It's a dark, dark night

[pullsheavendown]

Who: Roxas and Master Eraqus
When: February 19, after dark
Where: Sector 4, somewhere thereabouts
Summary: The oldest non-jerkface Keyblade Master in Siren's Port meets that kid who looks like his student face-to-face

Comments

[masteryslight]

Eraqus was out as well that night, Master Keeper in hand. However, he hardly used his Keyblade to strike any of the creatures, instead replying on his Light based magic to destroy whatever monsters approached. Steadily, he made his way towards where he could sense another Keybearer. Eraqus was certain that Terra and Ventus were home yet but perhaps he'd merely checked to quickly. Despite their ages, and training, he was still concerned about their well-being.

As he approached the boy, he swung his Keyblade towards a monster that had chosen to leap towards him, taking advantage of a blind spot. Rather than risking the spell strike them both and the monster, he'd chosen to act more swiftly.

"You are quite skilled." Eraqus comments, taking a couple more steps forward.

[pullsheavendown]

The flashes of light had alerted Roxas to someone's approach, but he hadn't sensed any hostility, so he'd focused on his latest mini-battle instead of looking to see who else was out tonight.

That voice, though-he recognized it from when they'd spoken before. Finishing off the latest creature, he turned to face the newcomer, resting the tips of both Keyblades on the ground. It was Ven and Terra's. He wondered briefly whether he'd be as surprised at the dual blades, or if he'd seen and done enough for them not to matter.

At least he wouldn't be surprised by Roxas' face. "Thank you," he said. "I remember you. We talked before."

[masteryslight]

The likeness to Ventus was remarkable, Eraqus had nearly forgotten how alike he and Roxas appeared. But there were differences, the stance, the way he held himself and the Keyblades, and the fact that he carried two of them. How peculiar.

"You are most welcome." He nodded slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet with you, however the circumstances are unfortunate." Part of the elderly Master is incredibly worried about Roxas being out in the Darkness on his own. He isn't his student however, so he says nothing on that subject.

"You are handling yourself well enough this evening?"

[pullsheavendown]

He really did seem like a nice guy. Not that niceness was the only reason to like a person; one of Roxas' own best friends didn't exactly come across as nice. But it must have been one of the reasons Ven liked him so much.

"No kidding." A faint grimace passed over his face. "This isn't the worst thing that's happened around here, but it's not good." He wasn't sure what was worse; the blackout itself, or the potential reaction to it. Freaked-out people could do a lot of damage.

"I'm okay," he continued a moment later, answering Eraqus' question. "Our building's darkness protection is fine, but not all everywhere is okay, so I figured I'd spend some time outside tonight-take care of the monsters before they can try to get in and hurt people."

[...hooray for missing words. It was Ven and Terra's master. Yay proofreading.]

[masteryslight]

"With hope, nothing worse will happen again." Eraqus knew that much worse could happen at any point during the blackout. He, more than many, knew the extent of damage that Darkness could do and he wasn't giving the Darkness in Siren's Port any doubts to benefit it.

"You are quite diligent. I'm sure there are many who will appreciate such efforts." Eraqus is pleased to see that there are Keybearers that they'd never encountered were doing what they could to help. It did his old Heart good.

"Perhaps you'd care for a partner this evening. It's not wise to fight alone in such situations."

[Proofreading? Never heard of it. XD]

[pullsheavendown]

"Maybe." Roxas looked and sounded skeptical. Between the murders and the blackout and everything else that had ever happened here, he couldn't be sure of it. But...it wasn't a terrible world, not completely. There were too many good things that had happened here, too. Too many good people."

"Sure," he said after a few seconds, looking up at Eraqus. "I wouldn't mind it." Now that he thought about it, he was pretty interested in the way Eraqus fought; would it be different for a Master? "Mostly I've run into darkness monsters here. One or two Heartless." He nodded over his shoulder. "This way."

pfft, excuse the lazy tag

[masteryslight]

Heartless, that was something Eraqus was not pleased to hear was here. They were rare in their World, in his time. What had caused them to join the Darkness monsters in Siren's Port? As for his combat style, Roxas will soon notice that he rarely actually strikes anything with his Keyblade.

"With hope, those are the only creatures we shall encounter this night. And that no others will be plagued by them."

as a lazy person, I cannot criticize

[pullsheavendown]

It was the opposite for Roxas-they were anything but rare in his world, in his time. It had never occurred to him that it had once been different.

"There are plenty of them," he commented as they strode along, not taking his eyes off their surroundings. "Some are too strong for a single person to take on, but not usually around here. Watch out for the slimy ones; it smells really bad if they get it on you."

Plus they were dangerous. But the smell-ugh.

<3

[masteryslight]

"We'll have plenty of work ahead of us then." He was more than a little pleased that he had recovered from his arrival so well or he wouldn't be out doing this just yet.

"In time, with enough training, a single person should be able to take on quite a bit on their own." A slight chuckle from Eraqus at that. He'd honestly never given much thought to monsters that smelled foul, having not become to close enough to smell any of them in quite some time.

[pullsheavendown]

Roxas nodded. "I can fight them better now than I could when I got here," he said. "You just have to get to know what they're like, and keep training." He didn't mention that Terra had agreed to train him. For one thing, his friend had been adamant that the sessions were between the two of them.

For another, he hadn't actually learned anything yet besides discovering that he really hated wind sprints, even if they were improving his stamina.

"What kind of-" He was about to ask Eraqus what kind of creatures he had faced before, but before he could, a mutated thing lumbered into the road before then, about twenty feet away. He was on it in a flash, Keyblades tearing into the thing before it could decide whether they or one of the weakened buildings nearby would make a better target. This one was large and smelled disgusting, but it wasn't anything he could handle. Okay, maybe part of him wanted to show off in front of the Master, even if he still didn't care about titles alone. Just a little bit.