towerofanimus | No rest for the weary

Entry tags:

No rest for the weary

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?]

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[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.]

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?"

[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?

[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...

[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-

[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.]

[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?

[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?

[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.

[Very new. Definitely understanding that the food was a bit bland here. As something of a foodie herself, it was getting old. Hence the illusion spell.]

Oatmeal. [Tara makes a slight face. She'd made the mistake of not getting oatmeal for her arrival meal, not at first. And plain, processed oatmeal tasted even worse after having just been sick.]

M-Maybe they, um, d-don't have much money. S-So they...buy in bulk. O-Or something.

[Which is far from a comforting thought. This food is like what she's always feared prison food might be.

Apple pie. She tries to hold onto the taste of apple pie as she takes another bite. It isn't easy. Xion's getting clearer. Tara looks either sleep deprived or a bit drugged, but she seems to be following the conversation a bit better.]

A-At least it's healthy.

[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.]

[As long as she didn't start crying, he knew what to do.]

All right, all right, shh. I'm here, and there's no way in hell I'll let him do anything. [Tilting her chin up, he grins reassuringly.] Besides, you've been training.

[Time for some truth.] He's using fear to get to you, Xion. Don't play into his hands.

[No no no, Reno doesn't do hugs- oh, dammit. There he goes, hugging her. She looked like she needed it.]

Munny?

[She pauses, the conversation beginning to distract her from her dreams. It was kind of strange. She'd never thought about where the Organization got the food they did, any more than she'd wondered where the Tower had gotten its food.

It was only something she'd had to worry about when traveling on her own and with Riku that while she'd done so...]

I... guess I hadn't thought of that. I wonder where they'd get it, though...

[Seeing as they couldn't see any other parts of the world they were in, though in theory there had to be more than just the Tower.]

[She's close, but his actions, especially the sudden feeling of arms around her helps a lot. She didn't get hugs a lot, but that didn't mean she minded them. She feels... safer. Protected. She buries her forehead in his shoulder.

A random (or not-so-random, really) thought occurs to her, making her head lift up a little.]

Ven said he feeds off it. Being scared or angry.

[Her voice is vague and half-there, though she seems to have taken in what he said, at least.]

[Pat pat. Reno feels rather awkward now, but he tried. Hugs were better than the alternative.]

Hey, kiddo, if he said that, maybe it's true.

[In a way, Reno was kind of jealous. His teachers didn't give out hugs.]

There's no way you should feel scared of him, you got your keyblade training plus what I taught ya, right? I'd just pity the guy. He doesn't have friends.

[Something about that makes her laugh a little, quietly. She leans back a little and looks up at him, smiling sheepishly, one arm working its way up to rub at her face a little.]

Yeah. And I have really good ones.

[Her face falls a little after that, though.]

What should I do?

[As much as she'd like to believe that she shouldn't be scared of him... he's too much of a threat for her to not take seriously.]

Er, well... You could hole up in my room for a while and think about it, at least until you got to go back.

[Quick, think of something.]

Stand up to him if he comes around again. I know these types. [I am that type.] They're like Nibel wolves, they smell fear and latch on the prey, worrying them to death.

[Pausing, he gives her an odd look.]

Why are you so afraid of him?

I still need to tell some of the others, but... that might help. Thanks. And... I'll- [She cuts herself off. Right. No trying.]

I will.

[At that question though, she looks down, her face falling.]

He's already tried at least once. [Twice, if you included the kidnapping. Not to mention he nearly succeeded the first time.]

He did something awful to Ven too. Ven... he barely remembered me. And Fey... she got hurt [read: died] trying to help me, back when he... back before I woke up.

[She pauses, like maybe there's a little bit more, but then she stops and shakes her head. Those are the most immediate, obvious reasons, and the others... Hit a little too close to sensitive topics for her to openly answer just yet.]

Edited 2012-05-23 07:11 (UTC)

[He knows better than to push.]

Yeah? I got to say, Xion, that's not a really good reason to be afraid of him.

[Maybe that didn't come out the way he meant it.]

How 'bout this. I've got my own enemies, and lately they've been showing up in the Tower. But I'm not afraid of them, even though they could probably do some pretty awful shit to me.

[He's just not going to mention Hojo. Turning her loose now that she seems less likely to cry, he continues, though he's got the distinct feeling he's failing to get what he means over.]

Now, if he's going after your friends, ok, I can see that a bit, but running around isn't going to do them much good, kiddo. I'd head him off and beat the shit out of him, and threaten to do it again if he even twitched a muscle in their direction.

[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?

[Xion frowns a little, both in discomfort at the claim that she didn't have to be afraid of Vanitas, and with worry at the fact that some of Reno's own enemies were here now.

She's only experienced a little of Vanitas actually fighting. She's... not sure if she'd be a match for him, though the new training she's been getting helps a little in that regard. Maybe... if he threatened her friends again... maybe she could. Maybe he was being overconfident with the way he'd handled her. Some quiet part of her mind is protesting her train of thought quite emphatically, but she ignores it for now.

She's not sure she can head him off though, simply because it's been long enough since he'd hurt her friends... and she isn't sure she can just... hurt someone, because of what they might do rather than they have done.]

I guess. [She sighs] He's from my worlds, but I've never even heard of him till I came here. I don't even know why he's doing these things...

[Was it because she looked like Ven to him? Is that why he was trying to kill her?]

[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.]

Edited 2012-05-23 09:45 (UTC)

Sounds like he's full of himself.

[He rubs an ear a bit, thinking.] I'll tell ya what. We'll double your training sessions. I don't know much about keyblades, but I do know how to toss a stick around. Let's give you an entirely new style of fighting. He'll never know what the hell hit him.

[He could do that. Teach her how to use it like an EMR, and how to put the rest of her body to good use, too. These keyblade wielders focused too much on the weapon instead of making the weapon a part of themselves, as far as he was concerned.]

[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?]

[Tara gives a one-armed shrug, taking another bite with her other arm.] I-I wouldn't know. I-I just...I-I'm kind of new here.

[But, having once been a college student with no means of support beyond whatever jobs she could pick up and whatever her girlfriend would pay for, Tara understands frugality, especially where large crowds of people are concerned. UC Sunnydale hadn't been terribly wealthy, either.

She taps her collar, the indigo liquid inside a little less bright and visible and evident than it had been when she'd first arrived.] I-I, um, haven't even had to get this filled up yet.

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