star_kingdom | Action/Audio || წ Lesson One || Traverse Town

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Action/Audio || წ Lesson One || Traverse Town

[ Maybe it's their mind playing tricks on them, maybe it's just a figment of their imagination. Or did they just see someone scamper past in a black trench coat? They just might have. Yet for some reason, someone- while it's hard to distinguish who with their hood up like that, comes briskly darting along not-so-subtly through the streets.

They look like they're just trying too hard, but it's habit and they just... need to feel that comfort zone as they do their best to get away from that moogle who seemed a little too curious about them. And its persistence only made them further push away, further remember what they have to do. A matter that assembles into words as they look down at the device it gave them at the corner of an alley, taking a breather. What did that moogle say about it? They turn it over curiously before that attention becomes mechanical, attention diverting elsewhere. [Accidental Audio] ]

How did I get here? [ The voice is that of a young girl, pausing uncertainly afterwards. Some people might even recognize that voice. It happens to be that of a familiar red head... ] ...I have to get back to the-

Hi there! Are you new here, kupo?

[ There's a surprised yelp followed by crackling as the communicator hits the ground. ]

( ooc: Meet Xion. She's a little bit on the skittish side at the moment due to just having woken up after, uh, fighting with one of her best friends. And now she's on the look-see about finishing what she was out to do, but then moogles happened. Feel free to catch her either while she's running around or respond to her whoops!audio or whatever floats your boat. )

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[Ven's not entirely sure what's going on now, but he can guess that Axel was more important to her than even Lea was to him. She sounds almost like... she's about to cry. That isn't what he wants, not at all - and that's very much NOT a Nobody reaction, that he acts on instinct and moves over to give her a hug.]

I'm sorry... I know this isn't easy to hear.

[ Important is an understatement. Axel was- is. And always will be... one of her best friends. And with the last note she left him with so fresh in her head... the guilt only further strangles her by each passing second.

It's a moment only alleviated by pure shock when she feels Ven's arms wrap around her. Her friends have taken jabs at her, they've ruffled her hair, and they've put their hands on her shoulders. But a full embrace is something startlingly new to her, never mind one done by someone she doesn't know even if it feels like she should every time she looks at him.

All she can do is freeze there. She doesn't move away, but... she doesn't move at all for that matter. Her body tenses though and then there's a shiver than ebbs through it as she feels wetness slipping down her cheeks. ] Axel...

[Truth to tell this isn't something he does all that much either - with family when something really important has happened, that's pretty much it. He's not entirely sure why he did it himself, except she just sounded so lonely and so sad. He remembers when Aqua disappeared, before Terra showed up, and even with Sora and Riku and Kairi around he'd felt all alone... But it's even worse for her, because apparently something had gone on with Sora that probably Sora himself wasn't aware of, something important having to do with her, and now all of a sudden everything else ever is going on for her and he knows she'd prefer Roxas right now but he's what she's got. At least he's someone - he can be there for her.]

Maybe... he might show up. [This is going to be difficult to explain, and he's not letting go of her yet, but it might give her some hope.] Like what happened with you - sometimes people come from in the past and not just the present. That's what happened with Demyx, so it could happen to Axel too, maybe. There's just no way to know for real.

How...? I mean... how is this even possible? I'm not supposed to- [ She hiccups suddenly and then attempts to draw a hand to touch her lips. She fails, but she's quiet for a moment all the same from the strange sensation. Soon enough, she shakes her head and one of her hands reach to hold onto one of his forearms with a feather touch. There but barely. She ducks her head now though and her tone comes off just a little firmer. ]

It's... not right. He should be here instead. And Roxas, too. [ If anyone deserved second chances, it's those two. Not her. Not her. ]

[More and more Ven's becoming convinced that Xion isn't a normal Nobody. Nobodies - except for Roxas - didn't have emotions, they had memories of emotions. He remembers Sora saying something about Axel growing more human by being around Roxas, too, but somehow this doesn't feel like that. Okay yeah he doesn't really know what it's like to grow more human and everything but still, this feels real. Xion seems slightly confused by it all, but everything that's happened since she's shown up has thrown her for a loop. Ven can't blame her for breaking down a little now.]

