revenance_rpg | Step Three is Profit

For all that Aqua wasn't particularly used to arrangements of this sort, she had to admit that she was probably well suited to it all the same. True, the Nightmares were less familiar than either the Unversed or the Heartless, but they fell to the Keyblade all the same. Besides, she had her Pricklemane in case she needed extra help with something.

Not surprisingly, she arrived fairly promptly. It wouldn't do to keep Even waiting, after all.

For Xion, there wasn't a lot that was new about this. She'd helped with Nightmare hunting before, and had been used to hunting Heartless even before that. Splitting the money wasn't all that unusual, either. While all the munny she'd found on solo missions was considered hers, partner missions had required some dividing of anything collected.

Habit made her not want to keep anyone waiting, and Barkley was eager for a run, too; keeping up with him meant she arrived fairly quickly. Even she knew, but there was also someone she really hadn't met yet. Barkley went to greet both the newcomer and their Spirit, but she hung back a bit and smiled shyly. "Hello."

Edited 2012-10-28 16:25 (UTC)

"Ah, Xion." Even realized that he was pleased to see her. As disconcerting as she could be, she was not overwhelmingly unpleasant in manner. Besides, under the circumstances anyone not actively hostile was better company than many of the alternatives.

"And you are...Aqua." A relatively unknown quantity, but apparently helpful. He resolved to wait before making a determination regarding her.

Helpful to a fault, under most cases, although Even had yet to find that out. Although she shared her Master's feeling about most of the various beings in the worlds that were inclined to the darkness, she hadn't any reason to expect Even of being one of the same and as such it was hardly any trouble at all to help. Especially when she was pretty sure that helping defeat the Nightmares fell easily enough into the duties of a Master.

"I am," she answered, with a polite nod that could have just as easily been meant for Xion's comment as Even's. Her Pricklemane, in the meantime, was perfectly content to greet Barkley somewhat more enthusiastically.

Xion didn't mean to be disconcerting. If she'd heard anyone describe her that way, she would have felt bad and done what she could to correct it. At least her attempts to remember what manners she'd learned were paying off. Had it just been Even, she might have been somewhat less reserved, but she didn't know Aqua that well.

Aqua seemed friendly enough, though, so Xion returned the nod and let her smile widen a bit. For his part, Barkley was happy to return the Pricklemane's greetings in a more direct manner.

It was less that Xion personally was disconcerting than that Even found his reaction to her irrational. For someone he had only just met, she seemed very familiar. He dismissed the feeling. Having a heart again was going to mean irrational thoughts sometimes.

"Shall we, then?" He nodded toward the door to the Third District. The obvious circuit back to where they were standing wasn't very long, but he for one preferred to get the measure of his current allies before running the risk of getting lost in the more extensive districts.

"Of course," Aqua answered with a nod. Though the most obvious route that Even had in mind wasn't particularly long, it wasn't necessarily the one that they were meant to take. For all she knew, there was a detour planned along the way. Of course, even if it was the obvious route there was nothing wrong with that. There would be Nightmares regardless of their path and that was enough for what she'd heard of the intended purpose of this outing.

"After you." Whether that was addressed to Even or Xion was a little unclear, but either way Aqua didn't mean to be the first one to head for the Third District. If neither of the others wanted to either she'd certainly step up, but for now, the outing was quite clearly not something that should belong in her hands, especially given that Even was the one to have proposed it in the first place.

Xion nodded in agreement with Even's suggestion to be off. When she realized Even's intended destination, she sighed silently in relief. Aside from the Second District, she knew the Third District best, and it was far more straightforward. It would be easier to hunt there than in the Fourth or Fifth districts.

When Aqua made it clear that she would rather not play leader for the expedition, Xion turned to Even. The idea had been his, so he was the logical one to lead. Though, really, she'd never seen the importance in choosing a leader on partner missions. It wasn't something she and Roxas had worried about when they'd worked together.

Part of the purpose of acquiring assistance was not having to be the first one through doors. Nevertheless, the other two were clearly waiting for him, so Even strode briskly up to the double doors.

However haphazardly Traverse Town was constructed, the doors were well balanced: despite their size, they swung open with little more than a light push. On the other side, Nightmares seemed to fold themselves out of the very ground - Even considered that perhaps they did, being made of the same dreamstuff as this realm.

His Pricklemane, at least, was eager to fight. Even looked sternly at it. "Is your little mind capable of remembering to stay close, for once?"

Aqua wasn't really quite sure what to make of Even's comment to his Pricklemane, but given the way Nightmares were already making an appearance the point was largely moot. It seemed an odd thing to ask of it, given that it could just as easily help defeat the Nightmares, but it wasn't her concern. The Nightmare were and she wasted no further time in summoning her Keyblade and heading into the fray, her own Pricklemane close on her heels.

This much, at least, was familiar, even if the rest might not have been.

Knowing Vexen meant Xion had some idea of what to expect from Even, so she was fairly nonplussed by his remark the the Pricklemane. The sudden appearances of Nightmares wasn't much of a surprise either, after having been in town long enough to get used to them. She summoned her own Keyblade and went to join Aqua as Barkely leaped upon a Nightmare Meow Wow.

New partners meant having to allow for differences in their fighting styles, though, so she made sure to leave a good amount of room for Aqua and Even to work.

The issue was not that the Pricklemane was unhelpful; rather, what discomfited Even was its tendency to run off into a dark corner and reappear with a veritable army of Nightmares on its tail. He preferred it where he could keep an eye on it.

It wasn't as though there weren't enough Nightmares and to spare for everyone. Even summoned his shield and -

Were those Keyblades? Both of them?

A Meow Wow bouncing off his shield and knocking it back into his shoulder jolted him out of his surprise. Almost absently, he sent an icicle at the offending Nightmare, then followed up by sowing ice under the feet of another group. His Pricklemane bounced at a Komory Bat now briefly cut off from its fellows.

(How could they have Keyblades, Even wondered. Aqua might be like the 'Master', from the past or the future, but Xion - Xion was his contemporary, only missed by weeks at most. There was no young female Keyblade wielder whose Nobody she could be; they would have known of such a person. Who was she? What was she concealing?)

The fact that Xion also had a Keyblade was a little surprising. Not terribly so, given how Keyblade inheritance worked, but it was something she might have to ask about. After all, she surely hadn't given Xion the Keyblade, to the best of her knowledge and that implied that there was someone else who was capable of passing the Keyblade on. But that was a matter she could deal with after the fighting was over with.

There was the briefest moment's worth of pause, and then with a neat gesture, a neat spire of of ice sprang up under a pair of Nightmares, sending the flying. Normally, she wouldn't have kept to the same sort of thing as everyone else, but if the battlefield was already primed towards ice (so to speak) she would be more than willing to make use of it.

Her Pricklemane, in the meantime, set itself on one of the other unattended Nightmares, launching itself as if it were nothing more than an ambulatory mass of spikes.

It wasn't that Xion hadn't been surprised to see Aqua's Keyblade. Having thought she, Roxas, and Sora were the only Keyblade wielders, she was. It was just that when faced with an enemy, taking care of that came first. She could ask about Aqua's Keyblade after the Nightmares had been taken care of; Aqua might have questions of her own.

Keeping with the theme the others had started, Xion cast a Blizzaga at a Nightmare Hebby Rep before he could send a fireball at Barkley. Her Meow Wow didn't seem to realize the near miss he'd had, and was happily dealing with Nightmares in his own way. At her call, he bounded over after giving his opponent one last Meow Wounce to finish it off. Others soon appeared in its wake.

Reassured by their obvious competence, Even turned to the next batch of Nightmares with less apprehension than he had felt, or 'felt', for combat in a long time. There was room for a little experimentation. He focused and pointed at a group of Nightmares clearly preparing to charge en masse; a series of icy stalagmites sprung up along the line he had determined, cutting them into two more manageable groups. He turned his attention to the leftmost and sent more conventional spells at them. His Pricklemane darted in and out of the group, staying out of the way of the magic and doing damage while avoiding a counterattack. Perhaps they were intelligent, after all, Even thought.

They seemed to be able to note how to get out of the way of any magic their owners happened to be casting, at the very least. Not that Aqua had had any doubts about the intelligence of the Dream Eaters, mind. All the same, it couldn't be denied that for all her Pricklemane was doing its very best impression of a spiky wrecking ball (and doing quite well at dealing with it's chosen opponent, at that.)

For her part, Aqua simply made another swooping gesture with her Keyblade, freezing a nearby cluster of Nightmares before the ice imprisoning them simply shattered. Conveniently enough the ice shards that resulted didn't seem much inclined to deal any significant damage; although the unfortunate Nightmares were once again sent flying.

Questioning the Dream Eaters' intelligence had never even been a thought for Xion. Barkley might not have been able to speak in a way she could understand, but he always seemed to pick up on her moods, and didn't really need any direction from her when they were fighting Nightmares. Unless, of course, he got a little carried away like he just had, but that could happen to anyone.

The important thing was that he was paying attention now, and as a team they went after another group of Nightmares. This one had a few of the bats, so Xion jumped to take on them while Barkley handled Pricklemane on the ground.

