001 || Sentiment

[endinsentiment]

Characters: Vanitas and victims anyone
Setting: Trawling through the tower at a rather fast pace, feel free to catch him anywhere
Format: Starting with action but I'm cool either way
Summary: You won't like him when he's angry.

[There's something to be said about his wake up call, and that's how utterly furious he appears in visage right now. His helmet is in pieces upstairs-- which utterly defeats the purpose of hiding his features, his expressions. The way his jaw tightens, the narrow set of his eyes, his hands clench; it's all out there, on display. Vulnerability.]

[He isn't happy. He's less happy the more he discovers of how foreign his location is, gaze sweeping every nook and cranny of every room, and it's occupants, before slamming the door and continuing onwards.]

[There's something to be said about waking in such a manner. Powerless to move, powerless to see; barely capable of breathing as things scuffled around him. It's not the creatures that particularly bother him, but the inset of apparent weakness that has him trawling through the desolate, decrepit tower in search of just. one. person.]

[He knows who to blame for this. He knows he's here.]

[And if he finds anything else interesting along the way? Well, that's just an added bonus, isn't it.]

Comments

insert random location in the halls here

[forceless]

[There was zero warning. One minute he was minding his own business in the cafeteria, the next-- the nagging feeling that something was wrong.

He couldn't figure it out-- his connection to had never been as strong as the other's but-- eventually he figured out. He was here. And he was awake.

Ven abandoned his food and begin flying up the tower floors (literally), a mix between jumping and running and gliding until he found him; the one guy he was sure should've been gone.]

Vanitas.

sounds good to me-- hope you're not too close to any stairs, bro

[endinsentiment]

[He can feel it. The exact moment Ventus recognizes his presence. The way his emotions center on him; as he gets closer. Good. He slows to a brisk walk at that, for the state he's in right now? Might as well be a dawdle.]

[The moment he appears, in sight-- it's the moment Vanitas relaxes completely. Regains some of his composure, narrows his eyes and cross his arms, watching. Disdainful.]

Ventus.

[Isn't it wonderous, how much hate can be put into a single word?]

who needs stairs when you can flyyyyy

[forceless]

[As Vanitas relaxed, Ven tensed up even more. He clenched his fist, grit his teeth, and looked at Vanitas with the same disdain he was getting.]

What are you doing here?!

[He was supposed to be gone.]

[endinsentiment]

[Quite the amount of anger you've got there, Ventus. Careful, one might be led to the belief that you're under the influence.]

What do you think, idiot?

It's time, Ventus. No more loose ends. You will forge the Χ-Blade.

[Lol jk jk. He's clearly here for the food.]

[lethechained]

[Ever since her recent death, Naminé's been... distracted, and loath to consider using even a hint of her powers - not that she's ever truly wanted to use them often in the first place - so her first warning that something is wrong is just a feeling. It's not an unfamiliar feeling and it's also one that she has learned to not take lightly, but, while before, she might have reached out with her magic in the hopes of perhaps more clearly defining the source, now, she hesitates to do so.]

[It's for that reason that when she turns the corner and steps into the dormitory hallway, she is unaware of what awaits her. She finds out, soon enough; before she even turns to see him, there's a thoroughly unpleasant chill running down her spine, and when she actually does look over and spot him, enraged and on the move, that chill turns into an absolute freeze, and she stands stock still, one hand yet on the wall and expression stopped in place.]

Just gonna say this is before he actually finds Ven, k? :3

[endinsentiment]

[So far, not so good. He's still in a black rage, but one that's centered and focused on a singular source of loathing. One that isn't up here, though he checks each and every room anyway.]

[Nothing really catches his interest; and neither does Naminé, not to start with. It's not until he notes her expression, frozen in some sense of shock-- partial recognition, that he stops.]

[And looks back, expression still dark, still less than amused by his surroundings. She's not Ventus--]

And what are you supposed to be?

[But she'll do.]

K :3c

[lethechained]

[The girls stays in place even as he catches sight of her; her previous surprise gives way to fear, and that keeps her in place just as well. A part of her is still filled with disbelief, but the rest of her knows all too well how easily this could be true. Ven's here, Aqua's here - time means nothing to the tower. So Vanitas being here isn't too farfetched... even if she wishes it was.]

