Reunion and Rising Tensions

Reunion and Rising Tensions
Date of Scene:	04 November 2012
Location:	Traverse Town
Synopsis:	Neku wakes up in Traverse Town, unaware of his new surroundings. Meanwhile, Reize and Shiki return to Traverse Town to do some shopping. It's a bit of a joyous reunion. ...Somewhat.
Cast of Characters:	Reize Seatlan, Shiki Misaki, Neku Sakuraba

---

Neku Sakuraba has posed:
'What is this?'

'I woke up face-down in the middle of the street. A street I didn't recognize; a street I didn't know. I expected Shibuya, the screen hanging overtop of me. Instead I got a clock face, ticking away. People, everywhere; nobody stopping. Nobody staring. They probably didn't care who I was, or why I was there.'

'Forget them.'

'Just a lot of noise.'

The young man stands, pushing himself to his feet. He dusts himself off, then checks his headphones; there's still music playing, the active, fast-paced hip-hop he so loved. He checks over himself one more time, then digs into his pocket.

'The Pins are still there. I guess that means...'

He turns his hand over.

'Sure enough. The numbers. I'm still in the Game...annoying.'

Neku thrusts his hands back into his pockets and turns, walking down the street, his eyes slowly closing as he tries to make sense of his convoluted situation. This was the second time, after all; the second time he'd woken up in the middle of a street full of people, with no idea how he got there.

'What's...going on? Is this another trick...more Reaper stuff?'

He could use the Player Pin, maybe. Scan some minds. See what they were thinking. See if...

'What's the point of that? Like they'd know anything.'

'I'm better off alone anyway. I finally have some time to think.'

Shiki Misaki has posed:
" o/~ "

"Oh, I'm so glad you're feeling better, Reize, it means I can buy so many more bags of things!"

The money's been rolling in for the Shard Seekers, relatively speaking, which means it's time for another weekend grocery run! And the weekly visit to Mr. Hanekoma, as well, to see if anyone new has shown up. As before, the answer is no, but hey, at least Shiki's not lonely any more.

So here she is, wandering along, accompanied by her bag boy. If a Soldier or a Shadow happens to wander out of an alley, we've got it covered. Currently she's wandering around on one of the raised walkways in the second district; closer to the Mad Hatter's tailor's than the clock tower.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
So many bags to hold.

tGeez. Reize finally got better after the incident in Halloween Town. Both arms have been filled with holding various bags of the groceries. The young aventurer lowers his head, looking pretty exhausted. "Whew... Couldn't we have chosen a closer place to do te shopping at?"

His antenna hair whisks around to the left, and then to the right. He turns towards Shiki with a curious look. "Uhh...." He tilts his head over, then he furrows his eyebrows. "Hrm..."

He sees someone in the middle of the street of people, all alone. A frown.

With a bagged hand, he lifts it up and shouts towards Neku, "OOOOOOIIIII!!! It's a bad idea to be out there by yourself like that!" Sure, Neku has those headphones, but Reize is pretty loud.

Neku Sakuraba has posed:
There's some...noise, some/thing/, trying to get his attention. It's loud, it's annoying; it must be a person. Neku's eyes slowly close tighter and tighter; one can almost see the 'leave me alone' vein in his forehead spike, and he opens his eyes and his mouth to yell-

And stops, in mid-motion, staring at Shiki from the middle of the street. A million different thoughts run through his head - where were you, I've been looking for you, where did you land, who is this guy, where are *we*, what are you doing here, why are you stuck in my head, don't you remember we need to be partners because I didn't go through that annoying crap just to die...

-...and he says none of them. His mouth just closes, and he makes his way over to the two of them, his hands still in his pockets. He looks at Shiki for a really, really long moment, obviously trying to decide exactly what to say, before he closes his eyes and turns around.

"...annoying. Don't go wandering off by yourself; you'll get us both killed."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"....."

Shiki drops her bags. She looks right across the district, eyes boring into the boy across the way, not even blinking for a moment for fear he might disappear after the black flickers over. She turns so that both him and Reize are in her field of vision;

Then she's off like a shot.

"Neku!" she shouts, scrambling down the staircase and across the open plaza, shoes skidding against the paving as she slows to a halt in front of him.

"It is you, isn't it? Oh, where were you? I've been looking for you! When did you get here? Are you alright? Do you know where we are?"

Basically a lot of stuff in Neku's head, funnily enough.

Back outside the haberdashery, Mr. Mew begins gathering up the bags. Good thing Reize was carrying the one with the eggs in.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Blink.

Neku? That was the boy that Shiki mentioned a while back. Her partner that they have been looking for. That is when Reize brightens considerably. He is actually glad for the reunion for the two. With Mr. Mew gathering the bags, Reize smiles. "Thanks Mr. Mew."

Soon, he works on making his way to join the two.

"It looks like that you finally found your partner! I'm glad!" He grins.

Neku Sakuraba has posed:
Oh, right.

Neku just shakes his head. Is it him? Of course it's him. She just needed to check him with the Player Pin to know that, since she wouldn't be able to read his mind. And like he had any idea where he'd been, or where he was...or when he got here, for that matter. Obviously he was alright...obviously.

"...."

"I'm fine." Neku replies after a really long moment of silence. "Do you always ask so many questions...? And who is he?" He jerks a thumb at Reize; he doesn't actually LOOK at Reize, mind you, but he jerks a thumb at him.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Eeee I'm so happy I'm going to ignore that remark.

Shiki closes her eyes, tilts her head to the side, smiles. She looks back and waves Reize over, Mr. Mew following behind briskly.

"Hey~!"

"Neku, this is Reize Seatlan, leader of the Shard Seekers. Not to mention the reason I'm alive right now!"
"Reize, this is Neku Sakuraba, my partner in the Game. Not to mention the reason I stayed alive to get here!"

She twirls a little, sweeping her hand out. "And 'here' is Traverse Town! Oh, but you might know that already. Did you find WildKat already? It's just a little down the way! Mr. H is there!"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
There is a bit of pleasure in watching Shiki reunited with Neku. He would be leaning on something nearby. However, he can see a faint light emit from Shiki.

In fact, that light is becoming more obvious. And yet, a single voice rings in the boy's mind.

Congratulations...
A wish had been fulfilled...

As the light starts to leave Shiki, that light moves towards Reize. And in that moment, Reize is holding onto the pendant as it resonates with a bright light.

His eye slowly close, trying to shield itself from the brightness and receive that fulfilled spirit into the gem.

Slowly, that light dies away...

It is yet another fulfilled wish. "Fulfilled wishes.." He muses thoughtfully. However, he puts it in the back of his mind for now. The smile grows as he approach the two, "Hello, Neku."

A smile is given, "It's good to finally meet you!"

Neku Sakuraba has posed:
She's twirling. What is she, twelve? Thirteen? Neku just shakes his head. No, he hadn't known about Traverse Town, but her wild, inane babbling had at least been useful for once. No, he hadn't found WildKat already, he'd literally just woken up on the street. No, he hadn't known that Mr. Hanekoma was down there, but that was cool, it meant he'd be able to actually talk to someone who wouldn't go off on him a mile a minute. Mr. Hanekoma was really cool, too, so that made his life easier.

Neku looks at Reize for a really, really long moment. He's sizing the guy up; he sizes him up for a reall long minute, looking over him with a really bored look on his face.

"..."

Neku reaches up to touch his headphones, then checks the palm of his hand. No red numbers, yet.

"Do you have a mission yet?" Neku asks, looking over at Shiki.

Did...he just snub Reize? Like, completely snub him?

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Apparently.

Shiki's thinking is a little higgledy-piggledy right now, so she's inclined to miss certain details like that, because this is /important/ and it's /Neku/ and /bad stuff/ has happened he needs to be told about.

"Oh! No. Well, sort of. Um, how do I put it?"

She puts one elbow in her palm for a moment and taps her mouth with the other hand. "Something has happened..."

"A new Game Master showed up here this time last week. He's a real psycho. His name's Sho Minamimoto. Pinky's here, too, but this guy... he had a whole bunch of nasty black Noise and he was just going on the rampage with them! He acted like 'fight and stop me before I erase everyone around' was a mission, but he seemed seriously out of his gourd..."

"But uh."

She rubs the back of her hand. "None of 'those' kind of missions..."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Reize got snubbed! He totally got snubbed! If the boy was able to feel the chills from the guy, he is sure as hell can feel it about now.

The hand lowers, "R-right..." He sweatdrops, slowly backing away from Neku. It looks like that this guy is not too particularly friendly. With Shiki and Neku now rejoined, Reize has to wonder what will Shiki do now.

He furrows his eyebrows, thinking on that situation. Nevertheless, he dismisses the thoughts for now, looking over to Neku. "It's been quite the ordeal... There are other threats as well. The Heartless."

Neku Sakuraba has posed:
Sho...Minamimoto?

Neku knew that name. He didn't know how he knew that name, but he knew that name, deep in the part of himself that was locked off after...something. He didn't remember what. What thing? Why didn't he remember how he knew Sho Minamimoto?

Annoying.

"I know him. He's nuts." Neku finally notes, closing his eyes again. Sho Minamimoto...the name made him mad, really really mad. His hand closes into a fist in his pocket, around the player pin...oh, hey. Around the Player Pin. Right, he still had that...would it still work, though?

The word 'Heartless' jumps from Reize's mouth into the air. He figures that's a pretty good thing to check on. Maybe this Reize guy knew something useful, and if this worked, maybe he wouldn't have to listen to the guy /talk/.

Neku closes his hand around the Player Pin and focuses really hard, expanding his perceptions. The world around him slows; he can hear the background noises, people thinking meaningless thoughts all over the place. He shuts them out, and tries to focus on Reize. On 'Heartless'.

Assuming he even CAN read Reize's mind. Maybe whatever had dropped him in 'Traverse Town' had done some damage to the Pins, too...?

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki glances at Reize. The word 'stay' goes unspoken.

"He is nuts," Shiki echoes, recalling the fear: the terror, really, that such a man of sheer passionate violence could ever be a Game Master, much less /their current one/. And, let's not forget...

The person responsible for Shibuya's destruction.
But let's not mention that just yet. Too much, too fast.

She's never used the Player Pin to scan her friends' thoughts. It's sort of a violation of privacy, you know? However, she knows when it's happening- she knows Neku's body language well enough to notice the concentration, which is why she reaches over and- taps the back of his hand with her finger.

"Hey, or you could ask him," she says lightly.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
As Neku is trying to pry information regarding the heartless from the boy, his mind instead projects out the thoughts...

. o O ( Geez, this guy is not friendly. )

Unfortunately, Neku's attempts to get the information of the Heartless was drowned ot by the immediate and the strongest thoughts from the boy. Unfortunately, that means Neku must endure hearing the boy speak.

"Heartless are creatures of the darkness. They can steal the hearts from people, turning them into Heartless as well. It's a scary sight... They are kind of like Noise in some way." He then places a hand towards his chin, "... They come in different forms as well."
"You know, Shiki is part of the Shard Seekers." A smile is given, "...If you need a place to stay, Neku, we have an extra room out at the headquarters at Fluorgis. ...It's a desert town, but a big one!"

Neku Sakuraba has posed:
No. No, Neku is not friendly. The look of irritation that shoots across his face as Shiki taps him on the shoulder (thus wrecking his concentration) and the thoughts he's picking up from Reize (not inaccurate, but not what he wanted to know) makes it pretty clear how he feels about both of these prospects. That is to say, how he feels about listening to Reize talk and how he feels about joining the Shard Seekers.

He didn't need people. Okay, he needed Shiki, because she was his Partner in the Game and without her he couldn't fight Noise, and if he couldn't fight Noise he'd be slim pickings for Sho Minamimoto and his gang of insane Reaper murder-hobos in hoodies. (Seriously...hoodies? How uncool).

"...I'll stay at WildKat," Neku replies gruffly after a moment. He doesn't return the smile; he just stuffs his hands in his pockets and starts walking. He'd just scan somebody's mind to find out where it was later; Hanekoma's cafe should be pretty easy to find anyway, assuming Hanekoma didn't find him first. "You're annoying."

"When you're done messing around, we should find Minamimoto and take him down." Neku holds up one of the pins in his pocket. "If you find any more, just give them to me. If we kill him, the Game should be over, and you can go hang out with your little club or whatever and leave me alone, right?"

Shiki Misaki has posed:
It's almost as if they hide peoples' faces, to make them seem more alike and less individual.

Shiki blinks... then she looks a little crestfallen. Something's wrong, she realises abruptly, watching as Neku gives them the brush-off and starts walking. So naturally, she follows.

"Hey," she says, voice light again. "Um, sorry? Look, it's not like that..."

"Minamimoto's pretty dangerous, though. And the Reapers can show up anywhere, now. This isn't the... like... there's other worlds out there outside of this one, you know? Not other cities, whole other worlds. And all kinds of things to see out there... really! Wonderful things..."

"Would you like to go see them with me, Neku?"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
There is that look on Neku's face. He's not too happy. Of course, there is not much that the boy can do either. When Neku brushes off his offer, Reize rubs the back of his head, "...Alright. I figured I'd at least offer..."

'You're annoying.'

Reize twitches slightly. This guy has literally been a total jerk the entire time. Must not take a swing at this guy. And... his comment towards Shiki. However, Reize cheerfulness dies down and he finally snaps off.

"And you are a jerkface!"

His cheek puff up, now moving right towards Neku, "Shiki had been here, trying to find you when she first came here. She was worried about you and we traveled together to try to look for you. Now, you're being a jerk towards her! How can you treat her like that?!"

Neku Sakuraba has posed:
If only Neku had a hoodie he could pull up over his face to hide himself and not have to deal with people talking to him all the time...

Live the dream, Neku Sakuraba, live the dream.

Shiki makes some long, long offer about seeing whole worlds that are really beautiful and stuff to him. That might be kind of neat; seeing worlds nobody else had ever been to...it was just like graffiti, you find your own meaning in stuff like that. Maybe it'd inspire him; it's not like he was going to see any more KAT stuff for a while, probably, so...yeah, that could be pretty interesting. Neku opens his mouth, about to agree-

-and then Reize interrupts with a long moralizing rant at Neku about how he should treat people better and be nicer. Neku turns on Reize, opening his eyes. He stares at the pufferfish guy, listening to his tirade silently.

"...are you done?" Neku asks finally. "You talk too much."

"Listen. It's my business who I hang out with. It's my business where I go. It's only because of the Game that I got stuck with a girl like her. But you're not in the Game; I can read your mind, so I know you're not a Player."

"So buzz off, okay? You talk too much."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
There's this strangled moment.

Shiki looks at Neku: she thinks, or likes to fancifully imagine that she's gotten through to him at last, that it was all just a fluke- that she's gotten back to the boy she trusted her life with, the guy she defeated Higashizawa with.

And then it all goes away in a few seconds, Reize stepping in at exactly the wrong time and shattering the mood like a ball-peen hammer.

Shiki stares at Reize for just a moment, but it's an expression he's never seen on her before.

And she's disconnected, suddenly, feeling like she's just been forced out of a world that exists of nothing other than Reize, Neku and the lightning crackling between them. She stands on the outside, face moving but no words coming out, as it all goes wrong.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
 % There is usually quite a lot that Reize can take. He offered a helping hand to Neku. Okay, it was rejected. That's alright. It was the dissing the friend who looked hard to find him that wasn't tolerated at that point. His eyes narrow towards the city boy, the pride.

Is he done? There was the other option. It's something that he had not done in a long time. Got him in plenty of trouble when he was younger. However, that urge came to repeat history.

...Except, he decides against it.

Shaking his head, Reize's eyes lock towards Neku, "It's your business who you hang out with, yes. However, Shiki is also my friend as well and she thought of you as a friend." He brings the bagged goods down a bit, trying not to let the weight wear his arms. "You and her are Players, yes. However, this is a different situation. There is more than just the Heartless and the Noise. There are other monsters that exist as well. I don't know much about the Game other than what Shiki told me, but I do know that the situation here is at a larger scope. It's not something that just you and her can do by yourself." He shakes his head, "...None of us can do by ourselves."

Neku Sakuraba has posed:
More lectures. More annoying, moralizing crap. Neku's done with it. He's heard it all before, from people for as long as he's been alive. You should get out more. You should socialize more. You should make more friends. You should be more outgoing. You should, you should, you should, you should. You should. You should. You should. You should. You should.

"You should shut up," Neku says after a moment, really calmly. "Do you listen to yourself talk...? Or are you just that full of yourself? Do you think running a little group gives you the right to tell me how to live my life?"

"You don't know me. You don't know anything about me. If I'm guilty of thinking you're annoying, aren't you guilty of making assumptions too?"

Neku sticks his hands back in his pockets and starts walking off. He stops for a moment, tilting his head backwards at Shiki. "If we need to go somewhere to win the Game, OK. I'll go wherever. It might be kind of cool. But keep him away from me, alright?"

"I hate that kind of person most of all."

Neku hated people like that. People who made judgements and then decided that it was okay because it was them doing it. Yeah, Neku made judgements about people too, you couldn't help but make judgements about other people in the real world, but Neku also knew how he wanted to live his life - he wasn't making judgements about them. Everyone...was annoying, in some way. Why couldn't he just live his way, the way he wanted to, in his world, without dealing with all the stupid, nonsensical stuff people kept bringing to him? Yeah, okay, Shiki was kind of annoying, but...he could tolerate her. She didn't make value judgements about him. She just...they needed each other to win, and she understood that relationship.

But this guy...he was a different kind of jerk than Neku. He was the kind of jerk who covered up how little he thought of your way of life in lies like 'well-meaning' and 'friendly advice'.

All those people should just disappear.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Let me in! Tell me what you're thinking!

This is wrong, Shiki thinks, head swimming. This is... wrong, somehow. She tries to think, again, tries to force her hand through the murk around her memories. She's not crazy, is she? She hasn't forgotten, hasn't created some sort of romanticized image in her head, right?

The Neku she promised to meet in front of Hachiko...

Wasn't like this.

She values him as more than just a means to an end. And... didn't he...?

She clutches her hands, watching Neku walk away. When he tells her he'll go wherever they need to to win the Game...

And when he finishes, she says "OK," small, quiet. The voice of the Shiki that was. To which statement, is ambiguous.

And there she stays, watching his back as he walks away.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
More and more. It's tempting. However, the adventurer, however, decides against the act that has been considered. Instead, he keeps his gaze towards Neku, the expression turning to a less friendly one.

"Perhaps so."

Perhaps Reize was being presumptious. However, that doesn't deny that Neku is a jerk. Nevertheless, Reize slowly shakes his head, not even sure what to do about this guy. He just sighs, leaning over to pick up the bags.

His eyes drift towards Shiki, who has been a bit of a bystander. ...He could only frown, due to the mess that was caused. Hoo boy.

Neku Sakuraba has posed:
Neku stops for a minute. Something in him...something. Deep down, something smothered by the darkness, something crushed under the weight of that event...something isn't letting him walk away. He pauses for a really long moment, just standing there, and then lets out a really, really long sigh.

"...sorry." He says after a moment. But it's pretty clear he's not apologizing to Reize; he's apologizing to Shiki. He looks down at his phone for a really long moment, flipping through the numbers. "...I guess our phones won't work across worlds. Let me know if you're going anywhere else. I don't want to risk letting Sho kill you."

Then he flips his phone shut and heads into the chaotic mess of Traverse Town, to go find Hanekoma's place and take a load off, and maybe figure out why his head was spinning and why he actually felt kind of bad about being so mean to Shiki.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"They might," she replies, suddenly realising and taking out her own.

"I just... I haven't... tried," she says slowly, and realises, all of a sudden- of course, she /hasn't/ tried. Why /hasn't/ she tried? It /could/ work. It could have. She could have tried. She could have done it sooner.

But she didn't. She didn't even consider it.

"I've never tried before now. Call me, maybe?"

And she puts it back in her pocket, head spinning, stuck once again by The Terrible Feeling. That feeling that something terrible has happened and she's to blame, somehow, because some part of her was inadequate, something she could have-

But then, away he goes. And she turns around to look at Reize, expression awful. Confusion, fear and-

"This is wrong," she says to Reize, "Somehow. This... is wrong."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
A frown is given, his eyes looking towards Shiki. In a way, this is pretty much his fault. She was convincing her friend to join, but his bullheadedness got in the way.

He rubs the back of his neck, "..I'm sorry, Shiki." A sad frown is given, the hand runs to the back of his neck

Perhaps to chance the topic for now, "..Let's head back.... don't want the groceries to spoil."


...Why does Reize get the feeling that he's... in trouble? It's like a large couch is waiting for him at the Shard Seeker HQ. It's like he won't be allowed to sleep in his own room tonight.