towerofanimus | Definitely not a "vurp" and definitely not something she wants to taste

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Definitely not a "vurp" and definitely not something she wants to taste

Characters: Vanellope and anyone who's willing to talk to a brat with dirty hair!
Setting: First floor cafeteria.
Format: Either or! I'll be starting with action, but I'll follow your lead if you want something else.
Summary: Vanellope has discovered that she has to eat oatmeal and she is not amused.
Warnings: May be vaguely spoilerish if you haven't seen Wreck-It Ralph yet. Also, Vanellope gives inappropriate nicknames.

_{[This day was already turning out to be way weirder than Vanellope wanted to deal with. The last thing she remembered-- those creepy bugs coming out of the ground, and a crash, and Ralph yelling, and then--

...waking up here, and finding that weird note. Luckily the words were all simple enough for her to understand. Unluckily... the words were all simple enough for her to understand. No way could Sugar Rush have been destroyed! Glitches couldn't leave their game, right? And... and...

But those bugs, A small, nagging voice in the back of her mind whispered. Remember those bugs?

She didn't want to deal with it.

Another thing she didn't want to deal with? The jumpsuits. Uh, hello? Totally not her style! Her hoodie was much better racer material, thank you. She'd changed clothes and grabbed a handful of candy from her trunk ASAP.

Exploring the tower was something she definitely needed to do. She found herself at the bottom floor cafeteria more quickly than she would have thought - idly bringing a piece of licorice up to her lips to chew on, she passes through the doors.

A moment later, just after swallowing, she gags. Both hands fly up to her mouth and she makes a dash for the nearest trash can, jumping up to empty her stomach into it.]}

What--?!

_{[When the vomiting subsides, she hops back down onto the floor and eyes the licorice suspiciously.]}

...bad licorice.

_{[With that, she pops a mint into her mouth. A moment later, she has to jump back up to the edge of the trash can. This is not okay. She's sure she could have some fun with it if it didn't make her stomach hurt so bad... but it does hurt. And it's not just one or two candies. She's trying it out with everything she's got, and the result's the same every time. Finally, she collapses on the ground next to the trash can, her face a little green.]}

This really stinks!

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[Her lips twitch up into a small smile.]

We're friends? Really?

[Tohko returned the smile.]

I don't see any reason why we can't be friends. Unless, of course, you don't want to be.

I never said I don't want to be friends! If you want to be friends, we're friends!

[You can never have too many friends. Vanellope decided that after befriending Ralph. She's spent long enough alone, thanks.]

Soooo, new friend, what's the first thing we're gonna do?

Alright then! I'm glad to hear that.

[Tohko took another bite of the oatmeal before replying.]

Well, first I had better tell you the rest of what I know about this Tower. Then we can go exploring, if you want.

[Tohko sighed and thought as she began her usual infodump.]

This Tower is called Animus. As far as I know, four people run it: Dax, who is a rather kind man, Jason, who..experiments on the residents, Riki, who is a secretive fellow that manages the records, and Ruana, who is thousands of years old and is rather childlike. She also performs games and experiments, like Jason.

They will lie to you, so take everything they say with a grain of salt.

Also..your world isn't destroyed. There are a few people here who wouldn't even be able to exist if their universes were destroyed, so the Administrators are lying about that. So, don't worry about that.

[Tohk then thought for a minute more. She told her about the monsters and the oatmeal..so that was it. She nodded to herself.]

And that's everything else.

...experiments?

[And lying... she's not liking the sound of this already. If these are the people who are in charge... then...]

...you're sure it's not destroyed? ...because... I remember, right before I woke up here, there was... there were these awful bugs and they-- They were destroying everything...

[She looks down at the bowl of oatmeal. Thus far, Tohko's been the only one eating from it - thinking about her world and how it might or might not be gone hasn't really put her in the mood to shovel that stuff into her mouth.]

...what kind of stuff is there to explore here?

[Tohko sighed. It was one thing to explain this all to a teenager. It was quite another to explain it to a kid, especially considering how nice this one was.]

Yes..experiments. They're not kind ones either, I'm sorry to say. And trust me, your world isn't destroyed. Perhaps those bugs have failed, and you just didn't see it because the Administrators pulled you here.

[Tohko noticed that the girl wasn't eating much. She knew that it tasted nasty, but if she ate it, she'd be able to eat other things in the future.]

There's a forest floor, and a library, and..right now, there are penguins living in the aquarium floor, if you want to see them. However, you have to eat your oatmeal first..and what's your name?

[Ewwwww, oatmeal... She wrinkled her nose down at the bowl, but if she wasn't going to get to see any of this stuff until she ate her oatmeal, she'd... just have to bite the bullet and do it. She brought her spoon to her lips and nearly gagged on the taste.]

This is gross!

[A few more moments of stalling, and she took another bite, forcing herself to swallow it down.]

...Vanellope. My name's Vanellope. And your name is...?

[Tohko took a bite of the oatmeal with her.]

