towerofanimus

Entry tags:

01

Characters: Zexion, open
Setting: Dorm 1-08 → Floor Three → Dining hall
Format: Action brackets to start, following with either
Summary: Zexion arrives, sniffs around, hits the library, sniffs some more, then eats oatmeal.
Warnings: None

[Zexion awakes, waits for the sleep paralysis to pass, reads the letters, then promptly prepares himself with the trunks' possessions and departs for the third floor. A multitude of scents assault his nose on the way. There are many in the Tower; some are familiar, including a few whose names are on the tip of his tongue, but most are new. He proceeds with care and caution so as to avoid being seen.

Seating himself before a network terminal deep on the third floor, he burrows into the backlogs. Never mind the books. It's imperative that he learn as much as possible while unable to utilize the Corridors of Darkness to a worldly extent, and the library provides a more private atmosphere than the halls of the dormitory. A great deal of time passes. He reads and listens in silence, pausing for the heavier information to sink in as he balances the new-found knowledge. Certainly, with all this rich (yet unreliable) information floating around in public, he can inwardly justify the impossible presence of certain scents and why some seem different. Even his.

He spares an hour or two for the bookshelves and finds nothing of significant worth.

Then he's back on the first floor, seated so casually in a corner of the dining hall, bowl of oatmeal in tow, that he appears inconspicuous upon initial glance, except he's anything but with his dark style of dress and flat expression.]

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[One of the strikingly familiar scents is walking right behind you, Zexion.]

[Ienzo's been in here all day, checking the contents of the bookshelves to what is listed in the nearby directory, since it seems the Tower's book classification system is different than the one he is familiar with. The continued absence of the tomes upstairs has made him suspicious, but aside from the occasional one-book gaps where somebody presumably checked one of the books out, there was nothing missing so far.]

[He's so focused on taking inventory that he completely misses your presence, Zexion. Whatcha gonna do?]

[If he were prone to outbursts, he might have whipped around with an undignified "oh my g -- " but thankfully this is not (and will never be) the case. As it is, he's already aware of this boy's presence thanks to the backlogs. Zexion should have expected to run into him here of all places.

But not this soon, and certainly not at such proximity without either even realizing. Apparently Zexion had been too caught up in other matters to take notice, and with the slight vagueness on whom the scent belonged to until now . . . Elementary mistake. The same applies to Ienzo, he muses, turned on his heels to watch from behind. The boy could stand to pay more attention to the "outside." It's advantageous for Zexion, who's not going to bother with this right now.

Pushing a book about some mundane thing or other back into place and eliciting a soft thud in the process, he rounds the shelf to the other side.]

[The noise catches his attention. Truth be told, he's only doing this at all because it's something to do, besides slowly going stir-crazy. Honestly, he wants/needs to be useful somehow, even if there is literally nothing that could be done in such an isolated environment; and even if the idea would have sounded nice to the version of himself from Radiant Garden, well, he was pretty sure this was now going on six months.]

[He turns to the end of the hall just in time to catch Zexion coming into sight. If he had any reaction to the apparent aged-up döppelganger, he didn't show it, but he does straighten his posture and attempt to meet Zexion's gaze for a moment before returning attention to the cataloging.]

[Zexion voluntarily meets Ienzo's gaze, but the gesture is as brief as they both allow it to be. Once Ienzo turns back to cataloging, their business is over.

His thoughts are anything but racing. It's a simple fact that his Other has been here long before him, and that influences very little, save perhaps for the potential that people might compare their faces -- which is hardly a problem when sharing faces is a common occurrence. How they're both present is a temporal paradox explained by the ability to draw in people from different times. And dimensions. It's all so easy, really. Ienzo is the least of his problems; a straightforward question.

The library has nothing to offer in the way of Tower-related information, and he isn't interested in other reading material. That's enough to drive Zexion out of the third floor in favor of getting to everything else for the remainder of the day. Research and acclimation come first.

He doesn't so much as glance back as he walks away.]

[Have fun with that, Zexion.]

[It doesn't take long for Ienzo to establish that this other person either A. has a coincidentally similar appearance to his own, and is therefore nothing to worry about, or B. is possibly an alternate version of himself, like the trolls with their blood colors or the gender-changed nations. Though humans, of course, don't have blood that changes color past occasionally blue -- so the Tower considered his age instead? Hm.]

[Obviously he hadn't changed much in the years between his current timeframe and the 'new one'. They hadn't exchanged a single word with one another, and it seemed as if the older Ienzo had grown more adept at hiding his emotions; for the few minutes they looked at one another, his face was lacking in even the smallest tic, or twinge of a muscle when he saw himself as a young child looking through the books. One way or another, if the worst came to it, the older Ienzo would at least be a help in figuring out what's happening in this Tower... probably.]

[He watches the older one briefly as he leaves, and then returns to floating the shelves.]

[Naminé has, during her time in the tower, come to find the library a pleasant place to visit. There are countless books to entertain and instruct as well as comfortable seating and lots of out-of-the-way places tucked between the shelves where one might feel relatively safe. It's become her favorite place to draw; there, she has space and solitude and comfort, without any of the unsettling things that are present on other, similar floors.]

[Let's see how long that lasts, hm?]

[Today, Naminé makes her way through the library as she often does, sketchbook and box of colored pencils clutched to her chest while she takes quiet steps between the aisles of bookshelves, totally oblivious to the presence of an unpleasantly familiar arrival from home. She doesn't have his sense of smell, she isn't using her powers to seek out the hearts and minds of others, and she can't see him through the shelves, so her travel continues uninterrupted and she remains unaware of him even as she grows ever closer.]

[Although this is a scent he hasn't picked up in many months, it is one he can put a name to almost immediately and doesn't bother confronting right away. Her status as a traitor has been long established, but she's neither of significance nor of harm at this point. Especially here.

It's curious. According to her responses on the network, she'd last been in The World That Never Was after claiming to be from Twilight Town. She never went there on the Organization's notice -- not that he's aware of, anyway -- and she went missing sometime during his debacle with Axel, which leads to one conclusion . . .

Once she's close, perhaps a shelf away, he speaks up.]

After all that it took to escape the Organization, why did you return to the castle? Naminé.

[The sound that she makes as she stops short upon first hearing his voice is quiet, but obviously distressed. She freezes, in more ways than one; her muscles immediately arrest all movement, and a profound chill fills her from head to toe. She wishes she could lie to herself, tell herself she was just hearing things, but she's not much of a liar, and she heard him loud and clear. She's long been aware of Ienzo's presence, and although she still has not fully accepted that he means no harm, she's at least gotten more relaxed. Her fears have been directed at the actions of the tower, not the Organization and the possibility of their involvement or arrival. Perhaps she's gotten too comfortable here, to have been so thoroughly taken unawares. Her eyes are wide and fearful when she finally begins to move again and turns swiftly in search of the source of the voice.]

[He isn't about to round the shelf between them just for her sake. Not yet. Zexion doesn't need to see the girl to continue talking to her, and if she says or does something, he'll hear it. At times, however, like now, he doesn't even need to use his ears to guess what she's up to. He can practically sniff the fear, which, as a primal reaction, isn't entirely unheard of for a Nobody, special or not.

Folding his arms, he glazes over the titles on his side. He'll just have to keep talking. Throw in a calculated guess.]

Was it because of Sora?

[It's easy enough to figure out where he is by the sound of his voice. Even once she's done so, she doesn't move from her spot. She's still too used to being unable to escape, to being at the mercy of the Organization. Her shoulders rise, and she holds her drawing materials more tightly.]

How do you know about that? [Not the part about it being because of Sora, the part about her going back to the castle. It comes out sounding at least a little less distressed than she looks.]

Research.

[The network boasts a great deal of useful information, personal and in relation to the Tower, and that's exactly what he took advantage of. He's going to leave that for her to piece together, after all that piecing together he's had to do, himself, for other matters.]

For you to deliver yourself to the heart of the Organization after over nine months of hiding, I'm curious as to the cause.

[Though he sounds rather flat as he says this.]

[Research? She needs to think about it for only a moment or two before the answer presents itself to her. The network. Of course. She should have realized it immediately. She feels a little more unsettled than she already was to think of what he might have perused.]

[Her first instinct is not to antagonize or disobey him, but-- she's also not about to go telling him everything, either. Belatedly, she begins to consider the possibility of attempting to escape. Staying quiet, however, would probably make her thoughts too obvious, if they weren't already, so, as benignly as possible,]

... There were things that I had to do.

[He pulls at the spine of a book to get a closer look before pushing it back in. Honestly, this library has so little to offer beyond mundane subjects.

An obvious answer, but it isn't as though Zexion were expecting any different. Naminé has no reason to tell him anything. She was never even a part of the Organization. Of course, that doesn't mean he won't find out. Just later than sooner, he supposes, should he find himself truly invested in the answers. But it would take a while.

