06. what could death do if thou shouldst depart?

[keepscalm]

Characters: England and you
Setting: Backdated through the month of June; various places in the Tower
Format: Starting action, will match!
Summary: England wakes up following his death, decides to be a nosy asshole, and then remembers what month it is.
Warnings: Mentions of character death, vivisection, surgery, Anglo-American history, gore, violence, language. Will edit for anything further.


Backdated to 6/13 (following his vivisection) - Open; dormitory hallways, floor one, floor two, floor three

[He awakens in his room somewhat sluggishly, blinking his eyes open to the bleary sight of the drab ceiling above him. He feels dreadful. It's as if he's been unconscious for a few days. For all he knows, he has. He could liken himself to the walking dead.

Dead. Walking dead. He died. Nine months -- it was nine now, wasn't it? -- and he finally died. He was killed. Murdered, really. No wonder he's tired. Death by vivisection would exhaust any normal person.

God, he was vivisected. Jason literally hollowed him out until there wasn't enough to keep his body going -- and probably continued after that, too, until there was nothing left at all. All of his vital organs -- pieces that represented his country -- removed from him like nothing more than small trifles. What a way to go.

It doesn't bother him as much as the fact that he'd had an audience does.

Screaming.

The memories of distraught cries flood back to him in a rush that makes him bolt upright. America. His boy, his dear, darling boy, saw Jason do that to him. Zelda, Link, Taiki...everyone. Everyone saw. People he cares about had to watch him die.

England's eyes harden and narrow into a glare. His head is swimming with vertigo, but he hardly notices through the anger that is burning through him. It's a fire he hasn't felt in a long time. Not since he came to the Tower. Probably not even before that. It's a righteous kind of fury that has him throwing aside the covers and swinging his legs out of bed to take him towards his trunk. He retrieves his weapons and his clothes to dress himself with automatic motions.

Resolve. The anger within him thrums with resolve.

England will be making his way to the third floor library via the elevator from the dorms to the ground. Catch him on the way?]

Backdated to 6/15 through 6/25 - Closed; all floors

[Casually puts filler here.]

Backdated to 7/1 - Open; room 1-20, 2-16, dormitory floors, cafeteria

[It's begun.

England is sick.

He hasn't been watching the dates carefully -- there isn't much point to it -- but he knows the months, at least. Not that he'd need to count to know it's the beginning of July. He woke up with a dull ache permeating most of his vital muscles and a cold congesting his sinuses. Not to mention he was disturbed to consciousness in the middle of the night from a shockingly vivid nightmare of being abandoned in the rain, something that's not exactly normal fare when he sleeps.

He'll either be found in his own room, America's room, or the cafeteria, looking restless and downright miserable. Approach him with caution.]

 

Comments

6/13; dormitory hallways, floor one, floor two, floor three [OPEN]

[keepscalm]

When in doubt, Floor 3

[capax_infiniti]

[It's another day at the library for Xehanort! This time he's got some random-ass tome from his private collection, written in some sort of swirly-ass alphabet that he follows by running his fingertip along the line and murmuring to himself quietly. A couple of other books are stacked precariously on the side of the table, just ripe to be knocked over by an agitated country who may not be paying that much attention to his surroundings.]

floor 3 is where the classy people gather ok

[keepscalm]

[And knock them over he does, especially because England's not even going towards the bookshelves, but toward the desks.

He immediately turns when he hears the sequence of thuds that tip him off to what he's done. Annoyance flashes in his face at the turn of events -- hadn't he admonished America for doing something similar to him when he first came here? -- but he nonetheless apologises:] Sorry.

[And, without looking to see who he's wronged, he kneels to help gather the books.]

Floor 3!

[dielikeyouwantme]

[Dull is the only word with which Grell could possibly describe the time without William and Ronald. At this point, she thinks she would almost count herself grateful, to see the little Phantomhive brat, again. At least, then, her wandering around the tower would have a point. If anyone asked what she was doing, she could say "avoiding Ciel," and be done with it.

As things stand, she's occupying her nights with hunting monsters, and her days with trawling the library for anything - anything - that can hold her interest, for a little while. So far, she's spent most of her time in the most obscure sections she can find. Today, she thinks she might give up and locate the tower's copy of Shakespeare's works. If, that is, it even has one. It would just figure, if it didn't, and she's making quite a sour face at the prospect, as she steps onto the elevator.

...The elevator that's not as empty as it normally is. She looks England up and down, briefly. He looks downright peeved off, and Grell makes a little hmph sound, in response to her own observation. She would have rather shared her ride with someone pleasant.]

And where are you headed, in such a fuss?





((I hear William Spears told England that Grell, here, was Jack the Ripper. I've been itching to throw her at him, since then.))

