towerofanimus | Wannabe Locksmith

Entry tags:

Wannabe Locksmith

Characters: Ventus and evrr'bodyyyy
Setting: Room 1-16 and Floor Fifteen
Format: Have prose, will action for CR
Summary: Ven is keybladeless, so he undertakes an endeavor to try and fix his tragic keepsake. Except he is not handy at all.
Warnings: Group B paranoia ahoy, especially since he's working on a weapon. Also splinters.

[Room 1-16]

Ven didn't have any qualms about lending his glider to Romeo; sure, it was convenient getting around the tower, but he had more physical training than most people, so it just a minor nuisance. What he didn't realize at the time was that it also left him without his weapon. granted, he hadn't really done much fighting since the phantoms showed up, but it was always important to be prepared, and it was hard to pull off a cure spell without the keyblade to focus his magic.

So his next idea was the broken training Keyblade he had gotten from Terra. Ven was kneeling in front of his trunk in his room, holding the two halves of the keyblade, one in each hand, looking at them with an uncharacteristic frown. He didn't even know how it had broken, because it was certainly in one piece when he had last seen it. Wonder what had happened....

[Floor Fifteen]

He couldn't spend forever moping around in his room though; there were people who were horribly disfigured and he had to do something to be on the way to helping! Ven had taken the two halves of the keyblade and ran off to the 15th floor. It was just a wooden dummy blade, but it was important to him! And since it was wooden, it couldn't be that hard to fix, right?

Of course Ven had about zero craftmanship skills, so even though he was set up with both halves on a work table, he had no real idea what he was doing. So he was basically going to go about this via trial and error. Someone stop him?

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She nodded, trying to smile when he laughed. "Anybody would be, I think."

He wasn't the only one sighing. "...Mm. Maybe we'll... figure it out some day." This was apparently another conscious attempt to look on the bright side, even if the bright side was something about finding out a reason for a friend's death.

"Maybe someone around here knows why. It's worth a shot at least...!" Optimism damnit optimism!

Ven stopped himself and looked at Naminé for a minute, frowning. "Hey...Are you OK?" She somehow seemed a bit more down than usual. Or was it just him? Talking about your friend dying might have had something to do with it.

"Yes. We should ask around."

"--?" She raised her head slightly, looking at him as if surprised to be asked that. "I--...." She seemed to need to consider this, but even so it brought a frown to her face immediately. "...I... haven't quite felt right, recently." This admission seemed to make her uncomfortable, judging by her slight shift.

So some was wrong. And from what he knew, it was rare to get her to admit it. "Why not? Did something else happen...?"

Ven stepped back and to the side a bit, open the door wider. "Come on, you can come in if you want." The dummyblade could wait for now, this was definitely more important.

It was rare; perhaps what made her admit it was that it tied into the incidents with the experiments, and if something was happening to her, then it was likely it could be happening to other people. If it could help her warn him and Roxas and everyone else, then it was worth talking about. She opened her mouth to answer when he asked, paused, shut it, then nodded his way and stepped inside the room. It was probably best to discuss this as far away from anybody doing the tower's bidding as possible, not that hiding inside one of the rooms provided by those people would necessarily help.

Once she was safely inside, she noticed the keyblade but refrained from mentioning it, at least for the time being. Hands tangled together, she turned back toward him but didn't quite meet his eyes. "I got a note the other day saying that I was part of the experiments."

Ven closed the door behind her once Naminé was inside and walked over to his bed, flopping onto it. "You can sit down if you want," He invited with a grin.

When she brought up the notes, he blinked. "Oh, I got one of those too!" So sitting on the bed didn't last long, since he rushed over to his truck and reached in, pulling out his journal. Another minute or so of ruffling, and he took the note he had received out, showing it to her even though there wasn't much said on it. "Mine said I was in 'Group B.'"

Feeling a little awkward about the idea rejecting an offer clearly meant to make her more comfortable, she sat down gingerly on the bed, even though he'd vacated it in favor of digging through his things to find the note. She looked the note over when it was shown to her. It looked like hers, only with a different letter. She couldn't help frowning; she'd been hoping that he and everyone else hadn't been involved, but it had been a vain hope and even before it was dashed she'd known that (or that hopeless feeling made her think she did). "I'm in 'Group D'. Has anything-- happened to you?"

She looked him over briefly as she asked. She'd heard about the horrible things that had happened to some of the people in the experiments, but he didn't seem to have any visible problems.

Ven stuffed the note back into his journal and thought for a moment. After a bit though, he looked back up at Naminé with a shrug. "I don't think so? Nothing that I can tell at least." He dropped the journal back into the trunk and stood up, retaking his seat on the bed.

"Maybe it's different for each group though? Maybe since you're in 'D,' it's why you've been feeling different."

She let out a very small sigh. Despite the fact that this made it seem like she might be in for something terrible, she was relieved. "Maybe. It makes sense." Her gaze trailed downward toward her hands which were placed lightly on her lap as she considered the situation. "...Did you get the note about the preparations being complete, too?"

"Oh, yeah!" Ven momentarily thought about getting up to go retrieve the note from his journal, but she probably knew what it said and it probably said the same thing. So he remained sitting on the bed in the end. "I guess that means whatever's happening started."

Another moment of thought elapsed before Ven spoke up again. "Still, if it is because of this stuff that you're feeling down, you know that, so maybe you can tell yourself it's not real and feel better!"

~~Suddenly he's an amateur psychologist.~~

She nodded, albeit grimly. Unless the notes were some kind of trick, things were in motion. She'd been expecting something more... obvious, honestly. She wasn't certain whether or not to be glad that it wasn't.

Her eyes snapped back up to him at the second part (she hadn't even noticed them drifting toward the floor). ~~The best amateur psychologist.~~ "...I've been trying to get it to go away. I know that I don't have a right to complain and that it only makes other people upset but-- sometimes it... sneaks up on me." There was definitely a frown, there. "It just won't go away, no matter what I do." She regarded her hands for a moment, then turned to look at him again as if searching him to make sure that he really wasn't experiencing anything odd; he may have been in a different group, but maybe that only meant it was something more subtle. It was hard, especially with that creeping hopeless feeling, to believe that he'd gotten off completely scot-free.

Ven gave a sad smile. "Don't worry, if it is because of the notes, it's not your fault. You just have to try and tell yourself that everything's not as bad as you think it is," he reassured her, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

For all his amateur psychology however, he looked for the most part unaffected. He looked off into space to think for another minute before he spoke. "The last time something like this happened was when those leashes or whatever had come out of the collars...." Aaaand then he sighed in defeat. "This is so confusing...!"

"Right." The reassurance was nice, even if it was just words. Funny how that worked. "I'll... do my best." And she also did her best to smile back, especially when she saw that his smile was sad.

She nodded. "I remember that. It was strange." She sighed as well, very quietly. "It would make more sense if we knew what the goal was. ...All of this could be an experiment and we wouldn't even know."

Ven nodded and his grin became more happy and genuine. That was the spirit!

"Dave and I figured out that the leashes let us feel each other's emotions and pain and stuff," He commented, once again looking to be in thought, though with a bit less patience. "We didn't figure out why though." Mumble grumble.

"Experiment..." There goes the gears in his head a'movin'! "Do you think that's what all of this is? An experiment? Maybe that has to do with all the people they messed up that were in the cafeteria."

"--Dave?" That name is definitely familiar. "Which one was it...? I met a Dave once, and he said that there were two other Daves here." Not that that's helpful, exactly, but it's weird to hear about someone you know from someone else you know who you didn't know knew them and-- that's a little confusing.

