The Mourning After [Open]

[Fate]

Now what?
[July 27, 2010]
Twilight Street Ambient Remix from Shadow Hearts.
--

Two days after the events at the Keyblade Graveyard, Elrick and Lillian got back to Traverse Town. To rest, to recuperate, to rant about the events that went down, and a whole bunch of other 'r' words for the alliteration effect. It was night in Traverse Town, like it always was, and Lillian was staring at the ceiling from her bed in the Red Room in the Second District-- she called dibs on this one just because it was red, no other real reason.

Same thoughts kept going through her head: Mickey was dead, someone else had died in the Graveyard, and the Champion escaped. She hadn't known Mickey that well, only meeting him once, but he was a good person... mouse. He had been one of the many Keyblade Masters that had been killed by the Champion, or so she figured out. It was tough to swallow, especially with the fact that the Champion was still possibly roaming around. And that darkness she shot out of her guns? Where the hell did that come from? She never used the darkness, never in her life. Now it was rearing its ugly freaking head in her shots. Damn it all.

She moved onto something else: what to do next. She had an idea about where to go next, though most likely not a good one. Yeah, she knew she probably shouldn't have snooped through Elrick's stuff --what's the fun of traveling with someone if you don't do that?!-- but she was curious about what this Orpheus was that he mentioned in his journal. He never mentioned his home and she never asked. Maybe they could go there? Eh, who knew?

[/font]

[Lagunamov]

Option A sucks, option B sucks...

This was a calm place. Relatively. Heartless still roamed this world, but it seemed they contained themselves mainly to the so called Third District, with eventual detours into the Second One. Elrick needed the calm place, but something to kill to release frustration would have also been welcomed. As he looked at the fountain from the ledge above, he couldn’t help but go over the events a couple of days ago. Surely enough, he had barely met the King, but finding out about his death and then having possibly destroyed his remains all in less than half an hour had certainly left him concerned.

Not to mention all the other crap going on around lately. The Champion was enough as if is, but having finally finished deciphering the message he received from home was the last straw on the camel’s back. “New equipment for the storm ahead. Retrieve ASAP, you pussy,” he repeated on his mind over and over, considering his current options. His sister would certainly not send such a message and risk her cover over something mundane such as clothes or new armlets. And the cipher code was enough confirmation that it was indeed her and not some Orpheus crony. That, and the insult.

But, what if she had been forced into it and they just wanted the traitor back for blood? If that were the case… No, he would still feel the need to return. If Orpheus had resorted to threats, he would need to go there and get those he cared about out of the world for good. Either course of action would be dangerous… and he’d probably need to keep Lillian from tagging along somehow. Last thing he needed was to drag someone innocent into that hellhole.

[Fate]

Pfft, innocent.
--

"Damn I hate staying still.

[/color]" After probably only minutes of lying on that bed and staring at the ceiling, Lillian made her way out of the hotel. She had never stayed here before, always sort of wondering what it was like on the inside. Wait, were all rooms just based on colors? There was a yellow one, a green one, a blue one... If she went further, were they going to have the whole fricking rainbow? Wonder which one Elrick picked-- maybe purple or something. She didn't want to find out, instead going straight for the door and outside.

And there he was by the fountain. Heartless used to always spring up in that area, this whole district even, but not much anymore. She walked over and stood a couple of feet away. He was almost unusually quiet since they left the Graveyard, not surprising in the least. He probably knew Mickey slightly better than she did and he had been the one to kill that double-- that was probably taking a toll on him. Probably not a good idea to bring up his homeworld right now then and the idea of going to it.

"Hey, you all right?" she asked simply. Let's ask the obvious question with an obvious answer here ladies and gentlemen.[/blockquote][/font]

[Nothingness]

Home Sweet Home

Neither of them wanted too, but before Raen and Lanying had landed in Traverse Town, they had dropped off Zack in Olympus Coliseum. The up-and-coming hero had said that he felt like he had seen enough of the worlds, and was strong enough to begin his training in earnest. As sad as it was, maybe they would come back and have Zack join them on an adventure again. After all, it wasn't like they couldn't just fly over and meet up with him.

As it stood, however, Raen was busy wandering through the streets. He'd booked he and Lanying rooms at the hotel, but left as soon as he had. Mostly because he needed some time to himself for the moment. The incident at the Graveyard had left more than just a bitter taste in his mouth, and he didn't see it going away anytime soon. "The King was already dead. We didn't kill him." Raen had been repeating the same thought ever since they left, like a mantra. It wasn't helping.

Looking up, he found himself on the other side of the Second District, having gone full circle around it. Earlier, he'd walked by two people that gave him a familiar vibe, and he'd have stopped to check if he really did know them, but he could sense that there was quite a bit on both of their minds--he'd hate to interrupt them. Continuing down onto the plaza, Raen stopped once he was at the fountain and sat on the edge of it. The cool, moist air was calming. Unfortunately, that calm was soon replaced by a dreading anxiety---he just saw another member of the Shield walking quickly back to HQ. "Ah, shit." Digging his face into his hands, he shook his head. Yeah, he had to meet her, but that wasn't something he was looking forward too.
---
"Excuse me, Captain! But, I just saw Sarmon. He's in the Second District. His partner was seen, too, leaving the docks with him."

Viola looked up from the book she was reading. Well, it was about fucking time! She stared at the soldier, who was looking at her with the stupidest expression of self-satisfaction. She sighed and spoke slowly to him, her voice thick with irritation. "Then why isn't he here, goddammit! Get his ass over here, NOW!" The soldier immediately ran out, any pride instantly drained at realizing his own foolishness. Viola slammed the book shut, but quickly composed herself and set it gingerly on the table. Walking over to the mirror, she looked at her reflection, her face void of emotion. "Finally, we can get some shit done here." She sighed. "This had better work out."

[Lagunamov]

Because otherwise, that'd be completely off-limits.

Elricks’ mind kept racing in circles, considering his three current options. He could either return home and get ambushed in a trap, go back home and not get ambushed but still have to deal with soldiers and shadows all over the place, or not go back to that hellhole and live the rest of his life with an annoying sensation of “what if” and guilt. Not to mention that he was hesitant about dragging… oh, there she was.

It seemed Lillian had gotten tired of simply staying still inside, so she came outside and joined him. “I dunno. I have… a lot in my mind lately,” he answered. “I’ve been wondering, is there any particular reason you chose the room that looks as if straight out from a porn movie? Which happens to be right next to mine,” he joked for a bit, but his heart wasn’t really into that at the moment. It wasn’t that he wasn’t trying; it was just his damn mind that kept dragging those thoughts to the surface all the time now. And Lillian had already been made aware of Orpheus due to her snooping through his journal notes.

Leaning forward and placing his hand on the railing, Elrick sighed, deciding that beating around the bush was pointless at this point. “Will you just say what you really want to ask me?” he simply came out and said it. They had been snooping through each other’s journals for a while now. And apparently, Lillian had decided that to make one of Elrick’s statements in his true, she needed to hide her journal in her underwear drawer. And he had tried so much to not go through that one. Right.

[Fate]

Red is no longer my favorite color.
--

Well great, now that room would be ruined for her forever. She didn't even think about that when she went in there. Now that would be all she would think about. "Because I wanted to keep you up at night with that thought in mind, I don't know," she answered, attempting to lighten the mood a bit. It was heavy right now, Elrick obviously having more on his mind than the red porno room. But now she had to ask the other question, the real one. Fiiiiine. She paused for a second, then spoke.

"Is Orpheus your homeworld or something? And are you going to go back there sometime? Tell me to shut it if I'm asking too much." Which he probably already knew. She could tell because her drawer was more disorganized than she had left it when she went back to grab her journal-- at least his statement in his journal was rendered true now. And, hopefully, she wasn't prying too much into this. Besides, maybe it was a good idea to go back home for him. If she could, she would. Though, different worlds and stuff.

[/font]

[Aerith]

At least we're not in that barren wasteland anymore.
--------

Lanying remembered this place. Right after she and Raen had escaped that whale, they had come here, and she had been nearly mentally scarred by that woman in the clothes shop. She decided to stay away from said shop this time around.

Raen had wandered off, presumably to think, and for now, she sat in her hotel room. The bed was quite comfortable, but it would not do for a meditation session, and she had been lax in the practice since leaving her home.

From the cold smoothness of a section of the floor without carpet, Lanying breathed deeply, eyes closed, and forced herself to drift through emptiness. Letting her burdens fade away brought her a sense of contentment. She worried far too much. She knew this. But it was not something she could stop doing on the spot.

She wanted to go home again. There had been no word throughout the worlds that Land of Dragons was anything but fine. That did not stop her from feeling the pressing need to go back and check on it.

Perhaps soon. Perhaps she would ask Raen.

[Nothingness]

Good Dog?

The barking of a dog in the distance stirred Raen out of his reverie slightly, but not enough to make him look around for it. No, what made him look up was the Heartless dog tugging at the hem of his jeans. For a moment, he had half a mind to draw his blade and kill the thing, but instead reached down and petted it. "Hey, pup. Glad you remember me."

"He's not the only one." Raen lifted his head and looked around, finding the speaker pretty quickly. A Corridor of Darkness had sprung into existence, and a blond-haired, amber eyed man stepped out, smiling and giving Raen a two-fingered wave. "Good to see you again, though, I wish I didn't have to collect you." Raen laughed and stood up, watching the dog run back to its master. "Well, may as well get it over with now. She that pissed?" "Asking every day." "Well, crap." The two laughed, walking through the Corridor into Viola's office...
---
A young brunette entered the hotel and quietly whispered a question to the clerk. He pointed down the hall and the girl nodded. Stopping at the aforementioned door, she knocked softly, politely saying, "Excuse me, Miss Lanying? The Captain wishes to speak with you. I'll be your escort to Shield HQ. Raen's already there, in case you're wondering."

[Lagunamov]

No witty one liners. Not aloud at least.

That response from Lillian managed to get a small smile on Elrick’s face, if only because of the thought that immediately followed it. ”Maybe I should ask you to keep up at night in a different way,” he would have said, but that would probably get him killed. That, and create some awfully awkward moments. Of course, they seemed to get along just fine right now, and they were pretty much invading each other’s privacy at the moment. But, thankfully, before Elrick’s mind started to deviate itself further down the gutter, she came out and asked what was actually on her mind. And it involved no midnight shenanigans.

“Orpheus is not my home world. That’s Eurydice,” he started to explain, crossing his arms on the railing and resting his chin on them. “Orpheus is a paramilitary organization I used to be a member of,” he reflected back, trying to find the words to best explain the situation. Too much stuff had happened, so it was probably for the best to give the short version. “It was originally formed to fight back heartless in the world, but as time passed… the higher ups decided to start training troops in the use of darkness, without ever telling them what it was they were messing with… And eventually gained control of the whole world, under the guise of protection...” as he said that he lifted himself back up a bit, letting a small stream of darkness flow from his shoulder to the tip of his left hand.

“I got fed up of the hypocrisy. So, I left. But, my family stayed back there,” he stood up and turned around, leaning backwards on the railing and placing his left hand on it. “And now… I got a message from my sister saying there’s something I may need for the future there…” he closed his eyes and brought his hand to his temple. “This just had to come right now; it couldn’t have waited another week or two for me to get out of this slump…”

[Fate]

Couldn't have a simple name for your world, could you?
--

No, Orpheus wasn't the name of his homeworld. It was... Yuridisee? Your-id-icy? Your idiocy? What the hell?! This was an odd world name. She didn't even want to know how it was spelled. Either way, that was the name of his world and Orpheus was a paramilitary group that he was once a member of. The basic story of Orpheus was that they were once a decent group that protected the world from the Heartless, but then decided to use the darkness without telling anyone what it was capable of. Through the darkness, they gained power and control, not exactly what they were meant to do. Elrick left because of that and left his family there, including the sister she remembered him mentioning before.

And he had that darkness too, from Orpheus. With everything explained, it wasn't surprising, but unsettling. But now it was her turn to speak and she was kind of stuck as to what to say. She was never good with these sorts of conversations. Comforting was definitely out of the question since she sucked at that, so she'd have to try something else here. "Well damn, you're right. This just sucks. The timing is just... ugh." That was a start... sort of... ish. "Either way, you're gonna have to go back eventually. And I'll definitely come with you to help out so you can get in and out of there quickly."

That was about all she could do anyway-- offer help and let him figure out what he wanted to do. Though, she'd probably end up tagging along even if he refused. The world didn't sound stable and, if it was anything like Libertas, didn't handle people leaving big groups like that well. She wasn't about to let a friend go into that and possibly get killed. He was stuck with her whether he liked it or not.

[/font]

[Aerith]

Could this have waited until later?
--------

A knock on the door interrupted her meditation, and Lanying reluctantly pulled herself out of the empty well she had been falling slowly down.

After crossing to the door, she opened it to find some strange brown-haired woman standing there. She was from Shield, and she was here to collect Lanying.

"All right, then. I will follow you."

[Nothingness]

Be Prepared

"I'm sorry if I've interrupted you." Stepping out of the way, she gestured towards the door at the end of the hall. "It shouldn't take us more than a few minutes." The girl walked in silence, constantly looking left and right for any sign of Heartless. While there were other members around and about--some unseen--dropping one's guard was never a good idea.

When the two had entered HQ, they found the amber-eyed man that had picked Raen up earlier playing with his Heartless pet. He was sitting on what looked to be a fairly comfortable armchair a little ways down from a large wooden door at the end of the hall. The Heartless ran eagerly towards Lanying, barking and wagging its tail playfully. "Hey, hey! Easy boy. Come back here. Sorry about that. He gets excited around new people." As the dog hurried back, he gave Lanying a short bow and pointed towards the door. "That's the Captain's room. Just, uh..." "Just go with it." The girl finished, shrugging her shoulders. "The Captain'll jump down your throat if you get nervous or jumpy."

"--I'll either rip your balls off or shove this sword down your fucking throat! Now, which will it be?" Viola's voice managed to force its way through the door, as well as a choking, pained sound. The man laughed at hearing this, and the girl stifled her laughing, too, like it was some big inside joke. "Better hurry up!" The man said, still laughing.

[Lagunamov]

Well, that simplifies things.

With everything finally out in the open, at least from Elrick’s side, it was easy to see Lillian trying to work the details as they were being said. It was a wise call to just give the abridged version. Had he gone into details, like the experimentation on heartless, the couple of people who accidentally turned into them through careless use of darkness, or even the battle where he and his sister had almost died, it would have taken ages. And her mind would have imploded from so much information introduced at once.

And now… she was offering her help? Removing his hand from his face, the former soldier looked at her slightly surprised. She wasn’t asking, she was telling him. The way it sounded, she was to come no matter what. He chuckled, a weight lifting from his shoulders to a certain point. “I’d guess if I tried to leave in the middle of the night you’d still follow, right?” he joked, his mood lightening for the first time since the events at the Graveyard. It felt comforting knowing that, after so much time almost isolated from people, he had managed to encounter someone who’d throw herself to the very pits of hell alongside with him.

[Aerith]

I am not looking forward to this.
--------

Lanying stared at the door she was supposed to go through. From the sound of it, she could already tell she was not going to enjoy meeting this captain. Why did she have to meet her in the first place? She would much rather have stayed in her room.

Without a word to the other two, Lanying opened the door and walked inside.

[Nothingness]

Don't Be Like That...

"So, the guy looks like he's about to piss himself, and his voice just completely cracks and sounds like some five year old. Guy says, 'Alright, alright! I'll tell you!" Raen was doubled over, laughing, while Viola regaled him with one of her usual stories, both of them completely ignoring the door opening for the moment. Viola continued, barely containing her own laughter. "So I say, 'Well, glad we're agreed then.' I take my sword out of his mouth, but I've still got his junk, right? He gives me the sickest fucking look ever, and I just cold-cock the son of a bitch! Out like a light--dumbest grin ever on his face." By this point, both of them were laughing uncontrollably. Forcing out the words as best she could Viola ended her story with, "Best part of it? Guy actually thought he had a chance later!"

Raen was just beginning to catch his breath when he turned around and saw Lanying. Coughing a few times, he quickly calmed himself down, though still getting a few laughs out. Raising a hand to each of the women, he introduced them. "Uh, Viola, this Tai Shi Lanying. Lanying, this is the Captain of the Shield, Viola Hart."

Viola, having long since composed herself, walked over to Lanying and gave her a very formal, very low, bow. "It's an honor to meet you, Miss Lanying." Lifting herself out of the bow, she smacked Lanying on the shoulder pretty hard. "Always glad to meet a chick with some balls. Hell, from what Raen's told me, yours are ten times his size. Hah!" Walking back to her desk, she propped her feet up on the edge, leaning back in her chair and resting her hands behind her head. "So, Lanying, Raen's already given me an overview of what happened. But, why don't you tell me your opinions on this whole 'Light and Darkness' issue. What's your take on all this shit?"