ITP: Flowers

[no_longer_a_king]

Characters: Arturia; Open
Setting: Floors 25, 48, and the dorms
Format: Prose
Summary: Arturia returns to the tower, checks in with people, and gets Lancelot to give her swimming lessons.
Warnings: None, at the moment.

[A; Floor Twenty-Five; Meadow]
Arturia was quiet as she pulled at the flowers scattered here and there. To see so much beauty after seeing such destruction and decay firsthand was breathtaking, even if she knew the beauty before her was nothing more than an illusion. To see people and animals and not merely bodies and ruins was amazing.

When in her world--or what she believed to be her world--she had no idea how she even had a body, having only been a spirit before. But seeing as the world itself was dead, it made sense her soul manifest in the physical realm somehow with nowhere else for it to go. Or perhaps when she had been drawn into the Tower of Animus, the World had just summoned her into its service yet again. Whatever had happened, she had no idea how she was able to manifest, she simply had.

It only strengthened her resolve to find a way to stop this and perhaps restore the worlds. Arturia did not have much left, but she had made a vow to protect the world and she would not fail in that as well. She utterly refused. She had lost everything, failed in everything, she would not fail in this, too. Arturia would sooner lose her soul than allow things to remain as they are on these worlds.

That's why when she first awoke in the Tower again, after having her customary oatmeal, she went straight to the meadow. There was something she felt she needed to do. It was pointless, yes, but it felt very important in that moment to do this.

[B; Floor Forty-Eight; Graveyard]
"This" being to lay flowers before all the graves in the graveyard: each one representing a person sent away from the Tower, each one a person trapped in their dead world as she had briefly been. Each flower she laid was a silent promise to them she would find a way to restore the worlds, to save them from the horror and loneliness they had gone home to.

Many more graves were packed together now and part of her wondered if this was intentional. Had Ruana kept true to her promise to send people away while the Tower's power ran out. At five particular graves, she left a full bouquet of flowers rather than just one.

Gawain.

Ilya.

Shirou.

Sakura.

Irisviel.

At these graves she tended to linger longer. These were people who had been dear to her before coming to the Tower in their own way. People she had wanted to protect. People who had each helped shaped her or were dear to those who she cared for in some small way.

People who were now alone in wastelands. People she was bound and determined to save from that fate.

[C; Dorms]
Once she had done her little ritual, she decided to check the nameplates on the dorms for those she knew and how many were left. Given it was now July it was safe to assume the Tower's maintenance had been handed to another Administrator and the sick game of monsters Ruana had played was over with.

And so she looked door to door, in a few instances knocking to see if anyone was inside to ask about what she had missed in the last couple weeks, Then she moved on to the next door to check.

[Closed to chavelier_mal_fet]
If there was one thing the glamour going down and leaving her powerless had shown Arturia, it was the need for more skills that didn't rely on powers. She already planned on beginning to train in the weapons she knew how to use beside a sword. Perhaps she would find someone to teach her proper hand to hand in case she found herself not only powerless, but weaponless in the future. However, there was one vital skill she knew she would need. One very basic skill she had not had a need to learn before.

And only one person she trusted not to laugh at her for asking for help with it.

This is why she was before Lancelot's door, knocking on it. If there was anyone she trusted to properly teach her how to swim, it was he.

Comments

B

[fionnuisce]

[It was pointless to come back here, said the often dominant logical half of his brain. These were false graves in a false cemetery--nothing about them was genuine, and therefore there was no point in dwelling on them.]

[Yet the thought of a specific gravestone had bothered him since first seeing it a few days prior. Logic tried to factor into it as the lecturer had attempted to convince himself forget it, it doesn't matter. It didn't matter, a minor detail in the much larger scale of problems he had. Eventually logic took another road and reached a different conclusion; if he reached some method of closure in saying farewell to even a falsified memorial, he could stop dwelling on it.]

[That made sense, or as much sense as it could. And it was that along with some very coincidental timing which brought the ponytailed magus in green to a grave marked 'Waver Velvet' at the same moment as Arturia.]

Saber--? [He inwardly cursed himself for ignoring or overlooking a Servant's presence, even one that wasn't hostile. Snap out of it, idiot. Keep getting distracted and you'll get yourself killed.]

[One hand quickly went behind his back when he encountered the girl in white, concealing the objects he held--a pair of red and gold roses. Stupid. Sentimental. And incredibly embarrassing to explain even to someone doing the exact same thing.]

[no_longer_a_king]

Lord El-Melloi.

[She hadn't expected to see him up here, hadn't really expected anyone to find her at all with her arms loaded with flowers and contemplating making another trip down to the meadow. Yet when she saw the name on the grave she understood, on some level, why he was here.]

I see. So the younger Waver Velvet has gone from the Tower in my absence?

[fionnuisce]

The second. [The correction sounded as though it came automatically--which it did. Waver was more than used to people leaving off that part, and the title was unbearably annoying to hear without it. Sighing in mild irritation once he realized what he'd said, the magus continued with:] ...Just call me Waver.

[He glanced back to the marker despite how distinctly unsettling the sight was, but shrugged as though it was of little consequence.]

Apparently. I only just found out myself a few days ago.

A

[bashfulshifter]

It was about time that Rick do some exploring, if at least for the sake of the restless felines he was host to. The unfamiliar location and the known loss of their home was stressful enough without having some meager plot of land to lay claim to, and their persistent whining was starting to make Rick very distracted. He nearly even forgot about his collar checkup today, which could have ended badly; but since he hadn't, the forced displacement from the first dorm level provided enough incentive to get a better look around.

So far, things were not promising. The cafeteria would only serve Rick cold oatmeal, which he supposed was better than feeling too nauseous to eat anything at all, and the various elevator landings ranged from too busy to quiet but creepy to downright terrifying. Rick was ready to give up and settle with roaming the dormitory halls instead--a fine proposition for Rusty, who was an indoor cat anyways and was willing to compromise, but the vastness of space each room presented excited Mittens the tiger too much to be ignored.

After some searching, he finally found a floor that didn't seem immediately suspicious and--far too happy to notice the young lady picking flowers in the tall grass--promptly let Mittens take over and enjoy himself. It wasn't until several minutes after the transformation and some rolling in the weeds before he caught wind of Arturia. Mid-pounce on an unlucky flower petal, the Bengal tiger froze in place and stared her down with wide, startled eyes.

[no_longer_a_king]

In an instant, Arturia had summoned Caliburn into her hand and fell into a fighting stance, the flowers she had gathered dropped to the ground. How she had noticed the giant tiger about in the field? That was unlike her, but she did not care.

Before she could strike, she noticed the collar about its neck and how startled it seemed. Was this tiger another resident? Another who had been brought here?

....but there was less than a year left on the timer. Why would Zo bring others when they were slated to die in less than a year? Did he not know? Did Ruana make him? Or did the Administrators they could fix the Tower before time ran out for them all?

"Who are you?" she asked, lowering Caliburn to show she was no threat. Still, she kept a grip on the hilt for just in case. You never knew when it came to this Tower.

[bashfulshifter]

The glint of sharp metal caught Rick's eye and he instantly recoiled, lowering his head and tucking his tail. Idiot! If he hadn't been so simple-minded, he could have recognized that a normal person--or worse, a seasoned resident of this ominous tower--would not take kindly to being stalked by a massive cat, and maybe he could have shifted into a form less imposing before she noticed. Perhaps there was still time? No, no, he'd waited too long, it was awkward now! There wasn't any way he could get out of this with dignity intact. Rick prepared to run away--and then she addressed him directly.

Now there was something unexpected...how had she known he would understand her? It took Rick a moment before he realized--ah yes, the collar, he nearly forgot! How obvious! Still, that meant he'd been called out, no less by a woman with an imposing sword, so there was no way he could redeem himself without revealing his powers.

In one moment to the next, the Bengal tiger was replaced with an extremely embarrassed blond-haired man. His hands were raised and his blue eyes glanced periodically at the stairs. He opened his mouth to apologize, but the words predictably caught in his throat, terminating in strained, anxious stutters.

B

[scorchedchivalry]

[Arturia would find the air of the graveyard near the von Einzbern gravestones heavy with the tainted prana of Angra Mainyu. The source wouldn't be hard to find, given the black cloaked figure leaning against a tree nearby, the cloak fluttering about as if it were windy even though there was none present.

It was a manifestation of Saber's prana, having chosen to form it into a cloak instead of her armor while visiting a particular grave. She didn't say anything when she saw her other self, keeping to herself, but from the thickness of the taint, it was clear she'd been there a while.]

