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

[puppy_lancer]

That sounds nice. Reminds me of Emer's sewing. She was very good at that, you know. I swear there isn't a pattern that she can't learn from just seeing it. You were a lucky boy.

[oathshackledbird]

I was. Even with all that happened to me, I was.

[Diarmuid smiles gently. He's about to say something else when the glamour systems come back up.]

You feeling up to a race while things are working?

[Not only will it help distract his brother from the shadows even more, it will more quickly put distance between them and the shadows.]

[puppy_lancer]

Of course I do.

[Now that he feels a little less tired. Or, at least, a little motivated.]

[oathshackledbird]

Excellent! Then try to keep up!

[Diarmuid winks at his brother and then takes off up the stairs. Of course, he doesn't let himself get too far ahead just in case Cu Chulainn has underestimated his strength. The last thing he wants is for him to get hurt.]

[puppy_lancer]

Shouldn't I be the one to say that?

[He follows after Diarmuid. At first, they're neck and neck, but after a few steps of stairs, he starts falling behind. Still, he keeps to about arm's length after Diarmuid.]

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid laughs at the response, but when he notices his brother falling behind, slightly cuts his speed so they stay closer. He then throws a teasing look over his shoulder at Cu Chulainn.]

Come now. You aren't going to let me beat you so easily are you? If you do, I might just have to pick a terrible color for that tunic. Something like pink...

[puppy_lancer]

No fucking way!

[He puts on a burst of speed, catching up with Diarmuid again.]

What if I win? What then?

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid can't help but be amused by how easily motivated his brother is, but he is also glad to see his spirits higher.]

I don't know. What would you like as a prize?

[puppy_lancer]

I make you sew something silly! Like a doll!

[oathshackledbird]

A doll would not be silly.

[Notice he doesn't argue against sewing one...]

I could give it to Yotsuba or better yet I will slip it into your arms while you are sleeping so I can tell everyone you sleep with a doll!

[puppy_lancer]

[He gets a horrified expression.]

You wouldn't!

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid laughs.]

Wouldn't I?

[He lets his brother worry over that for several moments before shaking his head.]

You're right. I wouldn't, but it wouldn't be bad to give it to Yotsuba, though. I am sure it would cheer her up. Maybe I could even make it look a little like Rabbit since he was sent away recently...

[puppy_lancer]

[As a result of the worrying, he slows down and drops behind Diarmuid. Several minutes are then devoted to silently catching up.]

Oh? A stuffed bunny? Well, don't know any kid who can resist that. Just don't make it too lifelike. Someone might try to eat it.

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid does slow down to let his brother catch up, though he doesn't make this obvious.]

No, actually Rabbit was this odd robot. I would need to try and find a way to make it look a little robotic. I'm not sure how I would do that...maybe gray cloth?

[puppy_lancer]

A robot? Like Sertoria?

[He takes a second to think.]

What about gold or silver threads? Wonder if the sewing room is stocked with that.

[oathshackledbird]

Yes, like Sertoria but not so...finished? He was made to make music, though, not fight or do scientific things. I spoke with him a few times. He was very nice if a little...eccentric.

[Diarmuid thinks about the suggest for a few moments before nodding.]

That could work. We will just have to see what the room has. We're almost there!

[puppy_lancer]

Correction. I'm almost there.

[He puts on a burst of speed so he can be the first to take a step into the floor.]

[oathshackledbird]

Hey!

[Diarmuid laughs, but doesn't complain when his brother beats him onto the floor. He just shakes his head instead.]

Looks like I'm making a doll in addition to that tunic. What color would you like it to be?

[puppy_lancer]

[Cu Chulainn sits down cross-legged on the ground. While he had won the race, he was tired out. He pants for a few seconds before given his brother an answer.]

Green? Maybe with some red decorations?

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid crouches down next to him, giving him a concerned look.]

You okay?

Green and red? Not bad. You want to see if you can find some cloth you like? Once you get a bit of strength back? I'm going to see what kind of tools this place has and how they might try to kill me...

[puppy_lancer]

Yeah, just a little tired.

I've been here a few times. Nothing's tried to kill me yet.

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid pauses as he sorts through a few sets of scissors to look at a nearby mannequin.]

I hear these things move sometimes. I've never seen it myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was true considering the kinds of tricks they like pulling on us.

[puppy_lancer]

[Lancer slowly stands up, supporting himself by placing a hand on the wall.]

I'll watch them for you. In case they try anything.

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid shakes his head and laughs.]

I'm not too worried about a few mannequins. If you have your breath back, why don't you see about picking out some cloth you like for the tunic? And keep your eyes peeled for good cloth for a robot doll too.

[puppy_lancer]

Alright, I'll look.

[Slowly, he makes his way to the table and, flipping through the various pieces of fabric, finally settles on one.]

How about this?

[It's a very rough fabric. Colored in such a bright lime green that it could hurt the eyes.]