towerofanimus | Why do you even try?

Characters: Romeo and you
Setting: Everywhere, Tower of Jenova plot 10th-22nd March
Format: Either, all
Summary: Romeo catch all for plot, up until the kill switch. Details of his mutations and behaviour is here
Warnings: Illness, body horror/mutations, despair and dooms-saying. Romeo won't be physically violent but there might still be injury/death. Also note that the closer you are to Romeo/the more he has supported you before the worse he will be (in the last two prompts)

10th-13th: All around the tower

It is very strange for Romeo to not feel enthusiasm for anything. Usually he woke up early, ran around getting ready and tidying his part of the room before setting out with Pinocchio to find food and adventure. Even when bad things happened, which they often did he was active and positive, trying to help and change things and make things better for those he could.

But one morning he woke up and didn't want to get out of bed, it wasn't the first time it had ever happened. He had felt like this in the days after Alfredo had died, until the Black Brothers had made him stand up.

He sighed and forced himself out of bed looking at the rash on his hands. "What is this Pinocchio?" He sounded scared. Pinocchio just nuzzled his hands.

He went on as usual, trying to fight the feeling of being sad and not wanting to do anything. Often stopping at corners to punch the air, desperately trying to keep his spirits up. It got harder and harder to do so though as the days went on and the rash slowly changed to lesions that burst every so often.

14th and 15th: Around the tower

Within a few days Romeo didn't have any hope left. They were all going to die here in this tower and it was stupid to think otherwise. He was sullen to anyone who came near him and sometimes just felt an overwhelming urge to tell them that they were wrong. Nothing was going to be alright, there was no way they could get out of this situation and there was no point in trying.

At first he just told anyone he encountered, but soon he realised everyone needed to know and felt the urge to seak people out, his friends, those he had helped before, to tell them how he had been wrong, about how everything was helpless and there was no point anymore.

16th onwards: Around the tower

Romeo's eyes had changed and so had his body. He had four sets of white feathered wings set into his back. Big and heavy, far too big and heavy for a boy of Romeo's height and they weighed him down, dragging along the floor when he walked.

He accepted them though, such things had happened before and would happen again. Because the administrators and those that sought to hurt them had all the power. He continued to wander the tower, looking for those that had to have their hope destroyed. Seeking to wipe it all out, crush it beneath his feet and replace it with despair.

The way things should be.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

David's been continuing to serve as one of the Tower's garbagemen, ferrying waste from the various floors to the Incinerator. He's much more efficient about it now than he was last month—which is understandable, as the suit that gives him his superhuman abilities had instead been the veritable albatross around his neck.

However, even as he's zipping to and fro with the aid of his suit's flight system, David's wearing a clear expression of worry on his face. Something is going on, but he really has no idea what. He hasn't yet run into any of the Tower residents who have been so affected by the Geostigma was to become mutated.

Of course, that's about to change pretty soon, isn't it?

Pretty much, since just round the corner is Romeo, dragging his wings behind him. He saw David and his eyes flashed a golden colour. Someone who Romeo knew, who Romeo had helped, filled with false hope. Waiting to be destroyed. "Hello David."

Romeo's voice catches David's attention. He glances over to the kid while in mid-flight—

"Oh, heyas, Ro—"

—then does a double-take as he swings his legs outward to halt his forward momentum. All while looking like he's about to drop his cigar on the floor.

"Whoa! What happened to you—?!"

Gold-flashing cat eyes? Four massive pairs of wings? Something strikes David as horribly off about this. Unless what he had seen of the kid until now was merely his secret identity or alter-ego, and this was the real him. ... No, David's gut tells him this has to be related to the malaise that's been hitting the Tower of late. But how?

Edited 2014-03-27 05:24 (UTC)

"I don't know. Something bad." Romeo's voice was sharper than usual he takes a step towards David. "But it doesn't matter."

"Like heck it doesn't matter," David says in response, but he's not sure what else to say after that ... so he starts musing on what he's seeing out of Romeo here. He's known Mutant-origin heroes who become entirely different after receiving their powers. It doesn't even have to be Mutation specifically, but anyone can undergo a dramatic personality change depending on their origin story—

David mentally slaps himself. He's got to stop trying to equate this to experiences within Primal Earth's hero community. Something else is going on, and he doesn't have enough information to act on it—only Romeo would have some idea, even if the transformation seems to have left him a little cranky. As should be expected, he supposes ...

