City of Delusion [Open]

[Aerith]

The lack of sophistication is so disappointing.
--------
[July 25th]

Traverse Town. Such a lovely place on the surface. Filled with such ignorance. Such offensive ignorance. Even the denizens of the world's underbelly knew but a fraction of the truth. They were simple-minded thugs and cutthroats. Left to their own devices, they would flounder fruitlessly in the sea of life, causing the barest of ripples that would last for a mere moment and then vanish, doomed to be forgotten.

Obscurity. That was all these lower-tier criminals were destined for. Unless they received some direction. A considerable amount of direction.

Ethan watched the milling crowds from an unassuming position against the side of a building. It was so easy to tell who believed themselves to live in the "light" and those who were equally delusional about their home in the "dark." Both groups disgusted him. Both lived in denial. He couldn't decide which group he hated more. Those of the light, for perceiving themselves as innocent, or those of the dark, for believing themselves truly evil.

He might have bothered to impart a bit of his knowledge if he thought even one of them had the retention rate of anything beyond a flea. Sadly, this did not appear to be the case. More often than not, the fools allowed their actions to be dictated by the alcohol or drugs in their blood. How idiotic. Giving up control like that did nothing to ensure success. It might provide a temporary rush, but in the end, if you couldn't remember the look of horror on the faces of your victims or the sound of their pitiful screams for mercy, what use was there in taking their lives?

At best, these simpletons were useful for one thing and one thing only: inducing chaos.

That's what he was going to do here. Perhaps a riot in the streets over the well-timed death of an important gang leader. Or perhaps the death of a seemingly pure and innocent person to rouse the "reputable" people of the town into righteous fury. Either way, there would be violence.

So much death might follow. So many might see and understand tonight. Yes. They would.

[Administrator]

I SNUCKDED UP ON YOU, DIDN'T I?

Well, he was here. Where here was, exactly...then it hit him. I'm in Traverse Town. He hadn't been here in a long time. Looking around, he noticed that he was alone. Not quite alone, O smart one. I'm still here with you.[/color] Yeah, but you don't count. You aren't physically here.[/i] Origas admitted that grudgingly while Shardd walked around, looking for people.

But not just people, because he found them easily enough; rather, he was looking for people who were out of place. Shardd could tell when someone was out of place, too, when they came from somewhere else. And he had found just the one he was looking for, too. Stay away from that one. He looks dangerous.[/color] Of course, the boy completely ignored Origas' warning and instead snuck up behind the guy.

"Hi there! I'm Shardd," the boy waved as he introduced himself, "what's your name?" Of course, Shardd had no idea the intent of this man he had stumbled upon, though Origas did. And his darker half tried to warn him, but, as usual, was blown off. Sighing, Origas retreated into the recesses of Shardd's mind. If this blows up in your face, I am going to remind you from now until forever that I warned you,[/color] he said as he faded into the dark corners.[/size]

[Larxene]

Kupo My Fist

"Let me go, kupo!"

Larxene's left eye twitched ever so slightly at the hearing of this last bit. God, what was it these freaking creatures and that ANNOYING WORD. The next time she heard it, she was going to bury one of her knives so deep into that furry little white head...

"What was that?" she asked, raising her hand up to her ear, pretending to have missed the command. "So sorry, but I was a little preoccupied trying to decide what the best way to cook a moogle might be."

The exact series of events that had led the Savage Nymph to be holding a moogle upside-down, antagonizing it, were somewhat questionable. The moogle might have insisted that he had been doing nothing but innocently try to sell his wares, when a completely insane woman came passing by. How was he supposed to know that she would react so violently to an attempt to sell her a ribbon? For a very fair price too, if he did say so himself.

In her mind, however, she had been totally minding her own business, when the annoying little creature had suddenly made it his job to piss her off. The disgusting little thing had nothing to blame but itself, both for getting in her way and simply existing.

"Perhaps I should find myself a nice cook book..." she thought aloud to herself, ignoring the moogle's protests and attempts of escaping her clutch. "Know where I can find one?" Smirking, she flicked its dangling pompom with a couple her fingers that weren't busy restraining, something which she knew it would absolutely hate.

"Don't touch my pompom, kupo!"

That was it. Summoning half of her Foudre into her free hand, she raised them up, ready to strike.

[Aerith]

I seem to be dealing with polar opposites.
--------

Someone was speaking to him. Ethan kept any trace of annoyance from his expression as he turned his head to glance in the voice's direction.

Ah. Fortune has chosen to smile on me tonight. I could not have plucked a better lamb from the crowd.

The boy was wide-eyed and practically smelled of naivety. How odd for someone like that to approach him. Ethan's aura was reeled in for the moment. Of course, now that opportunity had presented itself, he released his mental hold and allowed it to float free, enveloping the boy when he drew near enough.

"Hm? My, but you're friendly, aren't you?" He smiled and it was as genuinely warm as possible. "You are the first person to have taken notice of me. Of course, I understand there are so many people who come and go here. My name is Ethan." He nodded slightly in greeting. No need for full names. The boy would be dead soon.

There was something else, some other disturbance nearby. Ethan could make out some woman (at least, from the screeching of her voice, he assumed it was a woman) railing against one of those moogles. And from the looks of things, she was ready to kill it. No subtlety there. No delicacy. No art. What a waste.

"I wonder. Should someone stop that... woman?"

[Administrator]

Hey you...don't help them to bury the live...

Shardd had no idea what Origas was talking about. This man seemed perfectly trustworthy; in fact, he almost seemed more trustworthy than anyone else Shardd knew! And, like small children and puppies, Shardd was a good judge of character. Also like small children and puppies, he knew when something wasn't right. So, turning to fix his gaze upon the woman in question, the boy knew that something...definitely was wrong with her.

Of course, the first thing he noticed was that she was trying to torture and/or kill a moogle, which was NOT okay. The second thing he noticed was that she had the same taste in clothes that Axel did. Of course, that wasn't nearly as important as the other observation. "Nobody," he whispered as Origas thought the very word; Nobody.[/i][/color] Of course, that wasn't all. He also thought something about her being a bi...not a nice person.

And that they were royally screwed if they fought her. Shardd ignored that part. "Hey, you!" he called out. "Miss Nobody! Stop bothering that moogle! He doesn't like that much." And thus, Shardd was being an idiot, or so Origas thought, as per usual. He may have to take control if she beat the crap out of him too much.

Oblivious to Origas' mental processes, Shardd waited for a response from the female Nobody.[/size]

[Larxene]

Moving In For the Kill

Miss Nobody. Was that annoying voice talking to her? Slightly surprised and slightly more irritated, she turned around to get a look at whoever it was. Her eyes quickly located the source: a black-haired teenager standing about twenty-five or so feet away. His hair combined with his darkly colored attire would have given him a distinctly emo appearance, were it not for his incredibly clashing idiotic look on his face and that overly-cheery voice. That voice. It was like nails on her poor ears.

She pursed her lips, not all that happy with this sudden interruption. "Does he not?" she asked innocently, hiding her aggravation. "I'm fairly certain he does." Poking her captive not to gently in the face, she added with a smile. "Isn't that right?"

The moogle clearly was not enjoying himself, but was evidently unable to easily express this due to the difficultly being sort of strangled was putting on his ability to speak. Despite a lack of air, however, it's biting functions still seemed to be working just fine.

"Ow!" She exclaimed, instinctively dropping the thing as its teeth sunk into one of her fingers. "Little animal just bit me!" Gasping for air, it was attempting to escape. "Yeah, right."

Having recomposed herself, Larxene sent the four knives she was holding flying at the moogle. They barely missed its throat, two going barely to each side and sinking straight into its purple wings, pinning it to the ground. Perfect shot, if she did say so herself.

It only took a couple short steps to catch up to the spot where the moogle had reached. The annoying emo kid was no longer on her mind. Maybe he had walked away, or maybe he was still standing over there. It didn't really matter. Summoning the remaining half of her weapons, she looked down at it with a faintly malicious smile. "Still haven't fun, aren't you?"

[Aerith]

If I must, I will interfere.
--------

So that explained the poor taste in clothes. This woman was a Nobody. Ethan had heard of Nobodies who could retain human form even after having their hearts taken, but he had never understood why someone would do that to himself. Or herself, in this case. The strong will required to continue existing in such a debilitated state struck him as not so strong in the end. True strength came in accepting when it was one's time to die. Stubbornly clinging to a pitiful half-existence was cowardice. Nothing but a fear of death.

This Nobody in particular looked especially in denial. She seemed to find some false satisfaction in torturing creatures to establish her nonexistent superiority. How disappointing. It amounted to little more than kicking a dog. If she was going to make something suffer, she needed to make people her target. People were far more satisfying. Perhaps she was not aware of this.

Either way, he couldn't have her torturing the poor creature. Not because he cared for it, no. But if he did nothing, Shardd might grow suspicious.

Pushing off the wall, Ethan made his way over to the screeching Nobody. Leaning a little on his walking stick, he avoided any emotional appeals and stuck strictly to reason. "I would ask if you enjoy such behavior, but I already know the answer to that." He smiled a little more coldly at her than he had at Shardd. "Since there is no point in you inflicting such suffering upon that moogle, I would suggest you take your business elsewhere. Clearly, you have been offended by the high prices or the terrible customer service. But there are other shops around. No need to throttle what you want out of this particular owner."

[Larxene]

Looking For Trouble?

Seeing some random guy starting to make his way towards her, Larxene frowned. Oh, for the love of-- what was it now? First it was that little emo punk trying to aggravate her, and now this weirdo was coming over there. The next person to get in her way was so getting stabbed. Or maybe she would just go ahead and stab this one.

She decided virtually immediately that she didn't like the guy. Granted, that wasn't really saying much; Larxene hated everyone. But as far as her levels of hate went, he was pretty high up there. Something about him just rubbed her the wrong way...

I would ask you if you were gay, but pretty sure I already know the answer to that. she thought in retort, not saying it aloud simply because whatever-his-name-was had started talking again before she could. But what was up with the way he was dressed? Like that fedora? Please.

Once he had finally stopped talking she took it as her cue. Raising her eyebrows, her face took on a fake look of surprise. "Throttle?" She shook her head. "Why I was simply engaging in aggressive prices negations, that's all. Strictly professional business, I can assure you. No need to get your panties in such a knot."

Larxene sent her unarmed pointer finger into his chest, right between his ribcages. It was hard enough to hurt slightly and serve as threatening, but not enough to really be considered an attack. "So unless you're interested in buying yourself a nice cute ribbon to go with your already fab-u-lous outfit-- which wouldn't really surprise me-- I suggest you move along."

She returned the cold smile he had given her a moment ago. "Unless you're looking for trouble, that is." If he was... Well, she would be more than happy to oblige.

[Administrator]

...Don't give in without a fight.

It seemed Shardd had had the right impression on the man. Ethan was a nice guy, and he was trying to help to keep the woman from injuring the moogle. He appeared to have gotten her off of the poor thing. Pulling the knives out of the creature and dropping them, Shardd cast Cura on him. "Here you go. Try to stay away from Nobodies now, 'kay?" A kindly look was spread across his face. The moogle, speechless, nodded and scrambled out of there.

Shardd's face got much more deadly now. He still had that flicker of innocence, but it was a sharper, much more cutting form now. He wasn't about to forgive her for the wanton cruelty. Drawing his sword, Shardd prepared for trouble that was undoubtedly going to result from all of what had occurred. "Hey, Miss Nobody, why are you making such outrageous comments?" His sword lowered, the boy's guard was almost down.

Origas was almost screaming, but he managed to keep himself calm. I know you aren't that bright,[/b][/color] he started, to which Shardd thought, hey, I am--I don't care what you think you are or aren't.[/b][/color] Origas cut him off cleanly, and Shardd immediately went mentally silent. Good, you're quiet. Now, both of them are bad. Don't argue,[/i][/color] Shardd could feel a mental hand being held up. They are not good people. I don't know what it is about Ethan, but the Nobody...you know she's just sadistic.[/color]

Yeah,[/i] Shardd thought. And crazy. Origas laughed. Yeah, and crazy. The man just hoped, secretly, that Shardd could get himself out of this one. If not, that he got control. Shardd could really mess this one up if he played it wrong...[/size]

[Aerith]

Is that how you want to play, my dear?
--------

She touched him.

That was the greater offense to him than any of the filth that spewed from her mouth. How he wanted to rip her finger--hell, her entire arm--off for the trespass. Perhaps he would cram the bloody stump down her throat to silence her forever. Yes. That would be true perfection.

His mind was seething with such venom, yet his expression hardly wavered from the picture of cordiality. Rather than violently tear her to pieces, he chose to gently but firmly push her hand away from him. Starting a fight with this Nobody would be pointless. She was an empty shell. Killing her would give him little satisfaction, pretend emotions or otherwise.

If she wanted to start a fight with Shardd... well, Ethan had no objections to that.

Her comments rolled off him, having little effect. Such accusations were childish. That did not mean, of course, that he was going to let her off the hook so easily. "Ah, you must be one of those who thinks throwing insults around will help you disguise your own shortcomings. And considering that practically every word that comes out of your rather large mouth is uncouth, you must consist of nothing but shortcomings."

He looked her up and down once. "I must say that resorting to those sorts of insults only reveals your immaturity and your lack of self-awareness. Calling someone else's sexuality into question shouldn't be done by someone who is clearly confused about her own. Are you really a woman? The timbre of your voice suggests so, but I see no other evidence for that assumption."

Perhaps he should back off a little and let Shardd take the brunt of the bitch's ire. After all, he was only here to stir up some trouble that did not directly involve him.

[Larxene]

Could This Tactic Be Classified as Trolling?

Outrageous comments? Oh, her comments weren't outrageous. Well, maybe by normal standards, but her standards weren't exactly normal. She had said far more bizarre and frankly offensive things before. Larxene ignored the annoying kid's question, partially because it had seemed fairly rhetorical, though also because she was choosing to currently pretend he wasn't there. He wasn't worth taking notice of.

This one certainly seemed to enjoy trying to play the part of the big smart guy. So good at being able to read people, having such perfect understanding of human psychology. If only he was a fraction as insightful and clever as he seemed to think he was.

Of course, he also seemed to have his fair shard of absurdity to say. That last statement questioning not only her sexuality but her gender was just silly. Larxene didn't really care that much about her appearance anyhow, but it was pretty clear that she didn't look like a man. Aside from the feminine facial features, there was also her figure and the fact that she clearly had boobs. Yeah, there was nooo other evidence but the voice.

All of this she COULD have said, but she didn't. She only got one response, and it was important to make it the right one. And all of that would have been arguing logically, arguing the blatant facts. Even if they weren't too obvious to need to be said, she didn't want to use logic. For it was a senseless approach she was currently choosing to use. That was what would really drive this sort of guy crazy.

Larxene's face retained the same, cold smile. No sign of any aggravation did she reflect on it in the couple second that it took her to think all of this. She didn't need to over think what to say exactly, this sort of thing came easy to her.

"Your sexuality?" she asked, faking surprise as she placed her hand where her heart should have been. "Who ever said anything about your sexuality? I certainly didn't. I mean... if the shoe fits-- you do certainly seem to be getting defensive over an insult that wasn't even made-- well then I guess the shoe fits. But I for one was simply commenting on your meticulously impeccable fashion. That was all."

Frowning, she shook her head. "It sounds like you were the one stereotyping and making practically baseless assumptions. I frankly, am offended by your slanderous accusations. I have nothing wrong with gays. My recent business associate was more flaming than Adam Lambert." Marluxia was more flaming than anyone, for that matter.

"But you knnooow? I think I might be willing to forgive you for this little misunderstanding. Assuming you apologize, naturally." Her insincere smile her wider, gaining a hint of genuine amusement. She stepped forward, touching him again. Only this time, she placed her whole hand on his chest. This time it was less of a threat, and more of an an act of defiance. A challenge. He didn't want her touching him? What was he going to do about it, hmm?

[Slash]

Back in Traverse Town...now what?

[/center]

Soren was wandering around. He wasn't lost...well, only in the sense that he had nowhere to go. His ship had been badly damaged, and he couldn't leave for a while.

Oh, well. At least he'd gotten to say hi to his father. Soren wondered if he still missed Mom, or if the extended seperation had dulled their affection.

While lost in his thoughts, he bumped into a woman wearing a black cloak. Hm?

"Oh, I'm sorry. I..." He trailed off. There was something dangerous about this woman, something that made him want to fly away as fast as he could. Soren took a step back.

[Aerith]

Ah, a distraction.
--------

This Nobody was about as clueless as anyone Ethan had ever met. She was overtly arrogant, giving the illusion of self-assurance when in reality, she was nothing but an empty shell inside. Such audacity to play at being human.

She touched him again. Ethan's building annoyance was quickly changing into outright fury. Yet still, he remained calm on the outside. Just had to keep reminding himself that she was not worth his time. Shardd was the more interesting of the two, and Shardd would be the one who had to die for any conflict among the people of this town to start. The Nobody's death would mean nothing.

Luckily, someone bumped into the Nobody, allowing Ethan the opportunity to take a few steps away from the cloak wearer. Perhaps he could fade into the background now. The Nobody seemed to be easily distracted by new targets, like a bird constantly flitting after the next nearest shiny object.

He would watch, and he would wait.

[Larxene]

Not Distracted, Simply Taking a Break

Larxene was staring at the man, waiting to see what he would have to say in response. What was the matter, didn't he have some brilliantly witty comeback right up his sleeve to throw back at her? What was he waiting for? Not much time had really passed yet, but a clever person shouldn't require much of a pause at all. Clearly this man wasn't as sharp as he seemed to think. How disappointing. And yet satisfying, at the same time.

Before she ever got to hear what he had to say-- naturally he would have been forced to say something sooner or later-- the conversation was interrupted when some idiot ran into her. Instinctively shoving the individual away, she snapped her head around to see who had been dumb enough to not be able to look where they were going. What the heck? Coming right out of the red-headed kid's back was a pair of white wings. Well that wasn't strange at all.

Crinkling her nose slightly, she intentionally allowed a look of mild disgust onto her face. "Man, is every freak in this town going to get in my way today?" Glancing back to see what had happened to him, she noticed that her more stylish friend seemed to be trying to get away. Now that certainly wouldn't do. Sending him a wink, she turned back around. She would just have to come back to him later.

Looking back at the thing in front of her, Larxene quickly decided that she didn't like him either. Aside from looking like some sort of experiment of Vexen's gone terribly wrong, he had that annoying childishness feel about him. Mostly similarly to the other boy, who she wasn't even going to check to see if he was still there, out of not really caring. Bird boy was her prey now.

She took a step forward, to counter his step back, moving to a distance that most would consider an invasion of personal space. Despite the fact that he was noticeably taller than her, he was the one that seemed to be intimidated. "You what? Are blind? Are an idiot? Due to having the attention span of a bird are totally unable to focus on where you're going?"

Her voice was filled with venom and malice, very different from the playful voice she had been using. This was simply a change in approach, not in her own personal mood. She was bored, and choosing a more directly vicious route this time. It would suit this one better anyway. "Spit it out, little birdy."

[Administrator]

Poking her with a stick seems to be working!

There seemed to be tension building. Well, that's the understatement of the night,[/b][/color] Origas snorted in his head. Shardd ignored him and was about to act when a new person appeared. This new guy seemed nice, and he was seemingly part human, part bird...thing.

The cloaked woman nearly jumped on him, but, luckily, Shardd was here. The boy stepped in between the two of them and said, "Leave him alone! He only bumped into you on accident." Not able to resist the urge to introduce himself, Shardd said, "Nice to meet you. My name's Shardd. What's yours?"

Though he spoke this, he kept his eyes on the Nobody, and his hand on his sword's hilt. The boy didn't want to fight her, but he would if it came to it. "If you have a problem with him, Miss Nobody, then you can talk it out, or we can fight." Shardd wasn't usually this frank, or this violent, but Origas had just noticed the Nobody's figure and was thinking rather lewd thoughts that Shardd did not want to be a party to.

Repressing the scarring thoughts, Shardd kept a serious expression on his face, though it was hard for him.[/size]