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vacantisThere's another boy in the Land of Departure.
Ventus has seen him, maybe three times, despite apparently everyone involved's best efforts. Always in the evening or the early morning. Questioning Aqua and Terra never helped, and the one time he walked up to Master Eraqus and asked him plainly he'd gotten a firm hand on his head and a stern word to mind his studies.
He'd...forgotten about it for a while after that. Just hadn't thought about it, and went back to training with Terra and Aqua. They were finally letting him use keyblade, and they said it was fall now, and the leaves turning red meant snow was on the way, and it was so dreadfully exciting.
But he'd seen the boy again, when grabbing a book for Terra late at night, just a flash of a head of black hair from a window, but before he could stop himself he was pressed up to the glass like someone had pulled a wire taunt.
The other figure, the other boy, his age maybe, was limping along back towards a wing of the house Ventus had thought nobody used. He'd opened a door, vanishing from veiw, and Ventus had reeled back as the spell was broken.
The desire to follow the other boy was overwelming. Ventus had to swallow it down, a hand on his chest as his heart pounded. He'd finally managed to stumble to bed, but his mind kept returning to the door, to the boy, to the...incessent pulling he felt. It was frightening, but he kept it to himself, even as Aqua scolded him for poor footwork.
That night he sat up in bed, eyes wide and unblinking. He could put it off no longer. Without even bothering to put anything over his sleep clothes he walked out over the wet grass towards the unused wing of the house, its windows boarded up and dark. The door, when he put his hand onto it was cold. It was also locked.
Ventus groaned. Unlock spells...the simplest imaginable, still eluded him. There was only one thing to do. With a huff he shot a palm out, a giant gust of wind following and rattling the door on his hinges. It remained closed, feeling desperate, the pull in his mind growing stronger, Ven tried again and again.
When he paused, opening his eyes and breathing raggedly, the door was swinging--its lock shattered and its hinges squealing from the abuse. Ven felt terrible for about a half second, before he stepped inside.
Ventus has seen him, maybe three times, despite apparently everyone involved's best efforts. Always in the evening or the early morning. Questioning Aqua and Terra never helped, and the one time he walked up to Master Eraqus and asked him plainly he'd gotten a firm hand on his head and a stern word to mind his studies.
He'd...forgotten about it for a while after that. Just hadn't thought about it, and went back to training with Terra and Aqua. They were finally letting him use keyblade, and they said it was fall now, and the leaves turning red meant snow was on the way, and it was so dreadfully exciting.
But he'd seen the boy again, when grabbing a book for Terra late at night, just a flash of a head of black hair from a window, but before he could stop himself he was pressed up to the glass like someone had pulled a wire taunt.
The other figure, the other boy, his age maybe, was limping along back towards a wing of the house Ventus had thought nobody used. He'd opened a door, vanishing from veiw, and Ventus had reeled back as the spell was broken.
The desire to follow the other boy was overwelming. Ventus had to swallow it down, a hand on his chest as his heart pounded. He'd finally managed to stumble to bed, but his mind kept returning to the door, to the boy, to the...incessent pulling he felt. It was frightening, but he kept it to himself, even as Aqua scolded him for poor footwork.
That night he sat up in bed, eyes wide and unblinking. He could put it off no longer. Without even bothering to put anything over his sleep clothes he walked out over the wet grass towards the unused wing of the house, its windows boarded up and dark. The door, when he put his hand onto it was cold. It was also locked.
Ventus groaned. Unlock spells...the simplest imaginable, still eluded him. There was only one thing to do. With a huff he shot a palm out, a giant gust of wind following and rattling the door on his hinges. It remained closed, feeling desperate, the pull in his mind growing stronger, Ven tried again and again.
When he paused, opening his eyes and breathing raggedly, the door was swinging--its lock shattered and its hinges squealing from the abuse. Ven felt terrible for about a half second, before he stepped inside.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-31 05:44 am (UTC)Something ancient and deeper than that drives him, in accepting the state of affairs, in swallowing hardship like food. It's not anything mystical, though it does resonate with his darkness-nature - it's pure and utter survival.
He's lying on his back in his bed, breathing shallowly for care of his ribs. He heals fast - it will be gone by next lesson, and right now it's too much to think even of casting a spell. The door suddenly shaking like something's struck it causes him to jolt upright and then roll off the bed with the momentum of curling up with a yelp. He hits the floor and clambers to his feet against stars, just in time for the door to slam open fully, revealing... himself.
Or not. His other half. The one he's not allowed to see, on pain of-
Vanitas's decision making capabilities aren't the best at the best of times, but this might be why he takes one look at Ventus standing in the doorway and tries to fling himself out of a fifth-floor window.
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Date: 2020-08-31 05:48 am (UTC)His decision making process, on peer with his brothers, is to use another Aero spell to knock Vanitas back into the room. Terra might get on Ven's case on using these spells to much, especially when all he can really do is blow people (and doors!) down, but still, but STILL. It continues to work very well.
