allsoend | Day 001 - New Beginning

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Day 001 - New Beginning

Who: Roxas (

notquiteanobody) and anyone else that stumbles in
What: Once again Roxas finds himself staring at familiar scenery
Where: His Station of Awakening
Warnings: N/A

Whatever happened, it'd been too fast and only barely had a chance to register. But once again, Roxas was no more.

Yet as had happened at least once, sort of twice before, was happening again. Actually, scratch that. He was fairly sure he'd only felt this sensation once before. That strange sensation of waking up, yet there not really being anything. Nothing but a memory. But if having 'lived' as a Nobody had taught him anything, it was that memories alone could do a lot of things. Like the memory of perception; sight, sound, taste, touch and scent. Seeing friends, the sound of voices, the taste of a favored treat, the feel of curious objects and the scent of unfamiliar things gave form to the world around him.

And there was the quiet void of darkness where he felt weightless, the air smelled stale and fortune spared him the discomfort of knowing what the surrounding space tasted like. But that 'feeling' reminded him of up and down. A body formed where once there wasn't one. Appreciably familiar: boyish, blonde and in the attire he had been wearing when the Organization had found him wearing in Twilight Town.

Again he drifted down in the darkness. He'd seen this before and the confused look on his face left him wondering why he was experiencing this again. Yet after a short time, his feet found purchase in the darkness. Then again he saw that brilliant light erupted from the floor beneath his feet as the darkness seemed to turn into countless birds flying away. Curious though was that this time, a stained-glass image that more related to his own memories and experiences was beneath him. Also welcome was that the big reveal also seemed to bring in a blast of fresh air.

All of this leaving Roxas standing about on that sorta familiar station, wondering just what in the light happened.

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Perry had been over every corner of his own station and he had decided it was time to try and figure out what else was out there. He was still very much clueless about what was happening and the only way to find out was to explore right? Of course the problem was figuring out how to explore. There was no stairs or elevators from his station that he could see and only darkness surrounding him aside from the soft glow of light above him, which seemed to have no source.

He tapped his webbed foot a few times, careful not to step on the faces of his friends. He wasn't sure why, but he just didn't want to walk all over the faces of the people important to him. Perry considered what they would do in this situation. He wasn't sure how it happened or why, but the more he thought about leaving his platform the more he could feel himself being pulled away from it.

One minute he was there and the next he felt like he was falling. Perry's eyes shot open, there was darkness and then a bright flash of light. He hit the surface of something hard and immediately tucked and rolled, one paw going to his ever-present fedora. He sprang up a second later, ready for battle and---there was nothing there.

Well, that was inaccurate. There was a blonde kid, older than Phineas or Ferb...maybe closer to Candice's age. He always did this when he saw kids: compared them to the people he had left behind. He wondered if perhaps his thoughts of those three had brought him here. Perry made a chattering sound to get the boy's attention.

For that short while as he tried to piece things together, Roxas experimentally took a few steps, pleased to find that however long a time had passed since he'd had a body had not affected how well he could control it. Though now that he thought about it, it wasn't as if he'd ever had any problems with getting himself to move or anything... granted, he'd been kind of a zombie -as he tended to joke with his friends back when the Organization had first collected him. But he acclimated to the digital Twilight Town without a problem and was almost immediately on his feet when granted a body outside of Sora once more.

Of course, his memory was a mess. He was starting to think that maybe that jumbled memories were just a side-effect of each time he had to pull himself together after something major.

Appreciably, breaking his concentration on this matter was the chattering sound that echoed through the station. Immediately, he spun to face the source and was perplexed. Whatever it was, it looked nothing like a Heartless or Nobody that he'd been familiar with and if it meant to come after him, it would've been able to sneak up on him without a problem at this point. So he approaches, head tilted slightly aside as he tried to figure out whatever it was.

An arm's length away, Roxas kneels and offers out a hand toward the unusual critter that seemed to be wearing a hat. Part of him wanted to be surprised at the hat, but considering all he'd seen before? That wasn't really super-shocking. It was a nice-looking hat though.

"Hey little guy, how'd you get here?"

Perry gets the feeling this kid has never seen a platypus before. It wasn't surprising really, Perry had gotten funny looks in Disney Town too the first time he'd shown up. Several of the inhabitants had questioned if he was a duck with a curse or something. He had never quite gotten over that and the stares were always a little annoying. Although, in this case, the kid didn't seem to be judging him so much as just curious as to how and why he was here.

Unfortunately, Perry wasn't sure he had an answer for that either. Perry held out a hand as well, might as extend the friendliness here. It was about this time that he noticed (or maybe it just now registered) that both of them appeared to be glowing. Whatever had happened, had happened to both of them. Perry wasn't sure what that something WAS just yet...but the glowing and the random stained glass with people on them all had to be connected somehow.

Perry kept the handshake brief and shrugged when he dropped it. He...honestly wasn't sure. He'd been thinking about his friends, he'd felt like someone or something was pulling at him and then he was here. Perry gestured out towards the darkness. He had to have come from out there, right? He then pointed at where he stood now and then at the boy. Was this his point of origin? Perry hadn't quite worked out that empathy was increased here so his use of gestures might not even be necessary, so he gestured as a way of hopefully communicating.

Yeah, he really hadn't. But he had the fact that most of his life was spent doing the Organization's dirty work or being yanked along into the man in red's little scheme to blame on that. Just didn't leave a lot of time to learn about the worlds he visited or the wild life that might be on any of them.

All the same, he couldn't help but to smile when the little critter shook hands with him. The glow he noticed them sharing as a little odd, but considering where he figured they somehow had ended up, it wasn't something worth really getting worked up about. In either case, whatever the little creature was, he was willing to take that as a sign that it was smart -maybe people-grade smart, which would make understanding each other easy... hopefully. Actually, maybe that did help. Because something about the gesturing just kind of clicked together in his head a little better than he'd normally expect to.

"Huh? Yeah, I think this is where I'm from... it's a little different from when I last saw it though." He takes a moment to stand and then gesture to the stained glass visage beneath the two of them, "Last time I saw this, it didn't have anything to do with me. But now it's got me on it, my friends... and then some faces I don't know." In particular, he gestures to the face that looks almost identical to his own. While it certainly looked like him, there was something about its almost fearful demeanor that seemed so different from the more melancholy air this boy had about him.

"Oh! By the way, I'm Roxas."

The platypus in question was certainly exhibiting traits of an intelligent creature. Certainly on the same level as those in Disney Town and elsewhere. The hat may have been an indication as well, though Perry knew some animals were dressed up for no reason what-so-ever.

Perry looked a little relieved that the boy was able to understand him, at least for that much. Perry studied the stained glass in question as Roxas describes his experience. He tilted his head, so Roxas had been to this place before in way? What was it? Perry drew a circle in the air and put a paw over his heart. His own station had depicted similar things as far as people important to him...his friends. Although he had recognized all the faces. Perry can't explain the face, they look eerily similar to him...but he can't say that he's seen anyone else that looks like the blond guy.

Perry doesn't say his name, but much like his last message the name seems to be communicated anyway: Perry the Platypus.

Admittedly, Roxas had never been to Disney Town, so there wasn't a lot of context he could draw on from that. But he had run into a Genie and then there were the Moogles -basically a lot of stuff that didn't look like a person in any normal sense that still were smart and clearly people-like. There was The Beast too, but he might as well have just been a very angry human... with claws.

As the two of them communicated -or attempted to, it was starting to dawn on Roxas that there was definitely something amiss here. It was more than gestures being communicated, because somehow at the end of all of that gesturing and 'explaining', he got the rather distinct impression that this odd little fellow had a very specific name. The fact that so much was being conveyed and he was picking up on it when he was normally a little slow with these things was strange and welcome. Just it took some getting used to.

"Huh... seems this place has gotten a lot stranger since I was last here, Perry."

Perry may have been thinking the same thing, but it wasn't until Roxas said his name that it really started to raise several questions and make him seriously consider it. He was used to people understanding him to a degree, but even in Disney Town he'd had to write his name in order to communicate that.

Something very strange was going on here. Was this related to the glowing and the weird stained glass and...well okay everything else?

He'd have to try something. Without gesturing he asked, thinking about it anyway, what was it like the last time you were here? And where is "here" for that matter?

Very strange was a nice way to describe it. It was confusing and perplexing and -then he could practically swear that he that a very distinct sense of curiosity from Perry. This one was more perplexing because this wasn't just something simple like a name, but this was a well formed pair of questions. It wasn't like having his mind directly spoken to, but it was more he understood just what the sense of curiosity coming off the platypus was all about.

And that was really strange.

"Well..." Roxas began, still feeling rather weirded out by all of this, "like I said, last time there was a different design on the floor. And I don't know if this place always made it this easy to understand others -I was alone last time." No sense in mentioning the Nobodies. Those were probably an aberration during his last visit, though that could also mean they could show up now. Yet that they hadn't gave him the distinct impression that they were safe here. At least for now.

"As for where 'here' is, I think we're in someone's heart... a guy named Sora."

Perry doesn't mean to weird you out Roxas. He's really just trying to figure this out too. It's a little disconcerting since he's starting to get the sense that he is projecting all of this thoughts. Not cool.

He probably shouldn't focus on his own problems though. There was enough going on. Perry, instead, listens to Roxas's explanation. So they were in someone's heart. The name sounded familiar. Perhaps he had heard the name mentioned before, although he was fairly certain he'd never met someone with that name. Perry tries projecting a thought again, Why? It wasn't like he knew Sora personally or anything.

At this point, Roxas isn't blaming Perry for being weirded out. And quite honestly, trying to figure all of this out seems to be something pretty high on both of their agendas at the moment. Of course, part of the problem of not knowing if this thought-sharing-empathy-thing is normal or not is the issue that he's been alone both times he'd been here.

Another projected thought yielded a briefly troubled look on the blonde's face as the whole process continued to be something he just wasn't used to. Not to mention his particular worries about keeping his problems to himself. But his shift in expression back to that uneasy smile of his continues to prove just that whatever was going on, it was at least working.

"I don't know myself... I figured I'm here because I used to be a part of Sora." That little sentiment probably brought some mild comfort. Used to. Just before all of this started, he got his own body, heart and life. He wasn't Sora's Nobody any more and that was something that he could at least take some substantial gratification in.

Probably broadcasted that last thought by accident though.

"That doesn't explain you though..." He comments, sounding perplexed again.

Perry filed some of this information away. Partly because there was a point where information overload would hit and he would have one too many problems to address. He'd rather figure out this situation before trying to solve any other puzzles. Unless they were related, which he assumed they were not since Roxas didn't feel the need to mention the Nobody thing aloud.

He closed his eyes and tried to figure this out though. Roxas and Sora were not people he had met before, though he did at least recognize the name Sora from his time in Disney Town. There was a connection there. Perhaps, then, Sora was tied to King Mickey and Queen Minnie...two figures he had at least briefly interacted with to one degree or another.

Perry wasn't sure if he could articulate all of that into words, but since this seemed to be working on a very different level, he tried just projecting the images. A chart in his head of each of their faces in little circles with a line connecting his own picture to that of King Mickey to that of Sora and then Roxas with a big question mark around every thing.

Similarly, Roxas' expression was souring a little as he tried to just keep the deluge of rapidly shared thoughts from overwhelming him. Thankfully, he was noticing that it just seemed to be things actively being thought about, so at least on his effort, he was making an effort not to go broadcasting everything about himself. Though his friends, Axel and Xion, were easily found to be on the forefront of his thoughts.

While he was sorting his thoughts, he suddenly jerks aside as the mental image Perry has in mind seems to find a way into his own, "Whoa... sorry, but can you make some kind of sound to warn me before you do that? It was really sudden."

Still, he at least got the proverbial picture of what the platypus was getting at. "It's kind of hard to explain... I guess there's no avoiding it. Brace yourself a little, there's not a lot here, but it all felt really intense when I learned this." He might not have been able to say much about King Mickey, but Roxas immediately focused his thoughts on Sora and all the details connecting the former Nobody with his former Somebody. At least the details of what Roxas knew a Nobody was and the pieces of the story he'd learned about how he was connected to Sora.

At least he seemed to be getting the hang of this... though he did start thinking that maybe they should find some way to better control everything before each of them drowned in the other's thoughts.

Perry gives Roxas an apologetic look when he sees the boy wince. Sorry, he really is just getting used to this himself. Perry has never experienced this form of communication before and it's a bit of a trial and error process. Unfortunately for you, Roxas, you are the first person he's actually tried it on. He nods after a minute. Maybe he can go back to trying hand gestures and leaving only important stuff for mental communication or whatever this was.

It was probably only appropriate that he get a taste of it himself. Wow! No wonder Roxas was starting to look a little queasy with all of this. It was really overwhelming at first. He brought a hand to his forehead after it was all done. Phew, he'd missed quite the story being stuck in Disney Town all those years. It didn't really answer his question though. Roxas being inside Sora's heart made sense but there wasn't that same connection for everyone else. So what had happened?

Perry massaged his temple and, again, gave Roxas an apologetic look. Yeah, he could definitely agree that they needed to stop doing this mind sharing thing sooner rather than later.

The look Roxas returns to Perry is oddly sympathetic. Sympathy wasn't something he was entirely familiar with, but from what he was able to gather from all the free-floating thoughts was just that they were in the same boat when it came to getting used to this peculiar way of speaking to each other. Of course, their next big challenge would be figuring out how to 'turn it off'. That part seemed to be the most difficult and he didn't have the slightest clue on how to go about with it.

He waits for the platypus to react after he tried thinking really loudly about all that stuff and predictably, Perry didn't seem to have much better of an idea on what to make of all of this either. Though the end result did leave him wondering what kind of world 'Disney Town' must be like. More just some random curiosity.

"It doesn't make any sense to me either. I mean, the company's nice." He remarks, offering a playful smile -perhaps the first he'd cracked since arriving. "But then we've still got to figure out how to get out of here."

And that does seem to be the major question, doesn't it? How do you get out of a place like this, someone's heart? Perry looks around as if he can just magically find an exit but all there is around him is the darkness and the station they are on. He sighs and holds up his hands. He's got nothing there Roxas.

Admittedly, Roxas didn't expect Perry to know much more of anything than he did. Blame some personal worries, but when there was the prospect of being stuck in his Somebody's heart again, alone.... well, he'd have to be excused for just asking a bunch of questions or making remarks that he knew there likely wouldn't be much of an answer to.

Although when he sat down and thought about things a little himself, he did start getting some ideas on at least where to look for the answers he sought.

"It's Sora's heart... maybe we should go look for him. What'do you think?"

Perry considered the idea. It really couldn't HURT matters to try and find the guy whose heart they were in. If anything it might answer some questions. Of course, it did make him wonder if Sora could be stuck in his own heart and how he was dealing with so many strangers in it...but perhaps that was a thought for another time.

Instead of responding via thought, Perry just nodded and gave Roxas a thumbs up. It sounded like a plan to him. Where did you want to look though?

When he watched Perry for a response, Roxas had to admit that the lack of that direct imagery in his head was kind of nice. The gestures were easy enough to understand... okay and maybe there was that little bit of empathic vibe when the question of where to go came up. But that was alright. A sensation as opposed to a lot of imagery wasn't bad.

"Well, how did you end up here? I mean, if there's a way out of these stations, then I guess we might as well wander."

After that casual statement, he offers a smile to his new friend, "Least I'll be in good company, right?"

Perry made a vague gesture, walking towards the edge of the platform. He'd kind of just...thought about it and it had happened. He wasn't sure if traveling together would work the same, but they could certainly try. He offered Roxas a smile. Good company indeed, Roxas seemed like a good kid and at least had some clue as to what was happening, even if he couldn't explain what precisely was going on. Perry jerked his head towards the darkness, very much a 'let's go' gesture.

Tentative as he'd been to venture off into the darkness surrounding him when he awoke, Ienzo had found that there wasn't much to be accomplished by pacing in circles indefinitely and decided to make an attempt to explore, at least. It wasn't exactly proving an easy task, though. The lack of landmarks was an obstacle, for one, as was the fact that you can't leave scent trails on nothing, and how every time he started to wonder how exactly to get back to where he started he would immediately find himself there again regardless of how far he had walked.

It's all actually quite fascinating, really, but frustrating in equal measure and he's just wondering who else might be here if anyone when when he stumbles, abruptly, into somewhere entirely new.

"Oh," he says, taking a moment to blink away the acute disorientation that comes with simply appearing someplace suddenly. "It's you."

As Roxas had been observing his surroundings and trying to piece together just what had happened to bring him back to such a familiar place, a sort-of familiar voice happens to echo out to him. While familiar, he couldn't place it and so he reacted the same way he would've to anything he wasn't sure about: whipping about to face it and drawing his keyblade in the same heartbeat.

Yet as his view settled on the source of the voice, he found himself more confused than threatened. Unwilling to let his guard down, he still advanced toward the source of the voice. He knew this face, this voice. Just he couldn't fathom why he'd run into an Organization member -let alone one that had long since been vanquished in this place of anywhere else.

"You're... Zexion, wasn't it?" Roxas stops a little more than arm's length away, weapon in hand, but not ready to strike. While there was recognition, there was the fact that he'd been told the Castle Oblivion team were traitors, so then that meant that they might not have any particular attachment toward Xemnas either. But then, that might not make them his allies either. Also confusing was the fact that Zexion wasn't in an Organization cloak, but lab attire.

It was really a pain when he couldn't tell who he could trust.

Ienzo takes a step back, raising his hands in a nonthreatening gesture. Which doesn't quite mean as much in a world where people can summon their weapons from the aether in an instant, but it's the sentiment that counts.

"Pleasure seeing you again as well, Roxas," he replies, raising an eyebrow. He's also more confused than afraid, as he's fairly certain that Roxas returned to Sora at some point during the year he spent in limbo. So why is he here, then? "And I was, but then my Heartless and Nobody died and apparently that resulted in my being recompleted. My name is Ienzo."

Much as some part of Roxas thought that a practice of beating an Organization member into the pavement and asking questions later was a sound idea, his hesitation and uncertainty in this matter yielded at least a decent explanation. Still, it didn't earn his trust. Not yet anyway.

And similarly, Roxas was trying to figure out why someone not connected to Sora would be in his heart. It didn't make sense.

"Ienzo, huh?" He still kept his keyblade ready in case this was a ruse of some kind. But all the same, that still left him at a loss for answers, "Alright, so what are you doing here?"

"I was hoping you'd have an answer, actually," he says, not lowering his hands because he's already been on the losing end of a sword fight once and curious as he is about the differences between keyblades and conventional weaponry he'd really rather not find out firsthand. "Given that I don't actually know where 'here' is, and the most I've gotten out of anyone else is wild speculation."

Hopefully Roxas has some idea of what's actually happening here. He is Sora's Nobody, after all, and last Ienzo heard he and the rest of the keyblade wielders had left to confront Xehanort, which could well have been the catalyst for all of this. Of course whether or not Roxas is able to access Sora's knowledge after joining with him again isn't something that he's entirely sure of, but he has a better chance of knowing something than any of the others he's encountered here.

For once, Roxas had at least part of the answer. And the more he listened to and watched the former Cloaked Schemer, the more inclined he was to believe that he was telling the truth and that he was just as he seemed: looking for answers.

So against his better judgment, Roxas relinquishes his hold on his weapon and allows it to vanish into the ether before he starts. "Sort of. The best I've been able to figure is that we're in Sora's heart... again, in my case. But it's different from last time." He gestures to the stained glass visage on the floor, "This for example, had nothing to do with me and everything to do with Sora last time... but this time, I recognize all but one of these faces."

He offers a confused sigh accompanied by a shake of his head, "And then last time, I was here alone. Which makes you being here make not a lot of sense because I don't think Sora ever met you either as a person or a Nobody."

That is actually rather a lot to take in all at once, and the look Ienzo gives Roxas as he explains goes steadily from confused to skeptical to disbelieving and back to confused again. At least he has the good graces not to interrupt with questions midway through.

"No, I don't believe I encountered him even in passing," he says, slowly, folding his arms over his chest as he thinks this over. "And when I arrived or awoke here, whichever is the more accurate term, I was on a similar platform, though relating to my own memories, which I can't imagine would have any reason to exist in Sora's heart. If you're correct about where we are, I'm sorry to say that I have no more explanation for why I'm here than I did before."

Admittedly, the Ienzo's side of the conversation still left Roxas with a lot of questions. Though to be fair, they seemed to be questions that neither of them held the answer to. However, mulling it over, it just left him unable to do much more at the immediate moment than to pose the million munny question.

"Makes you wonder just how we got here anyway... I wasn't anywhere near Sora when I blacked out and I doubt you were close by either." Uncharacteristically lost in thought for a moment, Roxas can't help but to shake his head for a moment before returning his attention to his guest.

"So then, how did you get from your place to mine? Do the Corridors still work here?"

"Nor was I, no. And as far as I'm aware, I walked."

He does stop briefly to consider the possibilities of the Corridors of Darkness still working here, as space tended to warp in similarly strange ways within them, but no. The surrounding darkness here feels too different to be those. Which leads him to the question of what would happen if he attempted to open one, but thankfully he is capable of learning from past mistakes and dismisses the idea. Opening a Corridor while potentially within someone's heart seems like an awful idea.

"It doesn't seem like distance and direction work the same here as they do elsewhere. I wasn't able to see or otherwise detect you or this platform until I was already here, which is odd because glowing glass pillars floating in the middle of an endless void tend to be rather noticeable."

Roxas offers a nod as he listens to Ienzo, digesting and shuffling all these odd little tidbits away. Admittedly, he'd entertained the idea of trying to walk off his station, but had the idea in his head that he would simply fall into the dark abyss below and end up... well, who knew where. His last visit to Sora's heart really hadn't left him time to explore. Though that was a strange notion because he couldn't remember feeling any real sense of urgency spurring him to move on at the time.

Probably just one of those things he didn't think of at the time.

"So have you run into anyone else while here?" He inquiries. Part of it too was him wondering if any other of their former cohorts were around. Obviously, Saix would be bad news, as would be Xigbar and their Superior in any form would not bode well for things at all. Though it did make him wonder that if Ienzo was here and a regular person again, just who else in the Organization was just a regular person now.

"Other than you, I've encountered Even - or Vexen's completed self, sorry - and two people whose names I cannot accurately pronounce." Ienzo would give humming their names a go, but he's got something of a tin ear and would rather not risk embarrassing himself. "They wore helmets that obscured their faces and spoke entirely in electronic noises, if that sounds familiar to you."

The name Even didn't ring a bell and Vexen was only slightly better. And by slightly, the name brought back memories of recon training back in his early days with the Organization. As for the other two described, that drew a blank... though they sounded like interesting people he'd want to meet.

"Can't say those guys ring a bell. Did Vex -er, I mean Even remember anything or have any idea why we're here?"

He figured it was worth a shot. There was some mental footnote in his memory about Vexen being one of the brainier Organization members. On what subject or subjects, he couldn't remember -or maybe he'd not been told. But in either case, it was worth looking into.

"No, sadly. The only conclusion we were able to come to was that we probably are not dead after extensive bickering, and neither of us could remember anything past," he stops, flinching at the memory despite his best attempts not to. Remaining stoic is something of a difficult task when you're ten years out of practice with having emotions to begin with, much less concealing them. Taking a deep breath, he collects himself and continues. "Past the world being consumed by Darkness again."

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Day 001 - New Beginning

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Wow I'm sorry for the delay I was really sick for a few days there

Dude, it's okay. If you're sick, work on getting better. I can wait. :3

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