Dies Irae

[terreifying]

Characters: Rei, Hojo, Jade!Eridan, and the rest of you
Setting: Floor 27, then the rest of the tower
Format: any
Summary: Rei has finally fully embraced her Angelic side. Details here.
Warnings: Body horror, possible graphic violence

Floor 27 (locked to Hojo)

There was no warning when Rei Ayanami's body changed. The girl didn't even have time to gasp before her mind and her body finally gave out before the overwhelming energy of her core.

Her body collapses into a white, constantly shifting mass. The only thing it has in common with her form seconds ago is its mouth filled with jagged teeth and the thousands of eyes that litter whatever shape it takes. Sometimes it has wings, other times arms and legs spouting at strange angles, and other times spines and tentacles. Once, the center of the mass even turns into Rei's normal eyes and face. No matter how it shifts, the glow of its core shines from within its body. It is too bright. It seems to be something that might explode any second.

Heeee~ey. Brothers? Where are you?

The gaping maw sings in a language unfamiliar to the ears, but all too comprehensible to the mind

Come back. Come stay with me. Let us all be one.

It reaches out, trying to find its brethren. At the same time, it is listening for anyone to possibly respond to its message.

Throughout the Tower

The thing that once was Rei creeps through the tower, sometimes walking on strange limbs, other times shuffling forward because it can't hold a form. Those in the area may feel the heat radiating from its body. Every few "steps," it stops, as if it has thought of something or entered a familiar place.

Those are the only moments that "Rei" can actually think. But what remains of the girl's mind has too many questions and too few answers. What is she now. Where is she. What is she doing. And even that moment is all too brief before the Angel's songs fill her mind again, leaving her with only on urge.

She has to take her brothers back. Back to the womb of their Mother. All of humanity must be one existence again. Even if she must destroy their bodies, she will take them back.

When she encounters a human, her body will shift and lash out. If they are unfortunate enough to get too close, she will devour them with her jaws or envelop them with the ever-changing mass of her body. But her core glows. It is like what remains of Rei is giving those who would resist a chance to stop her.



[OOC: Jade!Eridan will be the one to finally kill Rei]

Comments

Re: Floor 1

[terreifying]

The white mass is wiggling around, trying to find any humans that might be on the floor. To her disappointment, it seems there is no one left. No humans, at least.

But there is something else. Something that feels like another one of her kind. One of those who had come from Father and Mother both. Why had they come? Were they here to watch her complete her great task?

The thousands of eyes shift to focus on the Angel. Then, it starts moving toward him.

[warriorscribe]

Enoch hesitates as the monster approaches. It doesn't seem to be in a hurry, or rushing to attack. Though there is a holiness to his armor and weapon, he himself seems mostly human...but with a trace of that same holiness like a thread that binds him and his armor.

He raises his Arch, stepping into battle stance as it draws near.

And then something in its mass catches his eye. Something not white. Something familiar before it's covered by the shifting again.

"A collar...?"

[terreifying]

She stops in front of him, and then a head forms around her mouth, giving Rei a face resembling her human form. She blinks at Enoch, and continues staring at him.

Did he just say something to her? But for a being like herself, why was he speaking in human tongues?

Which one are you?

The sounds that her mouth emits are not understandable to human ears. In fact, they might even be painful to hear. But the meaning that she sends to his mind should be clear enough.

[warriorscribe]

Enoch flinches when Rei speaks, and it takes him a moment to realize she had spoken in a way he could understand.

"Which one... What do you mean?"

[terreifying]

Which one of Father's children are you? What number have you taken? Are you Angel, Cherubim, or some other class?

[warriorscribe]

*.......This was some other world's angel?

Rei? That would be the sound of a brain temporarily breaking.

Now, after Meridian, Enoch half-suspected God might be some form of eldritch being, but he kind of figured that's why angels had more humanoid appearances.*

Ah...number? *Enoch finds his words spilling out haltingly as he tries to scramble back into a state of coherence.* I'm...I'm a child of man. My name is Enoch, the son of Jared.

*Did Rei's world have Metatron? Was his story the same? She may recognize the name.*

[terreifying]

If he had given her the name of the Metatron, perhaps she would have stopped and let him alone. But she clearly heard him say that he was human.

Child of man, why have you taken the nature of Father's Children?

Regardless, he was still her brother. If she needed, she would absorb him.

[warriorscribe]

Well, that was the problem. Enoch suspected he wasn't quite a normal human anymore (after, you know, immortality and Ceta and surviving that ridiculous fall), and he had thought he might be meant to join the Heavenly host as one of their own, but he had never been told such, he had never asked, and he had no way of knowing he would be known by yet another name even if he was sure.

Well. If he had been sure. This confirmed things.

"I've...it's a blessing from God."

[terreifying]

If she were still human, she would laugh. Father blessed no one, loved no one. He preached not integration, but domination.

Child of man, that is a brave boast. But lies or truth, I will accept and forgive.

Her hands stretch out and grow bigger, seeking to capture him.

[warriorscribe]

"How else-" And then she's reaching for him. Enoch dives out of the way, a hand tugging his cloak off as he hits the ground and rolls to dislodge it - he won't have something she can grab on him.

With his mobility completely unimpeded, Enoch stands and brings the Arch up, holding it protectively in front of him.

"What angel are you? Why are you attacking people here?"

[terreifying]

I am...

Rei completely stops. The face extending from her body seems to be contorting in pain and concentration.

I am...

I am...

IamIamIamIamIam...

There are so many titles she can give herself. The Lord of the Resurrection. The Eternal Life. The Savior. But this man is not asking for a title, but her name.

Her human name echoes in the back of her mind, but her mouth refuses to spit it out. Refuses to admit that she was once human. Refuses to admit that she has no name as an Angel. Refuses to admit that she can only identify her "self" by her human name.

I am Re-

Re-

Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeei.

I am Rei.

I am Rei.

[warriorscribe]

Enoch lowers the Arch a little at the way she seems to have trouble saying her own name. What in the world...?

"Rei. Why are you attacking people, Rei?"

[terreifying]

To save them. To free them.

The Angel side has started to regain control.

[warriorscribe]

To save them? No... Enoch shakes his head. "Rei...even if you kill someone, they'll resurrect here. We can't be freed that way."

[terreifying]

I...cannot?

The white form pulls back, as if recoiling.

I am not like the others. I come in peace. I am not Father's Agent. Mother has let her children multiply and be fruitful. She has given them tools with which they have conquered the earth. Now, at the pinnacle of their achievements, I grant them the ultimate Triumph. They shall come and stand alongside Mother and I.

[warriorscribe]

"You aren't on your world, Rei. Our souls remain here, bound to bodies that won't die."

[terreifying]

Then I will make the body part of myself. They shall live inside me.

[warriorscribe]

"That's not..."

Not how it works, right...? She's killing them, right, not just absorbing them into some sort of pseudo-existence...?

[terreifying]

But that is my mission.

Like all Angels, Rei has one purpose that she will fulfill above all else. And again like the other Angels, it is hard to sway her from her purpose.

[warriorscribe]

"What does a mission mean in a world God can't see?"

It doesn't mean Enoch won't try, now that he (thinks) he has a better idea of why she's doing what she's doing.

[terreifying]

Speak not of Father. My mission comes from Mother.

Two stubborn wills were clashing, but for now, Rei hasn't given up on arguing him down.

[warriorscribe]

"If He can't see here, neither can she."

The concept of the Shekinah, the divine feminine, was something of a tricky one. She was both something that existed separately, and shorthand for God's traits that were supposedly feminine. Given that Enoch had found that gender was surprisingly a non-factor in Heaven, that was one of the first things he had to wonder when he had the free time to do so - was the Shekinah a human invention to adapt their worship the way they needed, or did she really exist?

Clearly, this angel was from a world where the latter is true, but then, given her appearance, she was certainly not from his.

[terreifying]

Father gives life. Mother gives knowledge. She will see where he cannot.

The multitude of eyes on her body should have been some indication of that. She will be all seeing and all knowing. She will connect humanity back to Lilith.

[warriorscribe]

"Are you certain she can see us here?"

If someone could see them...someone from outside...

[terreifying]

Idon'tknow

The thoughts of her human self flash by quickly.