Sus guy is sus, who knew [CLOSED]

[mustknow]

Who: Xehanort, Even/Vexen [Closed]
Where: A quiet car in lieu of proper labs.
When: Llama, day 27
What: Discussions!
Warnings: Contains Kingdom Hearts Spoilers



With the visit to the watery-world complete whether or not it had ultimately proved to be a pointless exercise, Xehanort's attention had inevitably wandered back to the things that had proceeded it.

There was still much he didn't know, much he knows is simply being kept from him.

And unexpectedly, he had a creeping suspicion that it wasn't only Even that had been hiding things from him, and for far longer than his fellow researcher ever had. He wouldn't have even considered it without the long discussion with Elidibus, and it still dogged him in quiet moments, unaddressed, until finally he actively went looking.

There's two places he checks first, and while the first didn't have results (library), the makeshift lab did, and quiet car or no, as soon as Even's noticed, he's getting interrupted, albeit not incredibly loudly. That could result in explosions, ruined experiments and worse, destroyed notes. So when the door pops open, changing the air at the very least in a sudden puff of inrushing freshness and letting fishy smells out, his warning is a cough.

"Even. I wish to speak to you about Braig." Not 'do you have the time', not 'if you don't mind'. There's something in his tone that doesn't quite make it a demand, but also suggests he's not going to be easily dissuaded.

Comments

[thawed_pride]

Even, perhaps unsurprisingly, doesn't respond to the door opening. He's busy with a dead fish, a scalpel of pure ice, and a notebook. He's grabbed a box of sterile gloves from medical, tied his hair back in a messy bun, and is cheerfully working on dissecting some example of the recent Nexus' wildlife.

He glances up at the cough, a silent assurance that he's listening, and then frowns at the mention of the erstwhile guard. There's something pained in his expression, before he sighs and waves for Xehanort to come the rest of the way in.

"I have a feeling this is going to be a lengthy conversation. Come, grab a pair of gloves, you may as well assist me while we talk."

[mustknow]

The door is closed but not locked, nor is the curtain pulled. If someone else came along, so be it. Who knows who might be helping with this particularly aromatic venture! Closing them out would simply lead to further interruptions, so planning to simply integrate them from the start seemed prudent.

"..Very well. What is your purpose?" He's here to get his own questions answered, but that had no bearing whatsoever on whatever goal it was that has Even slicing fish and things up into bits well suited to slides and petri dishes.

Braig might at least be an easier topic than Xehanort's future and all the things Xemnas has done.. or not given who Xemnas' right hand man was that whole time. "I assume he survives into the future you come from."

[thawed_pride]

"I wish to closely examine the structure of their respiratory systems. Rather than being truly amphibious, they appear to be specifically adapted to the watery air of the Nexus. I would like to know the effect such adaptation has had on their gills."

He waves a hand, and another frigid scalpel appears on the table. It may be somewhat uncomfortable for anyone other than him to hold for too long, but it's something. Unfortunately, as much as he'd rather stay focused on his work, he can tell even before Xehanort begins his questioning that he's not going to avoid this subject.

"Yes, and no...it is complicated, but his status at the precise moment I left was uncertain. Given precedent, however, he is most likely merely incapacitated. More generally speaking, yes, he has...survived, albeit in an incomplete state."

[mustknow]

"Hm, then most of this can be removed immediately." Gills are needed, not most of the rest! Though it did mean keeping some of the internals along.. just not most of the fish. Gloves are only important by way of not contaminating anything, he didn't think any of the fish they had access to were toxic.

Fish is a side consideration for Xehanort. He'll be mindful with the unpleasantly cold scalpel, but he's also swift in excising anything not gills or directly related to respiratory systems. If there's something unexpected, like openings down the sides, he'll pay attention but otherwise..

Otherwise it's basically filleting. "In that time, aside from the effects of being a Nobody, does his behavior blatantly change in regards to myself between before Radiant Garden's destruction and after it?" There's a pause, and a slow frown. "I do not mean small things, such as if suddenly he took his morning coffee without whiskey in it."

