Dwarf Woodlands

[Bloodedge]

"Ask Master Luxu~" he teased in response to Kairos mentioning what sorts of things he thought. This topic wasn't one Yuri lingered on. Kairos began their combination and mentioned adding something a little extra to their combined efforts, to which Yuri nodded. Her maneuver to get over the head of the Large Body heralded a sprint forward by Yuri. As she pulled it into the air, he took the space beneath it to grind the pommel of his Keyblade into the ground until it could be properly lodged in there. Kairos hitting the creature was then followed by Yuri casting a spell of his own, while his hand remained on his Keyblade's handle. "Graviga!" he exclaimed. The activation of this spell created a gravity field around his Keyblade which would pull the pair's enemy down onto the weapon while Yuri ran out of the way using a self-enchantment known as Haste to quicken his escape. He would see it impaled by its weak side on the Keyblade while Kairos finished off their combination, and then they would know if they were successful against this larger breed. "Wombo combo!"

[Apollymi]

"I won't!~" the girl immediately responded to the idea that she should ask the Master Luxu about the things which floated around the other male's head. As far as she was concerned, whatever concerned the world, butts and other big round things in any man's mind, was absolutely none of her business. Still the entirety of their teasing/angry banter was always in good fun. They seemed to constantly be arguing but it was simply the way they spoke to each other, and both were aware that their friendship went well beyond things like kind words and gentle forms of affection.

On the matter of their actual battle situation, the large blob of darkness first lifted off the ground was now being pulled back onto it by force of gravity. Such a thing was completely out of this being's control and it aimed to thrash about only to be tapped by Kairos' Keyblade as she released her hold on the creature. This tap, came with the extra glow of the heart at the tip of her Keyblade, which caused rune like markings to spread. As badly as this particular thing found itself wanting to move, as runes spread across its body it would find it impossible. "And the grand finale!~" Kairos mentioned as she double jumped in the air and began to move forward her body encased by darkness as she aimed several rushing attacks across the body of this particular being only to finish with her body bouncing atop its head to send it hard against the Keyblade aiming to impale it. Such an action would cause this particular creature to let out a squeal before its entire body dispersed and Kairos herself was left to land from above taking the time to tumble into multiple flips before she took a bow. "Ladies and Gentleman~ The WOMBO-COMBO!~" she squealed with delight. "Thank you... thank you... I'll be here all week~" she joked gently before she caused her Keyblade to disappear from her hand.

[Bloodedge]

If one had any curiosity as to what the 'wombo' part of this combination meant, it would become apparent in a matter of moments that it represented the extra and unnecessary damage being delivered to their target. This clarity came the moment Kairos delivered an additional strike to the enemy whilst applying her Keyblade's special ability through it. This resulted in a rapid descent of the creature onto Yuri's upright Keyblade before Kairos bounced off their fallen victim into a series of flips to end her maneuver. Yuri took the time of her bow as his time to summon his Keyblade to hand once more, removing it from the Large Body with the belief that it was no longer necessary at all. "And I'll be here... until I'm finally allowed to leave!" he added to Kairos stating she'd be here all week.

In the meantime, this pair was still being watched by the master named Luxu. He made every effort to remain out of sight for the duration of his stay thus far, but his attention followed this set of Keyblade wielders - Kairos especially - in everything they did. He had to say, he was quite impressed with what he saw. 'That's a major statement. Still... I wonder if I can actually do that to someone else. If only I could see that far ahead...'

[Apollymi]

The disappearance of that thick piece of darkness was enough to leave Kairos quite elated, though not enough that she didn't take note of Yuri's apparent want to leave this place. "Yuri!~ You're killing my buzz... did you see what I just did? At least fanboy over me a little~" she said her arms crossing over her chest, and flipping her nose into the air, in a manner most expressive. Still, given how deep they were currently in this mine she was certain they'd dispatched everything worth taking on in this place. And having done what she set out to do, she would be fine with them leaving this place. "Alright then, let's go~ I got a taste for ice cream and I am fairly certain we've made quota and all~" she said, upon speaking this sentence the dwarfs wandered down into the depths of this place, with the one known as 'Doc' beyond impressed and thoroughly grateful. "You did it! You really did it! Thank you, thank you!" said Doc as he ran up to the girl and shook her hand furiously. Kairos managed to be a bit surprised, but smiled anyways. "Yeah, don't mention it. Have fun digging I guess..." she said after several moments of shaking which left her needed to free her arms for fear of numbness. Meanwhile the dwarf known as Grumpy looked to Yuri and they'd indeed done what they'd said, and they'd met not a single bit of resistance as they made their way into this area. "I guess you did help," and this was all the angry little gnome seemed to have to say. A chuckle came from Kairos as she understood this Grumpy being to have the same kind of disposition that she was already used to dealing with. Still it was time to leave this place and after it was obvious that everything they needed to take care of was done, Kairos would begin walking off, mostly so that she could summon her keyblade to her hand. But before she properly got away from this group a small very bald little dwarf approached her from behind wrapping himself around her legs and resting his head against her rear. This caused the young woman to turn and look down at the bright shining eyes of this short man with only a raised brow. "Uh... I mean... it isn't really that big a deal, ya' know?" she asked of the short man but he simply shook his head. "That's Dopey, he doesn't talk and he's kinda dumb, but... his heart is pure," said Doc who seemed to speak for most of them. 'These names are a bit spot on huh?' Kairos thought as she placed a hand against this dwarf's head and to give it a gentle tap. "Thanks I guess. Come on, Yuri, I owe you some ice cream!~" she chimed content to head off but not complicate this world by giving them too much information. The one known as Dopey was being distracted by one who was about to sneeze for whatever reason and this would be how such a situation ended.

Once they were clear of the group, Kairos would have but one thing. "It wasn't so bad now was it, Yuri?" she asked of the lad without any seriousness. "Hm, I don't know what kind of ice cream I want..." she said aloud as her Keyblade manifested in her hand out in front of the mine-shaft. And she used it to open the portal that would take them back to the world from whence they'd come. "After you~" she offered Yuri once more.

[Bloodedge]

"Nah! I was kinda busy thinking back to how creepy those trees were," Yuri replied, apparently having no desire at all to praise the efforts of his companion. Speaking of a lack of praise though, the Dwarf called Grumpy had something to say to Yuri... and it wasn't all too pleasant for the lad. His expression became one of disgust when he received the words of Grumpy. "You guess!? Why I oughta..." His statement never reached its end. Instead, in a huff, Yuri stormed off in the same direction Kairos traveled. He simply couldn't believe the audacity of this particular Dwarf to say such a thing after managing nothing himself against a lesser creature. There was no way he could deal with this sort of thing for another moment. Upon reaching Kairos, he heard her questioning of the experience. Yuri huffed again right away. "Stupid Dwarfs. You're paying for every flavor in the market," he said while making his way into the portal.

At that exact moment, Master Luxu finally made himself visible. He peeked out from the other side of the portal, looking inward to witness Yuri's departure. The shrouded figure of Luxu viewed Kairos from beneath his coat's hood, and if his identity wasn't immediately clear, it likely would be when he spoke. "He doesn't seem too happy, does he?" he asked somewhat rhetorically. "You're in rare form though. There's a Moogle shop with a lot of amazing specialty flavors worth trying, by the way."

[Apollymi]

Whatever issue Yuri had with the dwarf, Grumpy had no more animosity towards the lad. Or rather, he simply was just this amount of distastefully angry all the time. Yuri's anger seemed lost upon the drawf though Kairos found the entire situation funny. In fact, she giggled even as he stormed past her, claiming that she'd pay for every flavor in the market while he was angry. "Yeah, yeah, every flavor. You're lucky I'm feeling generous~" she managed as the lad tramped off, apparently upset to have met his dwarf counterpart. But before Kairos could join him through this portal, a hooded figure made himself known. This particular hooded figure, was one which she was steadily becoming more familiar with spoke to her, first about her rather upset. His secondary statement seemed to be about her own notable good mood, and mentioning what was apparently a good shop to get ice cream from. "Hm, well, that is about normal for him... I think he's cross having met someone as grumpy as he is~" she mused at her friend's expense but it was nothing she wouldn't have said directly to the lad. Moving right along there was the commentary about her and the ice cream to address. "Oh? Well, I am in a pretty good mood today... thanks for that. And for the tip, I'm sure Yuri will enjoy something new~" she said a bright smile on her face. "Though, I've got to wonder, how often we're going to run into each other like this?" she questioned before a grin broke out over her face, and she didn't immediately move towards the portal she'd created as she waited to see what would come of this deviation with Master Luxu.

[Bloodedge]

"Really? Interesting. I would never have guessed, considering how he fought the Tower of Darkness," Luxu replied, unknowingly referencing something that was likely part of an aborted timeline in this group's past... or perhaps future at this point. As to continue the discussion in a manner less strange than how they'd started, Luxu stepped around to the front of the portal to address Kairos directly. In doing so, he also raised a brow beneath the shadow of his hood. Something stated by Kairos was strange to him, so he thought to address it right away. "You're thanking me for your mood? We haven't even spoken today until now... have we?" he asked. In all honesty, Luxu had no idea what fate his own future held. If he happened to decide later that he needed to go farther back in time to speak with someone, it would be something he had no foresight on. "That's... sort of also my answer to your question. I don't know how often we'll meet like this. In fact, I've been wondering if we'll ever even run into each other again in the future."

[Apollymi]

"I have no idea what a Tower of Darkness is... but Yuri is just Yuri. He's always like that" this was Kairos' only statement on that matter. But if Yuri fought it, or would fight it, she figured she'd get to see something interesting at some point. Regardless, it seemed that Master Luxu found it odd that she'd thank him for her good mood. He was in fact, specifically to blame for the girl's increased happiness and she knew this, but for him not to know why she'd thank him for doing this sort of thing for her. "We didn't speak today, we spoke yesterday... a lot actually. You talked to me before I left for Agrahbah, gave me a cool keychain. You walked me through saving Yuri. Taught me how to make Keychains... saved me from some strange conversation with Master Invi. And we went to Olympus Coliseum, we had a grand adventure..." she said recounting her previous day with this lad as what it had been for her. She'd enjoyed the early moments of their blossoming friendship, and would be really happy for it to continue. Though the lack of surety in this man's statements was a bit disturbing, it was a bit more disturbing to her, that he didn't seem to realize how much he'd touched her heart the previous day. "It was really nice, and it helped me clear my head a bit... have you not done that yet?" she asked of Master Luxu. She didn't really understand time travel, but she knew she'd met him several times over the last few days with various effects on her life. She imagined such a thing was no less confusing for the man who actually did the travelling, especially if he hadn't actually done any of these things yet.

After speaking on this matter it seemed that Luxu didn't actually know if they'd be encountering each other a great deal, he didn't know yet what he was doing or rather what he was going to do. "Hm... I don't envy you, that all seems really confusing," she said, thinking about it for a few seconds longer her face broke into a wide grin and she simply shook her head from left to right. "Eh, I guess it doesn't really matter. Grabbing this moment is enough," the girl said in a reference to something strange she remembered from being a child. "We have fun whenever you pop up. Besides, we're friends now... so I'm sure we'll keep running into each other," Kairos said. This lad had given her a bit of his heart the day before, she felt that given this, she had nothing to worry about since she felt like the two of them were a bit more connected than she'd likely be able to fathom or admit.

[Bloodedge]

"... Oh," Luxu said upon having the realization that the Tower of Darkness had not actually been encountered. Such a thing happened previously due to his intervention at a certain point, but in this timeline, it hadn't been located at all yet. "The Tower of Darkness is... something you might not even get to see. If you do see it though, you'll know what it is." With that out of the way, Sion perplexedly listened to Kairos explaining her previous day in his company. He did indeed have memory of these events, but her 'yesterday' and his were two very different things. His own previous day had been spent in an amount of solitude that was almost maddening. "No, I've done it. That was... about two weeks ago for me, I think. I guess you're welcome though, even if I'm not sure that's worth any thanks."

Kairos admitted to having no envy toward Luxu and his time-travel. He laughed at the thought of this, but the girl went on to note that a single moment was enough time spent with one another to be satisfactory. While Luxu could understand the notion, he was also beginning to understand something beyond. Her reference to their apparent friendship brought this to mind, and he sighed. "I wouldn't say that. I don't really have the luxury of bumping into my friends for much longer. I'm allowed an apprentice... and that's all I get while I fulfill the role given to me."

[Apollymi]

Luxu's words about this supposed Tower of Darkness made Kairos' left brow raise slightly. She didn't know how she felt about such cryptic news, but she supposed it was an interesting thing to think about, and nothing that required her immediate attention. Regardless, it seemed that her yesterday and Luxu's were two very different things, and quite a large amount of time had passed for the lad since he'd last had contact with her. He also apparently didn't know if his last set of actions were worth thanking him over. "Hm, well... it was worth it because it helped... Two weeks is a long time," she thought about this a bit but before her mind was allowed to properly wonder if he'd spent this time alone or not, the lad confirmed it, if not outright, than by his words about what he was and wasn't allowed to do as far as friendship was concerned. "Hm... I used to spend a lot of time alone like that... it isn't really good for you. It gives you too much time to be locked in your own head..." Kairos said aloud, but she still managed to seem pretty cheerful. In her own time, she'd had an imaginary friend until a real one had showed up in her life. "So... until you choose an apprentice to keep you company. I'll keep you company, whenever we happen to cross paths~" she said. Having given ample time for Yuri to get where he was going the portal which would have led her back to town closed. "You're stuck with me for the moment. I won't be talked out of this behavior... yada yada yada~ So did ya' have a good look around this place? Take in the creepy face trees? I think they have good character, a bit of shock and awe, but a nice bit of decoration!~"

[Bloodedge]

Apparently, Kairos thought the thanks she gave Luxu were worthwhile simply because his efforts helped her in some way. He supposed he could agree with this, though part of him didn't enjoy being thanked so easily by one he was considering abandoning for their own well-being. It seemed Kairos also understood the bother of being alone without choice. She did, however, seem optimistic in her offer to keep him company until he located his apprentice. Sadly, Luxu was unsure if he would even have an apprentice until after most people he knew were no more. "That's probably not a good idea for you. If you become a part of too many events, things might not end well for you," he warned. As he did though, the portal Kairos opened to Daybreak Town closed. Kairos claimed he was stuck with her for now, and immediately initiated a bit of small-talk. Luxu sighed again. If anything, this girl was persistent about something... whatever that something happened to be at any given time. "I've had a lot of time to spend here. I haven't been doing any rewinding, but I did have a bit of extra time before you two showed up... since I had to join the two of you to come here in the first place. I don't know if this is my type of world, if I'm being honest. The trees are nice though, and I suppose that girl with the animals was alright. Weird choice of conversation topic, by the way."

[Apollymi]

"Yeah, yeah, if it ends badly just give me something. I'll get over it instantly~" Kairos said jokingly though given her nature she was quite easily pleased by gifts, something which had been true about her for her entire life. She didn't think too much about the immediate consequences of her actions. Whether he chose to abandon his friendship with her or not long term also didn't matter. She was a person of a single moment, and because of this, she was fine with just being there for him for the time being. As they moved on to a more tangible conversation, it seemed that Luxu had only been able to come here because Kairos and Yuri had done it first. He had an opinion about the world, enjoyed the creepy trees but wasn't fond of the place overall. He also met a girl he thought was alright during his time here. "Ah, a girl with animals now we're getting somewhere," Kairos said seemingly enthused. She didn't actually care very much but there were lots of things to talk about. "I didn't expect a normal type of person to appear in this place..." she mused. "And this topic of conversation was the first one that popped into my head. Well, since we already talked about food and the music question is bit invasive..." she said only to realize it was likely weird without the context of the earlier conversation she'd had with Yuri. "Scratch that, uh... my conversation topics are weird, but... we gotta start somewhere," she said with a curt nod only to think about something said earlier and not understand it. "Wait, why did you have to come here with us?" she asked confused, she figured everyone could travel as they pleased, given what she'd been told when she was given her Chirithy.

[Bloodedge]

"I... don't think it would be that kind of bad ending that you could get over. I just get the feeling you'd be better off nowhere near me," Luxu explained while crossing his arms and tilting his head. He really wasn't sure about his desire to take on Kairos as his apprentice, and from something he heard between her and the boy named Yuri earlier this day, it seemed she wasn't too bothered about the idea in the first place. He never heard everything they said to one another, so many pieces of information were missing. This included the context behind whatever 'music question' Kairos may have had. "Yeah, there's someone... sort of normal that I've seen here so far. Also, music question? Anyway... I had to come here with you two because I don't have my own method of traveling to these worlds. No book, no Chirithy. Just me. I hitched a ride with you two, then rewound time while leaving myself here."

[Apollymi]

Kairos heard out what the lad had to say about his apparent involvement with her. She found it strange that he was under the impression that her being around him would be the sort of dangerous for her that she likely wouldn't be able to recover from. He went on to say that he thought she was better off without him given this might be the case. She sucked in air through her teeth and clicked her tongue, whatever he thought might happen to her, she didn't really care about. "Uh-huh. If you spend all your time thinking about what might happen, you'll never really get to see what will happen..." she said shaking her head firmly. She had a rather simplistic view of life and the things in it, and it was obvious by their current situation that she didn't have any particular plan or outcome in mind when she was doing things. "Besides, better or worse are all about perspective... and that shit is crazy~" she chimed, her own life as an acrobat and circus performer let her know that the world looked different from all sorts of angles. And what might seem good to some might not be, and what might be bad, could be good, depending on where one happened to be standing. As she pondered her own philosophies, Luxu went on to explain what his day had consisted of before this particular moment and questioned the bit she'd said about music. This let Kairos know the man wasn't privy or following for the whole of her day. "Ah, I made a joke earlier about picking your brain for information... as a random thing I joked I should ask what sort of music you listen to when falling asleep," she explained seemingly without shame though knowing it was a lot less funny without the extra banter. About the rest she seemed to give a bit of a nod as she had a general understanding. "So, you don't get a union, you aren't supposed to go places by yourself and you don't get to know whatever is in those freaky books..." she said thinking about it for quite some time. "Hm... got nothing, so we should do something fun instead..." she said coming to this conclusion with a quick nod. "I only came here to dodge potential work from Master Invi anyways... So..." she paused, opening her hand and summoning her Keyblade which she twisted around in her hand numerous times simply spinning it as if she had no idea what she was doing with it. "Do we think really hard about something new. Or do we try to go somewhere we've been before?" she asked giving Luxu the choice of their next destination. She couldn't comment on whatever was going on with the Masters but she did know that being bored to death wasn't good for anyone. And if she could offer herself as a vehicle for a little adventure, she'd do so for someone she considered her friend.

[Bloodedge]

Kairos had an interesting outlook to hear when considering potential events. Briefly, Luxu considered that she may have been better-suited to this time manipulation business than he was. "That's a good outlook to have. I don't have much of a choice but to think about what might happen, though, as I have no way of knowing which future is best for my role," he said, knowing his ability to blur the lines of time itself were pivotal in fulfilling what the Master of Masters needed of him. Either way though, he was faced with the clarification of what music question Kairos had for him, and despite it clearly having a joking tone, he replied nonetheless. "Isn't it obvious? I listen to Soft Rock," he stated. With that, he observed the summoning of a Keyblade by the girl in his company. She'd once again offered up her free time despite his warnings. Sighing yet again, he uncrossed his arms and stared at her Keyblade. "You really meant I was stuck with you, huh? I can't be sure where we've gone already since I may not have done it yet, but why does something new have to require hard thinking? We're also going with the assumption that I don't have something else to be doing right now."