fourteen | oo30 [ voice // action ]

Entry tags:

oo30 [ voice // action ]

( Sokka | Locked 100% )

... I need your help. And you can't tell anyone, okay?

( Aqua | Locked 100% )

Aqua... I know we haven't spoken that much, but I need to ask you a really, really big favor.

( Sanji | Locked 100% )

[ a long silence goes here. ] ... could I stay at your house tonight?

( Luke | Locked 100% )

I'd -- [ ... ] Can I see you?

[ Xion is out of the house today. Mostly because it's become almost impossible to stay there. She hasn't slept for more than a handful of hours since Vanitas attacked -- three days ago. She's so exhausted she can barely stay on her feet, but better awake and moving than a sitting target.

Who could sleep, knowing that at any minute someone stronger than you and your friends could break into your home and kill you whenever he wanted?

It's this question that drives her to address Luceti at large, once she's got herself settled on the railing of That One Bridge. Hey, it's like right next to her house and she wanted to sit on a bridge, so sue her. ]

( filtered AWAY from Vanitas and Saix | Locked 100% )

What would you do if you didn't feel safe in your own home anymore?

[ and this is to say nothing -- not a damn thing -- of how she feels about Roxas right now. He had no excuse -- what defense could you give? -- and Axel almost died -- for what? Why? Why had any of this happened? Does she blame Roxas, for extending the invitation, or Vanitas, for taking it? Even if she had something to say to him, she couldn't -- he hasn't been home in days.

It's a very numb Poppet that's sitting on that there railing, swinging her legs and staring at the water below. Please interrupt her thoughts -- for they are very grim ones. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ ... well alright then. After only a moment's hesitation, she heads over there. She hasn't told anyone else what happened between her, Axel, and Roxas that day... but she could use the benefit of an outside opinion. Especially one she trusts as much as Sanji's.

She said the door was open -- so once Xion gets there, she just heads inside, peering around ]

Sanji?

In the kitchen, Xion-chan! [Where she is making tea and... well, something else. Sanji isn't fully aware what her hands are doing right now; they're just moving, shaping, creating without a conscious thought. It keeps her busy]

[ that gets a little smile. of course she is. so Xion heads in there, pulling her coat and scarf off as she goes. it's a relief to see her not!mom -- one of the few people it isn't a stress to be around right now. ]

Hi, Sanji. ... what're you making? [ well, even if Sanji isn't sure, poppet's gonna ask. ]

[She wipes her forehead with the back of her hand and shoots a lazy grin over her shoulder]

Dunno. Guess you'll find out with me, huh?

[ ... she smiles a little wider, setting her things down on the back of a chair. ]

Okay. That sounds good to me. [ she'll settle herself on that same chair, watching with interest. ]

[Honestly? She's just making croissants. If not for other things, she'd remember all the steps she'd already taken, a few of which she's doing now - pounding the dough, completing the turns.

It's not even that she's not paying attention, per se, as a chef must always be aware; she just trusts her hands and her instinct enough that some parts of her mind are allowed to wander in thought. There's plenty to think about.

Once she's finished pounding her newest batch into a 9-by-16-inch rectangle, then completed two more turns, she sticks it in the fridge and brings out another 9-by-16-inch rectangle, ready to be cut and stuck in the oven.]

Should I add bananas and chocolate, you think?

[ Xion watches her in peace, finding it soothing in her own sort of way. It's distracting and kind of interesting without taking too much brain power to think about. It's nice to focus on this for a little while, anyway, instead of the inevitable. She pulls her knees up to her chest and hugs them, then grins. ]

Definitely.

[Sanji approves of this decision. It gives her something else to do while the bread is rising in the oven. Melt chocolate and butter together, first, then stir in sugar and water to make the glaze. The bananas will come later, once the croissants come out]

Looks like I'm making a dessert, then.

[ rests her chin on her knees, looking fairly contented. ]

Hey, there's never a wrong time for a dessert.

Just don't let that shitty captain of mine know. Or I'll lose whatever moment's peace I can take.

[She won't mention how quiet the house has been lately, so much that she doesn't need to worry about Luffy bothering her. The natural enthusiasm that accompanies the meals in House 6 has been sucked dry. But it's nice, yes? To pretend a little]

Will Xion-chan want some once it's finished?

[ the corner of her mouth quirks up, and she doesn't respond to that part. she knows from pretending, especially right now. ]

Of course. How could I pass up something Sanji made? [ she's probably been eating as little as she's sleeping -- she could use the food. the dark circles under her eyes and the pronounced paleness of her skin speak to how poorly she's been taking care of herself, anyway. ]

[Sanji notices. Sweets aren't exactly the picture of a balanced meal, but anything will do when you're hungry and need a bit of nutrition.

Out come the croissants ~~far earlier than they should but wtfever THIS IS LUCETI~~. Each gets sliced in half, the long way, and now it's time to drizzle the chocolate mixture in between. Then after that, the bananas are nestled on top of the chocolate. On goes the top half the croissants, drizzled with the last of the glaze, and voila.]

Here you are, Xion-chan~! [She sets a plate in front of the girl]

[ ... devours.

SORRY, IT'S NOT VERY LADYLIKE, but the smell of the food reminds her how hungry she is, and she just goes to town. it's really good, too -- though she'll wait till her mouth isn't full to tell Sanji that. ]

[You're talking to a woman who smokes and cusses hard enough to make Satan blush when she's pissed.

GO TO TOWN, HONEY. 8|b]

[ you kidding? she's already done. ... and smiling kind of sheepishly. ]

... I was hungrier than I thought.

You looked it.

[She turns completely, giving her undivided attention] I'm glad I could help.

... [ she'll take a sip of that tea -- assuming it was at some point offered, ah ha -- and sit there quietly for a moment. Sanji's sudden, undivided attention brings home what she came here for, and her mood takes a noticeable shift. her smile doesn't go away, but the air around her seems to somehow close. ]

... Sanji, Roxas did something really bad.

[Her tone isn't judging - yet]

How exactly? [Though just in case her blood pressure decides to hit the stratosphere, she pulls out a cigarette]

.... "Roxas said I could pick any one of you" ... that's what Vanitas told me and Axel. We confronted Roxas about it, and...

[ a silence. after their discussion was over, Xion had gone looking in the journals, to see if she could find what really sparked all this. and she'd found it -- somewhat to her dismay. slowly, she pulls her journal out, then finds the conversation Roxas and Vanitas had before the attack, and shows it to Sanji. ]

... Roxas said he didn't think Vanitas would actually ... do anything. [ another beat. her extraordinarily unhappy expression makes it clear what she thinks of that line of reasoning. ] Since Axel and I spoke to him, he's just ... been gone. I wanted to look for him, but... I needed to stay behind, to, to take care of Axel...

[ she finally trails off, realizing she'd been rambling a little. ]

[She heard the same story from Ventus, and couldn't believe it. Neither of them did. And Roxas had struck her as the one with actual common sense between him and Axel (biased opinion though it is) - someone she could trust with Xion's well being.]

This is...

[Sanji reads the conversation once, then closes the journal and slides it back to the girl, like she can't stomach it being open and polluting the air.]

But he knew what Vanitas meant. [That he'd hurt them]

[ immediately she shakes her head, looking up, almost a little ... desperate ]

He can't have! Or he would have... he'd never want us to get hurt. I just... I don't think he realized...

[ the look on her face is just -- it's a little something like heartbreak. the truth is that when she'd first learned this, the sense of betrayal had almost killed her. it felt like Roxas had thrown her and Axel to the wolves without even realizing-- without thinking--

she's so tired of people in her life just not thinking.

but she still can't help but -- want to defend him, or find an excuse, or -- or anything, because she-- ]

I just want him to come home.

[Sanji wants him to get home, too.

So she can find him and kick his stupid, sorry, piece of shit ass into the--

What if that had been Xion? Fuckin shit. And she knows the thought is a selfish one, when Axel nearly died and everyone's hurting, but it's still that difference which keeps the chef from hunting down the girl's best friend.

Damn it, she's pacing hard enough to put a groove in the floor. Abruptly she gets a hold on her limbs and stops]

... Do you have any idea where he is? [First things first. Him talking off because of his own guilt is selfish as hell.] His best friends need him right now.

[ thankfully, neither of them will ever know Xion was Vanitas's intended target in the first place.

she just curls up in her chair, watching Sanji pace. slowly, she shakes her head. Roxas, really, is being no more selfish than she herself has been in the past, in the many, many times she ran before she resolved to give that up altogether. ]

We haven't been able to reach him and I wouldn't know where to look... maybe out by one of the lakes, but it would take a while to get out there, and it's easy to hide in the woods... and it's-- [ she shakes her head. ] We need to make sure the house is safe before we can leave to try and find him...

Figures. [Hell, he could be by the mountains, the desert, the ocean... Luceti, for all its barriers, is a rather large prison.]

Guess there's nothing to do but wait for him.

... for now, at least.

[ yeah she's just gonna be over here curled up into a tiny and sad little ball in her chair. don't mind her. ]

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