Kariya Matou (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
vermicompost) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
towerofanimus2013-01-13 02:33 am
vermicompost) wrote in towerofanimus2013-01-13 02:33 am
Long lost days of you and me
Characters: Kariya Matou and open
Setting: The dormitories and the meadow (or anywhere else, if anyone would like to take him somewhere, as he isn't very mobile on his own– he likes visitors, and trips.)
Format: Action to start, but prose is fine, too
Summary: It's only been a year or so, by Kariya's reckoning (when he can remember), but time and magical parasites have taken their toll.
Warnings: blood and possible body horror or angst
Kariya's Room:
[It's difficult for him to move at all, yet he has his wheelchair, and he can push it a little ways. It's hard for him to leave the dormitories, yet sometimes he still tries. Not now. For the moment, he's resting in his room, his eyes closed, even though he isn't sleeping. It's hard for him to fall asleep.
His body is smaller than it used to be. He's shrunk. Both his eyes are oddly whitish, both sides of him equally affected by what lives within him. His pale skin is all lines and veins, and the movement of the worms within him is evident beneath it, where it shows. His skin appears so thin, it seems it might break at any moment. All of him seems like it might break. Sometimes it does. His skin cracks in lines where it's thinnest, and the blood seeps out. He hardly notices when that happens. Maybe it's because it happens all the time, or maybe he simply isn't thinking clearly enough to realize.
He mutters to himself sometimes, and today is no exception. Sakura, he says often, or he mumbles something about going back home. Back home. He's going to get there. He'll go back to the War, he'll fight and he'll win, and he'll make everything all right again. Suddenly, he speaks, his voice firming, loud enough to be heard clearly.]
I'll help everyone go home.
[That's what he'll do.]
The Dormitory Hallways:
[Kariya wheels himself slowly along. He probably won't get very far, but he likes the feeling of moving forward. (He hasn't told anyone he was going.) He likes to travel. He used to travel once, didn't he? He feels so confined when he's in his room too long, trapped in one place. It's better to get out and around. Unfortunately, the corridors are so confusingly, frustratingly similar.
When he's gone a certain distance, he forgets how far he's come and where he was headed. He stops in the middle of the hallway, not sure whether to go forward or back. Maybe if he waits here long enough, he'll remember. Or maybe it wasn't so important. This is a change of scenery, isn't it? He sits back and gazes down the corridor, a wasted figure with white hair, waiting for someone or something interesting to arrive. He can't see very well, but his expression, if anyone were close enough to read it, is a hopeful one.]
The Meadow:
[It's a good day when he can get to the meadow. Some days, he's stronger, if only a little. The meadow is his favorite floor. It's beautiful there. It makes him smile. The grass and the flowers remind him of the park where he used to play with the children. Sometimes he thinks it is that park. But not today. No, he's thinking more clearly today. He moves a thin arm and manages to take out his photograph, from where he always keeps it, in the pocket of his jacket. It's wrinkled and torn and stained with blood, but it's his. His picture of his family: that's Aoi standing beside him, his wife, and with them are two little girls: their two daughters, Rin and Sakura. When he goes home, he'll see them again. They'll be happy again.
He's forgotten that he never married, that he never had children. But why would he want to remember a thing like that?]
Setting: The dormitories and the meadow (or anywhere else, if anyone would like to take him somewhere, as he isn't very mobile on his own– he likes visitors, and trips.)
Format: Action to start, but prose is fine, too
Summary: It's only been a year or so, by Kariya's reckoning (when he can remember), but time and magical parasites have taken their toll.
Warnings: blood and possible body horror or angst
Kariya's Room:
[It's difficult for him to move at all, yet he has his wheelchair, and he can push it a little ways. It's hard for him to leave the dormitories, yet sometimes he still tries. Not now. For the moment, he's resting in his room, his eyes closed, even though he isn't sleeping. It's hard for him to fall asleep.
His body is smaller than it used to be. He's shrunk. Both his eyes are oddly whitish, both sides of him equally affected by what lives within him. His pale skin is all lines and veins, and the movement of the worms within him is evident beneath it, where it shows. His skin appears so thin, it seems it might break at any moment. All of him seems like it might break. Sometimes it does. His skin cracks in lines where it's thinnest, and the blood seeps out. He hardly notices when that happens. Maybe it's because it happens all the time, or maybe he simply isn't thinking clearly enough to realize.
He mutters to himself sometimes, and today is no exception. Sakura, he says often, or he mumbles something about going back home. Back home. He's going to get there. He'll go back to the War, he'll fight and he'll win, and he'll make everything all right again. Suddenly, he speaks, his voice firming, loud enough to be heard clearly.]
I'll help everyone go home.
[That's what he'll do.]
The Dormitory Hallways:
[Kariya wheels himself slowly along. He probably won't get very far, but he likes the feeling of moving forward. (He hasn't told anyone he was going.) He likes to travel. He used to travel once, didn't he? He feels so confined when he's in his room too long, trapped in one place. It's better to get out and around. Unfortunately, the corridors are so confusingly, frustratingly similar.
When he's gone a certain distance, he forgets how far he's come and where he was headed. He stops in the middle of the hallway, not sure whether to go forward or back. Maybe if he waits here long enough, he'll remember. Or maybe it wasn't so important. This is a change of scenery, isn't it? He sits back and gazes down the corridor, a wasted figure with white hair, waiting for someone or something interesting to arrive. He can't see very well, but his expression, if anyone were close enough to read it, is a hopeful one.]
The Meadow:
[It's a good day when he can get to the meadow. Some days, he's stronger, if only a little. The meadow is his favorite floor. It's beautiful there. It makes him smile. The grass and the flowers remind him of the park where he used to play with the children. Sometimes he thinks it is that park. But not today. No, he's thinking more clearly today. He moves a thin arm and manages to take out his photograph, from where he always keeps it, in the pocket of his jacket. It's wrinkled and torn and stained with blood, but it's his. His picture of his family: that's Aoi standing beside him, his wife, and with them are two little girls: their two daughters, Rin and Sakura. When he goes home, he'll see them again. They'll be happy again.
He's forgotten that he never married, that he never had children. But why would he want to remember a thing like that?]
It's never too late!
Labrys. It's nice to see you, too. I hoped I'd find you here.
[He was proud of himself for making it so far alone. (Though Rin might not have approved.) He always enjoyed their talks. He wished they were able to talk more often, but on his worst days, he preferred to spare people, even Labrys, the sight of his sickness. The worms were starkly visible beneath his flesh, but at least they were motionless today.]
yaaaaaaay ;u;
[She smiled, and in it there was a note of concern; she didn't need scanners or advanced technology to know Kariya was not and had not been well for quite some time, and in a myriad of ways. But it was best to smile when confronted with things like that; if she'd ever seemed overly worried or upset, it would have just made things worse for him.]
no subject
["Better" was a relative, and changeable, term, where he was concerned, but Kariya smiled when he said it, seeming pleased enough.]
I made it here all on my own. So I'm a little tired now. I think resting a while before I go back will do me good. The air seems cleaner here, doesn't it? I can breathe better. [His throat might have been ruined, his voice hoarse, but his breaths were more even.]
How have you been?
no subject
[Labrys shrugged her shoulders, folding her arms with a faint whir and hum of gears and mechanisms.]
I ain't too bad. It's been quiet, so I guess it's just down t' me gettin' a little bored.
no subject
He shook his head in disagreement with Labrys' words, but the gesture was fondly meant.]
It's better when it's boring. [He prefers the quiet to the tests.] Excitement here usually isn't any good. Maybe someday they'll decide to leave us alone, and then it can be quiet all the time. [He'd like that.]
no subject
[Pausing, she took a second to organize her thoughts before continuing.]
I guess it's kinda hard to put into words. I like keepin' myself busy, but...it's sorta that I'm runnin' out of things to keep myself busy with.
no subject
I think I know what you mean. We've been here so long, and there are only so many things to do. Maybe I can help? We could do something together.
[He wasn't sure what. He wan't capable of much that required movement or exertion.]
Sometimes I get tired of doing the same things. [And sometimes he just got tired.]
no subject
no subject
[He tries to think. Thinking isn't always easy for him.]
I have my camera with me. [He's had it since he arrived in the Tower, but it's still in good shape.] We could take pictures.
no subject
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I'd like to see all the floors. Well, the safer ones. There are so many I haven't seen in so long. Maybe I could take a picture of each one. We could find something different to photograph on each floor, something nice. [Realistically, he knows he'll be much exhausted by such an endeavor, even with Labrys transporting him. But it's good to think of here, where things are so hard.]
I know there are nice things here, too. They're just harder to find. Like these flowers. They're one of my favorite things about the tower. [He sighs, thinking maybe he should just stay here. The rest is too much for him. But he takes out his camera.] I should start here.
no subject
[She nodded sagely, apparently satisfied.]
Probably as good a place to start as any.
no subject
[He takes a picture with his camera of a cluster of red flowers.
When he puts the camera down again, he starts to cough. It's not much of a cough at first, but it intensifies quickly, and he puts a hand up to his mouth to keep the blood in. It takes him several moments to recover.]
I'm sorry...