[network; audio; day 346] Snow Return @betterhalf; [open]

[darkincrement]

[ He woke up to the funeral home in the morning. After his initial freak out about being in a bag and giving himself bruises as he falls off the table, he finally sits there to figure what is even going on. This wasn’t the Keyblade Graveyard, and these aren’t the clothes he should have on.

The helmet is ditched, along with the bag of stuff, while he ventures outside for a bit.

It’s snow! He’s never seen snow before!

Once that excitement dies down, he starts freaking out again over this isn’t his clothes and decides to head back in. Pulling off his gloves only gives him more reasons to freak out. There’s a blood stained bandage on his hand, and a drawing of an eye???

He tries to remove it. Even goes outside to use the snow to try to scrub it off, ,but nothing he does helps. It takes time for him to calm down again, and he’s back inside where he woke up to find clues. That’s when he actually looks at the helmet to see that the face isn’t his own. Sure, it looks similar to him, and there’s an inkling of familiarity, but this is not his body.

Eventually, he finds the tablet. He’s weak with technology, but he manages to enable mr. clippy the helper to figure most of it out. ]

[ Still hasn’t figure out how to check his messages or to get to video, but audio is easy enough. He does venture It’s close to noon when he decides to try , a message will pop up on the network ]

Hey, I have something I would like to-

[ And then there is an intake of his breath. The tablet clatters to the floor as he finds something in the funeral home.

The call ends. Just going to freak out because he finds what looks like HIS BODY behind one of the glass doors. ]

[ A hour later, a second message will pop up. ]

Look, whoever you guys are on here, I think there’s been some kind of mistake.

[ The voice doesn’t sound like the usual Mickey Ominous Mouse. He sounds more like a normal teenager. ]

This isn’t my body. I don’t know what happened, but it looks like my body is trapped behind one of these doors here. Has anything like this happened before? Is there a way to fix this? Please let me know, I have to get back to my friends as soon as possible.

[ And with that, he’ll end the message. Help him, Norfin-Wan Kenobi. You’re his only hope. ]

Comments

@Spoiler; video

[spoileralert]

Well that's not normal.

[ Except it kinda is. Norfunbury is weird. ]

Who are you, then?

I'm Steph, by the way. People wake up here unexpectedly all the time, so you should be back where you were in like, a week? Give or take.

@betterhalf; video

[darkincrement]

[ Seeing someone who looks nice on the screen is helping take the edge off. He takes a moment, asking Clippy how to turn on video so she can see him, too.

There's Vanitas' face, covered in the red jagged lines that make an expression similar to his Flood on his face. His eyes are red, there's some of his hair is missing, but like his voice he's actually moving his face like a normal teenager too. ]

I was afraid of that. [ Shoulders slumping a bit. Rubbing the back of his head, similar to how Sora would have if she ever seen him around. Then remembering her question and looking sheepish for a moment. ]

Oh, sorry. I should have started with that. I'm Ventus, but you can call me Ven.

[spoileralert]

[ Oh yeah also Steph definitely has red marks on her face too but don't worry about it man! She smiles very sweetly. ]

Nice to meet you, Ven. Sorry about the accomodations. It's cold as butts, and it gets colder overnight. All the doors in town lock at night, so don't get locked out. Your tablet will let you know when that's happening.

Oh, and if you see anything kinda monster-y out in the snow, run the other way. They'll knock you out on contact.

[darkincrement]

[ The smile is contagious, but smiling feels stiff to him. This body isn't used to doing it as often. ]

It is cold! I didn't realize snow could be this cold.

[ Baby's first snow trip. The monster thing gets him looking serious. He's not a kid, Steph. ]

Do you mean the unversed? I know how to handle them.

@Ecks | text

[ecks]

you do not have any friends

@betterhalf; audio

[darkincrement]

Of course I do! Terra and Aqua. They are my best friends.

[ Wow hdu ]

permatext

[ecks]

I have never met them
it seems unlikely

forever audio cause he's still learning how to technology

[darkincrement]

Just because you haven't met them, doesn't me they don't exist!

[ Huff. He'll fight you, golem. Don't talk smack about his friends :< ]

Who the heck are you anyways?

@funyarinpa | audio

[fiftheclipse]

[There's a pattern to when new people arrive. This is too early. So between that username, what he called himself with Steph, and the whole thing about "losses"...]

It's kinda hard to keep track of where people are, but I'm pretty sure some of the usernames you wanna look for are "@wiccandoit" and "@godsend", so you can contact them and meet back up.

[Were they ever traveling together? Junpei sure doesn't know. But he can't just not try to help, right?]

@betterhalf; audio

[darkincrement]

[ He's so confused. :< ]

Huh? What do you mean by meet back up? Do they know where Terra and Aqua are?

[ Neither of those usernames seem like theirs. ]

[fiftheclipse]

Uh. Well, I haven't heard those names...

But those other two were worried about you, so they've gotta be your friends, too, right? They might know them.

@wiccandoit, video

[fanboyascended]

[ Billy waits a while after the message goes up, trying to get a read on what Vanitas is up to in the comments. It's... definitely his network tag, and his voice, and it sounds sincere enough.

So that's... weird. Probably some kind of death price, but who could really tell around here? It does nothing to stop the guilt that's been wrapped around Billy like his cape.

He's looking especially miserable - and scruffy, with a beard and a fading black eye and lip scars - when he appears on video. ]

-Hey. Ventus, huh?

[ Not the most promising of openers. ]

What's the last thing you remember?

@betterhalf; video

[darkincrement]

[ He can do video! Also you come into his post with that sad beard. wow ]

What happened to you?

[ Can you take Vanitas' face looking very concerned for you? ]

I think I was meeting up with my friends. We were going to do something important.

[ He's frowning more and more, while he looks off screen. Like he's finding something very strange with all of this. ]

[fanboyascended]

A misunderstanding.

[ Billy's just going to pretend he's only talking about the eye, because he doesn't want to think about how rough he looks or how strange it is to see that face so open. ]

What was it that was so important?

@LELRIC; audio

[armoured]

[Not his body?

Al feels a sinking pit of ice in his stomach when he hears this message from a voice that he doesn't recognise, but a username that he definitely does recognise. Is that-- how could it be?]

Vanitas?

[No, surely not.]

It's okay, calm down, you're safe. It's going to be okay.

@betterhalf; audio

[darkincrement]

[ S'up friend.

The word does hit something, which starts up a sharp pain in his head. There's something he doesn't want to remember, but he's remembered it before.

Quietly: ] I know that name.

[ He doesn't want to puzzle why it's gone. Or why his memories feel like they are filtered through someone else.]

Yeah, I know it will. [ He says it like he really believes it. ] I just hope Terra and Aqua are okay.

[armoured]

I'm sorry, I don't recognise either of those names.

[So Vanitas recognises the name, but... doesn't think it's him? A memory loss? Personality transplant? Something is definitely very off here.]

But that's good, it means they're probably safe back wherever you came from.

@jphawkins, audio

[rattlingthestars]

Switching bodies is a new one.

[ Well. There was that thing with Sherlock, but that was on purpose. And weird. But it did mean that it was possible, didn't it? ]

-I don't think there's any way to get back to your friends, but the administrator might be able to get you back in your body.

@betterhalf; audio

[darkincrement]

[ He's kind of bummed out about his friends, but at the same time... he knows they will be okay. It might even be better off with him not there. ]

That's what I keep hearing. [ Wait. ] You think so? How do I get in contact with the administrator?

[rattlingthestars]

Yeah, if you were put there by mistake.

[ It could just be a death-price, in which case there's not a lot of hope, but this one is weird. ]

You message @admin and ask her nicely. Sometimes she replies.

audio; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

[ There's a significant amount of confusion to be had. Mainly the fact that a) @betterhalf is actually on audio for once (at least of what he's seen) and b) he sounds far from cocky and smug texts he usually tends to leave on the network. It's enough to prompt a bit of curiosity out of him. Or maybe it's got more to do with him trying to find a distraction.

Especially when the most curious thing becomes... ]

Well, if another you's been here before, that'd be how. But...

[ How's he to know this is another him or if this guy's messing around with people? Though he's not sure if even this kid can fake this kind of distress. And judging by the other responses, he actually sounds pretty earnest. ]

audio; @betterhalf

[darkincrement]

[ He also sounds like Sora. Have fun with that. ]

Another me? What do you mean by that?

[ Is the one behind the door another him? Is that even possible? ]

@hsiaoke; video

[heavensreader]

[Now this - this is twisted, even by Norfinbury standards.

Kesara is a clever child, and Vanitas has been on her mind. She figures out the situation even before hearing Ventus give Steph his name. Dispirited as she is feeling about much everything since Lilly's escape, it is immediately and profoundly obvious to her that she has to do something. To begin with, she shows him her face, drawn and weary and braced for anything. Intensely curious.]

Ventus. I know who you are. Vanitas told me.

@betterhalf; video

[darkincrement]

[ It could be a trap!

But he is switching over to video to actually show is face this time. She may recognize the lines around his eyes as looking similar to that of his Unversed. He is rubbing his forehead as if he has a headache. ]

I... [ And then he's dropping his hand to give an uneasy smile. ] You can call me Ven. I don't know Vanitas or why he would know anything about me.

@betterhalf; video

[heavensreader]

[Her thoughts are frantic. How does this work? Was Ventus in Vanitas's body all along, trapped and waiting his turn? Is Vanitas somewhere now in ventus's abandoned body?

How much does she tell him?]

He knows you. He - he said you had the same master.