[keepscalm]

[England's not much happy about having to wait in the elevator himself, but that's mostly because he doesn't want to burn out on this sudden motivation of his before he can even get started. Not to mention stairs. He'd really like the elevator to stop on every floor, but apparently that's too convenient for their plucky administrators.

Not to mention that the Tower lights aren't even on. Honestly now.

It's not often that he's made to share the elevator when he uses it, so he's not really expecting company. Especially not company that addresses him. Whatever happened to awkwardly avoiding the people you get stuck in elevators with? He's never been much of an extrovert, and he's especially not in the mood to make idle conversation right now.]

The library on the third floor.

[He sounds almost as grumpy as he looks. A gentleman through and through, truly.]

(( ooc| haha, indeed he did! 8> i'm looking forward to this ))

6/15 - 6/25; all floors [CLOSED to Jay and Eleanor Lamb]

[keepscalm]

7/1; room 1-20, room 2-16, dormitory floors, cafeteria [OPEN]

[keepscalm]

hallway outside America's room

[colonial]

[America feels--confused, above all else. Disoriented. After the last month it's odd to be back in the Tower, though he hadn't been in the place long enough to get used to it in the first place. He pads away from the elevator once he's gotten a grip on where he is, though, with the intent of finding England.

They'd said England would be here. They'd promised. So soon he's running and half tumbling over his own feet, worked up into almost a panic just at the idea that England might really be gone forever.]

England! Engwand!

[keepscalm]

[He'd eventually migrated from his own room to attempt sleeping in America's, as he'd taken to doing throughout the month of June. He wasn't sure if the effect would be positive or adverse to soothing his nightmares, but he didn't have much time to find out. Screaming that haunted his psyche even in his waking days rung through the hallway outside the room, ensuring that he wouldn't be getting any rest any time soon.

England throws himself out of bed despite the dizziness and pain that accompanies the action, yanking open the door to the room to survey the hallway outside.] America?

GET READY FOR FEELS - dormitory floors because what is being creative

[sageprincess]

[England isn't the only one feeling less than stellar, though Zelda's reasons for feeling such are rather different. Being back in the Tower proper, seeing people she hasn't had contact with in a month going about their business as usual... it all feels like a dream, in a way. Perhaps it is a dream, induced by her broken heart, and she'll wake up back in the seemingly endless white expanse of Dax's pod, curled up around someone who had been kind enough to offer comfort in that ordeal.

Or perhaps the pods themselves were a dream - one of awful prophecy, and she's only now coming to.

Either way, she's rather disoriented as she makes her way through the dormitory halls, searching for her own bed to collapse in. If this is a dream, perhaps going to sleep in it will be enough to wake herself up.

... But then she stumbles across him, is reminded of terrified screams and broken promises, and suddenly everything feels all too real.]

... A-Arthur...

[Is all she manages to eek out before she begins to tremble and shake with all the accumulated grief and fear she's carried since that horrid day.]

oh no i am not ready for this

[keepscalm]

[England initially pulls the covers more tightly over himself at being addressed, his reflex while he's bedridden being to shut the world out and wait for things to stop being so terrible. It's a moment before his brain processes the familiarity of that voice -- a promise he couldn't keep, a broken vow he'd had to avenge in the weeks when he was left in the Tower.

He sits up ramrod straight, even though doing so makes the room spin. He can't see more than a swirling blur of colours, but he knows who it is regardless.] Zelda.

[England looks dreadful, and feels about as dreadful as he looks. But there's relief in his face at the return of the princess, even without knowing the turnout of the competition that they had been pawns in.

When his dizziness clears, he sees the shift in her body language. His eyebrows knit together in concern; his hand comes to pat the space next to him on the bed, and his offer is gentle.] ...you may sit. If you'd like.

Cafeteria casually assumes they at least exchanged names

[nemophila]

[Jun spared a glance to look up from the table he was sitting at-- he was alone at the moment, with a meager lunch and a few papers with various scribbles written on them.]

Um... sir? Mr. Kirkland?

[It took him a moment to remember the blond man's name, and the last time Jun had seen him was...well it wasn't, pretty to say the least. He somehow looked a whole lot better for not having surgical changes, and yet also a whole lot worse.]

Are you sure you should be walking around right now? You look ill...

it'd just be rude for them not to have

[keepscalm]

[God, his head hurts. His everything hurts, but especially his head.

At least he got anesthesia when he was in that godawful pod.

His response time is sluggish at best. His name doesn't even register until after Jun has delivered the entirety of his piece of the conversation, at which point he lifts his bowed head to look at the boy. His vision swims a little at the sudden motion, but the blur of black half-covering the blur of peach seems familiar. That one kid. Jun. The nice one that he'd snapped at.]

Not sure, actually. I'm probably at least as ill as I look.

[He doesn't have the energy to argue. He's pretty sure he'd pass out if he works himself up.] Thought it'd probably be wise to eat something, though.

7/1 - Open; room 1-20, 2-16, dormitory floors, cafeteria

[victory_howl]

Ammy paused in her exploration of the floors, sniffing the air. Then, as if on a whim, she thrust her snout into the crack of a nearby door, nosing it open and sticking her head inside.

The man inside had yellow hair, but he didn't have the distinct features of the Moon Tribe. It seemed there was something wrong with him as well. An illness? She cocked her head at him, staring for a moment.

[keepscalm]

A sharp pain in his head elicited a frustrated sound from England. He pulled the covers further up over his head, but the darkness didn't alleviate the pain. It was a moment before he realised that the source was magical. How irritating. Even sensing magic made his state worse.

He sniffed with indignity before tugging the covers down so that he could look towards the door. He wasn't really sure what he was expecting to see, but a wolf emblazoned with red markings wasn't it.

England squinted at the canine. Sure enough, it was the source of the magic he was sensing -- and quite a powerful source it was.

Slowly, England sat up so he could greet his unexpected guest. "Hello there. Are you looking for someone?"

[victory_howl]

Ammy tilted her head back the other way, but of course was unable to answer. Instead, she wiggled her way through the door, stepping into the room. She looked at England, then at the floor, then at England again.

Then she leapt up onto the foot of the bed, sniffing at the covers.

[moontothetide]

[Issues of other people's health are one of the very few cases where Tara can approach with caution.

She takes a seat at the table across from England, on the mental pretense that it's too crowded to sit anywhere else. It's not, of course, but that's her excuse and she'll keep to it.

Tara takes a peek to see what England is eating before focusing intently on her pile of seafood in the form of Ceviche.]

...kind of funny, w-what they did to the menu.

You, um, y-you know about the soup, right?

[keepscalm]

[England pokes around his oatmeal -- it's pretty much all he's eaten since he got voted off, seeing as it was the only food that was guaranteed to be there while the admins were absent, and he's too wary now to trust anything else. He looks up at Tara wearily across the table.]

I'm afraid I don't. Enlighten me?

[It's probably explosive or something.]

[moontothetide]

Pufferfish. Or, um, s-some people call it blowfish. Th-They put it in the soup. F-For people like me - humans from Earth - it's really poisonous.

...oatmeal's good. [She nods at the bowl England is picking at.] If, um, if you're not feeling well, you shouldn't try the other stuff. Too complicated.

Hope you don't mind the late tag! Cafeteria?

[hardknoxlife]

[ He's been doing his usual trick of playing keep-away from everyone again. Call it a thing after the Tower deposits him back into the company of others, well... so far with the last time in the labyrinth.

But hey, misery loves company and all that so have a little ball of dimmed sunshine approaching. ]

Hey. You alright there?

this is not late at all, cafeteria it is!

[keepscalm]

[England turns and has to blink a couple times at what he sees. He's not yet crazy enough to mistake the man for America, but the resemblance is positively striking.

Ugh. He's gotten so used to having the cute little one that he's forgotten what an eyesore the older one is.]

I've been better. But I'm sure we all have.

Alright, cool! /o/ I've been totally away for a couple of days.

[hardknoxlife]

[ If the hair's enough to fool you then at least the accent won't be. It's distinctly one of England's own. ]

Course. That last month was a bloody nightmare, all things considered. Sorry you went the way you did, mate. They've been awfully tough on you to begin with.

[ Another sigh, ruffling his own hair. ]

That mess after the labyrinth. That was brutal

cafeteria; 7/1; sorry for lateness /)A(\

[complementing]

[Minako caught several glimpses of England over the course of the month, but given how worried she'd been for Shinji and the other SEES members, she hadn't gotten a chance to stop and ask him if he was alright. She finally gets her chance in the cafeteria, quietly approaching and sitting beside him.]

...hey.

NO I AM THE ONE WHO IS SORRY FOR LATENESS....

[keepscalm]

[England turns his head -- slowly, so as not to agitate his headache and send the world swirling in his vision -- so that he can look at Minako. At least, he's fairly certain this one is Minako. She and Minami are nearly identical, and it's asking a lot of his muddled brain to look for the tiny details right now.]

Morning, dearie. [Is it even morning? He has no idea. He frowns a little.] You seem troubled.

ouo <3!

[complementing]

[She peers into his face worriedly, her brow furrowing a little.]

I could say the same about you. Actually, it's not that you even look troubled, it's that you look really tired and out of it. Have you not been sleeping well?