Puzzle 001

[sechstel]

[The voice comes first, the words 'sounding' annoyed, though the emotion comes off almost flat.]

....not this place again.

[The audio feed cuts off then and when it comes back a couple minutes later, it is joined by the image of a young man cloaked in black with most of his face covered by long silvery blue bangs which are currently clinging to

Comments

1/2

[ninthserenade]

[Hey, Zexion. Enjoy five minutes of pure silence. Really, it's rare to get that from this Nobody.]

2/2

[ninthserenade]

[And then a smile slowly creeps onto his face.]

...H-Hey, Zexion.

[Happy? Bah, you need a heart for that. ...Okay, maybe he's on the level of happy that he could almost cry. So many familiar faces were coming back and even with the skunk mishap earlier? This is nice.

Really nice.]

[sechstel]

[It's nice to see you too actually, you still have those bonus points for helping him out with dealing with that christmas present the city gave him.]

Hello again Demyx.

Should I accept there's no logical explanation for this or is there an actual reason I find myself back here?

[ninthserenade]

Guess this place just missed you, dude. 'sides, it beats the alternative, right?

[He laughs softly, running a hand through his hair.]

It's kinda weird but this place has been bringing a lot of people back today!

[sechstel]

Alternative? [Well, alternative to dealing with the keyblade wielder, yes, he supposes that being here away from him is better than facing him right now.] I suppose so.

I take it that's a good thing hm? Have you learned anything new about it since I've been gone? Why we're here? Why the people are so kind? Anything new about the those curses? Perhaps something about the Coral?

[ninthserenade]

Well... I like to think of it as good. Isa's back and he's... He's the guy I fell for again.

[And then he sets his jaw and lowers his gaze, lifting his hand to cover the scar on his face.] ...They've gotten pretty unpredictable. The curses, I mean. Sometimes they're mostly harmless but the big ones--I thought I died from one and then I almost really did die from an even more recent one. We're also building an elevator to get to the surface--Alpha's idea, actually.

[sechstel]

[He might poke at that, being able to actually care about someone when you actually didn't possess the heart or supposedly the emotions to be capable of such a thing. But then he had in a sense cared about Lexaeus in perhaps a similar manner, so he remained quiet about it.

Instead he considers what Demyx has said, silently noting the scar just before Demyx moves to cover it.]

I see... I'm glad you survived whatever it was that happened.

An elevator? Interesting.

[ninthserenade]

[He'd argue about it like he always did, anyways. There's some things he can really dig his heels into the ground about--or maybe it's just a side-effect of being around people with such strong hearts as evident as to why they were able to become Nobodies.]

If it wasn't for Xion, Axel and Lea? I probably would've bled to death. I know it isn't permanent here, but... It's like staring Cerberus in the face when you're a slab of bacon. All three of 'em.

Yeah. Once it's up and running, we'll be able to get to the surface. I think that's why we got snow cuz there's a ton of cold air coming down and it's kinda messing with the air down here and all that cuz of the moisture.

[sechstel]

[That or you want something so much that you pretend to have it until you've convinced yourself it's possible for you to actually have it. One could say it really does come down to one's willpower after all..]

Death is never pleasant, permanent or not.

That makes sense, if you add cold air to warmer moist air, you will end up with snow. Perhaps once we can reach the surface, we'll gain further information about this place. Why we were bought here in the first place for instance.

[ninthserenade]

[And we all know how great of an actor he is.]

You know what else I found out that isn't pleasant?

I used to have a little theory with Xigbar, but uh... He's not here anymore. Ironically, I came up with the idea when I was sorta drunk but it makes sense to me.

[sechstel]

What would that be?

[Drunk Theories, why is he not surprised? Likely because Xigbar was very much involved in getting Demyx drunk in the first place...]

I'd like to hear it.

[ninthserenade]

Skunks.

I'd say it'd be better to do in person but you've got that super strong nose. Gimme a sec...

[Blip, there we go!]

Okay, uh... I first started talking about it when I got drunk when the old man came to bring me back home. Then Alpha got a letter from this weird scuba diver and tore it up. Xiggy popped a question to the network and we started talking, see? We were thinking that maybe this place is like an experiment or something.

[Locked]

[sechstel]

[Considering he's read about those critters, he's grateful you've decided to stay away since he suspects you found out about them the hard way.]

Ah. I take it you discovered them the hard way?

Yes, I can see how that could be. And an experiment would need test subjects...

[Locked]

[ninthserenade]

Yeah. ...Braig kinda snuck outta the house between my feet this morning and I had to chase him down. I thought I grabbed him but the next thing I knew it pissed on me and everything smelled really, really nasty. Sometimes I like the perks of just having stronger senses, but in this case I wish I had no sense of smell.

It makes sense, right? We're taken from our worlds without any real reason--some people are even dead in their times, different time periods throughout all these worlds, death isn't permanent, our powers are kinda limited... If that scuba diver could get in and out of the barrier, why can't we?

[Locked]

[sechstel]

[It takes him just a couple seconds to realize he must have named an animal, likely a feline after Braig for some unknown reason.]

I can imagine.

It does. Though the fact they're capable of ignoring death and time makes me wonder just how powerful they are.

[Locked]

[ninthserenade]

It's kind of amazing though. Scary, but amazing...

Maybe you could ask Alpha or somethin' since we're gonna be on the surface pretty soon?