Scene #8973: Nobody takes the Elevator to Nowhere

Owner	Pose
Angela	Binah's in one of the lowest points of Lobotomy Corp, tied with Records and second only to the Architectural Department (which isn't open yet, officially). The elevators in the facility are still wrecked but fortunately Lobotomy Corp doesn't really have defenses against being teleported into (or being teleported out of) and Xion secured permission so the alarms aren't going to go off so long as they only teleport to the first three levels of the facility. Records is a dark place. Agents actually work there now but they won't pay mind to any Organization members teleporting in--they've all been given the word and know to expect them. Extraction is a cavernous place, and dark with the chief illumination being from hanging upside down pillars with glowing golden runic writing on them and similar patterning on the floor. In Extraction there is a pool known as The Well filled with bright green fluid that exhudes a powerful psionic presence that is unpleasant to even glance at let alone stare into--all but the most resilient psychic defenses can look into the pool without going mad--that's the throughline anyway. Binah looks into it every day but that doesn't mean she's sane. Speaking of Binah, she is sitting at a little table, two extra chairs unoccupied, and with a kettle of tea already prepared. She has a cup for herself and two set out, presently unfilled, for Roxas and Xion should they want them. Binah doesn't look like she does when she appears on the radio. Instead, she is a boxbot like all the other Sephirah. Her box form has a sleak black designwith a golden honeycomb patte, with a gold L passing through the center nad off to the side. Binah's name is emblazoned directly on her 'forehead' with a single golden eye peering out. It's an articial eye but it exudes a sort of cynicism that is omnipresent. She wears a tattered black cape hooked into her back. Affixed around one of the indentations of one of her actuator arms is a slim keychain hooked around it. It is arranged like a star with a vertical slit of an eye flanked with either butterfly or dragonfly wings. Despite the darkness, there is a sense of it catching what little light remains in the underground. "Ah, Xion. I was told to expect you. And--is this your friend?" There is no facial expression Binah can make.
Xion	Months ago now, Xion had been invited by the mysterious Angela to assist her with a special task. Months ago now, the Nobody had heard from Lilian Rook that there was a duel to be had, an anticipated fight. And so, the one who styled herself as Lilian's knight had walked down into the labyrinth to confront the the empty Arbiter. Then they sat for tea, bitter and a little metallic, and talked of darkness and dreams. Then they stood for themselves, each other, and fought to first inconvenience. For 'fun', as an excuse. For desperate, necessary expression. For feeling, something. For sharing, everything. Given an opportunity to arrange another meeting at the bottom of the Well, Xion opens a broadly irised Corridor-portal, dark on dark on the outskirts of Extraction, and emerges in an open-worn Black Coat besides her best friend and battle-partner. Underneath the coat is a black tee showing a little midriff, black pants and black leggings that switch to checkerboard at mid-calf and disappear into black-and-white offbrand 'Converse' with open stars in white circles at the ankle. Her shoes don't have that definitional clicky-tappy that certain people's do naturally, sneakersoft and softly unsilent along the path to their tea-table. "Welcome to Lobotomy Corporation, Roxas! It's..." Xion makes a little muguu-grimace and shrugs. "... got a not-great name for what they do, but there's a lot of people involved, and it's got that person I told you all about!" A laugh, as the noirette's bright blue eyes track to the boxbot at the table. "And there she is! Hi, Binah!" Lifting an ungloved hand to wave happily in greeting of the keychain-adorned boxbot, the noirette Nobody moves to the two chairs available for them and pulls out both, sliding into hers and looking to Roxas to introduce himself and settle in before starting up herself. "I announced it up top to make it easiest, since I had an opportunity. This is my best friend! We're... really alike, and he was why I thought to pay it forward to you, the way he helped me. I'm glad you two can meet."
Roxas	It's been a long time since Xion and Roxas first arrived on the 'scene' of the Multiverse. He's a bit taller than her-- about average for a man on an Earth that has a reasonably healthy population, but significantly broader. Since they were using the Corridors of Darkness, he's wearing a fitted long coat zipped all the way up, with his hood up, so at first his actual appearance underneath isn't visible. It's only a short while after they've emerged that he puts down his hood with a heavy sigh, fanning his face with one hand and unzipping the jacket to reveal fairly ordinary jens and a YES-NO black-and-white t-shirt underneath. "Florida has REALLY been leaking into those corridors lately... the air's so salty, too," he asides to Xion, running a hand back through his hair as he does so. Despite all of that, Roxas has an instantly sunny disposition, smiling broadly through the obvious discomfort of whatever region of darkness he just traveled through. Naturally, that voice is familiar. Roxas has spoken over the radio with Binah, after all. "Yes, hello, I'm Roxas! But we've met, haven't we?"" He doesn't actually sound that uncertain about it, though. He doesn't seem all that surprised by Binah's appearance, either-- though he probably just recalls that she had to be put in some sort of life support body. Rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, he glances back at Xion, "'Lobotomy Corp' is really bad for marketing, though... the first thing you have to wonder is whether or not they actually do that thing." He follows Xion as she takes a seat, practically falling into the other chair. "Love the cape and the keychain, by the way! Mog made some, too. Want one? Uh, a keychain that is, I'm not carrying spare coats right now." He produces a silver stylized X-shaped keychain from his pocket and jingles it in the air illustratively.
Angela	"You know, Xion, you might be the first person who has come down here to see me more than once without it being a matter of business or because I happened to be in the way. It is ''lovely'' to meet you. You ''are'' committed but I suppose--" She is distracted by Roxas for a moment. The singular eye sparks a little as she puts that face to a name. They HAVE talked over the radio but Binah hadn't put much thought into it at the time. She comes to a few conclusions with how Xion refers to him but it's not as if Xion isn't essentially directly speaking to the situation. "I see. This is one of those who reached out their hands to you. And I suppose you are a 'Nobody' as well? Xion has been a singular pleasure to talk to." Binah talks like a person who learned how to interrogate before she learned how to talk and is making a concerted effort to be more the latter. She is stopping short of playing the part of the inquisition because she likes Xion but it's been her nature for so long it's difficult to shake so she remarks on conclusions but snaps herself back from pressing further. "Ah, yes, the keychain." Binah says as if she were about to pick up some kind of sharp spinning device. "That was actually a gift from a friend. I don't have bags or anything like that to attach it too but a portion of my arm is thin enough that it works for now without being too obtrusive. I'll have to find another place for it." Despite it being a gift from Xion who is right here, she doesn't seem to think to actually say that. There is a quieter, more thoughtful pause when Roxas also offers a keychain. She is considering it and is weighing it. "Mm. How about we get to know each other a little better first--but certainly, once we do." Binah eventually settles on that. ''Lobotomy Corp is really bad for marketing'' "Well allow me to put your concerns at ease. They do perform lobotomies at this facility. That is how I ended up in here--" She taps the side of her boxbot body. "But to be honest, that is the smallest form of 'lobotomy' they wish to perform. I would argue that they wish to perform an operation on everyone in The City."
Xion	"It's starting to feel like there's more Florida in the Darkness than there is Florida in America." Xion asides in agreement to Roxas, sweeping her ungloved hands back through her bangs and up her head, slicking back the hair and leaving only two framing antenna-bangs escaping the smoothing-back and rising up. The heat-sweat of the Dark Southeast of the Corridors lingers on her, even in the cool and unwarmed dark. Thankfully, there's steamy tea, and good conversation. Roxas' brightness reflects like moonlight off of Xion, buoyed with a bit of eagerness. Sensing a bit of Binah's hesitance - Xion just smiles and gives the Arbiter a slightly endeared nod, the 'go on, go ahead!' variety of expectation. Xion doesn't even need to sense the feelings within Binah's hollowed heart and emptied box-countenance - she can hear the lightness, a bit of the holding-back, the unstated interrogations, the expected lines that are carefully restrained. Care, and keychains. "You're a matter of pleasure, Binah. We had such a fun fight and two good conversations I'm happy to look around for more." Diverting to Roxas as he offers keychains and coats, a knowing nod follows her reach-forward for tea, to add a cube of sugar to the bitter-steeped richness. "Well, should we start with more introductions? Or just get right to talking? Have you tried anything after our fight? I told Roxas about it, but your keychain seems brighter than before! The one I made for you." A little smile follows Xion's chin down to sip at her tea, slururup. "We're both Keyblade wielders, born with swords. And we both collect keychains! We've got whole grips of the things, because they're tokens of precious memories, feelings, people, and ourselves. When we fought, didn't you 'hear my name' from the blades I summoned? Did you hear the blade's names? It's... like that, keychains."
Roxas	//And I suppose you are a 'Nobody' as well?// "Y...eah, but I'm a little different. I've always had a bit of a Heart, just not all of one. Well, that's still the case now, my Heart isn't going to grow the missing parts back, but I'm fine with that," Roxas explains, leaning back in his chair and stretching a little. His neck gives a couple of audible pops as he continues, "Not that it stops humans in the know from treating me like a big rat the same as every Nobody, but it is what it is, I guess." If he recognizes that he's being quasi-interrogated and Binah is trying to hold back from pressing more, it doesn't show. His expression doesn't change too much on the subject of the keychain, but there is a tiny bit of puzzlement. "Ohh... this is just a knicknack. Those kinds of keychains always wait. Well, they just kind of happen, you know?" Roxas spins the offered "Mog" keychain on his finger and then tucks it away into pocketspace with a distinctive metallic ring, replacing it with a black-and-gold keyblade that Binah might recognize the visual motifs of-- the spiked X-shaped teeth and the keychain strongly resemble the mask of Xion's transformed state. He balances the whole Keyblade on the tip of a finger, and then banishes it right back into pocketspace. // Well allow me to put your concerns at ease. They do perform lobotomies at this facility. That is how I ended up in here--// "Hmm... I don't think somebody who has been lobotomized can usually make observations like that, though," Roxas ponders aloud, tapping at his own chin thoughtfully. //It's starting to feel like there's more Florida in the Darkness than there is Florida in America ...// Perking up a little, Roxas nods rapidly, "Yeah! That's because some of the leakage is from coastal Alabama and stuff." Tea. He takes his tea cup and rummages in his pockets, producing a couple of packets of honey branded with POPEYE'S CHICKEN, ripping them open and dumping them into his cup before he even tries it. "... Huh? More introductions? Are there other people I'm supposed to meet?" He glances out into the darkness for a moment, and then returns his attention to Xion and Binah. Something seems to click-- incorrectly. "Wait, they want to put everybody in the city into robot bodies? That seems... expensive."
Angela	"Mm... I must confess I have no idea what a Florida is. Is it some manner of transdimensional space existing within and without of reality?" Binah only pours tea once everyone's seated. It IS stil warm as if it is fresh. Something special about the tea kettle? It isn't as if Binah knew exactly when Xion and Roxas would be coming. That keychain may be a little touch of restraint indeed. ''You're a matter of pleasure, Binah.'' Binah chuckles. "Now you are being a dearheart, Xion. I doubt I can match it but I suppose I am an 'expect less' sort of person." This is a call back to something Xion had said in their last proper meeting but it can go two ways. She expects less of others (because she is a cynic) but she also isn't one who expects much consideration for herself. "I heard two names. Starlight and Xion--though I cannot really talk to swords. I am not a swordwoman myself--chains, however, do speak to me. You could say I'm a chainwoman." Her expression dims a little as if to request that despite being smarmy about it that this is not actually a serious suggestion. ''Have you tried anything after our Fight?'' "I mostly observed you, got to know this young man a little bit over the radio. If my keychain seems brighter, perhaps I learned something without learning it just yet." ''Not that it stops humans in the know from treating me like a big rat the same as every Nobody.'' "Now why would they do that to a well mannered young man like you? What point is a heart if you're not going to use it." ''This is just a knicknack.'' "And...mine is not? Well, if I may be honest I do not have much of a use for keys either but I ''do'' have a use for mementos and companionship. Please, have some tea."Binah gestures around to the table and--well she can't smile as Roxas takes a tea cup but her posture relaxes faintly--she wasn't exactly tense before but what little there was slips away. ''I don't think somebody who has been lobotomized...'' "Not strictly in the procedural sense. I mean they removed my brain from my body and placed it in this shell. And naturally they had to dig around in there a bit to find what they were looking for. I am not a neuroscientist so how they managed to do this is beyond me, especially since I know the organs have long gone to rot." "But no they would not need to build a facility like this if all they wanted to do was merely put everyone's mind in a robot body. No, I mean they intend to perform psychic surgery on the populace and plant seeds in their minds ... Metaphorical seeds, Roxas." She brings both of her metallic hands together and presses the extended digits together. "I could bring others down if you'd like, but Angela promised some privacy. How long have you known Xion, Roxas? What is your 'Organization' like? I'd be happy to answer all I know that I'm allowed to share."
Xion	> 'I don't think somebody who has been lobotomized can usually make observations like that, though,' "Well..." Xion begins, trailing off. "It's not a real lobotomy that I think is happening, but it's one we're familiar with. This City leaves people..." A concerned pause, in her words, and Roxas knows that pause. It's not hesitance per-se -- Xion is happy to explain, tutorialize, and fill in the gaps just like a trusty Player Two. Filled with dialogue and thoughts and expressed-words, she halts because of... Proper nouns. "... The lowercase-h kind of heartless. But that's because of the way things are, and not because people want that. It 'makes sense', or it answers a problem right now, but it's like the things we're familiar with. Wizards and... reasonable-measures." To Binah, there may not be a connection immediately, a linked bridge of thoughts, but Xion lingers on Roxas more specifically since he has to know. "Rats in a sewer is the way things are. I think part of the challenge here is climbing out of 'the pot' before it finishes boiling, or... If it has, to bring the heat down." With tea sugared and poured and sipped from, Xion returns to the cups and shimmy-adjusts in her seat. "At least, that's what I've felt. But I've only been down here." A sigh. "Where the pot is heated." It takes her a few moments to re-engage after that, settled to a quiet composition until Roxas asks if there's more people to meet. "No, sorry, I meant... that there was a lot to introduce for everyone, and we all started with being polite. Even if the keychains wait, we're alive, right? So..." Even Binah is included, boxbot and all. "... I had hoped to give Binah another friend." A bounce of a chin-dip nod. "If that's okay with everyone." Though it's doubtful anyone would argue, there's a deliberateness to asking and invoking too. > 'Coastal Alabama...' "Oh... I'm glad Axel and Saix have taken over more, because I started to lose track of where I was even fighting. Alabama... Is it all falling into the ocean? The tide of it feels so high pressure." Xion sidemouths, shaking her head and concerned with narrowed eyes focusing on the table. "But I'm glad--" Eyes up, on Binah's box. "--to find more friends." She already thinks this about Binah, and is manifesting it a little for Roxas. Manifesting it for a little Binah, so she can't escape. Inquisitiveness drives an attack towards cynic interrogation, or so she hopes. > 'Is that some kind of transdimensional space outside of reality?' "No. Alabama and Florida are... city-lands. They're called 'States', like whole societities that are next to each other. Together the fifty... one... Um... there's like fifty of them? They're called 'America' or 'the United States', even if they're always fighting each other." > 'Now you are being a dearheart,' A flash of a cattish grin, curling up the corners of her mouth. "That means there's something in there for me to be dear too. I'm sure your keychain doesn't just reflect light, and I'm glad you've kept and worn it." > 'I heard two names...' > 'I mostly observed you,' Roxas summons Missing Ache, and Xion thumbs her free hand towards the blade. "We're wielders of the Key-Blade, which end in a chain of memories. Like you said! And yours... Even if you didn't learn the words, I think, you can gain a lot by soaking in the light and thinking as hard as you can and never giving up reaching for a little more within yourself. Never giving up reaching was a rule for..." a hero she once was "Someone I used to know."