I know. This is pretty disgusting, but the quicker you eat it, the quicker you can eat something else. Even if we only have nutrition bars this month.

[She then nodded.]

It's nice to meet you, Vanellope. I'm Tohko Amano, the book girl.

Nutrition bars?

Oh, come on, don't we have anything tasty in this place?

[Tohko's introduction isn't ignored, not really - Vanellope did hear her. But the travesty of only having oatmeal and nutrition bars to eat is taking up more of her attention, because she's childish that way.]

Sadly, the menu changes each month, as each Administrator's control of the building rotates. We'll probably get something tastier next month, but until now, it's that..but I'm sure there are a few people that are hunting in the woods. They'd be more than happy to share their game with you.

...

We can go outside?

[Tohko smiled at that.]

No, but there is a whole floor that's just made up of a large forest. Animals live there, even though they attack people. You can cook them and eat them.

Oh... hm.

[That was something to think about. Vicious animals that you could eat... definitely not candy, but on some level they had to be better than this oatmeal.

Speaking of, she manages to force down another bite, and shudders.]

Iiiick...

[Tohko munched on another bite of the stuff.]

I find that it helps if you try to picture it as something that actually tastes good. Like peppermints, or pumpkin cake, or fruit parfaits!

Really..? I'll give that a try...

[She screws up her face in concentration. Come on, oatmeal, taste good! Taste like cakes and candies and all the other yummy things Vanellope's used to breaking off from her surroundings and eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

...

Nope. If the look of utter disgust on her face is any indication, that didn't work.]

[Tohko, noticing the look on Vanellope's face, sighed.]

Sorry..I guess it didn't work. That usually works for me though.

I guess that means you've got a good imagination!

Not that mine's a bad imagination, it's just that this stuff is waaaaaaaaay different from what I usually eat so it's more of a stretch, yanno?

[Tohko gives a small smile and nods. Of course, she also had much more practice, since everything tasted like sand to her except her books. But she wasn't going to say that.]

Right, I gotcha. You're not quite used to using your imagination in this way, and the oatmeal is pretty bad. It would be hard to imagine it to taste good.

Yeeeeeeah, exactly!! You're pretty understanding about things like this, lady.

[Tohko chuckled and scratched her head nervously.]

Ah, thank you. I guess it's because of all of the stories I read..plus, no one else that I know back home can do that, so I've gotten used to it.

You read lots of stories? Will you tell me one? Pleeeeeeeeeease?

[Tohko chuckled.]

Of course I do! I am called the book girl for a reason, you know! And alright. I'll tell you a story..but you have to eat while I'm telling it, alright?

Okaaaaaay.

[She picks up her spoon again and shovels some more of the disgusting oatmealy slop into her mouth, shooting Tohko an expectant look]

M'eatin', m'eatin'!

[...and talking with her mouth full...]

[Tohko chuckled at her reaction and thought about what story she should tell. The Nutcracker? The Jungle Book? Alice In Wonderland? Her own story? After a moment more of thinking, Tohko nodded to herself, closed her eyes, and began.]

Once upon a time, long, long ago, there lived a young girl with short violet hair. While the girls parents didn't think much of it, the villagers were quite scared of her, as violet wasn't a natural hair color for them, and they weren't sure how the girl was born with it. However, even though the girl had trouble making friends, she thrived off the stories her mother told her, which usually involved heroes saving the world. The girl always imagined herself being a hero too.

One day, a traveler came to the village, and while he was quite polite, he was rather quiet and didn't speak much. The villagers, not being huge fans of outsiders, left him alone, but the violet-haired girl was curious, so that night, when he was sitting outside and looking at the stars, the girl sat next to him and asked him why he was traveling and where he was from.

While the man refused to open up a first, he eventually told the girl that he was an immortal, traveling to save the world from his friend, who had decided to end it along with a few other mad scientists. The girl, not wanting him to go alone, and wanting to help, promised to follow him. While he tried to dissuade her, the girl was stubborn and refused to back down. In the morning, the girl said good-bye to her crying parents and started traveling with the man, looking forward to saving the world.

However, what the man hadn't told her was that that it was going to take two hundred years to find his friends. Time meant nothing to the man, but it affected the woman quite a bit. Eventually, the woman, who had become a close friend of the mans, fell down and died of pure old age. The man, who had keep moving, buried the woman and shed a single tear for her.

However, even though he didn't cry much, the man felt terrible about the loss of his good friend and tried to close himself off from humans until he had finished his mission, as the constant meetings and parting he had to deal with scarred him like nothing else could. However, no matter how much time passed, the man never forgot the woman or her violet hair.

...

[Surprisingly, Vanellope was quiet during the entirety of the story, save for the faint sound her spoon made against the bowl as she scooped up more of the oatmeal. By the time Tohko finished her story, the bowl was mostly empty and Vanellope's eyes were watering.]

That's-- That's it? She just died? A-and they never saw each other again?

If he was immortal could he have found a way to make her immortal too?

[She wipes at her eyes.]

But they... they had good times together when they knew each other, right? So that's a good thing too...

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