towerofanimus | Wave 1 (OPEN)

Entry tags:

Wave 1 (OPEN)

Characters: Tahno and anyone! (Open~)
Setting: Dormitory Hallway, Floor 10
Format: Prose to start, but I'll match you!
Summary: This stupid collar is really stressing poor Tahno out. Luckily, all of the bendable water in the aquarium is pretty relaxing.
Warnings: None to start, but he might be a bit of a jerk to you (or hit on you), depending on who you are and what you do. Possible swearing, too.

(Dorm Hallway)

This stupid collar on his neck was driving him crazy. He’d barely been awake for twenty minutes, and he already hated this place. What kind of place put collars on their residents? He had every intention of going to the bathroom to get a better look at it, but he only got halfway there before he felt the liquid flowing through the collar.

Well, he could walk all the way to the bathroom just to stare at it, or he could just stop here and bend the thing off.

At least, that was the plan. The liquid inside was bendable alright, but it didn’t help him. He’d spent the last few minutes trying to yank the liquid hard enough to burst through the collar, but it just wouldn’t.

Now, he was leaning back against the wall, both hands hovering inches in front of his neck as he tried desperately to damage the collar from within. His face was red, and his hands were practically white from the strain.

Man, he must’ve looked like an idiot to any passersby.

(Floor 10)

After all of that effort on a stupid collar got him absolutely nowhere, he was feeling a bit frustrated. Maybe even a bit inadequate, seeing as his bending couldn’t break such a simple little thing. He had set off exploring just to take his mind off it. He had taken the elevator down to the first floor, and then gone up. Most of the floors didn’t really appeal to him.

That was, until he found the tenth floor.

All that water was beautiful.

…The fish were nice too, but he really didn’t care about those.

It had only taken him ten seconds to discover that, despite being held in place by some weird mystical force, the water could still be bent. He’d just have to put it back in the weird no-glass tanks when he was done.

A few minutes later, and he was dancing with the water like he did at home. He could hear the roar of the crowd, feel the lights that covered the stadium, taste the enemy attacks flying by him, and oh it felt good.

The only problem was that he was showing a blatant disregard for the poor fish in the water. And maybe even himself, should anything dangerous find its way into his flying river or water balls.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He rolled her eyes at her book talk. He almost wanted to read one just so he could laugh in her face about how stupid it was. Maybe he'd do that sometime.

For now, though...

"I hardly think you can insult someone who isn't here. If a tree falls and nobody's around to hear it, nobody gives a flying fuck about the sound it makes."

"Oh, trust me, my fans appreciate the cover. A picture's worth a thousand words, isn't that the saying? I'm sure you can get enough of a story out of a thousand words. A quick read is easier to digest."

It seems that he may have missed the point of that last part, but... He tried.

"However, if a tree falls and a person who likes it is around to hear it, it will make that person sad and want to punch whoever was stupid enough to cut the tree down in the first place."

Tohko huffed.

"A picture can lie though. There are plenty of covers that hide what's actually inside. Some covers, like the one for Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of The World are more truthful, but there are plenty of bad horror titles with good covers. In the end, only words don't deceive, and your words are quite foolish, ignorant, and crude. You could use quite a bit of editing."

"Buncha' tree huggers," he muttered, too lazy to come up with more clever analogies.

"If you don't give a shit about the inside of a book, the cover can lie all it wants as long as it looks nice," he responded, completely ignoring the second half of her comment. Maybe he didn't really want anyone reading the words inside his book. He had enough trouble making the cover decent-looking.

"I'll remind you that you are the one who started the tree comparison. However, we could switch it to hearing the splash a fish makes in a pond or a book falling off a pile. But, even if we switch it, the reactions will still be the same!"

Tohko sighed and continued to glare at the boy as she spoke.

"Then why even bother looking at a book if you're not interested in the words? People like good words along with a good image, and when they find out that the words are terrible and foul, they'll put the book down and forget about it forever, moving on to better titles. Only fools would just look at the cover and never open up the book to see what lies inside!"

"Why don't you let your damn friend come here and defend herself instead of fighting her battles?" he snapped.

At this point he was barely rational. He had just woken up in a weird place and now he had this obnoxious little girl screaming at him over a bunch of pointless things.

"Why the fuck do you shove books down everyone's throats when they don't give a shit about them?! I don't care what the inside looks like and I don't really care about the cover, either!"

And, upon hearing those words, Tohko looked terribly sad. She wasn't crying or anything, but she was thinking about smacking the guy again. However, it wasn't because she was angry. If she struck out, it would be because she was hurt and sad. And maybe a bit angry.

"..Because my friend is not here right now. And even if she was, she wouldn't be able to. Doing so would force her to crack a well-developed mask she's been wearing. I'm just happy she's not here right now..she wouldn't be able to die, but..if people saw through the cracks and chips in her mask, she'd just be devastated to the point where she would attempt suicide again.."

Tohko sighed and shook her head, trying to clear it.

"I don't shove books down everyone's throats. I talk about them and I get mad when people insult them, but that is because I am a book girl. Don't you dare forget that. And if you don't care about what lies beyond the cover, or what's on the cover to begin with, then you really are an idiot. You're going to be an easy target if people want to pick you off, or an easy pawn if people want to use you."

Oh... Well, that was a mood-killer. He figured the girl was just being an over-protective friend, but this was different. Masks. He was used to that. Suicide? Well, that was just... pretty terrible.

"Yeah, well... Sounds like your friend has a lying cover on her book thing, too."

The second part of her speech pissed him off a little more again. He had managed to calm down a lot in light of this new information, but...

"People don't use me. I'm a star. People can't hurt me, either. Champions won't be taken down like scum."

He didn't sound very convincing anymore.

"..She does have a dust jacket on top of her true cover. However, it's not like she enjoys wearing that jacket. It's shameful to her, more than you or I will probably ever know."

Tohko sighed. Even though she had read No Longer Human, even though she was a bit odd herself, she wasn't an actual Oba Yozo. Chia was. However, even though her mood had got downed, the boy's less-than-convincing statement made her smile a little bit.

"Really? You should watch what you say. Stars and champions can be taken down and manipulated quite easily. Fame is a fickle friend, especially when you have people here who can read the future and run on orange and blue morality."

He could help but roll his eyes at that. Dust jackets or whatever. That was just stupid. Wasn't a simple cover enough? This layers stuff was weird.

"Maybe the stars where you're from are a bit different, because there's no way in hell I'd let anyone make me their bitch," he almost growls. "Fame's only fickle when you don't treat it right."

He wasn't sure what that last part meant. Orange was an ugly color, and that was the only thing he had to say about that.

Tohko sighed.

"To be honest, I never cared about most celebrities and famous people back home. I payed attention to quite a few authors, but that was because I liked their stuff. However..in this place, if you're not careful, you will find yourself a mere pawn in a chess game if you're not careful. A minor character in a much longer story."

He shrugged.

"Some people aren't sports fans, I guess."

Of course, there were people back home who didn't like him. But their hate was always drowned out by the loving screams of his fans.

"Minor character? Yeah, like I'd let anyone outshine me. Thanks for your concern, but really, I'll be just fine."

He says it in a rude tone, obviously mocking her advice.

Tohko sighed.

"I do call myself a book girl for a reason, you know. However, I'm not worried about your well-being. You'll probably be fine..I'm just telling you that your fame has run out here. There are much more important characters in the Tower, and if you're not careful with how you act with the plot, you'll get forgotten as an irritating side character while the main ones and the authors steal the show."

Tohko then realized that she was starting to sound like Wilhelm and chuckled to herself.

"I'm sorry. That probably sounds pretty cryptic..but you do get what I'm saying, right?"

He couldn't help but crinkle his nose at that. He knew his damn fame had run out, but... did she think he was worthless because of that?

"Yeah, I get your point, but fame doesn't just fall in everyone's lap," he told her. "I climbed the ladder once, I can damn well do it again. I'll steal the show just like I did at home."

Tohko sighed.

"The Tower is much different than your world. There, you may have been good at one skill or another, but here, there are god-like entities here who still have all their powers. I doubt you'll be more powerful then they are..but, if your really wanted to be a main character, you could be smarter than them, undergo some character development, have a revelation or three..you may even gain a few moronic fans, if you're lucky."

...Why was she helping this person? He was terribly rude, insulting, arrogant, full of hot air, snobbish, and stupid. Tohko sighed.

"God-like?"

That came as a bit of a shock. She obviously wasn't the type to praise human beings who were too full of themselves, so whoever was running this place must be amazing to have her respect like that.

"You mean spirits?"

That was the only way it made sense to him. Spirits were powerful beings. He'd never met one himself, but he'd heard the stories.

"Why would such powerful beings want to do something as stupid as this? Holding up mortals in a tower? Yeah, that sounds like a good use of spirit powers."

Tohko sighed.

"You idiot. I never said that the god-like entities that I know run the Tower. They're residents, just like you and I are, but they're still quite powerful. And, no..I don't mean spirits..but you might find a few of those wandering around the Tower as well."

"...oh."

He assumed if they were so powerful, they must be running the place. If such powerful people were locked up here...

"Why the hell wouldn't they just break out if they're so tough?"

He wondered if her idea of 'spirits' were the same as his. She didn't seem to know a lot about his world at all. Maybe the spirits were different, too?

"Well, for one thing, since the Administrators are pretty technologically advanced, it's possible that they're disabling certain powers or limiting how strong they can be for the residents.

Besides..I've only met three people who have those sorts of powers in the Tower so far. Two are tied to the third, and it's not in the third's style to actively get involved.

He's like a chess player, moving the pieces from behind the scenes. The chess player doesn't become a piece, so..he's not going to be doing anything like that. At least, as far as I know."

Tohko sighed again and scratched her head before realizing something and smiling.

"Come to think of it, your hairstyles are a bit similar. You two are complete opposites though."

He listened silently, bothered by the fact that she seemed to be saying that these powerful things were just human beings. That didn't bode well for him.

Her last comment confused him a bit. He couldn't quite tell if it was a compliment or an insult.

"Opposites, huh?"

That's all he said. He assumed she must actually like this guy if he was Tahno's 'opposite'.

Tohko sighed and nodded.

"Yup. You're a side character wanting to be a main character and get into the action, and he's a main character who manages to fool almost everyone into thinking he's just a side character that'll do nothing.

You're active, he's passive, you have a bloated head, and he knows exactly who he is. I imagine you would lie sometimes to make yourself seem great, and he would leave the truth out there, no matter how terrible it made him look."

Tohko sighed again.

"..He's a guy going by the name of Wilhelm. If you're curious, you can find him in the library. In fact, I'd suggest you do. It might help bring you back down to Earth..after all, he does tell the truth, even if he isn't very trustworthy..and even though he is rather annoying sometimes.

Oh..and if he offer you a deal or an offer, don't accept. I wouldn't recommend it. I doubt he will right now, but it's good to know for future reference."

..Tohko had no idea why she was spilling so much information to this jerk. Perhaps, even to jerks, she couldn't shake the need to help out and talk about things in the Tower nicely.

It was really hard not to roll his eyes and repeat her in a mocking tone. Jeez, he got it, she didn't like him. Some people didn't. Usually he didn't have a hard time ignoring his haters, but it was pretty difficult when they were right up in your face.

"Yeah, how is this guy always telling the truth if he's 'tricking everyone '?"

He figured he might actually want to go see this Wilhelm guy, though. Just out of curiosity. Maybe he could shed some light on everything if he was always telling the truth, right? Or maybe he'd trick Tahno...? He wasn't really sure.

"Thanks for the advice, I guess. Even if you are being a little snot about it."

He really was grateful for her last piece of advice. He took a lot of offers. He probably would've taken that one, too, had Tohko not just warned him about it.

Tohko sighed.

"In his universe, he's tricking people by remaining in the shadows and hiding the truth. No one suspects him because he seems pretty innocent. However, he'll spill the truth about himself here. After all, he has nothing to lose. His goal won't be put into checkmate if he blabs here."

Tohko then glared at him.

"You're welcome..but how am I being a little snot? You should look at what you've said and done and consider why I've been so harsh to you."

He listened quietly, staring at the opposite wall.

"What's his goal, then?"

He wasn't so curious because he cared about this guy, but he did wonder why someone would change so much after being put here. Was the same thing going to happen to him?

"Don't act like you were all smiles and roses when you got here," he growled, looking at her from the corner of his eye. "I'm surprised you'd be such a pain to a new guy. Especially me."

Adding that last part was dumb, but it was just such a habit now. Everyone at home loved him. Nobody at home would treat him this way. The fact that she didn't know who he was... well, that was just... so weird.

"His goal is to save his universe by using the Eternal Recurrence until people can break the cycle and live without it. The Eternal Recurrence will send his universe back to the beginning, which puts history in a constant loop until people can smash out of it."

Tohko sighed as she told the guy about this. She liked Wilhelm's goal, but she didn't like his method..even though it was hard to come up with alternatives. However, she wasn't going to give up. She did give a very small smile when the guy said he was a new arrival.

"I admit, I wasn't happy when I arrived..but I adjusted pretty quickly. After all, I'm sure we'll all be able to go home soon, so worrying and getting too mad and sad won't help a thing.

And I yelled about you because you insulted, me, a friend back home, and books. I don't care whether you're a new resident or an old one, I won't let you off the hook if you do that."

Tahno blinked. That goal seemed like a lot to take in. Was the whole universe doomed or something? And how could anyone reset time?

He wasn't in any shape to care about that right now. So he just nodded absentmindedly.

"What makes you think we'll go home?" he asked, his voice sounding a bit more hopeful than he was expecting. He would like to go home.

He rolled his eyes at the last few sentences, but didn't comment. He couldn't find a witty comeback this time.

Edited 2012-12-24 06:55 (UTC)

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