Unforgotten

(Only Sorin and myself for now, please. This thread takes place after "Cold Comforts" for Azumi and after the "Shattered Memories" plot for Audrey.

For the record, Azumi only is training with a bow because she had multiple sessions getting better with her gunplay (not that it wasn't good, but training helps).)

[i]Lobby, Hub[/i]

The [url=http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100828204117/kingdomhearts/images/f/ff/Mirage_Arena_Lobby.png]area[/url] was quiet. The Moogle had been working here for over eleven years, but only recently had some people finally come to train here. He had stayed by the now-open save point opposite the simulation select screen, looking at the depression in the center of the circular lobby. The teleportation device into the white orb was plainly visible in the center of said depression, numbers flashing on the screen of the select screen showing that the simulation was cranking down its numbers.

The moogle thought a moment. All things considered, it was good to have company again. Sure, he had worked with those three, the power, speed, and magically oriented Keyblade wielders, but nobody since then. It had only been in this recent influx of re-accessed worlds that he'd reopened his doors, perhaps able to get some more munny for equipment out of this.

The light of the orb above flickered a bit, signifying that the exercise was done. That was...five? Six in a row? Every time she was getting more and more tired. It looked like that woman hadn't slept in a week, from how she seemed to be barely standing. But she had earned the weapon she had asked for through her gunplay.

The other woman, the artificial intelligence who was operating the stage select controls, had hit a pause on sending her back down, however. She was known as "Kira" apparently, and her magical capabilities were...rather startling. She had been able to manipulate the fabric of the simulation remotely or from within, though she wasn't able to escape a computer here except to get into said simulation. The two mismatched eyes came up on the monitor, on a face devoid of emotion. [i]"I'm keeping her in here. She needs to get sleep, and she's not listening to either of us, so it's best if she stays there until she does."[/i]

"Your money, kupo!" the moogle said with a shrug. "Archery training on hold then, kupo?"

[i]"Whatever,"[/i] she said. [i]"And we're sure you've made it impossible to use any weapons outside of the simulations and can get her out if it seems lethal? Otherwise you'll probably have to find out what a fried circuit board does to something like this."[/i] Fair point.

"Aye aye, kupo. Magic can be used, but I'll keep a lock on that too if I need to, kupo."

The hologram disappeared. [i]"I'm leaving it open for people to come in, but I'll crack the simulation wide open if necessary. Feel free to let people in as long as they don't try to kill anyone."[/i] And with that, there was a crackle... and another blue lightning bolt went up from the transporter to the orb. Another person into the simulation arena of some sort.


The minute Kira had sent herself into the simulation, the Save Point gave a small flash, where another Interference had appeared. Audrey Jones had looked around the futuristic area, almost blinking a few times. Among the other new worlds that had appeared, the Dream Mage had decided to take a look. From what she heard, this place was a training simulation of a sort, so she figured she could train herself with some new spells she had acquired over time.

However, training wasn't the only reason why she decided to drop in here. Not too long ago, she and her friends had just repaired Cheryl's broken mind, restored her original memories. Though she was glad that the Silent Hill heroine was okay, there was one thing that the girl just couldn't quite get herself over with. During the mental journey in the eponymous town, she had discovered the very issue with her Dream Walker ability. Her subconscious, as well as everyone else's, had interfered with Cheryl's own, enough to send some monsters from their own horrors to go after them.

This was what Yen Sid was talking about. Without a way to control her own dreams, she would definitely endanger her friends the next time she used her ability. She had no other choice but to accept the training the old sorceror had offered her. But first, she wanted to get the whole thing off of her mind, possibly by fighting any enemies in a training course.

Audrey turned to the Moogle that stood by the Save Point, waving awkwardly in greeting. "Um...hey there," she said. "I, um, heard this was a place to train, so..."

"You heard right, kupo," the Moogle replied. Remembering what Kira said, he gestured to the teleportation device in the center. "There's already a simulation open, so just head on over, kupo."

Audrey frowned, though said nothing to it. Maybe someone else was training here; she could just join up with them. The Dream Mage walked over to the center, stepping into the device. In just a few short seconds, she had been transported into the white orb, into the current open simulation.

(People can go talk to the moogle and then go straight into the simulation. Best to just get right over there. I'll figure out the makeup of it.)

====

Jasmine had to admit this place was rather cool looking.  She found it as she was looking for different worlds to visit and since it seemed the most unusual place around she stopped by.  It was odd that there was no one around other than a moogle in the back.  Jazz had seen the moogles selling items in other worlds so seeing it wasn't too strange, though she wondered how long it had been here.

