pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere

[hachitaro]

Characters: Taro and the Tower
Setting: Various floors around the Tower!
Format: Action to start but I can roll with either.
Summary: Taro’s new to the Tower.
Warnings: Mentions of death, and strong language.


[Room 4-02]
[He wakes up, trying not to panic, but the sleep paralysis wore off quickly. Groaning, he looks down at himself - what the hell. This outfit is terrible. He peeks inside the trunk at the foot of his bed - good. His clothes are there. Sure, he could walk around naked and just put up an illusion, but this would be less of a drain. He rolls his eyes and starts changing.]

[Modesty? What’s that?]



[Floor One]
[Taro sits at a table, staring at the oatmeal suspiciously. He kind of doubts it’s actually oatmeal. Still, he sighs and eats a spoonful -]

Dammit!

[He spits some of it out, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.]

This shit is terrible... ugh. Feel like I’m gonna throw up...



[Floor Ten]
[Taro stands in front of one of the ‘tanks’, marveling at it. It’s an impressive bit of magic... or whatever it is. He reaches into the water, trying to grab a fish - only for him to get bitten.]

Ow! Jerk!

[He holds his hand to his chest, examining it carefully. Stupid fish.]



[Floor Seventeen]
[Taro stands near the beginning of this floor, just staring at it. The screaming hurts, and he’s scared, but he’s shaking too hard to move for a bit. It’s the kind of screaming he imagined he would always do as he died - except his death had him going out laughing for the most part, hadn’t it?]

[He slowly backs away again, towards the staircase.]



[Floor Twenty Five]
[If you come up to this floor, you might see Taro rolling around like an idiot in the flowers. He’s got a huge grin on his face and he has grass and flowers stuck in his hair. He’s laughing, a strained and relieved kind of laughter.]

[He’s alive. He’s gloriously alive, and even if he’s really worried about what’s going on at home, he’s going to enjoy this moment in this strange place, just curling up in the grass.]



[Floor Twenty Eight]
[Taro pokes around at a few of the instruments, and then spots what he’s looking for. He’s not the best, and he’s not in tune for every note, but he grabs the electric guitar and starts in on a song.]

[It’s Eye of the Tiger. Feel free to boo the notes he gets out of tune.]

Comments

Floor 10

[beknightedheroine]

If you're trying to use yourself as bait, looks like it worked. Gotta actually focus on the keeping hold of it part after that, though~!

_{[Not that Sayaka's any better. She's gotten nipped plenty of times from running her hands through the water on this floor, it's just usually she's lucky enough not to get caught in the act.]}

[hachitaro]

[He turns and looks at her, grinning a little bit.]

Usually they're not this bitey. But then again it's been a while since I went fishing by hand~.

[beknightedheroine]

_{[Oh, hey. A positive response to her peanut gallery commentary. It's been a while since she netted that.]}

I'd be a bitey fish, too, if I was a fish here. But maybe you just need to go back to entry level with minnows and work your way back up to Jaws over there, huh?

[hachitaro]

[Stick with me, kid. We'll go places.]

Maybe~.

[He sticks his tongue out at the fish, which turns around and swims away.]

Minnows aren't that good for a meal, though.

[beknightedheroine]

Well, yeah. They're eensy.

_{[Her family had never been much for the fishing trip brand of bonding, but even Sayaka knew minnows were just the stepping stone of the fish world.]}

You'd need, uh.. fifty! ..five seven. That sounds like a safe number. _{What's fifty seven minnows even look like?}

[hachitaro]

Something like that. Do they even have that many minnows here?

[beknightedheroine]

...hmmm.

_{[Sayaka turns to one of the walls of water and squints meaningfully at it for a while, like she'd have any lucky spotting a tiny little minnow in all that aquatic chaos.]}

..well, if not, they've certainly got everything else. _{..man, I bet there's even aquatic dinosaurs somewhere in there. Or alien aquatic dinosaurs.}

[hachitaro]

Probably something else I can grab for a snack. Though really I could go for some beer or something... but I haven't found any yet.

[beknightedheroine]

Haaa~. Good luck finding any. I think I've heard the 'oh no there is no alcohol' thing like fifty times. _{Honestly, I'm surprised there aren't people rigging stills or something like right now.}

[hachitaro]

Jailhouse moonshine isn't worth the trouble, to be honest. Some things are easier when you're completely wasted, though.

[beknightedheroine]

Easier, huh? What sort of stuff? ..just dealing with stupid tower things?

_{[...no, Sayaka, you're not going to tell Roxas to get completely wasted because he can't hit himself up with Grief Seeds until he feels better.]}

[hachitaro]

Probably. Or ex-girlfriends. I learned that the hard way.

