching Karen.

“What’s the matter?” She asked softly.
 
Karen shook her head slightly at Yuina's question. Something was wrong, something was very wrong, but she didn't know how to put it into words. Sometimes Karen knew the words, they just got stuck and bounced around inside her head and she didn't know how to get them out. This, though... there had to be words for this, but she didn't know what they could be, she could only shake her head in confusion.

Confusion, and hunger.

She drew her hand away from Yuina, curling her fingers into a tight ball, just in case. Just in case the claws came out. Yuina was... Yuina was there. It was okay, as long as Yuina was there. Yuina was her beacon, her anchor. Yuina held her in place, so she didn't fall.

But something out there was pushing, pushing, forcing her closer and closer to the edge of the abyss. If she didn't step closer, she'd tear apart, she had to, had to-

No.

She had to stay here with Yuina. Otherwise... Karen didn't know what would happen otherwise, but something was very wrong.

A whisper. "Don't leave me."
 
“I’m here. I’m right here.” Yuina said softly into Karen’s ear. Yuina carefully placed her hand on Karen’s shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze to let her know that she was with her. She could feel that hunger prickling against her fingertips, it felt so greedy, not so much like it was violently rumbling under the surface as… a momentary flash of gold in Karen’s eyes caused Yuina to look back over her shoulder. There weren’t many people on the street right now, some office workers heading to or from lunch perhaps, but none of them were close right now.

The abyss was so wanting, like it wanted to pull them both into the emptiness. Yuina shivered, but she kept her hand on Karen’s shoulder. What was the right thing to do?

“Can you walk? We can try to find somewhere quieter for you to rest.” Yuina said, her voice still soft. Should she try to just reach out for that feeling? That felt wrong, so she pushed the thought away. “If you can't, that's okay, I’ll stay here.”
 
There was something important about Yuina's presence. It was an anchor of sorts, something that held on to Karen in a way that was more than just physical - something she couldn't see, but still tethered her where she was, away from the yawning abyss. It was so tempting, to run towards it... but if she fell in, Yuina might fall with her, and Karen couldn't let that happen.

No. For whatever reason, Yuina's life was more important than her own. Karen could fight for her, even if she wasn't sure she could fight for herself. Karen moved her hand, her fingers brushing over Yuina's atop her shoulder. She wanted to grab, to hold on - but no, no. She wouldn't hurt Yuina. Besides, this was enough. Karen took a breath, unsteady, another and another, until things evened out.

The abyss was still there. But... where? Yuina had asked if she wanted to rest, but Karen had a feeling this wasn't the time to rest. This was... something important, maybe. It was at least something. She looked around, biting her lip and trying to think.

Don't think. Just feel. Feel the hunger. Feel the abyss. Her eyes half-closed again, searching. It was... there, wasn't it? Forward, and a bit left. Karen felt like she ought to want to run away. That would have been a normal response, wouldn't it? Run away, stay safe, keep Yuina safe - but what if the abyss came for Yuina when Karen wasn't there? What if it was another one of those things, whatever untraceable thing had been in her room?

They had to face it, didn't they? That was the only way to find out what it was. It might not keep them safe, but doing nothing wasn't going to keep them safe either. Karen let her eyes open again, raising a finger and pointing, a direction.

That way.
 
Yuina waited as Karen took the time she needed to steady herself, the abyss she was struggling with seemed to still be there, maybe it was always there, but Karen seemed to be more at peace with it. Maybe ‘at peace’ was wrong, it wasn’t ever peaceful was it? More like how the emptiness of losing a loved one eventually scabs over, like when her dad moved out after the devorce. That was a silly thing to compare it to, wasn’t it? With a little shake of her head Yuina pushed the errant thoughts away and offered Karen a smile as the girl seemed to pull herself more together and look quickly around like she was searching for something. It took Yuina a second or two to realize that Karen wasn’t looking for somewhere to sit, no, it was more like she was trying to feel outsomething.

Yuina raised her hand from Karen’s shoulder, worried that her touch might make it harder for Karen to try to find whatever it was she was looking for, and Yuina followed her half-hooded gaze as Karen looked this way and that down the street. There had to be a Grimm nearby, something empty that Karen could simply feel as a part of herself that Yuina simply couldn’t. That had to feel awful, didn’t it? So she needed to do her best as well.

The smoke enveloped Yuina’s body before she was really aware that she had called on it to do so. The frilly dress was there soon enough, and Yuina nodded as Karen pointed further down the street.

“Right, let's take this carefully then.” Yuina said. They wouldn’t have the gaze of a camera feeding them extra power from an audience, but it wasn’t like they hadn’t done this before. Yuina drew a breath to steady the butterflies that roosted in her stomach and nodded.

“Do you think you’ll be okay to take the lead or would you like me?” She asked softly, unsure if Karen was feeling fully back to herself.
 
Ah, she's beautiful. Usually, when Yuina transformed, Karen didn't really have time to appreciate it. Usually transformation meant imminent danger. Karen still felt that there was danger somewhere nearby, but it was the hiding-in-wait sort of danger, not the killing-spree kind of danger. She was certain that it was just as wrong, just as potentially terrible, but whatever it was, it wasn't here and now, and she had a moment - just a moment - to look over at her friend. She wondered if this was what everyone else must feel, all the audiences behind DDC, when they saw Yuina transform on screen. Even the short transformation was enough to make people smile, to make them feel confident, to make them feel ready.

Karen... Karen's transformation wasn't like that. Hers was more likely to terrify people. Even those who weren't outright afraid... well, she didn't know what positive things could be said about it, but it certainly wasn't beautiful. Karen glanced down at her fingertips, envisioning claws and bone, but didn't let them rise. It was better to wait. If whatever was lurking out there could wait, she could too.

Yuina offered to take the lead, which was kind of her. Yuina was always kind. This time, though, Karen didn't think Yuina quite knew where they were going - and besides, if they were running into danger, Karen wanted to be in front, between whatever it was and Yuina. That way, she could protect her, keep her safe. She gave Yuina a little smile. How could she not feel confident enough to take the lead, with Yuina there beside her in scarlet and ribbon?

"Stay close." Words were easier, when it was just the two of them. The two friends, the two girls... either worked, really. The words could have meant a number of things as well. Karen wasn't sure if she wanted Yuina close so that Yuina would keep her from running into the abyss, or if she wanted Yuina close so that Karen could keep her safe from harm. Maybe... maybe it didn't matter. There was truth in both of those things. She didn't have to choose.

Karen glanced around, then started forward once more. One block forward, and then... left. A little left... oh. There was an alley, wasn't there? In there, lurking? But how to draw it out?

And how to keep Yuina safe?
 
It was silly but Yuina couldn’t help but return Karen’s smile when the girl spoke. Even with the unease of not knowing what it was that Karen could feel lurking close, Yuina couldn’t help but feel a little comforted by the sound of her voice. They were together, which meant that things would work out so long as they trusted in each other. Or, it’s how she felt anyway. She waved her hand i the air, scattering lingering wisps of smoke that had lingered around her fingers.

“I’m right behind you.” Yuina said, falling into step behind Karen as she lead the way down the street following a feeling that only she could sense. The walk wasn’t long but Yuina had to will the tension threatening to crawl into her shoulders away more than once. Would it be like one of those things that had broken into her room? Karen had sensed something wrong then too hadn’t she?

Karen slowed as they neared an alleyway and Yuina reached up and tapped Karen’s shoulder. A quick, wordless touch to say ‘right here’ as her eyes searched for motion within the alley. The abysswas lingering somewhere here, and Yuina found the image of an angler fish drawing its prey close in the gloom flitter through her mind’s eye.

Her heart fluttered, but she remained calm while she waited for Karen to make her move. They were together, and that’s all she needed to know.
 
The alleyway was not actually that dark. Somehow, it seemed darker than it was. It was hard to put it into words, really. It was the middle of the afternoon on a sunny day - even the spaces between buildings just didn't get all that dark at times like these. Still, there was just something about it that felt darker than it really was. It was like an optical illusion - if Karen wasn't looking at the alley too hard it seemed almost oppressively dark, but as soon as she directed her attention towards it, it snapped into view the way it should be, trying to insist it had always been that way. She thought of that drawing everyone knew about, the one that was a beautiful young woman, until someone said "No, it's an old lady" - and all of a sudden it was an old lady, and maybe it had always been an old lady, and just like that the young woman was nowhere to be found, and it was hard to imagine she had ever been there at all.

So, the alleyway wasn't dark and it never had been, and any feeling that it had ever been different must be wrong. It was an unsettling feeling. Karen frowned nervously, not sure she wanted to go any closer to a place where things were... exactly as they should be and always had been.

Her eyes drifted to Yuina, maybe wondering if her friend was feeling the same way, or maybe just to reassure herself that it really had been different once, that someone else had seen the young woman in the picture too, before she'd vanished. Karen swallowed, then stepped forward, into the perfectly serene alleyway.

Nothing happened. Of course nothing happened, because there was nothing to see here. It would be best to walk on through, to pass by without looking too hard. Karen's hand clenched into a fist at her side, then unclenched again. There couldn't be anything here. It was just the way it should be. Everything was just the way it should be, the two of them out for an afternoon, back in their everyday clothes after trying on things at the dress store.

Something... seemed wrong about that, somehow. Karen tried to pinpoint it, but couldn't quite remember what it was that was incorrect. Perhaps it was nothing at all. She glanced down at her fingertips, then shook her head a little. Monsters lurked in the dark... but there were no monsters here. None at all.

Blood dripped onto the ground beneath her hand, but she didn't see it.
 
It was… a nice day out, wasn’t it?

Yuina faltered a step as she followed Karen into the alleyway. She felt fuzzy, like she had just woken up but couldn’t quite remember what it was she had been dreaming. Maybe she hadn’t gotten enough sleep last night? A feeling of wrongness lingered in the back of her mind. Like she was walking through a building at the wrong time of night when everything normal seemed slightly sinister. Only this was… a normal alleyway?

Why did that feel so uncomfortable?

She caught Karen’s gaze and held it. She could see a question in her eyes, a familiar look of unease. Yuina shook her head faintly and she looked past Karen down the perfectly ordinary alley. There was nothing there and she wasn’t sure why she felt like there should have been something there. There was, right?

“Do you…” Yuina reached out, the tips of her fingers almost brushing against the side of a nearby building before she quickly pulled it back. She turned and looked back to the street behind her, the normal, quiet, midday street. Her skirt swished oddly against her legs, and she absently brushed it with the back of her hand. “Do you remember why we were walking through here?” She asked.
 
Yuina's question was not quite right, was it? It was a silly question to ask. They were walking down the alley because-

Why were they walking down the alley? A frown marred Karen's features. It should have been an easy question to answer, but it wasn't easy at all. Why would they come into an alleyway? There was nothing here. If they had come in here, there had to be a reason. Karen looked around, trying to figure out what it was, but the alley was... normal. There was nothing wrong with it.

She started to take a step further in, but stumbled, tripping over a loose piece of asphalt, catching herself against the wall. Karen glanced back, but the ground was smooth - smooth, perfect, unmarred. What had she tripped over, and where had it come from? The alley street looked perfectly fine, but under her foot it had been... rough, uneven, jagged. Karen closed her eyes, then set her foot down carefully. It went... lower. At an incline, almost. She opened her eyes again, and of course her foot was on the perfectly even pavement. There was no incline. There never had been.

Something didn't... feel right. It looked right, but it didn't feelright. Karen didn't know how to explain that. She gave Yuina a shrug, a confused shake of her head. Yuina felt it too, didn't she? Something was... not quite right.

Something was hungry.
 
She couldn’t shake that feeling of fuzziness inside of her head. She felt uneven, like she was standing at a ship at sea but her eyes were telling her that she was standing still. It was something like that, anyway. The more she tried to focus on that feeling, the harder it felt to pin down and that made that feeling of fuzziness worse. But it wasn’t like forgetting a word, it wasn’t something she could simply let go of, because it was wrong.

“Oh! Are you okay?” Yuina reached out as she saw Karen stumble, her fingers brushed against her friend’s shoulder and — it was hunger. Like the armor Karen always wore when they needed to fight a monster, Yuina knew that she felt it there. But that wasn’t correct, was it? Karen was in her street clothes now because they were dress shopping, and you don’t fight monsters while looking for a cute dress. Her toes felt it too, the edge of some break in the ground that wasn’t there.

She met Karen’s confused look with one of her own.

“I think…” Yuina’s voice dropped, she could feel the skin on the back of her neck prickling with the gaze of unseen eyes. “…that we should act a little silly because we’ve forgotten something important.”

She brushed her fingers through her hair, but instead the tips of her fingers found the fur lined silk of her hood. If some them, some past them, had transformed then there was a reason. “I don’t think we can trust our eyes, Tsukuyomi.” She waved one of her arms through the air, slowly, carefully as if she hoped to find something strange waiting for her in the empty air.
 
Yuina felt it too. Karen could tell, just by the way she was acting. Somehow, that made her feel better. There wasn't anything to worry about now.

