001 - Introduction

[neverbeamemory]

Characters: Sephiroth & Open (Dormies, any other wanderers etc.)  
Setting: Mid-Morning on day of arrival 10th Oct. Dormitory 3-02 then surrounding corridors, other dormitory floors in the path of first exploration. Then later on, Cafeteria. 
Format: Will start as Prose but action is Ok for anyone who so prefers it.
Summary: Welcome brave new world. Um, maybe not. Much wandering of other dormitory floors then Cafeteria for the first round of that god-awful oatmeal.
Warnings: Will edit as necessary. Though wordy, very wordy....

Part 1 - Waking
Black feathers fast faded into inky, shape-less, all-consuming blackness. Spiralling down eternally. Maybe he was wrong, maybe this time it would be the end. He could feel something there, picking at his once-impenetrable core and slowing ripping him apart -

Eyes Open. Blink. Focus. Blink.

Move.

Move.

MOVE.

Sephiroth has been here before. Conscious but not yet able to physically affect anything. But Reunion had never been an instantaneous affair before so what was this all about. Indeed, based on previous experience and knowledge this process should take years before he would even have a form again and that's not considering consequences that should come with the latest defeats. All things considered the next question was easier - where was he?

Perhaps sooner than expected, movement was granted. Fingers moved when he willed them again and with a cautious look around Sephiroth sat up. It was a fairly plain room, uniform in its layout; simple enough. When his gaze returned more to his immediate surroundings that's when he saw it - what looked like two letters resting on the nightstand. Without hesitation, out of a desperate need to know they were grabbed and regarded with urgency.

Your world has been destroyed. I saved you. Let's all be happy here.
One eyebrow raised, followed by the other but they soon fell into a scowl as Sephiroth re-read the letter again, checking frantically for any signature and even turning it over to try and ascertain some inkling about who had put it there for him to read. After the fifth time of flipping the paper over and over in his hands it was getting mildly annoying; only the words stated on the page stopped him from crunching it up into a ball and disregarding it.

So the world had been destroyed. Sephiroth had known that was the inevitable outcome of his destiny. Had it been him? Despite the defeat, had geostigma been too far involved with the Planet's workings? If so, who would have thought to save him from it when it had been his destiny? Mother, had she any influence within the lifestream left surely wouldn't have. This should be his finest hour. Some finest hour, sat in a room that seemed totalitarian by its very nature; it's uniformity weeping control. As he began to read the details of the second letter this arrangement seemed even more suffocating. He didn't like this at all and the more he read, the less sense it all made.

At some point during all of this reading, re-reading and intention to glean something between the lines Sephiroth tucked some longer strands of silver hair back behind his ear from where they had fallen and made the next discovery. He had something around his neck! A gentle tug on the collar didn't release him and so letters were forgotten and both hands started to pull on it, trying fruitlessly to gain release. It was only when the effort started to ache at his hands and arms that Sephiroth decided that maybe just now it wasn't worth injuring himself over, he'd never get to the bottom of this if he just sat here pulling at something that simply wasn't going to give. Besides, it had drawn his attention to something that until now had seemed irrelevant.

The clothing, not that it was clothing by anyone's standard, that someone had put him in just reinforced the sickening feeling he had about this place. Plain white, tight skin suits of anything, coupled with the surroundings and the letters as read so far, all amounted to one thing - containment. Not to mention tightness in too-personal places just triggered thoughts of someone, something having its hands all over him whilst he wasn't aware. After all, regeneration in clothing?

It was time to do something about this. Leaving the letters on the nightstand he headed for the chest at the bottom of his bed.

Part 2- One small step for man...
So far this entire experience had been one backhand after another. Someone had taken his destiny from him and called it "saving" him. Somehow he'd ended up in this completely alien place, which seemed to be made up entirely of everything from any worst nightmare he'd ever had. He felt confused, sickened but the chest contents were like a light in the darkness. Despite all of it, it seemed whatever this was all about didn't involve any degrading or stripping of him. Neatly arranged around his shoulder armor was the rest of this clothing; boots, gloves and all. In fact by the time everything had been taken out to check it over Sephiroth had the slightest smirk pulling at the side of his face.

