The Desinty Islands were a small peaceful place. There was no doubt that this place would be a relaxing retreat from the stressful lives of the busy universe crowded with lost and wandering souls. Homes here were wooden and not overly large. The atmosphere was calm and soothing here with a restless undertone as if the inhabitants weren't always quite happy with the simple unexciting lives they lead.
The slight wind in in the hair ruffled straight hair and took the edge of the unrelenting heat. It was sunny, the sun most likely high in the sky beating down on the small patch of land surrounded by a glittering ocean. She bet it was beautiful.
She sat on the beach in silence, alone and undisturbed. Ivy played with the sand with her fingers letting the fine grains sift through her digits. The material was a nice texture against her skin as she sat legs out before her leaning back on her elbows has she picked up small handfuls of grain only to let them succumb to gravity. She knew she'd grow bored soon but for now she'd enjoy the peace while it lasted. Ivory couldn't afford to spend a long time here but a few days would be more than enough to unwind.
Wandering idly along the shoreline and swinging a wooden sword just for the sake of feeling young and at home, Sora all but tripped over the girl sitting on the beach. Hands more used to fighting and killing heartless shot out to grab her shoulder, only just barely preventing him from falling on top of her.
"Oh! Sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!" he exclaimed, blue eyes wide with both surprise and genuine apology.
Rubbing the back of his head, an unconscious nervous habit, he smiled, albeit rather sheepishly. "Hey, are you new here? I don't remember seeing you around before?"
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
Ivory hadn't expected to be tripped over. Although she was aware she wasn't alone on the beach she naturally assumed that said person would run around her rather than almost run over her. The island had been very quiet so she hadn't been expecting to run into anyone. Or rather, be ran into. The universe was full of surprises.
Ivory smiled politely. "It's quite alright."
There was an inflection in his voice suggesting that he wasn't quite at ease. It was comforting to know that he wasn't overconfident and apologizing for the sake of apologizing. Sincerity was a thing to be treasured in a universe being swallowed whole at great leaps.
She looked in what she hoped was his direction with vivid pink eyes. "No. I'm on holiday. It seemed like a nice place so I'd thought I'd stop by for a while. Get a rest from the hectic life at Traverse Town,"
"My name is Ivory," She offered. Conversation would pass some time and serve to delay the inevitable boredom.
"Oh! Well, you picked a really great place then!" Sora laughed brightly, inwardly shocked that she was from Traverse Town. "I'm Sora!" He was just about to thrust his hand forward when he suddenly realized that Ivory wasn't looking exactly at him. In fact, her almost distant gaze led him to conclude that she was quite likely blind.
He felt like the biggest ass in the entire universe.
First he almost trips over the poor girl and then he totally neglects to notice that said girl is blind. The Keyblad Master could feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment and scrambled to find something to distract from his faux pas.
"So um... did you come here by gummi ship? I didn't see any nearby though..." he trailed off. "Is Traverse Town doing better now? Has anyone been able to return to their home worlds?"
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
Ivory giggled. She imagined his cheeks were burning right now. She could hear in his voice that he was attempting to cover up an embarrassment and guessed that she indeed hadn't been looking at him in the eyes.
"Your eyes are a little difficult to see," She said.
"Yes, I did come here by Gummi," Ivory smiled grimly. "I can't say it's better. It's still dark and gloomy as ever - at least, the Towns People tell me the darkness hasn't receeded. The worlds are still open for business and more people are turning to Radiant Garden for refuge. Whether plaents survive the darkness and are merely shrouded by it remains unkown to me,"
Returning her smile, Sora flopped down onto the sand next to Ivory. Leaning back on his hands, he lifted his face to the sky and closed his eyes, the strong island sun warming his eyelids. "Yeah, I guess so," he replied quietly.
A deep sigh escaped his lips before he could even think about suppressing it. Not that he would. Sora was the sort of person who wore his heart and emotions on his sleeve for all the worlds to see. He just had hoped that maybe, for once, he'd be able to stay someplace long enough to get his feet beneath him, as it were. "Sounds like maybe sealing Kingdom Hearts didn't actually solve everything. At least... not like I thought it would."
Cinnamon coloured locks of hair fluttered in the ocean breeze, one stray strand persisting in falling into Sora's eyes. Shaking his head to rid it of both errant locks of hair as well as morose thoughts, he looked back over at Ivory. "At least people can travel between worlds again, right? I still can't believe Riku was right. He's never gonna let me hear the end of it!" A soft self-deprecating laugh bubbled up out of him, cheerful outlook replaced as quickly as a cloud scuttling across the sun.
-- Edited by Zexion on Monday 29th of June 2009 05:51:31 PM
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
"I guess so. It's going to prove useful. I am thinking about moving shop. I'm pretty hard to find. Traverse Town is like a maze," Ivory replied.
The warm sun beat down upon her fair skin. It was a nice pleasant change to the dank dark of her new home.
"There's no shame in being wrong. There's only shame if you refuse to admit it," Ivory said. "Kingdom Hearts?"
She did know of the heartless and now knew there was something different too, like the Heartless but had a different master. She learned not long ago that they existed from travellers passing through. She didn't know how long they had been around since she was a bit away from the First District, the only safe place on that world.
"Really? Where are you thinking of moving?" Sora asked with genuine curiosity. "Maybe you should talk to Mr. Scrooge's nephews - I bet they'd help you find a better spot for your shop!"
Lying back on the sand, he idly traced random patterns over the clouds with one eye squinted shut. "Well, no... it's not shameful or anything. I just hate it when Riku has to rub it in when he's right. Or when he wins. He never lets it go!"
He was quiet for a moment as he tried to figure out the best way to explain Kingdom Hearts. The thing was, he wasn't entire certain he completely understood it himself. "Yeah, some guy named Xemnas who used to call himself Ansem, only he wasn't the real Ansem because his real name was Xehanort wanted to form this thing called Kingdom Hearts because he thought it would give him his heart back," he said quickly, eventually stopping to gasp for air. "The real Ansem, who changed his name to DiZ, although I don't really know why, told Riku an' me that we had to stop Xemnas from finishing Kingdom Hearts because it would destroy all of the worlds that hadn't already been consumed by Darkness. So we fought him and defeated him."
Sitting back up, he wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his chin on his knees. "We, Riku and I that is, came back home to Destiny Islands afterward. We thought our work was done, that we could finally go back to normal and not have to worry about sealing keyholes or fighting Heartless anymore." A soft sigh as the kingdom key appeared in his right hand. "But if what you're saying is true, there's still something out there commanding the Heartless and trying to spread Darkness."
He gave a sad, almost tired smile. "I guess we were wrong, huh?"
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
"You mean Huey, Dewey and Louie?" Ivory asked. "They moved to Radiant Garden. I suppose when I go I could ask them," Ivy paused realising her mistake. "I apologize. I meant that I was thinking moving Planet. More and more people are moving to Radiant Garden and less are travelling to Traverse Town. The dark little trading planet is losing business. It's getting more dangerous. It's mostly the shady characters who wish to stay or those who are poor. Not that I can really afford to move,"
Sora seemed like a nice young man. He seemed knowledgable too. He must like travel and adventure to know so much but his explanation was confusing. However she could find no way to explain it more clearly. Perhaps he should explain things a little slower.
"No. It would seem that something is missing. You say Kingdom Hearts would destroy the remaining worlds left untouched by the Darkness but not restore the worlds already affected," Ivory said after a silence while she thought this through and sorted through the fast muddle of information. "It seems that what you did was to only stop the advance of the Darkness not force it to recede or seal it away."
Ivory turned to look at Sora and saw an object next to him. "Is that your weapon?" She asked. She liked weapons and was intruiged by everybody's no matter how boring or elaborate.
"Yeah. They finally moved back then? I guess that's not surprising, since their uncle lives there. If he's still running that shop of his, you should definitely try some of his sea salt ice cream if you haven't already; it's really good!" Sora smiled, idly tracing random patterns in the sand with his keyblade.
"It would be better to move someplace safe where you actually have a chance of having a successful shop though, right? If people aren't going to Traverse Town anymore, you should get out of there while you can."
Glancing over at the girl, he shrugged slightly. "I don't really understand it, to be honest. DiZ and the King never really explained it very well; they just kind of told me what I needed to do to save the universe. I think Riku has more information and understands it better; afterall, he spent a longer time working with DiZ than I did." His gaze grew a little distant as he watched the hypnotic undulating of the waves meeting the horizon. "I just know that Xemnas was not a good person and that his Organization was going about regaining their Hearts the wrong way. Killing people won't bring back your heart, you know."
Sora looked down at his keyblade and nodded with a fond smile. "Yeah," he said, lifting and swinging it gently through the air. "It's a keyblade. That's how I seal the keyholes in different worlds to block the Darkness from spreading and devouring those worlds and their inhabitants. It doesn't always look like this though, I can change it by attaching different keychains," he explained, reaching into one of his many pockets and pulling out a keychain that chimed and reflected the bright island sun. Attaching it, a whorl of light and harmless sparks spun around the weapon in his hand, transforming into Oathkeeper.
"This is Oathkeeper."
-- Edited by Zexion on Thursday 2nd of July 2009 12:37:04 AM
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
"Salty ice cream?" Ivory enquired curiously. "Doesn't that defeat the point of ice cream?" As far as she was aware ice cream was supposed to be sweet and cooling. She had always been fond of plain crisps and adding salt to potatoes in general but found it strange to put salt and ice cream together. She supposed it must be quite nice since Sora spoke of it with enthusiasm. It was also true she found curry and chips strange until she had tried the combination.
Yes. She should move location. She could look after herself pretty well despite being hampered by her very poor vision. There was the upside of being able to sense presences more clearly, to sort of, feel, your oponent. It was something she had been working on in Gaia before she had fallen ill with Geostigma. She had only been able to keep up with someone with very basic knowledge. Better than nothing, in her opinion. At the very least she could dodge.
Ivory used to be very very skilled when it came to combat. Of course she had always preferred to be manufacturing and designing the weapons than using them. There was nothing better than a fresh, sharp clean blade or the unworn grip of a gun. It was the little things she liked best. Above all, Ivory loathed rust. The universe was better off without it. Oxidisation of metal was a cruel way for a beautifully crafted weapon to go. It would be much nicer just to chop it into little pieces and melt it down. At least then it could be useful.
"It sounds very complicated. Perhaps they were desperate. Or regret? They could of have gotten in over their heads, not read the fine print, so to speak," Ivory deliberated over the possibility for a while. "No heart," She murmered. "That's a big thing to lose. They still have their souls at least,"
Ivory smiled as Sora changed is Keyblade. "Interesting shape," She was wary of asking to handle it. Sora had a fond affectionate tone that many got when they became attatched to their weapons. She had known a few people to refuse to let others handle them preferring to simply get new ones when broken. Their was one determined young man who insisted on doing the work himself. It had been a bizarre few hours.
Ivory pulled out her Sais. "They are Pearls of Wisdom," She said before taking out the fans too. "And they are Ying and Yang,"
Sora laughed brightly, "Yeah, it's a little weird but really good, I promise! Besides, it's more of a Popsicle than the sort of ice cream you eat in a bowl or a cone."
Tilting his head to the side, he studied the girl; her pale hair and skin reminded him of Riku, neither one of them really suited to life in a tropical island. Remembering the absolutely terrible sunburns his friend used to get when they were growing up, he wondered if he should advise Ivory to get some sunscreen. He made a mental note to mention it in the future.
"Yeah... maybe. The more I learn about the Organization and the Nobodies, the more I begin to think Yen Sid, DiZ and the King weren't telling me everything. And Riku told me that I missed an entire year between defeating Xehanort's Heartless and when I woke up... so maybe something happened then?" He shrugged a little, at the moment not terribly concerned with understanding the motives of Organization XIII. To be completely honest, he preferred to not think about it at all - it left a sour taste in the back of his mouth that was entirely too close to guilt for his liking.
His eyes turned sad at the thought of losing one's heart, thinking about his nobody, Roxas, who had been born when he gave up his Heart to save Kairi. "Even with their souls, it's still not the same. You would always feel this hallowness inside, no matter what."
In the blink of an eye, his mood shifted to a happy pride in his weapon as he in turn studied Ivory's weapons. "Those are really beautiful! You use fans too? I know someone else who does sometimes, her name is Mulan but she lives in the Land of Dragons." Sora gave her a considering look, briefly listening to his heart before he held out his keyblade, "Would you like to hold it?"
((Alright - good to go now!)) -- Edited by Zexion on Wednesday 8th of July 2009 12:09:12 AM
-- Edited by Zexion on Thursday 9th of July 2009 06:05:17 PM
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
"I like ice cream. My favourite's are mint chop chip, vanilla, cookie dough and strawberry cheesecake," Ivory commented. "I'm not so fussed for strawberry on its own for some reason. Nor do I like candy floss." Ivory smiled a strangely cynical smile for her. "Too sticky,"
"Perhaps you did wake up and don't remember? I do that occasionally. I turn my alarm clock off and don't remember I've done it. Of course then I sleep in and have to rush about. It's not very pleasant," Ivory explained to Sora entirely comfortable with him. It seemed the Universe held nice creatures after all and not ones that would just stare at her and whisper in corners assuming her hearing was just as impaired as her sight. It upset her sometimes, the things people would say, but she was mostly used to it by now. Ivory smiled. "May be you really needed the rest? Like your soul or your own heart was recovering from the stress, anxiety - the damage- caused by fighting these Heartless creatures."
Ivory thought about it for a while. "Perhaps they didnt' want you to wake up. Like it would interfere with their grand design or something like that? What if you only woke up because they wanted you to? Or they put you to sleep in the first place," Ivory said in a conspiratory manner. She adored puzzles. Mystery games and logic puzzles were her favourite form. Jigsaws her good to but they lacked that certain spark that got her really excited. Ivy was a geek at heart.
"I apologize. I didn't mean to be so..."
"Thank you," Ivory smiled widely. "I made them back when I could see. Perfectly balanced, double edged, light as a feather but stronger than ****atiel claws or a chocobo beak...but I guess you wouldn't know what they are," Ivory's tone held a small amount of sadness. She had loved Gaia very much despite all its hardships. "I prefer twin weapons. I dont know why,"
Ivory's heart thudded and she grinned. She was very enthusiastic about formed metal that could be used in battle. Weapons to her were a form of art. "May I? Are you sure?" she knew allowing someone else to hold your weapon was a great honour and vulnerability.
Sora couldn't help but chuckle at Ivory's lists of confectionery likes and dislikes, sparing a moment to wonder if candy floss was the same thing as cotton candy. He was rather fond of the treat, but Riku and Kairi claimed he wasn't allowed to eat it very often, as it had a tendency to lead to weird things happening.
"Well," he paused, wondering how best to describe the year he'd spent slumbering. "It wasn't exactly normal, the time I spent asleep. I was in this weird pod thing... my friends Donald and Goofy were too, but they were each in their own. Riku wouldn't tell me exactly why or how I ended up there... but it had something to do with what happened with Organization XIII after I defeated Xehanort's Heartless." He sighed and shrugged a little. "I dunno... maybe it was from that first year spent fighting and travelling to all sorts of different worlds. I guess I've gotten stronger since it didn't happen again."
Idly twirling his keyblade as he studied Ivory's weapons, a sunny smile spread across Sora's face once again. "Wow, really? I could never make a weapon like those - the closest I can get is making new keychains for my keyblade." Seeing her hopeful expression, a harder heart than Sora's would have been hard pressed to refuse and as it was, Sora was nothing if not a soft-hearted individual. Thus, he carefully handed Oathkeeper over to her, knowing that he could call it back to his hand immediately if the need arose.
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
"A pod?" Ivory asked. The only reference she had was the Mako tanks at the science departments in Shinra. They weren't particularly pleasant. She wondered what kind of pod it could be that caused them to sleep. Ivory couldn't imagine sleeping for a year - there was too much work to do. All she could think about were missed opportunities and time being stolen away even quicker than it already slipped silkily through your fingers. Time, as they say, was of the essence.
"It all sounds very strange," Ivory said. "You are young, aren't you? I don't mean you aren't capable but you must have wanted adventure away from a small peaceful little island. This wasn't quite what you expected is it?"
Ivory accepted Oathkeeper with a smile, her lips widening into a full-blown exstatic grin when she examined the piece. "This is brilliant!" She said full of awe. She tenderly stroked the metal stem of the keyblade.
"My Sais and fans, I made them a while ago now. It was my family's trade and I learned from my parents and siblings."
Carefully, cautiously she stood trying not to alarm Sora and gave it a twirl. "Wicked," Ivory approved and held it in the middle with her hand. "Perfectly balanced," She murmered. "This is different for me. I would have gladly made you a keychain if I had known how it worked,"
Ivory gave Sora his weapon back not wanting to push her luck.
