vermicompost: (eighty-nine)
Kariya Matou ([personal profile] vermicompost) wrote in [community profile] towerofanimus2013-02-02 03:19 pm

I've heard the mermaids singing each to each

Characters: Kariya Matou and YOU
Setting: Floor ninety (the lagoon)
Format: Prose to start, but I'll match you!
Summary: Kariya is turned into a mermaid. Merman. Merperson. A dangerous merperson. His choice is to drown others or die himself.
Warnings: Blood, possible violence, definite death (for Kariya). And worms. Always worms.


When he'd first found his way to the lagoon floor, Kariya had thought it might be a new peaceful floor where he could rest, like his favorite floor: the meadow. The sound of the falling water was soft and soothing, the water brilliantly clear. The banks were green and dotted with bright flowers. He sat down at the water's edge with a sigh. The effort of making it to this floor had taxed his strength. He was tired. He leaned forward to look into the blue water, reaching out to trail his fingers through the cool liquid.

That was when they struck. Without any warning. His wrist was gripped by a hand, strong as a vise. It hurt, but before he had time to voice a protest, he was dragged down into the water.

He should have died at once. It was the worms inside him that kept him alive. His lungs were aching, but when he opened his mouth in panic and fear, the worms, protecting their host, shot out and fought off the attackers, stinging and striking with their sharp wings and teeth. He managed to struggle to the surface. He was aware of flashing fins, fierce faces, hands pulling him back down. The worms in his lungs felt like they were choking him, but they were sustaining him with prana, life energy. He didn't drown, but his body was wracked with incredible pain. He was used to pain, but this kind was different. It felt like it was twisting his very skin and bones. He gasped, coughing up more worms into the water, along with dark blood.

It felt like it took hours, but it was probably only minutes. When the pain grew less, Kariya finally made his way back to the bank, his gasping and choking easing. He glanced down at his hands. His fingers were cool and had a greenish tinge. His legs felt strange, or rather, they were no longer legs at all. He turned to find himself changed from the torso down: he had a long, scaled greenish length of body ending in a broad, fishlike tail. He looked up. Then he saw the other mermaids clearly, watching him with their dark eyes. They seemed to be smiling at him, swimming in circles nearby but not drawing too near.

He tried to climb up out of the water, but he realized he wouldn't get far without legs. The air felt so dry on his skin. Was he trapped here? He hurt so badly, he only wanted to go back to safer, more familiar floors, and maybe find Ishtar to heal him. He couldn't. He had no way of calling for help. He was alone here, except for the mermaids with their laughing faces and cruel smiles.

Option A: (possible drowning)
There's a new merman swimming in the lagoon, one with the left side of his body veined and scarred, looking for someone, anyone, who can help him. Now and again, he calls out. "Is anyone there? I need your help."

Option B: (after beaching)
Unable to bear his existence as a mermaid, in pain and with the inescapable impulse to drown others, Kariya has made his way up onto the shore. He's lying there, breathing slowly, as his skin dries and cracks. This pain... he'll just have to endure it as he's endured everything else. He hopes it doesn't take too much longer.

[ooc: Kariya is going to be mercy-killed by Diarmuid, but feel free to encounter him before or after he's beached.]
godheals: Archangel, Neutral, Listening (Huh?)

[personal profile] godheals 2013-02-02 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Raphael, normally, did not venture far out from the infirmary. However..if was to be an Angel of healing, he would have to become familiar with all of the floors that said injured were on. His skills would be useless if he could not be aware of the dangers each floor held. Even if he did lose his powers on several of them.

So, while traveling up, he heard a voice calling out in a lagoon, and saw that the voice belonged to a man with scars on the left side of his body and..with a lower half like a fishes.

Raphael, having never seen or heard of mermaid/men, walked closer to the person, hoping to help.

"What do you need help with? And what are you?"
worldend_dominator: (Default)

[personal profile] worldend_dominator 2013-02-02 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Rosa too had come into the lagoon floor to possibly relax. It looked so beautiful, so serene. It was the sort of landscape that she usually had to take a plane ride several hours long to see. She wanted to just sit by the banks and perhaps nap there.

The serenity is broken by the moans and the call for aid. As far as Rosa can see, there is no one standing on the banks but her.

In that case, the calls can only be coming from the water itself. Yet, they are too clear to the calls of a drowning person. She remains silent, seeing if anything might come out of the water.
rainscented: (pic#5116372)

Option B.

[personal profile] rainscented 2013-02-02 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Exploring the new floors is painstakingly slow, and he doesn't stay in one place for long, but when one of his mice appears beside him with a message - that one of the people he's had them monitor is in trouble, dying even - Rat makes it to the ninetieth floor in record time. He's an asshole, but he keeps promises.

The sight of Kariya, mutated and drowning on dry land, is horrifying; he has to suppress the urge to gag or run as he approaches.

"Old man," he calls, uncharacteristically soft. "Are you still awake in there?"
godheals: Archangel, Neutral, Listening (thinking)

[personal profile] godheals 2013-02-02 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Not human..that meant that he was turned into this..creature. However, Raphael wasn't sure if he would be able to heal this man and turn him back into a normal human. He had healed regular sicknesses and revived humans before and even purged Vileness.

This was..a bit new. But he would try. He sat down in front of the man and tried to put a hand on his head.

"I am..sorry to hear that. I do not know how you were transformed or why..but I shall try to heal you. I cannot guarantee this will work though. I have never experienced it before."

Then Raphael would try to use his healing powers. If it worked, Kariya would glow green for a moment and start transforming back. If it didn't..then he would just glow green for a moment before nothing happened.

worldend_dominator: (pic#4855944)

[personal profile] worldend_dominator 2013-02-02 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
The voice is definitely coming from the lagoon. Cautiously Rosa takes one step toward the water.

"Y-yes? Are you...hurt?"
godheals: Archangel, Neutral, Listening (serious)

[personal profile] godheals 2013-02-02 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
At the effects of his healing and the mans words, Raphael sighed. He had not fully lived up to his name..he hadn't been able to help this man. And that was..terrible.

"..That is what I have been told. And you are welcome..I am sorry that I cannot help change you back. I have never faced something like this before..but who do you mean by 'they'? What's lurking under the water? More creatures?"

Raphael may have been a bit of a beginner on human empathy and body language, but he was slowly starting to figure it out. He removed his hand from the mans head as he spoke.
worldend_dominator: (pic#4856434)

[personal profile] worldend_dominator 2013-02-02 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"I can see that."

Looking down at him, though, his change seems a little too big. She also has to wonder if those multitudes of scars were also from the changes caused by the floor.

"So you need someone to carry you to another floor?"

She's not sure how well she can accomplish it. Just from the looks of it, though, this man should be pretty light...
worldend_dominator: (pic#4856434)

[personal profile] worldend_dominator 2013-02-02 11:44 pm (UTC)(link)
She nods.

"Then what if you just stayed in the water and had someone else bring you food?"

That she could do. And it would probably be less dangerous than fishing him out of the water as well.
rainscented: (drama ♫ oh the wind)

[personal profile] rainscented 2013-02-03 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
"You're still good at this, huh. It's me." He settles down beside Kariya's head, legs folded, and absently flicks a worm husk out of the guy's hair. He's not going to last long, he can tell that much. Hell, anyone with eyes could tell that much. He almost sighs, but settles for resting a hand on a reasonably untouched section of Kariya's shoulder.

"You remember the offer I made you? I'll sing you a painless sleep."
oathshackledbird: Profile (Profile)

[personal profile] oathshackledbird 2013-02-03 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
[Diarmuid is trying to spend a lot of time on this floor after so narrowly saving Tohko earlier and hearing so many rumors about those who haven't been able to be saved. The lagoon is beautiful, but as it is with so many beautiful things, it is also deadly.

When he returns to the floor after leaving for just a short time to check on a few of the other floors, what he sees makes him realize that a lot of time is apparently not enough for in the short time that he has been gone someone close to him has fallen prey to the dangers of the lagoon.

Quick steps bring him to Kariya's side and for a moment, he thinks the other man has already passed, but no. He is still breathing, barely. At the moment, he seems to be asleep. A kindness really since from the poor shape his body is in, if Kariya were awake, Diarmuid imagines he would be in a great amount of pain.
]

What can I do?

[The words slip out unbidden, silent and sad.]
godheals: Archangel, Neutral, Listening (thinking)

[personal profile] godheals 2013-02-03 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
"I know..but I still do not enjoy it. It goes against the reason I exist."

Raphael then nodded and looked at the water before replying. He didn't see any other creatures like this man.

"They are probably hiding underneath the water, waiting to do something."
godheals: Archangel, Neutral, Listening (Default)

[personal profile] godheals 2013-02-03 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
At that, Raphael nodded.

"That is part of it. I exist to heal people. Normally, it would be to heal people God told me to..but in this place..that has changed. However, I am glad that you feel better."

After all, when God was dead, you had to change a little..not that Raphael liked it.

"That is good to hear. What would happen if they did come back?"
worldend_dominator: (Default)

[personal profile] worldend_dominator 2013-02-03 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Do you want me to call someone over using the network?"

There should be a terminal on this floor, like all the floors. If not, she could always go up or down.

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