Indeed, he would never be a memory.
Maybe Mother did have a hand in this after all.

His mood was lightened a little by that thought, however unlikely it was bearing in mind the contents of the second letter he'd managed to read so far. Sephiroth hurriedly pulled on leather pants leaving the white suit on as a sort of undergarment for the time being. It made him feel dirty and it did feel almost invasively tight but he just wanted to have a look outside the door, down the corridor. To begin to explore. He could always come back and change should he feel it necessary, if the feeling of nakedness couldn't be distracted by whatever it was that lay in wait outside this room. Boots were fastened and then he headed for the door.

Silver hair swayed from side to side as first he looked right and left down the corridor cautiously before stepping fully from the dorm and beginning to sweep the corridors methodologically. Every corridor looks exactly the same so Sephiroth takes care at every corner to recall the direction he had taken so that he could learn how get back to his 'starting' room. The first stairwell was considered carefully before Sephiroth remembered - elevator, Dormitory Floor One. Question is, up or down? At this point, it didn't matter he'd have to check every floor he could get to in order to find this elevator. After all, he'd need to acquire food at some point.

Cafeteria. Dinner Sitting 10th October 
Later in the day, after a brief return to Dorm 3-02 and chance to shrug on his leather jacket (at least it hides the collar a little, though the violet does stand out a little against the black) Sephiroth felt though he was starting to get a handle on his surroundings. It was a start, all things considered and he was quite content that at least in the dormitory levels he had an idea of the general layout. It was about time he satisfied one of the basic needs of having a physical form; sustenance. He made his way back to the elevator on Dorm floor 1 and headed down to the very base of the tower. 

A few minutes later, a full bowl of thick grey-brow oatmeal was sat on a table in front of him and he was picking at it with small mouthfuls one at a time. Sephiroth didn't recall many experiences of eating food, though he did know that this consistency was alike to grainy mud and didn't taste much better. He'd seen better looking food on offer and was now contemplating the reasons why he'd only been offered this bowl. Punishment? Some sort of sign he hadn't figured out yet. 

One thing was for sure, silent contemplation over and over was starting to infuriate him. 

Comments

[savedbyasong]

Shion was on his way to the library, after waking up in constume with a note he was worried. It seemed their captors were bored again; and nothing good ever came of that.

He wore his Turk pin on the costume, since the costume wouldn't come off and Shion felt weird without it on, even five months later it meant too much; he was drifting and lost without it and after what had happened in the last few weeks that was the last thing he needed.

In one arm he carried some books, books on anatomy. He was currently learning about pressure points; it made more sense than anything else Reno had tried to teach him so far. He saw the man and blinked at him, half recognising him; he thought he was perhaps someone who knew Reno though if he was it must have been a while ago... The way he was looking made Shion think he was new...

It was the hair that made him pause, he had seen lots of people in the tower with white or silver hair now, even young people like him but it still drew him. He realised he was staring and smiled.

"Hello, are you new?"

so..where shall we say they are?

[neverbeamemory]

He hadn't been heading down that corridor but the strange young man in the bumblebee costume certainly drew Sephiroth's gaze and out of simple curiosity perhaps his route diverted that way and stopped it's pace when it was plain this young man wasn't just looking; he was staring at him.

To be fair it wasn't like Sephiroth wasn't staring to some extent. I mean, seriously what was with the costume? However as one of the first other people Sephiroth has come across so far he's naturally all-guards up. Is he part of this institution or just another one trapped here? Once close enough that's clarified easily enough without words; it seems he's not the only one with one of those wretched collars. Even so, Sephiroth's left hand remained ready to summon his weapon at a moments notice.

It wouldn't even take that much of a trigger. Even the young mans smile and innocent friendly question was trapping nerves, maybe it was his attire - maybe it was something else.

"What is this place?"

on the lowest dormitory level?

[savedbyasong]

"A tower, we are trapped here. Escape has been tried and found impossible, so has attempting to destroy or structurally damage the tower itself."

They were the most often asked questions after where they were, so Shion answered them to save time. He felt a bit stupid in the costume, not to mention being dressed as a bee worried him... It told him once again that those that ran this tower knew far too much about him.

Re: Fine by me :-)

[neverbeamemory]

"Trapped."

Sephiroth repeated lowly, as if doing so would somehow make it less true. As if it might make the twisting unease eating away at him since he discovered the foreign object stuck around his neck go away. Eyebrows deeply furrowed with concern crowned green eyes which searched some point on the floor between the two of them as if it would provide an answer. This was just getting more and more confusing, for a moment Sephiroth thought perhaps he might be dreaming again; it would certainly explain the strange costume.

He wanted to say 'but I was saved' but he had the feeling that would be a terribly naive thing to say. Besides, it might not be the same for every person that was here. Clearly there was a lot going on here and Sephiroth wasn't one to be uninformed.

"Why?" That was the most important thing out of all of this. If he knew the why, then maybe he could unravel the rest.

[savedbyasong]

"We are not sure of the motives of our captors. They claim the world has ended and we have found no solid evidence to counter that. There is evidence that the world has actually ended but with their ability to cause hallucinations, take us to places that cannot exist and change the laws of physics itself it is likely that what we think is evidence to support the end of the world theory is in itself fabricated."

Alright so the silver haired man made him a little nervous, added to the wasp costume. Shion was babbling. "So... I don't know. We can't get out though, there are groups working on finding both a way out and answers to why we are here."

[neverbeamemory]

That was a lot of words brought on by his single question. An eyebrow raised and Sephiroth absorbed this information - no, the opinion of a single guy in this tower - like a sponge. He wanted answers, and opinions of those others who were here would be a starting point.

Then at least he'd start to get a picture of who to aim his frustration at. The guy in the bee-outfit surely wasn't to blame but he was babbling and it tickled on Sephiroth's short-temper.

"So you're not doing anything-" By then he was close enough to see certain pin badge and only a second later eyes were narrowed and Sephiroth uttered only a single comment before heading away down the corridor from whence he came.

"Well of course you wouldn't."

[savedbyasong]

"I didn't say..." What had he done? Why had the guy glared at him. Shion followed him, the rudeness not bothering him at all. He was used to being brushed off. "I just said we had formed groups, we were working on finding answers. With people coming and going all the time it is not the best solution but it is the only one we have..."

He had a feeling he was being ignored.

1/2

[xroyal_bratx]

Ishtar froze the moment she caught a glance of silver hair. At first, she assumed it was Duzell, but looking closer, she realized it wasn't him, but yet another person that Facility had housed. At least, a clone of him. She was uncertain on how she should approach this, but clearly he wasn't the same person she knew. She couldn't judge someone based on what another version of them did but if there wee people who were clones and behaved the same way as their original selves. At least, from what she deducted from meeting a good handful of these people. She learned her lesson not to call people's names so casually.

Re: 1/2

[xroyal_bratx]

She didn't want to say anything at first, but kept her eyes fixed on the tall man. She should ignore him and leave. It would be safer for her. Yet, it didn't seem to help that she was reacting rather strangely, so the man would notice pretty easily. She was not good at hiding her emotions. She wasn't going to blurt out names, but clearly she was somewhat uneasy at noticing this man. His clone had done many things in Facility, things in which brought cold bitter memories to her mind. The images of people being killed, the whole destruction that was caused by him, and then the fight that broke out.

She was still so upset with it. Seeing this man right now made it even harder for her to suppress those terrible memories. She hoped that nothing would happen here. She really did hope that there wouldn't be any more blood or destruction on that level, or the unnecessary deaths of people she knew but she was also astonished by the silver haired man.

So this was the original. She didn't know much about him, only that he was someone that should be approached with caution.She didn't greet him verbally but there might have been a brief nod from the princess. The tower might have been more of a tiring place to stay in. There had been so many people coming in lately.

[neverbeamemory]

A random passing in a corridor should have been a much easier affair than all that.

As Sephiroth approached the strange girl it became more apparent that there was a tension there to say the very least. Sephiroth was intuitive enough to recognize easily when people were uneasy around him to the point where he could almost smell their fear. However he didn't recognize the girl though so that created a mystery in itself and lent itself to wondering how many other people around in this place would know of him without him knowing them. For a second it made him feel vulnerable, before he sharply reminded himself of how many people there will have been on Gaia before it was destroyed; if it had been destroyed as the letter informed him.

If it had been destroyed, then the girl's reaction just gave weight to his opinion that it had been his actions, and that some people from Gaia were 'saved' from it and put here for whatever reason. He surely did leave a legacy in his wake. Vulnerability shot back up into elated pride as he passed her and in response to her brief nod, the glint of shining eyes and the creep of a knowing smirk was cast her way.

sorry my response is so late had a retreat all weekend and no internet >>

[xroyal_bratx]

It should have been but Ishtar had to be one of the people that had to stare. It was just an impact on her to remember things like this and especially when she was seeing the real thing before her. She was a little more than just intimidated.

She was too easy to read when she was uncomfortable, or when she felt she was threatened. Her emotions always had the better control in these kinds of situations. She didn't like the fact that he already noticed before he got close enough. It was strange, she admitted, knowing the knowledge that she did. She had even thought about the possibility of being screwed for possessing those kinds of information. Ishtar never believed that her world would have been destroyed that easily, much less Facility. She couldn't grasp that idea in her mind at all, but somehow she was starting to have doubts.

She was immediately irked with the sudden expression that she was getting, even if it was brief, she saw it. She had to force herself to control her actions, not wanting to get into any possible conflict, but her lips were twitching in a manner that almost seemed like she wanted to say something but didn't.

It was dangerous. She shouldn't get angry. He wasn't the one that did it. He just had the face of the one she knew. He might possess the same name and expressions, but he wasn't the same person. They're different, but that really didn't stop her from being somewhat irked by the glimpse of expression she was getting.

Re: absolutely no problem! You probably going to be waiting for me at some point soon (GMT)

[neverbeamemory]

The emotions just kept oozing off of her, it was like walking through a fog. Sephiroth couldn't resist but to stop a few paces away after passing her and turn back towards facing her.

He wanted to hear her say something, make some sort of noise that confirmed her body language. He could see how wound up his mere presence in the same corridor was making her and it was just too lucious to pass up. Control over anyone in this place, was to be savored considering the usual devices he had for controlling anyone may not even work anymore. Considering the owners of this place liked to assume such control over their subjects.

He kept his eyes on the girl all of the time as he let his left hand drift down to his side; ready to call Masamune should she decide her anger negated the fear and she charged at him. The smirk hadn't left his face and now it parted to smoothly let some words out.

"Up to something?"

It's alright. I love backtagging and I hope you can bear with me being so slow <3

[xroyal_bratx]

Ishtar was becoming really irritated by the fact that he stopped and that expression on his face. It was enough to throw her out of her seat in anger, but she had to control herself. She didn't want to make enemies out of people she didn't know. Frankly, it didn't look like he remembered who she was or recalled her existence. At least, it gave her some relief that he was not the same person she saw attacking her friends a long time ago.

She tensed up a little more feeling him stop a few feet away from her. Well wasn't her life lucky? the guy stopped. She knew her emotions were obvious, but were they THAT obvious? She took a step back. She didn't reach for her weapon or anything. she didn't want to appear hostile. She didn't want anything to start. Ishtar narrowed her eyes after a few moments of the man eying her. What did he want? What was he trying to prove here?

Was he amused with her current situation? She wasn't scared of him but this guy was not exactly the nicest person on the face of the planet. She bit her lip for a moment to calm herself down. She reminded herself that it wasn't the same person. He was the real thing. The one she dealt with was a clone. A terrifying clone that made everyone stand at the edge of their seats, but not Ishtar. She was irritated and frustrated. She couldn't unjustly assume that he was a bad guy.

Maybe he wasn't. There was a bit of quivering from her mouth before she spoke in a soft, controlled tone, keeping herself as calm as she could manage.

"...Not...really," she replied. It was two words, but she didn't know what else to say to be honest.

