Everybody lie down so you won't get hurt when the sun bursts

[wegotlucky]

Characters: Neal, Mr. Gold, and You!
Setting: Floor 32, Cafeteria, Floor 19
Format: Starting prose, but I can do either
Summary: Neal wanders the tower


Floor 32 (closed to Mr. Gold)
Night had fallen in the tower. It was as good of a time as any for Neal to go for a walk and see what there was. He didn't often venture outside at night, but he had been in the forest before. Here, he could hunt. He had a small quiver of arrows strapped to his back. Rather sloppily made, the arrows had a tendency to not shoot straight, and would more than likely break after bouncing off of anything, but he hoped that there would be something to hunt out here. A rabbit, maybe.

Neal liked this month's food, but anything he could do to keep himself sane, to keep himself alert. The forest was dark and still, and he was well aware that there was danger lurking in every corner, just waiting to leap out at him.

Whatever monsters lurked in the forest, he hoped that they would leave him alone long enough to snag him a rabbit and leave without incident. He still had his sword with him, by his side, if it came to that, after all.


Cafeteria
He had only been in the tower a few short months. Already, though, it felt like an eternity. He hadn't been subjected to the sheer amount of torture directly, but he had seen enough of it for him to be feeling a great sadness in his chest. He missed Emma dearly, he missed his son. He wanted to be reunited with Tamara, who had to be alive out there, somewhere.

At least May was shaping up to be a month that didn't involve the complete torture of people who he was beginning to care about. And the chicken was pretty good, too. Between bites of food he sketched out a few idle illustrations. None of them particularly good, but it was a reminder of home to him. A person from Earth would recognize landmarks from London and New York, and an array of vehicles, both modern and old.


Floor 19
Neal had never before entered this library. He had been in the one on the third floor many times before, reading the various books on the shelves. "So empty," he marveled, looking at the large gaps on the shelf curiously. Just what had happened in the tower? He hadn't exactly found out much about the history of it, after all-- no one seemed to know much, and the fact that it appeared that everything had been emptied out was extremely suspicious. Just what did they want to hide?

Still, it seemed as good of an opportunity as any to flip through the books that existed. He pulled a thick tome about magic off of one of the shelves, setting it down on a desk as he started to flip through it. To his surprise, the book was extremely detailed. Certainly not magic he knew about, but it was full of detailed accounts of research into spells that could create vast storms, famine... things that he didn't think that magic could possibly do.

Whatever world this was referring to, he hoped to never see it.

Comments

[wegotlucky]

The books were probably hidden somewhere where the administrators had a close eye on them. Knowledge was a dangerous thing if you wanted to keep people in the dark. He flipped through the book some more, coming across illustrations of what were possibly famous magic users. Though the illustrations remained, the names had all been blotted out. It seemed that a lot of care had gone into censoring the book, but at least it still told him something.

"You think there are any others like them out there?"

[tohko_amano]

Either that, or they were destroyed, but Tohko was trying to be optimistic, since there was no evidence that they were destroyed yet. At the question, Tohko looked at the images and smiled. While their names were blotted out, Tohko could tell that they might have been magicians of a sort.

"Of course! I've met a few magicians in this Tower, amongst other things. They're out there, trust me."

[wegotlucky]

"What are they like?" he asked, curious. He wanted to know everything he could about different types of magic. In his own experience, magic was by far not a good thing, but that didn't mean that he thought it was impossible for there to be any good at all about the abilities. The Blue Fairy was good, after all.

[tohko_amano]

"Well, they all seem like nice people. The three Waver Velvet's I've met have all been different, with the older one being more sarcastic, the younger one a bit more impulsive, and the female one comes from a completely different universe, but they're all pretty nice and smart.

Warmage is a pretty kind guy too, even if he isn't the smartest person in the world. Why do you ask?" After all, there were good magicians and bad magicians, and some in between, so Tohko didn't quite understand why this guy was asking that question.

[wegotlucky]

It was a lot of names that Neal had never heard of before. It made him realize just how many people he hadn't met in the Tower. He should probably fix that, and soon. Neal didn't have any interest in learning magic-- too many bad experiences with it, but he needed to know if there was any places where it was at all good.

"Just curious. Magic is different place to place."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko made friends with most people pretty easily, but even she knew that there were many, many people that she hadn't met here, and people that she would probably never meet. Tohko, unlike Neal though, had an interest in learning magic if she could, since she loved it, due to all the stories she read.

"I know it is, but that's what makes asking all the different magicians here about their systems so much fun."

[wegotlucky]

He smiled. "I guess I'll have to ask around, huh?" he said cheerfully. Magic was something that he never wanted to be directly a part of, but he couldn't help but like her enthusiasm.

[tohko_amano]

Tohko returned the smile and nodded. "You will! After all, there are a lot of nice and talented wizards and witches here. I can only use magic because I made friends with one of them, so meeting them might not be such a bad idea!"

[wegotlucky]

"Great!" Neal said cheerfully, flipping the book closed. "What kind of magic did you learn?"

[tohko_amano]

Tohko noticed that the man closed his book, and while she loved to talk about magic and various other things with people, she didn't want to distract him if he really wanted to read.

"Well, the ring I have lets me produce lighting..but I can also make some rain, if I want. However..I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. If you want to keep reading, I won't stop you."

[wegotlucky]

He shook his head. "It interests me," he said, twisting around to give her his full attention finally. "I know that there are some things that are magic. Items can be magically enhanced," Neal said. "Weapons, jewelry. I'm familiar with those sorts of things, though producing lighting is a new one," he admitted.

[tohko_amano]

At that, Tohko smiled, happy that she wasn't bothering this guy from his book. While she didn't mind being distracted from a story when someone wanted to talk to her, she knew that not everyone was like that.

"Well, to be honest, I'm familiar with the concept of enhancing or altering things with magic, but magic doesn't exist in my universe, so I only got to use and see it in this Tower. But I guess lightning magic isn't common in your universe?"

[wegotlucky]

"There's lots of different magic in my world," Neal admitted. No point in trying to dance around what type of magic he knew. "I mean I'm sure there are people who can create lightning in my universe-- really powerful magic users, but I've never seen it." If anyone could make lightning, his father probably could, but he wasn't about to go looking for those answers.

"You can do things like enchant a compass to always lead you in the direction of home, for instance."

[tohko_amano]

At that, Tohko nodded, smiling. She didn't know this guys personal history, but that did make sense.

"Ah, alright then! If you want, I could show it to you..and that does sound practical. I've heard of magic being used in similar ways before."

[wegotlucky]

It seemed like a reasonable offer. Despite his distrust of magic, Neal still wanted to be able to find some good of it, even if he had decided to ally himself with people who hated magic even more than he did. "Sure," he said brightly. "Beats reading it out of a book."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko, for her part, probably wouldn't be able to ally herself with those who hated magic unless they had a good reason for doing so. If the system of magic they had in their universe was harmful, she could understand..but here, there were many different magical systems, and she hadn't seen a single one that was harmful. For now though, Tohko just smiled and nodded, moving away from the bookshelves a bit.

"Alright then! Hang on a minute.."

With that, Tohko concentrated, picturing a small cloud of thunder building and circling around. As she did so, a storm cloud actually did appear in front of her, a few feet in the air. When she imagine the lighting falling, she snapped her fingers to make it more real, and a bolt of lighting hit the floor, scorching it.

[wegotlucky]

Even though he had been expecting it, it still made him jump a bit. Residual memories from everything his father had done made him nervous around magical abilities that weren't outright helpful, but he didn't hide or anything, instead looking rather impressed.

"That's just from a ring?" he asked, impressed.

[tohko_amano]

Tohko, on the other hand, had gotten used to it, and didn't jump at the noise, but just smiled and nodded as she caused a light rain to pour from the cloud.

"Yup! It really is helpful..even when I'm not fighting. If we ever have a drought or a lack of water, I can use it to help a few people out."

[wegotlucky]

It was times like this that made the tower feel relatively normal, even if he did have a rather uncomfortable feeling in the library. "Isn't there a floor where there's a farm? It seems like it might be a good way to do some gardening, huh?"

[tohko_amano]

Well, that made Tohko sigh, and the rain cloud vanished. "There are a few floors that you could plant some crops..but getting the seeds might be tough. Plus, the weather changes to much in this place that they might not keep."

[wegotlucky]

"Figures," Neal said darkly. It was hard to keep up the cheerful demeanor all the time when the tower constantly proved that it didn't want the people living in it to be happy. "Has anyone tried it before? It has to be worth trying at the very least."

[tohko_amano]

While Tohko didn't try to put on a false happy mask in the Tower, she would agree that it was hard to be optimistic here sometimes.

"If they have, I'm not aware of it, but one of my friends has taken to saving food for the harsher months."

[wegotlucky]

He nodded, cheerful looking. It wasn't like he hadn't thought about saving food himself. There had been the girl on the network a while ago talking about having a chocolate party, after all.

"Seems like a good plan. You never know when the administrators here might decide to leave us without food, huh?"

[tohko_amano]

Tohko, sadly, didn't eat normal food, so she hadn't thought of saving any for the rest of the residents. However, at the question, Tohko thought for a moment before replying.

"That should be..two months from now, I believe."

[wegotlucky]

He frowned. "Seems kinda risky."

Though, the administrators didn't seem to want to consider this place a prison, it was pretty clear that that was exactly what it was.