The idea of obligations is laughable considering her multiple offenses in Castle Oblivion.]

You are not exactly known to follow what you "had" to do.

[The tension in her brow grows a little at the comment. She doesn't seem otherwise conspicuously offended by the comment, even though it's an absurd one, itself. The obligations she had to the Organization were the kind of obligations based in threats and coercion. They may have 'raised' her, in a sense, but they did so for their own ends, and she has no illusions about that.]

I didn't have the right kind of motivation before. [It's not a jab so much as a truthful statement, and that's the way it sounds, behind the nervousness.]

[It's remarkable how picky she can be. For Nobodies, the ends should justify whatever means they employ. But Naminé -- she and just about every special Nobody -- begged to differ. Perhaps antagonism on the Organization's part had to have played a part.

Zexion's reply is as smooth as his earlier responses, and just as flat, save for the slight difference in pitch from the smallest of feigned amusement.]

Is that why you followed Marluxia? Because your motivator was Sora? He seems to be the primary driving force behind your actions as of late.

[Though that particular incident isn't what he's getting at. It's no feat to connect Naminé with Sora's faulty restoration. Naturally, he's no fool to believe Sora may be the only cause, but it's a start, and it would make a lot of things logical.]

[She's not very good at being a sociopath. Pity, empathy, guilt, shame - all are surprisingly good checks upon her actions, considering what she is (supposed to be?). She didn't have much incentive to be loyal to the Organization, but for them, too, she holds some amount of pity, some sympathy for the loss they all share.]

....

[The mention of Sora makes something in her chest tighten. It's not too far a jump. No matter what she'd said, he'd likely have realized that Sora is, in fact, one of the main forces behind most of her actions. She doesn't want to endanger or involve him, but it's far, far too late for that.]

I followed Marluxia because I didn't think that I had a choice. [That loneliness was too much to bear, at least until she understood that the alternative was too much to bear, too.] I stopped when I realized that I did. [And when she had the chance. Axel, at least, she can protect, assuming Zexion isn't already aware of the redhead's involvement in her escape. It's not at all a lie, it's just a way of saying it that doesn't focus on Sora.]

[Fortunately for Axel, Zexion isn't aware.

Yes, he thinks. She stopped for someone else. If she had a choice, then it would have been between Sora and Marluxia, or at least anyone besides the latter, though that doesn't change the fact that she did indeed, since her moment of rebellion, make a decision of her own. So she gained some measure of independence. It isn't impossible, and it didn't come as a shock in the slightest.

And so it's no longer a matter worth gracing with an answer.]

[His silence is almost as unsettling as his speech is, and it causes her to fall silent, as well. Perhaps this is the best time to make her escape. She doesn't know if he's distracted or he's simply lost interest in her, but whichever is the case, now's her chance. Quietly, she turns to do her best to hurry away.]

[Riku almost flinches when he sense that familiar scent settle into place, Darkness and yet Nothingness twined into one, and he just hopes he is wrong about this (he doesn't count on it though).

There is only one way to find out though, and while he is not entirely sure what to expect of this encounter, he knows it'd happen sooner or later and he'd rather get it over than be caught by unaware.

Considering his weapon of choice, it isn't that surprising to find Zexion in the library, he thinks as he enters the floor, hand curling into a fist, the Soul Eater a dark-fierce tingle beneath his palm, but he doesn't call on it; not yet.

Even so he's tense. He knows better than to understate this particular Nobody.]

[Zexion pauses. There's something familiar about the scent that just entered the floor, but the way the darkness shrouds it -- is worn? -- makes it staggeringly difficult to identify. Now how could any creature have managed that?

Ceasing his current activities, Zexion stands and turns in the direction of the floor's entrance. He hovers a hand just above his nose in an effort to home in on the scent. Whether the owner stays put or moves closer, either will work advantageously for him in this. Though he would prefer to avoid confrontation if that's what awaits their potential meeting. ]

[He lets her go. The conversation was never meant to go too deeply on his agenda; it had been only been to have her be aware of his presence, among other things. She's straightened out quite a few things for him, anyway, unwittingly or not.

So he turns his full attention back to the books.]

[If given the choice, Riku would have opted to stay invisible, to hide his identity and his presence and just watch from afar, just like he has done in the last ten months. But here it isn't quite as simple as just slipping into a Corridor of Darkness and disappearing towards the next world if driven into a corner, so he will have to come up with a different strategy.

