reflectionsofdestiny | Be my guest, be my guest... [RP scene: 'KH2' era] [3D spoiler warning]

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Be my guest, be my guest... [RP scene: 'KH2' era] [3D spoiler warning]

This was a nice ballroom, once. A place where the cultured and refined could waltz through the night... princes and princesses and all their likes having a beautiful time as the music played.

Tonight, however, that was not on the cards.

The small exploratory party hadn't had the best of times here, as scorch marks and ruined pillars told a story about what had just been happening. A fight.

But at least that Keywraith'd been finished, right? That thing, that bundle of thorns and rose petals, was lying inert on the floor...

Xeha took a moment to glance over at Dilan and Braig, his current companions, before stepping in to make sure the job was done.
Perhaps he shouldn't have been so hasty, he quickly found himself thinking, as it erupted upwards: that didn't look anything near so good. And the last fight hadn't been good already, Dilan already rather wounded. Not that he hadn't given every bit as good as he got. And as far as people to have on your side in this situation went, the ex-guards were some of the best.

Still, Xeha couldn't help but give a call out of exasperation and overall pain, as he took a step back, ready to fight...

"Not again!"

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Braig, at least, has the advantage of not needing to get so close to the beast. Still, even with that he has to admit it's been a long fight and he's quite grateful that his weapons have never needed standard ammo. He'd have run out long before the end of the battle otherwise. The thing's habit of bouncing here and there hadn't helped much either and only being quick on teleporting out of the worst of it has saved him from sharing Dilan's fate.

But at least they'd done it, or so he'd thought before it went erupting up. He wasn't looking forward to another fight like the last.

"Seriously? We just finished one!"

But complaints aside, even Braig knew better than to relax in the face of yet another battle. They weren't gonna be out of this for a while yet, and he glanced over to Dilan, who was already pulling himself upright yet again, despite his injuries. That, at least, was familiar and he couldn't exactly waste time to ask about anything more than that. He trusted Dilan to know his limits and that was going to have to be enough.

For now, he was going to be needed to keep the thing from getting far away, and with a sigh, he reloaded his arrowguns before bringing them up to a ready position. Whatever came next, he was ready.

Xeha'd noticed that, too. The fact that speed was of the essence was clear; while he was priding himself on being quick on his feet for that last fight, it hadn't always worked, and he was cursing his ever-diminishing supply of Potions.

Speed on his feet. Hm.

As the thing charged in, he lunged aside, allowing himself to roll around and get off an attack before it could respond.

"Braig - I've got a thought."

As he barely dodged the most recent attack, launching off a Fire spell in the thing's direction, he took a moment to glance over.

"You're doing the best out of us. How about I -"

Dammit, stay still and let me hit you! he thought for a moment, as it shot off again.

"- I try a Drive? Do you mind? I think we could get some good attacks on it that way..."

Admittedly, he was still new at the technique. Combining power with his friends, riding and borrowing their form - perhaps it wasn't for everyone. But it'd gotten them out of a few scrapes so far.
Perhaps it'd work again.

It had occurred to Braig, somewhere along the way, that they might really have benefited from having a decent healer along. Even if they hadn't known what they were in for with this one, it'd save them more than a bit on potions and the like. Although he supposes they're making the moogles happy, if nothing else. It's sort of a shame they need to but it's better than the alternative.

He nearly misses Xehanort's comment, as he flickers out of sight to avoid a swipe of the things claws. It's a surprise too, to hear the question asked. He knows the kid can do it, but... well. He knows he hasn't always been the most trustworthy. Faithful, yes, and more so now that he's gotten his head screwed on straight but he's alwyas had his own agenda, such as it is.

He's not about to turn the kid down though. Between the two of them, they're bound to be able to get something good and poor Dilan is looking rather worse for the wear.

"Go for it."

Regardless of what Braig's done in the past, there've been enough incidents that Xeha's sure of whose side he's on. He's always been there. Always come through when it counts.

And as such, he barely hesitates to make the move, keyblade twisting around in a quick motion.

The moments between initiating the Drive and moving in on Braig's body are disorienting, a rush of odd sensation - sight without light, feeling without skin - but it only lasts for seconds. He's almost used to it by now, in any case, from his previous experience.

Settling, now, taking in the new feelings - well. Some things he'd expected. Peripheral vision, sense of depth, gone; he'll definitely need help with that much. But for the rest -

Huh.

Braig will be more than willing to help out with the problems of deth perception and a general lack of peripheral vision. He's been dealing with them long enough to have things generally under control and it's not like he's not willing to offer pointers.

Really, he's more concerned about how it feels to have someone else settle into his heart (body?) so thoroughly. Even with the old man giving so generously he hadn't every really been prepared for something like this, for all that it feels... right, somehow. Like this was the sort of thing he'd always been waiting for. He keeps those thoughts to himself though, or at least tries to. He's not sure how things work, like this.

