Ad Visitatores

[animusmods]

Characters: anyone participating in the event
Setting: floor 56 and eventually other areas of the Tower
Format: either
Summary: Welcome to the Tower.
Warnings: horror/creepiness/potential danger/generally unfortunate things all possible
Notes: PLEASE GO HERE TO MAKE NEW POSTS.

A few minutes before anything happens, Ruana's voice rings out over the Tower's intercom--it manages to be louder than anything the residents happen to be doing. "Hey, everyone, there's something exciting going on at floor fifty-six! Go make sure they don't get themselves killed!"


You arrive, stepping or tumbling, in a surgical suite. It looks abandoned, with dust collecting on the table and floors. The lights flicker, and for a moment blood dripping off the table, puddling on the floor--but no, the lights are back, and surely that was your imagination. It's quiet, eerily so, but nothing hinders you, and you're free to spread out and explore. There are multiple rooms here, like in any hospital, and it's all a bit confusing. Occasionally the lights flicker, and it's a bit frightening as Things appear that shouldn't exist. Shadowy creatures stitched together and reaching for you, doctors brandishing phantom surgical tools, blood splattering the walls or floor or ceiling, how did it get there--but none are real, and all of them vanish when the lights return. Eventually you find the staircase, spiraling up and down into darkness. Approach it, though, and the thing glitters with a barrier that will push back any attempts at climbing the thing.

A girl, a teenager dressed in red and black, appears. And she does simply appear, inserting herself into the space, nearly pushing it aside to make room in it for where she is now. Her face beams with unconcealed excitement, and her words tumble out on top of themselves. "You can't go there! Yet, I mean. You'd all die!"

The girl steps onto the staircase, passing through the barrier as if it weren't there, and sits on the steps to address everyone. "Hi! I'm Ruana. You didn't show up the normal way, so the Tower can't support you yet. We got this one floor ready when I saw you were coming but, well, the Tower's kind've big, so getting all of them set up is taking a little longer than I thought." She smiles, sheepishly apologetic in a carefree sort of way. "I've got everyone coming here to visit you--or at least they know they can visit you--and I'll have someone bring food up for you. It'll be oatmeal, and oatmeal is super boring, but you have to eat it, okay? Then you can have whatever you want! The cafeteria's down on the first floor if you get hungry. We should have everything ready in a few hours. I've gotta go help with that, so you guys wait here.

"Don't worry, the monsters can't get to this floor as long as that barrier is up."

And then she's gone, blinking out of existence. The barrier will remain for three hours.

Comments

[princessofheart]

Take it easy, Nami. You're still hurt from the Anoli attack.

[She frowns, obviously not wanting her sister to get herself any more hurt than she already was.]

[charmedbymemories]

You'd think if Philemon wanted us to do something here, he'd send someone who isn't injured. [She smiles wryly.] But don't worry, I won't strain myself while we're here.

[At least, she hoped there wouldn't be a need for her to...]

[princessofheart]

Just in case... Persona.

[She summons Eos above her, casting a diarama on Naminé to help bring back her strength.]

I guess we have a bunch of time to kill before they let us out of here, should we go mingle around?

1/2

[charmedbymemories]

Ah-- so we can use our Personas here too, that's a relief.

[She gives Kairi a grateful smile before nodding.]

I'm right behind--

[charmedbymemories]

Whoa!

[She pulls Kairi back, startled when one of the shadows starts reaching for them. Oathkeeper is out in an instant, stark white against the inky blackness of the unknown creature.]

What in the world--?

[princessofheart]

[She holds out one hand in front of Naminé in a motion to stop, a small 'sssh' accompanying it.]

It's not real. This place is trying to mess with us.

[charmedbymemories]

[She breathes out hard, trying to calm herself down. It had been pure instinct to switch into "battle mode".]

You can tell?

[princessofheart]

I saw them when I woke up, but they kept disappearing in the light. I made the connection from there... which is weird, because normally those sorts of things don't effect me at all.

[charmedbymemories]

We're in a different place, so I guess everything we're used to doesn't have to apply to the logic here.

[She sighs out in a deep breath.]

I'm sorry, I guess I'm just jumpy.

[princessofheart]

It's alright, so am I. I mean, just a few minutes ago we were asleep in our rooms...

[charmedbymemories]

I know. But more than that, it's like we're losing control of our own lives again.

[princessofheart]

You'd think being imperfect clones with no real home gives us a right to a lifetime pass away from this craziness.

[charmedbymemories]

You'd think.

[She closes her eyes.]

This probably sounds crazy...but I almost miss Facility.

[princessofheart]

I understand what you mean, but I don't think it's the Facility itself so much as it's the friends we've left behind.

[She sighs, closing her eyes for a moment.]

I miss them so much. I know we have our friends here, but... it's not the same.

[charmedbymemories]

Well, yes, of course, there's that, but...the predictability of what we did there, too. [She shakes her head.]

I hope Sora and the others are doing okay...

[princessofheart]

[No she will not cry here, she will certainly not cry. She will not cry thinking about the friends they left behind, she was stronger than that...]

...Of course they are. Sora is the strongest person I've ever met, in more ways than one.

[charmedbymemories]

[Naminé senses Kairi's inner turmoil, and immediately feels guilty. She reaches out and grips Kairi's hands in hers.]

Oh Kairi...I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you...

[princessofheart]

It's alright, Nami. I should be thinking more about it than I do... it's just kind of hard, y'know? Us being safe in a new world while they're still stuck under Val's control.

I love Hinoto-Ri, but sometimes I feel like we've abandoned them. That we could be doing more to try and find them and bring them here to us... but at the same time, I don't know how that would even be possible.

[charmedbymemories]

[She nods quietly.]

Like you said, they're strong. They can persevere through anything. But I worry too. It usually helps me to think of them before I go to bed every night. I pray for them. [She smiles wryly.] Even though I don't have anyone to pray to, really.

But I think they'd want us to worry about ourselves while we're here. Especially now that we're in this weird place and not in Hinoto-Ri.

[princessofheart]

Well, there's definitely something out there, I think. Even if you don't know who, I'm sure someone's listening to you-- after all, our prayers to escape Facility were answered.

[A small smile crosses her face, but it's more sad than happy.]

Yeah, they would. Do you remember that one horrible experiment? The one where we had to kill each other one at a time? Every one of us tried to convince the others to kill us first, that someone else had more reasons to live... we're an odd bunch. Self-sacrificing to a fault.

[She sighs, pushing a little bit of hair out of her face.]

If Philemon has the powers to send us to other worlds, maybe we could go back there one day. Gather everyone and take them back to Hinoto-Ri.

[charmedbymemories]

[Naminé swallows hard, reaching out to squeeze Kairi's hand again.]

It's because we care so much about each other.

[It's hard not to tear up at the thought of the family she'd left behind. Sora, Riku, Roxas, Lea, her brothers. Xion and Kate, her sisters. She missed them so much.]

Yes. I'd like that more than anything. But for now, let's worry about ourselves, okay? If anything happened to you...I don't know what I'd do.

[princessofheart]

Likewise. I don't want to think about what would happen if they took you away...

[She squeezes her hand back.]

Careful as possible, alright? We only have one restart here; our lives matter.

[Her free hand gently touches the bead necklace around her neck, their one revival bead granted to them by Philemon.]

[charmedbymemories]

Funny how that never used to be a problem. Now it is and it's almost...reassuring, in a strange way.

[princessofheart]

Makes it feel like we count more. That we're not disposable.