(All right, my first ever story on here! So first, main story overview. Like I said, this occurs 4 years after the initial events of the series, and this occurs on the opposite side of the world. I am going to be using all original characters at the start, but I do have plans to bring in characters from the initial series as I see fit. I guess you can basically call this story the "Competent Hero" version of the original. Just give it a shot, I got two chapters up to start so you can see how I'm going to be writing this. It's very stream-of-consciousness right now, but it'll likely change as more characters are brought in.
This Chapter is basically just an introduction to the main character, internal monologue, setting up the story, yadda yadda yadda.
Please note that I don't own the rights to Kämpfer or anything about it. If I did, I obviously would not be writing about it on here.)
"Taxi!" my voice rang out into the cool January night. The cabs sped onward, most already full with bar patrons on their way back home. "Come on, taxi!" I called again. Still I got paid no mind. By this time, the crowd outside The Firehouse had dwindled to a few stragglers, still not believing their night was done. "Tax….you know what? Fine! I'll walk! No eight bucks for you guys!" I tucked my money back into my pocket.
"Goodbye Red Toque Guy!" one of the remaining patrons shouted out.
"Yeah, goodbye, um, what's-yer-name," I returned. I pulled the woollen hat farther down over my ears and started down the street. A light snow started to fall. "Perrrrrrrrfect." I pressed on.
I do have a name other then "Red Toque Guy." My name is Ryan McCarty. I'm 21 years old, I'm a student at MacMichael University, and as you can probably tell from the fact that I'm walking home alone from the bar, I'm apparently not that well liked. I don't even have friends that will tell me when they've decided to leave the bar. I just spent the last four hours chatting up this girl and getting her out on the dance floor, making some progress, only to have her walk right out the door 20 minutes to close the second her friend said boo. It's a pretty lonely feeling, just standing there, looking around at the groups of people paired off, and realizing you're stranded with the guy who's created a one man mosh pit for himself. At least the band is sympathetic.
It's not like I don't have much to work with. I mean, I'm no Twilight boy toy, but I'm not bad. Short, dirty blonde hair, deep blue eyes, a thin goatee. I'm definitely not skinny, but I'm not fat. I don't know, maybe it's the height, I am really tall. Hard to get a girl interested when all she can think about is how much her neck's hurting just straining up to look at me. Maybe it's the clothes. Yeah, blue jeans and a black t-shirt, that really stands out. Least I have the toque on top of my head. Give me a little bit of a presence. Best 20 bucks I ever spent. Thank god for this jacket. It is freezing out here tonight. Lousy taxies.
At this point in time, I know I'm pretty far gone. When you find money on the ground at a bar, it tends to stay inside the building. I'm not sure what percentage of my blood is now Keith's India Pale Ale but I'm guessing it's up there. Even bought some for the girl, but nope, still gets me the cold walk home. Alone. I should be used to this walk by now, I've taken it dozens of times. I passed the armory, passed the cemetery, passed the frozen over public garden, it never changes. The winter walk is always cold, forbidding and... usually not littered with things that I can kick up. That was not regular snow. I just booted whatever the heck that was. Huh, I think I can make it out ahead. Yeah, there it is.
I bent down and picked up what looked like some kind of stuffed animal. Brushing off the snow and dirt from where I kicked it, I could see this wasn't your run-of-the-mill Beanie Baby type of plush toy. Sure it had a similar look. To my drunken eyes, it appeared to be a tan kangaroo, but its eyes were a bright red. It had a criss-crossing grill mark all across its face, burned in black. It's tongue was sticking out, but the weirdest part was the little pink tail sticking out of its stomach, almost making it look like its guts were coming out.
"Huh, ugly little thing," I muttered to myself. There didn't appear to be any kind of marking or tag on it to tell where it came from. "Well, I guess we're both cast out this weekend." I ended up taking it with me, it's not the first time I've picked up things off the ground. Found 75 dollars on the floor the other day at Ricky's Shack when I went there. Heck, even found a tie on one of these treks back home before. Washed it before wearing it obviously. Plus, there are no stains or anything on this thing. Maybe it will add a little color to my room.
The rest of the walk was pretty uneventful. A couple of cars passing by, wonder what they thought, seeing a grown man carrying a stuffed toy around in the middle of the night. Probably just par for the course in this city. There are so many different bars here, it's awesome. As the green house comes up, I can see through the big bay window that my buddies above have packed it in. Very rarely do you see that on a Saturday night. Not even anyone passed out on the couch. They're taking it easy, I guess.
I made my way down around the back, to the basement floor to where I live. Quiet as usual. My roommates are definitely not the party types. Well Kyle sort of is, but he'll usually go elsewhere with his girlfriend to do it. The two ladies of the house are asleep already. Wonder how late the guys above kept them up, and if I'll have to hear about it tomorrow. Probably will.
I entered my room, the last door in the hall. It's pretty barren looking. Since I moved back down to the city for the short term, I didn't bother getting any posters or anything like that. What's the point, right? I don't even have a dresser, I just keep all my clothes in the suitcase I brought down. My "end table" is my laundry basket turned upside down. Other then my makeshift furniture, I just have the standard stuff in here, bed, desk, TV, laptop, you know, the usual dorm room setup.
The kangaroo got a new home on said desk, amongst the clutter already on there. It got perched on top of the highest pile, it's almost as if it was lording over the spare change and random papers below. I flopped down on the bed, gazing at the still lit screen on the computer. Not much happening at this time of night. A couple new posts on a gaming site, nothing more. I put on some music and started to pass out. It'll be yet another Sunday tomorrow.