Nothing's... right or wrong. It just is, and we have to do the best with it that we can. You're here now - maybe you being here will help them show up again. I don't know, but you can always hope - hope means a lot more than people think it does. It's one of the best things in the world.

[ Hope... But hope, it hadn't done anything for her. The hope she had held trying to find a way between had struggled and stumbled only to fall away in the end. Nothing truly could have changed her fate. Just like Roxas' own. They had both been burdened, nothing more than fragments of a whole meant to return. Her own indecision had stalled things, but it hadn't changed them. As much as she wished she could have done something, everything... everything had just...

She shakes her head, her hand retreating from his arm. ]

Or maybe they never will. [ She bites her lip. Saying that aloud feels like a curse in itself. Like by just letting those words go, she's already sealed away that possibility. But still, she continues: ]

Hope's done... It's done nothing before. How will it even do anything now?

Hope... isn't something that does stuff. [And Ven also retreats a little, breaking the hug proper and leaning back although he keeps one hand on her shoulder.] Hope is something you have. It's what keeps you going through the dark times. They might never come back, it's true, but it's possible they could. My family disappeared, but they came back, and we're all together again, like we should be.

Look, I know it's not easy - I'm not saying it will be. But I'm saying you can't give up on them coming, because if you do, then you're just letting the darkness win.

[ A hope that pushed her through the dark. She's... well acquainted with that when she thinks about it that way. It's the hope that kept her going when her keyblade wouldn't come to her while she was out dealing with that Heartless for weeks as well as the feeling when Roxas and Axel did their best to help cover her as she tried to bring it back. And was it not hope that had led her to continue to travel with Riku to find a way instead of giving in to the puppetry of the Organization?

But his family had come back, one that he had lost...? But isn't he...? ] But you're- different. You're... not a Nobody. And you said Demyx... he disappeared again, right?

Yeah... he did. But he came here before that, he was here for awhile. Me and him actually lived together for awhile. And, um... Ienzo, what was- Zexion, I think. He was here, too, but not for as long. And other people have disappeared back into the Darkness and they weren't Nobodies. [Lili, Terra, even Aqua although she came back... So many people.]

Who comes and goes now doesn't seem to have anything to do with whether you have a heart or not, it's just... something that happens. But we can't give up, we can't not live while we're here. Because we are, and we need to protect the worlds. You didn't want to do it when you were in the Organization, did you? You didn't want to take Kingdom Hearts and use it to hurt all the other worlds.

[It's just a guess, but he feels it's a pretty accurate one. Something about her just doesn't seem evil, mostly just... lost and confused and not used to things going right. He'll try to fix that.]

[ Silence stretches after he's finished speaking. It's a lot to take in as it always seems to be the case when he opens his mouth. A lot for her to listen to, to think on. She feels like the more she hears, the more divided she starts to become and she has to try her hardest just to keep herself together. And it's not an easy task.

But eventually, the strongest of her feelings- or "feelings" -surface. And with them comes a tone firmer than before. ] No... The Organization- What they told us... It was a lie. And so when I found out... I left. [ Not necessarily helpful toward the cause of, you know. Destroying Kingdom Hearts. But what else could she have done? Like she would have stood a chance against them. And then when other things started cropping up...

Still. ] But... it doesn't change the things I've done.

Edited 2012-07-28 06:10 (UTC)

[No, he's not going to let this go. He can feel the change start to come over her, and more importantly she' speaking more firmly when she speaks about leaving the Organization. And she left. Whatever else happened, when she found out the truth...]

Maybe what you did- I don't know what you did, but whatever you did, you did it because someone lied to you. You did it because they told you it was the right thing to do. You did it because you were trying to help, at least help Roxas and Axel. It's not your fault that Xemnas was a terrible person like that and he tried to make everyone do things that would hurt the worlds. You said it yourself, you left when you found out they lied to you. You were going to go help Sora, right?

[And he reaches for her hand this time, grasping it firmly to reassure her.]

