004.

[gloomyapoplectic]

Characters: AU!Kanaya Maryam and you!
Setting: Floor 12, Floor 14, Floor 15, or Floor 25.
Format: Starting action, will match!
Summary: Kanaya hasn't really left her room much since being killed with Equius. It's probably time to change that.
Warnings: Potential trauma related to world destruction and culling drones, probably language. Will edit for anything else!

Floor 12
[Space isn't exactly something Kanaya is unfamiliar with -- she lived on a stray space rock for a very long time, after all. Still, something about this floor has always kept her at bay. Something has always made her hasten her way to the staircase without sticking around to see exactly what this floor had in store for its visitors.

Today, she lingers too long on the sight of an asteroid belt. Not the Veil -- it's far too close to an unfamiliar planet to be what the refugees of her race called their very short-lived home. But still, it catches her eye. There were no drones in the Veil, at least. It was probably the closest thing she'd had to a home besides the spare recuperacoon in Vriska's hive, at least since she had become a fugitive.

She watches as a bright speck of light blooms from the planet rung by the asteroids. All of a sudden, everything seems to die before her eyes. Kanaya observes the stars going out, the planet going gray behind a shroud of smoke as the gases in its atmosphere react and combust.

She realizes that she is witnessing the destruction of a universe.

Despite the cold feeling in her chest telling her that she should walk away from this floor and never pay it any mind again, Kanaya stays. Watches as the projections show universe after universe being gutted and drained of life. And wonders, faintly, if that's anything like what the Scratch would have been like.]

Floor 14
[Romcoms. Who would have figured?

They're not her favorite thing to watch, but they remind her of...not really simpler times, as running from an empire was anything but simple, but a time when there was, at least, a status quo. She missed visiting everyone's hives sometimes. Even Feferi's. She'd liked Feferi before...

Kanaya pulls her legs up onto the couch and hugs them close to her torso with a sigh as the happy couple on-screen kisses. Maybe she should mess around with those video game consoles instead. Less chance of getting distracted that way.]

Floor 15
[She's been getting better at sewing. She was even able to make herself a shirt that didn't have a sign on it, which is laid out on the table next to her as a reference. Not that she's particularly ashamed of her sign, but she thought it would probably be a good idea to have something to wear that didn't need to have a color on it. Kanaya wasn't as scared of her blood color anymore, but it was best to have contingency plans for any case.

At current, she's trying to make a maroon dress in a similar style to what her skirt used to be, before it got so tattered. She's having a bit of trouble, though. She's not quite sure how the pieces are supposed to fit together.]

Floor 25
[Kanaya was no sun-dwelling jadeblood, but being on the run during the day constantly had given her a fairly tough husk. The bright, strange light of the meadow -- which was tame compared to the scorching Alternian sun -- almost felt calming, to a degree. The kind of light that would lull a nocturnal creature to sleep.

Despite her survival experience, which had been tailored to let her sleep at night and be up during the day for the most part, Kanaya found herself drifting in between sleep and waking in the depths of the meadow, sprawled amidst a field of wildflowers. It was nicer than the respiteblocks they were provided, that was for sure.]

Comments

Floor 12

[chronomancer]

[Eridan came to a stop at the staircase, recognizing those horns and feeling a little relief at doing so. He approached three steps before stopping and doubting. He was glad to see Kanaya doing good, but... but maybe it was selfish to stick around just because of that. Maybe she was busy. Maybe she didn't want to deal with him. He swallowed hard and shook his head.]

Hon. I haven't seen you in a while.

[gloomyapoplectic]

[The sound of Eridan's voice makes her turn -- not quite panicked, but the turn is a bit faster, a bit sharper than it really needs to be. Kanaya is still a little jumpy.

It's still a moment before she can accept that the person standing in front of her is actually Eridan. She's become increasingly distrustful of the Tower since that awful game. This floor, especially, has made her question just how real everything around her is.

But eventually, she seems to decide that Eridan is real, and gives him a weary smile.] I am sorry if I worried you. I have not left my respiteblock for quite a while except to complete necessary tasks.

[chronomancer]

[Eridan offers a small smile and a shrug, arching the shoulder missing an arm pointedly.]

I know the feeling. I'm glad you're... doing better.

[Alright is too strong a word, maybe.]

oops the realization that she hadn't seen his arm yet

[gloomyapoplectic]

[Maybe it was the darkness of the projections (space isn't exactly well-lit). Maybe it was her fight or flight instinct distracting her. Maybe it was the drape of his clothing.

For whatever reason, she hadn't seen it before. But she sees it now.

Her eyes widen. She rushes over, the scenes of destruction surrounding her forgotten, to confirm with her hands what her eyes are seeing. She doesn't touch his arm -- stops just shy of it, in fact -- as she seems to realize she might hurt him by doing so.]

What happened?

12F

[mutab1e]

[It seems the asteroid belt which has caught Maryam's attention on the floor proper has also caught this loser's from the stairs. And he actually managed to stay quiet for a fair amount of time, too; he'd noticed Maryam sitting there and basically just froze up. Gah. And then the next world had flashed on the screen, it was a cluster of asteroids and... well, despite every sensible part of his brain telling him not to, he stood quietly on the stairs and watched as well.]

[It was only a small noise when the universe detonated, honest, not much more than an intake of air. But it was enough to alert Maryam to his presence, and there was no time to run; she'd be after him, he knew, probably with a chainsaw materialized from thin air.]

[gloomyapoplectic]

[Kanaya predictably whirls on him, fingers curled to most effectively brandish her talons and lips pulled back to bare her fangs. She has no idea what she'll see when she turns, and it might be something dangerous--

or not. It might just be a hemospectrum-adhering mustardblood with no psionics. She wouldn't be scared of him if she lived to see a million sweeps.

Kanaya puts away her lines of defense, but her eyes remain narrowed, and she's still visibly tense.] Equius.

[mutab1e]

[Wow, this is awkward. He'd been able to avoid her up until now (it seems like most of his Tower life is spent avoiding some troll or another), but of course, his luck had to run out eventually. ...That reminds him, he never got around to making those signless shirts. Darn.]

[She backed off on the animalistic threats when she presumably realized who he was, but for what reason? Because he's long been established as a non-threat, or because of the -- ahem -- incident? (He's taken it to thinking of it as 'the incident' lately, because the alternative is "the bit where I choked on highly acidic bright-red blood that probably burned a hole clean through my torso while Maryam was ripped limb from limb in the background". He doesn't like to call it that.)]

...M-maryam.

[Dangit. He stammered.]

Uh clearly Floor 15 is his destiny.

[terrificmachoemperor]

[Hey more of those grey-colored troll guys and girls. Kanji's been exploring a lot of the tower lately, especially since Naoto hasn't been around and he's worried. However, when he peeks in, he gets distracted a little. Just...standing there by the doorway, silently, much like he used to peek in the window of the sewing club. She's obviously going to make a grave mistake if this continues but...should he say something? Maybe she'll get insult--you know what, if it worked with kids like Ken, maybe he can continue to push his luck around here.]

Hey uh...your waistband needs to be closer to your front or the seems are gonna come out all wrong.

[Doesn't mean he can't look nervous talking about it, mind you.]

yes good

[gloomyapoplectic]

[It's fairly obvious that there's no one else in the workshop that the other presence could be addressing, so Kanaya turns to face the speaker. It's a human -- despite the tower being full of them, she hasn't spoken to many. While he's certainly much larger than her, by troll standards, he's not too intimidating. Not more than an adult troll, anyways.] Thank you.

[She looks back towards her garment-in-progress briefly to adjust it accordingly before giving him her attention again. Her expression is politely curious.] You're knowledgeable in this field?

[terrificmachoemperor]

[Well Kanji, time to come straight up about that again.]

Y-yeah. Been sewing and making all sorts of stuff since I was a kid. I didn't realize there was a workshop here.

[If you could poke at Kanji's brain, however, HALLELUIAH would be playing.]

floor 14 needs some love

[hystericull]

[Time for some mind-numbing screens. This floor was a delight to Gamzee for a multitude of reasons - there were a lot of people to bother, and there were a lot of flashy lights, to name a couple. Sometimes he would sit wordlessly next to someone, watching them play a game, or finishing a movie with them. It never mattered what was on, as long as it moved and had lights and sounds, which was pretty much the criteria for all television-based entertainment, so he was all set!

This time, however, he noticed a pair of familiar horns poking up from one of the various couches. Finally, someone he recognized! He'd spoken with Kanaya before on the Network, but that was a while ago. It seemed she was still here.

Taking his time, he made his rounds from screen to screen, scoping out what people were fixated on. Eventually, he spotted those horns again, and, apparently not learning from prior experience, immediately assumed it was his Kanaya.

He loomed behind her, casually placing his hands on the back of the couch and staring down at the top of her head.]

Heyyy, Kanaya.

yes good *^*

[gloomyapoplectic]

[Unfortunately, it isn't his Kanaya.

Of course, she makes a similar mistake when she realizes she recognizes that voice. She hasn't seen or heard anything about her Gamzee, after all, and despite all the annoying cat puns, he's always been helpful.

So she turns eagerly, happy to know that he's okay.] I was wondering--

[Except when she turns and looks up, that is not quite the face she was expecting to see. It's actually kind of scary. And familiar, but it's somewhat hard to place--

Oh wait. Wait. That massive highblood she had once encountered when the tower was swamped by monsters. That's what he looked like.

Of course, the connection that her thinkpan makes to the hulking highblood sends her thoughts in a circle back to the drone, and Kanaya unconsciously shrinks down to be farther away from this mysterious looming troll.

Still, though, he sounds like Gamzee, and he knows her name. Maybe he's from the alpha timeline. So, she hesitantly tries:] ...Gamzee?

[Of course, now he'll be able to see the vibrant red Virgo symbol on her shirt that wasn't visible when her back was turned. Not to mention one of her horns -- the one without the hook -- is actually broken in half upon closer inspection.]

[hystericull]

[His eyes were lit with an eager expectancy as she spoke, but his expression sort of twisted up when Kanaya had turned. He would have been more surprised, had this not been the third mistaken identity in a few days.

Gamzee's smile remained in place, however, and he had a surprising reaction time for having, surprisingly, little reaction. As if Kanaya being not-jade was nothing more than a slight misunderstanding.

Which, now that he thought about it, it really was nothing more than that. No reason to be getting all jumpy on a motherfucker just 'cause they weren't all who you expected them to turn out to fucking be.]

Oh.

[His smile grew as she said his name. Well, at least she knew who he was. But he must have scared her, because she shied away from him a little.]

Yeah, motherfucker. Sorry I ain't to all be like, who you was to thinking I all motherfucking was, neither.

Uh, didn't mean to get my scare on in you or nothing...

FLOOR 12 DERP

[caliginous]

Are you trying to choke on the crippling weight of your depression? Jesus shit, Maryam.

[The familiar voice admonishes her from the doorway, hands hanging lazily in his pockets. He doesn't look an ounce different than he had since the last time she saw him, but that's only because he's really good at hiding his emotions.

In truth, he was still kicking himself for not being there when she and Equius had been attacked, even though there was nothing he could do.]

I was starting to wonder if you somehow managed to break the lock to your respiteblock.

[gloomyapoplectic]

[Karkat's voice is one of the few that doesn't immediately send her into alarm -- perhaps the association with being pacified is just that deeply ingrained into her. Still, when she turns to face him, she looks at him for a little longer than necessary, trying to decide if he's a work of the Tower designed to kill her.]

That wasn't my intention. [Her voice lacks its usual bite.] I was just thinking. [Though he has a point. This room does little but offer crushing perspective.]

As you can see, I have not accomplished the feat you attributed to me. And I am fairly sure that even if I had, it would have been swiftly repaired.

[caliginous]

[Karkat rolls his eyes and shakes his head, descending further into the room. He strides right passed her, nudging her shoulder with his as he does so in a half hearted attempt to get her to follow him. The cerulean squinted up at the projection at a very small planet in the distance, away from the focus on the one being destroyed.]

So you're avoiding me now? That's how this is gonna be?

[Despite the deadpan with which he says it, its very obvious that its just another one of Karkat's ribbings.]

Floor 12 don't even curr

[metawoof]

Cool, huh!

[Echidna wasn't exactly one for announcing her presence, but this is what she chimed in with as the bright light bloomed on the projection.

She's only being a little morbid here.]

[gloomyapoplectic]

[Kanaya's frazzled by the sudden exclamation -- you can almost see her fluff up like an aggravated meowbeast at the disruption. She settles a bit when she sees that it's a familiar face (from where, she can't quite pinpoint yet, but she recalls seeing that face somewhere before), but she's not exactly enthused by the conversation topic.]

I suppose it could be considered that, if you have never seen anything like it before.

[Though when it's close to home...]

[metawoof]

Aw, don't you like space?

[Come on, you lived on an asteroid for awhile, didn't you!]

And in here they have this super cool kind of technology to make the entire room a project! How cool is that?!

floor 25 LET'S DO THIS (also I am sorry)

[capax_infiniti]

[Sometimes it's strange, to be in a place like the meadow. He's so used to desolation, destruction, all the horrible things echoing from the past that spur him on to what he needs to do.

Sometimes it's small moments in peaceful places that remind him that what he's doing is justified. A brief repose, a place where light and dark have no true play. Something that just exists, almost timeless.

He's not expecting to see the young troll in the field of flowers. His moment of contemplation flees. His work is never done.]

no don't apologize

[gloomyapoplectic]

[It's so peaceful that Kanaya almost doesn't notice the other presence in the meadow. Only upon opening her eyes again does she realize she's not alone.

Slowly (and reluctantly, at that), Kanaya sits up to look around blearily. Eventually, she catches sight of the strange human. He's not like any of the other ones she's seen. Most of them have been very pale, and none have looked so...

She doesn't really have a word for it, since trolls don't show the same signs of age that humans do. But he seems to be a human regardless, even if he's a weird-looking one.

She regards him warily for a moment, before chancing a cordial:] Hello.

butttttt

[capax_infiniti]

[He's used to seeing the beings of other worlds, so her non-humanoid appearance doesn't even faze him. He inclines his head pleasantly, the traces of a smile.]

Greetings. It's a lovely place, is it not?

Floor 15 (in which I BS sewing.)

[fractus_animus]

[ Minato is surprised to meet Kanaya here, as he is sewing himself. It's a hobby, naturally. ]

... Maryam-san. Hello.

[ He offers her a smile, noticing the trouble she's having, and thus goes over to her quietly without and intrusion, just... sort of observing. ]

You need to restitch the pieces together--see the frayed ends there? They're pretty bad, but you could rejoin them, I think, if you did it just right.

If... you'd like help, I'd be happy to help you out. If you need it, that is.

[gloomyapoplectic]

Oh. Hello, Minato. [She hasn't seen him in quite a while. She's been so preoccupied with everything trying to kill her. Needless to say, she's happy to see the helpful face from her first days in the Tower.

She turns the fabric a little to better scrutinize the ends he speaks of, finding that they are indeed rather worse for wear.] Oh. I did not even notice. [That's saddening. This would have come apart if she'd tried to put it on!]

If you wouldn't mind, I would be very grateful to have your assistance in this endeavor.

[fractus_animus]

[ He smiles, nodding. ]

I'm glad to see you're doing all right, otherwise. I don't mind helping, I've done a lot of sewing myself.

[ He's getting a good look at it now. ]

Chidori is better with dresses than I am, but I have a feeling she'd put a lot of lace on it... do you just want it patched up, Maryam-san?