Open UnHinged (An Unwind RP)

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

After the Heartland war, during which the pro-life and the pro-choice armies battled over abortion, a compromise was reached. Now, abortion is totally illegal, but instead parents can choose to have their children, between the ages of 13 and 17 unwound. Unwinding is process by which a child's organs and limbs are removed, and sold off, for use in transplant operations. There are many reasons why parents may choose to have their children unwound, but most do it simply for bad behaviour. However, some raise their children as tithes, unwinds who have been told from birth that they are to be unwound, and to see it as a holy duty. Wards of the state may be unwound, simply because their state home cannot, or does not want to keep them.

You are scheduled to be unwound. In three days, the police will arrive to ferry you to harvest camp, where there a price tag on every part of you, from your hands, to your heart. But you have found your unwind papers, and now, you have the chance to escape. The chance to live. Will you go on the run, and survive until you turn eighteen? Or will you be unwound?


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Fifteen-year-old Rose was hiding out in a drainpipe for the night. It was raining heavily, but she had no place inside to go. Not that wouldn't get her spotted, and ferried to a harvest camp, for unwinding.

She was still bitter about the fact that she was even here. Here, in some town she didn't know, on the run from the police. All because her parents had finally gotten the baby boy they wanted. All because her parents had signed that unwind order, thus rendering it a crime for her to stay alive.

She flexed her fingers. Her fingers. If she had anything to do with it, these fingers would remain hers, and not go to someone else...

 

[Peachy Ace]

Nova an seventeen-year-old hid in an abandoned house. His birthday, his eighteenth one, was three months away, and he was marked for an unwinding. His parents rose him to be a grown, strong boy, but when they were told the money they would've been given for allowing the government to unwind them, they made the greedy decision to let them take him away.

Nova was already one step ahead, having an entire plan for the day he hit thirteen, planning it since the age of eight. He would travel at night, he would salvage materials and he would do all it would take to live, even risking someone else's life for his own. So far, he managed to live for four years and 3/4ths. "Only three more months... And I'll be free, three more months, and I'll get rid of those good forsaken parents!"

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rose's breath hitched as she saw a shadowy figure approaching. And then two lights. Juvey-cops.

She couldn't be certain that they were juvey-cops, or just regular policemen. Either way, she wasn't chancing it.

She crawled through the pipe quickly, holding her breath as she climbed out the other side, stepping quickly out of sight. The juvey cop shone his torch through it, declared it empty, and moved on.

Rose surveyed the road ahead for safe spots, as she breathed a sigh of relief. She'd avoided being caught...This time.

 

[Peachy Ace]

Nova flinched, watching a blue and red switching light shine through the window of the abandoned home. "Damnit," he growled, before running up the steps, causing a lot of sound, but the cops weren't inside yet, giving him time to pull down the attic's trap door and climb up, and into it, closing the hatch behind him. He then gathered a heavy chest in the corner, dragging it over the door, before jumping outside and hiding on the roof, on the side opposite to where the police parked the car.

A few minutes passed before he heard the car start up, smiling before going to return inside before gasping, facing one of the police officers who climbed onto the roof, the officer immediatly pulled out a pair of cuffs, before Nova punched him, violently, knocking him off the roof and falling onto the ground in the back, dying on impact. "Damnit," he growled. It wasn't the first time he had killed a cop, in fact doing it often, but it meant his buddy having to come up to look for him soon.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rose thought about running, though that would only make her look suspicious, at this time of night. Especially with juvey-cops on the prowl. Cops were supposed to protect and serve, weren't they? And yet they were out searching for AWOL kids, to take them to harvest camps, where they'd be killed for their parts, like livestock. They never called it dying, though. It was actually 'a divided state'.

She comtinued on, until she found an abandoned house. A juvey-cop lay dead on the ground. This had AWOL bait written all over it.

"As if they think any unwind would be dumb enough to fall for this," she remarked aloud.

 

[Peachy Ace]

Nova quickly climbed down a ladder on the back of the house, leading up to the roof. He knew his hiding spot would have been compromised soon, so he had no choice but to book it. He then began to run off, while looking behind to see if the other officer was coming. While running he found himself running into a female and knocking them both down, thinking it was a cop he grabbed the pair of cuffs he stole from the other officer, immediately cuffing one hand before staring at the girl closer, "You're not an officer!"

