Of Breweries and Witches (closed)

[Beaver Dude]

Xaldin breathed in the night. It smelled of old sap, rocks, and wild magics.

They called this land 'Prydain'. A quaint name for a quaint place. Technology was medieval at best, magic was both believed and reviled - apparently there were no wizards, just evil witches (more rarely warlocks. It was odd – as far as Xaldin knew, the gender divide on evil magic usually swayed on the other end) and a lack of goodly legends.

Not a bad place to live. And surely not the worst. There were few wars. A... fair life expectancy for a place so primitive. Enough resources to make life hospitable for those who made a living here. A lack of conspicuous number of heartless. No, not bad at all.

The Organization, as always, would be here to change such things. Three sisters - three witches - were rumored to live nearby and if they could be tempted by the vagaries of corruption...

Waiting, the Lancer observed the small cottage before him. His companions should be arriving shortly...

[/size]

[Ryu-star!]

The Flurry of Dancing Flames couldn't say that he was all that happy, at present.

Sure, he was getting the chance to work with Roxas, his only real ally and friend within the Organization, which was fantastic, but he also had to put up with Mutton Chops.

Again.

Not only that, but they were being sent out to some godforsaken place in the middle of nowhere to track down some wrinkled old hags.

And that was certainly not the way that he wanted to be spending his afternoon.

Those ever-faithful corridors of darkness carrying him to this disgusting little place, his eyes gazed with displeasure at his surroundings. The only positive to this entire situation was that he would get to bug Mutton Chops for a little bit.

Now that was something he'd never get tired of.

"Hey, Sideburn-zilla. We here to get you a haircut or something? You finally deciding to take everyone's advice?" He stated, chuckling to himself. Oh what fun it was to hassle those having a permanently bad hair day.

What fun.

[angelous]

He'd tagged along only because he'd been asked to by Xaldin. He wasn't exactly sure why, as manipulation wasn't exactly his strong suit, but hey, maybe this was another Heartless elimination mission. He'd be sure to ask that at some point, if Xaldin hadn't made such a fuss about keeping quiet.

This place seemed peaceful enough to Roxas, and he didn't see any Heartless roaming openly. This meant that they either had yet to come here, or that they were not as abundant in this world as other places were.

"How much longer we going to wait?" Roxas asked his companions.

[lysander]

The cowboy's adventures had always been, for lack of a more accurate word, odd. Of course, perhaps it wasn't the adventure but the adventurer that made these things happen; who could tell?

One way or the other, through a series of most unexpected events, Lysander had arrived in the world of Prydain, and through no lack of an unexpected entrance. Far above the clearing and cottage a black and white swirl of color meshed in the sky creating a circle. Shooting up out of it was a pink blur with a dash of black tinting it, and then after a short arc through the air, his terrified girlish wail cut shrill through the air. "Waaaaaaah!"

Then, through sheer realization of the obvious, Lysander jerked in the middle of the air, hanging onto the strap of his duffel bag as it seemed to get caught on some invisible hook in the air, only inches above the roof of the cottage. Dropping down with the clink of his boots and spurs against the soft hay on the roof. Then, his duffel bag unhooked, and his pink cowboy hat floated directly to his scalp. With a deep sigh of relief, he took in his surroundings. It reminded him of home.

[/blockquote]

[Beaver Dude]

"I believe..." and at this point Xaldin really did have to think. Marluxia had sneered, Larxene had tittered; even Lexaeus - solid, strong, honest Lexaeus - had mentioned something to the effect that his hair was an impendiment to efficient fighting and was a liability; Axel was Axel (less said the better), Roxas had grown something of a spine recently; Zexion, the Superior, Vexen, had all made fun of his hair back in the day. Actually the only person who hadn't commented on it (as far as he recalled was): "Saix hasn't made mention of it yet."

"Probably."

Roxas spoke up next - bringing up an actual, valid point when something spiked through Xaldin's awareness like the falling shards of a broken mirror.

His gaze went upwards and he spotted... a great deal of pink. His first instinct was Eleven, but upon re-assessment-

"Off-worlder. The parameters of the mission have changed." Xaldin said briskly. "Roxas-" he nodded to the kid. Being the shortest and clearly adolescent one he'd be most likely to pass off as an 'innocent.' "Try to gauge his intentions. If he cannot be reasoned with - subdue him."

"Axel and I will circle around and provide back-up if it's necessary. Remember, we need to do this quiet and quickly."

[/size]

[Ryu-star!]

Axel's smirk dropped off his face the moment he heard VII's name stated. Not because of the fact that Mutton Chops was using it in defense of his hair, but because his former friend was actually the one person in the Organization he had something personal against. The Superior was just the Superior, nothing special. Xigbar was always a riot, making just as many jokes - mainly at Vexen or Xaldin's expense, of course - as he did. Mutton Chops just needed a hair cut, plain and simple. He couldn't care less about Vexen, Lexaeus or Zexion, as he hadn't had to interact too much with them, and was generally avoiding them to resist the temptation of trying to kill them again. Demyx was a pansy, obviously. Luxord was alright, though the Flurry could never really figure out why he had an accent. And as far as Larxene and Marluxia were concerned, he couldn't care less. He'd been there, killed that. No big deal. His view of Roxas was obvious.

But Saix?

Ew.

Enough said.

Nonetheless, he was jerked from his reverie at Xaldin's comment of some kind of off-worlder, nodding in agreement, despite the fact that he normally would have debated the leadership capabilities of someone that looked like they should be living on the side of the road, with hair like that.

But he was a bit preoccupied, honestly.

Freaking Saix.

[angelous]

Roxas merely listened as Xaldin replied to the two elder members' conversation concerning Xaldin's hair. Roxas didn't mind Xaldin's hair, after all, if it was that bad then you had to consider other members who had hair just as long or longer than his. But he wasn't about to bring that up, for it wasn't a discussion he wished to continue. At the sight of the newcomer and Xaldin's request Roxas merely nodded and replied with two words.

"Got it."

More could have been said, but he doubted that anything else needed to be brought up just yet. He opened his corridor of darkness, and disappeared into it, reappearing behind Lysander.

"So what's someone like you plan on doing here?"

[lysander]

A breeze fluttered by ruffling the edges of Lysander's pink duster, lifting tendrils of his hair and releasing them as smoothly as only a soft wind can. The appearance of another via magic was as much a surprise as it shouldn't have been. The pink-clad cowboy hadn't expected any sort of magical means, and yet he had come from a place more desolate than this; he himself was a mage of some caliber.

And so Lysander's completely over exaggerated turnabout and doubletake was, at best, theatrical. "What th-!" For a moment he was silent, and pointed right at Roxas with his slack-jawed expression.

And then, the hay beneath his feet slipped, and his back foot overextended. In less than a moment, Lysander tumbling from the roof of the building and rolling all the way to the bottom of the ground, head over heels.

[Beaver Dude]

"No, Roxas-" but at that point Roxas had already disappeared into a Corridor of Darkness. He'd forgotten how... direct, the chosen of the keyblade could be. The point was to not appear strange and suspicious and completely disconcerting. Like a kid dressed in black leather appearing out of a corridor made of Darkness harping questions.

Oh well. It might be for the best. The pink one was clearly powerful but did not look completely... there. Which might have been the post-world-hopping transition phenomena (slight headache, possible stomach cramps, dizziness and vomitting) but it might have also been something else - something more intrinsic. If he'd had to compare it to a notion in particular it'd be... carelessness. Much like Sora had appeared at first glance. It was possible (ever so slightly) that honesty might actually be the best policy.

And since Roxas didn't really know, he couldn't really tell. As far as everyone else knew, they were here for a routine observation and corruption mission. Vexen had informed Xaldin of several secondary objectives - there was an artifact of great power here that would be most useful for future endeavors.

Well, the (relative) elders would have to be quiet and subtle. Signaling to Axel, Xaldin crept off into the local foilage and started circling the perimeter, watching the conversation.

Until he realized that the pink... thing, had disappeared. Fallen off the roof, apparently.

And he'd missed it. Because he'd been thinking.

"Did you see what happened," he hissed at Nine. "Did negotations break down already?"

[/size]

[Ryu-star!]

His smirk returning at the sight of his friend being just as reckless as ever, Axel spared a glance at that pink... thing up on top of the cottage. He refused to recognize it as an off-worlder, because, from here, it looked like more of a big pink mess than anything else. Returning his gaze to III just in time to see that finger signalling that he was supposed to follow, the crimson-haired Nobody followed behind the wind-wielder, despising the fact that he was supposed to be quiet. That just wasn't the way he worked.

But luckily, he didn't have to keep it up for long.

Apparently, the cowboy - or at least, what appeared to be a cowboy, but he couldn't be sure - was just as much of an idiot as he looked, slipping off the building with an exclamation that apparently could only be heard by people with semi-normal hairstyles. "Yes, I saw what happened. Heard it, too. He feel. Isn't that obvious?" He responded to the wind-wielder, smirking as he abandoned his comrade and made his way over to the fallen cowboy, summoning his chakrams, just in case.

"So uh... you okay, dude? It's generally a bad idea to fall off of buildings, in case you weren't aware. But I suggest you keep it down. We don't wanna alert the locals."

No, he really didn't want to.

Especially not if they were magical, or whatever.

[angelous]

Roxas nearly jumped to stop the man from falling, but he decided against it. After all there was no use, even if he could make it in time, chances were that grabbing his arm or whatever would result in him going down with Lysander. He just shook his head and sighed. He made his way toward the hole, and dropped down in. When he landed he did a quick scan of the area and saw Axel standing next to the person Roxas was supposed to be "interrogating" for lack of a better term.

"You alright?" was all he said to Lysander.

"I thought Xaldin told you to stay back." Not that Roxas minded the extra company, especially considering who it was, but he wasn't exactly keen on letting anyone know just how many there were just yet. But what could he do now.

"We'd better hurry."

He was right, whatever they planned on doing here they'd better do it quick, Roxas had the feeling that their unusual aloneness was not everlasting, and he didn't want to be here when whoever or whatever lived here returned.

[lysander]

The black-haired cowboy's piercing red eyes were as cheerful as his goofy grin, looking up at Axel and Roxas, he folded his arms over his chest. He knew something they didn't, and it was painfully obvious in the mischief he displayed. In strange order, he brushed his arms off casually, before sitting up and then moving to stand. "I figured there might be more than one of you." He commented with a sly and nonchalant attitude. "Nobody travels on their own these days, everybody's out in packs." Rudely he looked out past them. "Anybody else out there?"

The cowboy's mind was ever calculating, smooth and manipulative. He was very good at poker after all. The way they spoke to each other, and dressed alike, they were like a military unit. And military units were very easily read if you could catch them by surprise (which had been a complete accident on Lysander's part).

With surprising speed Lysander whipped his gun out and aimed it skyward. "I've never been much for sneaky, personally. Subtlety ain't my forte, so much as makin' a scene."

[Beaver Dude]

Xaldin sighed: he had nearly forgotten why the Superior had warned against paring Axel and Roxas together on missions. He'd heard the reports of... traitorous actions on Eight's part regarding Roxas' Somebody (all of it had happened after he had died, alas) but since Roxas himself now fully understood that he was a thing separate and apart from Sora, Xaldin had thought that they were no longer a liability.

(Or at least, not so much of a liability that their considerable prowess at battle could be ignored as so much lint and dust. Shallow thoughts, those. Still, what was done was done. He’d make the best of it.)

Quickly, the lancer went over his choices.

Option One: attack the stranger. Desirable for a number of reasons, not the least being Xaldin’s twitchy trigger finger the tactical advantages. The Organization was not some preschool nursery: they had aided and abetted the destruction of worlds. Even the most black-hearted individuals usually balked at that notion. The idea was under serious consideration.

Option Two: order Axel and Roxas to attack. Desirable for a number of reasons, however Eight and Thirteen had already proved to be less than reliable and lacking in most forms of common sense. They might consider it an order to engage and start burning down the cottage. That would be bad.

Option Three: retreat and observe. Not something he would have preferred and it reeked of cowardice. Option Three point Five: approach and observe. His sadly probable end gambit-

It was about then a pig, in a rather unlikely display of acrobatics, broke through its pen and made a mad dash for freedom.

Or Option Four, None of the Above.

Xaldin made a mad, near hundred foot leap, clearing the assembled Nobodies and the random pink cowboy. No time to explain and rushed.

“Grab. That. PIG

[/i].”[/blockquote][/size]

[angelous]

Roxas barely had time to register everything that this so called cowboy was saying. It seemed like the moment he tried Xaldin had leaped into action, chasing something he never thought he'd see someone as serious as him chase. A pig. That's right, a pig. With the curled tail, the flat snout, the hooves. They go oink oink, and squeal like... well like a pig if you pull their tails. Roxas merely shook his head as he smiled, and quickly bolted out of the cottage, and after the pig. Sure he wasn't exactly lightning incarnate when it came to speed, but all the running around Roxas and his other half had done did wonders not only for his agility and speed, but for his endurance as well. He figured he could run for an hour or so without having to take a break. That is however, without being interrupted by the usual monstrosities of the dark.

"Axel let's go!"

[lysander]

Pig...? Pig? Pig!?

[/b]

A third guy had thrown himself from the forest, not to overpower the cowboy waving the gun in the air like any rational being would, but to chase a pig!? What kind of hoodlums were these guys, chasing poor defenseless livestock around like it'd be their last good breakfast in the dead of winter. "I don't think so!" A flash of silver arced downward as his gun was brought down, but not to aim and shoot strangely enough. Instead, a massive wave of hay, assisted by Lysander's telekinesis assaulted the keyblade-wielding nobody before he'd even departed from the cowboy's side.

And even, Lysander was already on the move, making a genuine effort to save the defenseless pig. His above-average speed would contribute quite a bit to this Dash To The Finish![/b][/u][/size][/blockquote]