towerofanimus

Entry tags:

Intro

[Characters]: Lorelei and anyone who wants to play.
[Setting]: Lots of places. Room 2-08, the floor outside. Floor 95, 73, Cafeteria.
[Format]: Starting prose, can switch to action on preferences.
[Summary]: Lorelei's arrival to the tower, and some minor explorations.
[Warnings]: It's the Tower. There might not be violence and horror right now but that could change suddenly.

Waking up at all is strange and disorienting. 'Sleep' isn't something that happens to Aggregates for the most part, fonons don't sleep. So waking up in a strange place, on a bed, in clothes, in a physical form, is deeply unsettling. If any of his new roommates have ever encountered any of the Lukes or Asch, Lorelei's appearance is immediately recognizable, just ... a little older than they. He sits up abrubtly, the note left nearby picked up.

Reading it ins interrupted by marveling at the fact that he has fingers and really shouldn't. But there's no surprise at what the note says, only resignation. It's tossed aside, and almost immediately later he tries to get up.

This doesn't go well. Lorelei hasn't exactly tried to walk in a long time. He knows how it's supposed to work, knows how it worked before, but actually pulling it off and managing to do so in a smooth and graceful manner simply doesn't happen. Leaning on the bed keeps him from falling over at least, and frowning fiercely, he sets to work figuring out his own coordination. This might take a bit.

---

Just passing through! Having figured out how to manage this walking thing again, Lorelei's not really going to hang around this particular floor too long, it's just not as interesting as what must surely lie elsewhere. But if approached or spoken to, he'll likely stop.

---

Lorelei could have taken the elevator. Instead he chose the stairs, and had poked in to each floor as he went. But only this one actually stops him and lures him inside. There were multicolored balls, everywhere. Everywhere. The other floors at least made sense to what he was familiar with, but this is a new thing. Ball pits were not something he's ever encountered, or even directly dealt with the memory of from others.

So he wades in. Walking on balls is not an easy thing to do, but it's interesting, and there's nets and trampolines and it's not that hard to completely bury himself in the multicolored orbs. Lorelei's going to be here a while, part because trampolines and nets and balls are a real challenge to navigate around when he only dimly recalled ever walking before, and part because it's simply ... fun.

---

Eventually Floor Ball Pit loses its interest, and off he goes again. This particular floor seemed familiar somehow, in a way he wasn't quite sure about. Snow and ruined castles. Auldrant had plenty of both, depending on the season. His long coat and scarf provided some protection against the bitter cold, so exploring a while before it gets too chilly even for him surely can't hurt.

---

The oatmeal is dealt with. Eating it still hot means it doesn't actually taste all that bad honestly, and with it finished with, Lorelei's waited a little while and then gone back for pumpkin seeds.

Except he's no longer in the easily recognizable humanoid shape anyone familiar with his isofons would be able to identify. No, there's a small furry vibrantly red creature determinedly picking its way across the floor now, with a bowl of pumpkin seeds balanced neatly on his head. The tower had monsters, and one might think this one had escaped, but no, it's collared as well. The shape of a cheagle is small, unassuming and to most people incredibly cute.

But it comes with its own challenges. Like trying to get into a seat or onto a table, with a bowl full of pumpkin seeds, without spilling any of them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[...Damnit where's a rebellion to plot when he needs one?

Yeah, he doesn't actually have anything, but that doesn't stop Asch from stubbornly holding his ground anyway. He doesn't answer because he doesn't have one, just settles his weight more solidly.

If nothing else, he has more experience having a body than the other redhead does.]

[If that's how it's going to be ... then that's how it's going to be. As Asch doesn't even try to come up with a plausible excuse, Lorelei eyes him balefully. He is not going to be outmaneuvered that easily. He wanted to go find this floor where powers didn't work, and by the fon belt, Asch was going too.]

If that's the way you want it, so be it. You are going to come with me, and you're going to learn fun things.

[WHETHER HE LIKES IT OR NOT. More ominous words have never been said between them. Granted not a lot of words have ever been said between them but this time, this time it's a little ominous.

And then there's the distinctive hum of a certain power Asch is more used to thinking of as a weapon. For the Seventh Fonon, it's a toy and a tool, and if it's significantly dangerous to the average surface world person, it doesn't ever seem to occur to him. Lorelei's control is exacting, at least. He's not aiming to blow up things, just very rapidly create an ordinary wooden-seeming wagon directly behind Asch.

And then shove, instead of pull, hopefully before Asch quite figures out exactly what Lorelei's doing. If Asch didn't want to walk, then that was fine. He could ride.]

Edited 2013-10-10 04:58 (UTC)

[The wagon is hardly even necessary - the minute he hears that distinctive sound, his eyes go wide and he stops resisting. No amount of not wanting to deal with this is worth the possibility of getting his head blown off, which is his first and only thought regarding what the hyperresonance might be for.

And then he gets shoved into - a cart? Today is a good day for bewildered Asch faces.]

Fine, fine, I'll go! Just let me up!

[He has a certain amount of dignity left, and that involves walking to his doom on his own two feet.]

[As soon as Lorelei figures out that applying his natural powers to anything in Asch's vicinity would get compliance, he may well begin putting it to use.

But for now Lorelei is pleased with the cart. Wheels meant he really didn't have to be good at it in order to make it move, unlike a sled. So pleased is he that the connection between Asch's cooperation and what he did to gain it is entirely missed.]

Wonderful! You don't have to get up if you don't want to.

[But there's still opportunity to get up and maintain something like dignity, except for the fact that Lorelei's still going to be there and now he's got a cart. With acquiescence coerced, Lorelei contentedly sets out to find this other floor where powers don't work.

There are flaws in this, from 'go'. Namely he has no idea where he's headed and just chose a random direction that looked right. And he's taking the wagon. It squeaks a bit.]

I am sorry for all of the trouble, but if you'd just agreed to begin with we'd already be there, finding out about this new floor you mentioned.

[He's right back to being utterly cheerful too.]

[True, but once Asch figures out that Lorelei would never hurt him, it won't be nearly as effective. This does not in any form mean that he isn't getting out of the wagon.

If Lorelei's taking the front? Well, he'll just roll over and climb out the back side. Besides, he definitely doesn't want to ride down the stairs in that thing, it screams "bumpy ride."

Luckily for Lorelei, the dorm floors wrap all the way around and Asch isn't invested enough to tell him that turning around will get them there faster. Instead, the fonon sentience will have a grump falling into step beside him, their footsteps perfectly synchronized in a way that Asch doesn't even register as "weird" anymore.]

I'd much rather walk. Down the stairs here.

[He doesn't say anything more than that before turning down the staircase in question.]

[That may not take long to realize. Lorelei prized his isofons, much the way a father might his children, even if the relationship was entirely different. But there were other ways to inconvenience someone, like pushing them into wagons.

Stairs and wagons don't get along; he'll figure that one out for himself pretty soon. As it is, the directions he's given - even if they're terribly sparse - are awfully helpful.

Chances are good without them he'd have gone around the circle at least once more.]

Why?

[Stairs! The whole wagon vs staircase thing becomes apparent pretty much instantly, and Lorelei, loathe to leave it behind only because it just got made, spends a few moments trying to figure out how to bring it along without shaking it to pieces.

This fails. Eventually it's left at the top of the staircase, alone. It takes a short time for Lorelei to catch up, stairs are a bit more adventurous than he really should be trying less than an hour after acquiring legs to begin with.]

Are there many floors besides this one and the next?

[Shortest possible words to be effective is kind of how Asch rolls. When you're yelling orders at the top of your lungs, short and specific tends to be the way to go.

He waits for Lorelei on the next floor down, giving the wagon a weird look, before continuing to descend.]

There's a hundred and one main floors plus five dormitory levels above, and a large number of administrator-only floors beneath. The hundred and one are all unique and many of them are dangerous, but the one we're approaching is fine.

[Thank goodness for that elevator, though. It's so useful that it can only be because of Dax that the residents are able to use it. Making you take the stairs all the time seems like exactly the sort of pointlessly cruel thing the other admins would do.]

[That's a lot of floors he's going to have to check out. Five sleeping levels, a hundred non-sleeping levels. 'Dangerous' had little relevance, and wouldn't until Lorelei discovered that this tower is great at getting someone killed.]

Are any of them especially interesting?

[And now that Asch has managed to get in front it seems Lorelei is quite happy to tag along and look around. Stairs are actually really interesting. The elevator will be just as interesting if not moreso due to the number of BUTTONS to push.]

You don't like it here, do you.

[It's not exactly a question. Lorelei's torn on whether or not even he would like it, as losing his freedom again chafed badly, but Asch.. well, his bearing about the place as different.]

Define interesting.

[Because with the curiosity Lorelei is showing to the staircase, Asch is willing to bet that all of the floors will qualify for the sentience's amusement.

The other comment, not really a question at all, gets a more sober look - he actually turns his head back as he walks, green eyes meeting Lorelei's.]

It's better than being dead. That's all the good that could ever be said for it. I'd rather spend the rest of my life at Choral Castle.

[Dank and damp and full of bad memories, the rotting ruin was still better than the Tower. Memories could only hurt you so much.

He's not sure the Lorelei can even understand that, would even understand why he hates his family's old vacation home so much. It was the beginning of so much pain that still feels like it was only a preparation for what the Tower had to offer.]

Something other than blank walls and empty hallways.

[Lorelei found a whole lot of things interesting, apparently. Everything not boringly sterile like the hallways were, was diverting at least for a little while.

As Asch turns and regards him evenly, he simply waits for the response that will come. It doesn't come with explosive anger or overt hostility, so Lorelei doesn't have to try to figure out what part drew up that anger. What he is given is almost as puzzling.

Lorelei's silence suggests that he is trying to work it out, in terms he understands. Choral Castle hadn't been a happy place for Asch, had it? Then again this was a prison, so even an unhappiness in freedom would be better than the prettiest of cages. But it may be more than just that.]

It won't rain forever.

[It's evenly said, as soberly as Asch's earlier statement, but what it means to Lorelei is a pretty good question. It seems unrelated, and the sobriety fades swiftly. Lorelei seems to have trouble maintaining moods beyond sunny contentment. But after thousands of years of confinement, even a little freedom is intoxicating.]

Even in such a prison there will be worthwhile things to remember beyond bad things, right? Let's think about those. And this next floor.

[Surely it's related.]

Well, no concerns there. Don't sleep in the poppy fields.

[Of the dangerous floors he knows of, that's the one Asch thinks Lorelei is most likely to have trouble with, simply because it's so sneaky. Besides, it never hurts to pass around that warning, not when he had to carry Tobias off that floor not a month past.

It's far more than that. For Lorelei, the birth of another isofon in that place was probably something to celebrate. For Asch, that was the farthest thing from true. It wasn't just a place of pain, but the place where he lost his happiness, something he's still trying to get back.

The comment about the rain gets a confused look, but they're clearing the last of the dorm floors, now, and about to step off the staircase onto the floating garden isles.]

I don't know if the good outweighs the bad. It's not ever that easy.

[And without a further word, he steps onto the arrow that teleports you into the floor proper - Lorelei will feel him vanish entirely, although looking around will still locate him, a spot of red in the distance.]

Poppy field.

[A note is made to investigate the poppies but not fall asleep there.

Probably he's going to fall asleep there.]

It seems humans remember the pains of life better than the joys, up until they're nearing the end of their natural lifespans, whereupon .. uhm. 'Nostalgia' kicks in.

[Lorelei has a long view on life, unsurprisingly. It doesn't really balance well with the short lives of a normal person.

It's very easy to tell the exact second that Asch crosses the threshold from stairwell to the chosen floor - Lorelei slams to an immediate stop, looking terribly, terribly alarmed.

Almost horrified.

This isn't something that might happen to normal people. They were well used to relying on one sense over another given specific circumstances, such as hearing or touch in the dark, or vision when hearing is unreliable.

Lorelei relies on a completely different set of senses, and to all of them, Asch just ceased existing.

His eyes tell him Asch is still there, perfectly visible and just fine even if pretty distant, but it doesn't convince everything else Lorelei utilizes, even remotely, that he's actually still there. He hesitates at the threshold for a few seconds before determinedly plunging after; if Asch had suddenly gotten killed, maybe he can do something about it--

Finding himself somewhere else amidst dangling gardens really isn't all that alarming. That instantaneously, Lorelei is reduced to mundane human senses alone, very much is. The Aggregate sits down abrubtly right where he arrives, a little wild-eyed and radiating alarmed near-panic in a very mundane sort of way.

EVERYTHING'S GONE WEIRD.]

[And see, here's Asch waiting, completely fine. His senses aren't nearly as effected, of course, because he is human at the end of the day. For him powerless is simply annoying.

He can't help but be amused at Lorelei when the sentience appears, though, the other redhead's face openly shocked.]

Yeah, humans have a very different perspective, don't you think?

[He can't help it. At least he's not laughing at you, fonondad?]

[Give him a few minutes, Lorelei's attempting to process existence in a whole new way whether or not he actually wants to.

It's really, really hard.

Sure, he'd borrowed the senses of his isofons once or twice. Actively possessed a girl for under five minutes not so long ago, but this was completely different. He certainly hears what Asch says, and it does process, it's just different when it's simply mundane ordinary hearing.

That glassy stare is transferred to Asch anyway. Not a sound is made, though he's probably still capable of it. Whether or not he's actually aware that he's still capable of it is dubious.

Probably not. After all, the rest of his powers switched off, why would he still be able to make sounds??

Lorelei is just.. going to sit there for a few minutes and try to process things. Give him a few.]

[Come on Lorelei, it's simple logic. If Asch can make sounds, you can make sounds. Being physically identical didn't stop being a thing, after all.

Still, he didn't expect to get the deer in headlights look this long - probably a good thing he is here, since if this had happened on some other floor, some other time, Lorelei might well have been monster food. Asch can be on guard for both of them, at least.

He leans against a wall to wait, which has the side effect of disturbing some of the more fragrant flowers hanging over it - the scent doesn't bother Asch too much, but who knows how it might affect someone just getting used to a human sense of smell?]

[So traumatized.

It really is a good thing that it's this floor, not the nighttime, and Asch is there. Lorelei would be a pretty easy snack right about now. He's aware of that on some level and being completely helpless really isn't something he's keen on, it's just that he's gone completely deaf.

... Okay not completely, his normal human ears worked just fine, it was just that it's ONLY his normal human ears.

It's right about when Asch agitates nearby plants by finding some wall to lean against that Lorelei decides to see exactly how much functionality he's lost, primarily by standing up. And then there is cloud of perfume. To be fair Lorelei handles that a lot better than discovering most of his everything had switched off, but he still recoils as if it were the worst stench ever, expression gone the way of something like disgust.

It's a little too much at first. But after a few minutes it doesn't seem so bad, the first overwhelming burst of scent either adapted to or dwindling.

Then it's not really bad at all after that. The Aggregate sneezes once, sniffs, gives the offending flowers a baleful look ...and seems to realize yes, he can in fact make sounds. Not speech, exactly, though that's tried (getting vocal chords to work right for the first time is difficult), but it's better than nothing.

This is followed by a bit of gesturing that seems completely meaningless beyond conveying a fair bit of alarm and confusion.]

[It's a good thing that he does eventually move, if you ask Asch, although the younger redhead is fairly sure he can carry his counterpart back to the stairs if he has to. The reaction to the flowers gets an amused, slightly ironic rise of the eyebrows that is normally reserved for Jade when the man is particularly horrid.

And yes, thee confused gestures are just going to confuse the issue further. Pay attention, Lorelei. Read his lips and do as he does.]

Having a problem? Don't tell me the sentience of sound can't figure out how to talk.

[That's a little rich even for the cake and ice cream of insanity that is his life.]

[Yep, he can still move. This is a good thing for Lorelei too, who although he is very much unhappy with all of this, can at least do SOMETHING for himself. Just.. not talk. Humans take over a year to learn that one, he has to figure it out much faster.

Which might be why Asch is given a sour look, and a gesture that, several centuries ago, would have been EXCEPTIONALLY rude when he's taunted about it. They all shared a temper, and Lorelei could be amazingly impatient and easily frustrated when things didn't go his way.

Things were not going his way. 'Sound' and 'making meat cooperate' were very different things! He settles in to dredging up the memory of what it felt like for Tear to use her own voice when he'd possessed her. He'd found a problem, one he'd never expected to encounter, and he was going to fix it.

Unlike his isofons however Lorelei has absolutely no sense of shame or embarrassment so actually working on that with Asch there isn't an issue. The sounds he's working through are weird, but they're not without purpose. What causes what sound is important to know.

Meanwhile, there's a garden and it's a little overwhelming and he's a little annoyed and if he begins picking off leaves and sticks and flicking them at Asch it's PROBABLY just annoyance, not interest in how it feels and smells when a twig is snapped or a leaf is squished a bit.

Probably.]

[Fortunately, Asch has an active enough imagination, and also knows how he would feel, so the meaning of the gesture isn't completely lost.

He'll have to remember that one.]

Well, you're the one who wanted to know so badly what it's like.

[There's a lower wall maybe twenty feet along from where they are - without much further ado, Asch walks down there and hops up on the wall, picking out stems to absently weave a flower crown while he waits for Lorelei to succeed at speech or get bored. He doubts "giving up" is an option, thee same way it isn't for him or Luke.]

[Yes. Yes he did want to know. He just wasn't prepared for it! Being told that his powers would be nullified and actually grasping what that meant when he wasn't used to existing otherwise, were very different things!

And now that Lorelei knew what that entailed he really wasn't keen on being here.

But Asch was right. Really he brought this on himself. That didn't mean he had to acknowledge it or be happy about it!

For a short while Asch is left alone. Lorelei has practice to work on and he's not really geared towards surrendering. It does get dull just standing there after a while however. It takes less than five minutes of Lorelei being left to his own devices for the Aggregate to find some dangling vines that look strong enough to hold his weight, attached to some towering tree-like thing.

He could have simply jumped a wall like Asch did but no, he's chosen a different path. Finding him is easy enough, because there's a constant shower of leaves and the occasional small flower, and red and white really don't blend in. There's no real danger, and it's good for working on his iffy and uncertain coordination.

Somewhere above, Lorelei's first word using his own vocal chords in his own body, has the muttered sound of a curse. A shower of twigs and leaves later, and there's another curse.

Asch and Luke probably learned early in the dangers of doing a lot of climbing in tangly things when one has long hair.]

[Yep, it really was only a matter of time. Their hearing is better than average even on a mundane level, not that Lorelei can likely appreciate it, so it's not like Asch doesn't hear the quiet cursing in the rustling leaves above.

He's content to let Lorelei dangle and swear for a little bit, though. He has a flower crown to finish.

So it's a little while before Asch climbs up beside his counterpart, much more adept at scaling walls than the guy who's only had a body a couple of hours. His hair is tied back in a ponytail.]

I'm thinking "highly specialized skillset" is the appropriate phrase here.

[Lorelei needs a manual for his new body, clearly.]

[Lorelei is used to far, far better 'hearing'! He feels deaf without it. Left to work on his own issues with the trees and vines and all the problems of not preparing for things to cling as determinedly as any plant ever could, he's working on it.

Mostly he's making things worse, but there's something to be said for determination in fixing your own problems yourself.

By the time Asch easily makes it to where his not-quite-other-self is, Lorelei's managed to at least get his scarf untangled from determinedly clinging plants. This hasn't helped anything else, but he's carefully balled the scarf up instead of actually wearing it.

At least he learns fast.

At 'highly specialized skillset', the look Asch is given could strip the paint off the Tartarus from orbit. But it fades to simple unhappiness quickly; he's still pretty thoroughly not going anywhere quickly.

A note is made about the ponytail. A braid might be better yet. Hm.]

Everything sticks.

[It's not easy, human speech in human methods. He's managing primarily by reworking what it was like to force Tear to speak for him. But without simply using fonons to get it done, he does sound far more unsettlingly like Luke and Asch. Given his appearance that's prooobably not a surprise.]

[Not a surprise at all, really. Asch doesn't even look slightly weirded out, as used to hearing his own voice from other people as he is.

Asch can't keep the amusement off his face, but does reach out to help pull some of Lorelei's hair free with one hand. The other is more than enough to support his dangling weight, once he's made sure the vines will hold. Long experience and muscle strength does wonders.]

Wisteria vines aren't even the worst of them. At least you didn't land yourself in something with thorns.

[God damn it otherself why is your hair so soft and floaty. Rather than trying to untangle a particularly messy section, Asch breaks off the small branch it's attached to and leaves the twigs in Loreleri's hair to be sorted out later.]

[That's the problem with memory and not activity. Lorelei knows how things should work. They just.. don't.

It's going to be a problem.

With the scarf all folded and out of the way, he can work on further disentangling himself, bit by bit. Having Asch help really does speed up the process, up until a small branch is snapped off and left there.

Immediately he works on getting the twigs and leaves out, instead of freeing the parts that would actually let him get out of the branches or keep climbing or whatever. Lorelei's priorities, they are a bit off kilter.

Mentioning vines draws a pointing finger - there are thorns. Right over there. He managed to avoid them so far!]

Do you realize.

[He takes his time. Words.. are hard.]

Humans speak, by squirting air through meat.

[It's a real pain in the neck. Once he gets all the twigs out, they're flicked aside. He's going to need to get himself a hairtie. Asch seemed to be doing a lot better with the one he had.

And there's something to be said for working out, apparently. Lorelei got up here but he didn't think he could do what Asch is doing right now.]

[Yeah, priorities are a thing Lorelei needs to learn, but that is a thing they can work on when they aren't hanging off vines twenty feet in the air. Maybe it's a good thing Lorelei is so badly tangled; at least he won't fall.

That observation - it makes Asch's picking out clumps of hair stop, because it's entirely out there. And if he didn't know what Lorelei normally was...

Well, even knowing, it's hard not to laugh.]

Yes, that's because we're made of meat.

[Sync would have a ball game with this conversation.]

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Can't sleep, so have a tag.

muffins, have a tag anyway

Mm. Muffins. And tags.

muffa fuckin tags -

muffin pluckin tags

Re: muffin pluckin tags

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gomen for captain obvious