boxofsleep | (no subject)

"Teach him well, Demyx." From the way Saïx all but glowered at him, Demyx guessed it was more order and threat than just pleasantry. Teach him well, or else.....

"Alright, alright, gimme a break..... I'll make sure he learn the ropes, don't worry. The kid's in good hands!" Demyx flashed a cheesy grin and a mock-salute, never once moving from his lazy sprawl on one of the Grey Area's couches. He hadn't asked to sign up for babysitting duty, but he wouldn't whine about it, either; it was sure better to run one of the new kids through a baby mission than to be stuck out there doing real work.

Besides, given how many new recruits they'd taken in all at once, just about everyone had to pitch in and take responsibility for one of them. He wasn't sure about much of anything for Kousyxe, name aside, but he didn't mind; they could kill as much time for the meet n' greet a he wanted! It'd be nice to not be the lowest-performing member for a little while; maybe it would take some of the heat off him.....

All that was left now was for his newest protégé to make his appearance..... and to be fair, Demyx really didn't care if he was fashionably late in that, either.

Unfortunately for Demyx, the wait wasn't going to be too long.

Kousyxe's expression was blank, neutral, as he arrived. Nothing to do but respond to what was happening, the same way that it had been ever since that day. React, don't act. This was his life, now.

Still, his passive appearance wasn't going to last forever. As he walked up to Demyx, he started to smile: an obviously artificial expression, all the same. It was ... what he was supposed to do, wasn't it? It was what he would have done. Always a member of the team, always doing things right.

"Hello..." No, that didn't sound right. He had to sound enthusiastic. But - how was he supposed to? It was just a word... With an even more strained smile on his face, he went on. "I'm Y-" No, no, not any more. "I'm Kousyxe. Are you going to be teaching me?"

Damn, was that his kid already? He hadn't gotten the conscientious sort, had he? What a drag that would be.....

Demyx levered himself into a more or less upright position to greet his new friend, fighting back a yawn as he raked his eyes over him. Orange hair, a little gangly, not too tall..... Not a bad-looking kid at all. Maybe not in the best fighting shape, but hey, who was he to judge something like that? Let he without sin cast the first stone and all that, glass houses and all. Whatever. He lived in a castle, not a house, and it was all mostly boring white stone. He had no reason to worry about that sort of thing anyway.

So! Role model time! It was time to get this show on the road, huh? First thing's first--showing him he didn't need to look like someone was forcing him to eat glass and demanding that he like it. Demyx grinned up at Kousyxe, wide and welcoming as he stood to join him. "Right in one! I'm Demyx, nice to meet you. Let's blow this joint; it'll be easier to talk without ol' X-Face coming back around to breathe down our necks for not getting started."

Demyx reached out to sling an arm around Kousyxe's shoulders; he'd just lead them out of the Grey Area, and make a portal for them to head on out into the big wide world.....

This was ... not the sort of person Kousyxe had expected to be training him. Xemnas was so serious, Saïx was so serious... admittedly, Xigbar didn't seem to be, but still. If he was even capable of having a mood that could be thrown around by this, he'd be pretty sure that it'd be thrown.
He wasn't complaining, mind. This certainly seemed like a better option than some. If he'd met Demyx while he'd still had emotions to feel, perhaps he'd even have found it easy to smile at his comment about 'old X-face', rather than having to make the grin a deliberate act.

As it was, he turned to look at Demyx a little awkwardly at the surprise contact, his expression going blank again and his motions freezing. Was he this touchy feely with everyone?
"...Right. What's the plan?"

The closest anyone could get to being trained by Demyx would be Xigbar, or maybe Axel; as far as Demyx was concerned, Kousyxe was one seriously lucky stiff, to not be trained by someone so stiff and serious. Missions might not be fun--hell, being in the Organization itself might not be fun--, but that shouldn't have to mean that everything had to be a drag, right? You had to catch your breaks while you could.

He only laughed at the way Kousyxe froze up, clapping the boy's shoulder encouragingly. Nobody else might touch each other in this Organization, it was true--and he didn't dare touch almost any of the Old Guard, much less the Big Six..... but he liked being able to touch people when he could get away with it. And if Kousyxe was gonna be his student, then he probably would be able to get away with an awful lot of things, huh? "Our plan is get out of here, then get to know each other a little better while we do our thing."

