[backdated to round 4 rest day] Tower exploration [open to all]

[myblueskies]

Characters: Everyone who wants to!
Format: Prose/action/whatever you feel like
This log is: Open
Location: Everywhere, well this post is in the courtyard, your character can start anywhere and the end destination is the humming tower
Summary: Alright so Elle gave me permission to start this thread, pretty much on the rest day of round 4 the northenmost tower is unsealed (see this thread: Here)

So pretty much this is the everyone who wants to goes to the tower and meets in the lobby (by coincidence), but once we get to the loby we wait for Elle.

So take your pick, you can either overhear Romeo and Grenn and tag along with them or your character can make their own way/go exploring alone/in other groups etc

Once you get to the loby the description from Elle is:

"The lobby of the tower is empty other than having white walls with red highlights. There's a tiger-head decoration around in a few places. The floors are pale, seamless stone. Other than a slight breath-like hum and vibration in the walls, there is no sound from within the tower. It's a little too warm temperature-wise to be comfortable. Uhhh what else... I think that's it."

Warnings: Will be added as necessary

"Miss Grenn, Miss Grenn!" An excited voice called, an excited voice that belonged to the filthy disheveled kid that was tearing across the courtyard towards poor Grenn.

Romeo had ran as fast as he could! Every day he went to check on the towers, going round each one every morning after his training with Zoro and nothing ever changed, they were all silent and still except the one that hummed faintly. Nothing ever changed; until today.

"It's open it's open! The tower! I went today and the gate is open!" He hadn't gone inside, hadn't dared to go in alone. After all Grenn new so much more than him about the towers and he had promised to inform her if anything changed. That was why he went each day. He paused to get his breath back as he had been running really hard and grinned at Miss Grenn, excitement shining in his eyes.

Comments

Huashi & Kotarou!

[monkeystail]

Something had been off that morning, and it wasn't due to the fact that a new round would be/had started today. No, it was something else, so before she and Kotarou went for breakfast, Huashi went for a run through the forest. She didn't like the tower that was closest to their hideout, but when she made to loop around it, she heard it.

That noise.

Eyes narrowing, Huashi dashed closer, and found the gate open (not that that had stopped earlier exploration, but it wasn't as if she'd been able to get in), and, when she tried the door, it opened too. But what caught Huashi's attention was the writing on the door.

She recognized her own bit of Legend Fragment in the short bit of text. Pushing the door open, just to stare in at the white walls with their red highlights, Huashi grinned. It was a narrow-eyed, cocky little smirk.

"Proper story, finally! Kotarouuuu~" Huashi called (despite the fact that he'd be too far away to hear her) as she turned away, barely closing the door behind her as she ran back to the hideout. They'd have breakfast first, of course, and they'd have to be at the round announcement probably, but after that!

There was only one way to go, after all, and that was down the dark path.

[summerstars]

Well, at least, Grenn had the time to consider as Romeo came barreling towards her, she'd had lunch before she had to try and think enough to keep up with Romeo. It may have been a bit... discharitable to think of any interaction with the sweet boy in such a way, and Grenn didn't really mean it in a bad way.

He just confused her (well, slightly more than people in general did).

Then he caught up to her and excitedly told her why he'd went looking for her, and Grenn's eyes widened. Open? That was---
"That's... Fr--- I mean, that's amazing!" Then she frowned and shook her head, trying to think. Why now? Romeo had given her a Legend Fragment yesterday, but that wasn't the first Fragment, she didn't think, that had been bought, but she was sure this had to be something connected to the fragments...

"... Right. Okay. I'm gonna need to change to my legs... I suppose I could put the wheelchair in the lobby before the dining hall, it'll be out of the way..." Grenn mused out loud (and there were toilets there, so she could snap the prostethics on without showing off the high-tech connectors to all and sundry). She would, ideally, have wanted more than herself and Romeo, but at the same time, there was no actual proof this would be dangerous.

Still, she would have liked Sora, or Gino... or someone else she could trust (that was marginally grown up), beside an excitable child. Grenn looked over at Romeo with a frown.

"I'm not sure... if we should go out of the way to find people, that could take a while. Do you have someone you really want to come with?" Despite the fact that they weren't that many in the school, it could take quite a while to find anyone in particular.

[myblueskies]

Romeo grinned at Grenn's reaction, he was glad that she was happy that something had happened. They had been waiting, Romeo had no idea why it had happened, but he figured that Grenn might know.

"Okay!" Romeo nodded at her sugestion, it seemed the best way. They were closer to the loby then the dorms anyways. "Let's go there now then," he set off skipping next to Grenn's wheelchair in his excitement.

"Well we could ask miss Sora... but I don't know where she is... she gets lost a lot! We could find Mei maybe if she's close? Or mister Gaara," they had both climbed the tower with him so he was sure they'd be interested. He didn't say that outloud though, he had a feeling miss Grenn wouldn't be happy that he had climbed to the top of the tower.

[summerstars]

"If we meet anyone of those... Or Gino, for that matter, that's a good idea, yes," Grenn nodded and steered off towards the dining hall, making sure to keep a slightly leisurely pace; Romeo obviously had a lot of energy, but they didn't know what'd happen (if anything) in the tower, or how much climbing of stairs (oh, sweet, fragging lightless space...) there would be, so she made sure to pace him.

"Right..." She stared at the bathroom door she'd chosen when they came to the large building that, strangely, was closed off in all other places except their dining hall. "I'll be back soon," Grenn mumbled and disappeared inside, glaring at the connectors while she was safely alone.

"I... hate... this..." With a sigh, she connected both prostethics and pushed the chair in front of her as she walked out, suppressing the wince that came as she acclimatizied to the low-level constant connector-pain.

"Let's go then. You haven't seen anyone?" Grenn cast a look around the entrance room, but it was empty, and there were only a few people (all who she didn't recognize) still inside the dining hall itself when she looked in there.

[myblueskies]

Romeo waited while looking around the lobby and dining hall for anyone who might help him but he didn't see anyone straight away. He sighed and waited for Grenn to be ready, he shook his head at her question.

"We might see some people on the way and can ask them!" He walked next to her again keeping his pace a little slower than before as he knew her legs hurt her. He kept quiet on the way to the tower, excited but busy wondering what could be at the tower.

[summerstars]

The gate, as Romeo had noted before he came to get Grenn, was open. It slid away under her hand when they finally got there with no sound at all (could she be disappointed there was no flickers of stray data, or something? But then, they'd made this simulation so perfect...).

"Well, let's---" Grenn started and then immediately stopped as she stared at the door, at the little text verse there. That was...

"... So... Legend Fragments do have something to do with the tower being opened... Or the fragments are just connected to the towers in some other way?" Grenn was at this point mostly talking aloud to herself, tracing the letters with a faint frown.

[myblueskies]

Romeo followed Grenn in happily through the gate, amazed that this tower was open. After days of coming here and staring at it, wishing something would change it seemed like a strange dream that it had changed and they could now go in.

They got to the door and Grenn spoke as she read the words written there, words that Romeo could not read. "The legend? Why? What does the writing say Miss Grenn?" Romeo asked, a little annoyed that he couldn't read it for himself and so had to bother miss Grenn in asking to explain it to him.

[summerstars]

"Oh, uh..." Grenn shook her head and read what it said out loud, turning to frown down at Romeo.

"Did they take your memory of knowing how to read, or can't you?" Either was a possibility, after all, since illiteracy, she knew, had been common in the past.

[myblueskies]

Romeo listened and recognised the bit of the legend that he had given to Grenn. It sounded like a story and Romeo wondered what the rest of the story was, he guessed they had to buy more legend to find out.

"I can read miss I really can!" He looked so intense, it was upsetting that he had lost this skill that he had worked so hard on gaining. "Doctor Casella and Angeletta taught me last year, I even read Moby Dick! But they made me forget." He glared back in the general direction of the school.

Then he looked back at the tower, "Can we go in Miss Grenn!"

[summerstars]

Grenn nodded at Romeo's exclamation, she'd thought that was it, and tried the door, both surprised and not when it opened easily.

"Let's go, then."

The decor... well. Blinding white and red highlights... And it may have been morbid, but the highlights seemed to turn into smears of blood at the edge of her vision, but she was rather sure that was just her brain.

"... Why is it hot in here?" There was no reason for it to be so... And... Tiger heads? Her mind flickered back on the mangled last part of Round Zero, the part she'd technically been dead for, and which was the most jumbled for her.

Huge tiger with lasers.

She almost opened her mouth to make a comment, but snapped it closed; she didn't think Romeo had the frame of reference to get her thought of 'if this was a video game, this would be the current level's boss dungeon...'

[myblueskies]

Romeo grinned and followed Grenn into the tower. After weeks of staring at it from the outside, climbing it, trying to get in, to actually walk through the door seemed strange.

It was hot inside, hotter then it should be since it wasn't very hot outside at all, the white and red on the walls was strange but what made Romeo gasp and step closer to Grenn was the Tiger heads.

They had wondered what was in the tower, and Romeo remembered being on the roof and seeing the stone tigers there.

"Tigers," he whispered edging closer to Grenn, not quite wanting to touch her in case she pushed him away but wanting the security of being with someone bigger, also if the tiger was here he would have to be close to protect Grenn.

Not that he could do anything, not even Sora could beat the tiger. He shuddered, "Do you think this is his house?"

[summerstars]

Grenn shrugged, frowning. Despite her thought earlier...

"Unless the tower's bigger on the inside than on the outside... That tiger would be too huge to fit in here." Of course, whoever in charge could just rewrite code, or whatever, and make the place bigger, or whatever would suit.

"But it's... obviously, connected to the tiger of that round..." Grenn said with a grimace, wandering over to one of the decorations to trace the head. This heat was creating uncomfortable sweat at the connection between flesh and metal.

[myblueskies]

Romeo nodded, because Miss Grenn was usually right about things like this, she was so clever and sensible! He nodded and wandered with Grenn over to the wall, wondering why it was so hot. Then again the tiger had made fire so...

Romeo shuddered, "I hope he doesn't come here..." He said, his voice lacking its usual chear and entusiasm.

(late night after the rest day - is it still open/lit at night?)

[bitofafiction]

It occurs to Sherlock to check the tower sometime shortly after midnight, which means that it takes him a little longer to read the note on the door than it would in better light. Well, so be it.

After counting the windows around the outside of the tower and noting their placement—just so he can see if it agrees with what he finds inside—he tries the door.

[utopiamods]

Once inside, Sherlock will find the lobby empty. The walls are white, highlighted in red though in the dark this might be difficult to see. It is warm, perhaps too warm for comfort and looking around Sherlock might notice a tiger head decoration, not everywhere but here and there perhaps reflecting in the moonlight coming from the door or windows. The floor is stone and there seems to be no joins, no cracks where the stone joins with each other all the way to the staircase.

The tower is silent, apart from a faint hum from the walls so quiet and so consistent that it might seem to be in your own imagination, or part of the silence itself.

[bitofafiction]

Halfway to the stairs, he pauses and stands very still and very quiet until he has settled the question of that hum. No, he is not imagining it.

Then he keeps going, studying the walls and the floor and the tiger heads and every other detail he can find, checking in particular that the layout of the windows matches what he saw outside. It's a good half-minute or so before he finally proceeds up the stairs.

[utopiamods]

The windows are exactly the same as outside, there are no discrepancies. The first set of stairs is quite short, but take you to the second floor where there is pile upon pile of weapons.

Sometimes, if Sherlock was close to any of the students that disappeared he will recognise one of their weapons on the top of the pile.

[bitofafiction]

Sherlock is not close to very many people, but he has seen nearly every weapon drawn over the course of this game. He recognizes quite a few of them.

Given what happened the last time he wielded an unauthorized weapon, he doesn't try to pick any of them up, but he does crouch down and reach out to touch the handle of a broken sword.

[utopiamods]

The moment Sherlock's fingers touch the sword it disappears from under his touch. Seconds later it reappears on top of a different pile across the room from where Sherlock is standing.

[bitofafiction]

"Don't worry," he tells it dryly, "I don't bite."

Smiling to himself, he reaches to touch another weapon, the tip of a spear poking out of the middle of the pile—to see if this one also vanishes, to see if the weapons resting on it shift in reaction to its sudden absence, and to see if it is ever properly tangible before it goes.

[utopiamods]

The weapon also vanishes, reappearing at the top of another pile. The weapons around it shift, in the smallest way possible to fill the gap that it left. The whole pile settles again as quickly as it was disturbed.

[bitofafiction]

He touches a third, closer to the bottom, to see if he can catch the lot of them disobeying the laws of physics any more egregiously.

[utopiamods]

Pretty much the same thing happens, the weapon disappears, reappears and the weapons where it originally was shift to make up for the gap.

[bitofafiction]

Sherlock is tempted to play with them a little more, but after taking another look around the room, he retreats to the stairs instead to see what he can find on the floors above.

[utopiamods]

The next floor is very similar, the piles are in different places and the weapons are different. But there are piles of weapons, some which belonged to students who disapeared.