From silent shades and the Elysian groves

[puppy_lancer]

Characters: [AU3] Lancer puppy_lancer, [AU1] Rei Ayanami terrifying, [AU7] Sola-ui marriedthebloke, and you
Setting: All around the Tower, through the week
Format: You choose!
Summary: Catch-all event log for my characters
Warnings: Angst, madness, and dying characters

Lancer

August 11-13

[Like all others marked by the shadow children, Lancer hears the voices of his loved ones, especially the two people who can be said to be his biggest regrets. Misaya and Connla were behind him, accusing him of failing, reminding him of his fault, asking him why he hadn't died in their place. And listening to them, he feels less hurt than relieved. Finally, they would blame the right person. Finally, he could be punished for his mistakes.]

[And most of all, no matter what they were saying, he's glad to see them again, even in the form of these strange illusions. He's lost so many people close to him, both old and new. So now he just wants to cling to these shadow children who talk so much like his Master and his son. Or perhaps the stress of the last few weeks had just snapped his mind.]

[The first thing he tries to do is hug them, but to his disappointment, his arms go right through their forms. Even with them at his side, he cannot embrace them and apologize.]

[Nevertheless, it doesn't dampen his mood that much. He walks through the Tower, showing them various floors that he thinks they'll like. He speaks to them like they're still their old selves. And of course, he brags to them about the package he received in the mail. In fact, he's much more cheerful and energetic than someone followed by shadow children should be.]

August 14 (floor 80)

[By this day, Lancer has lost a good deal of his energy. Every couple of steps, he yawns, stretches, or rubs at his eyes. His collar has gotten gradually paler, but he still tries to keep up a happy facade for Misaya and Connla. Especially since he's taken them to a special floor.]

...Look, Connla. There's the circus. Just don't go too close. You too, Misaya. Even if you wanna play with the guts.

['Useless. You're just trying to distract yourself.'

'He's always paid attention to the wrong things. For example, flirting with enemies while he was suppose to be fighting to save me.']

No, really. They're violent. They'd kill you.

[He's doing his best to stay away from the clowns and keeping his voice down. However, in his fatigued state, he wouldn't notice if anyone else joined him on this floor, or if the clowns would try to kill him.]

August 15-16 (floor 25)

[Lancer hates to admit it, but he's tired. Unknown to him, the color of his collar, and the color of his soul itself is becoming more and more washed out He's lain down on the grassy ground of the meadow and doesn't feel like getting up. Not even the growl of thunder in the distance can convince him that this might be a bad idea. Half of him wants to fall asleep, but the voices of the shadow children keep on waking him.]

['Are you trying to go so easily?'

'You don't deserve it.'

'Not when I died in such pain. And I wasn't able to rest in peace even after that. You know what happened to me. If only you had done your job like you were supposed to. Useless Servant.'

'Liar. Traitor. Kin-slayer. Why do you get to die peacefully after all the pain you caused?'

'You already had your chance. You chose to live like a coward instead.'

'You don't deserve the name of a hero.']

Ah...

[For the first time this whole week, it hurts to hear them talk like that. He had done everything he could to accept their accusations and move on, but they just won't stop. If anything, their words were cutting deeper and deeper into him.]

[But by now, he has no strength to argue with them. He just sighs and smiles. Maybe he does deserve some pain...]


Rei

August 11-13

[Rei wakes up to find a group of shadow children around her bed. However, she disregards them and spends her day as she would any day. First, she goes down to the cafeteria for a big meal, then up to the media room to play some games, and finally exploring the nature floors until it's dusk.]

[This continues until the thirteenth, when she finally starts to hear their whispers. Snatches of voices from her home.]

...Guys? This isn't funny.

[However, her suggestions as to whether or not the situation is funny go ignored. Throughout the day, the voices increase in volume, until at night, when she's snuggled up in her bed ready to sleep, they explode.]

[Suddenly, everyone she knows--her family, her friends, the people who had left the Tower--everyone is screaming at her, calling her a monster, telling her she has no reason to live.]

[She makes a little blanket lump out of herself and whimpers, begging them to go away.]

August 14

[Rei spends the entire day in her room. After a sleepless night, she's too tired to go outside.]

['Aw, is the monster out of energy.'

'Nobody will notice if you die, you know.'

'Right, you're not that special. You're just like the rest of us. Just like all seven of us. Just the same as all seven of us.'

'Your soul is not your own.'

'Your name is not your own.'

'We're all just copies of Yui's real daughter.'

'Nous ne sommes pas encore humains.'

'We're all so expendable. Like flowers in a flower bed--any one would do.'

'So why are you alive?'

'You were our friend. You said you would protect us.'

'But you ran. You ran and we died.']

Stop!

[And her pillow goes flying at one of the shadows. They fall silent before one male voice starts speaking.]

['I'm disappointed.']

[Her father.]

[She bursts into tears now, her characteristic smile having completely disappeared.]

['But you're still our daughter. So die and come back to us.']

[Her mother.]

...Mama.

[Slowly, her collar color and her energy are both ebbing away. She remains still, and except for a few traces of tears on her face, emotionless. Was this how that other Rei always felt?]


Sola-ui

August 11 (mailroom)

[Sola-ui stares with distaste at the photograph of her mutilated family. This is all an illusion, she tells herself. However, even with this knowledge, it's all she can do to keep from shaking and crying. She doesn't want the memory of her children to be forever linked with such gruesome images.]

[A couple shadow children stand on their tiptoes around her, as if trying to see the photo for themselves. She she shoos them away. It seems the Tower has seen an increase in strange, annoying creatures.]

I hope nobody here was responsible for this.

[She calls out to anyone who might be in the mailroom with her.]

August 12 (weight room)

[The shadow children had started speaking. It seems she couldn't have a moment to herself before their whispers echoed in her mind. While she can't make out words, the voices are familiar. If she didn't know better, she would say they were the voices of her family--Kayneth, Diarmuid, and Waver.]

[Today, she's decided to go into the weight room. While Diarmuid isn't watching her, she thinks she can manage to lift a few of the lighter weights. It would save him some time during their next training session if she got in more practice beforehand.]

[So, ignoring the whispers of the shadows, she picks up two fifteen pound dumbbells and starts doing lifting exercises with them.]

August 13 (library)

[If the whispers were annoying before, then now, when the words and voices were clear, it was even more irritating. It became harder and harder for her to ignore them, and hurt more and more when she found the familiar voices denouncing her.]

['Too busy lusting after other men to care that your own family is dead.'

'Mother, I love you and I don't want to blame you...but look what you did to us. Or perhaps it's my fault. I was never good enough. I couldn't protect anyone...'

'Mum, help me. It hurts.']

[Currently, she's sitting in the library, flipping through books as quickly and as noisily as she can to try to block out some of the voices. She's clearly distressed by now.]

August 14 (infirmary)

[She's placing bottles on the shelves of the infirmary when Kayneth's voice sounds in her head.]

['Why waste your time? These bottles will save no one.']

[The voice comes so suddenly that it shocks her. She drops the bottle and it shatters on the floor.]

['Mother, are you alright?']

[Had it been another insult, it would have been better than words of concern. This sounded like something Diarmuid could actually say...]

[Without moving from her spot, she puts her head in her hands and cries.]

August 15 (infirmary)

[Sola-ui is down at the infirmary all day today. Instead of working, though, she's lying on a bed, too tired physically and mentally to do anything but lie back and listen to the voices of her family.]

[Sometimes it feels like a nightmare, when they're all in a hurry to point out everything she does wrong. And sometimes it feels more like a beautiful dream, when they actually act like themselves. She can swear that at one point, her children even got into bed next to her, like they would when they were very young.]

['Isn't it better like this? When we're all together?']

Yes...it is...

[She mutters groggily.]

Comments

August 15-16 (floor 25)-Lancer

[oathshackledbird]

You don't look so well.

[Diarmuid tries to smile as he kneels and then sits next to his brother. He raises a shaky hand to ruffle Cu Chulainn's hair. While Diarmuid has been spending a lot of time with Waver using the voice of the real thing to drown out the voice of his own shadow child, he's still not doing all that well. He's tired and with his powers becoming unreliable it's been harder and harder to abandon his shadow down at the bottom of the Tower and run to the top for a few moments of peace and quiet while it catches up to him.]

Do you feel up to introducing me to your 'friends?'

Looking for more people to fail? Oh, but they aren't from your world. They're safe. It's just the rest of us you've stolen the future from.

Re: August 15-16 (floor 25)-Lancer

[puppy_lancer]

Huh?

[It takes a few seconds for Cu Chulainn to realize that the voice is real. As real, in fact, as the hand running though his hair.]

Oh, hey, Bro.

[He does his best to sit up, though when he succeeds, he feels like lying back down again because of how woozy he feels. He raises a finger and points at Misaya's shadow.]

That one is Misaya. See? She's finally here.

['No thanks to you. Have you done anything for me other than sit around and wait?']

[And next he points at Connla.]

And that one is my son.

