towerofanimus | oh industry, whatever will become of me?

Entry tags:

oh industry, whatever will become of me?

Characters: Equius/Shadoweq, Wriggle, Eridan, Gandalf, and whoever else would like to join in!
Setting: September 11, the place where the galaxy floor ought to be
Format: Whatever your little heart desires. Let's do this mingle post style.
Summary: Clearly Shadow Equius has been nothing but kind and supporting of Equius' problems up to this point, so it makes sense that he should want to take the original out of his misery, right?
Warnings: Obligatory Shadow warnings. Gonna be cursing. Gonna be blood. Gonna be awkwardness, probably.

There he was.

The Shadow's expression brightened, the first sign that things were about to get very unpleasant very fast. Now how did he know that he would find Equius down here? It was kind of a no-brainer after he realized it; where had he run when that guy (Gamzee, maybe his name was) had gone after him? Here. And he was more or less in the same place too; he was counting on the fog to obscure him, and had found the spot where it was thickest, in one of the far corners of the room. Clever... clever.

The fog swept away immediately.

Galaxies, churning on the walls, became visible; they were any color, size or shape one could imagine, but all of them were the same in one respect. They all worked. They all made sense, even as they reached their imminent destruction. Gravity and physics and all the other laws of the universe were crushing down upon them, but at least they were doing so in a considerate and orderly fashion.

Not anymore.

They began... changing, just by his mere presence. On one wall, a world was dying backwards; being reconstructed from the bunch of starstuff that happened to be lying around in just the right clusters. Impossible, of course. On the ceiling, everything just stopped -- the destruction, the galaxy, everything. One by one, planets and stars started dying. Though the whole room was luminous, for obvious reasons, that particular wall soon became dark.

Still grinning, the Shadow walked towards Equius. "There you are!"

"--What?"

"I've been looking all over for you," he continued, sounding as if this were some kind of joke. "It seems running really is the only thing you're good at."

Equius was facing him immediately -- but he had his back against the wall. It wouldn't make any difference in the long run, granted, but that was still a pretty bad call nonetheless.

"My god, look at you!" The Shadow keeps walking, slowly, taking his time. And he's laughing. A lot. "No... it wasn't the only thing you're good at, I guess. Since if you were any good at running, you wouldn't have boxed yourself into a floor like this."

The staircase disappeared. It was an illusion, of course, but there was no need to let him know that.

Still smiling.

"Come on, this doesn't have to be difficult. I'm sure we can come to an agreement here. There's something that both of us need within the other, and if you'd give me a chance for once in your worthless life, then you'd see that I'm only trying to help!"

In response, Equius pressed further against the wall.

"...The silent treatment. Of course," continues the Shadow, rolling his eyes. "Yes, yes. 'Let the highblood speak their part'. But it's not a highblood chasing after you now, Equius. It's you. Now come on, stop crying like a wiggler, huh? No one likes you when you're that way. ...I'm not sure if anyone likes you, period." The Shadow takes a moment to pause and think about this. "...No, getting off track. Here. Come on. We can make this work!"

He holds out his hands, still smiling that horrible eerie smile.

"One way or another!"

Equius presses his palms against the wall. It doesn't do anything for his position relative to the Shadow, but apparently it works for something else.

"...No."

The hands drop.

So does the smile.

"No?"

"No."

"No..." The Shadow repeats this, as if he's trying to figure out why such a word exists in the first place. "Why 'no'? Why is that, Equius? What is there that's so problematic about this?"

"I-I know what you are," he continued. "I know what you're trying to do."

The Shadow's face continued to be a neutral line. "...You didn't listen to him at all, did you."

"What?"

"You didn't listen to him. At all."

The Shadow blinked.

"I was so happy when he told you that, I hope you know. My god. It was probably the best thing that anyone's ever allowed to pass your worthless sponge clots, ever. It's so unhealthy, bottling. God. It's like your entire fucking chest cavity is being compressed. So uncomfortable." He folded his arms. "It's really sad, don't you think? All the sheer energy you put into rejecting these things. Look at me. Look at me!" The Shadow held his hands out again, fingers pointed back towards his chest. "I should be saying the same things over and over again. That's what a Shadow does. The parts of a personality that the outward side denies, the Shadow takes those and runs with it."