[no_longer_a_king]

[The air is heavy with tainted prana, yes, but it does not set her on edge quite as much as it originally had. Mainly because there were two people in the Tower she knew of who held that taint. Saber leaning against a tree nearby only confirms this and so she is not wary of the tainted prana at all.

Arturia raises a hand in greeting before separating out the flowers meant for Irisviel and her daughter, delicate white ones befitting a lady. In the back of her mind she knows they are only film, that the graves before her do not exist, that the very hand holding it is not real.

But that does not matter right now. It's more the symbolism of the act itself and more a comfort for herself than anything. She lays the flowers in front of both graves, a silent promise to save them from wandering the wastelands she herself had just returned from.

Once that's done she gets up, bows before the graves, and turns to approach Saber. After being alone for so long, it would be nice to be around someone living for a while, even if both of them would likely be quiet for a long time in one another's company.]

[scorchedchivalry]

[There was no return wave from Saber. The knight had also been gone from the Tower, lost in the ruined landscape she had been once before. This time, though, it was far longer and with certain losses weighing upon her, she hadn't really tried to resist the will of All the World's Evils.

Why bother?

When Arturia drew near, she would be able to see it on Saber's body with her countenance making her look more dead than alive with the sallowness of her skin, her hair was far closer to white than it had been before and the red of the marks were quite clear. But it was her eyes that would hold. They were what really made her look like the walking dead.

She didn't say anything when her other self approached, and turned her eyes back to the graves soon enough.]

B

[swordedpast]

[What, did Arturia expect Shirou's grave to be unattended?

In truth, it was actually an unusual occurrence that Archer was there, standing several feet away staring at the stone, his face as cold as the grave itself. Though he had been mired deep in his desire for self-destruction when he first came to the tower, Archer found more and more that his desire to face down Shirou Emiya and mutually annihilate together with him was something almost quaint now.

It wasn't that he'd stopped wanting to die. It wasn't that he'd stopped despising himself. It was just that clashing with his own younger self to wipe out his own existence no longer seemed like atonement enough.

Standing there staring at that gravestone, Archer wasn't thinking about how nice it would be to completely destroy the boy whose name it bore. He was thinking about how naive he had once been to think that would solve anything. He had no such easy way out, only--]

Saber.

[He sensed her presence before she was close enough to lay down the flowers, and he spoke in a dead voice.]

[no_longer_a_king]

[No, she didn't expect the graves to be completely unattended, least of all Shirou's. Despite that, she is still shocked to see Archer by this particular grave. It brings up bad memories of a redheaded boy on the ground and Archer using her to commit suicide. Something that leaves her wary even if he was currently one of the few people she felt closest to in the Tower.

She draws up to him, already pulling the flowers for Shirou out of the bundle in her arms.]

Archer.

[And the flowers go before the grave, a promise that she will save this Shirou from his suffering somehow, though she had never met him.]

I'm surprised to see you here.

B

[greyerrant]

An armored figure in grey armor walks through the gravestones, pausing briefly to touch a few here and there. He is quiet, but for the sound of his armor servomotors moving him onwards. When he sees Arturia looking over several with a bouquet, he is quiet for a moment, waiting until after she lays it down and begins to move on before speaking, saying, "You honor the lost?"

[no_longer_a_king]

"That's one way to put it," she tells the armored man as she lays down another flower. Lost. It's a good term for them.

"There are no bodies here. These are those who have been sent home to the ruins of their world from the Tower."

Graveyard

[lightofhumanity]

It was normal for chaos to come to the graveyard so that he could mourn over lost friends, both old and new, and remember better times that they had together. However, when he saw and sensed a familiar person putting flowers on the graves, he couldn't help but walk up to her, smiling a little..even if that smile was a touch melancholy.

"It seems that we meet again. I am glad to see that you are honoring the dead and lost like this."

The graveyard is so popular. XD

[no_longer_a_king]

"Not dead," she insisted on, though some part of her knew that at least some of these people had been dead. Technically, she is, too, and the technology of this Tower somehow brought her here. If she had been wandering the world, then what of the others who were well and truly gone from here? Had they met the same fate.

"I do not know of their worlds, but I can promise they are not dead wherever they have gone."

[C]

[faithstaynight]

[It's purely by chance that Arturia knocks on the door to 2-19 while Ruler was inside. As a Servant, Ruler didn't really need to sleep, so she didn't spend much time in her room. But she had stopped back earlier to pick up a change of clothes, and it was just as she was pulling her shirt down over her head that the knock came.

Opening the door, a look of curiosity crosses her face as she sees who's standing there.]

Arturia? Is something wrong?

[no_longer_a_king]

[Arturia, on the other hand, slept more to fill the time.]

Er, no. I just returned from my world and wished to check that everyone is still here.

[Because it's nice to see living people once again.]

A

[isthatashortjoke]

This particular floor was one Veigar frequented. Not to destroy or absorb more power from the tower's monsters and odd resident... but to simply be at. It was odd, especially for anyone who normally knew the volatile Yordle, to see him in such a state of calm and distance. Almost like the usually negative creature was daydreaming. That, and it was the only place he ever brought Chompimus to.

Once he steped off the stairs, he waved Chompimus to go play and hunt. With a watering can in hand, the Yordle made his way to a specific patch of flowers and began to water the plants in that location.

It was when he heard approaching footsteps that he dropped the can and turned the Black Torch towards the newcomer, flame already becomming intense for a second before it dissipated and he lowered his rod.

"Oh, it is you...."

Awwww yeah!

[no_longer_a_king]

"Hello, Veigar," she said, fistful of flowers in hand, Chompimus circling about her to play. The dandylion had been what had alerted her to his presence and so she had come to say hello and see how her 'ally' was.

Truth be told she hadn't expected to see him so peaceful looking. Huh. Maybe there is something off about the flowers here if it calms even him.

Or maybe even he had only so much energy to expend on being so surly.

She chose not to comment on it. It might embarrass him to know she had seen him so soft.

"I trust you've been well in my absence?"

Swimming Lessons

[chevalier_mal_fet]

[No matter the Arthur, his King seems invariably to know where to find him and when. Which he supposes is not all that surprising. Stood in the open doorway in his shirtsleeves, Lancelot offers Saber a rather gracious nod of greeting.]

Arthur.
I am honored. What purpose brings you to my door-- and will you not come through?
[Courteous as ever, he stands aside, gesturing to the interior of his room-- welcoming, should she wish to enter.]

[no_longer_a_king]

[It's a matter of luck she manages to find him. Then again, she does not seek him out that often, preferring to leave him to his own devices and pursuing his own goals.]

I shall, thank you. I have a small personal favor to ask. Nothing like the last one. [She hastily adds the last part. The last time she asked him for a favor had been in placing the chips. Seeing him break so after the tower had shorted, just how badly wrong things had gone, had told her to be wary of asking him such things.

No, she's here for another purpose and once the door is shut, she turns to him, an earnest expression on her face:]

Lancelot, would you please teach me how to swim?

A

[immortalia]

One of the rooms Sertoria decided to come to after her return was the meadow. Quaeda was usually a barren-filled wasteland in some parts, but to see everything like that was depressing. She had dropped her hood and held her arms out to expose her skin to the bright sunlight. Even though she did not have a need to breathe, she exhaled slowly and inhaled for a moment. Her eyes slipped closed as she listened in to the sounds around.

That was until she detected the presence of another. Her eyes opened again and she turned, face showing little, if any, hostility. Being back home had put the android on edge when she knew she didn't have to be like that so much here.

"You may put down your weapon, if that is what you seek. I will not fight nor harm you," she said, holding her hands up in surrender already.

Re: A

[no_longer_a_king]

Arturia gave the woman a surprised look when she spoke up like that. True, she'd noticed the woman entering the floor and enjoying the sun, but Arturia had let her be. It was only picking flowers and she did not know this woman? Would it matter if she knew about it?

Then Arturia had come close to the woman, spying some small white flowers she thought would look nice on Ilya and Irisviel's graves. That was when the woman turned and put her hands up in surrender, saying Arturia could put down her weapon.

A weapon that consisted of a fistful of wildflowers. Arturia held it up.

"I apologize if I startled you, but I am not even armed. I had no intention of even bothering you."

[C]

[rememberscarlet]

[Jellal is just exiting the elevator, heading towards his room, when he notices Arturia walking from door to door. Well... he might as well check, if there's anything he can help with, right?]

Are you looking for someone, miss?

[no_longer_a_king]

Sort of?

[That's the best way to describe it.]

I have been away for a few weeks. I am checking to see who has gone and who is still here.