towerofanimus | This Ven should come with a handle gently sign.

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This Ven should come with a handle gently sign.

Characters: AU!Ventus, his roommates and then YOU!
Setting: Starting in room 1-12 then out in the hallway after he meets a roommate or two. Just let me know what option you take please.
Format: Para, but I'll follow you
Summary: AU!Ventus intro!
Warnings: Possible mentions of abuse due to the nature of the AU

For some, thirty seconds of sleep paralysis might not be a big deal, but for Ventus, it felt like an eternity and given that this bright - too bright if you asked the teen - room was not the one he remembered falling unconscious in.. It left him in no small state of panic and fear. As soon as he could, he was up in a crouched position on the bed, eyes darting around the room while Wayward Wind appeared in his hand. When nothing attacked him after a good minute, he lowered the keyblade and shot the room glances before he spied two letters.

After giving them a once over, he sunk more into himself, curling up on the bed. That's when he noticed what he was wearing and the (second) collar. Metal, he thought, running his hand over it, or something like metal. Instinctively, his hand sought for the Unversed King's one and his heart sunk. It was still on. Of course it was - only Vanitas could remove it as far as he knew. Oh well. It wasn't really seen as the other one hid it well enough from what he could tell. The white threw him a little too, thought at least it was full body. No one needed to see his scars,

"Why.." This had to be a dream - something to escape his harsh realities of being, more or less, a punching bag for the Unversed King. Or it was some sort of test to see what he would do in a completely new environment. But he didn't know what he wanted to do. Even if it wasn't a test or some cracked out dream, the other beds suggested that other people also shared this room, and the last thing he wanted was to make any one angry.

Which only had him curling up more because as far as he knew now, attention often brought some sort pain. "Sorry..."

---

Now that he was dressed in his seen-better-days clothes, Ventus was feeling a little braver. Well, sort of. He was walking the hall way, but he kept the room in sight and was careful to keep an eye out for anyone and not making eye contact at all. Though anyone with half a brain could tell that the blond was scared and ready to dart back into his room at even the slightest sign of danger. And given the state of the clothing.. It wasn't that hard to figure that something bad must have happened before he was pulled into the Tower.

Feel free to approach him though, he doesn't bite. Actually, he'd be more of a doormat than anything.

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Nice try, Ventus. "Handle gently" is unfortunately not a word in Ienzo's vocabulary.

When he woke up that morning (coincidentially also in a little ball, but that was just how slept), Ienzo would find still another person sitting in his room. Great. How many people had filtered through here in the time he's been around...? Er, well, a lot of them, certainly. But this one he can only see the back of; a white bodysuit, which means he was new. Obviously. But frankly, Ienzo was more interested in the boy's hair.

That. Was Ventus' hair.

Surely it couldn't have been the real Ventus; he was already set up in a different room. It wasn't Roxas, either, by the same logic. But it could easily be an alternate version of one of those two -- heavens knew he'd seen enough of those. Ienzo was just about to simply ignore him when he heard the boy mumble something under his breath; he strained to catch it, but even the crown prince of low volume couldn't get it. He heard the next one, though, and as he sat up in bed, he asked, "...Who are you talking to?"

You break him more, you keep him.

That wasn't Vanitas' voice and he was sure that none of the Unversed that he'd been made to fight could talk, aside from Vanitas. It was confirmed when he whipped around, eyes wide with fear that he'd attracted attention from someone.

Great great and if he didn't answer the question, then this new person was going to be angry and that was never a good thing. Even though he answered, he showed no recognition of Ienzo, which would have helped explain the fear, but this seemed to be more of an overall fear of people. "..N-No one. I-I didn't mean to d-disturb you. I'm sorry."

They're pretty much stuck together anyway, now.

The boy moved quickly and gracelessly, staring at him wide-eyed with horror. Ienzo made no outward change to his expression, but inside he was thinking that this Ventus had to be at least somehow different from the one he knew. There was no way the 'real' one (he knew that nothing made one Ventus more 'real' than the other, but it was just simple terminology) would act like that, even if he had just died and woken up in a new room... and since the boy's terrified eyes weren't calming down again from recognition, that meant that it had to be a different one, one that had never met him.

And as soon as he opened his mouth, Ienzo was sure that it definitely, definitely wasn't Ventus.

