towerofanimus | [09] || [Deadlines] || [Open/Closed]

Entry tags:

[09] || [Deadlines] || [Open/Closed]

Characters: Ganondorf and You. One open prompt, one closed.
Setting: The Viewing Stations (5th Floor; Open) and The Second Tower (75th Floor; Closed).
Format: Prose or Action, will follow.
Summary: For the closed prompt, Ganondorf gathers some of his Evil CR to discuss the situation at hand and plot their next move-- Which may end or not in yet another infiltration. In the open prompt, Ganondorf wastes time examining one of the few things that remained real even during the Glamour Failure. Who knows? That may be relevant.
Warning: Ganondorf. No but really, unless you really annoy him there should be no warnings.

• Viewing Stations - 5th Floor (Open)
Ganondorf was on the fifth floor, observing the viewing stations as if lost in thoughts. These stations had been amongst the only things in the entire tower that had remained real during the glamour failure. Quite strange... Why had they not been fake like everyone else? He could deduce that the images they showed were real as well, but still made little sense as to why everything was fake, except for these things.

No matter, he kept observing the stations under every angles. Feel free to bother him?

• Second Tower - 75th Floor (Closed to Sephiroth, Nesir, Veigar and Kiryu)
One way or another, Ganondorf had sent to four of his allies-- Namely Sephiroth, Nesir, Veigar and Kiryu a message indicating that he wanted to meet them at the entrance of the second tower, the one on the seventy-fifth floor. The message was probably not as pretty as the ones Zelda had sent for her ball, but they would do. However it was no secret that Ganondorf had used this tower as a base of operation ever since its appearance-- Hence he was not stupid enough to hold a gathering here. Not with the retrieval unit following him. The tower would only be a starting point, so to say.

Either way Ganondorf would be standing close to the tower's entrance, reading a book in hand and waiting for the four to come, if they would come. Probably they disliked gatherings as much as he did, but yet again they probably wanted to be done with this tower as much as he did as well.

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Every so often, Sephiroth finds the odd note left on his bed or on his bed stand. Hidetoshi, Nesir, Ganondorf, on occasion even an Admin. Though not particularly irritating, sometimes he does glance around the dormitory in case any of his live-in companions and wonder if they had read them before he had, if they had perhaps taken a note from the door while he wasn't in the room. It has left him wondering on occasion if he should claim a mailbox on the 78th floor, though really it is his opinion that they are no more secure than the current arrangement. Besides, clearly others' know where to find him; it's not like he can go for days without sleeping in his bed.

This time it was another from Ganondorf. And so soon. Sephiroth had encountered the troll-king when they'd been glamour-stripped and that wasn't all that long ago. He wondered what could be the topic of discussion this time. Though, really it didn't require that much thinking. As repulsive as the idea was, he could see himself getting killed again. And for what? A bruised ego then trampled into the floor in the months afterward, and a lingering reminder that screams We know what you did in the form of a red-collared drone. He doesn't let the supervision bother him much though.

The troll-king would go again and again regardless. Sephiroth would accompany him, as far as he was capable, since the need for answers has become far more urgent now. Also perhaps he might know more about those micro chips, and those responsible for the gauntlet being thrown down.

Whatever his reservations about allowing himself to be summoned so eagerly Sephiroth arrived on the 75th floor as soon as the elevator and stairwell down from the 81st would allow. Masamune firmly in hand and angled towards the floor to one side, the blade still lightly stained at the tip from a recent monster encounter on the way here. He approached Ganondorf directly but stopped a respectable distance on account of his weapon and in case of further encounters, glancing around at anyone that was already gathered here before him.

Apparently he hadn't been the only one contacted.

There isn't any need for greetings.

After obliterating the note he had received with the date and location, Veigar made his way towards the appointed floor. The Yordle couldn't deny that he was looking forward to this particular meeting considering the recent events that had tossed the Tower's residents into a frenzy... or at least some. Others had fallen into crippling depression and then there were those who had quickly began to plot and plan for their success.

Those he had allied himself with were exactly the type he was glad to be aroundm, the defiant and proud ones, looking to overcome this pathetic excuse for playtime tyranny.

Once he arrived, the Yordle nodded at whoever was present and waited for the meeting to begin.

Nesir was just glad that they were finally doing something. She had been drifting since the day they had woken up to learn everything was a lie. She had gotten rid of her clothes from home and was wearing the white suit they had been given and the cloak Chidori had made her.

She stood by the door glaring at everyone, mostly Sephiroth before entering and throwing herself into a seat.

Ganondorf looked around when they all arrived and nodded in acknowledgement, before speaking. He noted the way Nesir glared at Sephiroth, but made nothing of it at the moment.

"I don't need to explain why I called you all here." Ganondorf said "We have less than one year before either dying or being stuck in our dead homeworlds. That is, if all of this is not just another one of Ruana's games. We need to move quickly and efficiently."

