This is not the home I know

[relinquishing]

Characters: Guy and some of you people out there!
Setting: Room 5-02, the Dormitory levels, Floor 5, and Floor 38.
Format: Preference is brackets, but I'll follow suit.
Summary: When Guy left out on a journey, this is not where he was expecting to end up.
Warnings: Nothing for right now.

ROOM 5-02

[It was a horrifying sensation, not to remember where exactly you were. It was dark and a little bit cold. He could feel and hear. But for an agonizingly long moment, he couldn't do anything else. Words were caught in his throat, and he can feel that flicker of concern rising from deep in his gut. Was it just a nightmare? Maybe he'd drift back to sleep soon...

It's only when that concern slowly turns to panic that Guy's eyes suddenly snap open, breath coming hard as he yanks himself to a sitting position. Was it a dream? Where---

Where is he?

His fingers travel to his neck, eyes scanning the room for anything familiar as he tries to remain calm. These clothes... he's never seen anything like them before. And what the hell was this collar doing around his neck? The note on his bedstand is snatched up and read, but quickly put away soon afterwards.

"Let's all be happy here?" His brow furrows.]

Nice idea. Not sure how happy I'm feeling right now, though. More like I'm being held prisoner or something...

[Happiness wasn't really on his list of things to feel right about now. Not with how little they've seemed to tell him. And especially not if Auldrant's really gone...]

DORMITORY LEVELS

[After a simple change of clothes, Guy goes off to wander. It only takes a little bit of exploring his dormitory halls for Guy to realize just how bare the bedrooms around him are. He can't be the only one around here, right? Peeking in every doorway is starting to get a little tiring, and with no sound and no activity from any of these rooms, he's beginning to get the idea that not many other people live here.

Or, rather, not in this part of the building. Hopefully.

He's not quite in the mood to walk all the way down the stairs. So after a moment's hesitation, he heads upwards, only to find more rooms... and a much larger amount of people. He'll poke his head through the halls of each level, a reigned sense of urgency and concern behind his steps. He will stop if he's spoken to, but for the most part, he looks as if he's searching for someone in particular.]

FLOOR 5

[To be fair, he'd stepped onto the floor purely by accident. And for a very long moment, he didn't regret it whatsoever. The technology that suddenly surrounds him is absolutely astonishing, and had it not been in use, he would probably have been all over it to see how exactly it worked. For the time being, he watches from a distance and observes, awe in his eyes like a kid at a candy store.

That is, until someone directs him to the viewfinders. To see the somewhat familiar terrain of Auldrant in complete ruins, with not even the pool of mud and miasma remaining, strikes Guy cold from the minute he looks. For a long while, it's all he can do - view his world as much as possible and see if anything - anyone - might have survived. The more he watches, the more somber he grows, and he eventually turns away with a bitter disgust.

If this was some sort of joke, it wasn't funny in the least.]

FLOOR 38

[Something about the glass walls and layers of cloud and fog draw Guy off the staircase and into the lounge. He's seen Auldrant in ruins by now, yes. What kind of world had he been dumped on in the process, then?

There may be other people in the room, to which he'll nod his greeting with a tired smile, but he's decided to casually find a spot of these endless windows to lean against, taking a good look down as he does so.]

Man. How high up does this place really go...?

Comments

[holychord]

Yes, I feel fine.

[That was an odd question. She was cold, sure, but she hoped she didn't look ill or something.]

It's good to see you too. But... [She frowned at his phrasing.] Were we separated before you arrived here?

[relinquishing]

Well, yeah. [By a few hundred miles of the earth's core, actually.] You stayed behind in Yulia City. You never really explained why, but the plan to go back up to the Outer Lands was kind of sudden--

Why, is that not what you remember?

[holychord]

I remember that, but... The best way to explain it is that we're not all here from the same point in time. Luke doesn't remember anything after we fought with Major Legretta in Deo Pass. I don't understand it... No one really does.

[Jade didn't even know, so it was pretty serious.]

[relinquishing]

Luke... [LUKE IS HERE oh thank Yulia. He should probably not look so excited, and his composure is easily back withing moments. He'll have to go hunt him down. But Luke not remembering from that far back... not remembering Akzeriuth...

How?]

Do you think these collars - this tower, even - could just be tampering with our memories?

[holychord]

[She nodded]

That could be a possibility. It seems that Jade has been researching on his own, but he hasn't let us know if he's found anything yet. There are places in this tower where Artes don't work as well, so we already know they can tamper with our abilities.

[relinquishing]

[Jade too, huh? Wow, the gang's all here. Sort of.]

If Jade's already got his nose into it, then we'll just have to leave it to him for the time being. In the meantime, we'll just have to watch our backs, right? If whoever is in control here can manage something like that--

[He glances back over at the viewfinder, his expression sombering.]

Well, who knows. You have to wonder if they're just playing tricks.

[holychord]

If they are, they're very dangerous tricks, so I wouldn't take whoever is behind all of this lightly.

[relinquishing]

[He gives a firm nod.]

Wasn't planning on it. I haven't seen much of what they're capable of... well, outside what they show you here. But from the way people keep talking? It doesn't sound very pretty.

[Can you tell he hasn't been to the more horrifying floors of the Tower yet, Tear?]

[holychord]

It's... not.

[Tear HAS been to some of those floors, not that she's EVER going to talk about them. Just thinking about her explorations turned her slightly pale, and she quickly changed the subject.]

Have you eaten yet?

I'm so sorry.

[relinquishing]

Hmm? Not a meal, no. There was a kid running around with cakes earlier, so I tried one for him. But that's all I've had.

[The note mentioned something about oatmeal as the first meal, right? He'd have to look into that soon.]

;A;

[holychord]

The food here isn't that bad. It changes every month, but there's a little variety this time.

[After a moment or two, when her composure was completely regained, her recitation of what she'd learned is was almost a little mechanical sounding. Thankfully, she'd pushed those awful floors from her mind once more, and could drone on in her normal, bland way.]

You have to eat the oatmeal first, but then you can have whatever you'd like. There's a restaurant as well, it's on one of the elevator's stops. But if you eat something there, they send you to find a random object in the tower as payment. If you don't return with it in the specified amount of time, they'll take... one of your body parts. That's what I was told, so I haven't gone there.

[relinquishing]

[Well. That isn't horrifically morbid or anything. Pardon as he looks genuinely uncomfortable.]

...Geez, I don't blame you. If they're doing a penalty like that for a scavenger hunt, then I don't really see why anyone would go there.

[Sigh.] Well, anyways. Oatmeal and the like's on the bottom floor, right?

[holychord]

[She nodded.]

Yes, the cafeteria is the first floor. There's a menu posted there that shows what will be served for the month-- [She stopped short, remembering something else.]

The designations for months and days are different here. The lengths are also different... I don't have every month name memorized yet, but the current month is called January.

[relinquishing]

[That's an odd bit of information. Okay then, Tear.]

If they're claiming to be somewhere that isn't our world, then it only makes sense. Is there at least an easy way to keep track of things like that? And the note they left mentioned something about a network...

[holychord]

[Hey, just wait until someone rattles off a bunch of days and you have no idea what they mean.]

A network..? Oh, probably those fon machines people use. There are some in the library, and on the dorm floors. I haven't used them.

[relinquishing]

[Point taken. His attention is once again drawn immediately at the mention of fon machines.]

They're in the dormitories? Really?? I didn't see them when I was up there - or, well, I guess I didn't get a chance to see them. I wonder if they're difficult to work with. [And how close one is to his bedroom. The gears are already turning in his mind.]

[holychord]

[She nodded.]

I think they're just placed randomly along the corridors. There's one near the Colonel's room. I saw him using it once.

[Which is pretty much the only experience she had with one!]

he's gonna probably start keeling over next tag if that's alright, be prepared

[relinquishing]

I'll have to check it out when I go back upstairs, then. The description sounded basic enough, just not really like anything I'd heard of from Auldrant. But if Jade was able to figure it out, then it shouldn't be that hard.

[He sounds far too excited.]

lmao OKAY poor guy~

[holychord]

[She just gave another nod because... Blah fon machines.]

If you want, I'll accompany you to the cafeteria first, since I was just on my way there. From there, you can take the elevator back to the dorms more easily.

1/ummm

[relinquishing]

[Oh come on, Tear, it's great! :< Well, whatever. Women just don't understand.]

That's awfully kind of you, Tear. Sure, I'm up for it.

[And he is more than ready to just leave this floor behind as a distant memory and never look at those viewfinders again, please and thanks. After you, then?]

2/??

[relinquishing]

[The duo barely crosses the next floor before Guy suddenly starts to slow down. The motion of walking brings a burning sensation up through his neck and throat, and although he doesn't say anything and keeps himself moving, he certainly looks like he isn't feeling well--]

okay we'll just end it here

[relinquishing]

[--and three floors of stairs is about all he can manage before his stomach violently starts to protest, the color completely draining from his face in the process. He stumbles, immediately kneeling down on the stairs with a hand clamped against his mouth, palette already on fire with the taste of bile and desperately trying to swallow back anything else.]

[holychord]

...Guy?!

[Tear had been side eyeing him just a bit as they walked, as he had been looking pretty... unwell. So she quickly crouched next to him, trying to discern what was wrong. She was almost ready to use a healing Arte on him, when it dawned on her.]

You... said you ate a cake earlier, didn't you?

[She stayed next to him, but maybe scooted backward just a bit to make sure she was out of the line of fire.]

[relinquishing]

Y-yeah, but... I didn't think there was anything... wrong with it---

[Oh hell no suddenly fighting the urge to just heave all over the floor. Okay, no more talking from him, he is just going to crouch over with a shudder and keep his head down. Maybe it'll just pass on its own...]

[holychord]

[If it were anyone else, they might have gotten an awkward consoling pat. But since it was Guy... She actually just game him space.]

There probably wasn't anything wrong with it. You really do have to eat oatmeal first.