paixaorpg | Released Back Into the Wild [Active]

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Released Back Into the Wild [Active]

Character(s): Gaston and probably Haku, Kaa, and Repliku
Content: Gaston finds himself in the streets with no idea of how he got there.
Setting: Around Morem o Lisboa
Time: Evening
Warnings: Kaa and Gaston in the same thread? WHO WILL SURVIVE?

It felt like a hangover, but Gaston couldn't remember drinking anything alcoholic. In fact, he couldn't even remember what had happened to him. The sky was familiar, at least. He had just opened his eyes to find that blasted fake sky overhead, with its stupid painted clouds and sun and everything. Obviously, he was still in the city. He was also lying down in the street. It occurred to him that this was not a proper thing to do, especially for someone with a reputation to uphold. With this in mind, the hunter pushed himself to his feet, trying to ignore the pounding in his head.

Now that he thought about it, he wasn't even sure why he was in the city. He was sure he'd left it, with Jack and... and some other people... And then... Then... something had happened? He had a hazy recollection of a scuffle and then... Then there was nothing. He had to have been knocked out. That was the best explanation. He'd obviously been dumped in the streets somewhere while he was unconscious. The thought made him seethe inwardly. Bad enough to lose a fight, but to get thrown in the gutter like a beggar? That was just adding insult to injury. Someone was going to pay for that someday. At least, once he figured out who was behind it all...

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Not for the first time, Haku was glad that he had Kaa with him. The serpent knew much of the city, things that he didn't know, that he might not remember. Surely without him, the effeminate shinobi would have found himself wandering the city for hours on end, trying to a hotel. It was a small blessing, but a blessing none-the-less.

Everything looked so unfamiliar. It was almost overwhelming, though Haku seemed to be taking everything in a manner akin to wide-eyed wonder, without the wide-eyes. He actually paused in his movements as he caught sight of a stranger before them. The man didn't look like the pale natives, as much an anomaly as Haku himself was among them.

"Hello..." Soft-spoken words, tinged with a shyness born of the amnesia Haku suffered from. The amnesiac was watching the stranger, wondering if he knew the man. After the day he's had so far, he was certain that he wouldn't be surprised to run into more 'friends' that he couldn't remember.

Repliku too had been secretly glad for the serpent's presence. It was good to have someone around who was at least a bit familiar with the area. Although after having easily figured the journal out that contained a map, he would've been fine on his own. He just stuck around because Kaa seemed to know quite a bit about the Organization and this place itself.

He was also slowly starting to get used to the fakeness of the city. Coming to accept how it reflected him as a being, utterly fake, rather than being constantly mocked by it.

He had been staring at a certain building until Haku's voice caught his attention. Another foreigner it seemed. Repliku simply raised an eyebrow at the stranger, he didn't seem to be in the best of shapes.

Gaston massaged his forehead, still trying to ease the pain of the headache he was suffering from. Initially, he had tried to ignore the people passing by, hoping none of them would start commenting on his rather unkempt state. It was bad enough waking up in the gutter without people making special note that it was him.

Obviously, he couldn't avoid it completely. One of them had just hailed him, and he only managed to half-suppress a grimace.. It really wasn't his day.

The hunter turned towards the young man who had addressed him, deciding he would at least attempt to be civil. "Yes, boys? What can I do for you?" There... That sounded like something an ordinary, non-homeless person would say. At least if they asked him what was wrong, he had a good explanation. Getting in a fight with a bunch of monsters was a courageous, manly thing to do, even if he'd lost. He'd just have to fudge the details a bit and not mention that his group had outnumbered the things... THAT would be embarrassing to bring up!

Haku could see that Gaston was in pain and part of him said that he should help, that he should do something. If he remembered anything, perhaps he would have offered that help. However, he didn't, and Kaa still hadn't offered him the explanations he had offered before. Speaking of Kaa, it seemed strange that Gaston hadn't mentioned him in his greeting. It was hard to miss such a large serpent...