"...I never said I was disturbed by it," he said, cold-blooded as ever. "Only who you were talking to." Regardless, he seemed to accept Ventus' stuttering as an answer.

Different and broken, if he's reacting as if the reply was physical. Even if the other accepted his answer, for Ventus, the tone of the reply had him more on edge, hand gripping his keyblade reflexively before Ventus forced himself to let go, tensing as he did so.

Even though Ienzo appeared to accept the answer, Ventus was still wary, though he was honestly trying to calm himself, but being suddenly thrust into an unknown situation, especially after he'd fallen unconscious from 'training' with Unversed not long ago, wasn't doing much to help.

Neither was Ienzo's demeanour or tone; Ventus currently had him pegged as someone to be rather wary of, if not outright submissive to until otherwise proven, but even then...

Vanitas had done a lot of damage to his psyche. "Sorry. I... I-Is this a -t-test? B-Because o-otherwise I'll be in trouble a-and h-he won't happy."

His voice started to trail off after the otherwise, becoming no more than a whisper as he curled up more.

Ienzo was having more than a little difficulty determining how to respond to this boy who had suddenly appeared in his dorm. He could just see the collar between his hair and hunched shoulders, and though the boy's body blocked the Keyblade on the other side, he knew that something had become very tense. The two of them sat in silence for a considerable while until 'Ventus' spoke again, this time with even more stuttering and uncertainly to his tone; it seemed to dissolve into nothing as he spoke.

"...If it is a test," he said after a while, thinking over the answer to what he had gathered of the boy's question (and deciding not to question who 'he' was), "then everyone else in this room is as much a test subject as you are." Which was, of course, in a very curious and roundabout way, a manner of saying I don't know.

At least the tower collar blocked the other collar that this Ventus also wore - not that he'd answer any questions about it. It was sometime before he nodded, seemingly starting to calm down finally. So far, nothing bad had happened nor had he been hurt any shape or form AND it didn't appear that there were any Unversed lurking around and that, in his mind, counted for a lot. There was no way that he was going to trust anyone yet(Though somewhere buried deep in him, he was extremely glad that he'd finally gotten away from Vanitas, but good luck getting him to show that for a long time) but just getting him calmed down was a decent start.

Along with Ventus starting to slowly uncurl and look around again. He was curious - very much so, but conditioning had almost stifled that.

Almost. "Others?" There's more? That wide-eyed look seemed to say before darting around the room again. "What d-do you mean, mr...?"

Ha, yeah, no Unversed. Just wait until the one that already terrorizes him comes scuttling through the room, then they're both in deep doo-doo. But that could wait, really, Ienzo had a newcomer to grill. Even if Ventus has had a whole vat of boo-hoo terrible things happen to him, Ienzo is not one of those boys who is fond of listening to sentiments. That is, he is not like most every other child on the planet, save perhaps for those who grew up in particularly nasty ghettos.

Slowly, the not-Ventus began to come out of his ball-shaped formation and look around the area. Understandable. Ienzo had actually done much the exact same thing when he came, though of course the concern was far more muted on his face. "...Yes, there is more... many more." And when Ventus posed his second question, he said only, "...Ienzo."

"..Ventus." He didn't say call him Ven - he hadn't heard that for a long, long time; Even then, Ven had been twisted, mocking - and it was associated with his former friends. Traitors who'd left him in the darkness and hadn't even cared enough to look for him, or so Vanitas had said - and given that no one had come when he'd needed it the most- he believed the other.

A deep breath and a shake his head. He wouldn't think of them; the betrayal just hurt too much. "Who's here?"

Ventus. Interesting; this version didn't use the odd nickname the real Ventus did. Ienzo didn't call him 'Ven' either, to be honest, so that wasn't much of a problem... but still, it just went to prove that this Ventus and the one he was used to was very, very different. So instead Ienzo watched the back of his pointy, sun-shaped head until he spoke again. "Who's here?"

"...People from many assorted worlds," he said simply. There was no way he could name the number of people living in the tower, especially since it had swelled so much in the months he'd been here.

"Oh. Then They might..." And his face darkened with hatred and betrayal, so out of place if anyone knew the 'real' Ventus. But just as quickly, a look of sorrow and hopelessness and abandonment replaced that, then it too was gone.

