towerofanimus | New things were revealed on the network..

Entry tags:

New things were revealed on the network..

Characters: Tohko and you.
Setting: The third floor library, the staircase (anywhere), and then the mailbox floor.
Format: Starting in prose, but I'll match you!
Summary: Tohko, after watching everything on the network in horror, tries to come to grips with things..before finding something in the mailbox floor.
Warnings:..If you can't handle a crying Tohko, this probably isn't the post for you.

Tohko forced herself to pull away from the network terminals and think on everything that had happened. She reflected while walking through the stacks.

Dax, their one ally here, was dead, having tried to overthrow Ruana. She, for some reason, saw empathy as the 'rotting' of a person. Everyone in the Tower was using recycled bodies..and while Tohko didn't know exactly what that meant, she got the basic gist of it.

And the final comments of the first video that had pulled in made her realize that her world wad destroyed. Her aunt, Ryuto, Konoha, Chia, who she was so worried about, and Nanase..

They were all dead. She would never see them again. She couldn't help out Chia or apologize to Konoha. They were all dead. Emotionally drained and hurt, Tohko slumped by a nearby bookcase. Feel free to bother her.

Tohko, having pulled herself up, started to walk up the staircase. She just..had to move, run, and try to calm down. Hopefully Tohko won't run over your character on the stairs.

Tohko, for some reason, had managed to make her way up to the mailbox room. On an impulse, she opened it up..and found a note stuck inside. Quickly, she read it and, after burning the information onto her brain, she ate it, not even trying to hide the fact that she was eating paper in front of anyone else.

With all that had happened, Tohko doubted that anyone would call her a monster for that. However, she had to work..and be very careful about it.

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[ Naturally, Wilhelm only quietly observed the events of the Tower. But upon learning of that letter, he couldn't wait. He had to do something, now, to act upon an opportunity like this. ]

Hello, Tohko.

[ The quiet, cordial greeting came from a far corner of the room. He slowly approaches, bright red eyes staring, unblinkingly, at her. If he's perturbed by seeing her in tears, it doesn't show. ]

When animals are left in a cage for this long, they turn on each other. It is natural. This was inevitable.

[Upon hearing Wilhelm's voice, Tohko quickly finished chomping down on the letter, wiped whatever tears were left away and turned to face him, a mixture of sadness, rage and..determination on her face.]

Good morning, Wilhelm.

[She sighs before speaking again.]

Animals usually have a proper sense of empathy and usually don't turn on and eat their own kind. This was not inevitable, in my opinion. However..I need to ask you something. I know I owe you a lot, but do you think you could add another favor to my tab and join whatever motley crew I can scrape up? Please.

[With all of the excitement dying down and the visitors gone, Akihiko wants to make sure nobody left him any important notes during the excitement.

Slow steps can be heard he carefully approaches his mailbox. The right side of his face heavily bandaged, he doesn't see Tohko right away, missing her eat the note completely.

A sigh of relief; nothing inside.]

[Tohko turned to see who was coming, but when she saw it was Akihiko, she nodded and kept munching on the letter, savoring how it tasted.]

Good..morning..Akihiko.

[She spoke in between bites, and when she finished, she wiped her mouth and turned to face him. She was not wearing a smile.]

Are you okay? How did you get that bandage?

Amano-san?

[Akihiko perks up and closes his box, turning so that he can look at her. He's never seen her look so depressed, but it's to be expected after everything that happened. Spirits are going to be low.]

...I'm fine. It's nothing.

[He's just missing an eye.]

Are you alright? Did you get something bad in the mail?

[Tohko sighed and..tried to pat Akihiko on the head. She knew that it wasn't fine, but she wasn't going to say anything or pry.]

I..I'll probably be alright in the next few days. And..I didn't get something..horrible in the mail.

[She then thought about something and nodded to herself.]

Akihiko..this is going to sound odd, but how strong do you think you are? You're a boxer, right? How many people do you think you could knock out in a day?

[He blinks as she pats him on the head, but doesn't take it in a bad way.]

That's good to hear. We can't let them think they've got our cooperation.

[He would be alright too, for the most part. Wounds heal, time goes on. He knew the lesson rather well. Besides, not everything about the last couple of weeks was terrible.]

I'm undefeated back home. But here I've met a lot of great opponents. I could probably knock out at least half the people here, and I have a little help if things get hairy.

Are you interested in boxing?

That's..true, to some extent.

[Tohko, sadly, was dealing with the fact that she was a liche, that the rest of her family and friends back home were dead, and that Dax, a valuable ally, was dead. It would take her awhile to recover, and she would probably never been exactly the same.

However, upon hearing his reply, she nodded to herself, thinking. She then lowered her voice to a whisper.]

Not exactly. Akihiko..would you be interested in joining a small group I'm trying to form together? Dax..left some files back for us to retrieve in the Administrator area. His dying message was for me to go get them.

[Akihiko's expression grows more serious when he hears that there are files for them in the administration area. Aside from Zo, Dax was the most merciful and level-headed of the operation towards all of them. There was no question. He nodded, responding in a hushed voice as well.]

I'll go with you to get the files.

[He was in a lucky place. Lucky in the way that he could be in the right place at the right time, maybe. It wasn't difficult to feel the depressed feeling in the air. When he located it, he put a hand on Tohko's shoulder.]

Um...I don't know what it is but...it'll be okay?

[At that..Tohko managed to smile and nod. She still spoke in a quiet voice.]

..Thank you. Please, meet me later on in the eleventh floor. I'm going to try gathering other people there and getting a plan sorted out before we disembark. Can you wait until then?

[Tohko sighed and rubbed her eyes before looking up at Satsujinki. She really did not look like she thought that statement was accurate in any way, shape, or form.]

..Maybe it'll be okay..in about a week..

[She sighed.]

I was such an idiot..I never realized that 'Tower of Souls' could mean that..and I've been believing a lie for such a long time..

[She tried to force a smile. It really didn't work.]

I'm such an idiot..

Eleventh floor. Got it.

[His friends probably wouldn't approve of him participating in the operation, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. There was no reason to get them mixed up in trouble just because of him.

He wouldn't be able to see from the right side, but as a group, the weakness would probably be nothing to worry about.]

I'll be there.

So you're worried about someone? What is it, are you thinking they're dead forever? If it's something like that, I'll listen to your problems. I'm kind of an expert in that area.

[Tohko nodded again, whispering one last time.]

Alright then! I'll be looking forward to seeing you there. Thank you.

[She then spoke in a normal voice.]

..I hope I'm not prying, but what brought you up here?

[Tohko sighed and tried to calm down.]

..Thank you. I'm sorry to bother you with my troubles..I'd usually like it to be the other way around.

[Tohko sighed again.]

Until now, I kept thinking that my universe still existed..and that the rest of my family and my friends were all fine. But..the recent news seems to prove otherwise.

[Tohko bit her lip, trying not to start crying again.]

I guess..my family back home is dead, as well as my friends..I just..wasn't really expecting that revelation on top of everything else.

[He would be looking forward to it as well. He regretting missing out on the first infiltration, but it couldn't be helped.

Once again his mind is back on the visitors. His best friend Shinjiro and his sister Miki had appeared. They'd spoken and shared keepsakes already, but he didn't know if they left anything else that might have been important.

That and, well...]

It probably sounds stupid, but getting mail makes it feel like I'm at home, sort of.

[Sadly, the truth was the only letters he ever received since the arrival of the mail room were from Tohko.]

How can you be sure they're dead? People lie, show false images, or hallucinate.

Even if they were dead, their soul would still live. Who knows, maybe they're waiting on you.

[Tohko paused at that before shaking her head for a moment.]

That's not stupid at all, actually. It's good to remember the things from home..even the small ones. I didn't get much mail back in my universe, but I always liked it when I did.

That's what I thought too, at first..but when other people from different universes, who have no reason to lie cry that everyone here comes from a dead universe..and when you learn about how we're all liches..there's really no evidence to point to that says our worlds aren't destroyed.

..And I can't communicate with souls. Even if their souls are still alive..I wouldn't be able to speak to them if I went back.

Liches? Aren't they supposed to have skeleton bodies and some kind of item of power? I've never seen one but I'm pretty sure I'd be able to feel if you were one. I'm certainly not one, that's for sure.

Besides, isn't speaking to souls easy to learn? They have plenty of books how to do that stuff in most bookstores.

Well..maybe I'm over-exaggerating with the 'liches' bit..but the point is that these aren't our original bodies. They pulled out our souls and gave us bodies made out of recycled parts.

And..they have lots of stuff like that in bookstores..but in my universe, none of it actually works. Ghosts don't exist, in my universe.

[He smiles softly for a brief moment.]

Cell phones and computers are the big thing now, so mail's only good for bills and ads. It was a lot more fun when we were kids to get a letter. I guess it's kind of nice we don't have phones here, but we do have the terminals.

Do you get a lot of letters?

Even if that's true, you're putting too much stock into that kind of thing. It's not like your body makes up who you are.

Ghosts and souls are the same thing though. Thankfully. [Ghosts scare him silly.] But there is one thing every world has in common, I'm sure of it. I'm sure you've read about it in books too They call it the Akashic Records.

I guess so..I actually didn't have a cell phone back home. Machines and I didn't see eye to eye back home..so I had to adapt to the ones we have here at the Tower.

I got a lot of mail when I was a kid..but it seems that as you get older, you don't get much actual letter mail. I'm always happy to get things though..even though it may be junk, the chance of it not being junk mail is always exciting.

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New things were revealed on the network..

Mail Room

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Library

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off to bed for now!

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Goodnight then! Sweet dreams!~