towerofanimus | [00|01]

Characters: Henry Townshend and you.
Setting: Floor Thirteen.
Format: Starting with prose, will match responses!
Summary: Synopsis and exploration, Henry is once again left with too many questions and no reason why.
Warnings: Possible disturbing imagery, oh SH protags and their memories. Also TL;DR.

The sleep paralysis had been the worst part. When his eyes wouldn't open when he felt himself snap awake, expecting to see the ceiling of his newly moved into apartment. His mind had worked over time the longer the seconds dragged on, keeping him still in the dark and he saw the stark red lines of veins running through his walls, sickly mounds forming on top of them, pulsating and squelching, distracting, until a gray skeletal hand suddenly ripped it's way through --

and then his vision was flooded with light and he was greeted to a sight sadly no more comforting than the nightmare he lived through. A strange room with three untouched beds, a trunk with some of his things, and two pieces of paper that explained very little of the things he needed to know.

Let's all be happy here?

Henry had hoped he was finally finished with strangeness and misfortune once he had helped Eileen move out and gotten a new place of his own.

His first day had been a quiet one, of following the letters advice and going to the cafeteria, taking stock of his things (getting out of that suit) and everything he knew. It wasn't much and his list of answers was rather short. There were other people here that he could talk to, ask questions of, but unable to stop feeling the collar around his neck -- what had he become, a pet -- he decided to take more time for himself.

So today he is exploring and without a trace of irony he can't seem to leave the thirteenth floor.

He wasn't expecting a cathedral. Then again, when had anything that happened to him in the last month been expected? Not a particularly religious man, Henry's still always found the aesthetic appeal of churches. There's a peaceful quality they seem to emit too, even when one is lacking in faith. That church in Silent Hill had done the same, his last visit, despite the evil the town itself housed. Was it even really the town or just the people that had come out of it? He still didn't know and the pictures he once hung up with pleasure were abandoned quickly in the trash.

...did any of that even matter? He didn't have a shred of evidence that town was also the reason he was here now. His world was destroyed? How could that even be true? He feels so tired, he ends up taking a seat in the back.

"What am I doing here...?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The nod that she gave at the mention of danger was slow. As for it being a trick.... She shifted her weight, her hands clenching weakly at her sides before she relaxed them again and spoke. "It could have been some kind of illusion." This next part, however, she was hesitant to admit. Henry had shown no interest in her past or abilities... although she could never be too careful. Still, just mentioning someone else's powers wouldn't arouse too much suspicion, would it? "...I know of someone that can make illusions like that." She probably could have, too, if she tried, although she was uncertain of their ability to hurt people. She'd never tried, nor wanted to try. "Or-- could. I thought he was... gone."

What she kept to herself was that she'd seen him here, only... it wasn't him. Not exactly-- that version was too young. It could have easily been an illusion, but he'd seemed to really mean it when he said he didn't know her. She had no faith in that being the truth, but she also wasn't certain that calling him out, even to someone else, was a good idea. "...So... yes, it's possible." Pause. "I've never met someone else who could do quite what he did, but that doesn't mean that his abilities were unique."

After she speaks Henry launches deep into thought again. Henry wasn't familiar with the exact power they were talking about but he could believe in it. He'd encountered a man whose perception of reality was so warped, even in his death, he couldn't rest. Those confusing and dangerous worlds had all been his creations, the ugly, brutal parts of his past. In the beginning he wondered if he was delusional, how could any of the things he saw be real, but they became reality in the end and the idea of someone who has the power to create and manipulate doesn't seem hard to fathom at all, not now.

"I think... it's something to keep in mind, even if we don't know."

He lets out a sigh. Oh man...

She nodded her agreement. A theory might have been better than no theory. Considering the presence of the person she'd been describing, or at least someone suspiciously similar, it definitely seemed like a viable one. "...--Oh!" Thinking about that person reminded her quite suddenly of something rather important she'd forgotten to mention with all the other things on her mind.

