sirenspull | 15

[Terra is seated on a stretch of sand belonging to one of the island's beaches. A certain lighthouse can be seen in the distance, out across the water. It would make for a serene picture if Terra didn't have a Shake Weight in one hand. Yes, he is shaking that Shake Weight. He's been shaking that Shake Weight for two years now. Thank you, Joe.

Oro, Terra's direwolf, lies beside him and is absently chewing on a stuffed lobster toy that has seen better days.]

It doesn't make sense. The Core has some people coming and going all the time. Some people it pulls in once and then sends them away and never bothers them again. And some people it won't ever let go.

[He shakes his head, albeit it not quite as vigorously as he is shaking the Shake Weight.]

Doesn't make sense. For a while, I thought maybe there was a reason some people had to be here, even if that reason didn't apply to all Newcomers or to me, but I was wrong to believe that. There's no point to this place. Being here doesn't mean you're getting a second chance or you're being punished or you're here to help the world. Being here means nothing. This island is just a prison surrounded by water instead of walls.

[Anyone happen to both own the world's smallest violin and know the world's saddest song? The shaking of the Shake Weight slows to a stop. Terra sighs, glances down at the dumbbell... and abruptly throws it hard out into the ocean.

Sorry, Joe.]

I guess that's it. All I've got to say.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There is always a way to escape if one desires it more than anything else.

Is there really?

Of course. It depends however on how much one is willing to give up. Such a way is never easy, nor for the faint of heart.

Do you consider me faint of heart, Xehanort?

Faint, no... though if your heart is strong enough is another matter.

Someone said to me once that this place is Naraka. I didn't know what that meant at the time, but I asked someone who did. He told me that it's a little like hell. A place meant to torment souls of the wicked.

I don't think this place is necessarily a punishment-- but I don't think it's wrong to say it's a place like that, either. A pointless prison doesn't seem much better.

I thought it was something like that for a while. Problem is some of the people here aren't... wicked. Newcomers with hearts of pure light, people who have never hurt anyone or done anything really wrong, Aslan... Why would they be here? Some of them have been around for years, too. They weren't just brought in to be sent away later, to hurt those of us who belong in the darkness.

Maybe they're meant to fool the people in the darkness. Or to give them hope.

Whatever this place is, I don't believe there would be a point to it if people gave up.

Though-- I guess maybe it's like you said, and it doesn't have a point.

A false sense of hope, maybe.

Haven't a lot of people already given up? People taking jobs just to pay for a roof of their heads and not doing much else besides that. But what else is there even to do here? I fought out in the Darkness for a long time, hoping I could weaken its hold and make this world better, but I couldn't put so much as a dent in it. It feels like it's the same deal with the companies. You could fight their corruption for years and get nowhere, achieve nothing.

I think that's because the people fighting the companies come and go too much-- nothing can be done when the people who are actually doing something disappear all the time, and the companies remain constant.

The Darkness is different, though. It's limitless. I don't think it's possible to really do anything about it.

I can't blame people for giving up when they're fighting against situations like that. Can you?

[He knows that voice.

Eraqus watchs the recording in silence, mind turning over the words spoken, along with the so-very-few messages he's received in the past month; a pang fills his heart, echoed in the tightening of fingers around his NV.

It cannot be too difficult to locate that place with the landmarks visible in the video stream, and he recognises the beach - somewhat. He has passed by there several times in the past month, after all..]

A prison is a curious choice for describing an island. [It doesn't sound like he's disagreeing though.]

We may meet many people in our journeys - some, briefly. Some, often, by chance or intent. And some, who always remain as a constant. The behaviour of the Core seems in some ways a fractured reflection of life in that regard.

[A pause, before his voice softens:]

You say being here means nothing.

Has there truly been nothing in your time here that meant something to you?

[By the sound of things in his reply, Terra isn't going anywhere.]

The memories I've made with my friends would mean something to me, if I wasn't usually the only one to remember them.

[It's different with the few the Core has kept around, but he can't trust they won't vanish and forget one of these days, too.]

[ Eyes close a moment. ]

Why should those memories mean less simply because you are the only one to remember them?

[ The decision is made. Hand extends, summoning swirling white energy; close to the beach, the portal upends itself. Close enough to sense, perhaps, if those near by aren't distracted. ]

[Very much distracted.]

Because it's like those moments never happened if no one else ever remembers them.

[ There's no reply on the NV.

Perhaps the Apprentice has told the Master all he needed to hear..?

The crash of waves on the shore initially drowns out his approach. Not that he is hiding it, not exactly, simply minding his footing as armored boots deal with the drag of sand below. Grey gaze flickers towards his student briefly, trying to make note of any changes made during a month's absence - is he thinner? Was he hurt? - before shifting to the waters ahead of them.

Gold-edged boots do not come to a stop until Eraqus stands at Terra's side.

He does not look down, doing his best not to assume a hovering or looming position, and settles instead for staring ahead; features are schooled in a thoughtful frown. Then, quietly; ]

So what will you do with them?

[Roxas is quiet for a moment before speaking. He doesn't have any more answers than Terra does, much less the right words to express them. And he's felt the same way at times. Sometimes, he still does.

In the end he settled for not trying to find right words that maybe don't exist. He'll just try to be there for a friend.]

Lot of people escaping this prison lately.

But are they the people who want out?

I don't know. Some of them are, maybe. And some aren't. Doesn't keep me from wishing they were still here. I know that's selfish.

We can all be selfish together.

Okay.

[That sounds pretty bad, objectively speaking. They shouldn't be selfish. But he is, and they are, and being selfish together sounds better than being virtuous apart.]

Sometimes I wonder if it's gonna be me next. And then I just hope that if it is, I get to keep some of what I've learned here. At least in my heart, if I can't remember it in my head.

15 - video;

text;

voice;

text;

voice;

text;

text;

voice;

no subject

no subject

no subject

[Private] Voice;

[Private] Voice;

[Private] Voice;

[Private] Voice;

[Private] Voice -> Action

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;