niteo_logs | Day 01 - Fish Out Of Water

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Day 01 - Fish Out Of Water

Characters: AU!Roxas, AU!Xion and YOU(Yes, you)!
When: Early to Mid-morning
Where: Starting in what's now an abandoned subway station
Rating: G to PG-ish? No swearing, but mild horror undertones.
Summary: Guess what Nesreca people. You've got some fresh meat.

It was a strange development for Roxas. Not more than fifteen minutes prior, he was certain that he'd just been riding the subway in Haven, enjoying some out and about time with Xion. It was something new; regularly spending time together like that and honestly, it started out being a little awkward. His memories of their days in the Organization had settled into returning at a steadier pace, but true to her word, she'd been helping explain the things he remembered, giving context when something would return that was exceptionally out of sequence. Plus it helped him get a feel for the friendship they had back then. Overall, it'd been nice and it was an experience he'd been gradually growing more and more fond of -even looking forward to. But that was beside the point.

The strange development was that one moment he'd been dozing lightly on the train, guitar case between his legs and skateboard across his lap with Xion not too far away and the next, he'd realized that something had gone rather horrendously wrong with the world. For starters, when he woke again, he found the train completely deserted aside from the two of them. Furthermore, a glance outside revealed that the subway station that they'd stopped at was in complete shambles -the whole thing looked like it'd been taken right out of a post-apocalypse movie. So he'd wasted little time in rousing his friend from her sleep, who seemed just as shocked as he was to see their new environment.

Gathering what belongings they had with them, they got off the train and gave their surroundings an immediate once-over. Then as icing on top of an already eerie cake, when their backs turned, they saw but a flicker on the wall before the lights from the train they'd been aboard abruptly went out. To their dismay, what once had been a car from a commuter train that could've been from any town was now a dilapidated, rusted mess that looked like it hadn't seen use in ages -despite the fact that they'd been on it only moments prior.

As they walked about to investigate, their first thoughts had them drawing their phones, expecting to find a cluster of shards with an army of shadows either using or protecting it. But both were only greeted with 'No Service' messages on their small LCD screens. At a loss for what to do next, they merely proceeded through the station, looking for a way out. It seemed that whatever catastrophe befell their surroundings, it'd taken place quite some time ago. Light poured in from the larger sections of ceiling that had collapsed in, leaving piles of rubble and almost enchanting beams of light shining down from the world outside. What little light they had to go by showed the walls where they could see varied vines taking root in whatever crevices that time and the elements had opened up. After a little more than ten minutes of wandering, listening to the echo of their footsteps mixed with the occasional murmured comment, they found themselves ascending the stairs leading up and out of the station. Up and out to a world almost completely alien to them.

Rather than the familiar scene of Haven, the pair find themselves faced with a ruined city; signs that life had once existed there scattered about in the varied debris left behind. But at least immediately, there didn't seem to be another living person in sight. His shoes crunching on the gravel as he took the first steps on the normal ground level, Roxas stared about, mouth agape at the scene before him. Not once had he ever seen a place in ruins quite like this -at least nothing that wasn't a picture of some ancient city in a school text book.

Without turning to her, he simply commented to his friend, "I don't think we're in Haven anymore."

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Didn't think they were in Haven anymore. That was... certainly an understatement as Xion studied the ruined architecture. The buildings in themselves were difficult to distinguish one from the other off to one side, but otherwise, there was a hint to something very wrong and very alien to them. This wasn't damage that had been caused just recently. The structures were worn by the weather much like the images in the historical textbooks she had scored back in school when she wasn't caught up trying to figure out what to do next about the shards or trying her best to keep a grip on herself with the situation as it was in Haven. And to top it off, there was a viable difference to their style and build. Nothing. Absolutely nothing like the station they had been intent on traveling to.

And that had Xion sticking closer to Roxas than usual. Her stance at the ready for anyone or anything, almost as if expecting someone or something to pop out at them the moment they turned a corner... which could very well happen, given the new circumstances. But all the same, despite the way she carried herself, there was a sick, churning inside her. It took her a while to even notice what from... but when it hit her, there was a visible wince. The smell of the city even... She couldn't pinpoint what about it, but something... Something really bothered her as she took in the stench of it. Rotting and foul and... Desecrate. She found herself closing in tighter to Roxas with her mouth a grave thin line. Her eyes dim.

