is this life now?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Characters: Veronica and OPEN
Setting: Floor 26, 90, 84, and 51
Format: Will follow you
Summary: Veronica's adjusting to a new life
Warnings: Usual tower warnings. Etc.



Floor 26

[As far as Veronica was concerned, she was going to be staying in the tower for a while. It wasn't something she wanted, at all. But there didn't seem to be any way out for the time being. So, she might as well make the best of it for now. She's been in worse situations.

The first step was apparently getting a job. Veronica would have probably taken a job as a patroller, or a solider, but morgue worker worked too. She had honestly never done it before; all the work back home had been done by the Professor's workers. So she's slow at the start, inspecting the chambers, cleaning the tools, killing anything that tried to kill her. Veronica will be working hard when anyone walks in, her cloak sitting on one of the counters. Veronica simply wearing her shirt and pants.]

Floor 90

[Back at the lagoon again. Despite the inherent danger of the floor, as well as the fact that she couldn't swim, Veronica actually enjoyed the floor. it was nice looking, and sitting on the sand and thinking was a good way to pass the time.

The mermaids are leaving her alone this time. Although there's a few out in the water, glaring at her.]

Floor 84

[This floor was very, very strange. The blocky landscape was almost hard to look at when Veronica wandered through it. The whole place just felt so surreal, although the materials all around her were extremely easy to mine, so she soon had an armful of minerals. Unfortunately, it didn't last.

So if anyone is going through this floor, they might see a teenaged girl sitting on a tree, three creepers bouncing underneath her and hissing menacingly. She doesn't seem very scared of them though, sitting quietly and watching them with curiosity.]

Floor 51

[One of the few priorities Veronica had in the tower had led her to this floor, carefully carrying a large box in with her. The box given to her had contained the professor's clothes, shredded and covered in blood. The blood had been easily washed away, but the sewing part was the difficult part. Quite a bit out of her element, she goes to the nearest machine and tries to get it to work, mostly by pressing random things and accidently poking herself.]

Ow! Damnit!

Comments

Floor 26

[bashfulshifter]

[Keeping after the morgue might not have been the most pleasant job in the world, but it provided Rick with a strange sense of regularity, a pattern that he could maintain and anchor each day on with the confidence that he'll have achieved something, whether it be making the Tower slightly less gross or not getting himself trapped in one of the cold lockers. So it should come as no surprise that he'd end up wandering in to work that day, early but not so early that it was obscene, or that he made it in before Veronica.]

[...who he is both surprised and happy to see around! Rick smiles pleasantly at her as he peeks through the entrance, cleaning supplies in tow; compared to when they met here, he seems to be in a much better mood.]

V-Veronica! What, ah...what b-brings you h-here?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Huh?

[At the sound of her name, Veronica's head turns, looking up from her current chore of scrubbing some autopsy tools. Her face brightens when she sees Rick at the entrance. She knew she'd find him here eventually.]

Rick, hey! I uh, I kinda got a job here.

[She gives a little shrug. It should be noted that right now she is without her cloak, said article of clothing resting on a counter near her. In just her shirt, pants and boots, Veronica looks even smaller than usual.]

[bashfulshifter]

Oh?

[Rick is, for the moment, surprised as he deposits his bucket of soap and sponges by the door. Veronica seems more enthusiastic about this new profession than he would have initially expected--but then again, she's mentioned that the morgue was a familiar environment for her, so perhaps this was her choice. He'll ask anyways.]

...You m-mean, from the T-Tower?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

...From the tower?

[Did the tower give people jobs? Was that something it could do, because that was pretty strange. She shakes her head though.]

N-no, I filled out one of those volunteer things in the cafeteria. And then I got a letter.

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick continues to be surprised, right up until he realizes what Veronica's referring to, at which point he's extremely embarrassed instead.]

...Ah y-yeah. Hah... [He goes pink and massages the back of his head.] ...I, um...I f-found out a-about the r-r-request box t-too late, a-a-apparently. I j-just w-woke up one m-morning and...there w-was the l-letter.

[stitchedupbodyguard]

So it just made you work here?

[She frowns. An eyebrow is raised]

That... doesn't seem right. And you haven't quit?

[bashfulshifter]

[His blush intensifies. He knows--rather, he suspects--that there's nothing he can do to change his present work environment, but somehow having this pointed out to him makes it even worse.]

W-Well I...I d-don't th--think I c-can? [Is this even something he can justify logically? Let's try.] I-I m-mean, who w-would I e-e-even ask?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[She pauses and thinks about Rick's question.

If he got a job from the tower there wasn't really anything you could really do about it, was there.

A depressing thought.]

I... don't know. Uh, sorry.

...So, you're working right now too?

[bashfulshifter]

--Oh, well, I-I d-didn't m-mean--

[Rick devolves into apologetic stammering. Somehow he has it in his mind that he's insulted Veronica's capacities to help and he's not happy for doing so. Still, she doesn't appear too perturbed, so eventually he trails off and lets it go.]

...Y-Yeah. I m-mean, I w-was p-p-planning on it. [Then, a quick addendum: ] --I w-w-won't be in y-your w-way, will I?

51

[pure_as_snow]

[The sound of a young girl in pain was one that Irisviel, as a mother, knew all to well. Making her way to the source with a concerned look on her face, Irisviel soon found herself in Veronica's presence.]

Are you all right?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[She's clutching her finger when Irisviel comes over. She looks more embarrassed than hurt really.]

Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I just pricked my finger is all.

[pure_as_snow]

Oh good. I was afraid that something terrible may have happened.

[stitchedupbodyguard]

That depends on what you consider to be terrible. Thank you for your concern though.

[She turns her attention back to the sewing machine she was trying to operate, grumbling under her breath as she tried to get it working.]

Stupid thing...

[pure_as_snow]

Oh, were you trying to sew something? May I ask what you were working?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Uh...

[She fumbles uselessly for a few seconds and just points to a box at her feet. Inside are some clothes, too big for her, shredded pretty badly.]

They're from my father... I got them around the time everyone else was getting strange things.

...They were covered in blood before.

[pure_as_snow]

Blood?

[That worried Irisviel, nothing good ever came from things being covered in blood]

Was your father involved in an accident?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[She frowns and shakes her head slowly.]

N-no...

I don't know...at least, I hope not.

I haven't seen him in a long time, even before I came to this place.

90

[humility]

[Mermaids?

it seems too obvious for Aqua to love water, but. she does. so this floor is awesome. she's covering her mouth with her hands in a subconscious effort to contain her excitement, but her pink cheeks and shining eyes might give it away.

mermaids.

but...they look unpleasant. not sure if want.

Aqua looks at the only other person here, and smiles shyly]


...Are they dangerous?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[Veronica looks up at the woman. She looks really excited for whatever reason. Her outfit raises an eyebrow, but Veronica gives a little smile.]

The mermaids? They try to pull you into the water and drown you.

[Her smile turns a tad malicious. A few mermaids in the water hiss angrily.]

They don't bug me much though.

[humility]

[welp. her face falls, even if she sort of half expected it. the last comment gets you a confused look, though.]

No? Why's that?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

I uh, had a run in with them the day I got here.

I broke free and they're really angry about that.

[humility]

[Aqua's lips twitch.]

That couldn't have been easy. I'm glad you made it, though.

[sitting down, she smiles at last.]

How did you do it?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Thanks.

[She scoots over for Aqua to have a seat.]

It was pretty easy. I just injected one with some paralytic poison. Got the job done quick.

[She toys with the fingers on one of her hands. Aqua might notice tiny needles sticking out of the figer tips if she looks hard enough.]

[humility]

[she doesn't know what to say to that at first. luckily, Aqua is an observant type. she notices. on some level, it should be disturbing, but really she's more curious than anything else.]

That's a pretty useful talent. What else can you do?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[A small smile forms on Veronica's face. She never gets to talk about her abilities, and hearing someone praise her for it was nice.]

W-well, I can see in the dark. I'm also really fast, and I can hear really quiet things.