towerofanimus | Freedom Can Be Confusing

Characters:

2nd_dii2ciiple & whoever would like to talk to him!
Setting: Room 2-08 and surrounding areas
Format: Any!
Summary: He's... not quite sure what to make of this
Warnings: slightly broken troll ahoy

The first thing he noticed when he woke was that he was not where he was supposed to be. There was no sign of his control block, or the biowires that should have connected him to his ship. The constant ticking of the computer in the back of his mind was gone as well - he wasn't connected to anything at all.

Panic tried to encroach as his conditioning insisted that he needed to get back to where he belonged right the fuck now, but he fought it off. He hadn't brought himself here, so it wasn't his fault he was disobeying. And flailing around in blind panic wasn't going to get him back to his station any faster.

Besides, if he was very lucky, this might be his opportunity to finally break free of his punishment of slavery. He'd almost lost hope that this moment would ever come.

The distress of finding himself dressed in plain white without even the tiniest indication of his symbol was enough to distract him long enough to read the letters and scout the tiny room. Thankfully a cursory search was more than enough to reveal the clean change of clothes waiting for him in an otherwise empty trunk, and he changed quickly.

Not a single hole for the biowire connectors. No sign of his hated helmet. He felt more like the Ψiioniic than the Helmsman, for the first time in nearly a sweep. Although he couldn't remove the collar, and he assumed the blue colour meant he was now owned by a blue-blood of that shade. It was actually a fairly ingenious method of identification. The problem was that he had no idea who it was, or where to find his new master.

Or, for that matter, why the Condesce would have suddenly decided to sell her most powerful Helmsman.

Time to find out what was going on.

Outside the room he found himself in a corridor full of doors just like the one he'd come out of. He turned to look back at his door, and saw a list of names, presumably the occupants. His was the last.

Right above it was a name he'd thought he would never see again. The Signless.

Just the sight of it was enough to send his panic rushing back in on him, intensified by the forbidden name. He reeled against the wall, staring in shock and disbelief. It couldn't be him. The Signless was dead.

And a part of Ψiioniic had died with him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Hey, have an ~alien~ human boy with blue hair. He is curious because he's never met an adult troll before now.

He smiles just slightly, attempting to be friendly. ]

... Hello. Are you new here?

"Ah..." Looking up with a start, Ψiioniic found himself facing another of the same pale, fragile-looking aliens that Namine had been. He'd forgotten to ask what her species was called. This one was a little bigger, though still considerably smaller than the adult troll. A male? Or an adult version? He couldn't really tell.

"Yeth," he said, a little wary. Just because Namine had been sweet didn't mean all of her species would be the same. At least he knew this wasn't his potential master. "I just woke up."

Minato looks contemplative for a moment. He... honestly, he knew that wariness well himself, so he surmised that this troll had not been having a pleasant time before he came here. Or perhaps he just had a colorful history, as he himself did? It was hard to guess.

"Well, in that case," he began, "I should warn you about this tower. It's dangerous, so be careful of the Shadow monsters that roam here. They tend to disable certain abilities and can kill you." He'd found that out the hard way, unfortunately.

"My name is Minato, by the way. You're a troll, right...?"

Well, if the alien was familiar with trolls, that probably meant he was one of their subjugated races. Or just that he'd encountered other trolls here in the tower, Ψiioniic reminded himself. Better not to start by assuming this was a member of one of the slave races.

"Yeah, I'm a troll. I don't know what you are yet, you're only the thecond I've met of your species. What kind of 'certain abilitieth' get disabled?" He could take care of himself against any monster just fine... as long as he still had his telekinesis. Without it, he'd be pretty much helpless. He hadn't been the most physically able of trolls to start with, and a sweep hanging motionless in the biowires had left him even weaker than he'd started.

Minato looks uncertain for a moment, as if considering this deeply, before he replies.

"... Most likely all of them. Anything other than regular strength, as far as I'm aware. There are other things in this tower that do that as well."

After a moment, he found himself giving the Ψiioniic a look upward (he was much taller than Minato was), and considering once again what he, like everyone else in the tower, had to have gone through. It seemed the trolls endured a lot of hardship, but he had never met an adult. Should he explain humans to him?

"... I'm a human, from a planet called Earth. I've met other trolls here, though you're the first adult one I've met," he said, before continuing in the same neutral, but friendly tone. "Though I don't think I heard your name?"

Damn, that meant he'd be completely helpless. He frowned, then registered the human's question and shook off the dark mood. "Ah, thorry... I'm called the &936;iioniic," he said. He was getting better at saying it with no hesitation - the more he used his old name, the easier it was to leave the Helmsman behind.

At least until something triggered him again, but this human didn't seem to be the type to try to order him around imperiously.

"I've run into a few adolescentth here - I've never actually seen tho many before," he agreed. "Adults and adolescents don't mix much."

"Is there a reason for that? In my culture, adults usually raise children," he said, curious as to why that would be. Not knowing troll culture well, he felt as though he needed to learn as much as possible so he could better understand them.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Ψiioniic-san."

Nice, even if the circumstances weren't the best. After all, how often did you meet an alien from the human perspective?

"Really? That'th kind of twisted," Ψiioniic said, staring at him. "Adultth raise the young? Why? How do they decide which oneth to take? Aren't they kind of busy doing their own jobs in other plathes?" He shook his head. "Troll wrigglers are chosen by a Lusus, a different specieth that lives in the breeding caverns, and then taken to the surface once they pass their grub trialth. Adults are busy, you know, conquering the galaxy and doing important things."

He paused, then added, "Although, there's one exception I know of. My betht friend was raised by an adult who took him, because he's got mutant blood and there wathn't any kind of Lusus who would have chosen him. But Dolorosa had to raise him in hiding, or they'd both have been culled."

Minato considers the words that Ψiioniic says for a moment. Twisted...? No, he didn't think so. It sounded as though the trolls had left their offspring to mostly fend for themselves on their home planet. It certainly explained the tough lives the kids he knew had, then.

He merely shakes his head, here.

"... Humans generally have two guardians. The adults. Usually they live in family units. We only have our one planet, as far as I'm aware." He said, feeling further elaboration may be necessary, here. "We have jobs, but usually adult humans raise their own or adopted offspring. The adults are called parents, and their offspring are called their children. The female is the mother, and the male is the father."

He pauses briefly. "... Though your friend must have had it hard. Humans only have one blood color. Usually we... want to save lives, not end them."

Freedom Can Be Confusing

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