destructiveprinciple: our pain washed out in the rain (☠ our choices seal our fate)
αveɴɢer (アヴェンジャー) ([personal profile] destructiveprinciple) wrote in [community profile] towerofanimus2013-03-07 05:50 pm

☠ 001 | demons in my deepest eyes play on that tree

Characters: Avenger, 03-02 roomies, and YOU
Setting: Room 03-12, and then various tower floors.
Format: Beginning with action spam, but shifting to prose is fine as well. I'll respond in whichever one you choose.
Summary: Avenger wakes up in the middle of the night to fine the apocalypse had apparently occurred while he was napping. He is not very impressed and boycotts the oatmeal. 'Shirou' unknowingly suffers for it. And well. On pretending to be Shirou... If a routine worked before coming here, why fix it?
Warnings: AVENGER IS HIS OWN WARNING. So is Saber. Shirou vomiting up his breakfast. Also casual mentions of death, violence, typical fare for the Tower of Animus. Probably rampant self-loathing if Archer decides to pop in here.


[ SCENARIO A || FLOOR 13: CATHEDRAL ]

[Upon awakening in the gloom of night in his dorm and discovering his arms were fashioned from lead, his legs were rigid and wouldn't move according to his will, Avenger felt very little beyond mild irritation. Staring blankly up at the dark ceiling, he opened his mouth to curse. Nothing came out, not a word nor grunt. His tanned limbs don't respond to him, and it's only through old practice that he pushes back the trickle of raising panic seeping into him and instead tries to remember what he could last recall happening. Bazett. The declaration of boredom. Her anger. His laughter, and offered hand. Then his only recollection was that of darkness.

Okay. That was troubling.

Particularly troubling because the Servant couldn't sense the flow of prana between them anymore, and generally, that never meant good things for a Servant separated from his Master. If the contract had been properly severed, surely he would have felt it break and he would have returned to the void from which he came. Yet he had sensed nothing along those lines and he obviously still existed somehow. The constant slight ebbing of his prana reserves, dropping as it became more and more of a struggle to maintain the closed garden and its loops, had creased as well. It was refreshing.

Still troublesome.

His conclusion was this wasn't the time loops. Something had happened to disrupt that. It only made sense. Largely because he had noticed, even if Bazett had unexpectedly knocked him out without him noticing, this wasn't the mansion. Nor anywhere else in Fuyuki City. He knew that town down to a square foot. Once the sleep paralysis faded from his form, he sat up in bed and stared in bewildered repulsion in the weird attire he was currently dressed in. Yep, definitively not Bazett's handiwork. She couldn't be that mad at him. Thankfully, after getting up off the bed and being oh-so careful to not disturb whoever were the sleeping lumps in the other beds, he locates his trunk and the clothes inside it.

Once dressed and the stupid uniform dutifully ripped to shreds, he snatches up the two papers on the bedstand and reads through them, slowly and occasionally stopping to re-read one section or another. After reaching the end of the letters, he was torn between rage and disinterested apathy. Rage that he had been in the middle of fulfilling a wish (
never mind the one whose wish it was was being so damn needlessly difficult) and the end of the world had caused her to perish before he could get her out. Apathy because he... flat-out didn't care if the universe was destroyed. The world had gone boom, yaaay. Mankind had finally up and died, yaaay.

Anyway. On to more important matters. Ah, so this was it? That's how things were going to be from now on. Life at the whims of so-called 'saviours.'

Let's all be happy here.

Avenger's thin-lipped smile was vicious. For a new home, it was sure sucked balls but hey. Beggars couldn't be choosers, could they?
]

Wellisn't this surprising, but we'll see about that... What a vexing situation.

[Annoyed, he scratched at the collar around his neck. Stupid thing. He wanted it off him. There's a moment of silence before the door of the room opens, spilling the dim light of the hallway into the room and then clicks shut behind him as Avenger departs from the dormitory.

His footsteps pad down the hallway and were gone.



In the cathedral, there's the usual silence, solitary and deepened by the evening's dimness, dust particles drifting in dim shafts of light. There's a boy absolutely covered in tattoos seated in one of the back pews, head tilted back to gaze up at the vaulted, airy ceiling and the faint murmuring of some invisible mass, and chin resting on the palm of his hand. His torso is bare, modesty preserved by his red mantle and to some, his face is unnervingly familiar. Avenger is quiet, discontented and his yellow eyes are distant, clearly lost in thought.

The Servant had arrived on his floor after a period of wandering and stopped to take a break for awhile. It was silent here and at least they weren't playing that disgusting organ music.

... He smells like he's been killing monsters too.

But hey. What are you doing up so late tonight? It's close to midnight. Why are you in the church?
]


[ SCENARIO B || FLOOR 48: GRAVEYARD ]

[Perched atop a pale white tombstone like an errant bird of prey, Avenger surveys the rows of graves stretching out into the distance, his dull red cloak fluttering around his legs as he moved. The chipped, worn stone under his feet is cold. The Servant clung with one hand to the stone cross that made up the top of the tombstone balance himself.

The wide variety of the range of environments contained within this Tower was impressive, he'd give it that much. Overhead, the sun determinedly tried to burn through a thick gray cloud cover.

So far, he's walked through a demented carnival, a floating island barren of life, a colorful pit full of balls and the scent of something rotting, a dusty doll shop he'd been very creeped out by, a empty room full of bloody handprints and screaming, and a innocent little grassy meadow. And now a graveyard seemingly with a sky all its own. Really, it was a new experience.]


[ SCENARIO C || DORMITORY LEVELS: ROOM 03-12 ]

[In the morning:

This can't be right. No, this really couldn't be right. No, even if there was some mistake, this really, really, couldn't be right.

Seated on the bed, and re-reading the two letters given to all residents upon arrival, 'Shirou' shakes his head in angry denial, eyebrows furrowed. It had to be incorrect; the Holy Grail War had ended months ago, everyone was alive and maybe-happy and he had been certain he'd figured out the trick to ending the strange War currently ongoing, so things would go back to normal soon but now he's expected to wake up in a strange, unfamiliar place and simply swallow an explanation as improbable as this?

He could barely process this information at all.

Tohsaka, Sakura, Fuji-nee, Rider, llya, Saber, Issei, the ones he cared for and even the other Servants and their groups... All dead? Everything and every human being on the planet dead? Even one of his friend's deaths would be unforgivable. And he was supposed to willingly accept a version of reality where they were all dead and he survived instead? No. That wasn't something he could accept; he was a hero of justice. If anything like that had occurred, he would set it to rights. No matter what the cost or how impossible it was in practice. He had planned on ending the Holy Grail War in his world. He would stop whatever 'powerful force' could destroy worlds in this one, and make it give his world back if it truly had been destroyed. (Which it hadn't been. It hadn't.)

He needed answers. And not ones provided by whomever was the bunch of crazies who had kidnapped him to this Tower place, real answers. Yeah, it's decided. Shirou was going to look for answers.

After checking the trunk, and finding little of practical use in it since he was already dressed in his normal fare, the teenager walks out the door and pauses halfway down the hall, standing in front of it, belatedly realizing an error in his plan. He had no idea of where to go or what to do next. Where was he supposed to start?

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. His eyes squeezed shut.
]

... Man, this sucks... How am I going to do this, I wonder?

[Let's try applying his fist to his forehead for starters. Sadly, the external application of force to his skull in an attempt to jog his brain, brings no flashes of insight with it and left nothing but pain behind as a result. Shirou rubbed his forehead slowly, wincing. Alright, not trying that again.]


[ SCENARIO D || FLOOR 1: CAFETERIA ]

[Eating the oatmeal before trying to eat anything was a general rule of thumb for the Tower, and usually veterans were thoughtful enough to inform newcomers of this rule but in this case, Shirou wasn't quite so lucky. Maybe it was due to the fact that he decided to cook his own breakfast when he realized they had a kitchen he could use, instead of eating at the food line. Maybe Avenger's a childish brat who didn't eat the oatmeal before having a midnight snack.

So guess anyone in the cafeteria will be treated to the pleasant sight of some boy with burnt orange hair leaning over one of the trash cans set next to the wall, and his back heaving miserably as he pukes up his breakfast of fried eggs and rice.
]

... U-ugh.


[[ooc: all replies from Shirou will come from [personal profile] heroicprinciple
puppy_lancer: (Oh Danny boy oh Danny boy)

dormitories

[personal profile] puppy_lancer 2013-03-08 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
Ugh...

[Lancer rubs at his head as he walks down the all of the dorms. He was really, really tempted to just stay in bed today, but it was lonely in his room since Diarmuid wasn't there. They had been keeping close to each other for the last few days, comforting and reassuring each other. He feels antsy without his friend's presence, especially after the ordeal with the dragon thing (which included a warp spasm of all things). And he has to wonder if his friend is alright as well or if he got pulled into some other sort of chaos.]

[Besides, today was a workday. Five floors worth of toilets for him to clean. At least he got the one on his floor done rather quickly.]

[He's walking past a room with an open door when he notices, out of the corner of his eye, one of the inhabitants punching himself in the head. He has to stop and stare and wonder what the hell that kid was doing.]
heroicprinciple: bride of all unquiet things (I remember you said)

dormitories

[personal profile] heroicprinciple 2013-03-08 05:59 am (UTC)(link)
[And while the Servant stops to stare in confusion, Shirou opens his eyes and notices him. There's an intense look of relief on his face when he places that familiar face; Lancer was one of the really belligerent heroes, but he was still someone he assumed to be from his world... even if the wardrobe and hairstyle was new. But not different enough to put him off.

And if someone from his world was still up and walking around despite claims to the country, then that probably meant those letters were actually a large package of low-price lies.

He takes a step closer, out of the open door and lifts up his hand in greeting.
]

Hey! Lancer, that's you, right?
fionnuisce: (where my friends will meet no more)

d

[personal profile] fionnuisce 2013-03-08 06:03 am (UTC)(link)
Apparently you'll be doing that until you eat the oatmeal.

[Mostly indifferent, of course.]

You alright?
heroicprinciple: we will die with our arms unbound (just close your eyes)

d

[personal profile] heroicprinciple 2013-03-08 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
Uck... I'm fine.

[Just upchucking my stomach for no apparent reason nbd. Straightening up a bit, throat burning, and wipes vomit off his mouth before looking over his shoulder at the older man, puzzled.]

Huh? Oh, come on. Why do we need to?
puppy_lancer: <user name=cu-chulainn> (In a field by the river)

Re: dormitories

[personal profile] puppy_lancer 2013-03-08 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
Huh? Yeah, that's me.

[He remembers seeing this kid somewhere, but he can't quite remember where. And he can't remember if he told the boy his name or not.]
swordedpast: ♦ sprite: fate/stay night (you can't expect to wield supreme power)

cafeteria;

[personal profile] swordedpast 2013-03-08 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
[He knows that voice, even if it's only groaning.

He knows that face, even if it's bent over a trashcan.

Archer stops in the doorway of the cafeteria and stares hard at the kid clinging so pitifully to the garbage can. What now?

He knows: it will do him no good to hurt this boy here. He's known that from the start, and he's all the more sure of it now. Their souls are fully separate; no matter what he does to Shirou Emiya, Archer's own soul will keep endlessly flowing through--whatever it is, the liquid in his collar, a mysterious light, whatever, he'll despise it no matter what.

But that doesn't make the bitterness that rises in him at the sight of the boy any less intense. It doesn't make the combination of satisfaction and regretful disgust he gets from seeing that kid shaking pathetically like that any less dramatic.

He submerges all that feeling behind the usual mask and strides forward to stand a little ways behind the boy who looks so much like his old self. ]


Wow, I have to say that really suits you. Puking your guts out into the trash is a fitting activity for you.

[ All right, so he doesn't submerge the feeling that far down. ]
fionnuisce: (there's a pain goes on and on)

[personal profile] fionnuisce 2013-03-08 06:19 am (UTC)(link)
Sorry, but I can't answer that. I couldn't tell you much of the finer details on 'how' or 'why' on a lot of things, unfortunately.
Edited 2013-03-08 06:23 (UTC)
eighteen_winters: (tongue)

Cafeteria

[personal profile] eighteen_winters 2013-03-08 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
[If there was person in all the universe who Illya would recognize even if they were hunched over a garbage can, it was Shirou.

Not long ago she had spent many a hour hunched over her precious brother's grave, wasting tears on a boy she may never see again. A small part of her had hoped that they could meet again as she had her mother in this strange place. Tucking such thoughts into the back of her small head, Illya had devoted herself to trying to live a normal life in an abnormal place, never dwelling on what she had lost or the words she was never able to speak. To see him again brought a familiar warmth to the young Einzbern maiden's heart.

Even if he was making a fool of himself, she couldn't help but smile at the ridicules scene.]

That wasn't very smart of you, big brother.
oathshackledbird: Profile (Profile)

[ SCENARIO B || FLOOR 48: GRAVEYARD ]

[personal profile] oathshackledbird 2013-03-08 07:54 am (UTC)(link)
[He's been putting it off for far too long now--letting other things distract him from it--but after having spent the afternoon with a man who had been his friend and master on another world, Diarmuid can't put off visiting Ayaka's grave any longer. He knows why he's put it off for so long. He just doesn't like to admit it.

As much as he's told his roommate that she is gone and nothing will bring her back, Diarmuid has held onto this small bit of hope that if he doesn't go look at her grave, maybe she will come back. Come back and make everything all right for his friend who is suffering so much right now.

He kneels by the grave when he finds it, taking a deep breath when he sees her name carved into the stone. That makes it real. That kills all hope he'd had left. Diarmuid closes his eyes and lets a pair of folded paper flowers fall out of his hand to lay on the grave. One for her and one for the servant she'd left behind.

At least they can be together in this way. Not that it really is any help...

Diarmuid's eyes shoot open when he hears a faint noise, his sense picking up an odd presence he'd not noticed before. Something servant, but different from that as well.
]

Who's there?
heroicprinciple: my scream and prayer (everything's on fire)

dormitories

[personal profile] heroicprinciple 2013-03-08 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
[If that bemused reply registers as weird to Shirou on some level, he doesn't notice it and so just continues on in the same vein.]

Um. Okay, I just got here and found a couple of outrageous letters, so I was wondering... Did you receive the same letters as well?
Edited 2013-03-08 08:09 (UTC)
heroicprinciple: for a world where people will no longer cry (the war outside our door keeps raging on)

[personal profile] heroicprinciple 2013-03-08 08:08 am (UTC)(link)
So you're as clueless about this stuff as I am, huh? [No, not quite. Nobody can ever really match Shirou's level of cluelessness.] I get that, so nevermind. Thank you for telling me about the oatmeal. We don't have to eat a bowl of it every time before we eat, do we?
fionnuisce: (where my friends will meet no more)

[personal profile] fionnuisce 2013-03-08 08:12 am (UTC)(link)
I'm pretty sure it's just once, far as I know.

[The ponytailed magus in green sighed, shaking his head.]

Luckily enough. It tastes awful.
heroicprinciple: this is why we lie awake (when all the shadows)

cafeteria;

[personal profile] heroicprinciple 2013-03-08 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
[... !!

He's not so occupied with emptying the contents of his stomach into the garbage can that he can't recognize that presence that approaches him from behind and utters snide words with that mocking, familiar tone of voice that still pisses him off a touch. It would be impossible not to. Cleaning away the spittle that had escaped his mouth while coughing, he glanced behind himself at the man.

Bitter feeling roiled behind a strong mask of disdain. Archer looked at him like he was scum on the heel of his boot. Yep, that's the Servant of Tohsaka all right.

He was wearing that red shroud of his. So that means he's in serious mode. His response was prompt;
]

Guh. [Swallows the acidic taste of puke back down his throat.] Shut up.

[Though not the most witty reply.

He straightens up and turns around fully to face Archer. Their relationship could never be called anything near cordial even months after the end of the Fifth Grail War, given that neither could even come close to approving of the other, but more along the lines of a mutual tolerance that could allow them to stand co-existing in the same town for more than a few weeks. But somehow, Shirou can tell that this meeting probably not even going to come close to that level of... tolerance as before. Couldn't exactly put his finger on why though.
] You're here too, are you?
heroicprinciple: sink down to the beginning to what lies (I remember tears streaming down)

[personal profile] heroicprinciple 2013-03-08 08:44 am (UTC)(link)
Geez, that's a relief.

[But wait what is this SCANDAL you speak of, forcing people to ingest bad-tasting food? He grimaced at this horrid tapestry before starting to releutantly move towards where there are bowls of oatmeal set out for people to eat.]

And they don't even cook the oatmeal well before forcing people to eat it? [His face was clearly disapproving. If food tastes bad, it is because the cook is bad, not because the recipe is bad.]
fionnuisce: (where my friends will meet no more)

[personal profile] fionnuisce 2013-03-08 08:46 am (UTC)(link)
[Waver merely shrugged; he's from England, the hell does he care about things being bland but edible.]

It doesn't really seem like it, no.
heroicprinciple: bride of all unquiet things (I remember you said)

Cafeteria

[personal profile] heroicprinciple 2013-03-08 09:02 am (UTC)(link)
[H-How is throwing up in a trash can due to a roiling upset stomach making a fool of himself, it keeps things tidier than if he just keeled over and barfed onto the floor. At the girl's voice, he looks up from the trash can he was bent over and stares, both confused, relieved at her survival and delighted.]

—l-llya?

[Yeah, forget we were just retching into a trash can, we've got a little sister to reassure ourselves still exists. He gets up, ignores stomach pains and hurries over to where she is standing before going down on one knee to be on eyelevel with her. Forgive him for acting worried; the letters had informed of his world being 'supposedly' destroyed ergo everyone he loved being deader than a doorknob (not that Shirou believes a single word of that crap) and thus jacked up his dumb protectiveness a level or two.]

You're alright? Not hurt or anything?

[He sounds concerned. llya didn't get harmed in the supposed end of the world, did she? :o]
eighteen_winters: (blush)

Re: Cafeteria

[personal profile] eighteen_winters 2013-03-08 04:48 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm fine, a bit bored, but fine otherwise. I've actually been here for five months.

[That was a sad thought. Despite having her mother and Saber here, the tower was still an awful place, even without the fact that losing Shirou had done awful things to her psyche.]

That aside, it's really good to see you again, Shirou.
puppy_lancer: <user name=aicons> (One sword at least)

Re: dormitories

[personal profile] puppy_lancer 2013-03-08 05:32 pm (UTC)(link)
I did. Everyone did.

[He scratches his head. From the sound of it, the boy was a completely new arrival and had no memories of his previous stay. If that was the case, then how did he know Lancer?]

...Now, how do you know me?
heroicprinciple: this is why we fight (almost killed your light)

dormitories

[personal profile] heroicprinciple 2013-03-08 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay. [Pause.] It's not true. Has there been any proof offered our world has been destroyed?

[Shirou folded his arms, regarding Lancer in confusion. Wasn't the question of how did he know him was unnecessary? They had spoken on several occasions before this, not even a day or so ago, and had fought against each other in the Fifth; that wasn't something not easily forgotten...? And yet the Servant acted like he had no idea who he was.

Weird.
]

We live in the same town.

[Live, present tense.]
heroicprinciple: this is why we fight (almost killed your light)

[personal profile] heroicprinciple 2013-03-08 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[It offends his inner culinary chef, okay. Shirou picked up a bowl and a spoon to eat it with before sniffing at it. It didn't seem appetizing at all. He mumbled under his breath;]

... I really don't get the point of this.

[Meaning, of all the pointless loops to jump through. The teenager sticks the spoon in, digs out a spoonful of the oatmeal and puts it in his mouth.]
puppy_lancer: <user name=hound-of-ulster> (For he tore its chords asunder)

Re: dormitories

[personal profile] puppy_lancer 2013-03-08 08:03 pm (UTC)(link)
...Yeah, some.

[He's not sure how to feel about knowing that their worlds are probably gone. On one hand, it means everything he remembers is now actually dead. On the other hand, he's always been more focused on protecting and caring about what he can see and not worrying about things that seem so distant.]

[He cocks his head as he hears the boy's answer.]


I've never caught sight of you in the city before. At least, I don't think we've ever spoken long enough for me to give you a name,
fionnuisce: (there's a pain goes on and on)

[personal profile] fionnuisce 2013-03-08 08:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Don't look at me. I didn't exactly write the asinine rules this place runs on.

My name's Waver, incidentally. Waver Velvet. [Because by this point, fuck the title. Who cared?] And you would be...?
looselips: (12)

cafeteria

[personal profile] looselips 2013-03-08 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[Hello, complete stranger Shinji has never seen before in his life. You now have a small child glaring at you like you're something unsightly—though, considering that you're currently throwing your guts up into a trashcan...]

Oh, real nice. That's exactly what I wanted to see first thing in the morning. Can't you go upchuck somewhere where the rest of us don't have to see it?
heroicprinciple: bride of all unquiet things (I remember you said)

cafeteria

[personal profile] heroicprinciple 2013-03-09 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
[It's not like he expected innocently eating breakfast like normal would result in his stomach utterly rebelling against him. :| And the bathrooms were in up on the dormitory floors and the elevator would have taken too long to get him up there.

Don't want to get the elevator dirty or anything. Shirou looks up, really just spitting out a last few gobs of rejected breakfast and he stares

Because he recognizes this small child pretty quickly.
]

—Shinji?! [Incredulously, totally ignoring the bratty remarks;] Wha... Did you get hold of a youth potion somehow?

[Is this a repeat of tiny Gil.]

Page 1 of 9