11 | they should worry

[alephbet]

Characters: Aleph and you!
Setting: Floor 1, Floor 62, Floor 86
Format: Actionspam
Summary: Aleph shares a little wine that will knock the unsuspecting out. He heads up to the beach, and from there to the fairy ring floor where he has a "little" problem.
Warnings: Drinking, by minors if you.. count Aleph as a minor. Will update to include other things if they occur.

[Floor 1]
[There was a rather large bottle of wine on the table.

On close inspection, it would be labeled with simply 'Dionysus' on one side of the label. Anyone paying any attention to it would get Aleph to smile and say:]

If you promise to drink responsibly, I'll let you have some.

[Warning: alcohol made by the god of wine is delicious, but severely intoxicating.]

[Floor 62]
[It's good to be on the beach when it's warm...

Don't mind Aleph's deposited top half of his armor. It was 70 degrees and it felt great to just stretch out on the beach there.]

[Floor 86]
[Maybe he'd drank too much of the wine. There was certainly a sway in his step when he was proceeding up the stairs, enough that he stepped off onto this floor in particular.

Right into a ring of mushrooms. Should they even be allowed to grow that close to the stairs? Either way, it was too late to think of that now, as a small group of fairies appeared and surrounded him.]

What a silly man!

Coming into our ring, how mean!

[Right, he could handle this, he negotiated with spirits for a living... He started to speak.] It was an accident-

Did he bring iron into our ring?

Scary, scary, we'll have to make sure he doesn't use it!

[Well crap.

The next thing Aleph saw was a swirl of lights, and then... everything suddenly looked a whole lot bigger.

Those who enter this floor after Aleph will notice that he's about the size of somebody's hand - that is, if they look before they step onto it.]

Comments

[midgarhorizon]

Oho, kinda figured it wasn't just the dorms that got hit. How many floors did it take out?

[He takes a seat nearby, pulling it around so he sits on it the wrong way, resting his arms on the back.]

Didja see them, too?

[alephbet]

Just the two under the dorms. One hundred was easier, it's powers-on. One hundred one not so much.

...And depends what you mean by 'them'. I didn't see anything, but once the leak started, I always felt like... something was watching me. And I could swear something tapped on my shoulder.

I'm sure you had it worse, though.

[midgarhorizon]

Worse?

[He laughs, strained and shaky.]

Those things were everywhere in the halls. You watch careful enough, you could see the whole place flicker into something that looked like a hospital. Had guards and doctors. Then there were the sounds, people talking, footsteps, even the beeps of machines. And if we made too much noise, they'd do things.

[The memories are horrifying in retrospect. Going through the ordeal, he wasn't sure how he had kept so calm anymore.]

Last thing I remember, I was gettin' pulled through a door that was still closed.

[alephbet]

I'm sorry.

[It's really all you can say to half of what the tower does, when you haven't experienced it.]

[midgarhorizon]

Hey, don't worry about it.

[Because it was his own dumbass fault trying to stick around instead of heading for the stairs.]

Gave me a lot of time to think. Coulda been worse.

[alephbet]

That's true, but that doesn't make it fun by any means. -Maybe you should stop by when you aren't on duty for that drink.

[midgarhorizon]

I think I'm gonna swear off booze for now.

[SHOCK. HORROR. WHAT WAS THIS. Reno surprised the flippin' hell out of himself with that.

Swear off booze?]

Hard enough keeping a clear head anymore, don't want to know what I'd do drunk off my ass. Maybe when we get this whole shit with the Tower settled, I'll have a drink next July.

[alephbet]

That celebration had better have wine coming out everyone's ears. And cake. One of those giant cakes that could fit a person in it.

[midgarhorizon]

[This is a better topic. Reno snickers, imagining that party. It'd probably wind up being a free for all party riot.]

I don't think my wife'd appreciate that kinda cake, unless she was in it.

[alephbet]

Why not? It's a really big cake, I'm sure she could have as much as she wanted.

[yeah someone has to explain what you do with those cakes]

[midgarhorizon]

Huh, never heard of the hidden surprise cake? Y'know, the one that's fake and has a girl inside that'll pop out and dance?

[Aleph why are you so naive didn't someone give you a proper bachelor party.]

[alephbet]

No, I just thought they were really big so there'd be a lot of cake to eat.

[A simple kind of man.]

[midgarhorizon]

Those kind, huh? Cake's all right, but I'd probably want somethin' fun to eat with it. Gets boring after too many times.

[alephbet]

Well, how about... I don't know, I think after so long in the tower all I really want is variety and not the same thing for an entire month.

[midgarhorizon]

Y'know, if we get enough supplies, there's probably a lotta people in this place who could cook. Just get some real cross-world cuisine shit going on. I'm willin' to try anything not chosen by Them, at least once.

[alephbet]

I'd love to try something from other worlds. But maybe I'm glad that they don't make us eat, say, flying whale cake all the time.

[midgarhorizon]

[That gets a snort, and Reno resting his head on the chairback.]

Never got to enjoy that particular shitstorm, but I heard it was pretty bad.

[alephbet]

At the time it was a lot less funny than it is now.

...Come to think of it, are there flying whales on my world? There are a lot of strange demons, so there could be one I just haven't run into.

[midgarhorizon]

Don't know much about your world, but seems like if there can be a talking penis, good chance of a flyin' whale.

[alephbet]

You have a very valid point there.

[midgarhorizon]

Doin' the job I do, I figured out early on ya can't just trust that you know something can't exist. I've heard stories about other worlds that don't have magic, and where monsters don't exist, and undead don't haunt. Just depends where ya go to look.

[alephbet]

It's true. There's nothing that can be ruled out either here in the Tower or anywhere, really.

...Why do you still remember Mara anyway?

[midgarhorizon]

[There is a long, long, long pause, before Reno lifts his head again, mouth a tight line. It was hard to tell what he was thinking because of the visor though.]

...Because even the fury of a supernova can't burn that shit outta my mind, bro.

[alephbet]

I was really hoping that I could live that down and everyone would forget.

[A sigh.]

As soon as I can fuse him into something else I will, I don't care if it's not as strong. Just as long as it's shaped differently.

[midgarhorizon]

Ya expect nobody to remember that? There's a whole lot of weird shit goin' around the Tower at any given time, but Mara's in his own special category of wingnutty lard drinking bonkers. It leaves an impression.