towerofanimus | [.001]

Entry tags:

[ou] naminé

[.001]

Characters: Naminé

Setting: Twelfth floor

Format: Starting this way, matching responders.

Summary: A new arrival discovers the twelfth floor. This is not exactly good for her world view.

Warnings: Angst, low self-esteem, tl;dr. In summary; those stairs are blocked by an outwardly calm but internally angsting teenage girl.

Naminé had read the letters, of course. It had seemed prudent, considering that there appeared to be no one around to explain why she had woken up in a bed rather than… well, she hadn’t known what to expect when she went back to Kairi, for all her attempts to be optimistic, but this hadn’t even been on the metaphorical list. At the very least, shouldn’t there have been fewer beds? Sora was the one who always had guests in his heart, after all, not Kairi.

The letters had proved informative, as they were no doubt meant to be, but….

Try though she might, it was just impossible to wrap her head around the idea that the worlds she knew no longer existed. If the Heartless had tried to destroy them and failed, then how could something nameless and faceless succeed? It was an utterly stupid notion, of course, but something in her just couldn’t quite let go of it… until now.

Her feet had prompted her to take the nearest exit, to try to find her way back to something she recognized or make sense of this world. It wasn’t the first time she’d woken up in a strange place, and so she had found herself calm, but understandably apprehensive. It hadn’t ended well, last time. Her search had yielded no fruit up until the point where she stepped down onto the twelfth floor of the tower.

Vertigo and a lurch in her stomach were instant, forcing her to a stop right in the middle of the stairs. Once her mind had managed to convince her body that she wasn’t going to fall, she began to take in her surroundings – and, more specifically, what was going on in them. She ended up feeling sick all over again.

All of those worlds, destroyed as easily as one snuffs out a candle.

Seeing it was much more powerful than hearing it. Watching this destruction, endless and absolute, tore aside her disbelief and replaced it with much, much heavier understanding. Everything that she’d ever worked for, everyone she’d ever known, met, or – impossible for her to admit to herself – cared for was gone.

Her knees went weak, but did not buckle; they, too, seemed to be in shock. Her face was ashen, her arms limp at her sides, her expression still frozen in place. The prickling at her eyes went unnoticed in favor of the tumult in her mind.

She’d been able to handle the idea of herself no longer existing as a separate entity (after all, she would be whole, wouldn’t she?) but the idea that Sora and Roxas, that Riku, that Kairi, Donald, Goofy, the King, everyone else were no longer— she couldn’t even think the word. She was no stranger to death and the threat of it, but still, still--

Why her?

Why her, of all people? Of all Nobodies? What right did she have to be spared? What purpose did she have, beyond finishing the duty to Sora that her failures had put upon her and then going to make Kairi whole? What was Naminé supposed to do? All that time she’d had the answers, or at least answers that she could make herself believe, but now… she was really and truly nothing, without purpose or tie.

Still, she did not break down. She didn’t know how to. She didn’t have the right to. Her body stayed motionless like the shell it was as she tried so hard to figure out whether she wanted to scream, or weep, or laugh, or if she really didn’t want anything at all. In the end, it probably didn’t matter what she did. The only thing that did was that one question, the one that someone else always answered for her.

What now?

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It seems he had startled the girl, for when he spoke, her posture stiffened considerably. Judging by the nature of the room they were in, he figured that she was just lost in thought looking at all of the little moving diagrams on the walls. He didn't recognize her from anywhere else in the tower, either, which further suggested that she was just a newcomer who hadn't come to terms with Floor Twelve yet. Perhaps it was for this reason that she had to hesitate for a few seconds before turning around, presumably to gather her thoughts.

What happened next was an interesting mush of facial expression. (Hm. Interesting.) Perhaps this girl was just easily upset by new things, for her reactions seemed a little too extreme for two strangers meeting one another for the first time -- and yes, looking her up and down, Ienzo could not identify her in the slightest. Though she appeared to be able to identify him, and from her reaction, he seriously doubted that there were any pleasant memories attached.

And a moment later, her expression had solidified into a deadpan very similar to what he himself might use. You made a valiant effort, dear, but unfortunately Ienzo is more perceptive than that.

Whereas a normal person probably would have said, 'Do I know you?' in a situation like this, Ienzo is very very far from a normal person, so he simply stood and watched her while she attempted to put her thoughts together in a (hopefully) logical progression. She very nearly lost her balance, he noted, and looked rather like she wanted to grab onto a wall or railing to keep herself more steady. A second later, the girl apparently came to a decision on what to do, and timidly stood out of the way, clutched her arms to her chest and staring at him. He stared back.

"Thank you." He took a few steps into the room and broke the connection to check the walls, expression betraying nothing at all, but soon enough the girl took a jagged breath like she intended to speak, and his eyes flicked immediately back towards her. She began with apologizing, in a similarly shaky and timid voice which reinforced his suspicion that something about his presence here had thrown her for a loop. And when she paused, he expected her next words to be just a bit more stable. They weren't.

"...Ienzo," he said. He didn't need to ask if she was new here, nor did he particularly want to. And if she wanted him to know her name, then she would give it. If she didn't, he would leave her to her panicking and monitor the walls.

Had Naminé been more familiar with 'normal' people in the first place, she might have found it unsettling that a child so young could be so... calculating, and so inscrutable. But that was what she had come to expect from him-- or at least, come to expect from his Nobody, and it did not capture her attention any more than was required to make her mouth tighten into a slightly harder line.

Ienzo. So it was him. But it just didn't make any sense at all...! He was dead. Or at least, he'd seemed that way. After all, Axel had faked his death enough times to prove that it was possible, and for someone like Zexion, it would probably be all the easier. Still, why his younger self? Why be so open about it? Unless that was all part of the plan, too. Was all of this some kind of trick? It was elaborate, yes, but what could be the goal? How would this secure her cooperation, especially if he'd already tipped his hand? If that wasn't the goal, what was?

It was all just such a big mess that she couldn't makes heads or tails of it. Perhaps all that was left was to wait, and maybe to play along. Her brow had knit slightly when she heard his name, but now she worked to ease it, along with the rest of her face. She wasn't a liar, or an actress-- at least not of her own volition. She'd learned to keep a pretty good control of her face, when she was trying, and when she wasn't shocked out of it, but... she didn't have much faith that it would be good enough. Her body language remained tense, but her expression drifted into something a little more controlled but for a suspicious hardness around her eyes. "...My name is Naminé." It was an offer of bait, perhaps, or maybe a feinted move to take some bait she'd been offered herself but wasn't quite sure existed. Either way, she watched his face closely, careful to make sure it didn't look like as careful an inspection as it really was.

Temporal mishmash abound. So far, Ienzo had seen nothing to suggest that there were people here who were from the future of his world; he only recognized one person, Ven, who was from his time. And the overwhelming majority of the people here came from worlds completely independent from his. So what reason did he have to believe that she was from his future, in which his very sense of identity (or, what little remained of it, anyway) had crumbled and withered away?

Ienzo had been putting up this stone-faced facade for several years now, and while he did so, he had learned to better understand the physical cues given by others that tipped him off to their internal thoughts; this girl Naminé, it appeared, had learned much of the same thing. She seemed to soften, just a little, but she clearly meant for him to see the doubtful look in her eyes; he did. His face remained absolutely still and unreadable. She was tripping over mental wires, waiting for a reveal that would never come. Because of course the whole discussion, from his point of view, was completely baitless -- just Ienzo acting on his natural, if unnerving, tendencies and habits.

Which, temporarily, he decided to put on hold. His self-contained obsession with acting 'proper' mercifully shut up for a few seconds, in the face of this extremely unfavorable situation. The girl knew something that he didn't. Unacceptable.

"...Do you know me?"

Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, the brief twitch of her brow trying to knit again and then being stopped tells clearly enough that she wasn't sure what to think about this question. Should she lie? Tell the truth? Answer with the same question? The last option surprised her as it presented itself. That was silly-- why should she think he didn't know? It was just... something in that question.

But no, it shouldn't be that. The only right answer was 'yes', or maybe 'no'. If she said yes, would it be used as grounds for some alteration to this possible illusion, or something else nefarious? If she said 'no', would it be accepted? Would he know she was lying? Even to him, it's difficult for her to feel comfortable telling such a blatant lie. There were so many factors... but maybe honesty really was the best policy? After all, she had to say something. The alternative was making a run for it, but doing so on these steps was a bad idea, and would probably do her no good, anyway. Maybe... answering truthfully would elicit something that could explain this. "...I think so."

And just like that, he responded. No need for thinking ahead or analyzing his moves, now that his usual 'silence filter' has been set aside. Besides, she had shown clear enough that she was thinking much too far into this for a simple conversation, and he had long since learned (the hard way) that making someone sweat was a nice way of getting information out of them. "...From where? I'm very sorry, but I don't recognize you at all."

Such a quick answer. Somehow, she was expecting something more. Admittedly, she was beginning to feel a little... silly. She was treating this child like he was somehow-- no, no, it was a bad idea to let her guard down, especially so quickly. Her lips pulled into a frown as she internally berated herself. Her answer is also faster, this time. "Are you sure you don't know me?" As if having him repeat would make his lie more apparent, if a lie it really was.

There really was nothing more, at least in the context that Naminé is expecting. But just in case, he looks her over again... and yes, there is nothing that he recognized at all. "...Yes." Of course, he wasn't helping his case by making this the same quiet deadpan he'd been using this entire time, making it very difficult to tell whether he was telling a lie or a truth. (But that is where we come to one of the most prominent differences between Ienzo and his adult self: whereas Zexion would 'happily' lie to someone at a moment's notice, Ienzo has not yet adopted this ideal, and usually tells the complete truth for better or for worse. Sugar-coating accomplished nothing, after all, and lies could easily be found out at a moment's notice.)

If only she knew that. She could find no trace of dishonesty, and yet.... She shook her head suddenly. "Then..." She'd probably be embarrassed later, if this really was some elaborate trick, but more and more she was beginning to get the feeling that she was wrong. "...Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I don't know you." Although there's still a bit of incredulity in her tone.

"Maybe you are." He saw no need to repeat himself; he had given her the truth, and what she did with it was not his decision to make.

She regarded him quietly for a little while longer, then turned away slightly, but not enough that she could no longer see him. "I'm sorry." What the reasoning behind that became apparent with the next sentence. "...For wasting your time." It was informative for her, though-- that meeting meant that not only did she have more reason to watch her back, she had more reason to look forward, as well, because if someone (possibly) from one of the worlds she knew of was here, then maybe she wasn't as alone as she thought.

Hmm. He wasn't exactly sure what to think of her 'I'm sorry for wasting your time' statement (mostly because he was the one doing that on an unnecessarily frequent basis, and it was somewhat alien hearing it come out of someone else's mouth). So instead he fell back into the usual hesitation before speaking, but not to analyze anything -- in fact, it was almost as if her docile moe-blob action had subconsciously reminded him that he ought to be doing the same thing. (Or at least, thought he ought to be doing the same thing. Broken birds of a feather...)

Eventually, though, he managed to speak. "...It's fine." Not as if he had any truly pressing matters anyway, and if he did, he certainly wouldn't have stopped to talk to her in the first place. The only thing he planned to do right now was watch the walls, and even that was just part of a mostly pointless routine. (It was created pretty much exclusively to stop him from going insane, what with the total lack of work to do -- it was an alien concept to him, and unlike most people, definitely not a welcome change.)

Were it someone else, she probably would have been more relieved to hear that it was fine, especially after such a long pause (which only served to make her more suspicious again). In the situation, it did little to help her settle beyond a slight automatic boost to her comfort level that immediately disappeared, but she nodded. It would probably have been ironic to compare the two, since Naminé was definitely one used to having her work cut out for her as well.

Despite the lack of further words on her part, Naminé did not make any move to pass on. She'd been stationary before, although now she found herself with an urge to be somewhere, anywhere else. At the same time, she was rooted to the spot, uncertain whether it was better to turn her back on him and go or to wait for him to travel onwards himself.

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[.001]

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OOC: Beep beep, AWKWARDNESS PARADE coming through. Also, apologies for fail-ness. :c

OOC: Lulz! It's okay.

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