FIIRST GEAR ♊ savior of the waking world

[dubiousdisc]

Characters: Anonlux and YOU.
Setting: Assorted places around the dorms, cafeteria, and media floor.
Format: I'm starting in prose, but I'll match.
Summary: The tower adds one very confused nullblood to its extensive arsenal.
Warnings: Not... many? Possibly language, but that's about it.


[Dorm levels]

As of that moment, Sollux Captor was probably the only person who didn’t know the story – another weird alien kid, waking up in an empty room garnished for four, in a jumpsuit that he definitely hadn’t fallen asleep in. If he had fallen asleep at all… yeah, no he hadn’t. If he could hiss at the light hitting his eyes, he would have; god, where were his glasses? Nowhere on his face, he could be sure. Sollux would have really liked the sleep paralysis to be spent checking out his surroundings, but it passed with his eyes burning instead; so when it finally ended, he all but jumped to his feet. All four wardrobes were empty, as were three of the trunks. In the fourth he found some of his own possessions, and yes – right on top, his glasses. Sollux wasted no time in putting them on.

He took his time getting out of the room. It seemed not everything was in his trunk; a disappointment, to be sure, but he could deal. At the very least, his bracelets were there, as was his sword and a few throwing stars. There was also his tablet there, and almost out of habit, he tried booting it up; Internet was gone. Dead. He dropped it back on top of the spare clothes and turned his attention back to the weaponry. Equipping it all in his distressingly empty sylladex (except for the bracelets, which obviously went around his wrists), Sollux pitched out into the great big unknown, opening some of the doors on the five floors that seemed to make up this dormitory complex. They were all more or less like his, though not all of them were unoccupied.

[Cafeteria]

The expectation was that he would reach the bottom floor, find the front desk, and inquire as to what the actual fuck was going on here. As it turned out, a front desk did not exist. After bugging random people for random reasons, he reached the first dormitory level to find that the staircase? It kept going. It kept going a lot. Not about to run on down the god-knows-how-many floors to the bottom, Sollux hopped onto the nearby elevator, and pressed the only button available – labeled ‘1’. Lobby? Had to be, considering this was obviously a tower.

…It wasn’t a lobby. Not even close.

As usual, he inspected the place for a little while, feeling the walls and looking under tables and wandering all over the place. From the way he was acting, it didn’t take much detective work to figure out that he was the fresh meat. But eventually he did find his way over to the counter, and the suspicions were confirmed as he was immediately handed a bowl of oatmeal and told to eat.

He said he would and took it back to an empty table, prodding at it with a spoon. Instincts told him never to deny free food, but he still had no idea what was going on past those worthless little letters; they mentioned eating down here, but should he? Was it poisoned with something? Wary, he decided to sit in his corner and watch others eat instead. He would be able to survey them better that way; if anyone else was eating the oatmeal and not a writhing mess on the floor, then he would take his chances.

Seemed like no one would touch it, though… odd…

[Media room]

And then no one was surprised.

Sollux was immediately pulled away from his adventure back up the tower. The movies and music were almost completely ignored, in favor of the video game shelf; there was nothing handheld here, but he didn’t complain. Console games were a very rare commodity to someone with no actual home. He noticed the differences in otherwise-recognizable series, but only vaguely; most of them had humans on the cover, so they probably weren’t from his world.

Next thing he knows, it’s god-knows-what PM and he’s still playing this shit. So much for exploring the tower.

Comments

MEDIA ROOM

[papshooshing]

[ it's god-knows-what PM and Karkat is as bored as fuck. he's exhausted his books for about the second time around. this means it's movie time.

the last person he had come across here had been a complete dick. hence the reason that Karkat has his eyes on only the movie shelf. anything else in the room can and will be ignored because fuck dealing with people. the people here just... augh.

Karkat thinks most, if not all, are idiots. ]

[dubiousdisc]

[Sollux had been vaguely aware that someone else had entered the room. At the end of the last battle, he took a glance over, and was pleasantly surprised. The person bent over the movie shelves, facing away from him, had grey hands and unfamiliar horns. It was a troll. Hell yeah. At least now he knew that he wasn't the lone representative of his species -- wow, wouldn't that suck -- in this place.]

[Maybe if it was earlier in the day and he wasn't loving this game so much, he'd try to strike up a conversation, see what the hell was going on in this tower. He didn't really care at the moment, though.]

[...At least, he didn't until he realized the other TV had an 'Out of Order' sign taped to the screen.]

