At what cost?

[warriorscribe]

Characters: Enoch and open
Setting: Various places throughout the month
Format: I'll match you!
Summary: Enoch returns to the tower, tries to make the nutrition bars taste better, starts a fire, and then gets a reveal shoved in his face.
Warnings: Angst in a few prompts? Also the world's shittiest hooks I'm sorry.

Room 1-20, Apr 1

When the others had begun dropping, one by one, Enoch had worried, was their time up? Had they dawdled too long? Were they all going to die out there?

But then he was in a familiar bed, in familiar steel walls. His body felt right for him again, and he sat up to look down at glamoured skin and...there was something on his nightstand. It looked like a circlet or a crown, except the front was clearly a visor. He reached over for it - the Eyes of Truth - and the note with it. One that simply said, I'm sorry. Holding the Eyes of Truth in both hands, he shifted to sit on the edge of his bed, and looked around the room. England and Sealand had made it back safely, too. So...it had only been Zo bringing them back.

"That was...certainly an adventure."


Floor 101, Floor 1, Apr 10

So what does one do when one's begun to suspect an imminent betrayal? If you answered "find a distraction", you'd be right. Enoch is once again climbing trees, fig trees, apple trees, anything with a fruit he recognizes. He's not attempting to scale the date palm, though. He's finally run out of gauze to make ropes from. The thing lasted him nearly two years. You might find yourself sharing an elevator with him and a pillowcase full of fruit.

This is because he's headed for the kitchen to make a syrup out of them. Except an electric stovetop is quite different from a fire. Speaking of which, he's got one of those now. It's just not under control. Yep, he's started a kitchen fire. In at least three pots. Maybe he should have just stuck to what he knows...


Secret Floor, Apr 16

It had been set up. It had been a lie. The man he believed had saved him from one of the worst moments of his life here had set it up himself.

Enoch clutched a small pillow lightly in his lap, his fingertips worrying at the fabric unconsciously. The betrayal had run deeper than suspected, longer than suspected. And his own ignorance of it, his own willingness to help, had endangered everyone in this room. He should be angry. He should be seething, at being used. But no. He's just disappointed. He's just guilty. He sought Riki out himself. There was nothing that prompted him to do this but his own desire to take a stand and make progress, and join everyone together in a fight for their futures. He needs to do something. But it was that very thought that did this.

At the very least. At the very least, Riki now knew Ruana was at fault for destroying the worlds. He could only hope there was good in him yet.

What could he do now, after he'd messed up so badly, but hope?


Floor 74, Apr 17

Enoch wandered the underwater cavern, arms folded tightly across his chest. Armaros...this floor reminded him of him most. And now...now, could he have ruined their chances? He lay on his back in the wet sand, staring up at the rippling patterns of blue light from far away.

"You're a schemer...you're a liar..." He folded his arms over his stomach. "But you're quite an artist. What have you done with the monsters, Riki? I should have been attacked by now."

Comments

Floor 01

[justabignobody]

Well, Riku does better with simple camp fires too, but he knows what he's doing when it comes to dealing with fish in the kitchen. Which is exactly what has come down to the cafeteria for originally; he drops the make-shift pouch he's made of his old coat to carry the fishes in the moment he sees the fires, summoning his Keyblade as he moves towards Enoch.

He is not ever going to ask if his Blizzara spell is welcome, because it definitely looks like it's needed.

[warriorscribe]

It would be much appreciated, actually, as Enoch is trying without success to smother all of them - one of the pots doesn't have a lid, you see. He looks back at Riku as he approaches and gets out of his way. He'd noticed someone else with a weapon like that - Xion - had ice magic, so he's just going to assume he does too, the way he's moving towards the fire with intent.

"I suppose I used too much heat..."

Or did something else wrong. It wasn't quite like cooking over a fire, after all.

[justabignobody]

Oh yes, he does and thankfully, Terra has helped him to master some of the stronger commands, and once he's close enough, Riku keeps his keyblade in a tight grip by his side, letting the magic gather and cold winds start to rise around him. The downside of Deep Freeze is the second it takes to charge. The upsides are the winds and thin lair of ice that covers Riku's most immediate surroundings once he unleashes the magic and should at least starve off the majority of the smaller flames.

He snorts faintly in reply, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"You think?"

[warriorscribe]

Enoch sighs in relief as the fires are extinguished, and the blaze he's working on made more manageable. He gets it under control and leans on the counter with one hand, raising the other to wipe sweat from his brow.

"Thank you."

[justabignobody]

Riku keeps a critical eye on the stoves for a moment longer - just in case he's missed a spark somewhere - before he relaxes and lets his Keyblade vanish.

"You are welcome."

He sends Enoch a short glance.

"...Dare I ask how the stoves ended up like that?"

Surely, Enoch hadn't intended for the cafeteria to come this close to being burned down, right?

Floor 1

[bloodwriter]

Now this was super familiar to The Diciple: Eating Oatmeal at the very same spot she first came to the tower. It's amazing that after all these years, she still comes back and has to eat this in order to live here.

Something she didn't mind one bit now.

So after she finished, she looked around some, trying to figure out what's going on now when...she spots someone incredibly familiar. She hides herself to see if it's REALLY him (you can never know in this tower), but soon enough she realizes it IS him, making that gorgeous fire! She then hops from table to table, finally getting to his spot, and looks on from behind him.

"Oooooooo, what a beautiful fire!"

[warriorscribe]

"I could make one for you that isn't a danger to anyone..." Enoch responds before he's really taken in who's talking, and it's some time before he does, desperately trying to smother the fires he's accidentally started. Considering one of the pots doesn't seem to have a lid...

[bloodwriter]

She takes the hint that he really DIDN'T want this to happen, and tries helping him out. Di takes a look at her surroundings and spots a sink. She jumps over Enoch, grabs a random empty pot, and starts filling it up with water.

"I would cover it with dirt or sand, but I do not have any on me." While waiting, she places a hand on her hip and looks at him. "How did this start?"

[warriorscribe]

"I was trying to make a syrup from some fruit, but I suppose I used too much heat..." He finally finds a lid large enough for the pot without and clamps it down on the blaze.

"...I'm not used to workings like this."

[bloodwriter]

She then gives off a look of understanding. She's been in that place before, and walks over to him to sympathetically pat his shoulder.

"No need to tell me. How it must pain you to try something and all it does is cause huge messes in return."

Speaking of, she's so into what he's doing, she completely forgot about the water overfilling the pot, and now water is on the floor!

Secret Floor

[megazero_to_superhero]

David happens to be here at this time, after having spoken to Waver earlier that day about Riki's lie. He's busy looking through Reno's stack of papers and intel, tightening his lips around the ever-present unlit cigar in his mouth.

He wants to have some idea of what to expect down there, when he goes. He's so engrossed in his studies that it takes him some time to realize that Enoch is here in the room as well.

David pauses from his reading, looking up and ahead of him for a moment's time before glancing over to Enoch. ... The warrior-scribe looks as if he's really taken the news (surely he's heard the news, if he's down here) hard.

"Heyas, Enoch?" David inquires in greeting. It takes him a moment before he speaks further—ever since he'd become a hero he's been acutely aware of how ... well, silly saying something like "are you okay" is to people in distress. And he's pretty sure he knows what has gotten Enoch in such a state.

So he falls back on usual superhero bravado. "We're gonna fix dis. Whatever Riki's doin'."

[warriorscribe]

He'd credited Riki with saving them. But if the explosions had been ruses...

Had it been all of them? Or had Riki been simply taking advantage of Jason's scare tactics? He could only hope...but he was fully aware he was clinging to a very, very dim hope.

He looks up at David and nods solemnly. "I know. We are strong here. We are more than capable."

[megazero_to_superhero]

David takes a moment to study Enoch in light of his response. He recalls that Enoch had been told by his friends not to get involved in trying to rescue anyone during Ruana's "game" with Jason, and yet he went down there all the same. At least they stayed in a group for most of it.

... A group of Tower residents who had all been collectively duped by Riki, but a group nevertheless.

"You plannin' on goin' down dere?" David asks, with a tone of hesitation and carefulness.

[warriorscribe]

Is he going? He looks down at the pillow he's been worrying at. Normally, the answer would be yes, without thought.

But...

"...I don't know."

[megazero_to_superhero]

David nods silently. He says nothing for a few moments as he considers whether or not he should pry about Enoch's indecision—it seems like there's another reason for it than just his friends' requests that he not involve himself as much as he had been, for his sake.

Curiosity gets the better of David, though. "Somethin' got ya worried?" That ... seems the safest way to iniquire about it.

Room 1-20, Apr 1

[brbtalkingtogod]

[There had been many times where Lucifel had been worried about Enoch lately, but this one had probably been one of the worst. So he was more than relieved to see the scribe back.

Until Enoch woke up the archangel sat on his bed and skimmed through the pages of the item Zo had returned to him.]

Hey...

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch looked down at the Eyes of Truth in his hands, and up at Lucifel again. With a small smile, he climbed over his motorcycle to go sit beside him. He was glad to hear that voice again, glad to see him across the room.*

What happened?

[brbtalkingtogod]

I don't even know where to start for once...

[For now he would close the journal and turn his head to look at Enoch.]

Zo had been unconscious while you were gone.

[warriorscribe]

Unconscious? I heard him say something...did he learn about what we found?

*None of this sounds good. The objects in their hands are forgotten for now.*

[brbtalkingtogod]

What you found?

[He wouldn't know about what they found. Context Enoch. Context.]

Floor 1

[witchoftheweek]

[...the oatmeal never did change. Patchouli's poking at it as much as she is eating it. She's a little bit distracted as it stands, given everything she's heard about so far, but she hides it well.

...and by 'hides it well', she means 'her face is jammed into a book.' She looks up now and again, though.]

Floor 1

[warriorscribe]

*There seems to be quite a bit of smoke coming from the kitchen. Eventually, though, it stops and Enoch comes out looking rather defeated, a handful of nutrition bars instead of whatever he'd obviously failed at cooking.

When he sees the newcomer(?), he smiles and sits down near her. He doesn't recognize her considering most of their significant conversations had been via text, but he might as well help get her up to speed.*

You seem to be taking things well.

*Not many would be calmly reading, after all. It's what makes her question how new she actually is here.*

[witchoftheweek]

I was a lot more shocked the first time I was here.

[She tucks a napkin into her book to mark her place.]

As it stands, I'm more surprised about the smoke and the timer on the terminals...

[warriorscribe]

The smoke was my fault. I never did properly learn how to use the devices in there.

*He bites into one of the nutrition bars. He doesn't particularly care about their flavor or lack thereof, really. He has the patience to sit through these months. He was just feeling anxious about something else entirely and trying to take his mind off it.*

The countdown...ah. *...Partially also his fault.*

We managed to damage the power cores. That's an indicator of how much time we have until all the power drains out.

[witchoftheweek]

[That actually gets a light laugh.]

You're braver than I am. I wouldn't even try.

[The smile fades after a second, though.]

I see. They really did bring a lot of us back to see the end of things here, didn't they?

Not that it's a bad thing. If it gives us a last chance to revive dead worlds...