Finally into the fray [Hollow Bastion - Closed]

[southpaw_boxer]

Disembarking the ship at Hollow Bastion, Aya couldn't help but feel for the first time in his life, unnecessarily shaken. It had been his first ride in one of the gummi ships and it was a bumpy one. Even so, the entire experience thus far had been something worthy of the glimpses he had had of his sister’s affinity for mecha related television all

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[into_ruin]

Usually, when larger portals appeared, it signaled the coming of a Heartless more powerful than the rest. Usually. This time, just beyond the point where the first heartless had appeared, the outline of a cloaked figure emerged. The hood cast a shadow over his eyes, the darkness receding around him making him look, for a second, like one of the creatures that surrounded him. They were completely oblivious or uninterested in his presence.

It was simply easier for Zexion to emerge where many Heartless usually did and, more often than not, he was lucky enough to avoid anyone who would try to play hero. Today being his day, this wasn't the case. His eyes settled on the redhead first, his mouth a smooth, unreadable line. Already tendrils of darkness rose behind him, another gateway beginning to take shape should he need it.

He wouldn't be terribly surprised if this one tried to stab first and ask questions later.

[southpaw_boxer]

Aya's body shifted almost imperceptibly as the hooded figure materialised in front of him - almost imperceptibly, the better phrase would be "not very perceptibly" because someone looking would very definitely see it. As he was rather sure that this... this person would do.

As he frowned, he studied the clothing, studied the body and the expression but nothing was giving its manner or origin away. With slight resignation, Aya admitted to himself that this could be part of what he had come here for, and spoke up.

"What are you?" he asked, settling on what rather than who, feeling he was justified in his overt terseness.

He could only think of one reason that a person appearing in such a manner would possess the ability to move in the same way as the heartless. Honestly it wasn't a pleasant one.

[into_ruin]

Those lips twisted briefly into a smirk that could have been cruel or bitter on any other face. It was gone in a flash. "A nobody. And you?"

The question was genuine. There was no tension in Zexion's shoulders though he folded his arms across his chest, still watching from beneath the hood. The darkness that danced at his feet gradually dissipated, but not because he suddenly felt any safer.

He'd seen the man's body shift slightly, assessing him like he was being assessed. If he'd wanted to intimidate this person...it wasn't going to be through a fight. To be blunt, Zexion would be pathetically outmatched.

He'd left the castle so suddenly he hadn't even decided where he was going until he set foot on solid ground again, that solid ground had just happened to be this part of Hollow Bastion.

[southpaw_boxer]

Nobody? What kinda of an answer was that- a very slight, sharp frown graced his features as the semantics of the answer began to bother him.

That wasn't what was said. A nobody? His knowledge was vague and consisted of the fact that they moved in the way that had been already displayed (which was so helpful Aya was ready to skewer something) and that they were generally to be avoided.

That said, he couldn't help but feel some degree of confidence here. But appearances in more Hollow-rife areas meant nothing. Wisely he remained off the offensive.

"Fujimiya," he offered curtly. And unlike you I'm not a what, he added mentally.

He made a note that the portal was disappearing. If the man intended to stay, he either had a reason or didn't feel threatened. Either way it wasn't encouraging.

[into_ruin]

"Zexion." He offered in return, inclining his head slightly. "I didn't think you could answer the question anyway."

He unfolded his arms, walking closer to Fujimiya with the intention of brushing right past. He didn't seem to want to talk and Zexion was in the mood for a mildly stimulating conversation. It had been a very long time since he'd been able to speak with anyone that hit just the right spot.

It was a shame too, the castle being as full as it was.

[southpaw_boxer]

Turning sharply as Zexion advanced on him, Aya glared slightly and was glad to let this odd one slide: yet the notion that this discomfiting man might lead to some... information clawed persisently at the back of his mind.

Finding the truth of the place being not about comfort, he allowed the clawing the floor. "What is your business," he asked. Not such an odd question, he reasoned, for a mercenary.

Unaccustomed though he still was to being one.

[into_ruin]

Zexion glanced back over his shoulder, his eyebrows raised though Fujimiya wouldn't be able to see it. He was caught between amusement at the man's bluntness and just plain wonder as to how much dumb luck it too for someone like that to survive for the twenty odd years he seemed to have

[southpaw_boxer]

He genuinely thought about that first statement. Had anyone ever outright told him they were going on a continent-wide killing spree?

"Just once." It was true. And whether the Irishman had said it to him in as many words was debatable.

Coffee with a hooded stranger. He'd done odder and worse things since he'd been... on whatever plane of existence he was now on. It seemed a little fitting that this be his first activity since landing here.

There was a slighty stubborn pause on his part. "I prefer tea," he offered by way of agreement, stepping forwards and keeping his eyes warily on the figure next to him.

[into_ruin]

"You're paying," Zexion replied with a small shrug. Food wasn't free and neither was information but Zexion wasn't too bothered by the technicalities. For now, he was in it for a lazy game of cat and mouse.

It was hard to tell where Zexion was looking with his eyes shadowed but, if Fujimiya was perceptive enough he would see that the nobody was copying his movements almost exactly, more accurate with every step. He even walked in line with the other man. He'd suggested the coffee but he had no particular preference as to where or when.

"If you keep staring like that you'll have to buy me dinner as well. It's hardly worth the munny." He said finally, brushing silver-blue strands of hair back with two gloved fingers. "Who do you expect to see?"

[southpaw_boxer]

A dinner date with a hooded stranger. He'd still done odder and worse things. Moot point, he added firmly, it wasn't happening.

Aya kept a cold, sideways stare on him as they walked in response to Zexion's comment. Who did he expect to see? Perhaps the paranoid delusions of the past two years were finally getting to him. Perhaps he expected Zexion's face to be that of his loved ones, at least of his friends... even an enemy he knew well enough to recognise by face would be welcome now.

The strands of silver hair falling from the hood shattered those images, though. "I expect to see something other than shadow. Whatever it might be that you're hiding."

As he found himself leading the way, he hung back slightly. "Please proceed. I'm new in town."

[into_ruin]

"...." There was no doubt that he was hiding many things, but the peculiar phrasing caught his attention more than anything else.

"That doesn't answer 'who'." He said finally, his tone distracted and slightly irritated. He stopped and took a deep breath, nostrils flaring a little. He'd been right. There was the faint scent of a familiar darkness on the wind, too faint and well-hidden to place as of yet. The only thing he knew for sure was that it wasn't another Nobody. Interesting, that.

He turned his attention back to his subject for now, taking a reluctant lead. He remembered the streets of Hollow Bastion only very vaguely but it was better than nothing.

"If you're going to ask questions, you don't get to avoid mine at your leisure. I don't take kindly to interrogation."

[southpaw_boxer]

Aya mused that the man beside him had obviously never been interrogated. There was very little actual question-asking on his part and he was genuinely answering the questions as best he could. Or would, more accurately. When subjects got personal he never gave too much information.

But still, he had answered his question. Aya was beginning to think that he was really complaining over nothing and would likely crack badly under actual interrogation very soon indeed. The impression that he was getting of Zexion was not at all a flattering one.

He began to feel a mild irritation at the inability to see "Zexion"'s face and decided, true or not, on the answer that might solve the problem. "Perhaps some kind of mutant," he offered flatly, eyes fixed stubbornly on the road ahead.

[into_ruin]

"Flatterer." Zexion replied dryly. He was vain enough that the word mutant caused him to twitch. It still wasn't an answer, but continuing along that vein only seemed to irritate the other man and leave Zexion with nothing.

Beneath the condescending attitude, he really was just curious about the questions and why they were so difficult for even someone who had a heart to answer. If it was simple as just a chain of memories, he had those now, at least memories of life after he'd lost his heart and countless experiments.

Even people who suffered severe amnesia had a heart. But that was the only thing he could give a name to. Memories. Emotions. What else was he missing?

"You're not so far off, considering." He mused, finally spotting a place that looked like it might sell something that wasn't sewer water. He led the redhead towards it. "Here's an easier question; what did you want to know about me?"

[southpaw_boxer]

Stopping briefly outside the shop, Aya stopped and looked Zexion squarely in the... general eye area. A technical mutant rather than a physical mutant, he mused. But what ever passed

[into_ruin]

Zexion uttered a thank you for the courtesy and slipped into the coffee shop. It wasn't anything special but he took a seat in one of the more private booths beside a window and waited for the other man to be seated. There was really no way to answer the question; Castle Oblivion didn't qualify as a where. It just was.

Zexion appeared to consider the question, his forearms folded loosely on the table in front of him. He'd completely forgotten about the hood for the moment.

"A corridor of darkness." He said finally. "The heartless use a similar method to travel from world to world. As for a specific where, I'm afraid there isn't one."

That was possibly the most informative answer he'd given all evening. He'd never deliberately attempted this kind of experiment before and he certainly would have been cautioned against it without the exclusive permission of the Superior... There might be dire consequences otherwise.

A thin smile ghosted across Zexion's features.

"What kind of world did you come from?" He asked, idly curious.

[southpaw_boxer]

A similar method of travel, eh. Well at least that part was confirmed, not that it made him feel any better about his coffee companion as he took up a seat opposite him. As for the rest of the answer, Aya got the sneaky feeling that for once in the conversation Zexion was being completely honest.

He neatly crossed his legs in a neither elegant nor lazy way, just overlapping practically at the knees as he was questioned far less personally than previously. He let his eyes meet that same area again and then look deliberately away again, determined to control the eye contact portion of the conversation.

"Hard to describe to a stranger. Somewhere darker than it looks," he mused out loud. He followed it with a resentful mutter. "With a relatively low ratio of insane to sane but with a relatively high ratio of bad luck to good luck."

He paused for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure what it is now." And didn't want to imagine the worst case scenario in too much detail.