Is it a Gift or is it a Curse?

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

Characters:  Naminé (lethechained) and open.
Setting: Floor Twenty
Format: Starting this way, will match.
Summary: Naminé is not sure what to make of her 'reward' for participating in the experiment.
Warnings: Contemplation, mentions of being trapped in a castle full of heartless people. TL;DR, as is unfortunately often the case I'msosorry.


[Naminé is not entirely certain what to make of the 'reward' she's been given for her participation in the experiment. Just finding it on her bed was startling enough; she never thought she'd see it again.]

[She isn't sure she wanted to.]

[The fact that the little sewn doll's eyes were closed had not made it any less jarring. It's still an obvious replica of her; imperfect, of course, since its hair is conspicuously made of yarn and it has (rather arbitrary) tiny wings attached, but nonetheless when it had sat benignly in its birdcage in Castle Oblivion when the castle had been her own prison, it had always been meant to represent her. So what, then, does it represent now?]

[That's what she's wondering, among other things, as she cradles it in her hands. She's seated just a little ways in from the rim of the twentieth floor. Roxas had found a place on the clock tower in Twilight Town, and although she'd never managed to find a place of her own like that, she thought that perhaps this particular floor was at least worth a try. It's precariously high and affords a view of the distance, so it has at least that in common with the clock tower. There's no sunset to speak of at the moment, but that's okay.]

[The doll arrived free of its cage. Maybe, in a way, it now shares a cage with its original. Or, instead, perhaps it's a sign of things to come. Whatever the case, she isn't certain that she should keep it. It's all too suspicious, considering its source. But even as she considers discarding it, even as she starts to move her arm back to throw it from the tower and from her thoughts, she finds she can't do it. She can't let it go.]

[It reminds her of a hard time, yes, and its presence is unnerving purely because of what it represents, but at the same time, it just seems... wrong to thow it away. It's her in effigy, yes, and that's both the reason she keeps it and a reason why she shouldn't bother; she knows better than to maintain a loyalty to herself, the incomplete shadow of someone else, and yet - to be real, to leave something behind, to not be forgotten is something she's always craved. It's a poor substitute for a heart and she knows it, but the doll is more real than she'll even be and she just doesn't have the not-heart to throw it away, but she does set it down next to her instead of continuing to hold it because she's not so sure when her mind will change again.]

[It's not quite enough to make her miss Twilight Town.]

Comments

(should probably put spoiler warning here, though I'm trying to be vague)

[knightofangst.livejournal.com]

[Suzaku stared down at the 'reward' in horror. He snatched it up before anyone could see it, not that it would be anything else but a broken pocket watch to anyone else. How had they got it? It was burried, burried with Euphemia back on a world that they claimed was destroyed.

He clenched his hand around it until his knuckles went white, who gave out rewards after brainwashing people. The fact that he had left this with Euphemia, and it was now being given back to him after they had taken control of his mind and forced him to kill others, did not go unnoticed. He closed his eyes against the memories of Euphemia's last moments, her last words to him. Memories that he thought he had burried, that he thought he was atoning for. He had been trying to make the world a better place, one where she would be remembered for the good she had done.

Now that world might be gone forever. He reached the twentieth floor and stood staring out into the mist. He wanted to throw it, it was the symbol of his guilt, he had carried it since he was ten years old until he had burried it. Now it was back, and he couldn't make himself throw it away.

He noticed the girl and the doll next to her.] They have a funny concept of reward. [Not that he wanted to be rewarded for what he had done. Maybe this, this reminder of all the bad he had done, was what he deserved.]

It's cool. C: Thanks! Goodness I'm failing left and right today though. XD /eyes deletes

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

[Naminé turned only slightly when she heard someone nearby, still a little lost in her thoughts. She should have been more careful, she realized a moment later, considering the kinds of people that were in the tower. With that thought, she turned far enough to see him but said nothing. He wasn't someone she was familiar with, which meant that she should probably be wary. Noticing the way he was looking out at the distance, though, the thought occurred to her that perhaps he'd come here for the same reason she had.]

[That theory gained weight when he spoke. Frowning, she nodded her agreement.] It would have made more sense if they'd said 'apology'. [Her eyes drifted toward the doll.] ...But it wouldn't be a very good apology, either. [She paused, still frowning, then,] Maybe this is part of the experiment, too.

Don't worry bout it!

