perplexme | Twenty-Third Keychain-[Written]

[Private]
After what they did to me, I can't help but wonder what they're going to do to him. Aros...I should have at least seen that one coming, I mean, why wouldn't it? They took the original several times, then they took the Nobody, why wouldn't they want to collect data on the Heartless? ~~I'm sort of...maybe worried though.~~ He'll be okay.

Luceti's...completely lost it lately. People being kidnapped left and right, even more people just up and disappearing, more people attacking others. I heard about that girl, Fina's friend...Aegis if I remember her name right, being attacked in the desert for being a robot.

How odd, considering that there are more than just herself that isn't human. That vampire kind of lost it too from what I heard. Emil's not his usual bouncy self either. What the hell's going on? It's a mad, mad world.

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't."

Excellent point. After all, we all know the Malnosso are behind this crazy shit. I'm not going to stand by but...I do need to not involve myself so much.

~~If anything, so Axel can sleep at night.~~

The gash finally healed up but I think I really worried more people than necessary and I want to apologize, but it's not in my nature. I guess. I don't know, what am I even saying anymore? I think my thoughts are even more scattered than before. I give up for a while. Not long, but a while. I need to find my research that Axel hid from me.

[/private]

Cloud...I have your Materia to return to you. Thanks for letting me borrow it.

And Fina? Where are you, I haven't seen you around...

And for that matter...anybody who's been in the library lately, anybody have any good recommendations? I think I need something new to read.

[ooc: anybody who can hack the private section, beware that strikes are scratched out but still slightly visible]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I know, I know, but they'll get bored with me eventually.

Axel always worries ab-[wait hold on, stops for a second to comprehend what Cloud said] Wait, when did you talk to Axel?

That's not the point. And he talked to me a while ago, when you were kidnapped.

What exactly did he say?

We just talked.

Roxas, listen to me; we don't know what happens to people when they disappear for good. Everyone likes to think they go home- I like to think it too. But for all we know they could still have them up there, wherever they keep the people they kidnap. They could be keeping them in cages and tubes, like lab rats, using them for experiments worse than the kind we see in here. Or they could be dead. As in forever, for good.

Don't give them a reason to take you again.

But what if there's actually something I can do? I've got this new theory.

Then just keep it to yourself. Don't even let it touch paper. Or just tell it to people who won't be stupid enough to talk about it.

You're no use to anyone locked away or dead, theories or not.

...Axel hid all of my work anyway.

I guess it's really over, isn't it?

..I'm just saying, be more careful. Nobody wants you taken again.

I noticed...it's just frustrating that things keep getting worse and we can't do anything.

...big picture-wise, they're not getting worse. But they're not getting any better, either.

Luceti's in a funk. New Feathers are coming in but in exchange the amount of kidnappings and disappearings have increased. People are being attacked by other people, other people are becoming a threat, what's next?

You're right, they're really not getting worse but I think it just looks that way when it's all piled on at the same time. Or maybe I'm only focusing on the negative aspects, I don't know.

Luceti is in a constant state of funk. [Cloud waves a hand to express this.] And people here are always gonna be in danger, and be a danger to others, and everything fucking sucks here, forever.

[Cloud takes a second to calm down before scuffing his boot against one of the stone steps.] ...I don't know what we're supposed to do either. At least you're making some kind of progress.

[nods in agreement, resting his chin in his hand and looking at his feet] Hey Cloud. You've been here a lot longer than me...has it really always been like this?

From what I remember. [Cloud takes a seat on the steps next to him with a sigh.] The scenery's changed, but not our situation. We still can't do anything about the experiments or the kidnappings.

Damnit. Have the experiments gotten any better at least?

[Snort.] More random, maybe.

Makes it harder to pinpoint them.

They used to give us warnings sometimes...now they don't even contact us except to make mild threats or try and wring information out of us.

That's different.

Yeah, Fina told me that one of them contacted everybody and allowed for questions. What's the point of that? They've never done it before recently right?

He says he's "sympathetic to our cause," but I don't trust him in the least. Either of them. Especially the scientist.

I don't either. We can't, I mean if they're betraying who they're working for who says they're not double-crossing us too?

It's ridiculous how many people are willing to trust him. [Cloud shakes his head; those poor, deluded fools.]

It's probably just because we're all desperate to understand what's going on, and they seem like they know what they're doing. They're manipulating the ones that're easy to be fooled.