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

[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!

[tohko_amano]

I don't know if it's a prank or not..but I can tell you that your universe isn't destroyed, so don't worry, alright?

[looselips]

Who said I cared about that?

[The line is pretty harshly delivered, considering that 1.) he's eight, and 2.) he's brushing off the death of everyone in his universe.]

[tohko_amano]

[At that, Tohko looked pretty puzzled.]

...Don't you care about whether or not your friends and family are safe back home?

[looselips]

Who cares about those assholes? I sure don't.

[tohko_amano]

Why not?

[looselips]

None of them appreciate me, so why should I worry about them?

[tohko_amano]

Well, they might like you a little more if you acted a bit nicer. And just because some people don't like you doesn't mean you can't like them. In fact, tossing them aside because they don't like you isn't going to help your relationship.

[looselips]

Or maybe I would act a bit nicer if they were worth being nice to. [He rolls his eyes.] I'm not going to waste my time trying to befriend idiots who aren't worth my time, so give it a rest already.

[tohko_amano]

[At that, Tohko sighed.]

And what makes you think people aren't worth your time? People aren't chess pieces, you know. Just because you can't use them for something doesn't mean you have the right to treat them badly.

[looselips]

It's not about using people like chess pieces. Some of us are just born better than others.

[Like him, obviously.]

[tohko_amano]

That's not true. Some people are better at certain things, like singing or drawing, but even those people have flaws that other people might not have. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. We're not born better than anyone else.