Slow Day [Open]

[Axel]

One thing Axel had always liked about Saïx, even back when he wasn't Saïx but someone else, was that he went straight ahead. Like a freight train. Saïx got a direction and he went, just woosh.

But sometimes that little quality bit Axel in the ass.

Like now.

"Oh, yeah great. Just perfect. Let's send the fire guy to the place--that has water everywhere. Real nice," he muttered, glancing down the sheer cliffside with no small amount of reticence at the glittering waters below. Memo to self: Whatever I did to piss off Saïx, find out what it was, and fix it.

In the meantime, though, he was going to have to get around and track down the stupid pirate ship. Someone had discovered a band of boys in animal suits last recon mission, and as endeared as Axel was to the thought of furry little Heartless that still picked their noses and gave each other wet willies, he didn't think they were really the best candidates for "Find some hearts we can use and 'liberate' them." Still, maybe if their Nobodies were strong enough to be more than simple Dusks they'd be worth his time.

But right. Yes. Pirates. Hmm.

I'm gonna be usin' up so much juice just walking around here, he complained inwardly with an outward groan. The water was dotted with rocky little islands at various elevations, which meant using a portal or teleporting if he thought he could make it for every little spot he wanted to go to.

That, and he was pretty sure he could see the pirate ship.

It was a dot on the horizon.

You gotta be kiddin' me.

Portal? There? Haha, what. Not only was accuracy not a sure thing, but just to get that far he'd pretty much have to dump himself in the middle of solid ocean once or twice first.

Face, meet palm. Hi. How ya doin'. Yep, this mission's gonna take awhile.

With an irritable sigh, Axel turned to regard the islands and looked for a nearby beach that wouldn't mean getting drenched first. After all, as long as he was stuck waiting on the pirate ship he might as well clear out the island of Lost Boys--children who now were never going to be found.

[Lixon]

Lixon stepped out of a portal and onto the soft grass. She looked around and tried to keep her hair in her hood as the wind started to blow harder. Lixon sighed heavily and started walking towards the far cliff. As a strong gust of wind blew against her, her hood fell down which let her snow white locks fall down to her waist. She didn't mind, but now the wind was blowing directly on her face, making her squint a bit. After walking a bit, Lixon soon turned around a large rock wall and almost rammed into Axel.

"Sorry..." She mumbled looking down at the ground.

[Axel]

[LOL, maybe Xemnas should've called her the Human Battering Ram XD]

That beach, nnnn--there. Axel could get to it without a problem, and if the ship came back he'd be able to s--

Someone's coming.

The next series of events happened very fast.

Axel whirled, preparing to meet his assailant head on with chakrams in hand, but misjudged his footing and lost his balance, so that when the stranger turned the corner and said that word she wasn't speaking to Axel himself but to a pair of black-clad hands clinging desperately to the cliffside.

With an irritable noise, Axel flipped back up onto the ledge and into a graceful dip before straightening. "Yeah, I can tell," he said with no small amount of sarcasm, crossing his arms. The "whoops, sorry" act was one that showed up in the Organization for every little thing and he didn't fall for it anymore--when he wasn't the one using it, that is. She was drawing in on herself, eyes to the ground, position demure and submissive--well, she looked cooperative. But Axel hadn't memorized this one yet. All these new recruits out of the blue, and so much estrogen all of a sudden, were throwing off his sense of the Organization.

Either way, he was sorely tempted to chuck her off the side of the cliff. Payback's a bitch. Only an Organization member didn't just do that to another member without knowing the price for such an act, and Axel wasn't sure how--new girl or not--she'd take to the notion of getting thrown screaming to the waves.

"What're you doin' here?" he asked instead, not recalling Saïx mentioning that he was partnered with anyone, but since they'd talked about some of the lower members babysitting the Keybearer and the girl who didn't talk much, it wouldn't really surprise him to learn that one of the newbies had gotten passed off on him.

[Lixon]

Lixon looked up at Axel, though she didn't know who he was. She didn't show any emotion really, only that she was sincerely sorry for almost knocking him into the ocean.

"I was sent here on a mission; Saix didn't give any specifics, he only said that I would know what to do when I got here... but I still don't know what to do... Maybe he paired me with you and didn't tell us. Argh. He's never too descriptive with any of my missions" She said, shaking her head.

Lixon straightened her cloak and looked over Axel. She was kind of startled by his bright flame colored hair, but showed nothing of it as she waited patiently for his reply.

"And I really am sorry." She said, looking quite sincere.

[Axel]

[OOC: Whurps. ._.; I got caught up! Sorry.]

Great. Yeah, this smacked of babysitting. Chances were she'd been late to the briefing, and that usually got Saïx riled enough to leave off the important bits--not that it made a lot of difference when the intel was all with Axel anyway. This one was just lucky to run into him before he got into the swing of things. "Right, okay," he said with a dismissive wave at the extended apology. "You don't have to lay it on so thick, sweetheart, no worries. Here's the deal. Boss man does the thinking, our special buddy swings the Keyblade, and the grunts--that's us--sniff around and find the Heartless. Got it memorized?" he added with a wry drawl, knowing she was probably still new enough to be slow on the uptake. "Our target--is--" He turned and pointed at the horizon pseudo-dramatically. "There. So today's gonna suck for a while, but that doesn't mean we can't go hunting. Oh, I'm and I'm Axel, Number Eight, yadda ya, pleased to meet and that good stuff." He flashed her a Cheshire cat grin. "You ready?"