He dropped his arms again.

"I don't need to do that, though. There's no exaggeration here."

Nothing moved.

"Because fortunately for me, you've spent your life denying the entire goddamn THING!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That voice was familiar.

He'd wanted, yet also been somewhat afraid to hear it since he'd arrived in the tower. He knew he would, eventually. With the way things were going, he was bound to run into every kid, troll or not, that he'd known from his time in the program. It was a little sick that way.

As he neared the area, though, he came to realize from the words being spoken exactly what was going on. This was a confrontation between the troll and his shadow. Was that something he should interfere with? Wasn't that something Equius himself would have to deal with?

But the words confused him, and it became equally apparent that this wasn't the blueblood he was used to. His curiosity caused him to continue his approach, eventually standing halfway in the doorway so he could get a better look at the proceedings.

She didn't regret what she did. It was nice to let out some of that anger she'd been holding onto and she had agreed to tell Equius where Equius was.

And thinking about it too much made her head hurt.

When she was signaled to be quiet she shrugged and shook her head. There wasn't really anything to say on the situation, at least nothing valuable but there was something... off. She couldn't quite describe it but her antenna twitched with anticipation. Things started moving and she quickly shuffled off the the side to give him room. Maybe she should get involved, this was obviously distressing for at least one of them but... no. He had to learn, he had to stand up for himself.

That bad feeling never quite left, instead stewing at the bottom of her stomach. Shadows, shadows, that's all she got out of listening to them and she still didn't understand it. They were the same, right? So why were they so different. With a frown she finally spoke up.

"Denying what? You're not making a single word of sense!" Wriggle yelled. Once again she was getting involved in things that went way over her head and would probably end up badly. She'd developed a bit of a knack for it. "He may be smart but I'm not. What's going on?"

"Smart?!" the Shadow exclaimed, turning his attention onto Wriggle. "My god! I knew you were stupid, girl, but how in the world -- in the universe -- could you possibly mistake this worthless half-troll for smart?" One hand flew to point at Equius, who was still being about as useful as a wet noodle. Though perhaps now this was justified, due to the fact that he'd probably be losing consciousness some time soon.

"There is nothing even slightly redeeming about you, is there?" he continued, regarding Equius once again. "And I don't mean your blood color, either. Oh, you and your goddamn blood. You don't care about it at all, do you? 'Every caste has a job to do, an area for which they are most suited.' Blasphemy and lies. The whole thing could fall apart, every troll in this Tower and wherever the hell they are beyond could all start ignoring it right now, and you wouldn't miss it at all."

He smiles. It's not very appealing. "No. You'd miss being told what to do. You can't trust yourself to make any decisions. You never could. Anything that would take the pressure off you to decide your fate, put it on someone older, someone higher, someone stronger... someone else!"

"No. No, no. Nononono." Equius was speaking under his breath, like controlling his own volume would make his Shadow stop as well.

Predictably, it didn't work.

Instead of continuing, though, the Shadow turned around, letting Equius breathe for a second. Not to make him feel better or anything, of course; no, he just sensed there was a disturbance in the Force, the disturbance being the newcomer who was standing by the stairs. He sent Equius a glance over his shoulder, even while speaking to Gamzee. "...Hullo there. Having fun? Want some air-heated pressure kernels or something? Show's just started, have a seat."

Oh, this wasn't looking good. Equius, whatever version, was denying this shadow something hardcore. Was this the part where he was supposed to step in and tell the troll that telling it to go away wasn't helping anything, or was it past that point? It seemed like something of a useless gesture when that one kid had made the announcement over the network already.

Hands shoved into his pockets, he sauntered in slowly as though bothered by none of what was going on. He didn't know this Equius, anyway, and therefore owed him nothing. He was just curious to see how this one operated.

