008 @ All my instincts have failed me for once

[hikari_no_kundou]

Who: Master Eraqus and Aqua [Open to Lightside Keyblade Squad]
When: [Backdated] Evening of 26th February // Morning of 27th February
Where: House of Departure, Sector 4
Summary: Welcome back to an emptier home, Aqua.
Warnings: Reunions, sad faces, pow-wows. Will update accordingly if KH spoilers pop up.

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[ All is quiet in the house.

Long since berefit of its original inhabitants, there are none left to be disturbed when the swirl of energy cuts into the center of the living room. The white light spins, hazy as mist, before expanding and solidifying upwards towards the ceiling and down to lick at the floor, until it is wide enough to allow passage from Somewhere to Here.

Something uncurls on the couch, a smudge of silver-grey, green-lit eyes reflecting the magic invading its living space.

It is better to take a portal than traverse the Darkness by night. And, lately, by day as well. ]

Comments

[pullsheavendown]

"Rough's better than no landing at all." Roxas glanced upward, as if Aqua might fall through the ceiling. But that probably wasn't an ability she'd acquired during her absence. Still, he was anxious to see her again—to know for sure that she was really back.

"Eh...some people have been jerks at Kahve, but not too many." He shrugged. "They don't want to buy from Newcomer businesses, and all the regulars support us so unless they broke out a powers fight, it wouldn't end well."

[madeinoblivion]

"Someone should really just put mattresses down on the infield." Joe huffed with a small roll of his eyes, as if slightly annoyed that none of the greeters had thought about that. Maybe the city had, but didn't want to spare another penny on behalf of newcomers. Or maybe they were scared that putting things all over the diamond would be too much 'interference' for the Core.

"When are they not hassling us for being newcomers!" Joe laughed, but after nearly three years in the city, native hatred was something that seemed totally normal, a daily thing to dodge. Luckily there were only certain places he'd be readily identified as a newcomer.

Unfortunately, one of those places was at his work, at Brooke's. He had to apologize to Iroh every now and then for stealing or inventory damage, or face corporations trying to intimidate the small music shop into affiliating with very tempting offers for expansion- but Joe was stubborn, and that worked to his advantage, in the end.

He wasn't entirely unconvinced that one day he would end up like Tifa, shot in the back of the head at lockup.

Luckily his darkness had a good sense for sniffing out its own; people who were bad news.

[hikari_no_kundou]

There was a faint huff of amusement from the elder keybearer. The mental image of mattresses covering each of the bases and at the center of the diamond is admittedly quite funny. Would they need to place a pea beneath one to warn about the arrival of royalty? "Yet what would become of them when the weather changes? I cannot imagine replacing them often would be easy."

"It would seem they are paying even closer attention than normal," Eraqus shook his head, before pulling back one of the chairs. Sit or do not, he does not mind.

That the pair were so easygoing about handling the hatred is both heartening -in that they do not allow it to dampen their spirits- and saddening, that such should be so commonplace. "In this past month alone, I would be hard pressed to tell you what are more dangerous to new arrivals - the Darkness, or the darkness in the hearts of those waiting for day."

Grey eyes closed, and he shook his head.

[pullsheavendown]

Roxas let out a huff of laughter at the end of mattresses on the ball field. It might actually be kind of fun, like a campout...until the darkness came, at least. And there wouldn't be any roasted marshmallows.

"I think one leads to the other, sometimes." He nodded at Eraqus. "This world...it changes people. Not everyone, and I know plenty of people with plenty of light. But the darkness seeps into every little crack in a building."

He shrugged. "Maybe it's seeped into people's hearts, too."

[madeinoblivion]

"You can't blame everything on the darkness." Joe grumbled in disagreement, startlingly frank with Roxas, for being in the company of a Keyblade Master who was pretty dead-set on keeping their presence set firmly in the light.

Joe didn't entirely agree with that, either. There were times when the darkness has been his strength, and times when ever the dangerous night-time darkness of Siren's Pull had seemed more welcoming than the people in broad daylight. Not by much, but-

"Some people are just awful people, when it comes to hating people from the outside worlds."