Vanitas has been watching Xehanort closely for a while. As opposed to Braig’s playful jabs or slyness, Vanitas doesn’t even bother to hide that he’s trying to dissect Xehanort apart piece by piece—to categorize him into something that can be understood.
So far, Vanitas has yet to discover anything that remotely satisfies him.
Today, Vanitas is accompanying him outside of the castle, amber eyes burning into the back of his head just like they always do. He hasn’t said much the whole time they’ve been out there, his moodiness is thick enough to almost be physical. It can be physical, should Vanitas’ emotions writhe out of his control and form Unversed.
Vanitas’ concentration is only broken by the sight of a food stall. The pleasant aroma was a far cry from the bland MRE-like meals he’d subsisted off of for four years while living in the Badlands.
“Hey,” Vanitas speaks up. “You smell that?”
Being out in the town markets was not his first choice of pastime, and Vanitas was certainly not his first choice of company, but Braig had ambushed him near the main doors, said he needed to get out more, and all but dumped a shopping list into his hand and pushed him out. Vanitas had followed in a similar manner moments later.
Xehanort strongly suspected that Braig had simply not wanted to do the task himself.
Vanitas seemed equally unenthused about accompanying him. Or he had until this point, the words catching Xehanort by surprise. He stopped, turning first to Vanitas then in the direction the young guard-apprentice was looking.
It was the first thing Vanitas had said to him that was not a clear attempt to dig under his skin.
He could smell it. Something rich and savoury. Scents could be a powerful trigger to recall long-dormant memories, both Master Ansem and Braig had told him. He tried to match it to any of the fragments shattered like stained glass across his mind, but... nothing. Whatever they were selling, it was unfamiliar to him.
So very much was unfamiliar to him.
"We do not have time for distractions," he replied, and something flashed behind his eyes. Was there... there was something he had to do... he could not afford these delays...
No, that wasn't right. Couldn't be right. He had no pressing tasks back at the castle. They had all afternoon for this.