08 | do you want me only for my body?

[alephbet]

Characters: Aleph and you.
Setting: June 1st, riiight after the reveal.
Format: Starting with actionspam, but will match you.
Summary: Aleph has had enough of it.
Warnings: Will edit if anything comes up.

[Aleph has always tried to stay strong.

He was a gladiator with no memories, then a Messiah with no choices. Then a hero with no ability to save the people he knew or even stop from killing them himself. Then a God-killer whose punishment would be eternal.

He did these things, he lived through these things and took minimal comfort because he knew it would all be worth it. For the people he would save, in the end. The future he would build.

Now he stares at what should be hands, his hands, as he sits outside his dorm room on the floor. He thinks about where he should be, what he'd done so much work for, and yet everyone on that world is dead now. He misses his demons. He realizes -

he doesn't even have eyes to cry-

-and so he just huddles up on the floor and sniffles pathetically.]

Comments

[altitonant_emperor]

Very well. I will leave the fighting, should it occur on the way, to you.

[ Thought he'll jump in if it looks like Aleph's somehow struggling to hold his own. ]

[alephbet]

Thank you.

[It ain't happening.]

[altitonant_emperor]

You're welcome.

[ Protags, seriously. ]

[alephbet]

Watch your step.

[I'd say 'Aleph vs Minato who would win' but honestly we know the answer to that unless it's like... falling asleep contest.]

[altitonant_emperor]

I make it a point to employ caution in this place. Don't worry.

[ Minato would be the reigning champion of all sleeping contests. ]

[alephbet]

[Aleph falls silent for a while. It's getting awkward at this point, not talking while going down so many floors.]

[altitonant_emperor]

[ Sorry, Aleph. Hidetoshi is still a little too shaken and preoccupied with going down all these floors without incident to really pay much attention to the awkward silence. ]

[alephbet]

[Well, then.]

Do you have pets?

[altitonant_emperor]

[ A pause before he answered. ]

No. [ Hidetoshi decided to explain more in detail to take his mind off the sense of unreliability he felt towards their surroundings. Talking about small trifles helped. ] Oftentimes, I didn't come home from school until late in the afternoon, and my mother worked—... works a day job, which took up a lot of her time. She was usually delayed until late in the evening.

[ If not later. ]

So, it wouldn't be very fair to the pet to leave alone at the house so often, would it?

[Unless it was fish, or a kind of rodent which... No thanks. And since Hidetoshi figured Aleph didn't regard his demons as pets; ] Did you have any yourself?

[alephbet]

[He's right about that one.]

I didn't. After I left the gladiator life, I was constantly traveling, so it definitely wouldn't have been convenient.

[altitonant_emperor]

[Common sense is awesome. ]

Hm. What were some of the places you visited, while you were traveling? Your world must have wonders of its own to boast of, right?

[alephbet]

I wouldn't call it wondrous. The term's more 'post-apocalyptic'.

[altitonant_emperor]

[ Hidetoshi just doesn't know he's from a SMT world yet. ] Ah. I see. The questions stand, however. What sort of places did you travel to?

[alephbet]

Hm, well... apart from the strictly-run area of the Toyko Millenium, I did travel underground to visit a town there. And then there was the demon world, of course- but other than that, most of Earth is barren wasteland.

[altitonant_emperor]

[ ... How depressing. There are over a dozen dystopian novels that depict that exact situation, except the level bleakness varies between books. Minus the demons. ]

If you don't mind me asking, what is the demon world like?

[alephbet]

Very low in technology, and sparsely settled, but a good deal happier than the human towns I visited.

[altitonant_emperor]

I suppose that's something positive, isn't it?

[alephbet]

It is. I get along well with demons, most of the time.

[altitonant_emperor]

[ Hidetoshi nodded. ] That's an useful talent.

[alephbet]

A good friend of mine used to be here in this tower... I hope he's doing all right.

[altitonant_emperor]

[ Not in the tower anymore -> left the Tower and went back to their ruined home world... :| ]

Perhaps he will return one day?

[alephbet]

[Exactly.]

I hope so. That place can't be good for him.

[altitonant_emperor]

Mm, I agree.

[ Are they there yet? ]

[alephbet]

[Yes, okay, they're there now.]

[altitonant_emperor]

[ Awesome! That took awhile. ]