[.oo9] A Curious Future

[lethechained]

Characters: Naminé (OU) and victims anyone.
Setting: All over the tower.
Format: Responder's choice.
Summary: Ten years in the Tower has changed a few things about Naminé - like her Stealth stat. Characters may find themselves with unexpected company.
Warning: Stalking, possible violence or discussion of past violence/abuse/kidnapping, magical ninjas.


[All over the Tower]

[There's someone behind you.]

[No, not really - she's probably not actually directly behind anyone. But there is someone lurking around, staying just out of sight and following characters on nearly silent footsteps. She's difficult to detect and quite persistent, but should one manage to catch sight of their unexpected companion, they'll see someone dressed all in white, a hood over their head. They're small-framed and it's hard to tell their age, but whoever they are, they're there and likely have been for a while.]

[Naminé's looking for information. Except asking directly doesn't seem to be her first choice of action at the moment; not when everything's all wrong and the tower is obviously up to something. So, she's taken to trailing after people, especially the ones who look familiar. Characters in just about any part of the tower may find themselves being followed.]

[Floor Forty-Eight]

[At first glance, it might look like there's a ghost in the graveyard. This is not actually the case; the 'ghost' in question is just someone hooded and dressed in white, moving among the graves as if searching for names.]

[Floor Twenty]

[That person in white who has been lurking around the tower appears to be taking a rest, seated near the edge of this floor. She's looking outward, but trying to sneak up on her may not be the best idea.]

[Floor Eleven]

[While not that long ago in reality, for her, it's been forever since that day that she spent practicing on this floor. ... She casts a brief spell in passing that leaves the nearest waterfall frozen in time for nostalgia's sake, taking only a moment to glance up at her handiwork before continuing on her way. The waterfall eventually returns to normal, but it takes a while.]

Comments

Floor 48; Graveyard

[knightime]

[She isn't the only one on this floor, today. But Dave has been frequenting this floor since he was thirteen, so it's not uncommon to see this certain Strider on this floor. He visits the same graves, leaving flowers from the meadow on them. Old friends he can remember clearly, despite the amount of time that has seemingly passed for him.

He may have taken noticed to her (she's wearing white in a not so white place), but hasn't done anything about it. He's oddly quiet, honestly.]

Re: Floor 48; Graveyard

[lethechained]

[Just as he may know of her, she knows of him. Despite her attention to her task, she still has some focus to spare to keep an eye (metaphorically or otherwise) out for other visitors to the floor. She's quiet, herself, not only in voice but in her footsteps as well. She watches him for a while, subtly, until she seems to have finished her own search.]

[And then she waits. She knows who he is, and she knows that he is not the right age, either, like the others in the tower. There's concern twisting in her chest, but she stays where she has placed herself, firmly outside his field of vision but present nevertheless and not actually making any further attempt beyond that to stay out of sight or to move into it. Whether it's out or respect for his situation or from some complication of her own is unclear, but she doesn't seem to have any intention of disturbing him just yet nor any intention of leaving, either.]

[rememberstime]

[Dave places the flowers on the graves, dusting them off a bit of whatever dirt or debris that might have been on them. He was glad this floor existed. He's been a little on edge since the day seemed to have started. Something felt weird and amiss. The fact that it related to time made him wary that something was up. There was no way to check the date, and that just made him all the more suspicious. Having this floor was a nice moment to relax though and not worry too much about it yet.

He stood upright, shoving his hands in his pockets. After a moment, he turned to face her general direction. He doesn't beckon her over. He just stands there, obviously staring her way even with the shades on. Dave was just waiting.]

all over the tower

[terreifying]

[Rei isn't too worried about someone being behind her. After all, she herself prefers to silently follow behind people. Now that she's older, looking 26 years old and more like her mother than ever, she's also had more experience with being followed.]

Soooo, did you find any of my new projects interesting?

[She asks her companion without even turning to look at them.]

[lethechained]

[Funny, in an awful sort of way, to be grateful for the chance to spend time in a graveyard, but she'd be more able to understand the sentiment than she'd like, were he to express it. This place serves a variety of functions, valuable but sad.]

[If she tenses when he stands or turns toward her, it's imperceptible. She makes no move to escape his sight, hood turned his direction as well as her own, even less visible stare studies him, marking out all the differences from the way he should look, at least from her vantage point.]

[She doesn't know whether or not he recognizes her. She's not certain how much it matters, at this point. Her patience is nothing to sneeze at, but it seems one of them must make a move, and so she decides that it may as well be her. Leveling the playing field, so to speak.]

[When she reaches up toward her hood, it's slow and unhurried and without hesitation; the time for that is past. Hood lowered, Naminé looks back at him with those same big blue eyes. They're harder to read than before - not that she was ever as much an open book as many of those from her world - and the face they belong to is older now, still soft but very clearly the shape of an adult's. Her hair, when set free and moved efficiently back into place over her shoulder, is longer, the delicate curl to it that had always been in it more pronounced now, but she isn't much taller than she was before.]

[She does not smile at first, but the corners of her mouth do eventually raise into one. It's a wan thing even when fully formed.]

Hello, Dave.

[lethechained]

[Although Naminé already had a sinking feeling she'd been spotted, there was a slightly tension in her when she was, she suspected, addressed. There doesn't seem to be anyone else around to talk to, after all, though Naminé does not respond right away, just in case. Finally, quietly, her tone level,]

They're not exactly what I'm looking for.

[rememberstime]

[She was older, yes, but too young to him. He had expected someone older, given the fact that he's so much older. He let's that thought settle in the back of his mind. Time discrepancies have always become sort of a problem, especially when it came to the Tower. It was an annoyance, but one he could mule over on his own time.

Right now he was seeing an old friend and he rather keep his attention on her, versus trying to figure out why everything felt so off. It isn't the first time the Tower has done things like this, so it wasn't like he was surprised.

His mouth quirks as he breaks into a small smile though. It was always nice to see those familiar blue eyes. Just to see her in general was nice. Remnants of deeper feelings he used to have a long, long time ago.

he holds his hand up in a wave. That was odd. Wasn't Dave more of a chatterbox? Would he really give up a chance to greet her verbally?]

[lethechained]

[The smile seems to offer some encouragement to her own, subtle though it might be. He's not the only one glad to see a familiar face - even if his is older than she was expecting.]

[She doesn't seem to be shy about staring - which may make it all the more obvious when she takes note of his lack of verbal response and thus senses something amiss. -- Well, more amiss than everything already was. Her head tilts slightly, the addition to her smile's strength ebbing away. Still, she does not ask directly. Rather,]

... You wouldn't happen to know what's going on, would you?

[It's as gentle as ever, though she's not expecting a positive answer.]

[rememberstime]

[Dave considers her question for a moment. He's not surprised that other people have noticed weird things. It's easy when everyone were different ages from what they think that person should be from their point of view. He wonders idly if she had felt the slight shift or pause, but doubts it's worth bringing up.

On the downside, the fact that neither of them know was slightly irritating.

He shakes his head, affirming that he didn't know what was happening. He shrugged after though. It was Dave's way of showing that he didn't know, but it wasn't a big deal to him. He isn't so sure she'll pick up on that. Body language wasn't always the clearest indicator.]

[lethechained]

[Her lips press together slightly, eyes trailing down to that shrug and back up. She's more equipped than most to understand such things, and understand it she does, but both his answer and continued silence are not helping her feel any better about this situation. For a second it looks like she might say something else, but she pauses, then,]

No one else seems to, either.

[But something's going on, she knows that much. Another contemplative moment, and,]

... It's been a while, hasn't it? Since we last saw each other. ... Or spoke to each other.

[For her, at least. (The network's existence is just a convenient excuse for the last bit, but what she really means is in there somewhere.)]

[rememberstime]

[Maybe Dave should care more. It's hard considering he's been here for quite awhile for an average human. He's gotten so used to this place at this point and he's greatly calmed down to a more resigned nature. He can tell she seems bothered though. He may have become more resigned, but he's still a caring bastard.

He has to consider her words. He's seen her more than she probably has seen him, so maybe her words hold true.

Dave can't help but chuckle at her words. But there's no sounds of laughter. The chuckle was completely silent except for air passing through. He hasn't been able to speak to people in a really long time.

Dave starts patting his pockets though. This is where things become a problem. They didn't have the convenience of portable communicators and not everyone is adept at signing. If at all. He kept a pencil and paper on him at all times usually for these kind of situations. Can't converse otherwise.

[terreifying]

What are you looking for?

[Rei responds, sounding loud and chipper in contrast to her follower's quiet voice.]

I can help you find it. Or build it, since I'm a scientist.

[lethechained]

[She has not quite reached the point of apathy, herself. Even after ten years, she is still on her guard. She still wants her friends, as many of them are yet around, to be safe. She still doesn't want to be used--]

[While in another situation his laugh might be able to encourage one of hers, right now it does no such thing. It only serves to feed her concern, as does the fact that he hasn't yet answered. Her eyes follow his hands purely out of reflex; even if she doesn't deem him a threat, that doesn't mean she can help the impulse to watch him closely. What is he...?]

[lethechained]

[There's a brief pause. Somehow, Naminé doubts that - but she doesn't say so. There is only,]

Answers.

[Not a thing to be built, but found, maybe - that would be good.]

Have you noticed, yet? That the others around you aren't the same.

[rememberstime]

[Dave definitely still wants his friends to be safe, but he's at least gotten better with that guilty conscience of his.

It takes him a moment to extract some crumpled paper from his pocket. He frowns a bit, but decides he can't really do anything about it. Sometimes he wishes sylladexes were a thing for moments like this. It would be so much easier to store paper instead of continuously shove paper into his pockets. It also means he wouldn't accidentally jab pencils into his legs by placing them in his pockets.

At the very least, he's tried keeping his writing as neat and eligible as possible, instead of quickly scrawling chicken scratch. He doesn't want to have to write things a second time because he was being impatient.]

dont really do the speaking shit anymore

[Well, okay. Dave still writes like a lazy asshole. Look at that. He holds the paper out to her.]

[lethechained]

[There are some things she doesn't think she'll ever really be able to fully let go of. (Guilt, diminished or otherwise, is unfortunately probably one of those things.)]

[She watches him work with growing concern, her brow knitting. When the paper is held out to her, she knows she must and will move close enough to take it. It just requires an automatic and perhaps absurd hesitation first, but soon enough that hesitation is over and she moves closer, her footsteps quiet even now. She reaches out, her hand every bit as small and slender as it's always been, and takes the paper to read it. When she raises her eyes from it again, it's with an understanding she wishes she didn't have to have and a pronounced frown on her face. For all that she's become harder to read, her distress, at least, is obvious.]

... You don't, or you can't?

[Because there is most definitely a difference.]

[terreifying]

[She stops in the steps.]

Yes. There are those who seem...changed. Younger than they should be.

[And some people who should have already died were here.]

[rememberstime]

[They both will probably hold onto it. As much as they let go, they'll still hold on to some of it.

He doesn't make any movement, standing stock still with the paper out. He doesn't intend to surprise her in anyway, considering the amount of hesitation she exhibited just to approach him close enough to take the paper from him. Dave looks a little apologetic. He's become a bit more expressive, not quite trying to hide behind any poker faces all the time anymore. There was a time where he did only that while here.

He holds up two fingers in response, referring to the latter of her question. He can't.]

[lethechained]

Or older.

[But it's an agreeing sort of comment; it's just an addendum rather than an argument.]

It's very curious.

[lethechained]

[Her eyes follow his hand this time, too, gaze staying on those two fingers as she tries to will them to mean something other than what she must assume they do. Before she turns them away, her eyes grow sad, and stay that way as they lower toward the ground. (She wouldn't be looking away from him at all if that answer didn't trouble her so much.)]

[But there was an apology in his expression, too, and she forces her eyes back up to his again, trying to shove away that sadness for the sake of his comfort. She'll not make him any more apologetic if she can help it.]

I'm sorry.

[What else do you even say to something like that? It's something she's had to ask herself far more often than she'd like in her life, and every time it makes her stomach turn. She holds the paper out to him to return it, trying not to frown again. Belatedly,]

Is there-- can anything be done?

[For him, she means, or rather for his condition.]

[terreifying]

Do you think it's a matter worthy of study? Is it another Tower experiment that we have a chance to reverse?

[lethechained]

Knowing the Tower - that's what makes the most sense when anything like this happens.

[A brief pause.]

And if it is the Tower, then there's too great a chance that this will be dangerous for us to let it go without study.

[terreifying]

I'll consider it. Though, my expertise is more in constructing things than de-constructing Tower experiments.

Any idea as to where I can acquire a sample?

[lethechained]

[--....]

[She's not sure she likes that idea. She tries to keep for voice level despite her trepidation. De-constructing--]

What kind of sample are you talking about?

[terreifying]

Just interviews from people. How long they have been in the Tower. What they remember happening. It is the only sort of sample that I can take for the time being.