Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen

[culbutiri]

Characters: Nesir Aeser, you
Setting: Floor sixty two (beach), floor seventy two (door maze)
Format: Either
Summary: It's Nesir's birthday, she decides she should actually get round to reading her regain, and then sets herself a challenge
Warnings: Maybe talk of assassins/murder/last event. Nesir is generally not a nice person though she is not actively murderous at the moment...

[Beach] Nesir was quite surprised when she saw the date, though she knew it was coming up. In a few days she would have been in this place for an entire year and today she as sixteen. Nesir's birthday had never been celebrated and she wasn't about to start doing so in this fake place but she noted that she was a year older and that in her world she would have been considered an adult today. Ready to be apprenticed or to go out and find work, if she hadn't been a temple acolyte, if she hadn't been a dark trained assassin who had been training and working since she could walk.

The last few days she had spent training, working out her anger and frustration of being stuck in a room with Sephiroth for a week, of the hallucinations and the hunger. It helped that they ahad decent food, even if it was all pumpkin flavoured, which reminded her of her first month here, a year ago. She failed to see why in a world where everything was an illusion they had to eat pumpkin, surely there were other foods they could pretend to give them.

As it was the 'reward' she had been given had been thrown into her trunk and ignored for the last few days. Because as curious as she was, she at least knew when she was too angry to deal with more things. But today was as good as any day.

She liked the beach floor, because as little as she had actually spent time on the seafront as a child the sound of the sea reminded her of home, so she sat on the sand, cloak drawn around her and took out the folder. As expected it didn't have that many answers, the first few entries were almost medical, her and her sisters birth was recorded; they had been early it seemed and no one had expected there to be two of them.

Anyone on the beach floor would see Nesir lost in her reading, a half angry, half confused, sad look on her face.

[Maze] It was always good to be challenged, and Nesir needed something to focus on. For once she didn't feel like killing things, though she would, if need be. Her daggers were ready. She hadn't tackled this maze before but she set off, determined to solve it.

A decision she was beginning to regret a few hours later when she opened yet another door, to more doors, helplessly lost.

Comments

Beach

[notsogrimreaper]

[Ryoji had been just passing by the beach when he spotted Nesir, and he paused, unsure whether to approach her or continue on. Ever since what happened with Sephiroth, she'd been ignoring him, and he didn't know if she was angry at him. She shouldn't be, since Ryoji certainly didn't intend for that to happen, but even so...

After a bit more indecisiveness, he forces himself to enter the floor, calling out to her.]

Nesir-chan! Hey!

[culbutiri]

[That voice. She looked up, annoyed and saw Ryoji. Why was he here? Why was he talking to her. She hadn't approached him at all since they last spoke, when Sephiroth had mind controlled them. And she would rather it stay that way. He was a light addled idiot, they were not friends, Ganondorf had his information, Sephiroth had ruined his plans.

She just gave him a look and went back to reading her folder.]

[notsogrimreaper]

[Oh, she seems a bit angry still. Well, maybe she won't if Ryoji tries to explain? He knows it's probably a bad idea to push the subject when she's upset, but surely she has to listen to reason. This wasn't like when he betrayed the alliance. This was Sephiroth's fault, and they were both victims of his cruelty. Ryoji had done nothing besides being susceptible. He keeps his distance, but calls out to her.]

Nesir-chan, please. Hear me out, okay?

[culbutiri]

[She sighed, he obviously wasn't going away. She looked up from her folder and raised an eyebrow at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. She doubted it would be anything useful]

[notsogrimreaper]

What happened between the two of us... I'm sorry. Sephiroth was manipulating me, and started messing with my feelings so I started seeing you different from how I see you as a friend. I didn't mean to upset you, and I didn't want to ruin our friendship like that... I hope you can forgive me.

maze

[terreifying]

Heeey~!

[And here's Rei, popping out of one of the doors. After such a long time spent guarding the collar fluid, it's a relief to get to do other things. On impulse, she had entered the maze. And, well, she was rather lost too.]

You're in the maze too!

Re: maze

[culbutiri]

[Nesir blinked when she saw Rei, she had not seen the other girl in a while. A lot had happened in that time. She smiled though, Rei was someone she actually liked.] I do be, do you be anywhere near solving it?

Re: maze

[terreifying]

[She quickly shakes her head.]

Nope! Haven't solved it yet.

[culbutiri]

How long have you been being here? [She tilted her head] Do this be why I have no been seeing you in months?

[terreifying]

Just today, actually. But I've been busy with helping out with the collar fluid. You know, the collar fluid that people took from the infirmary.

62

[terra_nullius]

The beach was nostalgic, though he never knew why, and he would always make time to come there. The sound of the waves was both relaxing and strangely agitating, a confusing mixture that he pushed down to simply enjoy the neutral space.

It seemed he was encountering more and more people, though with the frequency of his coming to that floor it was inevitable. This time, the person - a girl about his age, it seemed - was engrossed in reading. He didn't want to disturb her, as he disliked being disturbed while reading himself, but he did feel it necessary to let her know that she wasn't alone anymore.

"Ah... pardon me, miss..." he said quietly, hoping not to startle her. "I hope I'm not intruding. I merely came to enjoy the waves."

[culbutiri]

He didn't, she at least was aware of others on the floor, but she was surprised at being spoken to. She wanted to hide the folder under her cloak, but that would just show that she had something she didn't want seen, so she casually just closed it and gave a small smile. "Be helping yourself, they do be calming."

It had soon become one of her favourite floors in this fake tower.

[terra_nullius]

"They're... strangely nostalgic," he murmured, coming to a stop just before the edge of the beach. His eyes wandered over her, stopping at the folder... personal matters most likely. He batted curiosity away. "I don't know why. I've come to enjoy it quite a bit."

A thought for a moment. "I feel like it's a common thread with many people. I think I've met more people here than anywhere else so far."

[culbutiri]

"Yes they seem to be familiar to a lot of people." She nodded, because indeed she had met quite a few people on this floor, it was a floor people lingered on.

"Or maybe it do be because it do no be being full of blood or screaming, or spike pits."

[terra_nullius]

"There's the one with the flowers, the boring one, or the garden, or even the sauna..." unless there were things wrong with those floors that he hadn't discovered yet, of course. "Though I suppose this one gives the best feeling. Outside, on a beach... I suppose there's just something about it that you can't duplicate otherwise. Even if it is a masterful duplication itself."

Beach (hi nesir)

[altitonant_emperor]

[ Things Hidetoshi did not want from home: anything that wasn't survivors.

Things Hidetoshi found in his dormitory room from home: a stack of Nyx cult flyers. And he was short enough on resources like paper in a place like this he couldn't afford to instantly throw them in the furnace on one of the floors. So he's stomping past the beach on his way to the workshop when he notices Nesir reading and the expression on her face. They hadn't spoken since that argument in the library, had they?

He pauses. ]

Re: Beach (hi nesir)

[culbutiri]

[No they hadn't. She blinked at him when she realised there was someone else there with her. She half regretted that conversation, just because Hidetoshi was someone who she had actually liked having conversations with.] You do be looking cheerful as ever.

Beach

[altitonant_emperor]

I wonder if I should interpret that as an insult, Nesir-san? And you look to be in a less than disagreeable mood yourself.

[ Hidetoshi did not do apologies, especially when he still believed himself to be in the right even when the results of that conservation weren't exactly what he had wanted. He adjusts his grip on the packet of cult flyers. Politely; ] What are you reading?

Re: Beach

[culbutiri]

[She just smirked, because after a weak of bickering with Sephiroth she was exhausted from petty arguments.] It do be nothing important. [Closing the folder as casually as she could] I see they did be giving you something too. [She nodded at the flyers]

Re: Beach

[altitonant_emperor]

[ Hidetoshi watches her close the folder shut, lifts an eyebrow for a second and then lets it be. It wasn't his business if she didn't care for him seeing it. ]

These? So they did. [ He holds up the flyers, the lines of text still clear on them. There's a scowl on his face at them. ] If they'd wanted to give me a bunch of rubbish as an anniversary gift, they could have simply mailed me a garbage can.

Door Maze

[thinkwisely]

If Ivan was being truthful, he wasn't completely certain how he had ended up in this particular mess. This was what he got for being curious, no doubt. Open a door--get locked behind it with no choice but to open another door. And then another and another, until his head was beginning to spin.

Regretting stepping off into the maze in the first place, Ivan opened another door. When he saw who was waiting for him on the other side, his face immediately drained of color. Without a second's hesitation, the blond teenager whirled around on his foot and reached for the handle to go back the way he came--but, naturally, found the door locked.

Taking a deep breath, Ivan slowly turned to look at Nesir. He'd have to face her, there was no choice...though how did one exactly greet the girl who had murdered him?

"I don't suppose you're having better luck finding the end?"

It was an attempt at being cordial, granted it was half murmured and Ivan couldn't bring himself to look her fully in the face, his eyes far too distracted by the knives she had in her hands.

Re: Door Maze

[culbutiri]

Nesir blinked when she came face to face with the boy she had tortured, it was still strange to see people she had killed walking around once more but she had been here a year, she was used to it.

She smirked at him, shifting her hands so her daggers glinted in the light, noting how he was focussed on them, for good reason.

The shadows were gone now and the anger had been muted into annoyance by the week locked in the room but it felt good to have someone scared of her. Despite how many people she had killed, how many people she had tortured this was something rare.

"I have better luck than you, baby." She hadn't used her dialect when she tortured him, so she dropped it now as well, speaking in the same neutral tone. "Need some help?" He voice was mocking.

[thinkwisely]

Ivan frowned. He would have liked to retort that his luck wasn't normally so foul, she clearly just had that effect on him, but held his tongue. He didn't want to fight. All Ivan wanted was to get out of this mess.

"Not really," he grumbled through his teeth, turning toward another door. "I thought maybe we could solve this maze more easily if we worked together, but that was silly of me."

And, really, why did he think that it was worth a shot? Likely, Nesir didn't want to help him just as much as he didn't necessarily want to help her. It wasn't as if she was going to use her "favor" against him here, and Ivan didn't know what to say or how to act around her, anyway.

Maybe a part of him did want to talk to her, to ask more about what he had seen in her mind and how she had been feeling--about the hearts in the jars, if nothing else--but he certainly didn't want to be taunted mercilessly in order to find out those answers.

[culbutiri]

She laughed, she couldn't help it but really? He wanted them to work together? Not even Ral was that stupid. "How are you still alive?" Because seriously he was about her age, and yet had somehow lived being that stupid. He must be incredibly lucky, despite what she had witnessed.

She followed him, because despite everything he interested her, she expected anger or terror, not this... Offering to work together.

[thinkwisely]

Ivan could feel his face begin to flush at her laughter, so he stared ahead of him as he willed the embarrassment to pass quickly. He didn't plan on giving her the satisfaction of seeing him flustered (and nervous).

"Because I'm not totally defenseless," the boy answered, as if this were an obvious fact. To him, it was. He hadn't traveled halfway across Weyard without helping his comrades fight off the monsters that blocked their path, after all. "You just caught me off guard last time, was all."

He didn't plan to let it happen again. Even as he moved through the door, into the adjoining room, he kept one hand close to his weapons. Ivan didn't think (or rather, he hoped) she'd attack him now...but he also had no reason to know she wouldn't. It was in his best interest to stay alert.