tushanshu_logs | A whirlwind few days

Entry tags:

A whirlwind few days

Characters: Xion, Yosuke, Roxas, Aqua, Skulduggery, probably others?
Date: Starting on the 16th, then continuing through the next few days
Location: Fire Sector, Midnight Hotel, somewhere around where the expo used to be, possibly other places?
Situation: XION IS MUGGED. This causes a lot of fallout because she has very protective friends and family
Warnings/Rating: XION IS GETTING SHOT. There might also be Vanitas being an asshole somewhere in here. Also Roxas threatening to punch the faces in of people who hurt Xion.

A. The Mugging - CLOSED to Yosuke Hanamura

Just a quick errand, she'd told Roxas. She still couldn't believe he was here, here. Almost all of her doubts and worries had mostly vanished, once she'd realized how much she'd missed him.

But she had a job, a room she had to pay for. And that job involved running an errand. Not too long, if she hurried. She'd be back within an hour, tops.

And she was hurrying. She was on her way home, running, rushing, when she turned too fast around a corner and ran into a kedan. As she stumbled, attempting to regain her balance, the kedan had grabbed her shoulder, steadying her.

"S-sorry," she stammered, once she'd steadied herself, "I-"

But then she froze. Froze when she found herself facing the barrel of a revolver. The shape may have been different, but she'd seen Xigbar fighting enough times to recognize it. And that was when it'd hit her. The network posts. Akito and his stabbing.

Sure enough, he demanded her soul jewelry, jabbing the front gun at the necklace around her neck.

Except while his hand was still gripping her shoulder, the gun aimed at her was not steady. The kedan was very pale, and his voice shook too. Xion was no great shakes with reading emotions, but every signal pointed to him not wanting to be here. When she'd had the chance to see Akito's network post, he'd said that the ones mugging him had seemed reluctant too.

"I'm sorry, I can't," she told him, "It's dangerous to lose it."

He shook her, voice becoming more insistent. And even though he seemed more desperate than anything, being manhandled as such, plus the gun still aimed tremulously. She summoned her Keyblade in her free hand. A warning.

That's when the hand on her shoulder turned vicelike, and the gun steadied. And something in the region of Xion's gut seemed to be sinking.

"Get off!" she demanded, trying to break away. She didn't want to just attack if the fading hope that he was a reluctant theif was true, but he just wouldn't let go-

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B. The Aftermath - Open! (Expect Roxas to threadjack a lot)

Once Xion had been patched up, she was transplanted to Aqua's room at the Midnight Hotel for bed rest. For the first couple of days, others could pop in, but they'd find a young girl who is very much out of it, and not feeling good in the slightest. Her injury was bad enough, but with her soul gem missing... she'd never been sick before then, either.

At least, when he wasn't out looking for her Soul Gem, Roxas was spending a lot of time basically glued to her side.

Once she got her gem back, however, she started doing considerably better.

Enough that she was liable to slip out of bed and wander the Midnight Hotel, observing those coming and going from the balcony, or else curled up on a couch in the Common Room. Her upper arm was still wrapped in bandages and she probably shouldn't have been out of bed yet, but it was still nice to be moving again. Of course sometimes she really was back in Aqua's room, sometimes asleep, sometimes not, but certainly ready and willing to talk anybody who might stop by. Or anybody who had any particular questions to ask about what happened.

[ooc; This prompt may change a bit when more details about how Xion's being patched up are finalized]

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C. Finding the Soul Gem - Roxas and Aqua and ????

Maybe they manage to find the remains of the Expo in time. Or maybe they - by lucky chance - hear of someone who's trying to find the owner of a soul gem that they found. Either way, the kedan in possession of Xion's soul gem is quite eager to make sure it finds its way home again.

[ooc; maybe you guys should make a comment idk DO THIS PART AS YOU SEE FIT]

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D. Misc.

NONE OF THE ABOVE? Have anything else in mind? I feel like I'm forgetting something too so I might add things later when I think about them.

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"Hey, what's going on? Is everything all -"

Yosuke wouldn't describe himself as a nosy person. Okay, so other people had. And okay, even if he'd been able to muster all of his usual energy today, he'd be hard pressed to honestly argue the opposite. But anyone would have stopped, he'd have thought, if they overheard a voice that small and high-pitched from a dark alley mouth that didn't fit it in the slightest. Anyone, probably, would have called out the instant their brain picked up on the nervous edge to the other unfamiliar voice close by, long before the actual words, long before they had a moment to think. Anyone would have pressed themselves against the wall, squinting in the too-bright sunlight as they peered around the corner. Anyone in his position would have caught the metallic gleam off the barrel of the gun, still wavering a little but not nearly enough, and opposite it another glint off the side of the least practical looking sword Yosuke had ever seen. Anyone could have joined the dots right there, between the girl in the shadows and the kedan. It just happened to be him.

"...More of these guys?" he muttered aloud, no more than a mutter under the weight of the scene. That would be a no, huh.

But it would be a shame to stop the line there, now that Yosuke's mind was racing. It could stand to stretch further: past the sinking feeling he'd had half an hour ago when he'd finally realised what was missing and hurried in vain to retrace his steps, past all the glares and the elbowings he'd had to contend with since day one of being dumped at the gates of this town, back a few months to the last person he remembered pointing a gun within spitting distance of his face, further and further back into a locked, dusty interrogation room and scenes that for all his posturing since then, he would never have been able to see...

Well, never mind the minor details. This time, he was here, and like hell he was about to let this girl go the same way. At his side, his fist clenched - and floating in front of it, something else gleamed, gleamed a vivid blue where only air had been a second ago.

"Hey, you!" he snapped, rounding on the two strangers. Unarmed and unimposing, he wouldn't cut an impressive silhouette at the end of the alleyway, but within a few steps - steps, not lurches, that was important - it wouldn't matter. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but put the gun down, now!"

The arrival of a witness successfully distracted both Xion and her assailant. Her eyes widened, and a part of her wanted to shout a warning, though he seemed to understand what was going on already. Still, she wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not, though she couldn't deny it felt better to know she wasn't entirely by herself.

While the kedan snarled at Yosuke to back off, turning his gun in the teen's direction, she took the opportunity to try to tear her shoulder out of his grip.

She managed to pull free for a moment, but she'd already successfully directed his attention back onto herself, and he grabbed her forearm instead, keeping thus keeping her from bolting. A lot of the reluctant thief facade had faded by now, as his eyes darted back and forth between his two opponents.

Edited 2015-04-15 21:58 (UTC)

In retrospect, he should have expected the damn thing to end up pointing at him. Common sense alone wasn't thick enough to stop the stab of panic, stop Yosuke taking a step back - but no further for now, before he gritted his teeth instead. Hell no, he couldn't just barge in only to flee as soon as he'd made things turn sourer. There was someone here who needed to be out of harm's way before he did.

What could he do in the meantime, though? Ugh, think, think. If his head wasn't so cloudy, he might be able to...

...hmm.

"I... guess it makes sense you'd get cocky, seeing someone bring a sword to a gunfight, huh?" he said, with a quick, genuinely nervous glance across. Was the girl even looking this way, with a more obvious pressing issue at hand, or strictly speaking on her arm? Man, when you couldn't just yell at each other, even a plan as simple as I'll make a scene, you run was more of a pain than it needed to be. Tactics had always been more Souji's thing, too; it probably wouldn't work for him. Still, he had to try. Trying was worth a lot, he'd learned. "Well... you're right, I don't want any trouble either. And I really don't want to watch something like this..."

His hand closed on the glittering blue card that had materialised in the air in front of it.

"So let's even the odds. Persona!"

With a burst of piercing blue light and the noise of shattering glass, the alleyway erupted - and as a ten-foot-tall glittering figure in white bore down from the sky, was suddenly a lot more crowded.

That sure was a giant figure appearing seemingly out of nowhere, filling up the alleyway. Once again both Xion and her assailant were momentarily distracted, though for a slightly different reason.

Still, a distraction was a distraction, and giving up any attempts at niceties, Xion swing the Keyblade in her free hand up and around, aiming at the arm of the kedan, hoping to knock it off. Unfortunately, he was a bit quicker on the draw this time, and while he was forced to release her arm, instead he turned the gun back on her. She was already turning and running back down the alley towards Yosuke when he fired twice. Xion swore she could feel the first one blazing just over her shoulder.

That was all she could register before pain lanced its way into the arm just below it, where the second bullet found its mark. Her Keyblade dropped from her hand and vanished in a flash of light as she stumbled, falling forward with a cry of pain. Her hands automatically lifted to catch her as she fell, but when she hit the ground, her bad arm buckled, leaving her facefirst in the dirt. She rolled over, gasping and coughing.

Meanwhile for the kedan, he was already running forward, hands reaching automatically for the necklace her soul jewelry was set in.

It was late at night, so the common room was filled with sleeping bodies. As Xion reached the first floor, she heard a very insistent whisper.

"Quick, come here!"

Upon a look around, the voice could be traced to a woman who was hiding underneath a table in the kitchen.

With sleeping bodies came sleeping sounds, and it was a bit hard to distinguish the whisper at first. At last she realized that the noise she was hearing wasn't just someone shifting around.

She followed the whisper through the dining rooms, noticing the voice still calling her further. That was odd... She was shuffling a bit more slowly than she would have liked, but her stamina still wasn't the greatest at the moment. Besides, she still needed energy to make it back up to Aqua's room once this was all done.

At last, she made her way into the kitchen, and after a bit of searching, found the speaker underneath a table.