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rose glared at him, with her unnaturally icy blue eyes. Just before going AWOL, she'd had a pigment injection, to change their colour.

"Do I look like a juvey-cop to you?" she spat, "Lemme guess. You're an unwind. You're probably a terrible, else you wouldn't have survived this long on your own."

 

[Peachy Ace]

"Yeah, ya don't now, and I appreciate the compliment," he sighed, before getting up, whilst grabbing her hand and pulling her up, "Well, if we're both unwinds, we should get the fuck outta here, I just killed a cop and they won't like that," he groaned, before looking to their arms, seeing how they were handcuffed together, "Now how the fuck did that happen?!"

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"You made it happen," Rose scoffed, "And besides, they're out to kill us, anyway. What difference does you killing a cop make, unless somebody else saw you do it!"

She glanced down at the graze she now had on her elbow. "Boy, this is gonna decrease the value of my bits," she cackled maniacally, "Not that they're getting 'em. If they catch me, I'm killing myself."

 

[Peachy Ace]

Nova sighed, "For when I turn 18! I need to make sure they don't know who I am, otherwise even when I'm getting chased by the cops even after I become un-unwindable," He groaned. he then pulled the chain to his face, trying to bite at the silver chains, growling. "Fuck, no use! Let's just get out of here before we try to get this off," He sighed.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"Hmph. Whatever," Rose scoffed, "Anyway, first thing's first. We need to work out what we're going to do from here on out. If we want to stay alive, we need to be careful."

She tugged him forcefully toward an unused train track. "Worst comes to the worst, we can become clappers. We can blow ourselves up."

 

[Peachy Ace]

Nova yelped, "Hey! Gentle, It's bad enough that I dont want to let my arm be sold, but you pulling me around hurts," He sighed. He followed her, "I dont think blowing ourselves up is a very keen idea, I mean, I guess I'll die with someone I hardly know, but I dont plan on dying, anytime soon," he growled before grabbing her hand, "lead the way."

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"There's rumours of safe houses, in Arizona," she continued, "Apparently, if you want to get to them, you have to go some antique shop, and ask for 'the ice cream man'."

She passed by a sign for a nearby high school. Joplin High, it read, Home of the Eagles. "And we're in Joplin, Missouri, now. Either way, our best bet of survival would be to get to Arizona, and find this mythical ice cream man..."

 

[Peachy Ace]

Nova groaned, "I don't need this "Ice Cream Man's" help! I have three months before I turn eighteen, and then I'm home free, alright, how old are you anyways," He sighed, before stopping the both of them.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"I'm fifteen!" Rose spat, "Unlike you, I've got YEARS before I can escape my unwinding!"

She wriggled free from the handcuffs, continuing up the path. "I'm not staying out here, and getting unwound. I need to find that ice cream man!"

 

[Peachy Ace]

Nova watched as she easily escaped her cuffs. "Fine, I'm staying here, the closer I am to my parents, the better," He growled, staring at her as she continued to walk off. "There goes my company, jeez, just when ya think you'll get lucky," he sighed, before turning around and walking to the direction they came.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rose stormed off down the tracks, sights focused on Arizona. Arizona, home of the mythical safehouse. Once she found this 'ice cream man' she was in the clear, that she was sure of. It was either that, or the next harvest camp bus to Big Muddy Harvest Camp.

She continued up the tracks, hoping that they'd lead her closer to Arizona.

 

[Peachy Ace]

Nova found himself continuing down the tracks, before frowning, thinking her heard something, grinding against metal. "Huh?" He looked ahead, only to see a Train coming his way, "Wait what?! I thought these tracks we're destroyed or unable to be rode," he thought, wuickly stepping out of the way of the tracks, staring down where Rose went, "She's going to get run over... Least of my worries," he sighed, before walking off. Of course, he started running back to warn her.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

It wasn't long before Rose passed a dilapidated stop. It didn't look like it had been out of service for very long; there wasn't much mould on the signs, and there were still coffee machines in the cafe.

She glanced up at the sign. It said that the train terminated a few miles north from where she was...But she had no idea if those few miles would get her closer to Arizona, or not...

 

[Peachy Ace]

Nova found himself where Rose was in a matter of minutes, sighing. "Hey! Girl, what's your name... And watch out, theirs a train coming," he sighed. He walked up to her to hear better, never really great in hearing, most likely when he was in a car crash when he was only 8, and still hears ringing.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"It was Rose Morrison," she said coolly, "That was, until my parents signed the unwind order. Now I'm just Rose."

She searched for a sign. Apparently, at the end of the tracks, this train would end up in Oklahoma. That was still a long way from Arizona, but at least it meant that she was a bit closer to her destination.

"There can't be a train coming," she added, "This track has been decommissioned!"

 

[Peachy Ace]

"Well Rose, my name is Nova, and like you, my parents signed my unwind papers and now I'm just Nova, I see no point in telling you my last name," He sighed.

"And is that so? Well you wanna tell the dumbass driving the train? He's probably just some unwind who stole the train, in order to escape his pursuers... Too bad he's gonna die a death by train then," he sighed..

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"Some smart unwind, if he's figured out how to drive a train," Rose said coolly, "The bits of his brain woulda gone for a high price. Anyway, what'd you come back for? Just to warn me about the train? Or to come help me find this mythical 'ice cream man', and maybe find somewhere I can survive until I turn eighteen?"

 

[Peachy Ace]

"Heh... Yea..." He crosses his arms with a sigh. "I came to help you look for the ice cream man... Seeing how you're the only unwind I've seen for a few months, and I want to hang out with someone other then the damn cops," He sighed, staring down.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"Juvey-cops don't make good company," she conceded, "Especially when they wanna kill you, when you've done nothing wrong."

Rose shrugged, loosening her jacket. "My only crime was being a girl. My parents wanted a boy, and they couldn't afford another kid, when they had three daughters already. So they had me unwound, so they could try again for their precious boy."

 

[Peachy Ace]

Nova groaned, "No shit, sherlock. Look, I'm sorry your parents thought you were a mistake, but if it makes you feel any better, the day you turn eighteen, I'll take you to them, and I'll let you do the honers of killing them," he sighed, trying to give her a smile.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rose shook her head. "Nah. I'd rather let them live with the knowledge that they killed me, for another kid," she scoffed, "I hope he grows up to be a troublemaker, and they unwind him too!"

She brushed herself off. "What's your crime?" she asked, "You're clearly not a tithe, so you weren't doomed from birth."

 

[Peachy Ace]

"Alright, we won't kill them then... And I didn't commit a crime, they simply chose to unwind me for the money they would be making in return. Those greedy bastards, I'll make them wish I was never born, he growled. He sighed, before coming his hands through his hair with a sigh, "Let's just get going, yeah?"

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"I meant, why have you been sentenced to death, but oh well," Rose scoffed, "People unwind their kids for all sorts of stupid reasons. I should know. I walked in on my mom watching a harvest camp commercial, just before I found my unwind order."

Each state had its own harvest camp. All were in spectacularly scenic locations, supposedly, to remind the unwinds of the big picture, before they were killed for their parts. Rose had come all the way from Michigan, home of Blue Lake Divisional Academy. It had been a long journey, on foot, but she couldn't afford to take a flight. Somebody would recognise her, and rat her out to the juvies.

"Anyway," Rose continued, "If we continue all the way down the tracks, we'll eventually get to Oklahoma."

She passed a sign for this state's death house. Horse Creek Harvest Camp. It featured an unwind riding a giant stallion.

 

[Yaspen]

Meg was running. She had found her papers shortly after her mother left for work, and had packed a bag and went. She was scheduled to be unwound in three days. The girl had stuffed the papers into her bag on impulse, along with a few food items and a singular blanket. Meg had seen ads on TV, and was thoroughly appalled by them, but had never thought that she would be scheduled to be unwound. Sure, her mother had a tough job and her father was in jail, but she was loved. No loving parent could do that to their child. At least, that's what she tried to think. Meg's cinnamon-colored hair was cut messily halfway down her neck, a job that she had done herself. It had once fallen down to about her waist, but she had cut it so it didn't become a burden. She wore a teal hoodie over a black tee-shirt and black jeans, inside one of the pockets of which was a pocketknife she had stolen in case things got hairy. God, Meg hoped things didn't get bad. A thirteen-year-old in a fight against an adult trained to fight in emergencies, that wouldn't go over too well for one of them.