[The question makes her hand leave the wall, fingers curling inward tightly as she draws her arm back to her side. It's raised ever so slightly, almost defensively, but she's quickly urging her face into something calmer, more difficult to read - only it comes out looking grim. He's... obviously displeased, and she'd rather not exacerbate that, but is there really an answer she can give that won't?]


Nobody important.

[reversedestiny]

[Sora has been sticking to the media room and libraries since his death. So Vanitas will find the hooded boy with a probably somewhat familiar light hidden away in him in the media room, blasting enemies on a video game. He's not exactly paying attention, because he's immersed himself in his hobby, and his hood is up so Vanitas won't be able to see that this isn't Ventus. Though that darkness and regret and other dark emotions are probably a big clue.]

[endinsentiment]

[It's muted, but it's there. A source of light he knows; and it's that which has Vanitas taking a further look into the large space itself. There's no possible way it could be Ventus-- all of Ventus, but that familiarity strikes a cord that leaves it neccessary to find the source.]

[And so he does, watching from the sidelines as aliens blow up and meteors are dodged by a chinky, blockish spaceship. Later he'd probably come back and try this for himself--- but now is not the time for that.]

[Now's the time to watch. Wait.]

[To be noticed.]

[reversedestiny]

[The heavy scent of darkness, of course, catches his attention. He'll pause and turn to look. And what he sees causes confusion to reflect quite obviously on his face. He'll blink a few times, then slowly stand and lower his hood because--

This guy looks like him.]

...Who're you?

[notagiraffe]

[Taiki was wrapped tightly in his cloak and walking back to his room. He froze when he saw the man coming towards him, he seemed angry and Taiki watched him with wide eyes.]

[endinsentiment]

[Taiki would certainly do with moving aside. If anything, Vanitas is hardly in the mood to deal with bystanders. The only thing Taiki would be getting out of this exchange was a hard nudge to the ground, if he continued to stand in the way.]

[notagiraffe]

[Taiki fell at the nudge, but before Vanitas would get much further he would hear a loud growl, and if he looked back at the child he had pushed the floor he would find a strange creature next to him. Taiki was clinging to Sanshi, mainly to stop her doing anything like attacking Vanitas.]

Sorry... [He was speaking to Vanitas, Sanshi just bared her teeth.]

[attheclocktower]

[She's long since started to get impatient with the sling, but moving her arm around too much still hurts, so she's kept it on, for now. She's heading back up to her room for now, though she stops for a detour on floor 20 to look out over the sky. Not too near the edge though, with it being as windy as it is and her only having one good hand - it wasn't even her dominant one.

It's here that Vanitas will find her, sitting a good ten feet away from the edge of the Tower.]

[endinsentiment]

[It's there that he finds her, alright, but it's not her he's seeing. And that, in it's own right, is probably more confusing than anything. Ventus, in a dark cloak, slinged. As weak and pathetic and pale as he should be, broken-- and yet--]

[He steps out after her, looking 'Ventus' over with a critical gaze. There's something missing, a key something that gives him little ease. If anything, he's even more angry.]

[What did he do, simply give it away?]

Pathetic. And I thought you were useless before.

[attheclocktower]

[Xion jumps and whips around at the sound of a voice behind her, hand itching to call the Kingdom Key. Surprises were not something you took lightly in somewhere as dangerous as the Tower, after all. But she can't, given that that arm was the one that was trapped in the sling.

However, it's the face that she sees a few moments later - as well as the realization that the voice she's heard was familiar, if so much more malevolent than she was used to hearing - that sends her stumbling a few steps backwards.

What was he even talking about?] Sora...? [Her eyes flick to his collar. It was purple, like her own. Sora's collar was blue, and the other Sora's was green.] No... who are you?

[justabignobody]

[Riku has been hiding out spending more time in the library in the last few days, while he has yet to find anything that would do anything like help him get himself and everyone else out of this place, information is still of value (and an convenient excuse to keep to himself).

However, it's hard to ignore the scent of a dark dark presence, that makes his gut twist in sense of foreboding.

Yeah... there is no way he can leave this be. He presses his lips into a line as he pushes himself up and leaves the library, searching for the source of that scent.]

[endinsentiment]

Looking for something?

[It certainly appears that way. If Vanitas wasn't completely stupid, he'd even take a wild guess at that being himself-- darkness would always carry the ability to attract darkness, always.]

[He isn't what he's looking for, but this is just anther side show, another vague interest in the wake of his current goal. It never hurts to have a back up.]

[Leaning against the wall, he looks Riku over, cooly assessing. As it was, Riku was likely enough of a side show to keep him distracted for days]

[justabignobody]

[Darkness does indeed attract darkness... even though Riku would certainly not consider himself... 'attracted'. Not when that darkness he is smells so foul.

He is about to snort and remark something witty, but... there is something so familiar about that voice, about what he 'sees' when he turns towards this guy, face paling, one foot sliding back as his right hand twitches, yearning for the familiar grip of Soul Eater, though he keeps himself from summoning it. For now.]

Who are you?

[derping]

[Sora was restless, in all honesty; he had spent far too much of this week in bed, after what had happened when he and Riku and Xion went searching for everyone. He was feeling better, he had energy to burn, and he couldn't stand the idea of spending another second sitting around in his room.

Because of this, he opted to take the stairs instead of the elevator down to the lower floors - maybe to get some food, but mostly just to go somewhere. Still, he had learned that the Tower wasn't a safe place to run around in without paying attention. Sora was alert - more so than usual.

Maybe that's why he noticed almost right away when a bad feeling washed over him; when, inexplicably, he tensed and found himself listening closely for any sound. Maybe it was just his imagination...but some part of him, somewhere, told him that there was something very wrong.

That's where Vanitas would find him; somewhere on the stairs that connect the floors, listening to hear if there was anything nearby.]

[endinsentiment]

[The first thing that would tip Sora off to the fact that he wasn't alone was, of course, the sound of footsteps on the stairs behind him. Trailing down after Sora, his eyes roam across the keyblade bearer's features, taking note of his stance-- experienced in a fight-- but most importantly, his face]

[He'd never found a reasonable answer to his first day of existance, to that burning pain, the face he found himself in use of. His voice had been light, too high; it had taken months of self control to learn how to use it in a way that made him feel like it was a useful tool, rather than a burden. But that face had always been a burden of it's own.]

[Right now, he had the feeling he was three steps away from his answer.]

[derping]

[Sora hears those footsteps, knows that there's someone behind him, but he hesitates. The same bad feeling that made him want to stop and listen in the first place is making him not want to turn around and see what's there as the seconds tick by - as those footsteps get closer.

But, thankfully, Sora has a decent amount of common sense; more than enough to overcome that feeling, to tell him that he needs and wants to see who it is.

That's why, when Vanitas is just three steps away, Sora finally convinces himself to turn around.

He may have been on alert, but the last thing the boy had expected to see was something so familiar.]

Huh?

[He can't hide the stunned shock on his face while he tries to process what he's seeing...if what he's seeing is what he thinks he seeing. This guy was too old, his hair was the wrong color, so were his eyes...

He was just seeing things. He had to be. Right?]

[keybearer]

[Interesting, you say? Well, how about another Keybearer practicing some different maneuvers in the middle of the meadow. Kind of an odd combination, all things considered, but it's one of the safer floors. That's definitely a step up from fighting monsters right about now.

It takes a moment for him to catch onto the sound of footsteps, but when he does, he reflexively sends a firaga spell flying through the air. He tenses up a bit, more out of shock than anything else; he must've been so focused that he hadn't anticipated company.]

[endinsentiment]

[Interesting. He's already met a few of the tower's occupants, though he's yet to come across Ventus himself. He's also come across a few floors that have given him considerable pause-- floors filled with what appears to be the Lanes Between, floors that don't seem to exist at all. If he was a more careful person, alarm bells would be ringing from the rather exotic nature of the tower itself-- but no, he's only after one person.]

[Riku isn't that person, but he is the first person Vanitas has run into twice. As well as the first to attack him unprovoked.]

You know, training works so much better when you have an opponent.

[He's not Ventus-- but there's a running theme within the tower's occupants. They'll do.]

[keybearer]

[An attack he launched out of surprise more than anything, but at least it didn't do too much damage... hopefully. At first he doesn't move; the voice is new to him, but the tone makes him roll his eyes.]

Believe me, I know that, but--

[It's at this point that he finally turns around. Needless to say, he was not expecting to see a stranger with his best friend's face.

At first he stares. This guy, whoever he is, is older, and given the amount of lookalikes, it's probably not a stretch to assume he isn't Sora. At least, he'll assume that until proven otherwise.]

Who are you?