Only a shadow of what it seems (backdated to the 6th)

[warriorscribe]

Characters: Enoch and anyone
Setting: Floor 48, backdated to the 6th
Format: Doesn't matter!
Summary: Enoch has a new job! While he wouldn't necessarily mind being given something productive to do, this doesn't exactly count as productive considering they aren't real graves...
Warnings: Grieving I guess? Mention of a child's death.

He cut an eerie figure, himself, dirty brown cloak wrapped around him with the hood pulled all the way up. Only the duster in his hand marked him as working here, and only the gleam of white armor occasionally visible as he walked hinted at his identity, with his head constantly bowed. There were few flowers that survived the snowfall, so the watering can hadn't been necessary.

Enoch didn't like this floor. Each and every grave marker represented someone completely isolated from other people, all alone with nothing but the ruins of their world to call home. Perhaps some could starve to death; that one young man had said he foraged for food. Perhaps they would find release. But to die that way...

Oh, he didn't want to be here. He was actually somewhat glad the tower had doubled in size, taking it away from the dorms. But he'd received a letter in the morning telling him he was now in charge of maintaining it. And as much as it may hurt him, he knew disobeying would probably bring consequences.

Even though it wasn't the same at all. Even though it wasn't maintaining a peaceful rest. Even though reading names he remembered and seeing flashes of distraught faces in his mind's eye was worse than any instance of realizing they're dead now ever was on Earth...

...okay maybe he didn't want to do this. He fell to his knees at the grave that read Ryotaro Dojima - his first roommate here, someone who, like him, dearly wished for the presence of a loved one. Did he grieve over his daughter's little corpse even while she was right here in the tower he had just left? His eyes stung with tears - he'd only been gone a week. He hadn't seen Dojima in months. Was the man even sane anymore?

Wrapping his arms tight across his stomach, he forced himself to his feet and moved on, cleaning the newest rows of graves and again collapsing at the pain of considering each person here, trapped and all alone... Even if he didn't know who they were.

But he had finished the first day of his job, so he could afford to sit here on his knees and quietly weep, shaking with the pain of reopened wounds.

Comments

[brbtalkingtogod]

What purpose do they have then?

[If they weren't for the dead, then what are they actually for?]

[warriorscribe]

They...Riki...one of our hosts...he made them as a memorial to the people lost from the tower. When they're...lost...

*Several breaths, in forced slowness. He was trying not to panic, just thinking about it...*

They're...returned to the ruins of their world. Alone...surrounded by nothing but corpses...

[brbtalkingtogod]

[Okay, then it's no surprise that the scribe is grieving those who apparently weren't actually dead, but still...]

How can anyone even get lost here in the first place?

[warriorscribe]

It's an accident. These collars keep us anchored here, but...but sometimes they...they fail...

[brbtalkingtogod]

These keep us here?

[He points at his own collar.]

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch nods, and raises a hand to his own. It takes a long time for him to speak, to get his emotions under control. But it's worth it, because while his voice is still shaky when he speaks, it's more even and he manages to hold back his tears.*

Yes, and they keep us alive. I arrived when the tower was unattended, and the liquid inside wasn't being refreshed. I began to feel lightheaded, and those around me who had been here longer...some had trouble moving, some couldn't contain their powers...

I don't want to know what might have happened if it had gone on longer...

[brbtalkingtogod]

Now isn't that charming.

[Do you hear the sarcasm in his voice. That's pretty much one of the worst things that could happen to them.]

Maybe you would have been pushing up daises then. Who knows?

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch looks up at him.*

"Pushing up daisies"?

[brbtalkingtogod]

It's a nicer way of describing death.

[And it sounds so harmless as well.]

[warriorscribe]

I see...it may well have been.

*Enoch sighs and stands.*

...Aren't you cold?

[brbtalkingtogod]

Cold? Me?

[Of course he is cold, he is shivering. And he dislikes it so very much, being so vulnerable towards everything humans were.]

[warriorscribe]

*Yeah, he can see that now that he's not crying. He takes his own cloak off and drapes it over Lucifel's shoulders. It's got some dirt and long-dried blood on the outside and some blood on the inside, too, but it's warm at least, from his own body.*

Here...

[brbtalkingtogod]

...

[Lucifel blinks when he gets wrapped in the warm cloak, feeling a bit better that before.]

[warriorscribe]

Enoch looks at the graves before stepping closer to Lucifel. "...Let's go somewhere else. I don't...want to stay on this level."

[brbtalkingtogod]

... Alright Enoch.

[His fingers curl slightly around the edges of the cloak, as if to keep it in place.]

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch puts a hand on his back to guide him, and for the bit of extra warmth, as he leads him towards the stairs. Up, just out of habit.

When they're standing on the stairs, looking over the maze of mirrors, Enoch stops.*

...They've assigned me to work there.

[brbtalkingtogod]

[Lucifel allowed Enoch to guide him for once. The Archangel's eyes were on the mirrors for a moment before he turned around to look at the scribe.]

They can assign us to work here?

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch nodded, and stepped closer to Lucifel, for his presence.*

I've seen volunteer forms by the suggestion box. But I woke to find a letter telling me I had a job today...

[brbtalkingtogod]

If you want to help others you should be more specific next time instead of just volunteering.

[He sighed and shook his head.]

[warriorscribe]

*...Had he misspoken? Had the cold distracted Lucifel?*

I didn't volunteer...

[brbtalkingtogod]

[Maybe both of it. And... a bit of something else.]

Not? I thought that the guy who jumped into the Darkness without hesitation to save a little girl would do that.

[warriorscribe]

...What?

*Guess what was never brought up in Meridian?*

[brbtalkingtogod]

... Ah. You will understand soon enough then.

[It's not his job to tell him what happened on his journey if he hadn't done it yet.]

[warriorscribe]

No, I...

*He sighs.*

...To save a child, I would, you're right. But this...isn't the same. I wouldn't choose this job.

[brbtalkingtogod]

I never said you would. Well, looks like you just had bad luck then, Enoch.