Jade Curtiss (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sarcasmancer) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
towerofanimus2013-12-06 10:48 pm
sarcasmancer) wrote in towerofanimus2013-12-06 10:48 pm
1. Wisdom
[Characters]: Jade Curtiss, OPEN
[Setting]: Room 1-06, Floor 5, 19, 45, Cafeteria.
[Format]: Prose to begin, but I'll follow your lead if there's something else you prefer.
[Summary]: Jade's arrival in the Tower and what he finds there.
[Warnings]: Mild creepiness on Floor 45 but nothing more than that. Yet.
[Edit]: I had Jade looking up information on the Tower on Floor 19. Someone gave me a head's up that there aren't any texts about the Tower itself in the libraries, which is mentioned in the desc for Floor 3 but not 19, which is what I focused on. That's my bad, and it's been fixed. Sorry!
- Room 1-06 -
When he had gone to bed, the night over Grand Chokmah had been still and warm and calm. Could the world really have ended on so peaceful a night?
The note that greets Jade Curtiss when he awakens in a room with an unfamiliar ceiling says so, at least. He pulls himself upright, frowning at any of his new roommates should any of them be present--and if not, simply frowning at the clearly lived-in room simply for being--and then reads the note carefully.
His expression does not change for a moment. Then the fingertips of his left hand rest on the bridge of his spectacles while he sighs.
He is out of bed, ignoring for the moment the suitcase that is set up at the foot of it, and examining himself and the blue-liquid collar around the top of his neck, just above the collar of his usual military uniform, in the first mirror he's able to locate.
Then he is out, only briefly in the corridor outside his dorm room before he heads to the most logical first destination.
-------
- Floor 5 -
Jade silently observes the state of the world on the other side of the viewing station screen: everything dead and dust, from the humans to the planet to the stars. He rests a hand on his chin as he watches, a troubled look on his face. He spends a long time in front of the viewscreen, changing angles and locations and so forth. The vision of destruction never changes despite his efforts. In time, Jade turns his back on it, one hand in his pocket, one holding his spectacles in place as the glare from the overhead lights obscures his eyes, and walks away.
-------
- Floor 19 -
It had started in the more general library, which Jade had lingered in for no more than a minute until he was informed of where the actual research texts could be found. Then he brought himself here, and considers the many, many blank spots on the shelves, including and especially the entirely empty history section.
He sighs for the second time that day. "One would think that these 'benefactors' would go to more effort to hide the fact that they're hiding something," he laments out loud, despite being in a library.
Nonetheless, he flips through a few of the remaining astral projection books, then returns them to their correct spots and finds himself a relatively comprehensive text on magical theory; something on the Tower itself would have been ideal, but he hasn't been able to find anything on the topic. At least he can compare and contrast "magic" with the fonic artes he knows. He removes the text and takes it with him to a suitably squishy chair, where he begins to peruse it. However intense his concentration, though, he's not so absorbed that he'd be unable to notice anyone approaching.
That would just be foolish.
-------
- Floor 45 -
After familiarizing himself with the nature of his new "home," the man known as the Necromancer brings himself to one of the observatory levels. He strolls up to the glass walls, peering through the cracks in the clouds at the empty sky. He's about to turn to leave when motion in his peripheral vision catches his attention, and he turns his head to regard something that might be human if if it weren't clinging upside-down to the outside of a glass wall on cloud level.
And, of course, it didn't have waxy corpse-gray skin stretched all over where its face should be.
Like a lizard, it creeps slowly down, then across, before coming to a halt in front of the long-haired man. Jade watches it without moving. It watches--for a relative value of "watches" given that it has no eyes--him back. When he steps to one side, it follows; when he steps back, it skitters around on himself and winds that way too. As the skies gradually begin to redden, a couple more of the faceless things crawl in, and he amuses himself for a time by walking slowly back and forth across the room and watching as he gradually leads a chain around the circumference of the floor like the Pied Piper of faceless horrors.
