towerofanimus | OO6 >> How do you measure the distance between two people?

Characters: Hidetoshi in his early twenties, and YOU!
Setting: Various (floors 48, 1, 6 and the dormitory levels) set throughout the week.
Format: Stating with actionspam but prose is perfectly fine by me. As always, just remember I'll be slower to reply to prose.
Summary: Hidetoshi is affected by the event (further details and tl;dr can be found here) and firmly believes he has been in the Tower for over a decade, and is acting accordingly. Surprisingly, he remains quite sane.
Warnings: Do mentions of animals getting electrocuted to death count as a warning... Oh, and Hidetoshi being weirdly mentally stable for the environment he grew up in.

[ SCENARIO A || FLOOR THIRTY-EIGHT ]

[ There's a reserved-looking man in his twenties that cuts an imposing figure and dark gray hair tied neatly back into a spiky ponytail, reclining in one of the beanbag chairs situated in the lounge, a thick book plopped open in his lap, several other tombs stacked next to him with a cup of coffee placed on top and occasionally he makes a remark to thin air. Like so; ]

That's a fucking farcical and erroneous assertion.

[ Don't be a smartass, you've already read the end of this novel, why read backwards. You already know what the ending is. Spoilered. Cheating.

Hidetoshi wrinkled his nose slightly, took a cocky sip of his coffee. I don't recall asking for your opinion. If I want to believe that for once in this story, the protagonist wouldn't be an ignoramus, then I will.

Are you truly going for that angle of argument? Delusion. Pointless. Flawed reasoning. Tut tut.

A familiar presence shifted in his mind, jostling for attention. Hidetoshi turns a page and sniffs. Shut up, you're just as engrossed as I am. Of course, he speaks very softly, so if you're hanging out in the lounge as well, you're fully capable of easily ignoring him. This floor is very quiet and calm, quieter than the flashy media room at least. A good place to take a breather and escape from the craziness of what Hidetoshi assumed to be a sudden wave of newcomers for the first time in ages, and the latest experiment. ]

[ SCENARIO B || FLOOR SIX ]

[ —Thunder Reign!

Faintly heard, through the forest, he calls out a spell's name and his persona flickers to life to cast it, scorching black patches of the ground and whichever mutated animals dared attack him. Some survived and fled, others died after a few more spells.

He's standing under the shelter of a tree, calling down thunder attacks. In front of him hovered a heavily armored persona dressed in a cloak of shades of dark gray, regal yellow, and with ribbons knotting the fabric together. Its face was featureless and smoother. A black stripe of colour over the blank space where eyes would normally would be and a crown-like crest that rose from its brow, and long wide sleeves covered its arms. One of its hands was a stump with a gleaming sword portending from it.

There's no reason for it; Hidetoshi had felt the desire to indulge and seen no harm in doing so here.

One of his longer swords was out, held confidently in his hand, the blade's edge sharp and well-cared for. He handles his movement with more grace than a scrawny twig of a teenager did. He's alert, that fact displayed in the terse tightening of his lips, the slight drawing of his eyebrows, the way he casts his gaze—unafraid and observant—across the surrounding area while his face stays calm. ]

[ SCENARIO B || FLOOR ONE ]

[ Someone has dragged a dead deer (bearing the signs of being cleanly shocked to death) from the forest into the kitchen and is skinning it (~~disclaimer: the mun knows jack shit about skinning animals~~) with the ease of old practice, out of the way and being very tidy with it, keeping the blood to a minimal. He's already thinking of how he wants to cook it—Lancer preferred meat, and he doubted Minato or Nesir would say no to decently cooked food. Whenever he tracked down Togami-kun after he was done being a fool for the day, he'd see if he could stuff some of the meat onto him. Then he paused, and glanced down at the partially-skinned corpse in front of him.

Y'know, when he was growing up, this was not a skill he'd ever thought he'd learn. Nor was... this the sort of life he'd ever would have believed he would lead. Not exactly the successful, credit-to-society existence he'd dreamed of as a teenager. Strange thought, that.

Twelve or something years, huh...

Man, it's been a long time. Over a decade. Hidetoshi almost chuckled. ]

[ SCENARIO C || DORMITORY LEVELS HALLWAYS ]

[ If you meet him in the hallways, he's probably just pacing back and forth, lost in thought over the odd changes that seem to have overtaken the Tower for this experiments. After all, he could recall no experiment where the entire upper fifty floors had simply vanished. He looks bored and restless, and can be bothered at will. Or he's napping in his room, and for some reason, you want to come in and bug him. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Nyx knew the man didn't remember her, but she remembered him. Despite only seeing him for an instant while she surveyed the world in the Fall, but she remembered everyone from back then. And that just made her more annoyed. Another world that did not accept her gift.]

Perhaps not. Judging from the rudeness of your Persona, I would deem you did not imagine him.

[Yes, she hears you, Epiphron, so stop with your sass.]

[The fingers of one hand, covered in old scorch marks and little white nicks from the daily life of the Tower, curled up together before relaxing and spreading out flat again. He releases a short exhale of air.]

My apologies. He's a vocal being.

[It's still weird to realize she can hear what was normally private to themselves. And nope, Epiphron does not stop with his sass. It's not rude. Deduction. It is a logical observation; we are not in the movie called Interception—Hidetoshi shoves him down a little, and he grumbles.]

You need to practice restraint with these beings. Despite Epiphron's attempts to be 'logical', he is still an annoyance.

[Nyx just mentally glares at Epiphron. It would be so much more preferable if she could just block you out ~~also even she knows it's called Inception, dummy~~]

[Excuse me, 'attempts'? I beg to differ— He is mentally returning the glare, peeved. Hidetoshi shoves him down even further, muffling whatever the persona has to say. He frowned.]

How I choose to discipline my persona is my own decision. If I allow him outspokenness, that is fine. If your opinion is to think him to be annoyance, that too is fine.

[If she wanted quiet from hearing either of them, she could depart from the lounge.]

[She doesn't just want quiet, she wants silence-and it's clear the only way she intends to get that is through death.]

Perhaps you are right. Just remember that sometimes there is no way to control them. Outspokenness may merely be a beginning.

[It would be amusing if she fabricated some memories of that persona bursting out of Hidetoshi's skull and turning on his owner, wouldn't it? Nyx is just going to project some of those horrifying images right now.]

[That sure was a dick move on your part to make either of them shut up, Nyx, but it works, judging from the way he goes rigid in his seat before doubling over slightly, and grabbing hold of his head with one hand. Those were not pleasant images at all. Ow, ow, ow... Don't give him a headache, please.]

—Ngh... S-stop that. It's not. Going to happen.

[His eyes squeezed shut. He wasn't affected, he wasn't affected. The Tower had forced worse on him before.]

You have no proof that it won't. People stronger than you have lost control of these beings.

[She knows this for a fact, due to Thanatos's presence inside Minato. She does lessen the assault on Hidetoshi's mind, though, at least for a moment.]

[Not looking up at all, still clutching at his head because those images hurt, even if they were fabrications. Through his gritted teeth, trying hard to not appear overly upset;]

I don't need proof. I am not claiming it is an impossible occurrence; I am saying it wouldn't happen.

[Yes, there was always a risk of the loss of control, of rampaging, of his persona regressing back into his Shadow, there was always that possibility, but there was always just as much risk one of his friends would betray him or kill him, or similar. That didn't mean he wouldn't trust them anyway. He knew what trust meant, Minato had taught him that as a teenager.]

Saying it won't happen is claiming it is impossible. You shouldn't contradict yourself through your own words.

[Actually, seeing how much Hidetoshi suffers from the images is enough to make her want to keep projecting them.]

You're quite afraid of something that you claim is impossible. Wouldn't you dismiss that fear if it was irrational?

[Crease your actions at once, snapped Epiphron as it recovered from the initial shock of these projected images and it sure is doing its best to block them. S-straightening up, glaring at Nyx but holding onto his composure. We are operating on Hidetoshi logic here, okay, who cares if it is contradictory.]

Afraid? No, I simply find the idea of my own persona turning on me like that to be a awful one, as would any person with proper sensibilities. And it would be irrational to dismiss a genuine risk even if it does not come to pass.

Then why do you claim it is impossible? Even with something as simple as these projections, I can pick at your fears until both of you are broken. Or a battle could enrage him so greatly he would turn on you. There are so many ways Epiphron could be broken down.

[He will not resort to Maziodyne to solve his problems. He will not resort to Maziodyne to solve his problems. He will not resort to Maziodyning Nyx in the face to solve his problems. Violence is not the answer.

Because he is a mature adult and that is not what mature adults do.]

No, I said it's not—[He stops, frustrated and ignoring that threat she made regarding those projections of hers. They're going in circles here.] Why are you arguing with me about this anyway?

[Just try it, Hidetoshi. She's got fancy spells too.

Nyx looks away slightly, nodding towards their surroundings.]

After one goes years without fulfilling her duty, she begins to search for other tasks to interest her. It appears that debating with a weak-minded human can be quite amusing given the proper tools.

[... No, that's enough. If the Night Queen feels only the need to insult and belittle himself and his persona and mankind as well in her boredom, no matter how richly she believes they deserve it, he will not converse with her. There is nothing to gain from it.]

I would thank you to not speak lowly of us humans.

Now. Please allow our debate to end here then.

[He reaches for his book, intent on ignoring her. Go find other things to interest yourself with, is the general sentiment that glowers from that presence residing in the back of his soul.]

[Well. She's upset him, then. She really doesn't get how much simple commentary upsets humans.]

...I suppose we shall end our conversation here then.

[Without a goodbye, she simply turns and walks away. There has to be something more interesting around anyways.]

[Angered him is the correct phrase for it. Excuse him for feeling the need to be annoyed with people who belittle him like that. But his manners make him politely toss the words at her back as she leaves:]

I bid you a good day then, Nyx.

[... Gonna bury himself back into his book now thx. Even as she departs, the faint mental noise of the debate between himself and his persona resumes.]

OO6 >> How do you measure the distance between two people?

oh man thanks for reminding me of that ;;

you're welcome i live to serve ^_^b

terrible ;;

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