towerofanimus | [Open - wow hey mods way to get ahead of me there]

Entry tags:

[Open - wow hey mods way to get ahead of me there]

Characters: Asch and anyone who decides to try pestering a good little zombie going about his workday.
Setting: Late in the week, where have you. [Slightly backdated as needed]
Format: AH WHATEVER starting in action because I'm lame
Summary: What do you even expect in event post summaries at this point, really?
Warnings: IT'S AN EVENT POST. Sorrow sickness and despair, people dying everywhere... You know the drill.

Cafeteria - Standard operating hours

[Here's a drone, there's a drone, and another little drone - Asch's body is near the back of the cafeteria, just continuously rotating nutrition bars in and out of the oven as needed. They're all perfectly uniform, just like the actions of the various drones around the kitchen.

Seems like whoever assigned him to this task has a sense of humour.]

Staircase - Non-violent malfunction

[Whoops, seems like somebody's body wandered off again. He's standing just off-center on the staircase, somewhere between floors, just in the perfect place to be in the way. Trip over him, shove him out of the way - there won't be any kind of reaction.

At least not until the programming reasserts itself, which it does if you watch for a few moments, and Asch turns to walk back down to his duties in the kitchens as though nothing at all happened.]

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[Hey Asch hey. Incoming redhead, hope you don't mind being knocked over, because he's not stopping. Except maybe he is, once he realizes who he just ran into.]

...Asch?

[What are you doing, dude?]

[There's no response at all, the drone not even attempting to straighten its clothes once it resumes a standing position. His clothes and hair are askew in ways that Asch himself would never permit, and there's a few spots of blood still dried on his tabard and the rest of his clothes. His boots look he trudged through a puddle of the stuff.

Better catch that drone before it heads off down the stairs if you want to talk to it, BroLuke.]

[He misses the hair and clothing oddities, but doesn't miss the blood. And the fact that he wasn't yelled at for knocking Asch over. Or...acknowledged, really at all.]

You okay...? Hey, c'mon, do something besides stand there.

[He moves in front of Asch, waving a hand in front of the other redhead's face a few times.]

[He does nothing except stand there - his eyes don't even follow the movement of the hand in front of him. It's like it doesn't even exist.

Internally? Well, Asch is bracing for the worst, because he hasn't had good experiences with being recognized, lately. Then again, whoever this is doesn't seem to have been taken in by the drones in the first place, so maybe he'll get lucky.]

[He stops the hand motion after only a few passes, sighing and dropping his hand, grabbing a blood-free portion of one of Asch's sleeves to see if he can move Asch's arm.]

...Or don't. Can you even hear me? I'm your brother, at least acknowledge I'm here.

[At least quit being a creepy Asch-doll.]

[His arm is moved without any real resistance - given that the other is hanging limply at his side, he doesn't seem to care too much.

Inside, though, something seizes up - brother?! He doesn't have a brother, not unless you started counting -

His mind clinks through the possibilities slowly. And just when he arrives at it, at the second Luke in the Tower and who knows what his relationship to the Asch in his world was, thought stops.

And slowly, something enters the green eyes, and in a single smooth but still uncanny motion, Asch's face turns towards Luke.]

[Oops, that wasn't the intended effect. Didn't mean to break Asch, but at least he did something that wasn't fall over or stand there.

Even if it was still a little...creepy.]

H-hey, that worked. About time...

[It's very creepy, because it's not actually Luke he's seeing. Just... an obstacle. Something preventing work and function.

Obstacles need to be removed. As quickly and efficiently as possible.

Hear that hum, Luke? It's the signature sound of a hyperresonance forming, You may want to move.]

[Whoa, wait. Also not intended. He doesn't recognize the sound right away, but it's unusual enough to get him to take a couple steps back. Back up the stairs, which turns out to be a bad way to go when he trips over one of his own feet, landing a couple steps up.]

[Well, if he doesn't recognize the sound, he'll probably recognize the glow that surrounds the hand Asch is slowly lifting towards him. Destroy the obstacles by the most efficient means available means there's not even reaching for the sword belted at his side.

Just an expressionless face and the hum of gathering Seventh Fonons -

Luke might be able to see the hyperresonance form, for just a moment, before it is propelled into his chest and annihilates clothes, skin, bone, and organs.]

[He'd just woken up from another death. A DEATH, of all things. And his first thought was to just head to the cathedral. Just to be somewhere quiet and get his thoughts together while his mind was still intact.

And yet he still had his chains - all of them now fixed and reassembled. He still was followed by dozens of corpses, the stench of flesh and sight of blood so branded into his mind that he couldn't get himself to relax anymore. It felt as if he were constantly on the run, constantly on the verge of yet another panic attack, yet another blackout...

It's as he's descending the stairs that he nearly trips over Asch, lulling in the stairway like a broken doll. Guy looks back on him with confusion before realizing who it is.

Damn it, Asch, why did you have to be like this...

...

An idea sparks in his mind. He turns back to the redhead, regaining his footing.]

Asch. Nod if you can hear me.

[There's a slight jerk, as though the order were a blow that struck the drone back into working order. His head bobs in a single nod, the motion sending a few strands of hair into Asch's face - evidently, the drone can't be bothered to keep pushing its hair back.

Coming-to is a little more slow for the person inside - initially, it's just confusion at where he's ended up this time, and trying to fit events back together. It's not the first time Asch has suddenly found himself on the stairs, but it's the first time he's woken up to someone standing in front of him, and it takes him far longer to recognize Guy than it should. It's the looped chains that give the man away, because his face is still generic; indeed, Asch swears that somehow, that unnoteworthy face is different from the one he saw in place of Guy's last time.

He's grateful, anyway.]

[He exhales sharply, a hand running roughly through his hair as he quickly pulls his thoughts together.]

Ignore your other orders for the time being.

For the next four hours, you are to stay with me. You are to assist me as needed, under administrative order. If, at any time, I ask you what your orders are, you are to repeat them to me. Verbally, if possible. You are to ignore any order I give you to leave my side until the four hours have expired.

...

The only exceptions: If... I am injured or killed, you must return to your previous tasks. When the four hours have run out, you must return to your previous tasks.

Do you understand?

[His body listens placidly to the orders, and then gives another nod. Yes, it understands. And inside...

Inside, he's relieved, so damn relieved, because Guy has provided him with unexpected salvation. Even if he's still trapped, even if there's no one else he can recognize, Guy has at least provided him with something to hang onto for a few hours. It's an unexpected reprieve in his existence, and Asch latches onto it, content inside and out to just follow along for a while.

(He shouldn't be. He should be rejecting every order, no matter who it comes from. But he's tired, and if he has to be a tool, at least let him choose the hand that wields him.)]

[Guy nods in return, mouth thinning.]

Good.

[He pauses, before walking closer to the drone and speaking quietly.]

I know you weren't there. But there was a meeting on the fourth floor. Those of us that are like me... we're doing what we can to help everyone else, to try and fight back.

I know I've told you before. But I want to make sure you understand. We're going to find a way out of this.

[There's no outward response, and not much of an inward one either - he believed you before, Guy. He wants to believe it, wants to believe that there's something happening out beyond where he can see.

He'll try, but it doesn't make a difference right now, anyway.]

[He'll repeat it as much as he has to. He wants to believe there's something in there besides wiring and programming and simple commands and errors. Somewhere inside him, he KNOWS that Asch is still there, just like Guy feels he's still here right now. Maybe not in the forefront. Maybe pushed behind brainwashing and chips and chemicals.

But he was still there. And if he WAS still there, Guy wasn't about to abandon him to do whatever the Tower pleased. He didn't have that luxury with Luke - Luke was in the same boat he was, after all. He couldn't stay by his best friend's side and it gnawed at him.

But Asch? Asch, he could do something about. Asch he could at least drag out of the muck for a little while, even if the drone stayed confused at the reasoning.

So that was how the afternoon went, Guy mostly drifting in and out of sanity to order a malfunctioning drone back to their orders, only to snap right back to himself with a hand to his forehead. More than once this snap of personality caused him to start to hyperventilate, taking a wary glance at Asch before swearing under his breath and looking for shelter, not caring if Asch pursued him or not. He stops at the morgue to wildly search through some tools, if only for a brief moment, before grimacing and thinking better of it, grasping the countertop with shaking breaths and forcing his panic as far down as he could.

Which was far, far easier said than done, and never resulted in it being removed entirely. It kept him wound up, like a red-hot spring ready to snap at the slightest touch. And that snap happened just as a young, malfunctioning droid is being pulled from a bedroom, harshly chided for the observance of the residents inside--

There's a twitch, violent along his neck and shoulder, his mouth opening as if he were about to scream in horror, but quickly smoothing out into an expression of clouded rage. Without another word, the blonde is picking up the longest length of chain and bludgeoning the drone in front of him, a smack against the skull, the torso, a whip of metal to break the arms, again and again, painting the floor a deep shade of red as the life quickly leaves her.

And oh, how his demeanor changes. Not to a commander, or to the Guy that Asch knew. But to someone... something... that cared for this corpse as if it were a precious heirloom. How he looked over it, touching delicate fingers while the rest of the arm lay partially crushed against the floor. There's a soothing stream of words, whispered as though he were talking to a child, as the body is dragged to the chain that had killed her, the cracking of her already misshapen body not even phasing the blonde as he twists her into the links. Another trophy. Another beautiful, beautiful trophy.

...

There's another twitch. Guy's eyes growing cold. He examines the blood around him with a snarl, before finally turning to see Asch.

Blue eyes narrow.]

Worker. What are you doing here?

[The entire time, he follows. No matter what Guy says or does, Asch is never more than a few paces behind him, usually trailing slightly to the blond's right. If the drone could have changed posture at all relative to how the redhead actually felt, the description of it would have been "relaxed" - even when Guy is out of himself, at least he's still there, still somewhere Asch's unflinching gaze can find him.

And then the girl - it's not the death that makes his stomach churn (or would if his stomach cooperated any more than the rest of his body). It's hard to feel emotion for someone he doesn't recognize, even when the pool of her blood is soaking into his boots as his body stands, patiently awaiting the moment Guy decides to move on.

No, it's the afterwards, the gentle tucking of the body into the chains as though it were a child going to sleep - there's some subtle snap in him, and for a moment he sees that imagined child as himself, bloodied beneath a blade quenched in revenge. It's all too easy to imagine.

The question is a welcome distraction, not in the least because it's the first time his body has spoken before that laboratory. His voice is monotone, dry, empty, as untinged by emotion as everything else.]

I was ordered to attend to you. I am not to be reassigned for another one hour and seventeen minutes.

[...Droneself, how the hell can you tell time that accurately.]

[There's a flash of disbelief across his face, as if the drone would bother pulling his leg in such a fashion. He shifts the bloodiest chain to the side, a touch of delicacy there as if part of him didn't want to ruin the poor, precious thing, before facing Asch at his full height, looking down on him with contempt.]

Whose orders were those?

Yours.

[And inside, Asch is now pretty sure he understands why.]

[There's a laugh, cold and twisted and unnatural - half the lightness that was known from Guy and have a rotting, crackled mess of a noise.]

I said nothing of the sort. Who--- [There's a sudden spasm across his neck and shoulder, his head twisting, a fight against itself--]
Whowhwhwwwhh

whhhhhhh

who

Who sent you here?

I am to follow and assist you in any manner you require.

[The drone doesn't feel any concern for a glitching superior, but Asch certainly does. So this is what Guy meant by fighting it - Asch is probably one of the only people who's observed an internal battle of this sort, after his attempt to take over Luke's body in Chesedonia. At that time, he was the aggressor, not an observer, but he's sure that to someone outside their connection it looked very much like this.

At that time, Luke threw him off. He wants to believe that he's sure Guy can do the same.]

That's not-- nnn n not an nn answer to my question---

[There's another spasm, accompanied by a sound laced with frustration, surprise, and even a bit of pain. He ends up stooped a bit, a hand gripping at his head, talking fiercly to the wall but words clearly directed at Asch.]

WORKER. WHO SENT YOU HERE??

You ordered me to accompany you.

[If it were possible for the drone to show confusion, it would be. Guy's demands aren't processing properly in its simple mind - no one sent it anywhere, it is simply following along as ordered.

Kind of pitiful, really, not that Asch can feel any for the thing that's using his body in his place.]

I

g-g-g-gave n-no...

order...

I GAVE

NO ORDER

NO

O-O-O-RRRR

[Another spasm, this one curving his spine, a fist bashing against the wall with fingers digging so hard that blood was starting to drip down the swordsman's palm.

HE WAS LYING

HE WAS TRICKING HIM

HE WAS MALFUNCTIONING

MALmalmalmalmmmal

mal

functioning

...

The blonde's breathing is hard and heavy, his hand moving for his sword and drawing it so haphazardly it would have lopped off Asch's arm, had he been any closer. There's a panicked frenzy in his eyes, and for a moment, it seems as though he means to slice either Asch or himself clean in two.

MAL

MAL

MMMALL

FUNNNCTTTTTI-----]

[And with a small twist of the head, suddenly there's a painful clarity in Guy's eyes. They flicker to Asch, to the blood smeared across the halls, then to the white-knuckled grip on his sword.

What...

...

The sword is dropped, Guy's arms shakily descending to his sides, still panting for breath as he tries to remember.

What...

What happened...

...]

Asch...

How... how long are you still under my command?

[A question he asks every time he regains clarity, yes... but it's hard not to wince at the tremble in his voice.]

Edited 2013-04-24 04:43 (UTC)

[When Guy draws the sword, Asch's first thought is slightly panicked but along the lines of "Oh, you have got to be kidding me." But then something aborts in the blond's motion, and he's Guy again. Relief spins in the container that is his body.

And if it were possible for the drone to be relieved - a simple question, with a simple answer. That'll do it.]

One hour and fifteen minutes.

[So he'd been out of it for some time, then. He swears under his breath, sidestepping the mess made in the hall.]

...Sorry you had to see that.

[It's a passing comment, low and a bit broken, as the blonde moves to pick up his sword. He hesitates, a weary glance given to the fresh body only feet away from him, before wiping the blade against the edge of his boot and shoving it back into its sheath.

Without a word, he's on the move again. It doesn't matter that he's trembling like a leaf. They weren't going to stay here.]

[And of course he follows. Can't blame Guy for not wanting to stay here, although with the evidence trailing on a chain behind him, Asch has to wonder how much good it does. With not even a token effort to remove the body this time -

How many of those corpses were new, since the last time he saw Guy?]

[To remove bodies Guy couldn't even touch to begin with was a task that he had given up on much earlier in the week. His first few attempts had been ridiculously unsuccessful and ended with him calling for help out of simply being overwhelmed. And said help had sometimes been lashed out at... or lashed out at him.

So now the week had truly worn on him, and the drag of the body across the floor behind him was just how it had to be. Swallow it up and move on. It was cruel. But as much as it sickened him... he just couldn't do it any other way.

If Asch had been observant enough? Almost all of the bodies were different. Not all of them were fresh - in fact, some looked close to rotten, as though they'd been pulled from the processing floor far after rigamortis had set in. It hadn't take Guy long to realize that, after dying, his collection was completely re-made for him... and the burn to refill all the empty spaces would return with a flare.

It wasn't right. None of it was right.

But there wasn't anything he could do, was there?]

[ And your roommate will be approaching you now, Asch. He is well aware of what's going on by now, so--he'll at least see if he can't entertain himself or get Asch's attention. If he doesn't respond, this is one of the properly brainwashed ones, he thinks. ]

My, isn't this a distasteful sight, Emily?

Abs-o-lute-ly dreadful!

Mister Ashen, you seem a bit paler than usual. Was being made into a marionette that rigorous?

[Bless you, roommate, for your distinctive stupid doll and your distinctive stupid nicknames. Asch will never complain about them again.

And how many ways are there to write about a drone standing in place? At least one more, surely.]

[ Let's make it a challenge instead: HOW MANY WAYS CAN I ANNOY THE DRONE STANDING IN PLACE.

Now with a side of Emily and Break's comedy hour. ]

Not so conversational, are we?

Always ignoring us like this!

He is, he is, isn't he, Emily? Perhaps we will simply have to assist him!

[ Break sliiiides up next to Asch and pokes him. With his cane. Repeatedly. Prod prod prod. ]

[That sure is a cane you are poking him with. He's grumpy about it on the inside, Break. Really.

The drone though? The drone doesn't have any expression beyond blankface.]

[ So guess what he's going to do now. He's going to take out an empty tin box and put it on your head. Then observe it, tilt his head, as if viewing his work.

... Hmmmm no not quite. ]

I think he is still missing that special something for a dolled up doll. Perhaps something to bring out the lovely new color of his eyes, Emily?

He does love his hair a lot, a lot! Dolls always have lovely hair!

Ooh, a good point... let me see!

[ And so Break pulls out two hair bands from his pockets.

And then he puts Asch's hair into pigtails. And leaves the tin on his head after he is done. They're pink. Perfection. ]

It suits you, Mis-ter Ash-en! ♥

[Wait, his eyes? What the hell did they do to his -

OH YOU DID NOT JUST TOUCH HIS HAIR. YOU DID NOT.

NOT COOL MAN.

And yep, the drone's still just standing there, not even attempting to do anything about these shenanigans.]

[ Break's going to lean on his cane now and admire his ~amazing work~ to a totally innocent drone who won't change it back for a very, VERY long time. c: And well, if he malfunctions, Break ain't even worried. He can get away easily enough. ]

Much better~!

Emily, shame on you for not showing the doll some respect--why didn't you remember to bring any makeup?

[Break if he could Icicle Rain you right now -

But uh oh, if you want to keep playing with the doll, you'd better stop it from walking off, because it seems to have suddenly remembered that orders are a thing and has turned to start down the stairs.]

[ Oh boy oh boy! Definitely going to follow you and annoy you some more, because that's what he does. And, plus, he wants to see what sort of things they're 'made' to do. ]

[Sadly Break, it is not all that interesting! But luckily there are stairs between here and there. Several floors of them. All full of chances to be annoying.]

[ Wonderful. And it's okay, sometimes things had to be a little boring--he just wants to see how these drones behave. Asch is by far one of the LEAST affected he's run across, after all. So he follows, continuing his annoying dialogue. ]

You know what would really bring out your eyes?

The sun!

Emily, now now now... you shouldn't be so obvious--I was going to say a large chisel. You might say he's a bit of a diamond in the rough, but perhaps some fixing up beyond his hair will help polish things!

[His eyes? They did something to his eyes? It would explain why his vision is so... strange. If it were possible to signal Break to keep telling him about it, he would - it isn't as though drones look in the mirror, after all.

Even if they did, Asch probably would have had the deeply disturbing chance to not recognize his own face, anyway.]

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[Open - wow hey mods way to get ahead of me there]

Staircase

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wow please ignore that I forgot his eye modification in the previous tag

I forgot anyway, so it's bad on me too.

my worse

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1/2

2/2 whoops I suck at subjects

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shortpost whoops

NP, we'll end it here

Staaairs

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