[papshooshing]

[ so Karkat sees. he's collected about three movies and finds that sign. out of irritation, Karkat growls, kicking at a shelf. of all the dumb things...

but then he turns around and notices, with a raised brow, horns that are familiar to him. hard telling at this distance if it's a Sollux he knows or if it's a different one. though... there is a game on the screen and Karkat knows the expression well enough. it's one who has OBVIOUSLY been here almost all day doing a cheap imitation of a zombie.

this means Karkat is more than justified in waltzing over and kicking at a chair next. ]

Time to share the wealth, bulgesucker. Get off the machine.

[dubiousdisc]

[The first thing Sollux hears is the other troll kicking a shelf, which makes him frown vaguely through his haze and deliver a lispy smiting.] Don't break the furniture, dumbass. [And when it happens again, he finally has to pause the game -- for the first time all day, mind -- and turn his head to finally get a look at the asshole who's apparently throwing a fit over the lack of an open spot. Probably deliver a more in-depth smiting, too.]

[...Except he didn't.]

[Hair -- familiar. Expression -- familiar. Getup -- familiar, down to the symbol. (How many times had he given them shit for having symbols?) But... when was the last time Karkat "Nooksniffer" Vantas was a troll?]

[The surprise only barely registered on his face; otherwise, it was just as annoyed as it had ever been. Though he had to admit; if this guy was somehow connected to Karkat, it would explain why he was having a big old hissy fit.]

Why should I?

[papshooshing]

[ definitely a different Sollux. Karkat could tell just by looking. there's a little bit of disappointment, but other than that? who the fuck cares? Karkat gives no shits about alternates and doesn't really care about getting to know any of them. they aren't his friends, alive or dead, so why should he give two fucks about who they are and how they're different from the versions he is comfortable with?

he bares his teeth and growls. kicks the chair again. ]

It's clear from your vacant expression that you've been playing this panless drivel all fucking day. Time to give it up.

[ he will drop his movies in a heartbeat if he has to. just so he can snatch the controller out of those nub fingers. ]

Failure to comply is not an option, so just turn it over peacefully and shit doesn't have to hit the whirling device.

[dubiousdisc]

[...Sollux is deeply unsure of this development, for a lot of reasons. If he were ever to entertain the thought, just for a brief and delusional second, that Karkat Vantas could ever be a troll... and the very least wouldn't he have been a greenblood? Certainly, the color he had worn on his shirt was too bright to even come close to a blood color, but it wasn't... it wasn't red. Someone else had picked the red, scared the living shit out of him when he met her. And yet, there was clearly a grey circley whatever plastered right there on his chest.]

Oh fuck no. I am having the time of my goddamn life here, so you can take your-- [he takes a moment to check what's in Karkat's arms and nearly laughs, some things never change--] you can take your terrible romance movies and get out.

[Besides, Karkat. You of all people should know that failure to comply is never not an option.]

[papshooshing]

For your fucking information, I can't watch these flicks anywhere else but here or are you so freshly hatched out of your rotten goo filled eggsack that you didn't even explore the area upon arrival, Captor? While I admit that human romcoms are notoriously shitty and pale in comparison to our own cinematic masterpieces on Alternia, it's the only thing available to me and I'm going to take the opportunity to watch them when it is presented.

Which is now, so back the merry fuck off.

[dubiousdisc]

Are you kidding me? There has to be like forty floors in this tower [no, only thirty, but he's judging from how long the elevator ride took] and you're trying to tell me there is not one single place where you can find a freaking television? [No, he's definitely not unintentionally using the human names for things. That's not a thing that's happening. Not at all.]

[...But then, mercifully, he seems to calm down, sinking back into the couch and unpausing the game.] Besides, you had the golden opportunity smacking you around the head way before I got here, so shut up and sit down.

media room

[restitchtime]

[Rose could certainly work on her remixes in the comfort of her dorm - her laptop might not have internet anymore but the required software for music Frankensteining still worked just fine. however, the stuff in the tower's media room was a little bit nicer and came with the added bonus of harassing whoever else was unlucky enough to be using the room at the time.

so she's unperturbed by seeing someone fully occupied with video gaming when she enters the room; instead of turning tail and leaving she strolls through, lightly whacking Sollux in the back of the head as she passes him in order to get his attention]

Head's up, asshole. Shit's going to get loud and stay that way for a while.

[dubiousdisc]

[Sollux ducks neatly forward when he realizes she's got her arm out to hit him. He then resumes playing once she's passed. Seriously, Tower, step up your game; he's dodged much harder blows than that.]

Noted. Thanks a bunch.

[Who even needs sound to play a video game? Certainly not Sollux Captor. If this girl wants to blow his ears out with Troll Justin Bieber or whatever she's into, that's fine by him. He can just sit here in his little corner and they can be social disasters together.]

[restitchtime]

[Rose would almost be upset if she was actually trying to be speedy. as it is she takes a seat at the music-y tech stuff and boots up the editing programs.]

