Green, and... green [Leiss, Seed]

[hoffman]

((Here you go, Seed. Depending on whether you're okay with it or not, I might make this an open scene.))

"You assholes," Leiss swore aloud, clutching angrily at a wooden post. He had been standing up on the hill that easily elevated above Twilight Town's surroundings - Sunset Terrace, as it was named, and it had been known to be one of the Town's more recreational hangout spots. Alone and pissed off, Leiss clearly had a problem with something. If one knew what had happened to the boy, they would be able to see why he felt so down.

Leiss's night after returning home had only brought with it negative connotations. The commanding officer that had sent him on a reconnaissance mission seemed less than interested in the boy's efforts. Though they had heard nothing of what he had found, they weren't ecstatic to hear what he had to say. No welcome mat, no congratulatory thanks... nothing.

All they had desired of him was a ten-page report in their hands by tommorow afternoon. This displeased the boy greatly, for he wanted to meet with his superiors face-to-face - and give them a serious lowdown on the 'mad scientist' slaving away at 'evolving humanity'. That, and he needed an answer from them soon... the scientist actually wanted him to work for her! He could risk losing a win-win opportunity because of their bureaucratic incompetence! But Leiss wouldn't stand for it. He would still finish that report of his, but he would march into his superior's office right after to give him a piece of his mind.

Now he only had three more pages to write. He leaned over the underpass that the town's railway system went through, sighing, all the while running a nervous hand through his lush, green hair.

"It's because they don't take me seriously. They're always trying to keep my hands tied. I... have to get them to see how capable I am. Somehow."

[Deleted]

"Get the hell out of my way people!" an annoyed voice rang out in the streets of Twilight Town as a people were almost flinging themselves out of the way of a speeding person with green hair. If anyone knew this town they would assume it was the local Elite Heartless, Seed. Today was his traditional three day exercise routine and today was the last part of it, an all out run around Twilight Town....Fifty-Seven times. Some might find this a tad too much but Seed simply thinks of it as a warm up. But today was not going to go exactly according to plan, since his disappearance in the dark realm his endurance in running has gone way down. But he kept at it no less.

He was running in his usual gear, no shirt and short spandex shorts. Overboard? He didn't think so, he wanted to impress the ladies and some others with his....lets just say big muscles. He had just cleared the clock tower and was running down the other side of it when a bright idea came to illumination. What if he killed someone at the end? You know like a form of celebration but with an actual bleeding pinata. That seemed like a swell idea to the Heartless as he hit the bottom of the tower and rocketed off again with the help of his near mastery of Aero magic. That was the only way he can run at the needed speeds up a Ninety degree slope. Physics would turn against him if he did not see fit to bend them.

His run continued on the tracks of the rail systems that still remained after the bombing some years ago. The Heartless reminisced for a small time about his first actual mission in the Dark XII and what a fun one it was. He was able to use his bombs to his joy and even harass the locals a bit before he was needed on the train to the Tower of Yensid. But as he was lost in his thoughts he forgot about the turn he needed to make and realized he was about to run right off into the sea. So he made a quick jump but did not calculate well enough. He ended up on the edge of another building and fell off and landed right on his left leg. Of course the leg snapped and the bone stuck out slightly as the Heartless got up and groaned at the pain as he stood up and hobbled on he other leg. He had no idea he almost landed on another green haired person.

"Gah, guess that's what I get for miscalculating the air speed velocity of of jumping at a twenty degree thrust huh?" Seed sneered at himself as his torso was glistening with sweat from his jog and was making droplets on the ground beneath him. He used his magic to allow levitation and looked at the injury, the bone was sticking out slightly but no blood was coursing out. Another perk of being a Heartless, no blood from injuries. But bones can still break. Seed then sensed someone else was watching him, he slowly moved his head up and saw a green haired person staring at him with awe. Awkward!

"Well....this is embarrassing to say the least. Never broke my fibula in front of someone." Seed chuckled nervously as he moved his body, which was still in the air, towards the man and held out his hand to greet him. He didn't want to attack the person to avoid rumors with his leg in bad shape.

[hoffman]

WHIIIIIIIIIIIIISHHHHHHH... WHATHUMP.

That was, of course, the kind of sound that the maniacal green-haired stranger had made upon making harsh contact with the ground near... another, but not-as-maniacal green-haired boy - Leiss. Dropping the extensive ten page report that he hadn't yet finished in surprise, its pages were easily strewn all over the terrace's landscape in seconds.

"What the hellllllllllll?!" he had exclaimed, his voice burning with a nearly feral fury. He was in awe, sure, but anger was an expression that dominated it all the more. But neither expression could have been taken seriously by this stranger - for if the heartless didn't know any better, this boy could have been an extremely pissed off female.

The only hints at the fact that it was quite the other way around was - first, his voice, and second, the uniform he had been wearing. The boy was dressed from head to toe in a tight black jump-suit, labeled 'XMR' in white bold letters at the shoulders and back of the upper torso. It could have brought on educated guesses of the boy being in some sort of militia or delivery company, though it didn't look enough like either of the two to make a concrete assumption.

Disregarding the handshake that the floating stranger offered, the boy stood his ground in a stubborn, defensive fashion.

"You... don't just come out from nowhere and expect a hallmark greeting from me, buddy."

Leiss didn't seem to care about the fact that the other "human" had his fibula jutting out from his leg, neither had he even inquired about it. Not even the fact that he was levitating a few feet off the ground - these things were all baffling, but nothing in comparison to the scare that the stranger had given him.

[Deleted]

Seed just rolled his eyes at the sound of the apparent female made as he floated back over to his original spot and almost forgot about the bone almost sticking out of his bare leg and placed his palm over it and pushed hard. A semi-loud snap sound echoed for a few seconds and Seed gritted his teeth to keep from letting out a yelp, his face puckered for a moment as the muscles in his chest tightened from the resulting sudden act of contracting. A wandering woman was about three meters away, she was carrying a shopping bag and looked like she was readying herself for another shopping day tomorrow, but she heard the snap sound and looked over. Seed caught this and gave her a sly, coy look and the woman blushed and turned around and walked away. Score one for Seed, though he'll probably forget about her and look for someone else.

With his bone back in place Seed made connection with the ground once more and wiped more sweat off his brow and flicked his wrist a bit and a towel made itself known in his hand. Seed tended to get lazy with his Spacial powers and compressed objects around him to use for later. He began to remove the mess on his neck and retorted to the man/woman in front of him. He didn't know which at this point, he had met some deep voiced women in his....adventurous around Twilight Town and assumed this...whatever it is was another.

"Chill, I was only trying to defuse the situation and make it less awkward. I mean, I wouldn't be too keen if someone that was only in spandex shorts almost fell on me." Seed was beginning to get the sweat of his chest when he noticed that papers or a report of some kind was strewn across to ground, he ignored them as he didn't really care about it. He looked back at the man and asked a question,"What are you doing up here anyway? You don't seem to be a normal Twilight Town citizen and you are obviously not here on vacation. The markings and outfit you're so casually wearing suggest that. If I were to guess..." Seed rolled up the towel and it vanished again, compressed by his spacial magic.

"Some kind of military or special forces branch right?" Seed assumed he was right since his powers of observation were almost always correct. But he didn't care if this man was the Pope, he just came across that term in his recent readings of "An Earth of the past" in the local Mansion. But if this man/woman was on a secret mission and needed discrepancy he might try to gather to reports and knock out Seed to cover his trail. Seed then found those papers on the ground all the more intriguing.

[hoffman]

Leiss watched on as the enigmatic stranger popped his bone back into place - summoned a towel out of thin air - and sent it back from whence it came, all in the span of a minute. Definitely intrigued about these amazing abilities that he had, the boy had a tough time not making a subject out of it... even though he was still pretty pissed off.

And then the stranger actually had the nerve to ask him what his business in Twilight Town was.

"You have got to be kidding me," he thought in disbelief. This other green-haired man had guts. However, Leiss had decided that he would disclose a small bit of information, all the while resisting the urge to groan. If he humored this stranger a bit, it would only serve to get him off his back quicker.

"Yes," the boy had replied with a blunt edge, saying that and nothing more about his profession. There was only so much he could say, and... he didn't even feel like telling the stranger what he did for a living in the first place. "I commend you on your... brilliant deduction."

Rubbing his chin, the boy had an idea. He had noted the the mystery man's interest in those reports with his prior casual glances. He could utilize that interest... somewhat.

"...speaking of that fall and those disturbing images of shorts that you've given me, maybe you'd be willing to do me a favor. Help me retrieve those reports that I've dropped."

