Zelda (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sageprincess) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
towerofanimus2013-02-28 01:43 am
sageprincess) wrote in towerofanimus2013-02-28 01:43 am
Nocturne, Second Movement ♪ Mourning
Characters: One distraught Princess of Hyrule and you.
Setting: Floor 25, morning of the 28th
Format: Action, but can switch to prose if you'd like
Summary: Zelda received a letter.
Warnings: Mentions of NPC death, so much angst, slowness on tags because of school
[Zelda,
She's read it a thousand times by now - her name in so neat, so precise script.
If you have received this, then I am dead. I can't be sure if you have all been made aware of it yet. You expressed a desire to help me, and I did appreciate that offer. I have gathered information about this place and sought to act to put a stop to everything myself, but apparently I have failed.
It was him. It was all him. The elevator being open, the worker units with damaged collars assisting them once in the administrative levels, the meeting that had kept the rest of them distracted long enough for her and the others to find the truth... It was all him. And now he has paid the ultimate price for his rebellion, the ultimate sacrifice for trying to truly save them.
I have placed this information somewhere safe in the administrative levels. Do not be hasty, but at some point please act to find this information. It will be within places only I can access, and has security as a necessity, to keep the others out, so please be careful and do not act alone.
And he knew. If nothing else, this letter proves that. He knew what the consequences of his actions would likely be, and he still fought for them, still died for them. People who never trusted him, never realized what an ally they had in him. Even now, in death, he's trying to help them.
Burn this letter, but please spread the information around. Do not use the network to pass this information on, speak of it only in person and never within range of any of the worker or retrieval units. The bathrooms and sauna levels are the safest, but as long as you are quiet and not too near the walls you should be safe.
That is why Zelda sits here, in the center of the meadow, far away from any walls that might watch her. That is why she huddles protectively around the letter, keeping it hidden from prying eyes. That is why she cries, openly, visibly, for she needs to grieve before she can get to work.
Thank you for your offer of help. I regret I was not able to help all of you.
She holds the tear-stained paper out before her, etching his words in stone in her mind and soul.
Regards,
Between her thumb and forefinger, a flame begins to catch, licking at too-neat, too-precise script. Then, in an instant, it bursts into a spark of divine flame, and nothing remains of Dax's will but a few wisps of nigh-invisible smoke. And Zelda.]
Thank you... Dax...
[It was him. It was all him.
And she must mourn before she can enact his will.]
Setting: Floor 25, morning of the 28th
Format: Action, but can switch to prose if you'd like
Summary: Zelda received a letter.
Warnings: Mentions of NPC death, so much angst, slowness on tags because of school
[Zelda,
She's read it a thousand times by now - her name in so neat, so precise script.
If you have received this, then I am dead. I can't be sure if you have all been made aware of it yet. You expressed a desire to help me, and I did appreciate that offer. I have gathered information about this place and sought to act to put a stop to everything myself, but apparently I have failed.
It was him. It was all him. The elevator being open, the worker units with damaged collars assisting them once in the administrative levels, the meeting that had kept the rest of them distracted long enough for her and the others to find the truth... It was all him. And now he has paid the ultimate price for his rebellion, the ultimate sacrifice for trying to truly save them.
I have placed this information somewhere safe in the administrative levels. Do not be hasty, but at some point please act to find this information. It will be within places only I can access, and has security as a necessity, to keep the others out, so please be careful and do not act alone.
And he knew. If nothing else, this letter proves that. He knew what the consequences of his actions would likely be, and he still fought for them, still died for them. People who never trusted him, never realized what an ally they had in him. Even now, in death, he's trying to help them.
Burn this letter, but please spread the information around. Do not use the network to pass this information on, speak of it only in person and never within range of any of the worker or retrieval units. The bathrooms and sauna levels are the safest, but as long as you are quiet and not too near the walls you should be safe.
That is why Zelda sits here, in the center of the meadow, far away from any walls that might watch her. That is why she huddles protectively around the letter, keeping it hidden from prying eyes. That is why she cries, openly, visibly, for she needs to grieve before she can get to work.
Thank you for your offer of help. I regret I was not able to help all of you.
She holds the tear-stained paper out before her, etching his words in stone in her mind and soul.
Regards,
Between her thumb and forefinger, a flame begins to catch, licking at too-neat, too-precise script. Then, in an instant, it bursts into a spark of divine flame, and nothing remains of Dax's will but a few wisps of nigh-invisible smoke. And Zelda.]
Thank you... Dax...
[It was him. It was all him.
And she must mourn before she can enact his will.]
no subject
[Arturia is tired, after all that's happened. She does not know about the Network, and therefore does not know about the post. All she sees during her usual wandering of the tower is the person who had her back down below, who made her feel like she was part of something again, is crying.
She approaches her, a hand reaching out to rest on her shoulder.]
What's the matter?
no subject
[She turns to the former knight-king at the touch, not quite leaning into it but not quite backing away either. It's an interesting position her team in the admin levels has occupied; she would trust any of them with her life and duty, but... her feelings? That always takes a bit of getting used to.
She rubs at her eyes and attempts to clear her throat before answering further.]
... Did... Did you see...? That video on the network...?
no subject
[No one had mentioned the network to her at all in the time she'd been here and so she did not know about it. Yes, she'd seen the terminals and people at them around the tower, but had assumed them to be some kind of game like the ones played on the television.]
No, I have not. What was on it that has you so upset?
[Because, no matter what happened now, Zelda and her had gone through what they did together, clawed their way out of Ruana's chambers and had one another's backs. They were comrades in arms now, much as many of Arturia's own knights had been and she would gladly die for any of the three who had accompanied her.]
no subject
[She pauses, swallowing. It's... still so difficult to think about, and no amount of mental distancing will quell the sick, nauseous feeling that builds when she thinks of what Ruana did...]
Last night, there was a video of Ruana and Dax... Ruana is the one whose room we went into, and Dax-- [Her voice wavers noticeably, though she tries to soldier on.] --Dax was the one who placed those worker units down there, the ones that helped us. He... wanted to help us, and he stood up to Ruana, and she...
[Stopping there for a moment, her hand flies to her mouth as though she's about to vomit. It takes her a bit of time to recover, but still. All she can say are three dread-filled words.]
... She ate him.
no subject
[She's never dealt with the administrators first-hand, had only seen them during the question-and-answer session earlier in the month and not spoken up due to everyone already voicing the concerns she herself had. Yet she had heard thing, about Ruana and Zo and Jason and Riki and Dax. Things that left a bad taste in her mouth and made her feelings for this supposed 'refuge from destruction' turn sour.
What she'd seen down below, the cruelty in action to those who had dared to try and stop Jason, had only confirmed her feelings on this matter. She made a point of checking the terminals closer later and seeing this video, just to confirm for herself, but for now--
Ruana ate someone?! Arturia had seen some horrific things in her life--done horrific things herself if she's completely honest--but the idea of a person being eaten alive disgusts her in a way she cannot even begin to explain.]
no subject
I think... she absorbed his powers somehow - she mentioned his "psionics" tasting "delicious"-- [And it's all she can do not to retch right then and there.] --but I cannot say for sure. It was so hard to watch...
[Even if it were Jason in Dax's place, the act would have sickened her. The fact that it was Dax, the one she had prayed would help them, only added heartbreak to the horror.]
no subject
It's all right. I shall not ask further if it's that upsetting, but I am here if you wish to talk.
[Unlike before, with her knights, when she barely took more than two seconds to consider their feelings. Maybe if she had then....
Arturia forces herself to forget, to stop dwelling. That's in the past and an ally is before her right now who needs help.]
no subject
[She nods again, taking a moment to breathe and quiet herself. It's funny, months ago she would have straight out refused any sort of help or comforting, seeing it as a sign of being weak or unable to deal with the challenges this place presents. But now... now she knows that is far from the case, and though it pains her whenever someone she's reached out to vanishes, she knows she cannot close herself off, lest she become that bitter old woman Riki's "distraction" had proven her to be.
When she thinks she's stable enough, she looks back to Arturia. Her eyes are still red from crying, but there's a certain resolution in them.]
There is something I need to talk to you about, related to this. ... I received a letter this morning. From Dax. He was collecting information about this place, and... he stated that he wanted me to retrieve it and spread it around the tower populace.
[She looks down at her hands, where the faint wisps of smoke used to be.]
... I suppose it was more like a will, really.
no subject
[Or did he not know? The more she hears about the administrators, the more it confirms what everyone has been telling her: that things are not what they seem here. If Ruana really ate Dax, what is to keep her from doing the same to the others? Is that why they seem to listen to her, they're afraid of her?]
no subject
[Or, well, that's one theory. It's impossible to come up with anything more concrete with the information they have.]
... I have a whole stack of notes documenting various things they have said, if you are ever interested.
no subject
[She leans in to tell Zelda softly:]
I have been thinking of contacting the others who went down with us, in order to create a more complete map of down below.
no subject
[And then, in an equally lowered voice:]
It would be a good idea. From what I know and have seen of those levels... they are vast. Perhaps even larger than our part of the Tower.