towerofanimus | Log 017 | A year in 6 days...

Entry tags:

Log 017 | A year in 6 days...

Characters: Sephiroth & YOU
Setting: During the "Like a Lion" Event - March 17th to 23rd, Seasons/Locations in below
Format: Prose/Action.
Summary: Sephiroth around the Tower during the Event. To summarize: Wet Leather, Bad-Silver-Hair Day, WTF Tornado and Icicle-Roth if anyone would be looking for him/if Dorm-mates are around.
Warnings: Not like anyone could be happy? Angry Sephiroth is a usual warning given, especially for Spring/Summer.

Spring- Anywhere in the Tower
[What a way to wake up.

First impression: someone's thought it would be funny to pull a prank and soak him in his bed. Though by the time Sephiroth's shot out of the bed and started looking around for the culprit it's clear that the downpour is coming from the ceiling?. Raining. Indoors. And it's not light rain either. Within just a few moments the water is already streaming through his long hair and dripping into a puddle on the floor behind him. Though it seemed to wash over his leather pants, not soak in - a small mercy as the next thing noticed was the deteriorating condition of the trunk at the end of his bed.

Thankfully, his clothing being decent quality leather and folded up neatly in the trunk had meant that it wasn't already soaked on the inside by the time he'd put it on. Not so lucky was the copy of Run, Melos! that Tohko had given him for Christmas, which had been on the nightstand and was now not much more than a lump of pulp on the floor. But even such hardy, leather material can only deal with so much water and as Sephiroth carefully descends through the Tower via the stairwells (since the lifts aren't working) he's starting already to feel wetness seeping in through seams. He's going to be soaked if the lining of his jacket and pants gets saturated. If his only clothing gets ruined by this, there will be hell to pay.]

--------
Summer - Anywhere in the Tower
[From wet to hot-dry in such a sudden shift. These extremes are the worst for keeping anything without damage. This includes clothing; though it is much too hot to be walking around clad in his leather trench coat and armor, which he has left to dry out in the Dormitory today - and hair!

Sephiroth has already spent an hour or two going to every single shower room, on every single dormitory floor in the Tower trying to find a shower that works. He would then extend his search to any floor that he knows that there is (or was) a body of water on. Not only so that he can at least have some chance to cool off from this heatwave, but he needs to run his hair under running water for at least a few minutes. As a result from the sodden state it had been in from all the downpours, Sephiroth's long silver hair is now clumped together most horridly in long tangles which are starting to frizz and split in the dry heat. Even running his fingers through it has most recently become an impossible task; there is now his own sweat involved as well.

And then as if it wasn't bad enough, before long the air seemed to be getting heavier with humidity by the minute. He could almost feel his hair soaking up all the extra moisture in the air and becoming even more of an untangle-able mess. Damn admins, like he needs another reason to hate you.]

--------
Autumn - Stadium Floor 50
[Anyone should have realized what the theme was this time, by now.

Sure it's infuriating having to kick your way through the thick blanket of leaves that seem to be everywhere but it's not so encumbering for one who can if need be, hover over them. At least he's in better spirits today on account of being able to get his first shower in over 42 hours. Sephiroth is quite content enough with the apparent increased encounter rate with monsters, it keeps him occupied which is something he's been severely lacking recently.

He's currently engaged with a Hagraven at around 20 feet in the air. Those who would be able to follow such accelerated speeds could get the impression that he's using it for practice. Playing strike for strike while improving his aerial agility in having to dodge those elemental attacks in less than a heartbeat. There is only so long you can play with the same monster though and eventually Sephiroth cleanly cuts head from body and both plummet to the floor of the Stadium.

Sephiroth hadn't noticed the tornado whip up in the meantime though; indeed there hadn't been much reason to be watching the leaves on the ground. Next thing he knows he's having to curl knees up into chest and tuck his head down as well, to prevent any leaf or other debris ripping him too much. The tornado just violently sweeps him along for the ride, before he collides with the ceiling and then free-falls down into the floor- black feathers drifting somewhat lazily down in his wake.

Well that was a new thing for this floor. It's nothing compared to the gravity-smashing he'd experienced in Riki's security control room but he might just lie there for a moment until the pain recedes. Here's hoping there isn't another monster waiting down there to finish him off...]

--------
Winter- Dormitory 03-02
[After flinging all the snow off his bed the first time he'd awoken in this extreme winter Sephiroth wished he hadn't. The movement of the sheets and blankets drafted all of the cold air outside and exterminated what little warmth his body had generated overnight. He'd pulled it all back around himself soon enough though not before the chill had already started. The shivering, the ice-breath, it was reminiscent of when he'd been ill in December except this cold was a lot sharper. A quick glance around destroyed the possibility of getting warm by putting layers on also, the trunk looked more covered with snow than his sheets were. He'd just have to curl up and wait it out, as uncomfortable as it is Sephiroth knows that temperature can't kill him.

A few hours later, as the temperature continues to plummet, on a cellular level Sephiroth begins to shut down. To prevent the cold from killing him, his cells must concentrate completely on self-preservation and they need all the energy they can get if he's to be maintained in such a hibernation state. All other functions must be stopped or slowed down. It starts with extreme lethargy as the shivering slows and then stops. Sephiroth is barely aware of what his body is making him do but as he spirals into unconsciousness he's got no choice but to accept it.

He's not dead, however it might seem at first glance. But it's as close as he can get to it without giving up that slowed pulse. At the rate the blizzard is going he'll soon be buried, frozen under all that snow.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Indeed, it had been most advantageous that Sephiroth had been in range for that heal.

Sephiroth fully extends arms out in front and then up towards the ceiling. Testing with a slight grimace, and a few joint cracks, where exactly the most damaged parts of his torso are. Ribs are hidden and well supported by his harness-belt though he's not sure how long he'll be able to ignore the pressure that his armor is placing on the healing collarbone.]

It seems that even after all of that, they still insist to play with us.

I'm not certain about "playing". The responses to my requests this month show that they've put Zo in Dax's place. The boy is unskilled, and we know he isn't interested in "playing" with us. It must be an accident.

*It's a show of improvement that he even had the lights on for a while there, considering he'd had a taste of Zo running the show when he first arrived...*

Is that right?

[Makes sense enough. Sephiroth has never submit any requests to the Tower for anything, the idea of doing so put him in a submissive position and that he cannot abide. He doesn't even keep a mailbox, because that would involve trusting in the system.

He cracks his neck one way slightly and then the other. Looking a little less about to fall over now.]

Then it depends if you would rather be at the mercy of the mistakes of an inexperienced child, or if you'd feel better knowing whatever is going on is fully intentional. Considering, as I understand it, the same child is responsible for our even being here...I would be careful not to misjudge.

The child can learn, and I would rather be under his watch. He has a sense of sympathy for us, unlike the others.

*If Dax felt safe sending his final wishes through the mail system, then it must be secure. That, if nothing else.*

[Sympathy? There was no way Sephiroth would even want such a thing. He'd despise for anyone to be feeling sorry for him, it just rubs salt in the festering wound of multiple defeats.

...besides, an admin is an admin. Perhaps it's testament to how long Sephiroth hasn't been in the Tower but Dax, Zo...they're all the same to him. Keeping him imprisoned in this Tower of souls when he'd fought so long and hard for freedom from the last 'system' that threatened to overcome him.]

The same way that Ruana wants us to be happy here. [For what are games, if not a way to generate fun and happiness. In children at least.]

She wasn't the one that saved us. I think Zo was the one who wrote that note.

*It had always struck him as a child's writing, before he learned of Ruana, of the administrators... It seemed like much longer ago than it really was, the day he arrived, ignorant of everything.

At least this time, Zo had been able to keep things running for a good while.*

[Sephiroth doesn't believe that, much as he doesn't believe in the sentiment either. How dare they bring him here away from His Planet, it's destruction could have been the tipping point he'd fought so long to get to.]

She seems to think she's saving us, based on that latest episode of apparent Admin-drama. Saving us for herself, perhaps.

[Nope, he doesn't believe any of it. This Tower is full of illusions and this could just be another Act in the stage-play. The only reason he now accepts their soul-exposed, body-lacking state of being here and by extension the fact that Gaia is gone is only because he's seen the proof of it himself.]

They may be rescuing us from our worlds, but only Dax seems-...seemed aware of what makes rescue meaningful.

*Well, it isn't as if they totally lack bodies, at least...Enoch in part thinks it might actually be better this way. These bodies probably withstand the tower's dangers better than their original ones might, and it is shown that, at least, their souls are capable of returning to the originals - and have a natural tendency to try to.*

[Another wind seems to be picking up, but at least this time Sephiroth has feet firmly planted on the floor. The small tornado seems to dissipate before reaching the pair of them however, it's either luck or a sign that perhaps lingering too long isn't a smart idea.]

I wasn't rescued. [There is that conviction in his tone that Enoch may have heard about.] I was taken from a Planet that was rightfully mine, for reasons yet unknown.

[Sephiroth pauses to lightly test at touching his injured ribs, and sets his jaw firmly against the spines of renewed pain that might make anyone lesser than him swoon at the least.]

I, at least, have no illusions about this being a rescue. [His proud, yet slight growling voice just-about betrays the pain of racing-to-be-healed injuries.]

*Enoch tenses at the tornado's approach, seeming almost defiant of this artificial nature. This defiance seems to carry over into the conversation - or was it borrowed from it in the first place.*

I have no illusions of malice that doesn't exist. The likes of Ruana and Jason don't need our help with that. I have been to the ruins of my home, and I know with certainty that I was rescued from an eternity bound to it.

This just opens the argument as to whether each of our souls were specifically targeted or whether it was some odd trick of fate. I cannot accept that I am here for no reason at all, at the random whim of some child.

[He hasn't, but if Sephiroth ever did return to his Planet, he'd resist heavily any 'pull' to bring him back here. As closely tied as his soul was to the life of that place, he could start to pick the pieces back up again. Reunion is inevitable, given time.

...right? Or he'd just not be there at all, dead and forgotten before the Tower had tied onto his soul and transplanted him here.

It's quickly dawning on Sephiroth that his lack of purpose here is more than half the problem in accepting. Why would anyone pull his soul here, of all people, if not for some reason?]

I hate it here. I want to know the truth, and with it I would take my freedom.

It is random, Dax said, but there are elements they don't understand. Zo might be the only one that knows...and even he might not know everything. Perhaps he only does as his powers instinctively guide.

Perhaps. But there is no proof, and even if there were, this is their domain and it's all too easy for them to make us believe something that isn't real.

[It's all about what Dax said. Sephiroth resists the urge to roll his eyes by pressing on a healing rib again, as if the pain caused by it would distract him from quickly becoming angry with such blatant conformism.]

*Enoch is fairly convinced they're telling the truth. Dax, after all, proved himself to want to tell the truth, and what he said was almost always backed up by the others. On top of that, nothing they've said has been proven to be a lie; in fact, much of it has strong evidence for being true if it hasn't already been proven.*

I once entertained the thought it was an illusion. But you can't tell me what I saw in the ruins of the world I left wasn't real.

I'm not debating that fact. If I would even be in a condition to tell should I return back there, I'm sure Gaia would be as dead as any of the other worlds.

[Maybe Enoch has some tie to his world like Sephiroth does, certainly sounds like he may.]

Show me proof that we can't be made to adapt to conditions outside of this Tower, and then perhaps I might be a little more grateful. Right now we might as well all be cattle awaiting the slaughter.

*He doesn't, he just is rather in touch with his own gut instincts.*

There was the work that went into accommodating the visitors. You saw how it affected the lights, and how our hosts were all tired when they spoke to all of us.

*Perhaps there was a way to do that, to adapt them, but given how difficult it apparently was to adapt the tower for foreign bodies...it proved the atmosphere of the tower was a unique one.*

Any machine has it's limitations. It's capacity. Ignored as it seems by the vicious overlord in her selfish quest to occupy a mind which, if we are to believe, has spanned millennia.

[Because Sephiroth didn't have much to do with their visitors at all excepting that off-chance meeting in a corridor with one of the collarless. For a while at least it had re-kindled the utter-stubbornness in which he had attempted to boycott collar checks when he'd first arrived. Before their little Q&A which had then led him to reconsider again.

His expression drops a little and his gaze drops away from Enoch as for a moment he hates on his own indecisiveness regarding it all. Will he ever know enough to figure it all out?]

She clearly has no room for weakness, that's a fact.

*He had asked for proof of their inability to be adapted to the world outside the tower and he'd given proof of extreme difficulty in providing the reverse. Perhaps it was possible, but certainly not now.*

She's like a child...spoiled by the power her abilities have left her with.

[Such is the wild thought-train that Sephiroth deals with almost all of the time. Lurching from one extreme to the other and not being able to settle on any one thing. How fast that lurch is depends on how hard he's making himself think. Own worst enemy in many ways.]

Absolute power corrupts absolute power. [Sephiroth nods, musing, perhaps with an edge of understanding] Until a more absolute power comes along.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Log 017 | A year in 6 days...

Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Re: Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Autumn

Re: Autumn

Autumn