towerofanimus | Glamour Failure

No, I can't. I wish I could. But I can stay with you and keep you company.

It's scary, isn't it? But I think if we stay together, it'll be better.

[He hates to think of a child being alone and frightened.]

Yotsuba, is that your name?

[The voice, the serious disposition - even if she's only personally encountered it a few times before, it's enough for her to make a guess at the violet man's identity. There's a pause before she responds to him, during which her "eyes" fall to the sword shaped film at his hip.

He's formal, but it's hard to tell if it's the kind of formality borne of respect, or rather cold anger. It doesn't matter when coming to a decision, she supposes. He'll grant his request regardless of what lies for her at the end.]

Of course. Lead the way.

Is that truly better or worse? [she snickered and looked out at the halls outside, shaking her head.]

It's all a game to them. Surely you knew that already. It's just a question of what you think it takes to win the game, how much you let them control you through those little games of theirs.

"Close enough," she said with a playful laugh, looking over at him and shaking her head. "The tortures are different, but they clearly wish to make this place into their own little torture game. Quite amusing. Powerbar?"

[She chuckled and nodded.]

Fair enough. This isn't quite the same sense of hell as you're used to, I take... ahhh, wait, pretty little Zett. Is that you?

[She's grinning over at him, pinning down who he is from the vague similarity of his appearance to Zett's.]

I know, I could have told someone, but everyone seemed so busy with other things, or there was something else going on that seemed more important. I thought I just needed to handle it on my own.

[But that's come back around to bite her a few times now. A problem for one of them is a problem for all of them, and she needs to swallow this urge she has to not be the one that's sitting in the back and being protected and deal with it.]

I guess it's better to deal with it now that I know it's not just something I can claim is a nightmare - or, well, now that I don't have a choice but to deal with it. I'm still afraid of not being able to do anything to fight back, though. That's the bigger issue here. I know I'm still me, no matter what body I'm in, but the rest of it...

I know denying it won't help, I just don't know what to do about that part.

... I would not say "all right" is the right word. Accepting, perhaps, as it explains quite a few things. But not all right.

[Someone needs to stay sane. Someone needs to stay rational. May as well be the one who caused this revelation.]

It is what dispelled the illusion.

[She caused it, so there's no point in hiding it, really.]

Oh... I do like your spirit, but you do know that all of the gifts, the hexes, the spell cards and the tricks you youkai favor so much, those talismans and what not? None of them work. Only the strength you have with that toy spear of yours is there.

You must find the things that they fear to use them against them, if you wish to turn it on those masters.

Nesir had been fighting monsters, trying to forget everything that had happened with Ryoji when the tower had spoken, everything seemed to pause, even the monster. Power failure? Glamour...

She knew of glamour. She knew of illusions that could be wrapped round people and objects, to trick the eye.

She knew the tower wasn't magic, it was something else, something more. But as the red lights came on again she realised she had underestimated everything. The foil in her hand, the harsh metal of her surroundings, her hand itself.

But the monster was real, and it was still coming at her. She threw the foil, not even knowing if it would do damage, but it did and she ran.

She stared at her hands again, and around her. What was this? Some kind of trick?

But the voice had said glamour systems were shutting down, turning off.

So was this reality?

Anger built up in her, and she welcomed it. At least she could still feel. She screamed in anger, in confusion, in fear.

Edited 2013-06-01 18:27 (UTC)

I don't know either.

[Kariya hadn't had any theories of his own. He'd been taking things as they came, wondering, but to no avail.

He takes the time to consider Waver's question, even if it's a rhetorical one. What the hell are we? It's a point to focus on. It gives his mind something else to do, other than try and fail to process what he sees around him. He looks down at himself again. In a way, their situation aside, he can think more clearly. The worms had affected his mind, too, and that haziness is gone.

We--we look like robots. It's like a science fiction story. [Kariya had always liked reading science fiction, and it's the first thing that occurs to him.] It's a different world, so--they're aliens. With alien technology.

[When Waver asks about Diarmuid, Kariya shakes his head. He does wonder, where is Diarmuid. Is he all right? Where's Lancelot? He realizes what else is missing: he doesn't feel anything of his bond with the Servant.]

Are you cut off, too? You must be. There's no contract. No, I haven't seen him. I just woke up. I was in one of those--pod things.

[The pod reinforces his idea that this is something out of science fiction. Where else do people sleep in pods?]

[The sword is ignored for now - he winds up leading her down the stairs to his room, since she did tell him to lead.

4-06 is empty save for them. There's nowhere to offer her a seat, but Asch at least closes the door after her, never once dropping the formal disposition. It's afterwards, still facing the door, that he hesitates for a moment before turning back to her -

Zelda needn't have worried. When his temper burns, it's hot and violent, shooting sparks. Instead, he gives her a bow, deep and formal, whisps of hair-film falling over his shoulders.]

I have... A request I'd like to make.

[To choose for himself, what master he would be devoted to.]

Yeah. I was cut off as soon as the lights came back on--everything just stopped, like...christ, I don't even know how to phrase it.

