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]

Very well.

[Nah, it look like the scribe needed a good walk after this eventful day.]

[warriorscribe]

*So up they went. Past the empty arena, past the sewing room (perhaps he could make a new cloak here; fabric was only one of many things to be found in the workshop, but this place always seemed to have it.), past the cards floor (where Enoch's armor vanished, their powers sealed for the pass), and up through the classroom. He finally spoke as they climbed through this floor.*

...Thank you for walking with me. I know you could just wait for me...

[brbtalkingtogod]

[He did get to see a few things while they walked. And also got to know a few interesting facts about this one floor, the question was if it applied to other floors as well. Their powers being sealed. If so, he'd have to be careful.]

Don't mention it Enoch.

[warriorscribe]

*It was only the floor with the cards - their powers returned on climbing into the classroom. Beyond it was a toy shop with eerily well-detailed dolls, and then the warmth of the boiler and incinerator on the next floor washes over them as they climb through it. The walk does seem to be calming Enoch some.*

...Perhaps someday we can travel these levels together and learn more of them.

[brbtalkingtogod]

[Just that one floor? Odd, Lucifel had expected more floors to be like that. But if it was like this then it's fine with him, it's just good for him.]

We could do so. Although, I'd prefer showing you the future.

[And Lucifel didn't give him any particular reason as of why he would want to do so. It might seem to others that he did have his good moments.]

[warriorscribe]

*There were more, but they weren't all clumped together except for a few of the levels that wound their way outside.*

...I'd prefer it, as well. Anywhere but here or the ruins...

*And they skip the hospital ward floor because Riki is doing something to it, so they immediately come out on the other side, with the large soccer field, which is reflecting the light snowfall outside the tower.*

[brbtalkingtogod]

[So there were more after all.]

Agreed.

[There is a moment of slight confusion, but okay. Lucifel eyes their surroundings curiously.]

[warriorscribe]

*The next floor looks like a large, old wooden attic - Enoch learned very quickly not to look up here, because there are nondescript corpses hanging from the rafters high above. He keeps his head down and stays close to Lucifel.*

...Will you tell me about the future?

[brbtalkingtogod]

[Too bad that Lucifel had no idea that there were corpses hanging there so he did look up. His expression didn't change, this wasn't the first time he had seen dead bodies.]

What sickening interior this floor has.

[It explains why Enoch is keeping his head down at least.]

Sure, I can do that.

[But not the parts that have to do with the scribe.]

[warriorscribe]

Mm...Riki is a grotesque mockery of Baraqel in ways...

*Enoch finally looks up at him as they enter the torture chamber. While unsettling, it isn't as immediately threatening to him as the dead bodies are, and he can focus on Lucifel as they pass it.*

Then...ah...how do people live in the future? What might a large city look like?

[brbtalkingtogod]

What a fitting reference.

[Yeah, it might be better to focus on everything but these surroundings...]

The buildings are a lot higher, with several floors, most of them high enough to that it looks like they would reach the sky.

[warriorscribe]

Who else do you know who built a large, otherworldly tower?

*Enoch gives an exasperated little laugh, at least able to laugh after that. They pass the kitchen and Enoch takes Lucifel's arm to lead him off the stairs on the summery floor where the grass grew high as their waists.*

There were some buildings like that in Meridian...

[brbtalkingtogod]

I wouldn't know anyone else who'd have built such an eyesore.

[Hopefully his clothes won't get any stains from the grass... it's the only pair he has here and he doesn't know if he could just get himself a new one so easily.]

Where there?

[warriorscribe]

Meridian was very large...ah...to my experience. Walking its length and back was a day's journey both ways.

*The elevator was there, seeming suspended in nothingness, though it was just the walls being part of the illusion of this floor being outside. Enoch opened it and led Lucifel inside, pressing the button for the top floor.*

There is beauty here, as there was beauty in the Fallen Angels' Tower. But Riki's work has far less of it than theirs.

[brbtalkingtogod]

Was it? That really is a long way you have to go if there aren't any vehicles you can use.

[Lucifel shrugs it off and follows him into the elevator, leaning against one of the walls on their way up.]

I have seen better places.

[He would never admit it aloud but Armaros' floor wasn't that bad compared to the rest.]

[warriorscribe]

Of course... I'm certain no artificial world could compare to God's creation.

*Enoch seemed calmer now as the elevator reached its destination, and Enoch led him down to the third dormitory floor, to 3-18. He opened his trunk and undid the bundle of gauze holding the four notebooks together and removed the top two, sitting on his bed and patting the space beside him, inviting Lucifel over to read them.

The painful contents of those journals, he could deal with in a moment. For now, it was best for that talk to have worked what it did, only the fatigue in Enoch's eyes sign of his prior distress.*

[brbtalkingtogod]

Certainly not.

[The slightly taller man followed him with crossed arms and in his room, silently taking a seat next to the blond.]

Very well, may I have them.

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch handed Lucifel the first one, setting the second on his lap when he'd taken it.

He'd watch Lucifel's reaction. The first book didn't actually get into what became of Armaros's relationship with him, so Enoch wasn't particularly worried about it. The second one, however...*

[brbtalkingtogod]

[The first book left the expression on his face unchanged. The place he has been at seemed quite interesting. There wasn't much he could hold up against him befriending Armaros, especially since he hasn't been there. So he thought.

He reached for the second journal once he had finished reading the first.]

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch took the first book when he picked up the second, holding it a little tighter than normal. The volumes had, by coincidence, split right before the moment Armaros had confessed his feelings for Enoch. It meant that would be the first entry Lucifel read in this book.

It would be painful, after his ordeal, to reexamine these feelings, that peace, to defend them to Lucifel.

But he would, if he had to.*

[brbtalkingtogod]

...

[Well. If the scribe's stay in Meridian had been a novel then this must have been one great turning point in it.

This was an unexpected turn of events. And in all honesty, Lucifel wasn't sure how to react in such a situation. That wasn't supposed to happen. The archangel knew they had been close back in heaven, but them falling in love with each other? He couldn't have predicted that.

He takes a deep breath then and pinches the bridge of his nose. Okay, he has to stay calm. He's far from happy, rather close to getting mad. The situation Enoch had been in was something no one could have predicted. However, that didn't make it any better.

This is Enoch before he got rid of his doubts, of course any influence in a situation like this would affect him.]

... What am I supposed to do with you Enoch...

[warriorscribe]

Please, keep reading, Lucifel. It isn't the betrayal it must seem.

*Indeed, the entry immediately after that, Day 41, shows Enoch was not only willing to continue his mission despite his feelings for Armaros, but that Armaros even encouraged him to do so! And it has some praise for Lucifel as well if he doesn't skim it all in irritation.*

[brbtalkingtogod]

...

[As true as it seemed to be that there had been encouragement from Armaros, it didn't change the facts at hand. He knew better than to just judge over him and continued reading, but not because the scribe had asked him to.]

[warriorscribe]

*When his expression doesn't seem to improve, Enoch unconsciously shrinks back on the bed a little, towards the wall.

He hopes Lucifel will see it was not only harmless, but helpful...*

[brbtalkingtogod]

[It takes a while, but eventually Lucifel has finished reading the second journal. It still doesn't sit well with him.

Friendship would have been one thing, that could have been dealt with in some way. But something going deeper than this... sure, this Enoch was from a different timeline but in the end it fell all back on him.

Lucifel only looked at the scribe, waiting for him to speak.]