OPEN ● there's a darkness upon me that's flooded in light

[hightiderising]

WHO: Xion and YOU!
WHERE: All over Heropa
WHEN: The first few weeks of October
WHAT: Xion tries to adjust to this new world and needs lots of help along the way
WARNINGS: None anticipated; will update if this changes

1.
[It's been a few days since Xion's arrival and she's had some time to adjust. Granted, it hasn't been easy - mostly because of all the free time she has. Now, this obviously teenage girl should be in school, but she's very much not. It's not on purpose, mind you - she just doesn't know how school works. What days does she even go in? Who knows.

So, in this "free" time, Xion has decided to try to go to the beach. The beach is one of her favorite places in the world to be, and nothing would make her feel closer to home than a day spent picking sea shells before the weather gets too cold to allow that.

There's one problem, however. Xion doesn't know how to get to the beach. She has her portals, sure, but they only work when she knows where she's going. Saix would typically open a portal for her when she was going to a new world or location. She's going to have to do this the normal way - the human way. She uses her phone to find the closest bus station and works from there.

It's an easy walk... and then a choice between six buses. The route maps on each bus's sign mean almost nothing to her, filled with unfamiliar names of landmarks and streets. When she tries to check her phone for help, the battery is dead. Was she supposed to charge this or something? No one told her that!

Well, she can figure it out on her own. Who needs GPS? She gets right on the first bus without hesitation.

--And ends up dropped off somewhere in the suburbs at the end of the line. That's not right at all. She hadn't even seen any beaches along that route! Defeated, she opens a portal in plain sight and steps back out at the bus station.

Bus #2 takes her past museums of taxidermy, yarn, and historic planes and leaves her at The Alligator Hut, an alligator-shaped two story building dedicated to teaching the public all about the wonders of alligators. Rare fossils and a gift shop were advertised on the sign outside. Interesting, buuuut not what she had in mind. Xion summons a portal and steps back out once again at the bus station.

The next two buses do her even less good and when she portals back to the station the last time, she's exhausted, slumped over, sweating in her heavy leather coat, and looking somewhere inbetween depressed and frustrated and about to scream. She slumps down in a huff on the ground. She just... needs a moment, that's all. She can still do this.]

2.
[Something Xion has learned recently is that humans love coffee. She likes trying new things (cautiously), and if it's this popular, it has to be really good, right? Besides, a hot drink sounds nice on these chilly fall mornings. So one Saturday morning, Xion walks down to the coffee shop closest to Heropa's government housing and waits in line along with a ton of other totally normal people that totally know what they're doing here.

Finally, her turn comes, and she steps up to the counter, looks up into the vast menu and-- blanks.

What is this stuff? There's a coffee, sure, but with a ton of other options. And what's with all the flavorings being offered? What's pumpkin spice? She doesn't think vegetables belong in coffee, right? That doesn't sound good at all. What's an espresso? What's a latte? A macchiato? Mocha?

Someone behind her yells for her to hurry up.]

S-sorry! Just one coffee, please.

[But that doesn't satisfy the barista. "What size? Do you want creamer or milk? Hot or iced?" It's endless.]

U-um--

[Help.]


OOC: Character specific starters in tags. For your own, more specific starter, hit me up on plurk at MahouShoujo!

Comments

locked to the KH cast

[hightiderising]

[It's scary. For a moment, she's glad Axel's not here to scoff at her for feeling scared. But finally meeting Sora face to face, after everything she learned, after dreaming about him for months... She thinks she's right to be a little scared. She's partially convinced he'll hate her for everything she did to him, no matter how unwillingly. Or maybe he just won't like her because she looks like Kairi. There's a lot of factors here and she's catastrophizing before even seeing Sora in person.

Still, Xion lets Naminé guide her through a portal back to the house everyone she knows shares. She can tough it out. Probably.]

[darkimitation]

[Kagami for the most part has finished his studying in his room after a wild goose chase with Sora and Riku to find Xion. As he slowly makes his way out of his room and down the stairs, he can smell both Naminé and Xion. Instead of saying anything, he stays at the top of the stairs watching them both. Though if Xion sees Kagami, she'll see that he looks something like this only in more punkish/gothic looking clothing.]

[redigere]

[The house is quiet when they return, but the others seem to be close by, Kagami right at the top of the stairs. Naminé blinks up at him, wondering why he's not coming down-- but she supposes he'll do that in his own time. She turns back to Xion and smiles reassuringly.]

Come on, let's sit down and wait for everyone.

[redigere]

[Naminé has nothing if not an infinite amount of patience. She's curled up on the couch now, eyes tracing the patterns of the throw blanket under her fingers, her thoughts wandering here and there. She might be dozing off for a nap, though, if the boys are going to take this long to come back.]

[heartisabattleground]

[ BANG!