"Arright," David says after spending a few moments to think on how best to approach the topic. "Can you tell me anything odd dat was goin' on before dis happened?"

"I got sick." He told him, "Lots of people got sick, I'm not the only one. Maybe everyone will get sick eventually."

His eyes were still golden and his voice sounded bitter, not like Romeo at all.

David's starting to notice the pessimism in Romeo's voice. Right now, though, he's glowering more at the fact that his gut feeling was right—something is happening in the Tower ... a sickness that can cause mutations like this?

"An' it's givin' people wings and ... cat eyes?" David says, glancing directly at Romeo's eyes as he speaks. It's actually a little disturbing to see.

"I think so." Romeo shrugged, "It might kill us as well, though maybe it will just be bad for a while. Like it was the other times."

David tightens his lips around his cigar in thought. If it's a sickness, can it be cured? Unless it's something the Tower itself is doing—which seems likely, as it seems like everything bad that ever happens within the Tower is the fault of one admin or another—there ought to be a way to cure it. Simulated or not.

Well, the first step to answering that would be ...

"Gimme a sec. I wanna try somethin'," David says as he plucks a smartphone-sized device from his utility belt. He doesn't actually look very confident as he turns it on and starts poking at the interface—the Medical Device is great for physical trauma, but it didn't do much good against stuff like the Vahzilok Wasting Disease. Still, it pays to be thorough—

"Arright, lesse if dis'll help any." David points the device at Romeo, as if it were a remote, and activates it.

Romeo watched as David took something from his belt wondering if the man was going to kill him. He wasn't really scared, he just felt a little bit sad.

He blinked when nothing happened. "I think it's broken."

David looks disappointed, but not all that surprised. He glances at the Medical Device's screen to see if it could tell him anything about Romeo's present condition—but it can't.

"Prolly da admins' fault," David mutters, then in a more normal tone, adds, "Not sure it woulda helped you anyway, but I had to try."

He places the Medical Device back on his belt. "I'm guessin' there ain't any medical doctors in residence here, are dere?" Surely Romeo and the others would have seen them already, if one was present. Or, maybe they were just well-hidden among the populace.

"I guess, but trying usually leads to nothing." He shrugged and shook his head, "Doctors are bad anyways, they do really bad things, I already got wings but they might give me antlers and extra legs."

Whoa. That was out of left field, especially for Romeo, and David's reaction makes his surprise clear.

"What, didja have a bad time with doctors back home or somethin'?"

Medicine wasn't nearly advanced in the 19th century as it is in David's time, especially with the benefits of superscience ... and didn't they used to chop a lot of limbs off of wounded people? That could explain Romeo's sour reaction, but the other part ...

"The bad doctors were here. They work for Ruana and Jason, but Jason's dead now so I guess they just work for Ruana." He shrugged.

"The doctors at home just didn't help you if you didn't got lots of money. They were bad as well."

Huh. If Romeo's talking about what he thinks he's talking about ... those were doctors? Then again—Dr. Vahzilok's cronies were medically trained surgeons, and those monsters had no respect at all for the Hippocratic Oath. And, of course, neither did Dr. Vahzilok himself ...

David grimly tightens his lips' grip on the cigar, putting his fists on his hips as he glances around the floors. "Well—Jason and his cronies can't be da only guys in da tower who know medicine," he says after a moment. "Dey musta brought somebody in who can help you out."

"Maybe. But probably not. The bad people don't like us winning, so we never will."

He shook his head sadly, "No one can help."

David looks back over to Romeo, actually frowning for once. Romeo's behavior is actually starting to sound almost ... actively pessimistic?

"Won't know if we don't try askin' around," David says. This is, after all, the same guy who spent months on end searching for a way to get ammunition for his rifle.

Why do you even try?

March 20 - Around the Tower

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

FYI: The device can only heal minor to moderate wounds in the Tower, and it can fail outright.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject