Already she knew that he would question her about her plan, want to know it, because he would think that it was preferable to being thrown into jail. And she supposed that, depending on the situation, it could be. If things were different, if it were him that she were being taken off to jail besides, she wouldn’t have hesitated before going forth with it, because it would have been easy.
Still it would technically be easy, the way that her powers were sparking at her finger tips—
Opening a portal would be so easy.
But the guilt if the darkness harmed Vaan would not be.
Guilt was an emotion she was intimately familiar with, entirely so, but she did not want him to get hurt. After all, she had gotten him into this mess no matter what he said, and Naminé knew that she had to get him out as safely as possible.
Then again, it could have been selfishness on her part. The desire not to have him know that she was not normal, that she was not human, that she was an other. A Nobody. Shame over what she was did not truly exist within her, but she did not want him to know that she did not have a heart, was not supposed to be able to feel things. To reveal that she was a Nobody and had an ability to manipulate darkness into a portal to traverse worlds meant revealing a part of herself that she did not want to bare to anyone if she could help it.
Most were not supposed to know of other worlds anyways.
So she glanced around blankly, lips thinning in thought. Really she already knew that she could not tell him about the plan, but how could she explain why he could not know? Already they were stuck in danger, which meant that caution was supposed to be thrown to the wind and all measures were supposed to be taken to get them free, but Naminé already knew that she would never be able to do that on her own, not unless true life or death danger was shown and she was pushed. Weak and cowardly she certainly was, there was no denying.
”—It’s dangerous.”
What a horrible excuse. Then again, just as she was bad at lying, she was equally bad at making excuses for the things that she said and did, mostly because there was no excusing a thing. Excuses were toxic, they snuck into the blood stream and infected the brain and eventually led to constant excuses being made, and it marred the truth. ”If I told you it would be too tempting…”
”I’ll tell you, if it comes down to it.”
Some sort of easy out, with risks though? Vaan speculated what she could have in mind. Perhaps she did want some sort of blatant getaway or fighting back after all. Regardless of whatever she had planned though, she seemed hesitant enough to resort to Vaan’s own escape efforts.
He attempted to drive their plan of action forward, to what extent he was capable of locked in a cell. Rubbing his neck, he spoke up to fill the quiet he had left since the words had left her lips,“Well, if you don’t feel like sharing, I guess we’ll have to wait until morning until transport and move from there.”
The escape would not be easy either, but Vaan believed it was feasible. Naminé seemed unlikely to complain much at least. In fact, he had yet to hear her utter one word of complaint, be it about losing her possessions, the arrest, or being tossed in prison. The only thing she had yet to even reprimand Vaan for was his moral misalignment to typical standards.
At least Dalmascan standards. Who knew where she had come from. Beyond names, he had yet to learn anything else about her. Such thoughts rarely came to mind for Vaan, and even so, such thoughts came with delay. He looked once more at the girl he had earlier been arrested with. Her clothing seemed amiss from most Ivalician fashion, and her pale skin hinted a lack of locality. Better yet, why had she been traveling through Rabanastre to begin with?
Too many questions not worth asking at this point. He slouched his posture as he leaned on the wall, sliding down and leveling the slant of his back from the bench seat to the stone. This day was winding to an ugly end and each consequence was narrowing their options. Yet he was tired.
“We’re going to have to go through Barheim and then through the Estersand,”Vaan was sure the other was unfamiliar with these places, but it gave him comfort to have some sort of plan. He had never been much for them. Rather, he had been too reliant on others to create them. The details had always been too boring. This haphazard attempt was all they were relying upon besides whatever she had planned, he thought before slipping out a yawn.
“Well, aren’t you quite the influence?” Larsa tossed the young lady an apologetic smile. “He means well, I assure you. Though, it remains—what exactly befuddled you, miss, that you would question its legality?”
Well this is certainly a boy that she does not know, but she smiles at him pleasantly nonetheless. ”Nothing in particular, just the act itself. It seems suspicious to simply take something—but it’s not really my business anyways.” Really it wasn’t, but she had appeared there and found Vaan nonetheless, and she couldn’t help but let the comment slip out.
Of course the two of them would disapprove, especially with regards to Naminé’s prior chastising of him. Still, he hadn’t expected her presence; otherwise, the thief would have been more discreet to avoid such criticisms. Sighing, Vaan looked toward the ground before he mumbled, “… wouldn’t it seem more suspicious returning it?”
Hmmm. This one is difficult. When it comes to others, Vaan tends to protect and aid them, regardless of personal feelings. However, love, for those deeper connections goes much further. Love means a connection which does not get destroyed by distance or circumstance, that should anything arise to endanger them, he would be there to support them unconditionally, that these bonds surpass any treasure or adventure in his heart.
✓- How do they react to praise?
Pretty much like that. Then he tries to act cool.
♕ - Do they trust easily?
[[I have this in another inbox, so I will answer this there]]
✦ 6+ years of experience in roleplay with multiple muses in various styles, 4+ years with Naminé, 3+ years on tumblr.
✦ Relatively fast with replies most of the time, working in the CST timezone.
✦ Completely open to interacting with any and all fandoms.
✦ Novella/multi para/one liners all acceptable, but prefers paragraphs generally.
✦ Open to all writing styles.
✦ Single ship.
✦ Mun is honestly a little shit who wants to meet people and isn’t half as formal as this makes her look… has a tendency to give people dumb baked goods.
Our muses are destined to reach super stardom as a singing duo
Few times had the two sung together, and yet there was already a flashy man handing a business card to the two teens. A chance encounter, purely an overheard melody on a street corner, they hadn’t even planned to sing professionally. It was merely some recreational hobby to pass the time; it wasn’t intended to escalate so far.
The lights of super stardom came flashing like a torrent of change. Suddenly, their freedom had been seized like a hot black market item. Familiar faces became fleeting as others appointed took their places to choose how to dress, act, where they would be, even which melodies floated off their lips. What had been their secret bliss became their televised chore.
Even looking at her, he could see a change, likely the same as what had happened to him, becoming hollow shells of their appearances. No emotion stirred him to sing. What words left his lips were prompted and predefined. Like a puppet, being mastered over for his audience…
He missed the melody they had sung on the street corner.
The guards searched her, but she clung to her jacket like a limpet—it was a gift, and she was entirely unwilling to part with it. Luckily she had not brought her bag with her that night, as it was full of her art supplies and she would have highly preferred that they not be taken away… so she really was practically empty handed. And when they confiscated Vaan of his weapons and otherwise things he was, also, and it was looking as if they wouldn’t have an easy way out of his mess.
Dungeons. Well, that sounded pleasant, and she glanced at him briefly. In his posture and his tone he did not sound absolutely sure, the kind of sure that would have put her at ease that they would be able to get out of the situation that they had found themselves in. That certainly didn’t help in any way, shape, or form, and she sighed to herself, glancing around at the temporary cell that they had been placed in.
Trust in Vaan. Create a portal.
Neither option sounded necessarily pleasant or easy to go with, especially when creating a portal could seriously harm the young man besides her. Indecisiveness may be their downfall yet, but she couldn’t bring herself to compulsively open up a portal to get them out of there. Impulsive moves could land them in even more trouble than they already were in—being impulsive tended to get her more hurt than anything.
All the same she let the tips of her fingers brush the wall of the cell, leaning her head down in thought. At the tips of her finger tips she could feel the prickle of her powers calling to her, the darkness welling up in her hands, but she pushed it away and back, still entirely unsure of what route to take. Letting her eyes fall shut her lips thinned and she breathed softly for a few moments, before lifting her head and looking at him straight in his eyes again.
”I have a plan, but it’s only if we have no other choice.”
Details about what portals could do to people whose hearts were existent or could be badly effected by excessive amounts of darkness were vague to her, because she had never been told. But she didn’t want to hurt Vaan if she could avoid if, even if there was a chance that he could push through without being seriously harmed in the end. So, for the time being, she would have to place a small measure of trust in him to get them both out of there without any serious harm befalling either of them>
That really was easier said than done.
As he spoke, he could see her hope fading. Perhaps his uncertainty was not the best thing to keep her mind at ease. Then again, nothing he had done this evening had been probably considerate to her. He shuffled onto one of the benches hanging to the side of the cell, lifting his arms and figuring he should at least get comfortable in their cell.
Even just getting her out before Nalbina might be better. Vaan could probably ally with some others interested in escape and find his way. He did not want to expose her to undeserved imprisonment any longer than he had to.
Should his plan not work out … well, he was sure whatever guard caught them wouldn’t be generous enough to simply throw them back to the dungeons. The journey underground was treacherous, but achievable, they would simply have to wait, like the prisoners they were.
Hearing her speak of her own plan though, likely better than his own, his hopes raised. “A plan, huh?” Vaan leaned forward, interested to hear, “Okay, then before we wait for to be thrown in the dungeons, do you want to share this plan?”
Then again, she had seemed to refer to it only as a last resort. Surely it had to be better than crawling through his escape tunnels, and if they could avoid Nalbina altogether, it was worth hearing. Certainly, he did not want to return there. If it wasn’t easier though, it may be better not to know.
Selfishly, he wondered if her plan would allow him to get his loot back… Better yet, his sword. If he could get his sword, Vaan probably have no misgivings about simply running. The longer they were gone, the more others would begin to worry, and better yet question how she got arrested. Vaan glazed over the thought of others wondering about him. Most who knew him well would realize.
A part of Naminé wanted to retort that if he didn’t actually think she would have done it he should have just stayed back and let a delayed reaction save him from being caught, but it was clear that they weren’t to talk anymore, and she kept her mouth shut. Glancing around at their general surroundings subtly she noted that some people were peering out of their windows, many of them appearing as if they had just been woken up, and internally she apologized for waking them up. It had been so peacefully quiet before… what a shame that that had been lost.
Holding onto the hems of the sleeves of her jacket tightly the blonde let herself be shuffled and tugged into a cell, pushed and shoved. It was what she imagined a drop of water would feel like in an ocean, though this was a far smaller case than an ocean, but she stepped into the cell willingly either way, not bothering to glance back at the guards. Around them the cell was generally bare, except for a bench, and when she heard the sound of locking and the shuffling of armor moving away she finally looked at Vaan again.
Why he could possibly be apologizing was absolutely lost on her and she looked at him, deeply confused by why he was saying sorry to her. There was no reason for him to apologize—and there was every reason for her to apologize to him. After all, if she had simply stopped trying to convince him to return the talisman or had ignored his jests they wouldn’t be in this situation.
”Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault.”
Not exactly stern, but her voice was solemn and serious all the same and she looked around them at their cell, and her fingers flexed absently. The chance that her powers would respond to her was rather high, but her willingness to drag Vaan into a dark portal was not. As a Nobody she did not have a heart for darkness to effect, but the blond young man besides her could be negatively influenced by it, because for all appearances and means he appeared to be utterly normal.
(( Less than savory pursuits aside. ))
Was it worth it to risk hurting him?
”Do you have a plan?”
If he had escaped this very prison before he had to have some sort of plan, right? At least, she hoped that was the case, because if he didn’t have a plan then they may have to bank their chances of getting out on her own plan, which could seriously harm Vaan. Otherwise, if she decided it wasn’t worth risking—especially because they would likely end up on another world and wouldn’t that be an adventure for him—then they would have to come up with another plan to work with, and Naminé was not exactly familiar with escaping prisons.
Naminé’s nerves continued to be apparent to Vaan as the girl clung to her jacket like a security blanket. She looked like a cage bird, probably thinking that to him this was merely familiar territory. He had admitted his earlier arrest record carelessly and without explanation. In all fairness, in his mind, he had hardly gotten caught in the past. True, a guard would call out his actions when he sloppily pickpocketed from some pompous tourist, but never this far, spare once.
She on the other hand, gave way her unfamiliarity to risking time in a cell. More that her nerves revealed this, her optimistic expectations of the guard, her general obedience to them, all of which impressed upon him an idea of how alien this situation must seem to her. Remorsefully, Vaan kept to himself that all sentences to the dungeons were for life. She didn’t need to know that, especially not if they were going to escape anyways.
Vaan forfeited hopes that she would accept the fact that he was to blame. Clearly the girl was too kind for her own good. Still, she seemed reasonable enough that she may have a plan herself. At the least with that reason, chances were that once they got out of this, she would never want to associate with him again anyways. He just needed to get them out.
”Do you have a plan?”
Vaan mulled over her question for a moment. He had not exactly planned anything other than the general concept of escape to be honest. In his last escapade, his companions were the ones who primarily found the route of escape. True, he likely could remember the path, but that would involve sneaking past guards and dealing with the mine remnants that made up Barheim. Preferably, their escape would come before that point. He glanced around the cell in hopes of some obvious answer.
The guards had confiscated his pouch and weapons, so they wouldn’t be able to pick their way out of cell. When it came to escaping during transport, even if he discovered that she could, Vaan doubted Naminé –would- fight. Sighing, he looked to the ground,“About that…”
He mustered some sort of answer, “If we end up in the dungeons, there is an escape. Other than that though, I don’t know.”
