vatheon | it's hard to believe [OPEN]

Who: Terra and whoever wants to meet him
When: current, evening
Where: the Plaza
Style: I'll start with prose, but I'll follow whichever. ~~But beware the tl;dr.~~
Status: open

It was strange....

There wasn't necessarily anything more peculiar about this world than the ones Terra had visited before. Of course there were new people, a new culture, and a new order to things. But it was like that at first in any of the unfamiliar places outside of the Land of Departure. It all took a brief period of adjustment. Before very recently, to say that Terra hadn't gotten out much would be an understatement.

...but what was strange were the things that marked this world as unique from Terra's other travels. He hadn't come of his own free will. He was given literature describing the place right from the start. He hadn't encountered any monsters so far, so he didn't seem to have a purpose here. And, worse, it didn't sound like he was able to leave. Of all the problems that the Keyblade wielder could foresee, being locked in a place without the ability escape was not one of them.

And he'd tried. When he first arrived, oh, how hard he tried. More than anything, he had to get back to where he'd come from. How else could he start to set things right again? Terra had been trapped in that place, too. However, unlike this underwater city, it had been a prison of his own making, fighting for his heart... his body... everything. It was a fight that was too important for him to so suddenly pulled away.

Terra's expression was thoughtful, but he didn't betray his inner conflict. Every breath he took with his own lungs and every step he took with his own feet ~~without the crushing presence of Xehanort~~ reminded him of why he couldn't stay here. But what choice did he have? Surely there was something he needed to accomplish before he could leave, but what?

And then there was the cold that went straight into his bones. That's what gave Terra a moment of doubt, thinking maybe he wasn't back to normal at all. What was all this?

He wandered, looking around and trying to figure out what to do with himself. It was thus that he found himself in the center of the city, lost in his own thoughts and trying not to shiver visibly.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Things are Awkward at home right now, and as much as Roxas would like to be cuddled up watching the sunset with Axel, it's easier to be out. There isn't much purpose in it except to clear his head. As innocuous as they seem at first, these curses just keep making things a little worse. Or maybe it's his own fault, somehow.

He tugs his coat a little closer and considers putting the hood up, as if that'll help ward off the chill that's rising in his bones. Maybe he should go to Sora's... just to warm up, not to talk this time. Not about Axel anyway.

Preoccupied with his own thoughts, he doesn't notice the familiar figure as he walks past. After all, it isn't that familiar when they only met the once, more than a year ago.

Even lost in his own thoughts as he was, there was a nudge in Terra's heart that told him to look up at exactly this moment, just in time to see-- "Ven?" His voice was hesitant at first. It... couldn't be. Could it? He didn't know Ventus' fate beyond what Xehanort had told him and what he chose to believe in his heart. But this? This place? He turned to catch back up a few steps and actually called to him, "Ven!" before realizing he might be mistaken.

Something didn't feel quite right. He couldn't feel the strong pure light of Ven's heart, but when Terra looked at the boy's face, all he saw was that of his dear friend. While the coat made him look more unfamiliar, the resemblance was still throwing him off. "Sorry, I..." He's not sure how to follow up the beginning of that sentence.

Roxas turns at the voice; he thinks he knows it, although it's been quite a long time since anyone's mistaken him for Ventus. Not since the beginning, when the other boy was actually around. Catching sight of Terra, some recognition does cross his face, though certainly not to the extent one would expect from a best friend.

"I'm not Ven," he says first off, giving Terra a faint, apologetic smile. It has to suck to be in a strange place and think you see a friend, only to find out it isn't them at all. "I don't think he's here, either, but he was a while ago."

He hesitates, and then adds, "I'm Roxas."

Not Ven... but the physical resemblance was uncanny. Even his voice sounded the same.... But if the boy said he was not Ventus, then it must be true. "Roxas," he repeated, trying to commit it to memory so he does not make the mistake again. "Sorry. You look so much like him."

Terra tried not to let his disappointment be visible, but he was unsure if his face still gave him away. It must have been too much to hope for to lose Ven during the battle in the Keyblade Graveyard only to find him here. Terra would just have to keep looking. However, "--he was here?" Terra had missed seeing Ven in this world, but he had survived. "How long ago?" His hand absently felt his pocket and the Wayfinder concealed there.

"Um... Almost a year ago." Roxas isn't sure what Terra means to do with that information, so he goes on, "Time's kind of funny here. If you ever go back home, it'll be exactly when you left, liked nothing happened."

He doesn't know what's going on in Terra's case, but usually hearing that is a relief to people who are worried about what's happening back home without them.

"A year ago...." So Ven could be absolutely anywhere by now. A person could travel anyplace in that time... and anything could have happened to him. Just thinking about that caused Terra some distress, but he wasn't going to burden Roxas with his worry over his missing friend. If Terra's current location was out of his hands (again), there was no point in doing anything other than dealing with the situation at hand.

He gave Roxas a nod of recognition. Time had been flowing in a funny way while he was trapped with Xehanort. That it flowed strangely here was not a huge surprise to him. The reoccurring worry was that too much time had passed while Terra had been (and continued to be) trapped.

"I'm sorry to ask you this but... if you knew him, how was he?" Terra's still trying to figure out how Roxas and Ven look so, so very similar.

"I know there's some stuff that happens..." He isn't all that clear on what, but he knows Vanitas is involved and that it's certainly something Terra would be worried about. He figures that's why he's worried now, because he's in the midst of that somehow.

"He was all right when I saw him, and I think he'll be okay. Sora's looking after his heart and all."

He was sure that the statement was meant to be comforting, but instead it alarmed him a great deal. It was only shock combined with years of training that kept Terra from grabbing Roxas in a panic and frantically asking questions.

Instead, Terra straightened slightly and considered his word choice carefully. "What do you mean 'Sora's looking after his heart'?" The unspoken question was: if he was all right, why isn't Ven looking after his own heart?

It was a concept that had panicked Roxas for entirely different reasons, and it hadn't occurred to him that it might just worry Terra even more. He tried to think of exactly what Ven had told him.

"After he and Vanitas were whole again-- he needed some help. And some time, I guess."

Terra had a lot of questions because he hadn't been down there to see what became of Ventus and Vanitas. He only knew what Xehanort had told him, and Terra now realized exactly how much Xehanort's word could not be trusted.

Still, it wasn't fair of Terra to assail a near-complete stranger with questions about someone else, someone who he'd already been told wasn't in this world anymore. Terra put a hand to his chin in thought for a brief moment before conceding the point. "I see." He didn't see at all, really, but wasn't very polite of him to continue this line of questioning at this point. He would have to ask more questions at a later time.

"So you've been here more than a whole year, Roxas? Is it always so cold?"

Roxas got the feeling that what he was saying still didn't quite make sense to Terra, but he wasn't sure how to explain any better if he didn't ask questions. Maybe later he'd get back to it. Hopefully he at least understood Ven was going to be all right.

"Oh-" He'd almost forgotten the cold. "No, it's just- something weird that's happening this week. Here, this should help." He offered his hand for Terra to shake.

Asking more questions would come later. Terra would have to talk more with Roxas about what the boy knew after Terra had gotten some time to process what all was happening here. 'After he and Vanitas were whole again'... Terra had seen the light of the X-blade formation but not what happened after that. Through Xehanort, Terra had learned that it was ultimately a failure, and to hear now that Roxas had seen him and that Sora was helping him recover... it was a slight comfort for now (although distressing in the details).

"This is a new development? I read something about curses--" Terra took Roxas' hand and immediately he could feel the warmth from the touch that chased away his bone-weariness. It was a familiar feeling, something a little more than just the remarkable resemblance. "You're handling this well. Does this kind of thing happen often?"

Roxas felt the warmth, too, and his shoulders relaxed from a tension he hadn't realized was starting to build against the chill. He nodded at Terra's question.

"Yeah, it's a curse. We get them about- every other week. This one's not so bad, you just get cold if you go too long without- hugging somebody, or something like that." Admittedly that had been a little harder since the mess with Axel the other night, but he had other friends, too.

it's hard to believe [OPEN]

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