paixaorpg | So, a singularity walked into a bar... [Complete]

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So, a singularity walked into a bar... [Complete]

Character(s): chaos, open
Content: Entry
Setting: Vanaheim gate, H4 Cafe Ersesat
Time: Week 21
Warnings: None yet

Of all the myriad things chaos had expected to find on waking, this ranked somewhere near... nowhere on the list.

It was disorienting, to say the least, waking up lying in a grassy field outside a domed city, and not because he had never seen such a domed city before; he'd been to the Kukai Foundation more than once, after all. No; this was disorienting on a whole other level, because while the Foundation was decidedly abnormal, it was still part of his world and familiar.

This place... was neither, and the thoughts of its inhabitants were likewise alien to him.

Slowly, chaos let his physical and mental senses tell him what he needed to know about his immediate surroundings. This world was curiously finite; he could sense no other planets, nor large populations, nor anything else remotely resembling the galaxies-wide colonies humanity had in his own world.

How had he been brought here? Who had brought him? Why was he here? These questions weighed heavily on his mind as he gathered himself up, finally putting forth the effort required to rise from the grass. Nearby was a line of people, moving steadily through the massive gate. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and almost all of them cut from the same cloth. Interesting, and more than a little disturbing. These were not people; not humans, anyway. Even Realians were more varied than these, and each of them had a subtle sense of wrongness, a flat quality that was hard to place.

He eventually joined the line, though, because it seemed to be the only thing he could do. As he reached the gatehouse, he was asked for his name and provided a journal by yet another cheerful, flat non-person.

Paixao; that was what the young blonde-haired gatekeeper had called the city. An interesting name, to be sure.

Half an hour later found chaos in one of the city's cafes, his pamphlets spread out haphazardly on the corner table he had staked out for himself.

"Your coffee, sir," said one of the establishment's waitresses, a cute young lady of the same general configuration as the rest of the city's natives.

"Thank you," he replied with a slight smile and nod as he accepted the cup. He offered her the last few credit coins he had; she smiled and walked away, leaving him to his musings and his coffee.

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It had been a slow recovery, but it had allowed Marluxia to think. Unfortunately, while he had been incapacitated, it seemed as though he had lost one of his eyes into the city. A shame, but it wasn't as though he couldn't find more. There were plenty more people around, people who--if he managed to catch them--could be used to serve his purposes. Just as long as they didn't go the same way as his meeting with the goddess and the meerkat.

The gates and the cafes would be a good place to start, he had decided. Those who were new and knew little of the city, those who sought information, they were the easiest to make see his way. And why wouldn't they agree with his ideas? He only sought to make the city a better place. Getting rid of the Organization that plagued them so would be helpful for everyone.

The door to the cafe opened and Marluxia walked in, clad in casual, neat attire. One of the waitresses gave him a brief, nervous glance which Marluxia returned with a soft yet somehow unsettling smile. "Tea, please. Hot. The type I leave to you to recommend."

The waitress stood there for a moment before nodding and going to get what he had asked for. Their customer was more than a little of a surprise, but she was more than willing to do as asked and keep her mouth shut.

Marluxia took a seat at one of the tables near chaos, taking one of the menus and idly looking it over, more for something to keep busy with while he watched the people in the cafe than out of any real want for anything else.

chaos couldn't help but look up as Marluxia entered. MOMO notwithstanding, that was more pink than he saw on a regular basis, and a decidedly odd color for a man to wear in his hair.

The waitress' reactions did not go unnoticed, but they weren't exactly easy to read, either. Surprise, yes, that much was evident. But why? A local celebrity, perhaps? No. Not local. He had the wrong feel; for that matter, he felt just plain -wrong-. Whoever the pink-haired man was, he did not belong in this world.

...Then again, neither did chaos.

The incarnation of entropy shook his head and resumed his perusal of the pamphlets, scanning each one as he finished it with a curious device that was half computer, half summoning tool, and half battering ram. Of course, the summoning part wasn't working; there was no UMN here, and thus no way to access etheric storage. No ES, then. Just as well, really. The Vessels of Anima would wreak havoc in this place.

