001 ♃ Sheba and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

[seekinganswers]

Characters: Sheba and YOU!
Setting: Room 2-05 | Dormitory Level 2 | Floor 01 | Floor 03 | Anywhere else interaction may lead - she's exploring and getting a feel for the Tower, after all!
Format: Starting with brackets, but I'll follow you!
Summary: Sheba wakes to find that she's been "rescued" from her presumed-to-be-destroyed world. This would be less of a slap in the face if she hadn't spent the last couple of months on a quest which practically everyone assumed was going to - you guessed it! - destroy her world. Oops.
Warnings: Nothing really, but I'll edit this if that changes.

[ROOM 2-05]
[Sheba's heart was pounding so hard she thought it was going to beat right out of her chest. There was someone there, she couldn't see where exactly there were but she could practically feel someone there, they'd been there for at least twenty seconds, maybe more, why couldn't she scream, why--

Praise everything, she could move! Trembling, she rolled over onto one side, and the feeling slowly began to fade away. Had someone been there? She wasn't sure... It had seemed so real then, but now she was starting to feel a little silly, even with her heart beating wildly and her breathing coming shallowly... There didn't seem to be anyone in this room other than...

Wait. This room... what...?]

Where--?

[She eased herself up into a sitting position and gave the room a cursory once-over.]

This... isn't Mars Lighthouse. It isn't even Prox.

[She drew her knees up to her chest and frowned when she realized that not only were her surroundings different, her clothing was, too. She'd never seen a jumpsuit like this in Weyard... what in the world...?

Her entire mind felt jumbled. Felix had lit the Mars beacon -- and then what? She just couldn't remember, but they must have gotten off the Lighthouse Aerie somehow... She'd have remembered if it had been a repeat of Venus. But why couldn't she remember? He'd cast the Mars Star and then... and then...

Her gaze rested on a nearby piece of paper and she hesitantly reached out to take it. She scanned its contents once, twice. Her face went absolutely pale and the letter slipped out of her hands.]

It can't be...

[DORMITORY LEVEL 2]
[She still felt numb, but sitting around had never helped anyone. She'd been through enough unpleasant situations in her life to know that sometimes you just had to force yourself to keep going. This was one of those times.

The collar was strange, but luckily she'd found her usual clothes in the trunk at the foot of her bed. That, at least, made her feel a little less awkward in this new environment. She'd also found her staff, which she was gripping rather tightly in both her hands as she slipped through the doorway and out into the hall.

...okay... just this level was a lot bigger than she thought it was going to be. She took a breath. She could do this. It was just... going to take a little more time than she thought it was, that's all.

Rule number one of surviving in an unfamiliar place: Make it stop being unfamiliar as quickly as possible. That meant exploring. Presumably, she was meant to be living in that room, so she needed to make sure she knew exactly where it was, exactly how to find it, and exactly what was nearby.

She needed to know if there were others here. If they were friendly, hostile... and she needed to know fast. The fastest way to do that would be mind reading. And while she wasn't sure if she'd like what she found here or not, she had to at least try.

The privacy of others was the least of Sheba's concerns, at this point. So as she walked down the hall, trying to commit as many details to memory as she could, she called upon her Psynergy and cast it out around her, listening closely for the thoughts of others to see if there was anything interesting - or useful - that she might hear.

Anyone with the ability to use or detect magical energy would most likely notice the attempted intrusion into their minds. There was nothing subtle about the Mind Read Psynergy.

She sure looked like just another lost newbie wandering the hall, though.]

[FLOOR 01]
[The elevator that had taken her from the dormitory levels down to the first floor was nothing like the elevators in the Elemental Lighthouses. That was just another entry on Sheba's mental list of things that were absurdly strange about this place, and while she was, at first, a little apprehensive about actually getting into the strange metal contraption, well, she'd faced more frightening things in her life. What was being shut into a metal box compared to fighting a "miraculous" three-headed dragon?

Still, she couldn't help but let out a little sigh of relief as the doors opened and she stepped out onto the first floor. It wasn't as frightening as some things she'd seen, but it was still weird.

The dining hall wasn't so weird, though. There hadn't really been anything of this scale in Lalivero, but Babi's palace had been huge, and though she'd taken her meals in her own room, she knew that many of his soldiers all took their meals in a single mess hall. This was sort of what she imagined it would look like, just... a little more pristine than she was used to. Babi's palace hadn't been messy by any means, but the sleekness of this strange tower made the palace look downright old-fashioned.

She sniffed. It smelled like... eggs? She hadn't had eggs in a very long time. Traveling fare had been pretty basic - the less said of some of their attempts to cook on the road, the better. Eggs were definitely something she'd learned to go without. But she supposed they wouldn't be too bad now... She stepped into the cafeteria and made her way up to get some food.]

...how did I wind up with this...?

[Minutes later, she was seated at a small table, staring down at her bowl of oatmeal with an expression that bordered on petulant. It wasn't bad compared to some of the... rather creative attempts at meals her traveling companions had made - she winced a little at the thought, because she hadn't seen any of them yet, and if that note had been telling the truth, she never would again - but it just seemed somewhat... lacking, compared to what she could see other people eating.

With a sigh, she spooned up a small bite and brought it to her mouth. Well, it wasn't bad... She'd had worse when it had been Jenna's or Garet's turn to cook. It just... wasn't good, either...]

[FLOOR 03]
[Her first meal finished, Sheba had decided to continue her exploration of the tower. She'd done little more than just glance in at the infirmary - she hadn't been injured just yet, after all - and had continued on up the stairs.

The library was... breathtaking.]

Kraden, look--

[She cut herself off mere moments after speaking. The old scholar would have loved this floor, she was sure... but he wasn't here anymore. She swallowed hard and approached one of the shelves. The titles all sounded... academic. Complicated. Maybe even boring.

Kraden would have loved these.

She turned away from the shelf with a little more force than was really necessary, blinking rapidly. It was just starting to sink in...

Kraden... Jenna... Piers... Felix...

All the others...

Faran... his family...]

I'm never going to see them again.

[They were gone. Weyard was gone. It was... it was...

She took a deep breath and counted to three. It didn't help - she was starting to tremble again. Frustrated with herself for not being able to keep it in, she grabbed the thickest book she could find, hurried to the nearest chair, and sank into it.

She opened the book, not really caring what page she was on as long as it gave her something to focus on other than the fact that all the people she'd ever cared about were gone.]

Comments

[seekinganswers]

...I was wondering, actually. The note I found when I woke up said something about a "network"... but I don't quite... understand what it means by that.

The instructions seem straightforward, but...

[Technology? She doesn't get it.]

[tohko_amano]

[It's alright. Tohko has already taught one person how to use the computers. She smiled and nodded at that.]

Ah, the note was talking to the computer network. Follow me, I'll show you how it works.

[Tohko motioned for the girl to follow her as she moved back towards the computers.]

[seekinganswers]

[Sheba got up from the chair carefully, watching as Tohko made her way to the computers.

The book girl seemed remarkably kind. Still, she'd feel a little better about all this if she could know... Tohko's privacy wasn't really Sheba's priority. Surviving was. So, before she took too many steps after her, she focused her Psynergy on trying to read the other girl's mind.]

What is a "computer"...?

[tohko_amano]

[In Tohko's mind, Sheba would find that she was remembering how she taught Nesir so that she could teach Sheba. And thinking about which snack to eat later afterwards..Faust or The Divine Comeday? Unaware that her mind was being read, Tohko smiled and tapped the computer near her.]

This is. You use it to get onto the network, which is basically a communications device that you can use to talk to or send messages to anyone in the Tower.

[seekinganswers]

...?

[Sheba looked puzzled, but luckily that could be attributed to the crash-course on computers.

Those were... rather odd things to have for snacks, Sheba thought...]

...anyone can use these? They're safe to use?

[She eyed the network terminal a little suspiciously. She could talk to anyone in the Tower with that...?]

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko smiled and nodded, unaware of what had just happened.]

Yup! You use the keyboard to type and the mouse to move around the cursor on the screen so that you can click on things and do other things on the computer.

[Tohko pointed to both objects as she talked.]

[seekinganswers]

That seems easy enough...

[Her gaze slowly shifted between the mouse, the keyboard, and the screen.]

But how is it possible for the things I do on this small screen to be seen by the entire tower..?

[tohko_amano]

Because everyone can use the computers to see whats on the network. Unless you hide it, everyone who is on the network, and therefore, everyone in the Tower, can see what you write.

[seekinganswers]

...but that's only for people who actually use the computers. There's no way to guarantee that a specific person will look at it, is there...?

[tohko_amano]

Well, since everyone ends up looking at the computers for information, it's a pretty good bet that people will look at it. Not many people don't.

[seekinganswers]

I see...

[She could post a message just in case any of her friends were here... but, then what? If Weyard had been destroyed for real, if none of her friends had survived, if she never got any answer... that would hurt.]

Thank you for explaining this to me... it's really nice of you.

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko sighed and patted the girl on the head.]

You're welcome..and are you feeling alright?

[seekinganswers]

I'm... feeling as well as can be expected, I think.

[Her world's been destroyed and she probably helped to do it. That's going to be difficult to live with, even in a place like this.]

...does it get any easier, being here?

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko sighed and gave a small smile.]

..In some ways, it does, and in some ways it doesn't. The Administrators games and experiments are cruel..but the friends you make here will stick with you. So it gets easier and harder in some areas.

[seekinganswers]

..!

I'm sorry... did you just say "games and experiments"?

[Surely that can't be right. Surely she must have misheard her...]

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko sighed and nodded.]

I know..it's pretty terrible, but the Administrators do stuff like that to us sometimes.

[seekinganswers]

...but why?

[If this were some sort of punishment for bringing about the end of the world by returning Alchemy to it, well... Sheba could understand that, but... these other people in here didn't have anything to do with the quest, did they?

...this was puzzling.]

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko sighed again.]

..One of the Administrators, Jason, seems to enjoy inflecting pain and seeing what his experiments do to us. Ruana just seems to think of it as a fun game for everyone.

[seekinganswers]

...

[Her eyes narrowed just the slightest bit. She'd never heard these names before, but the actions sounded all too familiar. Perhaps they weren't the same as Saturos and Menardi, but cruelty in any form wasn't something she felt she could sit idly by and let happen. Not when it seemed that some of the others here were innocent bystanders.]

Is that so?

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko sighed and nodded.]

Sadly, it is.

[seekinganswers]

That's not right. They shouldn't be able to get away with that.

[If Felix were here, he'd do something about it, she's sure. But since as far as she knows, he's not... what now?

...if these people could bring her here and save her from the destruction of Weyard, they must be powerful. She'd have to proceed carefully.]

[tohko_amano]

They shouldn't, and everyone in the Tower is working to beat them and get back home..but they've hidden themselves away somewhere, and we find out new information slowly. But I'm sure that we'll be able to beat them someday.

[seekinganswers]

...Return... home?

[She was going to say something else, but that threw her for a loop. She blinked twice.]

But our homes have been destroyed...

[tohko_amano]

[Despite the situation, Tohko managed a small smile and shook her head.]

The Administrators are lying. There are quite a few people here who wouldn't be able to exist if their universes were destroyed, so don't worry. Your universe is fine.

[seekinganswers]

...!

[Sheba's eyes were wide. If what Tohko was saying was true, then Weyard still... existed?

...but if that was so, why was she here? And the timing... everyone said the return of Alchemy would spell Weyard's doom, and just when they returned Alchemy to the world, they...]

How can you know for certain? Has anyone returned home?

[...it was almost too much to hope for...]