"Where is Kaa?" That was what he had missed. Kaa had disappeared on them! How hadn't he seen the snake leave? "He was showing us to the hotel..."

Haku looked to Repliku, puzzled. "Did we lose him somewhere along the way?" There went their shot for finding the hotel, and possibly his only chance of figuring out what the amnesia had taken away.

Repliku had been about to make a blunt comment on the man's state but the 'boys' in his sentence completely threw him off. Boys? How the hell could he not have noticed the huge snake they had with him? Was he blind or something?

He was soon knocked out of that train of thought when Haku spoke. He stopped frowning at Gaston for a moment to actually turn around to see what the feminine shinobi was talking about and discovered Kaa indeed had disappeared. "Kaa!?" How was that possible? He had been right there a moment ago!

Repliku looked back at Haku with the same bemused expression, many thoughts suddenly running through his head. "I don't think so...and he'd know where we're going." The hotel was the least of the replica's problems, he could easily look it up on the map. What of the Organization? Had Kaa disappeared just like that bag-like creature or just lost his way, however unlikely that was?

Gaston blinked, trying to figure out whether or not they were actually asking HIM about this Kaa person. But no, apparently he was someone they'd just lost track of, and they were ignoring him in favor of trying to find their lost comrade. Usually, he would be insulted by people ignoring him. This time, he used their distraction to brush off his clothes and run his fingers through his hair. He could at least make himself a little more presentable while they weren't paying attention to him.

Satisfied that his appearance was probably the best he could get it without hunting down a comb and a new outfit, Gaston spoke up once again. "I don't know anyone named Kaa... I'm afraid I can't tell you where he is..."

Haku frowned thoughtfully, looking from Repliku to Gaston and back. How had they lost Kaa? It seemed so very strange for him to just vanish on them. Especially when he was so intent upon making sure Haku could remember at least part of who he was.

"It's okay," Haku said softly. "I suppose we can make do without him..." He seemed disappointed in Kaa's disappearance. Could you blame him? Having a friend suddenly disappear on you like that?

And it wasn't like Haku couldn't figure things out on his own again. It was just that the last time, he knew himself. Now, it was like trying to figure out a strange place with no frame of reference at all. That was no way to try and figure things out. Not when he had no idea what should be right and what should be wrong.

The amnesiac looked back up at Gaston. "Would you be able to direct us to the hotel? Please?"

Repliku's distress wasn't really helped by his two 'companions' and he had a difficult time not snapping at them. To Gaston he would've liked to say 'we weren't talking to you!' and to Haku 'It's NOT okay!' if he weren't holding his tongue.

How could this be OKAY? He just lost a valuable source of information! Rather than disappointed, the replica was frustrated. It figured something like this would happen to him. Now he was stuck with an amnesiac and some...hobo or whatever the guy was, he sure looked like one at the moment.

Ditch them was what he wanted to do right now, just ditch them and look for Sora. However there was still a possibility of Kaa having lost his way and going to the hotel to meet them.

He fished the journal out of his pocket and summoned up the map, he didn't need the stranger's help he was fine on his own. "Hotel's this way," he said stiffly as he brushed past them and walked into the direction of the hotel.

Gaston glared at the silver-haired boy as he moved on past. It wasn't that he'd answered the question before Gaston could fish out his own journal from his pocket. It was the way the boy had ignored him completely right after his companion had asked him for help that bugged him. "Yes, that map DOES come in handy, doesn't it," he said pointedly.

The hotel didn't sound like a bad idea, though. Gaston wouldn't mind stopping somewhere for a meal and the chance to clean up a little. While he didn't mind getting dirty now and then, if he was going to be wandering around the city he didn't want to look like some kind of slob.

Haku frowned as Repliku brushed past, stalking off toward the hotel. His actions made his frustration clear, and the effeminate shinobi was puzzled as to why his friend had become so frustrated. Sure, Kaa's disappearance was distressing, but...

Haku looked up at Gaston as he spoke and shrugged, offering an unintentional answer to his question. He hadn't had a chance to look at the journal since Kaa had opened his, and not once had Haku opened his own.

"I'm sorry that he's so touchy right now," Haku offered to Gaston. "I guess he's rather upset about the fact that our friend disappeared on us." Haku was, too, but he wasn't reacting in the same way.

"Indeed it does," Repliku retorted sarcastically with an almost-venomous sound to his voice. The man was starting to get on his nerves and if he kept trying to sound smart he would no longer be on the receiving end of the replica's sharp tongue but the sharp edge of his Soul Eater.

He decided not to speak any further unless he was addressed directly. As he walked he tried to calm himself down and figure out what to do next. He'd wait to see if Kaa would come, perhaps see if he could find Sora through the journals and a meal didn't sound too bad.

Luckily it didn't take long to get to the hotel as it had been nearby and when it came in sight Repliku quirked an eyebrow at it. It looked expensive.

Gaston ignored the replica's reply, dismissing him as an extremely rude and not especially interesting individual. The hunter had met people who had taken a dislike to him before, but this boy had been ill-mannered from the very beginning. At least the other one seemed to be more pleasant company. Gaston wondered how he'd gotten stuck with such a snob for a companion. Not that it really mattered.

"Yes, well... That sort of thing happens sometimes," Gaston said to the dark-haired boy. "I seem to have lost track of my companions as well. We were attacked by some sort of creatures outside the city. I remember getting hit, and then I found myself here, alone."

Haku shook his head, disappointed with Repliku's rudeness toward Gaston. Really, there was no reason to speak in such a manner just because their friend had gone missing. The young shinobi hadn't reacted that way, and he had never had to consider the possibility that Repliku would react any differently than he had. It was such a shame that you couldn't base other people's reactions on the things that you yourself would do. After all, didn't he have just as much right to be upset, considering that Kaa was going to give him the information he had lost? And he was just taking it in stride. Things happened. You couldn't always control them.

Gaston's words made Haku frown. It was always a bad thing when you lost your companions and friends. Look at how miffed Repliku was over Kaa's disappearance! And Haku knew all too well the pain of gaps in memory, missing his own. "I'm sorry that you lost your friends. Perhaps we can help you look for them? Or at least, I can..." He reconsidered the words. "...what kind of creatures were you attacked by?"

Kaa wasn't exactly the cause of Repliku's behaviour, his disappearance was more like a trigger or as some would say 'the last straw'. It was mostly the entire situation he had found himself in that was making him so upset. He had been trapped, no...actually created in Castle Oblivion by the Organization. Then used as a simple toy, had his head filled with fake memories and then been deceived some more. With his death it was a small relief he no longer had to deal with them although his main concern back then had been the question of where a fake heart like his would go. Something his original hadn't really been able answer.

But now, after dying, he had found himself in a situation similar to that in Castle Oblivion. Trapped in a place that was run by the Organization. And among the Organization present were some who were supposed to be dead and not only that, there was even one whom he had killed personally. Only mere minutes ago he lost a person who at least had a clue about what was going on here. It was all quite upsetting really.

When the replica was about to move on something Gaston said had caught his attention. Creatures? "Heartless?" he queried as he looked over his shoulder at them. His expression had shifted into something more neutral and less hostile, even his shoulders were slightly more relaxed. The attempt to calm himself down had worked somewhat. Although it wasn't something he was used to doing. He had always been a person to act and speak on impulse while not thinking of any consequences. Right now it seemed wiser not to make any more enemies.

"I don't know what they're called," Gaston admitted. He had looked for that information at the library, but the book they had found only had a section on the Lumens, and it hadn't exactly offered a comprehensive guide to those creatures either, even though they seemed to be fairly common around town. "They're a light gray, almost white. Fairly large and extremely fast and agile too."

If they hadn't seen them before, then it was likely they would have no idea what he was talking about. However, he knew the creatures had been in the city at least once, so it was possible, depending on how long the two had been there, that they had seen them too. "The things attacked the city once," he mentioned. "If you've been here a while, you've probably heard of them before. So far, nobody's been able to tell me what they are."

Haku listened to Gaston's description, pleased to note that Repliku seemed to be a little less hostile at the moment. He wasn't very fond of people not getting along. The description of the creatures didn't sound like anything that he had ever come across. However, with the amnesia, it was kind of hard to tell what he had encountered before he had forgotten it all.

Haku shrugged as he looked up at Gaston. "I don't know if I've ever come across them before." He shook his head. "I don't remember. But if I see one, I could keep in mind what you've told us." And Haku would, provided he remembered.

Repliku considered the description he had been given. It could be Heartless for all he knew, there was a wide variety of them out there. He would've been inclined to say they were Neo-Shadows had Gaston not said they were light gray to white. "Could be a Heartless..." he muttered mostly to himself, trying to recall all of the Heartless he had encountered and whether or not one would fit the description.

After a moment of thinking he drew a point blank, nothing came to mind to fit that description. So there was only one way to know for sure they were Heartless or not. Repliku turned around fully now and pointed to the empty Heartless symbol on his chest. "Would they happen to have a symbol like this on their body?"

Gaston stared at the boy for a moment, or rather stared at the symbol he had indicated. "Sort of," he decided, after a moment. It did look a bit similar to a marking he had noticed on the creatures they had fought. But it wasn't exactly the same. "It was different, but it did have a kind of heart-and-cross shape to it. The other way around, though," he added, twirling his finger to indicate that the symbol was the opposite direction as the one on Repliku's chest. "Cross on top, and upside-down heart on the bottom. And it was white, not black and red." He didn't know if the color had anything to do with it, but he decided to note the difference anyway. "They looked somewhat like people, but the way they moved... Definitely not human."

The hunter wondered exactly what the "Heartless" were, even if they weren't the creatures he had seen. If there was something ELSE out there he should know about, then he thought it best that he find out as soon as possible. "What are Heartless, anyway?" he inquired. "Some other kind of creature that's going to attack this place sometime?" Remembering that the boy was wearing one of their symbols, he decided to bring that up as well, pointing a finger at the unusual mark, "And does that mean you're one of them or working with them?"

Haku continued to listen. As before, with Kaa, the conversation no longer seemed to involve him. However, that didn't mean that he couldn't get information from what Repliku and Gaston were speaking of without him. He, too, found it odd that Repliku wore the very symbol of the things that he was asking about. Was he their friend, then? Or had they branded him for some unknown reason?

Luckily, Gaston had asked the very questions that Haku had thought. It certainly made it so that Haku didn't have to ask them, and that made it easier for the young shinobi. If he could, he wanted to avoid upsetting his new friend further than he already seemed to be with Kaa's disappearance.

"There seem to be plenty of things here that aren't human." Kaa had been a good example of that. "Animals, and stuff, you know?" Animals that talked, which Haku didn't recall ever coming across. "So they wouldn't move like people would." Oh, such an innocent, naive comment.

Repliku tried to imagine the symbol as Gaston described it. It soon became clear it wasn't anything he had seen or heard of before. The way these creatures were described sounded like they were counterparts of certain types of Heartless. Human-like only not human. Fun, more wacko creatures.

It was odd to hear someone didn't know what Heartless were, usually worlds were just infested with them or at least had a problem with them once or twice. Nonetheless, he explained. There was always a chance they might come here. "Heartless are what a person who's consumed by darkness becomes. They move around worlds and take hearts, those whose heart has been taken turn into a Heartless too."

He simply shrugged at the question of the Heartless showing up here, how was he supposed to know? The next question almost made him laugh even though he knew it was probably suspicious to have such a symbol on him. He a Heartless? Sure darkness was his essence, the thing he thrived on. He still had a heart though....albeit a fake one but a heart nevertheless.