"W-What ab-about who shares this room?"

Ienzo waited (somewhat) patiently as Ventus mumbled nonsense to himself, and at the next question he heard, he responded. "...Well," he said, "there is a third person in this room; his name is Karkat Vantas. He isn't human; he's a troll, but his race is essentially the same, as far as I know." Ienzo glances over to look at Karkat, and -- whoa. Looks like a fourth person came in when he wasn't looking. "...and finally, it appears we have someone else, though I do not know who he is."

"I see..." Not human? Ven's face might have shown confusion, though he didn't ask. HE simply nodded and accepted the information. He'd been taught not to ask unless he needed clarification. Which was rare; and anyway, this was a trivial matter. "Thank you. W-What about those you know, here?"

He didn't know what he'd do with the names, but he figured it would be useful information to know. Or maybe it was the small backbone peeking out and trying to sate his desire to know things. Or maybe the part that was so wrapped around Vanitas's fingers was information gathering on the off chance that the 'Unversed King' would arrive here.

"...There are about ninety people living here," he said at length, thinking over what this new Ventus had said. There was no way he was going to waste time describing everyone he had met here; besides, that's what his notebook was for. "Individuals can come in and out at any given time, but they are not in control of when this happens." He decided against mentioning his own Ventus; if the two were ever to meet, they could sort it out perfectly fine on their own.

Speaking of Unversed, though, there was now a Flood creeping on the floor between the two beds. It had been brought in as a 'reward' for being experimented on a few weeks ago, and even though Ienzo had basically flipped the fuck out when he saw it for the first time, he was now training himself to pretend that the creature was not there. He still didn't feel comfortable around them, though.

Another nod. Ninety? That was a lot of people with faces and names to remember and adjust to, by the looks of it. Ventus couldn't say that he was thrilled - he was terrified at the thought of so many. Though, so far the room seemed like a safe-haven that he could return to. Then again, even if it wasn't, the letter said that he had too. But it seemed ok --

Right up until he heard the tell-tale sound of a Flood creeping around.

Here? Now? Vanitas must be looking for him, as Ventus honestly doubted that the masked boy had been killed when his world was destroyed.

White as a ghost, Wayward Wind raised defensively as he looked around, trying to spot were there thing came from. Living with the Unversed, for all it could be called living, had left him with intimate knowledge of what they sounded like. It was only one from what he could tell, but even one was enough to have him alert. Ventus assumed that he'd know if it was a Watcher or not soon enough.

"..A-Are you an Unversed l-like V-Vanitas?" Well, if he assumed that Vanitas is an Unversed (and that's never been corrected), it's not a small step, to him, to assume that you are as well.

The actual count is more somewhere around one hundred, but even though he's been here quite a while, Ienzo has missed several people on his circuits around the tower, so his estimate is just that -- an estimate. Albeit one with an excess amount of work put into it.

Ienzo's notice, too, turned towards the Flood as soon as he heard the shhwsh that meant it had come near. The thing had caused him to... grossly overrect the first time he had seen it, but it seemed that even this Ventus had enough control to handle himself. For even though the color had drained from his face, and he looked absolutely scared, this Ventus was bringing out a Keyblade too. But instead of, oh, I don't know, attacking the Unversed, he addresses Ienzo instead.

And mentions Vanitas. It seems this version has had difficulty with a Vanitas too; but he's an Unversed here, while the other Ventus' Vanitas was a... whatever the other Vanitas was. But Ienzo is definitely not an Unversed. "...No." He didn't even know what Unversed were even called until a few days ago, but no way is he going to tell anyone that, even if it was a seriously upset alternate-continuity Ventus.

Ventus just assumed that the Dark Other was an Unversed, given that he could create them. He knew nothing else.

Terrified and on the verge of panic - ready to attack the thing if it came to close and he was sure it would; they seemed to be attracted him for some unfathonable reason other than Vanitas' orders. ~~Might have to do with that you give off everything the Unversed like, Ventus.~~

The No didn't help much, but he didn't have that much time to think on it as the Flood was soon up on his bed and Ventus was starting to back the fuck up, eyes glued to the form as he started to hyperventilate just a fraction. And then it leapt, Ventus' keyblade swinging the second it was airborne. Ienzo might not even notice, but Ventus swing had more power behind it than his counterpart - and he was left-handed.