['Why did you not claim me when you could? Why now, when it's just a useless gesture?']

August 15-16 (floor 25)-Lancer

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid gives the shadows near his brother a hard look before turning his gaze back to Cu Chulainn. As he does, sadness fills his eyes.]

Brother, you realize they aren't really them, right? As much as we want them to be our loved ones, they aren't. They are just shadows speaking in borrowed voices. They are meant to distract us. To pull us away from our goals.

Denial is just another form of running away. You realize that, right? No wonder you are so good at it.

[Diarmuid's shadow child wanders over to stand near Cu Chulainn's and grins in a way that makes Diarmuid swallow hard.]

You don't deserve what you took from us. Give it back! I have people to save! People who are greater than you will ever be.

Re: August 15-16 (floor 25)-Lancer

[puppy_lancer]

I...

[He frowns.]

I don't know. They sound so much like them.

[Except, maybe the real version weren't so vindictive. But after what he did to them, he expects them to feel a little vengeful.]

What about yours, Brother? Who did you meet?

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid puts an arm around his brother, encouraging Cu Chulainn to rest against him if he wants to. It's frightening how tired he sounds, and Diarmuid wishes he knew what to do, but if he knew, he wouldn't be so tired himself.]

Of course they sound like them. Would it hurt so much if they didn't?

[He looks toward his grinning shadow child and said child creeps closer.]

I got Waver... Rider's Waver. All grown up, like mine is...

Damn right, Rider's Waver. I'm certainly not yours. I almost feel bad for that copy of me since he's stuck with you. Of course, he probably wouldn't have amounted to anything anyway only having you to look up to. His world's better off lost. It's not like either of you have what it takes to dismantle the Grail.

And yet you're the ones who got to live. God-damned bloody waste!

Shut up!

[Diarmuid lets his emotions get the best of him for a moment and swings at the shadow. Of course, his hand goes right through it.]

I told you I would not stand for you speaking ill of him!

[puppy_lancer]

[Cu Chulainn leans against his brother for a moment, but then sits up again as he hears Diarmuid yelling.]

Is he...telling you hurtful things?

['What does it look like, stupid dog?']

[He puts his arm around Diarmuid's waist to give him a little squeeze.]

If he is, then he's lying. You're no failure.

[oathshackledbird]

He's right. You're not a failure. You're a dishonorable thief and a coward, but you're not a failure.

[The shadow child smirks and then laughs.]

Ah, what the hell am I saying. Of course, you're a failure. A god-damned bloody failure. He is too, that copy of me. Just for the record.

[Diarmuid hisses under his breath, his hands curling into fists. His nails dig into his palms so hard they draw blood, but the pain is actually helpful. It's what keeps him from striking out and yelling at the shadow again.]

I...don't care what he says about me. I know what I am. It's him saying bad things about Waver I will not stand for....and he knows it.

I do. Genius, remember? Not that an idiot like you is hard to figure out. Not at all.

[puppy_lancer]

...Hey, you.

[Lancer stares at the shadow child.]

If you're gonna imitate Rider's Waver, then do it right. Did Rider teach you to speak ill of others in front of their Servants?

['See? Even this pathetic, half-assed Servant can show more loyalty to his Master than you can, dog.']

[oathshackledbird]

[While it might not not be obvious to someone who doesn't know Waver's mannerisms as well as Diarmuid does, the motions his shadow child makes mimics those Waver makes when he lights and then takes a dismissive puff on one of his cigarettes.]

Do tell the dog to stop yapping at me. You can at least do that right, can't you?

[Diarmuid doesn't respond to the shadow. Instead, he presses his lips together into a frown before he speaking to Cu Chulainn.]

We should leave them here for a while, brother. They will probably enjoy each other more than we enjoy them. My powers are working okay for the moment. I can outrun them...

Do I even need to mention you're running again? You've turned me into such a broken record. I hope you're proud of yourself. I should be dismantling the Grail. Instead, I'm stuck here repeating your faults over and over again.

Sola-Ui: August 15 (infirmary)

[chevalier_mal_fet]

[Mad with sorrow though he might be, Lancelot's Master yet requires bandages for his physical wounds. For these, Lancelot periodically visits the infirmary, where he is usually alone.
Today, he is not.
Not only is he accompanied by reproachful Shadows (who say aloud the very things that Lancelot has heard nightly in his dreams and betimes under the sun when he first was Mad), but there is another here. One whose Prana is mildly familiar.

Unaware of his presence, the woman is weeping, broken Glass at her feet-- when Lancelot lays one long, gloved hand upon her shoulder.]

Lady.

Re: Sola-Ui: August 15 (infirmary)

[marriedthebloke]

[She almost jumps as she feels the hand on her shoulder. That's right. She's in a public place. She has to maintain her composure. She sniffs once or twice, composes herself, and answers.]

Y-yes? What is it?

[Though she tries to wipe away her tears, they just refuse to stop.]

(apologies: out of town/family funeral)

[chevalier_mal_fet]

Allow me to aid you, lest you harm yourself.
[He takes her arm, leads her to a bed, and seats her upon it.

Then Sir Lancelot, Knight of the Lake, kneels to gather up the broken glass.
After only a moment or two, it seems, he returns to her side-- a tall and grave man.
He offers her a clean flannel for her face-- he can readily guess at the cause of her distress.]

Do they trouble you so, the voices?

Re: (apologies: out of town/family funeral)

[marriedthebloke]

Thank you...

[The gentle way he handles her reminds her of Diarmuid. Both the version in the Tower and the son she left at home.]

[As if reading her mind, one of the shadow children speak again.]

['I would dry your tears, mother, but I have no hands to dry them with. I'm dead, you see.']

T-they are horrible ones.

[She raises the flannel to wipe away some tears.]

Do you not hear them?

[chevalier_mal_fet]

I hear my Own, certainly.
[He is not a particularly Gentle man. Even when he lived, he was only ever Gentle out of Love or Care. It was never a natural thing to him, as it had been to Other men. As it had been to Her.
As if called, his own Shadows tug at him-- if he pays them heed, it is not obvious.]

My Shadows need no Intelligence or Malice to direct them, I have them with me Always. It is only that now I may see them, and hear them aloud. They are Horrible, yes.
But I may not hear yours, lady.

I am called Sir Lancelot. How may I name you?

[marriedthebloke]

Ah...so everyone hears different things...

Lancelot? Your parent enjoyed Arthurian legends?

[She does her best to smile at him.]

My name is Sola-ui Archibald.

[chevalier_mal_fet]

[Her smile is a ghastly thing, but the intent behind it is plain. Lancelot returns it with a bow of his head. Talk does seem to calm her, as it keeps the Shadows at bay, and so he forges head.]

Alas, my parents died when I was yet a babe. "Lancelot" is not the name given me by them-- it was the name given me by the Lady of the Lake, who raised me as her Child and Champion.
Indeed, lady, I am an Arthurian "legend"-- or, I was in Life.

Your name is a lovely one, though it is unfamiliar to me.
[As is her Prana, though he can sense it... a Magus? He is unsure.]

[marriedthebloke]

[She stares at him.]

So...you mean you are a hero of legend? Like Diarmuid? Or one of those others who call themselves Heroic Spirits?

August 15-16th? After he ran into Yotsuba at least.

[frilliance]

Ugh....Damn, not again! [More of these blasted shadows? Just how many of them were there?! Did Jason really have to go this far in order to punish people for the elevator event?

Either way, when Edgeworth walked onto the meadow floor, he could see that his roommate was lying down there, surrounded by those horrid creatures. The prosecutor and Lancer may not have exactly gotten along but Edgeworth still felt that it was no right to leave him here, especially as he could see how faded the other man's collar was.

You might hear a voice calling out to you.]

Lancer, are you all right? Can you hear me?

Re: August 15-16th? After he ran into Yotsuba at least.

[puppy_lancer]

Hm?

[Lancer looks up to see Edgeworth.]

Yeah, I hear you. What do you wanna say?

[frilliance]

You look terrible. We need to get away from those shadows as soon as possible before they do even more damage to you. [OH HEY, IS SOMEONE SHOWING CONCERN? WHAT IS THIS BLASPHEMY?]

[puppy_lancer]

Get me away? What are you talking about?

[He smiles.]

There are...my precious people.

[frilliance]

[Good god, this was exactly like Yotsuba.] I hate to break it to you, but those are monsters, not your 'precious people'. They were likely sent by Jason for his own amusement.

[puppy_lancer]

[He shakes his head.]

I don't know. This isn't like Jason. He usually goes for modifying bodies and not just the mind.

[frilliance]

You......[It's......not Jason's work? Then what are they if they are not?

However, Lancer may have a point. He has in the tower longer than Edgeworth, who has only been through one other Jason month.]....you think so? How can you be so sure?

[puppy_lancer]

Well, I've been through a few Jason months. There're a reason everyone hates him, you know. Between swapping people's bodies. making them sick, and turning them into drones.

[He reaches out to pat the shadow child.]

This doesn't look like his work.