You already proved it. When you have the opportunity to make your own choices, you choose to do the right thing, the thing that helps people. You're not a bad person, I can tell. I can feel it. Darkness exists in people, but that doesn't mean it has to be bad - just look at Riku, Riku's a great guy and he's got a lot of Darkness in himself and he knows how to use it for the better. You can't blame yourself for the past, otherwise you won't be able to go on and make things better.

[ There's so much running through her mind. So much... that she's not sure where to start or how to explain. Or even if she wants to explain. And there's more questions surfacing, too. Ones that she's not sure if he'll have answers to. Others which she's not sure if she wants to ask for fear of what they could peel open, for what he could see and ask from her side of things. But above all, there's this sense of guilt. And it's a guilt that seeps further into her skin when she feels his hand suddenly holding hers. She shrinks away slightly but doesn't pull away.

The right thing... It's something she had been arguing with herself over and over again when she'd finally made up her mind. That she had to go back to Sora- because Sora had to wake up. That's what.. Riku had kept telling her. That without her, his friend would sleep forever. She'd never thought him one to lie. He was someone that seemed too much like her, someone who worried as she did and cared for his friends. Someone with a lot of burdens to bear, the darkness she assumed Ven spoke of.

But... She shook her head. ] But. I... I didn't do anything like that. Choosing to go back- If I hadn't, Roxas would have, they would have destroyed him instead. [ Waking Sora up? That had been a second priority. Even if she had known it was wrong. Just as Riku couldn't abandon his friend, neither could she, hers. They mattered far too much to her. So much that she'd stalled so long... She'd put on a front for Naminé, done her best to try and accept things. But standing with a clearer head then, knowing that if Ven was right, then things had already passed... she found she couldn't play her part anymore. She'd hidden enough from that certain person he looked like. She.. didn't want to hide anymore. ] What could I even do?

[ Even if Ven might believe her, she really doubts they'd all trust her. And for good reason. And if Sora's there and she's there... would she still have that effect on him? ]

Edited 2012-07-28 17:14 (UTC)

[It takes a little bit for him to disentangle that statement and the sentiment behind it - she was so anxious to get to Sora, but it was really Roxas she was worried over? Well, okay, he could see that. Roxas was a part of Sora, after all. And Ven still doesn't know exactly what she wanted with Sora, but he can tell it wasn't anything bad.]

[Or at least, he hopes it isn't. It didn't feel like it. Sad, maybe, but not bad. He squeezes her hand a little harder briefly, just reassuring her that he's there.]

Okay, maybe you went for Roxas instead of Sora. You still did something to help and protect a friend. You chose to do that. Choosing to do something like that... [He closes his eyes and shakes his head a bit; the memories are still so clear even a year and a half later for him, thirteen years in reality.] I did it, too. There was someone who was threatening my friends, wanted to hurt them and make them do terrible things, and he would keep making the people I loved suffer until I fought him. It's... complicated, but fighting him was a really bad idea for a lot of reasons, but I did it anyway to protect my family and my friends. It destroyed my heart - took me years to get it back. But I'd do it again in a second if it meant keeping the people I care about safe.

It sounds like you'd do, or did, the same thing.

You... You destroyed your heart? [ But... a heart. It's something... really important, right? It's something that the Organization at least had been initially built upon. Even if Xemnas' intentions had ended up being found a farce, it was under that very farce that he had acquired a gathering of like-minds. They had all wanted to have a heart in order to be whole. To be whole was to be human, to have emotions, to have the right to be.

And yet... there stood before her a boy who had thrown that away, who had given up something so precious and important for the people more important to him. More than his own right to exist.

Her expression falls mixed. She can't help but feel... sad for Ven. Sad that something like that could come to be, even for a Somebody like him. Even if he did eventually regain his heart, it was a lot to go through... But with this revelation also affixes a bridge over that gap between them that felt so wide before. The feelings, real or not, send her inwardly spiraling and that warm water's falling freely down her cheeks again. She does nothing to stop it, doesn't even seem to realize it's there. Her hand he holds is trembling a bit though, even as she tightens her grip on his. ] Do you... really think so?

