What it says on the tin

[justabignobody]

TEST DRIVE MEME

You want to join the game with a (new) character? Maybe you’re simply curious about the premise? Or maybe you just need a sample. Well that’s the meme for you to try and test your character as if they were already in the tower! The meme is open to anyone!

• Reply to this entry with a character you consider apping! Put your character’s name and fandom- Your usual meme thing.
• Comment around with your pups. You can also post and tag with characters already in-game of course!
• Most importantly, have fun!!
• Then feel free to go and reserve and app your character when those open.

Have a number of prompts to get you started:

[Floor 29]: This floor has seemed pretty peaceful so far, the maze isn't all that hard and the garden that lies beyond it is rather lovely. Still it seems best to head back now that the sun is about to set and nighttime is approaching fast. ...Is that just the leaves rustling in the wind behind you, or is it something more?

[Floor 56]: Oh this looks definitely like an useful floor - the room stretches into a hospital ward, dusty and old, a surgical suite surrounded by a maze of empty beds. The closer you look, the more you'll find that the first impression is quite deceiving - no medical supplies of any sort, unstable lights and what was that noise just now?! Clearly you are the only one on this floor. Or are you?

[Floor 25]: After all you have seen so far, this just might be the first truly innocent floor you see. But is it truly as trustworthy as it seems...? Many other people seem to think so at least! Come and see what they are up to?

[Elevators]: It's quite a long ride between the Dormitories and the Cafeteria - it probably doesn't help that the minutes and seconds seem to stretch out more and more towards eternity, what a hassle. Are well, maybe there is someone stuck with you and up to provide conversation... or entertainment~

[Anywhere]: Do you still have track of just where you are after spending your day exploring the Tower of Animus? If not, you might want to ask someone... or just start climbing the stairs regardless of where you are! Nighttime is approaching fast...

[Event]: Just earlier this day you have been called for (and/or brought in to) an unscheduled collar check-up, in which the color of your collar was changed. It takes a few hours, but soon you feel the effects of it, feel lightheaded and dizzy, feel all your power slip out of your control. Or maybe you heavy to the point of breaking down on the spot, while just none of your powers seem to work. Either way... hopefully you are at a safe place or in friendly company... That is, if either of these things exist in this tower.

Comments

[idealizer]

[She stares at him for a long moment, her cheeks coloring somewhat at the realization that such a simple solution had escaped her. It's embarrassing, to be acting like such a child in front of him, but the shock of seeing him is still so raw that she can't help herself.

Then she nods, and turns to start following the wall again.]

Is there anything else I'll need to know during my stay here?

[bloodyashes]

[It's okay, Natalia, he's kind of used to you making a fool of yourself at times like this. Her question gets a wry, bitter smile - Asch pauses a moment and shakes a bit of dried blood free of his glove.

Where to begin.]

The only things rescued from our world - Auldrant, and it's the same for anyone else - is our souls. Your body is fake. This maze is fake. Almost everything is layers of illusions over metal frames.

[idealizer]

[She comes to an abrupt stop ahead of him. His words shake her at her core and chill her to the bone. She doesn't speak, and it's questionable whether she even breathes, for a good long while.

When she turns back to him, she is quite obviously distraught.]

No. That can't be... [Her voice is pleading.] I'd believe anything else you said, but Asch, that can't be true. It simply can't.

[bloodyashes]

[Well, he's not really surprised by that reaction. That's what plenty of people were saying while it was happening, when the glamour came crashing down.]

Give it long enough and the illusion system flickers. It's the truth.

[The truth is all they have, really.]

[idealizer]

But why...

[The soul forms the crux of who they really are. Natalia knows this, and yet she can't help but be deeply disturbed when she looks down at the body that isn't really hers. She wants him to be wrong. She needs him to be wrong.

But he isn't. The illusion fails for a brief moment and Natalia gets a glimpse of what she really is under their magic.]

Aaah!

[Even knowing that it was going to happen isn't enough to keep her from screaming.]

[bloodyashes]

[Asch, for his part, is completely undisturbed; he's gotten used to the glamour fails well enough over the last month.

Indeed, he actually uses it to his advantage, now, glancing through the film in search of the stairs.]

Looks like it's this way.

[...Right, he should probably try to calm Natalia down.]

This isn't a place to panic. Come on.

[idealizer]

How can you be so calm...

[It's not just because he's been here for so long. Natalia has no doubts that the Asch she knew on Auldrant would have been able to handle himself just fine here as well.

But she can't understand how he has the strength to simply look at it and keep going. Perhaps it's because the loss of Natalia's title hadn't been the same as the loss of his life. He's already much more accustomed to knowing that what seems to be the truth isn't.]

[bloodyashes]

Getting upset isn't going to do any good.

[Practical to the death is he. Literally in some isolated cases. And the fact that he didn't find out all this at once probably helps, too.]

This way.

[He's probably headed in the right direction thanks to that momentary flicker of the film, at least.]

[idealizer]

[In less than twenty-four hours, Natalia has lost her home, her family, a good portion of her friends, and now even herself. Everything but her soul and perhaps the man in front of her, though he has been changed enough by his time in the tower that she wouldn't be at all surprised if he's moved far past whatever tenuous bond they'd shared up until the moment they had been taken from their world.

It was said that absence made the heart grow fonder, but there was another saying, too: Out of sight, out of mind. She doesn't want to believe that of Asch, but she'd been hard-pressed to keep something of a friendship with him even when they'd encountered each other every so often on Auldrant...

And yet he is still taking the time to lead her out, so perhaps whatever connection is between them is still salvageable. Natalia will hold fast to that hope.]

Thank you, Asch. It means a lot that you're willing to help me.

[bloodyashes]

It's nothing.

[It's really not; like hell is he going to leave Natalia back here to get eaten by bushes or something. Truthfully, he'd help almost anyone out of this maze if they needed it, but that doesn't mean Natalia isn't important.

(He'd leave Van to rot, and Saturos. The ones who deserve to suffer are the ones who made others suffer.)

A right turn - a dead end. He's already turning on his heel to backtrack a little to the previous split in the path.]

It's not a place that anyone can handle alone.

[The Tower as a whole, that is, not the maze. Even he has to admit that.]

[idealizer]

[Not a place anyone can handle alone, and yet...]

Have you... become closer to Luke, and Anise, and the two Ions, since you've been here?

[Asch seems reasonably well-adjusted, given that it's the tower and given that it's Asch. He had been so abrasive in his dealings with the rest of her friends that she feared they would never be able to see eye-to-eye, but perhaps having a common enemy in this environment had changed that.

She would like it very much if that did turn out to be the case, she decides as she turns to follow him when he changes direction.]

[bloodyashes]

...Only the replica Ion, really.

[He and Anise are still awkward, but on good enough terms. Orion and Luke? He doesn't really give too much of a crap.]

It's not like it's just them around here.

[Backhandedly admitting that he sort of has friends from other worlds. Like the ladies down thread. Oops.]

[idealizer]

But...

[He had said that those four were the only others from Auldrant in the tower. Natalia looks puzzled, but then it hits her and her eyes go wide.]

You've been making new acquaintances?

[The amount of surprise in her voice might be a little insulting.]

[bloodyashes]

[Just a little]

Is it that surprising?

[Giving you the totally unimpressed look over his shoulder right now, princess, and then turning the corner.]

[idealizer]

You seemed so unwilling to even speak with us most of the time. I thought perhaps you had decided you would rather be alone than suffer through having friends!

[She returns the unimpressed look as she follows him around the corner and to her shame there's a hint of hurt in her voice, though she had tried to state it as calmly as she possibly could.]

[bloodyashes]

[...Ouch, that one stings.]

That's... complicated.

[Really complicated. Luke feelings and loss feelings and...

A lot of feelings, really. Truth be told, he's happier associating with people from other worlds just because of how much simpler it is without the baggage of seven years of replacement.]

Like I said, this isn't a place you can survive alone.

[idealizer]

[Natalia's breath comes out in a heavy sigh. That hadn't been at all mature of her, now had it?]

...I apologize. It's unfair of me to take my frustrations out on you.

[And she is frustrated. There were some times when she felt as if her attempts to reach out to him on Auldrant had really meant something, and others when she was so discouraged that she wondered why she even bothered to try.

And now she's heard that there are people here with no prior connection to Asch at all, who have accomplished in a short amount of time what she hadn't been able to in much longer.]

I'm glad you haven't been alone, Asch. Really, I am.

[bloodyashes]

[To be fair, Natalia, he kind of avoided your group as much as he could - there's no avoiding people in the Tower, when they've got it in their heads to find you. Sooner or later, one way or another, you do go back to your dorm room.

There's a faint smile on his face, though.]

I'm lucky to have them.

[He just kind of stumbled into friendship face-first and still doesn't really believe that it actually happened.]

[idealizer]

And they're lucky to have you...

[Natalia wonders what might have happened had she come here sooner, before Asch had grown so close to these people that she's never met. She wonders how different things would have been.

She can't deny that he seems genuinely happy. That is, perhaps, the most wonderful and terrible thing about this, both at the same time: That it's someone else able to bring out that faint smile. She would give anything to be able to make him smile that way, but since she can't, since she hasn't had the chance to yet...

She's relieved that he's not miserable. She's happy that he's happy. She wishes it was her, but she is happy for him.]

I hope they know how lucky they are.

[bloodyashes]

[It's a speech he's heard before, and he sighs slightly at it. You and Sheba should start an Asch Appreciation Club, Natalia.]

Hardly. I don't deserve them.

[They stick around anyway for some reason, though. He can't complain about that.]

[idealizer]

I've thought for a long time that perhaps you don't see yourself as clearly as you ought to. I'm sure your new friends feel the same way.

[Her voice is firm. This, like many other things, is something she wholeheartedly believes in.]

They are lucky to have you, and they're fools if they don't realize it.

[bloodyashes]

[...Yep, definitely Asch Appreciation Club in here. Cue tsunning.]

It's almost dark. Keep it moving.

[And he picks up the pace a bit himself, boots loud on the floor.]

I don't particularly want to see what happens on this floor once the sun sets.

[idealizer]

[Natalia sighs. Some things never change, no matter how different everything else becomes.]

Yes, I don't want to see it either. If it's as bad as people say [And she's heard a lot of people saying things even though she hasn't spoken to them herself] then it would be much better to leave this floor immediately.

I vote for mad race to the exit yy

[bloodyashes]

[Sorry, Natalia, tsunderes gonna tsun.]

The stairs shouldn't be much farther. Go around this way -

[There's a faint rustle that might be the breeze. Asch growls under his breath.]

y so we can avoid what happened in the thread below

[idealizer]

[Natalia might have believed it to be a breeze, if it had been a breezy day. However, it hadn't been.

She looks over her shoulder and gulps. The plants surrounding them seem much more ominous all of a sudden, a towering labyrinth of hedges rather than a simple maze. She starts to reach for Asch's hand but then stops, opting instead to break into a run in the direction Asch has indicated.]

Hurry!