Chapter Text
~~Prologue: Part 1~~
Seagulls. They were so, so annoying and stupid. Of course they had to be the reason she had to get up before she felt fully rested. Stupid birds. With a sigh though, she pushed herself upright, blinking as her blurred gaze drifted around her. Unusual. This wasn’t her room. Her room definitely had at least a bed, and here she was, asleep on the floor. With what seemed to be several multi-coloured huddles of something scattered throughout. There was lots of space in whatever room they were in, surprisingly.
Ugh, if only she could find her glasses, then she could actually see where she was. It’d be better than flailing around blindly, that’s for sure.
“Are you looking for something?” The unfamiliar yet familiar voice sounded from beside her, causing her to jump and look up from where she knelt on the floor. Squinting, she could barely make out a face and what seemed to be a pair of blue eyes. Whatever was on their head was red, and their ‘skin’ areas were tan. She really couldn’t make out much of them otherwise, even as they knelt down beside her.
“Yes, my glasses.” She sighed and looked away from the stranger, who hummed in response before falling silent. Then there was a hand being held in front of her face. It held something between its blurred fingers, and she could only blink as she looked up at the human that the hand was connected to.
“Here you go. Thought that since I can see clearly, I could help you find them.” They spoke happily, as she slowly lifted the frames to her face. Sure enough, they were hers. Finally able to focus on her surroundings, she rose to her feet and faced the stranger.
“My names Gima Euiko.” She nodded slightly to them, waiting for them to introduce themselves.
“Ah, right! I’m Oki Shuzo, I’m the Ultimate Acrobat! I use they/them!” If a person could do one of those ‘^w^’ emotes, then it would be Oki. They just… had that sort of vibe, she supposed. She couldn’t really describe it.
Finally able to actually see what was around her, Gima’s gaze drifted across the room. The bundles of colour that she’d seen earlier were actually various people, some of which were stirring and beginning to wake up, as if some sort of drug was finally wearing off.
Gima simply watched as Oki walked over to those who were beginning to wake up, making sure they were ok and telling them to gather over where she was. Of course. She would need to talk to people, even if they all looked like weirdos.
And so she sat and waited with her arms crossed, dull red eyes narrowed behind a pair of rectangular glasses. Her uninterested gaze was partially hidden away by her chestnut hair, which was messily pulled back into a ponytail. Any loose strands fell down in front of her face, of course. Though Gima didn’t really care about all the fine details of how she looked. As long as she looked unapproachable, then things would be fine.
You see, Gima isn’t a very social creature. She uses her talent to put on shows, then grumbles for the rest of the day about how annoying it is and how much she really hates her talent. Being the Ultimate Puppeteer, she was practically forced into the entertainment industry, bringing audiences from all over the world to see the marvellous creations and stories that she would create, with the help of a storyteller of course. But as she got older, that life got more and more boring, and any passion she once had was now gone. A useless talent for a useless girl. What could be more fitting than that.
“Nothing will go your way if you view even yourself as useless, child.” The sudden voice shocked Gima out of her thoughts, as she looked around for the source. It seemed almost melodic, but also dark and not of this world. She finally spotted whoever had said it. He was tall, at least taller than her, with long dark curls that framed his sharp face. He wore a long cloak that hid most of his body. His gaze was what caught her attention, however. His amber eyes seemed to stare directly into her soul.
“How do you know that?” Gima crossed her arms in reply, taking several steps forward. She was defensive, of course. Why should some stranger be allowed to read her thoughts and lecture her on them? They were her thoughts, they were supposed to be private. Not for some nobody in need of a haircut to have a look at.
“It was foretold in the sands of time, screamed by the souls of the guilty, and written all over your pitiful face.” The way he spoke seemed almost theatrical, in a sense. Gima raised a brow before leaning back against the wall again, one leg crossed over the other.
“Name’s Gima Euiko, Ultimate Puppeteer. Take a seat and shut up.” She spoke bluntly, not looking back over to the stranger. He blinked and took a seat on the ground beside her, silently of course.
“My name is Kida Tanak, Ultimate Herbalist. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He nodded subtly to her, before shifting his position so that he could get as comfortable as he liked. She glanced at him once or twice, only to see him searching the pockets of his cloak. He had gloves on his hands, which made her only wonder just why he wore so many dark colours. Even his skin was dark, though she supposed that part couldn’t be helped.
Gima stayed silent as Oki slowly sent any stragglers over to where Kida sat. The strange boy welcomed them, introducing himself and trying to figure things out. Of course he would do that. Maybe he actually had some hope of figuring out where they were…
Of course she had none of that bullshit. It would be useless. She could see no windows or doors in the room they were in, so she had already concluded that there was no escaping this place. Though she had noticed several monitors placed around the room, however it was deemed that it wasn’t important information, and was subsequently purged from her mind.