towerofanimus | I am not Eye

I am not Eye

Characters: Anyone (Animus and Destiny Strings)
Setting: All the levels, with the cafeteria, stairs and the dorms as the safe zones. You can find more about the event here. Remember the stages of insanity for the Animus characters!
Format: Any, start your open posts.
Summary: The tower appears to be overcome with a strange mist.
Warnings: general horror warnings for now

A strange, primordial scream. Perhaps something that didn't seem too out of place for this tower, yet there was something...off about it.

Then came a small series of rumblings. Something was stirring up in the tower. Thankfully the dorms seemed seemed fine. It was when you started to walk down that you realized something was wrong. There was dark mist everywhere. It wasn't natural. Even with a light, it was hard to see past the staircases into the levels, causing even more confusion. Thankfully, the stairs seemed to be safe and if you walked down the entire hundred levels, you'd notice that the cafeteria was safe too.

But that seemed to be it. Everywhere else, the mist was thick and seemed to hang on to the clothing and hair.

Then another noise rings out in every corridor, a laughter musical but somehow diabolical, not quite male nor female, asking a single question;

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

It looked like someone was wanting to play a little game with you.

[OOC: Start your own threads and all the rules about this event can be found here]

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[That actually causes her to stumble for a moment, slightly surprised when Wriggle suddenly weighs something again. But when she stops resisting and they actually reach the staircase she can't help but turn it into almost something of a hug, taking this moment to think about their situation.

Essentially carrying a hysterical, partially insane girl in a tower filled with both an evil mist that drives everybody insane as well as strange monsters from other worlds, while slowly going insane herself, constantly being reminded of her world that's quite possibly destroyed, and several floors from safety in either direction.

Not to mention the nearest elevator is past that damned floor with the iron bars, which was dangerous enough on the way up when she wasn't carrying somebody. In light of this fact, an impromptu rest break on the staircase itself seems like a good idea. If nothing else it's a moment to catch her breath, and maybe with enough time out of the mist the damned voices might let up... she doesn't know why the mist won't enter the staircases, and she's not about to question it.]

... can I ask for your name? Mine's Amelia. [Well what the hell, if they're not going anywhere for a bit...]

[There's very little she reacts to, in fact she barely registers Amelia squeezing her slightly tighter. Even though they're out of the mist Wriggle can still hear the voices although after a few minutes the hallucinations seem to stop. On the staircase she sits hunched over, never taking her eyes off the floor. Even though she's finally stopped crying, it's only because she seems to have accepted what the voices say. As Amelia speaks she dips her head slightly, this really is humiliating but there's no point in saving herself the embarrassment]

Wriggle... Wriggle Nightbug

[Although it does take a few minutes, it does seem like the voices have withdrawn into more of a whisper again... and it seems to be set once more on simply reminding her that her world has been destroyed, rather than digging up anything more personal than that. Which if nothing else, seems to be proof that time spent out of the mist gradually weakens its effect. Some kind of poison then? Although she's wary of waiting too long even in the staircase, the floor they're at right now at least seems devoid of monsters, and she'd rather have her wits about her before headed back to the elevator.]

It's nice to meet you. ... I heard the voices too. They were trying to tell me the same thing, I think... but I think they'll go away.

[Wriggle lets out a large sigh and covers her ears, trying to cut the voices out again but it doesn't seem to help. Actually talking about it is slowly helping her become a little more rational about it but only a little. After about a minute she uncovers her ears, finding it does nothing and responds]

But what if they don't... I've heard voices like that before, but normally I can just ignore them. Not like this...

I don't know what's causing it or how to stop it, but I think it's that fog.

[At this she gestures around them, momentarily reaching out from the staircase to poke at the fog. Not that this actually does anything at all, and with that she lets out a sigh. At least Wriggle seems to be calming down a little bit...]

We're not the only ones either. Apparently everybody who walks into it starts to hear them. Or at least that's what I've heard. ... I've been here a week and I already hate this place.

[She lets out a weak, bitter laugh]

Just because everyone is hearing them doesn't mean they're not true. Maybe that's why we were brought here, because we're such failures our worlds are actually better without us. This seems like a fitting punishment, constantly put through deadly and unwinnable games while they tell us they saved us...

I've met enough people here that are probably embarrassments if their peers. Who wants a firefly that won't just shut up and look pretty for everyone...?

That's just a load of-

[She cuts herself at that point, resting her face on her hands for a moment. Language like that isn't very proper of a knight afterall, but this is already starting to get to her. It's not a fun thought either, that if her world is really gone... that would make her something of a failure now wouldn't it? Shaking her head she tries to clear that thought again.]

That's just what the voices want us to think. Don't think like that, ok? Whatever's behind these voices has got to be something evil...

It's not that easy... Some things aren't good or evil, some things just are...

[She lies back on the stairs, covering her eyes with her arm and resting the other on her chest. By now she just seemed completely desensitized to all the noise]

You can believe what you want but it's true, I am a failure...

... well I don't care what the voices say. I don't think you are.

[It's not the most well thought out argument in the world, but by this point she's realized all she really can do is just try to reassure her untill the voices backed off. Which she just realized she has no clue how long that's going to take...

Despite that, she's at least slightly thankful she's not sitting in this staircase alone enough. Having someone else to worry about makes it easier to ignore her own concerns, at least for the moment.]

Besides, as long as you're alive you can always get stronger. Right?

You don't even know me, how can you honestly say that?

[By now it's starting to get a little aggravating and Wriggle lets out another exasperated sigh. No matter how much she tries her point just isn't getting across. No wonder everyone is calling her a failure of a leader if she can't even get other people to see her point of view]

I keep telling you what if I don't? You don't get it! I've been trying to get stronger all my life and I still get beaten up by everyone. I was just starting to make progress at home and then I get thrown in here!

[At this she lets out an audible sigh, her shoulders slumping slightly as she mumbles under her breath.]

... like I don't know what that's like... [Right after defeating Formortis too, when it looked like the world was finally going to know peace again. And then here. By this point she just goes quiet for a moment, resting her chin on one hand and staring off into space. Where would Amelia be now if she hadn't managed to get stronger? If all her efforts lead to nothing? It's not a pleasant train of thought.]

Hey uhm... can I ask how long you've been here? In the Tower, I mean.

[With all the other voices, Wriggle doesn't hear her. Instead she finally removes her arm from her face and rests it on her chest with the other one. Her eyes are red and damp but she's finally stopped crying]

I don't remember... but I don't remember a lot of things. I think it must have been a long time.

[Just two months shy of a year, but Wriggle would never have been able to come to that conclusion when she often forgets what day it is]

[That's really rather disconcerting. If she can't even remember how long she's been in here... this is probably going to keep her up at night. She already knows some people have been here as long as a year, if not longer. And hell that's longer than she's even been in the army!

Letting out another sigh she slowly pushes herself up to her feet, stretching slightly before looking back at Wriggle.]

We should probably shouldn't stick around too much longer... I don't know if the dorms are gonna be safe or not, but there's only one way to find out. And uhh... I could probably use a hand getting across that floor with all the iron bars. The ones that move for no reason?

[It isn't the tower, Wriggle just has an utterly terrible memory. Even when Amelia suggests moving she lies still as if she hadn't heard. Wriggle didn't feel like moving much, there was no point to anything anymore it seemed but she couldn't just let Amelia risk dying because she was lazy. She might be exhausted and she might hate herself but she still had her morals. After over a minute of not moving she finally pushed herself to her feet without much grace]

Sure, whatever...

[Well this is an improvement. Not a huge one, but it's an improvement at least. Taking a second to make sure everything's still on her she nods to herself before finally beginning to trek back down the stairs. Although she's silent for a few moments she does eventually speak back up, glancing over her shoulder at her new companion. Also because Floor 44 tends to hurt her head and she can't figure out why, so the less she has to think about it the better.]

Err, this is probably going to be kind of a silly question... but why can you fly? [Because really, the fact Wriggle could do that despite having no apparent method of flight was kind of bugging her.]

[Floor 44 always made her feel terrible, it reminded her too much of her first introduction to the tower not to mention with the way her antenna sensed the space around her it was always far more disorientating than just watching with your eyes. Her pace quickened just a little to reach the bottom of the staircase faster]

I'm a firefly, why wouldn't I be able to fly? I'm not a Lampyris type, you know.

... you are? I mean, I didn't mean to offend or anything. It's just that back home, people can't fly so I've never really seen people just... float like that. I think that's really neat.

[Were it not for the current situation she'd probably have been a bit more overtly amazed. The only person she'd ever seen who could actually fly also happened to be a dragon with rather large wings. And although beginning to guess Wriggle isn't human, she doesn't look like a dragon...

Floor 43 is considerably less annoying than the prior floor aat least, although the entire time they're descending Amelia's got one hand resting on the hilt of her sword. It's still a jail and that leaves her on edge, eyes constantly wandering from cell to cell just in case. Not that they're there long, but it's still a floor that unsettles her.]

Really? Where I come from almost everyone except humans can fly...

Well, actually I think I have seen some humans that can fly.

[They beat you into the ground, didn't they? The lowest rung of society and they didn't even break a sweat, unless... oh, of course. Whoever said that humans were the lowest rung of society had obviously never seen an insect in their life.

Wriggle stops and covers her ears again. Even if she had accepted it, it didn't make it any less upsetting or annoying. Biting her lip she squeezed her eyes tightly so as not to start crying again. She wasn't going to budge unless Amelia dragged her along, so she hung weightlessly in the air]

I guess that would explain it...

[It takes Amelia a second to notice Wriggle isn't hovering alongside her anymore, glancing back with a concerned look on her face. Some part of her almost wanted to know just what those voices were trying to tell Wriggle so maybe she could tell them to shut up.

Carefully she wrapped one arm around the floating girl, trying to tug her along a bit without really forcing her too much. Inwardly hoping that she wouldn't be too offended at the gesture, but they still couldn't stay here...]

[She doesn't resist, in fact Wriggle doesn't react much at all. Eventually she opens her eyes and uncovers her ears slightly. With every passing moment she seems to become a little more tired]

I just wish they'd go away...

I wish they'd go away too...

[Or at least maybe manifest into something she could actually hit with a weapon. That would probably make her feel better right now, but failing that she just keeps an arm around Wriggle and tries to guide her down the stairs. Of course, once they hit floor 42 she comes to a stop, frowning slightly. Not that the bars are impossible to traverse, but seeing as Wriggle can fly and she can't...]

Seriously, who makes a place like this? And why?

[It didn't take leaps and bounds of logic to realise that Amelia was talking about the bars. They'd never caused much trouble for Wriggle but with no way to bypass them she could see why they might be dangerous.

Normally she would have been glad to help but the constant mental strain had left her with no energy or motivation to do anything, not that she would have been useful in the first place. Although, if she left Amelia to make it across on her own... Wow, good job murderer, way to go. Someone died because you were too useless to help, no matter how much they revive you're never going to get that off your shoulders. Golds star Wriggle, gold star.

If she actually let Amelia die she would never be able to live with herself and that voice would never shut up. Useless or not she had to try and she floated above Amelia, reaching down to take her arms]

Hold on, I can carry you.

[The thought does cross her mind that maybe relying on an emotionally compromised girl who appears to be suffering from severe self esteem issues to fly her across a death-trap might not be the safest idea she's ever had, but it's still better than trying to hop across by herself.

Besides, Wriggle seems trustworthy enough. Hopefully. So she goes ahead and takes ahold of Wriggle's arms, silently hoping for the best. Thankfully Amelia's not terribly heavy, thanks to not having access to her full and much heavier armor. What armor she is wearing isn't that heavy and the two weapons she carries are regular sized, combined with not being terribly heavy to begin with and she shouldn't be much heavier than a regular person. And maybe make a bit of small talk to ease her own nerves.]

I wonder if it's possible to learn how to fly...? [That would be so incredibly useful back home, like being a Pegasus Knight only presenting a much smaller target...]

[Wriggle gripped tightly onto her wrists and slowly lifted her from the staircase and above the great depths of the room. They dipped a little at first as Wriggle tried to adjust to the weight of Amelia. Even if she wasn't wearing heavy armor, Wriggle was only small after all]

I don't know... This is just natural to me...

[Although she must have learned at some point, right? She wasn't born knowing how to fly. However, it wasn't something she could really be distracted with as almost all her focus was on blocking out the voices that told her she would drop her companion]

[Ok. Alright. Good. They were flying and she wasn't falling! This was officially progress. Although her heart did nearly shoot into her throat when they momentarily dipped, and as they started to cross the room she couldn't help but look down. It's true what they say, don't look down, but at least she can make a mental note of where any bars are underneath her just in case.

Tempted as she was to keep asking questions it seemed like distracting the person who's literally holding you above an exceedingly fatal drop right this second might be a poor idea and she kept them to herself, at least for the moment. Still, didn't Wriggle say there were humans back in her home that could fly...? It must be some manner of magic, but none of the mages she ever knew could do that. Not even the most talented sages could.

Puzzling as it was, it offered a decent distraction from the constant whispers at least.]

Re: February 25th ; Floor 45

February 25th ; Floor 45

Re: February 25th ; Floor 45

February 25th ; Floor 45

Re: February 25th ; Floor 45

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