Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Huh... I guess you're right, we did end up choosing some pretty similar outfits," Xion would observe now that Axel and Roveth had pointed it out.

"It's probably just a coincidence," Roxas insisted.

"Or that one shady store clerk who looked an awful lot like Roveth," Crystal turned on Shiro's dark half with visible contempt. "Seriously, you were nowhere near this obnoxious when it was just you, me, and Shiro." She looked herself over again in a nearby full-size mirror. "But it is a cool looking outfit so I guess I won't hold this one against you. Besides, I wouldn't want to burn the place down by having another magical meltdown."

"See, it's just a coincidence," Roxas remained defensive in the face of Axel and Roveth's teasing. "So what if we sorta match a little?"

"Exactly," Crystal agreed. "So, let's just move on and figure out what else we plan to do today."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth of course pretended to look affronted "why i'll have you know i was standing right over here with Axel laughing at the antics of the day, i had nothing to do with pretending to be a shop clerk!" he said in mock offense to the comment, beofre just chuckling "anyway, since clothing's done and out of the way, what's next, any ideas?" Axel hummed a bit, tilting his head "we could always take up the skateboarding Challenge for Radiant Garden..." he hummed in thought, while smirking a bit "i did have a couple of ideas for downtime though once Shiro recovered, namely a trip to ol' Neverland?" Roveth pondered it over, before shrugging a bit "as long as it's not much of a combat-based world why not? it'll keep Shiro from fighting for a while."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Oh, Neverland would be a lot of fun to visit again!" Xion was definitely on board with that idea.

"Count me in," Roxas agreed easily. When it came to flying he was a natural and Neverland was probably one of the more memorable locations he had ever visited while working for the Organization.

"Sounds like a good place to visit once Shiro gets back on his feet," Crystal nodded. She vaguely contemplated the skateboarding challenge that Axel was suggesting. "Not sure I'd be much good on a skateboard, but I'd certainly be down with watching for a bit." Who knows, it might give her a chance to recover from some of the embarrassment she had been made to endure while clothes shopping.

"I'd like to watch too," added Xion. "It sounds interesting."

"Let me guess, the current record holder must be Sora," Roxas seemed to become highly motivated by that notion. "Which means I'll have to be the one to beat it! Where do I sign up?"

Crystal glanced at Axel with a 'You knew this would happen' expression. Not that she was complaining, mind. It was nice to see Roxas feeling so motivated.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel ndoded to his blonde haired friend in amusement "as far as i know, and the one to sign up with is Uncle Scrooge if i remember right." he said, pointing over to the ice cream stand and all, smirking a bit lightly before lookign to Crystal with an amused glance "maaybe i did." was all he said, and Roveth just raised an eyebrow, but nonetheless would at least watch, since he, as part of shiro, knew he couldn't do much on skateboards, given he did suck at hoverboards too...  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Roxas was gone in a flash, dashing over to the ice cream stand to sign himself up. It would probably take several attempts at running the course to beat Sora's record, but Roxas was clearly determined to make that effort. What he didn't realize was that by doing so he had fallen right into Axel and Roveth's trap of showing off in front of Crystal and Xion.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth and Axel were definitely taking shots of some of Roxas's best moves out there, as well as most if not all of his failings just to tease at him at how long it took him to beat Sora's time, when they overheard Crystal and Xion's Conversation, but Axel wisely kept his mouth shut, since he honestly didn't know what he'd do, yes he's still tied to the organization, but it was mainly because of Sai'x and Demyx, Sai'x especially, since the two were nearly inseperable friends when they were alive, and now that technically he was back to being Lea, even if he still responded to Axel more, he wanted to break himself and Sai'x... no.. Isa.. free from that b*****d Xemnas, but he didn't know how yet. Roveth meanwhile shrugged a bit lightly "you know Crystal.. i don't think Shiro would mind if you did stay with Roxas.. and no, i'm not teasing this time." he said, smiling a bit "out of all of us, you, myself, and Shiro don't have a place to call home in the worlds, correct? if Roxas gives you a place to ground yourself with then don't let the eternal wind that is my light keep blowing you away." Axel blinked, looking away from his dark thoughts towards Roveth "are you sure you're not trying to play matchmaker between Crystal and Roxas?" Roveth snorted with amusement "Hardly, Axel.. and i hope you get this memorized.. but Shiro will probably be a forever wandering person, because he, and technically i, have no home." he simply said, causing Axel to raise an eyebrow at his own quote being used against him and at Roveth's dark but true words.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth shrugged lightly, while turning and looking off into the sky "just saying is all, if you feel you've had enough of being with myself and Shiro, then we won't hold it against you if you settled down in Twilight Town." he said, while Axel just shook his head on things and sighed "well enough with the philosophical stuff, please, i got that enought from Sai'x..." he then winced, and looked to the side, once again reminded of his friend "well, we do have a bit more time, wanna see if roveth can skateboard before Roxas and i take Xion back to our apartment in Twilight town for a while? hope Demyx is there too cause i got something to talk with him about..." Roveth just stared deadpan at Axel.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Ha! Take that Sora!" would be the declaration from Roxas when he finally succeeded at beating the other boy's record in the skateboarding challenge and went to return the the borrowed skateboard to Uncle Scrooge's ice cream stand all while looking remarkably pleased with himself.

"I see, so this is where you've all been hiding out," Riku also arrived at that time looking a bit more on the serious side than when they had left him back at the tavern. He would of course take in the coincidentally nearly matching outfits between Crystal, Roxas, and Xion with a slight smirk. As much fun as it would be to tease them for it, Riku had a much more urgent reason for coming out to find them instead of simply waiting back at the tavern with Squall, Cloud, and Tifa for everyone else to come back. "Anyway, I've been discussing our predicament with Leon and we've both reached the conclusion that if Crystal is, indeed, a princess from another time who might prove to be compatible with the Princesses of Heart, then we can't afford to leave her without protection from Master Xehanort. Now, I've already got my hands full keeping an eye on Sora and Kairi so I've decided the best runner up for the job is going to be you, Roxas, since you're the most capable and you know what's at stake."

"Wait, seriously?" Roxas stared at him. "You don't think she's capable of protecting herself?"

"Oh, I know she's capable," Riku shrugged. "That's not the reason she needs protecting. I've seen her vanquish powerful foes to save us and Shiro before and almost every time it's come at the cost of overextending her magic to the point that she becomes virtually helpless. When that happens again she'll need someone who can keep her safe without relying on her powers. And we can't exactly count on Shiro for that given that he's often in as much trouble as she is... or the reason they get into trouble in the first place. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that you happen to be one of the few people she genuinely trusts enough to lean on when she's too out of sorts to act on her own."

"She trusts me?" This was understandably news to Roxas given there hadn't been any reason for him to contemplate this notion before now.

Crystal could handle the teasing from Axel and Roveth. Especially under the pretense that she wouldn't have to endure it for very long once Axel and Roxas would inevitably return to Twilight Town with Xion and it would be a good while before she actually saw them again. But she definitely couldn't handle Riku spelling things out like this given how quickly her face turned that embarrassed shade of red and Crystal then ducked behind the nearest lamp post to conceal herself for a moment and earning a puzzled glance from Xion.

"Anyway," Riku continued. "Like I already said, you're really the best one for the job. So do us all a favor and look after her, okay? She might not think she needs it, but she does. And I think it might be good for you as well."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth had turned towards Riku, raising an eyebrow, before giving off a small smirk. well, one more bit of teasing wouldn't hurt would it? oh, wait, it's Crystal, probably will, but! "hmm... though in the case of Roxas looking after crystal... so long as we don't let them share a room together i'm sure we'll be fine." he said calmly enough without any hint of sarcasm "oh? and why not Roveth? it's not like two kids sleeping together is a bad thing." axel replied, while Roveth shrugged "eh, just thinking about Roxas being new to having emotions and all that, figured he might want his personal space and not be someone's cuddle-bunny." he said while scratching his cheek a bit and looking off to the side.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"What are you guys even talking about?" Roxas was only becoming more and more confused listening to Roveth and Axel carrying on like this. And understandably even more confused when both of them were suddenly struck by Thundaga.

"Seriously guys, cut it out!" Crystal was way past agitated by this point. And oh boy was her face red. "It isn't funny anymore!"

And then she stomped off toward the tavern without another word.

"I wonder how long the two of you can survive running your mouths like that," Riku glanced at the singed figures of Roveth and Axel with a slight smirk.

"Well, that wasn't Holy, so I think she's more embarrassed than angry," noted Xion. "But still, Axel, why would you want to provoke her like that?"

"I think he got carried away because of being around Roveth," Roxas shook his head. "I mean really, haven't you guys caused enough mischief for one day?"  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth of course coughed out some smoke in a cartoonish puff while rasping out "that... actually wasn't teasing really, everyone else just let their own minds supply what i meant. i meant more like her using you as a large stuffed plushie fort warmth or something, nothing more than that." Axel of course was on the ground KOed at the moment, so you'll have to give him a few minutes to get back on his feet. "sheesh... now i know how a lightning rod feels." he quipped before shaking off his singedness once more, and regenerating from the damage as he sighed "anyway, i'm done teasing you three, i'm gonna head back to the tavern myself to check on Shiro, maybe laugh at him being sat on by Shiroi Senko." he said, walking off with a bit of a limp back to the tavern as well.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Well then, I really should be getting back to Sora and Kairi," Riku reminded Roxas. "We can count on you to handle things here, right?"

"Sure, I guess," Roxas rubbed the back of his head. "I mean, I don't really have to do anything special. Just stick with her and make sure she doesn't get found out by Xehanort, right?"

"I guess that's fine for now," Riku nodded. "You might not think it's anything special, but just being there will probably make a huge difference."

"Right," Roxas shrugged. "I don't really get it, but I'll do what I can."

Riku departed through a Corridor of Darkness, heading back to Master Yen Sid's tower for now.

"I guess this means we won't be going straight back to Twilight Town," Xion realized. "Hopefully Axel won't be too disappointed."

"You know, somehow I think he's going to be fine with it," Roxas replied while glancing down at the flaming redhead. "Still, we'll have to fill him in once he snaps out of it."