Book Girl and...

[tohko_amano]

Characters: Tohko Amano and you!
Setting: The third floor library and the graveyard on July second.
Format: I'm starting in prose, but I'll match you!
Summary: After getting some name tags and a paper hat from Diarmuid, Tohko decides to put the hat and a name tag on 'Ivan' while waiting for other people to respond to her offer. Later on, wondering about some people she hasn't seen in awhile, Tohko wanders over to the graveyard and finds that quite a few of her friends are gone.
Warnings: None so far!

Tohko had been pretty happy since the event was now, officially, over. While she the library, it was nice to actually sleep in a bed without worrying about being cornered by a monster. Ruana's note of her games never going off the script annoyed her though..it sounded like something Wilhelm would say, but..she knew that there were times and chances where her games wouldn't go exactly as planned. After all, that was what they were working towards.

While that didn't change the fact that Ivan, her retrieval unit of a stalker, was constantly following her, Diarmuid's gift of a box of name tags and a paper hat for the 'library helper' did make her smile. So, while waiting for anyone who would take up her offer, Tohko put Ivan's name tag on his chest and the paper hat on his head before looking him over and chuckling.

"It really suits you, Ivan! You have to promise to work hard, now that you have your hat, alright?" She wasn't expecting an answer back, but it felt nice to talk to him sometimes, even if he wasn't really on her side.

Tohko didn't quite know why, but she had an urge to visit Konoha, Ryuto, and Chia again, even if the gravestones weren't real. The sentiment was still there, and that was all that mattered, as far as she was concerned. It didn't feel quite right to have Ivan accompany her though, so it took awhile for her to even get to the graveyard, since she had to run around and take a few trips on the elevator before she could ditch him.

When she did get inside the graveyard, she had to catch her breath for a few moments before walking down the rows of graves..but instead of pausing at the graves of her family and friends, she saw graves for old friends, ones that she didn't know or wasn't aware of the fact that they had left the Tower. She saw Tear's grave, Waver's, Mihli's and a few others. She didn't cry when she saw them. She just put on her mask of a smile, sighed, and patted the stone like she was patting their heads.

"I promise, I'll do my best to save you guys. Immortality's painful..especially when you're alone in a situation like that. I promise, I'll try."

Comments

Graveyard

[oathshackledbird]

(OOC: Just because he said he wanted more time to think doesn't mean I'm going to give it to him...)

"So many have gone now. Do you think it's some kind of punishment?" While his voice is steady, the look in Diarmuid's eyes is anything but. He is uneasy. Not only because he had just asked her in a letter for a little more time before they met to talk, but also because he has just caught sight of the stone she is standing near. The one with the name 'Waver Velvet' written on it. Diarmuid knows it's not his master's grave. After all, he can still feel the other man's presence through their bond, but seeing what is essentially his name on one of those markers is painful nonetheless. Especially since his brother has just lost his master for the second time.

And Diarmuid isn't going to think about how he feels about the younger Waver being gone. It is too hard. The man had been so full of hope and ideas he wanted to try to make things better here. He had wanted to do so much and now he was gone without getting to do any of it. Like Ayaka, now doomed to walk alone on his world unless they found a way to fix things.

That should have been enough. That goal should have been enough to push Diarmuid passed his doubts and yet they still linger and he hates himself for it.

He takes a few seconds to scan the area and doesn't miss that Ivan isn't with Tohko, "Your friend is off stacking books I see. What a good librarian drone."

It's a veiled way of asking if she feels up to them talking while they can do it in relative safety from prying ears.

Graveyard

[tohko_amano]

(OOC: Not that I mind! I..sometimes ignore my muses on occasion. ^^ )

Tohko wasn't quite expecting to hear Diarmuid's voice and she looked a little surprised before she looked up at him..but only for a moment. She was quickly wearing her mask of a smile again as she spoke. She didn't know the full extend of Diarmuid's current worries, but they were probably large, knowing him. She didn't know of his doubts..but if she did, she would say that it was normal to linger on doubt and worry.

"I don't think it is. I think it's just Zo losing control of the soul, especially since our souls are probably drawn to our original bodies already. And Ivan decided to take care of the library today. He's become a bit more driven ever since he got his gifts. He's still a bit of a blabbermouth though, so if you want to talk, it's probably best to do it now."

Graveyard

[oathshackledbird]

"I hope that is all it is," Diarmuid steps closer to her so that they can stand side by side at the graves and seem like they are talking about their missing friends to cover other topics. Not to say they wouldn't be talking about their missing friends. In fact, before he begins to speak of his worries, Diarmuid wishes to make sure Tohko herself is okay. While she might be smiling, he is sure that she must be feeling as upset about all the departures as he does.

