towerofanimus | you don't say good luck, you don't say give up

Characters: Jenna, Sheba, Saturos // Jenna and YOU!
Setting: Floors 25, 56, 73 and 77
Format: Either or
Summary: Jenna and Sheba have a training session which is interrupted, after which Jenna goes off on her own to blow off some steam.
Warnings: Violence and potential cursing in the first prompt. Also I may reply slowly until 09/01 at which point my tag speed will increase greatly.

Floor 25: Meadow
NOTE: This prompt is locked to [OU] Sheba (

seekinganswers) and [OU] Saturos (

heatflash).

[Jenna is more than a little concerned about Sheba. The middle of August hadn't been a good time, and the three days that she hadn't returned to life during were torturous. Now that she is back, she wants to make absolutely sure that her friend is well-equipped to take care of herself if push comes to shove. She might not be the best teacher but she doesn't trust anyone else to do it. As they say, the best way to ensure that a job gets done is to do it yourself.]

Are you ready?

[She turns back to look at her friend and draws her sword. She knows Sheba is a strong Adept and that her mastery of Jupiter Psynergy is second to none but what she is worried about is Sheba's hand-to-hand prowess, or lack thereof.]

Remember: Melee only, no Psynergy. Now, [She digs her heels into the ground and tightens her fingers around the hilt of her sword.] Come at me with everything you've got, Sheba!

Floor 56: Hospital
[It is alternately bright and dim on the floor with the way these lights flicker. At first it doesn't bother her overmuch: she has explored a fair amount of caves and other such poorly lit environments. She is content to explore without much fuss about lighting.

At least, she is content until she thinks she sees something behind her. She turns quickly and the light flickers back on. Nothing. She exhales slowly and turns back to her exploration and takes a few more steps before the light flickers off again.

There's something there! She would swear to it. She whirls around again with her hand raised and a flame flickering to life in her palm.]

Show yourself!

Floor 73: Castle Ruins
[It is snowing in the middle of summer. Jenna thinks she should be surprised but considering how the weather has been since her arrival she really isn't. It reminds her of Prox and what does surprise her is that she feels a pang of homesickness. Prox was never her home but it was a part of Weyard, and she misses her world quite a bit.

She tries to put the thought out of her mind and walks into the ruins with a flame in her hand for both light and warmth.]

Floor 77: Sauna
[Now this is more like it. After a long day, a nice relaxing visit to the sauna is just what the doctor ordered. She is so used to traveling with boys that she doesn't bother with the female-only entrance; she goes straight to the mixed one and settles herself in.

Anyone could find her there with her eyes shut, her head leaning back, and a smile of contentment on her lips.]

Nice of them to put this in, [She muses aloud.] Almost too nice...

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[Sheba nods; Jenna has always been better at hand-to-hand combat than she has, but she's also had months of practice here in the Tower and Jenna, from what she's said, is only about a month into her life after Mars Lighthouse. Sheba can't say for certain, but she thinks maybe they'll be on about the same level - or at least that she'll be closer to Jenna's level of skill than she ever has been before.

She tightens her hold on the Lachesis Rule and runs at the other girl, bringing her arm up for a strike - but at the last minute she feints, ducks to the side, and brings her arm down sharply to hook the crook of her staff around one of Jenna's legs in an attempt to catch her off-balance and send her tumbling down.]

Take that!

Is that the best you- huh?!

[The staff is hooked around her leg and the next thing Jenna knows her feet have been thrown out from under her. She hits the ground hard and winces, but in almost the same motion she rolls to the side and jumps up to her feet.

Sheba is serious. The time for banter is long since past, then: with a smile, she charges the blonde and slashes at her with her sword, the metal of the blade glinting.]

[She almost smirks, but she's too focused on their fight to allow herself a chance to gloat. Jenna doesn't stay down for long - and Sheba certainly never expected her to - and just seeing her back on her feet puts the Jupiter Adept on the defensive.

She moves her hands - one towards the bottom of her staff and one towards the curved top - and thrusts it up to catch the blade in between them. Jenna's upper-body strength far surpasses her own; she has to grit her teeth and stand her ground as best she can to keep from having her staff knocked aside, and even as it is, the force of the blow is such that she can't block it entirely - the tip of the blade slices into her shoulder and she hisses.

But the pain is something she can ignore. She's had worse, and she knows Jenna won't inflict any wounds she wouldn't be able to heal. She pushes forward with her staff and steps to the side, trying to knock the sword away long enough for her to spin and bring her staff down on Jenna's side with a little more momentum.]

[Jenna is pushed back and her sword momentarily knocked to the side - she keeps hold on it with one hand and takes a step back to right herself as she readjusts her grip. Sheba spins as she's stepping back, and strikes almost immediately - she has just enough time to thrust her sword down through the curve of her staff, angling her blade to try and pin it to the ground and redirect the strike.

Should it work, she'll instantly turn her attention to trying to smack the staff out of her friend's hands.]

[And it does - her staff is pinned to the ground and then the force of Jenna's smack loosens her hold on it, sending it a few feet away - it's not so much a clatter as it is a solid thump on the grass.

Weaponless, with Jenna still having hold of a blade, fighting back won't be as easy. For now she's got to move, and so she does, darting to the side and then trying to loop around her sparring partner. She knows she's a little faster than Jenna. If she keeps moving, she can dodge any strikes; if Jenna is unable to keep up with her, she can make a dive for her staff and have a weapon again.]

Aah, did I startle you?

[Whatever it was that actually startled Jenna, it likely wasn't this blue-haired woman. She's only clutching some papers, and she doesn't seem shadowy. She does seem completely unconcerned with the fire that has flickered to life in the girl's hands, though.]

You ought to move along. This isn't a good place to linger.

You're lingering here, [Jenna says, perhaps just to be contrary. She eyes the papers in the woman's hands for a few seconds before looking her in the eye.] Maybe you should move along too, if it's really such a bad place.

[She won't allow herself to be afraid. Not here. Not now.]

Who are you, anyway?

[A spirited girl, was she? Zeal smiled, but it was a strained smile. There was no amusement in it.]

I have business here. Do you, child?

[Though no research was currently taking place, this was the floor her team had been assigned to. Disruptions and the overly-curious ought to be shooed out, she was sure.]

I am Queen Zeal, of the Kingdom of Zeal.

I do.

[She doesn't really. She isn't investigating the collar fluid. But as far as she's concerned she does have business here; it's her business to know her way around the place she'll be calling home for the next year after all.]

I've never heard of a place like that. [But that's probably because of the whole "you're all from separate worlds" thing.] So what's this, your new throne room?

Oh? And what business would that be?

[Spirited girls did like to argue, when they lacked proper respect for who they were addressing. Or so it tended to be, in her experience. She had certainly done much the same, in her youth...]

It's lost to the ages. And to whatever is destroying the worlds. I think that it's unlikely that I've heard of where you hail from, either.

[The throne room comment provokes a slight lift of her eyebrow, but no amusement.]

This is somewhere that wanderers have little reason to linger in. Somewhere where work can be done. Again, I suggest that you leave.

I'm stuck in this stupid tower, maybe for the rest of my life if we don't figure out a way to get out of here, so it's my business to know my way around. I haven't needed to know all about this floor yet but that doesn't mean I won't ever have to.

[Jenna rolls her eyes and gives an exaggerated sigh.]

I'll leave when I'm ready. I'm not going to touch your precious work or whatever. You can follow me around while I'm here to make sure if you're really that worried about it.

You haven't managed to pick up one of the guides floating around, have you? That would save you some time, and keep you from interrupting others.

[Zeal sighs in kind, and gives her head a slight tilt to the side.]

I could show you the sights, but there aren't any sights. It's atmospheric, but it's dull. With lots of little corners and rooms for monsters to hide, once the sun's gone down. Is that to your liking?

[There's a faintly mocking lilt to her tone with the last of that.]

I'd rather discover it for myself. I can trust what I see. I can't trust everything someone writes!

[She frowns and folds her arms over her chest. She can hear the mockery in Zeal's voice, and she doesn't like it one bit.]

It'd be more to my liking if you'd just let me look around. Like I said, you can follow me to make sure I don't mess with any of your stuff.

Aah, yes, discover it for yourself. Find every death trap for yourself, and try them all out to see which one you like the very best?

[The mockery is still in Zeal's voice. Fools ought to be mocked. But she casts a hand wide and inclines her head in the opposite direction, daring her to follow through on her desire.]

Look around, then. And be on your way swiftly once you're satisfied.

[The dive is interrupted by a burst of flame, and unless Sheba can use those powers of hers to change direction, she might just end up with a few burns. Saturos is a few paces away from the two girls and he is clapping slowly and sardonically.]

So you are attempting to hone your skills after all.

you don't say good luck, you don't say give up

You know where this goes

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Floor 56 - Hospital

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