[vermicompost]

It was difficult for Kariya to travel far in his condition, so he limited himself to the dormitory floors and those floors that were either visited by the elevator itself or were close to a floor that was. He was searching--for something. Some answer, some way out, some information, but he hadn't found anything worthwhile yet, only more questions.

Kariya's own hair was silver, above his scarred face, but the color was due to illness rather than strength. Still, the sight of Sephiroth's pale hair caught his attention as he made his slow, halting way through the dormitories on his fruitless search. He paused, noting that the man's eyes were strange, too, not like any he'd seen before. Usually, among magi, eyes like that were a sign of power. Sephiroth was an altogether intimidating sight, but Kariya had no reason to fear him.

"Hello." The man looked to be searching, as he was, not to mention the fact that he was still wearing the white jumpsuit under his clothes--he might be new. Kariya hadn't been in the tower for long himself, but he had familiarized himself with some parts of it, and he could offer a little help. "Are you looking for something?"

[neverbeamemory]

It seemed here was another wanderer, but as Sephiroth got closer to Kariya two things became apparent. One, this man didn't seem in a very good way at all and two, he was intent on finding something. The attitude didn't seem to little like his own.

It was for these reasons, that Sephiroth didn't regard Kariya as very much of a threat at all. In fact it was a refreshing reprieve from the great hot ball of tense apprehension he'd been carrying himself around on since he left the dorm. "Just...looking. You?"

[vermicompost]

It was true that there was nothing about Kariya that seemed threatening, and for the most part, he was harmless, especially here and now.

He nodded, accepting this answer. It made sense to him, as that was what he was doing as well, more or less. "I'm looking, too. For answers about this place." He paused, wishing he had answers of his own to share, but he didn't. "I haven't found anything yet."

His voice was quiet and slightly hoarse, his throat as damaged as the rest of him.

[neverbeamemory]

Sephiroth spared a moment to look more over Kariya. Wondering if his condition were somehow a by-product of all his searching. He certainly wouldn't want to end up like that.

That just re-opened the can of worms regarding whether he should just give in to this place (and all the demands made clear on the letter by whoever owned this place) and see where it led, or whether such action would eventually decay the very real, immediate need to know what was going on.

"How long have you been looking?"

[vermicompost]

Kariya had refused to believe the letter, and he refused to give in, even though his ability to resist was limited. This wandering and searching was all he could do for the most part, at present, but it was better for him to have something to focus his energy on, and he wanted to return home.

"Not long." He shook his head. "I've only been here five or six days." He'd brought his problems here with him. "Are you new here?"

[neverbeamemory]

Sephiroth knew all about that. If he hadn't left the dorm to explore he'd be still sat there thinking a thousand ways around the situation and being unsure of what to do about it. Better to get out and at least get your bearings.

A single nod. "Yes." He really didn't have any other information to give, even if he would want to share.

[great_king_of_evil]

As everyday, Ganondorf passed by the Cafeteria. Not so much out of hunger but to look if anything special was happening (he had stopped counting the number of time food had been drugged and people turned into monsters or eternal sleep) and to see if there was any good food to stock for dire situation (food is one of the the best way to manipulate people around these parts).

When he saw Sephiroth though, he paused. This one looked... Different from the usual newcomers. And the way the silver haired man was contemplating his oatmeal reminded him of the time he himself had to eat that horror. He may be worthy of a welcome.

"You cannot eat anything else until all of it has been eaten. Your body will reject any other nutriments unless you consume the oatmeal."

He sat at Sephiroth's table, on a chair opposite to him, before grabbing some pumpkin tea and shaking his head at it.

"It's their way to humiliate you. To demonstrate the power they have over your existence and how helpless you are to do anything but comply with their rules."

[neverbeamemory]

"Hmph, figures." Sephiroth looked up momentarily, before rolling another round into a small spoonful in the bowl. Enough to register how strange Ganondorf looked. This resident looked monster-like in his own right, similar to some of the troll like creatures from back on Gaia.