Roxas	"Florida is a state in the United States of America. It's coastal and humid and salty, and sometimes places with portals have their environments leak over into the interior of the corridors a little. Or a lot," Roxas explains, simply. This makes enough sense to him. //Now why would they do that to a well mannered young man like you? What point is a heart if you're not going to use it.// Sipping at his condiment packet-seasoned tea, he thinks about that for a second. There's a few ways to explain it, but... when he sets his tea cup down, he says, "For every Nobody, there's a whole person who ceased to exist to make us exist. We usually have their memories, but... the people associated with whoever we came from usually don't think of us as the original. We're people they can eliminate to get their cherished people back. It's a little like a revocable death, I guess... whatever else there is to think about it, we're inconvenient for somebody who made a mistake and died." //And...mine is not?// "Nope," he says, without elaboration. Having started in on the tea, he doesn't respond to the suggestion directly-- just smiles. //Not strictly in the procedural sense. I mean they removed my brain from my body and placed it in this shell.// "But you're still you. Right? You can be unhappy about that happening, too," he observes. //No, I mean they intend to perform psychic surgery on the populace and plant seeds in their minds ... Metaphorical seeds, Roxas.// Roxas hums thoughtfully. "I could see that being bad... but seeds are being planted in people's minds all the time. That's what the Noise are, actually. Kinda. You have to manage them, but they're just sort of a natural part of being." //How long have you known Xion, Roxas? What is your 'Organization' like?// The cloaked man runs a hand through his hair, trying to decide what 'how long' means in the context of Xion. Ultimately he ends up looking at her-- there are parts of that story that aren't his to tell. But on the subject of the Organization, he gestures loosely with his left hand as if to present an object and says, "We're all Nobodies. We kind of have to band together, since people will kill us just to get our original selves back. We live in a sort of... detritus layer of reality. The World That Never Was. Also the boss really really dislikes this guy called Xehanort." //Wizards and... reasonable-measures.// Xion supplies an explanation that Roxas only loosely follows until she gets to that point. "Oh. Everyone is kinda awful from a standstill, okay." He pauses, and then looks back towards Binah. "I'm not sure why you'd have a problem with 'seeds' to do something about that, though..." //No, sorry, I meant... that there was a lot to introduce for everyone// //I had hoped to give Binah another friend. If that's okay with everyone.// "Oh, okay," he says, shifting forward in his seat and resting his elbows on his knees. "Well, we talked on the radio, and I liked that even if it was kinda worrying! And things here seem pretty okay, too. Well, except for the... the heating pot thing." When Xion doesn't supply context for their relationship, but pushes very tangibly towards pulling Binah in in friendship, he looks at the ground. "Hmm... well, about 'us', it wasn't that long after I came into existence, and Xion was new, too... she wasn't really what you're looking at right now? She was being treated really badly, so I told her to come hang out with me." It's obvious that it's more complicated than that, but at the same time, the cheerful young man isn't omitting anything-- just trying to make whatever happened comprehensible.
Angela	''The lowercase-h kind of heartless'' "And I am--or rather was--a representative enforcing that kind of heartlessness. It was useful as an Arbiter to be able to count on a kind of heartlessness within their targets. It let me destroy their initial facility, certainly. It does not surprise me that most of the people are arrayed against the order of the City--why, even I am not immune to wanting a bit of change here and there as we've talked about, Xion--but I do wonder if it is not...underestimated." A chute opens up so that Binah can drink tea, she seems to find this both soothing and frustrating as chutes are not the way tea is meant to be consumed. ''I had hoped to give Binah another friend.'' Binah doesn't repeat the accusation of Xion being a dearheart, nor does she argue about there being something within her to be dear to. This argument had alread been had and even though the fight ended inconclusively, the argument had decidedly been in Xion's favor. Even if it wasn't, there's no reason to argue. She nods along to the mention of 'states', somewhat erroneously just assuming they are like the various Nests--together but apart. ''Never giving up reaching was a rule for... Someone I used to know.'' "Oh how'd they laugh at how I've fallen." Binah murmurs. "Being so...self-serving. I suppose staring into a Well for countless loops is bound to have an effect after a while." Instead of building up The City, The Head and its rules. Order. Roxas delivers some exposition and Binah seems to find this very fascinating. "My my..." She says. "That sounds more like Angela than myself, though I suppose I did ''die'' as the others had--" ''Nope'' She considers the keychain a bit more carefully, lifting her arm to study it as if expecting it to unspool its secrets that easily. "Mm. Am I still 'Me'? I am unsure. To be honest, I am not that unhappy about it happening. I don't hold a grudge. I really only have myself to blame. I spoke too much and left myself open--a quality, you'll find, is not so uncommon amongst Arbiters. You could even say it was exactly what I deserved. But that does not mean that longing for the life I once knew fades, even as I stumble and reach towards another. But I find it ... very interesting indeed how ready people can be to kill if they think it'll give them what they want. The wise would accept they are dead and gone because the alternative is to stain your hands with blood but I suppose they might see it...as a procedure more than a murder. Mm. inconvenient for me because it is the Nobodies who I seem to be growing fond of." She can't smile, but you can imagine it. "I suppose I could make it inconvenient for them as well." ''She was being treated really badly, So I told her to come hang out with me.'' "Thank you. Perhaps I could give you a small gift in gratitude. One of Carmen's favorites."