"I don't know. Maybe. I mean... a lot of the things that happen here are kind of like tests, aren't they? Even if they're not called experiments." It's definitely a thought. "Sometimes people do... things that they probably shouldn't when they're trying to study something." This makes her shift her gaze slightly, especially since she knows he knows some of those people, even if he doesn't realize it.

Ven blinked and stopped a bit when Naminé stopped at the mention of Dave. "Three Daves?" Hm. Must've been a common name in other worlds. "He had sunglasses and kind of red hair, and a blue collar like mine. And he had some broken sword. I think he works as a window washer."

"Tests...so they're studying us or something...?" He spaced out in thought a little, but tilted his head curiously when she shifted her gaze. "Huh... Do you know something about this stuff, Naminé?"

"Hm...." She paused to consider this description, then shook her head. "...I don't think that's the one that I met. He didn't have wings, did he?" Not that that would be something that Ven would overlook mentioning, but it helped to be sure.

"...." She could be... unspecific, couldn't she? It wouldn't do him any good to know that some of the people he'd met had lost their hearts because of experiments, at least not at this point. Maybe if they started showing up in the tower, then it became relevant. As it was, the most telling him would accomplish would be upsetting him. "...I know that there are people out there who study... a lot of things. I know there have been people who tried to understand the heart. Some of what happened here does seem to be related to feelings and emotions, but... not all of it, so I can't say for sure what it is they might be trying to learn, or even whether or not it really is a test. What I do know, though, is that if we are the subjects of an experiment, then... this place is very dangerous."

He was a bit surprised at that; there were people around here with wings?! Regardless, he shook his head. "Nope. He could fly, but no wings." ~~Just another day in the tower.~~

Ven was frowning while Naminé gave her explanation. People who had been trying to understand the heart? He hadn't exactly been aware it was any kind of area of study. "Well, they are making you sad, and they made me and Dave sort of share emotions...." He could go on but there just...there was something that didn't sit right with this.

He looked up at Naminé with a frown and a slightly harder look. "How do you know about that stuff?" In fact, she seemed to know about a lot of stuff. There had to be some reason she was being so cryptic.

"Then it wasn't him. The one I met had wings and no legs and he was... kind of orange." ~~Just another day indeed.~~

The frown on his face was to be expected; she certainly had one of her own. The harder look, though, was not nearly as well anticipated. In all honesty he had every right to be suspicious of her, and she knew it, but it had gone well so far and she'd rather hoped that both he and Roxas wouldn't pry too far, for their sakes and hers. But, that hopeless feeling was quick to remind her, that was entirely too much to ask for. Once again perhaps a more general answer would be best; some things were better left unsaid, after all, and that was a lesson not quickly forgotten. "...Because... I saw some of those experiments myself." And she was part of some of them, too, but that would have begged the question of why, which would have involved the subject of her... abnormal abilities, and that was still something she wanted to keep to herself for fear that they might once again be exploited.

Orange? Well, around this place he supposed that wasn't...too out there but. This place was weird.

She had seen an experiment? Ven had been wary knowing that she just knew about these things, but.... Had she seen experiments on the heart? Or maybe she had seen the ones that happened to Romeo and the others earlier.... Then again, who's to say they weren't one and the same?

Needless to say he looked shocked, and immediately jumped up from his bed, whipping around to look at her. "You've seen what happened to them?! Have you been helping them?!" The blonde was gesturing a bit frantically here. "Why?! How could you?! One of the guys doesn't have a face anymore! They cut people up and took things out!"

"--What?" She was quite startled when he jumped up. For a moment she had a hard time even processing what was going on, but once she realized exactly what it was he was so frantic about she couldn't help cringing, her expression automatically growing guilty despite the fact that she wasn't guilty of any of that. "No-- no, that's not what I meant! I meant-- I'd seen some of the experiments about the heart, the ones I was talking about earlier, back in our worlds! I never-- I would never help anyone do something like that...! One of my friends was hurt, too." Well, she meant she'd never help someone cut somebody up; she would have had to admit her compliance in the studies of the heart, but that had not exactly been willing cooperation.

