towerofanimus | The Perils of Kariya Matou

Entry tags:

The Perils of Kariya Matou

Characters: Kariya & OPEN
Setting: Various floors, throughout the end of the month and maybe into the next.
Format: Action, but will match prose
Summary: Kariya wanders away from Lancelot at various times and has misadventures.
Warnings: Death is quite possible! Also body horror, blood, insects.
Notes: Kariya finds himself in a series of dangerous situations. Will he die? Will he be saved? (Or will someone hasten his death?) Feel free to rescue him from (almost) certain death or disaster! Or give him further problems to deal with. I also don't mind different people replying to the same prompts; Kariya can just have extra misfortune.

Floor 15:
[Some might argue that Kariya shouldn't wander away from Lancelot. He's sick and weak and his thinking is impaired, and he only has one arm. Yet Kariya is nothing if not stubborn, and sometimes he likes to be by himself, to do things for himself. Yet this doesn't always work out as well as he might hope…

The workshop floor seems relatively safe. He wasn't expecting to find monsters here during the daytime. The miniblin aren't much of a threat to someone stronger in combat, but this is Kariya. The creatures swarm toward him, and he knows that if he doesn't do something, he'll be injured and will likely die. He's weak and sick and lacking an arm, but he doesn't want to die. He doesn't have a weapon. He has no choice. He sends out his crest worms. The creatures burst out through his skin and then from his mouth as he vomits them up. The worms quickly grow and twist, turning into large, wasplike creatures that divebomb the attacking miniblin. As they fight, Kariya slumps to the ground, bleeding, breathing hard. If the monsters don't kill him, the blood loss might.]

Floor 87:
[As Kariya wanders into the field of poppies, something seems wrong, but he can't quite say what. He frequently visits the meadow on floor twenty-five to relax. Isn't that where he is? He looks around and blinks. It's different, but that doesn't mean too much when everything is an illusion. Maybe they changed the flowers here for some reason.

With a sigh, Kariya sinks to his knees, then sits, then lies down. He feels so tired, but that's nothing new. He should sleep. For a little while.]

Floor 36:
[Trapped on the crumbling staircase, without the use of any magecraft to help himself, Kariya stumbles and flails, trying to keep his balance. For a moment, he succeeds, only to find himself on a single stair between two gaps, each much too large for him to leap over. He stares. What is he supposed to do now? At any moment, this remaining stair might crumble beneath him too, but if he tries to jump, he'll likely plummet to his death.]

Floor 60:
[He'd been thinking of Sakura, remembering how she'd loved to cook, even as a little girl, so the kitchen seemed like a natural place to look for her. He's sure Sakura's here somewhere. She can't be gone, can she?]

Sakura?

[He walks into the freezer without thinking of it, and the door swings shut behind him. Blinking, he turns to open it again and leave, as Sakura isn't there, but it doesn't move. It's--locked? He pulls at it again and shivers inside his hoodie. It's so cold in here. He knocks on the door.]

Sakura...? Hello?

Floor 85:
[How did this even happen? He didn't mean to enter this floor, but now he's midway down a slide and hanging on to the edge, pushing with his feet against the sides, trying to prevent himself from sliding down any further. He hates slides. He remembers being forcibly pushed down them as a child. Unashamedly, Kariya starts to cry.]

Floor 96:
[The white is very calming, and there don't seem to be any monsters present. It's a very nice floor. Peaceful. Kariya wonders why he doesn't spend more time here. He sinks into the chair and shortly closes his eyes, letting out a long breath. Maybe this is a better floor to rest on.]

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[Kariya shudders, staring at Lorelei dumbly. When Lorelei asks him to move, he limps toward him painfully, following him gamely, but slowly. The cold made the worms sluggish, but it didn't do wonders for him, either.

When he hears the voice inside his head--or, wherever it is, he starts. He's wary of new things, when the new things might be magical in nature. Kariya hasn't at the best experiences with magic.

Startled or no, he nods. He does understand. He's not so far gone that he doesn't. He allows Lorelei to do as he wishes, unprotesting. He wraps his stiff fingers around the mug with difficulty.]

[At least the cold should gradually ease. But only gradually; too fast will cause more harm. The mug will at least warm numb fingers, movement will keep the rest, and Lorelei will be right there to not only make sure he keeps moving but catch him if he stumbles.

Kariya might be a stranger, but the redhead wasn't so good at leaving suffering alone when he could identify it.]

That's good. We need to raise your core temperature slowly, or even worse things than cold could happen. You'll probably begin shivering soon, that's a good sign.

