towerofanimus | 001.st Page

Characters: Saya and Open
Setting: Dormitory floors.
Format: Prose for the start, but I'll match the comments otherwise.
Summary: A newcomer exploring the tower.
Warnings: Nothing exceptionally horrible is expected to happen here.

There are writings on the walls.

Saya finds that fascinating. It is such a graceful way of sharing stories, one that lets people remain connected no matter how far they are from each other. Time, space and distance all bow down to the written word, able to smudge or alter it, but never wipe it away. Some part of the truth, the story left behind by the message's original author, will always reach someone.

A graceful way, but a dangerous one. Not all written words are truths; most of them can be altered, while some of them are lies from the beginning. Is that why certain messages on these walls have been crossed out and altered so many times? Or are people simply pulling pranks on each other? Saya doesn't know yet. There must be a reason for people using graffiti in a place where they can simply approach each other in the first place. Not knowing the reason, she realizes, is part of why there is such magic in there being writings on the walls.

She will find someone and ask them everything eventually. She might even remember that she's hungry and head off to the cafeteria. But for now, Saya stops against one of the walls covered in writings and presses her hand against the smudged text.

She might like it here, she realizes now. Even if her world is really over, her story is sure to continue.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As always, it was pretty late in the day. Reimu was never one to find herself up at would should be first thing in the morning. That went double when she decided to be a vampire hunter. Vampires were never out during the daytime anyway so it made no sense to do the same.

Either way, she floated out of her room in a quite literal fashion. She wanted to go to the cafeteria and get food but she wasn't looking forward to whatever trash they might be serving. Still, it was better than nothing.

On her way to her destination, she raised a hand at the other person.

"Yo."

As if floating down the hall tiredly was completely normal.

The answer was a distracted "Ha-ah..." that sounded more like an acknowledgment than an actual greeting. Saya had never been good with people, at least not when she had something to busy herself with. With her fingers still studying the writings on the walls, everything else seemed secondary at best.

After a few moments, though, the fact that she's not alone anymore finally sinks in. Saying something seems natural, so she says the first thing that comes to her mind.

"Fascinating, isn't it? Where I come from, graffiti is a half-forgotten art."

"What?"

Now she has to actually look. Reimu guessed she was talking about what's on the wall but half-forgotten? What, do people never put their signature places or something?

"It's kind of boring. I'd be more wary of magic circles or something."

"Ah, but magic circles aren't stories. They are instructions, made despite the recipient often knowing what to do quite well on their own..."

But then, what if these writings? As her words force her mind to work, Saya, remembered that she didn't actually know what any of this meant. Statement after statement on the tower's walls, each one scratched up and modified numerous times. They could be rumors, warnings, anything...

"You." She suddenly perked up as she turned away from the wall and toward the other girl. "Do you know what any of these mean?"

"Or they're traps where some mischievous rat wanted to trap you in it."

Too much time spent around annoying witches and trouble making youkai have ruined Reimu's perception of most things.

"My name is Reimu, not 'you', by the way. And I don't know what they mean. Just read it and I guess that's what people are trying to say."

"Ha-ah..." She didn't respond to that small correction of her manners. For how white Saya looked, with her blond hair and white-and-black coat over the bodysuit one could expect a newcomer to wear, she had never been particularly good with basic manners. Especially not when faced with a disappointment.

So these were nothing special, if the girl's bored reaction was any indication. A shame, but she should have expected that. Things that felt special to her, rarely looked special to others.

"Do people need to write rumors on the walls for them to reach others in this tower? Is there no communication network?"

"Oh, if you just want to talk to other people..."

Reimu peered down the hallway and, nope, she didn't spot what she was looking for. She never could remember where they kept those...things. She would use the word 'machine' but that wasn't exactly part of her lexicon.

"...er, there's these magic things where you can send moving pictures or letters to other people. Writing on the walls would just end up being annoying, I think."

"Yet it is done regardless..." Unless this is something unusual for this place. Come to think of it, the writing is rather fresh and the corrections to it are even more so. Is this a new fad? Or is there more to the story than she realizes?

But given how disinterested her new company sounded, she would have to seek other sources of knowledge. Maybe that was for the better. Saya didn't know enough about this place's general features to start asking about the fine print.

"Is this place so big that I would walls and moving pictures, though? I was told this is but one tower."

"Sure it's one tower but it goes up for a really long way."

Tallest thing she's ever laid eyes on aside from mountains. But without said mountains around, it was difficult to judge sizes.

"If you can't fly around, I hope you like walking because the lift thingy doesn't visit every floor."

"Hmmm, I suppose I can walk on air a bit..."

Not that she was very good at it, but there was never any harm in learning new tricks for a new step in her journey.

"But shouldn't having a dormitories floor mean everyone has a space to easily run into each other?"

"Are you trying to use logic in this place? You probably should stop before your brain leaks out your nose."

Implying that people didn't need a communication network when they lived close together was logical. But thinking on it was probably way too dangerous.

"Besides, I've got a good feeling that a lot of people have issues talking face to face. Mostly because they're so offensive that people would hit them over what they said."

"Hmmm..."

So her companion was the kind who perceived a lack of logic in the lack of normalcy. Somewhat expected. People never wanted to accept that they were the only thing in this world that lacked logic or reason.

Ah well, she supposed this was as close as she could with getting the basics out of this girl. About time she showed a little manners. Saya smiled brightly, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that she just fell silent for a good dozen seconds, and raised her hand in an offered handshake.

"I am Saya. Saya Wielant."

001.st Page

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