towerofanimus | [OPEN] I was told a million times of all the troubles in my way

Entry tags:

[OPEN] I was told a million times of all the troubles in my way

Characters: Open
Setting: Cafeteria/Cathedral/Library throughout the day
Format: Action brackets
Summary: A new Sheba arrives and explores the tower.
Warnings: Sheba reads minds and sees the future. There is a permissions post here. If you don't fill it out and it would be IC for her to try it I will have her try but leave it up to you if it succeeds or not.

Option A. Cafeteria, Morning
[Another day, another new arrival. This one doesn't look that different from the other Sheba whom has already been here a while. She is dressed the same, looks the same, and even has the same collar. But she doesn't have the same ability to eat non-oatmeal meals without getting sick yet so she is seated at a table alone and making a face at it. It isn't bad, just bland, which for someone who grew up in a palace might well have been the same thing.]

Option B. Cathedral, Afternoon
[It is no sanctum, but the grandeur of the cathedral reminds Sheba of home. She is idly walking through the rows of pews and is half tuned in to the indistinct mumbling coming from the front. When she gets there however, there is only silence. She frowns but ignores the silence for a while and instead of thinking about what might have been making the noise before she looks up at the stained glass windows.

It isn't Tolbi but it is very pretty here. The corners of her lips curve up in what might be the beginning of a smile and she lingers.]

Option C. Third Floor Library, Evening
[It is late. Sheba doesn't much care however, because she has stumbled on something wonderful: Books. This library rivals the collection Babi had kept in Tolbi and it delights her to see it. It is no hint of a smile on her face but a real one as she weaves through the shelves.

Anyone in the library might see her doing a handful of things: Going up on her tiptoes to try and reach a book that is a little high, looking intense and concentrating as a light breeze loosens a book from a shelf that is obviously out of her reach and sends it falling into her waiting arms, wandering to a chair with an armful of books, or finally abandoning sitting in the chair to pile the books onto it and around it as she lies on her stomach on the ground with a few books open in front of her and delights in all the things there are to read.]

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[Hallo there, Sheba. Here's someone that knows the other you, but doesn't know that there's two Shebas yet. He hates the Jason months because of the lack of decent food--even if it's fake every other time of the year, it tastes real enough.

Hope you don't mind a breakfast companion, new-Sheba, because Luke thinks he's spotted an acquaintance and drops into a seat across from her, a plate with a couple nutrition bars on it in one hand.]

'Morning.

Good morning.

[The stranger across from her does not bother her. But he seems to know her and it makes her curious enough for a cursory glance into his mind. Interesting. He knows someone who looks just like her and shares the same name? He doesn't actually know her but she sees no reason to inform him of this yet, she decides as she spoons some oatmeal into her mouth. She smiles after swallowing.]

How are you doing, Luke?

[In Tolbi's court it was sink or swim. Sheba suspects it may be the same here and she intends to use whatever she can to her advantage.]

Ticked off. This stuff tastes terrible, and I wouldn't eat it if didn't have to. I'd probably die and then Asch would call me an idiot for starving to death or something.

[He shuts up long enough to take a bite of nutrition bar--making a face as he does so--but barely swallows the bite before talking again.]

Have you seen him today?

I've no intention of dying, or else I would skip this, too. It's insulting, that they think they can placate us with such substandard food.

[She would give anything to be seated at Babi's banquet table now. Succulent roast pheasants, duck, boar... meats and fruits and vegetables and all sorts of flavors. But she misses the pheasants most of all. She looks wistful as she spoons up more oatmeal. This is a sad, pathetic substitute.]

No, I haven't seen him yet. I suppose it's only a matter of time...

Yeah, seriously. At least the food's decent the rest of the time, right?

[The oatmeal reminded him a bit of Natalia's failed attempts at making rice. Even he could make rice that was edible, if slightly burnt.]

Eh, he's around somewhere. I'll bug him later.

[ Time has passed quickly here and it hasn't made Loke feel any better about the events that has happened here. Moreso, he hasn't found his precious and lovely Lucy here so he worried that maybe she'd gone home, though that thought just left a bad taste in his mouth as he knew what fate befell those who returned to their homes from here.

His wandering had taken him around to the library, though it's the peculiar blond girl walking through with a smile on her face that briefly caught his attention.

For a moment he keeps on his way but while passing her some time later, finds her reaching for a book and starts making his way over to her to perhaps help her when the book itself seems to just fall off the shelf and into her arms. Huh. That was new. He had to admit he'd not been expecting that, and it's that which makes him follow her and actually approach her when she'd sat down in a chair with her books. ]

My... I can't say I've quite seen someone who has such a love for books like you do.

[ There's a small smile on his face here. She kind of reminds him a bit of Levy McGarden from back home. She was the biggest lover of books within the whole guild, after all. ]

It's nice, though. To see such a lovely young lady who loves to read like this.

Hm? [Sheba sees and hears Loke as he wanders in the library but pays him little mind until he approaches her. She looks down at her books and takes note of the page numbers before she looks up to him. He is no one she has ever met before and no one she has ever had a vision of and, unlike the redhead from the cafeteria he doesn't seem like he knows her because he met someone who looks like her.

She is glad for the chance to come to know someone on her own terms so she doesn't demand that he leave. In fact she smiles because even though he is a stranger he is also talking about something she enjoys.]

There is untold knowledge contained in these pages. [She runs a hand over the parchment. There is a sparkle in her eye.] I've read many books before but so many of these are new to me. Discovering what they have to teach is like an adventure.

[She smiles prettily and inclines her head.] Do you spend much time in this library, sir... Oh, my apologies, I didn't catch your name. Mine is Sheba. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance.

