10

[looselips]

Characters: Shinji Matou & OPEN
Setting: Various floors, dangerous and otherwise, then Room 2-06.
Format: Action preferred, though I'll try to match.
Summary: Rider is gone, and Shinji isn't taking it well.
Warnings: Descriptions of a child's death-by-drowning in Part 2.
Notes: Part 2 takes place the day following Part 1, and is open to both passersby and roommates alike. If tag you into Part 1 without specifying a floor, I'll pick one myself; the only one that is really off limits is Floor 90, for reasons.

part 1 - various floors
[Shinji knows when Rider is gone, of course. He just doesn't accept it. He isn't the most rational, measured person at the best of times, and his circumstances now are obviously not optimal. So, rather than trying to quietly come to terms with her departure, he goes to look for her. He'll find wherever she has run off to sooner or later, he thinks, as though she's still somewhere in the Tower where he can yap at her until she pays attention to him.]

Rider! [He waits briefly, standing in the dormitory hallway. When there's no reply, he calls out again, louder and more agitated now.] Rider!

[And he keeps shouting for her as he stomps around the Tower, his voice growing increasingly demanding as he becomes increasingly desperate. He can be heard calling for her in all sorts of places, since while he starts with floors he is more familiar with and ones that are relatively safe, he soon begins to venture places an unattended eight-year-old really should not be. Mostly, he sticks to floors he thinks or knows would attract Rider—ones with water, or treasure, or that inexplicably smoky barroom—paying no heed to the way he is tiring himself out with all this searching.]

part 2 - room 2-06
[As it turns out, ten minutes is the perfect amount of time for reliving the way you died.]

[The lagoon had been a natural place to check. No one can blame him for going there. It isn't his fault, anyway—the blame lies on Rider, for leaving him in the first place, and those things lurking in the water, those things that had grabbed him before he even had a chance to scream. He can remember the feeling of their strong, wet hands wrapped tight around his wrists and ankles, and the way it felt to thrash as he tried to struggle free of them. But, more than that, he can remember the way it felt when he couldn't free himself. The panicked fear of death, the way water poured into his mouth and down his throat when his lungs desperately tried to suck down air...]

[His legs tremble when he is finally able to move again, but he makes himself stand regardless.]

[He can't take it anymore. As if losing to that pathetic no-name weakling wasn't enough, as if dying wasn't enough, as if being brought to this place only to have everything that made him special taken away from him wasn't enough, now he has been killed, again, by mermaids.]

[He doesn't even care that he's throwing what is undeniably a childish tantrum when he shoves his trunk over. He doesn't care that doing this might break something inside. What did it matter? He died, and now on top of being dead he's alone here, all because his stupid, selfish Servant went and abandoned him. He picks up an upturned item at random, paying no attention to what it is, and throws it at the nearest wall.]

[Unless stopped, he'll be at this until he calms down or tires himself out, and tiring himself out is probably the option that will come first.]

Comments

floor 92

[puppy_lancer]

[What a coincidence. Lancer is looking for someone too.]

Ayaka? Ayaka!

[With his loud voice that mimics a beast's growl, he easily makes a lot of racket. Enough to drown out Shinji's voice, especially since the hallways of the pyramid makes his voice echo.]

[looselips]

[Wow, Lancer, rude. Don't you have any consideration for other people? Shinji is neither in the mood to deal with this nor thinking clearly, so his response to his irritation at being out-shouted is to stomp in what he assumes is roughly Lancer's direction. It's hard to tell, what with the echoing, and it would probably be easy for him to get lost like this, but right now he just doesn't care.]

[When Shinji finds him, he doesn't bother with any kind of greeting, not that he likely would under normal circumstances anyway.]

Shut up! I'm looking for someone, and she won't be able to hear me if you're making all that racket!

[puppy_lancer]

[He growls as he looks down at the child.]

I'm looking for someone too. And she sure as hell wouldn't notice me if I was quiet!

[Perhaps on another day, he would be more sympathetic to this child. But too much had happened recently.]

[looselips]

Why don't you go look for her in the nearest deep ditch, then? [Shinji probably isn't helping himself here, but he isn't in the best state of mind, either. Why does Lancer have to look here? He's sure it's more likely that Rider is here than whoever he's looking for!]

[puppy_lancer]

[The next second, there's a hand on the back of Shinji's collar, hoisting him up.]

Why don't you, you little brat?

[He can't imagine looking for Ayaka in any type of grave. Because that would mean he has failed.]

[Yet, in this Tower where so many things could take a spin for the worse, shouldn't he have set out to look for her corpse all along...?]

Room 2-06

[swordofzero]

[Suzaku had the unfortunate luck of walking into his room as a object flew towards his face. He dodged and closed the door, so no casual passer by would be hurt.

It was the child, Shinji according to the door, who Suzaku hadn't really spoken to yet.]

Calm down. [Suzaku tried to mimic how Toudoh used to speak to him in training, authoritative but not harsh.]

[looselips]

Screw you! [The response is a little shrill.] Who are you to tell me to calm down?!

[He isn't trying to hit people, of course, so the next thing to get tossed—it's some kind of handheld gaming system, but it's not like he's able to charge it here, so who cares if it breaks?—goes at the opposite wall. Obviously, it hadn't worked.]

[swordofzero]

If you break your things you'll regret it. [He moved over to his trunk to take off his cloak.] There are better ways to channel your anger.

[looselips]

I don't care! [He kicks something now.] This place— Just— This sucks!

[He's very eloquent.]

[swordofzero]

[The most eloquent.] It does, but losing your temper isn't going to improve things.

[He actually doesn't really blame the boy, if he were eight and thrown into a situation like this...]

Part 2 - Hello, roomie!

[gomu_ningen]

[Luffy had been taking a nap, unsuspecting of the other tenant in the room. It was a good few minutes before he came to, as a result of having some thing flung in his direction.

Waking up to the noise of shattering pottery and other belongings, Luffy sat up straight with an angry scowl on his face.]

"OI OI OI!! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!! KEEP IT DOWN!"

[Instinct took over. He only sorta' kinda' intentionally meant to lug an object back at the person who seemed dissatisfied with their belongings. His arm stretched out a good few feet, nabbing the first thing he can pluck from the air. Snapping his appendage like a rubber band, he sends a book flying towards his assailant. Whether or not he connects depends greatly on the tantrum thrower's speed.]

[looselips]

[Shinji is a normal, not-especially-athletic eight-year-old boy. He really isn't expecting that book to come flying back at him, and he doesn't have the reflexes to do much about it. So, it hits him right in the face.]

[When he picks himself up from where he landed on his rear, the expression on his face is that childish one where he can't decide whether or not he wants to cry. His nose might be bleeding some.]

[gomu_ningen]

[Luffy stares at young boy for a few moments, before raising a finger up to flick at the brim of his hat. Peering down at the injured lad, he frowns.]

"Ne~.. You're not Suzaku."

[looselips]

[Shinji doesn't say anything as Luffy stares. By the time he has made that comment, Shinji has decided that he doesn't want to cry—but he is anyway, biting his trembling lip as he tries to hold back the tears that are welling up in his eyes. It doesn't work very well.]

[gomu_ningen]

[Luffy steps towards the young boy, squatting down a few feet away from him as he begin to pick up the belongings that the boy had tossed asunder.]

"Oi, oi.. Guess you're stuck in the room here, too. I'm Luffy. Sorry 'bout the book."

too lazy to pick a floor for part one

[angramaintsu]

[ Rin thought it might be a good idea to take photographs of various floors for her uncle to repay a kindness, so when she can't concentrate because of some brat yelling for a Servant...

Well, she may as well go see what's the matter with him. In the end, he was her brother whether her wants to admit it or not. Family, that sort of thing was foreign to her, but the clan name wasn't. ]

Shut up, Shinji. [ Big sister has a lot of WISE THINGS to say. ] You're going to attract monsters to you if you keep yelling and well, what good will it do you if your Servant is ignoring you.

... ugh, don't tell me you made a pact with that Servant. You did, didn't you?

floor 62?

[looselips]

[When interrupted by Not-Tohsaka, he glares at her. Logically, he knows what she has said is completely right. However, he wouldn't be doing this in the first place if he was listening to logic.]

How about you shut your face instead? I'm paying her, so if she thinks she can run off like this, she's got another thing coming. [...] "That" Servant?

[WELL OBVIOUSLY how was he supposed to take part in the Grail War otherwise?]

works for me

[angramaintsu]

The loud-mouthed one that was snappy with her insults? Funny, I thought she could have done better than to deal with a brat like yourself.

[ Spoilers: Rin hates anyone who talks back to her. ] If you want me to shut up, you're going to have to make me do it yourself.

Seeing as you're half my size and probably incapable of any sort of geas curse, I think I'll take my chances on continuing to talk down to you.

[ Wait a second. She pauses as she considers something. ] What are you even paying her with?

[looselips]

Sounds like her. For your information, she was the one who asked me if I wanted to make a contract with her.

[You know, in the form of a warning, but whatever. At Rin's question, he shakes his head, looking exasperated.]

That money-grubber isn't happy unless she can get her mitts on some treasure. It's a real pain, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

[Since, you know, he can't just whip up more to collect here. No, they actually have to go hunting for valuables.]

[angramaintsu]

Yeah, I didn't really care to know.

[ Hmph. ] What kind of treasures? Not the gemstones on the ninety-ninth floor, right?

Uncle is here for part 2

[vermicompost]

[When he hears the noise of things being thrown, he moves toward the sound. Something's clearly wrong, and that's-- Is that Shinji's room? Yes, it is. He'd made a note of it, as it was so close to his own.

The door isn't locked, and he opens it slowly, to be treated to the sight of the small boy throwing something at the wall.]

Shinji...? Are you all right?

uncleeee ;A;

[looselips]

[Shinji fails to notice the door opening, but he doesn't have much emotional energy to expend on being surprised at this point. He only spares a quick glance to confirm who had spoken before turning back from the door again.]

Oh, yeah, I'm totally fine. [His sarcastic tone is harsher than normal. He kicks at his overturned trunk now.] I'm just doing this for my health!

[Of course, the reply isn't very well thought out, seeing as it involves indirectly admitting that there's something wrong to his nosy not-uncle, but he obviously isn't thinking through a lot of things right now.]

uncle is here for you ;_;

[vermicompost]

[As sarcastic as Shinji might be, Kariya's tone remains gentle, even as hoarse as his voice is. He's concerned. He knows the kinds of terrible things that go on here. Shinji shouldn't have to suffer through things like that. He's only a child. Not that Kariya is talking down to him.] I know. I can see you're upset. What happened? What's the matter?

[Is Uncle going to have to sic his Servant on someone?]

[looselips]

Why should I tell you?! You just... You just—!

[Whatever Kariya just is left unsaid. Shinji probably doesn't know how he meant to finish that sentence himself. He kicks again, and this time something electronic goes skidding across the floor.]

Rider left me, that—that bitch! [Despite his behavior being what it is, Shinji doesn't use foul language often, or at least not out loud. Now, though, the word slips out without him thinking about it much at all. He's furious about a lot of things right now, and his Servant's departure is high on the list.]

[vermicompost]

[Kariya watches Shinji. He doesn't know what he just, but he decides not to inquire about that.

He doesn't think getting upset himself would do any good. He remains calm and doesn't talk down to Shinji, doesn't chastise him for his foul language (not that he likes to hear it).]

Sometimes people leave here. I don't think it's their fault, and it happens at random. I'm sure she didn't mean to leave you.

It could be that they go home, or back to wherever they came from.

[Kariya prefers to look on the bright side, in this case.]