Cause we're just under the upperhand

[knightime]

Characters: Dave Strider and anyone who wants to run into the teen
Setting: Around the Tower
Format: Either
Summary: Dave is running from something only he can see because of his illness.
Warnings: Paranoia, Insanity, the usual Animus problems


[Dorm Levels]
You might be lucky to run into Dave here. He's been kind of absent from the dorm levels as of late. You might have been lucky to catch him the few days he actually has been in his dorm, but he usually only tries to sleep before disappearing off again. His poor Pokemon, Missy, has been waiting at the foot of his bed for him forlornly. At least he brings her food before disappearing again.

Right now, he's wandering aimlessly the floor. He keeps looking behind him, expecting something and sometimes he'll pick up his pace as though he has seen something.

He'll eventually start making his way to the stairs though. He really doesn't look like he wants to stick around here that long. He looks exhausted and his movements aren't up to par as they usually are from the looks of it.

[Floor 48: Graveyard]
Dave has started frequenting this floor, even if it was morbid. He kind of just like staring at all the names across the headstones. He makes daily visits to some of his friends' tombstones. He knows there's nothing in them, but it makes him feel better to leave flowers or something once in awhile.

Right now? He's running. He's running as fast as his feet can take him. He's mumbling and tripping over his feet and it looks like he's running from something. What it is? Well, no one else can see it. Only him.

[Floor 40: Storage Room]
He's basically tried to wedge himself in some corner, hands clutched over his ears and threaded in his hair and he has his face buried against his knees. Dave likes floors like these right now, because he doesn't think people frequent them as much. The less he has to be around people, the better.

[Floor 25: Meadow]
Dave had been going to this floor to avoid the cold. For some reason, it stays in Springtime weather, which he isn't going to complain about because it beats the rest of the tower. But he'll move soon. He can't stay on a floor for too long. If he does, the creatures trying to control him will find him and try again.

For now though, he's going to take advantage of the fact that he can be relatively warm for this short moment.

Comments

Graveyard.

[heirterosexual]

So it's actually a little bit frustrating to be John Egbert lately. He's blissfully ignorant about some of the awful things the Tower can inflict upon people, he's spared most of the horrors. But this results in him having to watch everyone else lose their marbles in a level of frequency that he finds frankly preposterous. This has resulted in a lot of unintentional games of Hide and Go-Seek, which to be quite honest John is getting pretty goddamn tired of.

He doesn't really care for the Graveyard floor, because it's spooky and just a little bit too quiet. And also because it's a freaking graveyard. But when he has once again exhausted most of his other options in looking for Dave, Floor 48 is where he turns. He's come across the fair-haired Knight here a handful of times, though today would mark the first day he chose to confront him.

'Course, when you wander onto a floor that is made up of a bunch of graves only to find you best friend running full-tilt as fast as his scrawny little legs can carry him, most people are gonna stop to figure out what the fuck is going on. So this time, instead of just being satisfied in knowing Dave's location within the Tower, John kicks up a good breeze and high-tails it after Dave, reaching out to grab his shoulder when he's caught up.

"Dave!"

[knightime]

Dave didn't recognize John's voice for a moment. He knew it was John's voice, but he had trouble discerning everything from each other, that it took his mind to catch up with him. He was just much too tired to really figure things out quickly, but he had trouble convincing himself to sleep. Not when you wake up and the faceless clockwork creatures are the first thing you see when you open your eyes, looming over you like a vulture.

So his reaction? He turns and smacks John's hand away. He has his teeth gritted and Dave looks like he's about to retaliate at John, until he finally realizes who it is. The worst part, is although Dave goes to a more leisured pose, he still looks tense. Because it's not just John. It's John being controlled by some faceless monster. He can't even let his guard drop around his best friend because they even got ahold of him. "John?"

But at least he stopped running, although the way he shifts his body, it seems like he's trying to glance behind John every so often.

[heirterosexual]

He recoiled his hand when Dave smacked at it and tried not to be sort of put-off by it, but his mouth curved into a frown anyway. He sank to his feet and looked up at Dave and his shades and his relaxed-but-tense posture, and just scrunched his face up in confusion, and a minor amount of irritation.

"Jeez, what the hell, dude. You training for some marathon you're not telling me about? Where's the fire?"

[knightime]

Dave took a step back, instinctively. He wanted to put space between them without there being too much space that it seemed like he was distancing himself from John, but he honestly wanted to bolt towards the staircase.

"It's not a fire." But would explaining even help? John was being controlled. It could easily control him to think that whatever Dave says is fiction. But he knows it's real. It has to be. He's running from things that want to take control of him.

Dorm Levels

[tohko_amano]

[Since Tohko had gotten better about moving about, going to sleep in her dorm room was not a problem. Nor was just spending time there, bored out of her mind.