"I'm not, the symbol's there because I can use the same power as them," the sentence was said with something of a smug grin. Darkness had nothing on him, he hadn't feared it like his original had.

{So sorry for the delay! D: School started again and I've been trying to get my bearings and whatnot.}

"I see," Gaston said, considering for a moment if using the same power was all that different from being the same as something and then deciding he really didn't care one way or the other. The city was strange enough without pondering things like that. He'd just be wary of anything with that symbol on it, human-looking or otherwise. That included the boy, although the hunter wasn't about to say so in front of him. It never hurt to be cautious.

He grimaced at the thought of yet another thing he had to watch out for. "This city is starting to annoy me," he admitted. "All kinds of monsters roaming the streets, people stealing my weapons... And I hear there's even talking animals roaming around like they're some kind of furry humans, and one of them actually wants to run the place." The hunter snorted in a mix of amusement and irritation. "I don't know... Maybe it would actually be an improvement. It's not like this place can get much worse."

To hear Repliku's answer was interesting to Haku. He couldn't think of a reason why dealing with a certain kind of power would make you like the others that used it. Yet, there seemed to be something that didn't sit well with the answer. It was probably the smug grin. The effeminate shinobi had the feeling that there was something off to the statement, some underlying note. However, he wasn't going to ask about it.

He listened carefully to Gaston's words, considering the things he said. There was frustration there, and Haku could tell that Gaston would rather be anywhere else but here.

"Why don't you leave, then?" Haku asked. He didn't know that you couldn't leave. "What's making you stay?"

Repliku crossed his arms as he listened to Gaston talk. A furry creature that wanted to run this city? That thought was somewhat amusing, especially since the Organization was involved. The poor creature probably wouldn't get far with his attempts. Admittedly the city annoyed him too for various reasons.

He decided to remain silent and let Haku and Gaston talk, pondering about Haku's question himself. Leave this city? To where? He himself had no other place to go to and he doubted the Organization would let people go that easily.

"You can't leave this city," Gaston said, a touch irritably, although his anger wasn't so much directed at Haku as it was the forces keeping him imprisoned in the city. "For one thing the guards won't let you out, and even if you get past them, there's packs of those creatures out there that will just attack you and bring you back. Whoever brought us here wants us to stay put and they've got some kind of powers or magic that lets them do it."

Gaston was starting to hate magic. It was messy and random and he never got to benefit from it. It was always the other side that had the weird magical abilities, like the Beast's talking furniture and magic mirror. That mirror really would have been useful to have in Paixao, too... But of course it had been gone when he'd first arrived in the city, thus proving that someone somewhere didn't want him having any magical advantages to even the playing field. They were a bunch of cheaters, and Gaston hated when people cheated against him.

"You can't leave?" Haku repeated questioningly. He was having trouble processing why, exactly, the guards wouldn't want people to leave. Surely, folks should be allowed to come and go at their leisure? And even if there were dangerous things beyond the walls, the people were leaving at their own risk, right?

"That doesn't seem very fair, at all, regardless of what might be out there. Why shouldn't you be allowed to go outside at your own risk?" It seemed like he was finding out things about this city that were worrisome. Too bad he couldn't remember if there had been anything that he had learned before.

Couldn't leave, huh? Now that was a surprise! Only not really. Repliku had to suppress his laughter at the irony of it all. Of course you couldn't leave, this was the Organization we were talking about after all! Although in Castle Oblivion there had been an exit but whatever they were doing now was on a much larger scale.

"Because it's the Organization who runs this place," he answered. It probably wouldn't make sense to the amnesiac shinobi but that was what it came down to. Apparently the Organization needed all these people for something and it was only natural you wouldn't be allowed to leave.

{Sorry for the late response! DX Got sick and didn't feel like posting at that time.}

"They want us to stay here," Gaston confirmed. "And it's becoming increasingly obvious that it was no accident that we were brought here in the first place."

Granted, Gaston had originally thought he'd died and this was some sort of afterlife. It had made sense, considering the circumstances he'd been in at the time of his arrival. But that conflicted with the way a lot of other people had entered the city, and Gaston wasn't an idiot. Obviously they'd been taken from their own worlds by some sinister force. Technically, he owed his life to the people behind it all, but at the same time, he hated that they seemed to think of him as some sort of puppet. He wasn't sure dying was that much worse than being toyed with... except that there might be some other way out of it, if he kept his eyes open.

Haku pondered Gaston's words. "They want us to stay? But why?" It was a puzzling thought. Sure, all hosts wanted their guests to stay as long as possible, but they eventually let those guests leave, and always when the guests chose. This seemed like it defied those rules of conduct.

"They aren't being good hosts if they keep us here when we want to leave," Haku pointed out. "And if it was no accident, does that mean that we were brought here on purpose? Why?"

This was all so puzzling. Haku didn't even know where to begin to sort this all out. What purpose was there in keeping people here who wanted to leave? It wasn't very friendly of whoever was running this place... Maybe, if and when he got his memories back, he'd be able to sort this out better. He was sure of it.

Repliku considered the question Haku posed. Why? Why would they gather so many people and make them stay? The answer was quite simple knowing the Organization. Most likely it was the same reason as to why he was created. Before he could answer, Haku's next sentence hit him and he couldn't help but let out a short laugh.

"Oh, they're anything BUT good hosts," he said with a grimace. "We're probably here to be their lab rats...knowing them this is all just one big experiment." At least it sounded logical to Repliku and there was no other purpose he could think of.

Gaston scowled at Repliku's explanation, but he was in complete agreement. He just didn't like it. "We're like their toys," he added. "Or prisoners... They don't seem to want us to escape this place, so I'd say that makes this whole city a prison. An enormous, shiny prison with no chains or bars... but a prison nonetheless. I don't know about you, but I feel like rioting."

The problem was, he wasn't sure who he should riot against. Most of the people were probably fellow inmates or something. If he knew who his captors were, it would be a different story, but so far, all he knew were that the maybe-Heartless things were some of the guards.

(OOC: Sorry for taking so long! College wants to take my soul ^_^;;)

Haku frowned at Gaston and Repliku's comments. He didn't like that train of thought at all. Amnesiac or not, no one ever liked being told they were someone else's toy.

"Why do they want us here, though?" Haku asked. "What's the point of the experiment?" He knew that neither Repliku nor Gaston had the answers to his question. That didn't mean the answers weren't needed anyway.

The effeminate boy kept his eyes to their surroundings, and it seemed like they were quite close to their destination.

"Is that the hotel there, then?" Haku was more than ready to just get inside and relax. It had been a rather taxing day. Without saying another word, Haku made his way to the building. Conversation was all well and good, but when he had nothing to contribute, it was time to move on.

Repliku nodded solemnly to Gaston's claims. It was exactly just that, they were toys in a prison that might not seem like a prison but in fact was one. Kind of like Castle Oblivion. Once you went into that castle you had to keep going. "A riot doesn't sound bad," the replica admitted.

Haku's questions made him return his attention upon the effeminate shinobi but before he could even begin to answer, much less think about the questions, he had already wandered off into the hotel and all Repliku could do was raise an eyebrow after him.

He looked back at Gaston almost questioningly before shrugging his shoulders. He guessed calling it a day didn't sound too bad about now and set about following the shinobi into the hotel.

Gaston followed the two into the hotel, but gave them a wave of farewell as he came inside, "Well, I'm going to see if they have anything to eat in here before I turn in. I'll see you two later." It had been interesting talking to the two boys, but the hunter had no real intention to stay with them any longer than he already had. He had decided that he had enough other things to do... such as find out if Jack was still around somewhere and catch up with him. Besides that, he could find out more about whoever had kidnapped him and dumped him in the street... Whoever that was might have just made it to the top of his least favorite people list... and if someone beat out the Beast, that was saying something.

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Released Back Into the Wild [Active]

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