sageprincess: (Waning interest)
Zelda ([personal profile] sageprincess) wrote in [community profile] towerofanimus2013-01-14 03:35 pm

The flow of time is always cruel...

Characters: Jaded, 28 year old Zelda and you!
Setting: Dorms, Floor 12, 48, and 11
Format: Starting in action, but I'll match.
Summary: Yet another of the Tower residents has been affected by this month's event, and the ten 'years' she's lived through have not been the kindest to her.
Warnings: Possibility of violence if she gets annoyed.


Dorms
[The night is dangerous, and the Princess of Hyrule is already asleep - or close to it - when the subtle shift occurs. In a quiet instant, her body fills out just a bit, no longer that of a young maiden, and silver strands caused by stress pepper her blonde head. At the same time, her possessions rearrange themselves: her shining regalia, once meticulously cared for, now dull and dusty under her bed; her ocarina and harp, once her most precious possessions, now sitting unplayed at the bottom of her trunk, covered not by pretty silk dresses, but by simple cotton clothes.

The once-girl herself stirs slightly as the change happens, but is otherwise remarkably still through the night. Somewhere along the line, she must have either grown accustomed to the kind of nightmares Tower life would bring, or she learned how to control them.

In any case, she wakes with the dawn, as always, changes out of her nightgown quietly, and stops off at the women's restroom to wash her face before making her way to the elevator, all in a way that seems almost absurdly routine. After ten years of living in the same place, repeating the same thing over and over, she could probably do this morning ritual blind.

... And given how the Tower works, it's not too much of a stretch to say she actually has.]


Floor Twelve
Some say the world will end in fire.
Some say in ice.


[Oddly enough, this planetarium-esque floor has become one of Zelda's usual haunts over the course of ten years. It's morbid, watching the universe slowly die, reset, then die again, but to one so desensitized, that simply means the newer, more foolish arrivals will likely just pass this floor by.]

From what I've tasted of desire,
I hold with those who favor fire.


[She doesn't like interacting with them much, if she can help it. The hopeful, determined ones remind her too much of what she once was, something she doesn't like to remember.]

But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate...


["I can think of no better candidate to unite the free people of this tower." Yeah, right.]

To say that for destruction ice
Is also great...
And would suffice.


[Quiet and alone, she watches the destruction of universes again and again impassively. There's no horror in her eyes, no tense fear in her expression, and if you're lucky, you might hear her repeat a short poem that she's memorized over the years to herself.]

Floor Forty-Eight
[Like the planetarium, the graveyard possesses a silent sort of despair that tends to keep the newest of arrivals away. At least, there is rarely anything for them here. This is a place for those who have been hurt in one of the worst ways the Tower knows how.

By watching friend after friend disappear.

She does not mourn them. Because she doesn't believe they are dead or because the very concept of death is beginning to fade from her mind - she cannot say. Still, she finds herself wandering a certain section of the cemetery like a restless spirit, fingers grazing each marker as she passes.

Eight Links, all in a row. Three Zeldas next to them. A Sheik, then, nearby. Navi, Saria, Darunia, Fi, Pipit, Fado, Midna, Fierce Deity... glimpses, however brief, of the past and future.

... Minami, Samus, Ventus-- other familiar names dot the rest of the graveyard, and for one who hates remembering herself, she lingers here, losing herself in the memories she has of others.]


Floor Eleven, dusk
[One good thing has come out of ten years of being trapped, however.

She has gotten damn good at magic.

Blasts and arcs of divine fire follow her command, lighting up the quickly darkening meadow. As the rainbows begin to reverse themselves, there are intermittent bursts of what can only be called pure light, searing any phantom foolish enough to draw close and whisper to her in achingly familiar voices.

She has her own memories to eat away at her. She doesn't need such foul things as a reminder.]

Floor 12

[personal profile] scorchedchivalry 2013-01-15 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
[The blackened knight bearing even more of the mark of corruption upon her neck and jaw - that scrawling red pattern - comes to stand next to the princess.]

And the third - hopelessness and despair. Fire and ice are kinder ends, Zelda.

[Saber couldn't recall exactly when over the last ten years she stopped addressing the woman as royalty, but neither of them were fit to be what their titles said they were.]
cullscuttlefish: ([older] not the gill i used to be)

Floor 11

[personal profile] cullscuttlefish 2013-01-15 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
[It isn't as if Zelda needs the help, but Feferi still looks up to - and looks out for - her. Any odd phantoms that don't get reined in by the light and fire are going to get washed out by water whips. Feferi learned how to do this ages and ages ago, and it used to take an entire ritual of jumping into the air and spinning around her trident to control the water. She can still do that, if she needs to, but these phantoms aren't worth the ceremony. Instead, she looks over, gives Zelda a nod, and makes sure her feet are grounded, channeling the energy she needs up through her body and out through her hands.]

always_lies: (Uncertainity is not my forte)

[personal profile] always_lies 2013-01-15 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
[Azula had been on her way to the dorms when a bright flash caught her attention on the meadow. Drawn to anything to do with fire, she paused and stepped off the staircase, seeking out the source.

The arcs were beautiful. She watched for a moment, arms folded, before she spoke.]

This seems a little intense for just practice.

[personal profile] scorchedchivalry 2013-01-15 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
Foolish dreams for those like us. Try not to indulge so much. Stay with the fire and ice, my dear, and I shall shoulder the hopelessness and despair.
always_lies: (Coy- wait)

would they know each other after being so long in the Tower?

[personal profile] always_lies 2013-01-15 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
[Azula smiled a little. She had not lost her skill at reading people, and in fact only got better at it.]