Though, maybe he is just pushing how uneasy he is off on her. He's not sure, but whatever the reason, he wants to give her a chance to let things out if she needs to since she has done it for him so many times.

"It hurts to lose so many. If you don't want to smile right now, it's okay. I will understand. I feel the same way," Diarmuid closes his eyes for a moment. "I won't even look if you want. I will think of those who I know who have left here too." Ayaka. Waver. Yata. Tear.

So many. So very many. How many more names would he discover before he left the floor?

Graveyard

[tohko_amano]

Tohko was feeling a little surprised and sad about all these departures. Waver had been a close friends of hers, and without him, she never would have known what a Holy Grail War was. She had been hoping to help him when Alexander vanished, even if he disapproved. Tear had been hoping to get into the resistance, and Tohko had recommended her some good books. And Mihli..the catgirl had been a very close friend of Tohko's, and she had been planning on getting the catgirl more involved in the resistance later on. But..there was still hope, and since she knew that, she wasn't on the verge of tears just yet.

Tohko didn't mind that Diarmuid stepped closer, but..she did sigh when Diarmuid spoke and closed his eyes.

"Diarmuid, I don't mind if you look, and I do want to smile right now. That's why I am. It may be sad that they're gone..but there's still a chance that we'll be able to save them or pull them back here. It exists. Besides..I wish to be a person who can smile beautifully, even if they're in a lot of pain. I'm okay..but are you?"

At that, Tohko would try and pat Diarmuid on the head..but since he was a bit taller than her, she would pat him on the shoulder if she couldn't reach.

Graveyard

[oathshackledbird]

"Is that really all right, though? To always smile when you just want to cry?" Diarmuid opens his eyes and looks over at Tohko. He has always worried for her even as he has also been extremely proud of her for taking on such a dangerous role and continuing to fight despite people telling her she's not strong enough to. But her insistence on always smiling and showing a brave front to others worries him. Everyone has to be weak sometimes or else they will burn themselves out. Isn't easier to be weak that when there are others around to support you?

Or is Tohko just that much stronger than he thinks she is? Perhaps that is why Dax picked her to have such a large part in all of this?

He smiles as he feels her pat on his shoulder, "I...have worries. They are foolish ones, but at the same time after being betrayed to the death by those I blindly followed in the past, I find myself unable to push the worries aside no matter now much I want to." Diarmuid pauses here, crouching down so that his head is nearer to Tohko's, allowing him to speak in a softer voice.

"Zelda and Enoch. They are such an important part of this and yet I know so little about them," Diarmuid has only spoken once to Zelda outside of the times they had briefly talked when he had picked up microchips to place and that time was under the effects of an experiment--hardly the best time to learn anything about anyone. Enoch he has slowly been getting to know over the last months ever since he had helped save the man from being buried alive, but during none of their conversations has Enoch said much about himself as a person. "Especially Zelda's taunting of Ruana... I don't understand it. They are not the actions of a leader, at least none of the leaders I knew would have every acted in such a way. It is foolish action. One does not taunt the person who has so much power over them before the war is won. But she is not the only one who did it. What am I missing? I have been here six months now and while I know so much more than I used to, there is still so much I do not know."

Graveyard.

[tohko_amano]

"Well..I can't always smile, to be honest, since it's the person I want to be, not the person I am right now. But if I can smile and keep going, even when I want to cry, I can help more people who are crying."

Physically, Tohko was a normal human, and, as a consequence, very weak physically. However, she was rather tough emotionally, even if she did have a few childish fears and habits. She didn't really care if trying to be the person she wanted to be was hard or easy..she just knew that she wanted to be it, so she kept on trying. Due to circumstances back home, she didn't always have a lot of people to rely on, and she didn't want to seem like a burden to those around her, even if she was one in other ways.

She herself didn't really know why Dax had chosen her..but even if she didn't know, that didn't mean she wasn't going to try and help everyone out as a consequence of being picked. As Diarmuid crouched down and spoke in a softer voice, Tohko carefully listened to everything that he said before replying in a whisper.

"It's alright, Diarmuid. Considering your circumstances, I can see why you would worry. I don't know much about Zelda's backstory myself..but I can tell you everything I know about Enoch, if you want. He's a dear friend of mine, so I know a bit. However..other than the network post, where Ruana fumed at us, I haven't seen or heard anything about Zelda taunting the Administrators. Maybe she was just blowing off some steam, if others were doing it as well. Stress gets built up quite easily here, and since the Administrators don't show up much, one rarely gets to tell them something to their faces. I do need to talk to Zelda though..I have a slight complaint with her myself that I need to address."

