ITP: Elevators

[no_longer_a_king]

[Arturia had been among those in the elevator the previous night. Not that she remembers much of it aside from a loud noise and then.... something strange. When she had finally been allowed to move the next day--after the Glamour briefly glitched and she had the curious sight of floating within a pod of violet fluid, unable to move whatsoever--she had checked the Network and seen the bombing.

Arturia is not the best at being sneaky about things. She knows this. But this Tower changes people and she has resigned herself to the fact she cannot be honorable all the time. She no longer sees herself as a proper knight, no matter how she tries.

So she takes a page out of Archer's book, collects her papers and pens for mapping the Tower, and spends the morning mapping things out. When she reaches the medical clinic, she stands outside it, looking thoughtful. Then heads inside. Once there she asks aloud if there had been anything strange about her collar checkup on the third, as her recent resurrection had been unusual. The units do not answer, but Arturia scribbles down a message for R-037 and hands it over.

"Was it your group?"

The reply that is written is:

"It wasn't my group. I don't know WHAT that was."

Arturia asks a few more questions out loud, receives no vocal answer, then feigns a sigh and apologizes for wasting their time. They have duties to attend to after all.

To complete the deception, because she knows the Administrators' are listening, she spends another half hour pretending to try and map out the Tower some more, only to be distracted. Then she goes to one of the terminals on the media floor and makes a post:]

[Text]
To anyone who has died withing the Tower, has anything strange happened when you are brought back lately?

[Some part of her wonders what Archer would think if he knew about this little ploy of hers.]

Comments

[no_longer_a_king]

I'm on the media level, so close to the library. I can be there in just a moment.

[....maybe there really is something up to how strange death has been to her the last few times.]

[action]

[savedbyasong]

I will meet you there then. [He went to wait by the stair case, bundle of notes in his arms]

[action]

[no_longer_a_king]

Very well.

[And she finds him easily enough.]

Hello?

[action]

[savedbyasong]

Hello. I'm Shion.

Action until otherwise noted.

[no_longer_a_king]

Arturia.

These.... odd things about dying lately? You know more about it?

[She hadn't even thought much of it, only seen it as a good excuse to ask Aria about the explosion. Looks like this rabbit hole is going deeper than she thought.]

yes

[savedbyasong]

It happens when you die after the seventh time. It's as much a mystery to Jason as it is to anyone else though he seems to be getting better at controlling the reactions, it seems to be a case of us waking too early. Can you remember if you could move at all?

[no_longer_a_king]

No, I could not. It was just the sense of a presence above me. Is it safe to assume that was Jason, then?

[savedbyasong]

Yes, or one of the drones. But Jason plays some part in the revival process, it seems there is something he does that the drones cannot. I am not sure on what exactly yet.

As you die more you will see more, and be able to move though they will hold you down. Be warned though there are further consequences, and I imagine they will get worse over time.

[no_longer_a_king]

I thought it was he who did the surgery involved with putting our souls into our bodies? [At least, that was the impression she had been given. Jason's job is to maintain their bodies and souls within the Tower. It made sense to her he would do it himself and that a drone would not have the expertise necessary for it.]

....what sort of consequences? [And why does that chill her so?]

[savedbyasong]

[Shion nodded] Yes, he is.

Memory loss, small things at first...

But they get more significant as time goes on, it is possible to relearn the fact you have forgotten but it is as if learning it anew from scratch.

[no_longer_a_king]

....what sort of things? Like I would eventually forget how to use a sword?

[....which is practically the core of her very being. Above anything else, the thought of forgetting how to fight chills her. Is that even possible? Or....]

Or is it just the events of one's life?

[savedbyasong]

Well at first I forgot things about this place, small things at first like what room a friend was in. [Things that people with normal memories would probably just brush off as a minor slip] But then...

I forgot Dax died... I have the incident written down in here, I witnessed it, but I have no memory of it, reading it is like reading an account made by someone else.

[no_longer_a_king]

So it's the things we've learned in the Tower?

[Her other self, swimming, Shirou, Veigar?

Her memory has been sketchy since she came here, something she had assumed was related to simply how long she had been alive. But now?

....what if that wasn't it at all?]

[savedbyasong]

At first yes, and then I began forgetting things about my life before. They seem to be larger more important memories each time.

[no_longer_a_king]

....how many times have you died? When did this start?

[She's doing her best to hide her alarm, the only sign being how her posture gets just a little stiffer as they speak.]

[savedbyasong]

Eighteen, the memory loss started the fourteenth time that I died.

[no_longer_a_king]

I'll keep that in mind, then. Thank you for informing me. No one has ever said anything like this to me before.

[Then again, she tends to keep to herself.

Still.... that means she has six or seven deaths to go before she begins to lose herself.

Better make those deaths count.]

[savedbyasong]

You're welcome. I haven't heard of anyone else who has experienced it, so perhaps no one else has died fourteen times... [Though that is a little worrying, not that he wished more deaths on people...]