(no subject)

[grimgrimoire]

Characters: Ienzo (now a big boy) and you.
Setting: Room 2-12 and some other places.
Format: Either!
Summary: Science Boy is back in the tower, except he's... significantly less of a boy, now.
Warnings: Ienzo is a ramblin', gamin' man.

 

Room 2-12.

[Ienzo found it extremely disheartening how long it took him to realize that something had gone amiss. The color palette wasn't even that similar; everything was a shade of grey here, it seemed, whereas everything was a shade of brown when he had gone to sleep last. Ienzo withheld most of his immediate reactions upon realizing that his body was not responding to movements; truthfully, it was enough to upset him considerably (what if he had been drugged was a recurring thought), but there was no use showing that. He noticed that there were several other people in this room, which only reinforced that notion.]

[He found the trunk quickly, and pulled on his clothes quickly before continuing. The letters were the second order of business. He read them both in detail (looking confused at the second), and stowed them in his pocket shortly afterwards. From the same pocket, he conjured a pen, and tucked the two journals in the trunk under his arm. Then, only then, did he bother to talk to anyone. He started with the people in his room, though branched out into the hallway. Whoever he asked, the question was the same:]

Excuse me. Can you tell me why I am here?

Floors 1 through 5.

[Greetings, Tower. Did you miss him?]

[Of course, game mechanics are a beautiful thing, and Ienzo doesn't remember anything about his last stint in the tower of souls. Though some other people might, and they would be remembering Ienzo as a little kid in an oversized lab coat who talked so quietly he didn't even use capital letters. Well -- and I know this may be surprising -- the lab coat actually fits now. He's been taken from a much farther point in the timeline, and is now nineteen years old. And yes, he is still quite short.]

[Anyway.]

[Ienzo's strategy for Tower exploration amounted to this: move up the floors one at a time, looking thoroughly at each one. Of course, he could see from the elevator that there were forty-eight of them, so he didn't expect that he would cover the entire Tower in one day; in fact, as soon as he stepped up the staircase and into a forest, he simply decided that he was done with exploration for the day and moved down to the lower floors again. Passerby might find him walking around, inspecting things so mundane that most people wouldn't even give them the time of day, or else sitting down on any available surface (except the floor) to take notes.]

Comments

dorms

[ghostytrainer]

[John was leaving his room to do a bit of exploring, despite the fact that he's sick and really should probably still be in bed. Behind him floats a Dusknoir, who immediately fixes his single-eyed gaze on Ienzo as he approaches. His master's current state seems to have activated his over protective mode. Suddenly everyone is at least slightly suspicious. The Litwick on his shoulder, in contrast, beams at the newcomer and offers a small wave.]

Uhh... [Sniffle.] really wish I could, but I am still not even sure why I am here so...sorry. [Cough.]

dorms

[grimgrimoire]

[Almost immediately, Ienzo's gaze meets that of the Dusknoir's. Even through his indifferent expression, it's obvious that he has no idea what that thing is that's walking behind the boy... and he's not exactly sure that he likes it. Casually, the man shifts the journals to his non-dominant hand, so that he can summon a weapon should the need arise.]

[Eventually he's forced to break off the one-eyed staring contest and regard John instead... as well as the little candle-shaped monster sitting on his shoulder. What on Earth were those things?]

Hm... well, thank you regardless. [He does tilt his head slightly at the sniffling and coughing. Does this boy have a cold? ...Well, it's none of his business, unless he contracts it.] Do you at least know where 'here' is?

[ghostytrainer]

[He's still got his eye on you, Ienzo. Not even blinking. He is watching you.]

Uhhh...well I know it's a tower. And that's about it, really. It's not on any of our homeworlds since those were all supposedly destroyed. Personally I don't believe it, but that still doesn't answer what world exactly this tower is on. I have only been here about a week myself, so I'm probably not the best person to ask. Sorry again.

[grimgrimoire]

[Well he's monitoring you too, Dusknoir. Through one eye. Because he can do that.]