"What are you doing there?" she asked, completely befuddled.

Stork had gotten the information about where Xion was recouperating from Aqua, who'd also given him more or less permission to stop by and check on her. Their first conversation had been a little rocky, but not ill-remembered. So the pilot is knocking one four-fingered hand on the door, and sticks his head inside.

"Um. Hey."

On one of the occasions where Xion wandered down to the common room, Raine was also passing through, and in this instance the girl's presence caused her to pause, then change course. She remembered Xion, though it had been a little time, and it was worth checking in on her; even though Aqua surely was taking good care of her and there was nothing that necessitated worry, Raine did like to up to date.

She stopped a few paces from the couch with a little wave of greeting, then indicated the still-present bandage, tipping her head a little as if in inquiry. "How have you been?" she asked, without other preamble.

Edited (continuity!) 2015-04-18 19:55 (UTC)

Meanwhile Xion herself had been halfway into a doze when she heard the knock on the door, and by the time Stork was entering, she was rubbing her eyes. She tried to use her bad arm to push herself up and to her feet, hissed briefly in pain, before switching arms.

"Oh, hey," she said when she saw who was entering, a bit surprised though not displeased. She just hadn't... honestly expected anybody to stop in, besides those who were already there.

Edited 2015-04-18 23:23 (UTC)

After confirming the boy on the other end of the radio had gotten the instructions, Aqua had leapt into action. With a quick apology to the radio's owner for her sudden seizing of it, she rushed to locate Roxas and tell him what had happened. Then it was a mad dash to the Healer's Guild, following the path she knew well now, making sure Xion's friend - and Ven's doppelganger - was right behind her the whole way.

It was a very frantic Keyblade Master who burst through the doors of the Healer's Guild, followed by an equally frantic boy. She took only a moment to catch her breath before standing up and calling out down the hall. "Raine!" If anything, the tone alone, as well as the fact she was yelling from the main hall, could be enough to alert anyone in earshot that something was very wrong.

Roxas feels like he did the day Saïx told him Xion had fallen asleep. Except there's no one he has to argue with this time, no one trying to stop him from running to her. It's actually... pretty well the opposite. Because Aqua is helping him get to her. Roxas is two steps behind her the entire way to the Healer's Guild, and it's only two steps because he doesn't know where they're going.

Aqua yells down the hallway. Roxas doesn't know what they're going to do. Is Xion not here yet? That means he'll be here when she gets here. He'll be here waiting for her. But waiting is already hard. He hopes there's a way for him to help... get ready for taking care of her, or something. He doesn't know what he's going to do otherwise.

Raine had gone almost a full week without anyone yelling her name in panic. She supposed it was about due.

She'd been on her way out, as it happened; it was late enough in the evening for that. All she had to do was quicken her pace, and momentarily she was in the main hall with Aqua and the unfamiliar boy. "I'm here," she said, glancing both of them over rapidly. Neither looked visibly injured, and in any case unless Aqua was magically exhausted neither of them was likely the problem. She shifted her grip on her staff, bracing her stance a little as if a threat might be incoming any moment. "What's wrong?"

"Thank goodness," Aqua replied, taking another moment to get her breathing under control. "There's been an attack; my friend, my student Xion... she was shot." It was clear enough the boy who was bringing her hadn't arrived yet, and while it worried Aqua, it also allowed time for them to prepare.

And from the look of things, Raine had just been about to leave. Excellent timing. "I heard about it over the radio; there's a boy bringing her here. It... he said she was bleeding badly." She swallowed as the implication of her words hit her. "We... we need to be ready."

"What do we need to do?" Roxas blurts, stepping forward. "To be ready, I mean. How can I help?"

He doesn't know anything about this Raine person, but if Aqua trusts her -- trusts her to take care of Xion -- then that's going to have to be enough for him. His magic isn't very good, so it's not like he can Cure it better.

"Shot," Raine echoed, and grimaced. That was an unpleasant experience. "I suppose they weren't calm enough to note if the bullet passed through or lodged. Never mind." Aqua seemed more badly shaken than usual, too, and the boy wasn't much better. "One of you should remain here-- Aqua. I'll operate under the worse assumption, that we'll need to remove a bullet from her. Your friend and I will go ahead and make sure what tools we'll need are ready; I want you to wait here. Stabilize her if you need to when she arrives, then bring her back to me and we can take care of the rest." She specifies a room, then motions to Roxas to follow her and heads back into the hall from whence she came.

Stork sidled into the room, yellow eyes quickly scanning the room as if to ascertain there weren't any immediate threats present. Even still, his posture is perpetually hunched, like he's ready to bolt at any minute, even though he doesn't look that alarmed... that's just his general state.

"Aqua said it would be all right if I stopped by," he said, almost apologetically. "How are you feeling?"

Her eyes widen at the prospect of removing a bullet, but Aqua nods. "Understood." She looks at Roxas as Raine turns back to the hall, nodding after her. "Raine owns and runs the Healer's Guild here; she knows what she's doing. Go on and help her set up what she needs. I'll make sure Xion is stable when she arrives."

It's so strange talking to this boy, this boy who looks and sounds like Ven. She almost reaches to cup his face as she speaks, to assure him not to worry, even as she herself fretted. But she stays her hand before it can rise too much. They've only known each other for a day, and he isn't Ven.

Aqua turns and heads back to the door to keep watch; once Xion arrives with her helper, she'll be ready to do as needed.

Xion had been well into shock and suffering from pretty significant bloodloss when they'd last met. And afterwards she'd been unconscious, recovering as well as dealing with the aftereffects of her soul gem being lost. As such, she didn't have much memory of the aftermath of getting shot. And when she turned to look at Raine, a faint, confused frown appeared on her face.

"Yeah, better. I..." she trailed off for a moment, "I've seen you before, right?"

Roxas doesn't really pay attention to Aqua's aborted motion; he just assumes it's a handwave, a small gesture ushering him onward. So he nods once in firm affirmation and turns to follow Raine. "Right."

He's relieved that there definitely is something he can do. He was worried that they'd get here and he'd be useless. If all he could do was stand by and watch as Xion's in trouble...

"So what do I need to do?"

Raine kept her pace quick, confident that she'd be followed. "I'll need anaesthetic, antiseptic, forceps, likely a scalpel. Hopefully no sutures will actually be necessary-- I'm not that worn down, and Aqua's here as well." In truth, it would probably be faster for her to be gathering supplies alone: an extra pair of hands that were unfamiliar with the tools and the location could on occasion be worse than no extra hands at all. Even so, the boy was the incoming patient's friend, and she knew how it chafed, to be helpless at such a time.

They had a little extra time, anyway. The delay was for now affordable. Raine led him to the room she'd told Aqua they'd use, and pointed Roxas at one set of cabinets before going through the other herself.

"Not too bad, I guess," Xion replied. Her own healing had been a bit weaker than normal due to lack of energy, but it was still good for keeping a fair amount of the pain at bay. "Just a little tired."

Not so much sleepy, though she was a bit of that at the moment. Just more... worn down. Recovering took a lot out of someone, especially recovering from something like that.

"Uh..." Those sure were a bunch of words he doesn't know. But she's having him look at these cabinets, which are labeled. Whew. "Okay." He doesn't have to worry about embarrassing himself or being useless.

He picks out one metal instrument out of the cabinet labeled "forceps" and one from the cabinet labeled "scalpel." He turns to Raine once he's closed the cabinets back. "Okay, here. Where do you want them?"

In Raine's defense, she was mostly used to her brother in terms of young people, and didn't often think twice about assuming anyone over about four feet tall could keep up with her. She'd recalibrate if she realized he was floundering. "Here," Raine said absently, tapping a metal tray beside her. She'd busied herself with slightly more esoteric things, liquid and relatively strongly scented. "Thank you." She'd have proceeded to small talk, but her mind was mostly otherwise occupied. At least they shouldn't have much scrambling to do when Aqua and her student got there.

"Got it." Roxas obediently places the things on the tray. They're askew at first, but then he starts to feel a little guilty. He reaches over and straightens them.

The lack of small talk doesn't particularly bother him. He's in mission mode, and he's learned that under most circumstances, that means not much unnecessary talk. "Is there anything else?" That doesn't count as unnecessary, though, he's pretty sure.

Small talk or loud talk, it might be difficult to hear a reply over the resounding crash from the front door.

It's not just onomatopoeic, but literal. It's also pretty easy to guess why. The young man who screeches into the hall after a moment's disorientation clearly has his hands full just staying on his feet, never mind coming up with sensible descriptive imagery. He's panting as he staggers to a halt, grimacing, trailing a faintly glowing afterimage that begins to fade long before his panic does, and the damp cloth of his shirt is more rusty brown than white. There's no sign of his jewellery any more than there is of Xion's.

But he is on his feet, which is more than can be said of the small, dark-haired figure limply slung across his shoulder and back like so much dead weight. ...Well, not nearly enough weight, and still seeping. Bleeding and bleeding, despite the best Yosuke could do with a torn coat, a half-remembered scrap of first aid via osmosis and five seconds.

Which means he's not important here, if he ever was.

"Look, it's okay, we made it," he says, indistinctly at first, maybe only for his own benefit by this point. "...Oh god, I hope we made it."

But he raises his head the moment it stops spinning, and his voice at the same time. "Hey! Someone...! We got a patient here!"

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A whirlwind few days

slams in here!

BE THE DASHING HERO...

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Healer's Guild, 16th, post-attack

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