Shortest summary of the situation; though Ganondorf honestly doubted they would die, let alone that they would spend an eternity on their dead worlds without finding an answer. But that was another matter.

"Restoring our worlds in less than a year is surrealistic. I propose we let the other fools waste their time to this endeavor until we know more. No, for now I believe our priority should be to find means to survive the deadline, as even if we manage to take over we may die." he stated

Sephiroth knew better than to raise any reaction to such looks from one such as Nesir, though if anything he could hazard a guess at the reasons behind that glare. So, Ryoji had told her - more fool him. He's no reason to feel any guilt at all, she shouldn't be so human if she wanted to play this game. A small twitch of a smirk may have escaped his features but it would be gone a micro-second later.

Besides, they were all here to hear what Ganondorf had to say.

"Agreed." He commented, but would wait to hear the troll-king out. If he hadn't a plan, he wouldn't have summoned them here at all. He's long ago stopped pining for home and looked to the future, and now there seemed to be a significant threat to that future. Letting them keep his soul contained like this has never been acceptable to him, but now he cannot let them to simply keep it here. He must somehow find a way to break his chains.

Nesir nodded as well, "And I do be supposing you do be having an idea." She agreed that they should leave the other fools to try and restore the worlds, she doubted it could be done. What was gone was gone.

Living though, that was a goal she could get behind, even if she was mostly confused about what life could even entail, as fake as they were.

Veigar simply stared at nowhere in particular as he listened. Truthfully, the future of their current predicament had been the sole thing he'd been thinking about ever since the 'mishap'.

"Now we know more about the Tower than ever before and judging from the despair on the keepers, I'd say it is as true as it can be unless the children are incredibly actors...."

He paused, glowing eyes focused on Ganondorf now.

"So what did you have in mind?"

"I have many ideas, none of them that can be accomplished in such a short period of time unless we gather more information. But something in particular caught my interested, our fake bodies. Our weakness, the reason why our plans failed in the past comes from these bodies. They're made to allow the administrators to control us."

He paused. He had made mentions about the bodies before, but ever since the reveal it was obvious the problems was all about how these bodies amounted to nothing of value.

"However our real bodies are intact and safe on our dead homeworlds. I have seen it before. I have returned to my dead homeworld a few times, and there I was in my body-- A collarless body in a world without this glamour system."

He paused before continuing--

"Furthermore we know that Zo is the one to summon the monsters in the tower. It is proof that souls are not the only thing that can be summoned here: flesh and blood can be brought to this tower."

Which led to his idea:

"I believe we need to bring our real bodies into this tower. Not only would we then be able to survive the deadline, but our powers would be real as well. I believe it to be possible but for this, we need to find Zo."

Quite clearly Sephiroth wasn't the only one who had thought of this then. Knowing that his soul, and only his soul, is the real part of him contained in the Tower it's crucial that Sephiroth find a way to get for himself a body again. How else indeed were they to carry on if they did manage to get their souls free of their cages? As demonstrated on every occasion so far, these bodies are not capable to stand up to their captors.

As Ganondorf continued though, Sephiroth dropped his gaze to the floor. He was still listening, but while Ganondorf went on about his own body being back home Sephiroth fought to stop a scowl from creeping across his features. Eventually he broke the death-glare with the floor and looked around the floor again, to keep an eye out for monsters as well.

When Ganondorf finished he would only comment one thing.

"Makes sense, if it were that easy."

Which it's not. The other two gathered could input what they will. Sephiroth had seen first hand how a simple chocobo from his homeworld has been mutated in it's 'transition' to the the Tower; he'd certainly not like his own body twisted like that. That is, considering the fact he's not about to share; Ganondorf might have a body to go back to back home, Sephiroth certainly does not. The theory of what might happen if his soul did get sent home temporarily is a vast expanse of unknown he'd rather not jump into.

She raised her eyebrow as well. But it was a sound plan, if crazy and probably nigh impossible. Still Zo had brought monsters here, so maybe he could bring their bodies, and they could hope they weren't as distorted as the monsters were.

"I do no be thinking anyone did be claiming it would be easy." She snapped at Sephiroth before turning back to Ganondorf. "So we do be distracting the other administrators, and getting Zo on his own?"

Yes.... YESSSSSSS Why hadn't HE thought of that before?! Surely because most of his focus had been on destroying the Tower, he never thought what lied outside it, let alone their 'destroyed' worlds... Veigar's grin only grew wider as he listened and thought and plotted. Truly, his views on the situation were a bit different. He still believed that the source of one's power is from their being, their existence, their sould if you'd like to use such a trivial term. But gaining their bodies would be ridding themselves of this petty cage which more than likely nullified their true powers, just like they could do whenever they so wished.

"Considering my mastery over any and all magic, especially spacial and time, I could make our bodies' travel to this location less straining by deterrin' any change that could be uncurred from the hardships of traveling dimensions and time... I don't see how that would be hard at all."

He paused, "I believe getting Zo... and in turn, getting him to do what we require could be the annoying part of this plan."

"Indeed, none of this will be easy, yet this is the only lead we currently have. I have long-term plans, but they all are useless if our bodies fail us within the year."

The hostility between Nesir and Sephiroth is such-- He'll have to ask later what happened. For now Ganondorf looked at Veigar with interest. If with his true powers he could accomplish the same task than Zo, then the boy's cooperation would no longer be needed as soon as Veigar would have his own body.

"We would only need Zo to cooperate once. If your true powers could accomplish the task, the kid's cooperation would be obsolete quickly."

He nodded slowly before continuing.

"I am going to the administrators floors next month to find Zo. I know exactly where to find him and how to treat him. This time will not be a suicide mission. The past infiltration taught us exactly what we need to know: the location and timing needed for the infiltration." a short pause "I will also look to find what the others did exactly this month... I won't be able to accomplish all of this on my own, but this time I won't make the mistake to pick one such as Ryoji."

Because Ryoji truly had been a terrible, terrible mistake.

Sephiroth continued to ignore Nesir's tone. He offered nothing but a raised eyebrow for a moment, not directed at Nesir though, silently he was enjoying how irritated she was with him.

His attention didn't have to be directed at the floor for much longer though, indeed those green orbs raise suitably to Veigar as he describes his specific abilities. Spacial and time hm? So theoretically the little mage could reach into the past of his own homeworld and pull Sephiroth his original body to the Tower. Or even better than his original body - a smile crept across Sephiroth's features when he considered his other form; the one due to him that had been so unfairly destroyed before it's power could be totally realized. Though the smile was short-lived, before returning to it's expressionless state. What guarantee did he have of Veigar's 'power' other than his word? And more concerning, what would stop Veigar proceeding to destroy the Tower and all of them inside; if he could be the only soul here with it's true body?

Sephiroth dropped Masamune into nothingness and drew his arms up into a folded position, eyes flicked from Ganondorf to Veigar a lot as the plot was unveiled. He very nearly huffed in response to Ganondorf's comment about Ryoji but reigned that reaction in before it could even show. Sephiroth still really has no reason to trust either of them, though-

"It's the result of an already digested admin and few foolish-minded individuals. The details- are not for wasting time over, we don't have much of it now, after all."

That is all he will say on the matter, if they didn't take his word well that would be their waste of time.

"Though I will, of course, accompany you to find Zo. If the kid knows a way, we must get it out of him."

Nesir scowled at Ryoji's name, it had been a mistake of Ganondorf's yet the boy was an annoyance. Not that she was thinking about him at all. She glared daggers at Sephiroth again and concentrated on the task at hand. An infiltration, not a suicide mission, one with a more direct purpose.

She didn't quite take Veigar at his world, but figured he must have a decent amount of power to be so vocal.

"Yes only those who can be actually be being trusted should be going." If it was up to her that would rule Sephiroth out for one.

While Sephiroth's ill thoughs of his teammate weren't missplaced, Veigar had other plans in mind. Plans that didn't involve anything to do with this wretched place. Once all was said and done, and his allies had gotten what they sought, Veigar planned on leaving if he could.

Then again, plans do change as time goes by, events unfold and new revelations are thrown into the clockwork. For now, his allies had nothing to fear from the Yordle other than angering him and pushing the wrong buttons. It's never wise to piss someone who could destroy gods in the blink of an eye. (Granted only if they possessed power themselves.)

"You need only get me my true powers and I, the great and powerful Veigar, can do whatever I desire. And of course, considering our alliance, this would benefit our group greatly." With as much power as he had drained from this place added to his already immense power naturally, the level of things Veigar could do was unfathomable... The administrators fed him plenty oddly enough.

"I forsee hiccups, but," Veigar grinned dangerously. "I also see very little stopping us."

Ocelot had noticed during the glamour failure that the viewing stations had been real. One of the only things out of everything, and she couldn't understand why. When she returned to get another look, to see if anything had changed, she approached Ganondorf quickly, standing beside him to peer through a nearby station.

"It makes you wonder, doesn't it? Why would this be real? You would think it would be just as easy to fake as everything else," she said darkly. What it meant, she couldn't fathom. All it did was made her even more angry.

Her retrieval unit stood some ways away from her, saying absolutely nothing as usual.

"Indeed." Ganondorf turned when he felt Ocelot approaching, nodding in acknowledgement. He did not know her so well, but Sephiroth had been the one who thought her reliable enough for the dark world operation and she had attended the previous meeting. If anything there was no immediate mistrust

"That means there is potentially a system in that tower permanently connected to our worlds. If only we could use it to--"

Ganondorf stopped as he noticed the presence of the retrieval unit and grumbled. Obviously not everyone had the same means he had at his disposal to lose them, but he still looked annoyed at the retrieval unit and shook his head.

"Don't you have any means to lose our friend?"

She smirked rather wryly. "He has his uses," she said, though it was sort of silly given that she had seen the way the unit actually looked. Truthfully, she had means of losing track of the unit and had before, but she hadn't been expecting to run into Ganondorf at the viewing station.

"We can continue that part of our discussion in a moment," she said evenly. Ocelot didn't have much in the way of loyalty towards Ganondorf. She didn't trust him to not backstab her and his other allies in the end, but he was the closet lead she had when it came to killing off the administrators so she would follow him as much as she could without explicitly calling herself an ally.

Now, to figure out how to distract the unit enough for them to be able to finish the conversation. She moved, leaving the floor without another word. Ten minutes later, she returned, smirking. "That'll keep him busy," she said, looking rather satisfied.

Ganondorf nodded when she returned-- Well he could speak a bit now that the unit was lost, though most of his current ideas were little more than hypothesis.

"As I was about to say... If we could use that link between the tower and our worlds to retrieve our real bodies; we would be free from administrative control and on equal standing with them." he said "No more restrictions, no more control systems. What powers we have would be real as opposed to illusions. That is what we need."

Well, that was how he saw it anyway. These pathetic bodies were the only reason the administrators had such an easy time controlling them. If they were in possession of their real bodies; their souls would be where it belongs and no longer restricted by these frail bodies.

Ocelot frowned in thought. Yes, it would be more useful. She had no powers of her own, but that hardly mattered. Her wits were her own power and were what had kept her alive despite working against nearly every ally she had ever made. "These are truly our worlds that they have been showing us this entire time," she said thoughtfully.

Though she had never wandered her ruined world herself, she had learned enough about the state of worlds based on what information other people had given her. "You're correct. We have the disadvantage of not truly being ourselves in this form. If the have the abilities the extract souls, there must be a way to reunite ourselves with our proper bodies."

Even so, she had seen what Ruana had done to Dax. As strong as Ocelot fancied herself, she knew better than to think that she could take on Ruana with... whatever it had been than the woman had used in the first place.

"I do not doubt it. The monsters in this tower are made of flesh and blood, and they summoned them."

Which implied they could do it, they were simply unwilling for reasons he couldn't explain just yet. Ganondorf however wasn't worried about Dax's fate. If he had the entirety of his powers at his disposition, he was certain of his ability to match her. If he could gather the entire Triforce would be a plus.

"If they can summon these monsters, they can summon our bodies." he said slowly "All we need are answers from Zo and we will have them soon."

He sounded confident enough about this, as he had already found Zo once before in the administrative levels. They even had gotten him to to give them Dax's access code to the tower's control system. And they would have taken over the tower then if only Richtofen hadn't...

... Bad memories.

Given Ocelot's past experience with people making mistakes on her watch, it was probably fortunate she had not been around during the first attempt to take over the tower. She may have been more willing to forgive Ryoji, but she would not have done the same for Richtofen, even if he had tended to her upon first arriving in the tower.

"You know where he's located?" Ocelot ventured. There was no doubt in her mind that finding the boy would be difficult. It might be much easier to do it during a month where he was in charge. "There must be a way to shut down the units that would stop our progress."

"I do." he nodded "It's only a matter of going at the right time, and the infiltration I organized a couple months ago taught us what time window we must aim for."

For how poorly the Dark World's infiltration ended, they had learnt the danger of going down when Ruana was awake and going by what they had seen so far, he could roughly estimate when to go, to make sure she'd be asleep then.

Ocelot had no way of knowing when Ruana was awake or asleep. Though she had been in the tower for over half a year now, there were still things that she didn't know and wasn't aware of. How to safely sneak up on Administrators was one of them, though it wouldn't stop her from trying again. "Next month?" she asked, thoughtful.

Zo was a child. As strong as he was, he would probably be the last of the administrators to sound the alarm.

Ganondorf didn't reply immediately, but he then nodded slowly.

"I'll let you know." he simply replied. Ocelot had done alright last time after all and Sephiroth himself had been the one to tell her. As long as she didn't tingle his traitor senses...

Ganondorf was as good enough an ally as any. Even if she were to find other allies, she would never sell out what his plan was. It was to better herself in the game, after all. Nothing more.

Siding herself with more than one player merely bettered her chances in surviving until the end.

"I'll be waiting."

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[09] || [Deadlines] || [Open/Closed]

75th Floor [Takes the 1st spot in the tag-round? - Prose since tl;dr but can Action switch]

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5th Floor

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