towerofanimus | [open / intro]

Entry tags:

[open / intro]

Characters: Tippi, and anyone especially fascinated by a talking neon butterfly
Setting: September 13th; dorm 3-13 → third floor dorm hallway, OR floor 32
Format: Whatever, although I am much faster at action
Summary: Tippi appears, and finds a particularly rare and valuable item in her RPG Tutorial Treasure Chest, if you know what I mean... Alternatively, being a teeny-tiny little bug is really, really hard when your ability to fly is disabled on certain floors!!
Warnings: None, unless you need a warning for potential sad?

[option 1: dorm 3-13 → third floor dorm hallway]

[Something about this wasn't sitting right with Tippi at all.

For one, she was on an unfamiliar bed. Merlon, kind soul that he was, had offered her her own bed in Flipside for little in exchange but the promise of her well-being, and it was an offer she could not refuse. She found herself needing much less sleep than others, in the end, but when the urge came over her, she would perch on the pillow delicately and drift off. This was not that bed; it looked different, smelled different, and even felt a little too crisp for her liking. Another point against this being anything normal was a tiny little collar fitted behind her antennae, and it certainly hadn't been there before. It didn't feel heavy or intrusive, but was snug enough to be noticeable all the same.

But more than any of that, there was that almost incomprehensible letter.

...Or, Tippi wished it was incomprehensible. She knew what it meant, but didn't want to admit it. A dull wave of sorrow washed over her, causing her wings to droop. The Void... really swallowed everyone? They were all gone? Merlon was gone, and Flipside? Even Mario, and Peach, and Bowser, and Luigi? And... it must have even taken--

Feeling slightly numb, she skimmed over the second letter shuffled beneath the first and absorbed the information. The emotion running through her was still too great to absorb the same way, but she knew, if only vaguely. Without really understanding how, she fluttered over to the chest at the end of the room and flipped it open -- perhaps she'd seen Mario do it enough times now that she could copy him without even thinking about it.

That didn't matter. The numbness subsided into grief instead when she saw the only object that was inside.]

Mario... I...

[Not too long after this, you may find Tippi struggling obstinately to drag a peculiar red cap down the hallway and away. Though it's easily almost double her size, and she can only inch it forward a little bit at a time, she's being exceptionally persistent.]

[option 2: floor 32]

[It was extremely discouraging when Tippi wilted to the floor unceremoniously upon reaching the thirty-second floor, especially when she was still on the stairs. So far, exploring hadn't been so bad, but suddenly, she couldn't get airborne again no matter how hard she tried.

After a while of furiously flapping her wings to no avail, she gave up and starts trying to ascend the normal way -- which is the hard way when you're an insect that's not built to walk or climb. Going up little by little, each bit of progress required a burst of energy for her to flap her wings hard enough to lift her to the next step without whatever Pixl magic had been allowing her to fly so freely before. (She hadn't even known it existed; yet another quirk of being a Pixl she could only learn through trial and error.)

So, if you're going up or down the stairs in the series of floors where flight is disabled, you may either notice her struggling, or not notice at all and almost step on her by accident (and get yelled at for it).]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Bleck was used to the way certain floors inhibited abilities. So used to it in fact, that he really paid little to no attention to the things on those floors, threats or friendly, since he wouldn't be able to do anything anyway. He wasn't built for physical combat after all, he used magic first and foremost.

So, it would come as no surprise when he almost missed the sight of the multi-colored butterfly.]

[He may have almost missed Tippi, but she couldn't miss him.

The speckled cape interior was what breezed by her first and foremost, and she caught her breath. Dropping back down from her most recent strained flutter, she froze for about a moment -- far too long, actually -- and let her wings flicker a bit.]

Count... Bleck?

[It wasn't the same as the last few times; nothing stirred within the reaches of her memory this time. It felt like something was there, but nothing existed yet to connect that gut feeling to something more concrete.

