towerofanimus | Eleventh Fragment

Entry tags:

Eleventh Fragment - Open

Characters: AU6!Terra and ANYONE
Setting: Room 3-04, Cafeteria, Library (Floor 3), Workshop (Floor 15)- Backdated to October 1st
Format: I prefer [Action], but I'll follow your lead.
Summary: A new month, a new menu, new clothes, but same old Terra.
Warnings: Any warnings that come with being a Keyderp apply - sudden mood whiplash, derp, possible explosions, exercises in control, ect.

[Room 3-04]

[With the start of October comes the ever-dreaded Ruana month. It's enough of a mood killer that Terra can't help the knot of dread forming in the pit of his stomach as he gets out of bed and moves to his trunk to get dressed.

'Wonder what she has in store for us this month?' Waking up in his bed clothes instead of a costume had, at least, been something of a good sign. Whatever Ruana was going to plan, she wasn't starting right away. That gave them time to prepare.

His thoughts are derailed when he sees garments in his chest that, aside from on his younger double at least a year ago, he hasn't seen in a little over a decade.

The shirt, the sleeve that served as a barrier between his bare arm and his armor, his hakama, his golden Mark... it was all here.

He pulls out the garments with the full intent of putting them on, only to catch something white under the hakama. He blinks, then goes pale.]

It can't be...

[Cafeteria]

[As appetizing as the smells from the cafeteria are this month, Terra can't help but grimace.

Pumpkins. Pumpkin everything. Again.] I was sick of pumpkin last year...

[... still better than the nutrition bars, at least...]

[Library]

[Terra is occupying one of the many tables, reading in relative peace and quiet.here are a few books spread out in front of him - most are shut and set aside, as if he plans to get to them later. The one that he is currently leafing through is... a rather unusual subject, especially for him.

'The Tarot'

Since when did the warrior Keyblade Master have an interest in the esoteric art of fortune-telling?]

[Floor 15 - Workroom]

[There is a look of intense concentration as the Keyblade Master works on the project in front of him. Blue and green glass shards of varying sizes are laid out into the rough shape of petals - or possibly the points of a star, given the arrangement. There are silver metal emblems located in the center, and broken bits of metal framework carefully arranged around the 'petals'.

Two of the petals on the green star are whole - or as close to whole as Terra has managed, the glass shards carefully heated and melted back together. There is blue and white-hot fire at his fingertips, a kind of magical, make-shift torch.

Controlling the flow of his magic so that it came out in such a precise amount, as well as manipulating the Fire spell to get this effect was taxing. It's easier now than when he'd started, though not by much.

He works slowly, but steadily, his attention only on the flames and the shards of glass. He knew going in that this would be tedious, time-consuming, and likely to not succeed fully. But... he has to keep going.]

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[... Oh boy. Naoya chuckles as he reads the title of the book.]

Interested in fortune-telling, are you?

[Even if the newcomer hadn't spoken up, Terra would've been distracted just by the sheer amount of darkness he was sensing. If he hadn't known any better, he would've thought he was sensing Xemnas for a second.

But only a second. Sure, it's nearly overwhelming, but it has a different feel to it - and even with all that darkness, there's still a glimmer of light.

In the span of two seconds, he visibly seems to tense up as his guard goes up, and he looks up to see who is speaking to him. He blinks, and a muted, almost sheepish-looking expression appears on his face.] Sort of. I'm more interested in the symbolism involved than anything.

[... Interesting. Naoya makes a thoughtful sort of 'hm'.]

I know a lot about the tarot, though I've never been particularly skilled with it myself. Maybe I can be of assistance.

[... he seems to consider this for a bit, before nodding slightly.] I'd... appreciate that.

[He moves the book pile aside a little, revealing a small set of notes. The slightly sheepish expression returns.] I have to admit, I feel a little overwhelmed by the subject.

[He sits down across from Terra, grinning a bit.]

Well, it is fairly overwhelming. The individual meanings of the cards, both major and minor arcana, are hard enough... not to mention when certain cards appear together.

