identity wank ahoy

[lamentless]

Characters: Roxas and Aqua to start...Ven and Nams later on since I'm not wasting space making multiple posts for his angsty business.
Setting: People's rooms, though he's going to move around quite a bit.
Format: Whatevs, we coo' guys, we coo'.
Summary: Set after this thread. Roxas, naturally, has to go inquire about this possibility with a few people in a specific order.
Warnings: I am expecting someone to angst before this is through. If not, we're doing it wrong guys.

Comments

FIRST CHAT - AQUA

[lamentless]

He was well aware he shouldn't take other people's words so seriously, but...there couldn't be any harm in making sure, right? Roxas was well aware that Nams could have told him the truth, but it just didn't seem right to ask her. Asking Ven wasn't any better of an idea, really, just because of how awkward it would be.

So, naturally, it was decided that asking Aqua was his best bet. He didn't know her nearly as well, but she was a sensible woman, and she knew Ven, too. If anyone could give him straight information, it was her.

...he still felt awkward when he knocked on the door to her room, though. But it was better to put this silly theory to rest before he sat an worried himself sick.

[prayerless.livejournal.com]

She was reviewing one of her spellbooks when the knock on the door to room 1-07 came. Aqua hadn't yet spoken much to the other girls that resided in this room, and didn't keep track of their habits -- she almost tried to avoid them, in certain ways.

So when the sound at the door reached her ears, she eagerly slipped off of her bed, closing the book in her lap and setting it gingerly back in her trunk before she went to answer the door. Aqua set her hand on the knob, and even twisted it a little, but a thought struck her before she went through with actually opening up the barrier to the room's threshold.

"Who is it?" questioned the woman, trying not to sound too suspicious. She had to be a little more careful in this tower. Who knew what could be lurking?

[lamentless]

"Uh? Oh! It's Roxas. I...had to ask you something."

A pause, and he ventured a guess.

"It's...sort of about Ven."

[prayerless.livejournal.com]

The voice came, and she almost sighed in something like relief. Following his answer, Aqua opened the door, peeking out through the small space between it and the frame to ensure that it really was Roxas.

Satisfied with what she saw, Aqua opened the door completely so that she could step out of the room, offering a friendly smile. Once she was out in the hallway, she closed the door behind her. She normally would have invited Roxas into the room to talk, but considering the room wasn't entirely her own, she thought it was probably best to carry on the conversation outside of it.

"That's alright," she said, her hand falling away from the doorknob. "What do you want to ask?"

[lamentless]

Roxas took a step back, putting a respectful amount of distance between himself and Aqua. He wasn't the best with bodylanguage, but he didn't want to come off like he was bullying or harassing her for information...especially with the questions he wanted to ask.

"I want to know more about Ven. Where he comes from, how you know him. If, that's okay of course." He took a pause to collect his thoughts, tugging at one of the colored strings wrapped around his pinky. "...I can't ask him, so I figured you'd be the best person to ask."

[prayerless.livejournal.com]

Aqua gave Roxas a mildly confused look. Part of her wanted to know why he couldn't just ask Ventus these things himself -- he certainly knew Ventus better than he knew Aqua, at this point, being his roommate and all. But, maybe he was just worried about being invasive. So, she came up with a better question.

"I can tell you," she replied. "But, can I ask what brought this on?" It wasn't that she didn't trust Roxas or anything, but she was a little iffy on giving out information on one of her best friends. She wanted to at least know why he was suddenly so interested.

[lamentless]

...he should have figured she'd ask. He'd came to her because she was responsible, right?

"...well." The picking at the string got more obvious and less distracted. "Someone on the network brought up the possibility of...something, and I want to rule out the possibility." He hung his head somewhat, giving a sigh. "It makes me uncomfortable, but it's not important. I just want to rule it out."

[prayerless.livejournal.com]

Her eyes flickered down to the string on his finger. "I don't think you would ask about it if it wasn't important to you," she returned softly. But, instead of following up on an argument, she looked back up to Roxas' face before she answered his original question.

"I don't know where Ven was born. We never really talked about it." Especially considering that even Ven himself wasn't aware he'd lived anywhere else besides the Land of Departure for a long time. "He began his training under a different mentor than the one Terra and I were raised by, though. Ventus came to us after something...happened to him." But she didn't think it was her business to say what that was.

She briefly glanced away from Roxas to slip a hand past the knots of her sash and pull out her Wayfinder. Aqua eyed it with nostalgia as she spoke. "But he slowly got better after that day. The three of us trained under the great Master Eraqus. We're best friends."

Following that, she brushed a thumb over the links of the lucky charm, stowing it away again following that. "I'm afraid I don't really know what else to tell you. I'm not really sure what kind of information you're looking for."

[lamentless]

The information took it's time to absorb, and Roxas took an unusually long pause after Aqua had finished speaking. This was a lot to think about- and a lot he could ask about, but the blonde still was trying to keep from giving in to his paranoia.

"Who was the other mentor?" A pause, and he seemed to be getting more anxious-sounding. "Do you know where Twilight Town is? Has anyone ever mentioned it to you?" It was obvious she didn't want to explain about the 'something' that had happened, but he'd pulled the string completely off by then. He had to go through with this, even if he was getting a bit worked up. "What happened to him?"

SECOND CHAT - VEN

[lamentless]

It was only about a half hour after he'd spoken to Aqua that Roxas found himself still restless on the situation. His emotions had cooled, but the questions hadn't, and if nothing else he was finding very little to do with his inquisitive nature. But he knew he couldn't go look in their room or anything, so it took him a long time to find Ven. This time, he pledged to not get worked up- he didn't have the energy, anyway.

It took him all the way till he got to the third floor before he found his doppelganger roommate, raising his eyebrows. Why the heck was Ven sleeping here?

"Wake up, sleepyhead." Even delivered monotonous, he still had a slight smile on his face.

\

[f0rceless.livejournal.com]

"Huh...?"

Ven had fallen asleep in some corner of the bookcases, in a section that didn't seem to be frequented very often. When Roxas woke him up, he blinked sleepily and chuckled sheepishly as he sat up. "Gimme a break, Roxas."

He yawned, looked around to remember that oh hey, he was in the library, before turning his attention on his lookalike roommate. "What's up?"

/

[lamentless]

Rox just laughed himself and sat down, plopping down opposite Ven and stretching a bit. He spent a moment just looking down at his knees, as the pleasant look on his face gradually wore down to something more neutral.

"...do you ever wonder why we look alike?"

|

[f0rceless.livejournal.com]

Ven shifted a little out of the way to make sure Roxas had room next to him. While Roxas was silent, Ven rubbed his eyes a bit to wipe away the sleep, before turning his full attention to the other. The question garnered both a look of confusion and interest.

"Of course I do." What sane person wouldn't? Especially since this kind of extended beyond just siblings or cousins. Although admittedly it didn't seem as important to him as it was to Roxas. "Why do you ask?"

I

[lamentless]

"...well." He knew this was going to be more difficult than earlier, but he just couldn't spit words out at all.

"I was just talking to Aqua. I hope you're not mad, but I was asking her questions." The second string was in the process of being yoinked from his pinky. "...someone on the network brought up that you and I might be alternate universe selves, like those trolls or whatever."

-

[f0rceless.livejournal.com]

Ven gave a small chuckle. "Why would I be mad at you for asking Aqua questions?" Silly derp didn't realize that the question had been about him. Other than that, he was perfectly fine with his friends talking to each other.

"'Alternate universe selves'?" He repeated with confusion. And what was a troll? "What do you mean?"

~

[lamentless]

"...I was asking her about you." Honesty wasn't the best policy, but he imagined Aqua was going to discuss matters with Ven herself, so no use lying.

"Alternate universe like..." Roxas put on his think face, closing his eyes to try and visualize this some. "Like. Let's say you were going to go somewhere, but had to flip a coin to decide where. In one alternate, you would have gone to the first place...in the other you'd have gone to the second." The only reason he could explain that specifically was because of how many times he'd had to explain weird movie concepts to Hayner, but like heck he was getting in to that. "So, something might have happened in your childhood or something, that made you exist the way you do...but if you had dome things differently, you'd be a different person."

Roxas was well aware that he was wording this horribly, and opened his eyes to look a bit distracted. "We both look alike. We both have keyblades. We sound alike, too. We even dress similarly. This can't be a coincidence." Rox tilted his head to the side. "Where did you grow up?"

_

[f0rceless.livejournal.com]

"--Y...You were?" He, admittedly wasn't sure how to react to that, other than a bit of shock. Given the context of the situation it wasn't that outlandish of a concept but...still...unsettling.

Ven listened attentively as Roxas attempted to explain things. He didn't entirely get it, but he...sort of grasped the concept. "So...you think you and I are the same person with different childhoods?" He chanced.

The similarities were astounding when Roxas presented a laundry list like that (and the last item even lead Ven to glance down at his outfit for a minute), but at the question, Ven froze, frowning. "U-Uh... I, don't remember," He answered, quickly looking away. He was a pretty bad liar, but hey, it wasn't entirely a lie...!

THIRD CHAT - NAMINÉ

[lamentless]

This time, he wisely waited a day or so before approaching Naminé. While he did want to ask Nams about this whole matter immediately, he just hadn't had the energy...it took the icecream to give him the needed boost to approach her.

He actually brought two popsicles with him, sitting down next to the blonde and holding one of the treats out to her.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

Naminé turned to look at Roxas, already about to greet him, but stopped when she saw the ice cream. She regarded it quietly, looking mildly surprised for moment before reaching out to take it, her expression melting into a gentle smile. She wasn't entirely certain what he wanted, but that was okay; she didn't mind an excuse to talk to him. "Thank you."

[lamentless]

Roxas shifted after handing the ice cream to Nams, sighing and regarding his ice cream. It took him a long time of silence, before he finally spoke up.

"...are Ven and I the same person?"

There. Blunt.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, by the time he got around to the question, Naminé was between bites of ice cream. If she hadn't been, she'd probably have choked. As it was, she went absolutely still for a moment before twisting to look at him again, expression simultaneously surprised and a little bit wary. It shifted slowly into something calm but slightly guarded as she tried to work out why he'd ask a question like that, especially one so direct. They looked alike, certainly, but otherwise.... "...What makes you ask that?" He'd chosen ignorance before, after all.

[lamentless]

"Someone on the network brought up alternate selves. Ven said my keyblade looks a lot like some really important, bad one. Neither him or Aqua know much about his childhood, and I can't remember much before the incident with the picture thieves."

Rox sighed, noming on his popsicle for a minute.

"...I don't care if it's true or not, but...if it isn't, I want to know."

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

He... didn't care whether or not it was true? She wasn't sure whether to find that comforting or disregard it, since she couldn't help but remember his reaction when she'd told him he was a Nobody. Her eyes drifted downward. Perhaps his question wasn't exactly what it seemed; he'd mentioned alternate selves, after all, and by now she'd heard about them. More and more as she reviewed what he'd said so far, it began to seem like that really was what he was wondering. "So you've been wondering if maybe you're each other, only from different dimensions?" She couldn't help being a little relieved about that, because that, at least, she could deny.

[lamentless]

"Yeah. I can't ignore that we look alike, and all our other similarities. But we act differently, and grew up on different worlds..." Roxas shrugged, looking a bit anemic about the discussion. "We couldn't refute it, but I know you know about me...so, I figured I'd ask you."

A pause, and he hunched in to himself. "...how much do you know, anyway?"

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

Roxas wasn't the only one that drew inwards. She couldn't help letting her shoulders sag, just a little. If she hadn't been holding her ice cream, her hands would have been clenched together. How much did she know? Perhaps the better question was, how much didn't she know? That was something, at least, that she didn't know the answer to. Careful to turn her second answer over in her mind before letting it out, she answered his original question first. "...No." Not in the sense that he was expecting, anyway. They were definitely connected, and Roxas likely owed a lot of what he was to Ventus' influence, but... whether or not they were actually the same person was more complicated than that. And also not yet proven by canon. "You and him... and I are all from the same timeline."

"But... as for how much I know...." She took a deep breath, her eyes shutting briefly. Somehow, she found herself shying away from the idea of telling him the whole truth; 'almost everything'. Instead, she said, "...A lot." But it sounded heavy, like that 'a lot' was quite a bit more than the words normally implied.