Ven unfortunately interpreted that cringe as a genuine reflex of guilt. Which might have meant that she felt bad about it; but also meant that she had done something.

"Maybe these experiments are the same 'experiments' about the heart' you'e talking about! You said yourself there are certain things that are similar." He kept getting angrier but, at the same time he just kept getting more sad. "I knew it was weird you knew so much...! You are working with them, aren't you!"

"They're not...!" She shook her head emphatically, and she could feel something in her getting frustrated, but instead of getting angry or anything close to it, she just got more and more hopeless, even as she contnued to argue her case. "The experiments I saw weren't like this! They did deal with feelings too, but it's not-- they didn't... they didn't just cut people up like that." Not in the instances she was aware of, anyway. That last accusation, though-- that cut the deepest. She sucked in a breath, suddenly silent and wide-eyed. She'd wanted to help; that was all she'd ever willingly done and all she'd ever wanted to do, and that was why she'd kept her mouth shut about certain things (because even if it was bad for her if her powers were exploited, it was ten times worse for the people those powers were used on, and Roxas and he were the two most susceptible subjects in the entire tower, possibly in the entire universe). It was strange; even then, she could feel no anger, only... sadness, and something strangely akin to grief, and suddenly she couldn't look at him anymore.

It was that much worse because she'd been guilty of doing the bidding of those who wished to harm others before. Now, she was innocent - but the shame remained. Maybe this was her punishment. She should have known she'd never get off so easily. When at last she managed to force her throat to cooperate with her again, she raised her head once more. She tried so hard to keep from letting that distress show, and in a sense she succeeded (or could it be called a failure). Her voice, however, was traitorous and shook slightly as she said, as firmly and calmly as she could, "No. I'm not."

"How do I know? How do I know you're not lying..?! Maybe you're here to spy on us, so that no one can try and get out of here, and you can keep us here and pick the best candidates...!!" His own voice was starting to quiver, and it was increasingly obvious that while he was sad and angry, he was above all scared. Because of what the tower people could do and the fact that he had thought Naminé was so nice before, and now he was keenly aware of the fact that he no longer had a weapon to defend himself.

In the silence before she spoke again, Ven was halfway to a battle stance despite lacking his Keyblade, his arms slightly more drawn in towards his body than normal. And her final statement didn't seem to convince him anything to the contrary of what he was already thinking, so he just stared at her with a mixture of anger and fear.

"Because--"

Because....

Because what? Because she'd tried to help him before? Because there was no reason that she could imagine that she would do something like that? Except, her conscience was quick to remind her, she'd done it before, and the reason then had been self-preservation; she'd stood up to that fear and put her life at risk before, but always, always, she fought with the new fear that, should something like that ever happen again, she wouldn't be strong enough to do it again.

He had every right and reason to be suspicious. It was probably safer for him if she left him be. She'd wanted friends, so badly, and she'd wanted to be his friend, too, but that was such a selfish thing for her to want. She forced herself to look at him, to look at his anger and his fear and the way he acted as though she was liable to attack him at any moment, and no matter how badly she wanted to look away and pretend that that wasn't the case, that she hadn't caused this, she couldn't. It was the truth, and she deserved every bit of discomfort that it caused her. It was nearly impossible to keep a straight face at that point, and she felt a very sudden and forceful urge to weep but did not indulge it.

"...Because I'm not." But that did absolutely nothing to make her case, and she lowered her head to break her gaze away from his. "But-- I understand..." She would not cry. There was no reason for her to; it was pointless and she was well aware that she was actually incapable of sadness anyway. "... why you would think that. And I think--" No. "I think that I should go." Not that that would do anything to make him less suspicious, but she had no desire to upset him farther, or to incite even more fear. Fear.... It was so strange to see it on someone else and know that she was the cause of it and it made her feel ill.

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