[thawed_pride]

While not a matter of toxic materials, these fish are hardly sushi grade. He'd rather have the barrier between his hands and the raw seafood. He continues to cut, meticulous and silent, for several seconds, before pausing so he can close his eyes to focus on the old memories. Old memories that he's tried hard not to dwell on.

"Even before the world's destruction, he...did change. While none of us were wholly innocent in the atrocities that followed the official cessation of our experiments upon the heart, save for Lord Ansem, there were varying degrees of reservations. Before certain events that occurred in the weeks before your arrival, Braig had always been selfish, certainly, but I never saw signs of active cruelty. It was surprising to me when he seemed unperturbed by each step we took further into the darkness that we studied." Even now, he can't help but shudder at the recollection. "There is a distinctive visual difference between Braig and Xigbar, so I'm quite certain that he lost his heart around the same time I did. Otherwise, I might have thought he was the first among us to become a Nobody. As for his behavior toward you in particular...Xigbar was Xemnas' second in command. I never quite understood why, until Lea recently informed me that Xigbar had known from the beginning that a Nobody could regrow a lost heart, and that Xemnas was collecting so many of us for..."

The room was already fairly cool, as usual for Even's personal work spaces. Now, he notices an outright chill washing out from him, something which never happened when he was human, and takes a deep breath to calm his anger. As gladly as he'd wring Xemnas and Xigbar's necks given the chance, letting his temper flare here would just be a waste of energy, and possibly even give the foreign darkness in his heart a foothold.

"We were all meant to be puppets, essentially. I still cannot fathom why Xigbar would take no issue with such a thing, given his personality otherwise remains much like that darker version of himself."

[mustknow]

"If certain traits did carry over, then it's easy to see why, beyond this heart issue." The 'hearts issue' was indeed an important thing, in a distant second sort of way, but as Xehanort's still not really sure how he's getting all these hearts out of people, his focus is mostly on the puzzles he CAN work out. "Even now, I know I can trust him completely, as obnoxious as his habits can be. Which, like so much else, seems strange in hindsight."

Trust is a difficult thing, isn't it? Especially in those without hearts. Why would Braig keep that trustworthiness into the uncertain future unless even then his loyalty was absolute? That sort of thing couldn't be bullied out of others, or terrified out of them. It had to be there to start with, and in the face of a lack of heart, thus the lack of emotions, logic and reason saying that keeping that loyalty was the best decision..

There is a lack of surprise or even questions at the idea that they're all meant to be puppets, vessels for some other questionable purpose. There probably should be, but Elidibus had already managed to handle that one without even intending to. "I suspect the answer to why he has no issues would be found in our interactions before my arrival in Radiant Garden. He knows, I think, what I am, who I am, and who this was before I took it." The wash of cold has gone unremarked upon, and will continue to be so. He can hear the shift and roll of darkness, what it means by way of wrath and vengeance, and targeting it towards himself when he has only a scalpel made of someone else's element is ... foolish. "In tretrospect, some actions and statements.. certainly seem to suggest it. Were he here, I'd simply ask, but.."

[thawed_pride]

"But he is not. And even if you were able to ask, he may not give a straight answer. I'm sure you have encountered his penchant for cryptic responses." He shakes his head, anger and pain at betrayal not eclipsing his usual exasperation at Braig's antics. "And I see you have become aware of how, precisely, you came to look younger than you are. I would not be entirely surprised if Braig recognized your host body, although I have only conjecture based upon secondhand information. He was always the first to learn of new rumors, and he did get into a bit of trouble before your arrival."

An understatement by most standards, but when the topic is Braig...'a bit of trouble' can mean a lot.

"His damaged eye was new at that point. In fact, he had but recently been permitted to remove the bandages from his face...and seeing as the wounds were seeping darkness when he came stumbling home, it is rather doubtful that he was injured in a simple bar brawl."

[mustknow]

"I disagree. Braig is far more willing to answer me than you have been until pressed." A piece of fin is set aside. "I simply never asked."

How cooperative Braig would have been is questionable, but given it would inevitably further his own goals.. Xehanort might well have gotten the answers he sought, and possibly paid for it dearly. With the guardsman's loyalty not at all with Radiant Garden or its people, and his goals nebulous and distant, with no-one ever questioning it, answers certainly wouldn't be forthcoming.

Xehanort had never had a reason to pursue it. There were always other things to do. And now.. "I am, yes. There is another who was well able to explain in detail, for we are the same kind. Albeit he is far... far older by my guess, as he speaks of being present when the world was broken into its many parts." It's not much of a guess, in honesty, but without actual proof it must remain conjecture, fact didn't care about reasonable estimations. It made enough sense without the blinding twist of sudden headaches to keep him from questioning it too deeply. Too much lined up too easily. "What is the time span between Braig's injuries and my arrival?"

[thawed_pride]

"Hm. My experience has been that he enjoys being difficult, but...there is much of his behavior that I do not understand. Regardless, it was mere weeks after his injury that you arrived." He pauses, scalpel wedged between a chunk of fish muscle and bone. "In point of fact, he was the one who initially discovered you. I hardly thought much of it at the time, given his talent for gathering information, but in light of more recent realizations..."

Just how long has Braig been playing them? Had he been on Xehanort's side from the beginning?

"Regardless, I am surprised to hear of another such as you, much less from such an ancient age. Transferring hearts and minds between bodies is not a unique skill, but it is hardly a common one...to say nothing of the dearth of living bodies whose occupants would not object to ceding control to another."

[mustknow]

Braig certainly did seem to enjoy making life more 'exciting' for everyone in range. That this generally seemed to be nonmalevolent took the edge off of all of it, and although Xehanort found him grating, it wasn't enough to turn the man away entirely. "It seems if we associated before the point of my appearance, then he might well have known exactly when and where I'd turn up." Something in his expression darkens by degrees, but what emotion exactly is attached to it is hard to pick out. "And what better place to bring a stray than somewhere you know would not ask too much about someone in need?"

Certainly there'd been questions, but maybe not as many as there SHOULD have been. There had been no real hesitance in taking Xehanort in, and making him part of their community. "I don't think Braig would be ... actively interested in the fall of our world, he doesn't..." 'Seem like a bad person', is what he wants to say, and he believes it ... but he suspects Even would question it rather more than he'd like. Braig wasn't BAD, he was just.. a little off the beat everyone else marched to. "..seem as if that would be a goal he'd pursue. I wonder what promises were made him that he would stand down instead of resist. What lies might suit, or half truths, to make a guard put aside his duty in favor of ... something else. That all would be fine? Nothing would actually go wrong?" He has no idea, but it's not hte first time he's simply ruminated out loud. It wouldn't be the last. And to think he himself was at fault, by some deception or promise, was easier to consider than that Braig might simply be corrupt to the core.

For better or worse, Xehanort still had faith in the better natures of those around him until proven absolutely otherwise.. and even then he was rather hesitant to change his mind. "My ... elder ... seems to have no trouble claiming a body that would not only resist but actively retaliate," is added almost as an afterthought, a somewhat distracted tone to it. "To him the idea of acquiring a new form is about as much difficulty and consideration as you might take in selecting a new pair of boots, with as much thought to the previous owner. The gulf between our abilities is vast, and it seems the ... younger of his kind struggle to do more than claim a vessel with no heart at all to withstand the invasion. Cooperation might also make it easier, for a door willingly opened is not so easily closed." Younger, broken, sundered - it amounts to the same thing. "In time perhaps I would not require the same methods I have apparently used, but ... inexperience hindered me." His laugh is short and bitter; inexperienced in destroying the lives of others! What an innocent, harmless way to put it.

His expression darkens further, the scalpel jabbed absently into the fillet of fish, neatly avoiding anything that might actually be useful. "If Braig has known what I am, then he has denied me the right to test what my kind is capable of for all this time instead of chasing the fragments of lost memories. I'm going to have words with him when next we cross paths."