So you only arrived a week ago? Is there anyone you know who has been here for longer than that?

[ghostytrainer]

Yeah, give or take a few days. My friend Dave has been here since...fuck when did he say? [Cough.] I don't remember, but since sometime around the start of the year I think.

Floor 03

[glitchinprincess]

[The third floor library was the closest thing to a racetrack that Vanellope'd found so far. So she wasn't in a kart, but there were rows and corners she could run around, and everything else in there - the people included - were sort of like obstacles.

So, of course, she'd decided to spend some time skipping about. When Ienzo made his way to the third floor for his explorations, she was there. And since he looked pret-ty different from what she was used to, well, she just skipped right on over to him.]

What'cha doin'?

[grimgrimoire]

Stop running! This is a library, not a playground!

[That was the first thing Ienzo said when he saw Vanellope skipping and running around. The command was loud, authoritative, and made from force of habit... many times he had tried to pull that in his own library, and someone was always there to remind him how utterly wrong that was.]

[His tone becomes much less strict when he answered her question, though.] I am looking around this floor. Some of the books may contain insight onto the situation that I -- and presumably, you too -- have found myself in.

[glitchinprincess]

[She skidded to a stop when Ienzo told her to stop running, but, being Vanellope... just started it up again the second he looked away. Sigh.

But when he answered her, she tilted her head to the side and studied him.]

So wait wait wait, what are ya, a librarian or somethin'? How do you know what all the books in here might have? How long have you been here for? How come your hair covers your face like that? When was the last time you had a haircut? Do you read books a lot? What's your favorite book? What do you know about this place?

[grimgrimoire]

[Ienzo sighed irritably, keeping an ear out if she crashed into anything but otherwise going back to his work. Children. He hated them. When she arrived in front of him again, he kept his expression neutral. Child, why would you ask all those questions? You thought that Ienzo wouldn't be able to keep up with all of them, didn't you?]

[You thought wrong.]

No, I'm not a librarian, I'm a scientist, and I don't know what the books in here have so I'm here now to find out. I've been here for only a couple of hours. My hair covers my face because this is the way it grows. I cut it a few weeks ago. I do read books a lot, though if I mentioned any of my favorite books you would almost certainly not be familiar with them. I know little to nothing about this tower.

[Using a complete lineface, he shot back his answers just as fast as Vanellope asked them.]

[glitchinprincess]

. . .

[Well, that made one adult who's been able to keep up with her rapid-fire questions so far. Slowly, the expression of surprise on her face shifted into a sly little smile.]

If you're a scientist what kind of experiments do you do? Are you a mad scientist? Have you been in the library the whole time you've been here? How do you know I wouldn't know the books? How come you don't know much about the tower? You've been in a library, haven't you? Have you talked to anyone else? Did they tell you stuff? Have you eaten your oatmeal yet? It's yucky! But if you don't eat it you're going to be throwing up a lot. Which is kinda yucky too but it's kinda cool if you get a really big one and there's someone nearby who gets grossed out and--

Does your face always look like that?

[She jumped up to try and poke his cheek]

C'monnn, pal, gimme a smile!

Room 2-12

[savedbyasong]

[Another roommate; Ellian had disappeared a few days ago so they had had a bed spare. Shion was awake and getting ready for his day, he was busy now that he worked in the library and in the clinic that he and Hojo had set up.] You have been captured, they are claiming that the worlds have ended. We're not sure if it's true or not.

[grimgrimoire]

[Oh, look, a roommate. Ienzo turns to look at him.]

Captured by whom?

[savedbyasong]

Five people with a lot of power. We're not sure if they are native to this world.

[grimgrimoire]

And these five people are...?

[savedbyasong]

Their names are Dax, Riku, Jason, Ruana and Zo. Ruana is in charge.

[myblueskies]

[Romeo saw the man in the library and blinked, because he looked familiar. But Romeo didn't know why, he had never saw the man taking notes before.

