exsilium | 1st Memory

[So... arriving here was a shock enough. Now... she's still struggling to absorb everything she's learned. It's so overwhelming, really. And Xion is not comfortable at all with just... putting her face and her voice and herself in general out there, but she has several questions and nobody she knows nearby to ask. So, text it is]

So we can't go home until we help the Initiate win this war? What if we've never fought in a war before? Why do they choose who they do?

I'm sorry if that's a lot of questions. I just don't understand what's going on. [Or why they picked her]

Is there any way of telling if there's anyone you know here?

[It seems like that's it, but at that moment, Xion slips in a puddle in the real world and nearly drops the tablet, fumbling with it and accidentally activating the video feed. It shows a small hooded girl, though her face is difficult to see. She seems to stare at a moment at the feed in surprise before she mutters "Sorry", and a hand clutching the bow she got when she arrived reaches up and clicks it off again]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I can?

[There's a part of that sort of gets it - at least... Axel thinks it would be problematic and that makes sense. Somehow. But how was a lot more in the way of confusing...]

So... all the stuff that's happened since Castle Oblivion... hasn't happened to you yet?

[He hadn't seen Roxas when he got back? He hadn't helped Roxas find her and beat that Veil Lizard in Twilight Town? He hadn't helped her and Roxas come up with a plan to hide her not being able to use her Keyblade until it came back?

He hadn't... told her that he would be her friend?

Now she thinks she understands a little better.]

Oh... I think I get it now...

Well I should hope so... I didn't think the Organization hired dummies. [He's not really indicting, just a little bemused. He makes a bit of a face then.] Well, besides Demyx, anyway.

[She's quiet for a long moment, and he's about to ask if she's okay when she speaks again. Oh. Well, maybe it just needed to percolate. ... He really wishes she'd take the hood down.

[Rubbing the back of his neck he sort of shrugs at her.]

I don't really get it, but it is what it is. You find your apartment okay?

I think I'm inside the building now. I haven't found my room yet.

[She'd initially started her little Q&A outside on her way over, which in retrospect maybe hadn't been the smartest idea, given... well, her little (literal!) slip up and flub on the network.

So... Axel didn't remember. He didn't remember helping her or being friends and there was a part of her that was sort of paralyzed with fear. Last time, Roxas had been there to help smooth things over - "Any friend of Roxas's is a
friend of mine." Would the same thing happen here, or not?

... hold on a second]

Wait... if... if the last thing you remember is being at Castle Oblivion... how... how were we able to- [To see you. To be friends with you. For you to even be there at all?]

How long have you been here?

[He makes an exaggerated face and shrugs helplessly.] Your guess is as good as mine. I don't really get how all this time-travel nonsense works: we had a party on Friday that literally sent us back to the 1700s, so... yeah, I just stopped trying to make sense of it. [Axel touches two fingers to his forehead and then pulls them away, sort of making a 'sparkly' motion with them.] Kinda felt like a lunatic even thinking about it, actually. I'll leave the temporal shenanigans to Luxord--he's got the knack for 'em, I don't.

Ah. [He thinks a moment.] 'Bout a month and a half.

[A lot of that goes right over her head - 1700s? Though the comment about Luxord finally manages to make a sort of impact. Everyone knew what his powers were affiliated with.]

Yeah, I guess...

[She bites her lip. The conversation was threatening to trail off into a very uncomfortable silence. What should she do? Should... should she take the risk?]

Axel-

[But then she cut herself off, closing her mouth and biting her lip. Why was this so much harder than last time?]

[She's quiet again, and he's starting to wonder if something weird happened that he... er... doesn't remember. Tilting his head a little, he arches one eyebrow.]

... Yeah? [He sounds a little apprehensive.] Is somethin' wrong? I mean, I'm not sure I know if you're acting weirder than usual or not, but... you're acting kinda weird all the same.

Did something happen?

[Xion swallows.]

Axel... back home... I asked if I could be a friend, and you said yes.

[It'd been one of the happier moments of her life that she could remember. And she'd been relieved. Axel had been Roxas' friend, she hadn't been sure what she'd do if he didn't want to be hers.

But still, that was back home.]

But... if you don't remember any of that, are we still friends?

Huh?

[He looks genuinely baffled, then scratches his head, glancing down for a moment. Wow, that was a bit blunt--she really is kinda like Roxas. Well, it might be nice to have an actual friend in this place. After all, if she was eating ice cream with him and Roxas on the clock tower, it really only made sense he'd said it was okay for her to be a friend, right? He didn't figure she was the type to fib--she seemed way too nervous for that. Besides, fibbing about being friends was just a silly idea in the first place. All she really has to do is ask.

[Which she did. So he guesses that's that.

[That hood's gonna have to go, though; he's not keen on being friends with no-faces. He glances back up to point this out, and then stops.]

Oh.

[It's like she knew what he was thinking. Suddenly the hood is down around her shoulders and he can see her clearly. She's got big blue eyes like Roxas, her hair short and dark. He studies the lines of her face a moment, and think that she reminds him a lot of Naminé, actually, but that's neither here nor there.

[He makes a raspberry noise.]

You make it sound like I forgot. Can't forget what I haven't experienced yet--you're the one from the future, that's not my fault. [And then he grins.] But I guess if we're friends in the future there's no harm in getting an early start here.

[Xion laughs a little sheepishly, trying to hide how nervous she'd been.]

I guess not.

[And then clearly, because this is the most important question]

Is there any place that sells ice cream here?

[Xion pls. You have the best priorities. He actually just laughs.]

Are you kidding? Please, if they didn't have ice cream here I would have asked for a refund.

Weather here isn't so great for roof-sitting, though, so if we're gonna make a habit of eating ice cream we're gonna have to find someplace slightly less inclement to do it.

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