towerofanimus | first ➳

Entry tags:

first ➳

Characters: Nue Houjuu and OPEN
Setting: The dormitory floors; the cafeteria; Floor 6 (forest)
Format: Action preferred
Summary: Nue wakes up in the Tower, is annoyed by mysterious sounds, and doesn't care for the cafeteria food.
Warnings: Some goriness in the last prompt.
Notes: You might want to check this out before tagging in!

I. Dormitories
[Nue has a lot of questions about her situation when she comes to. There are the obvious, like where this place is and how she has been brought here, and then there are the more esoteric, like the number of youkai and the number of humans here alongside her. However, as she explores her new surroundings, her thoughts begin to come back to one particular question more and more often.]

[What is that noise?]

[Her pointed ears twitch and lie back like an animal's—not that most people should be able to see that, given the way she has covered herself with one of the few seeds she has access to. (Another thing to wonder about.) She even growls a little. It's seriously irritating, and it doesn't sound like anything she has ever heard before. Her wandering through the dormitory hallways quickly turns from an attempt to get her bearings to a quest to locate the source of that whining. Occasionally, she'll stop and scratch at a wall, as if to dig inside.]

II. Cafeteria
[Sometime later, Nue can be found in the cafeteria. She doesn't look significantly more pleased by the situation here than she did by the one upstairs, but for what is at least in part a different reason. Specifically, she's miffed by the options she has for food.]

[Seriously. As if suffering through the oatmeal wasn't bad enough, her reward is this flowery crap? What kind of self-respecting youkai would be pleased with this garbage?]

III. Floor 6
[Being unable to fly makes taking down a prey animal somewhat more difficult than it would otherwise be, but Nue makes do nonetheless. The loss of her powers and the aggressiveness of what should have been a timid doe catch her by surprise—and she has the bloody shoulder to prove it now—but it isn't hard to entangle the animal's legs with one of her flexible, blade-like wings while the other five slit its throat and rend its flesh. It doesn't take her long to leave it jerking against the ground in its final movements.]

[She doesn't feel like carrying her prize all the way back to "civilization," so when she settles down to eat, it's in the dirt. The scythe-like limbs at her back cut into her meal's still-warm body, and the blue spears opposite of them pry it apart for her. Blood drips down her chin as she gobbles down the meat raw. Unashamedly, she eats like an animal, because there's no one around to tell her she should do otherwise. She doesn't mind it.]

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[As he's walking through the hallways, he stops at the sight of a girl scratching at the walls. She looks so young and so unsettled that he can't help but feel immediate sympathy and concern. Another child here... He hates to see that. Is she new here? He can't just leave her alone.]

Hello. Are you all right?

[He smiles at her, limping his way over to where he's scratching. He doesn't see anything on the wall, but he wouldn't be surprised if she's just upset and acting out of panic. Who wouldn't want to scratch through the walls to get out of here? His tone is gentle when he speaks.]

Can I help somehow?

[Nue pauses when she is addressed. Rather than immediately respond, she merely looks at him at first, her eyes drawn to his marred skin and pallor, his white hair and his mismatched eyes. His limp is obvious. It makes her curious, albeit in the sense of a person wondering how a sick animal managed to avoid being culled for so long.]

[Her movements swift, she sweeps closer to him and leans in, wasting absolutely no time invading his personal space. She studies the veins marking his face more closely, but she doesn't say anything about them yet.]

Hey, you. [Her voice is a young woman's.] Tell me what that sound is.

[He's used to being stared at, considering how he looks. He's just glad he doesn't scare her. He hates the thought of scaring children. She doesn't seem to be shy at all, in fact, with the way she approaches him so readily. He isn't offended by her close scrutiny. It isn't her fault he looks so strange. He does feel self-conscious about it, but he tries to ignore the feeling.]

Sound?

[Her voice sounds older than he expected, but considering the range of people here, he isn't too surprised by that. Is she older than she seems, maybe? The thought doesn't make him any less concerned for her.

He isn't sure what she means by "sound". He stops to listen for a moment, but he doesn't hear anything unusual. Is that why she's scratching at the walls, because she hears something?]

I don't hear anything. What does it sound like?

You don't? [Her surprise at that answer is short-lived, however. She makes a soft harrumphing sound.] That figures.

[She doesn't elaborate on what she means by that, though, glancing away from him and backward the space she had been clawing at.]

It doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard before. [As ignorant of the modern world as she is, she can't place something like a wireless signal.] It's high-pitched and whining. I couldn't find where it was coming from, so I thought maybe there was something inside the walls.

There's a sound like that? [Ah. He'd noticed that the worms were more restless lately, and he hadn't been able to ascertain why, when everything seemed normal. Normal for the Tower, that is. Could it have something to do with that? Maybe they were sensing a vibration.] That explains it...

You've heard it this whole time? [As he stands, he unconsciously wraps his right arm around himself, holding his limp left arm in place.]

There are a lot of strange things in this tower. [He doesn't know what could cause a noise like that, though.] Maybe it's something electronic? Do you think there is something inside the walls? [He peers at the wall more intently, but it just looks--normal.] I wonder if they're planning something.

I've been hearing it since I woke up. What does it explain?

[Her eyes flick back toward him, slightly narrowed as she studies him now. Unseen, her wings swish back and forth like tails behind her.]

Electronic... [She pronounces the word as though it's something foreign to her, or only barely familiar.] That's... To tell you the truth, I'm no good with that kind of thing. [Despite her pride, she no trouble admitting this. After all, her age and classical fame is a point of pride to her.] Is that the kind of noise something like that would make?

[Not that she really understands what "something like that" is.]

I don't know, but it's not coming from anywhere outside them, as far as I can tell. [...] Who's planning something?

Just something I noticed. [How to explain the Crest Worms, really? Oh, I'm full of worms, and I'd noticed they were acting strangely? He tends to avoid mentioning them so directly.] I sensed something was different, but I didn't know what.

It could be. If I could hear it, it might be easier to tell, but it sounds like it, from your description. [Kariya doesn't know much about that kind of thing himself. For all that he's familiar with the technology, some of the more technical aspects elude him.]

The administrators. They run this place. Sometimes they do things to us. Run tests on us or change us, or change what we think. [He feels bad for having to say this to a child, so he softens his words.] Usually it doesn't last too long, though. You must be new here. Do you have any other questions I can answer? I know it can be confusing at first.

[That answer doesn't tell her much of anything, and so he only succeeds in making her more curious about him. She scrutinizes his face again, her eyes tracing the veins warping it. She wants to study them with her hands as well, or move in close and breathe deeply to examine his scent.]

[She listens to him talk, her gaze intent as her wings flick back and forth behind her. She has a lot of questions—more now than she did before. The first one she asks isn't anything about the Tower.]

Are you human?

[She suspects he is. The limp makes it more likely that he's sick rather than some kind of monster. She asks anyway.]

[He's never been asked that before, but it brings home to him just how strange he looks. Other than human. Again, he's not offended. The direct question is childlike in a way, reinforcing his belief that she must be young. He can't be angry with a child for speaking her mind.]

Yes. I am.

I must look strange to you, but I have a health condition. I'll be all right. [He's just going to conveniently ignore the fact that if left unchecked, it will kill him.]

Oh. [It's what she expected, but she still sounds disappointed.] What about the rest of the people here? What about them?

[He wonders at the disappointment, but he continues to smile. Maybe she's not human?]

There are all kinds of people here. They aren't all human. I don't know everyone, so I can't say for sure how many different kinds of people there are.

Have you ever talked to anyone who said anything about the Myouren Temple? Or anyone who called themselves Mamizou or Kogasa.

No, I've never heard those names. [He shakes his head.] I'm sorry. I'll try to remember them, though. You never know who might show up here. Even if they're not here now, your friends might arrive later.

[He'd rather have her feel hopeful about that. It's good to have hope, and it's not in vain. After all, his own family had arrived here--in a way.]

Is that where you're from, the temple?

[Her friends... She doesn't say anything to that, unsure exactly how she feels upon hearing that she very well may be alone here. It would be nice to have Mamizou or Kogasa along with her, but at the same time, without the people she had otherwise been constraining her behavior for...]

...Sort of. I owe the nun in charge, so I'm staying there for a little while.

[It's a complicated situation. Not that she does much to help herself there.]

I see.

[He doesn't really see, not entirely, but he guesses that makes sense. It's nice of the nun to let her stay there, if she has nowhere else to go.]

You might also want to ask on the network we have here. They have computers everyone can use to communicate. It's a good way to contact people. [Well, when it's working.]

It's nice to meet you. My name's Kariya Matou.

I told you, I don't know about that kind of thing. [...] Maybe you could show me.

[If he's so willing to help, why not take advantage of that? She feels abruptly wary of giving her identity away, if she has the chance to avoid it, but knowing how to work something like that couldn't hurt.]

[She debates whether or not to give him her real name or not, but if he's going to be looking out for other people for her...]

...I'm Nue.

Oh, you don't know about computers at all? [He's not surprised. He knows people come here from many different times and places.] I'd be glad to show you. There are network terminals not far from here.

Nue, that's a pretty name. [He smiles at her, then offers his hand.]

[Nue looks at his hand when it's offered, not quite sure how to respond. It's not as though no one has ever offered her their hand before, but it's unusual for a human to be the one doing it. Even if he sees her as just an ordinary girl...]

Is it? [She doesn't sound particularly pleased with his comment on her name. She doubts humans called her by that name because it was pretty. Maybe modern humans really have forgotten about her...]

[Oh, she must be shy, for all that she seems confident in some ways. Kariya understands that. He was shy as a child, too. He doesn't press, pulling his hand back easily.]

I like it, anyway. It's nice.

The terminals are this way. You can follow me. [And, still smiling, he turns toward them.]

[She follows him when he turns, only just far enough behind to avoid encroaching on his personal space.]

Doesn't it make you think of anything? [She says this like she's trying to jog his memory. Come on.]

Nue--

[He thinks for a minute.]

There's a magical creature called that, isn't there? I can't remember too well.

[He used to love stories about folklore, but his memory isn't what it was.]

Look, there they are. [He points toward the two computers farther down the hall.]

You can't re—

[That blow is a direct strike on her pride. If it sounds like she's taking it personally, it's because she is.]

Is it really that obscure now?!

[Kariya stops short, thoughtful. She doesn't seem to be pleased by his answer. He didn't mean to upset her.]

Maybe not.

[He gives her an apologetic look, but he can't really make himself remember.]

It could be that a lot of people know about it. I might just have a bad memory.

[She huffs, his reply doing little to mollify her.]

Just show me how to use those "terminal" things already.

[Not that she's sulking or anything.]

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