"As if they needed to rub it in our faces any further. Easy control, the common need to eat. Predictable." Even though each mouthful seemed to make the oatmeal harder to eat he wasn't about to take the risk of giving the owners of this place the satisfaction that his next meal would make him ill if he didn't eat all of the bowl. Even if Ganondorf was indeed controlling him to a certain extent by saying that in the first place.

There he goes, thinking too much into this whole thing again. Sephiroth falls silent and takes another small, disgusting mouthful.

[great_king_of_evil]

"Some think the oatmeal also serves another purpose... But that, is everyone's guess."

He slowly drank his pumpkin tea-- That thing was absolutely awful. Even the plain water from last month was better. He then looked at Sephiroth with a smile. He continued eating in spite of knowing that. Though, Ganondorf did the same in his time... He paused before continuing.

"Actually, we don't need the food to survive but we can still feel the hunger. It's more a question of mental power here. We don't need it, yet we eat it. I think they deserve some credit for that, as incompetent as they are."

[neverbeamemory]

The bowl of oatmeal was seemingly endless, probably due to it's consistency. Sephiroth was by now convinced that fact was completely intentional. He was listening to Ganondorf's theories but at the end he somewhat angrily slams his spoon back into it's bowl.

"They make us feel hungry so we are dependent on them." Sephiroth nodded "That would make sense I guess. But by even suggesting it is simply acknowledging that they have even more control over you."

Sephiroth certainly wasn't going to try and starve himself to try to convince his mind he didn't need to eat; surely the owners would just take pleasure out of his little rebellion, even if he was convinced he'd be able to overcome that mental challenge. This green troll-like resident had a point though - this fact hadn't been tested.

He'd also managed to get more conversation out of Sephiroth than most would be able to in a first encounter, that was odd. Well, he wasn't going to learn anything from himself about this place; who knows what another person could drop in a response.

"Yet, everyone is still stuck here..."

[great_king_of_evil]

Ganondorf was at least satisfied to see his words had an impact on the silver-haired man. Most people around were so... without spirit of any kind. Puppets, in the true sense of the word. Trying to make themselves high by pretending those of the tower had no control, that this was all fun and normal. Acknowledging the situation was a step forward in ganon's eyes.

"It's only through acknowledging facts that you can move forward. Most residents here blind themselves to the truth, and are hence perfect puppets for the administrators. The one who acknowledges realities and facts, as harsh and terrible as they may be, is not as easy to manipulate."

He discarded his pumpkin tea once he was done with it, waiting a couple seconds.

"No everyone is stuck here actually. We can be sent back to our homeworld, either by accident or on request. Yet again our homeworlds are dead and in ruins, with absolutely nothing but corpses all around." the Evil King stated this on a casual tone, Sephiroth would soon find out this part is pretty common knowledge in the tower "Once you're back there you may never come back here. Since the answers and the power lie in this tower, being stuck here is actually not so bad."

[neverbeamemory]

It wasn't like him to so keenly accept anyones theories or suggestions about anything but talking with Ganondorf was the most logical experience he'd been through so far in the tower. It was refreshing, a soothing balm that might just keep the remains of his sanity preserved.

Sephiroth nodded in agreement. Facts were indeed what he needed to establish himself first, before there could be any figuring out what to do with them. It was a chilling thought, to have to acknowledge the fact that the admins here had their finger on the button of everyone; including himself. He never did react well to being controlled.

He had to admit, the troll had a point. If he somehow did manage to get back to Gaia and it had been destroyed to the extent he mentioned, there wouldn't be much of a point him going back now would there. What energy could he assume his rule over, if it were all dead? It was questionable even if there would be enough to go looking for a new home either. It all hanged on the if Gaia really had been destroyed, had the admins here stolen his glory from him? had he ever been the catalyst? Again too many open-questions. Sephiroth still struggled with small mouthfuls of the oatmeal but he wasn't thinking too much about how it tasted anymore.

"Better the devil you know,I suppose. After a while at least. Until they turn around and do something to ensure that you don't get complacent. Not that complacency comes easy to the intelligent." There were two facts that the troll had pointed out. One, there was power here, Two, there were answers. Two very good reasons to not let the various gravities of his heavy questions fog his judgment too much.