It wasn't long before Marluxia became bored with the menu, though luckily his tea arrived around the same time he had decided to put it back where he had found it. He nodded dismissively to the waitress as she set the cup down and finally scanned the room. It seemed to be the normal crowd--that was, the citizens of the city--and not much else.

Except for chaos, that was. The Nobody's gaze settled on the device the young man was using. Whatever it was chaos was using, it looked to be far beyond most technology he had seen before. The journals used in the city didn't even compare. Though why the young man seemed to be scanning a menu of all things, Marluxia had to question.

"You're aware that the menu will remain here should you decide to return?" he asked, a smile playing at his lips. He lifted the cup and took a small sip. Some sort of herbal tea he assumed. He would have to ask the waitress what type it was when he left.

chaos looked up when Marluxia addressed him, his head tilted just a bit to make his expression look quizzical. "I'm not scanning the menu. Just these brochures they gave me at the gate," he replied, gesturing to the pile. He took a sip of the coffee and grimaced; how Captain Mathews could drink the stuff was beyond him, but then, the man probably didn't have a taste bud left in his mouth after all the alcohol. Gingerly, he set the cup aside and reached for the next pamphlet. "It's easier to carry them this way."

Never much of a talker, chaos went quietly back to work, reading and scanning, slowly starting to assemble a database about the city. Shion would be proud, he thought with a slight internal smirk.

A few moments later, he could still feel Marluxia's gaze. chaos looked up at the Nobody, then gestured to the chair opposite his own at the table. "I don't suppose you could tell me a few things about this place?" he asked, glancing out the window.

"Ah, I see. I suppose that's what I get for assuming," he said as he rose to take chaos's unspoken invitation. "Though it is doubtful you will get too much information from them. The best way to get information in this city is through these." Marluxia held up his journal. "I imagine they must seem archaic to someone with a device like yours, but it is still the easiest way to get news. And word of mouth, of course."

Marluxia took another sip of his tea, eying the futuristic-looking device with curiosity. Once he had finished giving information, maybe he would ask about it. While he preferred the wonders of nature to those of technology, he was far from blind to its uses.

"As you might have noticed, the natural citizens here are... lacking, I suppose you could say, when it comes to depth. I imagine you'll find 'visitors' to the city such as you and myself easier to converse with and with much more to say. Luckily, the citizens will take whatever shines for money. Most people pluck the leaves from the trees to use as currency here. If you'd like somewhere to stay, there are plenty of hotels throughout the city, or you can purchase an apartment or townhome. The map in the journal I showed you earlier should help you find where to go."

Marluxia set the cup he had been holding off to the side. Offering chaos a casual yet searching glance, the Nobody added, "You'll also find that this entire city is a single floor of a castle."

chaos finished scanning the pamphlet he was working on, then set both it and his gear aside before folding his hands on the tabletop. "Money won't be such an issue, then," he noted, relaxing just a bit. It wasn't as if he needed food or much of anything else to survive, after all, but human comforts had become habit to him. "Does anyone know why the plants are all made of crystal and metal?" he asked, genuinely curious. "It seems like an awful waste of resources."

...And then Marluxia told him about the castle.

chaos looked at the Nobody for a moment as if uncertain whether to believe him or not. "A single floor of a castle?" he asked, his tone betraying little more than curiosity. "I guess that does explain a few things..."

"It does, doesn't it? Why anyone would want to replace the beauty of nature with cold facsimiles is anyone's guess. The grass seems more than capable of growing outside and as you can see, there is plenty of food," he agreed. Really, Marluxia could hardly stand it in this place sometimes. It was a shame he couldn't access his garden anymore. More than a shame, really. What he wouldn't give to walk through a place where the flora and fauna actually had a sense of life to them.

There was something to be said about a being that could hardly be said to exist wishing to be surrounded by life. As for what it was, Marluxia didn't know. He was no philosopher.

"Explains things?" he asked, genuinely curious. "Such as...?" Few were the number that could recognize Castle Oblivion for what it was in such a short amount of time. Maybe there was even more to this young man than met the eye.

chaos nodded, sipped his coffee, and gestured at the window. "The boundaries of this world are small. Beyond this island, it's almost as if there's a wall surrounding it, cutting it off from the rest of the universe. Not a wall you can see, but it's there. Barring an occasional flare, this island is all that exists in this universe. If what you've said is true, the flares probably represent a gateway of some kind to the rest of the world being opened."

That was an unusually verbose statement for the normally quiet anti-god, and he settled back into his seat to reflect on the implications. "This is an artificial world, if what you've said is correct. My questions are, what is it made of? What is its purpose? And who made it?"

So the boy could sense the world's boundaries? Much more than met the eye. What a find indeed. Marluxia nodded, his tea forgotten for the time being. "That it is. There are doors that lead to other floors of the castle, each one with a different world within," he exclaimed. "Each world is made of memories. From one person or from many."

He hesitated before answering the second questions, mainly because there was no answer to them. Not even Xemnas had known. The question was whether he should tell the truth or lie. "None of us know, but its purpose may be tied to the acts members of the organization presiding over this city have taken." A mixture of truths and deceit should do nicely.

chaos could do a great deal more than sense boundaries, but he wasn't about to expound on his capabilities. That one was one of his lesser powers, a small line to catch a few small bits of information that, taken together, would form a whole greater than the parts.

Memories. That was what this world was made of. Not an unfamiliar concept; every subconscious dive operated on the same principle, with a computer to arrange the bits and pieces into a world that would engage the senses of the person (or people) in the dive. This, then, was similar to... what. The dive where Shion and Jr's subconscious domains had merged, creating the facsimile of a world in the first throes of war? The danger of such a place was well known to chaos; if your mental self died in such a dive, your physical body would die as well.

This person - chaos had not yet asked his name - seemed quite knowledgeable about the castle. Time to ask some more questions. "You say there are other floors of the castle. Do you know how many, where they might be located, or the conditions for opening them?"

Marluxia quietly watched as the wheels turned in chaos's head. It was understandable that something like Castle Oblivion would take some time to get used to, though it looked as though this young man would have an easier time accepting what the castle was than most.

"You can reach the next floor through the church at the end of this island. Through there is the next world, Destiny Islands. Beyond that, through a cave, you can find Halloween Town. Any floors beyond that remain unknown. Though there may be an easier way to get to the floors we already have." As though he had just remembered its existence, Marluxia took the cup of tea in his hands and sipped at it. "It would be unwieldy for anyone who lived here to get around otherwise, wouldn't it?"

"What it takes to find the door to the next floor seems different for every world you visit. It all depends."

"Yes, so it would seem..." chaos quirked a brow at that. "A church at the end of the island?" he asked, making sure he had heard the stranger correctly. A very slight frown touched his face, and then he picked up one of the brochures - a map of the island. "It won't be near the dome... here, then?" he asked, pointing to the end of the peninsula.

Of one thing, chaos was certain. His new acquaintance was not human, any more than himself. Nor were most of the rest of the people in this city. For that matter, nor were most of the guests; there was at least one member of the Host here, and a demon of incredible power, as well. And every one of them was trapped here, in this castle.

His jaw set for a moment, then relaxed. Something was at work here that he could not see, and there was no way it could be natural by any application of the word. "You can call me chaos, by the way," he told the pink-haired stranger.

Marluxia nodded. "Yes, at the very end. You should at least find it easier to get to than the first explorers did. Luckily, the way is mostly cleared from there to Halloween Town. Though there are still the Heartless to watch out for. The creatures tend to come in swarms and will not stop until they are destroyed," he explained.

"Chaos?" he asked curiously, a soft smile appearing on his face. "It isn't often you come across someone with a name like that. Please, call me Napellus."

"Heartless?" he asked, giving the man - Napellus? - an odd look. "What exactly is a 'heartless'?"

Things had just taken a turn for the worse, he was fairly certain. If these heartless were anything like his home universe's gnosis, this situation was even worse than he'd originally thought.

The Gnosis were creatures born from the bodies of humans who rejected death - or, more accurately, the idea of dying alone. They were terrifying monstrosities who seldom bore any resemblance to the people they once were, creatures comprised entirely of salt water and energy. They had the power to turn any living creature they touched to salt, to convert them into more of themselves, and to use their energy as devastating attacks. Very few were immune to their deadly touch, despite the vaccinations available, and even those few were still in imminent danger of being killed. Simply because they were still alive, and the Gnosis were not.

"A heart that has has been overcome by darkness. The creatures seek only to multiply and will actively seek out those with a high amount of darkness within their hearts. The more powerful the darkness within one's heart, the more powerful the heartless that comes from it. For the most part, they are mindless and act on instinct, but those with enough darkness within themselves are capable of controlling them. ...To a point. If they slip up, the consequences are dire." He shook his head slowly, hands folding around the cup of tea--still warm to the touch but quickly cooling. The steam had long since stopped its rise.

"But you need not worry," Marluxia continued to explain. "The ones closest to the city are easily dispatched. You have more to worry from those housed in City Hall than the Heartless, though they seem to go hand in hand. That group is one of the few people who have some measure of control over the Heartless."

chaos quirked a brow at that. "The ones in city hall?" he asked, hoping Napellus would further enlighten him. "Does anyone know their intentions?"

The heartless sounded bad enough without someone actively controlling them. They weren't Gnosis - not quite, anyway - but they were just as bad in their way. Maybe he needed to do a little snooping...

In no sense further interested in the cup of coffee he'd barely sipped, chaos pushed the cup away and folded his hands on the table top. He wouldn't make the mistake of trying it again.

"Control, most likely," Marluxia replied with a small shrug. "One of them introduced herself as the 'Mistress of all Evil.' From what I can tell she is the leader of them, as she was the one to make the announcement that she would take over the city. While their group has made a few displays of power, they are at least gracious enough to keep from destroying us all outright. Though they do seem to enjoy making us all squirm from time to time."

"I would be more worried about the Organization if I were you. While those in City Hall tend to prefer the limelight, the Organization works from the shadows. They have a history of performing experiments on others, specifically injecting people with light or darkness in order to see its effects. I imagine those in the city might be reluctant to share any such horror stories if you ask."

Though Marluxia would be more than willing to give chaos every last detail that he was privy to if it didn't mean losing his cover.

Ah, yes. Showboats. chaos had seen quite a few of them in his day, not least among them Albedo. If this 'Mistress of all Evil' was anywhere close to the same league as the variant URTV, the city might have a real problem on its hands. "Has anyone tried talking to them?" he asked, though already relatively certain of the answer. Surely there was SOMEONE in the city brave and bright enough to take the most obvious course.

He let the subject slip to the back burner when Napellus mentioned the Organization and their doings, though. "Both sides of the coin, then," he mused, tilting his head back and looking at the ceiling for a moment. "I'm familiar with the arrangement. Do you know whether the two groups have any connections, no matter how deeply hidden?"

He could almost see the hand of Wilhelm in this, if the man weren't still safely sequestered in his own universe. Master manipulator, the man held the strings of every major power in the galaxy and pitted them against one another in a neverending game of cat and mouse, all while advancing his own agenda in the shadows.

"A few people have made attempts. Others seem less than willing to compromise." The Keyblade Master in particular, though considering all the fighting the boy had done against them, that was to be expected. The group seemed to be more than capable of holding their own, but had gone a bit... quiet for awhile, save for the occasional journal appearance. Part of him wondered whether or not he should attempt to make contact.

"They do not, though I imagine alliances have attempted to be made." He didn't look entirely happy with that fact. If the Organization had gotten to the trio in City Hall before he had... Another pawn lost. "One can only hope they have not succeeded."

Though he thought the likelihood of a connection far more likely than not, chaos let the matter slide for the moment. "What can you tell me about the other people in this city? The natives as well as the guests."

Even a dubious source of information is better than none at all; chaos was getting far more information than he had expected, even if half of it was wrong. He suspected his newfound 'friend' had more than a few secrets, among them his true nature. That was okay, though; chaos had his own secrets.

"The natives?" he asked, a hint of amusement leaking into his voice. "You'd be better off leaving them to their own devices. While they are content to do as they please, 'what they please' can be thought of in the most narrow of terms. They please little, and will take anything that shines as currency. Useful, but telling, wouldn't you say?" Marluxia finished the last of his--by now cold--tea and set the empty cup off to the side.

"The 'guests' are a more varied bunch, many from different worlds--with a few coming from the same ones as others--and many still who come from different times than one another. People have even managed to come across doubles of themselves. You come across all types in this city."

chaos shuddered at that last bit. "It is never wise to mess with Time. It always comes around to bite you in the end." Though, he knew someone who got away with it pretty consistently...

He shook his head briefly. Wilhelm was not here; chaos would have known if he was. More importantly, the Anima relics were not here. He'd have known if they were here, too, or anything like them.

chaos leaned back in his seat, folding his arms over his chest, and thought for a moment. Someone had brought him here; had, in fact, brought a great many people here, seemingly at random. Certainly there were very few people who would bring someone of his nature willingly into their stronghold. He looked Napellus in the eye. "How long has this been going on?"

Marluxia didn't know what to say regarding chaos's first statement. Time, after all, was Luxord's element, not his own. He did, however, have an idea how things could go wrong when strings were pulled out of order. If time was similar, then he supposed they could all consider themselves lucky the tangles hadn't caused a collapse.

"Longer than I have been here, so I assume more than a year," Marluxia replied honestly. Once again, there was no reason to lie or even twist this fact. Were he capable of it, he would be thankful for these helpful truths. "You would have to ask some of the people who have been here longer than I if you would like a more accurate answer."

A collapse of time would be... bad. On a major scale. Most people probably wouldn't survive. chaos knew that firsthand. It was, after all, his function.

He nodded at the estimate. "Fairly recent as such things go, but long enough that someone should have managed to gather some basic information on the process. And yet, I assume no one has?" If they had, there were surely people here who could make use of that information.

That... worried him a little, really. If no one could trace the effect that was bringing people here, that implied someone with a great deal of power and an even greater amount of control. Possibly extending to the very fabric of reality... which was downright frightening. Only one being chaos had ever known had that level of control and power, and that was the Creator.

"What else can you tell me about the Organization?"

How tempting it was to say something about that, but that, he knew, would be revealing far too much. Better for him to try and figure it out on his own. "I'm afraid it's still a mystery. I think everyone would like to know the answer to that question. How one arrives... How one disappears... How they reappear..." He shrugged. "All questions yet to be answered."

Marluxia smiled at chaos's next question. "I know a little, but I think you would get the most out of speaking to one Timon. He has managed to gather quite the amount of information on the group. Quite possibly the most out of any other person in the city." It would be better to wait until the young man had gotten information from Timon before adding his own.

The incarnation of destruction nodded and put a few odd coins on the table. He couldn't be certain of the exact exchange rate, but it was what he usually paid for a cup of tea in his own world. "I think I'll poke around and see what I can find out. How can I contact you in the future?"

chaos didn't trust Marluxia - Napellus - as far as he could throw him, but he didn't let that show. He knew the man was holding back information, that he knew the answers to at least some of the questions - but he also knew that he wasn't going to give those answers to him, at least not yet.

"Your journal is one of your greatest assets in this city," Marluxia replied. "I generally keep an eye on mine, so you are welcome to contact me with it. I would be careful, though. It isn't quite as secure as it may at first seem. I hope you find the information you're looking for and that we'll meet again."

chaos knew plenty about insecure technology. Hacking was a way of life where he came from, literally for some people. He nodded, clipping both the journal and his connection gear to his belt, and stood. "I think I'll go have a look around the city," he said, wondering even as he said it if that wasn't going to be an exercise in futility. A mental shrug; he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. "I'll be in touch, one way or another."

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So, a singularity walked into a bar... [Complete]

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argh short. >.O

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sorry for shortness. >.O

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