towerofanimus | I would come back 1000 times

Entry tags:

I would come back 1000 times

Characters: [OU]Dave Strider and Open to anyone
Setting: Room 1-04; Floor 100; Floor 94; Cafeteria
Format: Either
Summary: After a prolonged absence, Dave finds the Tower is a lot emptier and a gift he isn't sure he wants. He's forcing himself to wander around.
Warnings: Language mostly

Room 1-04
Dave can be found sitting on the floor next to his bed. Set in front of him is a small birdcage. The three figures may seem familiar. There's one of Namine, one of Bro and the last being Jade Strider. He kind of sits there quietly for a bit, watching them move. Listening to them talk. His shades hide his eyes and his mouth shows no expression.

After awhile longer, he picks up the cage and starts shifting some of the contents of it before fitting the bird cage in and shutting the trunk. He guesses that he doesn't really have the heart to get rid of it. He'd feel terrible burying them when they keep talking to him like that.

And it's the only time he thinks he'll really get to hear Bro's voice again.

Floor 100
He isn't sure why he goes to this floor. Maybe it's because of the sudden loss. Despite it being kind of hollow, there's something really nice seeing his place again. All the shitty selfies hanging up and his dead things in jars.

Also the fact that he had a room to himself where he could do as he pleases with where he put his stuff and what stuff he had. It's a little harder to do that when you got roommates.

He snickers a bit when Missy seems intent on trying to smell any of the items, only for it to be a hologram. She seems kind of disgruntled about the trick and the fact she keeps falling for it. "Missy. Sniff all you want, but holograms don't have scent. Shit that would be marvel though. Except I guess it would suck if someone was a hologram and they smelled bad. Come on, let's go."

Floor 94
Dave is busy developing photos. Honestly, he's so busy doing this that he might not even notice you're there.

He's got a hell of a lot of film to go through after all. Shit son, look at all these nice fucking photos he can hang on his walls. It seems like he's got a few pictures he's trying to develop just right. He bobs his head to a tune that isn't playing out loud as he sits by all the trays of chemicals watching his photos develop.

Cafeteria
Dave's got himself dinner and he seems to be pretty hungry. Sure, it's all fake, but he can dig pretending this fake food is actual food. It's easy to forget anyways. Mostly, he's forgotten that it's all food bars in disguise. Funny how memories work and how Dave is a forgetful fella.

He's a bit annoyed at the choice of drinks though. "Shit, I should have just coma'd myself into oblivion when we still had apple juice available."

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It's surreal to be back in this room, fake or not. [Dave leans against the doorframe with his hands in his jeans pockets. He looks casual and unconcerned but there's a faint relief in his tone. He'd come to view the same thing, finding his counterpart is the best thing to happen in a while.]

I mean, this is all the shit from when we were thirteen and bold. [Also embarrassing. He steps inside, eyeing the dead things, gaze settling on the monkey's paw. Outside the doorway Bro the Salamence cranes his head in then settles by the door. He can't fit but he's cool with it.]

Imagine if we'd developed some of these interests more. Like shit, the dead things. Or even worked and actually started taking pictures of...more than those embarrassing first level irony selfies.

[Dave startles a bit, turning his attention to the other. Missy usually brought his attention to foreign people, but the other wasn't really foreign. That, and he was also Dave.] I'm not that much older from thirteen, dude. [But that doesn't say much being in this place. You age pretty fast here.]

You haven't been taking advantage of Floor 94? I've been using it a lot since they gave it to us. [Because he wasn't able to take photos of his friends that have long since gone. He doesn't want to miss that chance again. He has some photos of Bro to develop, actually.]

I use it all the time. [There is no sense in hiding it. He still enters that place despite what happened there. But, it's clear from his tone, lengthened hair, and something in his stance that he's not what his counterpart last saw.