However, the moment she heard two..monsters talking in the corner of the room, she jumped right out of bed. Their voices sounded alien, and they were talking about killing her. One was arguing that they should just eat her right there and then and the other was saying that it would be much better to stone her and let her face her fate.]

S-shut up! I may not be able to feel you, but I can see you! I-I don't know how you got in here, but..but I won't let you kill me! I have things to do!

[The monsters merely laughed at her, and since it sounded like they were coming closer, Tohko drew her dagger and quickly ran to the other side of the room, banged her fist on the door twice to find the knob, opened the door, and ran out in the hall way.

So, while Dave is walking about, he might see Tohko running for her life with a dagger in her hand. Those voices kept getting closer and closer, and Tohko could hear everything-they were going to skin her to the bone, boil her, hell, they talked about bargaining with Wilhelm and getting him to kill her slowly. As she ran, she screamed.]

Go away! Just go away and leave me alone! Who are you anyway? Why do you want to kill me?!

[knightime]

[Dave's initial reaction? To fucking run. You would too if you saw a girl running with a knife in her hand and some creepy ass clockwork monster looming over her and you think that fucker is controlling her.

But he stands his ground and even tries to approach her.]

Hey...?

[He assumes her actions and the stuff coming out of her mouth is because she's being controlled, but at least he's trying.] What's wrong? [He glances above her. He instinctively considers attacking it maybe. It might leave her alone if he attacks it. But he didn't want to get her hurt either.]

[tohko_amano]

[Upon hearing the guy, Tohko paused for a moment, but kept jogging in place. She had to be ready to run. Those monsters..they were now talking about cutting out her eyeballs, forcing her to be blind forever, and they were talking about cutting off her ears so that she would be dead to the world right now. A third voice chimed in, saying that they should do all that to both her and this boy. Tohko didn't know who he was, but she wasn't going to let him die!]

Don't you hear them? There are three monsters behind us, and they're all talking about killing you and me! I can't fight well like this, so we'll both have to run! C'mon, let's go! I'm sorry I can't grab onto you, but we'll both just have to run!

[And, since those voices were getting closer-oh god, their laughter was the stuff nightmares were made of-she started to move forward a little bit, hoping she would hear the boy moving alongside her.]

[knightime]

[Except Dave didn't follow her, because that would be kind of a strange thing for him to do. While she felt like she was being chased by things, he felt like that the monster was looming right over her. It seemed like suicide to follow someone who could potentially attack him because one of the creatures controlling someone decided to get violent.]

Uh... [Although he also felt bad, because she looked so distressed, but at the same time...it was likely the creature above her was making her act distressed. He couldn't tell how irrational it was him to think that she was being controlled by something, much less the entire tower.]

Storage Room

[wolfbat_captain]

The restaurant's stupid fetch quests sometimes struck Tahno as too difficult for the one meal they awarded, but this time he figured it wasn't so bad. He'd just go to the storage room and see if he could find the item resting in one of the boxes.

What he was not expecting was a kid wedged in a corner, looking like hell. Curious as to why Dave was there, Tahno asked in the most polite way he could.

"Playing hide-and-seek, kid?"

[knightime]

Dave wasn't really expecting anyone to be in here. His head shot up, his shades obscuring his eyes, but it was still obvious he was surprised to see Tahno in here.

"Kind of. Yeah." Hiding from monsters that didn't actually exist. Yep.

[wolfbat_captain]

"What are you hiding from?" he asked, eyes narrowing. "You're taking this a bit too seriously for it to be a game."

He was one to talk. He'd be the same way if he was a professional hide-and-seeker instead of a pro-bender.

[knightime]

Maybe he should look into being a part time professional hide-and-seeker. For some reason, hide-n-seek tends to be a reoccuring theme with Animus. Or at least the hiding from shit you don't want to deal with, part.

"Things. Things that are worth hiding from." Because that was so descriptive and helpful.

Meadow

[myblueskies]

Romeo was here for much the same reasons, because it was warmer than elsewhere. He seemed to be talking to someone, or to himself. Either way only Romeo was there. "But why? That's not a good reason. Why do you got to hurt them?"

He was stood in the middle of the meadow, and didn't seem to see Dave at all, so engrossed in his serious conversation with thin air.

[knightime]

Dave heard and saw Romeo, but didn't know what to do. He was frozen to the spot, unsure to leave while undetected or to approach Romeo. Romeo was one of the few whom have been here longer than he has and that he had spoken to on a daily basis.

But Romeo was talking to something. Someone. He wasn't sure who, but then again, maybe it was the creature controlling Romeo who was making him say those things.

[myblueskies]

Romeo blinked and seemed to snap out of his weird state, he looked sad but smiled when he saw Dave and ran over. "Hello Dave!" His eyes were feverish and he was shivering.

[knightime]

Dave's initial reaction was to back away when Romeo starts running towards him. He doesn't though, keeping his feet firmly in place and unmoving. "Hey."

