towerofanimus | 005 | Cracking mirror of calm....

Entry tags:

005 | Cracking mirror of calm....

Characters: Sephiroth & OPEN
Setting: Backdated 31st October & 1st November, can be any time on either day
Format: Prose, though will try to switch if needed
Summary: 31st October - Happy Halloween. As the event approaches it's climax, Sephiroth's own mind has driven him to ~~over~~ paranoia and triggered fight/flight - in his case fighting he's much better at even if it does result in a massacre. 1st November - Calm after the storm
Warnings: Possible massacre ensuing in 1st part. I really should start marking all of Sephiroths entries at least with the standard; threat of violence.

BACKDATED 31st October (Dormitory 03-02 To Dormitory Hallways then Any Floor; please put which in your subject.)
[ooc: In case anyone wants to get any last death in before the end of the Event, if so PM me and we'll see if we can arrange in this thread.]

Sephiroth had awoken before anyone else in the dormitory. He had questioned his own judgment going back there to sleep the previous evening and as soon as he was able to sit up he wondered if he was still asleep. There was no power and everything was locked in eternal night. Indeed this would be the most dangerous day so far. He was mindful that the others in his dorm may be lurking in any of the shadows within the room so Sephiroth slowly, precisely got dressed and silently exited the dormitory and headed in the direction of the elevator; though if it wasn't working due to the lack of power-.

As soon as there was room, Masamune was summoned into existence and with it the bitter reminder of the anger that had sat at the back of Sephiroths mind for nearly the entire last week. The kicked-gut feeling whenever he thought of the collar checking against his will, twice he had now been foiled in trying to avoid them. The way they must be so proud of how they were controlling everyone within and without of their little Halloween game, playing them all like pieces on a chessboard.

It didn't take much wandering to think himself back into the frame of mind he'd been keeping such a tight control over. A puppet show without puppets couldn't go on, and Sephiroth was ready more than before to start cutting strings. Indeed, the first being, resident or monster to encounter him may be subject to this wrath but would that be the end of the impending massacre? The urge beat so strongly at the front of Sephiroth's mind that it had to be the only way. As far as Sephiroth had figured, they all had to die in order for him to have any chance of toppling the Tower. And if killing wouldn't provoke a reaction from them that he could use to his advantage, then it would be lesson learned but at least his mind would be clearer.

1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

He stared up into the ceiling of blue sky. Blue sky that couldn't be real. Sephiroth knew that, after all this floor was just like so many of the others; full of illusions. No matter how real the blades of grass felt as the light springtime breeze dragged them over the skin of his cheek as he lay there staring up at the sky. No matter how rich the earth felt underneath when he decided he'd better push himself up and survey his surroundings; well if anything was true about this place it sure kept his spacial awareness in check. Pushed the instincts that he could utilize to their limit.

What was the purpose of this room? Sephiroth had been musing upon that for a good few hours already. Surely this was one of the rooms that his elf-acquaintance had mentioned may be a place to find alternate food but it did just seem a vast field of grass from one horizon to the other. Besides, hunger was one of those things that Sephiroth felt comfortable ignoring. Sure it could be uncomfortable and on occasion noisy but it was indeed a mortal coil; Sephiroth understood now, though unsurprised eventually that his body could maintain itself and adjusted accordingly to his needs. Point to his cellular makeup. Something he did still have going for him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tohko was ecstatic to find that her body had gone back to normal again when she woke up. She was wearing her high school uniform, her fingers were made of flesh, blood, and bone, and lying on her nightstand was a note..and a notebook, full of the stories Konoha had written when they were still together.

Since she didn't have Similar to The Sky, Tohko was happy to have gained this notebook, and ran to the meadow, which was always a nice, quiet place for a bit of light reading. However, when she got there, she noticed Sephiroth, lying in the grass. He looked like he was thinking about something, so she didn't say anything, and started to walk past him. There was a tiny red tree nearby that was always a good reading spot. If only she could find it..

Edited 2012-11-03 02:07 (UTC)

Movement out of the corner of an eye, Sephiroth noticed and lent up slightly to see who or what was passing by.

Another youngster in a high school uniform. What was it with schoolkids in this Tower? Sephiroth shrugged internally but then after a few moments he did seem to recognize the girl actually. It was Tohko, the bookworm who'd encountered him a fair few times during the Halloween experiment. From this slight glance though it wasn't possible to make out that her hands were returned to normal once more.

In his somewhat deflated mood, brought on by his musing the thought of interacting with Tokho again didn't really seem a good idea right now. She had always been so cheerful, and Sephiroth just couldn't understand it. So instead, he allowed himself to lay back down in the grass and let his mind wander again.