Demyx led them into a side room, arm still around Kousyxe, and waved his hand with a grandiose flourish. A swirling portal opened up, hovering before them like some kind of creepy disembodied door. Demyx nodded in satifaction, looking to his newest starlet. "Okay, lesson one! This is called a Dark Corridor. You'll probably learn how to make them soon. Anyhow, this is what we use to go to different worlds, since most normal people don't actually even know that other worlds exist, much less have the means to reach them. We RTC with them, too--that's 'Return to Castle', for when we're all done with our missions. Simple, right?"

".....Well, okay. Simple until you actually have to start making them. Then it gets a little confusing. But until then....." Fair was fair, after all.

Kousyxe peered at the portal, a little puzzled - but then again, could he really call it any stranger than what ...he'd used in the past? (Not that he particularly wanted to think about the television. Keep going. Keep moving forward. Try and forget the mystery they'd be leaving behind them, unsolved. After all, what could he feel for a dead girl now? What use would those feelings even have?)

"I understand," he responded. Darkness? Why should he have a problem with the concept of Darkness? "But what sort of missions do you mean?" What was he even here to do?
The explanations that they'd all been given had already drifted away from him: so many things to pay attention to, so little time, so little way for anything to matter in that strange place. They'd been meaningless words, meaningless concepts.

Still... he'd do whatever it was he was here for.

It was alright. Whatever Kousyxe had left behind would surely take care of itself. It had to, one way or another; whatever happened back home wouldn't be affecting him anymore. Whatever he'd felt for anyone or anything back there, whatever friends and family he'd left behind..... none of them were any good to him now, just like he was no good to any of them anymore. Maybe they couldn't just forget, but.....

Better not to worry about it. Hakuna matata, that was all that counted. Kousyxe would come to accept it in time.

It was no surprise that Kousyxe had no idea what he was actually supposed to be doing. He might not be a zombie the way Roxas had been, but Xemnas sure as anything made a great case for being a space cadet, himself. He never could say anything straight..... any explanations he or Saïx tried to give were basically useless. "Oh, various stuff..... if you're unlucky, combat missions. Fighting real big Heartless, or lots of little ones, things like that. If you're lucky, you get sweet deals like scouting and recon, or 'make enough Munny to keep the Moogle from ditching us'. I'd say the rest is somewhere in the middle."

Demyx waved a hand dismissively, giving Kousyxe a gentle tug to lead him forward through the portal. "Anyway, we'll figure out what missions you'll go on after you strut your stuff a little. Stay close, alright? It's not cool to get lost in the Darkness; you wouldn't be able to find your way back out yet." And he'd probably get eaten by a Heartless or something before he could manage, or forget himself and collapse into a Dusk, at this stage. Even for someone who lived on procrastination, Demyx didn't want to deal with that sort of thing.

It's only a short jaunt through the Corridor before they step out into blazing heat and blinding sunlight--a narrow and dusty alleyway in Agrabah. The sound of music was easy to hear from their entry, as was the bustle and shout of the crowd; they'd emerged not too far from the bazaar.

This couldn't be more different than where they'd just been. At least the alleyway was offering them some shade: all the same, Kousyxe was squinting and blinking in the light as he adjusted. The sights, sounds - even the smells, the dust and spices from the bazaar, the unfamiliar air - it was hitting him like a rock.
And yet...

I'm in a new world. I should be excited. He knew it, knew how he'd thrown himself at the idea of the first other world that he'd seen. But this one? It was just - another strange thing that was happening, right then.
Kousyxe looked around, blankly baffled, before turning to Demyx with a grin on his face. If he should be excited, he was at least going to try and look it. "Hey, this is awesome! So what's up first?"

If he was going to put his past behind him, he had to start somewhere, after all.

"Isn't it? One of the biggest perks to this whole gig, let me tell ya." Demyx grinned back, laughing at the demonstration of enthusiasm. There, now, the kid was starting to get the hang of it! Maybe he wasn't the most convincing actor around, but that was okay; he was practically a newborn, so to speak. Once he got in enough rehearsal, he'd be able to tweak his presentation, tighten up his reaction times, really clean up his act.....

There really was no business like show business, after all, and Demyx was a big fan of giving 'em the ol' razzle dazzle. If he was going to be a maestro, then his precious little ingenue here was going to need to learn to be a real star.

Unfortunately, Demyx rather liked method acting; Yosuke wouldn't be able to put everything behind him quite yet. he took a quick look around, before beckoning for Yosuke to follow him towards a tumble of crates and planking sitting in a fair-sized drift of sand, not too far away. Rebuilding materials, in a nicely secluded spot where they could do at least a little people watching without being overly visible themselves..... sounded perfect. They could hang out there for a little while.

"First, we get to know each other a little before this jam session. It's kinda hard to work with a total stranger, you know? That probably goes for you just as much as me." Demyx shrugged, moving to scramble up and perch on a box. "So, Kou--can I call you Kou? Or is it Kousyxe the whole way through? Anyway--tell me a little about yourself? Whatever you want; what kinda guy you used to be, stuff you like and don't like, stuff you're good and awful at, anything X-Face and Xiggy managed to figure out about your element and weapon and stuff..... y'know, things like that."

The shortening of his name made Kousyxe blink for a moment - but what sentimental value could he hold for a name he'd had for bare days, that he could never have felt anything for? It was logical enough, after all, and it was hardly as if Ichijo was a part of his life any longer...

"Kou's fine," he said with a casual shrug. "And it's pretty boring. I used to live in a big city, but I moved to the country about - eight months back, I think? That's where I met the others." Was it worth telling about the TV world? He wasn't sure. Perhaps he'd have to grab one of the rest of the group from Inaba and see what they thought. After all, they were all part of the same Organization - but the older members of the group didn't share their history together. Was it even relevant any more?
"I went to high school, I did alright but I wasn't great, and worked in my dad's store. There really wasn't much to do around there... I liked reading comics, listening to music, and - spending time with my friends."

"Alright! A music man! I'm a musician, myself." Demyx clapped enthusiastically, grin widening in obvious approval. This was a lot better than he could have hoped for, really. He'd been hoping mostly that he'd be getting someone cool, someone easy--that given his understudy would be a kid, they wouldn't be so stuck up and grouchy as his normal coworkers. He hadn't expected to be lucky enough to get someone else with a taste for music, that was just icing on the cake. And he never would have known, if he hadn't planned for them to talk a little right off the bat! See? You just had to ask people sometimes. Ask, and ye shall receive.

Ask, and more rarely, ye shall receive something far better than a lance or claymore to the face. Damn shame that was what he ended up with most of the time.

Anyway! He wasn't here to think about those jerks that bossed them around. He was here talking to the new kid. Demyx rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward to settle his chin into his hands. Nice, nice, it all sounded pretty standard, just the sort of thing he'd expect from a guy Kousyxe's age. "I getcha, I getcha. Sounds kinda nice, if boring. You and the others are pretty good friends, then? Or did you all just get unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

Demyx's enthusiastic response seemed like something that was worth a smile, again. He'd definitely said the right thing. Admittedly, he'd never had the most sophisticated tastes in music, he'd admit, but ... definitely interesting enough to know. More proof that not everyone here was ... another Saïx.

The acknowledgment of things being boring earned another shrug. Got that in one, too. "It's... kind of a bit of both. I've known Yuki- uh, I've known Xikkuyo and, uh, Chexi since I moved. S- Jouxis moved into town a couple of months back. Ka- Xinjak is, was, I guess, in the year below us in school: he only started hanging out with us a couple of weeks ago..."
All pulled into things together through a cause that no longer mattered, in a place that couldn't matter, through a power now lost to them.

If everyone here was another Saïx, Demyx would probably be dead, if he were honest with himself. He could toe the line and mostly skirt around the wrath of the one they have, but if he were forced to work with him all the time? If he were partnered with Saïx for missions, day in and day out? There was no way he'd be able to manage that. Saïx was just too scary, his expectations too high, his demands too extreme.

Maybe that was one more reason for him to be inclined towards lenience; Demyx could have a certain amount of sympathy for the kids coming in now. After all, he was the first real newbie, entering an Organization that had already settled and matured into some semblance of a routine by the time he'd gotten there..... He hummed in approval. "Kind of a mixed bag, then, but not too bad..... It's nice to have friends coming in, that'll probably make it easier. I didn't know anyone when I got here, y'know?"

Demyx's smile turned wry, conspiratorial; he lifted a hand to his mouth, as though stage whispering. "I still don't, really. A lot of the guys here, they're not much for icebreakers, if you catch my drift. A couple are okay, but--well, be careful, yeah? Some of the others seem like they just enjoy making people's lives hell. You're pretty lucky Larxene bit the dust before you got here."

He doesn't sound the slightest bit apologetic, not even disturbed at the thought of a comrade being killed. Either Larxene was just that bad, or the loss of their hearts really did cripple them that fully.