You're telling me.

Mm.

He starts moving, light on - his? Braig's? Ah, he'll get the pronouns sorted out as far as Driving's concerned, one day - feet, taking to it easily. No time to hang around...
Surprisingly so, he's finding. In the past, there's always been some kind of - resistance. Some kind of wall he's had to push against, even with his partner's best wishes. Perhaps he's just better at it, now? But this is - different.

Comfortable. Welcoming, even, and the thought's a strange one. How can anyone welcome a visitor in their mind? But it's happening right now. No walls, no strangeness, except that that's being provided by his own ideas about the situation.

You know... You're really making me feel at home, here.

The fact of the matter is that he's already started to welcome someone else in. Not near as much as this, but enough. Still, rather than offer the proper answer, he simply offers up the mental equivalent of a shrug.

Guess I must just be that kind of dude. That or you're starting to get better at this.

Either way, he's perfectly content to let Xeha take the helm. For now, he'll settle for making sure they don't fall out of the air, or mistime one of the critical flickers that's keeping them from taking as much damage as the might otherwise. He knows his own abilities a lot better than Xeha does, after all and he figures it's better to have a backup in place just in case.

Heh. Maybe.

Moving's fine. Aiming their darts and teleports around the ballroom arena, though, more tricky. There's more than a few mental (and possibly even audible) yelps as he overshoots, misjudges a distance - not to mention anything that's taking their feet off the ground... and once again, it's a very good job that he's not having to worry about ammunition.

Despite it all...

Got to say, though, it's kind of fun.

Braig doesn't correct for the misjudged jumps. The kid won't learn otherwise and he has to admit that it's kind of interesting watching someone else pilot his body around. It's a little relaxing too, to not need to work on killing the thing himself, even if he knows that the Drive can only last so long. He'll take whatever break he can get.

Glad to hear it.

He internally nods an acknowledgement and leaps into the air to avoid a claw blow, landing on it for a moment to launch shots in the creature's direction - he actually landed those ones? Alright! Getting the hang of this aiming business!

"Hah! Got you!"

Huh. Sounds weird. Well, to be expected.

The thing doesn't seem to want to stay 'got', though, and he rapidly zaps off out of its way. Keep its attention, too, he thinks; can't let the thing go after Dilan, in that state.

Just keep moving. Warp, fire, warp, fire.
He's getting this.

Of course it sounds weird. He's using Braig's mouth to speak with. Still Braig can't help but approve of the neat landing on the creatures claw. Looks like the kid really is getting the hang of being him.

He does manage to spare a moment to hope that Dilan's doing alright, but he hasn't got the ability to look right now and he knows that Xeha needs to focus more on the fight then on Dilan. There's too much at stake here as it is.

Not bad, kid.

Thanks, he replies quickly, but he's trying to not spend too long listening to what Braig's saying. Not because he doesn't want to hear it, but because there's more important things to concentrate on right now.

Going in high, now, a couple of airborne manouevres; oh, these just feel weird. But the fact that anything can feel weird above and beyond the fact that he's borrowing someone else's body says a lot here.

And it's not like it's weird in a bad way, either.

Of course there are. It's only Braig's habit of almost incessant (and not necessarily important) chatter that's keeping him yammering on, and he doesn't expect Xeha to pay much attention to it. Not when there's something that needs to be taken care of and he doesn't want to distract the kid when they're sitting pretty in midair.

So rather than yammer on, he settles for acting as a sort of helpful backseat driver, keeping an eye on the situation and pointing out things he's noticed that Xeha might not have.

And Xeha, in turn, is replying with the odd Thanks, mm-hmm, got it as the situation demands. The odd Ow! Sorry!, too, as he doesn't quite judge things perfectly.

Not that there's too much time to spare for apologies. Although the actual Drive's taking less of his concentration, that only means he's got to focus more on the fight itself - especially as all the hits he's landing on the enemy are just making it more and more angry.

At least he's actually managing to shoot the thing without being at point blank range, now.

That's definitely progress, and Braig is glad to see that Xeha's picking up on the details of being him just as fast as ever. Sure, he might have seen Braig doing his thing, but doing it himself is something entirely different. But it's working, and the fact that it's concentrating more on them - even despite the pain of the hits they're taking - is a good start, especially when it means that that Dilan is free to do what he still can with only minimal interruption.

So really, it's not too bad, all things considered.

When it comes down to it, Xeha's always adapted quickly. New situations, new abilities - it's easy for that much to transfer to new bodies, new selves. He shoots a grin over in Dilan's direction as he manages to land a neat sequence of shots on the creature, before focusing back in.

Honestly, it's getting to the stage where he's not listening to much of the advice that he's getting. Tuning everything out, now. Just him and his target...

That's fine enough by Braig. He doesn't stop adding his own two cents in, but he doesn't mind that he's being tuned out either. The creature can't last all that much longer, or so he's figuring.

Besides, this is the easiest fight he's ever been a part of - he's not complaining.

He'd be guessing correctly. A few more attacks, from arrowgun and lance alike, and the thing's down. Down for good, too, it seems; it glows gently, then seems to explode into shards of light - the death knell of any Keywraith. A small token's left on the ground; a rose, on a chain.

Xeha breathes a sigh of relief and stretches out. Man. He's glad to see that. Still running on what adrenalin's coursing through this body, he warps over to grab the chain and shove it in a pocket.

Right. Sorted.

Braig breathes a sigh of relief as the creature falls as well, stretching in unconscious imitation of Xehanort's own stretch. It's only once he realizes that he's not in control of his own actions and that Xeha's dropped the chain into his pocket without even thinking that he gets the suggestion that things might not be quite right. And he knows just how to deal with that.

Hey! Hey, squirt!

Did he just hear something? He's sure he did, but there's no-one he can see around except Dilan, and it didn't sound like - Ugh. Right now, he doesn't want to think about a thing except perhaps collapsing somewhere.

He gives Dilan a wave on. Time to leave.

"Come on. Let's go."

Something's nagging at him, though. What now? What's he forgotten?

There's a brief moment of stunned silence at that. He knows that he's got a little bit of the old man in him, but really, can't the kid remember who he is enough to separate the two? Hell, surely Dilan has something to say about the strangeness, too.

But since he can't wait for Dilan to catch one, he stretches as much as he can in the space he's been given, risen on to his toes before all but 'shouting' back.

Hey! Xehanort!

He stops dead in his tracks. Yeah. He heard that one, okay. Loud and clear and cracking through his mind. It takes a little for him to orient himself, though.

"Dilan, did you just - did someone shout my name?"

The look he's getting back is of pure incredulity. Something's wrong. Something's very wrong.

His mind floods with panic. What's just happened... He's missing something, he's missing someone, he's -

He responds again, out loud. "Braig?"

The fact that Xeha actually stops is a moment of pure relief. He wasn't sure what he'd try next, if the kid had heard him. He's only got so much to try and it's not like he can - or entirely wants - to kick out all that Xehanort is. He just wants to actually be in control of his body again.

I'm right here! Come on, Xehanort, look at yourself. Really look.

His voice is still raised, although it's not the shout of earlier. Now that he's caught something of the kid's attention, he's fairly certain he doesn't need to yell again.

"What? Where? What am I looking at?"

He lifts up a hand, looks down his arm - what he's thinking of as his arm. Okay, so far so good, but something's missing, something's...

It hits him like a jolt, and he catches his breath in shock, running that hand up to his face.

No. Not his face. Not as he touches eyepatch, scar, point to ear...

"I... I just..."

Stuck in their shared body as he is, he can tell when the shock of realization hits. It's a relief, and at the same time he can't help but feel a little bad for the kid. He hasn't wanted to burden Xeha with what his predecessor had given him, mostly because he knows the explanations would get awkward fast.

Save it for later, kid. I'm the one who invited you in, remember? But if it's all the same to you, I'd kinda like to have my body back.

"I - your - yes, yes, right..."

Xeha stammers out a reply, closes 'his' eye to focus briefly, but it's a hurried affair as he Drives his way out again, a sudden jolt compared to the smooth takeover in the way in.

As he reforms into his usual body, he looks absolutely distraught. How could he even do that? He'd just completely forgotten, just lost himself, and the idea's sending shivers through his system...

He looks around wildly, staring back at Braig.

Braig doesn't comment on the less than smooth transition this time. He knows the kid is flustered and out of sorts - way out of sorts - and so he lets it pass by. Besides he's just glad to have his body under his control, and once Xeha's gone he stretches for no other reason than he can.

He turns in time to catch Xeha's frantic stare and he offers a grin in return and a brief thumbs up before he digs the keychain out of his pocket and tosses it Xeha's way.

Clearly there's no hard feelings here, at least.

Xeha barely catches the chain, and almost drops it. It seems he's not quite as in control of his usual shape as he typically is. The arms are too short, the perspective odd... in any case, he fumbles the chain into his own pocket.

"Th- thanks..."

He starts to move off, heading back, but halts, legs like jelly. That pillar looks like a really good thing to collapse against right now. Really comfortable - he just about flops onto the ground.

"No problem."

He certainly can't use the keychain, even if he has had his eye set on eventually having a weapon like Xeha's. For now, he'll settle for what he's already got though. He went through a lot of trouble for 'em after all.

He waves Dilan over, once Xeha decides that the ground is more comfortable. Not to give the kid a look over, but more because there's no since in Dilan going too far away. No one's really fight for another fight just now with the exception of him and he can't pull all the weight.

For a moment, Xeha's quiet, just taking deep, ragged breaths. It takes him a little while to respond as he gets his thoughts together. Only one's really coming to mind, though.

"... I forgot. I completely forgot... how does that even happen?"

He looks down at himself, now. At the body he's spent the rest of his life in. And he wonders how it can be that a simple magic trick can make it seem like a vanished dream so easily.

Braig shrugs, as if he's got no clue quite how it happened either. A little lie will go a long way here, or so he rather desperately hopes. The conversation about the truth isn't one he really wants to have when Dilan is right there.

"Maybe it's all the darkness in there? Or hell, maybe I've just got an accepting sort of heart."

He gives a weak laugh at the second half. "Pretty accepting. If you hadn't been saying anything, I'd have forgotten even sooner... maybe it was something to do with the darkness. I probably shouldn't have put myself so near it." A long, lingering sigh. "It still doesn't make much sense, though. I could've just walked off, if you hadn't - heh."

He manages a faint smile. "You used my name."

"You can always blame Even," Braig comments, with another shrug. "Who knows what all he was doing with my heart, right?"

Better still, he was the only one who'd been used as a test subject. There won't been anyone else to prove his oddness isn't just a result of Even's meddling - or even that Even has been involved. His secret will be safe for a little longer.

"I had to catch your attention somehow, didn't I?"

"You did that. I'd almost thought you were allergic to it or something," he remarks, recovering his composure a little as the topic of conversation draws him away from his fears.

A little.

"But yeah. Huh." He thinks for a moment. "You think it might have been him - doing whatever - that helped... take the barriers down, maybe? There weren't any restrictions. Any walls. Other people have had them. You don't."

Not that he noticed, anyway.

"It's as likely as anything else, right?" Braig answers with a shrug. "I mean, I'm pretty sure it wasn't intentional or anything, but I was doing a lot of odd things in those. So maybe those knocked down the walls along the way."

He wonders, rather idly, if it would have been the same if he'd tried letting one of the others into his heart instead, but the point is moot anyway. They aren't the one with the keyblade.

"It'd make sense, I guess... I can't think of anything else at the moment that would." Xeha's at least thinking about the situation more rationally, now. A definite improvement on what had just been. "It's still weird just how familiar it all felt, though. It helped, but..."

Slowly, he lets out a sigh. "I don't want to forget again! Not with you, not with anyone... I mean, what could've happened?"

"Then how about this. Next time you try and lose yourself again, I'll just call you on back. Sound like a deal?"

After all, he is the one who knows Xeha the best. So it stands to reason that he'd be the one best suited to figure out how to get the kid to snap to the next time something like this happens.

"Yeah. Alright."

He gets to his feet, even if he's leaning on the pillar still for support. Things are looking up again, he's starting to think. It wasn't even like he was trying to lose himself... or was he? Was some subconscious bit of him just trying to take over? No. No. He was just getting - too focused, that was all, he tells himself.
He knows he likes being himself. Even if it had been fun.

"Sounds like a deal."

Braig offers a hand without even thinking about, as Xeha climbs to his feet. He knows for sure that the kid hadn't been trying to get lost. It was just a little accident between him and the bit of the old man he still carried with him. Nothing to worry about at all, or at least, not until the next time they decided to try the same thing.

"You got it, kid."

Just a little accident. Just a bit of strangeness. He suspects it'll be a while until he tries another Drive with anyone, all the same - time enough to get his confidence in his ability back. Gratefully, he takes Braig's hand as he stands up.

"About time we headed back, then... I think we're done here."

"Yeah," Braig answers with a nod. "Other places to go, and all that."

Besides, there's still the rest of the castle, and taking down the biggest of the nasties doesn't mean that the little guys are gonna be gone. Not yet anyway.

"Mm." A look over at the - seemingly still a little perplexed - last member of their group, and Xeha gives Dilan a wave over. "Come on. Let's go home."

A brief pause, and Xeha gives a bit of a laugh. "I hope the owner isn't too angry about what we did to his ballroom."

"We can always talk to him if we run into him," Braig comments, with a slight shrug. Even if he could deal with some of the assorted mess, he's not really feeling up to it at the moment.

"Besides, we took care of the monster for him, so that's gotta count, right?"

Walking on, leading the way back, he manages to smile.

"He'd better appreciate that much."

No matter what else might have happened today? That job was finished. And he's pleased about that, at least.

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Be my guest, be my guest... [RP scene: 'KH2' era] [3D spoiler warning]

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