towerofanimus | The Bear Woke Up?!

Entry tags:

The Bear Woke Up?!

Characters: Kintaros and you!
Setting: 4-08, then wandering the floors looking for people
Format: Starting with prose, but I can match
Summary: Kintaros is disconsolate and in disbelief.
Warnings: None, really, but an upset big bear guy running around.

Being frozen even for so short a time upon waking is a new experience for Kintaros. He waits it out, staring at the ceiling, then slowly, stiffly sits up with a grunt.

He starts to ask himself what's going on, but stops as he realises his bulky frame is crammed into some sort of bodysuit and that he is in a strange room he doesn't recognise. The whole picture is doubly puzzling since the last thing he remembers is sending the DenLiner off while he stalled the Imagin army. The suit is a terribly itchy thing, all his fur flattened under it; he reaches for the neckline to pull it off and finds a collar in his way. He scowls, confused by its presence, and promptly tries to rip it off. To his surprise, it doesn't give, not even in the slightest.

"What the–?" Because he wasn't giving it his best effort the first time, he tries again. And again. And once more, with both hands this time. Same results. Mildly irritated and unsettled, he hooks his fingertips under the edge of the suit and unceremoniously peels that off, tearing it in places where his claws and shoulders catch in the fabric. He doesn't feel much better for the release of the effort and gives the collar another awkward tug. Then he finally spots the letters on the nearby nightstand. The first one he picks up gives him an idea of where he's awakened, at least, but not how he arrived here. He carefully refolds it, mindful not to tear the paper, and sets it aside, then opens the second letter.

For a long moment, he stares blankly at the words on the page, not making a sound. They don't quite sink in at first, the immensity of their meaning a little too much. His hands begin shaking.

Your world has been destroyed.

"But…" he blurts out only to fall silent again, his voice catching in his throat. His face burns; his heart aches; tears sting behind his visor. It can't possibly be, can it? Ryoutarou is a strong young man, growing stronger with every moment that passes. Surely he succeeded in stopping Kai. Surely, Kintaros tells himself, leaving Ryoutarou and the DenLiner wasn't for nothing. He knows his friend's heart; therefore, the letter must be a lie. But if so, why is he here? What happened to the others?

Once the numbness of the letter's revelation wears off, Kintaros is upset. Deeply so. Letter clutched in one fist, he leaves his room on a mission. He keeps an eye out for someone else, anyone else, as he aimlessly wanders. Anyone here must be able to answer his question, he reasons. It's a simple question.

He doesn't think about how he must look, lumbering along with his hands tight at his sides, grim expression on his face. Or what impression that will make on anyone he encounters.

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"…Actually… I only just woke up," Kintaros says slowly and apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand; he tries not to linger on the collar. Perhaps he shouldn't have assumed everyone here would be more aware of the situation. "I only know what was in the letters– ah?" He looks at the only letter he's holding.

He'd forgotten he left the other in his room.

He looks to V/V again and an idea strikes him. No, she didn't wish anything of him, but he hardly needs a contract to offer his assistance. He extends his empty hand to her.

"Shall we find out together?" he asks.

Without hesitation, she takes his hand. "It's better to stick together in a new place, isn't it?" She smiles, trying to be reassuring. "I'd love to go with you."

Kintaros returns V/V's smile and chuckles.

"A fine plan," he says agreeably. He still has no idea why he's here, nor has his question found an answer, but there's a sense of comfort in not being quite so alone. He straightens his back and looks around. He'd clasp his chin in thought, but V/V still has hold of it and he doesn't attempt to break contact. "Where to?" he wonders, speaking to himself aloud. "The letter mentioned a cafeteria, didn't it…?"

Perhaps they'll find others along the way, he thinks; such is the way of journeys.

"I think that's supposed to be on the bottom floor. I haven't been there yet." V/V looks determined. "Let's go."

"Right." A pause as Kintaros looks around and gets his bearings. How far is it to the bottom floor, anyway?

Well, they won't know until they get going. He promptly starts for the staircase, and though he doesn't try to hold onto V/V's hand, if she doesn't let go of his, he might accidentally drag her along.

She lets go after being tugged a bit and follows him along, starting to make conversation. "What's your name?"

Oh! He forgot introductions! Kintaros stops in his tracks and turns around.

"Ah, forgive me," he says, slightly embarrassed. He cracks his neck with his free hand now that V/V no longer has hold of it and adds proudly, "Kintaros. And you, miss?"

"V/V," she answers with a small smile. She's beginning to expect the odd looks when she gives her name. "It's nice to meet you, Kintaros."

Kintaros hardly has room to make a fuss about names!

"A pleasure," he rumbles sincerely before turning again to the stairs. He has no idea what really awaits him in this place. It's exciting in a way.

((Did you have a preference for floors to stop at along the way, or monster encounters? And I'm sorry my tagging has been slow. Work's a bit crazy these days.))

V/V follows him closely. Every time they enter a new floor, she pauses on the stairs to take a look, then hurries to catch up with him again.

[I'm fine with whatever works for you, and don't worry, I'll backtag into oblivion.]

((You dunno how grateful I am for your patience. T_T

Kintaros just has to stop and check out the gymnasium, but if V/V wants to stop at a different floor, I'll follow your lead, no worries.))

The first handful of floors below are almost surreal; a jail? What does this place need with a jail? Kintaros leaves that pondering for later. After that, it's an entire, huge room with no floor but a grid of bars. Perhaps, he thinks, it's a circus training area? But he can't see anything resembling a safety net below the bars should someone fall off…. The next one gives him an awful, itching sensation in the back of his mind. The floor feels… alive somehow, though he can't see anything, and the knowledge that there must be something in here keeps nagging at him. He'll actually try to usher V/V along while positioning himself to shield her as best he can.

Continuing, suddenly, a room full of nothing but shelves and boxes. He actually pauses to scratch his head here.

"What a strange place," he mumbles.

[That works fine with me!]

"I don't like it already," V/V answers, coming closer behind him. "But this floor doesn't seem too bad. Just strange."

"It's all storage," Kintaros says, "I think." So far, everything seems thrown together, one odd layer atop another, more nonsensical than Naomi's coffee recipes. (And those have the distinct advantage of being delicious.) "This is a very strange place," he agrees in a pensive drawl, ambling up to a precarious-looking stack of boxes with his arms crossed over his chest. It's taller than he is and he finds himself wondering just what is kept in a room this large, in so many boxes.

V/V opens a box, held out far away from her, to find it empty. "For a minute I thought there might be scary things that would jump out at you," she comments, putting the box back where it was.

He tilts his head curiously, then turns and leans over to regard V/V from a very skewed perspective.

"Scary?" Kintaros wonders. "Why would you think that?" He doesn't feel anything particularly foreboding about this floor – not like the dark one above, where he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.

"Sometimes when things look normal, or even look nice, that's just to get you to let your guard down. If the whole tower is a bad thing, then I don't trust any of the floors," V/V explained.

"Ah." Kintaros clasps his chin in thought for a moment, then nods. "That makes sense." He looks up at yet another tall stack of boxes. This one seems ready to fall over atop them any moment. Can't have that! "Pardon me," he murmurs to V/V before he sets to righting the wobbly cardboard tower.

Just the one, of course, as it's so close to them. A quick glance tells him he'd be here all day if he wanted to try keeping the entire room from collapsing on itself because whoever stacked these things did such a poor job of it. Staying in this room all day leaves his questions unanswered and much of the tower unexplored. And he promised V/V they'd go searching together.

V/V waits patiently as he rights the tower. "I wonder what the next floor will be..."

Task done, Kintaros steps back to take in his work and dusts off his hands, then rests them on his hips and looks over his shoulder at V/V.

"I'm not sure," he says, "but we'll find out!" And if he happens to try walking in whatever spot he thinks will best serve to put him between V/V and danger, it's just because that's what he does. He doesn't know V/V all that well, but he tends to assume smaller means more fragile and his responsibility is to make sure she is unharmed.

Perhaps he misses Kohana already.

Most of that is briefly forgotten when he lays eyes on the next floor. On the gym equipment all over the next floor. He just stops halfway down the stairs and stares at it all.

V/V is fragile, in this form. So he's mostly right.

"I heard it's not all safe, but there is a lot of it, isn't there?" she pipes up. "So even I could use it to get stronger right?"

If Kintaros could grin a face-splitting grin, he would at this very moment. As it is, he laughs a great, booming belly laugh and pats V/V on the shoulder.

"Yes!" he cheers. "Yes, a very good plan! Shall we take a look?" He offers this question with a plain and hopeful tone. Selfishly, he wants to find the first thing that presents him a challenge and have a go at it. Are there enough weights here? He has to remind himself that he should just look around and come back later, once he has fulfilled his promise to V/V. There will be plenty of time later.

But maybe if she says she wants to look around too, they can dawdle. Just a little bit.

"We should stop here for a while," she agrees.

She looks around and finds a random weight - but it's much too strong for her frail form, and she can't even budge it. "Um, maybe not that one."

Were Kintaros a less serious fellow, he'd have to take off leaping for joy. He's absolutely doing it on the inside as he trails after V/V, looking around. Weights, a track, machines… there's a little bit of everything here. It takes a lot of effort to contain himself.

V/V also provides a good distraction.

"Hm?" Kintaros rumbles, looking at the weight she tried. It doesn't look like it's all that heavy…. "May I?" he asks even as he reaches for it.

[She steps back so she can get to it.] Go ahead. Just don't hurt yourself.

[Well, he has permission now, so he grabs it and pulls.

And pulls again.]

…What the…? [It doesn't budge. How heavy is this thing? Unhappy, he steps back, claps his hands and squats in sumo fashion, as he is ever wont to do.] Again! [He grabs it with both hands this time and puts everything he has into lifting it.]

[Maybe it shifts in place just a tiiiiiny bit before his hands slip and he pitches over backwards.]

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