thebastion | [Day 190-191]

Entry tags:

[Day 190-191]

Who: Xion and whoever runs into her
Open: Open like an open thing
When: Day 190-191
Where: Pick a random edge of the Bastion, plus Training Building, plus Kitchens
What: Xion mopes about Axel, Xion practices fighting, Xion can't cook
Format: Whatever you prefer, starting in brackets
Warnings: Shouldn't be anything major? Will change this if there is

====================
Day 190 - Open, edge of the Bastion

[It's not the clock tower. There's not really anything really that close to the clocktower here, besides the ruined one they'd found. And given that that one is out on the Skyway, Xion supposes it's probably too dangerous for a casual visit.

But the edge of the Bastion, and what's beyond it, can be rather impressive - and a little dizzying - just to look at. Easy to lose oneself in. And Xion needs losing herself in something. It's been over half a month since Axel disappeared. And there's no sign of him - anywhere. Roxas hasn't found him, she hasn't found him... nobody has.]

What are we going to do? It's been so long...

[He has to be okay, he has to. She doesn't know what she'd do if something had- Xion's hands clench the edge, her palms digging into the dirt, her knees hanging off the edge.

What will you do, observer? Chase the tiny black-haired girl away from the edge so she doesn't fall? Ask her what's wrong? Sit and commiserate?]

=====================

Both days - Training Building

[Something else that Xion tends to lose herself in is training. The Skyway is dangerous - that's been proven more than enough times of late. Between that, and the fact that she's going to want to keep searching for Axel, among other things... questions about her own right to exist aside, Xion is fairly certain that she doesn't want to

That, and after spending most of her life doing it, there's something... almost uncomfortably yet somehow soothingly familiar about it.

Xion'll be in the melee room, tackling a few of the target dummies, though anybody is welcome to offer to spar with her, if they want. There's probably something unusual about her weapon though...]

======================

Day 191 - Kitchen

[Someone had to be the first to tackle a horrific monstrosity of a cooking attempt after the kitchen got upgraded, and it seems Xion might very well be it. The smell coming from it around midafternoon is... interesting. To say the least. With a layer of plain old burning on top.

If anybody cares to look inside, they'll see Xion is having quite a time with her cooking creation. She was trying to boil something in a pot, though it's hard to tell what it once was - both it and the broth it was floating in have turned into some kind of blackened sludgy mess. Xion herself is covered with bits of the mix, as if it splattered at some point, including an inky drop right on the tip of her nose.

Though unlike her attempts to cook for Pluto, she seems to realize that whatever she made isn't edible, and seems to be confused and somewhat frustrated with it.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[A large - very large man sits down next to Xion, but doesn't say anything. Not yet, at least. It's clear that she's upset about something but he doesn't want to say anything wrong. But hopefully she doesn't mind the company.]

[Xion starts a little when he sits down next to her, staring over and up at him, before returning her gaze towards her knees. She indeed doesn't mind the company, but she's confused as to why he chose to sit with her.

She doesn't say anything at first either, not really sure what to say. After a while she figures she should say something. Some kind of greeting]

Um.... hey.

[It's been too long since Axel's disappearance. Roxas has been wearing himself thin, looking for his friend, worrying about him, not really giving much thought to anything else. He just... doesn't know what to do without him. Axel's been such a constant presence ever since they wound up in Vatheon together. He doesn't want to give him up for lost, but he knows he can't keep on the way he has been.

He spots Xion some distance away, and something about the way she's sitting tells him she's thinking about the Clock Tower. Axel used to complain about not having a good spot like that. Roxas doesn't remember it, but Xion must have been a part of those afternoons, too.

He doesn't approach her right away. He takes a little detour first, but soon returns to wordlessly sit himself down next to her, and offer her a donut. He doesn't have any ice cream right now, so it'll have to do.]

Hello. You looked like you could use the company.

[He smiles gently at her.]

Are you all right?

[Xion makes a soft sound in the back of her throat when Roxas sits next to her, and her eyes widen further in surprise when he offers her the pastry. Still, she reaches out to take it, the motion familiar]

Thank you. [She examines it for a moment] What is it?

