[OPEN] Well, look what the cat dragged in.

[canofworms]

Characters: Kariya Matou [AU4] & ALL THE PEOPLE
Setting: Dorms, Various Floors, Choose Your Own Adventure
Format: Any!
Summary: +1 flailing bug magus. Does it count if 'he' is already here?
Warnings: Fate/BUGS


This man, wherever you meet him, may look just the littlest bit familiar. Maybe it's in the hair, or the slightly gloomy look on his face, or even the rumpled turtleneck he's wearing.

Not many will recognize him as the Matou he is, though, unless he has his insect familiars out. His hair and eye (the working one) are a deep purple, and the prana rolling off him in warning waves is no longer a hallmark of the clan.

Now who could this be?



[Dormitory Floor: Room 1-16]

[Hey, folks, you may or may not have an extra body in here. Don't worry, it's wiggling and quite lively.

Click.

If not for the minor commotion of him going through his trunk, you probably wouldn't notice he's here; his clothes and hair are dark enough that he gets lost in the shadows quite easily. The slant of his shoulders is wary. There's a metallic glint in his hands.

Nothing to see here: just a magus loading a handgun.

(Unless that's a nice bulky camera in his hands, but in that case he's just taking a picture of the wall. So productive!)]



[F1: Cafeteria]

[New arrivals season! There are like a million of them here making faces at their oatmeal. You could probably fill an album with the variety. Maybe decorate each floor of the Tower with a different expression of disgust.

This guy would make a pretty boring picture, though, since he's sitting there with absolutely no trace of feeling on his face as he mechanically brings the spoon to his mouth. In fact, his eyes are closed.

Is he sleep-eating or just trying to find a safe space away from the mush??]



[F20: Outside]

[It's fairly chilly out here, but the thin shadow of a man standing about halfway up the ramp, carelessly at the very edge, doesn't seem to notice. He's strangely silhouetted, staring expressionlessly over the edge.

If you come in close enough, you'll realize that those strange irregularities and bumps in his figure are actually countless large, skeletal, demon-eyed insects perched on his shoulders and arms, crawling clumsily in their attempt to keep their foothold in the wind.

Every now and then, he'll raise a hand, and one or two of them will obediently go walking off into the air. They go plummeting downwards until not a trace is left, and leave him looking a little more frustrated each time.

In the meantime, that shadow in the fog behind him may or may not be something sneaking up on him. Or your eyes are just playing tricks on you.]



[F??: Choose Your Own Adventure]

[Any floor, any time, any bug flavor!

There's a rather surly-looking guy pacing up and down the place, muttering angrily to himself and occasionally raising a hand to swat at the two Blade Wing Worms buzzing along behind him whenever they hover in too close.

It's a little hard to tell whether the familiars are actually worried about their master or just trying to get close enough to chomp on his hair.]

If you're not going to make yourselves useful, go chew on each other or something. I don't care.

Comments

[looselips]

How about you wipe that dumb look off your face first?

[He only scowls more, which probably doesn't help his situation any. But, he now has an opportunity to lord some kind of knowledge over this Kariya, so his tone is lofty when he speaks again.]

I'd say that me feeling human doesn't actually prove much, but whatever's in charge of creating the NPCs here isn't great at programming in complex patterns of behavior. Chances are, if they act like a real person, they're a real person.

[He doesn't actually care about however this Kariya feels about having a double, so he doesn't say anything more about it. Though the more he hears about this other Shinji, the more curious he finds himself...]

[canofworms]

Whenever you ask politely.

[The words stick strangely in his throat, but he says them anyway, can't not say them now to any accident of Shinji that he happens across. Not that he thinks there will be that many more of them, but... That's not the point.]

NPCs... So you're treating this tower like a virtual reality. It's not a bad way to look at it.

[It's a very strange way to look at it for a Matou, even if he is small and Shinji and ostensibly from a different reality entirely. Kariya has to wonder about it, and about how much of magic he should lay open around the boy.]

[looselips]

You know what, forget it. If you want to go around looking like an idiot, that's not my problem.

[Unfortunately, this accident of a Shinji is also one of the more difficult ones. Also, ruder.]

Well, yeah. Considering the last place I was before showing up here was a virtual space...

[He says this like it's nothing out of the ordinary. Which, for him, it isn't.]

I can't say for sure, [—seeing as spirit hacking doesn't work here goddamn soul tower—] but I'm pretty sure this place isn't any kind of virtual reality itself. [Seeing as he has his living body instead of his digital avatar and all.] It just borrows a few tropes here and there.

[canofworms]

Thanks for the concern.

[You have a long way to go before you can hold a candle to his Shinji, little grasshopper. In fact, you're downright cute -- but that won't make him more lenient. He lets it drop for the moment; they can discuss the ins and outs of 'how not to offend a dangerous tower' later.]

The last place where I was didn't have much by way of virtual reality yet. [Ah, he definitely looks amused.] So I'll take your word for that. What do you think this place really is?

[looselips]

Yeah, so I've heard. [He's assuming the place this Kariya comes from is roughly the same as the other one — 40 years in the past, with mana still in the air, too.] Don't get the wrong idea, though. Virtual environments aren't the kind of thing just any shlub can access.

[He says this snootily. See, look! He's special!]

As for this place, it's hard to say. I thought it was a trashcan for deleted data at first, but after spending some time here, that seems less and less likely. [In his eagerness to sound smart, he doesn't stop to think that might raise some questions.] Considering the number of people here that come from different realities, it might be something unprecedented. [He shrugs.] Maybe it's not a good idea to put a label on it.

[Which is just a fancy way for him to avoid saying he doesn't know.]

[canofworms]

[Some things about his nephew never do change, even across time and universes, though the idiosyncrasies are mostly harmless at this age; Kariya has to wonder what sort of Matou family this one comes from.]

Who can access your 'virtual environments'?

[Honestly, it all sounds like science fiction to him, which he finds bizarre coming from a child of the kind of family he knows. He listens attentively to the information given, though, unable to suppress a smile at how much it sounds like something he himself said in the cafeteria not long ago.]

No, it's not a 'trashcan', I think. Staying away from labels is a good idea.

[looselips]

Magi, obviously. [He says this like Kariya should have already known, which is probably unreasonable, but he figures that Matous are magi everywhere and therefore this kind of thing is obvious.] It's called spirit hacking. Some of us have more talent than others, and some of us are the best hackers in the country!

[That second "some of us" meaning "Shinji," of course. He doesn't know why this lamer keeps smiling, but he appreciates that he agrees with his assessment of the situation, at least.]

Of course it's a good idea. I came up with it, didn't I?

[canofworms]

[He doesn't know what he expected, but--

This is the point at which Kariya lets himself sit right down on the ground from his crouch and just starts laughing, a little helplessly. Mostly at what he imagines the look on most magi's faces would be if they learned about that particular application of their craft.]

Ahh, that's-- that's pretty amazing. I have to say.

[looselips]

[He isn't sure what kind of reaction he expected. (Maybe he hoped Kariya would praise him.) He's fairly certain that laughter isn't it, though.]

...Excuse me? What's so funny, dead-eye? It's all true, you know!

[Is he doubting that Shinji could be a skilled hacker? How dare he!]

[canofworms]

[He has to wipe a few tears out of his eyes, though who knows whether they're from amusement or just... the whole situation. Once he has control of himself, he faces Shinji again and shakes his head.]

My name is Kariya, Shinji. You wouldn't want me to start calling you something else, would you?

... Namecalling aside, I'd hope it's true. It would've given heart attacks to most of the magi I know.

[Kariya, you're not setting a good example for the children right now, get your act together.]

[looselips]

[He's momentarily taken aback by that reply, but then he carries on with his usual behavior, his tone unchanged.]

If you don't want me to call you something else, don't give me a reason to, then.

[He makes a face at the mention of those technology-inept magi he's heard about from elsewhere. Even if there's still mana to work with in other realities...]

If they can't even adapt to something new the way an animal can, they barely deserve to be called people, much less magi.

[As if Shinji needs a bad example to mimic.]

[canofworms]

That's pretty harsh for someone you just met...

[He doesn't think his own nephew was quite this bad at this age, but the memories are from not long after the end of the War: dim, hazy things. Either way, he hopes to see that habit broken early, especially here.

(Perhaps he encouraged his nephew's outspokenness too much. He doesn't know.)]

Yeah, tradition definitely has its downsides. [So many downsides.] But that's how most magi are. It won't do you any good to insult them.

[... Yeah, no, he can't be a good role model on this particular subject, can he.]

[looselips]

Screw that. [He rolls his eyes.] I have every right to insult old geezers who can't get with the times and look down on people who do. I guess things are different where you come from, but in my world, any magus who won't have anything to do with technology is a pretty stupid one.

[He sets his hands on his hips and shakes his head.]

[canofworms]

Your world is luckier than mine, then. [You know what, you get another hair ruffle, just because.] You shouldn't look down completely even on the old-fashioned ones, though. Underestimating people isn't a good habit, Shinji.

[And it's one that seems to have started very loudly and very early here. So many bad habits; at least there's still time.]

[looselips]

[He shrugs, even as he scowls and tries to duck out from under Kariya's hand.]

It's just different. There hasn't been any mana for decades, so it's evolve or die. I'm not going to respect someone for throwing away the thing that sets them apart from commoners.

[canofworms]

[He lets him go -- the prickliness is understandable, but also endearing. He needs to remember that he can't always treat him just as he would have treated his own nephew.

Sometimes it's really, really difficult, though.]

There aren't any commoners or aristocrats here, Shinji. This isn't your world, remember? You'll have to adapt a little, too.

[looselips]

If someone is special, they're special. That's all there is to it.

[Sure is, Shinji.]

[canofworms]

Aren't there a lot of special people in this Tower?

[It's not a direct argument, but the host of strange characters he's run into since he's arrived... It's not even just the Servants; even the few stray children he has encountered have been something else.]