(no subject)

[worldend_dominator]

Characters: Rosa Ushiromiya and you
Setting: March 17th-22nd, all over the Tower
Format: anything
Summary: Rosa explores her new powers
Warnings: Blood due to the Deadman Wonderland player plot. Maybe gore.

Spring

[Miraculously, the past few weeks had been good to Rosa. Being able to defend herself, at least, made her much more confident. Ever since she had gotten cut on a red crystal, she had the ability to create hammers out of her own hardened blood.]

[Sure, it had been outright horrifying at first--all the blood rushing out of her body, forming into a hammer, and then smashing down on a monster's head to crack it open, but she had gotten used to it. It was freaky, but it was her weapon. And it meant she didn't have to hide in the shadows all the time just to survive.]

[The new rainfall was annoying, but she figured she could handle it. Her stock of food was waterlogged, but with this hammer, she could now hunt.]

[So throughout the days that spring lasts, she can be found on the floating island floors, either gathering vegetables and mushrooms, or trying to crack the skulls of a couple of unfortunate animals. Sometimes she'll be on one of the other safe floors, relaxing.]

Summer

[Spring had been nasty, but it was nothing compared to summer. At least in the spring, she had plenty of access to water. But in summer, the entire Tower felt like a desert.]

[Even worse, the heat had deprived her of her weapon. Whenever she had hammer out, she felt like fainting. No wonder. It was made of her blood after all.]

[Even if she doesn't like it, for summer, she's gone back to her usual schedule of hiding herself in whatever shade available and avoiding contact with others.]

Autumn

[Autumn is certainly a relief. Though the winds are strong, she likes this season better than the waterlogged spring and the burning summer.]

[Still, as she walks through the Tower, trying to gather and store food, she feels pretty jumpy. The weather had been erratic. Who knew when it would change again?]

[But she has her weapon. She can handle anything as long as she has her weapon.]

Comments

Re: Spring

[worldend_dominator]

[She recoils at the familiar voice. There was so much water. Does this mean the merman had come out of his lagoon to hunt her down again? She generates her hammer before she turns around.]

H-hello...

[She feels just a little more relieved when she sees that he is, in fact, no merman. His face, like his voice, is familiar. And yet he looks completely human.]

[vermicompost]

[Kariya starts and takes a step back at the sight of the weapon. He almost slips, but by some miracle manages to right himself in time, though he takes a moment or two to get his balance back. What is that...?

I-I don't mean you any harm.

[worldend_dominator]

Maybe not, but I've seen people cause harm to others without meaning it.

[Even though his reaction seems to show that he's pretty harmless, she keeps her hammer out.]

[vermicompost]

You-- are you all right?

[That blood hammer looks odd, to say the least, and Kariya knows all about having a weapon that hurts as much as it helps.]

I don't think I could harm anyone accidentally right now.

[The bugs take some effort for him to bring out, after all. Indeed, he doesn't look threatening. He looks lopsided and drenched and a little bit sad.]

I just wanted to apologize.

[worldend_dominator]

...

[She stares at him in surprise. Apologize? Did she hear that right?]

[vermicompost]

What happened before... I wasn't in my right mind. I couldn't control my actions. You see, the mermaids turned me into one of them. [This is sounding ridiculous, even to him.] It's hard to explain. But I didn't mean to do it, and I'm sorry.

[worldend_dominator]

Ah...

[She does not know if his story is true. Did the Tower truly hold that much power? But she can remember what the experiments had turned people into.]

So what you're saying is that you won't do it again. Not if you had a choice?

[vermicompost]

Of course I wouldn't. I don't want to hurt people.

[Well, he wants to hurt Tokiomi and would hurt Zouken if he could, but that's another matter.]

I felt awful about it. Worse than awful. I've never hurt anyone before. But I'm back to myself now.

[worldend_dominator]

I see...

[She dismisses her hammer. It's a weird sensation as all the blood flows back into her body.]

[She can always summon it back, but this man doesn't seem dangerous right now.]

You'd be surprised how few people share your sentiment.

[vermicompost]

That-- [That hammer looks really strange, to say the least.] Are you a magus?

I think more people than you realize share it. Most people don't want to hurt other people, not in ordinary circumstances.

[worldend_dominator]

No. This certainly isn't magic.

[She laughs bitterly as she hears Kariya's statement.]

Tell me, is this ordinary circumstances?

[vermicompost]

What is it, then?

Well, yes and no. There is an ordinary for the Tower, when no experiments are being run, and things are the way they usually are. But I guess you're right. It's not.

Though most of the people I've met here have been kind.

[worldend_dominator]

It's easy for people to act kind.

[vermicompost]

Not always. Kindness can be difficult.

I'm sure not everyone who seems kind is kind, but there are a lot of good people here.

[worldend_dominator]

[She is silent as she ponders his words. Certainly, she doesn't know if she can trust anyone here. Yet, there was Battler, who saved her from the Witch. There was Illya, who indulged her madness. There was Ocelot, who helped her during that panic attack. There was that boy who promised to catch the cannibal.]

[She slowly nods. She does not know how many, but there were kind and foolish people here.]

[vermicompost]

[Kariya nods along with her.]

In spite of everything, I like to think we've maintained our humanity. Or our selves, for those people who aren't human.

[worldend_dominator]

[She stares down at her arms. After everything she had lost, and after this strange power she had gained, was she still human?]

[She quickly answers her own question with a yes. She can't let herself believe otherwise.]

I would like to think that too.

[vermicompost]

I'm glad we feel the same about that.

I'm Kariya. Kariya Matou. And I'm sorry for what I did, no matter the state my mind was in.

[worldend_dominator]

Rosa Ushiromiya. And I accept your apology.

[For the time being, at least.]

[vermicompost]

It's nice to meet you, Rosa.

Thank you. I'm glad. I was worried about you.

[worldend_dominator]

...You were? Why?

[Why did he spare any thought for someone who he had actually killed?]

[vermicompost]

Why wouldn't I be? I hurt you, and I know dying can be traumatic, even if it's not permanent here.

So I wondered if you were all right.

[worldend_dominator]

...You really do seem to be a good man.

[A foolish one too, given how much he cares for others and how much he is willing to do for others.]

[vermicompost]

I don't know if that's true. [He tilts his head a little to one side, as if wistfully.] I used to be.

But I try.

[worldend_dominator]

The most any of us can do in this place is try.

[She has to wonder if he considers himself having stopping being a good man when he killed her, or if something else had happened before that.]