towerofanimus

Entry tags:

intro

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.

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As chaos walked down the stairs, he sensed..Jin in the next room. However, this was not the Jin he knew. Like the Allen here, this Jin was a Testament. Curious and wanting to see an old face, chaos wandered into the room. Even though it was just a projection, the image of the universe dying over and over again, made chaos a little sad. It reminded him of his role, of the fate of his universe if everything was to fail.

"I am happy to see you again, Jin. Even if you're not the Jin from my universe."

When Allen had sensed the arrival of another Testament, he wasn't sure what to think. It wasn't any of the Testaments he knew, and he wasn't sure if that was a relief or a disappointment. But when he felt the other entity enter the same library he was hovering in...well, he might as well say hi and introduce himself, right?

With his uniform on but his mask off, Allen approached the man sitting among the pile of books and cleared his throat.

"Ah, sorry to interrupt, but you're Jin, right? Shion's brother?"

Tohko was cleaning around the library, putting books back where they belonged and picking up a few random bookpiles. She was getting a little worried, to be honest. If it got any colder, people might decide to ransack the library for books to burn. There was no way she was going to let that happen without a fight, but she was worried about it happening in the first place.

As she worked and thought, she noticed a man sitting at a table, reading a book with quite a few books around him. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to talk to a fellow book-lover, she stopped by him for a moment and smiled.

"Good morning. What are you reading? Is it any good?"

For a moment he was silent, not sure how to reply to chaos after learning who and what he is. It's almost awkward to talk with him but he won't let it stop him now.

"I'm glad to see you again too, chaos." Awkward social interactions. How do?

Well, this is strange. Encountering another Testament, one he knows but doesn't know. He had seen Allen with Shion, how he worried for her and how he cared about her but he hadn't been a Testament. Not even close.

"I am. And you're Allen." Shutting his book quietly, he looked over the other curiously even though he knew his eyes wouldn't tell him anything different than what his senses had.

Jin was silent for a moment after Tohko spoke to him. He didn't want to be rude but he so hated to stop in the middle of a sentence. It always made him lose his train of thought and often restarted a paragraph if he did. Once he was finished though, he smiled and looked up to her.

"Good morning. It's very good, a classic. The Phantom of the Opera."

His grandfather had a copy among his collection when both had been alive. Shion had probably sold the house and all the old books their grandfather had collected. He wouldn't be surprised.

chaos nodded and smiled. But if Jin squinted, he'd be able to see trace of sadness on that smile. "If you don't mind my asking..how did you become a Testament? And..you should probably know that before I came to this Tower, I was helping KOS-MOS save the Elsa from burning up in Second Miltia's atmosphere. We had just destroyed Proto Merkabah in my universe."

"Yeah."

It was...strange. He'd paid some attention to Jin, enough to at least get a sense of what he was like. If someone had told him the man would become a Testament, well, he probably would have just laughed. But there was no mistaking the power he felt from him, or the reverse shift to his consciousness. Though he kind of wondered if Jin felt the same way looking at him.

"You might have already heard, but people can come from different universes or even different timelines here. It looks like we're from different Recurrences."

"Oh, that is a good book! The failed romance of Erik, who had the right intentions but the wrong means, and the lovely, trusting Christine is a nice girl, even if she does suffer from Stockholm Syndrome. The whole tale just tastes like a bag full of dark, bittersweet truffles!" Tohko couldn't help but gush when it came to books. She was a book girl, after all.

~~WHY DOES EVERYONE MAKE HER INTO A WARNING ;A;~~

No matter how much Shion had changed over the past year, one thing remained the same, she was pretty oblivious. Bundled up in a blanket, she shuffled past her brother and his book piles, not even noticing anyone was there. Granted, she was scanning the shelves.

He could definitely catch traces of that sadness and his own expression fell at the thought of his death. He didn't like thinking of it but he owed some kid of explanation to chaos at least.

"Colonel Margulis with his sword on Old Miltia."

Badumtsh.

"That was a couple years ago for me."

The same thoughts were going through Jin's mind but more that he could never have imagined Allen as one, could never imagine him not being with Shion when she needed him. It was nonsense!

"I haven't yet, actually. Though it isn't difficult to tell. You weren't a Testament where I've come from. Unless you aren't really Allen Ridgeley."

"It really is a magnificent novel, a masterpiece. My grandfather had an old printed copy in his attic. I'd thought of taking it once or twice in my youth but never could bring myself to do so."

Not that his grandfather would have ever noticed. He had so many books as it was and he never read them. Just collected them and left them to gather dust rather than displaying them nicely.

"I'm glad to meet someone with a love of books. So few people do in my time, especially the printed word rather than the digital things you can get on a connection gear."

"I am, but don't worry. I've gotten used to people remembering me differently."

He took a seat, watching Jin thoughtfully.

"Wilhelm, Shion, Yeshua and KOS-MOS are all here from a Recurrence where I never died."

~~WHY DO SOME PEOPLE NOT?~~

For a moment, he was glad that she didn't notice him. He didn't want his sister to notice him. Still, as she passed by him he barely looked up from his book before looking back down. And then quickly looking up again and standing quickly, stumbling slightly as he made an effort to hide.

He could have turn invisible but that would have been suspicious, yes? No, he'll just sneak quietly out of the library.

chaos was aware of the game called Clue. He hadn't played much of it, but he had heard of it when it existed on Earth. So he had to suppress a chuckle when he heard that line. However, that smile did get a bit nicer. However..hearing that history was altered in that way was pretty terrible.

"I see. In my universe, you both lived on from that battle. I suppose, in your universe, you died, and then met Wilhelm with his Compass in between the Lower Domain and the Collective Unconscious."

~~RUDE everything you wrote is RUDE~~

Too bad, Jin. It turns out that Shion had been right all those years when she complained about books being dusty. All the particles floating around apparently irritated her sinuses, and she sneezed, resulting in losing her grip on her blanket.

She turned to pick it up, and was staring right at him as he tried to slip out.

"...Jin?"

"How often have you needed to explain the difference?"

He's just curious but with that many people here from a different Recurrence then it must have been a few times. Except with Wilhelm. He never needed explanations.

"It must become annoying."

"Well, it's good that you're getting to read it now then. You're in for a treat. It really is a wonderful story."

While the smile from Tohko's face didn't dissipate, she looked a little..puzzled.

"It's sad to hear that people in your universe don't love reading as much, and it's terrible to hear that the printed word doesn't get as much attention. Paper copies of books are much, much better than their digital counterparts."

After all, paper soaked up the emotions and memories you had while reading the book. And you couldn't eat the digital copies.

"Pardon me..but what's a connection gear?"

He'd never played it but some of his studying into the past had revealed the game concept to him. He was sure chaos, of all people, would have understood it. And he was glad to be right, it made the subject of dying slightly more bearable.

"I guess the Jin you know wasn't quite so careless as I had been. You're right though, I did. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse." Shion was in danger. He had to save her.

~~YOU EXPECT SOMETHING ELSE FROM JIN?~~

Damn, damn, damn! His shoulders slumped slightly, hoping vainly that he was only hearing things as he turned around but no. Shion had spotted him. His expression looks slightly pained at the sight of her but them worried.

"Shion."

He never thought he'd see her again. That she'd want to speak with him.

Actually, he had needed to explain it to Wilhelm, and he'd honestly found it kind of fun that time.

"A lot. KOS-MOS is the only one I haven't had to explain it to, since I think Wilhelm beat me to it. Not that I'm complaining, it's gotten pretty tedious."

"There are things more important that they think about these days, I can't blame them. Especially with the Encephalon available, books are outdated. Everyone would rather do a dive and relax."

What a sad idea. He hated that.

"It's a small computer like device." Hmm, he wondered if there was any paper or something nearby. A shame he didn't have one with him or he'd show her but what did a Testament need one for?

~~Brotherly love, maybe?! :|~~

"It's really you..!"

She quickly wrapped the blanket around again, and rushed over to him.

"Oh, Jin, you look... Younger. Is it true? Are you from the past? chaos and KOS-MOS are from a year ago... But you seem younger than that."

"Perhaps..but whether he was or was not, that is what happened to you. I suppose it's a little sad..but even though you're in a different form and from a different universe, it is good to see you. I don't know what our relationship was like in your universe..but if it's possible, I would like to be friends with you, ignoring any personal business that we may have to deal with down the road."

After all, he had managed to be friends with the Allen here. It may be possible to be friends with this Jin too.

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Page 1 of 6

intro

Floor 12

Floor 3

Floor 3

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Floor 3

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