-------
- Cafeteria -
Jade is tempted, once night falls, to go hunting for monsters. For the nonce, he opts instead to get his first meal, having not bothered to eat all day. He heeds the warning and takes a bowl of hot, plain oatmeal as his first meal, then carries it to the first empty seat he finds and eats with all the resigned resolution of a soldier. His expression is somewhat distant as he eats, but the moment anyone speaks to him, it transforms into a pleasant smile.
This may be a trap.
[Setting]: Room 1-06, Floor 5, 19, 45, Cafeteria.
[Format]: Prose to begin, but I'll follow your lead if there's something else you prefer.
[Summary]: Jade's arrival in the Tower and what he finds there.
[Warnings]: Mild creepiness on Floor 45 but nothing more than that. Yet.
[Edit]: I had Jade looking up information on the Tower on Floor 19. Someone gave me a head's up that there aren't any texts about the Tower itself in the libraries, which is mentioned in the desc for Floor 3 but not 19, which is what I focused on. That's my bad, and it's been fixed. Sorry!
- Room 1-06 -
When he had gone to bed, the night over Grand Chokmah had been still and warm and calm. Could the world really have ended on so peaceful a night?
The note that greets Jade Curtiss when he awakens in a room with an unfamiliar ceiling says so, at least. He pulls himself upright, frowning at any of his new roommates should any of them be present--and if not, simply frowning at the clearly lived-in room simply for being--and then reads the note carefully.
His expression does not change for a moment. Then the fingertips of his left hand rest on the bridge of his spectacles while he sighs.
He is out of bed, ignoring for the moment the suitcase that is set up at the foot of it, and examining himself and the blue-liquid collar around the top of his neck, just above the collar of his usual military uniform, in the first mirror he's able to locate.
Then he is out, only briefly in the corridor outside his dorm room before he heads to the most logical first destination.
-------
- Floor 5 -
Jade silently observes the state of the world on the other side of the viewing station screen: everything dead and dust, from the humans to the planet to the stars. He rests a hand on his chin as he watches, a troubled look on his face. He spends a long time in front of the viewscreen, changing angles and locations and so forth. The vision of destruction never changes despite his efforts. In time, Jade turns his back on it, one hand in his pocket, one holding his spectacles in place as the glare from the overhead lights obscures his eyes, and walks away.
-------
- Floor 19 -
It had started in the more general library, which Jade had lingered in for no more than a minute until he was informed of where the actual research texts could be found. Then he brought himself here, and considers the many, many blank spots on the shelves, including and especially the entirely empty history section.
He sighs for the second time that day. "One would think that these 'benefactors' would go to more effort to hide the fact that they're hiding something," he laments out loud, despite being in a library.
Nonetheless, he flips through a few of the remaining astral projection books, then returns them to their correct spots and finds himself a relatively comprehensive text on magical theory; something on the Tower itself would have been ideal, but he hasn't been able to find anything on the topic. At least he can compare and contrast "magic" with the fonic artes he knows. He removes the text and takes it with him to a suitably squishy chair, where he begins to peruse it. However intense his concentration, though, he's not so absorbed that he'd be unable to notice anyone approaching.
That would just be foolish.
-------
- Floor 45 -
After familiarizing himself with the nature of his new "home," the man known as the Necromancer brings himself to one of the observatory levels. He strolls up to the glass walls, peering through the cracks in the clouds at the empty sky. He's about to turn to leave when motion in his peripheral vision catches his attention, and he turns his head to regard something that might be human if if it weren't clinging upside-down to the outside of a glass wall on cloud level.
And, of course, it didn't have waxy corpse-gray skin stretched all over where its face should be.
Like a lizard, it creeps slowly down, then across, before coming to a halt in front of the long-haired man. Jade watches it without moving. It watches--for a relative value of "watches" given that it has no eyes--him back. When he steps to one side, it follows; when he steps back, it skitters around on himself and winds that way too. As the skies gradually begin to redden, a couple more of the faceless things crawl in, and he amuses himself for a time by walking slowly back and forth across the room and watching as he gradually leads a chain around the circumference of the floor like the Pied Piper of faceless horrors.
-------
- Cafeteria -
Jade is tempted, once night falls, to go hunting for monsters. For the nonce, he opts instead to get his first meal, having not bothered to eat all day. He heeds the warning and takes a bowl of hot, plain oatmeal as his first meal, then carries it to the first empty seat he finds and eats with all the resigned resolution of a soldier. His expression is somewhat distant as he eats, but the moment anyone speaks to him, it transforms into a pleasant smile.
This may be a trap.
no subject
And even being openly mocked doesn't really seem to bother him much. Lorelei did have things that would set off his temper, and it could be just as explosive as his isofons', but different triggers. Jade might find it eventually, but right now something much more like good cheer has settled into place. "I'm told truth is in the eye of the beholder."
He won't bother telling anyone else though, if they didn't already know. Jade's done awful things but Lorelei's not always exactly sure which of those things are actually awful and which merely got under his skin as the Seventh Fonon. "I admit I've wanted to speak to you directly for quite a while, beyond the ... mm, very brief exchange in the Core, but it seems those aspirations never quite work out the same way when met with reality."
no subject
But Lorelei seems to have reverted to his previous good cheer. Jade only smiles at the remark on truth and beholders, then picks up the pace slightly to ascend the steps alongside rather than behind the aggregate.
The smile fades when he mentions that he's wanted to speak with him for a long time, beyond the time in the Core. Certainly that didn't count; that was a message for the entire group, said quickly and desperately and was cut off mid-sentence. "Oh? Dare I ask about what?" he wonders, eyeballing him.
no subject
And yet it struck him as a little odd to hear himself called Lorelei by this man. Why?
"Ah, so serious." He notices the fading smile.
That incident stuck in his mind as to why he needed to practice modern Ispanian more. If he hadn't translated everything he said.. "Many things! You must understand that knowing what happens does not usually impart certainty as to why those things happen until the body dies and I collect what's mine. It's all guesswork for decades."
And is about the only game he gets to play, in the core of a world. "But it can wait, there's months and months yet before this place goes up in a puff of smoke or something, there are far more immediately relevant things to get through first to make sure you make it that long. I wasn't kidding about death not sticking here, by the way."
no subject
It would be interesting if Lorelei had an actual answer for him. Given both his "many youthful indiscretions" and that the aggregate says he'd wanted to have a conversation with him for a while now, Jade has a kernel of dread about what he might say.
Not enough to walk away. But enough to be cautious. Jade honestly can't imagine what trouble he might have caused the aggregate, but then, he's aware his viewpoint as a human being is painfully limited by comparison.
Guesswork for decades, eh. "The old Order of Lorelei would have had a fit if they heard that," Jade muses aloud. "No one of the faith would like hearing the prognosticator of the Score's absolute future tell them it's all guesswork for huge chunks of time." He smiles cheerfully. "Good thing I'm not faithful."
Even without the removal of the Score, he never was... though he did, once upon a time, at least acknowledge that it was easiest to follow the guidance of the Score.
That smile once again vanishes when Lorelei adds in some disturbing things. The implication of an end in sight for this place; the implication that Jade might not last long enough to see it. "What do you mean by that?" he asks. About any of it, really, though he says it after the remark about impermanent death.
no subject
But it happens anyway. Look at the recent mess Jade had gotten embroiled in; one earthshaking disaster after another without stop.
There's a snort at the mention of the Score and how the Order might react. "Oh no, that's pretty well set in fonstone, isn't it?" It's almost a pun. Almost. "It's only guesswork as to why it happens. If Harold the Guardsman is going to have himself a cheese sandwich for dinner, why does he decide to have that instead of the ham dinner his wife made him? It will happen, but why? Only the reasons are guesswork." He can admit it. But he finds out eventually. Knowing events will occur but not the motivations that lead to them..
He wasn't telepathic. Not when dealing with people not his isofons, at any rate. That mysteriously vanishing smile draws a sigh. Lorelei did prefer people happy, or at least pretending to be. "As you walk through this place you'll find .. machines in the walls. Terminals, with screens on them, with a counting down timer. All of them have this timer. It's at one hundred and seventy seven days as of today. When that counter runs out, so do we, as near as I have been able to tell. I believe the power source of this place is ... finite. Sometimes it even leaks, and those in the vicinity experience terrible oracular hallucinations. One of the people who rule here, Ruana, set it in place. It may even be an auto-destruct. There's been some noise about doing something about it but little actual action therein."
Lorelei himself seems unconcerned about it, but given his nature that's probably not much of a surprise.
no subject
But that's not something he'll go into here. Lorelei's just as aware, so there's no point.
"Interesting," he says instead, folding his hands behind his back and regarding the aggregate as he breaks down the difference between knowing the how vs. the why. "I suppose it's a little like knowing the basic plot and ending to a novel that you're only reading for the first time."
The countdown... Jade had noticed that, but as it hadn't been labeled, he'd set it aside as unimportant for the time being. If anyone else were to tell him this, he'd be skeptical, but... this is Lorelei, after all. It's not easy to dismiss his words. "As near as you can tell?" he repeats, to prompt him into explanation.
He holds his chin in one hand, considering this with a frown. Oracular hallucinations... If they've been here long enough to confirm they come true, then that would prove it well enough. He still waits for Lorelei's explanation, but... Not to quote Luke or anything, but what a pain. He'd just gotten done saving the world, and then he blinked and it was destroyed, with him in a Tower possibly set for destruction in a scant few months.
"What can you do about something like that? It sounds as though the cause of the end is completely unclear. It's difficult to remedy a problem if one doesn't know that much." He'd told Guy once that if you thought you were looking at a problem, it's best to look at the source, but this is a different beats entirely.
The fact that Lorelei doesn't seem to care much doesn't do much for getting Jade worked up, either. Not that Jade tends to. "Have you been doing anything about it?" he adds, regarding the aggregate again, more out of curiosity than anything else.
no subject
"I'm afraid that Animus Tower isn't Auldrant. I can't rely on memory here to supply what is or will be. All I can do is make educated guesses based on what I've picked up from others." He sighs. It's actually really frustrating more often than not. "It doesn't get discussed much. Nothing does, really, unless it's forced out of them. There's research being done about these things-" He pulls on his collar by way of demonstration, but of course it doesn't come off. "-But little advances so far. A bit of mapping, a bit of exploration. Most of the captives here have long given into despondency."
It was sad but that's how it went when people were prisoners. "Not much!" The admittance is far too cheerful for the subject matter. "Very few people know very much and are positively closedmouthed about most of it. The Administrators also keep their secrets. All that's known for certain is we're running out of time, the bodies we wear aren't ours ... and presumably that said bodies are somewhere else for those of you who normally have them, and it's believed that the people who leave are turned into fuel." That's fairly grim!
Lorelei pauses on a step for a moment before giving a brief smile and continuing upward. Floor Six wasn't far. "No. Well, that's not exactly true. I've been encouraging all of my isofons to extend the knowledge and control they have over their own power. It will be vital to know if they survive the coming ruination of the Tower. I'll need all the help I can get. Including yourself, if we get out of this intact. I expect now that you're here, Saphir might be along shortly as well. Zo may have plans, and I'm content to play into them."
no subject
Few discussions unless forced. Where have I encountered that attitude before, Jade wonders wryly. He lowers his hand then, both of them seeking his pockets, and regards the collar. Violet, hm. "Who's conducting this research?" he wonders, for fairly transparent reasons (for once). "And how long has the Tower of Animus been open, to your knowledge? Honestly, one would think that if one suddenly found oneself with an abundance of free time and unlimited lives that one attempt to do something..."
