001 Acts of Kindness

[queensgeneral]

Characters: Darres + Anyone!
Setting: Dorms 4-18, Floor 87, 19, Anywhere on the stairs
Time: All day
Format: I'll match
Summary: Darres is adjusting to his current situation, and exploring his new environment.
Warnings: Drowsiness may occur on the 87th floor.

[(Dorms) Darres found himself in an unfamiliar, dull setting. For the moment he was unable to move he was concerned, but his worry soon subsided when regained his mobility. He checked his surroundings out of habit before coming to a note informing him of his supposed situation. The general found it rather hard to believe and was skeptical that his world fell to such perils.] Just what I needed. [Another unwelcome consequence he was almost certain was caused by Ishtar. His first priority was to search for her.]

[(F87) Having left the dorms, the first floor that came off less suspicious and more like home was this one. Figuring it was a good place to start to find her, Darres enter with caution. Not having his weapon readily available made him far more vulnerable that he was comfortable with. "Ishtar, where are you?"]

[Gradually he found himself becoming drowsy and he hadn't the faintest idea why. The stubborn knight general kept his stance for as long as he could. Darres was having very little luck finding her, and before long it felt he was going to pass out. Still, he was unaware of the underlying cause.]

[(F19) Long his close call with floor high above, he eventually led himself to the library. It was as good as good of place as any too look for any key information to help him better understand his situation that the others were unable to inform him of. However, he was having trouble finding what he was looking for and stumbling upon theories and scientific research he's never even seen or heard of before. Growing frustration at the attempt to uncover any specific information, he will be found here for quite some time until he either becomes satisfied with his current findings, or gives up for the day.]

Comments

[queensgeneral]

"They're not here?" That was a disappointment. "What do you know?" It couldn't hurt to ask her.

[tohko_amano]

"No, they're not..the Administrators pulled them. And I know a lot about the Tower..I think it would be quicker for me to ask how much you know about it."

[queensgeneral]

"Administrators?" People are actually running this place? The knight took a brief moment to give the statement some thought. "I don't know anything about it." That's why he was trying to dig up information.

[tohko_amano]

At that, Tohko nodded to herself, thinking.

"Alright then. If you don't know anything about the Tower, I'll tell you everything I know. It'll be a lot to swallow at first..but it's best to hear it all up front so that you're prepared for later.

This is the Tower of Animus. Four people now run it-Riki, a secretive man who builds the Tower and is in charge of the records, Zo, a small child who can bring souls here, Jason, a sadistic medical doctor who sometimes experiments on the residents. He, I believe, helps transfer your soul when you die. Finally, there’s Ruana, a woman who has been here for thousands of years and doesn’t quite understand human empathy or emotions, and hates it when people go against her. She may seem sweet, but she is capable of removing free will and cannibalizing her own Administrators.

There used to be a fifth Administrator named Dax. He was the most humane of the bunch and did his best to protect us from Jason and the monsters here. He even managed to sneak people down to the Administrative levels in order to let them know more about this place. However, when he tried to go against Ruana..she killed and ate him, possibly absorbing his powers in the process. He was a good man.

Death isn’t permanent here. If you die, you’ll just wake up in your bed the next day. However, don’t throw your life away for foolish reasons. For one thing, you’ll probably get punished if you die too many times, and for the other…your body is made up of recycled parts. Only your soul was pulled to this universe. Your body, and the ones you’ll have afterward, are not your original body. That’s why you have the collar. It helps make sure your soul safely stays in your body.

I’m sorry to say that your universe is destroyed. You may see people you know here, but they won’t be from your own universe or point in time. I don’t know exactly how our universes were destroyed, but I do know that it was caused by Ruana watching our universes, for some reason.

If you haven’t been to the cafeteria yet, make sure that you eat the oatmeal when you do. If you don’t, you’ll throw up anything else you try to eat until you finish it. However, you can eat anything you want afterwards, and you can add things to the oatmeal to improve the taste.

Monsters roam the Tower at night, and some of the higher floors have monsters that attack if you get too close. If you can’t fight, then I would suggest learning. There are plenty of people here who would be willing to teach you."

[queensgeneral]

She wasn't lying when she said there was a lot to swallow, and he wasn't sure how he should handle this kind of situation. Darres has been trained for many things, and endured even more; however, he was still being surprised to this day. There was a lot he left back home, which was supposedly destroyed, not that he bought into it.

"And everything you just mentioned is what you know?" It made him wonder how long she's been here to collect such information if said history couldn't be found in a book anywhere. Regardless of how true it was, he was still grateful for this much help. He'll have to experience a few things for himself to determine his verdict, but overall felt better knowing more than he did before.

[tohko_amano]

Tohko had been here for quite awhile and had gotten her hands into a few things, so she knew quite a bit. At the question, she nodded.

"It is. There are a few things I don't know about this Tower yet, but so far, that's all I know."

[queensgeneral]

"What things don't you know?" Just so he was also aware of that. He'd rather know to be safe, then go any farther with a blind eye. Not that he had any reason to doubt her or distrust her either. Darres will absorb all she had to offer. Really he was thankful.

[tohko_amano]

Sighing, Tohko scratched her head as she replied to this question. There were quite a few things that she didn't know..in fact, there was more that she didn't know in comparison to the things she did.

"How this Tower was built. What lies outside it. The backgrounds of the Administrators. What the scientists were doing here before things went to hell. What Ruana was part of. How Dax became different than the rest of the Administrators..there are quite a few things I don't know about this place."

[queensgeneral]

He was more in the dark than even she was, but he still could understand the point she was bringing up based on the information that was already shared with him. "Those are good points." And he'll also keep them in mind in case he were to come across such information. It was highly unlikely, but there was always a small chance he would. "Thank you for your help."

[tohko_amano]

Which was, of course, why she had given him the infodump in the first place. She didn't want newcomers to be left in the dark about this place, especially when dangerous and important things were going on all the time.

"Oh, you're welcome! I'm always happy to help out! It can be a bit unnerving coming into the Tower with no information, so I'm always happy to bring people up to speed."

[queensgeneral]

"I appreciate it." Darres liked to avoid deadly situations when possible and this will definitely help. "My name is Darres." A formal introduction was in order. He'll keep out the part that he's a General, and also King. If this really was a different world, such information probably didn't matter here.

[tohko_amano]

That information probably didn't matter..but it would help in the long run, since this Tower was pretty dangerous. Tohko, however, wasn't one to leave off her title when she introduced herself.

"Oh, no problem! I like helping others. And it's nice to meet you, Darres! I'm Tohko Amano, the book girl."

[queensgeneral]

The book girl? Well that probably explained why she was in the library he supposed. "Tohko?" Unusual name, but his must have been to. Either way, he wasn't one to judge. "Do you usually come to this floor?"

[tohko_amano]

Well, that, and she was a librarian in this Tower. At the question, she nodded.

"Yup, that would be me! And I can usually be found on this floor. I'm also a librarian here, so I help out and read here when I can."

[queensgeneral]

"Is that so?" That explained many things, and he was kind of glad he met her too. She seemed like s sweet girl as well. "I might frequent here more often." Darres liked staying educated, it aided him for various other things.

[tohko_amano]

"It is! But you know..this floor holds more than just me and the librarians. Hopefully you'll notice the books and read a few while you're here! Even fictional stories can help out in ways that non-fiction cannot!"

[queensgeneral]

"I don't usually visit settings like this." Often his engagements required him to watch his majesty nearly 24/7, such luxury like libraries were only on occasions.

[tohko_amano]

"How come? Did you not have enough time? Or did you not like the libraries back in your universe?" While she was a being a bit nosy here, Tohko wouldn't mind if Darres didn't want to answer.

[queensgeneral]

"Unfortunately I didn't have enough time." He didn't mind sharing some detail. "Did you do this back on your world too?"

[tohko_amano]

"Ah, alright then. That's sad to hear..but it's good to hear that you'll have some time to read here then. And I wasn't a librarian back home, but I did help them when they had trouble finding books."

[queensgeneral]

"I see." Well it was nice that she found something to preoccupy herself with. He imagines it gets boring here if they're confined to the tower of horrors. He learned that many of the floors couldn't be trusted and that several were deceiving. "What would you recommend?"

[tohko_amano]

It never got boring in the Tower of Horrors. Scary, yes. Boring, never. "Well, what genres do you enjoy? Or what authors do you like? If you let me know, I'll be able to recommend things that you might enjoy!"

[queensgeneral]

"I don't normally read story books." He just never had the time. All of the books he read were for research or studying. This is why he needed help picking.

[tohko_amano]

At that, Tohko nodded, thinking, and started to rattle off titles, smiling all the while.

"Alright then..I would recommend starting with The Little Prince, I Am A Cat, There's Some Sky in this Pie, The Snow Goose, and The Master and Margarita! Those can all be found on the third floor, so you shouldn't have any trouble at all!"

[queensgeneral]

"What are some of them about?" Just so he could narrow it to two or three.