If that's what you want to tell yourself. Not that it's any of my business.
cullscuttlefish: ([older] i'm older and i'm wiser)

[personal profile] cullscuttlefish 2013-01-15 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
[When you spend half your life with a terrible example of royalty to look up to, latching onto the first example of someone who tried to do better was only natural. It's helped her remember that no matter how dark things get, there's always another way. A better way.

The battle might be hopeless in this place, but it does feel good to get some of that restless energy out of her system.]


It's lovely.

[There's water beading up at Feferi's fingertips, and at the first sign of movement in the distance, she launches her attack, putting that phantom down.]

You can almost see another rainbow, when the water hits the light the fire produces at the right angle. Kind of pretty, if you can call anything in a fight pretty...
always_lies: (Sad)

Azula keeps track of everything and probably tried to help if it meant breaking out

[personal profile] always_lies 2013-01-15 04:11 am (UTC)(link)
[She sighed, and dropped her arms.]

I'm sorry. That was rude of me. It's easy to forget I'm better than that.
nightfowl: (we're going straight to the)

floor eleven.

[personal profile] nightfowl 2013-01-15 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
[It's been five years at least since Haken's met Zelda's alter-ego. Now he hasn't seen as much as everyone else, but he's seen his fair share of things... certainly, he's not the same person from that night, but he still remains very much the same. It's pretty hard to break a man like him.]

Certainly picked a good night to do some ghost huntin', Zelda. Didn't strike me as the type.
Edited 2013-01-15 04:20 (UTC)
redbranch: <user name=riastrad-ridire> (pic#5303123)

floor 12

[personal profile] redbranch 2013-01-15 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
And what of a destruction that comes with neither fire nor ice? What would you call that?

[Lancer asks, leaning on on the wall of the stairwell a step or so away from the floor. It's not so much an honest desire to know as it is idle curiosity.]
colonial: (pic#5036270)

floor eleven

[personal profile] colonial 2013-01-15 06:00 am (UTC)(link)
[Idly, when he sees the rainbows start to invert, America thinks he should probably go back up to the dormitories soon--England might worry. But, watching Zelda's magic flow from her like water, he isn't quite ready to leave. Magic has always fascinated him, unique in the way things that you can never have are fascinating. He remembers spending a lot of time watching anyone who can use magic make use of it, and the wanton destruction of phantoms doesn't make him blink.]

You're real good at that. Like England.

[He's jealous--but he'd never lay a hand on Zelda. She was too important to England.]
always_lies: (focus)

\o/

[personal profile] always_lies 2013-01-15 06:22 am (UTC)(link)
[Azula walked a little closer to Zelda, hands tucked neatly behind her.]

Wouldn't you feel better if you had an opponent?
redbranch: <user name=gayblge> (pic#5303108)

[personal profile] redbranch 2013-01-15 06:40 am (UTC)(link)
Sounds about right.

[He looks over at the images of planets being swallowed up and turned into stardust.]

I'd like to think that my world had a good end, though. One that didn't leave too many people in tears. That is, if the whole world ending thing was true.
lightofhumanity: For when chaos is feeling melancholy. (pondering)

Floor 12

[personal profile] lightofhumanity 2013-01-15 06:41 am (UTC)(link)
[chaos sometimes came to this floor when he thought he was getting a bit too lax and needed a reminder as to what would happen if he did fail. However, he sensed and saw a person in the room. She wasn't quite human, as she had some power, but she was also reciting an old poem. chaos's memory was a little off, but he remembered where that poem came from. In return, chaos recited a small poem of his own.]

Bound,
of breaking earth,
coming forth:
the winds of destruction..

[Or, at least, a snippet of one he had read long ago.]
nightfowl: (Default)

[personal profile] nightfowl 2013-01-15 07:03 am (UTC)(link)
I've never been too fond of the low-risk method....

[which is why a few moments later, Haken rushes forward, attempting to utilize the melee portions of his weapons to disperse a few of them coming his way. He has some degree of success, only to find that there are more coming. He promptly backs off, heading back towards Zelda.]

Just gotta know when to fold'em.

You've got quite the magic touch there, Princess.
oathshackledbird: Say That Again (Say That Again)

Floor 12

[personal profile] oathshackledbird 2013-01-15 07:08 am (UTC)(link)
[Lancer had been told when he had first arrived at the tower to seek this one out. She knew the answers to his questions. She could help point him toward those who would love to have one as skilled as he to help them in their quest to escape this place.

Now over a thousand years after that day, he can't remember if he ever did search her out, but that fact really doesn't matter. It's not who she was then that made him approach her today.

It's who she is now. Someone as hopeless and empty as he is.
]

They never mention what those who survive the destruction are suppose to do--what they are suppose to feel as the days pass by and they remain trapped in an unchanging horror.

What are they suppose to do, Lady?
Edited (Because it's late and I'm a derp!) 2013-01-15 07:12 (UTC)
faithstaynight: (pic#4133175)

Floor 11

[personal profile] faithstaynight 2013-01-15 07:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[Jeanne had simply been passing through, and it was only a glance off to the side, out onto the expanse of the floor, that made her stop. It was in a pause between Zelda's attacks, but Jeanne noticed a stray phantom approaching the girl (girl? she looked... different somehow. the word didn't quite fit. But how...?) from behind.]

Princess, watch out!

[In a flash her sword was in her hand, and she tries to quickly close the distance between herself and the phantom...

... But she stops dead in her tracks, almost tripping over her own feet, when Zelda unleashes her attack. The searing heat of the divine fire, felt so clearly at such a close distance, nearly causes her to scream.

But it disappears soon enough, along with any other creatures in the vicinity, and Jeanne has to take a deep, shuddering breath to calm herself. Even so, her voice shakes just enough for Zelda to notice.]


That... That was quite impressive.

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