thirteenth prayer

[prayed]

Characters: Kyoko Sakura and open
Setting: Floor One Hundred, Floor Twenty-One, Floor Nineteen, Floor Four, Floor One
Format: Starting in action, but I'll follow.
Summary: Birthday and event shenanigans. Also eating a ridiculous amount of ice cream.
Warnings: None.

Floor One Hundred ⚜
[It's not often that Kyoko bothers with this floor. Truthfully, there's no reason in particular for her to be here today. She had simply wandered off the staircase without giving it even a single moment's thought about her actions or the consequences they might have.

Consequences like a fresh burst of homesickness. It's a strange feeling. Everyone she knows from back home is here. Homura, Madoka, Sayaka and even Mami. She's alive, but the sight of her father's church takes her back. It reminds her of the place she had so wanted to protect so strongly that she let the secret get out. It reminds her of her city, of fighting Witches and her every day routine.

It's startling how much she misses those things. Less shocking is how much she misses her freedom. The sight of this tower gets boring fast. With a slight sight, she finds herself at a the back of a pew, finds her hand goes through it, before opting to simply walk down the aisle--or at least, what this place is telling her is the aisle. A stick of pocky hangs out of her mouth, her hands shoved in her pocket.

She needs to stop over thinking things.]

Floor Twenty-One ⚜ Set before the rumor is changed by Tetra
[Kyoko had come to the restaurant largely on a whim. There's precious little reason to run around doing errands for the tower when the food in the cafeteria is perfectly fine, really, but even so, there's little harm in checking out the menu. If there happens to be something interesting enough then well, it isn't as though she lacks confidence in her ability to dig up anything they ask of her.

Of course, it remains closed. More interesting are the words carved into the wall.

SAYAKA MIKI AND JIN SHIRATO: DEFINITELY DATING. YOU'D HAVE TO BE BLIND NOT TO SEE IT!

She takes the words at face value, her expression falling as she rereads them. Apparently she was blind, because she didn't see it. Sayaka and...who the Hell is Jin? Sayaka sure as Hell hasn't ever mentioned him to her. Didn't she have a guy that she was interested in? That guy she made her wish for, Kyousuke. She folds her arms and shakes her head, letting out a heaving sigh. Somehow, it's annoying to find out that Sayaka's dating someone, especially through words scrawled on a wall. She mumbles to herself sullenly.]

You'd think she would've at least told me.

Floor Nineteen ⚜
[The library's missing sections have been restored.

This rumor, at least, was worth checking out the validity of. There is apparently some truth to it, too. Well, sort of. Kyoko is rummaging through the books, which are old enough to crumble to dust at the slightest touch. Some look as though they've had a jar of ink spilled on them, others have been violently torn apart.

The history section she can get hiding, but why would anyone go through such extreme methods to hide information about things like astral projection? The red ink is vaguely unsettling, creating the image that they'd been bathed in a pool of blood before being placed on the shelves.

DATA EXPUNGED

What's that supposed to mean...?

[She pulls another book off the shelf as she considers this, coughing violently as it breaks apart in her hands, sending up a thick cloud of dust.]

Floor Four ⚜ backdated to May 9th
[Upon waking up, Kyoko didn't give much thought to the date. The fact that she's fifteen now occurred came and went with the only significance being that she's proven to be capable of living this long, but really, that's only natural. Even back home, she went out on her own terms. She's strong enough to protect herself from anything. At least, that's what she chooses to tell herself.

Besides, really, what reason does she have to celebrate? She doesn't need an excuse to spoil herself or buy herself nice things, nor does she need anyone to provide them for her. That just one of the benefits of having this power and being sharp enough to use it up on herself.

So, the cake (surprisingly well made, coming from such a stuffy person,) that Naoto gave her was nothing less than a surprise. An unusually embarrassing one, at that. Kyoko is still unsure of how to take the gesture, even as the cake sits on the coffee table in front of her, a huge chunk of it missing. Really, she only mentioned it in passing. How did that girl even remember? She doesn't get it at all.

Lost in thought as she is, she'll still take the time to look over the back of the sofa at anyone entering the floor with a complicated expression on her face, as though she's not sure whether or not she wants to see who's joining her.]

Floor One (Kitchen) ⚜
[Today, either ignorant to the rumors about the cafeteria food or (more likely) simply not caring, Kyoko can be found in the kitchen, leaning back against one of the counters. In the crook of her arm she holds a gallon of ice cream. With her other hand she's shoveling large spoonfuls of ice cream into her mouth, paying no heed to the many reasons this is a bad idea. Sitting next to her is a plate with cookies on it, occasionally spearing the ice cream with her spoon in favor of lifting one up.

Her eyes remain locked on the door and so, anyone who walks in will find her biting down on her spoon in order to free her hand for a light wave before she promptly goes back to stuffing her face.]

Comments

Floor 19

[heavenscorpse]

[V/V has also come to check out whether this rumor is true or not. She's gently going through each of the books to see if there's one that has anything worth seeing.]

It means there's information that was there, and now it isn't.

[prayed]

I know--[sneeze]--that.

[Despite her sharp response, her frustration isn't really directed towards V/V so much as how entirely unhelpful the library's newest addition has proven to be. She rubs her nose, sniffling.]

How can you expunge data from a book? Doesn't make any sense, y'know. They all look like they've been dropped in a bucket of ink and left out to dry for a couple hundred years.

[heavenscorpse]

Maybe they were. It worked pretty well, whatever they did.

Floor 19

[warriorscribe]

They don't want us to separate our souls from these bodies ourselves, in any way...

*Enoch holds a red-soaked book in his hands. Not that he thinks he could have managed astral projection anyway, but...it was worth a try, right? Even if he wound up slipping away back to Meridian...it was better than leaving it up to Lucifel or Raphael, experienced as they already were.*

[prayed]

Hah. It's a little late for that, isn't it?

[His theory makes sense, but their souls have already been separated from their original bodies; moreover, her soul wasn't contained by her body from the start.]

[warriorscribe]

*He did say these bodies. Although...*

You couldn't project your soul from that gem, could you?

floor 19

[terreifying]

[Rei peers over Kyouko's shoulder. For some reason, the other girl seemed gloomy. She wonders what could have brought on the latest bout of brooding.]

Heeeey~? What'cha thinking about?

[prayed]

[The first response that Rei gets will be a violent sneeze. She shakes her head, sniffles and rubs her nose before flicking the spine of another book, throwing up dust in the process.]

The tower's newest restoration project.

[terreifying]

[Rei backs away as she hears Kyoko's sneeze.]

Oh? What did they restore?

Floor 4

[culbutiri]

Nesir was passing through this floor when she saw Kyoko, she smiled and waved, she hadn't seen her in a while and felt a bit awkward for how much of a bad mood she had been in last they had met.

"Do you be being okay?" Because that look was strange. Nesir noticed the cake but doesn't think it strange, Kyoko has had food with her every time they had met.

[prayed]

Kyoko quickly settled on a grin as she saw Nesir, returning her wave before she finally settled back into the sofa. She offered a light shake of the head in response to her question, her smile softening as she considered her earlier encounter with Naoto.

"Ah, I'm fine. It's just weird, y'know...how much people are willing to go out of their way of others."

[culbutiri]

Nesir tilted her head as she came to sit down next to Kyoko, "You do be finding it strange too?"

She was slowly getting used to it, but it was still strange to her, that people would go out of their way for virtual strangers in this place.

Floor Four

[detecting]

[Naoto knows full well how difficult life is in the tower. It's not easy, it's not pleasant and she's learned that sometimes all it takes is a simple gesture to take the pain away. One that lets you forget where you are and what you've been through, if only for a moment and sometimes that's all you need. It's little things -- simple gestures of kindness and affection from her friends -- that have helped her keep going through it all.

She paid attention when Kyoko told her when her birthday was because it was important. In a place like this you need to celebrate the small things. The normal things.

There's a small smile on her face when she sees Kyoko on the fourth floor.]

Enjoying your present?

[prayed]

[Kyoko laughs a little at Naoto's question, shaking her head. She's not the kind of person who'd turn down free food, but even so, she doesn't quite see the value of celebrating. She waves Naoto over before turning back to the cake.]

'Course I am. It tastes better than I thought it would, y'know. You make it yourself?

[detecting]

Ah, not quite, no. Kanji-kun assisted me, so I had a good deal of help. He knows his way around the kitchen far better than I do.

Foor nineteen

[tohko_amano]

[While Tohko was happy that the Administrators had restored the missing sections, their cruel prank was not making the book girl happy. She had already accidentally destroyed one book when she opened it up, and to find others completely ripped apart or dipped in red ink was just making her even more mad. The fact that her retrieval unit of a stalker kept following her wasn't helping matters.

So, when Tohko saw Kyoko and heard her ask about the 'data expunged', she couldn't help but answer..even if she did sound annoyed.]

It means that they've removed or left out that portion of the data. In other words, they're just toying with us now.

[prayed]

['Data.' That word doesn't seem quite appropriate for a library, stuffed to the brim with ancient tomes.]

Oi. Isn't that the same as saying that this place is just one giant computer?

[Kyoko frowns lightly as she considers the possibility. She dusts off her hands, biting down on a stick of pocky as she rolls over the possibilities that her current trail of thought comes along with.]

That doesn't make any sense, y'know.

Floor 1

[starofpleiades]

[Kazumi is coming in to check and make sure no one is poisoning themselves; she's a bit surprised to see Kyoko just... stuffing her face full of ice cream.

At least that has a 0% chance of containing poisonous plants?]

...are you really going to eat that all yourself?

[prayed]

That's why I took it, y'know.

[She says this as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.]

Why, you want some?

plaaceholder 1; floor 19

[yougotthatwrong]

[He had been checking those books ever since he found out about that rumor, considering he had been lucky enough to not be affected by all the weird things regarding them.

...Of course, considering that is a lucky thing, he has this sinking feeling that it will lead to a bad thing happening to him in the future.

But for now...]

...Hm, even if they did restore it, it's just useless, huh...

[His murmuring could be heard around 3 shelves behind Kyoko's current position.]

[prayed]

[Kyoko hears the voice coming from a few shelves behind her, but the identity of the owner doesn't quite register in her mind. She's not thinking about it at all when she offers a flippant response to his statement, nor when she starts to walk back his way.]

Sounds about right. Unless you wanna try and start a restoration project--

[Her sentence ends on a sharp note as she catches sight of Makoto and suddenly realizes the mistake she made by coming back here. The sight of him leaves him feeling a little sick, like her stomach had just fallen out. All of the feelings of guilt and despair that she just managed to forget were suddenly bubbling up again. What does she do? She glances off to the side, seeming to consider just keeping on her way.

After all, how is she supposed to face him after what she did to him...? For the very beginning she had no intention of asking for something like forgiveness when she had, without a moment's hesitation, taken his life. It's not something that she deserves--no, it's more like, she doesn't want to see him give it, for that reason she has no intention of apologizing for what happened.

After all, only an idiot would try and stay on good terms with their murderer.]

...heh. Didn't think I'd be seeing you around here.

[That much, at least, is probably true. Her eyes flick back to him, waiting to see what he'll do.]

plaaceholder 2; floor 4

[verismo]

[think of the devil...]

Told you what?

[...He's been wandering around to get his mind clear, and luckily (or unluckily), did not know about that current rumor regarding that love story.

'Course, seeing a familiar face prompted him to just poke in for a bit.]

[prayed]

[And look who's here. Kyoko's eyes flick to Kyousuke as he steps off onto the floor.]

That she's got a boyfriend now.

[She gestures vaguely to the rumor that's written on the wall.]

Floor 1

[bytheirhand]

[And Czes just stares.]

You're not going to eat all of that by yourself, right?

[prayed]

[If he looks carefully, he might see an empty container sitting on the counter behind her. She takes the spoon out of her mouth and waves it at him.]

Of course I'm gonna eat it all. I took this much for a reason, y'know.