[Oh, Light... as if the book wasn't telling enough that he's in over his head.] Good thing I'm not interested in the minor arcana - I don't think I could keep it all straight.

[He looks at his notes, and adopts a puzzled expression. There's something of a timeline formed, though a progression chart would be more accurate.

The Chariot -> The Strength //Death/Tower?// -> Judgement

There's a few words here and there branching off from the timeline, but nothing really decipherable from upside-down.

What is he up to?]

[He peeks over a little at the notes.]

Conflicted on where in the Fool's Journey you fall?

[Welp. You just hit the nail on the head. Nodding slightly.] Sort of - I think I know roughly where I am, but a few of them fit me, and... some work better at different points in my life than others.

[He's trying to work out how the shifts happened, and at what points.]

Edited 2013-10-20 00:04 (UTC)

That's common. Though in theory you're supposed to move through it sequentially, people sometimes skip cards, or go backwards. That's part of the human experience.

...A wayfinder?

[she had come to the floor just to see what materials were available; at most, she could find something to occupy her time when she wasn't exploring or going through her usual exercises. at the very least, this place is starting to get cold, and it can't be said that her usual outfit provides very good protection against that.

when she saw a particular person hard at work, she'd crept up from behind with an impish smile - it faded quickly enough when she saw just what he was working on. Aqua struggles against a lump in her throat.]

Who's it for?

[The torch-flame at his fingertips flares a bit from shock before it dies out and he looks up at the sound of Aqua's voice, suddenly pale. The fragment he'd been working on - shards of glass in a very, very familiar shade of green being meticulous reheated and melted back together - is dropped onto the table with a small, audible clatter. Thankfully, the repairs hold.

It's a few seconds that seem painfully long to him before he looks away, almost... ashamed? No, that's not it.] It's... not for anyone. It -

[He pauses, feeling a lump forming in his throat as he tries to explain. It... hurts. And he thinks back to that month with the shadows that had Aqua's and Ven's voices, and it makes answering that much harder.

He looks back up at Aqua, and though he's smiling, it's a sad smile, the sadness and guilt apparent in his eyes.] It has an owner already.

Ven's?

[it slips out before she can stop herself, so there was no way to control the way her voice trembles.

she needn't have asked. not with the way he's looking at her.

Aqua lowers her head and takes a deep breath, then sits down next to him facing the opposite direction, hands balled into fists on her knees.

she wishes she could smile and remark how far he's come in his magic since their school days, or even say what a nice thing to do, even if Ven isn't here.

she can't.

it's a question too big and frightening to have asked before now, a question that has loomed over her after finding Terra and two more who look like him. she can't run from it anymore, so her voice is entirely too even when she finally asks:]

What happened to him?

[What else can he do, but nod in response? But her next question is a lot harder to answer.

He looks back at the mess of glass shards in front of him as he tries to figure out just how to reply to that. The blue and green glass sparkles back with the light being reflected in the sharp angles, almost mocking him with the hints of what had happened to his universe's versions of Aqua and Ven.

... He could start with what he knows from his universe, and work his way out into events in the tower. Without looking back up, he starts speaking again.] He was... discovered, sleeping in a room called the Chamber of Awakening. The one that found him then set about trying to find a way to wake him.

[He feels a lump forming in his throat, but continued on.] He determined that he would need to find his other friend - the girl with the sad smile, whose armor rested in a room of his design, that he called the Chamber of Repose. Maybe then, he could remember more than their names, faces, and a few vague memories that told him they were his friends.

[And this is where he looks up, and the guilt in his eyes is more tangible.] I didn't arrive here with the other wayfinders; only mine. The Tower admins... sent them to me like this.

[And in the guilt, there's a spark of anger.]

[as she listens, Aqua's eyes start to sting - she looks up at the ceiling in order to fight back against the impulse.]

...I was the one who put Ven there. With the Master's Key, I...locked him away, and our home. To keep him safe, until we could get to him, and- [she swallows thickly] -and wake him up.

[she reaches into her skirts then, and pulls out her own wayfinder. a bit battered on the metal, but the glass still shines brightly. she stares at it in her hands, frowning against the continued warning signs of tears.]

Through all that...you still have it?

[The anger and guilt disappear, replaced by wide-eyed shock as his breath catches.] You put him-- and that's--

[He feels like such an idiot. Even as Xemnas, Castle Oblivion had felt familiar in a way the Nobody couldn't place - like an ache that he knew would be a storm of emotion if he'd had a Heart back then.

Castle Oblivion... had been home. Light, no wonder he'd been able to find Ven the second Xemnas let himself get lost in the depths of the castle.

The shocked expression fades, and his expression remains blank for a second or two before the hints of a smile begin to appear and the expression softens. Without a word, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his own wayfinder - the nicks and scuffs it once held are gone, and the glass gleams just as brilliantly in the light as hers.] I never lost it.

[she may be biting her lip, but Aqua's smiling through it. she laughs quietly, even if it is choked.]

I guess my spell worked, then.

[With a very quiet chuckle, he shakes his head.] I don't think it was the spell as much as it was my own stubbornness.

[He gets something of a far-off look in his eyes as he looks at his wayfinder, as if he's getting lost in memory.] You don't need a spell, to create a bond like the one the three of us shared. The wayfinders just... let us tap into that a bit better.

[And it was a tangible reminder of that bond, for him. Something a memory-less shell could cling to when he couldn't remember why it was important or what it represented, but knew in his heart that it was.]

[she laughs again, clearer this time, and nudges him with her elbow.]

Fine, don't let me be sentimental.

[hey y'know she's kind of shaken so she's actually going to lean back and despite sitting opposite directions they're now shoulder-to-shoulder deal with it]

...Did you find those like that?

[Okay. The nudge and teasing get a bit of a laugh out of him.

But, unfortunately, he sobers up again far too quickly. A sigh, and he looks back at the shattered wayfinders, not sure if he'll ever be able to finish the repairs, or even if they can be properly repaired at all.] Yeah... the tower sent them to me completely shattered.

[And that had just been the start of the Really Bad Week.]

Hm. Maybe a tactic to scare you?

[Oh boy oh boy it's a library! He loves the books, the feel of the spines against his fingertips, the smell of musty pages, the low murmur of those reading around him... even if it's all an illusion, it's a grand one, and the illusory words still burn themselves into his mind.

Strangely enough, he sees the stalwart warrior from before, the one who had hidden behind the curtain... though he knows better now. The other brother, the one that Xemnas was uncertain of timeline-wise. He wasn't going to approach with familiarity... but it was strange to think. The three of them... in this place...

He blinks to stop himself from staring. The book that the warrior is reading resonates in his mind... divination. For a warrior? How strange.]

Your taste in literature is quite broad.

[He looks up in slight surprise, blinks, and adopts a slightly sheepish expression.] Ah... thanks, I guess.

[He pauses, not sure whether he wants to continue... but even just reaching out a little, he can feel the seal in place.

The reformimg smile looks a lot less sheepish and a lot more casual.] It's an interesting subject. A friend I made here made me curious about it.

[Feeling a fairly strong D-Link cut off was always painful. But he'd been curious about the voice and what it had meant by 'Judgement Arcana' when the link had initially formed.

If he ever gets out of this damned tower, if the worlds are ever restored, he'll have to find Narukami again. Somehow.]

[He edges slightly closer, though not too close. He isn't certain of where he stands with the fellow so he doesn't want to breach the distance.]

It seems a good place for cultural exchange. Do you particularly hold stock in that, though? [He gestures at the book.] In general, I mean. The reading of ordained fate.

[Relax, he won't bite. He turns his attention back to the book, a thoughtful look on his face. It's a question that, while he was reading a book on a type of divination, he hadn't given any thought to.

Did he? Was such a thing even possible?

... he knew it was, on some level. But... methods of divining what could happen on purpose?

Eventually, and carefully, he answers.] I'm... not really sure. I've never seen anything like fortune telling in action. Seeing the future is possible enough, but... I don't think fate's really ordained.

