Mello (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
neverwrong) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
towerofanimus2013-01-08 05:05 pm
neverwrong) wrote in towerofanimus2013-01-08 05:05 pm
[01xFirst Deduction] Slightly backdated to last night
Characters: Mello and YOU!
Setting: All around the Tower; specific floors mentioned are dorm levels, floor 47 (the curtain floor), floor 37 (the pitch black, covered in monsters floor), floor 35 (the floating lake), floor 34 (the long strip of land), floor 28 (the music floor), floor 12 (the projection room), floor 10 (the aquarium), and floor 1 (the cafeteria). Seriously, he can literally be found on any floor. Go wild!
Format: Action to start, but I'll match you
Summary: Mello wakes up in the Tower, starts poking around, almost gets killed a few times, freaks out a little, and refuses to eat the oatmeal.
Warnings: Possible swearing in tags, floor 34-induced suicidal thoughts, and vomiting I guess? Will update with more if needed.
[After Mello's initial freakout directed at his poor roommate, he decides to explore the Tower. Dressed in black leather and a long, decorative coat (with the Death Note tucked inside it for safekeeping), and armed with a pistol and a few bars of chocolate, Mello begins his slow trek down the Tower. He explores the dormitory floors first, with the full intention to interrogate anyone he comes across.
At gunpoint.]
[Geniuses are curious people at heart. So naturally, after being kidnapped, Mello wants to learn about this place as much as possible. Unfortunately for Mello, the Tower isn't exactly safe for people like him. When he gets to floor 47, all of the movement out of the corners of his eyes starts to get to him, and he reaches out to try and pull a hanging curtain back.]
Who's there?
[Intervene before he comes across a monster: y/n?]
[He most certainly hears the strange sounds on floor 37. They send a chill up his spine, but he's not the type to back down. Instead of stepping off of the staircase (a move that would certainly invite injury and possible death, though he doesn't know that), he stands in place, trying to strain his eyes to see into the darkness.]
What the hell..?
[When he comes across the floating lake, he stops completely.
As skeptical as he tried to be, all of his careful rationalizations were made worthless the moment he stepped out and saw the floating islands around the Tower. It has to be a dream. A dream, or maybe a hallucination, a projection, something-
But no. He's here now, and he knows that he's awake, and he walks around the edge of the lake looking for supports, or a screen, or something, but nothing's there. He's standing on a floating island. And if he looks down, he can see more floating strips of land below him, as well as more of the Tower, and this doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense, he's seen a lot of strange things in his life and this still makes no goddamned sense at all...
He takes a few unsteady steps down the winding path and toward the long strip of land coming up, leaving the long column of water under the lake behind him.
When he gets to the strip of land - floor 34, though he hasn't cared to keep track by this point - he takes a seat. His mind is racing, his head is spinning, and he's trying to calm himself down and make sense of all this, but it's difficult.
And, adding onto that, he feels a tiny, inexplicable urge to start walking toward the end of the strip...]
[By the time he finally manages to get back into the Tower and past the imminently dangerous floors, Mello has had quite enough. His trek from floors 29 to 1 is spent wandering around, glaring at anyone who comes near him, ruthlessly scrutinizing everything as he snaps off pieces of chocolate.
If you run into Mello on any of these floors, he'll be treading with caution. Expect to see him checking over the instruments that play themselves in the music room, or staring with his head cocked at the endlessly-repeating projection of worlds being destroyed on floor 12, or trying to figure out how the water in the aquarium keeps itself upright, among other things.
Of course, by the time he finally reaches the cafeteria, all of that chocolate has taken its toll on him. He collapses against the nearest trash can and starts to puke. Guess who's standing out as a shining beacon of "did not eat the oatmeal first"?]
Setting: All around the Tower; specific floors mentioned are dorm levels, floor 47 (the curtain floor), floor 37 (the pitch black, covered in monsters floor), floor 35 (the floating lake), floor 34 (the long strip of land), floor 28 (the music floor), floor 12 (the projection room), floor 10 (the aquarium), and floor 1 (the cafeteria). Seriously, he can literally be found on any floor. Go wild!
Format: Action to start, but I'll match you
Summary: Mello wakes up in the Tower, starts poking around, almost gets killed a few times, freaks out a little, and refuses to eat the oatmeal.
Warnings: Possible swearing in tags, floor 34-induced suicidal thoughts, and vomiting I guess? Will update with more if needed.
[After Mello's initial freakout directed at his poor roommate, he decides to explore the Tower. Dressed in black leather and a long, decorative coat (with the Death Note tucked inside it for safekeeping), and armed with a pistol and a few bars of chocolate, Mello begins his slow trek down the Tower. He explores the dormitory floors first, with the full intention to interrogate anyone he comes across.
At gunpoint.]
[Geniuses are curious people at heart. So naturally, after being kidnapped, Mello wants to learn about this place as much as possible. Unfortunately for Mello, the Tower isn't exactly safe for people like him. When he gets to floor 47, all of the movement out of the corners of his eyes starts to get to him, and he reaches out to try and pull a hanging curtain back.]
Who's there?
[Intervene before he comes across a monster: y/n?]
[He most certainly hears the strange sounds on floor 37. They send a chill up his spine, but he's not the type to back down. Instead of stepping off of the staircase (a move that would certainly invite injury and possible death, though he doesn't know that), he stands in place, trying to strain his eyes to see into the darkness.]
What the hell..?
[When he comes across the floating lake, he stops completely.
As skeptical as he tried to be, all of his careful rationalizations were made worthless the moment he stepped out and saw the floating islands around the Tower. It has to be a dream. A dream, or maybe a hallucination, a projection, something-
But no. He's here now, and he knows that he's awake, and he walks around the edge of the lake looking for supports, or a screen, or something, but nothing's there. He's standing on a floating island. And if he looks down, he can see more floating strips of land below him, as well as more of the Tower, and this doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense, he's seen a lot of strange things in his life and this still makes no goddamned sense at all...
He takes a few unsteady steps down the winding path and toward the long strip of land coming up, leaving the long column of water under the lake behind him.
When he gets to the strip of land - floor 34, though he hasn't cared to keep track by this point - he takes a seat. His mind is racing, his head is spinning, and he's trying to calm himself down and make sense of all this, but it's difficult.
And, adding onto that, he feels a tiny, inexplicable urge to start walking toward the end of the strip...]
[By the time he finally manages to get back into the Tower and past the imminently dangerous floors, Mello has had quite enough. His trek from floors 29 to 1 is spent wandering around, glaring at anyone who comes near him, ruthlessly scrutinizing everything as he snaps off pieces of chocolate.
If you run into Mello on any of these floors, he'll be treading with caution. Expect to see him checking over the instruments that play themselves in the music room, or staring with his head cocked at the endlessly-repeating projection of worlds being destroyed on floor 12, or trying to figure out how the water in the aquarium keeps itself upright, among other things.
Of course, by the time he finally reaches the cafeteria, all of that chocolate has taken its toll on him. He collapses against the nearest trash can and starts to puke. Guess who's standing out as a shining beacon of "did not eat the oatmeal first"?]
Floor 34
So far, so good, though. She hadn't really encountered much of anyone this far, but when she got to the floating strip of land, she stopped dead in her tracks. There was someone else out here already...
All in all, he didn't look too good...]
Excuse me... [She was trying not to be too loud; she didn't want to startle him into falling.] Are you alright?
no subject
Does it look like I'm-
[He pressed his lips together and cut himself off. In the interest of not appearing too hopeless in front of someone else, he sucked in a deep breath through his nose before he tried to speak again.]
...This stupid place is driving me crazy. [He stood up, stepping back from the ledge a few steps to avoid falling off.] This- [He gestured around himself.] This island, this building- Am I really supposed to believe my world has been destroyed?
[He'd found the notion laughable at first, but the whole floating islands deal lent the theory a bit more credulity. He wasn't sure if he was ready to believe that his world truly was gone, but it seemed like he would have to expand his horizons and accept that he was no longer on Earth. At the very least, he was in a place on Earth where the laws of physics as he understood them no longer applied.
Shit.]
no subject
[Her expression was sympathetic. He seemed to be new, too - even newer than she was. Had he only just arrived? Maybe. She'd at least had a few days before coming across these floors - if it was his first day here and he'd found this floor so quickly, no wonder his head was spinning.]
That seems to be what they want us to believe. There are a lot of people here who don't believe it, though.
[While she herself wasn't one of them, she wasn't going to try and convince him that his world was gone. Not while he was having such a hard time adjusting. She looked down at the floating island, then raised her head a little so she wouldn't look over the side. She supposes he must not be from somewhere where floating pieces of land - or floating anything, really - were common.]
I'm told it just takes some time to get used to everything... but it can help if you don't face all of this alone. What's your name? I'm Sheba.
[She might not be able to change the fact that she probably helped destroy her own world, and she might not be able to get herself out of this tower, but if there's something she can do to help someone else here, she wants to.]
no subject
He glared at Sheba, and for a moment, it almost seemed like he wasn't going to answer. But finally, he spoke up.]
...Mello. [He shoved his hands into the oversized pockets of his coat, protecting himself against the bite of the cold.] So did you just wake up here too, then? Or have you had more time to get used to it?
[He spit that last part out in a tone that implied he didn't think he would ever get used to such a place.]
no subject
[The glare didn't really faze her too much; she'd seen worse. He wasn't Saturos and Menardi. He wouldn't be able to incinerate her in a burst of temper.
She frowned a little and, seeming to notice the cold for the first time when he put his hands in his pockets, she wrapped her arms around herself. What she wouldn't give to have found a warmer cloak in her trunk... Right this moment, it felt like Prox was balmy by comparison.]
I'm impressed, though. You seem to have explored a good amount of tower in a short amount of time... that takes talent.
no subject
Yeah, well, I don't like to waste time. How much do you-
[He stopped, shifting a bit where he stood. He took another step back and glanced over his shoulder, at the edge of the strip of land looming in the distance, that ledge that seemed to be urging him to jump, jump, jump-
And he looked back at Sheba, shaking his head more violently now.]
...do you know about this place..?
[Despite the fact that it seemed like he had to fight against every inch of his mind and body to do so, Mello managed to take a step forward, toward the pathways and away from the ledge.]
no subject
[That was... odd. Sheba knew by now that the Tower could make people behave strangely, but she hadn't thought it happened so quickly. Why had he stopped speaking, and why was he shaking his head? It might have had something to do with the edge; he'd glanced at it... she took a step closer to him as he stepped forward, just in case.
No one was falling off the side of a tower on her watch.]
To be honest, I don't know that much. Just the really basic stuff, like that it's apparently impossible for us to eat anything without getting sick until we eat oatmeal down on the first floor, and that the people in charge of this tower are not very nice.
[She held out a hand and beckoned him forward.]
I've also heard that some of the floors here are more dangerous than others. Maybe we should see about getting back to a floor that's inside the Tower's walls, Mello. It'll be easier to get somewhere safe from there.
no subject
And while this mental tug-of-war went on, Mello was attempting to discern whether or not Sheba was a trustworthy person, or if following her would only spell danger in the end. He grit his teeth, staring her down for a few moments as he tried to process the information he'd been given.]
You wouldn't happen to know where I can find the people in charge, would you? [His words were nothing special on the surface, but his tone was far from pleasant. Whether the ones in charge were "nice" or not, Mello wasn't intimidated.] I'd like to have a few words with them.
[He couldn't bring himself to move either forward or backward.]
no subject
Her eyes kept darting from Mello to the edge. She hadn't been up on this floor on her own yet, so she didn't know that it made people want to throw themselves off. But this place just felt unsafe. And it was a long, long way down...
When he asked his question, she shook her head slowly.]
From what I've been told, you usually don't find them unless they want to find you for some reason. Believe me, I'd like to talk to them too. They have a lot to answer for.
no subject
[He sounded pretty confident in his ability to track down the administrators. Unfortunately, he wasn't as confident that he'd be able to resist jumping off the ledge if he stayed up much longer. He wanted to be sure of himself, but the urge to jump wouldn't go away. It was all he could do to stand in place, let alone walk toward Sheba.
Despite it all, he kept trying, but he found himself peeking over his shoulder at the inviting ledge. He tried to convince himself that maybe, if he kept himself occupied by talking and trying to figure all this out, he could drown out the part of him that was desperate to jump.
So Mello turned around and took a few steps toward the edge, raising his voice when he spoke. It was more to himself than to Sheba, but he needed to hear himself talk out loud, or else he didn't know if he'd be able to resist.]
Those walkways couldn't possibly be holding all of this land up. I'd considered the possibility of some kind of projection, but even then, all of this would be... [He peeked over the side of the strip of land, his heart speeding up involuntarily as he looked out at the fog many stories below him.] ...difficult to pull off.
[Yup, he was still trying to figure out some explanation to make the floating islands make sense.]
no subject
[And while she was no stranger to leaping headfirst into things, she really did think maybe in this case it would be best to consider things carefully before doing anything major.
She took a few steps closer to Mello as he moved towards the edge. She didn't like the way he kept looking over his shoulder like that - maybe it would be best to see where his thoughts were tending. So she concentrated, and tried to read his mind...
She found nothing but silence. Startled, she looked up at him with a bit of alarm. She'd had people notice that she was reading their minds and cut her off by speaking before, but this felt different... What was going on here?
Another moment spent focusing, and her face went pale. She couldn't even summon up a small breeze. Was this one of the floors she'd been told about - the ones that kept people from using their powers?
...in that case, it was even more imperative that she get Mello away from the edge. She wasn't the strongest person, not when it came to physical strength, and she wasn't at all sure that she'd be able to pull him back up if he started to fall. When she spoke again, her voice had a sort of odd tone to it, like she was trying to keep herself calm.]
One person I spoke to said they thought maybe there was something forming a sort of frame for it all, some sort of very strong material that can carry this much weight. I'm not sure what sort of material would do something like that, though. Architecture was never my strong suit.
no subject
[He stopped short when he saw the look on Sheba's face. It was as if some sort of grim realization dawned on her, and if that was the case, Mello wanted to know what was going through her mind. Every little piece of information helped.
He muttered idly in response to her theory.] A frame, huh..?
[He felt like he should go to the edge of the floating island, look over and see for himself whether there was anything holding it up that he couldn't see from a distance, and maybe while he was in that position, he could let himself relax and fall-
He raised his voice, struggling to hear himself over his own thoughts.]
Hey. [He gestured toward her face.] You look like you've just seen a ghost. You okay?
[Of course, he cared less about this stranger's wellbeing and more about whether she may have some vital piece of information, but Sheba didn't need to know that.]
no subject
[It was weird, not being able to use Psynergy. She couldn't remember any time when she'd been without it - when had it vanished? Was it just this floor, or had she been without it for a couple of floors already? She'd always thought she would have known right away if the ability to use it had left her, but... she hadn't known until she'd tried. The fact that it had taken her this long to realize was incredibly disconcerting.]
But there is something really wrong with this floor. You should get away from that edge - the sooner the better. It might be better if we were inside, too.
[At least that way, if any monsters came a-creeping, they wouldn't be caught out on this ledge, utterly defenseless. She had no idea what Mello was capable of, but her major strength was spellcasting. And if she couldn't cast spells, and they got attacked...
Well, she didn't need to be able to see the future to know how that would go.]
There are sometimes strange creatures that show up out here, I've heard. I don't think it's safe... it's a really long way down.
no subject
Yeah... [He glanced over the edge one last time, swallowing a lump in his throat.] Yeah, it is.
[And then, using every ounce of his strength and self-control, he forced himself to walk forward. As much as his mind screamed at him to turn back, run and plunge over the side, he refused to listen, berating himself for getting swept up by those thoughts in the first place. He was Mello, the one who was going to beat Near, catch Kira, and surpass L, goddamnit. He wouldn't let some stupid mind game get the better of him.
He stepped off of the strip of land and onto the pathway again, and all at once, he breathed a big, involuntary sigh of relief. The thoughts of jumping had vanished completely the moment both of his feet were flat on the pathway. Mello turned back to stare at the strip of land with wide eyes, panting as if he'd just had a great weight lifted off of his chest.]
no subject
She gazed out at the strange strip of land, wondering what it was that made it behave that was... but not really being willing to step out onto it for herself to find out. There was curiosity and then there was recklessness, and really, she would prefer to avoid falling off any more towers if it was at all possible.]
Are you feeling a little better now...?
no subject
I'm fine.
[No matter how dire the situation, Mello wouldn't tolerate being coddled. He turned away sharply, then started to make his way down the winding path.
He called out over his shoulder, but kept his eyes straight ahead.] Much as I hate to say it, I can't wait to get back inside that stupid tower.
no subject
[She didn't flinch under Mello's glare, and when he turned away to head back into the Tower, she followed him on the path, careful not to walk too close to the edge.
At his next words, though, she chuckled.]
I guess it's just the lesser of two evils. It's not ideal at all, but it's better than being out here. This place has a lot of situations like that... it'd probably be good if everyone got used to it. [So far, that hasn't happened. Sheba doesn't really like choosing the "lesser of two evils" at all, but it's really unavoidable and the sooner she comes to grips with it, the happier she'll be.]
no subject
[He keeps a steady pace just in case he runs into any unexpected surprises, but he's walking a little fast. He wants to get off of this precarious walkway as soon as possible.
When he speaks again, it's more to himself than anything.]
If you want things to get done, you have to keep moving forward...
no subject
[His pace is quick, but Sheba does her best to match it. She'd rather not get left out here alone, after all. Her hearing's pretty good, so she does pick up on what he said - but for the moment she doesn't say anything.
It hadn't really sounded like he was talking to her, after all... And she got the distinct feeling that she was trying his patience enough already.]
whoops, I switched tenses in that last tag of mine, sorry ;;
I don't do compromises, either.
[If he was at all aware of how bratty that made him sound, he gave no indication. He didn't feel the need to be ashamed of it. To Mello, life was worthless if you gave too much and didn't take enough for yourself. That was one of the reasons he didn't agree to work together with Near as L - if he wasn't good enough to be L by himself, then it wasn't worth it to pretend just for the sake of having a stupid title.
If he was going to be number one, then he'd settle for nothing less than the best, and anyone who didn't agree with him could shove it. No matter how impossible things seemed, Mello wasn't intending to just roll over and put up with it.]
It's okay - I keep switching tenses in my other tags too. @_@
[As for her, the last time she hadn't compromised at all she'd ended up being dragged through her hometown by pyromaniac kidnappers, and had then fallen into the sea from the top of a tower that stretched high above the clouds. There was something about that experience that had made her a little more willing to compromise.
...but just a little, really.]