[ 001 ]

[bytheirhand]

Characters: Czeslaw Meyer and YOU.
Setting: Room 3-08 and floors 1, 5, 14 & 22
Format: Starting with action, but I'll follow your lead!
Summary: Czes wakes up, is overjoyed to learn that his world has been destroyed and proceeds to explore the tower!
Warnings: Being Czeslaw is suffering. There's a bit of blood and gore in the first cut and more will likely be present in the comments. I'll update this as needed.


Room 3-08

[The last thing Czes remembered was being dragged along the train tracks and getting his limbs shaved off one at a time. He lost consciousness a little bit after he'd been secured to the underside of the train. So when he woke up it wasn't the sleep paralysis that got his attention -- he didn't expect to be able to move, after all. What he noticed was that he was in one piece again and, more importantly, he wasn't on the train anymore.

Correction. He wasn't under the train anymore.

So where was he?

As soon as he's able to move he pulls himself off the bed. Not content in staying in such strange clothing his first priority was to find proper attire. Thankfully, it wasn't difficult to find and minutes later he's dressed and far more comfortable.

Next on the list was the note on the nightstand that caught his eye. He climbs back on the bed, reaching over to grab the paper and carefully unfolding it.

Wait. Wait, wait, wait.

His world was... gone?]

Wha... what?


Floor One

[Eat the oatmeal, they said. It'll be good for you, they said. You need to eat it if you want to be able to eat anything else.

A half hour later and he was no closer to finishing it. He sits at the table, arms folded over his chest, lip sticking out in a furious pout. There had to be a way around eating this god awful concoction.]


Floor Five

[He must have looked ten times by now. His world. Dead. Destroyed. Gone. He couldn't believe it at first, it seemed so unreal. But... there it was.

Everyone was dead.

Everyone was dead. Everyone who could hurt him was gone. He was safe. He was safe.

He steps away from the viewing station, hiccuping as tears stream down his face. They were all dead.]


Floor Fourteen

[He's been to a movie theater before, but these screens were just... so small in comparison! There was just so much here that he'd never seen before! He wanders around the room with a childlike curiosity -- pressing buttons to see what they do, picking up controllers and remotes and fiddling with them, rifling through the selection of DVDs and video games with a small sense of awe.

There's a good chance he might accidentally shut of the TV, or stop the movie you were so close to the end of, or reset the game you were playing for hours just before you had a chance to save.

Whoops.]


Floor Twenty-Two

[Czes finds himself spending a good deal of time on this floor. There's a surprising amount of artwork that he recognizes lining the walls. It was almost strange to see a little piece of home here.

It's possible to find him simply admiring the artwork. Or you might find him running down the hall screaming in terror. Apparently he ran into some... less tasteful pieces.]

Comments

[prayed]

Then what are you doing?

[bytheirhand]

[One last sniffle and he crosses his arms over his chest.]

... Nothing.

[prayed]

How do expect people to be willing to tell you stuff when you react like that?

[a sigh. There's no point in hiding the truth, but he seems so immature...she's not sure a kid like this this will be able to handle it.]

You're gonna have to grow up fast. You're gonna get eaten alive if you don't...this place ain't really meant to have kids in it.

[bytheirhand]

[Oh Kyoko. If you only knew.]

Why? It doesn't seem like a bad place.

[Nothing he's seen yet has thrown any warning bells anyway.]

[prayed]

I'm only gonna ask you this once and if you start crying again I'm out of here, got it? So. You sure you can handle the answer to that question, no matter how bad it is?

[bytheirhand]

[For a moment he looks very worried, like he's really not sure if he wants to hear this. Still, this is information he needs to have. He has to know what he's up against.

He nods, determined.]

Yeah. I can handle it.

[prayed]

[Her waffles since eaten, she tugs a baggie of truffles out of her pocket. She sets a couple down on the plate she gave to Czes before she begins explaining. Candy always makes kids feel better, right?]

This place is called Tower of Animus--or Tower of Souls. Some chick told me that's what it means. I don't really care enough to confirm it myself.

[She shrugs.]

Either way, it lives up to that name. That body you got isn't the the one you were born with. It's just a replica. Your real body died along with the rest of your world, y'know...but they managed to save your soul, so they just stuffed it into an exact replica. So basically, dead or alive before being "saved," we're all in the same boat here.

[She tugs at her collar, pops a truffle into her mouth.]

I don't really get it myself, but basically, without these things you wouldn't even be able to control your body. You'd either get sent back to that wasteland you call a world or die. It might just be that you're controlling your body remotely via a technology comparable to magic.

[Though in that case...why did Puella Magi need one? Their bodies are already remotely controlled and it's not as though her true body has a collar. It doesn't make any sense, but she doesn't think too hard about it. As long as she's alive, it doesn't matter.]

You with me so far?

[bytheirhand]

[Czes unconsciously raises his hand to pull at his own collar, frowning a bit. He nods at her explanation, silently noting the mention of magic. He'll have to look into that later...]

Yeah.

[prayed]

I already told you that you're the only survivor from your world. Everyone else is dead. There are other worlds that are exactly like yours though. Ones that have the same people, but a different story. That's how we're able to meet others that we know "from back home" here. If you think too hard about it, you'll get a headache, so don't bother. Just keep in mind that there's a lot of different worlds represented here and your "friends" might not be your friends anymore. Same goes for your enemies.

[As she explains this, she sets out a line of truffles.]

The way they explained that to us was that there's like, a kind of virus. I think they show it in action on one of the floors. It infects a universe, consumes everything in it--[She lifts one of the truffles, crushing it between her fingers as she mentions the word 'kill' before eating it, grasps the next one.]--then jumps to the next one.

[She eats that one, too.]

So while it's busy blowing it up, one of the guys downstairs is busy doing what they this so-called rescue mission where they just kinda grab onto whatever they can take. A planet of seven billion people, a world full of way more than that, and the most they can get is one person. We should feel so lucky.

[She rolls her eyes as she says that, chewing most of the remaining candies. There are exactly five left.]

[bytheirhand]

Different worlds, right.

[He doesn't say anything more though. It's pretty clear she doesn't feel lucky in the slightest.]

[prayed]

[Not even a little bit.]

...Ah, right. I guess I should ask. You know what psionics are?

[bytheirhand]

[He shakes his head.]

No.

[prayed]

Psychic abilities. Y'know, telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, astral projection, that whole pile of junk that fortune tellers and magicians always pretend to have.

[bytheirhand]

Oh! Ok, yeah I know what those are.

[prayed]

[She narrows her eye and for a moment, seems to scrutinize Czes. She seems to be searching him for something that she can't quite find. There's something that's bugging her, but she hasn't pinned it down yet. It's only for a moment, though, then the moves on with her explanation.]

...Great. That'll make things easier, 'cause they've all got abilities like that. There's five guys you need to know about, called the administrators. The one in charge of the rest of them's some broad named Ruana--[She taps the first truffle as she says this, although her voice shakes, almost lowering to a hiss as she she mentions Ruana.] That girl's the only who's got the most power.

[She moves on, touching them as she names them off.]

Jason's your typical mad scientist who takes care of fixing our bodies up or whatever, he runs "experiments" just for the Hell of it, so get ready to have your mind screwed with, your bodies switched along with your memories, and whatever other ideas that bastard's jacking off to that months. And if you put in a request for him to be punched or anything else I will break both your hands. Nobody cares that you hate him.

[She shakes her head, mumbling something about idiots under her breath before she moves on.]

Riki's quiet, I dunno what the Hell his deal is, he doesn't say anything. He's a brooding artist who's in control of maintaining the floors and things like that. And like all artists, he's a pretentious jerk. One of the guys in charge...I think it's gotta be that kid now. Zo. He's the one who pulls people in here. And...

[She stops there, her shoulders tensing, eyes moving down to the table, as though remembering something unpleasant.]

[bytheirhand]

[The mention of Jason and his "experiments" is enough to put Czes on edge again. His eyes widen, a shiver running down his spine. No. No thank you. He wants nothing to do with this man. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.]

A-and...?

[He can't keep the shake out of his voice. This conversation is suddenly incredibly uncomfortable.]

[prayed]

Dax. He used to be in charge of maintaining the everyday things in the tower. He was a kind man. Too kind for his own good. He didn't fit in with the rest of that group, y'know...he actually tied to save us from that person. Ruana. The rest of them, too.

[Her voice is calm at first, but as her explanation goes on she'll grow increasingly angry, her voice raising until she's almost screaming. The pain of seeing him cannibalized, not even given the slightest shred of dignity is too recent. She looks genuinely angry.]

Of course, there's no way that one person could stand up to a person like that, y'know. He was stupid to even try, but...even so, they were companions. They've been companions for centuries and she just--she killed him. She killed him on screen for everyone to see. She tore him apart, ate everything--she didn't even consume him, it's like she absorbed him. She devoured his heart, his pisonics, cannibalized him until there was nothing left but his mind. She even tried to that, but she was vomiting it up, having the nerve to call him rotten--

[She's shaking with anger right now. She slams her fist down on the table with enough to make it rattle, looking like she'd like she'd like nothing more than to tear something apart right now.]

He was an idiot for thinking he could save anyone. Happy endings don't come to people like that, but even so...that girl. What right does she have to call anyone rotten, huh!? Just where does she get off treating him like a dog and everyone else as dolls for her games!? Like it's fine just because we can't really die. What the Hell kind of justification is that!?

[Even through her anger her voice is a bit strained. It hurts to talk about this. Hurts to think about it. It too painful and frustrating to think about what that girl's capable of and how there's absolutely nothing any of them can do to stop any of it.]

[bytheirhand]

[Oh. Oh that's just... that's just hitting all kinds of buttons.

This Ruana girl actually ate someone. That's disgusting in and of itself, but that's not what bothers him. What bothers him is that whatever she did, she had been able to absorb his essence as well. His abilities became hers. Did that mean she got his memories, too? More importantly... could she do that to him?

He thought that being alone in this tower, being the only living person from his world, meant that he didn't have to worry about being devoured anymore. He didn't have to worry about what would happen to the cursed memories in his head.

Czes doesn't even notice that Kyoko's yelling at this point. It doesn't matter. All he can think about is how he needs stop that from happening to himself. He had to protect himself no matter what. He would not let someone devour him. He would not.

A strange mix of emotions plays across his face. Her story has effectively scared him senseless and it shows -- he doesn't even notice it, but his body is shaking ever so slightly. Still, there's more under that fear. There was desperation, determination and a sense of maturity that didn't quite suit is appearance. Behind his wide, terrified eyes the wheels were already turning.

He'd have to devour her first.]

[prayed]

[She skids the chair back, standing up, leans over the table--and smacks him. Not hard enough to actually harm him, but hard enough.]

[bytheirhand]

[HOLY

DID SHE JUST

SHE

SHE JUST SMACKED HIM????

OH MY GOD TALK ABOUT MOOD WHIPLASH.

He rubs his cheek, brows furrowed.]

H-hey! What was that for?

[prayed]

You're one of those morons who'll try to go up against the administrators. Don't bother denying it. I don't care about whatever lies you're gonna tell. I've got all the time in the world to make you shut up and listen.

[bytheirhand]

W-what?

[prayed]

Did I stutter? Just now you were thinking about doing something stupid, weren't you?

[bytheirhand]

No, I mean...

I wouldn't try to go up against someone like that by myself.

[He'll get other people to do that for him and then devour her! EASY, RIGHT?]

[prayed]

[Kyoko places her hands on her hips, leaning forward. Her voice, her face--they're all definitely mocking.]

A sharp kid like you...it couldn't be that you missed the part where I said that she literally ate her companion, could it? Ate him piece by piece, like he was a fine dinner. One of the few people that could get close to her, and another person that could rip your soul out of your body and shred it to pieces in the blink of an eye. You understand what that means, right...?

[She shakes her head.]

Or maybe you just haven't figured it out yet. However things worked in your world, it ain't like that here. Those person--no, all of them. They're not human or alien or whatever the Hell else they've brought in here. They're something else completely. They can disable your powers in a second, leave you no more than an ordinary human being. Paralyze you with the flick of the wrist, 'cause you're in their house. As long as you have that thing--

[She reaches over to give Czes's collar a light tug, daring him to defy her.]

They're nothing less than gods and you have no choice but to follow their scripture. That's the price of being saved. But you're not a total idiot, so I'm sure you've got all that already.