Tohko managed to find her small red tree, and sat down in front of it, in full view of Sephiroth and anyone else who came into the tower. As she read the notebook, she grew a little nostalgic for those days in the book club..as well as hungry. She hadn't eaten anything today, and reading all these old stories was just making her hungry.

However, it wasn't like she could just start eating these stories without copying them down first for later, so she decided to just rip a small corner out of the notebook-said corner would not hold any words or hurt any stories-and eat it. However, Sephiroth was here. She would have to be careful.

So, the book girl stood up, moved behind a larger tree, ripped out a tiny corner and ate it. It tasted like a small, small dose of chocolate pudding, as this was one of the few stories Konoha actually managed to put together correctly. "Ah..so delicious!"

Sephiroth wasn't sure if he heard her. He heard something from Tohko's general direction that sounded on the air suspiciously like an exclamation. Once he sat up to look, she wasn't where he'd seen her go and sit down out of the corner of his eye.

Curious more than anything else, Sephiroth focused his attention on the tree's nearby; trying to determine if she was behind one without having to get up and go and look.

While Tohko would have liked to have eaten more, she was worried that if she did, she really would eat the whole story, not just harmless corners. She quickly closed the book and started to walk out from behind the trees. She was planning on putting the notebook away, coming back with something to eat, and then eating.

As she walked by, she saw that Sephiroth was sitting up. Since it seemed like he wasn't busy, she stopped for a moment. "Good morning. How are you?"

Sephiroth slightly tilted his head to the side as she emerged from the trees, as if tilting his head would gain him some insight in what exactly was different in how she was. There was something, but he couldn't put his finger on it (no pun intended).

He offered a polite nod to her when she stopped and addressed him, thinking how strange it was looking across at her from his seated position rather than down from his intimidating 6 feet of height.

"Calmer." He refers simply compared to how he was last time he saw her - which was Halloween. That day of permanent night when she'd tried to turn the Cafeteria into a party. "Yourself?"

"I'm glad to hear that." Tohko nodded. "I'm doing a bit better, now that I can actually read and not worry about killing people over crumbs and messes. What a crazy event..but..at least I got a good gift out of all of it, so that's good."

That was new. Besides the needle fingers she used to have Sephiroth didn't know she had been affected behaviorally as well. He noted now that she was indeed holding her notebook with small yet normal hands; complete with fingers.

He wonders a little how the admins could have simply reversed the effects just like that, overnight. It's mindboggling and Sephiroth shakes his head a little, not wanting to return into the thought pit of wondering about the admins and all the implications too much. It just made him angry and he was trying to think past that.

"E-event?" She made it sound like something that was special, but also from the way she sounded; they might well do something similar again. "They've done things like that before?"

"That's what I heard. I don't know all the specifics, but I've heard that last month, Jason put everyone though horrible living conditions and experimented on people." Tohko sighed. "Not that I like the idea of such things happening on a regular basis."

Interested now, Sephiroth creased silver eyebrows together between bright green eyes. It was the first time a name had come up with regards to whom exactly was perhaps in charge of the experiments.

"This entire place is a huge experiment. Who is Jason?"

"That's possible..I hope not though.." Tohko sighed. "Jason is one of the three people running the Tower. He's pretty cruel. There's also Ruana, who is worse than Jason, and was in charge of that horrid candy event, and Dax, who is a pretty humane and nice guy, if I've heard properly. There may be more people running the place, but those are the ones I'm aware of right now."

Three names. Sephiroth needed to know more. Like their roles in the Tower, where they were hiding out, if there was a way of stopping them. Sephiroth's eyes glinted darkly, but excitedly; how strange that such a small girl so openly revealed such information. He was more than willing to take advantage if it meant giving him more of an upper hand later.

"Who told you this?" He had to determine the source of this information so that he could go and verify it with someone else. Not that he didn't trust Tohko but she was, well, rather young and could have been misled.

"Let's see...Xehanort told me about Jason. While he seems a little shifty, he seems to be rather smart, so I don't think he was lying or wrong. Ruana was the name left on the note I got with the gift at the end of this candy event, so that's how I know of her...and.." Tohko sighed and shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I can't quite remember who spoke of Dax. I may have just heard of him in passing, but I can't quite remember who said it. I'm sorry."

Edited 2012-11-11 18:34 (UTC)

"It's a start. People are fallible. This place can therefore be broken."

Which was the kind of unraveling thread to this web that Sephiroth had been searching for since he got here.

Xehanort. The name rung a bell somehow. Sephiroth couldn't recall where or when he'd picked it up from though. Had he spoken to this guy before and been introduced only to forget? No, he was sure seen that name on a screen somewhere. Sephiroth wasn't one to spend a great deal of time on the network so he was sure it wasn't on a terminal. So where were there other screens? This would require more thought.

Tohko sighed. "I don't know if you can destroy the Tower or get home with that information, but if you need help, ask. I'm just a simple book girl, but I may be able to help out here or there."

After all, she wasn't sure about Sephiroth, but Tohko wanted to get to her home world. She wanted to see her family and friends again, and she wasn't ready to admit that it may be destroyed.

Sephiroth nodded understandably; even after all of his painful considering, neither plan was yet written in stone. There were way too many variable to consider.

"I'm not sure either is achievable or even desirable. I for one though, am entitled to know the truth. About this place, about what happened. It's the only way to make an informed decision about ones' future."

He was surprised that Tohko had proved useful at all, he certainly hadn't considered that a young girl like her would really know so much more than him about the Tower. It made him wonder if she knew other things as well that he might not yet.

Tohko nodded. "I agree. It isn't right that they tossed us in this Tower and tried to break us with lies, monsters, and experiments. I don't know if it'll help my decision making skills..but I at least want to know why they did this." She sighed.

"Find out why they did this and go home."

"If there is a home for you to go back to. Personally-"

Sephiroth broke off, catching his thoughts before they became speech. Careless, too careless. Tohko was still pretty much a stranger and didn't need to know that his defeat before he came to the Tower might mean that even if his world wasn't destroyed; he might very well be.

"Personally, you need to think forwards not back."

Tohko grinned. "Don't worry, there will be. After all, the Admins lie a lot, who's to say that they aren't lying about our worlds?"

She then sighed a little. "I am thinking forwards. But..if I don't remember my past, then I can't plan for the future. It's hard to move forward when you blot out your past." After all, if Wataru had forgotten his past, Brave Story would have turned out quite a bit differently. And when Bond got amnesia, it hurt everyone. It didn't help.

Tohko's comment hit a little too close to home. Sephiroth had had to release the majority of his memories in order to secure his future in the Lifestream back in his world. It contradicted what Tohko said fundamentally, and a shot of hot anger soon followed through Sephiroth. What did she know?!

Sephiroth just went silent, eyes focusing on some invisible point in the grass just a few meters from his feet. Tohko had just helped him greatly by providing names for their admins, he didn't want to be angry towards her for some comment that she couldn't even realize the further implications for him.

Tohko looked at Sephiroth for a moment, puzzled. While he didn't look angry, he didn't look well either. "Hey..are you alright? You don't look well." If she had to, she could drag him off to the infirmary.

Sephiroth blinked and carefully looked over Tohko. Controlling this anger that could too-easily be released and succeeding through experience to not show it on his face or in his expression.

"I'm fine."

Hopefully she might get the hint to leave now.

Usually when people said that line, it meant that they weren't fine at all. She thought for a moment before nodding to herself. "Wait here, alright?"

With that, she ran off, first to the library, to grab a copy of At The Mountains of Madness and a copy of Stargirl. Next to the infirmary, where she grabbed some Tylenol. And finally, to her room, where she put Konoha's notebook away.

Eventually, she managed to make it back to the Meadow, even though she was out of breath. Thankfully, Sephiroth was still there, and she handed him the book and the pills.

"Here you are! Something to make you feel better."

Edited 2012-11-14 21:21 (UTC)

Hopefully that would be the end of that awkwardness. Sephiroth figured that with a bit of luck Tohko might find something else more important to occupy her time and would forget to come back to him. Most girls her age would after all. He allowed himself eventually to lie back down in the grass and gaze up at the sky.

After a while, though it wasn't possible to really tell how long, Sephiroth heard her approaching before she got back into earshot. She handed him some items without even giving him a chance to comment or refuse them. That was bold, considering his temper had only just cooled off again.

He looked over each item with furrowed eyebrows. Confused, for want of a better word. At The Mountains of Madness - wasn't this the book she mentioned before? And what was this other book, and these pills for? Surprised in a silent way that she had remembered their conversation about one particular book but her intention was a little lost on him.

"Thanks, I guess. Though it's really not necessary." He reached out to hand her back the Stargirl ~~seriously teen-fiction?~~ and the Tylenol, his expression quite blank.

Tohko smiled and took back Stargirl, but did not take the Tylenol. She wasn't even sure why she had handed him the book in the first place. She must have been on autopilot again..

