. 001 .

[interspace]

Characters: OPEN; special guest appearance by Misha Hunt.
Setting: Dorm 1-17/dorm level 01; floors 101, 001, 003, 004. Late into the night of 03/07 (or is that early into the night?).
Format: Start with prose or brackets and I'll follow your lead.
Summary: Going down? Nah... let's go up instead. (Superhero is not impressed with this shit.)
Warnings: Misha might ~know your canon~ if you give permission for it! Spooky, right?

Of all the things to wake up to (without even remembering falling asleep in the first place), this was not one of the possible devious plots on Misha's list. She would give it several points for originality and style of those letters, but the fact of the matter was that, overall, she was not amused. Getting into her groove after that bout of paralysis upon wakening was difficult, but finding ALFRED in the chest at her bed's foot along with discovering the strange collar she couldn't phase away from got her into a right paranoid, heroic fit.

It was after a keen look around the room that she stepped outside, fitting the earbuds in and clicking her visor into place over their fittings. The armband making up ALFRED's hardware could go over her stupid jumpsuit for now, and her jacket would do to cover some of it. Getting her makeup on to cover the large, multipronged scarring over her face could wait. What interested her almost immediately was the elevator at the end of the floor (never mind how many other captives the depraved idiot of a supervillain may have taken, judging by all the names by the doors).

"Can't be that easy... can it?" she muttered.

I don't mean to alarm you, Misha, ALFRED's slightly-tinny tones cut in, but my external communication systems have been completely severed. Why, it's as if they never existed. Rather, the components never did, although the subroutines for them still appear to be in tact.

Misha grunted to herself. "Okay, so this guy is more competent than I thought. But an elevator? A staircase? Psht. Easy-peasy."
—
All right, so maybe getting out was not nearly as simple as Misha had first believed it might be. She couldn't phase outside the walls, nor did she seem able to get very far down the stairs. She was just supremely lucky that her balance didn't give out, else she might have fallen over the stairs entirely into some sort of horrible, gravity-induced death.

Which would suck.

Sure, the room was beautiful, but inspecting it in closer detail could wait once she figured out how to get her powers online fully on it, rather than taking a dive onto the floor and hope for a way out. She was definitely not in the mood to go experimenting without her power at hand — which certainly meant anyone hoping to drag her down... would probably have an easy time of it, actually.

"Well, cross this floor off, ol' buddy, ol' pal. Let's see what's around the elevator."

You've got it, bud.

"Now you're just being sarcastic."
—
Much better. Getting to the base of this crazily-gigantic skyscraper was stupidly easy, since it looked like whoever installed their Supers-B-Gone forgot to add a conduit to the elevator shaft. As much as she hated to admit it, hunger pains were gnawing at her already. Did she dare eat whatever gruel they were offering here despite the risks? None of the lunch ladies seemed really interested in answering her questions, which meant she would either have to flag someone down or continue on.

After some internal debate, Misha threw her hands into the air. "It's only a hop, skip and a jump away, right?" Never mind the fact that she probably looked crazy for apparently talking to herself. It helped soothe her nerves.
—
The infirmary, while useful to know where it was located, was of no help to Misha right now. They didn't actually seem to have a lot of heavy medical tools, which meant trying to cut the collar off would be useless. Up the floor Misha went, and lo and behold, a font of wisdom had made its home on the third floor.

Her next hour or two was spent searching the bookshelves, forgoing ladders to reach the higher tomes and chairs were forgotten as she simply settled into the air above to skim her current interest's contents. It went faster that way; her nerves were beginning to fray and the longer she looked, the less she liked the cut of the tower's jibe. Something was wrong here.
—
It was in the observatory-like level where Misha made her last stop for the night, hands pressed against the large glass to try and peek into the infinity beyond the borders.

"This is stupid," she muttered. "This isn't like... anything. Why am I the only one here? We're way past cute now."

Comments

Library

[tohko_amano]

Tohko, being a librarian, was working at the shelves as she usually did, sorting things out and reading or taking a nibble when no one was looking. However, she didn't expect to see anyone sitting on the air while they read. While Tohko had seen a lot of unusual things in the Tower, she was still curious about new things she saw, so she couldn't help but walk up to the woman and ask.

"Pardon me..but how are you sitting on the air like that? Did you learn from The Monkey King or something?"

[interspace]

Misha took a deep breath at the interruption. Part of her heart swelled at someone initiating conversation with her, while the rest of her went reaching for irritation for being bothered. Her brows furrowed when she processed the question and tilted forward just enough to look over the edge of her book and eye the girl cautiously.

"No, never met the guy," Misha answered. "It's a... talent. The kinda thing you have or you don't. Are you just hanging out here?" she added abruptly. What kind of person would be so calm in a situation like this and apparently still have their faculties?

[tohko_amano]

Tohko couldn't help but smile at that.

"Oh, he's not an actual person! At least, he wasn't in my universe. He's a character from Journey To The West! It's quite a delicious story..however, that's a pretty cool talent you have. And I'm not just hanging out here. I'm one of the librarians here, so I'm sorting through books and helping out. If you have any questions, problems, or need help finding a book, let me know!"

[interspace]

"I'm aware," Misha said slowly. When she had no idea of where or when she was, it was intensely difficult to figure out what sort of references might be in earnest or what would be pop culture. "Which means I've never met him. Right?"

With a shake of her head, she continued, "It has its uses. Why the hell are you working here? No offense, but... no actually, uh, what the hell? That one's worth the repetition."

[tohko_amano]

At that, Tohko sighed and scratched her head.

"It does show that you haven't met him..but I didn't know that you had read the story. It's good that you have though! And I'm sure that talent has a lot of uses..and I'm working here for two reasons. One, because the Administrators told me to do it, and if I didn't, there would probably be some terrible consequences, and two..because I don't mind helping out here with the books. I'm guessing you're new here, right?"

[interspace]

"Who hasn't at this point?"

Before she could continue, the voice in her earbuds spoke up. If you aren't going to continue reading at this time, I believe there's something I should tell you: feet on the floor, Misha.

With a startled, exasperated look, Misha tilted her head to the side and snapped, "Oh, shut the hell up, would you? That's not even your line. Traitor." Regardless of her feelings on where the AI in her armband picked up that stupid houserule (she wasn't fifteen anymore, jesus), it was harmless advice overall. She lowered herself to the floor, closing the book and holding it to her chest for the time being. Clearly directed toward Tohko now, she said, "Let me make it more obvious: what kind of terrible consequences? What administrators?"

[tohko_amano]

Tohko gave the girl a puzzled look as she spoke to her..and to someone else that Tohko couldn't see.

"I'm sure a few people haven't, sadly..and the concequences depend upon which Administrator gave me the job. As for the Administrators and the Tower, I'll tell you everything I know, alright? Just calm down."

Tohko then sighed as she gave the girl her new infodump.

"This is the Tower of Animus. Four people now run it-Riki, a secretive man who builds the Tower and is in charge of the records, Zo, a small child who can bring souls here, Jason, a sadistic medical doctor who sometimes experiments on the residents. He, I believe, helps transfer your soul when you die. Finally, there’s Ruana, a woman who has been here for thousands of years and doesn’t quite human empathy or emotions, and hates it when people go against her. She may seem sweet, but she is capable of removing free will and canalizing her own Administrators."

Tohko sighed, taking a breath and clenching her fists at the memory of seeing Dax's body being eaten and ripped apart.

"There...used to be a fifth Administrator named Dax. He was the most humane of the bunch and did his best to protect us from Jason and the monsters here. He even managed to sneak people down to the Administrative levels in order to let them know more about this place. However, when he tried to go against Ruana..she killed and ate him, possibly absorbing his powers in the process. He was a good man.

Death isn’t permanent here. If you die, you’ll just wake up in your bed the next day. However, don’t throw your life away for foolish reasons. For one thing, you’ll probably get punished if you die too many times, and for the other…your body is made up of recycled parts. Only your soul was pulled to this universe. Your body, and the ones you’ll have afterward, are not your original body. That’s why you have the collar. It helps make sure your soul safely stays in your body.

I’m sorry to say that your universe is destroyed. You may see people you know here, but they won’t be from your own universe or point in time. I don’t’ know exactly how our universes were destroyed, but I do know that it was caused by Ruana watching our universes, for some reason.

If you haven’t been to the cafeteria yet, make sure that you eat the oatmeal when you do. If you don’t, you’ll throw up anything else you try to eat until you finish it. However, you can eat anything you want afterwards, and you can add things to the oatmeal to improve the taste.

Monsters roam the Tower at night, and some of the higher floors have monsters that attack if you get too close. If you can’t fight, then I would suggest learning. There are plenty of people here who would be willing to teach you."

Tohko sighed, getting some air back before asking a question.

"Now..who were you cursing at just now?"

[interspace]

Calming down wasn't one of her current issues, but Misha made sure to keep her expression difficult to read as Tohko gave her what was apparently some kind of welcome spiel. Her heart had begun to pound in her chest at the implications; even if not all of it was true, making people here believe it would require some ridiculously cruel and sickening treatment. Misha hated the options it left her when the explanation was done.

Misha gave a large sigh, hands clutching at the edge of her book in lieu of digging fingernails into her palms. "I really wish you were talking out of your ass right now... but you seem pretty earnest about it," she added, as if trying to find some way to make the situation lighter. She was feeling ill already, lacking the usual support of her team, foreknowledge or an escape route where she usually had options in spades.

The change in subject was a welcome one. There would be time later to fully digest and absorb what Tohko had just told her. Misha forced her grip to relax in order to pull some hair back behind her ear and show off the earbud attached to the visor atop her head. "ALFRED," she answered. "He was being a smartass."

Observatory

[nightfowl]

[Haken's been resting on one of the couches. He's got his feet propped up and a hat covering his face. The fact that there wasn't much to see here made it a nice quiet place to take a siesta. He wakes up when he hears Misha's voice, putting his hat back on top of his head so he can actually see.]

Probably because there's not much here to look at, pardner. I only come here because it's a good place to nap. Reckon you're about the most eye-pleasing thing in this room right now.

[Other than himself, of course.]

[interspace]

[ Her hands clench up against the glass and Misha rests her forehead on it before she turns around to face Haken. He's totally free to change his mind now that the scar running out in several directions from the bridge of her nose is clearly visible. It's kind of nasty, but she didn't feel like covering it up before she went exploring. ]

I'm more concerned about what's not pleasing. E.g., this place.

Cafeteria

[myblueskies]

"What's a hop, skip and a jump away miss?" A scruffy kid with bare feet and a big smile appeared at her side. "You got to eat the oatmeal first, miss." Acquiring her a bowl off one of the clear collared workers and handing it over.

"But then you can eat whatever you want, and as much as you want too!"

[interspace]

Surprised, Misha looked toward the voice and found a sad tweak of a smile coming to her face. She took the bowl more out of surprise than anything else, and started to swirl the spoon in the goop for lack of something to do with her hands. "Thanks," she said, head tilted as she took in the little boy. "I'll keep that in mind.

"I meant, this place is. Easy enough to get back to for midnight snacks and all that. Fridge raids."

[myblueskies]

Romeo grinned and nodded, "But you got to be careful miss, the monsters come out at night. So you got to stay in your room unless you're a really good fighter."

[interspace]

"Or a really good runner." While Misha could hold her own in a fistfight, if anything more complicated ever came up, it was not her lot to take the baddie down. Distraction and interference was more up her alley. "What kind of monsters are we talking about?"

[myblueskies]

"Really bad ones, miss." Romeo told her, "There's lots and lots of them and some of them you can run away from and fight but then there are others with magic that you can't get away from!"

[interspace]

Misha made a split-second decision, relinquishing the spoon to motion the boy over with her to a table where they could sit and speak more comfortably. Monsters themselves sounded, well, monstrous, but the idea that there were some who could block off escape routes and have their way with whatever victims they found was just sick.

Whether he chose to sit down with her or not, Misha didn't mind. If he stuck around, at the least, she said, "That sounds pretty serious, kiddo. How do they do that?"

[myblueskies]

Romeo did go over and sit down, happy to help someone new. "In lots of ways miss, sometimes there's just lots of them. So they all attack you, or some of them make you not move, or there's hands that can come from the walls and grab you."

[interspace]

"What about everyone else?" She couldn't have possibly been the only one here with extraordinary abilities, not in a place filled with ghouls and goblins as the boy said. Then again, maybe she was overestimating the amount of people in the tower... Judging by the length of her journey down the elevator shaft to get down here, that would leave a ton of empty space. "The monsters can't be the only strong guys here. No dragonslayers? Wizards? Space marines?"

Observatory

[bytheirhand]

[Czes is still doing some exploration of his own when he comes across Misha in the observatory. He hangs back for a moment, hesitant to start up a conversation.]

... You're alone too, miss?

[interspace]

[ Misha twists at the sound of a child's voice, surprised yet again. From all the things she's heard, this is really no place for kids. Yet the tower seems to be crawling with them... She scratches around the bridge of her nose, more at the phantom-itch of the area still covered in a pinkish scar before she replies.

Something about the kid's appearance nags at her, says she might know him from something, but recognizing someone from a drawn medium in real life has always been the most difficult for her. (Well, aside from recognizing book characters, but that's something entirely different.) ]

Yeah. My team's sleeping on the job, apparently.

[bytheirhand]

Team?

Oh! So there's other people here that you know from home?

[... Czes that's not what she means and you know it.]

[interspace]

[ Misha grunts discontentedly, then shakes her head. ]

Not that I've found. That's kinda the whole issue here.

[bytheirhand]

There's this thing up by the dormitories called the network. I still don't really understand what it is, but I heard you might be able to find people there!

[interspace]

[ Her mind pings on a few possibilities at "network" before it hits upon the aforementioned network on that note. ]

Right, the MyTowerSpace thing. That's a good idea, even if I doubt it's all that reliable.

[bytheirhand]

My... TowerSpace thing? Why is it called that?