♔ day 68 ♔

[binarysky]

[The video feed clicks on to reveal some odd angles and fumbling noises, eventually revealing the face of Roxas as he figures out how to hold this thing.

Time stretches out into what would be an uncomfortably long pause in any conversation, but he doesn't say anything, just looks at the camera, a vague curiosity mixed with general blankness. There's no sign of recognition on his face.]

[ooc note: Roxas has been hit with Feels Like the First Time and believes this is his first arrival in the City—but he's got a different canon point, roundabouts day 7 of his life. Sora will be coming to claim the little zombie but otherwise he's open.]

Comments

[binarysky.livejournal.com]

[ Even though they're walking side by side, Roxas lets Sora decide which twists and turns to take throughout the Palace. He doesn't, and maybe can't, have a preference.

He does look around, taking everything in, even though it means as little to him as anything else. It's quieter here, but that only helps a little.

After a little while, though, the niggling thought that's been working its way up finally wants to work its way out. ]

Hey.

[ And another few seconds before he articulates it. ]

Who are you?

[faroffdream.livejournal.com]

Sora.

[ His own name comes easily enough, and so does the smile with it. In a way, as unsettling as Roxas this way is, it's also almost a relief at this point, the longer they spend together at least. It's as if, to Sora, someone maybe is telling him there's a chance for more than animosity, for genuine smiles, for picking up at existing while one can, apart or together. ]

Sorry, I should've mentioned that before, huh?

[ And he offers his hand, pausing in this particular corridor. ]

[binarysky.livejournal.com]

Sora.

[ He repeats the name with some care, as if it means something significant. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. The answer is lost to the fog that still covers his mind. ]

Sora. I'm Roxas.

[He takes the hand, not that much in need of guidance; but he can see that it is expected of him, and to follow someone else's lead is a relief. ]

[faroffdream.livejournal.com]

[ He beams at that repetition, not entirely understanding it himself, but it feels similar to the relief that rushed through him just moments before and Sora isn't really one to look a gift horse in the mouth or however they say it. ]

It's good to meet you!

[ And it is, in a way, because it's like they haven't before, not this version at least, and that certainly means something. He shakes the other boy's hand enthusiastically--though not so enthusiastically as that one version of Mickey--and when he releases it, he tilts his head to one side, hand under chin as he considers their next direction. ]

You pick the next direction! Left or right?

[binarysky.livejournal.com]

[ The boy is smiling, so Roxas must have done something right. Should he smile, too? He doesn't really feel like it. He doesn't feel like anything. But this...isn't bad, either. ]

Right?

[ He's picking at random now, repeating more than answering. He knows the difference, knows his right from his left, but the significance of them in relation to him is still out of reach. ]

[faroffdream.livejournal.com]

[ Sora doesn't have high expectations, really he has none in fact, which isn't to say he thinks lowly of Roxas. It's just that there's no prior basis for it and to compare this Roxas to the one he knows more ordinarily isn't fair to anyone. Sora just wants for there to be possibility available to them, and this seems to speak very much in favor of that, so he continues grinning, a soft sort of goofy smile that reaches everywhere from his eyes to his posture as he places a hand on the blond's shoulder and steers him that way. ]

Right it is.

[binarysky.livejournal.com]

[ He walks alongside Sora, still feeling adrift but with a small anchor attached this time. It's a connection, even if he doesn't know what it means. The palace is quiet and not all that bright, but it's still harsh to his senses. Existence is much harder than most people realize, and harder still for those still getting into the habit. It's hard to take much interest in their surroundings, but he walks along anyway, looking where Sora looks, walking where Sora walks. He doesn't mind the gentle hand that guides him. If he had words for it, he'd call it comforting. ]

[faroffdream.livejournal.com]

[ Eventually that hand slips off of the blond's shoulder, but not in a way that says gone so much as a natural procedure of things. At one wing or another Sora seems to actually notice that, very easily again, they have fallen into the pattern of Sora leading and Roxas following. It's no one's fault, this particular instance, least of all Roxas', but Sora thinks maybe if he himself makes more of an effort to turn it around, it might be more doable than present company thinks it is. ]

What do you think?

[ He asks, tests even, peering into the nearest room in this corridor, all modern architecture--super white walls that are not so different from Castle Oblivion's, except that the angles are all hard, and everything is minimalistic in a designer way rather than the way of negative space itself. Ruby red pillows, perfectly square on chic white stretches of couch or something. Stainless steel fixtures. Sora thinks it's kind of boring, but it feels like a room that's supposed to be neat.

Maybe some of the gadgets are, he guesses while glancing at the boy to his right, waiting for any kind of reaction or answer. ]

[binarysky.livejournal.com]

[ The question seems to take a while to reach Roxas, as do most things while he's in this state. It's not that he's mentally gone; his mind is here, along with his body. But there's a barrier between him and the rest of the world, a wall or a net or even just a cloud. ]

I...don't know.

[ What does he think? There's nothing to think. He has no memories like this, no emotions, no aesthetic preference or memories of other buildings he may have been in, save for the gray walls of the Castle That Never Was. There's not even enough in him to explain this to the other boy who is obviously waiting for a reaction he can't give. ]

[faroffdream.livejournal.com]

[ Sora sighs. In a way he expects this, but in a lot of other, bigger ways, he still doesn't, still fails to wrap his head around what is and isn't there and what it outright means to be a Nobody. It feels mean even thinking of it that way though so he tries to shake the thought off, away, down. ]

That's okay.

[ He says it because it's true before adding with a soft sort of jab to the other boy's shoulder... ]

Come on. This room is boring. I wonder if they have any food here...

[ Again he directs Roxas, but this time by linking their arms and tugging him along instead of pushing. Side-by-side seems better. ]

[binarysky.livejournal.com]

[ Roxas nods, the complacent reaction probably what Sora expects by now. Food...that sounds good, although this slight spark of interest doesn't show visually on his face. Still, there's enough to prompt some kind of reaction. ]

Ice cream?

[ Not that he knows why it sounds good. At 'seven' days old, he can't even remember his first ice cream bar with Axel. But it's the first thing that come to mind. ]