Ad Visitatores Part Two

[animusmods]

Characters: anyone participating in the event
Setting: anywhere in the Tower
Format: either
Summary: A continuation of this post (warning, load-heavy) for Strings characters to make posts in.
Warnings: horror/creepiness/potential danger/generally unfortunate things all possible
Notes: Only Destiny Strings characters can make top-level replies to this thread; Animus characters may reply to these, of course, or they may make their own posts as they would normally in the community. If you are an Animus player who doesn't mind having Strings characters tag into their posts, please mention that in your open post.

There are no subthreads here to reduce the strain on browsers by allowing pages to form; please put the date/location/open or closed status of the threads in the subject line.

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Feb 16th/Floor 57 and then elevator/Open

[bakegarasu]

[Otoha'd found this field, and while it was a good enough place for a nap, when darkness has fallen he wakes up - and so do the monsters nearby.]

[Anyone passing by the soccer field at this hour will see a man fighting a group of Miniblins, slicing through some of them. He doesn't seem to be flinching away from any of the attacks as they connect.]

[A few of them get too many hits on him, and there's a blue glow before a large shape appears above him, swooping down to attack the monsters as well.]

[... Later, he can be found on the elevator, taking it up to the dormitory floors. He doesn't have a room, but he's found that it's safer there.]

[The blood dripping off of him from under his trenchcoat might be cause for concern, though. Not all of it looks like it's from monsters.]

[puppy_lancer]

[After he cleans up the Miniblins, he might notice a presence behind him, one that had watched his fight.]

[Lancer didn't like ravens, but he did like how this guy could defeat so many monsters in one swoop. He gives a slow, impressed clap.]

[bakegarasu]

[Otoha turned, nodding slightly at the other man.]

Hey.

[Not really one for words, Otoha.]

Feb. 14/Dormitories (Valentine's event)

[celebrity_commentator]

Much to the relief of her social graces, Rise did manage to procure some cafeteria chocolates, test them for anything weird the Tower might have done to them, and then resist eating any more than necessary for that. A combination of professional dietary discipline and being partly raised by someone who ran a tofu shop helped with that.

Humming a bit from some American musical she'd recognized in the elevator on her way up, she entered the dormitories on a mission: track down her friends she knew had to be in this Tower somewhere, and make sure at least the guys got the chocolates she owed them. And Kanji and Naoto from Hinoto-Ri if she could find them. Oh, and he was cute, too, he should have some chocolate.

"Hi! Happy Valentine's Day!" she said, proffering her candy to...just about any gentlemen she found. And some of the girls.

Let's hope she doesn't run out before she finds Yu.

[notsogrimreaper]

Ryoji gives Rise a rather surprised look at first. He had just walked out of his room, after all, he hadn't expected to get chocolates out of nowhere!

But Rise is cute, and Ryoji is never one to turn down a cute girl, so he offers a grin and takes a bit of the chocolate.

"And happy Valentine's Day to you too! I definitely wasn't expecting a sweet little gift from a sweeter girl!"

[celebrity_commentator]

And Rise is never, or at least seldom, one to avoid a conversation with a cute boy. The music in her head helped override the mental equivalent of nervous prodding her Persona was giving her.

"Oh, I try to be surprising," she said. "Besides, what else is this day for?"

[fuhgeddaboudit]

Rise! [All cheery and happy moebot, of course.] Hey, what're those?

[Labrys leaned forward to inspect the chocolate; obviously she couldn't have eaten any, but it was something she'd never seen before.]

[celebrity_commentator]

Labrys-chan!

[She beams, showing off her chocolates. And noticing Labrys's collar. Looks like everyone but Kanji and Naoto were already here beforehand.]

These are Valentine's chocolates! You give them to boys you know on Valentine's Day, and then a month later, they give you chocolates back. If they know what's good for them, anyway.

[bondsofsuffering]

Hizumi was hit by the same song, although he's significantly less enthusiastic about it. Too bad there's not much he can do besides inwardly cringe every time he ran into yet another person.

Which is why he responds with a wide grin at her offered candy. "Wow, all this for me? You're so kind, Rise!"

[celebrity_commentator]

"Haha, not all of it, but you can have as much as you want since you're so cute," she said.

[concept_killer]

"Uh...Happy Valentine's Day?"

He had completely forgot. That, combined with that fact that he couldn't actually see the candy was a problem.

"...I feel like I missed something."

I am so late.

[pitiedthefool]

Yu had just been on his usual routine, heading down the stairs to explore after making sure Nanako was safe and away from those tapes while she played with Ken and the other kids. Maybe he'd run... into...

Oh gods above and below what was Rise humming?

"R-Rise-chan?"

Floor 100, February 14th: For Aqua

[greyerrant]

Garviel stands in an ornamental garden, seemingly all in shadowy ruin. Huge stone slabs poke up from the depths of the water like black gravestones, and frail ghost ferns and weeping trees edge the pools, the depth of which vary, as though some of them have been deepened by a recent bombardment which has torn deep rents on the ouslite stone.

He appears to be wading through the holographic water towards an islet, the home to several weeping trees in the center of the strange projection. The reflecting pool ripples out around him, his movements the only disturbance in the strange peaceful beauty of the scene. A peace and beauty which are clearly caused by recent war.

Even his armor is changed by the holographic rendering of the scene. Showing Garviel as he once was, instead of how he now is. A white knight with a red eye on his armor, and wolves on his shoulders to indicate his identity.

He looks like this:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/6f5857e1fee911e42ee77a2fb3dba610/tumblr_mhf9ioavvX1r0fdijo1_500.jpg

Various days: Floors 84, 54, and 19

[maybe_a_king]

[A: Floor 84; Minecraft]
Arturia would never admit it, but she had become addicted to this floor. There was something about the surrealism of it that just seemed fun for lack of a better word once she got over the initial voice in her head saying physics doesn't work this way. The Tower had a lot of death traps in it and the people of Hinoto-Ri were no closer to their goal of finding Nyarlethotep. Arturia was beginning to wonder if they ever would or if they would ever get a chance to return to Hinoto-Ri at all.

To distract herself from the doubts plaguing her mind, Arturia had taken to building a routine here, much like she had in Hinoto-Ri. Every morning she'd come here with her shinai before breakfast, erect a dummy out of the various bricks of "stuff" for lack of a better term, and do her practice drills on it. If a creeper came near, she found she could easily dispatch them, though she had to make sure to keep her ears open for the telltale hsssssss. All in all it was peaceful here.

So naturally someone would have to interrupt her morning practice.

[B: Floor 54; Toy Store]
In school, there had been a few students who collected dolls and figures. Arturia had never seen the value in it, but normally kept those thoughts to herself. What was the point in keeping something you didn't plan on using beyond it being pretty?

Then again, part of that might have been some teenaged bitterness at her uncle's tendency to collect samurai memorabilia simply because it was cool and he never let her get cats. Not until she brought her strays home and argued with him for four hours about keeping them. Yet she found herself on this floor, wandering through it to look. No, she didn't understand wanting them, but she did understand looking at them, even if they were creepy.

Then she spotted it:

There was one in a suit of armor.

Arturia and her uncle could be so very alike at times: he had a thing for samurai and she for knights. Naturally she made a beeline for the doll only to be stopped short at the sound of someone else entering the toy shop.

"Yes?"

[C: Floor 19; Research Library]
(Note: Cleared with the mods. The only info she'll find is the same as you would find on Lovecraft!Nyarly's wiki page.)

Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, a character in the works of HP Lovecraft. If she had been in Hinoto-Ri, finding information would have been easy, but in the Tower of Animus it was a lot harder, considering how many sections of the libraries were missing. Yet this was the thing Philemon had sent them to find and it was their only chance of returning to Hinoto-Ri.

Some people seemed familiar with his lore, but the works of Lovecraft had never much interested Arturia, hence her being in the library. Best to try and familiarize herself with the enemy since they were having no luck whatsoever in finding it. Arturia pulled another large book off the shelf thumbed through it.

Stopped.

Thumbed back.

Jackpot.

It was only a couple pages, but it was something. Arturia sat down at one of the tables and poured over the passages she found. At the very least she might be able to find some other lead soon enough.

[Closed to scorchedchivalry; Dorm 01-09]
Ever since Lancer had mentioned a version of King Arthur was here and that, further more, this version of King Arthur looked just like her, Arturia's gut had been twisted into knots. On the one hand, yes. She had spent most of her life wanting to be a knight, useless as it was in her day and age. Who better to get advice from than the King of Knights him--er, herself?

On the other hand, something about the way Lancer seemed so insistent on the two of them being the same person unsettled her. Arturia had a strange past her Uncle would tell her of only when she finished school and a strange ability to walk on water Rin had been itching to look into. She also had the name 'Pendragon', something she'd been insisting for years was a coincidence, that her uncle's name and hers were due to a family interest in the legend.

But there was something about the idea that made sense, that made the guilt that had gnawed at her for her entire life ring true. That sense of complete failure that had always been just below the surface, almost suffocating at times in its intensity and near-maddening in the fact she had no idea where it even came from. Maybe, if she spoke to King Arthur him--er, herself it would shed some kind of light on the matter? At the very least get her to stop being so fixated on the idea.

She found the nameplate of the person she was looking for outside the door, straightened out her sky blue hoodie and hair in the hope of being somewhat presentable, and knocked on the door. Hopefully Saber would be in and willing to talk to her. Maybe then Arturia could push past this nonsense going through her head.

[scorchedchivalry]

Saber looked up at the knock on the door and straightened her tie. Who would be coming to the room? She had plans with Irisviel...

Standing, the knight checked to make sure her hair was secure in the low tail she had it pulled back in, and crossed over to the door. This was probably someone for Zelda or one of her other roommates. Few ever came for her.

As she opened the door, a small black cat darted out into the hallway. Saber gave an exasperated sigh.

"Amy!" She barely even glanced at the one on the other side of the door. "Grab her, please."

February 16 / various floors / open to anyone!

[seasidecherry]

Floor 28:

[Nagisa seems delighted to have finally found a music room! She's humming lightly to herself as she looks around, poking a few keys on the organ, plucking a few guitar strings. Surely there has to be - ah!

She doesn't sit down at the piano, though. There's enough space around it, so what she does is find the first note of a song, then take out the microphone she has at her waist. Nagisa knows this one, so she's going to sing and dance it right there in the music room.

Watch her/tell her she looks silly/applaud?]

[ooc: sorry this isn't animated, though they use the same song in the show. the thing at the beginning is a little pep talk - 'are we always thankful, thoughtful, kind, and just? are we living our dreams? OKAY LET'S GO!']

Floor 22:

[When she got to this floor, Nagisa was hoping to find some familiar pictures. She doesn't really see anything she recognizes, though there are enough that catch her eye for a while - a picture of some sunflowers, a scroll of a peony and sparrow - and then she freezes as she turns a corner.

She had been hoping for some pictures of her friends, but not like this. Not Orine's decapitated head, long pink hair stained with blood. Not Yuuka's back with a cut exposing her spine, her neck twisted at an angle that was entirely wrong. Not Chieri's belly cut open.

Running isn't the best idea on this floor, but nobody's told Nagisa that.]

Cafeteria kitchen:

[It's been a long day, and who can blame a girl for working up an appetite? Nagisa might not be the best cook in the world, but she picked up the basics from her mother and her friend Yuuka's mother. Right now, she's working on making herself some omurice, but she'll take reasonable requests.]

Cafeteria

[surpassthelimit]

Whoa there!

[Axel's head pops around in the corner that leads into the kitchen, the bang in his hair swaying wildly. He peers into the cafeteria.]

What's this? A kid like you is making something that smells half decent?

[Various Floors/Various Days] (OTA; Add "ARRIVAL" in the subject line if you want pre-Valentines)

[technomaturgist]

[ Ferrus had come to be aware of the dangers of the Tower. That, of course, wasn't to say he was scared of it - instead, he was something if not fascinated by it. So he could be found almost anywhere, but... a few floors held his interest.

Floor Ninety-Nine: Ferrus has never seen such intricate crystals, before. He's certainly seen them - more than one mission required him to go underground - but never in this sort of style, this sort of formation. He did mildly regret trying to zoom in with his photocontacts - because ow, that gave him a headache - but he's otherwise using this place as a fascinating oasis.

Floor Eighty-Eight: Let's be honest - Ferrus could rarely get drunk, given how compulsive he was about his mask. That wasn't to say he couldn't settle down on a chair and see the atmosphere, though - it reminded him a little of home.

Floor Eighty-Two: While Ferrus wasn't sure exactly how his mask had jumped from his face to his hand and been replaced with a masquerade mask, he didn't mind - the fact that this floor seemed to be based around some sort of fancy fancy masquerade party, and also promoted masks and anonymity was a practical draw to Ferrus in the first place...

Floor Nineteen: Ferrus had adapted to reading - although he was, perhaps, disappointed by the empty History shelves. Right now he's going to just be skimming that Technology section. Or at least, what's left of it.

Floor Five: Everything about this floor was curious; although, so far, he hadn't looked in any viewfinders. Rather, he was just looking around. He doesn't come here very often.

Floor Three: Much like Floor Nineteen, Ferrus will be able to be found in this library, reading through most of its technical knowledge - he's curious about psychology, as well, but he doubts he'll be able to find as much here as he did at the library back home.

Floor One/Cafeteria: Ferrus can be found around here, with only two of the four hinges on his mask unlocked - his mask is partially lifted up and his mouth is exposed, but it's impossible to see anything above the tip of his nose, even on close examination. He's currently eating - and while the candy heart based stuff is annoyingly chalky, he's dealing with it. He's eaten worse.

(Should anyone want to, they can also come upon him eating oatmeal for his first food item - IDK where that would be, explicitly, but I'll assume Cafeteria unless otherwise stated.)]

A wild Rune approaches! Cafeteria

[pistolsakimbo]

[And suddenly, the rest of the mask suddenly disappears, as there's a silly giggling coming from behind him. Rune danced into his view, hugging his mask to her chest with an impish little grin on her face.]

Cafeteria

[greatergone]

[Guess who also doesn't have a care in the world about the meal? For all Kais is aware of, this is a typical human meal...even if it was fairly sweet. The two races were different but if he was getting his proper intake of vitamins and minerals, he wouldn't complain.]

....is this something part of a normal human lunch?

2/09-2/19, Floor 39

[princessofheart]

[KH Training log! Specify dates and situations below c:]

2/19, Midmorning

[attheclocktower]

[The keybearers from Hinoto-Ri had already set up their training for the day. Xion had come herself to see if she could run a few laps, maybe even try to see what she could still do of hand-to-hand if her arm felt up to it (her hand in particular still twinged a fair bit).

But upon spotting their training session, she'd opted to abstain from her usual routine to observe. It reminded her of when the other Aqua had been here, the one that had been here when she first arrived. It'd been so long, since she'd really seen people spar with Keyblades. Reno had taught her to rely on the Keyblade a lot less, but... observing now she was reminded of how much you could really do with it.

And thus she observed, sitting far enough out of the way to not interrupt but close enough that they could notice, and maybe she could ask questions later... Even if it was no good to worry about training much, with her hand like it was...]

2/11: Kairi, Aqua, Naminé

[princessofheart]

[It took some asking around, but finally they found a floor suitable for their training needs while stuck in this awful tower. Naminé was feeling significantly better after a few days of cure spamming, and thus the three Hinoto-Ri girls were ready to go.

With such a large area, it made for a good sparring location, as well as ideal for summoning Personas. Ignoring the equipment, they instead dragged a couple of punching bags out for practice, placing them in a line along the wall. Shall we get started, ladies?]

Feb 16 || Floor 22 || closed to Ryoji

[the_usual_stuff]

[A... what riffling through through Minato's more obscure memories, told him was an art gallery. It's silence was pleasant compared to the rest of this wretched deathless Tower. He is eager as he can be to leave it.

Thin arms folded behind his back as he wandered through the hallways and looked at the pieces of the artwork he walked past. None of the styles he knows, the more realistically gory ones do not disturb him and fear? What can be his worst fear when he barely knows what fear is? If he has one, they do not show it to him.

Finally, he comes to a stop in front of one artwork in particular.

Pharos peered into the pcture placed within the simplistic frame: a world slumbering in the dark of an eternal night, images of people with ghastly wings bursting out of their backs and mouths, and a broken moon with a crown in a green sky. It was a greatly exaggerated depiction, but...

He wonders if this was the correct solution.]

[notsogrimreaper]

[Ryoji hadn't really been planning on coming to the art gallery, but the younger version of him caught his attention while he was heading down the stairs. He had been a little worried about how Pharos was doing, since he hadn't seen him since the boy disappeared.

He walks inside with a small smile, ready to say hello when he notices just what the painting Pharos was standing in front of depicted. As much as he tells himself that they're just paintings, they're not real, that the Tower is just trying to scare people and mess with them, he can't hide his fear as he stops just behind Pharos, unable to take his eyes off of the morbid scene.

...Minato had prevented this, right? The world is still there, despite what the letter said.]