with knowledge comes great responsibility

[anythingforyou]

[What an absolute ordeal all of that was.

Today was certainly one hell of a day, that's for sure; they've managed to take care of another Guardian and gain it's trust (or at the very least, something resembling it), they managed to find Candice and manage to...well, maybe not get her back in a state that's altogether wanted, but ensure they managed to get her at least into a place where she could possibly regain herself. It will likely be a process, as such things are, but they've done their best, and they should have no regrets.

The center is definitely going to be a welcome reprieve for all of their suffering, at the very least. The Kompot is certainly more than enough to likely get everyone warmed back up and in a stable condition, along with the copious amount of blankets the locals have provided. They've got the time to rest and get ready for their next adventure.

Rest well, ye merry band of travelers. You've earned it.]

Comments

[omissions]

... I'm not sure. I mean... it reminded me a lot of something that had happened back home, but...

[He can't help but wonder if he would actually prefer his situation with Stan over what happened with Candice and Uxie.]

[ventulus]

Oh. Was it the whole thing with the people and Pokemon frozen?

[ ... ]

Or was it something else that did?

[omissions]

About Uxie... and what happened to Candice.

[...]

Once, I was ordered to touch something in a dungeon we found somewhere. When I did, I suddenly disappeared... not physically, exactly, but mentally, from everyone's memory. Not only did everyone forget about me, but it was as if I was now suddenly invisible to everything. Like the world itself had forgotten my existence and now I was just... something it might have imagined, rather than a real person anymore.

[ventulus]

[ So he became Xion's fate temporarily

...Ventus' expression is just caught between looking kind of like he's a little horrified for a moment because that sounds. Awful. ]

Were you able to reverse that back home?

[ He sure hopes so. ]

[omissions]

Mm, yeah. There were other people who could see and hear me--people that the world had forgotten, too. And there was also someone who still remembered me... because of that, I was able to find a way to reverse what happened.

[A pause]

Of course, getting remembered caused me to go right back to being Stan's slave again, but I think we somehow came to an agreement of sorts after that.

[ventulus]

[ He looks pretty relieved to here that, judging by the look on his face now. He likes to think everything happened as it should, but doesn't mean there's no worry. ]

Oh, that's good--wait, who's this Stan guy?

[ He doesn't think he's heard of him before... ]

[omissions]

Oh, did I not tell you about him? He's a spirit that used to possess my shadow--he says that he's the reincarnation of the greatest evil king to exist, but had his body and powers stolen while he was sealed away.

My parents agreed to let him use me as a host if he would, in exchange, remove a curse that my sister had put on her by some kind of monster that had attacked her not too long ago.

[ventulus]

Oh.

[ ... That sounds kind of ... scary to him, actually. But he guesses the guy isn't here if he hasn't made his presence known, maybe. ]

...Was it the only way? And did you agree to it too?

[omissions]

It was the only way my parents could think of.

[A bit of a pause, before Ari speaks.]

I didn't particularly want to, but I also didn't necessarily want my sister to stay cursed either. Even if it was just a silly curse that made her speak pig latin and nothing else, if only because my family would have been happier for her to be able to speak normally again.

[... I wish I was kidding but no, that was what Ari sold his soul for. Breaking the curse of pig latin that had been placed on his sister.]

[ventulus]

Pig latin...? Well, I'm glad you were able to help her out, though.

[ Due to his colorful imagination Ventus had an image of something that involved life or death or maybe some kind of fairy tale element where there was a time limit...he's still a kid, yep.

...But, he's got to kind of wonder a little now. ]

...On a scale of one to ten, with ten being really annoying because of rude, bossy or whatever else and one being "not so bad", how annoying is this Stan guy?

[omissions]

Eleven.

[Wow Ari, rude.]

[ventulus]

An eleven? Wow. That's pretty high.

[ To be fair, being someone's slave sounds terrible enough. ]

What he'd do to break past the ten out of ten rating?

[omissions]

... You mean aside from just being the guy who possessed my shadow and called me his slave for most of the time I knew him?

[I mean... does he really need to say any more?]

[ventulus]

Uh...right.

[ The derp strikes again -- Ventus just looks kind of sheepish at that, though. ]

Sometimes for people like that, they really do just go above and beyond just by being themselves.

[ ...Ventus wonders vaguely if Stan and Vanitas would get along. Nah, probably not. ]

[omissions]

Yeah...

[There's a bit of a pause, before--]

Sorry, I'm probably mostly rambling here.

[ventulus]

[ Ventus is actually just going to give him another smile at that -- though, it's less sheepish and it leaves quickly. ]

It's okay. I don't really mind...I mean, it kind of helps me to get to know you a little more, and it's better than just sitting around in silence, right?

[ ... ]

...And I honestly don't know how you've managed to put up with something like that if it lasted for quite awhile. Someone had the chance to take over just once and it was kind a real hassle, and that's putting it lightly, I guess.