So for the moment, she didn't think about it. There was another logical jump to make here, one that was far shorter.]

You didn't--?! But... that can't be...!

[That voice. He knew that voice. Glancing towards it, he was actually surprised to see a familiar Pixl. It was impossible not to recognize her, the butterfly-shaped Pixl that the Man in Red always had following him. The one that reminded him of...

Take me away. Take me to a world where we can be happy.]

Bleh heh heh! I am Count Bleck, yes. And you are the Pixl that helps the Man in Red.

[Oh no, by all means, jump to conclusions. That's what Bleck thinks after all.]

The Void consumed our dimension, says Count Bleck.

[He hadn't expected to survive but SURPRISE!]

[Conclusions were the easy part. The less easy part was figuring out the other thing that was bothering her about that, aside from the part where that is a really bad thing.]

But--! That can't be right!!

[Fluttering those wings and generally making some very frustrated butterfly-gestures.]

If the Void destroyed everything, then why is this place still here...?

[Bleck isn't a complete jerk, watching her flutter and fail at flying. He leans down and puts his hand out in her reach for her to climb on. He thinks he succeeded with the Void after all, he did what he wanted. Nothing can change that now.]

This place seem to be far from the reach of the Void. And very well protected. Count Bleck cannot see or sense the Void in this place.

[There's a very, very long moment in which Tippi hesitates.

"But I am of the Tribe of Darkness..."

"Why would that matter? Anyone with a heart would not ignore an injured soul--"

Looking just a bit frazzled, she shuffles tentatively onto Bleck's glove. Her conscious mind tells her to be ready to jump off any moment, but another part of her doesn't seem to agree, because she relaxes a bit after that.

Help is still help, regardless of who it is from. That's all that should matter right now...]

That's... strange... It must have been very far if it wasn't even affected...

--Ohh, what am I saying?! That still means Mario... and Luigi... and Peach, and Bowser, and all of Flipside...

[Part of him was glad that she accepted her help. It meant that she didn't think he was as much of a monster as he thought he was, himself.]

Far indeed, says Count Bleck.

[He straightens up and looks along the stairs where she was heading and went along that way.]

Count Bleck assumes they are gone. Although, count Bleck also assumed he was the only survivor and yet here you are, Pixl.

My name is Tippi...

[A ruffle, but no attempts to do much otherwise.]

But it can't be proven! Maybe it was like what happened to Mario... We all thought his game was truly over, but he came back because it was just a trick by that infuriating magician...

[Even then, there's a number of things that baffle her yet. One being that the Void should have kept growing and consumed all the worlds. The other problem lay with the fact that if the Dark Prognosticus had come to pass... Count Bleck himself should not be--

Blumiere! No, you mustn't! Darling!]

[Does he haaaave to use her name? Isn't it enough that he's playing nice?]

Very well. Tippi.

[It should have. Bleck thought about that when he had first woken up in the tower but he assumed that this world was well and truly far enough away that the Void wouldn't be seen for some time.]

Magician. You speak of Dimentio, Count Bleck assumes.

[But he could play nicer... Still, it makes her feel a little better, and it shows in the slight shift in tone as she responds.]

Yes... He simply warped right into Merlon's house! Then he made them vanish like it was nothing, without even a moment of hesitation... That brazen little clown with his tacky comparisons...

[Yeah, she mad. But on the bright side, it means she doesn't have to deal with that gross quirk, and the weirdo it comes attached to, here.

It means, too, if they could even come back from where games go to be over, it's not hopeless until she sees it for herself.]

[It's hard, okay? He's still a villain right now, technically. Even though he helped Zelda with the shield during the whale thing.]

Count Bleck believes he knows some of what you speak but did not know of Dimentio's hand in it.

[Just what had Dimentio been up to? And why hadn't the Count expected this of him?

And now, he's not even sure what to say to the Pixl. His goal was to destroy their dimension and now it was but... Ugh.]

