Sweltering Heat [Closed]

[melodiouspacifist]

 The missive came down bright and early. Demyx was assigned on a mission to Agrabah - something he was not terribly thrilled about - but for the first time in awhile, he wasn't going alone. To him, that meant it was probably going to be a lot of work, or unnecessarily dangerous.

Neither of these things appealed to him. Demyx groaned i inwardly. It was also with Axel, and friendly as Axel could be, they had traded nice enough casual chatter from time to time, Demyx did not think he could manipulate him into doing everything. That did not mean he wouldn't try, if the opportunity presented itself.

Their designated portal into the world was in a bizarre back alley not far from the entrance to the vast, empty desert. The first thing that he realized when he arrived was the smack in the face the heat was like. Demyx held back a hacking cough and sighed. He hated getting all sweaty and gross and this mission was designed to test his limits, clearly.

He shrunk into himself, in the shadows against a wall, a lone, barely visible hooded figure. Demyx sat quietly, observing as he waited for his companion. Once they got out of town he'd be able to lower his hood. He could hardly wait.

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[firewheeling]

It was a minute before Axel joined him, hooded and cloaked from head to toe; he'd needed to prepare his spells a little more particularly for this mission, knowing exactly what they were getting into..... And grab a bandana, while he was at it. Sandstorms weren't uncommon around here, and being ready for his mission meant taking environmental hazards into account, too. Saïx had clearly entrusted him with the task of being the mission leader here, for obvious reasons.....

How much had he even told Demyx ahead of time, to cut down on the time they had to deal with each other? Was he going to have to do a mission briefing out here in the field? Ridiculous..... Well, at least it wouldn't be too much of a hardship. Demyx wasn't dense; he'd only need to explain things once, however at length it had to be. He wasn't unpleasant company, either, especially depending on the other members he could be working with..... The issue was just making him pull his own weight.

How hard could that be? He's a reconnaissance specialist, he's supposed to be great at being perceptive and observant. It's not like this is a combat mission or anything! .....Probably. As long as they don't mess things up too badly.

The heat settled over him as soon as he stepped out into the alley, thick and heavy like being wrapped up in a down comforter; Axel took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh, smiling in the shadow of his hood. Sand, sun, sweat, spice..... All the smells and sounds of a busy city, and the vast desert beyond. It felt good to be getting out into the wilds, so to speak, for a good old fashioned scavenger hunt. He beckoned to Demyx in silent invitation, turning to lead the way out past the walls that marked the city limits; they could talk more freely once they were at a safe distance.

[melodiouspacifist]

Saix was not the type of person who wanted to waste words and if he cared at all about Demyx's comfort he might have given him a head's up on the sandstorms. But he didn't. Not at all. It was mutual though, Demyx didn't get along with Saix at all and wouldn't have wanted to listen to a long briefing.

It was a hope that it wouldn't turn into a combat mission because Demyx hated those, even if he noticed.

Demyx would not be surprised if Axel liked the heat, but for him it was just uncomfortable. At the beckoning finger, he pushed off the wall and followed him. Hidden under the hood he seemed almost solemn and composed as the rest of them were. The hood was the way they all appeared to be the same.

Obviously Axel didn't want to talk there since he didn't start speaking and he followed his lead on that, walking outside the castle walls, dragging his feet a little in the sand.

[firewheeling]

No doubt about it, Axel was savoring the heat as much as Demyx was suffering under it; his own stride was long and confident, hips swaying in an easy saunter as the sand crunched under their boots, too secure in his own business to be likely to be stopped, even if they did happen upon someone. If it looked like he belonged here, then it was probably because he may as well--the sunlight drenching them made him feel good, made him feel strong. He had an edge here, and that advantage only grew with the shadows, the higher the sun climbed overhead. Even if Xemnas tried to forcibly erase the differences between them, smooth them all out into one blank, efficient, indistinguishable collective whole.....

Well, some things just ran too deep to be extinguished, now, didn't they? They were people, not machines, and each and every one of them were unique. If they hadn't had strong hearts and strong wills to begin with, if they hadn't been able to clutch their identities so tightly that not even death could tear them away, then none of them would have ever survived to become part of the Organization at all.

