[open] i don't know about fate

[lighthearted]

WHO: Sora and OPEN
WHERE: The train to New Tokyo and the Preserve dorms
WHEN: October 8th - 10th
WHAT: Checking in on people after waking up, and looking for things to do while cooped up in the dorms.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: N/A! Will edit if needed.



THE TRAIN TO NEW TOKYO

[ Sora comes to with a sudden gasp, almost sliding off of his seat on the train (though Riku's there to grab his shoulder and help him keep his balance, at least). It's disorienting to finally be awake after so much time spent in that Sleeping World, but Sora also recovers quicker than some of the other displaced might. Been there, done that, after all.

It doesn't take long for messages to start firing across the network, and soon enough Sora gathers that almost the entire group of displaced is now on this train. More than that, they've still got a good six or so hours before they reach New Tokyo, and he's got a large number of people he wants to check in on. After he's talked things over with Riku (there's no telling what woke them up, which is strange), he decides to stretch his legs.

He moves through the train cars, on the lookout for anyone who he recognizes. As soon as he spots them, he'll run over, either standing near them or taking a seat if there's one available. ]

Hey! You okay after all that?


THE PRESERVE DORMS

[ While Sora couldn't explain why everyone had suddenly been on the train with them, what he learns when they reach New Tokyo makes a little more sense. They're not here to help with a monster attack, but with a snowstorm. That must mean that what they did in the Sleeping version of this world actually had an effect on the real version. Fighting all of those monsters means that they'd reversed some of the damage!

It doesn't explain where the snowstorm came from, and he's not that thrilled to be facing freezing cold temperatures again after his time spent in Arendelle. Having to be cooped up until there's proper supplies provided to them isn't much better, though.

While he'd been able to explore to some extent in the dreams, it hadn't been real. To go from being stuck in the safehouse to being stuck in these dorms is rough for a restless young man used to running around all the time.

So he'll end up wandering the common areas, whether it's to scrounge up a snack or look for something else to keep his attention. If he comes across someone, he'll wave at them and move over. ]

Hey. Maybe we should play a game or something? [ Or, if they don't look like the game-playing type, it might be: ] So have you ever been stuck in weather like this before?


WILDCARD

[ I'd be happy to wildcard anything in these two settings, prior to the arrival log! Feel free to PM me or hit me up at demonology if you want to discuss, but you're more than welcome to just toss something at me too. ]

Comments

[lighthearted]

[ The idea of losing your heart, of losing who you are, is a disturbing one. That's what leads to the creation of Heartless and Nobodies, after all. It's not something anyone should have to experience. Sora wishes that he'd been able to prevent it somehow. ]

There are a few different ways. [ It's not a pleasant topic, and Sora glances across the aisle as he explains. ] If your heart gets corrupted by darkness, or if it's unlocked by a Keyblade. But... [ He looks back to Cain. ] Do you remember what happened, before you lost yours?

[ Sora never got a proper explanation. There hadn't been time for that when they'd been rushing to recover everyone. But he's hoping that Cain will be honest with him now. ]

[blyat]

[Gloved hands curling into tight fists on his lap, silence lapses, Cain appearing in thought as his eyes slide to look out the window. There's nothing out there: the train's somewhere underwater, traveling through a dark tunnel. It feels terminally silent -- if someone can ignore the little signs of life in chatter around the train cars, rustling of belongings, clink of dishware.

Finally, he answers, voice low between them.]

Did you see the weapon down in that place? Looked like a spear, had all these vines growing around the bottom of it. [Cain recounts the description dispassionately.] We tried to move it. Got it out, and... that's when weird shit happened. Markus and Fitz had it worse.

[As he's since spoken to the two, this is marginally easier to recount. Still feels as though it had happened to someone else, not him. Not a recounting of his own surreal memory. The only reason he tells Sora now is because he was there, witnessed the reemergence of his self, could maybe clue him into the process. Settle the disturbed peace of his own mind.]

Looked like they were killed. Dunno about me, just felt like I didn't exist. Like I was part of everything else. Wasn't... me, anymore.

[lighthearted]

[ Sora nods at the question, as he had a brief run-in with the spear. It had made him feel like his head was going to crack in two, and Riku had found him after that. He knows that time in dreams can't be properly traced, but it had been at some point after that when they'd run into Peggy. ]

Yeah, I tried to get it out too but didn't even get close. [ How had they managed it? Maybe working together, it had been easier to bear the pain that came from interacting with it.

So Markus and Fitz had essentially died. Even if it had only been within the dream, something like that could still send a person's heart deeper and deeper into sleep. Cain's situation sounds a little different. A little familiar, if not quite. ]

Hmm. When someone loses their heart, not in a dream but in the real world, the body they leave behind is called a Nobody. An empty husk, something that isn't supposed to exist. It's not the exact same, but maybe something like it.

[ He slowly reaches out to settle his hand on Cain's arm. No skin-to-skin contact, he wouldn't force that on Cain right now, but it is meant to be comforting. ]

I'm glad we were able to get you back.

[blyat]

[The body they leave behind, a Nobody. Would that have happened if he weren't in that strange, sleeping landscape? Cain still hasn't wrapped his mind around it. Seems surreal that anything could transport all of them into a separate realm shaped from their minds and unknown machinations. But... they've found themselves in New Amsterdam, after all. And many separated from supernatural powers, even if Cain isn't one among them.

Is anything truly unbelievable anymore?

And why hadn't he wanted to leave? The touch pulls him from those darker thoughts, a quick glance down at Sora's arm. It's meant to be a reassurance, but Cain only feels more tangled up in the web of confusion and uncertainty. Theories, disorientation. At least war and blackmail had made sense.]

... Yeah. Me too.

[Half-distracted as he agrees, Cain's gaze drifts over the other passengers in the train car.]

You do this kind of thing a lot, huh? With people's hearts or whatever?

[lighthearted]

[ While Cain doesn't react violently to the hand on his arm, he also doesn't look thrilled about it, so after a moment Sora pulls back. He can't say that he knows what Cain went through exactly, even if he'd once lost his very body and had to piece himself back together. He'd still had his sense of self, so it wasn't the same.

Sora doesn't mind the question. It's a slight subject change, but Cain's already told him the things he most wanted to know, and he doesn't want to make him feel uncomfortable. Although there may be no helping that. ]

Uhh, sort of. [ Sora lifts a hand and rubs at the back of his head, a little sheepish. ] I only learned how to use the Power of Waking recently, but before that I was still dealing with hearts in a lot of other ways.

[ It would be a lot to explain. He could do it, but he doesn't know how well he'd get his point across. ]

It's a good thing we ran into Peggy when he did.

[ Sora doesn't want to think about what might have happened otherwise... ]

[blyat]

[At the mention of Peggy, he raises a hand to his cheek, as if seeking the ghost of pain from a hit to the face. The real, physical connection that had knocked him back into himself -- past the shaky delirium, past the sinuous desire to just stay in that beautiful and serene landscape where he felt nothing.

What would have happened, if he gave into that urge? If Peggy and Sora never found him, or never managed to pull him back? Would he truly have wanted to remain fixed in time, asleep among the flowers? Cain doesn't have an answer for that.]

Right. Yeah.

[He exhales a gust of breath, rubs that hand over his face.]

Let's try not to need that Power of whatever shit again. From you or anyone. [He moves to stand.] That it, then?

[lighthearted]

[ It's hard to miss the way that Cain touches his cheek, and Sora has clear memories of how Peggy had managed to literally punch some sense into him. It's not what he would have expected to work, but he's relieved she'd thought of it.

He also doesn't want to think about what would have happened to Cain if they'd failed. ]

Yeah, I don't want to have reason to use it either. Not that I can if we're not dreaming...

[ Will they get dragged into dreams like that again? It's hard to know, when they have no idea what triggered it in the first place. Given how dangerous it had been, Sora has to hope they won't.

He peers up at Cain as he stands, nodding slowly. He can't blame him for not wanting to stick around too long, after everything he's been through. Sora's grateful enough that he was willing to come find him in the first place. ]

Yeah, I think so. Take care of yourself, okay?

[ Even now, he manages a small smile. ]

[blyat]

[He lowers one last look onto Sora, a sense of finality to the conversation. Surprised that someone who seems so young would be brought here, roped into the chaos of this situation, and yet evidently handling better than many of the displaced themselves. Sora speaks from experience -- that isn't what rubs his nerves the wrong way. It's the openness, the friendliness he doesn't know what to do with. That Sora would care enough to check up on him when they barely know each other.]

Sure, kiddo.

[With a short movement, Cain turns away and retraces his path back to his original seat.]