towerofanimus | [OPEN] am i in heaven here or am i in hell?

Characters: Axel and anybody who wants to run into him.
Setting: Anywhere from top-floor dormitories to... idk, wherever we go.
Format: i default to prose but if you prefer action that's okay too.
Summary: Axel wakes up in a hideous unitard and thinks he's gone to Hell. here's a little context.
Warnings: nothing yet? dsjhfskdfl i hate intro posts i'm so bad at them halp.

His opinion of this place improved exponentially when he discovered the trunk at the foot of the bed that contained clothing he was a bit more accustomed to. After making sure he was alone in the room and peeling the ridiculous white monstrosity off, he quickly fumbled into his usual getup and found himself ten times less disconcerted. Adjusting the zipper on the front of his coat, Axel peered around the room with a frown. Dorms? Hell had dorms? Where in all the worlds was he? Well, at least whoever else was supposed to be bunking with him wasn't around to see his moment of panic. He never would have lived that down.

He took a moment to summon his chakrams, just to make sure they were still there. Thankfully, they heeded his call and he breathed a bit easier. Maybe this wouldn't be so difficult after all. Maybe this wasn't Hell--he was pretty sure Hell wouldn't do him the courtesy of providing wardrobe and weapons. Wherever he'd been sent by Saïx's last attack, if Saïx thought he'd be rid of him that easily he had another thing coming. Old friend or not, Axel was inclined to go give him a piece of his mind.

Well, maybe better to figure out where he was, first. Using portals when one didn't know where one was didn't sound like a good idea. Best to at least have a grasp of Point A before attempting to find Point B. Dismissing his weapons (he could call them back at the drop of a hat, after all), Axel turned and moved toward the door, carefully opening it to peer out into the hallway. There didn't seem to be anyone in the immediate vicinity, so he supposed it was safe to venture out. His guard up, his eyes alert, Axel stepped out into the corridor, closing the door behind him, his senses keen to all the new sights and sounds around him. First unitards, then dormitory beds... there really was no telling what sorts of things this place would throw at him next.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Naminé hadn't been doing well, the past few days. That considerably-more-violent-than-usual game of hide and seek had led to her first death. (An inevitability, maybe, in a place like this tower, but a thoroughly horrible experience all the same, more distinctly so due to the method by which she was - well, executed.) That situation left her unsettled, frightened, in a way, of herself, her own powers, the horrible, terrible things that she could do at any moment. The more recent events, these days during which she'd had only a very tenuous grasp on her powers... they hadn't helped. She'd spent some time, now, hidden away, trying so hard to keep those unique abilities of herself under control, but that had proven ineffective.

It was for that reason that when she stepped out into the hallway, her eyes were lowlidded and cast earthward, exhausted from endless panic that had left numb, but not quite numb enough. Her skin was paler than usual, her movements comparatively heavy. Turning, she intended only to head to her room, except-- the sight of some very familiar colors captured her attention, and, a spike of renewed fear searing through her, she raised her apprehensive eyes to get a better look at... Axel?

Were her eyes playing tricks on her? Were her powers? She wasn't certain, couldn't be, not when things were so chaotic. She came to a sudden stop, watching him with no words but parted lips, too unsure to speak.

... Had he been down this part of the hall already? He couldn't quite tell. All the walls and doors looked the same. Ugh, this was like when he'd first started living in The Castle That Never Was. He'd gotten so lost that first week, and Saïx really hadn't appreciated that time he'd left a trail of breadcrumbs to lead him back to his room, either.

Blowing out a sigh and raking a hand back through his hair, Axel turned on his heel to head back the other way and then stopped short. "Ah?" There was a figure in the hallway now that hadn't been there only a moment ago. It was kind of creepy the way people just appeared around here. As the figure came into focus, though, his guard softened a bit.

"Naminé?"

Man, first Xion (who he didn't exactly remember, but somehow she still counted), then Ventus (who didn't remember him), then Roxas, then another Ventus (who did remember him), then Bizarro Sora, and now Naminé? It was a regular class reunion!

Watching him closely, she failed to see any indication that he wasn't real - or, you know, as real as a Nobody could be, anyway - but then, would she? Memories are powerful things, and the illusions created by them can be, too. She half-wanted to reach out with her abilities and check, but, of course, due to their currently volatile nature, there was little chance of that for multiple reasons. Even if she could manage to get enough of a handle to actually use them on purpose, she'd be running too great a risk of damaging something if he WAS the real Axel.

He'd been here before, after all. Coming back wouldn't be too much of a surprise. All the same, she stood still, not moving closer even when he turned and saw her. It was obvious he recognized her, and it sounded like him. It was a good sign for the state of his memories, if not hers.

"... Axel." She didn't ask if it was him, just watched, apprehensive but patient.

He regarded her a moment, frowning. She looked very small in that moment; guarded, uncertain. After talking to Xion and Roxas about time shifts and paradoxes he wondered if she had come here from a time before they were on particularly friendly terms. He had never disliked Naminé, never been unkind to her, but they hadn't really known each other well at all until fairly recently in history from where he was standing. It turned out she was a lot more than the meek little bird in a cage she'd presented herself as in Castle Oblivion, but he supposed Larxene had that effect on people.

Shaking his head and lifting one hand to make a vague casual gesture, Axel gave her a curious look.

"You kinda look like you've seen a ghost."

She'd come some distance from being that girl, the one who was at the mercy of the whims of others, no matter how much obeying those whims hurt her and others. There were things, however, that never changed, even then, and now... now, there had been so many things happening lately that did make her feel small, helpless, lost. Her confidence in herself suffered, and, never too strong a thing in the first place, it grew even weaker, even more heavily weighed down by doubt. It wasn't only that, however, that made her linger where she was, hesitant. The uncertainty also related to the situation at hand, to the possibilities of what might truly be happening.

But he looked real, acted real. Perhaps, in time, she would find out for sure. For now....

"...." Did he not know, or was this some attempt at making light of it? "I'm sorry. I suppose I should... say hello, shouldn't I?"

"Well, 'hello' is always a good place to start," he said, folding his arms and drawing his eyebrows together a little, "but the 'sorry' part isn't really necessary."

He was quiet for a moment and then pressed his lips together, striding purposefully toward her. Peering down at her, Axel rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head as if he couldn't quite figure out what he wanted to say next.

"Are you okay?" he finally settled on. This place just seemed to get weirder by the minute, it was true, but Naminé looked downright unsettled.

Her lips parted, then pursed again. "Oh." For an instant, she almost apologized for apologizing, but, instead, "Okay." It was a bit high, a bit tense.

Speaking of tense, she straightened as he approached, subtly leaning back and looking up (and up, and up - she was a small girl) at him. It would be very different, were this perhaps any other time, any other situation. It would be too easy for this to be a trick, at that moment. His pause left her in a silence of her own as she searched his face for any sign of falsehood - besides, of course, a Nobody's inherent failures in that arena.

Was she okay? Her pause lasted a bit longer. In most cases, she might have kept this to herself, but... he, if this was really him, knew already that which she chose to keep quiet about with the others, which would allow her problem to make sense.

"... No."

[ooc: oh god sorry i completely dropped the ball on this--did you want to just discuss what happened or should i go ahead and keep tagging? lemme know!]

[ooc: Totally up to you! I'm fine with continuing. c: ]

[OPEN] am i in heaven here or am i in hell?

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sorry for the wait /)_(\

FFFFFF NO PROBLEM <3

back from hiatus if you still want to do this.

Let's do this thing B)

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