[ooc:..And I'm planning for Tohko to have a slight breakdown once she learns that what little family she has and her friends could be eaten by Ruana, if you're interested in some extra sad feels.]

Library

[ghostytrainer]

[John had seen Tohko's network post about the name tags and he couldn't help but laugh a little. Not in a bad way, really. It was just an amusing notion, naming your unit stalkers. So far all John had done was prank his. Slipped a few buckets over doors, pulled doppelganger shenanigans with his Zoroark, stuff like that.]

[Rather than respond to her network post, John signs off of the terminal and makes his way down to the library. Hopefully Tohko will still be down there by the time he makes the trek down the stairs since John still isn't overly fond of the elevator.]

[When he reaches the library, he approaches the Book Girl, a smile firmly on his face as usual and a hint of laughter in his voice. His own retrieval unit follows after him, as well as his Lampent, the small ghost hovering next to his shoulder as usual.]

So, naming the stalkers, huh?

Library

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko would still be at the library, waiting for people to show up and looking through the stacks of books while she waited. However, when she saw John, she smiled and waved at him. She didn't know that he had a retrieval unit, and the creature hovering near him was a little odd, but it didn't look horrible, so she could ask about it in a moment.]

Of course! It'll make it easier for us to talk about them! It'll help with some stress relief too, I think.

[Her own drone was wearing a paper hat and a name tag that read 'Hello, My Name is: IVAN'.]

Library

[queensgeneral]

It's Tohko. Darres hadn't seen her since before all of that chaos went down, and he was happy that he and Ishtar made it out relatively unharmed. The general approached her lightly. "I see you're okay." At least he hoped she was. The general opted to hand her the few books he held, he still hadn't quite memorized where everything went. "I'm glad."

Library

[tohko_amano]

Tohko hadn't seen Darres either since the illusions in the Tower were broken, but when she saw him, she smiled and took the books he gave her. He probably wanted her to put them away..but with Tohko being Tohko, she would probably read them first before doing so.

"Yeah. I've been handling everything alright. How about you? Are you okay?"

Library

[queensgeneral]

It eased him to know that she was okay, it was hard to unite with people when there was no order in things far beyond his control. It made him feel rather useless, but such feelings were kept to himself. "I'm fine." He hoped it stayed that way. He should probably seek a weapon before trouble reared it's ugly head.

"I was wondering what child friendly books you would recommend." Recently he had taken a small blonde child under his wing. From what he understood, Quark had no family and no one to turn to; Darres being the giant softie he was, couldn't help but take him in and watch over him as if he were his own.

Library

[tohko_amano]

If Darres voiced his worries and problems, Tohko would have tried her best to help him with them, but since he didn't, her smiled just grew and she tried to pat his head.

"Well, that's good! I'm glad to hear that..but if you're ever feeling blue, don't hesitate to talk to me, alright? As for children's books, there are quite a few out there that everyone can enjoy! What sort of books does this particular child enjoy? Any favorite genres or authors?"

Library

[queensgeneral]

Darres smiled lightly, it only reminded him what a kind girl she was. "I'll keep that in mind." But he'll mostly just keep to himself, like he's always done.

He gave it some thought. "He enjoys adventure books with heroes." The kid was so innocent it hurt to know he was stuck in a horrible place like this. Perhaps that was why he went out of his way to make sure the child was okay.

Library

[tohko_amano]

"Alright then! I'm glad to hear that." Even though he would keep to himself, that didn't mean that Tohko wouldn't rush to him, if she saw that he was in trouble or depressed.

At the description, Tohko nodded and spoke while she thought over a few book titles. "Well, there's Peter Pan, The Chronicles of Narnia, His Dark Materials, The Lightning Thief, The Phantom Tollbooth, Jurassic Park, The Thief Lord, and Clockwork, to name a few. Do you think that'll be enough, or should I grab more?"

Graveyard

[gradosfinest]

Amelia had never been terribly fond of graveyards, so in general she tended to avoid this floor like the plague. But lately, well... it didn't seem like a bad place to go to collect her thoughts a bit. Not to mention as one of the less explored floors on her end, it didn't seem right to just ignore it entirely. Not to mention she'd heard something to the effect of those who vanished from the Tower could have their names found here, and there was one person in particular...

Admittedly she was a little bit surprised to find somebody else on this floor, especially looking at the tombstones like that. Surprised enough that she didn't actually look at it first, just cautiously approaching the girl. Startling somebody in the Tower was never a good idea, she knew that.