A long broadsword is strapped to his back. He shakes his head and whistles. Bro sticks his head in, and at command sits right in the doorway. Like a guard.] The egg grew up while you were missing. No more surprise divebombing.

[Dave turns to look at the other for a bit. He glances at Bro for a moment before looking back at Dave.]

What happened while I was gone? [He doesn't have to ask if something happened. He knows this place well enough to know something must have happened. He just doesn't know what exactly.]

What didn't happen is a better question. [He's stalling. Talking about what happened just isn't something he wants to do.] More people turning into things, raids, death, oh and more death.

Daring missions. The usual stuff. [He will gloss it all over if he has to. Other him will understand.]

You think this place would mix up their routine a bit. The same song and dance kind of gets boring after awhile. [Dave doesn't ask for details. At this point, he doesn't think there's really a reason to drudge up bad memories. Gotta keep going.] You wanna head to the Graveyard with me later? As much as I love staring into my past with a forlorn expression, I got better things to do.

[There's something comforting about visiting friends' graves.]

Sure. I have some stuff stashed down there to show you. [People didn't go down there all too often so it was the best place to stash his ill gotten booty. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and adds.]

Kinda importante stuff.

Sure? I mean, my reasons are less cool sounding. I kind of just like visiting the graves. We can head over now though. Don't really need to stay here looking at a hologram.

Sounds kind of sad when I put it that way.

Yeah it does. Kinda obligatory though if we're weeping like old dudes looking back on the good old days.

[He leans back on his heels, ready to be moving. Doing something. It was how he survived all the crap and hearing Terezi and his spritely asshole self tell him in cold voices that if he'd fought harder, worked a little more.

None of the deaths on his hands would have happened.]

Not even here. Not even here could he find privacy.

Isamu had searched the tower floor by floor, finally coming across the dark room. Here, he'd assumed there would be few to no visitors. Who needed to develop film, anyway? Were there really people running around this place with cameras?

It appeared that there were, because one such person was here now.

He stayed hidden in a corner for a while, watching the boy over his knees as he had them pulled up to his chin. He kept his breaths as quiet as he could, though his shivered every so often despite the sheen of sweat that now covered him. Finally, tired of this, he stood up and took a few careful steps in Dave's direction.

From most people's perspective, he probably didn't look much better than one of the monsters that could be found in the tower.

Edited (I realized having brackets on that was silly.) 2013-09-09 08:01 (UTC)

You're probably better off being on one of the floors that would get you killed. That's probably a terrible idea if you wanted privacy though.

Dave seems to be a bit oblivious to the others' presence. He's more preoccupied watching his photo develop in the tray. Needs to make sure he doesn't take it out too soon or too late. A photo not developed enough loses all its depth. A photo too developed ends up too dark.

That, and like Isamu, Dave doesn't actually think there's anyone else who really bothers to go on this floor. Other than the creepy shadows that lurk on this floor, he usually doesn't run into people here. It's usually where he goes for quiet, actually.

The pseudo-fiend hovers near his shoulder for a few moments before reaching an arm around one of Dave's own, grasping the edge of one of the trays. He feels like the villain in a slasher movie, and perhaps its only fitting.

"The hell is there to even develop here? Pictures or otherwise. It's pointless." He wants to just dump all the contents to the floor. It's only a small amount of curiosity that keeps him from doing it.

He raises an eyebrow at the other. It would be really obnoxious for the other to dumb the contents because he'd have to clean and refill all the trays then, but he also doesn't generally care. People being assholes in thisplace is something he's gotten quite used too.

"Oh yes. I forget having hobbies is pointless. Let me just lie in my bed all day waiting for the next bullshit event the administrators throws at us. What a productive use of my time." He then kind of just shrugs. "Rather do something than do nothing. If I'm gonna be stuck here for another year, might as well make use of time."

"It's a lame hobby." Really it's not any worse than any other hobby, if he was being honest, but right now Isamu is feeling particularly petulant. He releases the tray, but not without jarring it a little.

"I just wanted a dark room where no one else would run into me. But apparently that's too much to ask for." If he thought he could follow through with it, he might have gone on to threaten the other teen. Unfortunately for him, he's currently all bark and no bite.

"Like most hobbies are," Dave replies, not at all annoyed by the other. He seems to be taking this with some stride.

"In this place, yeah actually. There's a hell of a lot of us, and even with this place being damn huge, it's hard not to end up in a place where someone else is. I'm not gonna be that much longer though so I can just finish this shit up and you can enjoy your chemical smelling dark room by yourself." He wasn't even bothering you though, so you brought this upon yourself, dude.

Isamu brings most things upon himself, so this isn't anything new.

And he hadn't even been thinking of the chemical smell until Dave brought it up. Now he was going to be thinking about it the whole time he was in there and it was going to bother the hell out of him. Great.

"We should have at least been given private rooms." This is muttered in irritation as the teen steps back.

"We should have been given a hell of a lot more than what we got, but can't really complain. Well you can, but there's a high chance they won't actually give a shit," Dave replies.

"Trust me. I've been here awhile and I'd love more than anything to have a room to myself. Or you know, maybe some privacy in general. That's like the one thing you can't get here unless you end up on some shitty floor that might try to eat you." He dumps the photos into water to wash the chemicals away.

Even though Isamu wants to be annoyed with this teen too, he's the only one he's run into so far who hasn't immediately disgusted him after opening his mouth. (Not that the others were so bad either, but he won't admit that for some time.)

He crosses his arms over his chest and backs away to retreat to where he'd been sitting before. Maybe he'll actually be able to get a nap for a while, even with someone else in here.

It feels weird to just leave the blond standing there, though. Like really awkward. "...Where did you get a camera from, anyway?"

Dave will be as quiet as possible. He wasn't making a hell of a lot of noise anyways.

"They kind of have a few that you can just take and use. It's one of the few convenient things this place has implemented. I guess for every fifty shitty things they do, they do something decent." It's nice though. And it makes sense. Why make a dark room floor that no one can use? That would be a waste of their time.

[ Apparently someone was overhearing him when he started talking to himself out loud.. since there's a girl eyeing the menu too next to him, but she glances at him instead when she hears that, raising an eyebrow. ]

A coma?! From apple juice?!

[He raises an eyebrow.]

Yeah. Well, if you have too much of something I'm sure it could lead to some bad results. You can have too much of something, even if its good. [He doesn't actually think you can fall into a coma just by drinking juice, but he guesses that not everyone actually understands phrases like that. And he's kind of in a mood where he's gonna troll a bit for shits and giggles.]

Like anything bad is going to happen from drinking apple juice. [ She can believe that too much of good things like sugar can be bad, but.. apple juice, really? She crosses her arms and huffs. ]

What would even happen, would you grow an apple tree on your head out of nowhere?

You know, apple juice has more in it than just apples right? Like sugar. I'm sure drinking enough apple juice can cause weight gain or diabetes, assuming you can actually drink that much. If you bloat yourself with juice, you don't really give room for other things and you'd be denying your body of other nutrients it might need. Bam! Even apple juice can fuck you over.

Damn, an apple tree that grows juice though. I think I found the next thing I want scientists to invent.

[It's the floors above, truthfully, that have more of her interest, today. She's been in the Tower a long time, but it does so like to increase the number of places it offers to visit, and really - well, there are not as many other things to do as she'd like. So perhaps it's not so strange that she'd wander those close to the dormitories.]

[She's never been one to spend much time on this floor. No reason to, for her - she's more inclined to draw the things she wishes to remember (not that she's liable to forget them easily in the first place) than to photograph them. As she passes through, she intends to do so quickly. Gosh, is it dark--]

[Sounds like someone's shuffling around over there, Dave.]

[He almost misses the shuffling, but a fool would really let himself become so preoccupied that he didn't hear something nearby or approaching. He turns in the direction and-]

Namine?

[He dumps the few prints he was working on in the tray of water to wash the chemicals off before moving to wash his hands quickly.]

[Immediately going stock still, she's an easy figure to make out in the dark; pale in skin and hair and dress as white as ever, she's basically built for showing up in it. She turns, brow knitting. She knows that voice - and, she realizes, that person.]

-- Dave...! Hello...! I-- wasn't expecting anyone to be here.

[But she shifts to face him properly all the same, obviously not displeased by the development.]

[He walks over to her after he's washed his hands, drying his hands on his pants. They were gonna get wet again soon enough when he has to get his prints to dry.] Oh. Yeah, I guess not a lot of people here care to develop film and stuff. It's kind of been a hobby of mine, so I kind of use this floor a lot.

Took them long enough to make this floor though, let's be real.

[She stays where she is, waiting for him.] It's awfully dark in here. [Which explains why most people wouldn't use it for anything like that, but--] I'll have to keep that in mind. I'm curious, now.

[A smile flickers at the corners of her mouth.] I'm sure there are a lot of them some of us could say that about.

[He hurries over to her.] It's a dark room. Photo paper is light sensitive so if it gets exposed to light, it ruins the paper. The same goes for film. That's why there's a red light. It's all about how light bounces off.

[He'll ramble for hours about this.] With this floor and the media floor, I'm pretty solid.

[She blinks as he nears, studying what she can see of him closely as if to make up for the darkness.] Huh...! I never knew that. I guess that makes sense.

[And, you know, helps her understand why someone would hang out in a place like this. Her breath shudders in a small laugh.]

Good to hear. I've got a few places in the tower of my own. ... Are you... busy here? [And thus should she move on-- or rather, would he like to go somewhere brighter, seems to be the implication.]

[He's a shit drawer, so he's got to put his artistic endeavors into other things, man.]

I'm just finishing a round of prints. If you don't mind waiting some minutes, I can clean up and head out with you.

Unless you got other stuff to do. Don't wanna keep you. We have plenty of other places where we can run into each other. [He just needs to dry the prints off and stuff. Should only take some minutes.]

Oh...! -- No, I don't mind at all. I'd be really glad to keep you company.

[Not that he... would necessarily have any use for her company, but--]

Besides, it would be nice to see you work. [Her shoulders move slightly.] I don't have much else to do, anyway. [She should probably try to sound more put upon for the sake of the joke, but can't quite manage it.]

Eleven's screaming is particularly bad today. He doesn't know for sure what she is, still. A second soul, some illusion, it doesn't matter. He can't seem to distract himself and his head is pounding, his heart is racing, and he's not paying the closest attention to where the stairs curve.

He misses a step and picks the wrong way to try to balance himself. He tumbles off the staircase, landing in the darkroom with a thud.

He's still partially illuminated by whatever light comes from the ball pit above, so Dave will be able to see him, vaguely, as he stands, but Enoch can't see Dave, only hearing the movement deeper in.

The thud is loud and he startles a bit when he hears it. He immediately moves to grab his sword and turns towards the direction of the noise. He recognizes the other immediately and lowers his weapon.

He casually makes his way over to Enoch. "Hey, you alright? You kind of ate it a bit."

Enoch raises a hand to his head, focusing on having a conversation for now. It helps, at least a little.

"'Ate it'? ...I'm fine. I've only been distracted."

It came so naturally, shunting his problems away when others were worried. It wasn't as if he didn't have a way out of this, now that he's found a momentary distraction, or potentially so.

"Shit. Right. Some phrases are newer than your time. It's kind of like when you fall. Usually it's when someone falls face first. You know. Like eating dirt? Does that even make sense."

He raises an eyebrow. If the other doesn't want to talk about it, he doesn't really want to push. "You gonna be okay?" He'll ask a general question at the very least.

"Oh, I see... That makes sense."

Even if it wasn't a dirt floor, he knows better than to try to take it too literally. It isn't as if his time doesn't have its share of slang and euphemisms.

Although at such a seemingly simple question, he seems a bit distressed.

"I'm...sure I will be." He shakes his head as if to clear it.

Oh. Shit. Didn't mean to make you more distressed or whatever.

"Uh. You sure you're gonna be okay? I mean, it's cool if you don't want to talk about it, but you don't seem totally chill with whatever is happening." Not that he's surprised. The Tower makes it a damn challenge to constantly be chill about anything.

"It's..."

Dave has always struck him as like a younger Lucifel. Even the first Dave he met, the one in Meridian. It makes it harder to hide his problems, given how much more comfortable this very tower has made him with sharing his problems with his guardian.

"...the tower is only being itself. I'll adjust to this as I have everything else."

John has been sitting in the back for a while now, watching Dave process photos is something he does every so often. Whether Dave knows he is here or not is another story...it's been...two hours now? They haven't spoken a word. Just enjoyed silent company if that was a thing.

John will find himself nodding off every once in a while.

It's just nice to be back in his best friends presence after all that has happened recently. He wouldn't even know where to begin.

Dave kneels in front of John, arms folded on his knees as he stares at the other. "If you're gonna fall asleep, you should just go back to your room you know. This floor is mostly harmless but it isn't harmless." He gestures to the creepy things that lurk.

"We can hang out when you're not nodding off."

He raises a brow at Dave and shakes his head. "No, I'm fine." He really was! He was a little sleepy but hey that is probably something that happens when you're not sleeping as you should. "I've totally got those little assholes if they try anything." Really, he does!

"No but seriously, I'll be fine. I like watching you develop stuff."

"I'm pretty sure you don't want to fuck with them, John." He raises an eyebrow slightly. "If you say so. I'm just saying that you look like you could do with some sleep."

He stands upright. "I can teach you how to do it if you want."

"Eh, sleep is relative around here." He gets a healthy three or four hours a night. That is good, right? RIGHT? Totally. "I won't fuck with them until they fuck with me so, we're all on good grounds right now."

He perks both eyebrows. "Really?"

"Hey. I kind of like a feel good Zs. That's rare here." Dave doesn't really...get too good of sleep nowadays. "Man, just don't make me have to intervene. I haven't actually seen what happens if you mess with them.

"Yeah? It's easy. Like. Middle schoolers can get taught this shit. Hell. Kids in elementary can do it too. You'd have to be dumb as fuck. John, I am under the impression that you aren't dumb as fuck."

"Yeah. I don't think I've slept decently since....I don't know? Since I got here I guess. But there is not any reason to take an afternoon nap when I could be hanging here." But he wont like. Do anything to them at the moment. Only if they stroke first. Which. They won't, unless provoked.

"I am not dumb as fuck, so. Let's do this."

"I would say you're more on the lines of dumb as bricks. Not quite to dumb as fuck, but getting there." Dave motions him to follow him to the enlarger though. They can just use some of the film he already has developed since he has no new film to develop. He'll have to teach John that another day. But hey, one step at a time.

"This cool fucker here is an enlarger. It's what we cool photo dweebs use to make these tiny negatives become cool not so tiny photos."

He rolls his eyes, and only because he knows that by saying that. It's Dave's way of always affirming their broship. John and Dave may batter each other with words, but it's all in good fun- always. John gets up and follows standing next to Dave and the cool machine.

"Okay so you're gonna take your pictures, and use this machine to make them big enough to like...I guess hang on your walls?"

Edited 2013-10-24 00:54 (UTC)

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I would come back 1000 times

Floor 100

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Floor 94

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cafeteria;

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Floor 94

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Floor 94 fair warning I will be very slow until I get my inbox under control ;w;

It's ok! I'm also on the slow side atm umu;

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Floor 94

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