Delete File?

[morituramfides]

Characters: Jin Shirato and OPEN
Setting: Floor 43, any day after the Ruana network post
Format: starting in prose, but I can switch to action if you're prefer!
Summary: After speaking with Ruana, Jin has to cool down and creates a daily ritual for himself.
Warnings: Science trauma and Jin being Jin.

Jin was perfectly well aware that nothing he could do to the building was permanent; significant damage would also just bestow punishment for his efforts. But there's of course a point when you stop caring about whatever the Tower can dish out, and after it transform you into a rabid and horrifying facsimile of a jungle cat, you've passed that point. Besides, Sayaka was right; he'd needed to get away from the computer long before he had actually gotten away from it.

His head was still spinning, and he felt a bit sick (the same sort of ill that had come at the end of the summer he'd wager), but here he stood on the 43rd floor, standing outside one specific jail cell; one with a number plate that read "037." For a long time it just seemed like he was staring vacantly at it, even though his mind was racing.

And then eventually Jin snapped out of his own reverie, took out a screwdriver from his pocket, jammed it under the plate and pried the numbered plate off the wall after quite a bit of effort. The physically strongest he wasn't, but he kept pushing until it finally popped off.

Of course, it would come back the next day, and again Jin'd be on the 43rd floor, rather prying the plate off or carving into it to scrape off the number and make it illegible. It almost became a ritual every day, stopping down there on the way down to find something to do, and it'd be easy to find him idling about in front of the jail cell with a screwdriver in hand.

He had no idea what his own opinion was on her anymore, but he still felt like doing this much.

Comments

[miseris_socios]

[Ken watches Jin, curious but not really wanting to interrupt. When he seems to pause though, he approaches.]

... Hey.

[He's a little worried, okay?]

[morituramfides]

[The company catches him off guard for a moment, and Jin grips the screwdriver in his hand to turn and look at Ken.

Oh. Ken.

It'd uh...it'd been a while, hadn't it?]

'Sup, kid?

[miseris_socios]

Not much.

[He'd ask if Jin's okay but... he's pretty clearly not.]

Do you want some help? Or just company?

[He can leave if he wants, but...]

[egotrigger]

Today, Jin seemed to be late on his task. There was someone else standing in front of cell 37, silent for a long moment, before he took out a knife and cut into it, doing his best to erase the number. His expression was pained, but as he turned he caught sight of Jin, and stepped back from the cell.

"Um... hello..."

Nothing wrong here, nothing at all -

[warriorscribe]

Enoch hadn't paid this floor much thought. It meant nothing to him. It was a place monsters sometimes spawned, to attack him on his way past it.

But the activity this time drew his eye. He recognized the younger man, a twinge of guilt and sympathy pulling at his gut as he remembered the attack. And then it only got worse as he saw the number on the cell he was working with.

Soberly, Enoch lowered himself to sit on the stairs, watching Jin work at the plate.

[morituramfides]

[Why would you think that he was just fine.

He tossed the screwdriver up in the air idly for a moment, looking off to the side as he spoke.] Nah, I got it. Stick around if you want, though there's not much going on.

[morituramfides]

Hey, that's what he got for letting his roommates distract him on the way down. Jin had his hands tucked in his pockets, but had stopped to watch the stranger carefully, working at his own little job.

Cue suspicion and an eyebrow quirk. "What are you doing?

Yeah, he didn't seem terribly amused, though he didn't necessarily seem angry....

[morituramfides]

If he noticed Enoch's arrival, Jin didn't acknowledge it at all, instead keeping at his task. He pushed the screwdriver until his knuckles turned white, and with a grunt of effort, the plate finally popped off and fell to the floor.

It was then that he turned to look at Enoch, not at all happy to see him there watching. "What d'you want?"

[warriorscribe]

"It's good to see someone else who doesn't think she should be treated with animosity."

It was a vague answer, but it was the truth.

[morituramfides]

He scoffed. "What, Ruana? Please, she's a goddamn psychopath. Being crazy doesn't excuse what's she done."

His tone sounded pretty harsh, but it lightened up as he kept talking. "Psychopaths gotta stick together on some points though." He tossed the screwdriver up and down i the air and caught it again as he kept talking, keeping his gaze focused on the tool.

[warriorscribe]

"I never said she was excused. I can't excuse what she did to us last month."

Enoch rested his hands on his knees, fingers curled into light fists. For a while, he watched the movement of the screwdriver, himself. "But now that we know more...treating her that way can't help her madness, or her pain. In fact...it would only cause more, for her and for us."

[miseris_socios]

Sure.

[He takes a few steps closer, not that he knows Jin isn't in the mood to push him away as much. He still keeps his distance, though - he knows better than to invade Jin's personal space.]

Do you want to do something later? Maybe play some video games or something?

[He's really not sure what to do to cheer Jin up...]

[egotrigger]

He tried to think of an answer, an excuse - but really, there were none that sounded convincing. He sighed, with a bit of a chuckle to it.

"I always wanted to do this to my own number. I thought she might appreciate it."

[swordedpast]

One moment, there's no one behind Jin at all. The next, there's a voice.

"I see; you need some help."

And then, the moment there's an opening, a sword flies through the air over Jin's shoulder and embeds itself neatly in the plate, crazing and shattering the metal.

The owner of the voice stands behind Jin now, watching dispassionately.

[doctor_dismemberment]

The little scrape-scrape-scrape noises were what got Richtofen's attention. It was such an odd thing to hear coming from jail cells that were always empty, and visions of strange new monsters to fight danced in Richtofen's head as he drew closer to the sound.

He was disappointed when all he found was the blue-haired boy (decidedly lacking in disgusting scalpel arms this go-round), bent over and chipping away at a number plate. He made sure to keep silent, simply watching for a few moments.

"...That's never going to work," he said after a while. His tone of voice was snooty, as if he was judging the boy for even attempting to permanently damage a fixture in the Tower.

[floreatnoctem]

"What are you doing?"

Having noticed the sudden routine, Chidori took it upon herself to follow him up shortly after his arrival on one of the days, leaning against the door, arms crossed loosely. Her fingers press into her arms, and she takes a hesitant step forward into the room behind him, looking around carefully.

"...and why here, of all places?"

[morituramfides]

"Does it matter?"

Likely an answer to both of her questions, as he remained concentrated on his task at hand instead of actually looking at Chidori right now.

"There are worse floors around here."

[morituramfides]

Trust us Richtofen, the sentiment was returned in kind, because that was basically the last sound Jin had wanted to hear right now. He stopped in his task momentarily, rolling his eyes and looking over his shoulder at the older man.

"I could say the same thing to you about half the crap you try to pull."

Subtext: He don't even caaaaaare.

[morituramfides]

Jin was lucky he deigned to turn around to look at whoever showed up this time, as it gave him enough time to see the sword flying and quickly move before he lost one of the arteries in his neck to flying blades.

"Gee thanks. How about next time you smash a computer with your fist." Complete and total deadpan. He wasn't exactly looking for help, thank you very much.

[morituramfides]

"'Your number'?" A quirk of an eyebrow, as he fiddled with the screwdriver that was still resting in his pocket. Just a little suspicious. The tone of his voice almost had a scoff to it when he spoke again.

"You another mad science catastrophe?"

[morituramfides]

[He looked to be thinking about it for a while; certainly it'd been a while, but it almost felt like he had more important things to do now. That sure wasn't a feeling he'd have ever had before.

The realization causes a small look of dull surprise on his face, but he quickly gets over it to return to the conversation at hand.] Ain't there other stuff you gotta handle?

[morituramfides]

"Last month, and the time before that, and the time before that." His eyes narrowed at Enoch a bit as he spoke with emphasis. Oh no, he wasn't going to let anyone forget about what happened before, no sirree. Though it was just as much telling Enoch as much as Jin was reminding himself.

He finally stopped tossing the screwdriver, catching it firmly in his hand. "What do you wanna do then? Go easy on her?"

[egotrigger]

"Catastrophe is a good word for it. Out of hundreds of kids, they only had two successes, and I definitely wasn't one of them." He sheathed his knife and put it back in his pocket.

... It was a little comforting to know that he wasn't the only one, though.

[miseris_socios]

I always have time for you and the others.

[Besides, he's not sure how you guys are taking the whole infodump thing.]

[doctor_dismemberment]

Oh, ouch. Shot to his heart. Richtofen's face changed to reflect what he was feeling, and a fleeting look of anger crossed over his face before he composed himself.

"At least I have a chance," he said. "Why do you even try? You're just wasting time und energy."