Yeah. If I hadn't... he would've hurt Terra and Aqua. They're my family - they mean more to me than anything in all the worlds. I'd do anything to keep them safe, and he was going to use me to hurt them. I didn't want to do it, but I couldn't let him go free just to torture other people.

[It's a long, complicated story. If she ever calms down enough for him to explain, he'll tell it in full, but at the moment it's imperative that she understands at least the meaning behind what he's saying. He's ducking down just a bit, trying to see around that hood of hers - not an easy task, since it's so covering. Is she crying again? It doesn't sound like it so much, but her face looks a little shinier...]

Yeah, I do. You wanted to get to Sora, but it didn't sound... like it was for something you liked. But it was still important, important enough to make you run there right away. That's... what I did. You don't want to have to do the difficult things, no one does. Everyone wants to just keep on living like they want to, not have things go wrong, but sometimes you can't stop things from messing up. Sometimes they mess up... a lot worse than you thought they would. And you don't want to do the difficult things, but you realize there's something worth it. Worth more than you being selfish and not taking the risk.

[And he pauses, and then - 'cause this really is bothering him - reaches up to try and push her hood back. If she stops him, he won't try again, but he would like to see her face.]

Even if those choices are hard, you still make them. That's what makes a good person, to me - someone willing to make those choices.

[ Use him. Just as the Organization had used them... Her and Roxas and Axel. They had all been nothing more than their pawns. Pawns that without usefulness would be discarded as had been the attempt with that set up mission. The very one that had sent Xion running from them, intent on returning. Only in Ven's case, it sounded worse. Like whoever this was... they had been intend on enjoying his suffering either way. Whether through directly hurting the people that mattered to him... or using him to hurt them. Either way, the people he cared for most would come to harm. And that very thought makes her clutch her free hand tight into a fist.

But as he continues, she's reminded that it's something in the past now for him, something that while it's upsetting that it's happened, it's a choice that he made. Just as... Is it really just like the choice she made, herself? She can't deny it's- it was a difficult one to make... Never one she had ever wanted... but just like his own... there was someone. Someone so important to her. To her and Axel, that she just... couldn't let things go the way the Organization had intended for things to go. If one of them had to be erased...

And then that train of thought gets flew out the window. Because suddenly, her hood's off and she's staring straight into his blue eyes with her own of a matching shade. She doesn't struggle to replace it. Whatever damage that could have been potentially been done has passed by that point. But it doesn't make her feel any less naked and afraid.

But... all he does is continue to speak. Like things... are nothing out of the ordinary. About difficult choices to make... and how choosing it, regardless... Did that truly...? She doesn't know. And that still leaves out one little matter unresolved to everything, something she has to know. She looks off to the side. ] ...Ven? Where's Sora now?

[ ...Well, she does wonder who he sees, too. But she'll... find the courage for that in a little yet. ]

[Considering his expression doesn't change at all, no shock or horror or anything, it's a pretty safe bet he just sees... a girl. A girl with a more than passing resemblance to Kairi, yes, but he was expecting that considering the voice. More importantly, she's obviously afraid, nervous, scared, apprehensive, and everything else that can fall under that umbrella, and from what he knows of the Organization, he can't blame her for being like that.]

[And yes, she's crying. Damnit... Ven doesn't really know what to do with girls who cry, but he takes his hand off of hers to reach into one of his pockets, producing a square of cotton and handing it over to her. Eraqus always insisted on stuff like that.]

Sora and Riku are off on a mission from the King - they're at the outer edges of the worlds, investigating the Darkness. I don't know more than that, Mickey's keeping it quiet, but they're both okay. Sora was saying how they'd better get back soon or we wouldn't leave any Heartless for them.

[ Yeah, well. You can never be too sure when you wear a bajillion different faces. By that, more like three. Regardless. It doesn't change how something like that worried her. Although moment by moment that passed, the fear seems to subside. She's still uneasy and it shows. She even jolts just a little when he lets go to reach for his side, but it's only to produce that handkerchief. She looks down as she takes it in her hand, not quite sure at first what it could be for until she feels something roll distinctly down her nose. She catches that tear before following through and wiping away the rest. When had she started... doing that?

It's a passing thought though. Because her focus comes around in full attention when he speaks again. The joke? It's unexpected. And it sounds a little like what Roxas would say, really. She can't help but hold a smile if only a ghost of one. But it's one soon forgotten. So... Mickey had sent them on a mission. The one in charge of all of this. Well... It would make sense. Still, further confirmation wouldn't hurt. But is she really brave enough to see him now? No... probably not. Instead, she takes a few steps to the side. ]

So... What should I do now? [ Perhaps a question more directed towards herself, but she says it aloud anyway. ]

Edited 2012-08-01 15:15 (UTC)

What ever you want. [Whether that was an introspective question or not, Ven was going to answer. Because... well, it was true.] The Destiny Islands has a school for all the kids that are showing up now from other worlds if you just want to have a normal life. They have a dormitory for them too so you wouldn't have to worry about living arrangements. Or you could sign up to protect a world and Mickey would assign you to one, and you could live there and patrol for Heartless to keep the residents safe. Or you could get a non-fighting job at just about any business on any world if you don't want to fight anymore. Or...

[And he hesitates, because... is this really his right to do? Aqua's the Master, not him, she has the right to choose apprentices. But Xion has the Keyblade - and from what he knows of the Organization, they never taught her to use it, leaving it to Roxas and Xion to figure out for themselves. And even with as good as Sora and Riku are, even being self-taught, he knows just how many different things his generation knows compared to the new one. Whenever the two of them got back, it was obvious that Aqua would be on their butts right away to learn all the rest of it, so what was one more?]

You could come with me. Keyblade users, we have our own world that we've lived in and trained in for years. Me and Aqua and Terra live there now. Aqua's a Master - she could train you if you want.

[ Whatever... she wanted. It's... a foreign concept. This concept... of choice- at least choice without the tremendous consequences. The right to choose whatever she wishes to do from then on. To choose to live a different kind of life without fighting and Heartless or to continue on that path but by her own will and to protect the worlds. Not fall into the Organization's puppetry.

And those choices bring a sense of wonder to her expression only slightly tainted by guilt. And just when she thinks matters couldn't get anymore surreal, just when she thinks she'll just be waking up and this will be a dream. He talks of... ]

Your own world? [ She should have figured... There had to have been a place where the keyblade came from. Where all that it was originated. But... never had she imagined she would find that answer. No, she had run out of time. And really, not losing the people who mattered the most to her, that had been priority. Still. With this just to understand at her fingertips... and the time that she had, even if it ended up only a few days. She hadn't a clue, but... ]

But are you... sure she'd really do that? I mean... [ It's one thing for Ven to understand her situation- kind of. Another for his friend. For all she knows, Aqua might despise her for all she's done. Even if she had run for the Organization, it doesn't dismiss that she was once a part of them, causing trouble for the worlds. ]

Yeah, she would. I mean... [And he stands up, too, moving to lean against the barrier between their little area and all that empty space above the trench where Sora once fought an army of Heartless. It looks so peaceful today...] I can't speak for her, but you have a Keyblade. Even if... I don't know how you got it, but you have it. And whatever else has happened to you, you're really not a bad person. The Organization probably used you and lied to you and didn't even bother telling you the truth about anything, that's just what they did. But if you want training, real training, we can give that to you, and answer whatever questions you've got, too. At least with as much as we know.

[Ven's meeting her eyes, because he wants her to understand this. This part's the most important.] But it's your choice. I'm going to have to tell Aqua about you, she does need to know who has a Keyblade around here, but if you don't want to really study it we won't make you. You deserve a chance to do what makes you happy for once.

[ It's hard for her to meet his eyes, especially when he gives her a look so similar to Roxas, it's- She breaks the gaze quickly and takes a step forward.

But his words... She's at a crossroads before she knows it. Torn. There's so many answers that she could find right in front of her if she were just to accept this proposal, to go with Ven. It's not like she has anywhere else to go now, she's slowly realizing. It's one thing to hear it, but the idea becoming reality is a haze yet between the one she knows and the one that she stands in now. It leaves her on unsteady footing, crossing an uneasy gaze this way and that.

