[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

floor 20

[puppy_lancer]

...

[Lancer stands a ways behind the man, observing him. Despite his different (stronger) appearance, the man's scent registers as that of Kariya. Right now, he's not quite sure what to think.]

[canofworms]

[The Blade Wing Worms are the only ones to visibly react, hissing and spreading their wings to make themselves look bigger and more menacing (which is totally necessary, they can't fly, it's a travesty).

Kariya shakes off his hand after the latest batch of Worm skydiving before he addresses the man behind him without turning around.]

You should speak up. People will mistake you for a monster.

[puppy_lancer]

[He snorts.]

I ain't the one carrying mutated insects on my shoulders.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE floor 14

[looselips]

[Congratulations, Kariya, you've found the media room. The TV seems to be in working order right now, and as such, it's not all that odd that the room's other occupant is a young boy rifling through some video games. Shinji only barely glances at the man passing through from the corner of his eye, and as such the resemblance to a certain other not-uncle goes unnoticed. The buzzing insects: not so much.]

If all you're going to do is pace around and grumble, find somewhere else to do it. Oh, and take your friends with you, too. The buzzing is getting on my nerves.

[canofworms]

[The tension in his shoulders from sensing a Servant at his back slips into a different kind of tension all at once as Kariya whirls around. A few Worms nearly go sailing off into the breeze, but they're immaterial.

He stares. There's no detectable self-consciousness in response to the remark.]

... Lancer.

[puppy_lancer]

Guessed right.

[He crosses his arms.]

Kariya?

[If the smell fits...]

[canofworms]

[It's not that Kariya isn't interested in the media room; would his pretend profession have been in media if he wasn't? There's a little corner of his mind cataloging the gadgetry for posterity very much despite himself. But that's neither here nor there.

He stops pacing, very abruptly, the moment Shinji speaks up. It's been years since he heard it at that particular pitch, but the petulance is unmistakable. The blue hair is...]

Shinji?

[His tone is completely blank.]

[canofworms]

It's me.

[They're standing close enough that if he squints a little he can make out most of the Servant's features through the fog. They're pretty unmistakable, despite the briefness of their acquaintance.

Still--]

Did you do something to your hair?

Cafeteria

[mask_of_suffering]

[Madoka was taking in her usual lunch when she spied Kariya's meal time display. For a moment she just sits and watches and he shovels the awful muck all the tower's residents were forced to eat into his mouth.

However, this being Madoka we're talking about, she can't help herself but to try and find out what's wrong.]

Is everything all right?

[looselips]

[He glances up at the sound of his name, away from the case he's holding in his hands. Siiigh. This again? He's starting to feel like he was brought here by mistake.]

Sorry, I'm not the "Shinji Matou" you're looking for. Better luck next time.

[What, are you just going to stand there like some kind of feeb? Other uncle immediately rushed over to him, and he's a pathetic cripple.]

[canofworms]

[His eyes blink open at that, but not until he's shoved the next spoonful into his mouth. It takes a moment for his good eye to find the girl who's spoken.

He swallows, and smiles a little.]

Ahh, it's a little hard to say. I don't know about everything -- or should I say I don't know anything? [A rueful gesture that encompasses the cafeteria, the tower... and the oatmeal.]

Well, there is one thing. They need to work on their oatmeal.

[puppy_lancer]

[He reaches up and runs a hand through his hair.]

I've always had it like this.

[He squints to get a better look at Kariya's shape.]

Did you do something to yours?

[mask_of_suffering]

They really do.

[Madoka laughs lightly.]

I guess your new here, then?

[canofworms]

[He almost reflexively reaches up for his own hair before he stops himself. A laugh, halfway between unease and bemusement.]

I've always had mine like this. [A beat.] Something's off here, isn't it?

F: floor 41, this is why we don't let me choose settings :')

[angramaintsu]

[ Is he certain that the ones buzzing in around him belong to him and not the floor itself? Rin often retreats here when she needs privacy. Having come to discover that most of her allies won't hunt her down in the dark, it provides a much needed comfort.

That and it reminds her of "home". Something about a floor that has insects crawling in and over themselves is familiar to her. When she hears someone else nearby, she manages a light laugh. ]

Don't fall through the holes. There's plenty of them here and you'll die. [ It's easy to hear where she's sitting, but there's not a single bit of light to reveal her. ]

Choose your own adventure, floor 61

[pinnaculum]

[The grass plain seems to stretch on and on, but Sephiroth is aware that it is not all that it seems. He stops there while patrolling, to check if anyone is on the floor and in need of assistance. It is his very important (self-assigned) duty to patrol the floors. When he catches sight of the man muttering and pacing, his attention is instantly drawn. Here is someone who might not be paying enough attention to his surroundings. The insects, too, catch his eye. Are they monsters? But they don't seem to be attacking the man in question. Sephiroth could kill them easily, he thinks, but he holds back.

He knows the grass is treacherous and hides many pitfalls, so his first duty should be to warn this civilian of the danger. The small child with the big (sheathed) sword approaches calmly. (This is his very complicated and very real version of playing soldier. Or SOLDIER, rather.)]

Hello, sir. It is dangerous here. You should watch where you step.

[canofworms]

[Yes, he's just going to stand here frozen for a little longer. At least he's not catching flies. Behind it all, his mind is racing rat circles: 'not the Shinji Matou', but that is unquestionably a miniature version of his lost nephew, a perfect little replica.

He doesn't know what it means. Before he knows it, his legs have started working again, have somehow carried him to the boy's side. He looks down a moment before covering his face with one hand to restrain his laugh; it slips out anyway, hoarse and disbelieving.]

What is this? What are you, then?

[canofworms]

Is it that obvious? [A moment, where he glances down at his oatmeal and then shakes his head.]

It's the food, isn't it? Please tell me there's hope of getting something like yours once I'm done.

[F1: Cafeteria]

[oathshackledbird]

[It's routine by now. Beginning of the month means new arrivals. That means that Diarmuid is in the cafeteria looking for new faces and telling those who wish to listen as much as they want to know about the tower. However, when he stops in front of the dark haired man eating his oatmeal with his eyes closed, he doesn't give his usual greeting. Instead, he just watches the other man.

He looks and feels familiar, but there is no way...

He looks far too healthy to be the Kariya Diarmuid knows.

So another alternate version of a person already in the tower? Why have so many come here this month?]

Kariya?

[mask_of_suffering]

Yup! But you have to finish the oatmeal first. Otherwise you'll throw up.

omg.......

[canofworms]

[You worry too much, Rin. He hasn't moved an inch since he stepped onto the floor -- there's no way any Matou would mistake the sound of so many insects crammed into such a small space, fighting and wriggling for room and prey.

He doesn't banish his own Worms in the face of them; whatever else they are, they're a part of him, and they're a buffer against what's in front of him. Even if their eyes reveal little of the room and much more than he wants to see.

It's quite likely he would have left entirely if not for the too-familiar voice suddenly ringing out in the darkness. If it were possible to go even stiller, he would have done it.

For a moment, he prays he's heard wrong. That doesn't stop him from reaching out with his own voice to catch it.]

... Rin? This is an illusion. [His voice isn't as steady as he'd like. He raises his hand, signaling the Worms to go higher and illuminate more of the area. Several more join their brethren.]

[looselips]

I dunno, what's it sound like? A different Shinji, I guess.

[He shrugs even as he squints up at Kariya. The more he looks, the more familiar this guy seems—but not to anyone he knew before arriving in this Tower. In any case, he isn't in the mood to deal with another long, drawn out argument about who he is or is not related to, so he tries to cut that off before it begins.]

I've already heard all about who I'm "supposed to be" related to, so you can save your breath, chucklehead. Which one are you supposed to be?

[canofworms]

[The warmth and greenery tugged at some almost-forgotten place inside Kariya (it's not forgotten so much as studiously put away; those particular memories are ones that won't ever fade), and that's a large part of the reason he came onto this floor in the first place. It wasn't long, though, before he felt that sense of being watched that slithers down his back like something large and dark. Something that doesn't like this sunlight.

The clash between good memories and old nightmares nearly sends him reeling, does send him fleeing back to the edge of the floor where he is now, grasping at what reality he knows. He needs to find out what happened to the Holy Grail War. He--

Looks up when addressed, a little wildly, before realizing that the voice comes from much closer to the ground.]

Oh. I... [had been watching his own feet, but not much of anything else] Thank you.

[The strange child looks more like an apparition than anything in the midst of so much that is surreal. He hesitates.]

You are?

[canofworms]

[The voice isn't especially familiar, but the face is distinctive once Kariya opens his eyes; the magical pressure that of a Servant, no less. He resists the urge to back up in his seat: cafeteria benches aren't very helpful for trying to get an unexpected magical being ten years out-of-date out of your face.

He puts down his spoon instead. The Worms within his body quiver with anticipation.]

Lancer. Of the Fourth War. [He speaks it more to confirm it to himself than anything; it sounds bizarre aloud.] We never met.

but it's the matou floor okok

[angramaintsu]

[ If they light it up well enough, they can see a girl with white hair curled up on the floor with her arms underneath her head. Was she napping here? More than likely. What's interesting is how the bugs don't approach her whatsoever. There's a clear space around her as though they're more afraid of her than climbing on top of the other vermin within the area. ]

You sound different. [ As though he's not ill, she might have added if it wasn't already obvious enough. ] This isn't one of the safe floors, so you really should leave.