niteo_logs | Day 01 - Fish Out Of Water

Entry tags:

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."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She considering carrying the guitar case for a moment when Roxas took to picking it up himself only to reconsider shortly afterward. She was worrying too much about him. A worry that he might feel a little alien to yet even if he was slowly regaining his memories. And even though they had been through a fair bit back at Haven. She didn't want to smother him. Which might have been the only reason in the end that as they came to a stop, the first thing she did was finally relieve the pressure she had put on his hand and see if she had quelled the bleeding.

Seeing as it had eased, she left up the rest of her hold. But that didn't stop her from looking around, trying to find some place near by that might hint towards what she was looking for. A little more focused on that than the conversation at hand, it took her a second to really hear what he had just asked and another couple to actually process it. But finally, a dumb blink and then a nod. "-Yeah. ...Yeah, I know. ...We probably won't be able to, but..." ...She finally glanced at the building that seemed to be the least damaged of the ones in the surrounding area. "...Let's start there maybe?"

Some part of him admittedly felt a little disappointed when she let go, but thinking about it practically -it just probably wasn't the best of ideas to go around hand-in-hand with the two of them in such a strange new place. Plus no small amount of the obstacles presented to them seemed to require both hands to climb over properly. So he didn't make any comment, just spared a glance to the hand she'd been tending to and feeling modestly content that the bleeding had eased up. His other hand hadn't been injured nearly as badly, so while it stung, he didn't think it was too important to have it tended to.

When Xion points out a particular building, he nods and takes the lead. Old habits kicked in as a study of the area and comparing it to what he knew of started allowing him to draw conclusions. Though heavily damaged and overgrown in some places with untended greenery, he was willing to hedge a bet that with all the taller buildings that they were in some kind of business district. From what he could tell of the structural remnants, they stood in the intersection near an office park.

Roxas watches his step as he approaches the shattered glass doors, nothing but metal frames outlining where the panes had been and stepping through the opening carefully. The lobby he'd entered seemed as devoid of power as the rest of the city, so he was willing to bet that they'd need some proper flashlights or at least a torch to see what the deeper parts of the building had.

"Watch your step." He warned, sounding somewhat distracted as he was busy trying to think of where they'd be able to procure the supplies he knew that they would need.

If he was that insistent on keeping lead, she'd let it be. But all the same, she scuttled close to him at least. While their hands were no longer joined, she was still within arm's reach just behind him. So, if anything happened, she was right behind him. Literally. This time, she would keep better tabs on him. Alert, she saw the glass before the warning had even left his mouth. Keeping her steps careful and measured, she managed to cross through the door after him with little trouble though bar she was a few paces behind than she had initially planned.

Her eyes trailed what could be seen so far of the building. Fortunately, there were enough windows at the front entrance that the lobby could be made out clearly, but as the main hallway stretched out before them, it was finally swallowed by darkness. A darkness that made her uncomfortable without any manner of light to manage. She tried for a moment to contain a fire spell in her palm, but it was useless. With a quiet sigh and a shake of her head, she studied the rest of the layout, noticing two doors, both located on opposing sides and still likely on the outer perimeter of the structure. And that meant more windows.

She headed over wordlessly to one of them, assuming he'd follow, and tried the knob. It gave easily... but then when she made to push it open... "It's stuck. I think something's blocking the way." She frowned as she rattled the door.

It felt awkward between them -after making as much progress as they had back in Haven, whatever circumstance had led them to this place also seemed to have set back any particular comfort they'd established by no small amount. But then, with the memories he did have, Xion didn't seem like an overtly talkative or open person. What he could recall always had her being quiet and as she was now, always thinking of something. Not like their sudden uproot didn't give them enough to think about, just the silence between them wasn't giving him much of a distraction from his own worries and concerns.

When she started toward the door, he followed without saying anything further, observing as she was met with little success in getting the thing open. Taking a moment to run a few of his own thoughts through his head, an idea finally came to mind.

"Do you think this place could take it if we used a Firaga to blast through?"

Roxas knew she'd bring up the potency of their spells, but the grim smirk on his face said that he already had an idea of how they'd circumvent that obstacle.

Awkward was one way to put it. Distant. Uncertain. Uneasy. Vexed. Torn. Second-guessing. All those and more. But all the same, she wouldn't abandon him. And her determination to mind that had only grown ten fold. It was just... that at the moment, her focus was so divided, too. Between the stress of the new situation, what it meant, it was... It was stretching her pretty thin. Not that she would outright admit it to him. Instead, she'd channel it. The door was one of those- an obstacle she could focus on removing, something she could do right. Or so had been part of her thought process among her worries in his regard.

She had been in the middle of shaking it a bit more when Roxas offered up that suggestion. She looked back to him, skepticism undoubtedly clouding her expression for a moment. Hadn't he seen what little her spells had done back on the subway platform? But as she studied him, she slowly collected that look to him. That perhaps her first thoughts weren't exactly what he was hinting at. And that made her raise a brow. "I'm not sure, but... What do you have in mind?"

It would've taken some significant lapse in his observations for him to have missed Xion having difficulties with her magic, but that combined with perhaps a livelier imagination than he needed was what put the idea he had in his head. Setting the guitar case off to the side, he approaches the door and gives it a careful inspection. With any due fortune, if his idea ended up working and not blowing them both to kingdom come, whatever was blocking the door on the other side also wouldn't spill out and bury them.

"You remember how not long before we came here, I remembered how we were linked?" At this point, he's expecting an odd look or some question as to the relevance of that to their current fix, but whenever the look or comment comes, he'll explain as soon as he sees or hears it.

"It's a stretch, but I was thinking that if I just kind of relaxed, started that part of a spell where I'm gathering power for it while holding your hand and you did the whole motion of casting, you might be able to channel both our power and that just might work."

That suggestion... For a moment, all she could do was stare at him. Just letting it click that he had actually offered it in the first place. And then she stirred. Her footing shifting from one to the other. Finally pausing in her motions, Xion took to just staring at the floor. Just how much of a good idea would that be? What if it set off the same inevitable path from before where one or the other would have to be destroyed? It had been a fear slowly quelled over her time in Haven- It wasn't like it was something that seemed to be on the replay after spending months there with no sign of imbalance on either end -but it wasn't something someone could just easily forget and wave off.

So, she stood there. Simply biting her lip and letting a minute pass. But she knew the more time she relented on the idea, the more suspicious Roxas would become. And so, finally, with an air of reluctance, "Let's... Let's try it." Her voice came out soft, but the hand had that came out to grip his less injured one was firm as if she were grounding herself to this idea. Her glance falling back on the door.

Roxas waits for a moment, studying her expression he found himself modestly surprised that she agreed. Not that he had any intention of backing down, but it was almost welcome to have her accept his notion so easily. That acceptance was something he just responds to at first with just a tempered smile -his determination mixed with the ideas of vigilance that he'd learned from her.

When her hand gripped his, he paused a moment. "Let's just change this real quick..."

He shifted their grip so his hand rested over the back of hers, his fingers loosely intertwining in hopes that somehow the gesture made it all work better. Besides, he figured that if she was casting, her palm would need to be clear to provide a 'firing point' of sorts to release the spell from.

Taking some comfort in that contact, he doesn't say anything further for a moment, letting his breathing come in slow and measured breaths as he went through his trained motions to draw power for their spell.

"I should have enough power in another second or two. You can start your part of things whenever you're ready."

Edited 2011-04-29 01:11 (UTC)

For a moment, Xion just stood there. Caught between uncertainty and an underlying sick feeling. Working with Roxas as she was. While to him, the link was useful, to her... She knew its true nature. Knew why and that was what made her... slightly relieved when she gained those few precious extra seconds where he was readjusting his hold on her hand. It made her blink and then a meek, sheepish smile rose to the surface of her features. Brief but still there.

But then her attention was back on the task at hand. Listening to him, how he settled. And then... Then she felt something. Like she was starting to channel her own strength, but the thing was she hadn't even been concentrating on it even a second ago. And then realization hit her right then and she wanted to pull away. But instead her hand tightened around his fingers roughly as if to anchor herself. Just this once. Just this once. And with that thought, she narrowed in on the situation at hand, hand flexing before a fire spell, noticeably stronger than any of the ones she had cast before, tore from her palm and nailed the door. The force of it caused it to fling forward, whatever had been blocking it rolling back from the explosion that crashed the moment the spell had impacted.

Xion kept her hand tightly bound to his a moment longer, too caught up staring at their work to mind the taxing handle on his fingers.

The resulting conflagration was admittedly more impressive than he'd expected. Maybe his original guess that they were at less than half-power was wrong -perhaps the capability was unchanged, just something about their new environment kept them from focusing the spell right. It was all a bunch of random guess work. Truth be told, he honestly had just the bare minimum understanding of their magic so that he could get it to work. The rest of all this was largely educated guesses combined with stuff read in comic books and background stories to some of the video games he used to play.

Either way, the result and the fact that the blast didn't set the building on fire was something he took as a positive note, allowing himself to grin at what he looked at as their momentary victory.

The tight grip Xion had on his fingers didn't escape his attention, Roxas offering her a reassuring smile, "Not bad, huh? Must've been one of the reasons why we were such a good team back then."

It wasn't until he spoke up that she seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in. And to that end, she nearly jumped at first, the heart that resided in her feeling like it was beating in her throat. She felt as if she were swallowing it back down as her eyes met his finally. A halfhearted smile found itself echoing his own, bittersweet. But it was soon forgotten as she realized how tightly she was holding onto him and relented with a murmured apology.

Turning towards the now open frame where the door once stood, she started in first. Quiet... but then off hand. As if what he had mentioned had been not even a second ago even while she had let almost a minute's time pass.

"...We really were. A good team back then, that is. But I don't think I could see us that way just because of that." That link...

He gives a dismissive shrug, he'd been trying to lighten the mood. Admittedly, it was an almost frustrating role that always seemed to fall on him. Even from the pieces of memory that he'd recovered, she always seemed so pensive back then. But then, that notion was hardly news to him; it'd occurred to him back in Haven as well and he was pretty sure he'd called her on it. But it didn't matter right now; there was much work to be done and they'd need some supplies in a short order.

Still, while she'd been lost in thought, he'd taken the liberty of recovering his belongings and advancing into the newly cleared area. While the effort had been impressive, he didn't see anything that was immediately useful. But he at least was consoled by the notion that if they needed some of their more potent magic to aid them, a cooperative effort like that had a good yield.

"It's not just because of that. I just figured that it was part of it, that's all."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Day 01 - Fish Out Of Water

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject