towerofanimus | Not all there

Entry tags:

Not all there

Characters: Cain Knightlord and anyone at all
Setting: Floor Three Library
Format: Prose, but will copy you
Summary: Cain is feeling the effects of being in Group C, clearly he should be bothered
Warnings: Sensory Hallucination

It had taken Cain and his partner in map-making more than just the one day to complete their task, scratching a map or notes on each floor carefully onto dinner plates. There were some floors Cain already knew he never wanted to return to, and at first he puts down the sensation of being watched to the unnerving sights of those floors.

Blood and screaming on one of them, endless night on another, what the hell was this place?!

He's taken the plates, twenty-one in total, to the library to sort them into a more organised fashion. Then he starts scratching them into one of the tables, copying the work into the wood for a safer and more sturdy map. But he keeps feeling something brush the back of his neck and shoulder, nothing there when he looks, an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach as he works until...

"STOP IT!"

The shout is loud in the library as he spins, one of the plates crashing to the ground to break, as Cain stares at... well, nothing.

[ooc: Open, please bother him. I love all the CR ever!]

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Abel's footsteps halt a mere pace or two inside the door to the library, eyes settled on the figure looking more than slightly disturbed, broken glass on the floor around him.

There is naked concern in the mirror of blue eyes fixed on Cain's, question and perplexity in the look he's giving his twin. He doesn't need to know what's going through his brother's head to know that something is sincerely wrong -- the broken plate on the floor and the lack of color in the blonde's face are merely steeling that feeling in his gut...

Something isn't... right. It isn't right at all.

"...Cain?"

Abel's voice startled him, and he looked up as though he expected to see someone else there as well. It could have been Abel touching his neck, of course, but he would have known if it had been his brother there.

"...sorry, I didn't see you there."

Noticing he'd broken one of the plates, he tutted in irritation and bent to start collecting the pieces, pushing his discomfort away.

Abel hesitated where he was in the doorway a moment more, before he was cautiously making his way toward his twin, crouching down to tentatively assist in the clean-up effort. His eyes, however, are on his brother.

He looked... spooked. Uncharacteristically unnerved and openly shaken. Cain was always composed and calm, through the hardest of trials they had been made to endure... and so it only further lent to the reality that something was very, very off with the Major.

"...are you okay?"

Suzaku looked over his shoulder for the thousandth time that day. The whisperings hadn't stopped, nor had the sights out of the corner of his eye. The feeling that something was just behind him at all times.

He was in the library and jumped at the shout, going to investigate he saw Cain stood there, the plate on the floor.

"Are you hearing them too?" Suzaku walked over and picked up the broken plate to hand to Cain.

"I'm not sure."

Emotional distress was something he would always hide from Abel; his brother was bad at dealing with that sort of thing, and it would just add stress to an already stressful situation. But he had endured enough mind-altering experiments and tests to deduce when something was liable to be physically wrong, and that was something he would never hide from Abel - if only because it was likely his brother would be experiencing the same, or so it had been in the past.

"I keeps seeing and feeling things, I'm not sure they're really there. I feel like something keeps touching the back of my neck and shoulder, trying to get my attention."

Disturbed from his reverie by another voice, though this one much more substantial than the barely there murmurs that had been plaguing him all day, he nodded at Suzaku.

It was a relief not to be the only one in some ways, and yet in others it was disquieting as it pointed towards experimentation.

"Has anything like this happened before?"

The concern in his eyes starts leaking elsewhere on his face rather than abating at this explanation. There were phenomenon on other floors of the tower they both had experienced -- voices, and whispers that made a man believe he was truly losing his mind. But they had carefully mapped which to stay out of, and this... had not been one of them.

Until now.

Abel gives a suspicious glance to their surroundings, as if looking for a sign of whatever unseen forces were deigning to toy with them today, before he offered Cain a hand.

"We should get out of here. It might not be safe."

[She had been nearby for some time, watching the man curiously to see what he was doing. Ren didn't see anything out of the ordinary with his behavior. Mainly because she has no idea what normal behavior would be. She had steadily been getting closer, trying to peek at whatever his drawings were up until his loud yell.]

Ah!

[She stands there, startled for a few moments, before hurrying back behind a library shelf.]

It was a relief to Suzaku as well, at least he wasn't going crazy. However that meant it was probably something imposed on them by those that were keeping them prisoners here. That made Suzaku angry, he thought for a moment then shook his head.

"Sometimes on certain floors I hear voices, or get a feeling of unease like someone is watching me. But it's never been everywhere like this before. I am not sure if anything like this happened before I arrived here though sir."

There was nothing behind Cain, but when he turned back around to the library table, he'd find Ankh sitting there across from him, with his left hand holding a popsicle, elbow propped up on the table, and his right hand resting on the table next to his elbow; which, Cain might be amused to see, still had some pretty significant bruising from Abel nearly crushing it.

"So, how's your 'simulation' going?" And he's just dripping with condescension!

Cain both disliked and was comforted by the concern in Abel's expression, it was rare that anything but apathy crossed his brother's face and it gave him a small satisfaction to know that he was truly cared for. Though on the same token, he hated to worry his twin and cause him any pain.

Where Abel protected Cain physically, so Cain protected Abel emotionally. His brother wasn't supposed to be concerned, Cain was meant to be the strong one who could endure anything with a smile. These voices were unnerving, but they were by no means the worst thing he had endured in his life, and so it was easy to bring back the slightly bashful smile as though this were silly.

"Maybe it was that ice cream I ate last night, I really don't think I should ingest that poison, it doesn't agree with me. But to be on the safe side, lets go back to our room, hm?"

Cain nodded, he had experienced the feelings of unease and voices on the other floors, having explored them all thoroughly after joining with this man to make the maps.

"It's possible that this level is no longer safe, and the experiences aren't isolated to just us. We should leave for the dormitories or cafeteria, and check the sensations don't persist."

He paused, expression altering into a lop-sided and friendly smile. It was good to be obeyed in a situation that required it, but this man and he could be something other than that.

"And it's Cain to my friends."

[The flash of movement is almost dismissed as another of those almost hallucinations, until he notices the distinctly more solid flesh tones.

Ah...

He feels bad for having startled her, stepping carefully over the broken plate and extending a hand out, voice gentle.]

I'm sorry, did I scare you?

He was not amused at all to still see the bruising on Ankh's arm; on the contrary, he felt guilty despite the fact the wounds inflicted hadn't been his fault in the least. He really should control his brother better.

"A little too life-like for my tastes." He gave the other man a little rueful smile, aware that this was no simulation now.

Ankh let out a smug chuckle. "Oh, so you finally realized what's doing on?" He smirked and took a bite off of his popsicle, gesturing with the icy treat ever so slightly. Cain might not've been amused at anything, but Ankh sure was.

"Maybe now you won't go around making an idiot out of yourself and you might actually be useful," He commented passively, looking down at the table and scratching ever so slightly at the map with his bruised hand.

Suzaku nodded, he had experianced it on many floors now but Cain's idea was a good one as he had not monitered which floors he heard the voices strongest on.

He nodded and paused a little at Cain's words. He felt a little uneasy about the friendships he was making here, not that he objected to friends, on the contrary he would have been happy if he could be back in Ashford, without the military, without being a knight, just to be with friends.

Unfortunatly most his friends ended up dead and Suzaku worried that the more people he befriended here the more chance he would have to betray them and he didn't want that. Still he nodded, "Cain, it is a good idea shall we go to the cafeteria first as it is closer?"

Sigh. Of course Cain would try to play it off as if it were nothing... the fact he could at all was a minute reassurance. But the broken remains of the plate on the floor were testament to the fact all was not well in his brother's world.

Abel grips his hand and helps him to his feet, before brushing himself off and nudging a thumb to the table with the remaining plates upon it.

"Are you bringing these with you?" He'll help him gather them up, and they'll go.

[Despite his soft tone, Ren's uneasy. Her natural curiosity is the only thing keeping her behind the bookcase and in the area. It's an angry man, but he doesn't look so mad now. She peers out to look at him. That's all. She doesn't take his hand and simply nods her head.]

Yes. Your voice was loud.

Looking down at the rest of the plates, he nodded and started to gather some into his arms at the same time as Abel.

"They're a map of each floor, Suzaku and I--"

He cut off for a moment, feeling that brush across the back of his neck making him stiffen.

Cain had very few friends in his life. He had tried, so many times he tried, but there was no getting around that he was... what he was. And even if he managed to find some Terrans who had been comfortable with that, his brother had soon put paid to any real friendships with his possessive attitude.

His subordinates were obviously fairly fond of him, he was a fair leader and pleasant to work for. But they were still subordinates, not friends, so the prospect of having made on now had Cain grinning like a kid at Christmas, despite the situation.

"The cafeteria sounds a good plan, after you."

I'm really sorry, I guess I forgot I was in a library.

[His smile was soft and charming, body language deliberately relaxed so as to make her believe there was no threat here.]

Do you want to tell me off for it?

A little possessive over the map that had taken he and Suzaku a long time to complete, he gently removed the plate from under Ankh's scratching finger before it could get damaged.

"I really am sorry for how we acted, I hope you can forgive us and start over?"

He knew Abel wouldn't like him speaking for them both in this situation, but he'd just have to deal with it.

[ The initial terror from his loud voice subsided. All his smiling helped with that. Smiling meant things were good. She still doesn't know much about other people, but watching them helped her to realize that. At the question, she looks confused and actually steps away from the bookcase. She kneels down to see if he's standing on something.]

Tell you off? Off of what?

The grin was infectious even if Suzaku did not smile often, there was not much to smile about. He nodded though glad to have a friend and promising himself that he would not allow Cain to be hurt.

He left the library with Cain as they made their way to the cafeteria. "I found that the voices began the day the tower released those they had tortured. I do not know if it is connected."

Ankh was a little perturbed when Cain took the plate out of his hand, but instead of bringing it up, he just gave a 'tch' sound and bit off more of his popsicle.

"Huh? Start over?" OK he was genuinely confused at that part though. Was that more from his 'simulation' nonsense, or did this guy actually want to be friends? "Why?" That was weird.

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Not all there

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Group C buddies!

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huzzah!

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Re: huzzah!

hi i bet you weren't expecting me

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Re: huzzah!

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8)

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