towerofanimus | 01 - There Are No Words

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01 - There Are No Words

Characters: Kain Highwind and you
Setting: The dorms (Room 4-18), the workshop (Floor 15), and higher still (Floor 36)
Format: Prose to start, will follow whichever you prefer.
Summary: Kain awakens, and takes it upon himself to explore the tower.
Warnings: None

The moment that Kain was free from the sleep paralysis, he threw his covers aside and sprang from the bed. This wasn't where he had fallen asleep. This wasn't Mount Ordeals. He began to pat himself down, bewildered that his clothes were gone and replaced, and only halted when his hand found the collar around his neck. "What the..." He gave it a light tug. Then another. Then a much harder one, to absolutely no result other than some discomfort. Alright. Alright, never mind that, then. There was no use picking at something that produced no results when there other things to explore and examine. Like the locker at the foot of the bed he had just bounded from.

He knelt before it, found the latch, flipped it open, and immediately cried out in shock and disappointment. There was his Holy Lance... and it was shattered. Broken into pieces, and wedged awkwardly in the locker on the diagonal. At a loss for words and heedless, for the moment, of anyone in the room or out in the hall, he pulled the upper piece free and stared, jaw-slack. Anger and resolve would come shortly. But for now, dismay and disappointment gripped him.

-

There had been a handful of explanations and a bowlful of oatmeal, and then Kain was left to his own devices. And that was fine by him. If nothing was harassing him and there were no demands on his time, he'd explore. He'd test the limits of this place, and he'd find a way out, certainly.

Although having it out with a warren of excessively vicious rabbits on the forest floor made him rue not having a weapon. He had immediately determined that he would find something to fight with... and how fortunate that, not long later, he had come across a workshop. He didn't know enough about blacksmithing to possibly make repairs to his own spear. It was a relic. It was special. Someone with actual skill and talent ought to attempt such a thing. But surely he could fashion himself something acceptably functional. There were lengths of wood, there was metal that he could bring to a sharp edge and mount on the end... yes, that'd do for now. If you're passing through or if you're here to do a bit of work of your own, you'll find the dragoon busy at work sawing and sanding wood, or shaping and sharpening metal.

-

Kain's exploration of the tower had, thus far, been nothing that he couldn't handle. What few monsters he had encountered proved to be little issue, now that he had something to fight them with. Perhaps his improvised spear wasn't the best, but skill could compensate for equipment quality. And so he had slain the occasional strange creature, vaulted over the walls of a garden maze, wandered past rooms of unfamiliar objects and equipment, and resisted ill compulsions and urges all the way to the... what floor was this? He had lost count. It was over thirty floors that he had crossed, at least. Perhaps forty? No, surely not that many.

Whatever the case and whatever the height, the staircase up this far was crumbled and even missing in places. Not that it would be a problem for him. A few deft jumps and he'd be well on to the next floor. With a faint huff of amusement he crouched, recoiled, and sprang into a leap that he was sure would clear at least two sections of gapped stairway.

"Aaa-aaaah!" He had misjudged greatly, for suddenly his ability to leap and jump and soar had failed him. He had barely gotten enough distance to clear that first missing set of steps, and even then he only landed on the crumbling edge of the next solid bit of ground. His left foot lost it's grip, then his right failed to find any solid purchase, and then he was falling.

Kain's quick reflexes served him well. Out spun the wooden spear he had carved for himself, and it caught on both sides of the gap that he had slipped between. It also bent alarmingly far, but for the moment, it was holding. And Kain was holding, too, one-handed, legs kicking, head swimming with shock. This couldn't happen. This shouldn't happen. He knew the skies, he could leap like no other, but then...

"...damn!" The wooden spear gave a sharp crack, and it brought his thoughts back into focus. He could lament his apparent loss later. For now, he'd have to get back on solid ground, or there would be no time left to lament anything.

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April really didn't like this floor. She always had trouble getting over the missing steps, and she had enough near-misses than what she was comfortable with. So this was typically a floor she didn't stay on for long.

But one thing she wasn't expecting to see as she walked down the steps was someone between the gaps and holding onto something that looked like it was about to snap. So, she quickly moves down the rest of the steps and reaches to grab onto his hand.

"Hold on, I'll pull you up!" Luckily she's stronger than she looks, but she just has to hope that the stairs won't crumble beneath her.

There are a few moments between April noticing him and clearing the distance between them, and in that time Kain has managed to get a grip on himself. The why of this could come later. First, he had to not fall. He had tensed, and begun a swing that he hoped would take him to the other side of a gap, when he heard a woman calling out to him.

His head turns, he shoots her a sharp and assessing glance, and then he completes that swing and grabs for her hand. He's tall and lean, and he's got some momentum behind him. With her assistance, he can get one foot solidly planted on the stone stairs. "Almost....!" Although he's not quite steady, not quite safe from a painful bit of plummeting...

Which is why she keeps a tight grip on his hand and pulls, so he can get a more steady footing on the stairs. Luckily she's managed to get a solid standing on it herself, even as she takes a step back so that she can get more leverage to pull him up.

Of course, she inwardly panics when she can hear something crumbling faintly, but right now she had to focus on pulling him up and away from plummeting.

That pull was enough to put him on solid ground, though his weight does go forward a bit more than he'd have liked. When he speaks, he's somewhat breathless. "You have my thanks. I..."

...did he hear crumbling? No, he felt it. He could feel the subtle shift of stone beneath his feet, and it didn't bode well. He shot the woman a sharp glance. "We move!" And with that declaration he bolted up what remained of the stairs. If she had been clever enough to spot him and strong enough to pull him up, then surely she wouldn't be far behind.

When he bolted up the stairs, April followed right behind him, not wanting to hang around on the stairs as they crumble. She only stops when they get to the solid floor inside the tower, and she takes a moment to catch her breath before looking over at the man. "Y-you okay?"

With solid ground beneath his feet, Kain feels far more at ease. Since neither of them seem likely to plummet to their doom anytime soon, actual talk is in order. He nods to April, takes a breath, and casts a quick glance backwards. "Fine. I can't say the same for my spear, but that's far more easily replaced than my life. It was fortunate that you came along."

Then he hesitated. Safe and sound on solid ground, he had time to wonder about what had happened to put him in such a precarious position. He looked back at April, began to speak, then glanced back again at the way they had come.

"...I should have vaulted that gap with ease. That and the next one."

He sounded unsettled.

April gives him a nod back, sighing in relief. She's more jittery than what she would like to admit, but she's glad that they're away from any sort of danger for now. His hesitation does get a curious look, which turns a bit more somber at what he says, and she nods again in understanding.

"... There are floors in this tower where powers and stuff like that won't work. This is one of them." She sounds a bit annoyed as she says that; she never liked losing her powers, even if only if it's on certain floors.

Kain makes a sound of surprise upon hearing her explanation. "Sealing magic, then. And only on certain floors? I had no troubles further down."

He stepped further into the empty floor, spinning the cracked spear end over end in his one hand, tense and uneasy. At least it was still in one piece, though he didn't care to try attacking anything with it. "This place is strange. And disorienting. Do you know how much higher it goes?"

"I'm not sure what it is, exactly. Though how much further down? Cause from this floor to about five floors below, powers won't work. And there's another floor further down where powers won't work either."

She shifts on her feet and buries her hands into her way-too-large trenchcoat pockets. Despite the strength she showed earlier, she is rather, well, small, and her large trenchcoat doesn't help with that.

"Hmm... I think the highest floor is floor 48, where the graveyard is. Right now we're on... floor 36, I think."

"I'm certain I was more than five floors down. And the last few floors were relatively uneventful. That would explain it, then."

Another spin of his spear, then another, then he seems to catch himself in his anxious motion and plants the butt upon the ground. Enough of that. He focuses on April instead. So far, she's been trustworthy enough. Will that hold?

"Another twelve to the top, then. And after that? What then?"

There had to be something. There had to be a way out. An answer. Anything.

"It's..."

April pauses in her answer, trying to think if she had any information about that, before she shakes her head and sheepishly looks down at the floor.

"... No clue. There may be even more floors, or the roof, or something... And even if it was the roof after that floor, we can't exactly leave through that way. The fog outside is a barrier that will shred anything that goes through it."

Edited 2013-01-28 08:09 (UTC)

No clue? But the news of the fog was an answer of a sort. An answer that he hadn't wanted to hear. For he had already been considering the possibility of flight as a means of escape... His own gaze lowered, and he hissed through clenched teeth.

"So we are well and truly trapped? I can't accept that. Any of this." His head then lifted suddenly and fixed his gaze upon April. "Should I? And do you? And who... who are you?" The moment is getting to him. The shock is finally wearing off and the gravity of the situation is finally starting to settle upon him. He's scared, and it's beginning to manifest as a defensively raised voice and tension in his stance.

"No, you shouldn't, and I don't. A way out of this tower will be found." Her voice is firm as she says this; she fully believes that they will be able to escape, even if it takes some time. "And I'm April. I'm also someone who got brought here."

Now there's an answer that he actually likes. It holds the promise of hope. Of resistance. In spite of himself, he smiles. "Then I won't, either."

And perhaps he ought to introduce himself, as well? "I am Kain Highwind. And I awoke here this morning. You seem to know much... I take it you've been here considerably longer, April?"

And his smile is enough to prompt a small smile from her, before she gives him a nod. "Nice to meet you, Kain, despite the circumstances. And yeah, I've been here for about..."

April trails off for a moment as she thinks, trying to remember the months that have passed. She had never kept track of dates before the tower, so she was bad at remembering this. "... I think it's been around five or six months, now."

"...I see." The answer seems to surprise him. He had hoped the length of time would not be so long... but he had also feared that it would be much longer.

"Perhaps this isn't the best place to chat. I've already fought things on my way up, and my spear won't last another battle. Where would be the best place to go from here?"

April thinks for a few moments. "Hmm... Floor forty five is the best bet. It's a floor with large windows and while there are sometimes creatures crawling along the windows, they are unable to get in. So it's safe, but creepy."

After going up and down these stairs so often in the passing months, Catarina had gotten used to this particular floor. She didn't really like it all that much, but she couldn't deny that in the right mood, it could be fun. If she was in the right now at this time. But she was locked inside her own head, locked inside her thoughts about what had happened in the past month, what it meant for her, for those around her-

-when she heard the crack of the spear. A new person, then. It wasn't her problem, she didn't need to do anything-

"... ugh." And a dark hand was reaching down, grabbing his with alarming strength.

Kain was hardly hanging there and passively awaiting his own doom. His legs kicked and he had attempted to swing himself to safety... attempt being the operative word here, as he hadn't gained enough distance and neither his foot nor his free hand found purchase. Just as the spear's shaft began to properly splinter and give, he felt that hand close over his, and he went with it.

"Hn...!" A woman? A surprisingly strong one, for her size, it seemed. But questions could come later. For now, he didn't want to fall. He held fast.

He hadn't managed to cause his grip to falter with his attempts and for him to fall. There was a spark of something- relief? - in Catarina's eyes as she pulled him out of void the tower had created to try and trap them. But the ground under her was crumbling even as she pulled him up, her features starting to twist in annoyance.

"You simply had to pick the most annoying floor!"

He was quick to find his footing once pulled back to semi-solid ground, and quick to pull his hand away once the support was no longer needed. He was proud, and reflexively annoyed by her visible annoyance.

"I hardly chose to do that!" And he began to move past her, stepping quickly, nearly-broken spear still in one hand. She'd do well to follow, but he wouldn't say as much. It seemed obvious enough to him.

Which, of course, she did. But not without childishly shoulder-checking him on the way, leaping calmly over crumbling blocks.

"Mover faster!"

Once they were both absent, the step where they had both been occupying gave way completely. And down it tumbled into the distance, end over end....

Kain bristled at the shoulder-check, but he wasn't about to move slower out of spite. Though he made an irritated "tch!" sound, his focus was on running and moving and not misjudging his steps. Apparently, things didn't work as expected in this place. He couldn't allow himself to be distracted.

Catarina kept moving, her focus on the steps as she ran and lept up them... and her hand reaching behind her thoughtlessly to grab his, yanking him along. She wasn't consciously doing it, more focused on getting off the floor than anything else.

A conservative jump brought him over a crumbled gap in the ascending stairs, but it slowed him. He was used to springing about with far more liberty and far less thought. This required purposeful effort. This delayed him by a few moments. Long enough for that powerful hand to snatch his and to start dragging him. Which he didn't like in the least. And couldn't find the words to protest, so his anger came out as an incoherent burst of sound.

But they did clear quite a few stairs. They were just a few more steps away from the top (and safety) when he wrenched his hand away, put on an additional burst of speed, and attempted to pass her.

A race to the top, was it? Catarina grinned as he tried to pass her, picking up her own speed and leaping at him as he passed her, the two of them sliding onto the landing. She panted, lifting her head to see that she had won the race, ready to gloat...

Only to see he was ahead of her on the landing. Catarina snarled softly at this, annoyed.

It wasn't much of a lead, but it was a lead, and he'd take it. He'd also gratefully accept that he was on solid ground, that he was no longer being hauled around like a boy, and that apparently, there was nothing up here that wanted to try and tear out either of their innards.

Still breathing heavily, he pivoted about to give a proper look at his... rival? He thought the word, and then found himself incapable of un-thinking it. "...and who are you?" His irritation remained, but tinged with a hint of satisfaction at, apparently, besting her.

She let out a soft animalistic snarl at the satisfaction in his voice, sitting up slowly. Catarina slid up onto all fours, walking to him with a swaying hip. "The name is Catarina. And yourself?"

Kain slid backwards and rose to his full height, not sure that he liked what that snarl implied. She reminded him of someone that he'd rather put out of mind. "Kain. It seems I was fortunate enough to find you on 'the most annoying floor', Catarina. So thank you."

It was a grudging, reserved thank you. He turned away for an instant, retrieving his now-useless spear from the floor.

Catarina slowly rolled up to her feet, the movements too fluid to be natural or human. Her hand came out to touch his arm, moving to pull him closer. "Kain. A nice name."

He stiffened at her touch, and then immediately stepped away. That wasn't what he was here for. This was no time or place for it. "We shouldn't linger. Other dangers may be lurking." With that said, he started for the stairs that lead ever upwards.

She laughed, a slight growl at the end of the laugh. "There are always dangers in this tower, Kain."

Haldir rarely frequents these parts, but when he does it's out of desperation. He isn't as good in forging steel as he is with tailoring. In his forest dwelling of Lothlórien, his brother Rumil would be the one assisting at the forge while Haldir was on patrol. However, the march warden just knew that his blades would soon rot because wear and tear. Combat is common here in Animus, and a brittle sword may lead to his untimely demise.

In hopes of finding someone capable enough to mend his blade, Haldir enters the workshop to find someone hard at work. He watches in silence as the man works, his eyes focusing upon the surprising dexterity of his hands. While he doubts this fellow could properly care for his damaged sword, Haldir couldn't help but be somewhat curious as of what this man was trying to create. Judging from what the craftsman created so far, Haldir assumes he's working on a spear of some kind.

"Hail." He greets the other with a slight nod.

Edited 2013-01-28 06:39 (UTC)

Kain is quite absorbed in his spearcrafting, sanding the shaft to a satisfactory texture. Haldir's greeting startles him, and his head lifts and turns his way sharply and quickly. But the shock is quick to leave him. The man seems... if not trustworthy, at least not dangerous.

"Hello." He gives a slight nod of his own in kind. "Might I be of assistance?" His tone is even, but there's the slightest hint of uncertainty to his expression. Which is currently quite easy to read, seeing as he has taken off his helm and tied back his hair.

Even though the Warmage has been in the tower for almost two weeks, he hasn't exactly been exploring the Tower as much, much preferring to stay near the bottom few floors and his room.

How fortunate of him to cross paths with another explorer, right when his counterpart is in mortal danger. Quickly hopping over the steps and finding a foothold, he extended a hand to the fallen dragoon and firmly gripped onto his arm.

"I'll get you back up in juuuuuuust a second." And with that, he pulls with as much strength as he can muster, hoping to save the man from his doom.

The offered hand was grabbed and held tightly, as the dragoon put all of his might into hefting himself back onto solid ground. How fortunate that this man came across him when he did! "Nnnnff...! A second is all that's needed!"

He winds up in a crouch, on the very edge of the crumbled stair, his other hand still clutching the damaged wooden spear like a lifeline. Their positions seem stable for the moment, or so Kain thinks. "You... have my thanks."

"And up you go." Truth be told, he can't help but admire his nimble reflexes as the man flings himself back up.

With both men back on what seems to be solid ground, he relaxes just slightly. Not a good idea when you're anywhere in the Tower. Especially not when any form of magical trickery is blocked.

"Hey, it's no problem. 'Sides, it'll be bad if I just let you fall, now would it? Karma and all that." Too much talking, and too much confidence. Is that a faint cracking of the stairwell, or was that just the Warmage's admittedly overactive imagination?

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01 - There Are No Words

Floor 36

Floor 36

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Floor 36

Floor 36

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The Workshop

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