"It may not be necessary, but you're not looking well. The Tylenol will help with headaches and the like, and the book might make you feel a bit better. After reading it, you should see why this Tower is better than Lovecraft's stories."

With that, Tohko nodded and disappeared into the trees, hoping to eat in peace and that Sephiroth would cheer up a little.

Sometimes around noon, Riku arrives at the meadow - it is and will probably always be his favorite floor to come to for training and given that he hasn't had the chance to come here for almost two weeks now, he is happy to be able to take up practice again.

He glances over at the man laying in the grass, frowning for a moment before he sits down at his usual spot closing his eyes to gather himself before he starts quietly to practice Blizzard magic.

That latest breeze was much cooler. Almost cool enough to raise gooseflesh as it danced it's path across Sephiroth's face and near-bared chest being the only exposed parts.

Maybe it had been his imagination, it surely matched his latest thought trains. But then after a few moments another whisper swept through the grass and this time it was much colder. Cold enough for a sharp intake of breath followed by a slight frown as Sephiroth sat up. The sky didn't look like the weather had changed so what was going on?

A distance away there was a small boy who appeared to be practicing magic. From the breezes that Sephiroth had felt and the glistening, wet look of the area of the meadow nearby it wasn't hard to make the connection - that the boy was working some form of cold-elemental.

Hang on. Did that mean there was Materia actually in the Tower? The implications that could have were not only extensive but game-changing. Too good to be true? That's why Sephiroth simply remained sitting and watching - black leather amongst all the green grass.

Riku is oblivious to his audience, eyes closed as he sit with his legs crossed, breathing slowly as he focuses - not so much on strengthening the spell, but rather on controlling it (he might have enough practice with Blizzard magic already, but still... he'd rather not risk having another spell backfire on him).

He opens his eyes again as he lifts his right hand, palm up, magic slowly starting to spin above it and after a moment an ice crystal hovers over his hand. He lets it float there, before twisting his wrist and sending it flying, eyes narrowing as he tries his best to control the spells movements.

Sephiroth silently watches Riku as he continues his practicing, finding it oddly novel how he might not have looked too different at that age. Silver hair, somewhat of a pale complexion. Sephiroth couldn't recall most things from his past back then but that just made it more oddly relevant.

Keeping that musing very much to himself, after a little while longer watching Riku he decides that he couldn't really keep watching without looking like he was staring. Getting to his feet and brushing leather pants down first Sephiroth approaches the young man.

"Not bad." He tried to sound encouraging, though inevitably it sounded a little more like a judgment than he'd wanted it to.

Riku tenses when he is spoken to, releasing the magic with a twist of his wrist, ice shards scattering on the ground as he turns towards Sephiroth, He regards him for a moment, and maybe it's showing how much certain similarities throw him off - he had seen the silver hair, but still...

A moment later he shakes his head lightly, a wire grin flickering over his face.

"It's a work in progress."

As are most his spells. There is no need to be polite about that, really.

"Hm." Sephiroth replied and focused his attention on the ice shards scattered around before they melted.

He then regarded Riku again with a curious expression. He couldn't see anywhere in particular where this guy could have materia equipped and that was just odd. Then again, he wouldn't be surprised if there were worlds out there that did have the facility for magic powers without the condensed balls of lifestream that had been so commonplace back home.

"How does it work?" He hated sounding like an amateur but he really needed to know. If he could learn this skill, it would be invaluable.

Riku frowned, lips pressing together as he tries to find a way to explain... It doesn't help that he didn't exactly learn magic the usual way. And that he's self-taught to the day.

"Well, it's magic..." he started, then paused as he tried to figure out how to word it, before starting again. "I guess you could say, it's emotion given shape and purpose."

He twists his wrist upwards for demonstration, focusing until a small, bright flame starts to dance on his palm.

"I think back home, there are many people who have at least the potential to learn it."

Back home being the worlds as a whole... he isn't to sure about Destiny Islands.

Sephiroth didn't miss a single detail. Catching well how the younger boy collected his thoughts carefully before answering. He wondered if there were more to it than that, whether he was hiding something or not but then Sephiroth has a bad habit of thinking too much into things.

He watched, intrigued as Riku demonstrated and allowed a small smile to creep across his features.

"It's a somewhat forgotten art where I come from. Most people cannot work magic without assistance."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

005 | Cracking mirror of calm....

1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

Re: 1st November. Floor 25; Meadow

1st November, Meadow

Re: 1st November, Meadow

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject