I was left to my own devices; many days fell away with nothing to show

[provenworth]

Characters: Elena and YOU
Setting: February 7th – Various Locations [See Prompts]
Format: Action but will match yours
Summary: Elena is running a few errands and meeting up with Dia to discuss a sensitive situation.
Warning: Possible language, who knows?

[Floor 19 | Research Library | Early morning]

[Despite the few bits and pieces of information that Elena has been able to understand and align to their current situation, she’s not been making much progress with the books she’s been working her way through. It was frustrating, the technical details of each of the books extensive and surpassing her own levels of education and training. But, despite the long hours reading and attempting to find something that could be utilized to better their situation, she wasn’t even close to giving up.

Down in the research library, Elena has started a new collection of various books, building a small pile at the end of an empty table. Standing between a pair of bookshelves, she’s holding one massively large book in her arms, head downturned to read through the finely printed text. The only sound that comes from where she’s standing is the shifting of paper as each page is slowly turned.]


[Floor 22 | Art Gallery | Closed to Diarmuid | Noon]

[It wasn’t easy finding Diarmuid’s room, taking her nearly half an hour scouring the numerous levels until she finally found it. The folded note she’d written him was tucked beneath the door for him to find later, the instructions easy enough to understand.

Dia, Need to talk to you. 22nd Floor @ noon - Elena

[And so, after completing her quick stop to the research library, Elena makes her way to the art gallery. It’d been some time since she’s been there, chased out by horrifying paintings of Gaia and Northern Cavern. So she’s not going too far into the gallery, instead staying close to the doorway in case she’d in need of a hasty retreat.]


[Floor 14 | Media Room | Dusk]

[Music can be heard coming from this floor, various melodies can be hear, the volume low to sooth the figure inside listening to it. Seated quietly in a chair to herself is Elena, her left hand resting in her lap and her right upright, elbow on the arm of her chair. Fingers curl into a loose fist and support her chin as she listens, looking almost as if she were asleep. Be careful in your approach, though, Elena is very much awake and beneath her recently acquired leather coat - carefully crafted by a particular red-head - is her firearm.]

Comments

[Floor 22 | Art Gallery | Noon]

[oathshackledbird]

[He's almost late to the meeting. Not because he is trying to avoid her or anything like that, but because he's been staying with Waver and just not returning to his own room all that much. With his powers so messed up and things being so...off after they volunteered to help recharge the Tower, it just makes sense for them to be together so that they can watch out for each other.

However, Diarmuid knows that the others in the Tower often prefer to deliver things to people's rooms directly instead of trusting the mail. He suggests himself that people do that, so it's not like he can leave his room unchecked for long. Note tightly in hand once he finds it, Diarmuid makes his way to the elevator and hopes she won't be upset with him if he doesn't make it on time.

He is going to be very glad once his speed returns.

Only once he is on the way down, does he have time to stop and think. Diarmuid can't say he is surprised to find the note all things considered. He's just surprised it hasn't show up sooner. She doesn't even need to say what she wants to talk to him about. Diarmuid can guess without even trying.

Reno.

Diarmuid steps onto the floor and is relieved when he sees her standing near the entry. He really has no desire to go farther inside after what he saw the last time he visited.]

Lady Elena, you wanted to see me?

[Floor 22 | Art Gallery | Noon]

[provenworth]

[All in all, the art housed in the gallery is actually quite pretty. All the colors and images of worlds unknown - lost for all eternity. It begs to ask if there was some truth to the statement that they were rescued from their dying worlds. Why else take the art if it weren't the case?

Dia's voice pulls her from one painting in particular, the many shades of blue in the starry sky, twirling in a evening breeze captivating her interest. Nodding, she moved back towards the doorway.]

I did, yes. I'm sure you can guess why I've asked to speak with you. I was hoping you would have a different perspective on the issue that could help me better understand the situation.

[oathshackledbird]

I have a good idea.

[Diarmuid crosses his arms over his chest loosely. While the room itself has him on guard, this meeting does as well. Yes, he has been worried about Reno lately, but at the same time it bothers Diarmuid just a little that she has called him out like this all of the sudden. He doesn't mind trying to discuss ways to help Reno, but at the same time he has promised not to share some of the things the man has told him. Her vague question makes Diarmuid worried she is going to try and pry that stuff out of him just like Reno has pried information out of him before.

He's going to have to keep his guard up.]

It is...a complex issue. Would you mind specifying what part we are discussing?

[provenworth]

[There is a method to her madness, there always is. Especially when the subject at hand was something that was either confidential or of great importance that details be left out until both people involved were on the same page.]

That much I'm aware. Frustratingly so. Despite our partnership on two levels, he doesn't seem willing to share what's going on in that brain of his.

[Which meant that she had to do what she really wasn't expecting and what she hadn't been fond of doing. Collecting information behind his back. Which, if and when word got to him, would possibly infuriate the red-head, even if it was with the best intentions.]

Its been noticed by not just myself, but several others of our team, that Reno has fallen into a fit of negativity. To the point that he appears to be withdrawing from the team as a whole. Hell, the man won't even talk to me without stopping at some point and not wanting to share what he's going through.

I was hoping, as somebody who had a different sort of relationship with him, that you could provide an outside perspective. Maybe tell me anything that he might have told you that could help me figure out what he's holding back.

[oathshackledbird]

Did you ever stop to think that might be because you are doing the same to him, Lady Elena?

[The title is usually a form of respect, but now something else lies in it too, and that something else grows stronger as she keeps speaking. Suddenly, it's almost as if a different person is standing there, Diarmuid's previous open wariness closing off with a snap and being replaced by a cold facade instead.]

Did you just seriously ask me to break confidence with someone I view as a brother? Perhaps instead of seeking out others, you should stop avoiding him and talk to him openly and honestly. Being willing to open your soul and bare your own pain goes a long way to getting someone else to do that same.

[He and Reno had both been in agony emotionally that night in the ballroom, but they had both discovered so much about themselves that Diarmuid believes the pain to have been worth it.]

You do not trust him with your soul and he does not trust you. It is sad your marriage has come to this...

[provenworth]

[When Elena had requested to speak to Diarmuid, it had been with the intent to help get an outside view on what was going on with Reno. An innocent intelligence gathering that she would use to then make a decision on how best to approach the situation. But she hadn't expected to find herself on the wrong end of a lecture.]]

You speak out of turn, Diarmuid, considering the only information that you've been told has been wholly one sided. [And, of course, the idea of breaking any sort of trust causes hair on the back of her neck to rise.] No, I did not ask you to break confidence. What I asked was a fresh perspective because I question my own.

[Arms move to cross over her chest, mouth frowning. Because everything he says makes sense, but there's one hell of a barrier that the man apparently didn't know about. Probably because Reno didn't know it was a barrier that he was putting up.]

Tell me then, since you seem so well informed, how exactly do you be open and honest when the man doesn't want to hear it. Anytime I mention anything of prior experiences I had outside the Tower with him - the him back before our world was destroyed - he shuts me down. After enough times, the desire to share is worn down.

[There's an inch in her palm. A very deep desire to slap him, silence him. For making such a statement boldly to her face.]

Don't you....don't you dare. If he's told you as such, then so be it. But don't you dare assume that I, for one instant, don't trust him. With my life or my heart or my soul.

[oathshackledbird]

What insanity has possessed you that makes you think he wants to hear about a different version of himself? A version he. Can. NEVER. Be!

[Diarmuid gestures angrily, almost tipping a nearby picture off its stand.]

Do you have any idea how much pressure that puts on someone? Especially after what happened with Rusty?

[He turns from her in disgust, taking a few steps away so that he can calm himself and refocus. While Reno has only vaguely hinted at the pressure that knowing of that other version has placed on him, Diarmuid hadn't actually needed to hear the man's words to understand.

For how long had his own greatest fear been that Waver's Diarmuid would show up in the Tower and take his place?

He runs a frustrated hand through his hair. How is it that Elena and Reno have ended up on such different pages? Is it really worth it to try and save...

Diarmuid shakes his head. No, he doesn't give up on things, and he won't give up on this. Not when it was their wedding that gave him the courage back then to consider he too might be able to find love in this place.]

Go with him to the ballroom floor and talk. If you trust him as much as you say, go. You cannot hide there. He cannot hide there. Ask your questions and let him ask his. It's time you two stopped dancing around each other and the real issues. The Tower issues. Not issues from your home world. Not issues from his. Issues from the world that you share here.

14

[notachickenhawk]

[Tobias spots her as he flies down the stairs, and takes a turn into the floor. He lands a little bit away, cocking his head to the side as he stares at her.]

<Hey.>

14

[provenworth]

[Ears perk up at the sound of wings flapping, an eye opening first to inspect the area around her. When her gaze lands on Tobais, the other eye is opened.]

Hello Tobais. [And with a lift of her arm, she motions him to come closer.] Been well?

[notachickenhawk]

[He does fly closer, landing on the armrest of the chair next to her.]

<I've been pretty good. I can morph into most things again, so I'm glad.>

[Power loss was a pain in the ass...]

<You?>

[provenworth]

[Shifting to give Bird!ias plenty of room, Elena gave a little nod and smile.]

That's good to hear. I can't imagine what its like when people lose their abilities here. Its probably the only positive of not actually having any.

[Its the only positive, actually.]

I've been well enough. Didn't realize you could hear music from your home here, so I've been reminicing.

[notachickenhawk]

<I can't even talk to anyone without them.>

[He tilts his head to the side again.]

<My music tastes are a few years out of date at home.>

[provenworth]

....You can't? [This is news.] I'm sorry. I didn't know.

[Elena gives a little chuckle.]

That makes two of us. Did you want to see if we could play anything you might know?

Floor 19

[neverbeamemory]

[That would be because while all the books available in the Tower are great for learning about new things, and in turn can fill hours of otherwise wasted time that way - none of them really shine any direct light on their situation here.

But cultivating theories is one of Sephiroth's pastimes nonetheless. Even now that there is no further research to be done on the collar fluid, the wheels of his mind never do stop turning and something must be done to occupy them. Lest he go any more insane.

Besides, this Library tends to be the quieter one.

Sephiroth comes to a stop by the pile of books on the empty table, tilting his head more to one side, and then the other as he tries to make out the titles on the spines as they are piled there. Only then, drawn by the sound of turning pages, did he look up to the presence that he'd already felt was there lingering in an aisle-

-great.]

Hmph. [Sephiroth steps away from the table and back out of immediate line of sight from that aisle and turns his attention to one of the other bookshelves nearby. Keeping senses alert for when (not if) the Turk moves.]

Floor 19

[provenworth]

[Despite her fevered attention to the book she's cradling in her arms, Elena's sense of awareness and those around her remains sharp. The softer, little noises of the library were quickly learned and acclimated to, making it so any new sounds would be easily noticed.

Footsteps normally go ignored, the threat levels of the Tower greatly diminished since Ganon's absence. Its only when the sound stops that she turns her head fractionally to peek through the curtain of blonde towards the end of the aisle.

Huh.

Turning back to her book before he got any inclination that she was looking in his direction, Elena returned her attention to her book, though now her attention level had diminished by half. Her ear is tuned to the sound of leather stretching and shifting, of footsteps that pull him from her stack to a nearby aisle.

Silence is kept for several more moments as she remains still, fingers slowly turning the finished page. When she chooses to break it, her head lifts upward, a ghost of a smirk pulling at her mouth.]

You're logic is flawed. You know that, right?

Re: Floor 19

[neverbeamemory]

[It suits him well enough, to be considered less of a threat than Ganondorf had been. It stops the peering eyes whenever he passes someone in a corridor, the suspicious glances across a floor. At least for those who have not had any direct involvement with Sephiroth. Who have only heard rumors of the atrocious acts he's committed in the Tower; things for which he harbors no regret and would not hesitate to repeat if the clock were turned back for him to try again.

She had to have spotted him, but if he cares about that Sephiroth doesn't show it at all. No tension, only natural movement in the creaks of his leather attire, the smooth sound of his armor falling back into it's place at his shoulders as on the other side of the bookshelf Sephiroth reached up to take a book himself from the shelf.

It was then that he caught her words. He knows better than to react in any obvious way, despite how much some tight knot somewhere within his subconscious wants to recoil. It would be too easy to simply turn and walk away. Perhaps it was time some ghosts were put to rest.]

All logic reserves the right to be. [He keeps his tone as abstract as he can, disconnected and flat.] It doesn't like to be closed-minded.

Floor 19

[provenworth]

It does. However, when alternative logic was presented as an option, it was immediately rejected. Now...whether the rejection was out of fear or out of a refusal to consider was a possibility, either way the rejection was a result of being close-minded.

[As if to put emphasis on her statement, hands snap the book shut, the decision that the information therein not being beneficial to her cause. Moving forward to the bookshelf, Elena rises up on her toes to return the book to where she had pulled it from before lowering, eyes scanning the row for another.]

Had I been anybody else, I wouldn't have noticed the subtle reference. Had you been anyone else, you wouldn't have been subtle whatsoever.

Floor 19

[neverbeamemory]

Make your point, Elena.

[Really, he's not in the mood for any of this delicate dancing around the question. Of course he realizes you figured him out on the network but he's not the most subtle generally. Part of him wanted to come clean about the fact that he had helped, but a larger part had felt it imperative to keep it quiet and encourage her to forget it. It would be better in the long run.

However the long run was going to play out.

Same as feeding any notion of this twisted logic she's presenting, he doesn't need to listen. Sephiroth takes a book from a higher shelf and then goes about flicking through the pages absentmindedly.]

[provenworth]

I'm getting to it.

[Because somehow, odd as it was, she was able to be so candid and straightforward when talking through a barrier of books. That physical separation, which did little to hide the other's presence, creating something akin to a bubble of safety that allowed such conversation.

Eyes land on a book, brown leather with gold inlay, and she's wiggling the book free. Hands catch it with an audible 'omph' before the thick tome falls to the floor.]

The point that I'm making is that your words contradict your actions. For quite some time you were part of a group that worked as a unit while performing your own work to better the whole. Granted, I think a good deal of that was because of Ganon's leadership and manipulation, but I believe that you two had an understanding. And you never once had that feeling of "losing yourself" or "forgetting that which made you strong on your own".

[Why yes, she had remembered his words from their conversation while he hid behind the mask of anon. And it was proving rather useful.]

You knew that, despite you both having your own motives, there was an understanding that there was little likelihood you'd get betrayed by the other. But now that he's gone, you don't know who else you can view in a similar matter and are attempting to work as a single unit. Despite your knowledge that teams can work stronger, longer, and smarter. I think maybe you're....afraid to create a new connection because you don't know if they'll be around when you need them.

[And a breath later.]

Why did you feel the need to hide when I was looking for you?

14

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch is, unfortunately, unable to be careful. The void had taken him as he attempted to play a tactical game earlier in the day and kept him for several hours. Only now does it deposit him back where he was, though he'd fallen asleep in the void.

Where he was, was on the floor next to the chair Elena is occupying. His head falls against the side with a muted thump. If that doesn't get her attention, his cold-congested snoring will. He's not cartoonishly loud, but it's certainly noticeable.*

14

[provenworth]

[Music moved through the air like silk, enveloping her with thoughts and memories of home. Of the people now dead and the places now destroyed. She would have frowned if certain thoughts focused on moments in time didn't make her smile. Or snicker.

One particular memory is interrupted with the sound of heavy breathing. Elena first chalks it up to just the room, but as the sound increased it became abruptly clear that she wasn't alone. A slight twist in her chair was all it too before she found a familiar face laying asleep on the floor next to her chair.]

....Enoch? Bending partially over the side of her chair, Elena reached down to give a little push against his forehead to try to wake him.] You all right?

14

[warriorscribe]

*He wakes at the touch, coughing on his next breath. He's awake, but not necessarily alert, looking up at Elena sluggishly as he tries to recall where he was before he slipped into nothingness.

A coughing fit prevents that, but at least he has the decency to turn away from her as he starts coughing into the back of his arm. When it subsides, he clears his throat and croaks out a response.*

I'm not used to being ill...sorry to worry you.

[provenworth]

[Now that was an expression she's seen before, just not in some time. Illness. Exhaustion. Fatigue. His coughing earns a concerned frown and a hand against his forehead to feel for a fever.]

I'm not used to seeing anybody physically ill here. [Mentally, though, she's seen plenty of.] How did you come to sneak in and fall asleep here so quietly?

[warriorscribe]

*It's his fault, really. Going to the beach level in weather like this without any extra clothes and no angelic constitution to help him? He's lucky it's just a very bad cold - no fever, but it's compounding the exhaustion from having his energy drained.*

I didn't. I was here before you, but the expanse we all visited...it sometimes takes us back.

*He might sound more concerned about that if he wasn't feeling so miserable anyway. He's really not used to being sick. And he's a little irritated as he realizes that he doesn't need to get sick in the first place, because there are no true natural processes in this tower! It's only as real as the weather.*

[provenworth]

....Damn Tower mechanics...

[At least, that's what she's assuming he meant. It didn't matter so much, but the part that did was his current state. On the upside, at least there isn't a fever. But he was still sick and needing immediate attention.

Which is why she's up on her feet before squatting down next to him, offering a hand.]

Lets get you up off that floor and onto something more comfortable. We need to get you healthier before the next incident happens.