The Path From Town To the Dorms-- Late Saturday Night.

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine was up a tree without much of an idea how in the world he was going to get down, and it probably was not the best place in the world for him to be, but it certainly seemed to beat the prospect of being eaten in town.

It didn't make him any less hungry, though.

(For Naminé)

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[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé had portalled to a few locations without seeing anyone who looked to be in need of rescue.

And then - while about to portal out again, on the path between the dorms and town - she stopped short, turning around. Something odd had caught her eye, up in that tree over there.

It wasn't a dinosaur, which meant it was probably safe to investigate.

She created a new portal and stepped into it, stepping out once more on a shakey tree branch.

[dark_slippy_thing]

By the time Naminé had found him, Valentine had one arm around the branch he was on, and the other was rummaging through the pockets of his torn coat in hopes that he might find something to eat. Juggling balls had proven to not be very edible, unfortunately, and he was about to move on to the next pocket when she appeared.
"Naminé?"
Hungry toothy things in town, Naminés in trees. Ah, the insanity.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"Valentine," she nodded. Odd. If someone had to be hiding in a tree and sorting through his pockets, it seemed perfectly natural that it be him.

She closed the portal behind her and nodded. "Are you all right?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"I'm alright," Valentine replied, giving himself a quick pat-over just to be sure. "The hungry thing with the nasty teeth got the better of my coat, mind you."
He was the hungry thing with the not-so-nasty teeth, himself.
"What brings you to this particular tree?"

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"Not hurt, then?" Naminé glanced at him as if checking for visible injuries. "I'm searching for people who may need assistance, and providing pathways for them. Mostly to the clinic or the dorms. I noticed someone up in this tree and thought it might bear looking into."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"A pathway to the dorms would be most appreciated," he replied without thinking. He didn't want to spend the rest of the night in the tree, and if need be, he could probably persuade one of the vending machines there to work for him. Any food was better than no food, and as much as he liked trees, hanging around up in this one with his coat all torn up was rather not his style.
Mostly.
"If you don't mind, of course."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"The dorms it is," she said lightly. "I don't mind at all, that's why I'm here. And it isn't as though the portals are hard to create."

She held a hand out and one appeared behind her. "All points connect to Darkness," she explained. "It makes for a rather convenient travel method, so long as you're a N--"

Wait, he knew about portals already; after all, hadn't he said once that he used to date D--

So strange, the things you can forget.

"A Nobody," she finished softly, swallowing hard past the odd lump in her throat.

[dark_slippy_thing]

The sudden softness in her voice didn't go unnoticed by Valentine, nor did the swallow. Something was amiss in that statement, and that she had stumbled on the word 'Nobody' served only to make him wonder if something had happened to make her doubt how real she was once again.
"Naminé?" He straightened himself up a little so that he was sitting on the branch. "Is something the matter?"

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"No, nothing," Naminé said faintly, in an attempt at a cheerful tone. "I've been explaining to everyone so they don't wonder about me suddenly opening a temporal sort of doorway to another location, or worry about whether it's safe. But I forgot. It's rather silly of me to prattle on about portals like this, when you've probably used them before. Haven't you?"

She offered him a quick smile that didn't reach her eyes. She'd known about this every bit as long as she'd known him; it wasn't fair to feel so unsettled by it when it was entirely her fault for forgetting.

She wondered for a fleeting moment if perhaps they'd had the same strange conversations about existence, the same murmured reassurances, the same lingering kisses, and she wanted to be anywhere but this tree branch right now.

[dark_slippy_thing]

What was she going on about? Of course he had used them before, back when he and Dem--oh.

Oh.

She was trying so hard to convince him that it didn't bother her. But she had choked. She had choked for a reason. And he couldn't meet her eyes, his gaze falling to the forest floor as his stomach lurched into his chest and his mind spun circles around his heart.

"I've used them before," he confirmed quietly. And it was something that he didn't want to admit. And it was one more reason for him to be angry at himself. And it was over months ago. And she was hurt by it. Something that had stung him so badly then, and it bothered her.

He'd have scoffed at the notion a month ago. He'd have shook his head and gone, 'no, it's over, it's over for good reason, don't even think about it.'

Except that every accusation of being an impersonal jerk that Demyx had thrown at him had been true, hadn't it? And here it was coming back to bite him again. Maybe he deserved this, too.

"If you leave me here in the tree, I'd understand."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"Don't be ridiculous," she said quickly. "My faulty memory for portal usage isn't to be held against you; it's my own fault, not yours. Besides, no one deserves to stay in a tree hoping not to be dinosaur food."

She held a hand out, her face still carefully composed and betraying nothing of her inner turmoil. How had she forgotten? It had been their very first conversation, hadn't it, while she sketched him juggling in the morning's first light? How strange and twisted this had all become, that that sketch might have a piece in saving his life and that conversation might creep back to slap her in the face when she least expected it.

"Shall we?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine wasn't quite willing to keep arguing the point from a perch in a tree, hoping not to be ... dinosaur... food. So, he scooted across the branch toward Naminé and her portal, eyes still pointed at the ground.

He could tell her all about how he was an impersonal jerkface when they weren't in a tree... Yes.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé stepped through the portal first, and waited until Valentine had followed her to close it behind them.

This was the second time in a week she'd portalled into room 206; at least this time it had been on purpose. At least this time it was empty when they arrived.

She bobbed her head to him. "Here we are, then."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Here we are," Valentine agreed, thankful to be in his own room and still feeling as though someone had taken sandpaper to the inside of his chest. "Look, I... Thank you. I mean, for getting me out of that tree? I'd have been up there all night if you hadn't shown up."
Deep breaths, Valentine.
"Dem-- that he and I used to be-- I mean... that bothers you, doesn't it?"

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé shrugged. "It's nothing, I assure you. Some are out fighting, some are healing others in the clinic. My only useful skill is the ability to move between places quickly. I was mostly glad to discover I could be useful."

She took a long breath herself before shrugging again, not meeting his eyes. "It isn't my place to be bothered by it. I was just taken aback. I hadn't thought about that in a long time. I suppose I had forgotten that was you."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Your place or not," Valentine insisted. "If it was your place, if it didn't matter what anyone else thought about what you thought about it?" He was frowning, yes. "It doesn't sit well?"
It really didn't sit well with him either, at the moment.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"My concern isn't what anyone might think," she said, still looking away from him. "It's that I have no reason to object. Your life and your choices and your connections are your own."

She curtsied to him. "My apologies. I should be out, looking for others. If you will excuse me."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"It's a connection that's been broken since the start of summer," Valentine protested, taking a step forward, but not reaching to stop her. "It's a broken connection that had me leap to a different cabin not a week into summer camp and I moved on."

Onwards and...

His old motto was beginning to lose its ability to convince him that upwards was the direction he was actually heading, apparently.

"If you're leaving," he said, his voice softening a little as he looked over there-- off at the wall somewhere, "heading out to be a hero, or whatever it is that you're gong to do... please be careful. Those things are dangerous."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"Please," she said, lifting a hand. "You don't have to explain. You don't have to justify anything to me. If it weren't broken, it wouldn't be any more my concern. I'm ... I was taken aback. That's all."

She thought, and then shook her head again. "I'm not going to be a hero. I'm not a hero. I can't be one. I'm simply going to help others run away, if I can. It's not much but at least it isn't nothing."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"I could go with you," he replied, entirely without thinking. "In case the toothy things get too close, you know? I could be a distraction! I'm very skilled at being distracting."
Yes, he'd be a rather tasty distraction if the toothy things didn't care much for juggling balls that popped.
...
In retrospect, it probably wasn't the wisest offer he had ever made. And he was pretty certain that she was leaving at least in part because she didn't want to be near him right now.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"And then I shall have to rescue you in another few hours from another tree?" she said lightly, managing a wry smile. "Perhaps it's for the best if you stay here. I should hate to be unable to find your tree."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"And trees can be such unpredictable things," Valentine pointed out with a bit of a smile on his own lips. "Why do you think books are such lively creatures, after all? My tree might take off into the night, never to be seen again. And that would be a shame, I think."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"It would make it rather hard to find your way home again," she said softly. "I would teach you the portaling trick, but I'm afraid it's not something you can learn."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"I suppose my saving grace would be that, this place being an island and all, the tree could probably only wander so far. I could just pick a direction and walk in it and I'd find the shore eventually, right?" Valentine was never a boy scout. This was probably fortunate. But at least he wasn't stupid. Entirely. "Then I could just follow the beach ba--" He kind of drifted off a little for a moment. "... Back. I could follow the beach back. Maybe take a break and build a sandcastle or something if the walk is too long..."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé swallowed, looking down. "I haven't built many sandcastles lately. I seem to not enjoy it half so much when I'm the sole architect."