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

[animusnpcs]

England! [He beams.] You look a lot better now.

[keepscalm]

[His hand idly finds his front shirt pocket; though previously disheartened by the lack of tea, he manages to find a clumsy smile for Zo.] I feel a lot better now.

Thank you for the glasses.

[animusnpcs]

You're welcome. It's hard to glamour scrub that much, but I'm better at it than everybody else is. [He grins wider.] Even Ruana, but don't tell her!

[keepscalm]

[England chuckles light-heartedly.] Wouldn't dream of it. [He's sure telling Ruana that would only result in trouble for all parties involved, anyway.]

I knew you were strong, but I wasn't aware that your powers were so extensive.

[wow it's almost like england has another superpowered kid that he's used to talking to or something]

[animusnpcs]

I'm good at barriers and boundaries. [He does seem to like the praise.] No one's as good as I am at it!

[keepscalm]

Barriers and boundaries?

[He's in evident thought at that, the smile gradually slipping from his face as his eyebrows furrow. For a moment, he averts his gaze; just a moment, though, and then he's looking at Zo again.]

...is there some kind of barrier keeping us from leaving?

[Specifically, he's thinking of...whatever that light was that seemed to have burned up the liquid in his body. His tone isn't accusatory; wary, definitely. But it seems too strange that Zo would have a barrier designed to kill and then decide to save someone when they came upon it.]

[animusnpcs]

That wasn't me. We don't go down that far into the Tower, so I don't have barriers down there. I don't know what that was, only it was really scary. [He shivers a little.] Riki might know. It's attached to the Tower, and he knows almost everything, I think.

[keepscalm]

[It makes sense. The place looked like it hadn't been touched in...centuries, probably, given the disintegrating state of even the computer.

So what was that?

He'll have to ask Riki next time the guy comes around. England isn't inclined to believe that Zo is lying.

There is something Zo might be able to tell him, though. His voice is somewhat hushed as he asks.] Exactly how far down was I?

[animusnpcs]

The very bottom. Even we're not allowed down there. You went below the fog barrier.

[keepscalm]

[The very bottom. He'd figured, but— he wanted to know what else there was. If they weren't allowed to the bottom, how far down were they allowed?

He's not sure Zo could tell him that, though.]

If you're not allowed— how did you get down there? [And then, England frowns, concerned.] You didn't get in trouble, right?

[animusnpcs]

I projected myself. Barriers and boundaries are my talent, so getting out of my body isn't a problem for me. Then I folded the boundary between where I was and where you were.