towerofanimus | I'm walking on sunshine

Entry tags:

I'm walking on sunshine

Characters: Xion and the Tower
Setting: Meadow, Beach floor, around the Tower, Backdated to October 2nd-3rd with a locked thread on the 4th
Format: Whatever you like
Summary: Xion has gotten some really good news as of the 1st and therefore decides to say fuck you to the constant doom and gloom atmosphere of the Tower for a little while. Until she finds a friend has gone home.
Warnings: This is probably the most slice of life post I will ever make in this game so nothing much, save possibly the thread on the 4th

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Everywhere - Both days

[Despite all the unpleasantness that's been going on in the Tower of late, even with her death not too long ago, Xion is happy. Completely, unrestrainedly happy, and not even bothering to hide it. You might see her half-skipping down the hallways, or in one of her usual haunts. Or, if you're on the Blue team, you might see her going about her Bodyguarding task with gusto. The one exception to this is the Graveyard - she isn't doesn't want to think about sad things right now.

If she knows you - or even if she doesn't, she might say hello cheerfully has she passes. If you're a close friend she might actually hail you down. She's got some exciting news to share.]

Floor 62 - October 2nd

[The first period of time she spends to herself is... rather awe-filled and thoughtful. The first big bout of excitement is mostly over. And now... now she's sort of letting it sink in. By herself, because this was the kind of thinking that one needed to do by themselves. Talking it out was rather out of the question.

She probably didn't have time for this. Maybe. But it wasn't like there was much she knew for sure that they could do until they cracked the mystery of the collar fluid. Or maybe there was - Reno seemed to maybe have some ideas - but if he did, he hadn't said much about what they were yet, which limited what she could really do about it. And she'd never, never felt this happy before, anyway. Surely the Tower could give her a week to just... let the fact sink in that she Reno and Elena parents and Shion was her brother now?

And even if it couldn't, at least she had now.]

Floor 25 - October 3rd

[Another day's worth of reflection to herself sees Xion on the one outdoor floor that hasn't changed over to Autumn. Perhaps it's strange, but having an almost mindless task helps her sharpen her thoughts. And so she's weaving flowers together slowly as she thinks, braiding them together into a circle.

After several minutes of this, she lifts the flower crown delicately and places it on her head... and it falls to pieces. She sighs, picking up the pieces in her hands and frowning at them in puzzlement. She's not very good at this. Or maybe she's just too distracted to do a good job.]

Floor 1 - Both Days

[Xion ladles some of her pumpkin soup up with a spoon and lets it splash back down into the bowl, mouth twisting a little. Okay, even the happiness she felt couldn't completely override the fact that this month's menu left a lot to be desired.

Damn it, Ruana, she was sick of pumpkin after last October. Still, it's had a year to wear off and she's still in an overall good mood, so she'll stomach it. For now.]

Dorm hallways - October 4th (Locked to midgarhorizon)

[But of course, nothing lasts forever. And three days is much less than the week Xion had been hoping for before the Tower brought reality back to the forefront in one of the harshest ways possible. After she's done... paying her respects, for lack of a better term, Xion makes her way back upstairs. It's at the door to her room that she pauses.

After last week she's really not in much mood to spend time - fleeting or extended - with her sole remaining roommate. But this is another thing, something else she needs to digest. To figure out. To deal with. She should have known. Should have figured. No bit of happiness in the Tower came without some kind of price. Should have realized, when she hadn't seen him during her turns as bodyguard for those working on the blue collar fluid. It was true, what she'd told Neal on the network earlier, it was really hard, someone leaving. Whether it was your last friend or one of many.

Her head lifts up slowly, a thought occurring to her. She'd gotten so used to dealing with this sort of thing on her own - had a bit of a tendency for it even back home, even before it felt like everyone had left and she'd been mostly alone. The inclination to try to do so again was strong, and yet... Did she really have to? He... he was her dad now. And - she realized with a jolt - he'd asked Yu to look after them.

He... he should know. Slowly, she turned away from her door, walked down to Reno's, and knocked.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Reno isn't in the room just then, preferring to be out and about instead of cooped up in what was getting increasingly claustrophobic to him.

