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.

Comments

[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.