If you have appeared here, your friends may too. Says Count Bleck.

[He has to remind himself that Timpani is gone and there's no proof that Tippi is her.]

What? You mean he was acting on his own...?

[News to her!]

But even though he did that, it proved they can come back through anything, even a game over... I believe that with all my heart! Even if it seems they're gone forever, things can still turn out all right in the end!

[From her perspective, Tippi has no foundation for believing this outside of that one instance, which may well have just been a stroke of dumb luck. She just... does, even though she can't put her finger on the basis for it.

Hmmmmmm.]

It seems that he was.

[Oh. He will have WORDS with Dimentio if he ever appears here.]

Whether they make it through it and to the tower means nothing now, says Count Bleck. The worlds were destroyed and nothing can change that now. The best you can hope for is to see them here.

But it does mean something! It means there's still something to keep hoping for! I can keep going if I believe there's a chance they will be safe... And that we may even find a way to stop the Void from taking the rest of what's left...

[Something, to her optimistic mind, is certainly better than nothing. It's easier to admit the odds are against her thinking here, but in Tippi's opinion, it's not better.]

The Void cannot be stopped unless the one who summoned it is given a Game Over. And Count Bleck has no intention of that happening.

[Killer of hopes and dreams, right here. Yep.]

[Tippi was so wrapped up in her determination to hold onto hope that she'd completely forgotten about that. When Bleck reminds her, her blood (such as it is) runs cold, and she falls uncomfortably silent.

She didn't want that. She didn't want anyone to get a Game Over, sure, but she didn't want it for some other reason that she knew she'd had almost figured out before, but has since slipped back out of her mental grasp.]

I...

[As the statement subsides before it even begins, Tippi spends a long, long moment trying in vain to process everything.]

But, but still...! Even though I can't do anything now, I can still hope... I owe them all at least that much, even if I have to wait for a long time...

You can hope, yes.

[He doesn't want to take that from her at least. And without hope, well, what point was there in going on. Count Bleck himself has pretty much given up on hope all together by now.]

You have plenty of time to continue hoping for them here, after all.

... Are you okay?

[ Apparently talking to tiny fairy things is a totally normal thing. At least, for this girl it seems to be, since she's squatting down to stare at Tippi and the cap as if there's nothing special going on here. ]

[Even as rare as Pixls may be, Tippi can't bring herself to complain too much in this instance. It doesn't sound like apprehension, after all... but it still never ceases to make her feel just a tiny bit vulnerable every time something a good many times her size hovers over her.]

I'm okay... But Mario might not be... It just can't be true...!

[With a tired plop, the hat drops back to the floor when she stops moving, covering her like a lid.]

This isn't part of the Underwhere or the Overthere, either... The Void didn't swallow us, did it? Please tell me it didn't!

Edited 2012-09-13 23:11 (UTC)

I haven't heard of those places before.

[ Her tone is still pretty difficult to read, pretty blank.. but at least she's reaching over now to lift the hat a little, enough so Tippi isn't entirely covered anymore by it. ]

And.. I haven't heard of a void either. Not even one that swallows people..

You didn't see it in the sky...?

[Now that's a little more confusing. The Void made for a good, if unbearable, explanation for why she was here and Mario wasn't... sort of. But wouldn't you know if you were being devoured by a void of nothingness?

--Come to think of it...]

Which world did you come from? I haven't seen anyone like you...

Um.. I don't know what I should call my world. [ She honestly hasn't given it too much thought, which is why she blinks now as if she's trying to think of a name for it. ]

The planet I live on is called Earth, at least, but.. there's nothing special in the sky, usually. Just.. clouds.

I live in a peculiar place called Flipside... It's usually the same, but we've been, um, facing trouble lately... The Void was...

[Maybe there really are some worlds the Void has yet to touch, she concludes. But that's completely out of line with everything she's learned so far, too...