No. No. There was something wrong, and Yuina felt it too. Yuina's idea to act a little silly seemed... well, childish - and yet, maybe there was something to it. Any time they tried to think about things normally, logically, they came to the logical conclusion that everything was fine, because that was what their eyes were telling them. That was what it looked like, so that was the way it had to be.

But if they pretended that it wasn't - if they pretended that there was something wrong in the alley, not because there was, but because it was just a game, a silly game where children imagined all sorts of things that weren't there. Of course they weren't there, they certainly couldn't be there - but they could imagine. Karen imagined...

She imagined hunger, because it was the closest. She didn't know if that was helpful or comforting, so she turned to Yuina and imagined that Yuina looked different. Instead of her regular street clothes, Karen imagined that she was wearing her frilly scarlet dress. She could pretend that Yuina looked beautiful and magical and that Yuina would keep her safe. Yuina must have been imagining something similar, because she called Karen by her pretend-name, the one that they had never used between them. They didn't need those names, because they were friends - but the media loved them, because they were... characters. Characters in a strange tale about Grimm and magic and all sorts of other interesting and exciting things.

Now... what was the rest of the story?

Yuina touched her hood - the one that they were both pretending she was wearing - and then stretched out her hand in front of them. The air seemed empty - empty and... hungry? No, empty and waiting. Karen knelt down slowly, her fingers tracing the ground, clawed fingertips tracing little ruts in the asphalt until they closed around something - the fragment of whatever it was she had stumbled on. A piece of the road - she could feel it, stone-on-bone. A shape in her hands - but if she looked down at it, it would be gone - she knew it would be gone.

So don't look. Her hand moved forward, there had been... yes. An incline. The street should have been level, but it went downwards, sloping - slowly at first, then more steeply. Her hand - the empty one, the one that wasn't... wasn't not-holding the piece of the street - reached outward, upward, touched the hem of Yuina's skirt, added a gesture.

Down.
 
Things felt easier to keep track of when she thought of this as a silly game of play-pretend. Games had little rules you could make up for them, and that meant there were little things she could help herself remember. She couldn’t trust her eyes, because the game meant she had to believe what she saw was wrong, but she could trust what she could feel. Her fingers passed through the air, but before her it was simply air. Empty and normal and perfectly empty. Emptiness was normal for air, but it was a different sort wasn’t it that nibbled at the tips of her fingers, the sort that wanted to be full.

Karen knelt down and ran her hand along the street. It was a strange sight wasn’t it, seeing Karen search the ground around her so carefully. Yuina could pretend that her friend had dropped something important, something small that you couldn’t quite see. That meant she needed to be careful where she stepped. Karen reached up and tugged gently on the hem of her skirt before motioning down. Yuina nodded and carefully knelt down next to her friend.

She looked sidelong at Karen before she stretched her arm out and touched the ground. It wasn’t perfect, it was cracked and broken and she could feel it sloping downward.

“Oh, it just keeps…” Yuina said, faintly as she followed the incline as it dipped downward sharply. “How deep down does it go?” How much of this street wasn’t really where it looked like it should have been? Yuina closed her eyes and scooted forward on her knees very slowly, her fingers gently touching the ground to follow the incline. Was there a point where it simply fell to a place where the hunger was? She didn’t know, so she had to be slow so she could pull away if something felt wrong.

And she tried to imagine the street, what it felt like. The grooves and the ruts carved into the concrete.

“Claws?” Yuina asked, pulling her hands back.
 
It... seemed to be working? As long as they didn't think about it too hard, they could feel their way around. Yuina was touching the ground as well, her fingers moving through the pavement. She asked a question and Karen turned to look, and... no, the pavement was just fine, why were they crouching? And what had Yuina said? Nothing important - they should just go on, this was silly.

Karen shook her head and started to take a step forward. Her foot came down - and down, like missing the last step on a staircase. Her hands moved forward to catch her as she started to tumble, but when she caught herself, it was in something sticky. She couldn't break free - but somehow the feeling of being trappedbroke the feeling of everything being fine, and she was able to look down - truly down, into the funnel-shaped hole lined with bone filaments so fine and thin that they became like webbing, oozing some sort of sticky secretion.

And in the depths of that webbing, lying in wait, something moved. Golden eyes blinked up at her, the only light shining in the dark depths - eight of them, in a crude mockery of a halo. Karen jerked her hand back, but it was stuck in the filaments. Her other arm shifted, bones overtaking her and cutting through on that side, leaving her only half stuck. Maybe it would be enough to defend herself against the long skittering bone appendages making their way closer...

...Or maybe it would not.
 
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