boxofsleep | (no subject)

[....A little too chilled, honestly. Memento isn't too sure what he was supposed to do. Why did they sent him outside again? Why couldn't someone else go find him?]

....

[There you go Xigbar, you got wet demon puppy eying you. Get back in the castle already.]

[Aw, man. Someone sent number twelve-and-a-half looking for him? Saïx, he guesses. Well, that's the way the cookie crumbles... Sometimes feels like the guy still doesn't quite know his place in the overall structure of things.
Still. No harm done.

So from his position on a rooftop where he's casually watching the city, Xigbar looks over, offers the kid a warm smile, easy as anything-]

Aw, what's that look for, short-stuff?

They're looking for you.

[Probably didn't need to specify anything more. Then again, it wasn't like much information was given out in the first place. Though it was safe to assume it was about a mission, it always was.]

[Didn't need to tell him that, kiddo.]

Guess I'm just that popular.

[No matter. He'd gathered what information he needed for now. Stretching out, he idly stood up, flipping off from the rooftop and landing effortlessly - someone who didn't have to come along, but was going to anyway, because isn't he just a nice guy like that?.]

[...Coming along? Wait wat.]

[Coming with him back to the castle, of course? He puts a hand on Memento's shoulder, all friendly.]

How about I walk you home?

[Seeing you like this kinda makes Memento even more weary. Even he is fully aware at how scary Xigbar can get sometimes.... Although that doesn't seem to be the case now. And he was already soaked enough as is. Too bad portals weren't quite mastered yet.]

...Right.

[Scary? Little old him? He's just got ... priorities. (Ones that aren't so obvious at first glance.) He gently starts to pilot the kid onwards.]

So tell me. What's the latest news?

[Mitsuru had said someone would be joining them on their forays into Tartarus for a while. But that's all she said. Nobody seemed to really know why he was there, who he was, what he was looking for... But he had the proper paperwork and they couldn't really say no.

Now that they're in the tower, Minato selects his teammates. He wants to maintain his usual four-man squad, but he doesn't know what the newcomer can do... So to cover as many areas as he can, he equips a large battleaxe.]

Ken-kun, Koro-chan, you're with me and Xigbar-san. [That done, he addresses the older guy.] I'm not sure what exactly you can do, so feel free to fight however you're most comfortable.

[A dog, a small child, and the squad leader. Man, letting this kid think he's in control is going to be tricky. But - this is their best ride into that tower, the best chance to see those beings up close. Who's he to turn a chance like this down?
So, a little bit of negotiation, a little bit of paperwork forged... and he'll be their best friend, as far as they know.]

Too kind of you. [One golden eye sparks, teasing. It's going to be interesting to see how this motley crew fight, too...
Of course, he doesn't plan on showing them everything he can do in battle just yet. Not until he's got a better feel for what's going on here. His feet are firmly on the ground.] Let's get moving. This tower's not going to fight itself.

[Zio, hama, dia, mudo, agi, pierce, slash. Strike with his axe. So magic-wise, Minato will be covering mostly garu and bufu skills. And then whatever the newcomer can do. Alright, he can roll with this. Adaptation.]

Alright. We'll try to answer any questions you have as we go. [He heads for the access point, rather than the stairs. Easier to pick up where they left off. There's only one word to describe the dungeon waiting for them: opulent. It's all golden and regal, spreading out as the maze it is.]

Our priority is defeating Shadows. Stick together if possible. We get split up, we'll deal with it then. [A bark and a nod from Ken and they're off. All too used to this.]

Got your back, Phones.

[He'll give them that. Slick, professional: man, beats some folks he's had to work with, at the least. How much have these kids been through? Not that he's clueless here, of course. Not that he didn't do his homework as far as the resources were available.

Xigbar smiles faintly at the look of the place, readying his guns-]

Man, they went all out on the decoration here, didn't they? [And that's very strange. Outside, a world of blood and darkness. In here, shining and rich. Something's going on.
... Beyond the fact that this place grew out of a school in the first place. Chaotic, he thinks.]

Yeah. It was a pretty big surprise after the last three blocks. [They'd all been mostly green. Bloody, too. How much more of this tower is there?

'Phones' as a nickname? ...Well, sure, why not. Well, first thing they come across is a suitcase containing no small sum of cash, which Minato pockets. After that a growl from Koromaru signals an incoming Shadow.]

Got one. Get ready! [It's more like got four, really. Some floating eyeballs and two 'women' lounging on couches.] Fuuka, scan the Empresses.

Hey, I'm not complaining...

[Sorry, Minato, but some things have to be done. And he already used 'kiddo' up on Roxas.

As the creatures emerge - well. He's seen some odd Heartless in his time - and a few odd Unversed, come to think of it - but these things just take the biscuit. He flips his guns around, takes aim at the first of the Shadows, ready to blast it away. Sure, he could just open fire straight away, but what would he learn from that about what he's dealing with?]

[Oh, it gets weirder. They've seen the Death Seekers before, so Minato will start with them. An attack with his axe - Xigbar can note that a disembodied head appears when the thing is hit. Koromaru knifes it. Ken's turn - instead of using the spear he's been lugging around, the kid puts a gun under his chin and pulls the trigger.

Kala-Nemi appears, casting Hama on the second Death Seeker. They can at least take one of them out with light. Everything, suicidal imagery and all, is taken without flinching. These kids are basically child soldiers.

Xigbar better do something or he'll miss all the fun.]

[Oh, he's seen enough now. So that's an Evoker, that's a Persona... and these aren't just kids. He's seen more emotion from people who can't acknowledge their own hearts. Man. A smile flickers across his lips again for a moment.

Xigbar launches a pinpoint stream of shots into the Death Seeker that's still standing - such as that applies - aiming to finish it off. Nothing complicated, yet.]

[The Death Seekers are down, and Fuuka's scan of the remaining two Shadows finishes.]

Regal Mothers. Weak to darkness and electricity. Light won't work.

[Ken and Koromaru acknowledge the scan, so now the spear is coming into play. Minato himself has a new Persona he'd like to take for a spin, so he shifts and puts the Evoker to his own head.]

Alice! [The Persona he summons doesn't look that different from the Princess of Heart. The skill she uses, however? A mudo skill. Pure darkness.

Hopefully it won't miss his target.]

[He's unruffled by Fuuka's voice, as if he heard telepathic girls talking to him every day. The darkness attack though? Beautiful. And the contrast between it and the adorable Princess-alike he'd just summoned...

This boy's got potential.

Darkness attacks, though... maybe he can just use a little to give him an advantage, here, before he breaks out the big guns. He channels just a spot into the next round of shots he aims at the last Shadow.]

[Fortunately he hit the first Regal Mother, and this is where Xigbar can note a heart floating away that none of the others seem to notice. Minato is the field leader instead of Mitsuru because he's 'special' - that would have been mentioned, but details left out.

Xigbar's shots certainly hurt the Mother, but she survives to attack Ken. She hits him pretty hard and he's knocked down. So it attacks again - Minato this time. Fortunately, this opens it up to Koromaru summoning Cerberus and finishing it off with an agi skill. Minato appears spaced out for just a few moments afterward.]

...Everyone okay?

[Bingo. If these aren't just Heartless by another name, they're as close as makes no difference.
And that means yet another resource has opened up to them as far as the construction of Kingdom Hearts goes. Did that attack really do the same as a Keyblade, though? He's not sure. One heart spotted isn't exactly an in-depth study.
He's going to have to keep his eye open, next time the kid pulls that stunt.

For now, though, he claps Minato on the back.] Me? Never better!

[Confirmation comes from Ken and Koromaru, too.] Good.

[Turning to Xigbar, now...] Your first fight with Shadows, right? Was it what you were expecting?

Well...

[He waves a hand idly - okay, this means waving a gun idly, but he's not pointing it at anyone.]

Maybe I wasn't expecting them to be so ugly. [Smiling, there, oh-so-casual.

[Lucky thing this is a sanctioned Day Off, or Zexion might have another disgusted word or two for higher ups who set a poor example by lounging around in the Grey Area.

The schemer, on the other hand, rarely seems to lose out on an opportunity to get some work done, and had whisked Luxord off on Jolly Holiday into a micro-world within a chalk painting, compiling a card system for their new headquarters.

His coat was soaked from an unexpected rain, and boots were still a bit smudged with sidewalk pastels by the time they'd returned to the castle...but at least an otherwise free afternoon had been wrangled into something productive.

Which was why the younger Nobody seemed sleekly self-satisfied, rather than his usual somber, put-out petulance.

He slid into an opposite chair with a mumble of a courteous hello, relieved that Demyx wasn't about to start a racket, and diligently pulled out his Lexicon to shore up details.]

Who's still out?

[He asks idly, without lifting his eyes from the pages. He could taste the air and try to sense who had recently passed through, but Xigbar would surely know, the snoop.]

[Very sensible, very pragmatic. Xigbar briefly runs his eye over his younger colleague, taking in the rain and the dust, smiles faintly- someone's been busy. But then again, should he really be surprised? When did the kid ever know when to relax?
(Not that he was quite as relaxed as he looked, but still.)
With a wave of his hand-]

Sparks and flower-power. [And they'd left together, too. The new guys making friends, hmm?] Demyx, too. [Probably fell asleep somewhere, he guesses...]

[By all rights, it should perhaps be Luxord sent on this particular mission. There's no mistaking the fact that the details involve something to do with the space-time continuum, at any rate. But Luxord is also their best bet to get the truth of what's currently happening in Wonderland and so the mission has fallen to Xigbar instead.

The world is an out of the way one, too. One that not even the Heartless have touched. In fact, they very nearly can't. Something here seems to repel them and it's most certainly not the light. Just an odd quirk of something. But the answers are locked up tight, and all the promising leads seem to lead back to a man by the name of Erebos.

Fortunately, the name isn't common. But it would take a very well travelled sort of individual to realize that it isn't entirely aligned with the usual patterns of names on this world, although it's close enough to check. It would take someone who's actually dug through the trivialities of myth and legend on far-distant worlds to pick up the meaning behind it. But in either case, he's been aware of Xigbar's presence on this world ever since Xigbar arrived.

But of course, he isn't going to see just anyone. If Xigbar wants the answers out of him then he's just going to have to come and track him down.]

[And he's in the process of doing just that.

The name'd reminded him of the sorts of things one might hear in Olympus, first of all, on hearing it... a little more investigation, and - yes. Olympus and a very similar world. Strange how things matched from place to place, sometimes...
A world-traveller showing off in plain sight? Well, now.

So he's been quietly following those leads, indeed. Enjoying the change of pace, as it were. He's at least managed to find his way to this Erebos' last known location, but he's stopped asking questions for a little. He's just - listening, for now. The stories, the rumours.
Interesting, interesting.]

[Showing off he might be. But only to those who would know. And with most people on this world not being nearly so well traveled as they are it tends to mostly come across as an uncommon name. Which is just the way he's always preferred it. A little bit of the unusual to stand against the background, but just enough normality to fit in with the rest of the people.

Still, he can't precisely blame anyone for taking a moment, even if they are seeking him out. Especially when he knows very well what the rumors say. In fact, Xigbar might find that his quarry isn't all that far away either. This is certainly not anything like his base of operations, but he hasn't left just yet either. After all, he has his own share of contacts - most of whom are kept quite thoroughly hypnotized - and so he's quite aware that someone is following his trail.

And given that he's fairly certain this latest person to seek him out is also not originally from this world it's interesting enough to stir him to a certain amount of observation. The question is, have the scattered description been enough for even the glimpses of him that Xigbar will surely have caught be enough to draw him into the sort of shadows that he's been lurking in?]

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Hi Xiggy, hiiiii

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....rolling with my usual mashup mechanics

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since we're going with my usual mechanics.......

Oho~

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1)

Re: 1)

2 (ish)

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