No rest for the weary

[attheclocktower]

Characters: Xion and YOU
Setting: Room 1-01, Dormitories, Floor 1, and later anywhere about the Tower except the non-magic floors.
Format: Action to start but I'll follow you
Summary: Xion starts absorbing memories again. Later, she goes looking for certain people.
Warnings: Nothing much at this point? Will edit if this changes.

[ Part 1 ]

[Xion jerks awake with a jolt. She'd been dreaming. Again. Only this wasn't like the dreams she'd been plagued with during the Labyrinth - the ones that had only just stopped a few days ago. But it was still familiar.

No, this was like how she'd been dreaming, back in their - her? - worlds. While she was absorbing Sora's memories. Except... she could have sworn there were memories there that didn't have anything to do with Sora at all. There were even some she were pretty sure were her own, but she'd never dreamed about her own memories like that...

She shakes her head, gets up, gets dressed and heads downstairs. She'll be listless as she picks at her bland meal of nutrition bars, puzzling over what's happened. She's perfectly botherable though, and could probably use the distraction, as much as she may deny that.]

[ Part 2 ]

[After she escapes a certain encounter, Xion will be looking for people. Riku and Axel are high on her list, as are certain others among her closer friends in the tower. Except she has no idea where they are, so she's using the darkness corridors to run around, looking for them. Her hood is up - if there's a time she doesn't want to be recognized, it's now, with a death threat hanging over her head. She may also jump - if not run outright - at the sight of spiky hair, even if it's not dark like Vanitas' is.

Overall, there is a scared girl in a black hooded coat running about your Tower, Animus, not that this is too different from normal. What do?]

Comments

[moontothetide]

[Tara's normal seat is taken, and there's nowhere in the cafeteria at this time of day for her to sit alone.

...it's more the fact that Xion looks so distant and uncommunicative that gets Tara to sit across from her. Not the chattiest of sorts by nature, she doesn't want to bother anyone she doesn't recognize, and Xion is definitely unfamiliar.

Still being quite new to the tower herself, Tara begins to pick through her nutrition bars in much the same fashion as Xion. She knows that she's stalling, and that no amount of picking will make them taste better, but...hope springs eternal.

Finally, with a nervous glance over at Xion, Tara looks back down at her food and murmurs "Fallere sensus". Something like a heat haze seems to settle over the food. Tara blinks down at it again, looking a little dazed, before picking up a piece and popping it in her mouth to chew thoughtfully.]

[attheclocktower]

[Xion barely notices someone sitting across from her, and doesn't do much to acknowledge it until she hears the murmur. She blinks and looks up, making a soft questioning sound. Had they said something?

Except they were eating now. Xion looks back down at her own food with a grimace.]

Hopefully they'll have better food next month...

[moontothetide]

[Tara was eating, now, and seemed to be enjoying the food just a bit better. Even so, Tara looks up at the sound of Xion's voice, swallowing her mouthful. She's frowning slightly in puzzlement, though - Xion's words are coming as though from the other side of a wall, and her image in front of Tara's eyes is swimming and wavering and changing slightly as Tara tries not to shatter the grip of the illusion spell she'd just cast on her self.]

W-What? Oh...next month? Um, w-what was last month?

[attheclocktower]

[So they were new, if they didn't remember what last month's menu was...]

Um... oatmeal. [She makes a face. She remembers her arrival meal.] Also some fruit and cereal. And different things for lunch and dinner too. The stuff they have changes every month.

[midgarhorizon]

A spiky haired guy just rounded the corner of a hallway, almost barreling into Xion, but instead of Vanitas, it's Reno, with loose hair to boot. He looked like he had just finished a work out, sweaty and flushed from exertion. In truth he had just gotten back from window washing, so he had no idea of what could be bothering the kid.

"Whoa, whoa, what's the rush?"

[attheclocktower]

[It's a different kind of spiky than Sora or Vanitas, but the sudden appearance is still startling enough that she jerks back with a gasp.

After a second though, she recognizes who it is.]

Reno!

[She hesitates a little - should she tell him? - but no, she thinks she can. He heard about her being kidnapped, he probably knows who she's talking about. And even he didn't, Xion's a little too worked up at this point to care.]

Reno, it's Vanitas. H-he's back in the Tower. I-

[midgarhorizon]

[Okay, he's too much of a pro to fail to notice all the signs.]

The guy who-?

[He glances around, making sure nobody is in the area, around both corners, and then takes her to a corner hiding her from view.]

What happened? Did he touch you?

[attheclocktower]

[Xion lets herself be guided. Now that she's found someone, now that she has to talk about what happened, the handle she had on her panic begins to slip. Badly.]

He... He said- [she makes a choked noise] He's-

["Unfinished business", hanging from the Tower's edge before Sora had pulled her up the first time, waking up and not being able to move, his Keyblade appearing in his hand as he loomed up at her, shoving her out of the way like she was just some annoyance...

"You know what they say; third time's the charm."]

H-he's going to do something, he's going to-

[Hurt me. Kill me.]

[justabignobody]

[She'll find Riku in remote-r corner of the spring floor, where he is leaning over a few books, frowning down as he scribbles something onto his note pad.

He is generally pretty absorbed by that, but no book could make him ignore the sight of a black coated figure stumbling out of a corridor of darkness, tensing for just a moment until he realizes just who this must be.]

...Xion?

[attheclocktower]

[She whips around at the sound of her name, relief flooding her once she sees who it is.]

Riku!

[She's running towards him before she can think, stumbling to her knees once she's close enough. There's a few moments where she's catching her breath, trying to calm herself down enough to be coherent.]

Vanitas is back in the Tower. He remembers everything. I-I just saw him. He... he said-

[She cuts herself off with a choked noise. She's been in a state of barely controlled panic up until this point. Vanitas had nearly killed her twice - "third time's the charm" - he'd done something awful to Ven and because of him her other self had died once. She's got plenty of reason to be scared.]

[justabignobody]

[He climbs to his feet when he sees her stumbling towards him, concern clearly visible on his face as he crouches down beside her, just about to ask just what was going on, eyes widening when she tells him.

He presses his lips together, one hand automatically reaching to touch her arm - he doesn't need to be able to sense darkness to know that she's scared and it's no wonder that she is, not considering what has happened before.]

It's okay. You are safe now. I won't let anything happen to you.

[Not here, not now, never again if he can help it. No matter what.]

[attheclocktower]

[Xion shudders just once from the aftereffects of her panic, though the tension in her shoulders eases a little once she's done. Riku's words help a little, though they don't entirely dispel the cloud of fear hanging above her.

Because there's a part of her that knows that he can't watch her all the time. Logistically it just wasn't possible. He wasn't there when she'd run into Vanitas this morning. They didn't always go to the same places, or eat at the same time.

Plus there's another quiet part of her that doesn't want him to feel like he has to. He has Sora to look after here, and all his other friends. She's just a puppet. They deserve it so much more than she does.

Still, she pushes that part aside for now, focusing instead on the matter at hand.]

Wh-what are we going to do? He.... he's going to find me again. He said he would.

[got_it_memorized]

[Axel has been spending time in the library recently, mostly poking around to see if there's any information about the Tower hidden among the books. He hasn't found much, but he did find a trashy romance novel to entertain himself with, and that's why he doesn't see Xion in time to avoid a collision as he turns a corner. With a gasp of alarm he staggers backward and catches the wall with one hand.]

Oi, why don't you watch where I-- Xion? [He dog-ears the page he was on and closes the book, frowning.] You look like you're bein' chased by rabid Bad Dogs or something. [He cranes his neck to look past her, then quirks an eyebrow.] You're not, are you?

[attheclocktower]

[Oh thank everything, it's Axel. It's all she can do to herself from clinging to the front of his coat, instead ducking her head into her hands and shaking it emphatically. Normally she might've laughed at the analogy, but... not today.]

V-Vanitas.

[Given how shaky her voice is, plus the knowledge that Vanitas had been gone for a while... she doesn't feel like she needs to say anything else, nor is she sure how coherent she would be if she tried at this point.]

[got_it_memorized]

[At first he thinks she's just embarrassed when she covers her face and shakes her head, but all thoughts of further teasing are purged from his mind when she speaks. His eyes widen a little in surprise, but it's mostly determination that darkens his face.]

You're sure? [It's not really a question--of course she's sure. No way she would mistake someone who tried to kill her.] I thought he was gone, though... [Though... more than one person mentioned that he had been here previously. He has no memory of it, though, which--especially when coupled with the idea that he forgot Xion somewhere along the way--is disconcerting enough, but...] Does he remember? [They wouldn't be lucky enough that he didn't, would they?]

[attheclocktower]

[Xion nods numbly.]

Everything.

[Of course they couldn't be lucky in that Vanitas would forget, and leave them alone. Or maybe he wouldn't have, given that he'd attacked her the first time he even met her. But regardless, it's moot point - he's here, he remembers.

And if either of them needed any more proof...]

H-he said "third try's the charm."

[And there was only one thing he could be referring to that he'd already tried twice. Which is a big part of why she's so worked up right now.]

[yougotthatwrong]

[Well, she's going to probably bowl over a male teenager if she happened to be running at some point of time during her snooping around.

If not, she can still bump onto him since he's preoccupied with thinking anyways!]

[attheclocktower]

[She is running around a fair bit, and she does bowl him over, stumbling and nearly falling herself. She's still upset about what happened, but she at least has the presence to stumble to a halt and say, shakily]

S-sorry.

[yougotthatwrong]

I-it's alright.

[Getting up and dusting himself, Makoto's about to ask if the girl is alright, but stopped himself when he clearly noticed that the girl is not well at all, judging from her behavior.

...Though, after a moment of silence, he's going to ask her that anyways. Maybe there's something he can do to help...]

Are you, though?

[keybearer]

[Well, if she goes looking for this Riku, she's likely to find him alone on the meadow floor, just... sitting still, taking deep breaths. Trying to keep himself distracted with his seemingly peaceful surroundings.

He looks like he hasn't gotten a lot of sleep, and Xion's presence doesn't immediately register.]

[attheclocktower]

[As soon as she's out of the darkness corridor, Xion stumbles to a halt, looking around. Her presence may not register, but his does almost immediately.

He's not the Riku she was looking for, but... he could probably help. And he should know about Vanitas, in any case.]

R-Riku?

[keybearer]

[He stiffens, remaining still at first. There's a sharp intake of breath, and then...]

Kai--

[...nope. It's not her, and for a split second, he looks awfully distraught. However, he pushes himself back to his feet and slowly approaches.]

Hey.

[capax_infiniti]

[Unfortunately, Xion isn't the only one who uses Corridors of Darkness to get around quickly. While he does tend to take the stairs, sometimes it's just easier to get from point A to point B quickly.

Needless to say, he's rather surprised when something small and warm collides with him mid-transit.]

I'm assuming if they have room to fight there in KH2 that they won't be knocked out or anything now

[attheclocktower]

[Xion wasn't expecting to meet anybody in a Darkness corridor, thus she isn't watching when she barrels into someone.

She lets out a cry of surprise, turning and stumbling, her feet getting tangled beneath her. A few split seconds, and she's able to get her feet back under her and save herself from a fall. But there's another thought that occurs to her - there's only two people in the Tower she knows are able to use the Darkness corridors, and both of them are people she's looking for.

She turns quickly, sucking her breath in hopefully, then she freezes upon catching sight of who she just crashed into. She... she'd forgotten he could use corridors too. She'd only seen him once, and had been distracted at the time.

What should she do?]

good thing those corridors are spacious

[capax_infiniti]

[Thankfully the brace of darkness he uses to keep his reflexes sharp helps absorb most of the impact, simply sending him reeling back a step or two. He catches himself, peering at her intently to see just what had happened. For once, something that he hadn't counted on happening just had, and he wanted to see just what was going on.

Oh. It's Xion. The other one who doesn't look like Sora. The one who's training with Aqua. There's little to be done, here.]

It seems our shortcut was unexpectedly mutual.