towerofanimus | candy, candy, candy candy candy...

Entry tags:

[ou] danielle phantom

candy, candy, candy candy candy...

Characters: Terra-Xehanort, Aqua (OU), Terra (AU), and anyone else who wants to poke him
Setting: Various
Format: Action, prose is okay if you'd rather as I'll switch
Summary: A dude is looking for candy. A couple times people spend time with him. Maybe you do too.
Warnings: None.
Notes: Two prompts are closed to certain people, the other one is open to everyone.

[FLOOR 48 - Aqua

So far it had been all right, though the novelty was wearing off. The past few floors he'd been a bit careless... but it had been worth it so far. Now it was time to consider the next floor... this had been a good way to catalogue mass floors at once, after all. He gets on the elevator, and selects the number of the floor at random. 48 seems like a nice arbitrary number, considering his location... and thus he stands to wait for the elevator to finish its trip.]

[DAY 25 - Terra

Trying to ignore the thoughts of candy and searching, trying to avoid other people who might be looking... he was tired of it all. He'd been looking for five days already, and it was getting increasingly less effective. Now, he instead listlessly wanders the hallways to distract himself, not venturing onto floors, trying to avoid anything to do with the event.]

[Maybe you're looking for candy too! He's definitely looking for candy, as well as interesting places to look for it. Perhaps you bump into him on the way between floors... he'd like a diversion or to stop and chat with an acquaintance. He certainly has his hands full, if nothing else!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No. There's only seven ... mm, actually technically there's eight like me, and the rest is humans and animals and monsters and such.

[Lorelei certainly has paler skin than he does, but redheads did tend to be on the pale side to begin with.]

...You don't know? Are you more displaced than most of us, then?

Ah... how curious. Are you revered for your magical abilities or such things?

[And a chuckle, and he holds his arms behind his back with his fingers interlaced.]

My memories are, if nothing else. I've been a blank slate since arriving here.

Not really.

[Lorelei smiles then, quick and brief and it's not ...quite a happy expression.]

But the song I gave them is very much revered.

[The idea of a 'blank slate' takes some moments to grasp, as it takes him that long to find something to equate it to. How terrible, to have no memories!]

Are you a replica, then? They don't usually have memories at birth either. Though you're pretty articulate and well-coordinated for a new replica..

[Lorelei leans a little closer, peering intently, but as Xehanort's not made of fonons he really can't tell if he might be a replica or not.]

Yet you are not pleased about such a thing... why?

[Then again, those who give gifts to humanity are often regretful later. Humanity seems to have the remarkable ability to use things in the worst possible ways.]

A replica..? [He cocks his head slightly.] I have no idea. I don't think I even know what a replica is, outside of the idea of what the word means. You have... copies of people on your world too?

They took my song and cut out the parts they didn't like and hid them from everyone else, then lost the ending entirely. Without it, the song only sounded like what they wanted to hear.

[This, for any musician, is a terrible thing. Lorelei says it with utmost sobriety. It was important to him that it stay intact, and it wasn't.]

Ahh, well, that's about it really! Copies of people and other things. The copy looks like the one they were copied from, but their personalities tend to be unique when they're allowed to develop them. It's pretty recent! I'm sorry I can't tell you for sure if you are a replica or not, you're not made of the same things the people in my world are. Hm, but memory loss..!

[Lorelei didn't like that, memory was part of his aspect.]

You haven't seen a doctor yet have you? Maybe you hit your head really hard.

There must have been a reason why they would do such a thing. An extreme reason, perhaps, but to just randomly do such a thing seems rather odd.

[He's certain there's more to it. Why would people fuss over music so much?]

If you can't tell, then I'm not from your world... and probably not a replica either...

[And a bit of a snort at that last part.]

I don't think that's related to it at all, really.

Human nature, I think. Most humans like focusing on the good things and pretending the bad doesn't happen or isn't possible.

[It's more than just a song, but from the sound of things, they just took Lorelei's music and cut out the unpleasant parts. That might not seem so awful, except the song is a prophecy and cutting out the bad parts ...well.]

Other worlds have replicas too, I've been told. I just don't know how to identify them. If it does turn out that you're a replica though, it doesn't mean you're a lesser person or not as good as what came before. All things considered you might be better than they were. ..Just if it comes up.

[He doesn't know for sure, but there seems to be a theme replicas have to deal with. The snort draws a brief flutter of hands.]

Maybe it isn't! But maybe it is. I've heard of people losing their memories from being hit in the head before. It must be terrible.

That's true enough. If they don't like something, people will go out of their way to make sure they don't have to deal with it... [But it still seems extreme to clip out pieces of a song. There has to be more to it than just a song if it's so upsetting and gives the redhead such a sour view.] I'm sorry that they ruined your song because they didn't like parts of it. I'm sure it was lovely in its entirety.

Other worlds as well? How strange... I suppose the method is different, then, if your world uses specific things to make them.

[A pause as he considers.]

I don't think being a replica would be a bad thing. Especially not here. It would just be strange. Wouldn't one know if they were a replica? How does one not know the fundamentals of themselves? Even I could pull a name from the void of my mind...

I haven't suffered any trauma like that. I simply came to here, as we all do, with no recollection.

[Lorelei's smile is brief and wistful.]

It was. A lot of work went into it. It was to be my masterpiece.

[The thought is shaken off. Somehow thinking of replicas was easier than thinking of the Score.]

I don't know! I imagine they wouldn't, since I think most replicas when they start off are just like a baby but with a grown body, and babies don't seem to know a whole lot. But if you could at least think of a name then maybe not..

[Lorelei may be nothing short of a god in Auldrant but that didn't mean he knew everything! Easier to confuse than most 'gods' that's for sure.]

That's odd. I'll keep an ear out for maybe other people suffering the same thing. I have heard that the Administrators of this tower can mess with memories. Maybe you're one of their experiments, and none of us know it.

If you'd be willing at some time, I'd like to hear it. A magnum opus should be heard in its whole, complete state...

[The idea of a replica is interesting, especially as he'd been commenting about how lucky he was to not have to relearn how to speak or write or any such trivial tasks that one took for granted. Clearly he isn't, if he wasn't reduced to that state, though the idea of the administrators meddling with his memories makes him frown a bit.]

Yes, when I arrived here I was still capable of speech and writing and not soiling myself. I do not think that is the matter at hand, though if you do find anything that would be most welcome.

[Lorelei's smile is brief and sharp.]

I'll be sure to let you hear it then. But put aside a couple of days.

[It's a very, very long song.]

No, your issue could come from anything, really. While it's good to not dismiss a possibility, I can't say for sure I have any idea what might have happened to you. And now on top of all that you're ... collecting invisible, intangible candy.

[Lorelei sounds a little bit doubtful about that last bit.]

Right now I'm just going to assume it's humans-only. If I spot any though, I'll be sure to let you know.

A stamina event? Who falls first, the singer or the listener? [He cracks a smile at the thought.]

I don't know, but I don't really let it get in my way. I'd like to know, but there's no reason to dwell on it. There's far too much to do here to fill my time with moping.

I know I can make it through the entire song! Whether or not you'd fall asleep before it's finished is a much better question!

[There's only a bit of gentle amusement in his tone. No real mockery or derision. The Score is a hefty thing, and required time. Not much can be done about that.]

... Ah, that's a really good attitude to have about it. One some people around here would do well to share, I think. There's a whole lot of moping.

[Lorelei scans the ground, presumably looking for some of this invisible candy. There isn't any he can find, of course, but it doesn't stop him.]

What do you do with your time normally, aside from the candy stuff?

Then perhaps some time we will have to test my mettle, won't we?

[He grins at the thought. A challenge!]

My time? I explore various floors. Read books in the library. Listen to music. Find idle ways to keep myself from boredom. Some days I'm more successful than others. When I'm very bored I attempt to do something in order to learn about this tower. It usually results in my death, but that's not really a stopping factor.

It should be interesting, at the very least! No-one not of my world has ever heard it before. I wonder if it will sound the same to you as to us?

[Xehanort certainly wouldn't be in the Score, but would he hear it the way a seventh fonist does, or a normal person? So many things to wonder! And Lorelei was just going to have to wait and find out.]

Those seem like fun things, mostly. I can't imagine dying is very fun but I agree even for humans it doesn't seem to matter much. Your meat dies, just get a new one and carry on.

[Lorelei's not even the littlest bit bothered by this idea.]

It's nice someone else is thinking of it that way. Have you learned anything neat through all of that?

Sound the same? What do you mean? Our words are translated here, so one would assume that I would be able to comprehend it...

[While he does have a very basic idea of fonons, the intricacies of the seventh fonon are still an unknown to him.]

Exactly! You're the first person I've spoken with who doesn't seem to get all teary-eyed over the prospect of dying. They're not even real bodies, why get worked up over it?