"I'm sorry for barging in!" He yelps, holding his hands up. "Please don't jump! Or uh, get anyone! Sorry!" He looks from one side of the room to the other, blinking rapidly in panic. This room is...really gross. And bare. Weird black stains and old floorboards give it an odd smell--something Ven notices without thinking deeply about. He's a pro at that
this pair :' )
Date: 2020-08-31 05:59 am (UTC)Practice also, is how he manages to get to his feet again so quickly, although there's a touch of hunched over crouch to his stance and one of his arms is braced across his middle, the other touching the bed with his fingertips. He's kind of staring at Ventus, which lasts a while before he can finally marshal his thoughts to speak.
"Get. Out. " He steps forward to do something - push Ventus out maybe, but has to stop and grab the end corner of the bed again with a frustrated raspy exhalation, if the rasp was one of those wood files. His eyes are wide and wild as the layers of the situation dawn on him. "Did anyone see you come here?"
Re: this pair :' )
Date: 2020-08-31 06:08 am (UTC)The pull is back, stronger then ever, as Vanitas staggers close and Ventus reaches a hand out for a second.
"You're hurt..." Its a statement, not a question. "Who..who are you. Do I know you?" Looking at Vanitas, how he moves, his outline...it makes a strange feeling bubble up in his chest. Fear and a glorious trepidation, like the world beneath him opening up to swallow him. Things feel fuzzy and indistinct, something pressing into the back of his mind.
It's only half a second, but Ventus quickly looks away, running a hand through his hair as he babbles. "I-I mean! Y-you're hurt! Oh light is it my fault, I know I'm not good at Aero spells I was just worried you'd jump. Ok I'm good I mean the spell was strong but thats the problem--Aqua says I need to work on "motor control" or something but thats not the point." He grabs the hem of his beloved lobster shirt, trying to tear the end of it off like he saw Terra do once, and failing miserably. "I'm sorry--do you need a bandage? I'm not supposed to practice healing magic alone, but I can do bruises pretty well!"
Re: this pair :' )
Date: 2020-08-31 06:19 am (UTC)The hand going out and falling drives a little spike of pain into him, as does the question. Ventus... Ventus doesn't know him. He's not supposed to see Ventus and Ventus didn't come to see him. It turns to anger, like a muffled pot fire, a burning caustic thing that nevertheless cannot escape like any of the others. Eye contact is broken, and with it, the sheer force of the strange mood, left to it's constant lingering.
"I was hurt already," he says, uncaringly and unwitting of the kind of questions that could unleash - it's just a fact. "Don't do that again." Or he'll... something, probably. He can't really do anything to Ventus without him probably crying to Eraqus about it and that's a thought that sends a wave of pure ice down his spine. It takes him this long to notice what Ventus is doing with his shirt isn't just nervous fiddling. A part of him feels disconnected, like he's watching himself squint and flatly say the words "what the fuck are you doing" or his ears are ringing a little.
idiots the two of them
Date: 2020-08-31 06:31 am (UTC)"Already? W-what happened?" Ventus looks up, concerned and confused even if avoids Vanitas's eyes. Makes his head hurt less. Its been only a precious half a year since the split...some things are to fresh to acknowledge. "Er I won't. I'm sorry I just panicked...Why did you think throwing yourself out the window would fix anything? Did I scare you..."
He pauses, looking at Vanitas demeanor. "Am I um...still scaring you."
He blinks looking down to where he's still kneading at the shirt a little "Oh uh, I saw Terra do this thing where you ripped your shirt to make bandages but--I'm not very strong. Maybe its about the angle?" He nods a little at this wisdom. Many things in life are about the angle.
but OUR idiots
Date: 2020-08-31 06:55 am (UTC)His expression turns sour at the mention of Terra. Oh of course Terra sees no problem hanging out with this half of him, the light half, the one everyone wants and shows stupid bandage tricks to and actually talks to and six months of pushed down resentment and keening regarding Terra are bubbling back up. "Maybe he's laughing at you," Vanitas says, spitefully. "Stupid Ven... tus, I'm going to show him something he can't do, I bet he's going to fail it like the weak kid he is. He wants you to ruin your shirt and then everyone's going to see it and also laugh."
It's like the unversed he can't make is coming up his throat and pouring out his mouth as vitriol. "Maybe I was going to throw myself out the window so I didn't have to see your stupid face, think of that?"
wouldnt trade em for the world
Date: 2020-08-31 07:05 am (UTC)Ventus bad voice words sting...and they do hurt but they sort of glance off Ven's brain at weird angles. His trust in Terra and Aqua is so complete...and a bit frighteningly dependent. He's not even at a place he can start doubting them yet. Can't allow the thought to even start to fester. Give him a few years. He'd claim Eraqus was the same...but Eraqus was a whole emotional mindfield Ven eagerly trod each day, ignoring every strange emotion.
"My face isn't stupid!" He continues. "Your face is! Stupid, dumb..." He holds his arms tighter. "Just wanted to see who you were! Stop acting like I'm doing something wrong! I'm not! Nobody said I couldn't come here. I've done everything I'm supposed to, I wanted to meet you!"
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Date: 2020-08-31 07:21 am (UTC)At least he's getting reactions out of Ventus. That makes it almost worth it. Everything Vanitas blames himself for, he can also blame Ventus for. Especially Ventus for, probably, it was probably his utter naivete that got them into this mess in the first place. Vanitas is increasingly convinced of this. Ventus's stupid face riposte is a crit and strikes a deep nerve.
"Well you've seen who I am, are you happy now? I don't want to see you!" This is a lie. He starts laughing and it's awful and unhappy - nobody told Ventus not to come huh, perfect golden boy - and then his breath catches and he doubles over hacking and coughing, because that was kind of a bad idea given his ribs. He manages to get the next sentence out through wheezing and long desperate intakes of air, both hands braced on the bed now. "You've done nothing but make everything worse."
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Date: 2020-08-31 07:30 am (UTC)Nobody has every really talked to Ventus like this before. The utter rejection and anger in Vanitas's voice scares him almost as much at it hurts him. It's something he honestly can't understand.
At first he turns towards the door suddenly, it hands on its hinges unsteadily but Ventus opens it all the same. His heads a swirling mess. He wants...he wants to get someone to deal with it. Aqua or Terra or Eraqus, just offset this awful interaction and have them fix it. He wants to run away. But as he turns Vanitas coughs, harsh and ugly and wet and Ventus feels his hand shake on the door handle.
"I'm sorry." He says, quiet and unsure. What is he sorry for? He can't even tell, but seeing the other boy like this is upsetting. What he's saying is upsetting. Ventus wants it to stop.
Vanitas is still wheezing. Ventus takes his hand off the door and flexes it uncomfortably. He still wont even look at the other boy. The old and horrible floor is much better. "When I have trouble breathing T-...people say its good to count backwards. I get nightmares."
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Date: 2020-08-31 07:44 am (UTC)'I'm sorry' pierces through it like a dagger, because beneath it all, Vanitas is a boy who's wanted that to be said from the moment he came into existence, even if it can never be enough. He wants what was done to him to be wrong, to have been ugly, instead of 'necessary' or 'for your own good', 'yes-you-should-be' warring with 'don't-dare-pity-me'. What comes out is a lung spasm that could be a choked sob, and Vanitas clasps a hand over his mouth, taking it away to force air back into his lungs in horrific fashion.
"Nightmares," Vanitas says weakly and strained. What does Ventus have to have nightmares about? Isn't his life perfect, or the illusion of perfect his full self fell for, made reality far too late?
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Date: 2020-08-31 07:57 am (UTC)"My nightmares are about the ocean I guess..." He shrugged. "I've never been I think but...at some point I know I'm lying on a beach, looking up at...eh I dunno. Should be stars right? Someone else is there, but I'm afraid of them."
His hand swinging is getting a little more frantic, but Ventus boldly pushes on. "Um. Sorry. My dreams probably aren't very interesting. A--people are usually like 'why is that scary' or something. But the beach isn't scary. Its why I'm on it. Why that person is watching me, and I can't move. I just don't remember...um its a weird dream."
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Date: 2020-08-31 08:08 am (UTC)"I have nightmares but they're about things that actually matter." I am so sorry that this is Vanitas being comparatively friendly. He both does and doesn't want to talk about them, but he's kind of shot himself in the foot again. "Like lessons." So many about lessons. Ranging from business as usual to Eraqus holding him down and finishing what he started exactly like that time. He's not going to tell Ventus that if he doesn't know - it feels like something he gets to keep for himself even against the tired anger that Ventus doesn't know.
He sort of lowers his front half gingerly onto the bed in a way that suggests he'd flop down on it if that wouldn't make his chest scream, knees and legs still on the floor. His head moves from face down towards Ventus, so the next part starts out muffled: "Can't move in those either, a lot."
Or moving way too slow, like molasses!
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Date: 2020-08-31 08:17 am (UTC)"Sorry." Ventus says, even though weird dreams aren't his fault. Aqua says they're from the Sub Conscious or something, and that they're just reflecting worries he's got back at him. "Oh...do you find lessons stressful?" He says idly. It would be more immediately practical to dream about stressful real things then weird beaches.
"Mhm..its awful." He nods a bit, though, feeling a bit encouraged by the similarity. The thread of connection hasn't diminished, even as they fought and Ventus finds himself scooting a bit closer towards the bed. "Not moving..not being able to see whats coming. I don't like being trapped like that. I wake up and I think its still happening. Hurts my chest."
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Date: 2020-08-31 08:31 am (UTC)Vanitas doesn't move as Ventus scooches closer - despite Vanitas's natural paranoia, Ventus simply doesn't register as a threat, and it's like the longer Ventus sticks around and the closer he is, the more Vanitas remembers what calm feels like, and it turns out it's not 'laying on your back staring at the ceiling while in the gap between periods of intense emotion'. Who Knew.
"Hmm." He leans down again a little more, staring at the wall the bed is pushed against. There's a little bit of peeling wallpaper there; honestly there's a reason this wing isn't used and it's needing repairs badly. "That happens too. The chest thing." He knows why of course. Misery loves company, and there's a little schadenfreude in that he's not alone in this, that Ventus didn't escape everything but feels that too. He twists towards Ventus. "The beach thing is still weird and stupid, though."
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Date: 2020-08-31 08:40 am (UTC)He's still scooching a bit closer and eyeing that bed. You wouldn't mind anyone, sitting next to you, would you Vanitas...Ventus likes to be close to people. He's a clingy person who dislikes spending long conversations across a room from people.
Ven sighs. "I know! I told you its weird! But it happens all the time, so it means something, right? I'm not just crazy. I know I've always been here but...I dunno maybe I went to that beach once?" But that sounds stupid as soon as he says it and he shakes his head.
"Nevermind. Just. Dreams are weird. It probably doesn't mean anything. But it means I learned counting tricks, and how to make hot coco. Do you like hot coco?"
Sometimes, Vanitas, when so many overwealming and awful things go on in the span of a few hours your brain latches onto the small details that aren't hurting you. Sometimes it latches onto them even if you FIRMLY repress every other event that day.
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Date: 2020-08-31 08:59 am (UTC)Vanitas also makes a show of leaning closer to duly inspected the aforementioned scrape before leaning back and up with a smug look and sick pride. "Try broken ribs." Ha. Take that Ventus, he wins. Vanitas. Vanitas your competitive streak. At least he thinks his ribs are broken, it's not like he can look inside and check, but they sure feel like it. The learning injury thing passes without comment. Yep, that sure sounds like something Eraqus would say.
Vanitas then starts wracking his brain to try and remember if they ever went to a beach, when they were whole. He gets... the weird impression of a lighthouse, and a sunrise? There's a faint worry to the memory, but no fear - as soon as he finds it it slips away again through mental fingers to an equally mental snarl and buries his face in the bed. "Doubt it," he says into the mattress extremely muffledly, which handily covers both the idea of having been at the beach and the dream meaning anything. After all Vanitas's dreams of drowning sure don't mean anything right? :' )
He slides his head across the mattress to look at Ventus again. His eyes are narrowed. "Did Terra teach you?"
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Date: 2020-08-31 09:09 am (UTC)"You can break ribs?" Ventus exclaims, eyes wide as he looks at Vanitas, then down to his chest. "How can you breathe? Who broke them? Are you doing advanced training? Is that why you're a big secret? You should talk to Aqua she can heal you!"
Vanitas buries his face in the bed and Ven tilts his head in puzzlement at the sudden groaning. Did he says something wrong? :?
He looks much less enthused when Vanitas brings up the others. Ventus might have just met the guy but...he already gets the sense he doesn't like to talk about anyone else in the Land of Departure.
"Terra doesn't...like sweet things." Ven says hesitantly. "Not that he won't help! Just..yeah. It was Master Eraqus." He fiddles with his nails. "My room is really close to his so he can keep an eye on me. Aqua said she'd be fine if I was next to her, cuz Master Eraqus needs his sleep...but he kinda insisted. I wasn't really listening that hard when they gave me a room though. It's just what Aqua told me."
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Date: 2020-08-31 09:27 am (UTC)Advanced training... Vanitas almost laughs again but manages to think better of it in time. The answer to breathing is 'with some difficulty'. "Aqua already heals me." He doesn't even ask and she does it and it's likewise weird. A not insignificant part of Vanitas is waiting for the other shoe to drop, with Aqua. The rest of him has been editing her most recent book to have a much better plot, in his opinion. "Sometimes. She doesn't visit every night."
Vanitas looks at Ventus and then reburies his face in the mattress. "No, coco is dumb and only dumb babies like you like it." Eraqus taints everything he touches, like light that bleaches. If there was any intrigue in the sheer defiance of getting something that Ventus also has, it's been pre-emptively snuffed. The same confliction that usually arises when he thinks about Aqua intensifies a little. Selfishly, Vanitas has been unconsciously thinking of her friendship as something he has that Ventus doesn't. "What, does he go into your room at night?" The moment Vanitas says it, the idea fills him with revulsion. He thinks Eraqus doesn't unlock the door during the day, because the day's when he's busy with everything else, isn't it?
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Date: 2020-08-31 09:36 am (UTC)"Oh! You guys know eachother! Aqua is so cool." Ventus smiles, the resulting spike of excitement probably avid enough to give Vanitas a headache. Welcome to the emotional equivalent of a sugar rush. "She heals me a bunch to, do you think her Cura's feel kinda chilly? She gets mad when I say that. But you should get her to come over--right now!"
"Coco's not dumb...Adults like it too." Eraqus hadn't exactly drunk any but keeping it around implied it was. Worth keeping. Hopefully. He pauses at Vanitas's next words. "Huh? What? I mean, I don't think so. Not unless I'm having a nightmare, or something. It's not like the room locks or anything. But sleeping isn't very interesting. I don't think he'd come in without a reason." The idea of someone watching him sleep is creepy though!
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Date: 2020-08-31 09:56 am (UTC)Vanitas is not sure how he feels about having this common ground. With the dreams and the injuries he could lord it over a little. They are a little chilly and the moment he discovered she was sensitive about it he needled her on it and now she sniffily ignores him when he says it, which takes all the fun out of it. "She switches from a blizzard spell at the last second," he says authoritatively without any authority at all.
It takes a while for Vanitas to realise the emotion he's feeling as Ventus talks about this is protectiveness, of a sort. The idea of Eraqus doing anything to Ventus is terrifying. Ventus is, in a big sense, what Vanitas has left. Locks are kind of useless in a castle of keybladers, but it still makes Vanitas's spine fizz for some reason.
"Those adults are also stupid dumb babies," Vanitas says in the face of this mounting discomfort. "No!" he says, when Ventus suggests getting Aqua, sitting up from his position half-melted onto the bed. "Are you an idiot? The more people here the more chance Eraqus will know. And you can't let Eraqus know. If you do I'll- I'll-" Vanitas visibly searches for some kind of credible threat to make this stick, because it's so incredibly important and he can't really conceive of someone sticking to their word without one. "I'll push you out the window."
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Date: 2020-09-05 06:47 am (UTC)"Ooooh." Ventus nods, because Vanitas said it with the utter confidence of Authority, and Ven doesn't know enough to dispute it. It sounds rather sensible! Aqua is Very good at cold magic.
"You haven't even tried it." Ventus sniffs. He means Land of Departure coco, not coco in general...but he's correct either way. "You can't just judge everything by its--eh?" He pauses as Vanitas sits up so fast Ven's first impulse is to shove him back down. Don't do that, you look hurt!
"Aqua can fix you though." Ven "And whats...wrong with Eraqus knowing? He can heal people to..." Ventus squints, that everconstant migraine spiking as he meets Vanitas's eyes. "Stop threatening me. It's not funny. I'm trying to be nice here! You're really worrying me with this." He gestures to the..assorted wounds.
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Date: 2020-09-06 05:25 am (UTC)Vanitas kind of reflexively shoves back at Ven's shoving in kind - both jostle him and make him grit his teeth. "Fix what, Ventus?" He growls. They're so normal to him he's kind of unaware Ventus is talking about the current, evident, physical injuries, as opposed to The injury, the first and original and unignorable. "She can't do anything about this! Nothing can! Eraqus can't!"
It feels like sacrilege to say out loud, like the thin fragile thread of hope that maybe, just maybe, there was a way back has just snapped, but Vanitas is tired and angry and nothing's changed in six months and it doesn't seem like it will ever. Ventus's feelings are temporary, oxygen pumped down a line to an old diving suit and no control over if they decide to leave the pump. "Nice," Vanitas spits bitterly, and then the thought kind of peters out, going nowhere. "Right. Well this is me being nice, I'm warning you first." A principle also learnt in lessons. He starts trying to get up proper, breathing still gingerly thin. He needs to leave, the clock is ticking and ticking.
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Date: 2020-09-06 06:38 am (UTC)"The...your injuries!" Ventus does not know how he could make this more clear. Do you see him walking around like that, looking like that. Look at your nasty bed. Look at your nasty floor. There is not blood everywhere dude. "Healing magic isn't that hard I'm just not that good at it!"
"Nice." Ventus says, and a bit of his anger peters out as well, because why is he yelling at this kid he barely knows? Why is he inciting this kind of reaction? Ventus never yells at anyone, even if he's had a nightmare, or Aqua and Terra are being weird, and lying, or when he wakes up in the morning a feels sickeningly afraid for no reason at all. Thats not worth yelling over. So why...
"Its still a threat." Ventus said, petulant despite himself. Lets save those deep thoughts for never. Ventus will never self actualize; you can't make him. "I'm not doing anything wrong trying to help you. Can you--why do you keep getting up? You're gonna pass out!"
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Date: 2020-09-06 06:56 am (UTC)"Oh," says Vanitas. "That." He looks down at his chest and then at the indicated nasty bed and floor, dark stains visible on both. He refuses to show or admit that he interpreted wrong; the tone and hand wave is dismissive. "Yeah, Aqua could fix that, I guess." She often does - not just the wounds, she fusses about the space, tidying until he can't stand it and snaps at her, and then she just gets that sad expression. He's still not making any great effort to go get her, or at least that's not why he's levering himself to standing again.
"So maybe you'll actually listen and not be thrown out a window," Vanitas continues. "What? If you're not going to leave, I am. Because you? Help me? With what, cocoa and Eraqus? You're not helping anything at all." And in a way, he's almost disappointed by that fact for all there's a touch of the lie to it. Is this... him? What he was like, a little? Pitying, and so, so, infuriatingly clueless? And he is not going to pass out, thank you. He's leaning against this wall while he waits for the lights to stop entirely because he wants to.
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Date: 2020-09-06 07:13 am (UTC)"See? It would be nice if she could help?" Ventus pleads, clasping his hand before Vanitas shoots his offer down once and for all. More threats. More stupid insult that don't make sense. Ventus opens his mouth, stepping forward, with a look in his blue eyes that says this is about to devolve into another shouting match between the two.
A voice cuts through the darkness outside, a flash of light as something is lit. Ventus is standing beside one boarded up window, and for a second his eyes line up enough with a crack to see the flash of a white robe.
The walls arent't exactly thick, but the voices are still a bit muffled. Ventus can still make out the key words 'door' and his name and of course 'not in bed'. Terra's voice is there as well, speaking in a frantic confused way. It's getting louder and clearer the longer he listens, it doesn't take much thought to realize it's because its closer
And it shows a lot, that in that half a second of realization--Ventus' first impulse is to grab Vanitas' wrist and dive for the bed.
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Date: 2020-09-06 07:31 am (UTC)Vanitas is already drawing himself up, gearing up sharp teeth and tongue, but then he freezes, breathing somehow even shallower than it already was, almost like he's a corpse. They had the same thought, or almost would have; Ventus is already moving towards the bed himself, and Vanitas, off-guard, goes in with him.
His eyes adjust quickly to the added layer of darkness; the bed is small and they're tightly packed in and Vanitas kicks Ventus in his efforts to press himself deeper out of all possible sight. The conversation approaches, approaches... and stops. Outside the door.
Ventus's breathing sounds so loud, in this space - Vanitas slaps a hand over his mouth. He's shivering a little, something he has no control over, and his eyes are wide in their red glow.
The door opens. Quietly. Slowly.
A line of lantern-light slashes out as it opens. Vanitas is blinded, can only see two silhouettes, and screws his eyes shut, throwing an arm over them as he bites his tongue. He can feel Ventus's existence next to him.
"He's not here," comes Terra's voice, that Vanitas hasn't heard in so long, or ever, to a flood of emotion across his tongue, trapped behind teeth. There's a long agonizing moment before Eraqus speaks. "No, it appears not."
The door swings back, and shuts with a click, the room thrown back into dim light. The conversation and motion continues down the hall, if less steadily paced. Vanitas breathes in a long, shuddering gasp like something starved of oxygen, laughing quietly again. The hand over Ventus's mouth falls down and Vanitas stretches out, lying there, before scrabbling like a trapped rat to get out from under the bed.
starts playing [nanachi in the dark]
Date: 2020-09-06 07:47 am (UTC)Ventus breaths in sharply at the light, at Terra's voice. He sounds stressed and afraid, in a way that seems wholly unlike the tall friendly Terra Ven knows. From his place under the bed, Ven can faintly see how Terra moves on his feet, as if he's half ready to slip into a kata or draw his keyblade.
Eraqus beside him, doesn't seem to be moving at all, his voice is...its not cold. Its not. But its enough to freeze Ven in place, that particular tone. Slightly disappointed, and nothing more.
It only takes a few seconds before Vanitas starts wriggling and kicking his way out from under the bed, laughing in a way that's only scaring Ven more.
"S-stop!" He whispers trying to grab onto the other boys...lack of clothing. What was he even wearing? "W-where are you going, get back here!" Terra and Eraqus could not have gotten far, they shouldn't start running around! They'd hear and then...and then....then what? What was he afraid of? Eraqus. He'd...he. Ventus lets out a shuddering gasp, letting go of Vanitas to grab at his head and curl up, the panic spilling over on his end too. He. he'd. He...he...he uh. he'd. he..there was..some. something bad. Not safe. Not safe he had to- He just had to. had to uh. He could. What was he thinking just--just!
hhhh
Date: 2020-09-06 08:06 am (UTC)Ventus's breathing goes funny behind him. Fear is running between them like a livewire, rabbit heartbeats in sync. Vanitas false-runs back across the room and presses his ear against the door, straining, straining for sound, before moving just as such over to the bed, grabbing Ventus's shoulder and half-shaking, half-pulling it, not at all gently. "Ventus. Ventus. Get out." He keeps glancing over his own shoulder at the door, twisting and tense frustration rising up in him. "They're going to come back." Right now Vanitas has no plans other than flight, isn't really even thinking of them as anything other than a singular unit. They have to go. They can't stay. It's going to happen again.
Re: hhhh
Date: 2020-09-06 08:25 am (UTC)Something grabs his shoulder, rough and Ventus lets out a sound that is much to loud for the situation, kicking back and trying to push Vanitas away. He opens wide eyes at the blurry, static reality of the world and in his panicked haze Vanitas is all to much like a looming dark shadow over him. It makes his breath go funnier.
"I--stop no. Get away. I'll do it better just." He bats Vanitas's hands away, babbling a little. "I'm sorry. Sorry I'll. I'll do it better just stop. P-please."
He's not really thinking about his volume, in the panic. He just see's the shape, and something awful coming and the words just keep coming out, even if he can't find the context to recall why.
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Date: 2020-09-06 08:41 am (UTC)"Shh, shh! Shut up! Get up!" A sharp bark - the kind that makes him get up quick before the keyblade teeth come down and make him. He tries to press a hand over Ventus's mouth again and gets batted. The things Ventus is saying, babbling, are making gorge and hackles rise and he has no idea what do other than the urgency of the situation pressing down on him. He's never seen this from the outside. He can remember feeling like this but he can't remember what to do - he's scrabbling for purchase.
He stops still, and then scrambles back under the bed next to Ventus, bracing his arms and legs against the wall and with straining effort trying to push Ventus out from under the bed with his back - it doesn't last long before he flops, panting. "Come. On. Already." He could leave Ventus behind... but the thought itself is selfishly recoiling. No, he's not going to. He shouldn't have to.
