EP

[freezeitwithice.livejournal.com]

Days in Castle Oblivion have a tendency toward the featureless. Vexen's view rarely changes; if he emerges from the stark and sterile world of his laboratory, it is to wander the stark and sterile halls of the upper levels, or at other times the darker but similarly repetitive - if convoluted - hallways of the basements. The neophytes rarely visit the realm that the Chilly Academic calls his domain, and he does his best to avoid theirs when at all possible.

Mixing the neophytes with the founding members of Organization XIII has been, in Vexen's experience, not dissimilar to dropping a chunk of pure caesium into a bowl of water with the lights off.

But aside from the occasional explosion, run-ins with the neophytes, and visits from his Superior, Vexen's non-existence is relatively quite and undisturbed. He's left to his own devices and spends his days in blessed quiet and solitude.

It's no wonder that when he steps into the bar, he looks... surprised, to say the least. It's crowded, it's far darker than he's used to, it's loud, and it's warm. All things that are immediate strikes against the place in the Academic's book. But in the past decade, he's seen stranger things and been to far more unusual worlds.

Which means that he's pulled his mantle of unflappability back around him within short order as he presses further into this strange new 'world', or whatever it is.

A scientist must never turn away from an opportunity for the acquisition of new knowledge.


[OOC: Mun has to leave at 12:30AM MST, but feel free to tag and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. X3)

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[freezeitwithice.livejournal.com]

'Let us, or at least me, hope that it is so this time.' Vexen seats himself across from Zexion, taking care that the broad sleeves of his coat don't disturb any of the younger man's papers or books. 'If you wish for me to contribute my memories to your research, then I will be willing to do so. If, of course, you determine me to be as real as a subhuman, heartless physical entity can be.'

A frown crosses his face. 'In the meantime, please explain to me the concept of a... door.' Naturally, he does not mean that in the sense of 'a hinged barrier between two rooms'. 'I have heard it mentioned once or twice since my arrival here, but I do not fully understand the significance of the concept. It would seem that there is only one door through which people have been entering and exiting. But I have already met someone my Somebody knew many years ago, and she did not come here from the same place that I did. And she specifically referred to her door.'

[cloakitwithplot.livejournal.com]

"Not a door - a Door!" Another dramatic gesture, dropping his pen as he points to Vexen without looking up, only to have his other hand take up the pen and resume writing.

"Do not play stupid Vexen I know you better than that! The DOOR that connects worlds, that lets the Darkness in-!" Darkness written into the equation, some kind of formula, a fraction maybe "The one we opened where everything went wrong, things had gone wrong before that but they were small things, things like switches single circuit breakers overloading one by one until blackout which was what it was opening the Door turned off all the lights and left us in Darkness."

He drops the pen again, pulling back his hands to scratch at his wrists under his sleeves, breath coming fast and high and not nearly enough for his small frame.

"The Door Vexen, not that door -" he points to the more or less 'front door' of Milliways "-The DOOR."

[freezeitwithice.livejournal.com]

The look on Vexen's face suggests that he thinks the circuit breaker for Zexion's brain is two seconds away from blowing. If that.

'Yes, Zexion. I understand the concept of that Door very well. I am referring to a different one, what those who come to this place refer to by the same title. I would like to know, quite simply, if they bear any similarities to the Doors of the worlds. And if so, are they tied to the entrance to this establishment. You will forgive my ignorance, I am certain. My primary concern at the moment is the nature of my current environment, not your personal projects, Number VI.'

He has heard them referred to with a level of possession by those who speak of them. It is their door, not simply the door to their world. Is it a door within them? Is it truly just a portal to the world? Can Darkness infiltrate it? He knows that the Door to Lost Continent has not been opened; what is occurring there is nothing but the natural progression of cultural decay. Is he currently, as Vexen, existing within a different reality than the one that Even had left?

To the point, he is already considering how to use the nature of Milliways, those who visit it, and through them those worlds he cannot reach via the hallways to his advantage. He is willing to humour Zexion's curiosity about his memories with regards to his branch reality theory to a point, but he is still out for number one. Or number four, as the case happens to be.

'Perhaps I have come at a bad time,' he suggests, one eyebrow quirking upwards. At the moment, the Schemer does not seem like he will be of any use in answering the questions that Vexen has. He has become too... reactive. 'I am certain that there are others more in possession of themselves, with whom I could discuss parallels between this place and our own worlds. Purely theoretical discussions, of course.'