Giving up on thinking too hard about it, Tippi shuffles out from under the hat and floats up to land on top of it. It's half-possessiveness and half-reserved curiosity.]

I'm sorry, maybe I'm just confused... I do hope it isn't something you will ever need to worry about. My name is Tippi, and I apologize for the trouble...

It's okay.. Tippi. [ She slowly pronounces the name, as if she's still getting used to it. But even in all her blankness, she seems friendly enough, more or less. ]

My name is Urotsuki, and I'm not really confused. I think all the worlds here are different, so.. maybe there's worlds without this void..

I wonder how that could be possible... The Void was supposed to devour all the worlds, so that nothing even existed when it was done...

Maybe you're right... I want to believe that, too.

[Pause. Slowly, she glances back down at the red hat she's standing on.]

Then, I should probably put this back for now... I truly don't even know what I was thinking, dragging it out here...

.. That's yours, right?

[ even if it's so big, it must belong to her if she dragged it all the way out there.. ]

Do you always wear a hat that big? [ unfortunately urotsuki is not accustomed to normal people logic. ]

No, it's not mine... It belongs to a good friend of mine... He always wears it, and he wouldn't really be him without it, so I...

[An uncomfortable pause.]

He must be looking for it! It wouldn't be right for me to wear it, even if I could...

No, you could wear it if you wanted to. [ she seems convinced of this fact. ] Someone once said you can do anything as long as you believe in it, so.. butterflies can even wear hats like this, I'm sure.

[Talking neon butterfly? He sure is fascinated.]

[Equius' grey skin and bright orange horns shouldn't upset Tippi too much compared to the rest of the tower, but she is a... bug. Oh god. Ew. His first instinct was to squash her and run, but a certain incident involving an angry demon and lots of dead bugs flashed in his mind, and he wisely reconsidered.]

[Still, the bug is pretty unusual. Even for a bug. The light is catching really oddly off its wings, rather like sun off of water. Maybe he'll just kneel down to get a better look...]

--Eek!

[Tippi didn't even notice someone coming closer, as absorbed as she was in trying to conquer what's literally a mountain for her, until suddenly she was being shadowed by something directly above. In her startlement, she wound up fluttering backwards instead of forwards and landing softly about two steps down from where she started.]

Don't scare me like that, please! This is really hard work...

[...And then Equius squeaked just as embarrassingly as Tippi did and jumped up, tripping over the stair above him. Eventually he fell into a sitting position, staring down at Tippi with startlement and surprise.]

[Oh god. That was embarrassing.]

[Oh god. The bug talks.]

...W-what are you?

[Pausing to rest for a moment, Tippi glanced up at Equius from what seemed like a sizable distance away.]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you too...

[She flicked her wings once in a motion that resembled fidgety self-consciousness.]

My name is Tippi, and I'm a Pixl... But not one that can move very well when I can't fly...

Um, can... can I ask for your help? I'll be here forever if I keep going like this, and I can't cross over to the ramp here...

A Pixl?

[...Like the display point on a screen?]

The... oh. Yes. [He reaches out to try and scoop up the little thing. Thinking of her as a 'Pixl' does help a bit with his BUG BUG BUG AAAHHH problem. And besides, it's... just like picking up a frog. Tippi's a frog. Yeah.]

[She sidles into his palms, utterly relieved. Her antennae perk up, and she seems touched by his acceptance -- for a total stranger, no less.]

Thank you... I'm indebted...

So you have never heard of the Pixls before? Even the residents of the other worlds we've been to knew a little about them...

Indebted? [Odd choice of words...]

Um, no, never. ...Not as a race of beings, anyway. [He brings her a bit closer, to get a better look. Yeah, he's definitely never seen anything like this before, even in the Land of Lotus and Frogs -- and he was pretty sure that everything weird in the universe came from that central point. She was a little bit spectrumey, too, which also contributed to the similarities. God, LOLAF had so many colors it was kind of ridiculous.]

