To Try Something Blindly (Rook and Skell)

[Rook]

((Sorry about the delay. My muse has been pulled apart into about a half dozen different places the past few days.))

Little did Skell know she was painting already. An image in Rook's head about families and how much he didn't remember about them. He smiled as she talked about her father's gift to her, her magical paintbrush that made art become real.

Then came the request for more about Era. Rook wasn't sure what to tell. He wasn't much sure himself. "Well... I ended up getting pretty, uh-- sick. And I kinda lost track of her. Ended up back at home for a few months, just trying to recover, and remember everything. But I'm going to find her one of these days, I promised her I'd come back for her. And she promised that if anything happened to me she'd come find me. So I bet she's out there someplace looking for me, too."

[ohnojenny]

[[Oh, no worries! Life has been really busy here, too. :S Unfortunately for me, once I read a thread I need to respond to I have to respond to, then -- otherwise my creative spark for it dies away. Bit backwards, no?]]

Her blue popsicle was steadily disappearing before her eyes, catching any droplets that were melting off the sides with her tongue to avoid a sticky mess. She looked over at him as he gave an introduction to what sounded like a very complex and involved history.

"Era seems very important to you..." she said with some interest in her voice. She didn't feel odd talking about another woman in this "blind date" situation. In fact, she was more intrigued by this person in Rook's life with each passing second. The bond the two were described to share was admirable to her. She wish she had that sort of relationship with something.

Aside from her studies, that was.

"Well what are you doing sitting around going on blind dates for?" she laughed, submerging the last bit of the popsicle in her mouth and pulling it off clean, "You should go continue your search for her... any idea where she is?"

[Rook]

Rook stared at the last bite of his popsicle, still held tight to the stick, and bit his lip, nodding, "She is. And I will. I plan to. I just... I needed to find something to make me feel normal for a change, I guess... this is the first I've felt like a real person in about ten years."

He shrugged. Living in a rock quarry, fending away Heartless, storming the castles of Nobodies, hauling about a weapon-sized key and having your life on the line was likely the only life Rook believed he would ever know. After fighting for so long, it becomes a part of you; intregal and necessary. And you become the fight. But he'd never been on a date before. And he hadn't remembered the taste of chicken. He'd never been anything a decent fate would have otherwise spared him of.

[ohnojenny]

He stared at his popsicle. He bit his lip. These were small actions that spoke so much from what Skell observed. A knowing smile curled onto her lips -- oh the signs of affection. Poor guy must be so troubled to still go out on a date even though his heart was held by someone else. But, she had to admit to herself, this day was one of much needed excitement for her...

"First time in ten years? You've been traveling that long, have you? Well... you know if you ever want to feel 'like a real person' again, you should drop by here and pay me a visit. More than likely, I'll still be here. I mean -- " eyes sparked as she realized something. How had she not picked up on this before?

"How did you get here, anyway?" she clamped her teeth down on the popsicle stick in her mouth, now just sucking on the piece of wood to keep her mouth busy.

[Rook]

For better or worse, the redhead found that Skell was becoming much easier to open up with, "Well, no... I've just been on my own for that long, my h-..."

He cut himself off as she asked her final question. The jig was up, the news was out, she finally found him. "Er... well... uh... I walked?"

Like that was going to cut it. Even a deaf and blind man could hear and see how forced a false answer that was. "...I'm... from Hollow B-..er, Radiant Garden."

He still had trouble calling it anything but its adopted name.

[ohnojenny]

Eyes calmly and lazily watched him with a wide smile on her face as she watched him stumble through an explanation. Her eyes narrowed mischievously at his obvious lie, smile curling more sinisterly by the second. If there was anything she loved, it was a puzzle. And this man before her was trying to throw her off any sort of trail she may have formed through their day together.

"Walked, huh...?" A soft laugh sounded as she leaned in closer, and closer yet when he mentioned his home world.

"Radiant Garden...?" Skell's brown eyes widened slightly in thought, moving the wooden stick in her mouth from one end of her lips to the other. Why did that name sound so familiar? As though she had read it in a book sometime in the course of her studies. Her intellectual curiosity was overwhelming her to the point where she broke most personal boundaries and inched closer to him yet, "Please... tell me more..."

[Rook]

Rook furrowed his brow, and studied her for a long moment. He drew a breath, "...Alright. But you can't tell anyone, alright..? It was supposed to be secret last I knew." He readjusted, curling a leg and sitting atop of it, "Radiant Garden is... a whole other word. I don't know where at from here. But all the Heartless? I think it all started there. About ten years ago, they came and took almost everyone... I only know of a couple people who lived after the first wave of them."

He looked aside, studying the ground, "But not long ago, a boy with a keyblade, he defeated them. And the rest of the surviviors came back from other worlds, and rebuilt the town they all live in around the ruins of the old one. Almost good as new, they say."

Rook had the feeling he had just opened up a whole new can of worms for Skell to take in. There was a lot of history out there she likely didn't know. He only know of a small inkling of it himself. But she knew things he didn't, just the same. And she might be able to help Jason...

[ohnojenny]

A devilish smile formed on her lips as he fed her intellectual hunger. A place where the Heartless first roamed... sieged... destroyed...

And then he spoke of a Keyblade. She leaned back and played with the stick in her mouth -- why did that sound so familiar? Perhaps she read about it somewhere... yes. Most likely she read about it. Or saw a picture. She didn't think she sighted one in Twilight Town holding one.

"A Keyblade, huh? Just a gigantic Key used as a weapon, no? Can't say I've seen one... but I think a rumor spread out around here about some boy doing something... spectacular. I don't really remember," she frowned, "I was too absorbed in my studies... dangit. Sounds like I could have used the information.

"But you say you're from that place," she wanted to keep it as lowkey as possible if that's what he asked of her, "And you left because of these Heartless? Do Nobodies thrive there, too?"

[Rook]

A soft, sad chuckle left Rook's mouth, "Oh, I never left... wish I had. But I'm still there. And there's still Heartless. Nobodies aren't as common, a few happen upon my home out in the the outskirts, but neither type stand much chance against me."

He reached his hand out a bit, taking a breath as he tried once more in vain to summon his keyblade, Blackjack, long since missing since he fell headlong into Darkness on account of Marluxia's manipulations. He'd have loved to show her a real Keyblade. Maybe one day when his own heart was back to where it should be and he could hold it again, he would com back around to show her in person.

"The Keyblades are... some kind of magic, I think. A lot of things can defeat a Heartless. Only a Keyblade can release their Hearts from the Darkness. There are only a chosen few who can wield them."

[ohnojenny]

Neither stood much of a chance against him, huh? Folding her hands, she picked up on the pride Rook had in himself. Or perhaps it was cockiness. He didn't seem like the sort who wouldn't be humble about himself, a bit on the reserved side if anything, but maybe that was because he was warming up to her. Or maybe because he only spoke this way about his fighting style.

She raised her eyebrows, wondering what in the world he was reaching out toward. She was tempted to ask him what he was doing, but by then he had already began to speak.

"I see... and what happens to the hearts that have been released? Do they go back to the people whom they were stolen from?"

[Rook]

Rook pulled his once-outstretched hand in towards his chest, placing it over his heart, and shook his head once, "I don't know... never much thought about it, I suppose. After a while for me, it just became 'people' and 'not people'. Didn't really stop and consider all that, I just didn't want to-..."

He stopped, took a moment, then shrugged. A soft smile belying the admission he had almost not caught in time, "But... that's what you study right? So maybe you could figure it out. I know where lots of Heartless are. And a Nobody who seems to be looking for his. Maybe sometime you and I and maybe him can go out and help you learn all about it?"

[ohnojenny]

"Yessir... that is what I study..." she mused a bit with his suggestion. She wouldn't mind going off to another world to see just what was out there, and if anything was fruitful enough for her studies. And Rook seemed like a fine enough lad. She hadn't developed feelings for him or anything -- no. That was something that took time. But once he warmed up to you, he was a pretty nice guy to be around.

Not to mention he could be a bit of a gentleman. And heaven knows that chivalry is a dying characteristic nowadays.

"You know what, Rook? I'd love to go on an adventure with you sometime. Here... let's walk on back to my place. That way, if you ever feel like dropping by, you can just knock on my front door. How's that sound?" with a soft smile, she finally pulled the wooden popsicle stick from her mouth and pushed herself off the bench. She began to take a couple steps before looking over her shoulder.

"... but, one last game." She quickly leaned over and tapped him on the shoulder, "Tag!"

And she sped off. Surely he'd catch up with her by the time she got to her doorstep -- but she could make it a bit harder by dipping in the nooks and crannies of Twilight Town.