towerofanimus | ✫ 1 : The Champion Goes Explorin'

Characters: Hawke and any/everyone
Setting: Pick yer floor [leave in the subject line, plz?]
Format: Prose preferred, but pick what's comfortable
Summary: The Champion of Kirkwall wakes up in a strange place and, like any ~~smart~~ good adventurer, leaves relative safety behind to go exploring.
Warnings: Maybe spoilers?

Never sail with a Rivaini pirate, especially one who's been landlocked for a decade or so. That was the first thought that sloshed through Rowen Hawke's throbbing head as he swam up from the depths of unconsciousness. The second was, after he'd made a deal with his eyelids to stay open long enough for him to check his surroundings, ...this isn't Isabela's ship.

He'd come to in a strange bed about an hour ago, tentatively rolling out of it and on his guard, waiting for the Templar bastards to leap out of hiding and attack, but when none had, natural curiosity had taken over. Discovering the note, which only puzzled him more, and the trunk at the foot of that bed, he'd quickly retrieved his much-familiar staff and, seeing little more in the room to pique his curiosity - given that the entire place was black as pitch and only by keeping a small fireball bouncing on his hand could he see a damned thing - the mage had ventured out and about, a bit worried, nonplussed, and absolutely confused as to what the hell had happened to bring him from the Waking Sea to this strange place.

So far, he'd deduced this was some sort of Tower, which immediately put him on the defensive, but still, no Templars had materialized out of the shadows, nor had he encountered any other mages who also might be trapped here. Nevertheless, Hawke was by no means inexperienced, thus he moved quickly and quietly, only producing light when he was satisfied nothing waited beyond to carve out his guts and every noise had him tensing, hand on staff.

And then there was the problem of the bloody collar around his neck! Try as he might, Hawke was unable to find a fastening or latch, and the blasted thing refused to cooperate with his best efforts. He grumbled foul curses under his breath, but pressed on, determined to get some answers...somewhere.

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A warning prickle assailed the back of Hawke's neck and he whirled around, staff in hand. Instantly snuffing out the small fire in his palm, he stared hard into the darkness, recoiling a bit to see the pair of ghostly floating eyes, accompanied by peculiar taps.

"That's close enough!" he called sternly, praying that whatever it was understood speech and didn't have "ATTACK" in its mind.

Vivi squeaked and fell back on his rump in surprise, staff clattering on the floor next to him. "O-Ow..." he whined quietly, rubbing his rear. He stared up ahead of him, eyes wide and shaking a bit in time with his trembling. "Wh-who's there?" he asked, clutching his staff between his hands.

Well, that was an encouraging sign. Hawke stared into the dark a bit harder, making up his mind, then finally held out a hand and willed another ball of fire into existence, it shedding bright yellow light in a large circle.

"Name's Hawke," he called out, squinting away from the flame's glare, trying to see just who or what lurked still out of sight.

This time Vivi squawked and fell face-down before him, sure the ball of fire was going to come flying towards him. Thus Hawke would see a very short boy in rather worn clothes and floppy hat spread-eagled on the floor.

When he didn't feel his back suddenly burst into flame, Vivi hesitantly glanced up, the brim of his hat obscuring his face in shadow like always, the two gold eyes staring up at Hawke. "I-I'm Vivi... Um, are you a mage, mister Hawke?"

Hawke just...blinked for a minute or so, trying to puzzle out this odd behavior, but when he came to the conclusion that this newcomer wasn't an immediate threat, was, in fact, a youngster, by the cut of his clothing, he relaxed a bit, dropping to a knee to get a better perspective.

To Hawke, the answer was obvious, but unless the Templars were recruiting right out of the cradle these days... "I am," he answered a bit shortly, still not convinced some frothing Templar would come bursting out of the darkness at that simple admission and even tensing a bit as he replied.

The ball of fire he rolled over his fingers, setting it to bob in the airspace between them, still providing its cheery light. The former Champion then had to smile - he was a good man at heart - and held out a hand. "C'mon, Vivi, I doubt the floor's all that interesting a view, hm?"