Their route out of Agrabah was..... well, deserted. Heh. Nothing they were doing in this world today, if they were lucky, should need anything from the city proper. So Axel didn't waste too much time, once they were clear of the gates, only letting them walk a minute or two in silence before he spoke up. He didn't bother to push back his own hood just yet--as much as he liked the heat here, the glare of the sun overhead combined with the sunlight reflecting off of such pale sand underfoot were enough to do a number on anyone's eyes. If Demyx cared to glance under his hood, he might see that Axel's eyes were more darkly lined than ever--a look not unlike the one worn by Agrabah's graceful veiled dancing girls. "Sooooo..... what exactly have you heard about this mission, so far? Are we good to go, or do we need to fill in some blanks?"

[melodiouspacifist]

Axel moved like he was confident and Demyx dragged his feet like he was being led on a very draining mission, which to him it was. It was just so hot. Sweat was sliding down the back of his neck and soaking into his robes. He was so the wrong man for this mission.

Xemnas wouldn't be successful getting them all to blend because they were human once and many of them still carried their human traits. Demyx himself was one of the worst offenders when it came to individuality.

Axel was walking with a spring in his step and Demyx was lagging behind. He scratched the back of his head through his hood at the question. "I don't know...we're looking for something. An artifact. That's all I need to know right?"

[firewheeling]

Axel laughed, dragging a hand down his face as the sound turned into a grown. "Oooookay, someone obviously forgot to give you your homework..... Ah, geez." That someone, obviously, must have been Saïx; no matter how much he didn't like someone, Zexion wouldn't just coincidentally 'forget' to give someone he disliked mission-critical information, no matter how much he hated them. He was pretty sure Zexion didn't hate Demyx, either, even if he disdained him.

So Axel did a quick check to make sure there'd be no dunes coming up before he spun in a quick flourish of robes, clapping his hands together briskly and settling into a slow backwards glide so he could keep facing Demyx while they talked. "Okay, okay. A little world history lesson before we get started, then. We're not exactly looking for an artifact. We're looking for a djinni--they're spirits, not quite like the gods in Olympus, and not quite like the demons or monsters in Halloweentown, but somewhere in between, right?" Axel gestured with spread hands, palms up and moving like he was trying to balance a scale. "They all have different powers, and if you're looking for an artifact, someone got there first and already captured them."

"Anyway, what we know about the whole lot of 'em in general so far....." Axel wagged a finger at Demyx, ticking each bullet point off on his fingers one by one. Wasn't he nice, giving Demyx the Cliff Notes version? Demyx ought to be happy that he's letting him off the hook for all this prep work--and for free, too! "One: They're made out of smokeless fire, and they can shapeshift. Two: They're probably more dangerous when they're not actually fighting you head on, if your guard's not up; most of them are the sort to try and get into your head instead. Three: They can be allied with, or subdued and enslaved. Four: Just about all of 'em can grant wishes, and some can manage a lot more than others. Got it memorized so far?"

Maybe they weren't actually friends or anything..... But forewarned was forearmed, as far as Axel was concerned, and he wanted the guy he was going to depend on for this mission to be just as knowledgeable as he was. This could be pretty dangerous, after all..... But on the other hand, if Demyx did a good job, it might not be all that dangerous after all. He was relying on Demyx to be his support, but that still left him taking care of the hands-on aspect of this whole devious and ridiculously powerful spirit-wrangling thing.

[melodiouspacifist]

Demyx stared at him from under his hood, Axel could probably hear him panting in exertion. "Enslaved djinni. Got it." Demyx offered in a clipped, cheerful tone.

It wouldn't be like him if he paid too close attention, although he listened to every word that came from Axel's lips. Appearances needed to be maintained, after all.

"Anything about a fan? It's so hot." He whined.

[firewheeling]

"We enslave the djinni before anyone else can, but yeah. Close enough." Axel corrected halfheartedly, resisting the urge to sigh. Panting already, huh? What a picnic this was going to be..... He really hoped he didn't have to carry Demyx back after he collapsed of heat stroke or something. He knew Demyx wasn't stupid, knew he couldn't possibly be as helpless and hapless as he acted, or he'd never survive any solo mission he went on that turned pear-shaped--there had to have been at least one. Everyone had at least one disaster, it was just part of the job. But that kind of ambiguity still made it hard to tell just how much he could trust to Demyx's capabilities and lackluster work ethic. Framing it in terms of their own survival, if nothing else, seemed like one of the few things he could do to up the odds of getting a decent performance out of the guy.

Still, all this whining made it sound like he barely even knew how to take care of himself. Axel quirked an eyebrow at him, distracted for a moment from his briefing to at least ask what seemed like it should be the obvious question. Hadn't Demyx ever dealt with heat before as a Somebody? "Sorry, no fans, but we are going underground for this one--so at least you'll be out of the sun. You are the water guy, aren't you? Don't you at least have a handkerchief you can soak to cool off with?"

[melodiouspacifist]

"Yeah, yeah, got it. Enslave the djinni." Demyx repeated. It was a pretty basic goal after all.

He didn't care what Axel thought about him, honestly speaking, then again he couldn't. It was possible that at some point in the future, perhaps when he had a heart, it would bother him but as it stood, he was just being whiny.

"At least there's that, the sun is brutal." He grumbled. "I don't have a handkerchief, just water. I can keep myself damp for a bit, but if it's far, I'll probably burn out before we get there."

He was complaining but he may have had a legitimate point that his powers had a limit, eventually.

[firewheeling]

"Oh, for the love of Light....." Axel did push his hood back, finally--and completely incidentally, given that he was raking a gloved hand through his hair, and by all appearances resisting the urge to hurt someone in the meantime. At least (for once!) it didn't seem to be Demyx getting the brunt of his flaring temper; this sounded like the precursor to a rant he'd be taking to Saïx as soon as they got back. Maybe it'd even be a good show, if Demyx was inclined to linger and watch, and prudent enough to avoid being caught at it.

"What's the big idea, anyway, not even telling you to be ready for a hike like this? Do I look like a musician? I can't exactly pull this one off alone! What'm I supposed to do if you drop from exposure and we can't just run back to the Castle? I need you up and kicking the whole time."

Axel sighed heavily, hands abruptly dropping from their exasperated gestures in evident defeat; no matter how irresponsible Saïx had been, and how much he was personally letting down his (supposed, these days) best friend by making it so that a necessary support might fail at a critical moment..... well, there wasn't a whole heck of a lot either of them could do about it now, was there? They were already a little ways away from the city walls, and even if it wasn't a hassle to go back and get Demyx properly prepared, they'd probably get given an irritating amount of grief for returning so quickly with nothing accomplished yet. His backwards walk slowed even further as he started digging in his inventory coat pockets, muttering sourly to himself.

"Could'a sworn I packed--why wouldn't it be the first thing--ah! Knew it. Here." Axel triumphantly fished a bottle of water and bandana--an offensively eye-searing shade of orange decorated with hot pink flowers, so new it still had a 75% off sticker from the Twilight Town market--out of his pocket. He tossed both to Demyx; the guy clearly needed them more than he did, that was for sure. If anything unexpected came up, he'd just have to make do.

"That's what we've got out here, for now. Do what you can with it, yeah?" This mission was off to a grand start already, wasn't it? What he wouldn't give for some absurdly out-of-place Moogle shop right now.....

[melodiouspacifist]

"I don't know!" Demyx squeaked a little, keeping a bit of greater distance between them because if Axel did want to lose his temper and take it out on him, he wanted enough time for a head's up to defend himself. After all, Axel's fire was something he was vulnerable to.

Mostly, he watched Axel burn out his frustration and anger and when the bandana and water was tossed to him he took them and tucked them into his pockets. That was why they were out there? They needed his music?

He wasn't sure what to make of that because usually everyone thought his music was a waste of time and a useless skill. He was full of pride for it, as much pride as a heartless being could have.

"I'm not going to fade out on you." He promised, wiping his brow. Melt, maybe, but he thought he could stay on his feet.