That was the excuse, anyway.

"Nah, brother. Think I'll continue to stay all up on my motherfuckin' feet, if it's all bein' the same."

She felt herself bristle at being called stupid. With a low growl she opened her mouth to protest but she couldn't get a word in edge ways over the ranting of the other Equius. The more he spoke the more she could feel the anger bubbling away inside her. It wasn't the fact that he was insulting the Equius she knew (at least, she thought they were insults. It was hard to tell, she still didn't know a think about the caste system) it was the fact they were just so full of themselves.

It was when he addressed the fourth member in the room that she took the chance. Raising herself up so she was about a head higher she finally let him have it.
"Now you listen here! I know I'm not the smartest and I know I'm forgetful but I am not stupid!" Wriggle insisted, looking down with her face all too close to his. "Just what's you're deal anyway? How can you call yourself Equius when you're nothing like him?"

Finally she backed away, just a little in case he tried to hit her. She tried her best to hide it but the presence of Gamzee was making her anxious. She never knew how to act around him. This wasn't the time to be showing any sign of weakness though and she tried to keep focused on the situation at hand.

Eridan stands in the back, away from the main... action. He's trying to keep himself serene, though it's not particularly easy, given what's going on. After what happened to him, he's... he's more or less aware of what's going on, but he's not sure if there's anything he can do to help.

He's not even sure he's supposed to be here or not, after everything that happened.

But good god it's taking so much to not shoot the shadow for all its saying. Eridan stays where he is, standing in the background, watching. Though if anyone cares to look, they'll find him grinding his teeth in annoyance, one hand clenched into a tight fist at his side, the other gripping a rifle in white knuckles.

The funny thing is, he can't remember when he got the rifle out.

"Alright. Suit yourself, Gamzee." The stress on his name was not meant for Gamzee himself; rather, it was an admittedly juvenile attempt to make sure Equius got the memo. Peculiar way of speaking, two scars across the face, severely overgrown hair (not that he was one to talk); even if he hadn't introduced himself outright, Equius had been there long enough to know an alternate universe Gamzee when he saw one. And of course, whatever Equius knew, his shadow knew also.

The Shadow found it kind of wonderfully perfect that there was a Gamzee here to watch this procession go down. Now, if only they had the real thing. That would have been a party.

He looked like he was going to continue, but Wriggle spoke up then, and the Shadow just laughed in her face. It was brief, high-pitched, and definitely cruel. "Oh my god, that's adorable. No, Wriggle, you misunderstand... you really are stupid. Completely stupid. This boy? This pathetic, cowering, worthless boy?" The Shadow swept a hand over to where Equius was standing -- or, rather, clinging -- against the wall. "He's a liar. He's a fake. You can't say I'm nothing like him because you don't know what he's really like. How long have you known him, a couple of months? Hmph. You don't get to see this bastard's true feelings in a couple of months. Most people don't even get to see his true feelings, ever -- only his fear."

"We're not all simple-minded bugs like you, Wriggle. Some of us here have issues, dear. Some of us have problems. And some of us... well, some of us are Equius." He chuckled again, in the yellowblood's general direction, and it's truly impressive how quickly Equius recoiled from the sound. When he continued, the tone was mockingly patronizing. "The point of the matter is, there's a lot of times when a lot of people can't really act on what they're really thinking, for various reasons. Maybe they're too ashamed. Or too scared. Or both. But whatever the reason, those thoughts they really feel but don't want to act on? They become things like me."

He stepped back from Wriggle with arms outstretched, staring everyone in the room right in their eyes. Gamzee, indifferent (probably stoned off his ass, so why is he even here?); Wriggle, angered (without even understanding what he just said, disgusting little wretch); Eridan, furious (silent, so considerately silent, but rubbing his fingers on his jacket so that they don't get itchy with the gun). And of course, he stopped and lingered on Equius. "This is what he should have been from the very beginning. And what he could have been--" The Shadow bent down in front of Equius, practically singing his next words. "--if he were only strong enough to take it."

Edited 2012-09-13 02:39 (UTC)

Being recognized doesn't bother him. (Though knowing the shadow believed him to be stoned might have.) Equius's shadow is a bit more vicious than his was, but for some reason he doesn't find himself very surprised by this - even when it's a version of the troll he doesn't know.

The presence of the jade blooded Eridan didn't go unnoticed either. He was a little more observant than he looked. That was just another thing that didn't make much difference to him, though. They were both likely from the same world.

He turned his eyes to the cowering Equius instead. "You just gonna let the motherfucker talk at us to death, bro?"

There were far better things he could have said there, such as warning the troll about accepting his darker half, but oh well. That's what had come out and he was just going to roll with it.

That laugh... that stupid stupid laugh. Wriggle was absolutely seething. She was aware of her shortcomings, more than aware but every time someone else pointed them out she only saw red. Maybe the shadow was right, maybe she hadn't seen his true colours but dammit if she was wrong she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction!

"So? I have problems too! You can't just keep insulting him, that's not going to solve anything!" Despite the fact that she was yelling the first things that came into her head and dangerously close to just punting him in the face she was surprisingly logical. At least as logical as Wriggle can get, it wasn't exactly a great feat of intellect to make the connection.

Much like Gamzee, she'd had enough of his nattering. The more he spoke the closer she got to forgoing words all together. Clenching her fists she rose another few feet, trying to secure what little dominance she had.
"Yeah! Enough talk! He might not be strong enough but I am! Or are you all bark and no bite?"

Of course the term strong is thrown around fairly loosely.

If Eridan had trusted himself to move without dissolving into a hissing, spitting, shooting mess, he would have at the very least shook his head or outright facepalmed at the other's reactions. Egging the fucking thing on was not going to do anyone any fucking favors, but by the time he had his temper mostly in check, they were already both talking again. He ran his eyes over the human Gamzee - so weird, that boy, someone he vaguely remembered being curious about - and the tiny thing. The tiny, loud thing.

"Zahhak," he says at last, looking at Equius and addressing the Shadow instead. "Remember what I said," I will fucking end you, you fucking shit. He turned his eyes to the Shadow as his lips curled a little, addressing Equius this time. "Ain't one to be judging someone for doing what needs to be done, right, Eq?"

Equius seemed unwilling to speak; the only indication that he'd heard Gamzee at all was quickly snapping his eyes over to look at the boy, almost invisible after you were a certain distance away. It seemed that he was very good at what he did, which was sit in the corner and stay very, very still while the grown-ups talked in the other room.

The Shadow, meanwhile, kept looking between Wriggle and Eridan. He was clearly growing agitated, but doing his best to keep it off of his face. "...Whatever. I don't need any of you." He then addressed Equius; not as a spectacle to be laughed at like he had been earlier, but now with an intent that might be mistaken by some for an honest conversation. "Do you understand now? I've been doing it wrong this entire time, calling you a separate entity when I should have been bringing the shame upon myself. Why should I, though? I'm everything; you're nothing." His voice softened. "So, just stop trying, won't you? Everything in your life is ruined, and if you let me in I can fix it, and you can sit in the little black box marked 'Do Not Open' for a while. Okay?"

"...No."

The Shadow twitched.

"I... look at all this mess you've made." Equius looked around slowly. His voice continued to be meek and uncertain, not at all suitable for facing up to a Shadow. "You can't say things like that out loud. You just can't. It causes trouble, and... and we've all had more than enough of that." He shook his head. "I don't want you. There's just no way that I can be you. Please, just... go away."

Well, that wasn't a very smart thing to say, was it.

Light flooded the room immediately; not from the walls or ceiling, but from the Shadow, who had heard all that it needed to hear. Up from the ground shoots a rope, which wraps itself around the Shadow's neck, pulling it down through the floor; everything shakes horribly, and after a while, a little crack appears on the ground. Then a larger crack. And larger. And then it's a small hole. It continues to grow, small pieces of the floor falling into the dark abyss below, almost as if they're being pulled in.

