towerofanimus

Entry tags:

Sin

Characters: Tohko Amano and Enoch.
Setting: Floor Twenty-Eight, November third.
Format: Prose.
Summary: Tohko searches for Enoch and asks why she was a sinner. She also pesters him about the story he promised her.
Warnings: Tohko's true nature is here. There may also be music, depending on what happens. We'll see.

While Tohko was happy to have her old body back, she was curious about one thing. She wasn't quite sure why her meals would be considered sinful enough to get her killed by Enoch. After all, he didn't know that she had killed people before, so..why?

She was also getting impatient. Enoch had promised her that story awhile ago, and while she had waited patiently, she was starting to wonder how he was doing on it. So, she started to search the tower, looking for the immortal man.

It took her awhile, and she was out of breath by the time she ran up the stairs, but she eventually found him in a room filled with musical instruments. She caught her breath as she walked into the room. "Hey, Enoch..I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering..why did you think that my book eating was a sin during the candy event?"

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Enoch was sitting on a table that had been used to store something, a large piano keyboard that he'd set aside against the wall. Why he'd chosen the table as a place to sit and not the chair was not apparent. Behind him, a pan flute played a lively tune on its own. The scribe himself had been humming along before Tohko showed up.

Her question distracted him enough that for a long while, he was silent, while the flute behind him didn't seem to realize it had lost the human voice accompanying it and went on playing as normal.

"It's...difficult to explain."

Tohko noticed the pan flute's tune, and while it sounded nice, she wondered how it was playing by itself. Maybe there was some switch that made it constantly play. Or something of the sort. Had Enoch been playing music before she got here? Probably. The instrument reminded her of Peter Pan and of the mythological god, and she smiled.

"Please try. I'll do my best to understand." Tohko sighed. "And..I'm sorry if I was bothering you while you were singing or playing music."

Edited (I should stop posting when my head aches.) 2012-11-03 19:11 (UTC)

Enoch shook his head. "The instruments here sometimes play on their own."

He hugged the notebook closer to himself, looking down at the floor, though his shoulders never slumped. "...Writing was our only way of preserving God's word in a way that wasn't subject to all the problems of oral tradition. There simply wasn't enough time for many to learn how to write, so it fell mostly to the priests. I might think that it's purely man's law, and not God's, but... Heaven did need a scribe."

He raised his eyes to Tohko again. "Perhaps that is why...I couldn't ignore it. I wasn't in my right mind. I don't think I had all of my right mind."

Tohko nodded. "Ah, I see." Tohko then listened to the explanation, burning into her brain. At the end of it, she thought she understood.

"I don't think any of us had our right mind in that event. And I think I understand. Since I'm a book eater, to you-at least, in that state-I could have eaten up the word of god and cut others off from it. In that way, I was a sinner. Things are a bit different where I live, so I didn't quite understand before." Tohko then paused, a small grin forming on her face.

"By the way..have you finished that story you promised me yet?"

"It's..." Enoch pulled a sheet of paper from behind the notebook and handed it over.

Can he say it's okay that she is what she is? He wouldn't become angry with her over it, and he understood now that his mind was clear but he couldn't help the instinctive uneasiness at it.

Tohko nodded and took the paper. "Thank you. Now, let's see.." Tohko slowly read the story, drinking in every word. Once she had finished, she re-read it and at it as she went. At first, it tasted like a warm loaf of bread with melted butter on every slice. However, when she had finished, a small tear popped out of her eye. It was not because she was sad.

"So salty!" She cried. "I was expecting a cold bowl of vanilla ice cream with some delicious chocolate syrup, but I got a warm loaf of bread with butter and garlic salt on it! Either that, or someone cried into the dough while they were writing it!" Tohko chuckled as she wiped away the water on her face. "What's wrong? Did the prompts not work for you?"

Once she was finished wiping her face, she moved on. "Moving on, you forgot about writing about a falling star and a polar bear. And..I got curious as I was reading. Who is this specific fallen angel? Why were he and his friends making a new world? It felt like that could have made a great story all by itself."

He was partly expecting her to eat it, anyway. Only the slightest tightening of his arms gave away any reaction - that was still dulled, to an extent. "I'm not familiar with that kind of bear, and...the falling angel is the star."

Enoch held the notebook tighter in earnest now. It was the closest to feeling something without it being hollow so far... "His name is Armaros, one of the Grigori, and...we were friends when we lived in Heaven."

"Ah, I see. Clever use of the prompt. And a polar bear is a huge white bear that lives in the Arctic. It's strong enough to kill weakened whales and seals. They may not exist in your world, so that's probably why you're not familiar with them. The library may have some book on them though." Tohko explained. It felt a little weird, explaining what a polar bear was, but that's what happened when different people from different worlds and times came together.

Tohko paused, taking in those sentences, before smiling sadly. "I see. So that's why the story is salty. I'm sorry for your loss. I know my words might not mean much, but losing a loved one stings horribly." Going by the story, it sounded like Armaros had either died or had left Enoch forever..which was truly heart-wrenching.

It was a wonder he could write such a thing at all, conveying the emotions he wasn't properly feeling yet. Enoch lowered his head. "Thank you."

It was the subject that got something out of him, at least, muted as it was. He'd offer to explain more of what the Grigori were doing, but with her reaction to the story, he thought his own tale might prove too salty, too. So he didn't take the initiative to offer it, despite her curiosity.

Tohko nodded. "No problem. If you ever need an ear to borrow, come to me, alright? I may be a simple book girl, but I'll try and help you out." Tohko wasn't quite sure if her advice would work for an immortal man who was friends with angels, but she'd offer it regardless.

"I know that this sounds silly, but they say writing out your sorrow makes you feel better. So...how about you write it out for me? Even if it is salty, I'm sure it'll be delicious." Tohko paused, thinking about how that first story had tasted. Even though the bread had been salty, it was nice and warm..and the butter was pretty smooth too.

"Of course, I'll write out my past for you too. So, what do you say?"

Enoch thought about it for a little while. Well...her unique appetite meant this was a request for food. Was it really so bad if something was written specifically to be eaten?

"You don't need to tell me yours if you don't want to. But..." He nodded. "I'll tell you a piece of my past every week; every seven days from today. Is that all right?"

Tohko shook her head. "I will. You wrote your story and got it out of the way. I'd feel a little bad if you wrote down your past and didn't get much in return. Besides..this might help me too."

Tohko grinned at those final words. "That's quite alright! I'll be looking forward to those days! And don't worry-I won't eat them, no matter how tasty they may get." After all, she hadn't been able to munch on Konoha's stories..and since this was something really precious to Enoch, she wouldn't eat it.

"No, I...agreed because I thought you would want to eat them. It should be all right if they're transcribed specifically for you, I think."

"Well..I admit, I might munch on them, but if I did, I'd copy it down so that I could read it again. After all, a persons past is important. I'd be a shame if you wrote down all your feelings and memories and they were only able to be enjoyed once. After all, I'd do the same thing if I ate Konoha's stories."

So she herself would take to transcribing them... Of course, how else could one who loved stories so much handle a life of only being able to eat them?

There's something like a flicker of a smile on his lips for only a moment, and a lightness in his chest all too fleeting before the weight of nothing settles again. "So you have your own ways."

Tohko chuckled and scratched her head. "Well, in situations like this, you have to improvise a little. If I was eating a printed book from the library, I wouldn't mind, as the library seems to get restocked by something every now and then..but for something as personal and precious of this, you have to make sure that you have an extra copy if you want to munch on it. That way, you have one to eat and one to read. And then the cycle will repeat itself if you want that particular thing again."

Tohko paused for a moment, an idea coming into her head. "Although..I'd probably eat my copy and save the original. That way, even the original handwriting will still be there for me to look at."

[ooc: In my head, it's plausible that the library is restocked by the drones when no one is looking, but if this doesn't sound quite right, let me know. I'm always happy to edit!]

Edited 2012-11-07 06:29 (UTC)

"That's a good attitude to have." It was frustrating, in what ways he could feel frustration, being numb like this. It was like he was simply...all emoted out.

((ooc: That sounds reasonable enough to me. But if you aren't sure, you could go ask in the FAQ post... Maybe other people will want to know for sure later!))

"I suppose so.." In all honesty, Tohko wasn't quite sure whether it was a good or bad attitude to have. All she was really concerned about was preserving the original documents so that she would be able to look at it again and love it the same way she had when she had first laid eyes on it. It also helped preserve memories.

Tohko's eyes were then drawn to the notebook Enoch was holding. She had noticed it before, but had been so wrapped up in why she was a sinner and Enoch's story that she hadn't mentioned it. "Out of curiosity, what's in that notebook of yours?"

[ooc: Alright then. I'll have to remember to do so later, but it seems pretty plausible to me that that's what happens.]

Enoch was a scribe, of course he would see that attitude favorably. Preservation and recording of things was his purpose.

When Tohko mentioned the notebook, Enoch reflexively tightened his arms around it.

