towerofanimus | [OPEN] so you can't hold a star in your hand

Characters: Nigredo and YOU
Setting: All of the Tower
Format: Prose and/or brackets
Summary: Nigredo has no idea what is happening, let alone why. Exploring the tower. Dorm room > all across the Tower! Please make sure to put your chosen location in the subject line. Filling out the power permissions form will help me a lot, too!
Warnings: No warnings as of yet.

[It was the worst feeling, waking up with sleep paralysis; unable to open your eyes, to move. Even more so find yourself in a strange room that was most certainly not the hospital Nigredo had been recovering in. Wasn't a planetary war enough? Well, apparently not. A week after losing all but one brother, and a serious injury, and, oh, well, killing your own father...

Eh, why not throw in a tower of nightmares? Everyone like's tower nightmares, right?

He's changed into a uniform he'd hoped he'd never see again (he hated it-- hated the U.R.T.V. uniforms with a passion, now), mostly because it's better than those weird skin-tight suit things, pistol holstered and out of sight, a combat knife tucked into his left boot. (Never know what to expect, right?) And now he's wandering around the tower, exploring it.

Calling out for his brother, mentally, with no luck.

+1 twelve year old child weapon, Tower of Animus. What now?]

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[It wins some points. No one likes to admit that they can't prove anything, even if the Variant doesn't want to bristle. Doesn't want to believe it, it's not that simple. He can't deny Allen's "version" of the truth. Whatever that truth actually was. Nigredo doesn't think he wants to know what Albedo is like anymore. It makes his heart ache. How do you right wrongs that were so beyond your grasp? And now... Now it was almost stifling. It doesn't show. It never does. Nigredo is too reserved for that.

Or maybe it's because he's just... speechless. There will never be enough words for what happened. Even less for something he can't even completely wrap his mind around.

(That U-DO could be "cured".)

Nigredo looks at Allen. Long and hard. Trying to size him up. But Allen, too, is unfathomable. he can't disbelieve Allen, either. Lack of proof goes both ways.]

*Maybe he should let his guard down a little around the kid, to show he doesn't have any reason to hide. But it's hard. He's been a Testament too long and being open doesn't come naturally to him anymore. Not that he was ever one to broadcast any but his most relevant thoughts.

Still, he has to do something, so he hesitantly reaches out to put a hand on the boy's shoulder and makes a point of letting the URTV meet his eyes.*

I know it's not the news you were hoping for, but...I don't think the Albedo you remember is entirely gone, either. He still cares about you and Rubedo.

*He knows Albedo would claim otherwise if he was here, but the other Testament's actions have never fit his words. After all, why would someone like him come back after so much effort to die if he didn't care?*

[Green eyes meet Allen's. It shouldn't be as comforting as it was, that hand on his shoulder. Those words shouldn't be as kind, he thinks. It is, though. It's been only a couple of weeks since the Conflict. The wounds are still fresh, and he wants to remember Albedo like he was: his brother. Not something infected. Not something cruel. Even if it is just Allen's truths, Allen's world, or the future of his own...

Those are concepts hard to swallow.

Nonetheless, it's comforting to think of it that way. Hopeful that Albedo does care. Nigredo doesn't need to grasp whatever's beyond Allen's barriers. Not for this. Not when his eyes close, and he takes a good, deep breath.] Thank you, Mr. Ridgeley.

I really appreciate the kind words. [Nigredo doesn't have much else to offer Allen other than polite words. And his smalls shoulders relaxing under that hand.]

*His expression softens into a smile as he feels the young boy relax and he gives a gentle squeeze to the shoulder as he shifts to get a foot back under him. He'd been worried that the news was too much for someone who'd just survived the Miltian Conflict and it was a relief to him as well to see that he'd found the right thing to say.*

It's the least I could do. And you really don't need to be that formal, you can just call me Allen.

Allen. [Once more, repeats it to himself. Mostly just to settle it in his mind. This is Allen Ridgeley. Someone kind. Or, at least, Nigredo hopes. Can't always trust people, even if you want to.

But, all the same. A nod.] Okay. I'll call you Allen from now on.

[It'll take some getting used to being relatively informal with people.]

*Kind, maybe trustworthy. He hopes he'll never have reason to hurt the boy, anyway. Aside from the fact that Albedo would kill (well, re-kill) him if he showed up, Nigredo seemed like such a good-natured person and had already been through so much. His first impulse was to try to protect him, to give him time to recover without having even more trauma heaped on top of the Conflict.

He lets go of the shoulder and gives it a pat before standing up.*

Have you been to the cafeteria yet?

[Why would you want to hurt someone that's been hurt enough, Allen? Then again, not a lot of people will raise a hand to a child. Allen is different-- he knows not to be fooled by Nigredo's small face. It's something Nigredo has only ever had to use once.

Yuriev paid the price for that one.

He feels... sheepish, all of a sudden. Unsure of what to do. Makes his hands stay still so that he doesn't fidget.]

I haven't. [Not yet.] I'm sure it's nice, but... I need to find Rubedo.

[If Allen knows him and Albedo, he fully expects Allen to know about Rubedo. In spite of not fidgeting, Nigredo's eyes waver and move to the floor.]

*He never knows who he's going to end up hurting, that lesson's been pounded into him. But it's never stopped him from hoping to avoid it, and it doesn't help him meet Nigredo's eyes when he realizes he has to share more bad news.*

I... *Sigh.* I'm not sure Rubedo's even here. As far as I know, the two of us are the only people here from any version of our universe.

*And he would know. The collective unconscious of the tower is strange, patchwork and constantly shifting, but it doesn't really hamper his senses. And though he's never spoken to Rubedo in person before, he's seen him enough to recognize his consciousness if it appears.*

[It's not an answer Nigredo can accept. That calm exterior wavers again. Nope. No. Can't accept it.]

He's too stubborn. [He says it firmly. Carefully. Unwavering in his conviction. Rubedo had to be here. He can't just... leave his brother alone. Not after all of that. Not after everything they've been through. The bad news of the Tower was enough. This just wasn't something he can swallow.

And maybe when he stares right at Allen, there's a flicker of fierce determination.]

[OPEN] so you can't hold a star in your hand

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fffff sobbing