"GO AWAY!" He felt stupid for yelling at it when he knew - KNEW that it never worked in the past and usefully only egged them on which then lead to 'training' and already he was shifting, mind blanking out - swapping to automatic.

Ready to fight.

Of course, doesn't mean that Ienzo over here could know that. He's not a mind reader... at least, not yet. He's only heard about Vanitas from the other Ventus, who himself had some unfortunate run-ins with him, so the details on his identity were vague. And of course this Vanitas could be completely different, due to coming from a different universe.

As Ventus jumped around on the bed and busted out Keyblades and whatnot, Ienzo once again found himself reduced to sitting there and staring. He was trying to draw attention away from himself, and if the attention went onto Ventus, so be it. He wasn't at all versed in the ways of swordfighting, so he didn't notice much about the power behind each boy's swing, but he did see that this Ventus was left handed -- and held his sword in a normal fashion. It had perplexed him how Ventus could fight so efficiently with his weapon inherently facing the wrong direction.

The Unversed was stunned for a second by Ventus' yowling, but only a second. Right afterward it was on the approach again, fascinated by all the new and exciting ANGST that had spawned in this new resident. The other two were ok it guessed, but their ANGST and RAEG was getting kind of old.

When it came to fighting in close quarters with very little room to move, Ventus was beginning to become adept at using his keyblade the wrong way. He still rathered his backhand grip of course. More natural, but beggers could hardly be choosers. As it was, he was already looking around, squinting from time to time, assessing where he could and could not fling the Flood.

Finally, he settled on the nearest wall. there was to much unknown in the room for anything else, and walls were safe targets, right?

Not that it mattered. A shift to his normal grip and then a crouch. As soon as the flood was in range, the wing was aimed to send it into the nearest wall.

And the swing connected, sending the Flood crashing into the wall. Fortunately, they were very light creatures, so no damage came to the structure. The same could not be said, however, for the Flood, which slid down the wall and fell in a heap on the floor. It didn't seem to be moving.

Meanwhile, Ienzo could only sit there and stare at the whole thing.

Only once he was sure that it wasn't going to come back, did Ventus start to relax.

"..H-He's here, i-isn't he?" He was Vanitas of course. A Flood was here, so what was he to think? While Ventus looked scared and like he just wanted to hide, the words out of his mouth contradicted him. "And he's gonna be mad... I - I need to find him!"

"...Look on the plates outside each dormitory room," he said flatly. "They list the people living inside. If Vanitas is here, then he probably is living on either this floor or the one above it."

"Ven!" Unfortunatly for this Ven Romeo didn't really pay attention to the clothing, he just saw the hair and the face and was now running up to him with a huge smile on his face. "I brought back your hoverboard!" He held it out, he had been meaning to find Ven for a few days now, since he obviously didn't need the board now that he was back to normal.

"Thank you!"

Unfortunately for Romeo, his efforts only had Ventus stumbling back, keyblade in his left hand and raised defensively - definitely not aggressively either - before he even registered what was going on. When he did a few seconds later, his face crumpled into confusion with no recognition at all; though the wariness was still there.

He did lower the keyblade to his side though, but given how fast was at summoning it, he can probably aim it in a heart beat if he felt he needed to defend himself.

The he just cocks his head to the left, curious as all hell, but not saying a word.

Romeo's eyes widened as Ven stumbled backwards and brought his key blade up to defend himself. What had happened? Why was he so nervous of Romeo. Romeo hadn't done anything to him, had he?

Romeo finally took in Ven's clothing which was in a much worse state of disreapair then they had been last time Romeo had seen him. He added that to his fear and his shock turned to concern. "Ven, are you alright? Did someone hurt you? Was it the bad people?" He looked around as if expecting said bad people to be there.

"D-Don't c-call m-me Ven."Even Ventus voice was somewhat different. Softer and more prone to stuttering of all things. "I-It's Ventus. I-I do-don't know what you mean by ba-bad people. Wh-who are you?"

Romeo's eyes widened again and he nodded quickly, "Sorry sir!" He was even more confused, Ven was one of the people who had asked Romeo just to call him just by his first name, but if he didn't want him to anymore...