[knightofangst.livejournal.com]

No, not a good appology at all. [Unless apologys were meant to bring back memories you were doing your best to forget. The idea that this was part of the experiment too was interesting] They did say that they believed further studies to be necessary.

[At least that was a motive, of why they had been taken, as lab rats. But still it made their captors seem a little more real]

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

That's right...! So it would make sense. [And once again she thought that really, she should probably just get rid of the doll, but the same things held her back and she made no motion to pick it up.] ...If this really is the next part of their experiment, it's not very nice, but... it's better than what happened before. [Bad memories weren't the same thing as being cut open or forced into hopelessness or paranoia or hurting one's friends.] At least, it is so far. I'm not sure if I should be relieved or not.

[knightofangst.livejournal.com]

[Suzaku nodded because that made sense. Perhaps this was just another way to test how they reacted. They had to be stopped but the problem was they were so remote, so unknown that Suzaku didn't even know how to start.

Full out resistance had never been something he was good at anyways.] I don't think relief... It is just another way to be cruel, even if they aren't hurting us in any obvious way.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

I think I'd prefer that it not be obvious, because at least-- at least no one's being kidnapped, or cut open, or forced to do things. [All of which were horrible things to have to say, but even more to have to actually be involved in. She regarded the doll for a moment.] I'm not grateful, exactly, but I can handle this better than the-- other things.

[knightofangst.livejournal.com]

[Suzaku nodded looking grim] They should not be hurting anyone in anyways at all. But you are right, this way is more bareable at least.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

[Naminé nodded back, then paused, looking contemplative.] It seems like someone's always trying to hurt someone else, or trying to use them. Is it like this everywhere, in all of the worlds?

[knightofangst.livejournal.com]

[Suzaku wishes he could say no, that there must be worlds out there where those with less power and strength wern't preyed on. But honestly... from all the people he had spoken to...]

Unfortunatly I think cruelty is a constant throughout all the worlds. Those with power and those who rule will always try and use those weaker than them.

[2nd-dii2ciiple.livejournal.com]

As always, Ψiioniic was happy to see Namine. He hesitated before calling out to her this time, because her location and position suggested that she'd come out here to think or be alone. But she hadn't hidden herself, and she could always tell him to go away if she wanted him to leave.

"Hey," he called softly as he approached. "Mind thome company?"

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

Naminé raised her head slightly when she heard someone speak, too distracted by her thoughts to fully react immediately. After a moment recognition kicked in and she turned to look up at him, expression at first surprised and then replaced by a small, genuine smile. She was happy to see him, too, awkward circumstances or not. "Ψiioniic...! Hello." For a moment she considered picking up the doll, feeling suddenly almost embarrassed to let him see it, but it was a foolish thought and she knew it because she was the only one here who knew where it had come from; it was just that she felt a little ashamed to have let something so small get to her, especially around a friend, even if the situation warranted some suspicion and concern. She left the doll where it was and shook her head. "No, I don't mind at all."

[2nd-dii2ciiple.livejournal.com]

He approached her with a little smile of his own, and settled down next to her. She was so tiny next to him, delicate and fragile. It wasn't that he pitied her, exactly, but he did feel an odd urge to protect her, just like he did with Romeo. Trolls didn't have the same concept of friendship as humans did - their word for friend was the same as their word for enemy for good reason. So he couldn't say that it was friendship motivating him, either.

He decided not to try to analyze it. That was more Signless' sort of thing, anyway. He was just happy to have more people he could be easy with.

"Did you get a 'reward' too?" he asked, grimacing slightly on the word. His reward had been nothing of the sort.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

Naminé was definitely a tiny girl, short and slight framed to begin with and a bit too thin on top of that. She mirrored his grimace, although hers was a touch smaller. Nodding, she answered with a, "Yes. If it can even be called that." Her hands tightened inwards just slightly as she thought, figuring she should probably show him but given pause by that previous embarrassment that she quickly chastised away. A little gingerly, she reached over, picked up the doll, and held it up for him to see, careful not to let too much of her discomfort show. "...What was yours?"

[2nd-dii2ciiple.livejournal.com]

Ψiioniic studied the doll for a moment, which was obviously supposed to be a replica of Naminé herself. It was a little creepy, but also kind of cute. At least, he thought so. She obviously didn't, judging by the way she was reacting to it.

Well, if it was half as significant to her as his 'reward' had been to him, he didn't blame her.