As Meg ran, she came upon the railroad tracks. She saw two figures, a man and a girl, but couldn't make out any more than that. In her stricken and exhausted state, tear tracks and rain running down her flushed face, she knew she couldn't fight if they were Juvey-cops. Some part of her mind was yelling that to her, but another part, the louder part that Meg tried not to listen to, told her to ask for help. She got closer, her pace slowing down due to her exhaustion, and she stopped a few yards away from them. Fortunately, they didn't seem like they were going to turn her in for unwinding. One of them looked just a few years older than her, the other one looked no older than eighteen. "...Hi...running...unwinding..." she managed to say between gulps of air. Her ability to speak gradually got better with more air. "Probably...Probably wasn't the best i...best idea to run for so...so long..."

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rose took a quizzical glance at the girl, studying her carefully. Unlike her, she was probably one of the less fortunate unwinds. One of the ones who'd believed that their parents loved them, prior to finding their unwind orders. Though, most unwinds didn't expect to be unwound. Like any other child, they expected to be loved, at least by their parents. But they weren't.

"Join the club," she said coolly, "Rose. I've been on the run for almost a month, evading my death at the hands of Blue Lake Divisional Academy, Michigan. I'm on the way to Arizona, in search of some guy who calls himself 'the ice cream man'. I've heard rumours that he keeps unwinds safe until they turn eighteen."

 

[Yaspen]

Meg, her breath finally caught, wiped rain and tears from her face. "That's...wow. I'm Meg. I actually just found out about...this today. The, um, 'ice cream man'? Would you mind if I came with you?" she asked. Anything was better than living out five years on the run, even if it wouldn't be easy to get to the so-called ice cream man.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"If you don't wanna be unwound, then it'd probably best if you did come with us," Rose answered, "And besides, they'll have a harder time identifying us, if we stick together. The juvey-cops where I'm from are looking for a lone, fifteen-year-old unwind somewhere in Michigan, not a band of unwinds in Missouri. The same probably applies to you, in...Whichever state you escaped, to get here."

 

[Yaspen]

"I, uh, haven't technically 'escaped' yet," Meg said, worrying that this may or may not wind up screwing up her chances. "I just ran away tonight." Then she remembered. "I did grab my--wait. Nevermind." The authorities probably had a copy of her unwind papers, too.

 

[Peachy Ace]

Nova sighed, staying quiet as the newcomer came up to them, frowning as he found it being another unwind, his frown was worse, finding out she was only thirteen, hinted by her height compared to Rose. She could easily be in her early fourteens or late thirteens, none which mattered to him. He only cared of getting to the Ice Cream Man with the two females and hopefully living till his eighteenth birthday, which would be the best day of his life where he would get revenge for the five years of suffering his parents have caused him. His attention was caught at the mention of something Meg claimed she had, "Wait... What do you have? Let me see," he asked.

 

[Yaspen]

Meg swung her bag around and opened it up while explaining. "I took my unwind papers. I don't know why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time." She pulled them out. They were a little crumpled and a tiny bit damp, but the words were legible.

(OOC: You'll have to help me out here, Lunar, I don't know what the papers are supposed to say other than name and birthday and that kind of stuff XD)

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"God alive...Those are the real deal," Rose added, "Real, genuine unwind orders."

When parents made the decision to unwind their child, they were given three copies of the same paper to sign. The papers contained the unwind's full name, height, weight, gender, and a line from the infamous Bill Of Life. It stated that life could not be interfered with, from birth up until the age of thirteen. Then, children ages thirteen to eighteen could be unwound. It was made extra clear that once the papers were signed, all of the unwind's rights, be they legal or otherwise, were thereby permanently revoked. Including the right to life.

"That's the pink one," she continued, "It would have gone with you, to Harvest Camp. It would have stayed with you, right up until your unwinding, as the law states..."

 

[Peachy Ace]

Nova grabbed the unwind papers and read them closely, "Can we just rip these to shreds? I don't see the point of us having them! What if someone comes across the papers, like if the papers fall out of her bag, and someone immediately calls the police officers?! Huh," his tone of voice deepened.

 

[Yaspen]

Meg nodded. "I actually brought them with me because I figured they wouldn't be able to prove I was missing, but the juvey-cops might have a copy."

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rose nodded. "Yeah, they would have, as would the harvest camp that you were due to be sent to," she added, "If anyone finds these, it'd be very easy to identify you as an unwind. Then, it'd be chop-city for you. Either way, it'd probably be best if we got rid of them."