Romeo went back to looking for a book, rubbing his hands together to keep them warm. But after a few moments his curiosity got the better of him and he approached the man.

So Ienzo have a bare footed scruffy looking kid with a huge grin on his face approaching.] Hello sir! Are you new?

[grimgrimoire]

[When Ienzo turned around and found a... barefoot... kid... with dirty clothes... standing in front of him, he could really do nothing but blink a few times. What on Earth? Hadn't there been another girl around this boy's age, or younger? She looked perfectly fine! What were they doing to these children?]

[Also, do these bangs look familiar, Romeo? Do they?]

Yes, I... suppose I am.

[After a moment:]

What is your name?

[myblueskies]

[They do... But he's never seen them on an adult before...

He nods sagely to the fact he is new, at least he doesn't look sad. Lots of people looked sad to be here and it was hard to keep all their spirits up.]

My name's Romeo sir! What's yours?

[grimgrimoire]

[Getting him to look sad is quite the interesting adventure.]

My name is Ienzo.

It's a pleasure, Romeo.

[myblueskies]

[With the name Romeo blinked, and blinked again. Because the hair was the same... But he was big! He was an adult and Ienzo was supposed to be littler than Romeo!] But you're big!

[tohko_amano]

[Since her fever had weakened somewhat, Tohko was able to move about the library a little easier, cleaning the shelves and putting books back into their proper spots. However, she still had to be careful-her eyesight was still terrible, so she had to force herself not to trip sometimes, and she would occasionally sneeze over her shoulder.

But what really bothered her was that she couldn't taste the books anymore. She'd sigh she saw a particularly delicious volume, remembering how it tasted. After one such sigh, she turned the corner and saw a boy in a lab coat, scribbling down some notes. Not one to be rude or unhelpful, Tohko walked up to him, suppressing another sneeze.]

Good morning, sir! Need help finding anything?

[grimgrimoire]

[Ienzo looked up at the odd noise, which was in fact Tohko's sneezing. Though when he saw her, he closed his notebook and turned to face her. If this girl was the librarian, it would do nicely to make a good impression.]

No, thank you. [Smile.] I arrived here very recently, so I was just looking around, if you don't mind.

[tohko_amano]

[Darn. Looks like she couldn't suppress that one after all. Tohko hoped she'd get over this cold soon so that she could actually eat again. Tohko returned the smiled and nodded.]

Ah, alright then. If you're a new arrival, would you like me to tell you what I know about the Tower? That way, you'd know what you're up against!

[grimgrimoire]

[...Jackpot.]

That would be very much appreciated, yes.

[tohko_amano]

[However, he shouldn't think that he got this information by being nice. Tohko did this to every newcomer she met. She nodded and thought while she gave the boy her usual infodump.]

Alright then, let's see..This Tower is called Animus. As far as I know, four people run it. There may be more, but right now, I only know about four: Dax, who is a pretty humane person, Riki, who takes care of the records and is rather secretive, Jason, who likes torturing and experimenting the residents, and Ruana, who is a person that's thousands of years old, even if she does act childish. She sees her experiments as fun games and nothing more.

They will lie to you, so take everything they say with a grain of salt. They also take care of the Tower in monthly intervals. This is a Jason month. Since Dax ran the Tower in November and Ruana ran the Tower in December, I guess Riki will run the Tower next month.

At night, monsters roam the Tower. If you don't know how to fight, you had better learn from someone. There are plenty of people here who would be willing to teach you or be your bodyguard for a fee.

If you haven't visited the cafeteria yet, make sure to eat the oatmeal when you do. If you eat anything else before eating that, you'll throw up. I know it tastes terrible, but you can eat anything you want afterwards, and you can add things to it to improve the taste.

Oh, and your world isn't destroyed! There are several people here who wouldn't even be able to exist if their worlds were destroyed, so don't worry. You'll be able to go home eventually.

[Tohko then thought for a moment before nodding.] I believe that's everything.

[She then sneezed several times over her shoulder in rapid succession, probably as a result of talking too long.]