"It was...Armaros used it to communicate with me, in the world we were in before this."

Tohko's eyes widened, and she nodded at those words. "I see..hopefully that world was a lot better than this one." Memory-wise, Tohko guessed that the past world probably was a bit better than this one. After all, any place with a good friend, fallen angel or not, would be a bit nicer to remember than this one.

Tohko thought for a moment. If Armaros used that book to communicate, than..he must have been mute, or a very bad or shy speaker. She wouldn't say anything about it though. To be honest..that notebook reminded her of the one she got that was filled with Konoha's stories.

"It was..."

It had a power struggle between gods going on beyond the mortal plane and once a murderer ran loose, but...it was peaceful. Comfortable. Safe (or if not safe, possible to be made safe). He had leverage there. Control over his own life.

Tohko nodded and smiled sadly. "I see. Hopefully you'll be able to go back to that world then. Or back to your original one." Either world would probably be better than this Tower, even though it probably would be a little better if Enoch managed to get back to his home world again.

"If they're intact, yes..." There was that dull echo in his gut. Of what? Grief? Loneliness? It was so indistinct he couldn't tell.

"I'm not sure about the world you were in previously..but your home world is probably fine. After all, if god and his angels watch over it, then your world will be fine." While Tohko was an agnostic, if an all-powerful god and his angels did exist in Enoch's world, then it would probably be alright.

"All we have to do is actually find a way to get home.." She sighed.

There was the slight rustle of disturbed paper as Enoch hugged the notebook even harder. It was as close to feeling distress as he could right now.

"The word is worlds that were connected to others through outsiders were destroyed at the same time."

And, well. He can't imagine God dying (but knows it can happen, Aleph is proof), but...could He really protect Earth when the beings fighting for Meridian couldn't?

Tohko sighed and bit her lip. "T-then maybe the word is wrong or has been twisted in some way." After all, if that were true, than the Administrators weren't lying about their worlds being gone. For one thing, Tohko didn't trust the Administrators more than she would trust Woland, Jas. Hook, or Moriarty, as they put everyone though cruel experiments and were tight-lipped most of the time, from what she had heard.

For another thing..if her world was gone, she'd never be able to see Ryuto again, apologize to Konoha, help out Nanase in the library, or help Chia find a reason to live and prove that she wasn't an Oba Yozo.
No. There was no way Tohko was going to accept that yet.

"We don't know. We just don't know enough..." Enoch shook his head, his grip on his notebook relaxing.

He'd had the same reaction at first. But eventually, he'd come to doubt it. For the one person who found an inconsistency, there were others who all reported seeing their destroyed worlds and not seeing one. For all the pain of accepting it, there was calling Dax and Zo, people who seemed like good, honest people, liars.

Too many contradictions going both ways. Not enough information. Enoch would feel more hopeless if he could. As it was, it was a dull frustration instead.

Tohko huffed in frustration and sadness. If a can or pebble had been near her foot, she would have kicked it. Instead, she just kicked the air for a moment. "If only the Admins weren't so tight-lipped about everything! Then we'd know for sure. Then we'd be able to deal with this properly." However, as it stood, they were mostly in the dark, with a few small lit candles and some unlit matches, which was vexing.

"They may not have a choice. There is something...not right about their superior. She may have them working under threat."

His emotions may be exhausted, but he still doesn't like seeing distress around him.

"Hmm..maybe we could convince the other Admins to join our side. Maybe we could all fight against their superior and learn a few things about our worlds." Tohko sighed. But how to do such a thing? If the Admins were tight-lipped, there was no way they would reply to a simple network post.

"It isn't so easy." Enoch looked up at the ceiling. "Inviting them to rebel outright will ensure they do not."

That is, not when Ruana could react to it. Somehow, they need to contact them in a way that ensures only they know what they're trying to say. Some sort of code...? But how could they communicate the key without Ruana learning it too?

Tohko sighed. "That's true. After all, if their superior is looking at everything, then they'll just ignore any blatant comments of rebellion."

They needed a code. Someway that only they and the Admins could communicate without their superior knowing about it. Tohko sighed again. "I could make up a code on the spot or pull one out of a book, but there's still no way to send it without their superior learning about it."

"Because if they don't know the key, it's pointless. And if we make it easy to decipher for their sake, Ruana will be able to learn it too."

Enoch slid from the table. "...I'll think about it while I write the first story for you."

"Ah, that's true. I hadn't thought of that." Tohko sighed, and then smiled at the last sentence.

"Thanks. We might be able to come up with something if we think about it hard enough."

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