video/action

[sos_pilot]

[Video]

[ Della's face pops up looking... well, like everyone else - exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally. She smacks her beak a bit, before speaking. ]

... So. That sucked.

[ Fully aware that's the understatement of the century, Della draws a breath, and tries again. ]

I think we could all use a nice, long breather after everything... and, gosh darn it, as Train Mom, that is my sacred duty. Hugs? Head on the lap? Head-pats telling you that you did a good job? A shoulder to cry on? Venting out all your feelings without judgement? I'm right here.

[ She slaps her chest, then slaps a small sign on on the sports/gym car. It reads

EXHAUST PILE WITHIN

But as she does this, Tidus enters the scene - Della jumps, surprised, almost forgetting his presence.

He just smiles, holding up two cups with steam coming off them, then addresses the video feed as well. ]

We're also making big batches of cocoa too. Any of you that're gonna stress bake? There's room for that room - s'long as you don't need a nap first.

[ It's a small chide though, his smile small but sympathetic. ]

I've gotten out some incense pots from the supplies - you guys who got your head thrown into a blender by that aash-- uh, that jerk, [ he takes a swift glance at Della, then back ] --it'll help you relax. Just some, but better than nothin'. I'll set some off in Momma Duck's air nest, but if you're not doing great and you think you need a pot? Tell me. Raven made a lot of good stuff for good nights sleep if you need any in the medcar, too.

... So, yes. Cocoa. Incense. Hugging. And if you want to sleep with friends for a couple nights, we got air beds and extra pillows in here. Nobody has to get up and go until they feel ready.

And if that's not enough, that's fine too. Maybe next month we do something a little more organized, if you have any suggestions - movie night, sleepover night, big eat night, whatever, I'm listening. And I'm here for you.

[ Action ]

And inside the sports gym, the pair can be found. They have a few airbeds blown up, but there's more that still need airing up if you pop in straight after their message. There's also a tremendous amount of pillows. If you want to help, get blowing, and make these airbeds look nice and comfy!

The transgate from the standard coach has mysteriously been moved to the sports gym's outer hallway. Who did that? But it makes it easier to bring in the cups of hot chocolate from the kitchens, and for anyone who wants to bring snacks to do so. Take a seat, remember to bring your sleeping bag and whatever else you want. Plushes, your own musical instrument to offer some de-stress medication of your own with a melody.

And there's an area where small incense pots burn away, a gentle mist rising up. It won't heal the mind completely, but it will offer it some peace. And if you're worried about nightmares, a few of Raven's sachets and teas are available.

So come get a mom hug. Come and offer hugs. Just come and get something out of the company, whatever it is. Tidus and Della - and others - will be here to give a hand.

The life you had might've been fake, but the people around you aren't.

((OOC: consider this a mingling post, where everyone is free to tag everyone else! be the comforter, the one offering comfort, both, whatever!))

Comments

[mustknow]

Social situations of any sort are certainly not things Xehanort is keen on. Now, or ever ... and yet he's turned up at some indeterminate point in standard issue orange team gear and commandeered a couple cusions to locate a spot against a wall and settle there. The choice of wall is less to avoid and more to simply have something to lean against; the weariness had yet to fade and nightmares and strange dreams were par the course but the promise of something to aid in relaxing couldn't be ignored. Even he has limits, and he's long since reached them.

It looks like he'd intended to try to do some work while here, with a tablet balanced on one knee and a notebook on the other, a single sentence transcribed from paper to digital before no further lines have been managed. Instead there's a series of meandering doodles, mostly of other people sitting around in the car. They're .. not that bad. Recognizable at least, and immediately so, but done in a slow and meandering sort of way that has done nothing at all for precision. Some aren't of the train, but things distantly recalled from Jinnjar. A couple especially iconic heros. A house, a rough scribble that might be a path through a park.

One of the doodles is a bucket with a mug beside it.

Xehanort does not have his own mug; sweets simply aren't his thing. Work is - and work is getting nowhere, only absent half-focus doodles.

[consider8]

Eight had never met this person, but the way he is intent on his notebook was interesting. Further, he looked a bit like Ienzo -- a colleague of his, perhaps?

When she's feeling a bit more lively, she is going to poke around a bit to get to know more of this guy. Where she expected to see notes and scientific notation she instead finds... doodles? She's quiet for the moment, looking over his shoulder at his current subject.

[mustknow]

The proper scientific notes and ideas are on other pages, waiting to be transcribed! A task that requires more effort than he's capable of managing right now, and so... doodles.

Easier. Less thought. But it kept him awake, so that was enough.

He's aware of it as soon as he's got company but he doesn't see a reason to say anything for a while. Xehanort's no master artist, that's for sure, and the point of this entire exercise was to be around other people, wasn't it?

"I don't think we've met." There's nothing accusatory or hostile in his tone, he sounds as tired as everyone else looks. It's been quite a week!

[consider8]

Eight paused a moment, familiarity coming from the voice. Although she had seen the face around, that voice was... very distinctive and somewhat agitating. She shook it off for the moment, deciding to be cordial for the time being.

"I think you're right." She noted. "I couldn't help noticing your art. Do you draw a lot?"

[mustknow]

If there's any recognition on his part, it doesn't seem to show. Maybe recent events were just that tiring, or it didn't stick in memory or .. who knows, either way he doesn't seem hostile or suspicious about her.

"No," he admits slowly. "I'm just having trouble focusing. Doodling sometimes helps. And then it became about doodling. Maybe we do need an art car."

Then he could be doodling with oil paint and making a mess EVERYWHERE.

[consider8]

"I have been suggesting an art car every time we get the choice." Ink painting would be fabulous, and octo-ink would vanish before it became too much of a mess.

She leans in, getting a closer look. "Do you have more? Can I see?"

[mustknow]

"I've only been here for one selection so far." He didn't ask for an art car though. Next time it came around.. maybe he should.

Maybe after the recent abuses they'd all been through, the train would be eager to make up for it. Wouldn't that be nice? Then they could get an art car and something else..

There's a pause, and after a long reluctant moment he offers his notebook. "It's mostly notes and theories, but there's sketches throughout."

It's definitely not a sketchbook! But he's right, there's doodles everywhere. Every time he gets stuck on something, out come the doodles instead.

[consider8]

They are quite good, and she is taking a moment to look at the scientific diagrams... though a lot of it is beyond her ken. She weighs through both diligently, being careful not to crinkle pages.

She notices the bucket and mug of cocoa. "Oh!" She looks over to where her bucket is sitting, now currently occupantless. "That's me!" Far from being offended, she is amused by being an unknowing subject.

[mustknow]

"..Is it really?" He thought he'd spotted a tentacle a time or two but hadn't been quite sure, reluctant to add it. It could have been someone's pet!

And even worse now he knows it's someone else on the train. Well, he'd been doodling other people here, why not her too? Equality! "...Were you able to enjoy your drink like that?"

HOW WOULD IT NOT SPILL.

[blitzcheer]

"Hey. I was hoping to see you around." Here? In general? Nevertheless, Tidus approaches Xehanort with a friendliness, coming near but not too much. Seeing he hasn't got a drink or anything, so he decides to offer first:

"Thirsty? