animus_network | One [VIDEO]

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One [VIDEO]

[A rather severe looking man in a black turtleneck addresses the network, oddly calm for someone who has just found out that his world was destroyed. He's a bit battered, having spent only a few moments on dressing and a hasty cleanup before heading for the nearest network terminal. There's quite a bit of dust in his hair, along with bruises and faint smears of what might be blood on his face and neck.]

My name is Howard Link. If there are any members of the Black Order present, please state your status and location. Anyone familiar with the facility, I would request your status as well. [Because last he checked? The station was pretty broken. Or well on it's way there, at least, and if he was pulled to this place? Well, there have to be others here.

He hesitates for a second or two before speaking again, glancing down briefly at something near the floor.]

... If there is anyone here familiar with the construction or repair of mechanical prosthetic limbs, please contact me at your earliest convenience.

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Sure...

[Tim landed back on his shoulder as Allen turned to it with a half-smile.]

He better not grill me for being out of his sight for more than ten minutes. [A slight pause as Allen begins to process a little irregularity--that is, Link did not look the age he should be. Time has certainly passed in the tower, but apparently only for Allen and not someone who has not been there.]

Hey Tim, doesn't he look just a little bit older than when we knew him, or is it just me?

[Tim craned its head, rather unhelpfully. Maybe an up close and personal engagement would work out a little better.]

Edited (Darn syntax) 2013-05-11 04:01 (UTC)

[Link dutifully ignores Allen's remarks to Tim (too used to that or worse at this point), cutting the feed while he travels. The elevator ride from the dormitories is a long one, and the part of him that acknowledges the fact that he was (as far as his memory serves him) recently in a nasty crash is grateful that he only has two flights of stairs to climb at the end of it.

Link scans the library quickly when he arrives, automatically looking for that strange head of white hair and the golden golem usually lingered nearby. The inspector does indeed look older, and his hair is longer too. Don't mind the scrapes and bruises that he still hasn't taken the time to tend to yet. Information is more important.]

Walker?

Over here!

[Allen waves up from near the back. Can't say he's 'too' happy to see Link, although it's definitely a sight for sore eyes. It was a bit more difficult to get a hold of anyone he knew in the tower aside from perhaps Sheba.]

[Notably though, Allen only partially believed his own memories about Link. This tower was nothing less than a bastion built for dealing out pain to others in the most ludicrous way possible, and then they did things to his memory...]

[Maybe it was just him.]

[The inspector spots Allen strides over quickly, holding back the natural urge to shush him. They are in a library, after all. Link immediately takes a few moments to look the exorcist up and down, noting his age and physical features. Looking for extra scars or any other differences to set him apart from the Allen he knows from the facility or the one he remembers from home.]

How long have you been here?

[And hello to you too, Link. So serious.]

Edited (/kicks html) 2013-05-11 04:36 (UTC)

[For all of a few seconds, Allen frowns with his eyes half closed.] Thanks. I'm doing quite fine, Link, all things considered. You? [He raises a hand up and speaks with a deadpan voice.] Don't answer that.

[Tim takes flight to make its way around Link several times as Mr. Walker's face becomes the neutral/friendly expression he's known for.] But now that you mention it, I've been here since October, so...November, December, January, February, March, April, and now May...About seven months. Felt like a lot longer, though. Always something going on here and all. Heh...

[Link rolls his eyes at Allen, reaching up to offer Timcanpy a hand to land on. He's had a very long time to bond with a different Tim, but it's difficult to separate the two since they're identical. The inspector imagines that he'll likely have the same trouble with Allen at first. He needs to be careful.

He's a little more thoughtful when he speaks again.] Have there been any other members of the Order here with you?

[He answers without incident--it's something that's been nagging him for some time, too.]

No. It's been just me the entire time...

[Tim graces the hand with its presence without any hesitation as Allen looks off to the side.] Up until now. [Allen looks back.] And I'm sure Road doesn't count.

[There was that one month where she arrived. It was the second most uncomfortable time of his life: The number one spot is when they first met.]

Not that she's still here.

In her case, it's for the best...

[Link cups his hand a bit, holding the golem loosely as he watches Allen's face. After a moment he sighs.]

I'm sorry, Walker. [For being an insensitive jerk right off the bat, but he won't say that part.] Miss Lenalee is here now, and Miss Galmar as well. We've all come from the same place.

[He blanches at first. Ms. Galmar?....It took a frustrating hour-was-really-a-second but Allen remembered that there was that woman from the orphanage. Wasn't her name Emilia Galmar? What was she doing here?]

Lenalee is, too?

[That was a bit more exciting news, until...] Wait, what do you mean by "the same place"? Something tells me you don't mean France.

[First rule of the Tower--if it sounds too good to be true, it ain't. Only exception has been the Meadow floor so far. And maybe Sheba.]

[Shaking his head. Sorry, man, but this one is definitely too good to be true.]

Prior to waking up here, we were all in an experimental facility in space.

[That struck what could only be a humorous chord in Allen. A facility? In space!? He blanched and stared at Link with a look of bewilderment.]

Uh, sorry, what was that? Are you sure you're Howard Link? Stuffy fixation on rules? Has an insatiable appetite for cake and absolutely no sense of humor?

[Tim looks disapprovingly back at Allen. If it could manage a face, anyway.]

...okay, I'll believe that for a second, but how did I end up here and you guys...up there

[Link rolls his eyes again, voice deadpan.] Quite sure.

[Of course he's Howard Link... though his situation is kinda complex. Complex enough that he doesn't really want to burden Allen with it so soon. He's not sure how he would explain it anyway.]

I wish I had an answer for that.

["Answers" might as well be the word of the year.]

If I had a shilling for every time I heard that one... [Allen scratched his head.]

Alright, I'll take that. If only because that's exactly what I was going to say about this place. [His voice grows more apprehensive as his thoughts went backwards to a more recent time. A more recent battle.]

They--by they I mean the "administrators" here--aren't exactly saints.

I had heard that. How bad do things get here?

Good question.

[Allen's involuntary "indoctrination" immediately springs to mind.]

Worse than you can imagine and the administrators are always looking to top themselves.

[He pauses for a second or two.]

But it would not be good to dwell on how bad it gets. There's always a little good if you know where to find it, right?

[Allen's smile returns. If indoctrination was bad, than Sheba and Saber must be good, right?] I mean, heh, call me crazy.

[Oh, Link's pretty sure he can imagine it fairly well, actually.

Link huffs a little breath through his nose and then... smiles? Yep, that's a tiny little smile on the inspector's face.]

I don't think I can call you crazy for that.

...okay, it's comments like that that make me think you're not Inspector Link, you know that? [Allen's eyes half close.]

Is this what happens when you stuff a Crow into a shiny metal box for a long time?

[Aaaaand the smile's gone. Good job making him feel awkward by pointing out his positive development, Allen.]

Four years. [Which might explain why the inspector looks older.]

Four years...

[Which is weird because Link still doesn't look like he's aged all that much at all. Stronger might be a better word rather than older, to Mr. Walker.]

[Canon updates might have something to do with that, but Link sure feels older.

Yeah, this is too awkward.] Anyone would change in that amount of time. It isn't all that surprising.

I know. It's that humor I was talking about.

[It was ill placed, but fitting for him.]

But I don't suppose you've run into any monsters here, have you?

Not yet, no. Are there any I should know about specifically?

Well I hope you didn't think that you left the Akuma behind when you got here.

[No build up. The strongest thing he's faced here came almost literally right out of his nightmares.]

Suppose you want to know how that went?

Of course. [Link sighs and prods Tim a bit with his thumb. It's been a while since he's had to deal with Akuma, but not as long as he'd like.]

Naturally.

[Way to make that first bit sound ambiguous, cake eater. Allen looks a bit more grim as the memory of the monster was still too fresh.]

As far as I know, the strongest monsters will only show up at night. I haven't seen one during the day, but a level 4 appeared past midnight. It...didn't look like a normal level 4, but there's nothing else like it.

[Allen looks off to the side.]

I didn't get that one, though.

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Allen's first thought mimicked my own

"who's that?" or "oh god, the woman who kicked me in the face"?

The former

yeah, she does tend to get that reaction

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I like that icon. XD