1

[looselips]

Characters: Shinji Matou & OPEN
Setting: Dormitory Floor 2; Cafeteria; Library
Format: Action preferred, but I'll try to match.
Summary: Shinji tries to puzzle out his situation.
Warnings: Man idk, I'll update this as things come up.

dormitory
[There is a small, (probably) unfamiliar child in the dormitory today. He doesn't seem as frightened or upset as a child perhaps should be after waking up in a strange place and being informed that his world has been destroyed. Instead, he's seated in front of one of the network terminals, his heels resting on the stool's legs.]

[It's hard to say what he's doing. He isn't touching the device at all, only staring at it really, really intently. Then, abruptly, he makes a noise of frustration and kicks it.]

—Ouch!

[Oops. He must have kicked it too hard, or hit his leg on it as he did so, as he immediately reaches down to cradle his knee.]

[This isn't the first terminal he has tried to do...whatever it is he's trying to, and it probably won't be the last. He might even venture to the first and third floor dormitories to see if he has better luck there.]

cafeteria
[So, after completely failing at what he wanted to do, Shinji has gone to the cafeteria. Maybe things will go better if he has a little food in his stomach? Maybe. Being in a less irritable mood should definitely help, at least.]

[Except the only thing he's given to eat is plain oatmeal. Obviously, this offends his eight-year-old culinary sensibilities. He hasn't touched it yet, and is instead just glaring at it like it's the source of all his problems where he sits at one of the tables.]

library
[...Yep, he's right back to his fruitless efforts with the terminals. This kid is tenacious, even if only in the way a small, loud terrier might be.]

Comments

[looselips]

[He kicks it again, harder, just to be spiteful.]

Break it? That implies this piece of junk works in the first place!

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko glares at the kid and moves closer to him.]

It does, but only if you use it correctly. Kicking it doesn't do anything. You have to use the mouse and the keyboard.

[Tohko tapped on both objects as she talked about them.]

[looselips]

[Just pick him up and move him. You know you want to.]

[In any case, he slaps at her hand when she taps the parts in front of him.]

I know how to use a computer, you dolt. This one isn't responding to me.

[tohko_amano]

Ow!

[Okay, Tohko will try to grab the little tyke's hand for a moment.]

Don't smack people who are trying to help you. It's not nice, and here, that could get you killed.

[If she was successful, Tohko would then let go of his hand and move the mouse around. It works fine.]

This terminal is working fine. Maybe you should just stop kicking it. Computers here aren't the same as the ones you used back home.

[looselips]

Hey! Don't touch me, you rat-faced cretin!

[Wow rude. He tries to wrestle his wrist free of her grip, though he isn't very strong, clutching his forearm with his other hand once it has been released.]

If you know so much, what's so different about them? Please, enlighten me.

[tohko_amano]

[Okay, that earned the kid a light smack on the head.]

Don't call me that! I'm a lovely, innocent book girl! I'm not a cretin or a goblin!

[She huffed before grabbing the mouse and starting to explain the network.]

When you want to type something to someone, you have to click the blue bar under their name and type your reply in the square shown before hitting 'enter' on the keyboard. Give that a try.

[looselips]

Anyone who actually calls themselves "lovely" probably needs to wear a bag over their head in public. I guess you just prove that.

[He rubs his head, glaring/sulking at her as she launches into her explanation.]

I can figure that out on my own. I'm not a moron.

[Yes, he most certainly is implying she is.]

[tohko_amano]

[Hey, have another smack, kid. Man, you're a brat, even by Tohko's standards.]

I don't have to wear a bag over my face! I'm just not as ugly as you're stating! Man, you're a horrible brat, you know that?! And if you could figure that out on your own, then why did you keep kicking the terminal? It's not like that's going to send messages for you, or record your voice and videos.

[looselips]

[The smacking isn't making him any more agreeable, but like a child that won't stop touching a hot stove, he doesn't change his attitude.]

Maybe because I didn't want to do any of those things, you know-it-all slime!

[tohko_amano]

I'm not a know-it-all slime, you little snotty brat! And what did you want to do, then? These terminals can't be used for anything else but those three things.

[looselips]

In that case, you're useless, so just go crawl back in your cave already!

[tohko_amano]

I'm not useless, and I don't have a cave to crawl back into! That's just what these terminals are used for-to communicate to people using those three methods. What were you trying to do?

[looselips]

It doesn't matter, because it isn't working.

[Now he's just avoiding the question, mostly because he doesn't want to admit that he can't seem to do any spirit hacking.]

[tohko_amano]

It does matter. If you're good at using these terminals in a different way, it could help everyone here. If you tell me what you were trying to do, I could help you figure out why you can't do it..or help you actually do it.

[looselips]

I... Mm.

[He goes quiet and deflates some, seeming to actually consider her point. As much as he hates relying on others for help, it's true that he had been doing something that would benefit others if successful, and that he might have better luck with assistance.]

It's called spirit hacking.

[tohko_amano]

[And Tohko looked puzzled at that. The name..sounded really suspicious to her.]

Spirit hacking? How can you hack into someone's spirit in your universe? With a computer? Or an old spell? Or a mix of both?

[looselips]

It's the opposite of that. It's the ability to digitize your soul and filter the data inside a device directly through your brain. Like that, I could do all sorts of things with a computer without even touching it. [But... He sets his elbows on the terminal in front of him, chin in his hands.] Even though I'm one of the best spirit hackers around, I can't seem to do it now.

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko nodded as she burned this information onto her brain.]

I see..I don't think you're going to be able to do that here though. For one thing, the terminals and network here aren't advanced enough for that, and for another things..this is the Tower of Animus. I don't think you're going to be able to do anything that involves souls so easily.

[looselips]

"Tower of Animus"? Is that actually supposed to mean something?

[His irritation is really directed less at her and more at the fact that, apparently, he was having the thing that made him special taken away from him.]

[tohko_amano]

[At that, Tohko sighed and nodded.]

It is. 'Animus' is an old Roman concept that means souls. So, the whole name translates out to Tower of Souls.

[looselips]

So because I'm in a "Tower of Souls," I can't do anything with mine?

[It's pretty obvious from his tone that he thinks this is stupid.]

[tohko_amano]

You might be able to..but I'm not sure where you would even start here. It wouldn't be with the terminals..and even if I did know how, it would probably be risky.

There may be a few free-floating souls running around, and if you were to separate your soul from your body here, you may just die horribly..or something even worse.

[looselips]

...Ugh, this is ridiculous! [He musses his own hair as he sulks and glares at the terminal like it's that thing's fault somehow.] "Die horribly or worse"? What kind of joke is this?!

[He already died once, so why does he have to worry about dying again?]

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko sighed again.]

It's no joke, and it's not ridiculous, even if it does sound odd. Here, if you were to separate your soul from your body, it could be destroyed, mangled, or fused with thousand of other souls and tortured. I don't even know how you would do it, but I wouldn't, if I were you.

[looselips]

Oh, no, I'm sure you're telling the truth. [He actually means it, though his tone still sounds sarcastic enough that it's hard to tell.] But the fact that I'm here at all has to be kind of screwed up prank!