"... were they friends of yours?"

Graveyard

[tohko_amano]

Normally, Tohko didn't come here either, but since a long amount of time had passed, and since the Tower had been given a due date, it seemed only right that she came here and made a promise to the gravestones. Even if the people who bore the names the gravestones had couldn't hear here.

When Tohko heard the girl speak to her, Tohko looked up at her and smiled. Whether it was a genuine smile or her mask of one was hard to tell.

"They were. Allies and lots of friends."

Graveyard - Sorry for the slow x.x

[gradosfinest]

"... I see." Her voice fails her only a second later as her eyes wander across one particular tombstone. Mihli.

General Mihli. That explains why she hasn't been around. For a moment Amelia just stares at it, one hand at her side and the resting on the hilt of her sword, lost in thought. Well that answered one question she had, but simply brought up more.

"... excuse me, I know this is probably hard to talk about... but what happens to the people here? I mean, if people here don't really die... but we're standing at a tombstone." Her eyes don't leave Mihli's grave for even a second while she talks, her tone more serious than it was a moment ago.

It's alright! My tagging speed hasn't been that fast either. ><;

[tohko_amano]

At that, Tohko just shook her head, still smiling. "It's alright. I don't mind talking about the graves here. The people who vanish here go back to their own universes. Since that's the closest thing to a true death without the Administrators interference in this place, I guess the Administrators decided to make a room full of graves to help us cope. Not that it really helped out when it was first built though. Quite the opposite, really."

The Administrators really needed to get better empathy skills, even if Dax had been the best-adjusted of them.

[gradosfinest]

Wait a minute, back to their worlds...? That got Amelia's attention, her gaze wandering to the girl standing next to her with a confused expression on her face. But their worlds were destroyed, how could that be possible?

"They do...? But wait a minute, weren't our worlds destroyed? Shouldn't they be gone then?"

[tohko_amano]

At that, Tohko sighed and scratched her head.

"There are many ways something can be destroyed. The first, what you're thinking of, is complete obliteration, where something doesn't even exist anymore. The second is just simple destruction. Think of it like a teacup that's fallen off the shelf and smashed. You can't use the teacup anymore, but it's still there, even if it is broken. That's the sort of world that they go back to."

Graveyard; took me forever to find this log lmao

[pushedaround]

[ Even though he's been in this tower for almost a year, Tavros never considered the idea of visiting the graveyard. It's nothing personal, but he didn't find any good reason to do such a thing, but today is a different story. The Taurus had his mind on the recent events and the big reveal, and he was wondering if anyone is truly capable of leaving this place. It was such a depressing realization, but he didn't dwell on it.

He caught a slight movement from the corner of his eye, and when he turned to investigate, he spotted a very familiar figure. He didn't rush over, though, mainly giving her some time to grief before approaching her slowly. ]

... Hey, Tohko.

[ He smiled; a bit sadden with having to meet her in such a gloomy place. ]

xD; I'm sorry about that! Didn't mean to cause you any trouble!

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko herself hadn't visited the graveyard in awhile, but..she figured it had been high time to find out who had gone home and at least promise their gravestones that she would do her best to save them. She wasn't grieving, so when she heard Tavros, she turned to him, smiling.]

Oh, good morning, Tavros! How are you? Are you feeling any better?

You didn't cause me any trouble! <33

[pushedaround]

[ Okay, that was far too cheerful for someone in a graveyard. He blinks a few times before smiling awkwardly. ]

Haha- uh, I'm feeling a bit better now. [ He takes a few steps forward, hands in his pockets and back hunched slightly. Body language: Guilt. ]

Actually, I came to apologize for my behavior the other day ...

Ah, alright then! I'm glad to hear that! <333

[tohko_amano]

[It would have been odd for someone who was actually grieving..but since Tohko was not, she just looked a bit puzzled at Tavros's words and his body language.]

It's alright! Don't worry about it. I wasn't really expecting it, and it was odd, but you were feeling terrible, understandably. Not many people were doing well during that event. I'm glad to hear you're feeling better though.

[pushedaround]

Yeah, well- It had little to do with me feeling horrible, to be honest.

[ Having this conversations in a graveyard is not really the most suitable approach, but since she made a statement of how 'odd' it was, Tavros owned her an explanation. One thing for sure, he didn't want his stupid actions to ruin his friendship with Tohko. After all, she meant a lot to him.

He takes in a breath, not really nervous, only cautious. ]

... I like you. And, it's not in terms of 'being friends' for humans. It's a different type of 'like'.