At the answer, Vivi's eyes crinkled, showing that he was smiling. "Cool! I haven't met any other mages in the Tower yet!" Well, other than Kuja but he wasn't going to go in that direction of thought, nope.

Taking Hawke's hand, Vivi clambered back to his feet, his short stature all the more obvious when he barely reached Hawke's height while the man was kneeling. Laughing sheepishly, Vivi dusted off the front of his clothes and picked up his staff. "Y-Yeah, and it's gotten really dirty lately. Well, ever since the Tower sort of shut down."

He tilted his head, examining the man before him curiously. "Did you just arrive, mister Hawke?"

Seeing the youngster-child-boy-whatever a bit clearer now, Hawke blinked yet again, but given his present situation, nothing was really all that surprising, thus he let the boy's odd appearance pass without comment.

Still hunkered, Hawke nodded. "Apparently so. One minute, I was aboard my friend's ship on the Waking Sea, the next I found myself in a bed somewhere upstairs, in the dark."

A soft snort. "Is this," a wave of his hand encompassed the Tower and its curious siuation, "a normal occurrence? And, more importantly, what is this place?"

"Well, everyone got picked up from their worlds like that, from what I understand," Vivi answered, shrugging. "I got pulled here from a world made of memories, and I was just about to get into the fight of my life... more or less."

Adjusting his hat with a little wiggle, he glanced around the darkness and shrank into himself a bit, not liking the gloom at all. "Not... like this, no. I mean, sometimes the power is a bit weird but usually the lights are on and the workers are around everywhere. Uh, they have collars like these," he clarified, gesturing at his own collar, "but they're red. But... yeah, this is weird, even for the Tower."

He then tilted his head again, staring at Hawke quizzically. "Didn't you read the note? Um, whoever runs the Tower leaves one with the new people..."

Hawke listened closely, trying to make sense of this new information. Sounded like Templar bullshit, in his ears, but like or not, he was stuck here until somehow Varric and the others swooped in to rescue him or he found his own way back to Kirkwall.

--even if that Free City wasn't the best possible destination just now.

"I saw it," he replied with a dismissive wave, "but I can't quite believe it."

"Oh I don't think anyone actually believes the world ending stuff," Vivi answered, shrugging again. "But the Tower is very real, and it's not safe here."

Scratching his head, he added, "Some floors of the Tower have weird monsters... and some of the other people are pretty dangerous. Mostly we try to get along though."

Hawke's expression turned saturnine. "Monsters, eh? ...figures." The mage shook his head and sighed. "Well, can't be any worse than high dragons...I hope."

He looked back at the little creature, gaze speculative. "If it's not safe, then what are you doing wandering around all alone?"

Vivi blinked slowly. "Well, I can take care of myself."

His stomach grumbled, and he laughed sheepishly. "And I was hungry. So I was going to try to find food."

"That...actually sounds like a brilliant idea." He rose to his feet, lofting the happily burning fireball to hover just above his left shoulder. "Care for some company?"

"I'd like that," he answered, eyes crinkling to show his smile. He began to waddle slowly in the direction of the Cafeteria. "You'll have to eat oatmeal - all the newcomers do." Shuddering he added, "I tried to eat something else when I first arrived and I got sick."

Hawke followed along behind; when in an unfamiliar place and one had access to a "native", per se, it was always wiser to listen to their advice. Thus he felt a bit more at ease heading off down a darkened hallway, with only the happy little fireball for light.

"Oatmeal, eh?" Lovely. "I hope it's cinnamon flavored or something. Otherwise I may just save it and eat my armor lacings instead."

Shrugging, Vivi plodded down the stairs. "I don't know about that... Normally there would be, but that's when there's food in the Cafeteria. Ever since the Tower shut down there haven't been any served meals or anything..."

"At this rate I might have to try my luck against some of the animal monsters and cook them."

✫ 1 : The Champion Goes Explorin'

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omg why is vivi so damned cute.

It's Vivi, adorable is in his genetic code I think XD

I believe it. XDD

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