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Date: 2020-09-06 08:51 am (UTC)"Ack!" Ventus yelps as he's shoved a bit forward, to be fair, Vanitas's bed isnt very large and he's mostly knocked out from under it, looking back around to stare at Vanitas in dismay. Sometimes physical contact can shock people out of it a little bit, just at the audacity that you did that to them. At the very least with Vanitas not looming over him theres no mistaking who he is, but Ventus still can't quite fit Vanitas in with the roiling panic he's feeling .
"I. Um. w-what." He backs up a little more, at least remembering to whisper. "I...get out. Yes." He was paying attention, totally. He can definatly do that right now. Pay attention that is. Not think about other stuff. Yes
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Date: 2020-09-06 09:03 am (UTC)"Yes," he repeats, offhand, echolalic. He steps around Ventus to the door. And stands in front of it. Lifts a hand. Drops it. Does so again. Looks at Ventus, looks back, stares, and presses his ear against it again.
There's a sound, sudden, rapidly approaching, increasing in speed and volume, and before Vanitas can react the door suddenly locks itself with a loud click, as further clicks continue to race further away down the hallway. "Hah?"
He laughs disbelievingly, a little hysterically, and then claps a hand over his own mouth in rare practicing what he preaches. "What..." Eraqus is Master of the Castle. The very room can turn on them. "What does he even think... that'll do?" He has his keyblade, doesn't he? They both do, right. He's staring at the doorknob still.
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Date: 2020-09-06 09:16 am (UTC)"It's locked?" Ventus has to steady himself on the bed as he stands up, trembling. Maybe its the night air, or his thin clothes, but now the entire room feels ice cold. "I...who locked it? Terra? Is he trying to help us...?"
Even as he says it, that rings false, but what else is there to believe. The fear suffusing every breath, echoing between the two of them in ways Ventus can't detect, its like a heavy stone that makes it hard to even breath. Ventus wants to see the best in people. He wants to be happy and safe, but now that's feeling like a far off fantasy.
"I'm not...I can't open it..." He says helplessly. "I..I'm not very good." He's not been in "lessons" since he was ripped out of someone. He was in a coma, and then a blank half awake state where he didn't respond to anything. A waking coma. His heart is still fragile, and he hasn't grown his light that much at all. He's only 12, after all ;w;).
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Date: 2020-09-06 09:30 am (UTC)"Fine," Vanitas says, and summons Void Gear. He hates summoning the thing. Hates that it came to his desperate, frantic calling and pained straining of an already strained heart instead of Wayward Wind. But it hums in his hand, makes him feel a little surer, a little more powerful, a little more able to fight back. Not that it really matters, or has ever made a difference.
He points it at the lock, and a thin beam jets out into it. It's not like tapping a chest, there's a struggle that feels like his bones creaking dangerously except in his heart before it gives and unlocks with a click. Vanitas exhales, grip white-knuckled still on Void Gear, before splaying his fingertips on the door and pushing it.
The hallway is empty. He looks back at Ventus before stepping out into it, every line of his body on edge. The torches flicker in their wall grates; it's not the shadows thrown that bother Vanitas, but the pools of visibility and sense-of-being-watched. "The... stairs." It starts out tentative, then decisive. "If we can get down..." They have to get out of the Castle, that's for sure. But where to, after that?
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Date: 2020-09-06 09:46 am (UTC)Still, some of the doubt in Vanitas' voice wraps itself into Ventus. Why would Terra be with Eraqus, his heart screams, even if his brains logic tells him its the most normal thing in the world. Why does it feel like there are suddenly sides here, and Terra picked the one against him. Will Aqua do the same? Those two are such a pair in Vens mind, he's suddenly very scared they'll both leave him.
Ventus pads out a little after Vanitas, his bare feet making very little sound on the wood. The reality of his clothing, the PJ's and lack of footware, are probably going to be a very real issue in the future.
He also stares with slightly calmer interest, at Vanitas's keyblade. Its really cool looking, very different from any other one he's seen. The great blue eye on it seems to meet his own with interest and Ven looks away.
"Where are we gonna go?" He asks and then after a second."Should we take a torch?" Its dark outside, and Ven doesn't want to waste energy on light spells. "There's no way off this world...Master Eraqus is gonna find us."
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Date: 2020-09-06 10:00 am (UTC)"Don't say that," Vanitas snaps, and would probably be experiencing a bit of vertigo at the swapping of roles of optimist and pessimist if he knew Ventus any better. As it is, it's not so much hope as the closing jaws of no other option; if they don't escape... well, he doesn't want to think about it. You'd think you can't go further than rock bottom, but Vanitas is sure there's lava underneath.
The torch thing is a good idea though, and he stands on his tiptoes to carefully lift one out of it's grate, glacing from side to side up and down the hallway, almost dropping it due to refusing to let go of Void Gear as he does so. "Here." He holds it out to Ventus to take - it hadn't occured to him as a problem, so used as he is to his eyes now, and it's for similar reason he isn't really thinking about Ventus's PJs and the night chill. But Ventus does have a point (he's discovering he hates when that happens). They're stuck on this world. Vanitas chews his lower lip, tasting blood.
"Aqua," he says. "She knows a lot about magic, we can make her tell us if there's a way off this rock." She's helped him before, so many times, even though he still can't fathom why. They don't have a lot of other options.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-07 07:57 am (UTC)You know, if they survive this.
Ventus' optimism usually comes from a stalwart belief in his friends, but with that relationship hardly 8 months old and recently shaken...its hard to summon it.
He takes the torch, staring at the flickering flames for a second before Vanitas speaks again. Ventus nods slowly.
"Don't say 'make her' like that." Ven says quietly, but he's already pretty much agreed. He just really doesn't want to fight her. He starts quietly walking, keeping the torch low and leaning around the hallways. The walk to the battered remains of the door isn't long...but it feels like forever.
"We cant take the torch out there." Ventus whispers, glancing back at Vanitas. "We don't...they could be right in front of us." They could be anywhere.
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Date: 2020-09-07 08:34 am (UTC)'What's with all these scuffed up doors' enters Vanitas's head and then exits it without hitting a conclusion. He stops at the most broken one with Ventus - the one to the stairs.
They could be anywhere but... "They can't be everywhere," Vanitas says, his voice equally low, but there's a note of uncertainty to it. Eraqus is really powerful and nothing Vanitas has ever done has shown a hint of being able to cause him harm; he's always in control. Maybe they do know where they both are, and are just toying... no, that doesn't make sense. Or they wouldn't have been physically looking in the first place.
"Fine, we'll say pretty please with rainbows on top as long as she does it." Well, Vanitas won't. He has some dignity. He really doesn't want to fight her either; he's seen her utterly obliterate a training dummy in the yard by accident, a slip in her usual perfect poise. He doesn't like thinking about how they might not have a choice, if Eraqus orders her; it roils in his stomach, an Unversed clawing at his insides unable to escape.
It's also at the idea he has; this has never worked on Eraqus. The man has always been able to pinpoint him and pull him out of the shadows, or simply wait the short time before Vanitas loses hold of it and comes back into form, staring down at him. "Snuff the torch then, I'm going to try something."
He takes as deep a breath as he can and melts onto the floor, feeling his way along it and under the door. He's not really sure how he can 'see' anything like this, but there's nobody on the other side, at least immediately; he quickly moves back under and just in time before he's himself, panting on the stone. He hates doing this. It's like holding his breath, or pulling himself up a wall with one arm, but more than that, it's like not being real. "No-one's... there." The stairs might be another matter themselves.
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Date: 2020-09-09 08:28 am (UTC)"I'll do the talking, if you're gonna be stupid about it." Ventus groans, rubbing his face a little. He'll figure out how to convince Aqua to let them out of here, if you're so fucking complicated. For a second, he's confused about how exactly he's supposed to put the torch out but...good old Aero comes in again, blowing it out in half a second. Best spell. Best. He only hopes Vanitas has a plan to relight it later.
The dark takes a second for his eyes to adjust, which is a small mercy because Ventus blinks to see the end of vanitas melting into shadow in what can only be described as some sort of horrifying hallucination. Then he blinks again and Vanitas is back, gasping onto the door and looking worse then ever.
"W-what was that." Ventus took a step back, gripping the torch tightly. The connection between the two sears like a live wire as Ventus feels paranoia eat at it. What was that? Darkness? It couldn't be that, could it? Darkness was evil and cruel and tore you away from what you loved and made you different and....
oh no...
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Date: 2020-09-09 08:42 am (UTC)The emotion jangles between them like a repetitive rotary phone and adds to the paranoia already there. Adrenalin or it's equivalent is a hell of a drug; it aids in pushing Vanitas to his feet, his heart already curdling sour, already singing betrayal. Right. Darkness bad, light good. Should have thought Ventus would have remembered sooner.
"What do you think, Ventus?" He says, the glow of his eyes as he cocks his head even more pronounced with the torch out. His smile is half sneer, the effect somewhat ruined by how awful he feels and the constant distracting pulling worry of discovery, eyes breaking line to dart to the doors and hall. He looks at Ventus clutching the torch like a lifeline. "What, are you going to hit me with that?" He's almost insulted.
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Date: 2020-09-09 08:50 am (UTC)He might fear Eraqus, for some deep, unexamined reason, but Eraqus had put a healthy fear of darkness in his head, and Aqua and Terra had very firmly, almost urgently affirmed it. Darkness was just about the worst thing Ven could think of. Something that corrupted and wanted to hurt.
"That was Darkness." Ventus looked at Vanitas glowing red eyes, failing to recognize them as a sign of infection, but feeling trepidation stir all the same, swirling around them both. "You can't. You're tricking me?" He didn't mean it to sound like a question. "This isn't...isn't safe. I need to-"
He half turns, clearly unsure but unwilling to tolerate Vanitas's overt threats. Maybe he'd hit you with this stick Vanitas, if you made him.
"my mother told me I was a monster. she was right of course but it still hurt"
Date: 2020-09-09 09:05 am (UTC)"What, you need to what? Run back to Eraqus? To your friends? They wouldn't care though. They're not going to protect you. They'll just stand by and watch it happen because they don't care what happens to you, they'll just lock you away after and pretend everything's fine!" He's been stepping closer as he's been saying this, face locked in a rictus grin and his voice drops low with vehemence. "You're the one who came to me." If anyone was tricking anyone here, then you played yourself.