intro

[wasjustascratch]

Characters: Jin Uzuki (AU2 wasjustascratch) and OPEN
Setting: Room 1-16, Floor 12, Floor 3 library
Format: starting prose but with change
Summary: Jin is new in the tower and explores
Warnings: Angry sister alert?

Room 1-16

Waking in this room, unable to move. For a moment, Jin thought he was dead again but once he died again, he couldn’t come back… could he? It reminded him of when Wihelm had first appeared to him and offered this chance to him, the chance to become a Testament and help him, help Shion. He’d leapt at it. But Wilhelm wasn’t here. He confirmed that when he found his body under his control and sat up, looking confused over his garment and the collar. A collar he attempted to remove before eyeing the letters.

Letter that ended up in a crumbled mess on the floor before burning with from a fire ether. He typically didn’t use fire ethers but this was fitting. So very fitting. He couldn’t believe it. How could he still live if the universe was destroyed? It was ridiculous. Save someone more worth saving. Like Shion…

Going to his trunk, he changed quickly into a black suit and long jacket sans the gloves. A moment later, he quickly hung his katana in his belt after a quick inspection to ensure that it wasn’t damaged. And then he left. For now he was just a regular man exploring the tower, not a Testament.

Floor 12

Jin found himself simply standing on this floor, looking at the stars as they die, watching color vanish and lights explode from dying planets. Studying the phenomenon. He didn’t expect the Lower Domains collapse to be anything like that. Imagining it as death in an instant, everything and everyone ceasing to exist in the same moment. Not even the time to wonder what was happening.

Floor 3

Well now, this was a place he could be comfortable. He’d often browsed through his grandfathers old collection of printed books. Jin had, oddly, always found the past far more interesting that anything his own time had to offer. His family found it strange. He didn’t change anything for them but he didn’t let himself become lost in the past, that was the difference they never seemed to comprehend.

Now he was comfortably seated in the library with several books around him and one opened on his lap, already about a third of the way through it.

Comments

That's alright, my internet was off anyway!

[wasjustascratch]

[Maybe it was for Wilhelm but not for Jin. Who had maybe the tiniest bit of hope of avoiding Wilhelm. Alas, it was not meant to be.]

Interesting, how?

[oforder]

I do not recall making you into a Testament.

[ That said, if Jin were to die, he was at the top of his list of candidates to become one. Of course, Albedo beat him to the punch, and Jin never died himself.

This isn't exactly an unwelcome turn of events. ]

[wasjustascratch]

I see. Then we really are from different recurrences.

[Maybe that was why Wilhelm had been so swift with getting to him when he had died. Although, perhaps he had been with the other Testaments as well. No one ever talked about that.]

[oforder]

[ It varied depending which type of approach was most likely to succeed. In Jin's case, the first thing he would have done was exploit his protectiveness of Shion. Jin might have even worked better than Kevin. ]

That is most likely, yes. Who else did I choose besides yourself?

[wasjustascratch]

[A most effective approach. And it was easy to convince Jin by doing so, in his recurrence.]

Voyager, Kevin, Virgil and Albedo.

[oforder]

I had five, then?

[ Well, there was no rule that said he could only have four. ]

I see. If you are here, however, it means that the eternal recurrence in your universe was successful.

[wasjustascratch]

Yes, you did.

[Exactly.]

I would assume that it was. I was preoccupied when Shion and her friends went to Zarathustra's chamber.

[oforder]

[ That makes sense. Jin would be more likely to interfere than Kevin. ]

With what, might I ask?

[wasjustascratch]

[That's a given, really. Jin would never stand to see his sister tortured.]

Colonel Margulis. He tried to stop them.

[oforder]

He was still a loose end, then.

[ He shook his head, disapprovingly. ]

It appears Voyager and Kevin did not succeed in removing him from the equation in this timeline.

[wasjustascratch]

He was, yes.

[Good riddance, in Jin's opinion. He still holds a grudge, really.]

They did not.

[Surprisingly not talkative for someone who usually enjoys his chance at picking Wilhelm's brain about ancient times. MAYBE IT'S THE SUBJECT OF MARGULIS OR SOMETHING?]

[oforder]

And T-elos?

[wasjustascratch]

As far as I'm aware, she was a success and Mary was properly reawakened.

[oforder]

Good.

[ The Eternal Recurrence was a guaranteed success if Mary rejoined with T-elos. That was basically the point of no return. Of course, it failed in his Recurrence; if it even succeeded. He received mixed signals from Shion. ]

I am unsure of what happened in my own Recurrence. The Compass... was rather confusing.

[wasjustascratch]

The compass...

[What?]

Did something happen to it before you arrived here?

[oforder]

It is here now. However, it will not allow me to predict the actions of the Administrators. I believe they exist outside of the collective subconscious.

[wasjustascratch]

U-DO, sir?

[Most logical conclusion, yes?]

[oforder]

I do not believe so. Although it is possible, I suppose; it would not be the first time U-DO has deceived me.

[wasjustascratch]

Is there anything that we can do?

[oforder]

For now, we remain patient and observant.

[wasjustascratch]

I'll keep any eye out then for anything stranger than this.

[Vague gesture at the tower.]