She takes a few steps before she's leaning on the barrier, too, but she's not looking at him. She's looking at the world before them or more like through it as her thoughts catch her, sweep her up and her eyes go unfocused. But it's only for a brief moment before she seems to jolt back to her present predicament. She finds herself looking down at her hands which grip the wall tightly now. ] I want to. I want to know... all about the keyblade. And what it was really meant for.

[ And that's when she finally looks at him with sharp, blue eyes. ] And then I want to... I want to make up for all my mistakes. [ She might be uncertain of many things. But what she does know for sure is that for all the wrongs she has committed... if there's any way to make things right, she'll do it. ]

[Ven isn't lying, he really isn't going to make her come with him if she doesn't want to - tell Aqua about her, yes, because it is Aqua's job as a Master to keep track of Keyblade users. And yeah, maybe a little bit to keep track of former members of the Organization, because most of that group wasn't exactly the most pleasant. But she isn't with them anymore, left to help her friends - Ven would be lying if he said he didn't see some of himself in her in a few ways. But it is her choice, and he isn't going to push her to do anything but what she wants.]

[When she makes up her mind, he smiles widely. A new apprentice - it's not at all something he's opposed to. And it really feels like she needs a friend, too, and he's more than willing to do that as long as his resemblance to Roxas doesn't scare her completely. And even on that last line he's still smiling.] Don't worry - whatever mistakes you've made, they're in the past. And it's our job as Keyblade wielders to keep the worlds safe from anyone or anything trying to hurt them. If you really want to make up for stuff, that's probably a pretty good way, right?

[ It's not so much a scary sight, seeing him as Roxas, as it is a curiosity at this point. Perhaps with a strong... measure of guilt here and there. Why he looks so much like him... she guesses she'll find out in time. And other answers, too. Answers... It's strange. She's spent so much time looking for them only for them to slip through her fingers so many times. And when she finally did find some, she wishes she had never uncovered them, truly. But...

She's realized more and more that in order to really understand, sometimes... one has to face those hard truths. And so even if this is one of those said hard truths... she'll face it just as she has those in the past. Because that's just.. all she can really do.

But right then, her focus is on the present conversation. Of mistakes and keyblade wielders... Their job. To keep the worlds safe. As Sora demonstrated in her dreams. She... nods as calmly as she can. Something in her aches gently again at that smile, but she does her best to push it aside. ]

Our job... Right. [ She looks out again at the plain. ] Then, I guess... I'll do it right this time.

Edited 2012-08-03 06:53 (UTC)

[He'll explain everything. It's a long story, and it's funny to think that he knows more than anyone else involved except maybe Mickey and Yen Sid, but at the moment it's true considering he's actually witnessed more than the rest. He doesn't know everything, but he does know enough to set her on the right path.]

[And who is he kidding, Aqua is going to think she's adorable.]

You'll be great at it, I can tell. Do you want to go now?

Action/Audio || წ Lesson One || Traverse Town

Not that I mind so much

Yeah, I don't think I mind that either. Even if my babies destroy my things sometimes. >>

Nora thinks knocking EVERYTHING OVER EVER is great fun

YEAH WELL. That's Chelsey in a nutshell over here. They would probably be best of friends~

Nora loves EVERYONE!

THEN THAT SETTLES IT o9

THEY MUST MEET

YES. And then they''ll probably destroy an entire house together, but that's okay? |D;;

I don't think we have any choice in that, honestly ^^;;

Yeah, probably not.

Definitely not.

Pain in the butt fuzzballs.

But we still love them.

That we do /o/

Forrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvveeeeeerrrrrrrrr

And ever until the end of time?

Preeeeetty much, yep

That is a lot of beautiful destruction.

We will be forever buried in shed fuzz.

Oh jeez. We would need a super insane vacuum or something.

ShopVac. It's clearly the only answer.

You sure it won't get stuffed up?

It's a SHOPVAC. That's what it's for!

WELL I'VE NEVER HAD ONE BEFORE SO I DUNNO.

They are awesome. That's all you need to know.

I'll keep that in mind then? |D

Everyone needs to use one at least once in their lives!

THEN MAYBE I WILL. ONE DAY. /best life goal ever