"This... This doesn't seem like... At all... But that would mean..."

With her still wearing what she had last been wearing there. And her hair still longer than it usually was. And then the phone had been in her pocket... as well as Anne's house keys. So then... What did that mean for their hosts? If they weren't in Haven anymore, then...? The thought made its presence known in the way her face paled all the more.

Edited 2011-04-11 08:17 (UTC)

All things considered, as they wandered, he probably should've just left it. But something, perhaps the part of him that was still his host insisted on continuing to carry the guitar neatly in its case; skateboard strapped haphazardly to the outside with a pair of bungee cords, as he walked along, gaze slowly panning from one set of ruins to the next. Wherever they'd ended up, it'd seen better days to say the least, but he just couldn't fathom how they might have ended up here. It was even difficult for him to imagine that shards might be involved at this point -their only reliable way of doing so was completely nonfunctional.

Roxas found he couldn't say anything immediately in response to what his friend had just rambled out. From what she said, he was guessing her to be in at least as much a state of shock as he was. But it may well have been more, Xion tended to uncover a great many more details to worry about than his initial considerations tended to take into account.

As it stood right now, he was trying to tally up all the things that seemed entirely wrong with this scene. For starters, the scent in the air didn't escape his nose either, the look on his face told tomes of how it made his stomach feel as if it were churning in revolt. It was like a garbage can from the day care center left open next to a crate of meat scraps from the super market mixed in with a few gallons of weeks-old milk that'd been left in the sun for good measure. Frankly, it was making him feel a little ill.

His gaze finally came down to ground level, giving a cursory glance over the varied rubble and overgrowth that seemed so common where they were. At least until he saw something that made him pause momentarily in his tracks; a brown paper-wrapped parcel bound neatly in some string just sitting in the middle of the path they were taking.

Curiously, he stopped before it, crouching down and setting his encased instrument aside so he could get a better look at the package. As he studied it, he found to his intrigue and modest confusion that that in neat mechanical print was just:

To: Roxas & Xion

Nothing else. No explanations, no warnings, no notes; just their names. So he just stared at the package, unsure what to make of it. The more paranoid voice in his head warned that it might be some kind of trap. Yet so far nothing had happened. All he found himself able to really do was to hold it so that she could have a look herself.

And hopefully by the time she gave it a once over, he might finally be able to get out some meaningful words.

The way Roxas remained quiet as he was, while he had a tendency to be prone to thought like she herself, it still made for an uneasy silence between them. Her thoughts already starting to run rampant. How this couldn't be- How maybe they were just in that nightmare realm again that they had visited once before- but then they had stopped that just weeks ago. Everything had been normal... or as normal as things could get living the life of another person incognito while trying to help this ghost of a child collect the shards and settle whatever dispute was befalling Haven. But still, it was at least a constant. But now...

...Now, she was nearly bumping into him. She had been so tangled in thought, Xion hadn't even realized that he had stopped until it was almost too late. She stumbled back a few paces to give him space before curiously peering out around him. At first, she wasn't sure just what was going on. But that cluelessness was soon derailed as he knelt and now Xion could make out something on the ground before him that had caught his attention. She found herself drawing to a knee herself, murmuring out, "What is it?" Her voice growing small towards the end as she finally noticed the package- the print on it in specific and she just- Those were their names. Not Anne's or Lucen's. Theirs. And it made her stiffen at the sight, so uncertain with her body feeling like it was twisting on the inside.

"What's..." What was going on...?

The more he stood there looking at the package, the more the notion that standing there and staring at it wouldn't yield any answers sank in. So while neither of them seemed to have much an initial idea what to make of it, it only made sense to him that if it was indeed addressed to them, it was meant to be open. It was simple enough logic.

"Only one way to find out."

There was the sound of a growing sense of self-assuredness as he spoke those words. Biting back the dread and shock that this new situation left in his gut, he picked up the package, turning it over to find a spot in the paper wrapping to open it. At least for some reason, he didn't think he should mangle the paper like Lucen apparently did around that Christmas holiday.

Carefully unwrapping the paper and setting it aside left them with a relatively nondescript brown shoebox... just no label or anything else that would've marked it as such. His curiosity now overriding any sense of concern that this could be some manner of trap, he removes the lid and tilts his head aside, looking curiously at the paid of PDAs contained within.

