discoveries?

[prayerless]

Characters: Aqua, Roxas, and hopefully the other girls of 1-07? Also open.
Setting: Room 1-07 (Aqua, AU!Feferi, Vietnam, Vriska) or Floor Three, the old library
Format: Starting prose, but I'll match. <3
Summary: Spells, socializing, and stumbling across something quite unfortunate.
Warnings: (Temporary) character death in the library, and magic

Comments

[Floor Three]

[lamentless]

The east "corner" of the library- tucked in between the cookbooks and romance novels -still has the same peculiar overturned shelf acting as a makeshift tent. However, the blanket had slumped at an odd angle, and despite a dictionary's best efforts, was slipping away and gradually giving view to its insides.

Of course, he'd picked that specific corner because it was very unlikely that anyone would go near it, so suffice to say he had been undisturbed by others for some time. Which was probably not such a good thing, in retrospect.

[f0rceless]

"Ice cream wrappers...?" Well that was a bit, baffling. He knew Roxas liked ice cream, maybe he had just brought a bunch with him...still, you'd think he'd at least clean up or something. He wasn't really sure if Roxas was the tidy type or not.

Still frowning, Ven zipped off towards the direction Aqua had indicated and down the line of books to check on the fort and the body inside. Maybe he'd be able to find some sort evidence?

next time on CSI: Animus

[comboherooo]

Did someone call for an obvious suspect?

While Eiji wasn't quite the reading type, the library was one of the more peaceful areas of the tower - and it had the computers, which he was on his way to show Ankh when he spotted the group of kids doing something. He didn't see Ven since his head was shoved in the fort, so Eiji makes a small detour. "Hey, everything okay over here...?"

[handpuppeeet]

Ankh had already been eying the computers with intrigue when they entered, a popsicle in one hand. Though when Eiji got side-tracked by something, he made a slight 'tch' sound in annoyance before following the magical hobo him on the detour.

"What're you doing?" He asked, coming up to the rest of those assembled and biting the top off his popsicles.

[lethechained]

It was... a better answer than confirmation that someone had been trying to hurt him. True, she was already aware that it had happened before, but if there wasn't any proof that it was that this time....

Ven zipping off surprised her out of her thoughts, and after only a brief hesitation, she hurried after him. She wasn't nearly as fast, but she did manage to keep close enough to reach the same place. Even once she was there, she left the investigation to Ven, at least for the moment, too distressed to feel comfortable getting closer just yet. Even what she could see from where she was made her feel ill. The interruption of two newcomers was jarring, and when she turned to look at them, she only regarded them silently, rather than answering.

[prayerless]

Aqua waited for Naminé to move before she did, unwilling to leave the quiet girl alone. She wasn't sure what her connection to Roxas was, but she obviously knew him, and considering her reaction, they were probably close.

Her attention was drawn to the two inquisitive men, and considering that Ven was busy and Naminé still seemed to be shell-shocked, she took it upon herself to answer. "...we found one of our friends," she replied coolly, in the level voice of a soldier bringing news of a fallen comrade.

[f0rceless]

Ven had dropped to his knees, and was attempting to shake Roxas awake by the shoulder (as if that would do any good), but just kept looking more and more downcast as he went. He looked around the...body, and didn't find much besides the wrappers... He was far from a medic, granted, but nothing seemed to be outright wrong....

A few more minutes of searching and he sighed. He...Roxas'd just come back again, right? He had come back the last time without any real explanation. Still, it didn't help him feel much better. Though maybe because Aqua and Naminé were around, he was able to not freak out. Ven got up and looked at Naminé with dejection, before trudging back to Aqua.

Of course what he hadn't expected as to see two new people here. One of them he didn't recognize, but the other he wasn't exactly happy to see, given the panic that was now on his face. "--You! What are you doing here?!"

A criminal always returns to the scene of the crime

[hoboherooo]

"I'm curious, Ankh," Eiji answered as he approached. Aqua's solemn tone brought a feeling of dread to his stomach, and he looked to Namine, then to --Ventus. "I-I'm showing a friend of mine the computers here--" and hey, there's Roxas on the ground.

Eiji feels his blood run cold at the sight of the boy again - he'd wanted to find him again, to apologize for what happened - but with the boy avoiding him like he had been, seeing him again under these circumstances was a lot more jarring than he had expected.

[handpuppeeet]

Ankh rolled his eyes and barely gave Aqua and Naminé a second glance. Some broad with weird hair and a timid kid, big whoop. He seemed perfectly content to just stand there and eat his popsicle until Eiji was done, until he noticed the tone of voice and the cut-off sentence. He looked curiously at Eiji's expression, then turned his attention to Ven and Roxas.

It took him another moment, but eventually he put two-and-two together. "Oooh, these are the kids," and he stepped forward, gesturing with his popsicle, "that you attacked last time you went berserk huh, Eiji?" He gave a half-laugh before returning to his normal disinterest. "Oops."

[lethechained]

Ven's reaction alerted her to the fact that something was wrong-- well, more wrong than it had been a moment ago. She sucked in a breath, her eyes darting toward him and then to the two men. One of them seemed to be having a bad reaction to their presence, which did nothing to alleviate her suspicion. The other man seemed unphased, but what he said--

Her eyes narrowed suddenly, her mouth settling into a grim line instead of the frown that had been there before. So this was the Eiji she'd heard about. And so close to where Roxas was found, too.

[prayerless]

Aqua watched what felt like a train wreck in slow motion, and her brain put the pieces together faster than she could consciously make sense of them all.

"So when Roxas mentioned being frozen..." Aqua started, staving off the edge of hostility that tried to creep into her voice. Her gaze was settled on Eiji, and her eyes were narrowed only slightly -- wariness yet, but not full-fledged evidence of her suspicion. "That was you?"

[f0rceless]

"Y-Yeah, that's...that's him." Ven said, slowly losing his nerve. He didn't know who Eiji's friend was, but that wasn't much of concern to him. It was kind of ridiculous to assume it was him but.... He couldn't shake the fact that this guy scared him.

"S-Something happened to Roxas.... But we don't know what.." Definitely not subconsciously edging closer to Aqua and Naminé, why would you think that.

[hoboherooo]

"Ankh!" Been a while since Eiji had to use that irked schoolmarm tone with the Greeed. The way Ankh had brought it up so bluntly caused Eiji's hand to grip the fabric of his shirt out of reflex, before turning back toward the others.

"That..." Eiji swallowed - he couldn't bring himself to look at them, so instead he stared at the floor as he spoke. "That was me, yes, and I've been trying to apologize for weeks now, but I haven't been able to get to where I can talk to you two, and the other boy... It... It was all a horrible accident."

[handpuppeeet]

Ankh jerked his head back at Eiji at the other's outrage, and simply gave him a smirk and a quirk of his head before looking back at his popsicle and taking a bite. He certainly seemed to feel better.

And that was apparently the only contribution to the conversation he was going to make.

[lethechained]

An... accident? That made her brow knit slightly. It could have been the truth or it could have been a lie; she was quite familiar with liars. Too familiar to take such a thing for the truth right away, anyway, although it did make her glance toward Ven, then Aqua to see what they made of it. Ven was the only one who knew him, after all, so he was probably the only one who would know how likely it was that this might actually be the truth or if it was just an excuse.

[prayerless]

The young knight was quiet as she absorbed Eiji's explanation. Slowly, she glanced between him and Roxas' unmoving body beneath the blanket. The man's rude sidekick -- "Ankh", apparently -- aside, he seemed genuinely apologetic. Ven was clearly terrified, but Aqua couldn't blame him; she had thought back to Xehanort's Blizzard spell the second she had heard about what happened to Roxas.

She looked to the younger apprentice and reached out to him, setting a hand gently against one of his shoulder blades in a gesture of comfort.

Again her attentions were drawn back to Eiji. She was silent, but she wasn't looking at him so harshly anymore. Rather, she was almost expectant. She couldn't speak on Ven's behalf, of course; but, if this took a turn for the worse, she was not going to idly stand by.