the war is over and we are beginning;

[egotrigger]

Characters: Allelujah Haptism and open!
Setting: A few of the new floors.
Format: Either.
Summary: Allelujah feels the need to explore some of these new floors. Feels ensue.
Warnings: Possible violence, especially on floor 56. Gundam 00 spoilers. Massive feels?


[Floor 100]

[He'd started from the top - it'd helped that he'd been in his room before deciding on this. The first floor he encounters seems suspicious, so he steps off the staircase cautiously.]

[The scene changes, and he's standing on one of the catwalks, near Kyrios. The sight of his Gundam so close makes his heart hurt, and he reaches out to touch the metal.]

[His hand passes right through it, and he closes his eyes for a moment. A hologram, or something like it. Of course. He opens his eyes again, and it's still there, just as if it's waiting for him to climb in and go off on another mission, hopefully to help those who need it, and protect the weak.]

[Even if he's not sure that it'll be intact once he gets back.]

[… Still, he stands there for a few long minutes, just taking in the sight of the Gundam, before he moves on.]



[Floor 81]

[Even if these aren't his stars, it doesn't matter to Allelujah. He's just glad that he can finally, finally see stars again. He stands in one of the bulges for a while, just looking up at the sky.]

[Maybe if he watches the stars for a bit, he can come up with names for some of the constellations. Even if Hallelujah thinks that's stupid.]



[Floor 73]

[He's glad he decided to change into his flight suit before he headed out, because he can feel the chill on his face. Maybe he should have brought his helmet, too - but it's too late for that.]

[He'd never really had much time to play in the snow - he always had to keep moving when he was young. But he has time now. Really, they all have too much time here.]

[Maybe that's why he starts packing together some snowballs and seeing what parts of the castle he can hit.]



[Floor 56]

[The fear when he steps onto this level is intense. After hiding in the shadows for a few long moments, he can't hear anyone, so he sneaks along the corridors, keeping an eye out for anyone who might be around.]

[Something catches his eye, and he turns, firing a blast from his pistol at it - but nothing's there. He tightens his grip on his weapon and keeps moving.]

[Eventually, he comes to the surgical suite. Allelujah shakes for a moment, and Hallelujah roars with anger in his head. He holsters his gun and flexes his gloved hands, before starting to flip every table that isn't bolted down, destroy everything that looks like it might be used to hold a specimen, and dent every surface that looks like it might ever have someone lie on it for surgery.]

[It takes a while for his anger and adrenaline to burn out. He can tell that Hallelujah was fueling a lot of it - letting down the barriers between their minds to share his anger.]

[He pants, and then collapses to his knees, before sitting on the floor and pulling his legs into his chest, trying desperately not to cry.]

Comments

[egotrigger]

Astrology isn't science. It's superstitious guesswork. I don't have a problem if people follow it or like it, but the people who mistake it for science...

[Not his favorite people.]

[knightime]

I didn't think astrology was a science at the very least.

[Neither are his strong suit though.] What constellations did you grow up with? I know the names and some general knowledge. I just wouldn't be able to point them out to save my life.

[egotrigger]

Well... when I was younger, when we got to see the stars that weren't in simulations, they were Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Draco, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor... that group. When I got a little older, I couldn't really see them anymore, since I lived in a city and there was too much light.

The stars I see now change all the time, though, since we don't always stay above the northern hemisphere.

[knightime]

Those sound familiar. I think I recognize the Ursa ones, but I was always raised on the crappy, non scientific names. The ones you tell little kids because we apparently are more easily amused if they're named in more silly ways.

I couldn't really see them most of the time. Houston was a big city.

[egotrigger]

Houston... that's in America, right? I've never actually been there. I spent more time in the HRL than in the Union.

[knightime]

Yeah. Houston, Texas. We're the really large state. You're not really missing out. It's a lot of city life and a hell lot of hot weather.

[egotrigger]

Ah, right. I remember hearing about Texas when we were studying nineteenth century Union military history.

[knightime]

Is it weird to ask where you were born? Since you aren't from the states from what I'm guessing.

We've been roommates for awhile, but I actually know jackshit about you.

[egotrigger]

[He pauses. It's a good question, but...]

To be honest I'm... not sure. I don't remember anything from before my surgery. I'm pretty sure I was born in the Human Reform League, but that's Russia, Mongolia, China, India, some countries of South Asia, Ceylon, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea. I could be from any of those, in theory. I was probably separated from my family during the Solar Wars, but I have no memory of them at all. I don't know if they're dead or if I was just kidnapped.

[He doesn't seem... too bothered by it. He's bothered by the actions of the HRL, but it's hard to miss a family he doesn't remember.]

[knightime]

I hope you realize a lot of these things don't mean exact sense to me. Like the Human Reform League or Solar Wars. [It probably doesn't matter to know what they are, but he feels kind of bad that the other doesn't seem to have memory of who his parents were. Or if he even had a family.] That sounds like it sucks. So you were under the care of someone else?

If I'm asking questions I shouldn't be, you're free to tell me to stop. I don't usually see or talk to my roommates enough to really know much about them.

[egotrigger]

Mm, right. Sorry about that. The year is 2308 where I'm from... that might make a difference. The world's mostly divided into three groups of nations called power blocs - the Human Reform League, the Advanced European Union, and the Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations. They're commonly shortened to HRL, AEU, and Union, respectively. There's almost no fossil fuels left where I'm from, so countries whose economy relied solely on the sale of fossil fuels fell into poverty. Some believed that the solar power system threatened the "promised land of God", so they launched a series of conflicts that were later called the Solar Wars, which lasted for twenty years.

[He smiles a little shakily. He's used to keeping most of this information under wraps... but he's starting to see that he doesn't need to here.]

That's right. I was technically the property of the Human Reform League. There were a lot of us sent to a facility where they conducted various tests. They were trying to build the ultimate soldier.

[knightime]

Welp. That's hells bell in the future from my point of view. [This was interesting though and Dave was obviously paying attention. It wasn't anything he'd have to deal with, but it was pretty fascinating to learn about other worlds.]

Oh. [Dave glances down at his feet.] Sorry then. That sounds pretty harsh. [Something like that sounded pretty heavy.]

[egotrigger]

That facility's gone now, though, thankfully. They won't be capturing anyone else for that.

[Unless they had another facility... but the investment and secrecy involved made it unlikely.]

[knightime]

That's great. [Still. He hates to think what the other went through.] Still. That seems like something that would have been really nice to avoid.