towerofanimus | [Open] It's an Aradia lottery

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[Open] It's an Aradia lottery

Characters: Aradia, a ridiculous amount of doomed clones and whoever has the (mis)fortune to find any of them
Setting: Throughout the tower
Format: Any
Summary: Aradia's time powers have gone awry. Badly. (In a -4 kind of way)
Warnings: Much confusion abounds!

Over the next days, it will seem as though Aradia is everywhere, often all at the same time. Drop by the library, she's there. Cafeteria? There's a group of Aradias dining together. Art gallery, meadow, even the places you wouldn't normally find an Aradia? You get the picture.

Things that will seem consistent: all of the Aradias will seem oblivious to anything touching them, or that they bump into. Anything that they are consciously using/picking up will seem to take some consideration. And if you're not careful, you might find yourself caught by flying objects as one or more of the Aradias sees her telekinetic powers unleash themselves. Also, appearance-wise there is nothing to distinguish one from any of the others.

It's only when anyone talks to an Aradia that the differences might be seen. Some appear to have no clue what they're doing in the tower. Others appear used to the tower but reference past as current, or nod to things that might happen in future as though they have already taken place. And just because you've spoken to one this morning, doesn't mean the one you speak to this afternoon will remember.

[ooc: So, this is how this is going to work. Basically, the Aradias are popping up from all points in time, but because this is RP and juggling countless versions is no fun, there's a slightly memeish element to this. There are seven Aradia types that will be interacting with people: Original, Arrival, Monster Tower, Hitori Kakurenbo, Recent Past, Other Past and Future. They are all assigned a number 1-7, not necessarily in the order I just listed them. When tagging in, you may either:
- specify a preferred Aradia
- pick one at random (by putting a number in the subject)
- Leave the choice to me, in which case I will use RNG. If you choose this but don't want certain types, let me know.

Location can be pretty much anywhere in the tower. And for convenience, any groups of Aradias being approached will be comprised of the same type unless anyone desperately wants otherwise, unless it's original Aradia in which case obviously There Can Only Be One.

Oh and all but the original are doomed clones, but because of God Tier their deaths must be heroic or just...which pretty much means heroic. Just something to bear in mind]

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Suzaku hadn't seen Aradia since their conversation over the network. Or rather he had seen her, from a distance and hadn't approached her. Today though he seemed to be seeing her everywhere she looked, from a distance, but it was definitely her.

When he saw three of her at once he blinked in utter confusion, he knew there was often doubles of people in the tower but he had never seen three identical people before.

And then there was another one as he came up onto the twentieth floor. "Aradia?"

Aradia looked up, smiling as she saw Suzaku approach. "Hi, Suzaku! Have you come to admire the view too?"

She turned back to stare out across the expanse of outside. "You know, I've always wondered where this led. Do you know?"

Sayaka, for her part, is in a similar sort of situation - a minus five sort of similar. It's not that she's in the mood for spending any particular amount of time in the (rather unsettling) eighteenth floor, it's that she came up here for something she doesn't recall or care about now and her progress out keeps getting stymied for one reason -

She's been obsessively checking and re-checking the location of her soul gem, ever since getting called to the infirmary and getting the purple in her collar replaced with orange. It feels like she's dropped it somewhere, like it's getting dragged away from her - but it's still right there as a ring on her finger.

Aradia's here mostly because she was sure this madness should be over with by now. She had recollections of the collars being reassigned, yes, but she was sure they'd been fixed.

And yet here she was, that familiar numb feeling and her powers not at all helping with the fluctuating light fixtures in the room. Just ignore that flipped over desk in the corner there. She's trying to.

She makes her way over, curiosity overtaking the concern over still feeling numb and confused. "Are you all right?"

Minami wasn't herself. That much could be obvious when looking at her. There was a black fog around her, vaguely shaped like a creature of some kind and smelling of death. On top of that she seemed very out of it, like she wasn't quite aware of what was going on around her, or sober, or both.

With one hand on a staff she'd made in the woodshop and the other holding her evoker, she approached the first person she saw in the hall outside her dorm: Aradia.

Aradia, for her part, seemed a little disorientated. This wasn't where she remembered being, not by a long shot, and she certainly doesn't recognise the fog-surrounded figure.

Part of the game, maybe? No. She knew, deep down, what this was. She was doomed just by her very existence here. The how was unknown but she was doomed all the same, just as the versions of herself she had not long separated from.

That still didn't explain this stranger, though. "Can I help you?"

Suzaku nodded, in truth he was just passing through but he stared out into the mist with her none the less.

"We tried to climb down once. Me and Link," he paused, "Not the one's who are here now, a different one." He still hadn't got his head round that, just like he hadn't got his head round the fact there were identical versions of a few people in the tower, or the fact he had passed Aradia on every other floor almost coming here.

"The fog kills."

"Oh, you mean like I used to be here and then wasn't and then I came back and didn't remember?"

She turned to regard him again, apparently unaware of the three extra clones she'd just spawned. One of whom had apparently spawned past the ledge and, with flying not working, she didn't last long.

That, of course, drew this Aradia's attention and she peered down at the drop. "I'm not sure it counts as heroic to spawn where you can't survive. What do you think?"

"Hm?"

Sayaka's own powers have been - unreliable, when she tried to invoke them. Her soul gem had glowed the brightest blue she'd ever seen for a full minute, and she'd stopped the attempt at transforming, afraid of what would happen. They have started to kick in and wreck things yet, but knowing her luck...?

"..Feeling like I'm absentminded, that's all. I keep thinking I've dropped something, but I haven't."

Aradia gives her a sympathetic look. "You too? Well, it's not so much abesent-minded...more like deja vu. I'm not sure I'm really supposed to be here."

Even as she speaks, another Aradia pops into existence behind her.

"Is it the sort of thing you're likely to drop?"

Minami's head tilts to the side a bit, looking Aradia over. Red, butterfly wings. So very pretty. So much suffering in her heart, in all hearts. She needed to bring it to an end.

Minami raised her evoker to her head, not saying a word, and pulled the trigger. Instantly another foggy figure, vague in shape, rose above her head and launched a fireball straight at Aradia.

Peace. Everything needed to be brought back to a peaceful state of non-existence. It's what they wished for after all, wasn't it?

Aradia barely managed to avoid the brunt of the blast; she looked from her singed wing back to the what she'd assumed to be human she'd just approached.

"Wow, or you know. No would have been okay."

She glanced back to one of the clones who hadn't been lucky enough to dodge.

"Won't help. Nothing heroic or just about being caught in an unprovoked attack."

"That happened to you?" He had heard of it happening, but he had not disappeared in his time in the tower, never mind returning with no memories. It would be strange he thought.

His thoughts stopped there however when three extra Aradia's suddenly appeared. His eyes widened as he stared at her in horror, "What..." And then one fell.

"Heroic? What? Aradia? What..."

She nodded at his initial question, soon distracted from any response by the new clones. Not that she seemed especially concerned over what was confusing and horrifying him.

"Yeah, that's been happening lately. They keep showing up...and then making more of themselves."

She ducks suddenly as one of the two remaining clones lets out a psionic blast, which strikes one of the nearby walls.

"Or doing that."

Suzaku jumped at the psionic blast and stepped closer to Aradia as if to protect her from... herself? Suzaku had seen some strange things since coming to the tower but this...

"Making more of themselves? Is this..." Normal? Surely not? But then again nothing Aradia had told him about her life had made sense, why should this be any different.

"Does this happen often? Them... showing up?"

She shook her head. "No. Normally I have to choose to bring them here...paradox clones are a tricky thing to manage so I wouldn't bring more than two or three. For this to be happening, there must be something bigger happening."

"Paradox clones?" Something bigger happening, he blinked at Aradia. Was this another trick of the tower? "Usually you can control this?"

"Yes. It's been a long time since there was this many of me around and even then I had control of it. I hope whatever's causing this is being mindful of the timeline."

Another blast causes her to dart back a little. "And hopefully that'll start happening less."

Suzaku jumped again at the blast, "The timeline?" He frowned, "Do you think this is another experiment?" He had seen them take peoples powers away, it didn't take much imagination to assume they could control peoples powers as well.

"Well, yes. It's very easy to cause a paradox if you don't know what you're doing and that never ends well."

She turns away from the ledge, moving to head back inside. "It's possible. Without knowing if anyone else is affected I couldn't say."

"No... I guess it wouldn't..." He blinked, "I haven't heard of anyone else being affected..." He tried to think of things that could have caused this, "Did you eat something strange? Was there anything in your food... that shouldn't have been there."

"I don't think so. I didn't notice anything, at least. But I have felt strange ever since I was called to the infirmary...sort of like when I was a ghost only I know I'm alive."

"Called to the infirmary?" She looked alright, not that Suzaku had any medical knowledge but he had seen dead people and he had seen injured and sick people and she looked fine.

She nodded. "Yes. They've been calling people in all day. Emergency collar checks I think they said."

"Emergency collar check?" Suzaku looked closer at her collar and blinks, "Your collar..." He tried to remember what colour it had been when they had spoke during that long extended night. "Was it always orange?"

She frowned a little and looked at her collar. "Hmm...I don't remember. I just show up on the days I'm supposed to and otherwise try not to think about it."

Suzaku did much the same, after all he was used to strange medical checks being a KMF pilot, and though the collars were strange he tried not to think about them too much. "I think it was darker, blue perhaps or purple."

"Oh...yes, now you mention it...how unusual."

If anything, she seemed more curious than worried.

"I wonder if that was just a mistake or if there's a reason for it."

He frowned, "I doubt that anything they do here is a mistake." Another test, or a game. But they had been given no instructions and no rules. If it were a game it was not one they were expected to win.

"Well, there's only one way to find out. Maybe I just need to go and ask them to fix it."

Aradia, ever the optimist. Even as her clone let off another psionic blast, though mercifully still out on the floor rather than in the stairwell.

Suzaku glanced at the clone in concern. "I guess, I can come with you if you wish."

He didn't trust the doctors and couldn't bring himself to believe it was just a mistake.

"Oh no, I couldn't ask you to do that. I'm sure you have things to do and I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

She turned away a little, ignoring the 'pops' that signified more time clones likely plummetting to oblivion.

"I'll let you know what they say, though?"

The clones falling to their death were harder for Suzaku to ignore. Even though Aradia was right here in front of him... other Aradia's were dying. Each of them were Aradia, which means it was Aradia dying.

"I have nothing to do." He told her, though he wouldn't press the matter if she wished to go alone. He looked back at the clones, wondering if there was a way to possibly save them.

"Well, if you're sure."

Aradia continued her way towards the stairwell, still not glancing back at her clones, though she did throw a glance at Suzaku.

"Don't worry. Even if you could stop them, they'd die another way."

"Do they know?" He dragged his eyes away from the clones and followed Aradia, "Do they know they are clones doomed to die, or do they each believe they are you?"

She shrugged. "I've never asked. Honestly, I think it's better I never find out."

Suzaku nodded grimly, it probably was for the best. He frowned again, "I'm sorry," because such a power... he understood Aradia's response to her own death during hide and seek a little better now.

She smiled and shook her head. "Don't be. It's hardly your fault."

"I know... but you should not have to go through that..." She was so young... He followed her silently.

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[Open] It's an Aradia lottery

RNG says 2 so here we go!

Hee!

randomize me, cap'n

That would be a 6

Let's start off with 3. Thank you for letting me testrun this with you.

You're welcome!

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