Though in fairness, Jade can understand it a little. It would be easy to decide you'd just had enough. Even he'd thought it for a couple of seconds. The news that these are fake bodies, and the real bodies are stored elsewhere--and those who 'leave' are turned into fuel--gets a deep frown. "So then Luke..."
...He leaves it at that.
Jade pauses alongside Lorelei, though he doesn't return the smile. He does, however, listen, though he doesn't immediately comprehend Lorelei's meaning. No, that's not true; he has an idea right away, but the context he puts it in is... not one he wants to entertain. Besides which, the suggestion that Saphir would follow him even as far as here alone is enough to make him heave a heavy sigh. "Please don't say such ominous things. When you say it, it sounds like it will come true."
Zo... Another one of the administrators, he supposes, along with that Ruana person he mentioned. He'll have to look into that. (How fortunate that later that same day, Lorelei's first isofon will be the one to fill more detailed knowledge.)
no subject
A very nice man as far as Lorelei is concerned, but that won't help anyone recognize someone else. 'Blatantly odd' might be easier to spot. "As far as I know this particular lot has been open only a couple of years. Two, three. There were however previous victims. It did not go well for them. There's the theory that the experiences we have when the air becomes unhealthy is their memories, and we are seeing glimpses of their past. Buuuut.. that's a theory." He makes a gesture, almost negating; it could be true! It might not be.
Lorelei can be helpful when he chooses to be.
There's only a moment's pause at Jade's frown. "I believe I would know if one of my isofons were so permanently harmed," he says, and this time it's quiet. "Like you might notice a limb being torn off. There was ... no such thing. I have chosen to believe that wherever he is, Luke is not being used for such a purpose, and in time I will see him again. To surrender hope is to surrender all possibility of a positive outcome."
And he chooses likewise to not allow the idea to settle back in the frentic worry he was still dealing with every time he thought about it for long. Luke wasn't gone forever. There was the other Luke, it's true, and Asch. But he wanted all of them safe. All of them.
"I don't think it would be so bad. Isn't it a good thing, to have such a loyal and dedicated companion?" Lorelei doesn't quite see things the way normal people do, apparently. "Besides which, I'd find his knowledge quite useful. Anything to make the work easier. You truly should pay more attention to people who have such a handy skillset, Colonel. You never know when it might be useful!"
no subject
Bizarre demeanor. He hopes that doesn't translate to Dist-like tendencies, and then hopes anew that Dist doesn't show up. This place is bad enough without his
old friendformer pet harassing him all over again.But Lorelei goes on, and what he says is rather disturbing. Jade places his hand on his chin in thought. "I see. I suppose I can expect all sorts of excitement." He heaves a sigh. "Really, a man as elderly as me should be approaching retirement. This is some old folks' home."
The matter of Luke comes and goes and comes again when Lorelei picks up where Jade trails off. It's a remarkably optimistic outlook he has. All the same, the fonist smiles. He'd had hope of that too, hadn't he? Even though his theories told him he wouldn't be wrong.
(That his assumptions are wrong, and what's more that his assumptions have quietly overturned the mental separation he had between Lorelei, Asch and Luke at first without his even noticing, are things that Jade does not realize now. He will be deeply startled and even upset with himself when he realizes these things. Jade should know better than this.)
"Then let's both believe that. Hope is such a wonderful drug, and it appears we'll need plenty of it to deal with our current circumstances," he replies. That smile vanishes into a look of irritation when Lorelei opines that Saphir's presence would be a good thing that he should appreciate and pay attention to. No, it most certainly would not, that look says. "His skillset is useful, that much I'll acknowledge, but his personality makes him far more of a hassle than he's worth most of the time," he says, politely but coolly.
no subject
The whole time machine thing will be fascinating to learn about.
"When your hair has gone silver and your hands shake when you're trying to hold them still, then you can call yourself elderly." Lorelei's tone is one of only the barest hints of genuine admonishment. "Or at least wait until you're forty to try it, it'll be more believable then." He's seen what Jade's capable of!
But there's no real force behind it. Jade relied on that old age excuse many times, and it wasn't precisely laziness. It makes little sense to have one of the most skilled fighters wasting effort and energy on things like moving boxes. "Oh yes. Things aren't so bad yet but I have been told in detail exactly how unpleasant it's possible for things to go." Monsters were the least of it. "..On that note if a friend suddenly attacks you, don't try to reason with them, just disable them or kill them. It'll be kinder. Mind control seems to be one of the run of the mill afflictions here."
He'd observed the mess with the candy and paranoia, and had been glad to not be involved.
As Jade waxes annoyed, Lorelei seems unphased, stopping on the landing to floor six. From its doorway wafts the scents and sounds of a forest in earliest of winter. "Well, if you can supply someone with the same skillset and a different personality then I'll bow to your greater expertise in such things. I'm not really concerned with the who so much as the what."
no subject
"Eh? What was that? I'm sorry, in my old age, my hearing has been going," Jade quips, shrugging broadly, when Lorelei chides him on his elderly spiel.
Though of course his hearing works just fine when the conversation moves on. He slips his hands back into his pockets. Just how bad it's possible for things to go... A frown creases his face at the aggregate's warning. Mind control. Great. Still, he does appreciate the warning. "I probably would have done that anyway," he says truthfully, because Jade is an intensely pragmatic, logical person, "but I appreciate the preemptive explanation. Even I might hesitate in a situation like that."
He probably wouldn't.
That frown stays in place, just as annoyed, when Lorelei actually manages to turn Jade's conversational weapons on him and blast him with a combination of logic and sarcasm. "...Regardless, he isn't here and there's no guarantee that he'll show up, so it's a moot point," he says, touching fingertips to his forehead briefly. Then he looks the aggregate in the face. He might have some ideas, but Jade never likes to make assumptions on things this important; this is something that needs direct confirmation. "Lorelei, precisely what are you planning?"
no subject
And more painless!
When asked straight up what he's planning, for a moment Lorelei looks outright startled. Jade was a very smart man, he should have figured that out by now. So why was he bothering to ask? He might not like Dist, but the man's expertise with fontech would be absolutely undeniably useful. For several long moments there isn't actually a response as this is puzzled through. And then he tilts his head to one side just a little. "I want you to think about that for a while before you ask again. I thought it would be incredibly obvious but it seems I was mistaken. Maybe it's just too much to handle all at once even for you, Colonel. A new world, so many things to keep track of and remember, so much lost. I'm sorry. I forgot how overwhelming it can be."
It sounds suspiciously genuine. Lorelei has difficulty grasping how people actually work. "Give it a couple days. Settle in, mind the floors where your fonic artes shut off. If you still don't know after things have settled a bit, I'll explain then."
no subject
Instead, he asks a direct question rather than piece things together into a portrait he really did not like, and Lorelei stares at him like he just asked him which direction was up. Jade doesn't like that. Nor does he like the way Lorelei calls it obvious, and tells him to think it over. His lips thin...
And then he sighs again, this time harder, and pushes up his glasses. "...Yes, perhaps you're right," he says. It isn't necessarily what he thought first. Lorelei is an aggregate sentience; what is obvious to him might not be obvious to a human being. He'll have to consider this at greater length later tonight, when he has quiet time to process everything. ...Assuming his new roommates aren't loud and obnoxious. He'll just have to wait and see about that.
"Very well," he says briskly. "I'll continue to conduct research on my own, as I'd intended. Thank you for the warnings. I expect I'll see you again soon."
And with that, he turns--pausing only to look out at the wintry forest decked out beyond the staircase landing--and begins to descend down to the third floor, where he'd been told on the viewfinder floor that there was a library.