Angela	Once upon a time, three happy birds lived in a warm and lush forest. The birds had no names but everyone in the forest would call them Big Bird, Long Bird, and Small Bird. Everyone wanted the forest to be safe more than anyone else. It was a warm and sunny afternoon when a stranger visited the peaceful forest. He was a traveler, pioneer, and prophet, but at the same time he was a nobody. He wanted to enter the forest but the birds found him suspicious so they didn't let him in. The stranger, angered, told the birds: 'A tragedy will befall the forest. It will be tainted with misdeeds and evil, and there will be constant conflict. The tragedies will only stop when a terrible beast appears and devours everything. The Sun and Moon will shine upon the forest no longer. The forest will never go back to what it was.' Binah gives an aside here, "Ah but you know, as a prophet he surely knew all this would happen--perhaps he merely found out why." The birds worried about the prophecy. What if conflicts break out and a beast shows up to harm the forest just like he said? That's when the birds decided to become the guardians of the forest so that it could remain a peaceful, happy land. Big Bird, with its many eyes, watched the forest for intruders for his eyes could see very far and see what others could not see. Long Bird, withs its scales, could judge the sins of all who entered the forest in order to ensure they were fiar and just. Small Bird decided to punish wrongdoers with its beak. "Ah, but what if the beast showed up in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep? What if the scale tipped in neither direction someday? What if your beak was so small, no one found it hurtful!" So the Small Bird tore its mouth open wide so it could swallow any creature in one bite. Long Bird made a scale that would always tip one way or the other so that there would always be a clear verdict. And Big Bird burned all its feathers to make an everlasting lamp so all would be under its watch, day and night. "No one could visit the forest anymore and terrible rumors spread throughout the land. Big Bird is always watching, so there is no freedom. Long Bird's scale is not fair at all. The Small Bird's punishment is so scary. And the birds grew so upset. They worked so hard to protect the forest so why does nobody respect their efforts?" Ah! it was because the forest was so vast and wide that the three of them were not enough to protect it. So they comvined their power.Long Bird could judge any sin, Small Bird's mouth could devour anything, and Big Bird could see hundreds of miles away. Darkness fell upon the forest and the creatures screamed in terror and fear. They screamed about the big terrible monster that lives in the dark, black forest. The combined bird looked and looked everywhere it could, which was quite a breadth of space at this point-- "But there was nothing. No sun. No moon. No creatures. Only the bird, alone, in a forest where nobody lives but for a terrible monster." Binah says. She lifts the tea cup once more, up to that chute. "...What poor birds." Binah says. "They finally brought peace to the forest just as had been foretold. I feel this story resonates with me, with how I understood The Head. But..." The eye slants to Xion. "I imagine it speaks to you as well. A particular element."
Xion	The angled thumb towards the blade-based-on-her dips down, Xion moving to take another sip of tea and sighs sadly. This is something she 'hates', a facet of passionate dis-like that hangs like a known disgust. Someone allergic to dust entering a room of antiques - something that can't be helped logically, and must be battled illogically. Turned, for the rampaging tornado it is, though none feel the wind on their face. "I think underestimating it is better than overestimating it. Because big systems, terrible things, creeping-encroaching darknesses don't just move up silently and inevitably. It takes work, and sometimes key acts of negligence to take root. The idea that 'nobody can stand up to a company' or do anything about a large group alone. That's what the big company says, or the large group, because they'd really rather you not make problems." "When no-one does, then, it's really easy for all that stuff to be true." A faint smile hangs on her lips in lieu of any better expression. "Sorry, though. That people don't lay enough respect on something you helped build. That's also hard. So... What would you like to change? About the city?" She leaves it there for a moment. > 'How long have you known Xion, Roxas?' Roxas looks over at Xion. Xion, after a moment, looks over at Roxas. Eyes met, hers close, then, she sits forward and places her closed left hand on the table. There's a shift - a shadowed sussuration, chain against chain - but her hand doesn't open. Instead, her two blues fix on dulled-optic gold. "Before I was 'born', before I became 'Xion', before I had a name at all, I was a whole..." Swallow. The word is difficult. "'Chorus'. Of voices. All wrapped up together. Hammered into shape. Used, and swung, but not because I held the grip. Not because 'I' was anyone specific." Hands lifting from the teatime table, Xion folds her fingers together and clasps hands in her lap. On the table remains a keychain with a fanciful four-pointed crown. Xion's eyes dip to the keychain chharm as she continues. "Eventually, what I was fell into the World that Never Was or was brought back to it, and... left, in a room. Just a thing, but... Roxas came by, now and then." A weak, emotional smile quivers on her lips, old lifts to a newer heart plucking disused strings and drawing somber melody within her. "He came by enough that I didn't feel alone. That there was someone else, and also, a me." A soft swallow, and Xion's right index finger lifts and extends to touch the charm on the table. "The Kingdom Key was something Roxas held in his hands, his Heart, and... After sorting myself out enough to realize I wanted something, I could put it to words." "That... if I could be like that, I'd be held by--" Her tone chokes, and Xion takes a pause for a spacing sip of tea, each motion overconsidered to by an extra second each step until it pulls off her lips, and she swallows, and nods slowly-knowing. "--someone I wouldn't mind being swung by." There. It's out. Lifting lolled chin up, first to smile at Roxas, and then over to Binah. "I've come a long way since then. Eventually, I learned to hold myself, close my hand tight about the sword I was born with-" As. "-and swing it for things that mattered. Even if I was just a pale light in the dark, I could shine like a shooting star." > 'Oh how'd they laugh at how I've fallen.' "They're not here, now. Sometimes, serving others is serving yourself. Other times... you just have to serve yourself, and not ask nicely. The laughing they do... is so that you won't cause problems. The smiling Roxas does is," Canting back, the noirette extends a hand to give a gentle squeeze to Roxas' shoulder. "Not because he's laughing at you." She, too, will let him explain himself. The obviousness of why the blonde boy was brought before the Well and the witch of it might now be self-evident, even if there wasn't perfect words for complex feelings.
Xion	>> '...What poor birds.' Xion nods, repeating her agreement. "What poor birds. And what a poor prophet, who could see the end of a poor beginning coming from long-far off." > 'I imagine it speaks to you as well. A particular element.' Xion nods. "That's right. Even if I didn't know it, before I decided to help. I think... because, I'd hope those birds had a friend like Roxas too."
Roxas	"No," Roxas says, "Heartlessness is a powerful thing." Simple, straightforward, without elaboration. It's a metaphysical thing to him as much as it is a reality of the way that people act. "If it wasn't, Nobodies would have no need to band together the way we do." That might not be as true, but he at least thinks that it is. "... Hey, can you eat other stuff?" He wonders, in answer to the chute-based tea-drinking. That this might be insensitive, or too personal to ask, doesn't really seem to occur to him. A lot of things don't seem to occur to this guy, though-- he's blisteringly straightforward about most things. //Being so...self-serving. I suppose staring into a Well for countless loops is bound to have an effect after a while.// "Would you like something else to stare at?" //Mm. Am I still 'Me'? I am unsure. To be honest, I am not that unhappy about it happening.// Turning that over in his head, Roxas takes an unwisely deep sip of his tea, manages not to spit it out, and swallows the liquid a little uncomfortably. Clearing his throat afterwards, he says, "I think... the only way that it matters is if you feel like you need to be what you once were, and otherwise, even if it's something that you're 'missing', it isn't worth worrying about. The person that 'I' was... he wasn't anything like me, really. He was goofy and too... too not me. The idea of being him again bothers me a lot. I think I wouldn't really be him, I'd just be gone." "I'm glad that you feel like you," he continues, "And I'm glad that you're getting fond of us! I'm already pretty fond of you. I hope that's okay, even if it's really fast. My feelings are a little strange, though." //I suppose I could make it inconvenient for them as well.// Roxas beams at Binah. This is not something he expects to be said to a Nobody. He seems about to object to the idea of being rewarded for what he did for Xion-- but the reward is a story, and so his mouth shuts with a faint click of teeth, to sit and listen.
Roxas	His quiet attentiveness is punctuated only by the occasional clear acknowledgment that he's still listening, when Binah makes her asides-- otherwise Roxas holds his silence until the very end of the story. "Becoming something so dangerous that the danger you previously worried of became inconsequential because you had become it yourself. That's a pretty classic style of fairy tale." He pauses, then adds, "Sometimes you do need to be vicious. But I think it's less often than people usually believe. I don't really like endings like those. We make them up because we're afraid that they're the only choice we have." His attention swings towards Xion, as she tells the story of how she came to be from Chorus. It's not the first time he's heard most of this, but he looks a little surprised at the way she describes it as wanting him to carry her when she was Chorus. Then he starts thinking of picking her up as a half-joke, decides against it since they're all drinking tea, and comes back up to the surface of his own consciousness when Xion squeezes his shoulder. "Huh? Why would I think she's going to cause problems?" He was listening enough to have that reaction, at least. But Roxas doesn't seem to understand that he's being called to explain why he is the way he is, which itself is just a reflection of his own peculiarity. Which really just feeds in to his reaction to Xion's take on the story: "Some of our friends are kinda bird-shaped. Their bodies are really flexible, so they mold themselves in ways they think are useful. Uh, but turning into a bird makes it kinda hard to not do not-bird things, so I usually try to coax them back to a humanoid shape. For some reason all of them that follow my advice end up looking like guys out of an Akira Kurosawa movie..."
Angela	''If it wasn't, Nobodies would have no need to band together. ... Hey can you eat other stuff?'' "Sephirah generally don't eat. We don't exactly have proper digestive tracks anymore and for the most part, consuming material is more for the psychological effect than the material. Coffee, tea, beer, enkephalin--that constitutes the bulk of what we Sephirah consume for the time being. These frames are built to last but they aren't built to emulate humanity. Machines that emulate humanity are against the principles of The Head and would surely bring more scrutiny on the facility. The strongest defense the facility has against another Arbiter like myself is secrecy but--ah... they do know there is 'an Angela' even if they do not know ''what'' she is, and they do know about the EGO Gear now, don't they? Inevitably, The City will attempt to deal with the 'Impurity'." ''Would you like something else to stare at?'' "Certainly, but I would still have to stare into the Well. Part of my job, I am afraid." She leans back in her chair so far as a box can lean. She seems to be considering whether or not she wants to be the person she once was (well there's definitely at least one element she'd fix, the propensity for monologuing mid-battle, but that is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things). ''My feelings are a little strange, though.'' "Aha...well, this is a strange place for strange people. I never quite considered myself to be a normal human even before I received any augmentations or got turned into this." She was always, lower-case, heartless as far back as she could remember and the only joy she found was in seeing the fall and rise of those who struggled against the constraints of The City--enough that she would engineer the former. ''I think underestimating it is better than overestimating it.'' "Mm..." Binah is slow to agree. "But I don't mean, exactly, underestimating it in the sense of underestimating its strength--I mean underestimating the desire for The City not to change. After all, L Corp is a company that wishes to change things--yet it still ended up as not so unlike any other Wing...even before I interfered with their normal operations." But saying more would mean getting into the story that she shares so she doesn't get into it just yet. ''What would you like to change? About the city?'' "I'm not sure there's anything I want to change, just that I want there to be one in the first place." Binah admits. "Someone like me could not imagine it, so my current position is ideal to test those who do know what they wish to change so they are not crushed as I would crush them. A Time Loop like this is really ideal for me--ahh, not that they've ever 'reached' me before but I am not so concerned about them losing. There is something I have been struggling to convey." She quiets down to listen to Xion's story. She doesn't interrupt. It's a sweeter story than the ones that Binah is used to. Someone at the bottom of a trash heap being reached out to so that the solitude is not overbearing. Binah looks at Xion with her singular eye. She could used to it, though. Maybe it isn't really the Well driving her mad so much as the isolation. Having others present to remind her that she is a someone and could be a someone is a temptation she wouldn't have indulged in before. ''They're not here now'' Binah chuckles. "Well I am hardly any different. I hardly mean to imply your friend would. He seems a better man than many with so-called complete hearts. He, and you, are real to me--these other possibilities are shadows cast against a cave's wall."
Angela	''I was a whole Chorus.'' ''Sometimes you do need to be vicious ... We make them up because we're afraid that's the only choice we have.'' Binah bobs their head in agreement. "I do not consider the birds to be the mistaken antagonists of that tale. I consider it a story of... the danger of being a hero of everyone's hearts, so to speak, so I feel the tale speaks to Xion particularly ... but it is also the tale of The City. The Head is not simply some kind of evil conglomerate that cheated its way into being the rulers of an evil city--no, they were asked for. They were demanded to exist to protect from the horrors outside and within and so it came to be--and now the people call it Oppression even if they do not know the word. The dual lessons are to--learn to be yourself rather than be a hero of everyone's hearts." Binah nods to Xion. "And to be wary of asking for security, I suppose. But also that there ''is'' no evil monster to defeat, Roxas. You can rebel against The City, you can fight to make it a better place. And you might even succeed--but even if you eradicated A-Corp tommorow ... It would be rebuilt in short order because there is still a demand for it. That demand for security... For ... safety. That need which is not entirely paranoid--take a look outside the Walls sometime--but is not entirely true... That is a far more difficult beast to quell than a simple conglomerate."
Xion	There was a reason for everything, even if Xion couldn't tell you why she did some things in certain orders. Today, only now, she could really tell you why it was maximally important to bring Roxas with her, only slowly realized with her mind what her Heart had already clearly decided. Hearts, being like that, were the most vexacious things, But because of it, she was here, at the bottom of a City that Ever Was, speaking to the dry wit of someone who probably needed a lot more than a friend. . . But a friend was a good start. Two friends was better. And... Three? Three. "Hmm." Xion murmurs, out of time with anything but her own thoughts. > 'Huh? Why would I think she's going to cause problems?' "Not you, silly." Xion scoffs and redoubles her shove in the moment, switching from warmth to 'pshaw, you'. "Even back then, I thought it was... bad, 'outside'. That I had fallen into the safest place I could. That things couldn't get better, but weren't getting worse. And then you showed up, and, I realized that the outside might not be all bad. After that -- I just had to figure it out with you, and figure it out for myself, and then, after a while, I almost didn't notice but I had changed completely." A softly fond sigh escapes her, and Xion's shoulders relax back into the back and posts of her chair. "I went out and did things. Touched it for myself. Tried everything I could think of, between when I needed to swing my sword around. And I learned most of the world is... Better than what I had feared it was." > Contemplate Birds "They're not the antagonists of the story - they're the object, the subject. It's not that it's the end of the Prophet's tale, but the beginning of the story of the City as it is, isn't it? And... and..." Xion bobs in time with the boxbot's motions, synching up as she often does. "I think I've got it. L-Corp, and Lilian, and everything. It's why there's scales and eyes and a gullet, isn't there? Because it's threats, from the outside. Things like they expect, darknesses seen because they're prepared for darkness. And they see everything. But, isn't that to our advantage?" "If we know what to do -- if our Wills are in the right place," Will, and not Hearts. The heartless still acted on a Will known as 'I am', and that was just the start of a sentence and not a period at the end necessarily. "-then I think we can show a pale, kind light that makes the dark outside more bearable. Something worth trying for and exploring, even if now and then it hurts or is vexing." Xion sits up and then forward, crossing her arms and leaning elbows on the table. "Do you think we could? Light up the world outside the city, and path the way out safely?"
Roxas	//Sephirah generally don't eat. We don't exactly have proper digestive tracks anymore and for the most part, consuming material is more for the psychological effect than the material.// "So... yes, but it's not materially useful," Roxas pieces together, and this doesn't seem to bother him. "I'm gonna have to bring some food back here, then. Hmm... tea's regular, and that's what you brought-- well, tea's always good, every civilization has had tea for a long time. Are there any flavor profiles you hate or like? I don't want to bring you bubble tea if you hate sweet." //Certainly, but I would still have to stare into the Well. Part of my job, I am afraid.// He looks around, "Don't see any thing to watch stuff on, so I guess I'll have to bring that, too. You got power outlets somewhere in here? I can bring about a million movies..." //Aha...well, this is a strange place for strange people. I never quite considered myself to be a normal human even before I received any augmentations or got turned into this.// To this, Roxas smiles. Rubbing at the side of his neck a little awkwardly, he says, "Because of some dumb metaphysical stuff, I'm a Nobody who came into being with a Heart. It had... hidden itself in my original self's Heart, but it wasn't his. So when his was lost, and I came into being, there was something to pop into place. But it's broken, probably forever. "I think I prefer it that way, though," he admits. //Someone like me could not imagine it, so my current position is ideal to test those who do know what they wish to change so they are not crushed as I would crush them.// "Gotta make sure the new vision's at least as strong as the old, huh? I guess that makes sense." //And to be wary of asking for security, I suppose. But also that there ''is'' no evil monster to defeat, Roxas. You can rebel against The City, you can fight to make it a better place. And you might even succeed--but even if you eradicated A-Corp tommorow ... It would be rebuilt in short order because there is still a demand for it.// Roxas leans back in his seat, humming thoughtfully. "... Honestly? The battle isn't killing dragons. It's convincing people to want the right things. It's important to want things, but sometimes people do want the wrong things. But right now I'm not really worried about fixing this world. I don't know this world that well. I'm just worried about you." //Not you, silly.// "Oh." Roxas paused. "Honestly," he said, "I was kind of worried you'd go crazy if you were just left alone in there, I think? I didn't really understand most of those words back then, but I definitely thought it was bad to just leave somebody alone like that. Even the ones who don't remember who they are like to get out." //Do you think we could? Light up the world outside the city, and path the way out safely?// Through Xion's meandering, Roxas was definitely paying attention to her... but what he takes away from it is a little sideways. He slaps a fist against his palm in a moment of striking realization, "I know what movie to bring. The Princess Bride, this seems like a place that needs that one. M...aybe The Crow to balance it out." The spirit of his reaction isn't disconnected from what Xion is saying, but it's definitely operating on a parallel track. If she was pondering whether or not a pale light had any sort of chance to change things... He was just shining it around already, because that's how he is.
Angela	"Ah, my favorite flavor of tea is a bitter metallic taste." Binah says, which probably means she prefers more traditional tea rather than iced or sweet. ''Don't see any thing to watch stuff on.'' "Ah, well, there's plenty of monitors around." The idea of having a television is strangely endearing to Binah even if television is something that is largely something particularly rich people have--usually people rely on newspapers or radios rather than television or internet though the technologies do exist. ''But it's broken that way, probably forever'' Binah can't smile but you can hear it in the way that she says, "Mm....Is that so." like hearing so is a singular pleasure. ''Honestly the battle isn't killing dragons. It's convincing people to want the right things.'' "It's not ''always'' killing dragons," Binah corrects mildly because it sure is starting to sound like there is at least a lot of dragon-adjacent violence going on in some worlds. ''The Princess Bride'' Binah will be initially disappointed that the Princess Bride isn't about a princess's bride but she'll probably appreciate the guy who poisons himself by being too clever for his own good and also appreciate that the hero is the sort of person who would throw himself down a hill at his love's behest and then she'll be hooked. The Crow may be more her speed since it's ultimately a story about vengeance from beyond the grave and an enforcement of karmic order. She does not miss that Roxas saying 'I was kind of worried you'd go crazy' is not exactly something she can say she ''didn't'' do. If she hadn't gone at least a little crazy, she wouldn't be indulging a fantasy such as changing The City at all. Still, there is a sense of relief when Xion and Roxas seem to understand what she's been trying to teach the banter band--albeit in likely not the most efficient way. ''Do you think we could? Light up the world outside the city, and path the way out safely?'' Binah finishes her tea. "I am coming around to the idea."