and I need someone to talk to apart from you

[animusnpcs]

Characters: Zo, open
Setting: floor 001
Format: brackets, party-style
Summary: Zo visits the residential levels of the Tower.
Warnings: none so far

[The elevator dings as its doors slide open--that's not an unusual occurrence, really, for a floor that not only houses one of the elevator stopping points but also the most reliable food sources. What's unusual, though, is the boy who steps out of it.

Zo enters the cafeteria, looking around as if he hasn't seen it in some time, which is true. He's followed by one retrieval unit. While she looks as blank as any retrieval unit, her collar is chipped and she wears glasses. In fact, she might be a bit familiar to some, though she will not respond (but there's something... Unusually alive about her, even so).

Though he's careful not to stray far from his bodyguard, he smiles at the floor in general.]

Um... Hi! Wow, it's been a while since I've been up here!

Comments

[seekinganswers]

"Looks good"? [She tilts her head to the side and studies him curiously.] Have you ever tried it?

[animusnpcs]

I'm not allowed to eat your food supply. [Zo shakes his head.] And I can't taste glamour anyway.

[seekinganswers]

[Right. Glamour. Sheba's expression falters for a moment, but she manages to keep from looking too down.]

What do you eat, then?

[animusnpcs]

Sometimes we bring people down and they cook for us. But we don't have to eat as often as you all do.

[seekinganswers]

Bring people down..? [She furrows her brows.] You mean, people you've brought here?

...how often do you have to eat?

[animusnpcs]

It wasn't my idea, but sometimes you guys get brought down to help us. And it depends! If we use more energy we have to eat more.

[seekinganswers]

How do you decide who to bring down? And what sorts of things do you eat?

[animusnpcs]

We take people who have jobs, mostly, but sometimes we take other people. It depends on who might notice, I think? But I don't decide it so I don't know for sure.

When there's people from up here cooking, I like to ask them to make stuff from their worlds. So I like lots of stuff.

[seekinganswers]

I guess that makes sense... [It wouldn't look strange for people who often vanished to do jobs around the Tower to be unable to be found if people went looking for them, after all...]

Who's cooked for you so far? What are your favorite foods?

[animusnpcs]

We're not really supposed to say... But I like sweet things a lot. I had something called, um... Crème brûlée? [He stumbles on the pronunciation.] I really liked that.

[seekinganswers]

Crème brûlée...? [That's not a phrase Sheba has ever heard before. She blinks a few times.] What is it? It just sounds like it would be delicious.

[animusnpcs]

It's custard and caramel! It's really really good.

[seekinganswers]

Oh, wow! I want to try it someday. Could we please-- No, that won't work. It's Jason's turn next...

Maybe when it's your turn to watch over us again, we could have it here in the cafeteria? Please? [She'd like to try it for real, but the glamour is probably the closest she's going to get.]