[ The sheer way in which she smiles and runs her hand over the parchment like that is strangely cute in it's own way. She was certainly different compared to the other inhabitants of this awful tower but it certainly wasn't a bad thing to say the least. ]

I imagine with that attitude you'll be likely to find out more about this place then most of the inhabitants that have been here a while. None of them here seem to have that passion for reading as you do, which is kind of a shame.

[ Loke says that with a kind smile, and when she does speak up and even introduces herself, he can't help a light chuckle that escapes his lips. ]

You can call me Loke. It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Sheba.

[Sheba nods her agreement.]

It's also a shame that so many of them can be...closed-minded, I suppose the term would be. I haven't met many of the others who are here yet, but it does seem as though many possess such a hatred for this place that they would reject anything they could learn, even if they do like to read.

[Granted, she had only taken a cursory look at the network terminals within the library, but there certainly could be a lot of vitriol on the network at any given time.]

Loke... that's an interesting name. [She is silent, repeating the name in her mind while looking at his face so that she will remember it and will associate it with the right person. The moment passes and she smiles again.] Have you been here for very long?

[Usually Amelia doesn't spend that much time in the library, but with all that had been going on and how hard she'd been pushing herself... taking one evening to relax couldn't hurt, right? And besides, maybe she'd find a book on sword techniques or something!

Well, what she'd found was a bit less useful to her in the short term than that but a book on ancient swordsmithing managed to catch her attention and for at least an hour or two, she'd manage to lose herself in fascination of just how the weapons she was so used to using were made. But careless she was not and she knew it was starting to get late, and late? Meant monsters. Not that she was trying as hard to avoid them as she used to, but have you ever tried to fight in a library? There's not as much room as she'd like.

It's as she's putting away this book that she happens to spot new!Sheba, completely unaware anything is amiss as she blinks a couple of times at her, having not quite expected to see her here. Nonetheless, she's pretty happy to encounter one of the few people she can call a friend in the Tower and she tries to muster up a smile.

And on the outside it's a fairly convincing smile, but on the inside her heart isn't really in it. She's happy to see her friend, but under the surface she's... tired. Worn down. She's been here half a year, lost track of how many battles she's been in, even died on more than one occasion and somehow come back. (Something that is apparently normal here.) And through it all she's done her damnedest to never show even a single crack or the slightest sign of weakness to anyone, if she can help it.

But damned if she's letting on to any of that on the outside as she speaks, minding her volume seeing as they are in a library after all.]

Evening, Sheba. I'd ask if you found any good books but I think the answer's a little obvious.

[Another person who knows her even before she introduces herself. Sheba is used to being the one who knows things that others don't but she is in far too good a mood from finding all of these books to let it bother her. She doesn't miss a beat as she looks up to Amelia with a slight smile while simultaneously taking a very brief peek into her mind to discover her name and the general nature of the relationship the knight has with the other Adept.]

Good evening, Amelia. [She turns a page in her book before taking note of the new page number. Then she looks away from it so she can give Amelia her attention.] Yes, the selection of books they have is amazing. It's very easy to lose track of time here.

[For the moment Amelia remains unaware anything is amiss as she speaks, just grateful to have something more pleasant to talk about at the moment than everything that happened in the aftermath of their attack on the admin levels.]

Still wondering about the sections the Admins removed though, I'll bet... you do know it's starting to get kind of late though, right? [It won't be that much longer before the monsters start getting a lot worse, as is so often the case at night.]

I know. I can handle myself against anything that will come creeping in the dark.

[She isn't worried about monsters. She knows that they appear, but with her training she is sure she can handle herself quite well. Her mace isn't too far away. It is mixed in with the books and in easy reaching distance.]

I suppose they like to keep us guessing. "What should have been there," "What do I need to know that I don't know..." That sort of thing.

[At that she blinks for a moment, it's not that she disagrees with her statement on the books... it's what she said before that that throws her slightly. Sheba's powerful, she doesn't doubt that. But she also knows Sheba's been in the Tower even longer than she has and seen some of the worst it has to throw at people.

There are things out there none of them stand any chance against in a straight fight, magic-be-damned. Admittedly not that this stops her from the occasional nighttime prowl, but that doesn't make it any less dangerous.]

If you're sure... and that'd make sense really, with the way Ruana toys with us like we're her personal entertainment and nothing more. I still don't quite understand why they create floors that help us on one hand and then turn around and do the horrible things that they do to us.

[ Evatrice is in the library a fair bit. Aside from messing around with monsters and people reading is one of the few things she still enjoys and can easily do here, after all, especially now she's grown a little more contemplative after getting pissed off so many times by events in the tower. It's exactly while she's reading - in her normal schoolgirl outfit rather than her witch one - that she glances over to see Sheba there and see the wind helping her get that book.

... Magic? Whatever it is, it sure did pull Evatrice's attention since she's obviously staring at the girl. ]

[It is rude to stare. Sheba wants to say that when she feels Evatrice's attention on her, but she does not. She instead tucks the book under her arm and looks at the girl.]

Can I help you?

That was magic, riiiight?

[ She grins. It's not exactly a pleasant one, more as if she finds something extremely funny. Her elbows rest on the chair's arm rest as she looks in Sheba's direction, leaning her chin on her hands. ]

[While it was a little late, Tohko didn't mind staying in the library a few hours after dark to tend to books and help people out, especially if she was in the middle of secretly eating something herself. As usual, her retrieval drone followed her, but, as usual, Tohko ignored him.

However, when Tohko saw Sheba having trouble reaching for a book, she smiled at the girl and pulled the book down and handed it out for her to take.]

Good evening, Sheba! How are you?

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[OPEN] I was told a million times of all the troubles in my way

Cafeteria

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Third Floor Library

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Third Floor Library!

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C

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Third Library Floor, Evening