[If a wireframe could look lightheaded, Waver certainly did. He leaned back against the wall and stared at what should have been his right hand. At the very least, he was gradually speaking more coherently.]

I was in the middle of something when everything went dark, I--I was trying to work up a light source before all this happened. Maybe I should have gone looking for him first. Who the hell knows where that idiot is now...

[Brushing her off wouldn't have disappointed her. It would have been a normal reaction, and Tohko would have understood. At those words though, Tohko sighed.]

I know how you feel. This is pretty terrible, and I don't think anyone was expecting it. However..you are strong enough to handle this. I know you are! Even if you don't feel like it right now, I'm sure you'll pull through. Just find something that you still know to be true and hold onto it. Keep on running, like Melos.

[Which was something that Tohko could deal with, having dealt with other bouts of irritation before. However, at his words, Tohko sighed.]

Just like the Servants? Don't you realize that spewing words like this is a bit of an insult to Diarmuid, Saber, and the other Servants here? Even if our souls are copies too, their still our souls. It's like having multiple copies of a book with different covers and dust jackets. The inside is still the same, even if the outside is different!

Claudia?

[He looks at the green light, and with it so obvious, making up so much of them, he wonders why her light is green and his is blue. What's the difference between them?

At her words, he feels foolish, but he answers her nonetheless. Her voice is firm, but his own is, too. He's stronger now. The worms no longer fog his thoughts. He should use his strength for others.]

I know what it's like to feel alone and afraid. No one should have to be alone.

[He remembers lying on the floor as the worms moved through him, left on his own for endless hours. No one had come for him. No one had cared.]

It's not much, but it helps a little.

[It wouldn't have saved him, but it would have made him feel a little better, if someone had come with a kind word, to take his hand, to say his name, to keep him company.]

What if it's not the same at all?

[He sounded a little less confrontational, knowing she was right to have called him out on that line.]

What if...what if we weren't saved at all to begin with? If 'Waver Velvet' and 'Tohko Amano' died with their worlds and all we are is a half-assed copy shoved in some nightmare homunculi? Are we really 'ourselves' at all at that point? And if we can restore the places we come from, what about us? Can someone really just reconstruct a real working body, or are we stuck like this forever?

[He kept his hold on Waver's other hand as he leaned back.]

I woke up when I felt the worms were gone. Did you see anything, when it happened?

[He'd missed everything that had happened. He had no idea what the buildup could have been.]

I'm sure Diarmuid will be fine. He's a strong person. If I know him, he must be looking for you now. You'll find him.

[Though he wasn't so sure about what his own (former?) Servant might be doing.] I hope Lancelot is all right, too...

[Well, it was hard to mistake that voice. Wanting to help Break calm down, Tohko chased after it. At least she didn't have to worry about catching her breath in this body. That was one good thing about it.]

Break, your senses don't always lie. Sometimes they do..but not always. And you can trust those around you, your friends. And if you can't trust them, try to trust yourself. And if you're worried about everything that you're seeing..remember: what's essential is invisible to the eye. Even though the stars have all faded here, that still holds true! Our bonds are invisible and thus, essential! They're trustworthy!

[When Tohko heard Kazumi crying in the hallway, she couldn't ignore it. Kazumi was a good friend of hers, and she had offered to help the girl out. There was no way that she as going to ignore her. If Kazumi would allow her, Tohko would give her a pat on the head as she spoke.]

Kazumi..it's alright. Even if our bodies are like this, we're still us. I'm still Tohko Amano, the book girl, and you're still Kazumi. It's the same with your friends too.

No, just...the lights went out, I spent a while trying to do alchemy in the dark, and then all this shit happened.

[He shook his head, voice and body still both unsteady.]

How do you think he'd take...all of this? I don't think Diarmuid would react too badly all things considered, but...well, I obviously don't know Lancelot as well as you.

Not as pretty now, right...? It's me.

[That's pretty impressive.]

[That was hard to do when you didn't look anything like yourself. Part of him would have preferred to live the lie, not sure what point there was in revealing this particular truth to them.]

None of us look like ourselves.

[This is kind of a big deal for Legolas.]

What will we do now?

[Well she would recognise that voice anywhere, she had been roaming the tower, her own anger controlled after than initial scream, looking for people she knew.

She looked at the mess and it furthered her suspicion that this pathetic whining orange wire thing curled up on the floor.

She went over, because at some point she had decided she was responsible for this maniac, and crouched down beside him.] You would be rather they did be lying to us?

...How?

[She looks down at her hands, all wire and film.]

...Why?

I won't deny that. I'm sorry—I didn't mean to discount that. [And she does feel guilty, even if only dimly right now.] I'm sure others will be grateful for it.

I'm fine, though. [She isn't really, and she knows she'll cry later, but for now—] I'm going to go see if there's anything else to be found while things are like this.

[Which means she doesn't want to waste much time. She doesn't know how long things will be this way, after all.]

Glamour Failure

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yeeee

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zelda bby

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Because it was late and most of us were running on little sleep? ><;

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whooooops

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Let's get this party started!~

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