"My Helmthman station," he said with more than just a touch of bitterness. "The biowireth that were used to chain me to the ship, and keep me completely controlled. To be fair, it wath probably the only thing they could find that counted as 'mine'... slaveth don't have a lot of possessions. But thtill."

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

"--...."

And she'd been unnerved by her 'reward'.

If she hadn't been around to see the experiments, she would have been surprised at such a cruel joke. As it was, there was no room for surprise alongside her horror. Even if it was his only possession, there was no excuse; better that they have given him nothing. Of course, he might have felt differently, but she got the feeling that that wasn't the case. "That's-- horrible!" Her offense at the object she'd recieved had been present but not nearly as strong as her offense at what they'd given him. It always had been easier for her to be upset on someone else's behalf than on her own. "I'm so sorry...!"

It made sense, though, in a way. His 'reward' had been a reminder of his servitude, and so had hers. Had the others gotten something similar? She both wanted to know and was afraid to.

[2nd-dii2ciiple.livejournal.com]

"I can't tell if it'th random, an honest mistake, or if they're deliberately torturing thertain people," he said, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. One of his migraines had been threatening since he'd first seen the damned 'reward', and it was settling in to make itself at home. This one wasn't going anywhere any time soon. "SS got a pile of hith favourite movies, which he certainly wathn't complaining about. And in some wayth, that'th worth, because now he feelth guilty that he got something good and I got something so awful."

He shook his head, and looked down on her with sympathy. "What about you? You don't theem very happy to have that doll."

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

The mention of them deliberately toturing people made her raise her head slightly, a thought already coming to mind and on the tip of her tongue, but she held it back until he'd finished. Signless, at least, seemed to have gotten lucky... although, really, what he'd gotten was suspicious, too. Perhaps it was an attempt to bribe him into being more comfortable (not that that seemed to be their strategy with other people, but everyone was different and maybe they'd thought him being comfortable would be more likely to make him settle than fear would, not that something like that would work when he knew what they'd done to Ψiioniic), or maybe the movies had been tampered with. There was always hypnosis, even if they hadn't seemed to need anything visible to get people to complete the surveys unwillingly. Distracted by these thoughts from what she originally meant to say, she responded with an, "It's not his fault." Of course, she thought Ψiioniic knew that, but she couldn't help saying it. She was also all too well aware of another thing, "...But I understand why he'd feel guilty. It's hard not to, sometimes."

Considering his question, she remembered what she'd intended to say before. Seeing the sympathetic look, she tried to muster a smile for his sake, but, concerned that it was insufficient, she turned her eyes back down to the doll in question. "No. I'm not." Now, how to phrase it? "When I was... younger, there were some people who-- wanted me to do some things for them. Things I didn't want to do." In a sense, she was a slave, too, but it seemed... wrong to use that word when she knew he'd been more of slave than she ever had, and probably for much longer. "But I didn't have a choice, because I was trapped. This doll was in the room where they kept me." A pause. "She was in a cage." Since the doll looked like her, the point was obvious.

don't mind me double-tagging you

[prayerless.livejournal.com]

Aqua would really appreciate it if the maintainers of this tower would make all of the floors elevator-accessible. Footing the floors between starting point and destination was unpleasant and downright tedious at points. Thankfully, the new library was not far. But it still left this frankly rather intimidating floor to pass through.

Seeing out past the confines of the tower made Aqua a little nervous and just that little more forlorn past her strong nature. Not that there was much to see out there, but something about it was just so...alienating, somehow. All of that fully-intact world outside, and they were stuck in here.

Aqua took pause in her path to the staircase at the sight of a figure near the rim of the floor. The pale head of blonde hair and white frock made it obvious enough who it was. The young master smiled before changing her course to approach the petite artist. Hopefully the other girl wouldn't mind her presence, but that could be remedied with a polite rejection. Aqua wouldn't be offended.

"Naminé," she greeted gently as she shifted Master Keeper in her hand. Ven was still in possession of Stormfall and the Tower was no less dangerous, so she had to carry it, cumbersome as it was sometimes. "Are you alright?"

/doesn't mind

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

Too caught up in her thoughts, Naminé did not realize she was being approached until she heard her name called. It was foolish to allow herself to be so distracted in a place like that, not just because of the tower's inherent dangers but also because of some of the people in it, and she realized that only belatedly. She knew that voice, though, so when she turned it was not in the sharp kind of way someone who was totally startled might have. She was surprised to see Aqua all the same, but she was not at all displeased to, and she smiled slightly as she returned the greeting with a, "Hello, Aqua."

