Interaction 003 ☣ You can’t be tethered to a ghost; to a memory; you’ve got to swim

[irreverence]

Characters: Asagi, Open
Setting: Around the Tower.
Format: any!
Summary: All pumpkin all the time doesn't really work for Asagi. Later, the shadow children pick the very worst target.
Warnings: Heinous violence against shadow children in the third one.


[Floor Sixty-Three]

[At intervals from about noon onwards, someone may come across Asagi hopping out of the water here to switch tanks before diving back in. She's clad in a skintight, bright red leotard with yellow stripes and a pair of matching thigh-high boots- which is the only thing she has to wear that she doesn't mind getting wet. There's a bag near the tanks with more clothes in it- taking it will probably make her hunt you down and tear your spine out for it.

For the time she's out of the water she's more than glad to talk, though asking what she's up to might not get an answer straight away.]



[Floor Sixty]

[This kitchen is a lot like the one back at what she can, she supposes, call 'home'. Big, impersonal, spotless- at least, it is until Asagi drops two very large fish into either side of one of the big sinks and beheads them with a flash of the cloneblade. Then she's off to go looking for knives and pans and bowls, and is surprised to find that there are, at the very least, spices in the cabinets- so her meal won't be bland, at the very least.

Everything she does to prepare things is methodical, precise- as if she's following something step-by-step in her head. Essentially, she is, having only read about preparing fish before deciding to make some for herself.

Clearly there is no way this can go wrong.]



[Floor Twenty-Eight]

[The instrument room is probably the last place anyone would expect to find Asagi. But it's where she is a little before sundown, messing around with some of the instruments, tuning one or another if she hears something wrong. She's at it for a bit longer than she thinks, because she's very suddenly aware of a presence on the floor that isn't a normal one.

She tenses further when the voice starts.]

Asagi-san, how can you... how can you possibly live with yourself? How, when your sisters-!

[She straightens from plucking at the strings to a koto and rolls her neck, enjoying the sound her vertebrae make as they pop before letting her eyes land on the shadowy figure creeping around her.]

Gee, I dunno. Probably cause I'm, y'know, alive? For a measure of the word, in any case.

[Her eyes track it as it creeps behind her, and she turns slowly on a heel to follow it, expression mild. The voice returns.]

How can you be so cold? I put myself out there for you when Ihose you, and this is how you thank me?

[A scoff, finger coming up to her mouth.]

Be grateful I didn't thank you by taking you out myself, Aoi. You were an embarrassment, going out like that.

[The thing twitches, a visible shudder passing over it- and then, as if summoned, another one appears, speaking in a different voice.]

How dare you? I'm the reason you're here and you don't even think about-!

[Wrong decision. The hand not at her mouth flexes at her side, and now-knifelike nails spear the shadow child against a wall. Asagi closes in with languid steps, dropping her hand from her mouth to yawn.]

The thing about that decision was-

[Her tone is conversational, even as her hand turns to one side, giving the other space to come up and slam in knuckle-deep with fingers like knives and twist, beginning to crack its chest cavity open idly.]

-it was a really bad one.

[The thing squirms, but not because of any pain- it can't do anything to her, so it wants to get away. A slam of a prehensile blade of hair between that mocking white grin and it stops for a moment, twitching. She finishes cracking its chest cavity open with a grunt of satisfaction, and tilts her head mockingly.]

What do you know. Empty, just like her.

[The blades all withdraw, and the instant they do, the stupid thing skitters away, rejoining the other and staring at her briefly before vanishing down the stairs. Asagi droops, her shoulders and head seeming to go slack, and she sighs dramatically, shaking her arms a bit as the cloneblades recede.]

...man, now I need to kill something that will actually die.

[Her life is so hard- but feel free to have noticed that little display- but ask about it at your own risk.]

Comments

[irreverence]

Hmmm...

[Considering, considering... and then leaning up to kiss his chin.]

Nope.

[puppy_lancer]

[He lets go of her waist and takes two steps back.]

Just you wait.

[Not right now, though. They're cooking right now.]

[irreverence]

Awww.

[Her expression is only mildly put-out, even though she really wouldn't have minded continuing to kiss him.

Still, she's supposed to be cooking and after eyeing him up for one second longer she turns her attention back to the meal. It takes her a moment to run through a mental checklist before she makes her way around to the cabinets she saw the spices in, clicking the bead the cloneblade tended to form on her tongue against her teeth idly.]

Fine, fine, grab some counter space. I'll get things going.

[puppy_lancer]

[He quickly clears the counters so she can work.]

Got anything else for me to do? Or do I stand around and look handsome?

[irreverence]

Mmm, I like that second option- it's a reasonable amount of distracting.

[She winks as she passes with a bowl in one hand, salt and pepper in the other.]

You make a good focal point.

[puppy_lancer]

Then let me just look pretty.

[There's a pause as he thinks of something.]

You know, another girl used to come up here a lot. She put lots of food here. Wonder if it's still around.

[irreverence]

[Asagi only momentarily looks up from where she's measuring out precise amounts of salt and pepper.]

What girl? And how long ago? Depending on the timespan it might be best that it isn't here...

[Even freezers can't keep things good forever.]

[puppy_lancer]

Kazumi. She was one of Saber's friends. And she really enjoyed cooking. I think she left sometime after the glamouur failure. That was...back during Ruana's last month. So four months ago.

[irreverence]

[She makes a slight face, separating the fish into containers for use now and use later.]

...miiiiight be best not to bother looking for it then. Four months is way past what's probably a good idea to keep food for.

[puppy_lancer]

Yeah, but I wanna clean it out if anything. In case anyone else wants to store food up here.]

[irreverence]

Hey, that's your hangup then. If you wanna do it, then go for it.

[She picks up the bowl with the fridge for the freezer and starts heading toward it.]

Here, keep an eye on the door for me. I don't trust this place.

[puppy_lancer]

[He opens up a cupboard he remembers stocking with bread...and finds it empty.]

I will. And...you watch out too. If you reach too deep, there's things that scratch you up.

[irreverence]

Great. Ghouls in the cupboards.

[A sigh, and she rolls her eyes.]

Is there a useful floor in this whole place that isn't also semi-useless due to monsters?

[At least the door doesn't close on her, and she turns on the stove as she passes, stopping to snoop in the cabinets near it until she finds the grill attachment and lowers it into place.]

Well, at least I was right about that.

[puppy_lancer]

Well, there's the bar.

[He pulls open a drawer. Also empty.]

But that place doesn't always serve good drinks.

[irreverence]

I didn't think the bar even served things at all.

[She moves back to the counter to grab the rest of the fish and then heads back toward the grill.]

It looks deserted most of the time.

[puppy_lancer]

I've tried it a few times. Mostly during the Jason months.

[Because Ruana and Riki gave people alcohol. Or, rather, glamored alcohol.]

When you can get a drink, it's not very good, but it gives you a buzz.

[He can also drink it and live because he's a Servant.]

[irreverence]

And how did that go?

[She pauses while she waits for things to heat up properly, looking at him askance.]

Well- can't say I much know what's good and what isn't. Only had my first drink a little while back.

[puppy_lancer]

[His mouth drops open as he stares at her.]

Really? Only a while back?

[She's missing out on so much.]

[irreverence]

That's how I met Archer, actually- I stole a bottle of wine he was hogging.

[She punctuates that by dropping a steak onto the grill with two fingers.]

But yeah. I... didn't get to do much, stuck in the facility like I used to be. That includes drinking. [A beat, and-] Not to mention dating.

[puppy_lancer]

[He laughs.]

Yeah, that's Archer for you. He always loves his wine.

[His expression falls as he hears of her talking about the facility.]

...Oh.

[irreverence]

He didn't need two whole bottles anyway.

[She tosses another steak on the grill, and then looks at him again, raising her eyebrows.]

...what. I've told you some of that before, right?

[puppy_lancer]

Yeah, you've told me. But still, not even letting you have a drink now and then? The people who ran that must have been real assholes.

[irreverence]

Well, technically the legal drinking age in Japan is twenty, so I'm underage anyway.

[She shrugs, obviously not all that bothered.]

But there's a lot of stuff I wasn't supposed to be doing. It was just one more thing on a really big list.

[puppy_lancer]

Drinking ages are after my time.

[Back then everyone drank alcohol.]

A big list, huh? Let's try to double it.

[irreverence]

Lucky, I guess.

[She flips the first steak with a hum.]

...you know, I'm pretty sure a guy like you is half the list of things I shouldn't be doing.

[A pause, and then-]

Gonna do 'em all anyway though.