Time for Dave to say the obvious. "You look like shit, holy crap."

Graveyard

[warriorscribe]

In the absence of other people, Enoch made his way down the stairs, unsteady in this persistent sickness, to brush snow off the graves. Everyone was trying to keep them from escape. Perhaps they'd been promised something. Perhaps they knew something he needed to know, and weren't sharing.

And then he sees a familiar face, running as fast as he can. With that look of panic, at least, it precludes him accusing him of sabotage. For now, at least.

"Dave?" Enoch takes out his Arch, willing to fight to protect him, even sick as he is. But no monster comes in pursuit. "What are you running from?"

[knightime]

Dave stumbled to a stop and he stood stock still as he realized that Enoch was here. Oh god. He meant to respond to Enoch, but Dave had his sword in his hand and whatever was chasing him, he lashed out at. Which is to say...it just looked like Dave was lashing out at air. "Just fuck off. Don't touch me." And was yelling at nothing. He took a few leaps back to put distance between the monster and himself.

"You can't see it?" Dave isn't surprised, but it would have been nice to know someone who saw what he was seeing.

[warriorscribe]

"I can't." Enoch makes his way towards the fight, Arch out and at his side. He's going to try to walk through whatever Dave sees to try and get him to realize it doesn't exist.

[Floor 40]

[lethechained]

[The thing about hiding out from illness is that holing up in one's room gets really old, really fast. This is less true for someone like her, someone used to staying in one place for long periods of time and someone who knows how to keep herself entertained, but even for her, it is a limitation that has worn very thin. It reminds her entirely too much of a time when there was no choice where she went and when, when she couldn't just walk out the door any time she wanted to.]

[Perhaps it's out of a desire for fresh(er) air, or perhaps she's just gone stir-crazy, but with some internal convincing that if she keeps out of the way of others she'll surely be fine, she at last ventures out of her room and to the elevator. She's not certain exactly where any of the people she might need to avoid could be, and thus she ends up on the fourty-first floor, intending to make her way down to the lounge, the nearest comfortable place to spend a little time 'out'. She's in a bit of a hurry to make it down to the fortieth floor (and away from the dark level above it) so when she comes down the stairs, her footsteps are hurried. They slow as she reaches the bottom, pause a moment as she glances around - just to be sure nothing unwelcome is about - and then continue again. Looks like he's not alone anymore. She hasn't seen him yet, but who's to say she won't soon?]

[knightime]

[Dave had been trying to hole himself everywhere else that wasn't his room.

She may have her the sound of boxes shifting ever so slightly as Dave tried to push himself farther into the crevice he had hid himself in. He heard her footsteps and it scared him. If he hid farther in, the monsters won't find him. Everyone controlled by monsters too. He can stay alone until this was all gone and done with. That would be nice.]

[lethechained]

[She comes to an abrupt halt at that sound, uncertain if she truly heard something or if it was just her imagination. In a place like this, knowing that could be a matter of life and death. At first she considers turning around and going right back the way she came, but... she's almost certain she can sense someone's heart nearby. Concerned, she hesitates another few moments, then slowly begins to walk again, this time purposely headed in his general direction.]

Meadow

[plushaeusrumpified]

If there's a floor without cold, you can bet your ass Bro is going to find it. And he has, which is why he's currently here. It's not for long- he obviously can't stay here forever, especially when there's more important shit to be doing. But for now, he's here. He's here and he's enjoying the fuck out of the fact that it's not Antarctica levels of cold. It feels like he can actually piss here without his pee stream freezing mid flight. How fucking awesome is that?

The answer is very.

He isn't too surprised to see Dave here when he does show up, though. This is essentially the Strider floor this month, considering the two of them are used to Texas weather. But immediately when he sees him, he can tell something is off. And if something is off, that means that the tower is probably doing something. God fucking damn it.

"Dave?" he calls out, trying his best not to assume that anything really is the matter. Maybe he's just over thinking it. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe Dave is completely fine and there's nothing wrong at all.

[knightime]

Dave jumped, slightly startled. He hadn't even realize there was someone else on this floor. That was kind of dumb of him to think and it's kind of bad that he's too tired to realize that other people were around.

"Uh, hey." Try to act calm. Try to act calm even though your Bro is being controlled by some shitty monster thing. He could do this. Act casual and then find a reason to abscond. He can do this. "It's cold everywhere else." Trying to make smalltalk.

[plushaeusrumpified]

Well, he... seems normal enough. Pointing out the obvious aside, Bro hopes that maybe he was just imagining things. Or maybe that's just his optimism getting the better of him. Either way, he's still going to be slightly guarded as he steps closer to Dave. "Yeah, no kidding." He stops a foot or two away from Dave. "I've been coming up here as often as possible just because it's the one place I'm not at risk of freezing my ass off."