[It's rather hard, putting this into words.]

[He nods a little, pondering.] It seems strange to think that everything we do is telegraphed to be a certain way. Would that mean we were fated to come here, or is this a place beyond such things? Have we already defied the hands of fate?

[He can't help but nod in agreement to that first statement.] It does seem odd; for fate to be a concrete thing would mean that there is no true free will. To believe that there isn't any choice in how we end up seems...

[He shakes his head, distaste at the idea showing.] I would like to think that there's always a choice. Those people that can see the future... what are they seeing? Possibilities seem the most likely - choices a person makes defining possible outcomes. Go one way, and some doors close while others open.

[It makes the most sense to him in relation to the tower - everyone being from different universes and all.]

And being here... is that a severing of previous probability? I dare say that we are in less control than we would have been previously. What would a fate-scrier see in this place? Horror, no doubt. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Being here is a possibility that no one could see coming. [Of that, he's sure. They are dealing with a place they have little to no knowledge of regarding it's history, people with powers and pasts that they do not know the extent of, and with no guarantee of being able to restore things and save everyone...

... He hates this place, but that's letting his mind get off-topic.

A smirk forms, though it isn't a pleasant one. There is no humor in his expression.] That's assuming their powers work at all. I doubt the administrators would want that kind of ability to be active for too long.

Or if they control the illusion, they can decide what to feed such an individual when they use that ability. After all, it's just what we perceive... powers and such. A grand illusion...

[His tone turns sour. He clearly isn't impressed by things at all.]

Nothing like that really matters. I suppose that's the more cruel aspect of it all. It's all fake in the end.

[He picks up a book and throws it at a wall with a satisfying 'thud'.]

[Welp. That's an understandable reaction. He winces at the 'thud' of the book hitting the wall, and can't help the quip that escapes him.] That's literature abuse, you know.

[All joking aside, though, Terra more than understands that kind of frustration.] Mm... true enough. There's not much we can do that will really affect this place. Our powers, our faces, the food, our surroundings... all fake. But not everything here is an illusion.

[He closes the book he was reading and gestures at his own heart with his now free hand, and then taps the side of his head.] This, and this - our hearts, minds, souls - call them what you want - those are real enough. They can inflict whatever horrors or torture they want on us, but they can't change who we are at our core. And that is something they can't take away from us.

[Oops. He just had a moment.]

This so-called library is a poor excuse for the word. It's been censored of all the more relevant topics.

[Maybe a little bitter.]

I suppose that's the real desire. To break us down into our components to claim that too. So that there's nothing left.

[And he shrugs a little.]

Or perhaps they're merely interested in seeing how long it takes to suck the life out of people and turn them utterly blase. Or what the breaking point is, but some people have been here so long that I imagine they've long past that point into dull acceptance of things as they are.

[Given some of the conversations he's had, he's come to some odd conclusions.]

[Terra isn't the only one with a set of new cloths, and certainly not the only one eager to wear them. It's been so long since he's had a set of cloths that doesn't show signs of wear and battle, and he definitely likes the white shirt, the yellow accents to it and the dream eater emblem he's now sporting on his back, the jeans that have the right length, the boots that haven't been worn down and the wrist bands that came with them - they fit the him now, rather than the person he used to be a year ago, and even though Riku has never given fashion much of a thought, it's nice to have that reflect.

The reappearance of all things pumpkin is much less so, and that's why he's immediately left the cafeteria for the aquarium floor after glancing over the menu, because there is no way he'll live the whole month on pumpkin (it's moments like this when bare-hand-fishing becomes the single most useful skill he has, and it's one that he'll never hesitate to utilize).

He re-enters the Cafeteria just after Terra, his haul wrapped into his cloak for easier transport, snorting.]

No doubt that anyone who suffered through last year's Halloween still is. Thankfully, there's still some alternatives.

[So maybe he's smirking as he lifts up his haul slightly. He may or may not be willing to share?]

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Eleventh Fragment - Open

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Cafeteria