Ambivalence [Raen, Zack, Zexion]

[Aerith]

Island Visitation

The flight this time had been much longer than the one between Traverse Town and Olympus. Raen had suggested he take the helm for this portion of their travels, since Monstro the whale liked to frequent more areas of space the farther away you were from Traverse Town. Lanying was more than happy to let him fly the ship. The downside to this arrangement was that Zack insisted on continuing his entreaties for a date, knowing she was free of distractions. But once she figured out that he was easily distracted himself, she discovered that simply showing him around the Gummi Ship quickly got his mind of any romantic endeavors.

The time passed slowly, and she was unsure if this was due to the fact that wherever Raen was taking them was far away or if she was just extremely bored. Perhaps it was a combination of the two. She was just about to make her way back toward Raen, when a slight bump indicated that they had landed somewhere. At that point, she was standing near the hatch, which opened. Deciding it would not hurt to go ahead and take a look around, Lanying motioned to Zack. "I will be right outside. You can wait for Raen if you wish, or you can follow me."

With that, she stepped off the ship and scanned their new surroundings. They had landed on what appeared to be a small island with a sparse few trees scattered about, though it was mostly gray rock. This looked to be the largest of the islands nearby, which were really just glorified boulders stuck in the ocean. The sea was vast, and she smiled a little. The sight of so much water immediately relaxed her. In her visual sweep of the area, she also noted the existence of a regular ship in the distance. That was certainly curious. She took a few steps forward and waited for her two companions to exit the ship.

[Fate]

What One Does For Information
Feel Ambivalents

"Hey sir, can I ask you a question?"

Neverland was yet another world that Zexion had to cross of his list of possible worlds that the mysterious dark man visited. There was no sign of any damage done to the world at all and everything seemed oddly peaceful. Though, that did not mean that his work was done. Instead of merely settling for only a bit of information that he got from observing, he decided to ask the citizens of the world if anything peculiar was going on. Naturally, he could not do this in his normal form, making his control over illusions very handy indeed. If one was to look at him right now, they would not be able to tell that he was a member of the Organization... or male. Indeed, he was currently in the guise of a somewhat plucky and short blond female dressed in similar garb to the other citizens of this world. This guise also had pigtails... the things Zexion did for this Organization...

"Sure little lady, what do you want to know?" Zexion was currently on the pirate ship surrounded by a few pirates, not exactly pleased with his current predicament. However, it was a decent disguise and one would not suspect that he was really a Nobody in disguise. He turned to the pirate and responded to his question. "Well, I was wondering if there have been any recent attacks lately. You know, Heartless, bad guys... that sort of stuff?" Coming off as innocent was certainly a bit difficult, though the pirates around him seemed to believe it.

"Nope, can't say I've seen any." All of the other pirates seemed to agree to this sentiment and give Zexion the same look. They then dispersed and talking amongst themselves, causing Zexion to sigh. He made sure no one else was looking before he pulled out his Lexicon and wrote down a few notes, letting it disappear shortly afterward. This world was just like the others that he had been traveling to; all of them were peaceful and hadn't experienced any sort of attacks or increase in them. This little mission Superior sent him on was beginning to become increasingly difficult.

"None of the low-level pirates seem to know a thing..." he muttered to himself, keeping his tone feminine. "Perhaps the higher ones do..." With that in mind, he tried to go into one of the ship's chambers. Unfortunately, a couple of brutes blocked his way.

"Sorry, can't go in there," they told him. Zexion sighed, telling himself to never work under this sort of disguise again.

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[Zack]

Zack was excited when he boarded the ship. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. He was surprised the thing could actually travel to other worlds and thought maybe for a minute they were just pulling his leg. However, once they started flying and he looked outside and saw space, he knew it was no joke. They were on their way to a new world!

Raen had been flying the ship, which allowed him to be alone with Lanying. He had tried to get her to actually give a more definitive answer of when they would go on that date, but it wasn't working. Instead she started showing him around the ship and he was too distracted by the wonders of the ship to ask her anymore. The trip didn't seem all that long (though that might have been due to it being his first trip) and before he knew it he felt a bump, meaning they had probably landed.

Lanying then started to head outside and told him he could wait for Raen. Well he obviously wasn't going to do that, so he had already bolted past Lanying eager to see the new world. When he was outside he noticed they were on an island, with many smaller islands around and there was water....lots and lots of water. "Wow.....a new world," he said aloud as he looked around. He couldn't sit still in one place, so he kept moving around looking at all his surroundings.

[Nothingness]

A Change of Scenery

Raen had found some sort of perverse pleasure while listening to Zack's attempts to woo Lanying, and even more so when Lanying distracted Zack. The man pretty much saw everything new to him as some major discovery. Raen couldn't blame him for that, but he wished Zack would tone it down just a bit since it was starting to get on his nerves. Luckily, he finally saw a rather interesting world in the distance and figured it would be best to land there before he lost some of his sanity, or in the very least spare Lanying from more of Zack's antics.

As he finished shutting everything down on the ship, Zack and Lanying had already left the ship and began observing this new world. The place where he landed was a rather large island, even though it seemed to be mostly rock with sparse plots of grass that had the occasional tree growing out of them. The air smelled very salty and moist--much different from the rather disgusting moistness of Monstro or the strange fragrance of the Land of Dragons. He actually rather enjoyed it, to be honest. Something about it just screamed "freedom."

Stepping out of the ship, he followed suit and took a look around. Nothing in particular caught his eye except for a large ship against the horizon. It couldn't have been more than a few miles off. Outside of that it seemed as if they were the only people here, but for once that was rather nice; he didn't want to disturb this moment of peacefulness. However, as irony seemed to follow them wherever they went, that peacefulness wasn't about to last. Two things happened at that very moment. The first: he saw the ship turn around, probably curious about this new ship. Secondly: Heartless. Three Pirate Heartless were slowly approaching their group from behind the Gummi Ship, their swords drawn. "Well, guys. Looks like we've got some company." Raen drew his sword and waited for the Pirates to come to him--he didn't know how they fought, and he wasn't about to risk getting hurt by those massive swords.

[Aerith]

Unwelcome Guests

Lanying exhaled a sigh. Something always had to interrupt the calm, did it not? She turned just as Raen pointed out the three approaching Heartless. Taking Resonance in her hands, she nocked an arrow to it and took aim at the enemy nearest to her. This was a new Heartless, one dressed as though it was ready to set off on a sea-faring vessel, which made some sense, considering there was a ship not too far away. The thought finally occurred to her that perhaps Heartless took a form fitting of whatever world they occupied. At least, in some cases, they did. Though, it was not as though this pirate outfit did anything to disguise what a threat the Heartless were.

"We always do. Uninvited, at that." While Raen was hesitating, presumably unwilling to jump straight into something that was over his head, Lanying had the advantage of range. As such, she had the privilege of shooting first and asking questions later. "Let us just see what these Heartless can do." She released her arrow at her target. With those giant swords in its hands, it probably should have stood a good chance of deflecting the projectile, but the arrow struck it straight in its chest. Lanying blinked in surprise. Either these Heartless had terrible reflexes, or she was a much better shot than she gave herself credit for. She was inclined to say the former.

The Heartless vanished in a puff of shadow, and Lanying nocked another arrow. "Well, that was...easy enough."

[Zack]

Zack was going to have to enjoy the change of scenery later. Apparently they had company. Zack turned to face them and saw three creatures that, well kind of looked like pirates but were not human. He drew his sword. "Are these those heartless thing you guys were talking about?" he asked the two, though he could probably assume that they indeed were.

Lanying had drawn a bow and arrow and shot one of the heartless things, taking it out in one shot. Well, if one arrow could take one out, he didn't imagine the other two would be harder to take out. He held out the sword in front of him and touched it to his forehead. He took a breath and then rushed one of the heartless.

The heartless managed to block his sword with its own, but he had pushed it back. It didn't take much more force to cause the heartless to drop its sword and that left Zack free to attack it. He attacked it twice and then it also disappeared in a puff of shadows. "Well that wasn't so bad," he said after having defeated it.

[Nothingness]

No More "Pirate's Life" For You!

Seeing Lanying and Zack dispatch two of the Pirate Heartless easily enough, Raen figured that it wouldn't be too difficult for him. Walking towards the Pirate Heartless, it readied a powerful swing. Raen stopped just a few feet short of the Heartless, and as soon as he did, the Pirate swung its blade in a massive arc. Raen took one step back and watched the creature spin a large circle, lose its balance, and fall to the ground. "Really?" He said, rather dumbfounded with its lack of intelligence. Walking up to it, he simply stabbed the creature in the face, and watched it it vanish in a puff of black smoke.

"Well, not to jinx us, but I hope the Heartless here offer at least some form of challenge. That was...pretty pathetic." He shook his head and put away Fimbulvetr. Looking to the sea, he saw the ship rapidly approaching. Hopefully this one wasn't filled with Heartless...or hopefully it was. He didn't really care at this point so long as it was interesting.

[Fate]

Taking a Rain Check

Zexion found that even after asking most of those on the pirate ship, he learned almost nothing of interest. Heartless quantity was low and there were no recent attacks. He may not have gotten into the ship's chambers to ask the captain of the ship any questions, though he could only surmise that he would receive the same answers. This little game of cat and mouse between him and the mysterious dark force was starting to grow tiresome already and Zexion felt he had only started his search; though, he was not about to give up anytime soon. He had to keep searching, no matter how long it took.

Still in the body of a young blond lass, he started to walk toward where the ship was connected to shore, not seeing a point to stay on the ship further and have even more pirates stare at him; he would note that this was not the wisest choice of illusions for a world such as this. Though, almost as soon as he got near the edge of the ship, something caught his eye. Was that a Gummi Ship in the distance? Were more travelers coming to embark on this world?

His eyes traveled again as scents came across his radar, two new ones and one he was familiar with. Well, wasn't this a bit of a coincidence? Demyx had only just mentioned Raen to him recently after his excursion in Monstro; unfortunately, Demyx seemed more keen on complaining about how Zexion gave him said mission instead of the actual information, but he gave him Raen's little message nonetheless. The two had only spoken once and left on slightly hostile terms. It had been more than three weeks since then and now the two were going to meet again.

"You leavin' this ship or not lassie?" One of the pirates came over and gave Zexion an intimidating look. "We be settin' sail soon. You don't look the sailin' type." The Nobody of course did not falter from intimidation, instead giving the sailor a cold look.

"Fine, I'll leave," he said, his voice still female, "Why would I want to sail with scum like you anyway?" Before the pirates could come up with a decent response, he started walking off of the ship and onto land. It looked like he was going to have a little rendezvous.

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[Aerith]

Restlessness

Neither Zack nor Raen had any trouble taking out their respective Pirate Heartless, either. It was almost comical, in a way. And while she did not particularly wish to encounter tougher Heartless, she could see Raen's point. Either the Heartless needed to present them with a challenge, or they needed to leave the three of them alone. Disrupting the peacefulness of this place only to fall easily in a matter of seconds was merely an annoying inconvenience, one she personally could do without.

Though no more Heartless appeared, she still held her bow ready should it be needed. The frustrating thing about Heartless was that they had the ability to appeared suddenly and without any warning. One could literally not see them coming until they emerged from the darkness. That would keep Lanying on edge, even if everything seemed quiet. Remembering Zack's question from earlier, Lanying turned to him and said, "Yes, those were one form of Heartless. They come in many shapes and sizes, and my knowledge of them is limited to the ones that frequent my homeworld. Raen is probably more familiar with a broad range of the creatures."

The three of them were now just standing there, wondering what to do next. It was a tad awkward for Lanying, who was itching to move somewhere or do something. She had the appearance of the Heartless to thank for that. Relaxation was out of reach for her now. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the ship again. It looked like it was about to approach their little island. Whoever was on the vessel had probably seen the Gummi Ship and was curious. Perhaps curiosity was the only motivator. Perhaps. "...Do you think we should be concerned about that ship?"

[Zack]

Zack watched as Raen had no problems taking out the last heartless. Satisfied, Zack put away his sword, seeing no more of the creatures. He wondered if the heartless really were a threat, if all of them were like this. However, Lanying mentioned they came in many different forms, so maybe they had gotten lucky for right now. Well, whatever the case it didn't matter anymore since there were no more signs of the heartless.

Zack then turned to the oncoming ship. He never thought he'd actually see a pirate ship in person and it was a bit exciting. Lanying asked if it should concern them and Zack grinned. "Well, only one way to find out!" he exclaimed and headed towards were it had docked on the island.

He could have waited for Raen and Lanying to voice their opinions, but he was too excited about being on another world and wanted to explore it. Plus if that really was a pirate ship, maybe he'd actually meet one or two. As he approached it though his attention was turned away from the ship and onto.....something else.

A nice looking girl with blonde hair and pigtails was leaving the ship walking this way. Naturally, Zack went to go greet this person. "Hello there!" he called out to the girl with a big cheery smile as he approached.

[Nothingness]

Something Smells Fishy (and it's not the fish)

"We'll wait and see." Raen replied to Lanying's question. "We don't want to go rushing...into...thin--ah crap." Since he was looking at Lanying while he said that, he didn't notice that Zack had already started to head for the pirate ship until it was too late. Shaking his head, he started to run after Zack; the last thing Raen wanted was him getting kidnapped or held hostage or whatever the heck pirates did.

Zack stopped quite a ways away from the ship, giving Raen reason to sigh in relief. But then when he saw why Zack stopped he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in annoyance. "Does he really need to hit on everything that has two legs and a skirt?" Finally deciding that he may as well let Zack do as he pleases, Raen looked at the girl that Zack was "courting." Yet, for some reason, Raen felt a hollow pit in his stomach when he looked at her. He didn't know why--he'd never seen this girl before in his life, and he'd certainly never been to this world. "It's not important. Must just be hungry or something." For some reason, though, that feeling of dread just wouldn't go away.

[Fate]

Look What I Found

Well, he was off the pirate ship now at the very least. He would have to get a decent distance away from it before he could drop the illusion without arousing the suspicions of the pirates. Though, one of the travelers that Raen seemed to be traveling with had chosen this opportunity to approach him and say hello. This one had a glint in his eye that the pirates seemed to have as well, causing the Schemer to be slightly put off and slightly annoyed at himself; he was never using this disguise again, that was for sure.

"Hello..." he said, his tone dropping to show annoyance while staying female. He crossed his arms over his chest, his gaze traveling over to Raen and a girl he did not recognize either; by the looks of it, she was from Land of Dragons. That was the world that Vexen had frequented and gave a report on; a silver-haired man attempted to destroy the world but was stopped by a couple of fighters. Perhaps that was where these two met... it also raised another suspicion in his mind about the silver-haired man. It could have been one of those pawns of Maleficent; either way, he might need to pay that world a visit later as well and see if anything happened there recently.

For now though, that wasn't his main focus. He was in Neverland now with Raen and his friends for what would surely be an interesting meeting. The Schemer was a bit curious after all; had Raen truly made his decision about which path he was going to follow? If so, what was it? Of course, there were other things on the Nobody's mind concerning this, seeing a very similar circumstance happen before. Though... would Raen truly follow the same path as Riku?

Zexion walked away from the man that had approached him, taking several steps to approach Raen and the woman. He at first offered an innocent smile, which he supposed came off as a bit too eerie for the illusion he was wearing.

"Hello Raen," he said in a sly tone, albeit still speaking from his current illusion and not using his own voice, "How interesting that we meet again..." A bit of blond hair fell over cold blue eyes; Raen had to know exactly who this was now.

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[Aerith]

Wariness

No sooner had her question about the ship left her lips than Zack was already walking in that direction. Raen was actually answering her, but then he, too, noticed Zack's current path. She felt a hint of frustration from Raen, and she completely understood. Did their newest companion not understand the value of thinking before acting? He was almost about to board the ship when he stopped, obviously distracted by something else. Someone, rather. Lanying's eyes drifted over to the person who now occupied Zack's attention, and she resisted the urge to yell that Zack could forget about going on some "romantic" outing with her if he was going to go after anything even remotely resembling a female human at the drop of a hat.

At least the blond girl did not seem interested in Zack's overtures. However, she made a beeline for Raen, which put Lanying on edge. Did Raen know many pirates? Female ones, at that? Lanying did not bother to check Raen's reaction to this woman. Her eyes were locked on the blond. Something was not sitting very well with her. The smile she offered did not quite fit her features. But then, she said Raen's name and gave him a chilly look.

"Raen..." Lanying could not prevent all traces of her uneasiness from creeping into her voice. "Do you know her?"

[Zack]

Zack's hello was met with quite a cold hello by the girl. It seemed like she wasn't the slightest bit interested in him and soon just walked past him. He was kind of disappointed, but it didn't keep him down. You win some and you lose some! He turned to see where the girl was headed and saw that Raen and Lanying had caught up to him, both looking a bit annoyed. Zack scratched the back of his head and gave them a smile.

Trying to hit on another girl in front of another he already promised a date for probably wasn't the smartest thing he had done. But it wasn't like Lanying had acted all that interested in it, so was it really such a big deal? However, he then noticed the girl had approached Raen and seemed to know him. That sly dog! No wonder Raen was annoyed with his efforts. He gave him an approving thumbs up in his direction.

Zack moved closer so that he could hear whatever conversation that would follow. He noticed that Lanying seemed a bit uneasy and he wasn't sure why. The girl seemed perfectly normal to him....

[Nothingness]

Time's Up

At first, Raen wasn't quite sure of who that girl was, how she knew is name, or why she had come over to him. But when she tossed a little hair over her eye, he finally understood, albeit still rather confused. "Zexion," he said, not even hiding his distaste, "The hell are you doing here? And why the hell are you disguised as a girl?" The last part he couldn't help but find amusing, especially with Zack having been making a pass at Zexion just a few moments earlier. Perhaps this would teach Zack to stop hitting on every girl he came across, and stop Zexion from ever trying to pass himself off as a girl.

He looked over Zexion's shoulder and saw Zack...smiling and giving him a thumbs up? "Can this guy ignore his hormones at all?" Ignoring that, he turned back to Zexion--he knew what Zexion was expecting of him. "I'm assuming you got my message. Well, then I already know why you're here. So how about you drop that disguise of yours and let's talk face to face." Raen had been preparing himself to tell Zexion, including in front of Lanying, but he realized just how difficult that would be. Although she never outright said it, Raen could tell that Lanying hated the darkness for other reasons--not just because it was the darkness. He hoped she would understand...