So, about these time paradoxes...

[forgetbeam]

Characters: Ishimaru [replies from eyebrowsareforever] and You
Setting: Various places in the tower
Format: Your pick!
Summary: It's been ten years for Ishimaru, and he's mellowed out a little. The tower's obviously worn him down, but he keeps on trucking! And with all these new arrivals coming in, he figures he should help them settle in. If only he could find those informational pamphlets he wrote up years ago...
(Feel free to establish some kind of pre-existing TYL relationship!)
Warnings: Depends on who shows up.

[Libraries and Study Room]

[The reference books might be a little less popular than the ones on the third floor, but Ishimaru himself has always preferred them. Even after 'graduating' (or the closest thing he could get to it here), he never really broke the habit of sitting and studying for what could often be hours at a time. That's not what he's after today, though! With all the new arrivals in the Tower, he's going to need to bust out the little booklets he made up long ago just in case people started showing up again. Ha! Good thing he thought ahead.

But the only trouble is... where are they? He could have sworn he'd placed them on a very specific shelf here. Did someone take them out and put them back in the wrong place? Did the Administrators take them away? Did someone decide to use them as kindling on a colder month?

Whatever, he's going to do a thorough search of each and every shelf.

This search continues in the study room a floor down, ending in the other library. The longer he's at it the more visibly frustrated he is, frowning and clenching his teeth and all, but he does not give up until he's looked everywhere. He's very likely to ask anyone in his path if they've seen the books, too.]



[Cafeteria]

[He can't believe he wasted a few hours trying to find something that isn't even there. By this point he's realized that something weird is going on with the Tower again, and doesn't think it's worth it working on new booklets just yet. If there's no change by the end of the month, he'll do it, but for now he'll settle on individual explanations. Of course, most of the other long-term residents have probably taken care of most of it.

Not only is he feeling a little useless after his failed search, he's hungry, so it's off to the cafeteria. It's halfway through the month, and that's always about the time he gets tired of eating the same things all the time, but he knows better than to risk the restaurant. At least it's not those bars again.

But as hungry as he is, it's so hard to force anything down. He doesn't give up, though! Maybe he should try out this hunting business later.]



[Swimming Pool]

[Hunting's going to have to wait until tomorrow, though. It's getting late in the day and he'd love to get some kind of exercise in that doesn't involve hacking monsters to bits. So! It's time for a leisurely swim!

Except "leisurely" means "doing laps as fast and splashily as possible." Some things haven't changed at all in the last decade.]



[Elsewhere]

[So maybe you encounter him on a different day, in another place. He could be anywhere from his dorm/the surrounding hallways, watching movies in the media room (he's become That Guy who tries to memorize and speak along with the entire script), clearing monsters from around the stairways on the more dangerous floors, or... wherever, really.]

Comments

Cafeteria -- HEY GUESS WHO'S FINALLY TAGGING YOU

[geometry]

[Hi, Ishimaru. There's someone walking out of the kitchen backdoor, carrying food that clearly isn't part of the normal cafeteria menu... and he's just setting it out on the table next to everything else, without even an explanatory gesture. ...It was a habit Equius had gotten into lately. Around this time of the month people started to generally bellyache about the uninteresting food on offer in the tower, and after a while, telling them that learning to cook was a novel way to get out of the predicament (and also being met with uncomprehending looks) was beginning to get old.]

[So hey, if people don't like curry or taking things from other people, they can go suit themselves. But for everyone else, Equius likes to think that he's teaching by example. Really all that's happening is people are getting used to him cooking for them, but whatever, it's therapeutic. Equius has been rapidly running out of people to cook for.]

[Noticing Ishimaru staring at the spread already made, the (now adult, twelve-foot troll) troll holds out a plate to him silently. There's even a set of utensils already sitting in there.]

OH BOY we should have done this sooner hahaha

[eyebrowsareforever]

[No matter how much studying and practice Ishimaru has put into the art of cooking, his problem is that he simply has no creativity in the kitchen. He'll look at the month's supply of ingredients and be unable to think of anything to make with them that isn't being served in the cafeteria most of the time. Every now and then someone will have brought in their own produce or something they hunted and let people use it, but for the most part he's just put up with repetitive menus.

He notices the curry first, then the gigantic troll holding it. Is that... curry? He remembers curry...]

...

Is that... for me?

We really should have...

[geometry]

If you want it. [He doesn't look too bothered either way, really. But judging from the way this human is now looking at the curry, Equius thinks he'll be down a plate soon enough.]

[Equius had been cooking his entire life, and the varied but limited ingredients that one could find in the Tower kitchen every month was not unlike thinking on the fly back on Alternia, where the trick was figuring out what he could afford rather than what he could use. Through the poorhouse culinary school, however, he did find some very interesting shortcuts and principles of replacement that came in very handy around these parts.]

[eyebrowsareforever]

[There's a small bit of pride within him - the part that hasn't been quashed yet, the part that insists that he dress presentably each day even when running the risk of staining everything with blood - that wants to refuse the food and try his own hand at curry, do it better, not be a charity case when there are so many others in the Tower who probably can't fend for themselves. But the familiar smell is winning him over pretty quickly, and he'd rather not let good food go to waste.]

Oh, I'd love it! And please, teach me how to make it sometime!

[It's undoubtedly more work than instant microwaveable curry used to be, but it'll be worth it. ...Until he gets sick of curry too.]

[geometry]

Certainly. [Ishimaru was far from the first person who Equius has taught how to cook over his time in the Tower, since he had discovered the (rather sad) fact that most people weren't able to prepare their own meals and were just planning to depend on the drones to cook for them. That was a great way to get horribly sick if the cafeteria food was spiked, in Equius' opinion, but it wasn't a prime solution for very much else.] Other things as well, if you like. I take it you don't know how to make much on your own. [Yeah, he... doesn't sugar-coat things very much, does he.]

Elsewhere because fight me Shocky

[hallmonotor]

[Ishimaru had avoided his "brother" for a few days after the whole incident at the infirmary. In fact he'd barely even left his room. But today he decided to stop by the other Ishimaru's room to see him. Surely if he had been mad or upset with him, he'd had ample time to cool down now.

He knocks on the door, firmly, but politely.]

Brother? Are you there?

FIGHTS

[eyebrowsareforever]

[Meanwhile, this Ishimaru has long since figured out the truth about his other self. Needless to say, he was livid. To think that not only had he been lied to about having a brother, but that the truth was even worse...! How could there be a timeline in which he'd do such terrible things? He hated just thinking about it, and so he alternated between avoiding his other self and trying to watch him like a hawk and make sure he didn't hurt anyone.

It was never easy.

Other difficult things: hearing a voice beyond his door that seem so familiar, but fuzzy in his memory. Like a recording of his own voice when he was young, but in very high quality. "Brother..."

Is the boy he was once mistaken for finally in the tower?

He opens the door, instantly regretting it.]

. . .

NO BAD

[hallmonotor]

[...

Well this isn't right. It can't possibly be anyone else, the face is too familiar, but there's clearly something very different about the man before him now. Ishimaru looks honestly confused.]

.... M-Mukuro onii-san? Is that you?

[Ishimaru leans in, inspecting him closely.]

But you told me to fight you...

[eyebrowsareforever]

[Whatever's been going on with the Tower lately, this has to be a part of it. People claiming it's been hundreds of years, others claiming nothing happened... Somehow, timelines are messing up again, and of course the other Ishimaru would be involved in it somehow. Or is it a case of him being sent back in time instead of the other being sent to the future? It doesn't really matter. What matters is that this kid still thinks he's his brother.

It might be easier to play along, but Ishimaru can't lie. He doesn't even think he can take the emotional strain if he could. But... the boy is also dangerous, he knows. He keeps his hand on the doorknob, ready to slam it if he needs to.]

...I'm not your brother.

Cafeteria PLACEHOLDER??

[idolwarrior]

[ His struggles won't go unnoticed. One of those ex-classmates who stuck around the tower until now is going to saunter over and casually sit at his table, biting on an apple. Sayaka prefers eating alone, but for those who stayed the longest and she somehow holds dear, she'll make an exception. ]

If you're not hungry, you shouldn't force yourself like that.

We call that a PLACE MAT

[eyebrowsareforever]

Ha... The problem is that I am hungry.

[And so he endures another bite before putting it aside and folding his hands.]

Say, Maizono. [...A decade in the Tower where nobody but the Admins holds any real rank is enough to make one forgo certain formalities. ] Have you ever wondered if the monsters are edible?