"Hi what is this place?"  Jasmine asked as she walked over to the moogle.

"This is the Mirage Arena kupo."  The moogle replied.  "It creates simulations that you can enter in order to train kupo."

So this place was somewhere she could train.  That was rather helpful as she was looking to work on her poison magic.  The last thing she wanted to do was to poison Naito by accident in a fight.  "Can I go in?"

"Sure there is an open simulation kupo."

Jasmine smiled.  "Thanks!"  She walked over to the device in the center and looked up as she was teleported inside the simulation.

====

(For the record, Sorin has said that he will send the second character on his two-character list in on the next post from him, in this round.

Oh, and for record, for future reference, the Shattered Memories plot is after the upcoming thread "End of Line", where Audrey and Kira met again prior to this, so that will be why she will probably not make much comment on her "Base" eye. Still, for reference on Kira's appearance, take a look in the "World Character Transformations" thread or Kira's journal, ""Redemption" System Log".)

The simulation was very familiar, though an odd place to be. It looked virtually identical to [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E_Zh4EiKGU]the Twilight Town sandlot arena[/url], though completely empty of any enemies or townspeople. There were only two people here currently.

Azumi Ian was in her blue and black ODST armor, as per usual. She had a handgun out, her normal one, but it was lowered now. Her back had the [url=http://resistance.wikia.com/wiki/Mutator]fully upgraded Mutator[/url]. It had a small black triangular prism on the top of the barrel on the left side with a similarly black pipe leading into the pressure gauge, and a larger Chimeran battery pack on the left side, in front of the main one. She had already tested it here, with its revolting effects, having used some basic mechanical skill and Kira's advice to augment it to its complete level.

Her breathing was hard. She seemed to be working herself extremely hard today by the looks of things, but seemed ready to both fight off another wave of enemies and drop to unconsciousness of exhaustion, depending on whether her prowess or her sleeplessness won out first. She seemed to stifle a yawn as the newcomers came in.

K1-R4 was watching from the sidelines, both her marked and unmarked eyes observing intently. In her right hand, she held a longbow, in her left, a quiver of arrows with double-pronged heads. At her waist, as per usual, she had her Baton. She nodded slightly to the new arrivals, but then looked back to Azumi. "Take a rest. You're not going to save anyone by tiring yourself out until you pass out."

"Just give me the bow and arrow and set the next simulation," the sergeant muttered, putting the gun in her holster. Even if it could not kill anyone here, nor could it waste ammunition due to being, like everything else, a fabrication, it would still be a waste of time to fire it, and she didn't want to hurt her friends.

"You spend your time talking to them, I'll decide whether or not you deserve to go into archery training instead of firearms." Finally, she waved to the others. "Hope you've been doing alright, Jones," she said to the Dream Mage. Their time in the Tron System had made her more or less a friend, close as things get. Going out of her way to save her life sort of left an impression. "Thanks." She looked to Jasmine then. They didn't have the same kind of connection, but she'd heard about her on and off from Naito Zivaku, so it would be enough. She just nodded again, though. Her emotion suppression only allowed so much, for reasons at least Audrey would know.

Azumi reacted somewhat warmer to them, though she was tired. "Hey, didn't think I'd see anyone around here for a while." Her visor depolarized at that, showing her face. She looked like hell. The state Audrey had last seen her in had deteriorated even further. Bags under her bloodshot eyes, sweat matting her hair to her forehead. The latter at least was more due to the recent combat than to her overall state. The only reason she wasn't completely matted with dirt and grime was because, in order to keep up appearances, she was required by the Collective to take daily showers to wash everything off from her battles. From the slight forced nature of her grin, Audrey probably could tell that things had not gone well at all for her in recent months, no thanks to, among other things, her issues with Ignis Fatuus.

Kira couldn't resist a jibe. "I think part of why they're around now is you've gone through so many consecutive sessions you lost track of time. You've been fighting for several hours straight, compounded on your insomnia."

The soldier ignored that. Her look was softer when she turned to Jasmine. "How are you? I haven't seen you in a while. Did anything I do help at all?" She'd probably know what the soldier meant. What she had meant to do was bring her and Naito together. They seemed nice.

Then to Audrey, again more forced. "Isaac and Sorin okay?" She didn't clarify. Even if such events as the rescue mission to save Cheryl and Kalas on the [i]White Night[/i] was a standard fare for Interferences as a whole (something even she doubted), it was extremely traumatic for her in the long run. She had seen the actual captives after the completion of the mission and a subsequent two days in Grateford Prison, but not any of the other saviors.

All she could do right now was talk to them, it seemed. It was only a matter of time before she had to go back to her humiliating, now terrifying work on the [i]White Night[/i], so close to her worst enemies, but also the only place one of them could protect her from the others.

====

Jasmine smiled upon seeing Audrey and Azumi.  Really it was good to see them both again and especially now that they aren't under any kind of threat of attack or in a monster filled spaceship.  "Yeah you helped.  Me and Naito are uh...closer."  Jasmine replied blushing slightly.  It was still getting used to her new relationship with Naito.

Meanwhile back out of the simulation a new Interference had arrived.  Rikka had heard about this place and what it could do and since it seemed rather useful Rikka would use it as much as she could.  She got the explanation from the moogle and went right into the simulation without even hearing that there was others in there.  Rikka looked over and her eyes were instantly drawn to the three females.  "Well this is a nice little meeting."  Rikka said as she walked over to Azumi.

====

Before Rikka had appeared, Audrey waved to the women around. First to Jasmine, having not seen her in quite a while. "Hey there, Jazz." She had to smirk when she admitted that she and Naito were getting closer. "So you guys finally got together, huh? About time; I was wondering when you guys were ever gonna admit it."

Then to Kira, recalling the last time she had seen her in the Tron System. Though it wasn't a pleasant memory, it was still good to know the AI was doing alright after that. "I've been alright. And no problem."

Finally to Azumi, getting a good look at her face. The Dream Mage had to wince at the state she was in; she knew things wouldn't go right for her, but to see her like this...it didn't help when she forced a grin, and indeed, Audrey could tell that Ignis had done something to her.

"They're...alright, to say the least," she answered first, not wanting to go into further specifics. The last she saw her lover and the demon was when they had gone into Cheryl's subconscious, and as mentioned, that wasn't something she wanted to think back to. With that out of the way, she finally decided to confront the soldier about the one thing.

"Azumi...what exactly [i]happened[/i] with you?"

Before Azumi would answer that, she first addressed Jasmine, her look softening up again. "That's great to hear. Be sure to look after yourselves, okay?" Once she turned to address Audrey, she couldn't hold back the wince, but told her, though softly, "I don't want to talk about it right now..."

Before Audrey could press on about this, the Light of Destruction had appeared. Almost immediately, Azumi bowed her head when she walked up to her. This was the only way she could avoid punishment and further humiliation. "Hello again..." She would have said 'm'lady', but trying to stifle a yawn had stopped her from doing so. Even though Rikka could probably tell, she didn't want her to know that she's overworked herself, on top of barely having any sleep for several days. "Is there...something you need of me...?"

Audrey couldn't help but to frown when she saw the woman in the white kimono. From the way she looked almost similar to Yuki, save for several differences, and the way Azumi suddenly went formal with her...this must have been Rikka, the fourth member of the Collective. Just thinking about them left a bad taste in her mouth...but she would reserve further judgement until she witnessed exactly what Rikka is like. Just because she was working with her enemies, it didn't exactly mean she was her enemy right off the bat.

"We were talking here, if you don't mind," she had to say, crossing her arms.

Kira just gave the so-called "goddess" an unchanging stare, not trusting her in the slightest. Though she was caustic, she wouldn't snap on the spot with her; in spite of what happened, she was the least bit aggressive one of the Collective. However, she had to let out one jibe in her presence.

"I can change the scenery to Radiant Garden, if it makes things more comfortable for you," the AI said with a smirk.

====

Jasmine fronwed now that she got a good look at Azumi.  She looked terrible and Jasmine wasn't sure what happened to her.  Of course once the new woman walked in Jasmine had a pretty good feeling that she was involved with it.  But Jasmine didn't make any moves just yet as she had no idea who this woman is and what she is to Azumi.

Rikka meanwhile glared at Audrey for interupting her and Kira for bringing up up Radient Garden.  "I am speaking to my maid right now."  Rikka said.  However it did take a second for Rikka to recognize Audrey.  Now Rikka wasn't dumb enough to attack Audrey however there was something else that needed to be said.

"Though I will say if I had known what Ignis had done I would have given the Holy Mother back to you.  I am a woman of my word and our contract says that she would not be harmed.  Ignis acted on his own."  Rikka said.