Nothing terribly noteworthy. So far I've just been exploring.

Words are translated, but it's ... mm, it's a sound thing. Let me think.

[How to explain this?]

The entirety of the song is just one song, but some people can focus on different parts of it and find all the other songs it's made out of. You might not be able to pick up on that.

[It probably doesn't help, but Lorelei gives it his best shot. He crosses his arms over his chest over the death thing. He just didn't get it.]

...It's true, isn't it? Even normally. If you lose your shell, so what? You're not your shell. You're what it contains. The personality, the memories, the hopes and dreams and desires and all of that stuff. I don't ... really understand why humanity is so afraid of death, when it's just a mild inconvenience. And here? It's not even that! It's a one day setback.

[It's possible.. Xehanort has no better understanding of death than Lorelei does. Probably they're not the best to talk to about it.]

Aw. There's a floor made out of organs, if you haven't explored it yet. It's really interesting. You can sit right next to a big heart and feel it beat.

I see what you're trying to say. It'll be an interesting experiment, seeing how much I can make out or if I can just hear the general song. Perhaps when this is over we can make some time to test things.

[He'll look forward to that.]

I'm not certain how I would feel about death in any other given setting, but here it's really little more than an inconvenience. I don't know why people are so afraid. Pain is something that these fake bodies have been scripted to feel, so being afraid of pain and death seems counterproductive, like one is simply playing into the administrators' hands. Get past that hurdle, and one can do whatever they wish.

[Probably not. Given how he was introduced to the idea of death in the tower his perceptions of it are very skewed.]

I saw that one in passing, I think... I'll have to explore it more thoroughly. That sounds quite fascinating...

It should be interesting whether or not you can pick out all the threads. I won't bother censoring bits out if it's all the same.

[When running through the Score, why hide parts of it? He put it all there for a reason!

The matter of death is only a little more serious; Lorelei obviously thinks of it as being fairly trivial.]

Maybe they think one of these days it won't work and they won't come back. And yet nobody's ever died and then disappeared, they've simply vanished. I'd think they should be worried more about that, than temporary pain. Everyone has it so backwards, thinking the flesh they wear is 'who they are'. It isn't even really all that important. ..I can admit it's a little odd to find a human that agrees, though. Usually I'm told that I just don't understand death from a human perspective.

[And this one wouldn't be a part of Auldrant's Score anyway, so even if he could understand the calamities in store, it would be hardly relevant.]

I don't know if I'd think differently any other place, but here... it's as you say. Those who leave don't die in the sense that we recognize, they simply pass... and thus they gain a tombstone. Not truly dead, but simply gone... isn't death kinder in that you return? Most people simply look at me oddly when I speak of such a thing. Most people do not understand the use in death in order to explore or learn things here... it is a tool in more ways than one.

[Calamities and blessings both. Only the ending was completely bad, the rest.. was life, and fairly ordinary at that. But it didn't mean perhaps Xehanort wouldn't be able to appreciate how it sounded.

Lorelei was mostly assuming to him it would just be music. Perhaps strange music.]

The tombstones are meaningless. Who is to say what happens to those who leave? We assume they're gone forever, but there is no certainty to it. They leave, some return, some do not. Death is a far quicker thing to return from, even if after several deaths there begin to be side effects.

[He rubs one hand through his hair, frowning.]

But as it is, I can't disagree. It's useful. 'Curiosity killed the cat' is meaningless if it doesn't stay dead, so there's no harm in ever indulging. Maybe it's.. an influence from their own worlds, where death seems to be more permanent and nobody comes back. You and I have no ... real behavioral expectation when it comes to death or loss, so it doesn't matter to us as much.

[He listens, nodding at what Lorelei is saying.]

In a way, perhaps, it's a blessing. We're not bound to such notions, thus we have more freedom in thought and action. I'd never thought of it that way. I knew there was little reason to bemoan the lack of knowledge, but forging my own seems much healthier in this environment.

I think I agree, for the most part. It's not something I'd want to inhibit others, in case passing here results in returning to their own worlds and fragile lives, but it does get in the way.

[He frowned, more to himself than Xehanort, then shrugged.]

It is what it is. It's nice to find someone as baffled as I over it, I'll admit that much. As for the rest.. well, I suppose if any of your experiments and exploration require a little assistance or company, on the floors that don't null powers at least, I'm a fairly competent healer. Death doesn't stop one for long but a good solid injury is an obnoxious thing that lasts for quite a while.

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candy, candy, candy candy candy...

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