Queen Zeal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
blackestomen) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
towerofanimus2013-05-12 11:22 pm
blackestomen) wrote in towerofanimus2013-05-12 11:22 pm
01 - Ascending From The Depths
Characters: Queen Zeal and anyone
Setting: Dorms, Cafeteria, and about the Tower.
Format: Brackets to start, will follow with whichever.
Summary: Zeal awakens and attempts to get her bearings. More things are strange and wrong than simply being taken to somewhere new...
Warnings: None
[Room 2-09]
[The new arrival this morning might seem unusually subdued to some. No screaming, no shouting, no questioning who and what brought her here. She hardly moved since the sleep paralysis wore off. Just enough to sit and to cradle her head in her hands. The note hasn't been read. She's been simply staring straight ahead, and muttering quietly, unaware of those that might be around her.]
I cannot hear it. Cannot feel it. It's gone, gone, it's gone.... and I live. But it's gone. How? How?
---
[Cafeteria]
[Having managed to recover her wits somewhat, Zeal had made her way down to the cafeteria. She had felt hungry, genuinely hungry, for the first time in entirely too long. The savory omelets and pancakes in sweet syrup pulled at her senses, and she strode up to the unit in charge of handing out food with the intent to demand both... and was instead handed a bowl of oatmeal.]
What... what is this?
[Boiled grains. Mush. Food for an invalid. Fury began to rise within her. How dare they hand the Queen such a poor excuse for a meal! But as she opened her mouth to scold and shout, her stomach rumbled. She stopped. She took a step back, and looked down at the bowl in her hands.
What... would it taste like? There had come a point where food no longer mattered, where she had simply begun to exist on raw willpower and magical energies. And now she had to eat again. It was a necessity, gnawing in the pit of her stomach. This... would not be such a terrible thing to start with. Something simple. Something pure, for its simplicity. Silently, a bit absently, she found her way to a table. And then she sat and ate, slowly and carefully, genuinely savoring every bite.]
---
[Floors 22-23-24]
[Zeal was a cautious woman, a woman who considered her actions carefully, but not an incurious woman. Placed somewhere new, in such circumstances... she had to learn more of the place. She had to explore. It seemed most fitting to start at the bottom and work upwards, and that was just what she did. Her first real hiccup was upon reaching the twenty third-floor.
Or... no, that was the twenty-fourth. She had counted twenty-four floors. Or was that twenty-three? No, but...
She passed a hand over her face and hissed softly through her clenched teeth. Everything felt a little bit wrong, a little bit strange, and everything had Zeal second-guessing herself. But this... this particular feeling was one that she couldn't explain away so easily. It wasn't an absence of presence, it was a lapse of... of something. That wouldn't do. And so she lifted her skirts, turned on one heel, and began to start back down the stairs to see what all the fuss was.
Having returned to floor 22 with an even stronger sense of something being wrong, she turned right on about again, ascending the stairs once more. Back to what she knew, absolutely, was floor twenty-four because she had counted it and...
Again with the gritted teeth. Again with a raised hand, this time upon the side of her head. Upon hearing footsteps approach, she turned towards them, pointed imperiously, and shouted a demand.]
You! Tell me, what floor is this!?
Setting: Dorms, Cafeteria, and about the Tower.
Format: Brackets to start, will follow with whichever.
Summary: Zeal awakens and attempts to get her bearings. More things are strange and wrong than simply being taken to somewhere new...
Warnings: None
[Room 2-09]
[The new arrival this morning might seem unusually subdued to some. No screaming, no shouting, no questioning who and what brought her here. She hardly moved since the sleep paralysis wore off. Just enough to sit and to cradle her head in her hands. The note hasn't been read. She's been simply staring straight ahead, and muttering quietly, unaware of those that might be around her.]
I cannot hear it. Cannot feel it. It's gone, gone, it's gone.... and I live. But it's gone. How? How?
---
[Cafeteria]
[Having managed to recover her wits somewhat, Zeal had made her way down to the cafeteria. She had felt hungry, genuinely hungry, for the first time in entirely too long. The savory omelets and pancakes in sweet syrup pulled at her senses, and she strode up to the unit in charge of handing out food with the intent to demand both... and was instead handed a bowl of oatmeal.]
What... what is this?
[Boiled grains. Mush. Food for an invalid. Fury began to rise within her. How dare they hand the Queen such a poor excuse for a meal! But as she opened her mouth to scold and shout, her stomach rumbled. She stopped. She took a step back, and looked down at the bowl in her hands.
What... would it taste like? There had come a point where food no longer mattered, where she had simply begun to exist on raw willpower and magical energies. And now she had to eat again. It was a necessity, gnawing in the pit of her stomach. This... would not be such a terrible thing to start with. Something simple. Something pure, for its simplicity. Silently, a bit absently, she found her way to a table. And then she sat and ate, slowly and carefully, genuinely savoring every bite.]
---
[Floors 22-23-24]
[Zeal was a cautious woman, a woman who considered her actions carefully, but not an incurious woman. Placed somewhere new, in such circumstances... she had to learn more of the place. She had to explore. It seemed most fitting to start at the bottom and work upwards, and that was just what she did. Her first real hiccup was upon reaching the twenty third-floor.
Or... no, that was the twenty-fourth. She had counted twenty-four floors. Or was that twenty-three? No, but...
She passed a hand over her face and hissed softly through her clenched teeth. Everything felt a little bit wrong, a little bit strange, and everything had Zeal second-guessing herself. But this... this particular feeling was one that she couldn't explain away so easily. It wasn't an absence of presence, it was a lapse of... of something. That wouldn't do. And so she lifted her skirts, turned on one heel, and began to start back down the stairs to see what all the fuss was.
Having returned to floor 22 with an even stronger sense of something being wrong, she turned right on about again, ascending the stairs once more. Back to what she knew, absolutely, was floor twenty-four because she had counted it and...
Again with the gritted teeth. Again with a raised hand, this time upon the side of her head. Upon hearing footsteps approach, she turned towards them, pointed imperiously, and shouted a demand.]
You! Tell me, what floor is this!?
Re: Cafeteria
[He finishes the bowl by tipping it into his mouth, dropping it onto the table once the contents were past his gums.]
They'll switch up the menu here from time to time, make us eat really crappy food one month then even worse food the next. Just make sure you eat a bowl of oatmeal before you eat anything else, okay? Otherwise you'll get really sick. I don't know why, but you'll regret it if you don't.
I'm Luffy. Monkey D. Luffy. You?
Cafeteria
I see. I'll take your advice.
[And she ate a spoonful of oatmeal, slowly, letting herself appreciate it with no haste to answer Luffy. After she had taken her sweet time, she set the spoon down and spoke again.]
I am Queen Zeal, of the Kingdom of Zeal.
Re: Cafeteria
[Luffy claps his hands together, bows his head, then pushes the bowls to the center of the table.]
Thanks for the meal! So, you're a Queen, huh? No wonder you're so beautiful! Grandpa always said Queens were supposed to be very beautiful and kind. Have you been in the Tower for very long? I hope your kingdom is okay.
Cafeteria
[What a strange place this was turning out to be. She ate another spoonful of oatmeal, listening carefully to Luffy all the while. It pleased her to be called beautiful, and she smiled. And then the smile froze. Was her kingdom okay? No. She knew that with certainty.]
...it sank beneath the waves long, long ago.
[Or was it yesterday? Last month? A few short years? How long was it, really? She looked profoundly unsettled.]
Re: Cafeteria
[His eyes begin to water, turning to face her as he sat with his legs pulled up to his chest.]
A-Are your pesants okay? You have pesants, right?
Re: Cafeteria
Some of them were, I believe. Enlightened and Earthbound, both.
[...she hadn't ended everything, had she? In the end, that was beyond her grasp, wasn't it? What a relief to realize. Her smile takes on a sad sort of genuineness, and she eats another spoonful of oatmeal.]
Re: Cafeteria
WAAAH~! YOU.. Y-YOU MUST BE AN AMAZING QUEEN TO BE SO WORRIED ABOUT YOUR PEOPLE!! I'M SO SORRY, QUEEN-SAMA!!
no subject
And then some composure comes back to her and she's fumbling for a napkin and flicking it at him with a little huff of magical wind.]
E-enough of that! No crying! It's unseemly!
no subject
[He wipes his eyes on his vest, drying them as he watches the Queen with concern.]
D-Do you have a home to go back to when you get out of here?
no subject
[Just for good measure, she flicks a second napkin his way.]
When I... [Get out of here? The thought had hardly occurred to her. Escape didn't seem... appropriate. This was her punishment, wasn't it?] ...I presume I would find some place, if I were to leave.
no subject
Why don't you leave with me? I used to have a Princess in my crew, I'm sure there's something you're really amazing at! We could have lotsa' fun and sail the waves and be free!
no subject
If the time ever comes to leave, then... perhaps.
no subject
[Arms stretch over his head, kicking up the dishes and bowls on his table top as he laughs aloud with glee.]
Princesses are awesome! But you're probably the best Princess there is, right? So, what else are you good at? Do you like playing games like hide and seek and poker? We do all sorts'a' fun things on my ship!
[His face is like that of a child, carefree and innocent as he laughs aloud with no care or concern.]