"I didn't tell you something. During the blackout, some people... died." The word was a little hard to get out. "But the strange part is that they came back to life after a while. They weren't even hurt anymore." Kind of a bad part to forget to mention, Naminé.

Died.

His shoulders slack, face closing up to a degree.

...hadn't he spent enough time fighting for his life? Fighting for the lives of others? Hadn't he witnessed enough of his failures. Would he even be able to fight back here? He doesn't know what to say, it is important and he's better off knowing but it isn't good news. The little part of him that was born from living through that hellish week couldn't help but chime in again in the back of his head why me. Why had he been brought to this place.

He bites the inside of his cheek, knowing he's drowning them in silence until he finally finds something to say and he means it, with all his heart.

"I'm glad they're all back, even if it doesn't make any sense."

Another chance... that was the only silver lining here.

If he had a knack for asking the right question, she had a knack for saying things people didn't want to hear.

The silence was both surprising and not. It seemed to wear on too long for only the processing of the idea that people had been killed, but maybe that was only because saying it had been like ripping off a bandage and she was still trapped in that brief instant of discomfort for part of that pause. All she could think to do when he finally spoke up was agree. "Yes. I just hope there aren't any side effects that we don't know about yet." The way it was said sounded just a little bit more concerned than necessary, since in her case it was personal. "There don't seem to be any yet, but...."

There's no way of knowing unless something happens. It's becoming a trend in his life that he wished would break.

A hand runs down his face, rubbing at one eye.

It's almost funny, how easily he feels just a little sicker.

Knack or no knack, anything else he can think to ask, to talk about wouldn't amount to much a this point, wouldn't help make anything clearer. He lets out a long breath, looking back down at this feet.

...well.

"...um."

--Oops. There she went, worrying about things in front of other people. ~~Hadn't Sora taught her better than that?~~ "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Her shoulders rose slightly, expressing her discomfort. "It's just--" She knew some of the people that died, but that probably wasn't worth mentioning, either. "...Nevermind."

She shifted her weight slightly, hesitated, then said, "I should... probably stop taking up your time."

...?

That's, wait, he didn't-- Oh, uh, hrm.

"No, I..." He closes his mouth, there's something he was trying to say but it's scrambled in his mind, not coming up clear and his voice refuses to work with him. And now she's apologizing and Henry feels awkward, like he's prone to when he gets tongue-tied.

But he doesn't want to stay quiet too long, he knows that won't come across well either so...

"I, I don't know what's going to happen and we've... only just met but... um. If you ever need help, y-you can come to me." It didn't seem right, not to offer, after everything they'd talked about. "I'd like to help, if I can." It had gotten him in trouble in the past but... she was clearly worried about something and he couldn't ignore that, even if she hadn't told him, wouldn't tell him.

She looked back up as he got tongue-tied - she'd looked away when she'd said that last part - and tilted her head, curious as to what he was trying to get across. The answer wasn't what she'd expected, and she regarded him quietly for a moment, her brow knitting. It was a very kind offer, yes... but maybe too kind. It wasn't that she was overly suspicious of him at that point, but rather that if it was truly as dangerous there as it seemed, she wasn't so sure that involving him in anything that might trouble her in the future was such a good idea. For a good few seconds, she weighed this in her mind.

Well, he did say 'if he could'. If it was something he couldn't help with (or she couldn't let him help with), then she could fail to take him up on that offer without ~~too much~~ guilt. Slowly, she smiled. "...Alright." One of her hands slipped behind her back to hold her other arm. "Thank you. That's so kind of you." Her smile widened. "And... I'd like to help you, too. If I can."

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I'm loving the emotional output in this thread j'saiyan |D

Heeeeee, me too. C: Also thanks for getting Namine to finally stop waffling about dat world loss.

NO PROBLEM, thank you for letting Henry be socially awkward |D

:D ! No problem <3333