towerofanimus | With a thousand lies and a good disguise

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With a thousand lies and a good disguise

Characters: Reno, and any and open!
Setting: Beginning in 1-04 ROOMIES BOTHER HIM, Cafeteria, then the Meadow
Format: Honestly whatever you prefer.
Summary: Reno has been gone six months. The entire Tower has changed. Also, he is wearing the jumpsuit and a bedsheet because SOMEONE TOOK HIS CLOTHES, so characters may not recognize him.
Warnings: Well there might be some cursing... some tearful reunions...

1-04
Coming to consciousness was a sudden affair, sitting up so suddenly it almost cracked his back. No... Not here again, not again...

Not wearing this ridiculous jumpsuit again.

That was when he noticed the orientation of the room and his bed was all wrong... wait, what the hell? This wasn't 2-12. And he was wearing the jumpsuit... muffling a curse, he slammed his fist into the bed, cursing his luck that he'd gotten free of Hell Tower only to get pulled back.

He'd escaped... no horrors, no having to watch the people you care about being tortured... maybe it was selfish, but he didn't think he could take being here again. Especially if... no, they would be here. Had to be here.

Quickly, he jumped off the bed and checked his trunk, only to find it- empty? Empty. Cursing again, he yanked the blanket off his bed and pulled the sheet off to wrap himself in it, leaving an ample hood around his face. The last thing he wanted right now was someone to recognize him and know he was back in the Tower while he was scouting out for clothes.

There was no knowing who else was still in the Tower, after all.
---

Cafeteria

It was a hooded figure dressed in white that snuck out of the elevator, and was it just his imagination or did it take a lot longer than it used to? He would explore later, right now it was probably a good idea to get that damn oatmeal and find some place to hide and think before he faced the Tower again.

Grumbling under his breath, he grabbed a bowl of the stuff and started to head for the staircase again. Then he paused, and went back. Was that beer?

---

Meadow

Still no sign of clothing he could steal, but it seemed to get less important the longer he was here. It wasn't hard trudging up the staircase to the Meadow. He'd done it many times before, and was well versed in avoiding the hazards along the way, even on auto-pilot.

There was this overwhelming, smothering feeling that the Tower had shifted somehow while he was gone. Things looked right, but they didn't feel right, if anything could feel right.

He sat down in the flowers here, holding some wine he had taken from the Cafeteria, wondering when they had started serving alcohol there.

Being in the meadow reminded him... oh, Shiva. Elena... Elena. How long had it been? Weeks? Years? She'd been all alone... Would she even be here?

Somewhere along the way, he had stopped thinking, started forgetting. The wedding; Ruana, and Zo...
Ganondorf's party crashing, the way Elena looked walking along the aisle, Axel, Shion, and Xion.

He needed that drink more than ever.

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Luke nodded at the question, still looking confused. This guy had just avoided answering his question. Wrinkling his brow just a bit, the swordsman decided against stating the obvious. He didn't feel up for pushing the matter of how the guy knew him, considering the hundreds of other options he could choose from... on what to worry about. And, hey, maybe the question would be answered eventually.

"How long have you been here?"

"A while." Dancing around the issues again, he didn't mind if it was frustrating. "Guess you don't remember the last time you were here, huh?" That was something, at least. He wouldn't remember the time Reno ~~tormented~~ teased him about the oatmeal.

This Luke did seem sort of different- more mature, sort of.

This spawns a nice confused frown, before he narrows his eyes and tilts his head. Is this guy messing with him? Luke has to pause a moment to study the stranger's face, before deciding to answer.

"I've never been here before, though," his voice sounds very sure of this fact.

He would know if he had been in a place like this, before, right?

"I'm sure ya haven't." The answer was cryptic, just a tad. So Luke wasn't aware of the multiple universes explanation the administrators gave a while back. He must have been real new in that case.

He looked up for the first time to really meet Luke's gaze head on. "Everything you thought you knew is about to get blown away, kid."

Luke shifts his stance, head tilting a bit. He opens his mouth to respond to the slightly vague response, when Reno meets his eyes. The words cause him to blink rather hard.

That is, until he realizes that's already the case. Everything is already messed up, entirely. His friends could all be dead, right now. Everything he had worked so hard for, is just gone. He saved the world, for it to possibly be destroyed. A slightly... bitter laugh escapes his throat, before he shakes his head. A frown plants itself on his face as he speaks in a tone matching the short laugh.

"Yeah, I figured."

His expression softens greatly and he is looking down, the momentary acidic expression having faded into a mere worried one.

"I got no advice for you." Words were thin help in the Tower, because things would happen no matter how well you prepared for it. "Advice doesn't help, especially when you're dead."

And Reno was firmly convinced they were all dead, watching his planet disintegrate before his eyes was pretty much all the proof he needed.

"What makes you think we're dead?"

He gives a startled expression to the other redhead. Luke had sort of half-expected an outcome similar to this, when he had gone to free Lorelei. That does not make reality any kinder, though. If everyone here is dead, then what is the point of dying? To end up in some strange tower?

Edited 2013-09-05 04:58 (UTC)

This time, Reno smiled- a slow, bitter smile that didn't quite fit on his face, and all the more disturbing for it slipped just half a second into something a little bit... off-kilter.

"Because Dax never denied it."

Edited 2013-09-05 05:18 (UTC)

When he sees the smile, Luke can't ignore the strange chill that creeps down his spine. Is this what the Tower does to people? Is this going to happen to him?

"Who's... Dax?"

"He's one of the people that run this place." Even this guy should have heard about the administrators by now, right? Reno had no idea Dax was dead, though, his information being seven months out of date, give or take a few days. "I'm usin' the term 'people' loosely."

Luke nods to the initial response, a fairly serious expression appearing on his face at that. So this guy knows about the ones in charge, then? The younger redhead resists the urge to bombard Reno with tons of questions. Apparently, there's going to be plenty of time for them all to be answered...

"I... I see," he frowns a bit at the last thing Reno says, "So... they're evil, then?"

The question made him laugh. It sounded so simple and clean cut, like black on white paper that never smudged or bled into the fiber to dilute. Definite and unwavering. That didn't sound like the administrators, or at least like Dax.

Dax had surprised him in the last months just before Reno went home. The man seemed to actually care what went on for those they rescued, and even went out of his way when Reno asked. But Reno had also heard of what had happened during the whale attack, and what kind of power the man possessed that could make things fall apart without effort.

He gestured at their surroundings; one of the least dangerous floors in the Tower, and it still had problems when a monster wandered in. "Who knows? There's a lot of definitions we could give 'em, but when you got a Tower full of people from different worlds, even definitions start getting mixed up."

The young replica frowned a bit at the answer. This was a good point, actually. Green eyes drifted to the ground a moment and he let out a sigh, shaking his head as though from an annoyingly persistent thought.

"I just want it all to be a dream."

A soft laugh escaped him, then. Drawing his knees up, he placed his forearms on them. A sigh escaped him as he dropped his head into his arms. He speaks in a muffled tone, "What the hell... was it all for?"

His shoulders are shaking a bit, but it could just be a chill.

Seeing Luke in such a state was almost surprising. The differences between alternate universes could be as slight as what someone wore on a certain day, but then there were the ones like this, where they seemed like entirely different people.

Sometimes, when you met yourself as how you could have been, it really opened up your eyes on what kind of person you are- or have the potential of being. Reno thought back to the days when his other self was here. Rusty had been... different. A broken man, troubled by experiences Reno himself couldn't imagine. Or so he thought, at the time. But Rusty had a nobility, too, something he never thought he'd see in himself- something he thought the Turks couldn't really achieve. The job was fun, it had paid well, and Shiva knew how many times they had tried to save the World, but... nobility.

He was beginning to realize he had no idea what that meant. Someone that'd sacrifice himself willingly to protect another person. The other Turks had done that facing down Zirconaide, but not him. Now he was... older, the experiences in the Tower leaving him... was he breaking? Was he becoming more like Rusty, only without the good points?

Silence stretched between Luke's question, until he remembered he wasn't alone, and visibly shook himself.

"I don't know about you, but I'd have been pretty damn bored sitting around on my ass back home instead of doing something, but that's a question you'll have to answer yourself, slick."

Why is he crying, again...? This makes the second time, today. The replica discreetly wipes his eyes, doing his best to hide the fact from...

... Wait, he doesn't even know the guy's name.

"What's your name?"

Luke inwardly curses himself. His voice isn't doing well to hide his little moment, just then. It makes it somewhat obvious he is crying. Damn his horrible acting skills! Luke lets out a sigh and lifts his head, wiping his face with the back of a glove. He is looking away, though. He really doesn't want this stranger to see him like this.

Sighing, Reno stood up, the blanket shifting around him and rustling. "You look like you could use some time alone." Ignoring the question, he shook his head a bit. Even though this Luke may not recognize him, he didn't want to give him any clues, not just yet.

"Just call me Shirley." Yeah, that was an outdated joke, but hey, why not? It might get the guy to laugh or something.

He doesn't respond to the first thing, in spite of along time being the last thing he needs. Luke blinks at the name, though, before suddenly smirking a bit.

"...Shirley...?"

Luke lets a soft chuckle escape, putting a hand to his mouth. After a couple of seconds he glanced up at the guy, "Nice to meet you then, ...Shirley."

"Yeah, same here. Take a moment to yourself, kid, then go find your friends." With those parting words, Reno went to find a quieter place to sit for a few minutes.

Luke nods, "Right."

With that, he watches 'Shirley' leave.

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With a thousand lies and a good disguise

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