Then he bit his lip, this was worse than he thought! It was like what had happened to Napeta, when she disapeared and came back and couldn't remember anything. The bad people must have stolen his memories.

"I'm Romeo mister Ventus, I think the bad people, they are the ones that kidnapped us and brought us here, must have took away your memories..." Wait, he didn't want to worry him, he seemed really nervous, the bad people must have been really cruel!

"Don't worry though! I'll look after you! Maybe we can find a way to get them back!"

"....N-not Mister.." Ventus shook his head, starting to move away; fear - terror starting to grow in his eyes. This was too much, too soon at once and the fact that it wasn't his singluar anchor saying this only made things worse. The only one he could trust was Vanitas. He wasn't here and anyone else - they only ended up betraying him. Leaving him in the darkness and without Vanitas... He'd drown in that the darkness. (Or so Ventus had painfully come to accept over the last months.)

"N-No. W-why are you.. I-don't know you. Why? Where is Vanitas?!" He didn't understand - and he was - ok, not so certain that Vanitas was here, but there were Unversed and where there were Unversed, it stood to reason that the Masked teen was also around, somewhere. If not in this place, then somewhere else nearby.

Ventus' back hit the wall, dislodging the tower collar to give a glimpse at another, blueish-purple-black collar with ~~the Unversed~~ a strange symbol on it.

Romeo, now would be a good time to clue in that this is an Alternate Ventus. Who is, again, on the edge of panic.

That would be asuming Romeo has that level of deduction, sadly he doesn't...

However he saw the collar and he knew that Ven didn't usually wear it, he wondered if the bad people had put it on him, he could also see that his friend was very very scared and Romeo didn't want to scare him anymore.

Even though he was sad about his friend not knowing who he was, and Romeo had no idea who Vanitas was, Ven had never mentioned him before, Romeo took a deep breath and stepped backwards so that the man didn't think he was going to hit him or anything.

"I'm not going to hurt you sir." He said quietly, "I don't know who Vanitas is but maybe he is here as well. I can help you look for him if you like. Is he your friend?"

Anything scared and vulnerable looking is like a bright little sign to Fran. After all, the apparently downtrodden always had problems, and she fixed problems.

Would you happen to be sick, little sir? Would you happen to want something changed about yourself~?

"You're looking a little walleyed, there~. You wouldn't happen to be new, would you~~?"

~~Does Fran have years? Because it'll take that much at minimum to fix Ventus.~~

".... Y-Yes. I'm new." It took all his effort not to jump and summon his keyblade. It didn't stop him from eyeballing her though - like he was gauging if he'd need to defend himself. After all, he had no idea who was friendly and who wasn't and his default reaction to being started or even approached by unknowns (and often Vanitas) was to defend the hell out of himself until he was unconscious.

~~Well, her schedule HAS recently become exceedingly free.~~

Getting eyeball'd is nothing new to Fran - hello, look at this lovely headgear - so she easily ignores any and all feelings ~~of others in general~~ of apprehension Ventus might be broadcasting.

..his voice strikes her as rather familiar, though. Hadn't they spoken over the network some time ago...?

"I guess the definition of new can be a bit lenient~."

"I-I arrived t-today." Even that sounded lame to Ventus.

"W-Who are you?"

"...Really? I could swear I've heard your voice before. Ah, well~. Perhaps my ears are playing tricks."

Fran taps the back of one of her ears experimentally, but it seems to be in satisfactory condition. She frowns.

"Hn. Then it's nice to make your completely new acquaintance. I'm Fran Madaraki, assistant to the renowned doctor Naomitsu Madaraki."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This Ven should come with a handle gently sign.

Handle gently? HA HA HA HA HA, HA HA HA, HA HA HA HA HA HA...

.. /sobs (and tries to keep down the glee)

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Sorry I'm so slow ;_;

It's fine <3

/sobs ... and then Ventus flipped out a bit. / and i hope this sounds ok?

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.. I need a better Stockholm icon for Ventus. /o\

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Sorry ;;

Sorry I'm so slow ;_; and Chrome, stop eating this.

Don't worry!

Re: Don't worry!

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sorry this is taking forever. I'm not getting notifs :(

Bad LJ! Sob I am so sorry about Romeo ;;

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Sorry I'm so slow ;_;

same from me, bro