towerofanimus | (no subject)

[Hoping for the best is the only thing Reno could really do right now for the volunteers, that and wait in case something happened that needed his attention. For the rest of the day, however, he's on the Hidden Floor, transferring notes from where they were hidden to a table in the Hidden Floor for easier access.

He places the note Enoch gave him with the others, and started to organize them by topic.

Doc Brown's notes were there, too, along with the box of his equipment. He couldn't even find the Doc now, he'd wanted to ask a question about what some of these labels meant, but figures that one of the other scientists might know. Or Shion.

Some of them he sets up on a large wooden board he had taken from the workshop, pinning papers and maps to it. There's no real rhyme to it, however, it was merely the way Reno's mind worked, hoping to see something there.

There's another board with a large sheet of paper on it, which he used to write down notes of some kind or another in shorthand.

From the look on his face, his brainstorming isn't going well.]

[Dodging bright electrical arcs is fun?

Almost as fun as then dodging right into one of those foreboding rips in reality and blinking out of existence completely for anything up to an hour. Only to then reappear having lost that time forever.

With the power continuing to be unreliable in the Tower, Sephiroth isn't taking any chances being stuck in an elevator for who-knows how long again this week. So getting around has to be by pounding the steps, keeping a careful eye out for anything that looks like it might spark in his direction. Pausing intermittently on the stairwell every time there is a louder hum or rattle, just in case -since who knows- the whole thing might just give up. He'd trust his powers to keep him from falling. Especially now the problems he's been having with them seem to be calming down, typical.

His now-real black feathered wing is manifested, in preparation for anything.

Feel free to encounter him as he dodges into your path avoiding sparks, or even as he blinks back into reality at times.]

Romeo is patrolling the halls, since Ken talked him out of going down with the others he was doing his best to look after those who had stayed behind.

He made a sound of surprise and stumbled back as a figure appeared in front of him. "Mister Sephiroth?" He looked around, wondering where he had come from.

Edited 2014-02-02 15:55 (UTC)

Sephiroth blinks and spins on a dime to face the small boy. To him of course, Romeo is the one that has appeared out of no where.

"You."

Quickly though, Sephiroth recognizes the boy and knows he's not a threat; just bound to be an irritation. It takes a bit longer than normal to unwind from his defensive stance though. The feathered wing arched up and curled in on his right side still looks about ready to assist in propelling him away if provoked.

[The brainstorming not going well is obvious if you're paying attention, yeah. It's probably not too much longer that Reno will find a plate nudged under his elbow, with some kind of makeshift, warm eggs-and-meat sandwich on it.

Truly the redheads have fallen, if Asch is reduced to mother-henning.]

Figured anything out?

[Reno drops the pencil he's been holding and makes a small noise (more like a grunt, really) of thanks when he sees the food.]

Not really. I'm not really a scientist, metaphysicist, or any kind of "ist." My best subject? Freakin' Lifestream theory, and I had to know that because of my job. But I'm thinking Old Bugenhagen himself would have a shit time of this, too.

Even without the science crap, I'm not really gettin' anything. The biggest breakthrough I figured out during the entire stay here is that conversation I had with Dax, but, I thought we were clones or something like that.

[He sits down hard in a chair and pulls the food toward him, not arguing that he isn't hungry; he needed energy either way.]

Kind wish everyone would write down all the weird flash back things they've had since September. We might be able to piece some of this stuff together.

[Finally someone who accepts the cooking without complaint. Asch pulls out another chair and takes a seat, a quarter turn of the table away from Reno.]

Can't be helped. Most people are more worried about saving their mental health than they are piecing things together.

[He pushes a stray pen out of the way and starts skimming some of the notes.]

Yeah. I tried gettin' all I could from that meeting last November, but some of it's still pretty sketchy. And it doesn't cover all the stuff they said after the carnival.

[Taking a bite of the sandwich, he chews without comment. Whether the cooking is good or bad he can't really tell right then, he's too hungry.]

I feel like we have a lot of the pieces, but we're missin' something or not putting them together right.

[An absent nod - still reading.]

Whatever that piece is, it's entirely possible that it was just lost, when whoever knew it disappeared.

[Which reminds him of something - Asch sets the notes down to shuffle through for a blank sheet of paper.]

[When it start sparking, Minato made sure to mentally equip himself with his electricity immune Persona. He's more vulnerable to two elements as a result, but as long he's careful, he won't die another death.

Accompanied by a beast adorned in golden accessories, Minato traveled through the floors and avoiding the rips in space as much as he can. Between the void and avoiding any possible monster encounters, he was tense and on guard.

Which meant Sephiroth's sudden appearance startled him. He raised his sword and Barong stood protectively in front of him]

What're you looking for?

[Reno's got the locations of all the various notes down in his head.]

Something blank.

[Aha, victory - Asch drags a couple sheets out from under a stack and snatches up the pen again, starting to sketch.]

The person who originally found this out is gone - it's a sequence what removes the collar from the body. One of the Rikus had the stylus for it, last I knew.

Remind me to sit on them for a couple weeks for not lettin' that one out.

[Reno's grumbling, but he's looking at the paper with curiosity, making sure to memorize it in case the copy ever got lost.]

Trust me, I feel the same.

[He keeps sketching the five step pattern - Asch is no artist, but it's clear enough to memorize.]

[Turning away, Reno gets up and starts pacing, trying to work off some anxiety and frustration.]

We're running out of time.

[The stress is clear in his tone, and his hair has seen better combings before. It's standing up from being tousled and mussed and pulled at all day, without anything keeping it there. It's a rather strange effect on him when his spikes are usually so even]

I can't think of anything. People are still sitting on information we need. What's going to happen to 'em now? Only a few months and we're all goddamned dead. Maybe a few days if Riki isn't successful. All They can do is torture us until then, y'know?

[He stops suddenly, scowling at the table full of notes.]

Even after facin' down the world eating monsters back home, I haven't been this scared.

Scared of what? Dying?

[Asch doesn't even look up as Reno paces behind him, his vision locked on the page in front of him as he continues to sketch the pattern, firming up lines and scrawling notes.]

Personally, I'll take that over spending the rest of eternity wandering Auldrant, trying to find grave space for all the corpses.

[His shoulders slump a little, and he shakes his head.]

No, scared we're going to get... whatever she does to souls. Scared they're not goin' to come back. Scared we will wind up wandering forever. I had seven months of that, y'know. That was enough.

I'm supposed to come up with something to get us outta here because I promised, and I got nothing.

[Going back to the table, he straightens out some of the papers, restacking the maps by floor.]

If Ruana was reasonable, we'd just freakin' talk to her.

[Finishing the notes, Asch looks up, his expression sour.]

Then congratulations on being the first person who actually understands what I'm shooting for.

[The pile of sketches gets set off to the side. He's still angry, when he thinks about it - still wants to smash Jade's face into the wall about it. But Jade's not here - he went down, the way Asch didn't, couldn't.

He kicks lamely at the table leg, semi-intentionally missing.]

...It's not something I have any answers for, either.

[Shifting his weight to one leg, Reno sets a palm on one hip, and pulls out a pack of cigarettes from one of the many pouches on his belt.]

I'm not cut out for this shit. The people we need up here are all down there. I should'a gone instead.

[He pulls one out and sets it between his lips, and returns the pack to the pouch. Need a train of thought... something to talk about other than fear and things like that.]

You were here durin' the summer, right? Wasn't Ruana pretty pissed the Tower got broke in the first place? What do ya think'll happen to Jason? He's practically brought the whole damn thing down around our heads, if ya believe Riki.

That's a good summary of it. As it happens, I wound up taking a vacation for most of the rest of that month myself.

[He idly straightens the couple of pens within his reach into a neat row.]

I doubt she'll kill him as long as he's useful. It's not like she has anyone handy to replace him the way she did with Dax and Zo.

[He starts straightening the piles of papers next, evening up the corners before putting them back in place.]

I suppose it would be too sweet to hope for her making him into a drone.

Y'mean like they did that one time with putting Zo in a collar?

Hnn. She's punished Jason before, back during that experiment where they took people to prove they could run the Tower better. I don't have too many reports on that because I wasn't as serious 'bout taking notes of everything down.

[Reno sighs, and starts patting his pockets for matches or a lighter, or something. He could try the fire magic he knows, but control of the keyblade world spells were shaky and he'd probably wind up frying the whole thing.]

That was when I was still on Ganondorf's council.

[At Reno's question, however, Asch's eyebrows shoot up - he doesn't hear too much these days of the time before he arrived at the Tower, and it's clear from his expression that this is one he's never heard before.]

They did what? That all must have been before my time.

[He sets the last of the notes aside.]

While you were gone, one of the things Jason did was use a good portion of us in place of the drone units, with degrees of brainwashing ranging from "acting completely normal on the surface" to "none at all, just trapped in your body while it works."

[He can almost talk about it without flinching, now. Almost.]

It's too much to hope that he'd get a taste of his own medicine, probably.

"Yes it's me, sir!" Romeo blinked at him, "How did you do that? You just appeared from no where, is it part of your magic?"

...That's somethin' I've only vaguely heard about. Guess people are too traumatized or something. What do ya remember about it?

[Reno sits back down, taking the cigarette and tapping it against the table.]

Ah that was... back in June, I think. Not this last year, the one before that. Several months after I arrived the first time. June? No, wait, that was the labyrinth debacle. [Going by on memory alone is getting tricky with his head filled with so many other things.]

Was it? No, that was May. Had to be May. June was the living experiment. After June, we got the rotating administrators each month after that. Before it'd just been Dax all the time. That October was the first time Ruana was in charge.

...Nothing good.

[Congrats Reno, you hit on one of maybe two things he prefers to not talk or think about. Asch's words come with a clipped tone that's clearly struggling to stay detached.]

In addition to the brainwashing, Jason modified people mostly according to ironic whim, with worse modifications for those more brainwashed. I was in the group trapped in their bodies, but I couldn't recognize anyone. Wound up getting killed twice by people more brainwashed than I was.

[He makes an aborted gesture towards his ears before managing to still his hands, shifting uncomfortably.]

If you're having trouble remembering it now, write it down before you lose it.

Edited (html) 2014-02-03 09:49 (UTC)

(no subject)

Jan 29th Hidden Floor

Sephiroth | 31st Jan - Daytime | Stairwells

HI

ajbedkytawvuykb Romeooooooo

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this icon all thread long

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this conversation now turns towards "one of them is going to end up yelling"

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