[Because their slaps don't hurt as much when you're drunk, you see. 8D]

Floor 25

[syncingdoll]

_{[--well. Kohaku manages to step quickly out of the way as Taro rolls past, warned by the approaching muffled laughter. She'd been making her way to the hidden patch where she's got a few morning glory seeds to tend, but lingers here to watch Taro. Gotta make sure he doesn't inadvertently find and roll over that morning glory patch, after all.]}

Enjoying yourself?

[hachitaro]

[He flops onto his back and grins up at her. Oh hey. She's cute.]

Yep! It's a great day to be alive!

[syncingdoll]

_{[..it's hard not to want to mirror all that enthusiasm, like a brighter grin is some sort of unspoken challenge. She gives in and beams back.]}

Well, well. I hope tomorrow can live up to today's standards.

[hachitaro]

Hopefully it will!

[He sits up and brushes some of the grass out of his hair.]

I'm Taro. What's your name?

[syncingdoll]

_{[She brings a sleeve up to cover her mouth, briefly - to stifle a giggle at all the grass bits that were left behind by the hair-sweep.]}

It's Kohaku. Nice to make your acquaintance, Taro-san.

[hachitaro]

Nice to meet you, too. Have you been here long?

[syncingdoll]

Oh, not very. Maybe a week? Not long enough for the novelty to have worn off, for sure.

[hachitaro]

Ah, okay. I'm just looking for some more information on this place.

[syncingdoll]

_{[Ah, a slight shade of a more serious topic.]}

Mm, there's a lot of people doing the same. I think us newbies have made quite an influx. Maybe we should start pooling what we learn?

[hachitaro]

Yeah, that'd be a good idea... man. I hate starting out with no information.

Their room!

[whatpenguin]

[And he just waltzes in - only to jump and cover his eyes with his arm, since his other one's holding a soccer ball.]

... Perhaps we should make a sign to hang on the door when others are changing.

[hachitaro]

[Taro looks up, and quickly pulls on his pants.]

Sorry! Didn't notice you there. Pants are on, it's okay now.

[He laughs a little bit.]

Are you one of my roommates?

[whatpenguin]

[Well, it's still a little awkward - but he does give Taro a smile now, as he moves to put his soccer ball away.]

It seems so, yes!
My name is Genda Koujirou - it's a pleasure to meet you.

[He still thinks the sign would be a good idea.]

[hachitaro]

[Probably, yeah.]

I'm Taro Watanabe. Nice to meet you, too.

[He looks over at the soccer ball.]

You play?

[whatpenguin]

Oh- yes, I do. I'm a goalkeeper - though I have two friends here who play other positions. Midfielder, and forward.

Do you?

[His eyes miiiight be lighting up, just a bit. Please say yes --]

[hachitaro]

Kind of. I'm not the best at it, but I do play. I'm usually more of a defensive midfielder. I can play most anything in a pinch, though.

[whatpenguin]

That's great!

I've been considering getting a group together to play, here - I need to keep training, in case we find our ways back home, you know?
If you play, that means you'd be willing to be a part of a team, wouldn't you?

[hachitaro]

Sure, no problem. It could be fun.

Have you been here long?

[whatpenguin]

Oh - no, not very.
I just arrived here today, though I've spoken to a few of my friends.

[He just has a one track mind, and that track is soccer.]

[hachitaro]

Ah, gotcha. I was just wondering. Did you wake up in this stupid outfit, too?

Floor 28

[bugarallyboy]

[Sorry, Kota hasn't spent enough time listening to music so he doesn't know if you're playing it in tune or not. He's definitely marveling at the fact that you can play a song.]

Wow, that's so cool!

[hachitaro]

[He finishes with a riff, and bows a little bit.]

Thank you, thank you~.

[bugarallyboy]

Can you play other songs?

[hachitaro]

Sure! Let's see...

[He tries to remember the notes, and starts picking out the notes to another song.]

[bugarallyboy]

[And his eyes sparkle as he marvels at the skills.]

That's so cool!! Can you teach me how to play one? Please??

[hachitaro]

Er. I've never taught anyone before, but I can try?

[He holds the guitar out to the other guy - then thinks better of it and unplugs it from the amp, then hands it over.]

I'm Taro, by the way. What's your name?

[bugarallyboy]

I'm Kota! Kota Fujiki. Nice to meet you, Taro!

[He gives a smile as he takes the guitar. Good thing it's been unplugged, because he would have damaged everyone's ears within hearing distance: he tried to strum the strings as soon as he had the guitar in his hands.]

[hachitaro]

Nice to meet you, too.

[He reaches out and tries to position Kota's hands in the proper location for minimum ear pain.]