Eventually it's a huge hole. And there's something crawling out of it.

[There's boss music for this battle, too, and there's really no other thing it could have been.]

This was unexpected.

Gamzee had yet to see what a shadow looked like once it had transformed. He'd just been assuming that when someone fought their shadow it was just a nastier version of what they already knew. Apparently this wasn't the case.

Equius also didn't look to be an any position to fight his own shadow either. Would he be killed, or...? No, Gamzee could do better than that. He wasn't armed or exactly prepared for combat, but he could probably still do something. Even if he was so much weaker in his real body.

The boy brought his fists up in a somewhat comical gesture. "You two bitches better back me the motherfuck up on this."

Admittedly Gandalf was a little bit "late" at the party, and he arrived right at the moment Shadow!Equius turned into that... Nameless being that would without a doubt have to be defeated. The White Wizard recognized Equius of course- thanks to the little discussion he had with his shadow earlier.

He also recognized Gamzee and Eridan, both of whom he briefly spoke with some time before- He didn't speak to Wriggle before but he'd probably spot her around the tower at some point in the past. He held in one hand his wizard staff, and in the other his old and faitfhul sword.

He looked nothing like the kind white wizard he usually was, instead he simply looked ready to fight this shadow; he may not have known Equius that much but it didn't matter, so he'd start by casting a protective shield around everyone that wasn't a shadow of some sort.

The moment the rope shot up Wriggle lurched back in surprise. She hadn't been prepared for this at all and as that thing... that machine several times bigger than herself clawed it's way out of the ground she almost felt that anxiety take over her. Just seeing the image of Equius swing limply like that was disturbing for reasons she couldn't quite piece together but it was clear it wasn't right.

This wasn't the time to become paralyzed though and for all the big talk she'd done earlier she was going to back it up. Shifting into a more aggressive stance, she wasn't going to hold back.
"You don't have to tell me!" she yelled in response to Gamzee. Extending her arms she conjured a spread of yellow and teal bullets, throwing them at the mechanical creature one after the other.

Eridan sighed, keeping a straight face as the shadow manifested. He summoned the rifle without much fanfare, but his sunglasses gleamed a little.

"Like I said," and he smiled humorlessly, "ain't one to judge a brother for doing what needs to be done."

There were soundless ripples in the air, as several other Eridans made their presence known. Inwardly, he was hoping for a single, stable loop. Hoping being the operative word, at least.

If the Shadow noticed that there was now another fighter on the opposing side, it didn't show it.

Wriggle's bullets sprayed a fair bit of its body, but they didn't seem to have any effect. (Good thing for the Shadow, too; trying to dodge them Touhou style with this giant target? No thank you.) Instead, it began by swinging one giant arm across the battlefield; Gandalf's barrier lessened the damage somewhat, but it's clear that this bastard has an Attack stat that's not to be trifled with.

I hope one of you guys learned Growl.

Gamzee had thought Gandalf was a pretty cool dude before. Now he was just outright awesome in his book. Later, when they weren't fighting monstrous shadows of (alternate versions of) their friends, he'd have to ask him what was up with all that magic he had going on.

Maybe he should try using a staff at some point.

Also, it looked like trying to run up and just smack the thing with his fists would just be an exercise in futility. So with that option not available, his only real choice was to fall back and look for a better opening that probably wouldn't be coming.

It was a graceful retreat, of course, if failing to somersault backwards and falling into a roll that landed him against the nearest wall counted as graceful. He really needed to get better used to this human body.

Gandalf tried to strengthen the barrier's effect around the four of them then, although the damages would still be consequent no matter what. Even though he moved out of the way it did manage to hit and harm him--

The next one of Gandalf's move would be to help the attack efforts of the others- Cast a Lightning Strike on the monstrous shadow. First summon the lightning with the staff, channel it into the sword before casting it unto the monster.

At this point White Wizard would fight only with his staff- And he noted Gamzee's difficulty to reach the monster with his bare fist, so Gamzee could see Gandalf's sword sliding at his feet. That's a weapon as another and it may help him is to to chose using it or not.

When her initial attack had no effect she tensed. Even if it was only an opening attack and not particularly strong it should still have more effect than that, especially considering she'd landed so many hits. Wriggle was about to lash out again when the shadows attack came hurtling towards her. Lurching upwards she attempted to dodge, only to have it clip the bottom of her leg.

Tumbling back she steadied herself upright again. The sting was lessened, thanks to the barrier but it did nothing to help Wriggle's increasing rage. Once she'd found her bearings she finally noted the sudden appearance of even more figures and she silently cursed to herself. It would definitely be harder to fight like this, she wasn't used to having so many people she had to avoid hitting.

With little other choice she launched herself at the mechanical beast. With one fluid motion she aimed her heel at the side of it's head.

Eridan let himself focus on two things, shooting the monster, and making sure he didn't shoot someone he shouldn't. There were a couple of them stationed within the barrier, but a few appeared outside of it.

"Don't mind me," he told Gandalf, over the roar of lightning and lasers being shot. "Just don't freak out if I die. I tend to die a lot."

He wasn't about to sit down and explain, especially when he could use his doomed selves to distract the shadow and lessen some of the load on the barrier. He'd died enough this week, what was a couple more to the list?

Fortunately for Gamzee, that opportunity came pretty quick. Literally as soon as the Lightning Strike hit it, the Shadow gave off a horrible noise like metal being ground together, and when Wriggle hit its head, it began to stagger. Even though it wouldn't fall down in one hit like most onlookers would be led to believe, it was pretty clear that magic was this boss' weakness. It became unsteady on those giant legs, and tumbled forward, forced to kneel.

And there it was; an unprotected chest cavity and the scrawny troll inside, just asking to be roughed around.

He was totally going to adopt that old man. Or however that worked.

The sword slid over and Gamzee was quick to scoop it up with one hand. He didn't know how well this would work, really. In the program, he'd been able to use any weapon eventually, but that knowledge may or may not have been something that transferred over to his real self.

Perhaps he was just good at adaptation, or getting a feel for the way the weight of an item moved in his hands. It helped that it was a sword. Swords weren't made to be all that difficult to use. Soon he had the weapon gripped in both hands, eyes set on their enemy.

The opening wasn't going to last long, and it would be stupid of him to waste it, so he ran at the creature when the opportunity presented itself, slashing downward toward the opening, all the while the mental image of the death of a similar figure flashed in his mind.

Maybe he'd actually succeed in freeing him this time.

Don't freak out if I die? Well he certainly wouldn't freak out but that was still not an acceptable option. The mere copies were certainly within acceptable loss, but the original one? No. Either way there was no time to argue about the issue, so the white wizard simply returned a nod to Eridan.

When the unprotected chest cavity gt revealed, Gandalf took a step backward- This was something best left to the three others taking care of.

Meanwhile he would focus on intensifying the shield and powering up another lightning in his staff- Electricity apparently was the weakness of that creature and would the opening close, he would strike with the lightning once again.

As the beast was made to kneel, the smug smile on her face was brief. There he was again, she still couldn't explain why the sight made her feel ill.

Unsure of what to do, the sight of Gamzee charging in gave her a sense of resolve. That wasn't the Equius she knew, right? It was the other one, the one she was angry at. Kicking it in the face seemed to work well enough the first time so she was sticking to that tactic. Wriggle dived in once the other fighter had made his attack and aimed her kick towards the troll's chest.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

oh industry, whatever will become of me?

hydrogen fuel, it burns so clean; throbs in the veins, a motherlovin' machine...

no subject

Yes, Lauren. Good. ...Also, gonna reply here so we can all have a post together. \o/

no subject

no subject

no subject

Boss battle next round, promise.

no subject

no subject

no subject

> Shadow Equius shuts up. > ... And there was much rejoicing.

no subject

A Wizard is never late--

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject