towerofanimus | Maybe people weren't so bad, after all...

Entry tags:

Maybe people weren't so bad, after all...

Characters: Roxas and you!
Setting: Floor Twenty | Floor Fourteen
Format: You choose, I'll follow.
Summary: A morning spent sitting on the stone ramp, then a horrible attempt at playing video games.
Warnings: Sappy friendship, and Roxas being pleasant for a change.

Floor Twenty, morning;
He was alive, which was good. While embarrassing, his second death due to exhaustion seemed pretty far behind him, now. He'd actually begun sleeping in his room again, even. Sure, maybe he was still wary, but healthy caution and not outright paranoia. Actually, he wanted to talk to Eiji personally, but...well, embarrassment.

So, Roxas went to the new stone path, sit on an edge and dangle his legs off. It was the best way he knew to think, even if the view wasn't nearly as nice as it was at home.

Floor Fourteen, afternoon;
Trying to be socially proactive was...well, harder than he'd thought. Not that Roxas anticipated apologies being easy, but his head wasn't getting any clearer the more he sat and dwelled on it. Instead, he decided to take a break and explore some of the other floors a bit...and got sucked in to playing a random videogame about...catching eggplants? After four times of complete and total failure, Roxas dropped the controller with a huff.

"What's the point of these games, anyway...?" Even as he said that, he began rooting through the other games, looking for something a little less futile.

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Were it not for the fact that Naminé had already paid a visit to the new floor with all the video games and such due to the movie night the other day, she probably would not have made an effort to head that direction. She'd been through the floors between that one and the dorms, and that experience had been enough to ensure that if she wanted to visit the fourteenth floor again, it would more likely be by taking the elevator to the bottom and walking up from there than by making the shorter trip downward. After finishing lunch, she'd originally intended to take the elevator straight back to her room, but... she was already out. Why not do something besides draw today? She could, as hard as it still was to wrap her head around that sometimes.

She'd been meaning to explore the libraries a little more, but after seeing the second one, she wasn't so eager to look at either of them. Instead, she chose to pay a visit to the one place she knew was enjoyable; the media room. So, after the long trip, she stepped onto the fourteenth floor and paused to catch her breath. It was about then that she thought she heard a familiar voice and, believing herself to have heard wrong, glanced over sharply to see an equally familiar blond digging through the games. "--Roxas?"

Taiki was stood in the media room watching the other boy play a video game. It was not something that Taiki had ever done a lot of, and not something he had missed when he went to the twelve kingdoms. This game looked... different though, actually all the televisions and game consols looked nothing like he could remember. It was a really strange thing though, to have in this tower, it didn't seem to fit. But it was better than the room of blood.

"I think they are meant to be distracting." His voice was quiet.

Earlier, Roxas may have seen a red hawk robot flitting around the area, though after it spotted Roxas, it took off.

And now it's back, leading Eiji up the path.

Roxas whirled around in his spot on the ground, smiling when he spotted the blonde. "Naminé, hi!"

If anything was amiss- for once -Roxas was in too good a mood to let it get to him. Ignoring the whole failure with videogames a moment ago. Which he glanced back at, ruffling his hair.

"...ahaha, I guess I shouldn't be wasting my time with this stuff."

"I guess." Rox gave the television a sidelong glance, shrugging and standing up to stretch. "I guess it's one way to kill time, so it's doing it's job."

...he did have to wonder if the tower owners were just trying to distract their charges, but now wasn't the time for that. "My name's Roxas. Are you new...?" He'd ask if he'd just missed the kid before, but...considering how he'd been living for the past weeks, that was more than likely anyway.

The bird had been pretty distracting, actually- at first because of it's color, and then because it was a damn bird around the tower. He'd wanted to try and go after it, but given his track record, had decided to stay put.

Sadly, he was too busy staring off in to the nothingness to spot Eiji's approach.

The smile was perhaps more startling than his sudden turn, but maybe that was just because she still wasn't used to him actually being able to interact with her. After a brief moment of recovery time, she smiled back as best she could manage on short notice. "H-hello, Roxas." She wanted to say something about being happy he was back, but-- he seemed to be in a good mood, and she wasn't so sure that that would be a good thing to bring up at a time like this. Fortunately, he gave her something else to discuss, which she quickly latched onto.

"Well, it's not like you're going to run out of free time, here." It was ever so gently joking, but still true. She stepped closer, hoping to get a better look at exactly what he was 'wasting his time' on.

Aside from the eggplant game, there was some stock shooter with horrible controls, and probably a wii-like party game or two laid out in front of him. RPGs would probably be too much to ask for.

"True, but...I guess I just keep feeling guilty. I still had summer homework to finish, so this sort of feels like cheating." A short laugh, and Roxas picked the controller up, popping the eggplant game out and inserting the party game. "Do you want to play with me?"

She refrained from saying that she knew about the homework.

Thankful for yet another distraction, she quickly agreed to the offer with a, "Sure." ...Even though she'd never played a video game in her life and had no idea how to do so or whether she would even like it. Hesitating only briefly, she moved to sit down next to him. Her inclination to help him wouldn't quite let that thing about the homework go, though, so, carefully, she said, "...If it really bothers you, you could finish the homework anyway, even if you won't get the chance to turn it in."

Taiki nodded feeling awkward but smiled when the man said his name. "Hello Roxas I am Taiki, I am new yes I arrrived yesterday."

[Ed didn't understand the appeal of all this stuff and video games confused him the most. He understood them -- objectives were easy to figure out, sometimes they were explicitly stated and after getting over the initial awkward fumbling with the controller, the controls weren't difficult to learn either. He just didn't understand why people thought they were so great.

He stood near the wall, watching Roxas' last few attempts with mild curiosity.]

No idea. I've been trying to figure that out myself.

"--Roxas!"

Sorry Roxas, your quiet was about to be interrupted by your very nosy lookalike, who popped his head up through the floor of the 20th...floor, and noticed Roxas sitting on the edge.

Ven hopped onto the floor proper and rushed over, standing a bit behind him. "Gee, how many times are you gonna die on us before you learn..!" It was obvious he was joking, but it was also obvious that he had been a bit upset by it. He's not a very good liar after all.

Once the Candroid spies Roxas, it flies back to Eiji, who folds it back up and pockets the thing.

"Uh... Hey."

Eiji was kind of at a loss for a better greeting, despite having wanted to talk to Roxas about this for a while now, he still had no clue how to really approach it.

"The homework packet is back home. I...can't remember what it was, anyway." A report? He frankly hadn't even remembered it until Olette harassed him with it in the first place, so...

Roxas popped in the party game, at least aware that most girls didn't like shooter games. However, he hung at the intro screen, peeking at Nams with a smile. "You okay? I don't know how to play this, either."

Roxas nodded, shifting more towards Taiki so he could see him more clearly. "Don't worry about it. I've been here about a month, this place isn't too bad." Ignoring the dying, but he wasn't gonna bring that up immediately.

I wish I still had that flight simulator... [Roxas turned towards the wall, crossing his legs and shaking his head.] I wonder if they're supposed to be educational or something.

"...Ven?"

Well, he hadn't expected to be stalked, so the sight of his doppelganger was genuinely surprising. Thouhg, in retrospect, it shouldn't have been. But it wasn't like he knew they'd found his body or anything. Well, until Ven spoke up again.

"Huh?" He almost considered playing dumb, but instead laughed it off awkwardly. "Sorry, I'll try to be more careful next time."

Roxas looked up at the voice, leaning awkwardly to look up at Eiji carefully. It took him a moment, but he cast his glance back out over the side of the tower.

"...hi."

Awkward for all involved!

"Oh. I-- guess that would make it harder." She let out a tiny, slightly embarrassed laugh and very decidedly did not mention that she could probably have helped him dig up the memory if she'd tried.

Discovering that she was being peeked at, she looked briefly surprised, then smiled back. "Y-- yes, I'm okay." Now, if only she knew how she was supposed to hold the controller. "We can learn together."

Taiki's tiny smile faded because it was bad. It smellt of blood and fear, enough to make him feel off. He had ended up in a room that had made him almost pass out. And it was not Tai and Gyousou was not here. "It's not good either," he murmered and then blinked, "Sorry, I just..." want to go home.

"No, I know what you mean." If nothing else, Roxas was being honest. "I miss my friends, but I've made some here that I'd miss if I went home." A sigh, and he scratched at his hair. "We just have to support each other, I guess."

Roxas gave a laugh of his own, picking up the controller to show her how to hold it. "Like this, I think."

He totally missed the intro to the game, mostly because something else occurred to him. "What do you usually do? Like, for fun."

Taiki's tiny smile reappeared, "I'm glad you made friends," friends were something Taiki had never had a lot of, even back on earth. "I guess, and find a way back home together." Because Taiki did not believe the world had ended, he would know if the world had ended. He didn't think he could even be alive if Tai was gone and surely he would know if Gyousou was dead, surely he would... Taiki realised he'd have to ask Keiki that one.

"What were you playing?" He asked quietly.

"--Thank you." And she was quite grateful to have that problem solved. She made sure she was holding it the way he was, even though it wasn't really time to do anything with it yet.

"--...." The question seemed to briefly perplex her, but by that point she'd been asked it enough times to have an answer without too much thought... although saying it to him was a little more awkward than usual; what she usually did, not for fun but because she had to, was work on memories, at least back in their world. Drawing was part of that, and yet it was also the only thing that she had been able to identify as something she did 'for fun', at least here, although really she did it because that was what she did. She didn't know what else to do. "I... draw, I guess."

How? I mean, what educational value is there in catching falling eggplants?

Did you say... wait, a flight simulator?

"Next time we're gonna see you falling down the elevator shaft or something!" Ven added with an indignant huff, but he was quickly back to a grin.

He walked around and plopped down next to Roxas. "You are feeling OK, right?" And he was actually frowning a little this time. Huh. It was weird being the naggy-worried one for once.

"I think I'm more careful than that." He actually laughed a bit. Seriously, if you're trying to guilt him, try harder.

He scooted to give more room when the other sat down, and looked at his hands as if trying to determine if he was 'okay' by staring at the strings on his fingers. A glance up, and he winced at the look on Ven's face. Apparently he was upset.

"Yeah, I'm fine-" Er, how did he know Rox had died? "Wait, did you find me?"

That was a bit, awkward.

Maybe it's a hint to eat our veggies? [Helpless shrug here. Eggplant are tasty, right?]

Yeah. My friends and I used to play it all the time. Pence was a lot better at it than the rest of us, it drove Hayner crazy.

"You'll make friends soon, too. It doesn't take much here." As if to show such, Roxas scooted over, giving Taiki room to sit down.

"I have no clue, actually. Something weird with eggplants." Roxas gave a shrug, and thumbed at the television. "If there's anything you want to play, go ahead. I don't mind."

Roxas seemed to grow a little wary when she didn't answer right away, wondering if he'd done something wrong, but- drawings apparently sidetracked him quite a bit. The controller was set down in favor of gesturing, as the intro of the game looped.

"Really? Can I see, some time?" What? Artistic stuff was interesting to him. He'd never understood why, and the closest he'd ever gotten to it was Olette's scrapbooking and Pence's photography, but...

His response was about as good as she could possibly have hoped... and yet briefly she felt embarrassed. He wanted to see...? Well, he'd had a look at them before, but that was after his time, she supposed. And what exactly would he think of the fact that some of the drawings were of him, now that the situation was different? She drew everyone she knew, certainly, but so rarely had any of them had the chance to see said drawing that she wasn't quite certain what to expect, and after that incident in the mansion at Twilight Town, she was rather concerned about how he'd react to things in the first place.

Still, she didn't have the heart to say no. It could be-- fun, couldn't it? "...Sure. If you want to." For the life of her she couldn't help looking a little bit shy.

"Could'a fooled me!" Ven said with a scoff, crossing his arms and giving Roxas a small nudge in the side along with a laugh.

He blinked in confusion a bit at Roxas' question. "Hm? You mean when you died?" He's taking this a lot more lightly now, but he did frown a bit bfeore he started talking. "Actually Aqua found you. Naminé and I were coming by when she found you and uh..." Aaaaawkward glance away! "...we kind of thought Eiji might have done it and then he showed up."

Taiki gave a small smile and sat down. The last year had been too busy for him to have friends his own age, but he hoped he made some here. He looked at the TV and gave a tiny smile, "I'm not really sure, it all looks different than it was in Japan and I didn't play that many games when I lived there."

"Do...you think you could teach me?" That was pretty embarassing, but he was sort of proud he'd spit it out. His hair got a ruffle, and he tried to explain, but... "See, my friends all have these projects- Olette was making this scrapbook about our summer, and Pence was taking the pictures for it, and Hayner was..." A pause. "Being Hayner, and I felt bad that I couldn't really help sans fetching supplies." And keeping Hayner from helping. But that was a whole different gripe.

"I just...I want to be able to do something nice for my friends."

"I only played a couple games back home, too. And I wasn't very good at them." A sigh, and Roxas leaned back a bit. "I always came in second place when I would play with my friends, and that was mostly fighting games and flight simulators. I don't think they have any of those here, though..."

"I'm glad," Taiki's voice was small, he found that the thought of violence was incredibly uncomfertable even when they were talking about a video game. He seemed to curl up almost unconciously at the thought. "Sorry... what kind of games do they have?"

"-he didn't!" Rox was quick to jump to Eiji's defense for once, nearly losing his balance, but managed to keep steady at the last minute. "I...I don't know what happened, but it wasn't him. I'm fine now, though."

A sigh, and he sat back, further away from the edge. "Actually, I wanted to apologize to him. But I don't know what to say..."

His request seemed to surprise her, and she tilted her head slightly to regard him. Teach him? Funny-- she wouldn't know the first thing about teaching someone something she'd never actually been taught herself. Still, she owed it to him to try, didn't she? Slowly, she nodded. "I'm not sure how good a teacher I'll be, but... if you want to learn, then I'd be happy to help." She fell silent for a moment, pondering saying the other thing she was thinking. "...That's a good reason to want to learn." Better than the reason she did, anyway.

Ven himself jumped a little in his spot and held out his hands in from of him to steady Roxas if needed, but thankfully when that wasn't needed, he lowered them back to his sides. "Yeah, he said he didn't and I guess you would've been frozen again if he had." Stiiiiiill wary. But that makes him feels bad, so he stared off at the expanse around the tower.

"Why don't you just go talk to him? I think he wants to apologize to you too."

There's a delay before Eiji steps up closer, and sits down a few feet from Roxas - though he sits with his back to the wall, legs folded.

"I... I owe you both an explanation, and an apology."

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Maybe people weren't so bad, after all...

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Floor 20

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Floor 14

Floor 20 the latest but most necessary tag

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oh god why are you here

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because ~*fwiiieeendshiiiipppppp*~

...gaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

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it can't be gay it's kingdom hearts

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...I think you just proved its gay

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kingdom hearts is the straightest thing possible what are you talking about

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because ~fwiiieeendshiiiipppppp~