The question, though, made her hesitate, and for a moment she considered picking up the doll to hide it from Aqua's view, embarrassed despite herself. It was a silly thing to be embarrassed over, but the reason she was embarrassed was that it was also silly for her to be so distracted by a doll in the first place. It had significance, yes, but she should have known better. And... well, she knew seeing it would not tell Aqua everything about it, or everything about the shameful part of Naminé's life that it seemed she'd never be able to leave behind (and didn't deserve to leave behind), but her first instinct was nevertheless that it was evidence. It didn't help that Aqua was so strong that Naminé could not help feeling ashamed of her own weaknesses, past or otherwise.

"...I'm fine." Fine enough. It's both honest and guilty at the same time. "I was just-- thinking."

<3

[prayerless.livejournal.com]

When Naminé reacted positively to her presence, Aqua took a few steps closer, until she was almost directly at the blonde's side. "Thinking, huh?" parroted the magician, her gaze not on the young artist, but rather stuck on some distant point far out into the surroundings of the tower. She could understand that. She'd been doing a lot of thinking too, even if it wasn't all savory.

She fixed herself with a smile and peered down at Naminé, preceding her warm inquiry of, "Do you mind some company?" Even though Aqua didn't much mind either way when it came to her own musings, she knew that some people preferred to be alone with their thoughts.

<3 c:

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

Naminé began to nod, realized Aqua was looking out at the distance and therefore might not be able to see her, stopped, then said, "Yes." Turning her own eyes the same direction once more, the blonde girl clasped her hands together on her lap. The urge to move the doll was still there, but so was her resistance to the thought, and the resistance continued to win out.

Seeing Aqua turn her way again out of the corner of her eye, Naminé looked up, expression curious. The question came as a little bit of a surprise, but that surprise was quickly followed by a smile of her own. "I don't mind at all." In fact, thoughts or no, it might be nice to have some company. At least that way she wouldn't be able to forget that even if this place was a cage, too, it was a much nicer one than the one the doll had been in.

[prayerless.livejournal.com]

Following that, Aqua quietly parked herself next to Naminé, folding her legs beneath her and gingerly laying the dormant Keyblade beside her knees. She balanced herself with one hand on her leg and the other against the floor, head inclining towards her companion. "What are you thinking about?" asked the master delicately. She was trying not to seem too invasive, indicating in her tone that it was okay if Naminé didn't want to talk about it. She didn't exactly want to bring up everything she had ever thought about.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

Already having anticipated that such a question might come up, Naminé looked down at her hands but did not hesitate long before saying, "My 'reward'." Her tone was only subtly displeased. Despite Aqua's rather soothing nature, the blonde girl still had her reservations about sharing her problems, as she always did. While she readily explained things if necessary, at the same time she hoped to be able to avoid upsetting anyone, regardless of whether that displeasure was the result of sympathy or something else.

"It..." Those reservations yet lingered, but she was fairly certain that her answer had not been enough and she'd already started to speak again, so it had to be finished somehow. What she meant would come out sooner or later. "... wasn't a very nice thing to give me."

[prayerless.livejournal.com]

The magically-inclined Keybearer listened patiently when the other girl spoke. At the response, her gaze finally ventured to the doll, and though she wanted to smile at its appearance, the apparent meaning behind it kept her from doing so. She wasn't sure exactly what made it so offensive to Naminé, but it must have been something potent if the appearance of the doll was triggering such melancholy.

"What's wrong with it, if you don't mind me asking?" Aqua questioned with worry, averting her eyes from the tiny likeness to the one it was made to represent. It couldn't have been cursed -- at least not through magical means -- or Aqua would have been able to detect it. It had to have been something more symbolic.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

"I don't mind." It was a logical question to follow that with, and she couldn't (and didn't) blame Aqua for asking. One of the girl's hands opened slightly, as if she was once again considering picking up the doll, but then her hand closed again and edged just a little closer to her body instead. It was hard for the girl to keep Aqua's gaze once she turned to meet it, and keeping her eyes still only got more demanding as the blonde continued to speak. "It..." Her hand clenched just a bit more tightly, even though her expression remained almost the same. "... reminds me of... a difficult time."

That was a terribly inadequate description of the situation and she knew it, but perhaps in that situation censorship was for the best.