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

[knightime]

[Well, he's the queen of stubborn, so someone had to eventually cave. Dave wasn't going too, considering he's gotten terribly used to trying to deal with his problems on his own.]

Have fun with that. [He's definitely not joining. He had some issues back in the chapel a bit ago, that he isn't too interested in reliving while dealing with this.] Chapel isn't exactly my favorite place, so don't hold your breath expecting me.

[tohko_amano]

[And Tohko was more stubborn than a nest full of killer bees sometimes. At that statement, Tohko sighed.]

I don't like it either, but it's quiet there. Maybe it'll help.

[knightime]

I died there before, so no. It wouldn't. It'll probably help you more than whatever it can do for me.

[tohko_amano]

I was killed there before too..but that doesn't mean you'll die there now!

[knightime]

Man, you definitely have not talked to me enough. Dying is basically my given specialty. It's like the thing you didn't think you'd be good at doing until you're dying at least once a month. Not that I think I've died recently.

..Tohko will later think back on this and see that she and Dave are smiliar in that regard..

[tohko_amano]

Well..it's good that you haven't died recently..but in this Tower, it's probably normal to have died once or twice! Or even three times!

Tower of Dying. If you haven't died, you haven't lived.

[knightime]

I'm pretty sure I'm around seven. I try not to keep track of it. And this is excluding the time I saw at least fifty of me drop dead when my powers got shut off.

It's a really bad habit of mine.

And if you die too much, they might decide to not bring you back.

[tohko_amano]

[At that, Tohko sighed. She'd pat you on the head, if she could see and feel you.]

I'm sorry to hear that. That's pretty terrible..hopefully you can get better at that in the future. I've only died..about three or four times.

they probably will though because then you can die again

[knightime]

[He rather you not. He doesn't want pats on the head. Maybe a shoulder pat. Got to stay cool.]

You get used to it with time travel. Like, it's just the risk that you're told when shoved into the position. In your contract and everything. Here, it's basically a formality upon getting your ass stuck in this crappy place. Welcome to the Tower. Please remember to die at least once during your stay. Have a good day. Or something.

Ruana might get sick of that eventually though.

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko really didn't care much about being cool, sadly. After all, when you were a book girl, that didn't matter much.]

We don't have time travel in my universe..however, it would have been nice if they asked us whether we wanted to be stuck in a place like this or not, even if they did lie in the asking.

Ruana getting sick of killing them sounds almost laughable.

[knightime]

[Man, Rose is more understanding of Dave's need to be cool.]

You're really expecting them to ask? That's dumb. People do things all the time without asking.

But not impossible.

[tohko_amano]

[But Tohko is not Rose.]

..I'm not expecting them too. I just said it would have been nice if they did.

too bad mods never get tired of being terrible.

[knightime]

There's a lot of things they could do that would be nice, but they aren't ever gonna do those things.

This is true, for better or worse..

[tohko_amano]

Well, they might someday! Dax, at the very least, might.

[knightime]

I wouldn't really count on the others. Maybe Zo along with Dax, but Zo is a kid and he gets the benefit of the doubt.

[tohko_amano]

But just because he's a kid doesn't meant that he can't help out either. You'll find that quite a few heroes in stories are children or young adults.

[knightime]

Do you ever stop and think that what you're saying might have no correlation to our conversation. We were talking about admins and being nice. Not suddenly, they can help and be heroes.

[tohko_amano]

[At this, Tohko sighed. She saw the connection quite clearly, in her mind.]

I'm not saying that Dax and Zo will be completely redeemable heroes, but if they help us get out of here and help take down Ruana and Jason..then they would be pretty large heroes, even if they did have a horrible backstory.

[knightime]

And I'm saying this isn't about being a fucking hero.

[He rolls his eyes behind his shades. Wow, this girl doesn't seem to think on a completely different plane.] It shouldn't be about being a hero. Doing something right doesn't need praise. A thanks would be nice, but to have it outright praised is so over the top. Just fucking do it.

[tohko_amano]

[Sorry, Dave. Tohko tends to be on a different wavelength than most people. Even if what she's saying makes sense to her, sometimes it doesn't to other people. Once again, Tohko sighed.]

You're forgetting that heroes don't always get praise for what they do. They usually just do it because it's the right thing to do.

So, knowing that, it's not hard to think that Dax and Zo might do nice things for us in the future. Or force the others to ask for volunteers for their experiments.

[knightime]

Holy shit. This was never about being a hero. Like Jesus Christ, it's like everything I'm saying is going through one ear and out the other and you're misinterpreting everything I'm saying.

I don't even know how you even got us on this topic in the first place.

[tohko_amano]

That's not true! I'm listening to everything that you're saying. We got here because you mentioned that there were quite a few nice things the Administrators could do, but they weren't ever going to do them. I then mentioned that Dax might, since he seems the most trustworthy of the bunch, and you said that you would only give Dax and Zo the benefit of the doubt, and Zo only because he was a little kid.

I countered and said that heroes in stories-people who help others-could be children. In hindsight, I should have mentioned that there were some anti-hero children as well..but at that point in the conversation, you blew up at me.

[knightime]

Except you keep comparing everything to stories and books and damn definitions! Heroes and bad guys and anti-hero children! We aren't just people you can categorize by those stereotypes and definitions. That's shitty to do. That's shitty to even attempt. It's one thing to consider someone is a hero in your own eyes than actually slapping on the label for everyone to see.

Great. Awesome. Dax can be a hero and so can Zo. What difference does it make calling them a hero?

[tohko_amano]

[..That actually made Tohko pause for a minute, as the wind was taken out of her sails a bit, and before she spoke again, she sighed.]

I'm a book girl, so I tend to bring stories and books into things. However..I didn't mean to slap just one stereotype or trope onto the Administrators or anyone else. For one thing, even though there may be many heroes, villains, and anti-heroes in stories, most of them are unique and different from the ones you would see in different volumes. The hero sometimes isn't that nice of a person either.

However, I wasn't trying to force you to see the Administrators like that. If it seemed like that, then it was my fault and..I apologize.

[..It felt a bit weird to be apologizing like this, but Tohko knew that she was in the wrong here. Besides..if she was ever going to apologize to Konoha properly, she had to get used to it.]

And since Dax and Zo can be heroes, doesn't it give you a bit of hope that someone so close to the Administrators is on their side?