Nice guys die first

[warriorscribe]

Characters: Enoch and anyone (and one locked thread for Enoch and Taiki)
Setting: October 14, midday, floor 32(locked); October 15, midday - October 20th, anywhere else, various floors (open)
Format: I'm starting in prose but it doesn't matter.
Summary: Enoch got himself killed by a monster! He'll slowly bleed to death on the forest floor and come back in a rather blinding state
Warnings: He may try to kill people. He's going to try his best to resist for the most part but will finally break around the 20th. Please include the day in your post or its subject so I know how far along he is, please!

Oct. 14, Floor 32
(Locked to notagiraffe)

Not having his armor proved disastrous. For the grand majority of problems, Enoch was well built, and his muscle provided adequate protection as well as power. Not as good as his armor would, but his leg armor had a tendency to painfully pinch bare skin when he moved in it. It was made for being worn over something. Maybe he could have done something about that.

But it didn't matter now. Now that there was a thin black stinger lodged in his chest, some of the Parasite Bee's abdomen still attached to it, cut clean through with the Arch. Somehow, it had gotten right through his ribs, just the right spot. He'd tried pulling it out, a poor move, but it had been lodged in well, and the pain had been warning enough to stop. It didn't matter now, now that he'd made his way up to this floor. This floor that nullified his powers, surrounded by other floors that did the same. He'd die before he could be moved to a floor where he could be healed magically.

Enoch carefully turned himself over in the small pile of rain-slick leaves that had broken his fall, staring up at the cloudy thunder-charged sky. With the wind whipping across his face and carrying falling leaves to land on his body, with the rain, water, source of life, falling on his skin and soaking his hair, his skirt, his wings...

It was almost peaceful, blood loss making all his worries fuzzy and far away.


Oct. 15, Floor 1

Well, that was rude of the tower, to not bring him back for breakfast. But then, there was a third meal here for some reason. Enoch seemed to be taking his transformation rather well, though you'd only be able to see it's him from the corner of your eye - he emitted a rather bright light that only seemed brighter the more directly he was looked at.

But here he sat, his expression one of curiosity as he chewed roasted pumpkin seeds slowly one by one. He was practicing stretching and folding his wings, flaring their feathers and testing their range of movement. He'd been turned into a swan before, so he had an idea of how they felt, though these weren't really attached in the most intuitive of places...

So far, all seemed well. He may appear to have a shorter temper than normal, but really, who wouldn't?

Any day, Floor 10

Where did all these violent urges come from? Why was his temper so short? He'd had his mind altered in Meridian, and he'd become fiercely overprotective of Armaros, to an unhealthy degree. But then, he hadn't been entirely aware of it. Because it had built on things that already existed, he hadn't noticed. Now...he knew some things weren't wrong in context. Or were wrong but were forgivable. Or simply couldn't be avoided. But just thinking about the people he knew who had done wrong, it made his hand twitch as if automatically reaching for the Arch.

It was why he'd come to frequent this place throughout the week. It was calming, even if it still tugged at his heartstrings with its association with Armaros.

Armaros...who had betrayed Heaven...

A hiss escaped his lips as he tried to banish the thought. To focus his wrath on the administrators that had planted this madness in him. This anger, this intolerance, this destruction of his capacity for love, this desire to kill...

Oct. 18, Floor 15

It was maddening. The urge to give in to his shortened temper was going to take over if he didn't do something else. Something that required careful attention.

That's why he'd taken up this task. Enoch held a length of cloth across his lap, carefully cutting out the pattern of something. Or perhaps one would encounter him as he was sewing it, his wings twitching uncomfortably as he resisted the urge to watch the world around him.

Any day, anywhere else

Enoch otherwise roamed the tower as normal. His room had always felt too much a cage, too much replacement of the bed in Meridian, the home he had with someone he cared for. And he never wanted to think of it as where he lived. It was where he slept and nothing more.

But every so often, he'd think of something he'd seen or knew someone had done, and he'd retreat from where traffic was, finding a corner or somewhere to keep himself away from the one he wanted to kill in cold blood. Even as his own mind nagged at him, told him they weren't innocent, louder and louder as the week wore on...

