towerofanimus

Entry tags:

01

Characters: AU Sola-ui and you
Setting: Her room, the cafeteria, and other floors of the Tower
Format: I'll match anything you do
Summary: Sola-ui wakes up to the weirdest "kidnapping" of her life.
Warnings: None for now

1. Room 1-01

[As she wakes, up Sola-ui realizes that she doesn't know when or why she fell asleep. The last thing she remembered, she was joking around with Diarmuid on the kitchen floor. She had clearly been awake, but...]

[Right now, she's clearly lying on something softer. As she slowly sits up, she realizes that she is in an unfamiliar room, wearing clothes that she has never worn before. She cautiously steps out of bed, hugging her arms to her body and shivering a little because of the thin, skintight suit.]

[Her first guess is that she has been kidnapped. It worries her to know that someone has enough skill to kidnap the wife of a magus right out from his own house. Likely the kidnappers had also erased her memories of the kidnapping for whatever reason.]

[She starts walking around the room, trying to discover some sort of evidence that would indicate the identity of the offenders or their skills. Though, given the amount of planning and power it required to kidnap her, she doesn't believe they would be stupid enough to leave any sort of evidence behind.]

[The room certainly looks cozier than the usual basement or holding cell. Four beds, each with a trunk at the end. There's even personal items strewn around. These beds wouldn't look out of place in an actual bedroom. Her investigation is at first confined the items left in the open. Next comes the trunks, starting with the one next to "her" bed.]

[She almost gets a heart attack when she opens the trunk to find one of her own mouse familiars leaping at her. Looking down into her trunk, she can also see her clothes and a dagger she had seen from around the house. This discovery only makes everything more confusing. Why would someone go to such lengths to kidnap her and bring her things along, but leave her weapons and familiars? What were they trying to do?]

[At least she has her clothes back. Since there seem to nobody in the room at the moment, she quickly removes the bodysuit to slip on her real clothes. Following that, she sits down on a bed, waiting for someone to come give her an explanation. Even if they were her enemies, they owed her, as a lord's wife, that little bit of courtesy.]

2. Cafeteria

[Sola-ui is sitting at a table, staring at her oatmeal. Hunger and curiosity drove her to finally leave her room. However, she is reconsidering her decision if she has to eat this slop.

[After a long while, she finally lifts up the spoon, takes a sip, and smacks her lips. It is followed by a frown.]

This might be the worst oatmeal I have ever tasted. Not even the slightest hint of flavor! Cold and clammy as well. My husband could cook better than this.

[And when she compares something to her husband's level, she is certainly showing her disdain.]

3. Any floor (morning)

[After a horrible breakfast nowhere near what her "aristocratic" tasted buds were used to ingesting, Sola-ui is walking through the floors of her new residence. It's a strange place, but walking down these hallways gives her a strange sense of excitement. It's very different from the tedium she had settled into after marrying Kayneth, after all.]

4. Any floor (evening)

[Of course, since she is caught up in the excitement of finally being in a new place, she loses track of the time. Morning slips into evening, and monsters start emerging. Seeing as how she has no fighting skills, she is easily cornered by the slobbering beasts. All she can do is retreat, hoping desperately that they would leave or someone would save her.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I do if you will tell me which room is yours. These floors are quite confusing to new people and some of them actually are mazes. That is why it's safer to stay near the stairs until you know the floors better. Honestly, I suggest using the elevator whenever possible, though it is obviously not always possible.

[He reaches out for her hand.]

I have been working on making a list of all the floors and their dangers with some of my fellows. I will be glad to give you a list if you would like it. Soon we hope to have it out where anyone who wants it can easily find it, but as far as I know the only options we have are the network which isn't always reliable and copying the list by hand which takes quite a bit of time, though if that is what is needed to keep people safe, I don't mind taking the time.

Room 1-01.

[She takes his hand.]

If you need, I'll be glad to help you copy it.

[He nods and starts to lead her toward the stairs glad, for the moment, that the floor seems quiet.]

I would appreciate that. It is quite an extensive list because so many people have worked on it and it seems like we find new things to add every day. Even if this place was the mere 50 floors it was not that long ago it would still be a long list.

I believe I'll have plenty of time in this place.

[Now that she doesn't have to cook and clean for her family.]

It will be no problem to just copy a list.

[Diarmuid looks back at her, concerned by something in her voice. It doesn't take him long to guess what it is, and when he does, a gentle look crosses his face.]

I miss my family too. It's hard to be without them for me, and I expect it's even harder for you since they were probably your whole life.

They...

[She sighs.]

Kayneth and the children have their differences.

[What with Diarmuid wanting his father's approval and not being able to get it, and Waver being an outright little rebel.]

Do you want to talk about it?

[He's not looking at her as he asks since he's opening the door to the stairwell, but that's probably for the best since he can image his question will probably embarrass her. Still, he doesn't mind listening even if his own family experiences differ greatly from hers.]

[She is silent for a moment.]

Well...you should know what Kayneth is like. Since Diarmuid has little potential as a magus, he doesn't think much of him. And Waver has great potential, but directs it in a way that he dislikes.

[As they enter the relative safety of the stairwell, Diarmuid thinks over this, nodding after a few moments.]

That sounds about right. Every Waver I have ever known has liked to do things outside of the box. I can't image that ever changing. Sadly, even if your son had been born with a lot of talent, I suspect somehow he would still not have been good enough for him. I don't think he and I are ever destined to get along.

Perhaps not under your world's terms. Kayneth does love both of his children, but he has a duty to pass down his crest and knowledge.

[Certainly that would have been an easier task with Diarmuid's more docile personality.]

[Diarmuid rolls his eyes, but even as he does, they narrow in annoyance.]

Duty. Everything is duty to you magi. Maybe if you got passed that and remembered there is more to life than duty you would be happier and hurt far fewer people.

You're a knight, Diarmuid. You should understand the importance of duty.

Thanks to him, I am far less a knight than I once was.

[Diarmuid looks away from her and focuses instead on the stairs as he speaks.]

I know duty, but this place has taught me just how foolish it is to focused on it and forget everything else. That path leads only to pain, death and destruction.

...

[Unseen to him, she smiles. Though what part of it is pleased and what part is bitter, not even she can tell.]

I see. You've really grown compared to my Diarmuid.

[It wasn't just a matter of age--it was experience. It was pain.]

[Diarmuid looks at her out of the corner of his eyes for a moment, not sure how to take that reaction, before turning his eyes forward again.]

I dearly hope your Diarmuid grows up to be a far happier man than I am. That his path of knighthood is less complex and more fulfilling than my own. I would hate for him to suffer as I have.

[It's odd. Despite the fact that Diarmuid has come to the conclusion that their worlds really are gone, he can't help but talk to others are if they are still there.]

If I had my way, I'd spare him any hardship.

[But they are magi, and how often did the children of magi get "their own way?"]

Forgive me if I'm not totally convinced.

[The words come out angrier than he intends, and he stops walking to look back at her.]

I'm sorry. I know you love him, but the way you magi think, that is what limits what you will do for him, not your love. He is not the chosen heir and so he will just be married off to continue the blood line even if it's not what he wants, yes? A normal parent would respect his wishes on that, not force him to agree to what he doesn't want for duty's sake.

[Perhaps it is finally a sign that he is changing the way his friends have hoped he would that Diarmuid can now suggest something besides putting duty before everything else and really mean it.]

What do you suggest I do then?

[She had already gone above and beyond the call of duty in treating her children as human beings and not walking magic circuits.]

You know how magi live. The moment he was born as a magus, his fate was decided. But I would help him adjust.

...I adjusted.

[Since when is treating someone as a human being 'above the call of duty'? It's a good thing Diarmuid can't hear that train of thought, because her words make him angry enough. That just might push him into saying something he might regret.

He may get pretty close to that anyway.]

You didn't adjust. You gave up.

[Anger flashes in his eyes, but his voice is very tightly controlled.]

You could have kept fighting. Denied them what they wanted. Waver Velvet did it and now he holds the same rank and title as your husband did without having had to give up his goals and his dreams. It may take a long time and it may not be a pleasant trip, but he will change them. All because he refused to 'adjust.'

What was I supposed to do?

[She loses her cool before he does.]

You're knight. You're used to fighting! But I'm a magus! The daughter of a magus! You knew a version of me from your world, right? You must have seen what she had to do! What rules she was bound by!

[She stops walking.]

...Though maybe...maybe a man like you won't understand.

[A bitter laugh rises from her throat.]

A man whose face...

[Whose face can get him any woman he desired. Who only held himself back because of his nobility. He could live by the rules he set for himself, but he didn't have to live by rules that were set down for him.]

[His head lifts, a proud anger flashing in his eyes. He almost dares her to finish that sentence--to keep fanning the flames of his anger, but he manages to hold back. Barely.]

Unlike you, she took the chance to escape when it was given to her. My curse might not have provided her much of an option, but she still took it! When he was injured it was she who took over fully as my master and she who refocused our goals.

Do I believe she had only thoughts of helping him in mind? I may have wished to believe that, but only a true fool would not realize she was using me--using his weakness--to take the only chance of escape she could see.

[A distasteful look enters his eyes.]

It seems I should not have expected the same courage from you as from her.

[She's not sure what she feels right now. Anger? Disgust? Or even jealousy at how the other Sola-ui tried to escape? Or that she even had a means to escape? Certainly she never had a knight in shining armor at her side to even tempt her!]

No wonder he doubted you.

[Her voice is extremely cold, lacking even the angry tone it had previously.]

You knights certainly do like your damsels. You saw her resigned to her duty, and thought she was suffering.

...So you decided to use your face to put a stop to that.

For all your nobility, you're just the worst womanizer, aren't you?

[The rage rolls off of him in waves for a moment. Another servant might even say the feeling is strong enough to qualify as killing intent. Indeed, if she were a fighter or fellow servant, he probably would have already dropped the challenge.

But she isn't and just as quickly as the heat fills the air, it seems to be sucked out back into him leaving a cold dead feeling in its place. Diarmuid is shaking form the effort needed to restrain his emotions, and he is so focused on that, that he doesn't even feel the single blood red tear that tracks its way down his cheek.]

Are you done now? Or do you wish to strike at me more for your own mistakes?

[Diarmuid laughs. It's a horrible, bitter and broken sound.]

Why shouldn't you? After all, it was all my fault back then according to them. Go on. Don't stop. It's just a shame I have no command spells here. Perhaps, you would like to order me to my death while you are at it!

[She had waited for him to lash out at her in anger. So she could say something cold and walk off without a second thought. Even if she had trembled, she would have done it. That would be fitting for the wife of a magus.]

[But she hadn't expected this. She hadn't expected him to be hurt to the point that he would shed tears (tears of blood, even). Perhaps it is because he has been so strong up until now that to see him break down leaves a such a huge impression on her.]

[And what mother could resist her own son's tears?]

...The last thing I want is to see you dead. Even if...you're such a troublesome man.

[On impulse, she quickly walks up to him and lifts a finger to wipe away his tears.]

[Never mind the fact that he is not actually her son.]

[Never mind the fact that what she had said might have been true.]

[Never mind she was the one to make him cry, and thus didn't deserve the chance to comfort him.]

[Never mind the fact that he might kill her within seconds at this distance.]

[She wants to comfort him.]

Why exactly did you think of that? No, what happened to make you think of that?

[A mother ordering her son to--A Master ordering her Servant to kill himself? It sounds horrible and impossible.]

Because that is exactly what he did. He used a command spell and ordered me to kill myself in the middle of a dual with another servant. Why should I expect anything different from any of you magi? I am nothing more than a tool to be used to gain your desires, after all.

[His anger and pain are still too raw to let him realize he shouldn't be being so blunt with her about this. She will probably be hurt, shocked if nothing else, but he can't help it.

Diarmuid puts his hand out, summoning his spear into it. With a dead look on his face--helped not at all by the blood streaking down his cheeks--he holds it out to her.]

Do you wish to do the same? Put this spear through my heart just as he did? It is only fitting after all. She trusted me to help her escape, and I failed her because I was too afraid of the past repeating itself. I focused too much on trying to serve one whom I could never please, and allowed the one who really needed me to stuffer for it.

[How much of this is true and how much of it is Diarmuid twisting events because of how much he feels he failed, is anyone's guess. It is obvious, though, that if she takes the weapon from him at this point and does try to drive it through his body, he will do nothing to stop her.]

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