That's the noise the door makes when Sora throws it open to the house. He had been searching everywhere for this girl and now finally he can meet her. He's huffing and puffing, clearly out of breath as he looks around. ]

I didn't miss her did I? She's on her way?

Re: locked to the KH cast

[resipiscent]

[Riku arrives shortly after Sora -- he stopped to get ice cream, actually, heading to the convenience store before he gets back. He knows how to lure a Xion, okay. So when he finally gets to Heropa 33 again, he heads first to the fridge, to leave the bag from the store in the freezer. They were unsuccessful finding Xion, but apparently Namine wasn't, so he peeks into the living room from there, eyebrows raised.]

... Hi.

[hightiderising]

[The ice cream totally would have worked if he didn't have Sora and Kagami tailing along with him. She trusts Riku quite a bit and so she feels bad for running away from him the way she did.]

I'm sorry.

[It's even the first thing out of her mouth when she spots him. Then:]

Hi.

[And after one last awkward pause:]

I was just scared.

locked to poor Jessica Jones

[hightiderising]

[Xion is probably one of the best roomates someone could have. She's quiet, she never has friends over or plays loud music, or stays up late like you'd expect a 15 year old girl to do. Her room is even still bare, save for one tiny seashell on her nightstand.

Mostly, she stays out of everyone's way. But not today.

Nobodies don't need to eat to survive, but she enjoys it sometimes, anyway, and on this particular morning, she's craving pancakes. How hard could making them be? She finds a recipe online, tagged "easy" and "beginner" so she's pretty sure she can handle it. And so begins Xion's trek around the kitchen, climbing up a chair to reach the shelf that houses the flour, gathering the other ingredients: milk, sugar, salt, and an egg. She couldn't find baking powder but she did find baking soda and that seems like the same thing, right?

Measurements are also in "cups" so Xion gets a coffee mug from the cupboard and uses that to scoop the flour into the bowl. One egg goes in whole, shell and all, and is promptly crushed up as she mixes everything together. She spoons her horrible crunchy mistake into a frying pan (ungreased). She doesn't consider that any of this may be wrong until the smoke starts rising from the pan. That's not normal, right?]

oh dear god

[hardedged]

[ to be fair, jessica jones can't criticize anyone else's culinary skills because she lacks them entirely. however, she can bitch about someone nearly burning the house down. after noticing a strange smell and a few peculiar noises coming from the kitchen, she leaves her room to investigate. as she heads down the hall and turns the corner, her eyes widen in alarm. ]

Shit. [ she's frozen only for a few seconds, observing the fire grow, before her body instinctively springs into action. ] Get back!

[ she grabs xion by her shoulders, lifting the young girl up effortlessly and moving her to the side. then, jess charges in, reaching for a damp hand towel by the sink and throwing it over the fire. it takes a minute, but she's able to smother the flames. ]

[hightiderising]

[Xion's lifted up like the doll she technically is and plopped down onto the ground. She stays there, obediently keeping back from the fire. She realizes suddenly she could just use Blizzaga to freeze the fire... and then all the trouble Demyx would get into when he'd use his water magic in the castle. It's probably a bad idea.

Once the fire dies down, Xion sneaks over to peer past Jess's shoulder.]

I'm sorry. I don't know what I did wrong.

[She did Everything wrong.]

bus station!

[shittybirthday]

[ There's a big, burly guy in a flannel shirt and jeans approaching the bus station, a folded up newspaper clutched in one hand and a takeaway coffee in the other. Joel is pretty intimidating looking, all hard lines on his hard face, hardly friendly looking. He's actually walking past the bus station, with intent to head to the park and drink his coffee until he's gotta head off to work at the bar. He gives the young girl a cursory glance as he walks past and seems like he's just going to keep on walking...

He slows to a stop, though. Eyes her for a moment, uncertain whether to just let her be. Then, in a deep, gruff Texan accent: ]

...You okay, kid?

[hightiderising]

[Xion's worked with much scarier looking people, so his appearance doesn't bother her one bit. Instead, what bothers her is the implication she needs help - even though she clearly does.]

Yes.

[She looks away from him sharply, then after a moment, looks back and pulls her hood down. Her cheeks are red in frustration and her eyes have a watery look suggesting she either just got done crying or may be about to start at any moment.]

... No. I keep getting lost. I can't find the right bus or the right stop to get to the beach.

[shittybirthday]

[ Though his expression doesn't change at seeing the kid's watery eyes, he instantly can't help wanting to help the kid somehow. He shifts on the spot, obviously not about to just keep walking like he probably would if it was an adult he saw sitting there with tears in their eyes. ]

New here, huh?

[ Or so he surmises, based on how distressed the kid looks. ]

2

[sleight_of_hand]

[ Why did he always get behind people that had to take forever ordering their coffee? Adachi somehow managed to suppress a yawn, though that took a supreme amount of effort. He didn't even have his first round of the life-giving beverage yet, and this kid was just going to make it that much longer before he could. What was she even doing here anyway? She barely looked like she could reach the damn counter. What was she, twelve? Why the hell were those damn porters bringing in little kids? ]

[ And... she didn't know what the hell she was doing, did she? He let out a sigh, leaning over her slightly. ]

Small, creamer, and hot.

[ That's how Nanako liked her coffee, so that should be good enough for any kid, right? ]

[hightiderising]

[Xion is particularly short and babyfaced, so she could totally pass as a twelve year old. It also doesn't help just how out of place she looks. That, and the relief in her voice as she turns back to the guy behind her.]

Thank you! There's just so many options.

[And, oh, she'll step to the side out of his way. Not actually go sit down or wait elsewhere - nah, she's gonna stand right there and wait to listen to his order. He's clearly an expert here, and she's gonna learn from him.]

[sleight_of_hand]

[ Adachi found himself blinking after her a moment, before he let out a soft breath. What was it about little girls and their ability to be adorable to the point he couldn't be mad? Why couldn't they keep that quality when they got older? It wasn't fair. ]

[ He stepped up to the counter, pausing a moment to pull out a pair of glasses so he could read the damn coffee list. Stupid Dooku had him reading so many damn papers before he was going blind... again... worse than he already was. ]

Medium pumpkin spice latte with a shot of caramel.

[ Because it was going to be that kind of morning and he needed the extra sugar; he knew it was going to be a thing already. He dropped two bucks into the tip jar before turning, reaching up to take his glasses off as he did so, only to stop short when he saw the little girl was still there. ]

H-hey, kiddo. Waiting area is over a little more.

Bus station!

[burnseternal]

[Saint Walker is the sort of person to undertake a human being's daily life for the sole purpose of trying it out, but he has one exception: public transportation. It's loud, and messy, and crowded, and thoroughly unpleasant in so many different ways. He gave it a fair go and decided long ago that no, in this case, he's fine with abusing his own powers to get where he needs to go.

Of course, as he passes by the station, he can't help but notice a slumped figure in the middle of it, her body language as defeated as Walker's every seen anyone. He approaches her with a bemused sort of smile, and looks down at her, clearing his throat to get her attention.]

Excuse me, are you in need of some assistance? I cannot help but notice that you look, ah... distressed.

[hightiderising]

[Xion has traveled to many different worlds and seen a lot of different types of people, so this... something's appearance isn't too weird or shocking to her. It tells her one thing, though, and that's that he's an imPort like her. People on this world otherwise seem to be typical humans.

She wipes her nose on her gloved hand and, after a moment, nods.]

I'm lost and my phone is dead.

[burnseternal]

A troubling combination to say the least! I am, however, quite familiar with the area by now. Do tell me where you'd like to go, and perhaps I'll be able to help you. And, I think, help you with your transportation there if you're comfortable with it.

[Not everyone's comfortable with going gallivanting off with a strange man, but it would wound Saint Walker to have to set this poor girl on her way on another awful, crowded bus.]

1.

[keep_nothing]

[ Cordelia doesn't typically use the buses herself, but she happens to pass by the station on her way to her destination—some clothes befitting a beach community made her feel more comfortable and it had been a while since she last shopped for anything.

But when she sees this young girl slump down on the ground, it catches her attention enough to slow down. Not to mention that thick coat—good god is she wearing leather? In the last of this summer heat? She steps closer but not so far as to invade the personal space of someone apparently having a mini breakdown. ]

Hey, are you alright?

[hightiderising]

[The space is appreciated, but Xion's not the type to say so out loud, especially right now. She's busy being stubborn, and that's a full time job.]

I'm fine.

[She spits it out. She's very obviously not fine. She's squeezing her leather-gloved hands into tiny fists.]

[keep_nothing]

[ The poor thing, but she's used to stubbornness. Her son Miles has the monopoly on that so Cordelia is not deterred in the slightest. ]

You sure? It looks to me like you could use a pick-me-up. How about joining me for a bite to eat?

1

[absentconstellation]

[ A little black cat wanders into the bus stop, and stops to examine the girl for a moment. Humans don't usually sit on the ground. They like to stay clean when they can help it. ]

[hightiderising]

[Xion may be busy sulking for a bit, but a wandering animal is gonna catch her eye. She sniffles, looks over at it, and holds out her hand.]

Hey, kitty...

[It might be nice to pet a cat for a while. Unless it runs away. It's that kind of day.]

[absentconstellation]

[ Eh, why not? Most people, even excitable young girls, won't try to hug a stray cat. He steps forward to rub his head against her hand. You may pet him, two-legger. ]