Comments

Oct. 18, Floor 15

[tohko_amano]

Tohko wandered the tower, cleaning up any messes that she found. Eventually, she wandered into the workshop-and had to shield her eyes. There was a man with wings sitting in the room, sowing something, and a bright light seemed to be coming from him. However, no matter how much it hurt, Tohko knew that she had to clean up some messes she saw in there, so she walking in, dealing with the pain, and started to clean.

Out of curiosity, she asked. "What are you sowing?"

[warriorscribe]

Enoch looked up at the stranger as she spoke, and winced at what her costume had done to her. The more he saw, the more he realized he may have gotten off easy...physically, at least.

"I'm making some leggings for myself, to wear under this." Something, anything he could do to keep his mind off the sins of others.

"Your costume has...I'm so sorry."

[tohko_amano]

"Ah, I see. Well, good luck. I'd help you, but I'm not sure how good these fingers would be." Tohko nervously replied. She wasn't sure if the guy could see why with the bright light, so she wiggled her fingers.

"..And yeah. The cuts do hurt..but it's not so bad. Cleaning up the blood is a huge pain though. And it's really hard to read books..but other than that, it's alright! It's nothing to apologize over. Don't worry about it!" Tohko replied, managing to separate one pile of materials from another. Some moron had gotten the idea to just dump them together.

[warriorscribe]

If Enoch couldn't see through his own light, he wouldn't even be able to navigate. So thankfully, that didn't deter him from seeing the state of her fingers.

But what was she even saying? All right? How could it be? And why was cleaning up somehow worse than the pain? So his reply was a little awkward. "Y-you'll only need to endure until they grow tired of it."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko sighed. "That's true..I hope they get tired of it soon. It's ridiculously hard to read books with these fingers, and since I am a book girl, it's terrible." Of course, they were also depriving Tohko of her food, but she wasn't going to admit that.

[warriorscribe]

"...I can sympathize. The books here are one of the few refuges I've been able to find, myself."

But the library was frequented so much that he just couldn't risk it like this, with these urges...

[tohko_amano]

"They are pretty wonderful. So many sweet stories, bitter stories, stories that make you want to cry..they're all glorious!" Tohko tried to keep away from describing them as food. She had been making too many mistakes in that department.

"..if you want, I can bring some books to you." The guy seemed to look a little sad when the topics of books was brought up, and Tohko thought it was because he was so busy sowing that he couldn't go and grab a few volumes.

[warriorscribe]

It was probably a better thought than the truth. Enoch looked up from his sewing. "That's kind of you..."

Something to do once he's done, something to keep distracting himself... He was glad that even with those that were untrustworthy (don't think about them), there were kind people, as well.

[tohko_amano]

"Oh, it's no problem. Just hang on a moment.." Tohko quickly ran to the library, and looked over the stacks. Eventually, using a wooden pole she found lying around, she pulled out three thick books-Brave Story, The Master and Margarita, and Stardust- and managed to grab them with her palms before running back to the workshop and putting them on a table near the guy.

"There you are! A book that's like a glass of warm champagne, A book that's like a satisfying steak dinner, and a book that tastes like a drink made of the stars." Tohko happily talked about the books as the cleaned up a few more messes.

Cries forever

[notagiraffe]

Taiki was alone here, since he couldn't summon Sanshi or Gohran, but he wasn't planning on staying long. He was dizzy from blood sickness and was just making his way back up to his room.

He was in Kirin form; he couldn't switch on these floors, nor fly or have his speed or any other power. But if he switched forms before hand he would remain so for these floors. The beast form was technically a kirins natural form anyways.

And Taiki was too small to climb the broken steps in human form, so it was a sad looking kirin beast that made his way to the injured man. He nudged him with his nose, "Enoch... sorry... You're hurt..." Again...

[warriorscribe]

Enoch's eyes turned towards the kirin nudging him, and a small smile played on his lips at the sight of his little savior still alive and well.

"It isn't your fault..."

He was just unlucky - it was something that in his state he accepted without question.

[notagiraffe]

Taiki knew that, logically. But he still felt bad that this had happened, "I... sorry my magic doesn't work here... I could try... we could try and get to another floor..." He lay down next to him, wondering if Enoch could somehow get onto his back.

[warriorscribe]

Enoch took a deep breath. "...I don't feel I'll live."

He tried building up the strength to turn himself over again, though, to pull himself on Taiki's back. It just didn't work, he couldn't get over the obstacle his own shoulder provided. He was weakening quickly.

He'd miss the candy's quota, he knew, in the time delay it would take for him to resurrect. He wasn't terribly worried about it, mostly because he just didn't have the blood in his system to dwell on such thoughts.

His hands clumsily worked at the gauze belt around his waist, that secured his pumpkin to his side. Taiki had given him some of this, after all. He wouldn't simply let it go to waste.

"Where...where's your basket?"

[notagiraffe]

Taiki's eyes filled with tears, he blinked and then spilled down his face, "I don't want you to die..." He nudged him with his nose again, trying to help turn him over. But even in kirin beast form he wasn't strong enough to pick him up, not with his mouth anyways.

"It's here... I have some candy... maybe it will be enough to fill yours up... I can always get more!"

Because he didn't want him to die but if he had to die, then Taiki didn't want him to be turned.

[warriorscribe]

"No." Enoch finally got the basket free and put a hand on Taiki's nose, gentle pressure encouraging him to stop and listen to him.

"I won't put you and your king in more danger. Take mine...I gathered thirteen more."

[notagiraffe]

Taiki blinked at him and shook his head, "I... No... if you don't have enough..." He didn't want this... He didn't want Enoch's candy if Enoch was going to die...

[warriorscribe]

It was telling that it took Enoch a few seconds to make sense of what was being said.

"Please, Taiki. You're...you're young, you don't deserve what...the tower will do to you. I want to help protect you."

Oct 18, Floor 15

[hachitaro]

Taro headed towards Enoch, clad in a black suit and holding a metal briefcase. He was curious, trying to figure out what Enoch was doing. Was it something he needed to stop? Probably.

Every time he moved the suit tugged at his skin painfully, and he couldn't remove it. It only served to make him angrier, as he clutched the briefcase.

Quietly, he slipped it open, fishing in it for a smoke bomb.

[warriorscribe]

It may be hard to see what he's doing, yes, given the light around him. Though at the movement, Enoch glanced up to determine it wasn't a monster.

When he saw it wasn't someone he knew, he gave a nod of acknowledgement and nothing more. He didn't want to learn more about Taro, didn't want to learn about anything that may evoke this rage that came up against others that don't deserve it. (She didn't know she was giving her soul away. He doesn't even act like a demon.)

[hachitaro]

Taro clutched the smoke bomb, shaking a little. He didn't want to do this.

But he did. And so he threw the bomb at Enoch, white smoke billowing out from the small sphere, starting to fill the room and press out the air.

[warriorscribe]

"What-..." Enoch shielded his nose and mouth with his arm, getting to his feet. What was the meaning of this!? He beat at the smoky air with the pants he was working on, the other hand going to his Arch and clumsily trying to work it loose enough to open with two flicks of his wrist.

Holding the weapon in the middle, coughing, he started to make his way towards the stairs, the flailing nearly-finished project also slapping against nearby objects and telling him where things were.

[hachitaro]

Dammit. He couldn't let him get away. He followed Enoch by the sound of his pants, arm over his nose. He lifted his briefcase like a club with his other hand, intending to bash the man with it as he rushed past.

[warriorscribe]

Enoch heard the man approaching and whirled around to try to "punch" at him, not used to fighting with his grip in the middle of the Arch.

The beams collided with the briefcase and pushed him back, sending him stumbling off the staircase. He flared his wings to glide down to the media floor, landing on the back of a sofa and lightly hopping off. He took a quick moment to tie the unfinished leggings around his waist to free up his other hand and held the Arch properly now, looking up uncertainly at the smoky floor above. What was Taro doing...? (Other than attacking a man who meant him no harm, he tried reasoning with the part of him that had been twisted to aim for the kill.)

[hachitaro]

Taro followed him down - there was no sense in staying up here when his target was down below. He took out a pen that had a dart gun in it, and ran down the stairs, approaching Enoch as best he could with that blinding light around him.

[warriorscribe]

"Taro, what are you doing?" Enoch brought the Arch up to defend himself, his grip tightening and the beam's blades condensing into a diamond shape.