towerofanimus | [open] I let the beast in, and then I even tried forgiving him

Characters: Mercenary Tsubaki and You
Setting: anywhere
Format: prose, but I'll match you
Summary: Tsubaki + 10 years and self-defense training, patrolling around as "usual"
Warnings: Tsubaki is affected by the event!

Through the ten years she'd found herself stuck in this horrendous place...she'd found herself growing used to it. It was a bit of a difficulty learning how to get her muscles up to their proper state, after years of sitting down and being waited on, but it was a small price to pay for the knowledge of being able to defend herself.

And maybe help defend others, too.

As long as she trained, she wouldn't be a physically strong person, nothing ever above average. But she could be stealthy. So that was what Tsubaki Kasugano did.

Her eyesight slowly deteriorating to the point of complete blindness in her right eye, and almost blindness in her left, she stuck to the shadows. That was were the battle could be equal. But it created a fine environment for her. Long hair wasn't the best for a defender, even if they weren't a good fighter. She'd lopped most of it off a few years in, keeping it relatively short. Likewise, she'd since traded in her flashy orange miko robes for something with better camouflage, black and brown, slim-fitting, something someone had told her looked eerily similar to what the Ninth had worn a time ago.

How uncouth. She would never be anything like that mad bomber of a woman. She was just a mercenary, driven to aid those, like a certain someone had aided her, in the past.

Although...she didn't ask for much in return, save for a thank you.

This day felt no different to her, at least at first. She started patrolling the darker hallways habitually, and headed over to the cafeteria. That was when things started seeming a little strange to her.

You can catch her just about anywhere in the Tower, just specify whereva you want, yo.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[What is Jack doing this fine morning? Lazying about in the cafeteria and feeding his monkey that doesn't actually need to eat. He throws bits of stuff at Jack, and Jack either eats them or throws them back.

Coincidentally, at some point, he throws a bit at Tsubaki, as if to point her out to Jack.]

Now, now, mangly beast, that's not awfully polite 'a you, is it? Apologize to the lady.

[ She flinches a bit, but flicks the food off of her, grumbling a bit. ]

How many times do I have to tell you lot, control your animals...

Uh.

[Jack blinks.]

...none?

She was not alone in the shadows. Others favored the darkness, away from the light of day when people were present. There were too many powerful creatures in this place, too many victims of the tower's captivity who wielded abilities that dwarfed mere mortals.

However dangerous she might have been, Chloe was nevertheless one of them. And, in the midst of those dark, lower and chilled hallways of the Morgue she lurked there, just out of sight. She'd done her cleaning for now and, when she saw Tsubaki, she could feel the briefest of pangs. This one... Her memories were muddled, off and confused by what was going on for so many here, mixed with her memories of Atia.

"You should not be here, priestess."

Her footsteps halted with the sound of a voice. She would be lying if she said she felt alone on this floor, though she couldn't tell if it was from this new mysterious person, or the monsters lurking within the gurney drawers.

Tsubaki tilted her head ever so slightly, her one working eye seeking out the source of the voice. Priestess? They didn't sound familiar. Was it someone she met through her years in this place, that had come back? She did wear her miko robes for a long period of time before she stashed them away, but she didn't recall giving any other indication that she was one.

"I haven't been a priestess in a long time."

Chloe was the sort of person that, if you didn't care about her, and if she didn't obsess over you and do something foolish, you could easily ignore most days. She emerged, drawing closer to Tsubaki. Part of her recalled, very distantly, just how poor the woman's eyesight was. So, she drew close enough to be more readily visible, but at a pace that was not overtly threatening.

"You are what you are. You will never not be priestess," she whispered softly, looking around the room. "This place is not safe for you..."

Her fists tightened slightly, but she otherwise did not grow hostile.

"If that was true, I would have been dead years ago." She frowned. "Who are you? An old Omeketa recruit? I'm sorry to say, I have no intention of re-establishing that cult in this Tower."

Omekuta... Omekuta... of course. She was not the Tsubaki Chloe had known was she? Hadn't they addressed this in all these years? She reached up to rub her forehead, her other hand holding a knife of slag metal she had crafted and added to her arsenal. She had been too long in the shadows of the forests. It was hard to remember when they had last spoken... had they?

The thought was giving her a headache. It was best not to think too long on it. "No. I am not from your world or of their number, Priestess," she whispered softly through strained teeth. "You are, nevertheless, always a servant of the divine to me."

Tsubaki's eyes narrowed. So...she knew her from somewhere else? Another one of these other multiplex worlds, like the Tower? The thought was strange, being in another one of these places. But that must be what this other woman meant.

"I am a servant to no one but those who need me. Think what you must, but I will never answer to any divines."

The only "god" she ever knew deserved no praise, no wonder. Sticking a bunch of screw-ups like them in a game of killing each other? She was sure an easier method could have been picked. And from what Yukiteru had told her about the world collapsing, from what she saw of Murumuru becoming a traitor...As much as she was immersed in a world of religion at a young age, ten years in a place like this could do just about anything to you.

She paused at that. It had been years, and in a place like this, heathen and surrounded by horrors, she could not entirely blame her. Settling on her heels, she looked into the room quietly.

"Very well, Tsubaki," she said softly, keeping a watch. The girl's name felt like it was being dragged from her teeth, something she wasn't accustomed to using. "Why do you come to this place? You were not assigned this task..." It was the only reason she ever came here herself.

She cracked her knuckles as if to emphasize her next words. "The same reason I always patrol around these dangerous floors. To make sure no one has become hurt or trapped."

Chloe frowned. She disliked this, but she disliked as much the very idea of coddling the woman. It wouldn't work. Her teeth were on edge. She growled low but did not try to force the matter. Not yet anyway.

"They will take advantage, but you know this," she whispered.

[open] I let the beast in, and then I even tried forgiving him

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