No problem. Just figured I'd let you get any bitching about other people using free space out of the way before you fuck up my crescendos.

[and with that she decaptchas a flurry of sheet music from her sylladex, neatly moving to arrange them in the order she wants]

[dubiousdisc]

I don't care. Kill your auditory complex all you like, don't let me stop you. [And that's all he intends to give her on the matter. But the paper catches his attention, so he turns in his chair to look over at her. What could she possibly need with it when she's just listening to-- oh.]

What, you're actually going to make the music?

[restitchtime]

[she turns to give him the driest of looks] Yes, I'm going to make the music. It's funny, but some people have creative hobbies! It must be a shock for you.

[dubiousdisc]

I don't care about your creative hobbies unless they involve new ways to kill shit. [He doesn't care about a lot of things, apparently.] I thought you were just going to blast me with some human pop-rock anthems or whatever. Sue me.

[restitchtime]

I would if I actually cared what a basement-dwelling alien expected from the shit I do. But considering your range of interests seems about as wide as an amoeba that'd be too close to kicking a cripple down the stairs.

[dubiousdisc]

My range of interests revolves mostly around useful things. [Hand-eye coordination, bitch.] So y'know, unless you want to go rally up the free people of the world and plot a massive rebellion, then have fun with that.

[syncingdoll]

Kohaku usually kept her visits to the media room to shorter bouts - it was a habit instilled in her by an erstwhile conversational partner, to not linger too long in any one place of the tower. It'd be way too obvious of her, to be 'that girl who hung out playing games a lot' - and speaking of standing out...

She wasn't even planning on staying, when she looked in this late - but there he was again. That troll stalwartly holding a controller and staring at that same screen...

Kohaku was extremely curious over what must have made that game in particular so engrossing.

She sits down at a chair near him without a word, putting her chin in her hands as her eyes fix onto the screen - c'mon, this has gotta be good.

[dubiousdisc]

Technically, he did take a few breaks to do things, such as eat (once) and change the game (thrice). But yeah, it's basically this troll's ass that's going to leave an indentation on the couch for weeks to come. He keeps playing, almost religious in his devotion to what appears to be an old JRPG, even as he regards the girl who's come in. At least she didn't have a hostile entrance like the other two.

"What's up?" he asked, tongue loosened by the fact that he's pretty much about to kill this mid-boss bitch for good.

Media Room; Meant to reply to this earlier!

[knightime]

Dave constantly visits the media room. With all the music and other electronics around, there's no way he can avoid this room for too long.

He didn't expect Sollux to be there though. Actually...he doesn't recognize them other than they're a troll. "Are you new here? And this isn't a pick up line."

No problemo. :D

[dubiousdisc]

And why shouldn't he? Sollux was really starting to like this floor. The rest of the tower was still up for debate, though. As for Dave himself, the troll was beginning to look a little annoyed -- seriously, this is like the fourth person to walk in here and bother him. While before his expression was fairly zombie-like, only focused on the screen, it looked peeved now. Sollux spared a glance for only about a second, enough to notice that it was a human, before responding. "Good, because I'm not interested."

He waited a moment before answering the second question, not speaking until enough things had exploded onscreen. "So what if I am?"

[knightime]

Dave shrugs a bit and heads over to where the music equipment is. He's more interested in this stuff than the new person. New people arrive all the time. Although, this guy looks a lot like... "So, Sollux right?"

In hindsight, that was probably pretty creepy.

[dubiousdisc]

Why does this asshole know his name.

Instead of responding like a normal person, Sollux paused the game and turned his head over to stare at Dave in a silent battle of shades. Fortunately, these shades made it easier to hide the fact that he was narrowing his eyes behind them. The more he stared, the more that the similarities began stacking up -- so eventually, he had to ask. "Who are you?"

[knightime]

Dave just kind of stares back. It's like a staring contest, except both of them are cheating. "Dave Strider. There was a Sollux guy here before. He wasn't you, but you two kind of looked the same. Also, you both wear Gemini shirts, so I made an educated guess."

And Dave was kind of used to different versions of everyone, that it was worth guessing.

[dubiousdisc]

Dave Strider. Well that's interesting. Only the first three letters match, but virtually everything else about him does. (The exception, of course, being the fact that he's human.) "I don't want to hear about your genius thought processes. It took me all of thirty seconds to realize that doubles were apparently a thing in here. So congratulations on that."

[knightime]

"Someone is sassy. Most of the whole alternate shit is pretty straightforward, but there's some stuff that goes under the radar." Like Minato and Minato... "Your priorities are pretty great. I'd do video games first before considering the rest of this place."