Very grateful, then, if you prefer... I appreciate your kindness.

[She doesn't mind the looking over too much; it's understandable, of course.]

I've only known them as the magical helpers of an old civilization... Sort of like familiars, but they were created for specific purposes to aid the Ancients... All, too, have souls and wills of their own...

Only known them... But aren't you a Pixl yourself?

[Once again, an odd choice of words. If she was a Pixl, then she ought to know the truth about her kind, right?]

Oh, I'm... I didn't start this way. Merlon said he saved my life by turning me into one, so I'm not really the same... And I don't remember anything before that, so that is all what he's told me...

[A self-conscious little slouching of her antennae.]

I don't even know much about this form either, actually...

Oh, I see... Merlon was a magician of some kind, then?

[He stood up proper again, still holding Tippi in his hands.]

Yes... He was very skilled at what he did, and very kind as well. He was--

[Pause. No, no past tense. He's not gone, she just... can't confirm anything yet. He must be alive, until she can see with her own eyes.]

--Ah, he is a descendent of the Tribe of Ancients... So the history was passed down to him... But as embarrassing as it is sometimes to be this way, I owe him my life.

I see.

[Wow, that's weird, there happens to be a certain other mage that Equius also owes his life to. But he doesn't even know that he owes his life to them yet. And probably never will, because said mage is really bad at simple conversational skills. Go figure.]

Well, there may yet be some way to repay him...

[ Well there is at least one other person here who doesn't find it strange that such a minuscule bug could talk. Unfortunately, this one person happens to be the King of Evil. Not everyday could be a lucky day. This bug... Reminded him of these damn fairies who always helped the Heroes in whatever way.

So what does Ganondorf do? He reaches out for the cap of course, the one she is dragging with so much effort. Maybe he wants to help her drag it? maybe he wants ti burn it, who knows? ]

They really must be short on residents to bring bugs in the tower now.

[Well, that's certainly no way to greet a new resident!! ~~Even though that's basically exactly what she is in slightly different packaging.~~]

Ahh! Mario's hat! What...?

[And then he makes that remark, and Tippi's wings tremble indignantly.]

I am absolutely NOT a bug! I'm a Pixl... I'm just as sentient as you or anyone else here... My form is just a different shape, that's all!

Mario... Why does this name sound familiar.

[ ~~That's because they're both Nintendo characters~~ he raises an eyebrow and smirks when she gets offended. ]

Not a bug you say? You certainly does look like one, but very well then... Pixl you say? You're the first of your kind I see here.

[ His smirk progressively fades and he gives her back the hat, somehow. ]

...Well, if you are a friend of his, then I need not explain.

[She'd have sharper things to say about that, but it's a little too early to be leaping to conclusions. What if he is an acquaintance of Mario's, after all?]

That would make sense... The other remaining Pixls have been sealed away for thousands of years now, I'm afraid... Even if there were more here, there's nothing wrong with that, is there?

I am not, the name simply sounds familiar.

[ Sorry he is not- A douche though, he is. ]

Wrong? There is never anything wrong. If anything your stay in this tower promises to be quite entertaining. The monsters needed an easy prey after all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[open / intro]

Floor 32

no subject

/rolls around gleefully

I AM SUPER SLOW, forgive me

All is forgiven~

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

dorm hallway

UGH WOW SORRY I can get this right

it's okay! <3

also slow, sorry...!! ;;

oh no, it's okay, i'm totally slow too forever

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

oh god I am so sorry for taking so long

no subject

no subject

assuming we're on the stairs!

fine by me. ovo

slowpoke, sorry

lmao it's okay, I'm just happy we have a Tippi \o/

me too!! :Db

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

aaaaa sorry for being such a snail

LMAO it's ok, i've taken up that practice lately too

Hallway

no subject

no subject

I am SO SORRY for taking forever!! ;;

IT'S OKAY not as if I were fast to reply myself xD