[Deleted]

"What's got this guy so worked up anyway? Embarrassed to be seen with a muscular man with only tight shorts on? Please..." Seed almost cackled in his head as the other man/woman sounded even more annoyed than he/she was a few seconds ago. But Seed dismissed the mans/womans anger with a beaming sense of pride, his observation was correct after all. A military man, now they can be very hard headed and arrogant. Not to mention not the brightest bulbs of the bunch, but Seed thought everyone except for Elaeus, Ansem, and himself were idiotic. But interesting none-the-less. Nowhere had Seed seen a report or poster advertising a militia or military branch being risen in Twilight Town, further probing would have to be made.

"Oh its not that brilliant, calculating air speed velocity while running up that clock tower over there is much more brilliant," Seed smirked as he pointed at the Tower in the distance, "Now," Seed continued as he shook his left leg to see if the bone would stay in place, which it did barely and Seed winced in slight pain. Maybe it would be a good idea to use Aero magic to cushion his feet if he were to move, until he can properly look at his wound. But no time for that, Seed was offered to pick up those papers and pick them up he shall.

With a smile he held out his left hand and an air current swept under all the papers and moved them fluidly to his palm. Seed grasped them tightly and had the urge to look through them or run and then look, but where would the fun be of annoying this man/woman further? No where, that's where. So the insane Heartless flipped through the pages and smugly asked the man/woman, "Just what is so important about these papers huh?"

[hoffman]

"I was being sarcastic," the boy had inwardly groaned, resisting the urge to facepalm after his new acquaintance gloated about his impressive physics calculations. Leiss understood that he could have been just as aware of the sarcasm, though he never cared enough to reflect too much on it. It was an insignificant snippet of their conversation.

As this new acquaintance of the boy's flipped through the pages of the report, it would become clear that its hand-written content looked like... gibberish. Non-sensical, non-flowing gibberish.

Either the boy was a dyslexic and illiterate fool, or he appeared to be much more intelligent than he appeared to be despite his many apparent flaws.

Anyone wary enough could hazard a guess that the writing on the pages was a cryptic cipher for what really lied underneath. This was true. The algorithm that was used, however, could only be understood by its creator... or guessed by a true master of message decryption - something that just couldn't be done by magic alone.

The green-haired stranger's inquiry into the importance of the papers amused the boy greatly as he stood there. Even if this man had taken his papers and made a break for it, it wouldn't impact the boy much beyond it having been a waste of time - regardless of what happened here, he would still be in a bitter argument with his commanding officer.

"Just business... nothing that wouldn't get me in big trouble if I didn't hand it in," he had explained. Smiling all smugly, Leiss extended a hand, expecting to receive the papers that the stranger had picked up for him. "Thank you - could I have my reports back now, please?"

[Deleted]

Seed had not really glanced through the papers once he saw that a clever cipher or just odd shorthand was used to write its message. But connecting this with his previous deduction, Seed shrugged it off as a important military documents. The man/woman would be pretty dumb to carry around this without having proper storage and allowing a complete stranger to grab hold them and troll in it like it was his own handy work. Not very lady/military man like.

"Well if they are not that important why not just make a new one? Or better yet," Seed smiled as he tossed the papers in the air and used his Aero magic to blow them all away. Dick move? Maybe. The perfect thing to do? Seed thought so. "Now neither of us be worried what was on that boring ol' report no huh?" Seed chuckled as he figured he had really fooled the man. See, Seed never sent the real documents flying through the wind to the mercy of the citizens of Twilight Town, instead he had compressed them around himself to look over them later. But what's done is done right? The code people should really adopt these days and not focus on the past.

Seed was already walking away from the man/woman when he gave a small head tilt to get a kink out of his muscles and continued to walk, though more slowly. In all honestly he wanted to man/woman thing to follow him, he would lead him into a deadly trap. See, not too long ago Seed sent a message to the Bone Man Maverick to meet him here soon and that time is slowly coming up. Perhaps it already came. "He had better not be late, he knows what will happen if he is. Don't know why Elaeus keeps him around, too much of a flight risk and liability."[/i] though the Heartless as a portal opened up to his left, out of view from anyone behind him.

"Okay Seed. What do you...what are you wearing?" a voice rang out from the portal as a white haired man with lanky features and loose fitting cloths stepped out and perked a brow at the site of Seed in nothing more than a pair of spandex shorts and sweat still rip on his chest muscles. The Heartless receiving the question just rolled his eyes and shifted his weight back to his right leg and gloated, "What? Ashamed that you're not as ripped as me? But we're not here to argue that I am way more attractive than you, as of now there is a man....woman..I can't tell behind me and is most likely pissed I almost landed on him and stole his papers. Trail him away from here and take him or her to Traverse Town. GOT IT?!" Seed almost yelled as Maverick jumped back slightly in fear of the Heartless' wrath.

"Why do you do this to me Seed? Fine, but don't make me kill him..." Maverick whispered that last part from pure guilt over what he has become. But he was given an order and it had to be fulfilled. So he closed the portal and walked out into site of anyone that was behind Seed and he waited for some kind of clue as to who Seed was actually talking about.

[hoffman]

"Damn it!" He could only watch as the pages were scattered into the wind... until they were out of sight. A dick move indeed.

Leiss knew that something was up with this green-haired stranger. Having planned this out or not, he was still quite pissed off at the fact that he was ten pages short of a report now. He knew that he would still end up yelling at his commanding officer for his bureaucratic methods, this was true. But the boy would have preferred to have fooled the stranger into thinking that they weren't of any concern to him so that he'd have the pages back in his hands; yet it seemed that he was past such idle trickery. Not reflecting on it too much, just like the code that his sinning acquaintance had adopted, he decided that he would meet this stranger's actions with cynicism in the future from now on.

Truthfully, being cynical was a vice he had become fond of in the passing years, but as good as a policy that it was for avoiding being emotionally comprimised, it wasn't something he could have done in front of passersby. Had he been any more defensive or uptight, it could have easily turned out worse. How worse? He wasn't exactly sure, but he had been in worse circumstances.

"You son of a bitch," he had remarked coldly, trailing carefully after the green-haired man. As he walked, the boy kept his right hand at his right thigh, its digits hovering oh-so-warily over what appeared to be a wooden, brass-studded handle. Or to better elaborate, the grip of the holstered firearm that had been strapped around his person.

But suddenly, the stranger had turned a corner into an adjacent alleyway - and that for now, he had left the boy's sight. Not desiring to lose the trail of the one who had wronged him, he picked up his pace. "Marianne... let's hope that I don't got to fire at anyone today."

Less than five feet away from the alleyway now, Leiss began to mentally prepare himself for what might have lied beyond his blind spot. And just when it seemed like he would be able to turn the corner safely, all such expectations were thrown out the window as a white-haired humanoid had walked out so calmly from the alleyway. Given the stranger's outward physical appearance and enigmatic behavior, the boy had a hunch that he wasn't just some innocent civilian walking through. Especially since the other stranger left him with the overall impression that he caused a ruckus wherever he went.

"Out of my way."

[Deleted]

"Out of my way"

Four words made Maverick turn his head around and for a split second he was looking at Seed. But a quick visual look eliminated that possibility. Maverick stared for a few seconds at the man in front of him, he also wondered why Seed was calling this man a woman/man. But Maverick just shrugged it off, the insane Heartless never ceased to amaze the bone wielder. Taking a few shaky steps back and looked out of the corner of his eye Maverick saw Seed slowly creeping back into the darkness to either ambush this man or simply give Maverick the installed fear of being alone on a mission. Both ways did not seem to lead to a satisfactory outcome.

"Now look here. I may be just an innocent bystander stuck in the middle of a rock and a hard place. But you...." Maverick unbuttoned the corner of his loose, gray shirt and it slunk down to show his bare torso. His body twitching on the inside and cracking sounds filling the air, bones began to protrude out of his back and arms. Maverick did not want to fight someone he did not know just because of a "he said". But if Seed was not pleased or amused by Mavericks performance that green menace might be more than just a thorn in his side.

"You are in a tight spot," Maverick continued as the bones in his back curved upwards to form spirals and twists, " My superior tells me to attack but my heart tells me no. Which to prefer? Fight or flight?" Maverick was praying on the inside that this man would chose to just walk away and Maverick would then open the portal around him and the man. Because if Maverick were to fight, the man feared he would uncage the animal underneath.

[hoffman]

Quickly reaching down for the holster with his readied hand, he swung his magnum out, pointing it upon this unexpected obtrusion. The boy glared fearlessly at the white-haired, bone-warping atrocity that stood in his path, brandishing his fire-arm without a single visible sign of hesitance - not even recklessness.

It was something he had done before. Many times.

His humanoid obstacle could tell - if he were so trained in the endeavors of examining - that aiming a handgun... a .45 magnum, of all things, was something he was not foreign to. It reeked of a certain professional quality.

Even in the face of a rapidly mutating "human", he never wavered. Yet he hadn't fired, he only glared and kept his iron-sight trained on the ever-changing creature. At this point, he wasn't ready to open fire. Not without some sort of justification for his means.

"This isn't your problem," Leiss harshly stated, maintaining his composure with some displayed effort. For someone of his nature, it was incredibly difficult.

"I'd REALLY like to bypass the formalities of this confrontation and chase that green-haired bastard." Leiss tightened his grip around the magnum's handle, getting ever more antsy to just fire upon the bone-freak and be done with him. The fact that this stranger started spouting out 'heart' and 'fight or flight' nonsense made it worse - the boy hated people who talked too much.

"Tight spot? Shut up or give me a good reason not to blow a few holes in you. I know what kind of situation I'm in."

[Deleted]

"I really do not think you do know the situation you are in. If you knew Seed at all you would not be trailing after him. He is...." Maverick cringed at the words he wanted to use to describe the menace of a Heartless that Seed was. A man who prided himself on his ways of torture and being cruel. Maverick, before all this mess with Elaeus happened, would have not cared what this man wanted to do to Seed. But it was the Dark XII that was keeping the boy alive so he felt obliged to protect them.

"Seed is....imagine someone who prided themselves on their cruelty and his ego. He will keep someone alive only to torture them forever. So I beg you, let sleeping dogs lie here. I don't want to hurt you!" Maverick almost yelled the last part, the black sash around his eyes flickered a dark black color but calmed down. Maverick clutched his chest over his heart, the darkness was weighing it down and his resisting it will not make it any better in the long-run. The bones protruding out of Maverick shined a black and white color and stopped. Every other three inches was repeating the color scheme of black and white, Maverick didn't even notice as he kept a sturdy gaze upon his would be target.

Seed watched on from the darkness...and was really close to killing Maverick right now. When Seed gave an order to an underling he expects them to follow it. Not warn the person of the impending dangers of the Heartless. But wait, Seed knew that this boy had a way with words and manipulation, so perhaps Maverick was going to gain the man/womans trust and then drag it to Traverse Town.

[hoffman]

"Seed, huh? So that's his name..."

The feminine boy leered grimly, his trigger finger only one pound short of the pressure required to trigger the handgun's firing mechanism. If he had pressed only a little bit harder, he would have pumped the bone-slinging adolescent full of several lugs.

This kid didn't deserve it, though. He had seen the darkness in his eyes, the strain that it had on his heart as it was clutched. In spite of the young soldier's cynical nature, he could see - but not exactly fathom - the trauma within. A stray dog? A gun without an iron sight?

Metaphors were cheap. Leiss was no poet, no philosopher... he couldn't explain it. He didn't know what the white-haired teen's purpose was. He was playing the 'good cop' in a situation where there weren't any cops to start with. Because of this confusion, Leiss really didn't want to open fire on him. He didn't want to just because of a green-haired bastard who decided to make an enemy today.

"You're either a liaison or a distraction," the youth dictated, grimacing. "Have to hand it to you, doesn't matter which one... you're doing a bang-up job--"

BUZZ... BUZZ...

Vibrations rattled the young soldier's left ear as an object the size of a small coin rang persistently in his left ear canal. If his self-aware roadblock hadn't known any better, it could've been an insect; but it wasn't - it was a transceiver intended for two-way communication. Quickly tapping his ear with his left hand, he kept his focus on his target and began to speak in a quiet, attentive tone.

"Reporting, sir."

Pause.

"...acknowledged, sir. Over and out."

With a serious look in his eyes, Leiss took a step back - not in fear, not in doubt. This action had purpose. He still had his firearm out and at the ready, but his finger had long since released itself from the trigger. Something else had taken priority.

"...business calls," he calmly declared, taking a few steps backward. "This isn't over. Give 'Seed' my harshest regards."

And with that, the soldier pivoted around on his right foot until his back was turned to the white-haired stranger. He took off down the street in a jog until he had crossed paths with a throng of traveling citizens, vanishing into the crowd, becoming nothing more than a speck of green amongst the headcount.

((This is pretty much Leiss's exit unless Seed and Maverick are persistent enough to chase him.))