Still, he had made a pit stop on his way to the bathroom for a long shower. He's been watching her for a while now from down the hall, wondering what was wrong for her to stand so still that long.

When she turns to knock at the door, he starts ambling down the hall until he's close enough to lean over her with a inquisitive look.]

What's wrong? Elena not in her room?

[Xion jumps very slightly, head jerking back to look over her shoulder, tension leaking out of her as quickly as it had come, though her heart was still racing.

At his question though, she looks down. Her eyes are mercifully dry, at least. It hasn't really seemed to have sunk in yet. That he's really gone. That he's not just busy or doing something else or meeting other friends he's made... But she knows talking to Elena wouldn't have been nearly as easy, because she isn't really sure Elena even knew him.

She turns around slowly, until she can lean back up against Reno's door and address the floor, a sad sort of not-really smile on her face.]

Yu's gone.

Shit...

[A hand ruffles what little hair's sticking up over the bandana around his forehead.]

I'm sorry, kiddo.

[Because what else can he say? Lying was the last thing he wanted to do, and it'd be a long time before they could do anything to strike back. It just seemed that, whoever was in charge this month wanted to keep them from getting balanced.]

[Xion wraps up her arms a little around herself. Her hands rest around her sides. The posture looks and feels a little awkward, but it's less uncomfortable than her elbows and upper arms anymore.]

He told me that you asked him to look out for us, the day we all went down to the admin levels.

[He'd been the only one she'd really tolerated and accepted it from, save Elena, who was an exception in her own right]

Can't remember if I did... probably. C'mere.

[He reaches out to grab her by the elbows gently, not intending to harm, but to pull her away from the door so he could hug her.]

[He didn't even have to reach out. By the time he'd offered verbally, she'd already begun to pull away from the door, with every intention to lean into whatever impending embrace he would give.

However the moment Reno's hand closes around her elbow, Xion stiffens, then reacts, trying to jerk out of his grip.]

Don't-!

[Try as she might, she can't ignore the sudden flash, red lights, pain in her feet- No. This wasn't there. They were in the dorms, she was with Reno, everything was fine except it wasn't fine because Yu is gone and-

She shakes her head, trying to get rid of the sudden disorientation that gripped her, stumbling back against the door again.]

[Startled, Reno lets her go instantly, taking a step back just in case. The fear reaction was... upsetting, to say the least.]

What the hell?

[Her heart is still racing.

She's shaking, very slightly. Reaching a hand up, she covers her face with her hands, ashamed and mortified and upset.]

I'm sorry. I didn't-

[She hadn't meant to. She'd reacted without thinking. Or rather her entire thought process had been overridden by her need to react.]

[He's not concerned about him, he's more worried about what the kind of thing that caused her to have an automatic flinch reaction was.]

Xion, what happened to your elbow?

Edited 2013-10-05 16:32 (UTC)

[Xion shakes her head]

I-It's nothing. There's nothing there.

[There's no visible wounds or injuries of any kind. Not on the elbow at least. And Xion's still kind baffled herself - she's never had that kind of a reaction before.]

A'right.

[This is where his powers of constant annoyance will come in use. Traumatic experiences can cause flinching, fear, memory flashbacks, and PTSD.]

What happened to your elbow?

Wasn't... really there.

[The words come out as a mumble. Because really, her elbows weren't even the first part. Just one of the last moments she can remember with any real clarity. Jason holding her there, Yu's choked gasps as Jason-

No. She tries to force the thoughts away, but trying to not think of something means you're always aware of it, and it's all too easy for the forbidden memories and ideas to push their way back in.

She doesn't want to talk about this. She doesn't want to think about it. Slowly her eyes raise and she looks at Reno, fear and pleading in her gaze. Please don't make her. Please.]

[Sorry, Xion. This is a tough love, taking her by the hand and dragging her through the hard part metaphorically.

His forehead creases in a frown, even as he reaches out again to take both of her elbows.]

What happened?

[Unfortunately, grabbing her by one elbow had been bad enough. When his hands close around both her elbows...

Before it had just been a flash, a flicker invading her mind. Now she's there, watching Jason choke the life out of her friend, dim red emergency lights everywhere, feeling the pain in her arm and her feet and she can't do anything-

She's struggling now, definitely, trying to break out of his grip, eyes closed tight. And the longer he holds on the more violent the struggles become, because this time she can fight back]

Let go!

[She's angry and frantic and terrified as she cries it. She has to get away, she has to-]

[He isn't letting go. Whatever happened to her, she needed to let it out of her system, purging it from her thoughts and to dull the sting.

It is never easy. Reliving pain and fear in flashbacks made it seem all the more real. He had gone through this before, but...]

Xion, answer me.

[He's not letting go - of course he's not letting go, that was the point - why isn't he letting go?!

She lashes out now, trying to hit a pressure point, or something, anything that just would make him let her arms go.]

[Xion's fast and strong for her age, knowing moves he himself had taught her, and he wasn't holding her very tightly. When she starts lashing, he's close enough that one of those pressure points she's aiming for connects....

And down he goes slowly, eye twitching and his face is screwed up in a caricature of pain.

Congratulations, Xion, you've smashed him in the nuts.]

[She'll apologize profusely once she can think straight again. Right now though, he's let go - somehow - finally, and she has to get away. She wants to back up, but there's something hard, the door, behind her, and she can't move.

Her feet and arm hurt, echoes of the pain from the scalpels that had embedded them. She can't run, she won't make it far but she has to try doesn't she... or... does she? She doesn't know anymore.

In the end she's only able to stumble as far away as her own door before she ends up sinking to the floor herself, arms wrapped around her middle, knees held up protectively as she can manage, head bowed and curled up against them.]

[Huff. Huff. Huff. Slowly, Reno uncurls from his position on the floor, and looks around.

She hit harder than Shion. Now that made both of them...]

Hey...

[Yeah, his voice is a little strained and he's still suffering, but this was important.]

Xion... snap out of it, kid.

[It's not so easy to just... snap her fingers and dismiss the panic that had gripped her, banish the thoughts and memories from her mind. Him letting go had started the process, and his voice urged it onward, but it was still hard and it would take time. More than long enough that he'll probably be able to recover and go over to her before she's able to respond.]

[Sigh. Getting back to his feet, or at least upright again was a chore. The pain's fading, but not fast enough to his liking. Well, he is a Turk, pain was part of his life.

Just wish it hadn't been there.

He's dragging himself over to her now, crouching next to her.]

It was Jason, wasn't it? Talk about it, kid. It'll help... trust me.

[Slowly, very slowly, she lifts her head up. Her vision is starting to clear, and she can see Reno looking at her. doesn't want to talk about this, she really doesn't want to.

But...

Slowly, she nods in answer to his question. That at least, was easy enough to answer. It was the rest that was hard.]

Yu was there.

[Her voice is low, shaky. She laughs a little, given the whole topic that had started this conversation, a topic that had seemed to have been hours ago rather than minutes, though there was no humor in the laugh at all. As she continues she frequently starts and stops, as if each word costs her a great effort]

When we went down to the admin levels. Sheba was there too. Asch... didn't make it down. There were some others too, but...

[She swallows.]

Jason found us. I distracted him and we split up. Yu came with me, and we were running, but...

[But then Jason came after them. They'd known, they'd known this would be a possibility, and yet...]

[Sigh. That must have been when she was tortured... Shion had let that slip weeks ago, and he'd been so absorbed with his own problems for a while he had forgotten about it.

Reaching out, being careful not to touch her elbows, he pulls her into a hug, like he had originally meant to, but somehow got lost along the way.]

Yeah, I know... It's all right.

[He was trying so hard for them, and feeling like he's failing all the time now.]

They're just memories now.

[Xion lets herself be tugged into the hug and returns it, recalling, vaguely, that Yu had hugged her too, a lot like this, after she'd woken up. She closed her eyes.]

He actually managed to hit Jason. Yu did.

[They'd won their victories, some pretty good ones, too. It's just the bad was so bad sometimes it overwhelmed the good.]

That's a plus.

[An arm drops down on her other side, him getting between her and the wall.]

Go on. Let it out.

I'm walking on sunshine

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Sliiiiight cw

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