This particular group of Nightmares had a tendency to appear in waves, replenishing their numbers as soon as they seemed defeated. Still, in Even's opinion that was better than all attacking as an army. And their numbers were not infinite.

Even encased the last Nightmare in a circle of ice. With a leap and a rather distressing sound, his Pricklemane finished it off.

"Well," he said, regarding the spoils - and the weapons of his allies, "that was...instructive."

Instructive wasn't quite the word Aqua would have chosen. It had been interesting, perhaps, to see other people's fighting styles but by and large the point as she had been defeating the nightmares. Certainly not anything out of the ordinary or otherwise interesting. Then again, she wasn't the one looking into the situation and she certainly wasn't going to attempt to guess at what Even was looking for.

(Or, for that matter, call his comments into doubt. There was no reason to be impolite, after all.)

"That's good," she answered with a slight nod.

Once the fight was over, Xion dismissed her Keyblade and began gathering what the Nightmares had left to divide. That done, she secured her portion in her pockets. Next it was time to answer Barkley's silent begging for praise with pettings and quiet assurances that he was a good boy.

Even's comment drew her attention, making her tilt her head in thought. "Instructive?"

It seemed a very 'Even' thing to say, but she wondered what could have been instructive about a fight with Nightmares?

"Quite. Aside from the fact that for some reason Spirits seem to behave more intelligently in battle than the equivalent Nightmares, there is the matter of your Keyblades. I understood that they were rare."

If they had been common, there would have been much less trouble about utilizing them. The proliferation was beginning to strike Even as ridiculous...as well as worrisome.

His Pricklemane bounded up, eager for praise and attention. Even, occupied with sorting out his share of the spoils, patted it distractedly on the head (inasmuch as it had anything that wasn't a head) until it went away.

Well, that was one way of putting it. Aqua wasn't certain what to make of Xion's Keyblade, but given that there had been four (or possibly five) active Keyblade wielders last time she'd been aware of the matter, she would agree that 'rare' was a fairly adequate description. Just because she'd grown up in an environment of Keyblade wielders didn't make the same true for everyone, after all.

She didn't speak up immediately, instead turning her attention to her share of what the Nightmares had left behind. "They are. But that doesn't mean there can't be more than one."

Barkley gave a yip that indicated hurt pride. Of course they were smarter than those Nightmares! They had to be able to help their humans, after all. Xion offered another pat in consolation. "He always seems to know how to help."

As far as Xion knew, the Keyblade was a one-wielder only sort of thing; even if she and Roxas could both use it, there had been...issues. Seeing that others could use it was an eye-opener. "I didn't think there were so many."

Edited 2012-11-22 06:25 (UTC)

His loot duly pocketed, Even considered that there was no reason to linger: he strode off toward the door to the Second District, talking as he went with little regard for whether or not the others could hear him. (They probably could.)

"There is reason to believe that this realm may be adrift from time as we know it, even more than two ordinary worlds can be. The boy, Ven, is apparently not meaningfully older than he was when I met him more than ten years ago. Presumably there are a reasonably large number of Keyblade wielders with all of time to choose from.

"As a matter of proportion, however, adding more potential origin points only makes the preponderance more unlikely, not less. In all of time, there are uncountable myriads of people without Keyblades - and yet there are comparatively few of us here. Ridiculous!"

Without anything much else to listen to, Aqua could most definitely hear Even's muttering. However, she was generally inclined to not respond to it, right up until the point he mentioned have met Ven. She certainly hadn't met anyone like Even, that much she knew, but it wasn't like she'd ever believed she'd met all the people Ven had and vice versa. She didn't even expect Ven to tell her if she had.

All the same, it was worth at least a moment of curiosity, even if she didn't have all that much to say about the rest of the various things Even was saying. She wasn't an expert in the theoretically possibilities of Keyblades, and wasn't really sure she wanted to.

"You've met Ven? Outside of just here, I mean?"

Whether or not she was intended to hear, Xion made a habit of listening these days. She'd had too much experience with information being kept from her to pass up the chance to get more. So she was definitely keeping an ear out and actively listening to Even's rambling.

Most of her lack of response came from the lack of anything to add to the conversation. While she'd understood what Vexen was saying (after a moment or two to parse words she wasn't used to) she was busy trying to consider it and wrap her mind around the idea of other Keyblade wielders. So she and Roxas weren't as special as they'd thought...or maybe they were, because it seemed like not a lot of people could use a Keyblade, anyway.

The mention of a name drew her out of her thoughts. She didn't know anyone named Ven, but apparently the others did.

Aqua's sudden interest enabled Even to place her at last. She was presumably a contemporary, or near to it, of Ven's.

"Briefly," he said over his shoulder as he tugged the Second District door open. "I encountered him in - Radiant Garden, once. Fairly recently from his point of view, rather less so from mine."

He hadn't intended to falter over the name of his home world. There had simply been so few occasions to speak of it, since its fall. (He was aware that he was lying to himself; it was not that simple.)

Fortunately, while Aqua did notice the slight falter over the the name of the world they'd met on, she didn't think much of it. She didn't know Even well enough to judge, much less figure out which of the possibilities was most likely. She wasn't really about to ask either. It didn't seem polite, and so she simply nodded at the comment.

"I guess that must have been before I got there." She'd only really seen Ven during the fight they'd had, plus a few moments afterwards; that they hadn't really seen the same people was thus perfectly understandable. The city had been on the large side, and they hadn't really been there for all that long either.

This was interesting. Vexen's reports had never mentioned a home--simply notes on progress or setbacks. That was probably only logical, but Xion had always wondered what worlds she and the others in the Organization had come from. Apparently Even had just revealed his, and thereby Vexen's.

The slight hesitation caught her attention, but now wasn't the time to ask. While she'd been taking in new information, the others had gone on with their conversation. There was little to do but wait for a chance to join in when she could get a word in edgewise.

"I only saw him the once, in any case," said Even dismissively. "It had slipped my mind entirely, until he reminded me of it." There were other events he remembered about that period of his life, events that distorted everything around them like a gravity well.

The Nightmares that appeared in the middle of the street, blocking the path, made as good an excuse as any to avoid thinking about said events.

Even hung back, out of the way of melee. Such enclosed conditions would have been ideal if he had been on his own, but with two allies space was at a premium. He pelted a Komory Bat with icicles instead, knocking it out of the air with a squawk.

That much made sense, at least. If it had been more than a chance meeting, surely Ven would have mentioned it sooner, or at least reacted more familiarly to him showing up. Not that it was exactly her concern either way, and anyway, she had more important things to worry about.

The Nightmares that had just shown up, for example. The fact that they were in relatively close quarters meant things would be a little more difficult than usual, yes, but it also meant that there was less space for the Nightmares to move.

With that in mind, she took a step forward before letting loose with Megaflare... and the world all but exploded into fire. Fire that would leave Vexen and Xion (as well as their spirits) unharmed, and short lived fire at that, but it was fire nonetheless.

Xion had been about to attack the Nightmares on the ground when Aqua beat her to it with Mega Flare. In another situation, after a moment of surprise and then adjustment, she would have been impressed. As it was, due to the sudden fire, Barkley had leaped into action of his own that required her attention.

Granted, it required her attention because, while at least he wasn't running, he'd decided the safest thing to do was jump into Xion's arms. Which meant she suddenly found herself with an armful of very scared Meow Wow who seemed determined to bury his face into her shoulder. She'd have to calm him down before she could do anything. Luckily, the fire was short lived. "See, it's okay, the fire's gone now."

Even's shield clattered to the ground and vanished as his world was consumed by fire.

No matter that the Mega Flare spell didn't so much as singe him; he felt the flame blistering his skin, felt the pain as it devoured his body. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run, no way to fight - he was exhausted, backed into a corner, no way out and no way back, nothing in the world but that smile -

Even staggered back against the wall with a thin scream. His hands upraised as though to block some incoming blow, frost feathered out where his back struck the stones.

Much as Aqua had intended, the first wave of Nightmares proved to be all but gone, in the wake of the flames. The other results were entirely unexpected - Aqua had no real experience with the Spirit versions of Meow Wows and though she was aware that irrational fears were something that often bothered people, she wasn't really sure if that was the reason behind Even's scream of terror.

There wasn't any time to ask, either. For every action there was an equal and opposite reaction, and it was just as true in magic as it was in other things. The magic sang in her veins as it came rushing back through her, like air rushing back into the vacuum. Once, she'd thought it odd, that powerful magics could have such powerful effect in their aftermath, but that was before she'd learn that any prolonged casting could have similar effects and that there were significant benefits in learning to channel the wild magic that came rushing back in to fill the spaces left behind. She was ready for it this time, and it took little more than a moment of concentration to channel the echo of the fire into something more useful.

Only then did she turn back towards Even, apparently unconcerned about the fact that she'd picked up a fiery red aura in the process.

"Are you alright?"

Really, Aqua couldn't be blamed for any unintended effects of her spell. She hadn't known, so she couldn't have guessed what would happen. The important thing now was settling down those who had been upset by the sudden fire.

Xion had heard Even's scream, but her hands had been so full with Barkley that she hadn't been able to do anything about it until he was settled. When he finally agreed to be put down (cowering behind her legs once he caught sight of Aqua's aura), Xion could focus on other matters.

"Even?"

Step Three is Profit

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