towerofanimus | (no subject)

Characters: Ken Hidaka and Aya Fujimiya (AU1), open if you want I suppose.
Setting: Floor 25
Format: Action
Summary: During the event, Aya finds Ken--who he has thought long dead. Werewolves don't live forever, after all. Ken would protest, but he's too tired. Fifty or so years of the Tower would wear on anyone.

Anyone else who wants to bother him will find Ken sleeping and/or rather hard to carry on a conversation with.
Warnings: Angst angst angst. Also backdating.

[There were times where Ken felt a hell of a lot older than he actually was. Those times got more and more common as he grew older--his 75th birthday (he thought) had just passed, but he felt like a wolf three times that age. Injuries badly healed, the mental toll of dying--and seeing those he cared about killed--multiple times, dozens of times, and the sheer defeatism of not finding a way out of this place in all that time had combined to utterly drain him.

Why make the effort anymore?

Most of Ken's time these days was spent either sleeping or wandering aimlessly about the Tower on four paws, spending as much time as he could in the floors where he didn't feel so confined--forest, meadow, anywhere he could forget there were walls keeping him here for just a while. At the moment, he was lying in the middle of the meadow floor, a giant ball of sleeping fur.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Aya had no idea why he bothered to do anything in this world now. He was alone, all who he had known before were long since buried. Even Ken. Sighing, he moved through the floors until he reached the meadow floor. At least this place was always sure to be beautiful in his eyes, so peaceful and quiet.

Moving through it, he never expected to see that ball of fur, so familiar in scent. All these years later, he could never forget it and his unbeating heart began to ache because of it.

It couldn't be...]

Ken...

[His sleep is never deep anymore--too much could happen, monsters being the least of their problems--so Aya's quiet voice still wakes him. His ears prick upward before his eyes open, and his tail thumps a couple times against the ground. It's about all the enthusiasm he can muster.

He doesn't shift to greet Aya with words, shifting his form is an effort he doesn't undertake much these days. But he does move, disturbing the flowers as he stretches out.]

[It is Ken. He doesn't know what madness this is but Aya comes over all the same to settle down next to him, moving Ken's head into his lap so he can stroke his ears. It seems...right.

Smiling, he just watches him. He remembers when Ken was like this, always a wolf, sleeping often. It hurts to remember this but it's still good to see him.]

Just rest, Ken. I'll watch over you.

[He gives a contented sigh, tilting his head so his left ear is better accessible--forget acting like he's above ear scratches, he totally isn't.

Though why you seem so sad is beyond him. Didn't he just see you this morning? He moves so he can look up towards Aya's face and whines questioningly.]

[Scratching that ear, he shakes his head. The last thing he wants to do is burden Ken with these thoughts. If this is his last moment with Ken then he wants to have it. He wants to treasure it.]

It's nothing.

[This look is clearly 'bullshit', what with the narrowed eyes and subsequent huff. He doesn't believe you. Really, after 50 years one would think you'd remember that he isn't an idiot. Don't make him shift to mouth off at you, this is comfortable.]

Ken, it's alright. Just get some sleep.

[Saying that Ken is dead in his time... No, he can't handle doing that. He really can't.]