[Gentle and careful is the not-voice, as much to soothe as reassure. A startled, panicky victim is worse than a calm one.]

It will begin to hurt as the cold goes away. This means you still have living flesh. If anywhere stays numb, when the rest aches, tell me where. I can heal the damage.

[Easily, in fact, probably even the missing arm. The healing Lorelei's not waiting on in fact, the careful touch to keep Kariya moving also a conduit to render arte arrays unnecessary, to find and carefully, delicately mend the worst of the cold damage. In contrast to cold numbness and biting chill, it's warm.]

I don't want to alarm you, but you have .. ah. Parasites.

[The not-verbal voice pauses.]

It might be best to clear them out while they're torpid.

[But he doesn't. They might be symbiotic, and getting rid of them might actually seriously compromise something! Better to be sure. Meanwhile, moving. Circles in a kitchen is boring, but it'll work.]

[He continues to do as Lorelei wishes, without hesitation. He trusts him because he doesn't have any choice. If the man chose to harm him in his current state, he wouldn't be able to resist. But he has been kind so far. He feels better and warmer already. Kariya manages to speak at last.]

Thank you.

I'll tell you, but... I'm already numb in places. I was before I went in.

[The nerve damage from the worms is extensive.]

I know. I've had them for more than two years now. You can--really take them out?

[Kariya's gaze turns hopeful, in spite of the pain and the chill. After the glamour failure, having experienced that brief time without them, he'd been hoping that there might be some way to be rid of them. Of course, removal might kill him, but as far as he's concerned, it's worth the risk, especially since he'll return to life after dying here.]

[Cooperation is a good thing! While there's a tiny chance that after all this work the crimson-haired stranger simply wants an active target, that's an awful lot of effort for little in return. Easier, and more truthful, to think it's niceness for its own sake.

It feels good, to be helpful. To ease a little suffering.]

Ah, I'll do what I can about that. Nerves aren't too hard, so long as they're not in the head.

[A quiet reassurance. He really will. Lorelei certainly had the power and determination, Kariya got lucky in that much. Step by step. The look of hope mixed in with the pain is one that gives him a moment's pause. There were times he questioned his own actions.

This is not one of those times. The battered, half-frozen man is given a bright, cheerful smile. Sometimes it really is safe to hope.]

I can certainly get rid of them, I haven't met something I can't heal or destroy yet. But I'd like you a little warmer first, it'll help me tell what's you and what isn't. Can you tell me a little about yourself? Your name, where you're from?

[The questioning, even if put in such a harmless way, is with purpose. How alert Kariya is, how fast he could respond, if he could even remember at all thanks to the cold, are important things.

It doesn't occur to Lorelei to wonder if Kariya will return to his wounded, infested state if he were to die. The 'default' this tower insisted on..]

[Kariya can be paranoid, but in times of desperation, paranoia has little purpose, and his brain is too cold for him to be suspicious and act on it. Everything Lorelei does seems to be with the intent to help him, so he goes along with it.]

They're not? I always thought healing must be a good skill to have.

[It's not something his family magic deals with. Zouken is more concerned with harming people than healing them. With all his power, Zouken probably could do so, but Kariya can't remember him doing good for anyone but himself.

Please, I'd be so grateful. [He brightens, or as much as he can manage to, in his current state. His ability to think and speak is returning to him, and he's able to answer such simple questions. He speaks slowly, and he pauses to shiver, but he's coherent.]

My name's Kariya Matou. I'm from Fuyuki City in Japan, although that might not mean anything to you. I used to be a freelancer. A writer, I mean.

[Kariya's sure he'll probably return to his earlier state when he dies, just as he'll regain his arm when he dies. But to be without the worms for even a short time would be wonderful.]

Not for me. It's good to know how to fix things, yes. I recommend everyone do it if they can.

[But not everyone is meant to be a healer or seventh fonist. Kariya's progress is watched with sharp attention, each answer likewise weighed. That was good, no amnesia or severe mind-fog at least. Clarity is good. Lorelei takes a moment to unwrap his scarf and somewhat hem-tattered jacket and carefully add these to what Kariya's wearing; they'll be warm already from his own body heat, and every layer helps.]

I've heard of Japan. An island nation, isn't it? What did you write when you were an author? What do you do now?

[It's going to probably be very easy to tell when Lorelei begins killing the parasites, if Kariya can tell where they were. His control over his own power was exactingly precise, and it's the sound of the things moving through flesh and blood where they wouldn't be that he homes in on. And then eliminates them. Where there was a worm, is suddenly nothing at all. Blood will quickly fill in that space, and muscle and vessels return to their proper shape, but the sudden loss of something inside might well be ... strange. And if damage is done in the process, well. That's what healing artes are for.

It's a good thing this can't be seen. Hyperresonance has a distinctive appearance. It's a hunting game of sorts, for Lorelei. Find the parasites before they do more damage, but only after they're warm enough to begin moving.]

You didn't by any chance ever write music..?

I wish I could. But I can't. You're lucky.

[His magecraft, such as it is, has more to do with taking things apart. Kariya's mind isn't completely clear, but it's not as easy to guess where the problems lie, if you don't know him. For instance, his returning certainty that Sakura is in the Tower, which leads him to do things like get caught in freezers.]

Yes, it is. An island. I left Fuyuki and lived other places for a while. I most liked to write stories... Different kinds. Stories about ordinary people. Or science fiction.

Now I--before I came here, I lived with my family. I was training.

[He freezes, feeling suddenly strange. Something's happening to him, something entirely novel. It's like nothing he's ever felt before. It hurts, but it's a relief, too, like a pressure is being taken away all at once, or a thousand tiny pressures. He's used to pain. He can bear it, especially if it's pain like this accompanied by what could only be called an improvement. He's still and transfixed, like a cornered animal.

He gives a start when Lorelei asks him another question.]

No, I don't know much about music. But I like photography.

Mundane healing is something everyone can learn, with time. How to set a bone, or stitch a wound. Even these skills are useful, and vital, and can save lives. Or your own.

[It might not be magical healing but it was still healing. Anyone could learn it, with enough time and effort. Mages might scorn it for a while, but when it's their life bleeding out, they'd probably be just fine with such mundane methods.

It's filed away for later. If Kariya was inclined, maybe he could provide some direction.]

Did you enjoy your writing? What is 'science fiction'?

[Part of it is genuine curiosity. Finding out about new worlds and what they did was interesting! As were the people in it! ... Part of it is because Kariya suddenly froze up, aware of what Lorelei's up to. Carefully, cautiously, the Aggregate tugs again, to encourage him to keep moving.]

Come. [It's quiet.] You're not warm enough yet to stay still. The more you move the more they move, and the easier they are to find. I need to hear them to find them and their little beating hearts.

[Plus the whole ... helping hypothermia thing. Lorelei can work and move at the same time, it's not difficult for him. But keeping Kariya in motion might be trickier.]

What did you like to take pictures of? Your family?

I've gotten good at bandaging myself, but I don't know much besides basic first aid. Maybe I should learn. I'd like to help people.

[He does prefer mundane methods, even if mundane methods can't do anything about his own particular health problem.]

I did. I enjoyed it. Science fiction is--it's stories about the future, or about technology. Like aliens or mecha or space travel.

[He doesn't like to write about magic. Magic hits too close to home. It's not fun or fantastic in light of the reality he's experienced. To other people, even other people who know magic, he's sure it's different.

He's not sure what Lorelei's doing. It's strange, but it seems to be helping, so he's not going to protest. Whatever it is is too alien for the worms to realize what's happening, especially in their state of torpor, so they're not reacting and causing him any pain. He's almost afraid to ask about it, afraid that if he speaks of it, if he disturbs the process and breaks the spell, it will stop happening. Not a rational fear, but the worms make him irrational.

When Lorelei pulls him along, he goes. The motion and conversation give him something else to focus on.]

Not exactly my family. But I liked taking pictures of my best friend and her children. Otherwise, I took pictures of everything. People, animals, the city. Trees, flowers, the sky.

Hm! I think I could show you a few things, then. I know a little about it.

[Lorelei's first bold-faced lie in the Tower; he knows everything about it. But that's not necessary to mention, and this way it might be a little less questionable. He doesn't seem old enough to know a lot about anything, really..]

I see! That sounds really interesting. This Tower must be a bit of a gift then, for all its terribility. Other worlds, other races and other technology really do exist out there. ...Terribility. Is that a word?

[If not, it is now!

Getting rid of the worms is the easy part. Fixing their damage will be much harder. As the sluggish things act and react to Kariya's slow thaw, Lorelei eliminates them with ruthless purpose. There's no little leftover corpses to cause infection or even send warning chemicals through his bloodstream to alert the other parasites. They're simply missing.

And rapidly decreasing in number. Countless bugs. Then gradually, only a handful. Then even fewer.]

I would have liked to see your pictures. My world doesn't really have that sort of technology common yet.. so few photographs. They rely on painting! Did you ever incorporate your pictures into your writing? I don't suppose any of your books came with you..?

[It's a little surprising for Lorelei to find himself a bit tired, but he ignores it. He's been looking for Luke for a while, surely it's related.]

I'd like that.

It's true. I've met so many different kinds of people. It's almost like our minds have been placed in robot bodies. I don't mind that as much as others do. It didn't really bother me. I always liked stories about robots. [And he'd liked being without the worms, when the glamour was turned off.] And we've been taken by aliens, in a way. It would be interesting, if not for how much people are being hurt. So... I can't enjoy it at all.

[Kariya feels better and stronger as the worms grow less in number. He stands straighter, his gaze brighter. Its had to believe that this is really happening. He's met some healers here, but they haven't done anything like this. It's as if the worms are just--gone.]

Oh, I do have a picture.

[With his one arm, he reaches into his pocket. He produces a very well-worn photograph of himself--with dark hair, unscarred--with a smiling woman and two small girls.]

I have some other photographs, too. They gave me my camera, and I've been taking pictures. I have some of the stories I wrote, too. I'm not sure why they give us these things. I have written about pictures I took, but I don't have any of those pictures.

[Once everything was fixed up, Lorelei would have to find some bandages and needles and .. injured people. How hard was it to find injured people? .. He'll worry about that when the time comes. For now, there is bug hunting. A careful touch checks how far up Kariya's core temperature had gotten, and finding it acceptable, slows his relentless efforts to keep him moving.

He can get rid of the remaining bugs without it, and sets about doing just that.]

That's an interesting take on it! There does seem to be benefits to it, these ... almost robot bodies keep coming back when we make mistakes, that's kind of nice. Alien abduction stories must be a lot of fun to write. Maybe one day we can find a way to keep people from getting hurt here. Then it can just be enjoyed.

[It's a small hope. As Kariya goes for his photo, the last of the worms are carefully, precisely snuffed out. If allowed, Lorelei will take the picture in question. Kariya looks quite different now. Could he fix that, too? Two arms. Two working eyes. The hair might be harder..]

You look happy. ... Ah, maybe to remind us of where we're from! It's good to have a touchstone, don't you think? A reminder of what's important. It might be easy to lose track, when you're trapped in a place like this.

[Lorelei already felt tired. Moreso than usual; that was peculiar. But he can rest later. First things first. A damaged eye is at least not hard to fix. This time the pale array that etches itself into the air as he puts his own power to use is a visible thing - and moreso as the wrong done to the whited-eye suddenly rights itself.

It may be dizzy-causing.]

Are there no cameras here?

[He sounds tired too. Looks it, a bit. All magic has a price to pay, but Lorelei's ignoring it.]

[Kariya continues to move obediently. Whatever it is Lorelei's doing, it works, and he's not about to complain. He feels so much better already, and there are still a few worms left inside him. He's still worried that commenting on it might interfere, no matter how irrational that is, so he just walks, wondering.]

I liked writing about friendly aliens. Nothing like--this. But it is like one of those stories. It is nice--not to die. I would have been dead by now, if I'd stayed home.

[He would have died as much as a year ago. What a long time. Sometimes he thinks that he's actually better off here--but no, he can never be better off if Sakura and Rin aren't well, too.]

I like to remember. To see the people I care about again. I miss them a lot. Sometimes it's sad to see them, but I'd rather have a picture of them than not. They are what's important to me.

[Kariya shakes his head, then gives a start as his eye suddenly heals. He stumbles. He can see. Really see, in the normal way. He's gotten so used to the other way that it's overwhelming at first. He forgets all about not mentioning it.]

You--how can you do that? It's--incredible.

And here you are, alive. It's best to not dwell on might-have-beens, especially such morbid ones. And if one day you return to your world, you might be better suited to avoiding that problem now, right?

[Maybe. Lorelei didn't much like the idea of death, it was so incredibly final. Humanity didn't seem to like it much either.]

Having a reminder of the important things is good. I hear there's places in this tower that eat away at those memories. Having a picture might help. Keep them safe.

[A stumble won't get too far at least; the redheaded man is right there to steady Kariya carefully. Not with the same strength of before, this whole business was strangely tiring, but it should be enough to keep him from falling. The repaired eye is scrutinized for a moment before he nods, satisfied.]

...Ah. It's just something I can do. A little knack.

[Any seventh fonist could!]

I'm uncertain if I missed any of the parasites. If they're silent I can't quite tell where they are and I don't want to accidentally erase something important. I'd also like to get at your arm, but it's.. wrapped up? Are you warm enough to bear the room's temperature for a few minutes?

[Or the stump anyway, and that might interfere. Having a new limb rip through cloth might be painful.]

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The Perils of Kariya Matou

sorry for the slow!

It's okay!

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