........ GET OUT

[idolwarrior]

[ That's one... special... question. Sayaka doesn't mind the familiarity, it's been twenty years for her after all. But at the question, she shrugs. ]

I never roasted one. But I'm not sure whether they have poison in them or not. [ Eyeing at him. ] Want me to bring a dead one here and let you test it out?

HEH HEH HEH

[eyebrowsareforever]

Poisoned... meat? I would have thought they would have toxic glands at the most, but that's possible too.

[He stares at his tray, going over this. What's more risky... Failing a restaurant fetch quest, or poison?

(Come to think of it, maybe the restaurant asked for people to bring his stupid books down. Note to self: Look into that later.)]

If you promise to kill me if I get too sick, I think it's worth trying. So many of those are killed each day... but wouldn't it be something to be able to put them to use when the cafeteria food gets tiresome? Nobody would need to waste time hunting deer and rabbits!

Floor Three

[tohko_amano]

Tohko kept up with her library duties, as usual..but when she saw someone flipping desperately through the shelves, she walked up to them, a puzzled look on her face.

"Sir, what are you looking for?"

[eyebrowsareforever]

At least he's not making too much of a mess. Although he'd be able to go a lot faster if he was.

"Ah! Hello! Have you seen a number of small, handwritten booklets? They were beginner's guides to the Tower..."

[tohko_amano]

However, if he did, he'd get a scolding. Tohko thought for a moment and sighed.

"I'm sorry, I haven't..do you remember where you last put them? If we go back to the starting point of where you put them, we might be able to find them."

This was really weird..usually she was able to remember where different books in the library were, especially odd things like that. But this time, she couldn't recall seeing them.

[eyebrowsareforever]

"They had been in the reference library for several years, but there was nothing there. I wouldn't have thought anybody had any reason to touch them before new arrivals started showing up again..."

He sighed and straightened his back, pulling a face when he could hear a small popping noise. He must have been stooped over shelves for far too long already.

Library

[superprogrammer]

[Chihiro, now ten years older and much taller, is working in the library when he spots Ishimaru searching for... something. He goes over to see what's up.]

Ishimaru-kun? Are you looking for something?

[eyebrowsareforever]

Oh, Fujisaki... Do you remember those pamphlets I made up a long time ago? They were here... weren't they?

[superprogrammer]

Oh, those! I do. Yes... [he comes over] ... I remember you left them here somewhere... Why are you looking for them again?

[eyebrowsareforever]

Haven't you noticed the new arrivals lately? This is exactly what I'd prepared them for!

also elswhere and really damn late fight me double

[mustlovedogs]

[So here's Mondo just heading upstairs to the dorms when he spots some guy with freaky red eyes fighting monsters - wow what's with those eyebrows, ever think of plucking them-- oh shit it's Ishimaru. ...Except he's not wearing his uniform, and what happened to his hair? This is some weird shit. And it actually makes Mondo pretty wary after Monomaru. So he just stands to the side, squinting at this strange Ishimaru.]

Prepare for trouble?

[eyebrowsareforever]

[Ishimaru's learned to be mindful of his surroundings in the danger zones - more than once he's found himself surrounded and overwhelmed by sneakier monsters, and has suffered a few brutal deaths because of it over the years. It's not enough to scare him away from what he feels like is his duty, but it has made him practice the quickest possible kills so he can move from one monster to the next before they can gang up on him.

One of the two imps he's fighting falls, its head cleanly severed, and the second follows shortly. He knows some third creature is watching, and he whirls around, katana at the ready...

Except it's not a monster, but a man. A very familiar one, at that. Noooo why did you have to bring the pompadour baaaack.]

. . .

[He lowers the sword, just staring for a moment. He's aware of the time shenanigans going on by now, but it's still a huge shock to see Mondo like this again.]

Kyoudai? You're so young!

wow you have it backwards

[mustlovedogs]

...

[Squinting harder.]

Ishimaru? You really kyoudai-Ishimaru? The fuck's going on with you?

EXCUSE YOU more like you forgot the first line and I fixed it for you!

[eyebrowsareforever]

It's... really something I'm still trying to figure out.

[He glances over his shoulder, frowning.]

Let's get back to the stairs. So, the best way to put this would be... The Administrators have done something to replace some of us with ourselves from the future.

[No, that sounds stupid...]

I promise you that I am who you think I am.