[4th FLOOR] what protects our hearts

[twoninths]

Characters: Reverie/Aizen (iniquicity), Argent/Christopher (twoninths), Ran/Gertrude (nobodysheroine)
Date/Time: August 28, mid-afternoon
Location: The City Without Walls
Rating: PG
Summary: When the elevator finally stops, Argent, Ran, and Reverie are just in time to witness a memory from Argent's childhood.

Comments

[nobodysheroine]

It took Ran a moment to process exactly what she was seeing. It was as if the world had suddenly become the most immersive panoramic movie theater ever, but instead of some over-budgeted monstrosity not worth her money, it was - well - what was it? She was tempted to ask aloud if this was somebody’s idea of a bad joke or quite possibly the lamest attempt she’d ever seen at being punk’d, when all of a sudden she finally paid attention to the young boy who was making such a fuss.

“Argent?”

She watched in confused silence for the duration, her eyes trained on the slim boy as he stormed his way through what appeared to be a hospital, but one stolen straight out of a book. But as quickly as it started, it was suddenly over, the lights flickering on overhead, leaving the three of them standing once again in the elevator; a long quiet settled over them before Argent finally spoke. Ran could feel the bright pull of bewilderment on the muscles of her face before they settled down into their normal stations of wariness and suspicion. “A cricket’s an insect,” she said matter of factly, looking at Reverie and then at him, her head tilted up slightly so that it wasn’t over her glasses, “though I have no clue how you could practice one.”

Her eyes went distant all of a sudden, Argent’s face quickly falling out of focus as she turned her attention inwards, preoccupied by thoughts about the boy from the vision and the young man standing in front of her, how the two of them could possibly exist - perhaps not side by side, but at least within the same narrative. It immediately reminded her of her dream - that prolonged moment from right before she was born in which she had stood across for that woman on the top of the hill and looked down at her own grave. She could recall quite clearly how the other had been so different from what she was now - so much taller and more slender and beautiful - but still, it was somehow painfully obviously that it had been her. It was much in the same way with the young boy, as she went about superimposing his image on top of Argent as she stood in front of him.

Perhaps he was Lazarus. Or perhaps he was an anomaly, some kind of aberration of time - both then and now - a living breathing anachronism. And that, oddly enough - on some strange level - Ran could understand somehow.

This realization was enough to make Ran’s face instantly soften, the muscles that pulled downwards at the corners of her mouth and pressed her brow heavily over her eyes, suddenly loosened and pulled back, opening her expression much more than - as far as she could tell - it had ever been before. There was something rising slowly to the surface inside her, something not quite relief, but perhaps a odd sense of sudden kinship or camaraderie, coming fast on the heels of the possibility that perhaps her strangeness and the truth of her dream were not as ‘other’ as she had originally thought.

Reaching out, Ran touched Argent’s arm. The same spot that she knew she had a subconscious tendency to grab, but this time, instead of for balance or stability of a call to attention, the touch was deliberate and measured, like a question. She was aware that Reverie was still there, most likely watching and listening and quite possibly judging Argent or the both of them, but in that moment Ran didn’t mind, just focused very intently on the black of Argent’ eyes before saying, quietly and without judgment or reservation. “You’re strange.” Her expression shifted into something much more knowing. “But I am too.”

[iniquiticity]

Reverie was surprised in that he was simply not as taken aback as he thought the sudden elevator departure would have made him. He supposed that perhaps it was simply becoming accustomed to the general oddities of Edensphere, though, he supposed, this also opened a thousand more questions relating to disappearances of a few key people who tended to make things shifted around them. Though it opened up a number of holes in his theories, it allowed for a number of answers to be found - like Gungnir's name.

Though he did not know the surroundings of small-Argent's escapade, there were things to easily figure out about it - white coats, but not like his had been in his memories - and the unmoving slabs. Argent had been dead and had woken up. It was a strange thing, but death had really never struck him as permanent, though the idea of not being able to effect his surroundings gave him a little inner frown. Even then, dying hardly seemed so terrible. It seemed like a beginning, not an end.

This was a thought for another day. "Perhaps cricket is an activity, and not a thing? After all, it would be hard to practice an insect."

Strangely enough, it seemed that death had an unexpected effect on Ran. She was - or at least seemed to be - human, but she accepted the clear death and revival of Argent with something that might have been a posistive reaction, rather than a negative one. Had she died too? That might have indeed been the case, which lead to a whole new book of questions - but seemed like it would great as an answer to her cynicism.

But Reverie couldn't shake the thought of rebirth, restart. A new beginning. Like he had died and started where he was now. There was death or no death in Edensphere, but this death existed outside and meant little.

"Perhaps we all are," he said, slowly. "Strange, I mean."

[twoninths]

Ran's words were enough to startle a small, genuine surprise out of Argent, so he nodded as well and gave her hand a fond pat before looking away again, letting himself sink back into thoughtful vagueness. It was much cleaner feeling, on the inside, to simply sweep all of the puzzling or difficult bits of this memory off to some far corner of his mind where it could be turned over and inspected at a detached distance. This was certainly not the correct circumstance for analyzing such matters closely. Even though both Reverie and Ran seemed somewhat preoccupied with their own thoughts, Argent much preferred the safety and familiarity of his own room for matters of the potentially emotionally distressing sort.

He ran a hand through his hair and gave them both a dreamy, if slightly tired, smile and said, "Yes, I am certain we are all law-of-nature-defying snowflakes, my friends. And I thank you both for your concern." This was said with a little tip of his head toward Ran; mostly because he couldn't quite tell if Reverie was in fact concerned at all. "But it seems our show is over for the day, so we should see about returning? If this has been anything like the last elevator trips, we have likely been gone far longer than it feels." He smiled again, pleasantly, and makes a careful, studied shrug of his shoulders. "Besides, I have the sudden urge to find some books on this 'cricket' phenomenon."

[nobodysheroine]

Ran turned her head towards the door, even as her gaze lingered on his dreamy expression, causing her eyes slide sideways in their sockets. If he was hoping to fool somebody, it wasn't going to work on her -- his nonchalance was practiced and almost completely transparent, and she would have been none-the-wiser if it weren't for her inherent wariness of all things too pleasant and easy, which was exactly how Argent was behaving at this moment. Perhaps this was the way Argent reacted around revelation, or perhaps he had a thing about letting something slip in front of Reverie or even her, or maybe this was merely the way that young men from wherever Argent came from were socialized to behave in moments like these. Or maybe -- and this eventuality wasn't lost on her -- Argent was just a self-repressed jerk who was too selfish to see beyond himself. For a moment, Ran considered all of these things. But in the end, there were a million and one possbilities to consider, and she found herself -- for some reason -- not caring about the whys. So Ran did something that, in the end, surprised herself. She gave Argent the benefit of the doubt.

"I'll see what I can dig up a the store," she said almost absently, her eyes slightly narrowing as she spoke, and Ran nodded at him once very shortly as if in silent understanding. "Vanilla's got books on everything. If there's one on this cricket of yours, I'll find it." Her hand finally slid from Argent's arm as she took a step forward, away from him, allowing her eyes to find center and focus now on the door.

"Does it work?" she asked Reverie warily, both hands now adjusting the strap of her bag upon her shoulder. She wondered if he was having the same response she was -- his expression almost as placid as Argent's as he looked between the two of them. As if in response to her question the buttons on the control panel made a very loud clacking noise and the floor indicator above the door suddenly flickered on and off several times before finally brightening to full power. "Oh, I guess the Powers that Be have finally spoken." She gave a small nod towards Reverie -- who stood closest to the small operating buttons -- as if to say shall we.

[iniquiticity]

Reverie liked Argent's defensive vagueness. If there was ever a way to hide your thoughts without seeming to hide them, it was probably the best to appear disinterested. But Reverie knew better, being a pretty damn good judge of character himself. But also, like Argent, Reverie preferred his privacy where he could work out his thoughts in plain view and not have to worry about being judged or suspected - though he had a good hunch that all of that had already happened.

It was not the matter that Reverie didn't care about Argent, but as a matter of fact he simply knew better. Argent was fine here and was fine there - clearly, it would take more than death to stop him. Unlike Ran, Reverie did not discard his whys but simply flicked through and shuffled off to the side which whys might have been the correct one. He nodded once to the bookstore, and made a note to check out a number of books, mostly on food, but some on tircks and more than that.

When Ran asked her, he shrugged, his casualness much less forced than Argent's. Edensphere would do what it would. "I think it does now," he said, after watching the elevator flicker to life - or back to the present, either way. He pressed the door open button with his thumb again, though to his satisfaction, this time, something actually happened.

"After you."