paixaorpg | A Very Strange Place [Finished]

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A Very Strange Place [Finished]

Characters: Rafiki and anyone else
Content: Rafiki arrives in Paixao.
Setting: Muspelheim Gate
Time: Laaaate in the evening, Week 20
Warnings: Creepy little monkey

Paixao had seen stranger things than the creature who’d just been ushered inside the gates. However, a mandrill baboon wasn’t a commonly seen creature either. The dim, but warm lights of the evening illuminated the bright red and blue colors of his face, as well as the surprised expression upon it. Rafiki had never seen anything like this strange new place. But the one thing he did know was that he was far, far from home.

Rather than carry the dull orange journal that had been handed to him, passersby could see that he had tied it to the top of his walking stick, amongst similarly orange, rattling gourds. He cautiously walked farther along the street, looking at the domed city. To him, it appeared more like a beautiful, but very peculiar cave. Sure, he had done his share of drawing, but never had he seen animal images so lifelike! At first, they had appeared to be almost real.

In spite of the strange beauty that surrounded him, the place seemed oddly lifeless. The air was still, and the strange stone that everything was made from yielded no cracks deep enough for plants to take root in. In addition, at the late time of his arrival, there were few people out on the streets, and the lifelike animals that looked down at him from paintings and watched him as silent statues paid him no heed. The stars that adored the top of the ceiling twinkled… but had no spark to them.

“ ‘Dis is peculiar.” The mandrill said to no one in particular. “Well, I am here. It is time I find out why." He gave a little nod and continued walking.

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For the last week, Roxas had been staying mostly in Vyers' apartment, enjoying spending time with Simba and Timon. Since they'd sung that "Hakuna Matata" song together, the blond had been feeling a little better. He was definitely starting to like Timon more, too. He smiled to himself as he put on the disguise, remembering that day when they went to get ice cream. It left him wondering if he'd ever had so much fun before, but he wasn't going to worry about it. In fact, he wasn't planning on worrying about anything until he had his memories back.

"Hakuna matata," he said, laughing a little as he turned the door handle and left the apartment. He hadn't really gone out on his own yet, not since Namine had brought him here, but he wanted some fresh air. It was the perfect time for it, as Xion had left about an hour ago to meet that Axel guy she'd told Roxas about, and Vyers and Timon were arguing again over something random. Roxas was starting to get surprised when the two of them weren't yelling in the background. He still wasn't very sure why he'd turned down getting to meet Axel, though. Xion had said the three of them were best friends, and always had ice cream together, but...

"Man, why can't I stop thinking about that? I bet I'll get to meet him later anyway, and he's probably a really nice guy!" He was outside the building by the time he'd finished scolding himself, and on his way toward a restaurant he was pretty sure wasn't too far away. It was the one they'd all eaten lunch at the day he woke up, so he had at least some idea where he was going. He picked a few of the shinier flowers and leaves as he walked, so that he'd be able to pay if he actually went inside.

But before he quite made it, something caught his eye. Well...someone. They were walking kind of stooped over, and had blue fur, and a blue face with red stripes...and a white...beard...thing. He gave a weird look in their direction, but then he remembered the get-up he was wearing himself. It seemed rude to just stare, so Roxas made his way through the crowd. "Hey," he said when he was close enough to address the strange...person? If they weren't some kind of animal, anyway.

Rafiki had been wandering for some time at that point, and had learned much about what this place was like, but why this place was as it was still alluded him. There were no plants… but there were strange formations that were much like them in appearance. And yet, he could smell food on the air, so there was plantlife around… just not where he could find it. It wafted out around the little offshoots of the cave, which smelled also of many other things… They were the living places for the creatures that lived there.

The more common creatures were blonde-furred animals that stood up like meerkats on watch. They smelled similar to the monkeys and baboons he was familiar with… but they all smelled… odd. Their scent was strong, yet wasn’t as complex as he felt it should have been. However, some of these meerkat-walkers were different. They were more complex both visually and olfactorally.

Rafiki had been observing some of the flowerlike formations, when one of the creatures approached him… and addressed him. The mandrill turned to face the meerkat-walker, using his staff to help him stand fully erect. He momentarily gave the creature a scrutinous look. Blond fur, blue eyes… yet this one was different, his peculiar plumage aside. The scent was dissimilar, for one, and for another… this one had gone out of his way to speak with the old baboon.

“And hello to you!” Rafiki gestured with a wide sweep of his hand, which came to point at the boy’s chest. However it was then that he caught a scent that was familiar! This meerkat-walker actually had a bit of meerkat scent on him. How peculiar. And how interesting.

“And what is it that brings you to Old Rafiki?”

...Okay. It--he--was talking. And...had a funny way of doing it, too. Roxas took a step back as he was pointed at, finding himself suddenly nervous to be picked out of the crowd, even though he was the one who'd addressed the stranger first. This whole thing was more awkward than the boy had been expecting, especially without memories of what he should be doing or saying now.

For a few moments, he just tried to stop looking so surprised and taken aback, though that was proving difficult. "I...I just...You look different from everyone else," he stammered, tripping over his words. "You're uh...new here, right?" The words made him a bit more confident, and he ventured a brief smile, hoping that it looked friendly.

The cub in front of the old baboon seemed unsure of himself… but Rafiki saw no reason why he should be. The mandrill laughed, holding onto his walking stick with both hands as he leaned against it. However, he then returned the friendly smile, though his was broad and lasting.

“Of course I look different!” He made a sweeping gesture to indicate all of the others walking about. “’Dey are themselves. And I am myself, just ‘de same as you are yourself.” His hand swept back to his chest to indicate himself, then pointed back at the meerkat-walker in front of him.

”And, eh-heh-heh! I am no newer here than I am anywhere else. However! I have not been in ‘dis place long. But how about you? How well do you know ‘dis place?” Rafiki looked around, then back at the cub expectantly.

...Yeah, that was easy to answer. How could Roxas know how long he'd been here, when he couldn't remember anything at all from more than a week ago? All he even knew about himself was what people had told him...and that was all he knew about Paixao, too.

"I..." he started, trying to think of what to say. "I...think I used to know it like the back of my hand. But I can't really remember anything now, so I don't think I can be of any help..."

"...Sorry." He looked at the ground to his side.

“Very peculiar.” The monkey commented while stroking the white, beardlike fur at the end of his chin. Such an interesting cub. Can't remember his own territory, smells slightly of meerkat... so many mysteries, this place has. However, Rafiki's face switched from contemplative to an optimistic and smiling in a flash.

“Well ‘den! Perhaps…” Rafiki tapped his walking stick on the ground, the gourds tied to the top rattling gently. “We can help each other.” He then dashed to Roxas’ side while his gaze was averted.

“Finding our way may lead ‘de path to finding-“ he tapped the side of Roxas’ head “-your memories.”

The boy's eyes flew wide open when Rafiki tapped his head, then he blinked. "What?" At first, that was it.

"That..doesn't make any sense," he said, surprised. "Why...would that have anything to do with my memory?" He stepped in front of Rafiki, and looked down at him. "You...you don't know something that might help, do you?" Roxas pleaded.

“I might… oooor I might not!” Rafiki gave his head a little, amused shake, followed by an expansive shrug. “However! Something doesn’t have to make sense to work.” Rafiki chuckled, smiling up at the cub.

“You see, we forget many things. But sometimes, ‘de smallest things can bring ‘dem back. A familiar sight, or a scent on ‘de wind…” Rafiki swept his hand toward himself, as if wafting a familiar scent to his nose.

“But ‘de thing is, even if ‘dey don’t come back--” he flicked his hand to the side, as if tossing something aside “-- ‘de only way to know ‘dis place again is to go beyond what you remember!” He then jabbed his finger out toward the street.

"Huh? I don't get it." Roxas followed Rafiki's pointing, and it didn't help any. "I mean...I get the part about little things making me remember some of it, but...what about the really important ones?"

Roxas was quiet for a second or two, before he asked the next question. "What if I'm forgetting something really important, and nothing like that can bring it back? I don't even remember any of my friends, or the things I used to like..."

The song from Simba and Timon, the whole "no worries" thing...Roxas had forgotten that, too.

The baboon smiled warmly up at the cub. “If some’ting is really important to you, ‘den you don’t really forget it.”

Rafiki then stepped closer to the youth, and stood as tall as he was able. He looked at the boy and stroked his beard-fur, as if he could look right into the boy’s head. “Nope, I don’t think you could really forget such things.”

That grin spread back across the monkey’s muzzle. “You just can’t think of ‘dem!”

"That doesn't make any sense!" Roxas was getting frustrated. "How can I think about things I don't remember? Of course I can't think of them! I...wouldn't be worried about them if I could..." He broke eye contact with Rafiki again.

Worried, huh? That was what Timon and Simba had told him he should stop doing...and this guy had just said it, too, hadn't he? What a joke. Like Roxas was going to be able to stop at the drop of a hat. Who could do that? Who would want to...

Rafiki was quiet a moment as he regarded the conflicted cub with wise, yellow eyes. After he’d given the boy a moment to think to himself, the old baboon spoke.

“Some’ting else is bothering you.” It wasn’t a question, just an observation.

"...You don't even know who I am," Roxas remarked. "...Not...that I do, either..." he added under his breath.

He looked back at Rafiki and sighed. "What does it matter if something's bugging me? We just met, you don't even know my name! Why...why do you care...?"

That was a good question for anyone who'd been helping him since he woke up. Even if they were his friends before...he couldn't even remember something small about them. They should be angry...shouldn't they?

“Whether I know your name or not doesn’t matter!” The old baboon spread his arms, his walking stick’s gourds rattling as it moved. “Who you are is not about what you are called, but is defined by what you do.” He tapped his walking stick on the ground, as If it were an auditory punctuation mark.

Rafiki then smiled wider, leaning in close. “And, the real question is: why shouldn’t I care?”

"You're kidding, right?" Roxas couldn't be anything but cynical now. "I haven't done anything I can remember. What does that make me, nobody?" he asked accusingly. "I don't have any memories from more than a week ago, and here you are saying that it's going to be easy to get them all back, and that I haven't really forgotten anything at all?"

"I think...you must be confusing me with someone else. Someone who actually matters."

Rafiki put his long-fingered hands on his waist, and leaned forward with a stern look on his face. “And how could I be confusing you with someone else, when I’ve just met you? I’m not 'de one who’s confused, you don’t even know who you are!” The mandrill jabbed his finger at the boy’s chest.

Roxas stumbled back a step, not expecting Rafiki to do that. "No...I don't," he said. "But...that...That doesn't mean..."

...Doesn't mean what? What could he say? It probably didn't even matter to this guy. Of all the people Roxas could have run into...he found this one.

Rafiki smiled and looked the cub over a moment. He then leaned back and grabbed the lower end of his walking stick with both hands-- In the flash of an instant, the baboon swung the dark stick upwards, then back down over the spiky-furred youth’s head.

"OW!" Roxas partially buckled under the impact, catching himself with a hand. "What was that for?!"

He stood up, rubbing the spot on his head Rafiki had hit through all the spikes. "I didn't do anything to you!"

The old baboon tossed his hands into the air. “Ahh! You see? You just did some’ting! Out of all ‘de things you could do, be it attacking, or fleeing, or any’ting else, you chose to ask!”

The monkey looked down at the cub, hands back on his waist. “It doesn’t matter what you did before you remember, it’s how you react, what you are doing now ‘dat matters! ‘Dat, is a part of who you are. And who you are is your choice. Now. Are you going to choose to be someone who is unsure and down on himself? Or are you going to choose to do ‘tings differently?”

Roxas just stood there for a few seconds.

"I...I don't know," he said quietly. "How can I be sure of anything, when I'm like this? There are things about me that people are afraid to even say..."

The mandrill gave a little smile. “When you’re like what? Wit’out all of your memories?” Rafiki used his walking stick to point at the cub’s head.

“If others are weary of speaking of such ‘tings ‘demselves, ‘den it seems to me ‘dat having all of your memories doesn’t have any’ting to do with being sure or not sure.” He have a quick little nod, the white fur around his neck fluffing a bit.

The teen's eyes went wide for a moment with the stick pointed at him, but he relaxed. "None of this..." he trailed off, then sighed. "None of this is helping. Not even a little. I know I'm not supposed to be worried, and Timon and Simba would just tell me to say 'Hakuna Matata' and forget about it, but...I can't. I need to know who I am. Not just what other people keep telling me."

He looked Rafiki in the eyes. "I...have to find...me. But now we're going in circles. I don't even think we're answering each other's questions."

The old baboon gasped. “Simba?” But there was no way, it wasn’t…

In a flash, Rafiki sidestepped around Roxas, and once behind the cub, reached up and pawed at his clothes and through the spikes of his unruly fur. He pulled out a few strands of the cub’s… and perhaps someone else’s fur.

The baboon then stepped a few feet away, and crouched on a ledge near one of the false gardens. He brought his hand up to his nose, and sniffed at the fur and fibers he’d collected off of the cub. He looked rather thoughtful as he did so, tilting his head a bit, before a bright grin spread across his colorful face.

There were many scents he didn’t recognize, and some he disliked. But now he was sure he was indeed smelling meerkat. And lion. Lion!

The old baboon laughed. “Eh-ha-ha-ha-haaaa-hakuna matatta is right! Young cub, you may have helped me find someone… now I will do ‘de best I can to help you find yourself!” He pointed at the cub again. “Just remember! ‘De questions I ask you are really ‘de questions you should ask yourself!”

It took Roxas a few seconds to say anything. That...was really sudden. "You know Simba?" he asked, looking at Rafiki questioningly. "You seem really excited...what's so important about him?"

And then the last thing Rafiki said hit. "Wait...what difference does it make who's asking the questions, if they're the same questions?" Of all the things Rafiki had said to Roxas so far, this one definitely made the least sense. That...was saying something.

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A Very Strange Place [Finished]

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