"Is this... are these PDAs?" He inquired, despite the obvious answer as he carefully picked one up and began examining it.

Xion only watched for the moment as Roxas opened the package, studying its contents. There was something about them that seemed like... She was pretty certain she had seen Robin use one of them before, actually. Xion gathered the twin of the device that Roxas himself had picked up and started to fiddle with it. Despite the differences, she connected the dots fairly quickly. Considering she had gotten a good handful on the Castle's mainframe back in their world though- and with practice from their phones in Haven -it really wasn't a surprise. Bringing up a few things here and there, a silent urgency written all over her face until she finally paused in what she was doing. Staring at the screen.

And she continued to, even as she gathered herself back to her feet and started taking a few steps back. Slow at first but then faster until she finally broke her gaze away from the PDA and turned, finding herself running at a full swing sprint in a matter of seconds. Back in the direction of the station they had just emerged from only minutes before.

His time in Haven had given him a chance to get more familiar with some of the more exotic devices... and how did he use that time? Playing video games. Thankfully, the interface wasn't too hard to figure out -something that sat somewhere between his desktop and his phone. Actually, it reminded him a lot of the really expensive-looking phones that he'd seen in the shops while out with his friends. It just made him more and more curious as he quickly figured out the basic functions without too much fuss.

As he found himself getting the hang of his new 'toy', the sound of footsteps nearby caught his attention just in time for him to see Xion backing away. He was about to ask what was going on when she suddenly broke into a full sprint. A thought managed to register before instinct as he snatched the handle to his instrument case before breaking into a sprint of his own after her, pocketing the device as he gave chase.

"Hold up! Will you tell me what's going on already?!"

Roxas' shout was answered by silence. She just kept running, seeming like she hadn't even heard him. It was only a matter of seconds for her to return to the entrance way of the station. Xion took to the steps three, sometimes four at a time. Propelling herself forward, unyielding, even when she began sliding. She would just launch herself off and keep going until she finally finally took one last long leap, clearing five steps and hitting the bottom.

A pause to recover and then she was dashing down through the station itself, making quick footwork back in the direction that they had first come. If Roxas wasn't fast, he would probably lose her. Because she certainly didn't seem like she was going to be slowing down anytime soon.

As he raced after his friend, he was mentally cursing the terrain. If the structural debris wasn't scattered around so thickly, he would've just dropped his board off his guitar case and easily caught up with her. As it stood, it brought at least a similar feeling to that time he'd chased her around Twilight Town with Axel -at least this time, he was fairly sure that even if he did lose her, she'd look for him once she was finished. However, he wasn't a big fan of being left in the dark about things and whatever it was that she was on to, he wanted in on from the start. If for no reason other than to be there for her.

Far more reckless than she was, as soon as he saw her heading for the stairs, his path drifted slightly to her right. With a careful leap, he found to his relief that his abilities still seemed to be functioning as the High Jump he invoked gave him just the added height he needed.

His balance immediately went wobbly as he struggled and managed to keep himself upright; feet finding purchase on the handrail descending back into the station. With some deft shifting on his part, he rode the rail clear to the bottom, leaping off and hitting the ground with an echoing thud before continuing full-tilt after her. He was closer in his pursuit now, a few feet shy of arm's reach as he followed after her as quickly as he could.

"Hey! Can you at least tell me where we're going!?"

"Back!"

Her pace seeming to pick up even further despite the ragged breathing she was beginning to heave. Her body still not accustom to this kind of running around- tiring more easily than it ever had before. But then, it wasn't really surprising considering things. But that still didn't stop her from rushing forth, whipping past pillar after obstructed pillar, occasionally being dappled by the sunlight that had managed to sneak in between cracks. She nearly tripped over one of the vines on the ground beneath her briskly moving feet, but she managed all the same until she finally wove through one set of pillars over towards the train itself that still stood motionless and aged just as it had before.

But just as Xion seemed like she would dart back for the door, she was running along it until she found an opening and was ducking down onto the track itself. And it was then. Only then that she stopped. Breathing hard with her hands resting on her knees as she stood before the rubble that occupied where the tunnel should have been. The only hint of its viable existence hinted by the tracks that fell away in that direction before they were covered.

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*A* You~

And now we party

\o/ /hands out cake! ...and remembers to track thread this time. /fails

/o/ /gets the ice cream

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A You~