[She's seen them on some of the trees - and recently bushes - but she's never quite understood what they are.]

[Roxas blinks.]

It's a donut. You- haven't seen all the trees around?

[The Organization had always told her to stay hidden, to keep undercover and to herself. They were a covert operation. Even if she'd never really been a true member of the Organization, it'd still stuck with her.

But here was different. Here you couldn't really hide, and here Xion wasn't sure she needed to, even if there was still a loose knot of tension in her stomach at the prospect of talking to people. Even with the constant feeling that her own problems could never, ever be as important as someone else's. The smile helped ease the knot.]

Yeah, I'm fine. [beat] I'm just worrying about a friend.

[Xion shakes her head.]

I've seen them, yeah. I just wasn't sure what they were called. [Examining hers for a moment further, she takes a bite. Her eyes widen at the taste.]

It tastes good.

[It's missing a certain salty tang, but it's not bad.]

[He smiles a little bit at her reaction.]

Yeah. They're not ice cream, but- they're not bad either.

Yeah, they're not.

[Xion takes another bite. It's still very different from home, donuts on the edge of the world, but it's still familiar and nostalgic, in its own way. She looks out over the edge, a bit awed still.]

I wonder what's down there... or, is there anything down there?

[If you fell, would you keep falling forever?]

I don't know.

[Roxas follows her gaze, taking a bite out of the donut he brought for himself.]

The Bastion won't let you fall, but- if you did, it doesn't seem like you'd ever land, huh?

Oh. I see.

[He goes quiet for a few moments. He knows that feeling all too well. Of course, she's handling it better than he did. But she's young. She shouldn't be this sad, even if he knows how intense things can feel at the age he assumes she is.]

Do you want to talk about it? You don't have to if you don't want to.

[Oh God, what is that smell?!

Rin had spent all of the day before tending to Bon and his horrible migraine, and yet there was that horrible smell coming from the kitchen and it was just about to give her a migraine.

Damn sensitive demon senses...

... she thought that recently, didn't she? Oh well, the point still stands.

With all that, Rin will very cautiously be poking her head in to the kitchen, wondering just what in the hell happened in the day she was missing from it.]

Yeah...

[She leans out a little, keeping the hand not holding her donut clenched tightly around the edge of the Bastion. Even if the Bastion itself won't let her fall, she'd rather not do so. But even when she looks down, there doesn't... seem to be anything. The sky just goes on forever.]

Almost like you'd keep falling forever.

[A horrible thought crosses her mind - outside the Bastion didn't protect them from falling like inside did, did it? What if Axel- She isn't sure. She jerks her head back suddenly, looking upset.]

[There'd been more panic right after she'd initially found out. Now though... it's more the feeling of losing hope. Axel had disappeared for longer, she thinks, but... They'd been looking everywhere, and they hadn't seen any signs at all.

She sighs, looking skyward.]

I guess... I don't really know what to say. He's out on the Skyway, somewhere. Me and Roxas thought we could find him, especially when those places from our worlds kept turning up, but... it's like he just vanished.

[A one year-old trying to cook happened. Xion doesn't notice Rin right away, instead trying to stir what's in the pot. The heat's made the liquid part of... whatever it is she was cooking turn very thin, and overall it makes for a very lumpy consistency at best.

She scoops some of it up and lets it splash back down, yelping a little when one of the droplets hits her hand.]

Ow- [She wipes the drop off with her other hand quickly, dropping the spoon back into the pot] I don't remember it being this bad last time...

... I'm sorry.

[He doesn't want to give her false hope, but he wants to comfort her, too. There's been deaths out on the Skyway, but he doesn't want to tell her that. He reaches out a hand to her for her to take if she wants.]

Hopefully we'll find him soon. ... My name is AZ, by the way.

[The same thought occurs to Roxas and he says quickly--]

He wouldn't.

E-even Axel's not that stupid.

[He isn't, right?]

It-

['It could have been an accident.' But she can't say that aloud. Can't make the possibility more real.]

Yeah. You're right. Sorry.

[No. No accidents. It just couldn't happen.]

Maybe one of these days he'll just- show up. Act like he doesn't understand why we were so worried.

[It's Rin's worst nightmare...

She stares for a moment from the doorway, visibly twitching until she can't take it anymore and storms in.]

That's because you're scaldin' it! How high d'you even have this on?!

[Probably all the way up. Almost everyone new to cooking makes that mistake right off.]

[Xion had been around the time of Night's death and funeral, though she had been too new to really feel a great amount of emotional investment. It's still something she fears though.]

I hope so too. He's been away for long times before... [She shakes her head, smiling sadly] I'm going to be so mad at him when he gets back. He's worried us so much.

[beat]

And... My name's Xion.

[Xion laughs a little, not really amused, though she did feel a little lighter.]

Like that one time, a little while after we met. [Wait, he wouldn't remember that, would he?] I mean... after you were asleep for a while. When Axel was at Castle Oblivion.

[Xion jumps about a foot, whipping around and staring wide-eyed. At Rin's words though, she looks down at the heat dial on the stove and... sure enough. All the way up. She looks from it to Rin and back.]

I... uh... I guess... too much?

[This is painful, Xion.]

Have you ever cooked before at all?

...when they told us everyone was- gone?

I guess it turned out not to be true then, huh.

Um... a couple times?

[Once. ~~Maybe more times that were not shown in the manga.~~]

[Rin presses a finger to her forehead, letting out an already frustrated sigh.]

You're gonna ruin the food and the kitchen at this rate, and I just got this place all nice and upgraded from Colin!

Look, I don't mind other people usin' this place but you gotta know what you're doin' first! What were you even tryin' to make?

Well of course it wasn't, if Axel came back.

[Now Xion does giggle.]

You told me later he just walked up to you like nothing had happened.

[Xion hadn't been there herself. She'd been... busy. At the time.]

Yeah. [He smiles a little.] I think- he really didn't expect me to be worried.

...I hope he doesn't still think stupid stuff like that. He should know better by now.

I can hold him down and you can tickle him or something when he gets back.

[Maybe. Possibly not, but he's at least trying to make a joke.]

It's nice to meet you, Xion.

[Xion's shrinking in on herself a bit, very much cowed. She hadn't even realized what she was doing could be ruining the kitchens for everyone else. Because she didn't know what she was doing and messed things up for everyone again.]

I... Just a creamy chicken stew I tried to make once.

[She thinks. She's not entirely sure all the ingredients were the same as back in the World that Never Was' kitchen]

[Rin isn't so callous as to not notice when some one is uncomfortable, but for the time being the most she can manage is reining in the level of her voice and trying to be a little gentler.]

Well that's not gonna be any good to anyone now.

[A sigh, then:]

We don't have any chicken right now but I can try to teach you how to make somethin' else.

He really should. He'd probably just tell us we shouldn't be able to feel anything like that, though.

[There's note of healthy skepticism in her voice. She'd long since begun to seriously doubt the Organization doctrine about them lacking hearts was true.]

[Roxas had his doubts when they were in the Organization, but by now he's sure. Whether they have hearts or not, they can still feel.]

I- think he's starting to get it. He just puts himself down a lot. He couldn't understand- why I'd care about him.

[ Duke has sort of been half living here. Don't mind the knight stopping at the stairs down and watching Xion go at the dummies.

It won't be until there's something of a natural pause - Xion stepping back to pick another target, or take a breather, or maybe to look about because the pale knight has been silently watching for a little while, and its a tiny bit creepy - that Duke speaks up. ]

... That's an interesting shape for a weapon.

Stop that.

[As if appearing out of thin air- or honestly just walking into the kitchen- Saix comes up from behind Xion and frowns disapprovingly at the monstrosity that's on the oven.]

Have you even cooked before?

"Xion?" Ryu asks, approaching the girl from behind carefully so as not to startle her. It makes him a tad uneasy when anyone gets that close to the edge of the Bastion. "What's the matter?" He asks, kneeling down beside her. Whatever it is, he's willing to help, though he's been lending his efforts to helping Roxas search for Axel already.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[Day 190-191]

I choose the first of prompts!

yay!

Day 190

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Kitchen!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Training Building

Kitchen

no subject