He does not intent to do anything but talk - for now - and maybe... discuss 'boundaries'.

For now he lingers in the shadows though, watching just a moment longer, now that he is almost certain that Zexion can sense him.]

[The scent is both familiar and similar to something else, just like before when he'd picked up on one like it in the basement, although this has its slight differences in presentation. Then it all falls into place, and Zexion waves languidly, containing his mild surprise at the unexpected (but expected, in retrospect) presence.]

Greetings, Riku.

[Well, looks like he's been found - not that he was really trying to hide. A moment later he melts out of the shadows, no trace of surprise or unease on his face, just the neutral expression he has somewhat perfected in the last ten months.]

Zexion.

[An expression far too emotionless than what Zexion's used to. The boy was so expressive back then, and so full of fear. It's time to exchange vague notes, if he's willing.]

You wear the darkness quite well. Unusually, too.

[Is it the reason for the blindfold?]

[That was then and ten months are a lot of time for someone to change, to lose fear, to craft masks. To learn some about the arts of vague notes too.]

It's just a matter of knowing how.

[Which, ironically enough, he had learned while fighting Zexion. Though the fact that this seems to be new to the other, seems to indicate he was from before that point, perhaps? Only time would tell, he supposes.]

It's also the matter of acting upon that knowledge.

[Having the guts, in other words. The differences he's already observed show a remarkable leap. Unless he's from much, much later than Zexion's time, something else must account for them.]

[Riku just crooks his head ever so slightly and shrugs in a careless manner that is probably rather reminding of how he used to be before leaving Castle Oblivion.

Because you know, maybe he's acting on it, maybe he's not. If Zexion can't tell himself then that's his loss.]

[A loss, is it? He brings a hand up to his chin.]

Tell me, how long has it been?

[He takes his time to consider his reply; and if he should answer in first place. In the end, he sees no harm in it.]

A year. Give or take a few weeks.

[What a coincidence. The dates seem to almost match up. A beat, then he also throws out,]

Why the coat?

[A question that was to be anticipated.]

Convenience.

[It's nice not to have to worry about his use of Corridors after all. The rest of the Organization guessing at his identity for a while, didn't hurt either.]

[A likable answer.]

Well, then, shall we get to the heart of the matter? [There's the faintest trace of a smirk.] You came here for to set the boundaries, I'd assume.

Speak your piece, Riku.

[Thank you(?).

He feels a twist in his stomach as Zexion calls him out on his intentions; even though he isn't quite certain about them himself yet... but he can't show any of that. Not in front of this guy, because Zexion won't hesitate to exploit that weakness.

Still he can allow himself this pause as he considers what to say. In the end, there is no doubt about what needs to be said anyways.]

Don't touch any of them. Don't even go near them. If you want someone to play mind games with... I suppose I'm game.

[Because, as much as he loathes mind games, he dislikes the thought Sora - either of them - or Naminé (or anyone else for that matter) being exposed to them even more.

Besides... he figures he can handle whatever Zexion might throw at him. However-]

Try with them and I won't hesitate to come after you.

[It's as simple as that.]

You know that's not how it works.

[The effectiveness of "mind games" would be hideously low if he only worked it on one person that was aware. Oh, he could still run with it. But it would hardly be advantageous, and thus does not appeal to Zexion in the slightest, even if Riku would make a fascinating subject.

Still, with that ambiguous answer, he continues,]

. . . And if they come of their own accord?

[Riku just raises an eyebrow, because really. Zexion can't possibly think that he cares one bit about the effectiveness of his mindgames. He is simply 'speaking his piece' as the other had put it, so that if Zexion finds himself facing the business end of the Soul Eater, he'll know exactly why that is.

There is still the that knot in his gut twisting, because he knows it can't possibly that easy, he knows better than to think that he threats will be enough to keep Zexion in check. Zexion fights with words not violence, and while continued exposure to the likes of DiZ has made him probably a little more prepared for that than he had been in Castle Oblivion, he knows better than to assume himself able to out-think this particular schemer.

That question is a trap; because for all that he can warn them, he can't control anyone's actions, much less Sora's, and both of them are so very vulnerable and very easily baited. He can't show any of the fear the thought of either of them walking into one of Zexion's traps causes, can't let that weakness show.

He snorts instead.]

Brushing you in the hallway is hardly 'coming of their own accord'.

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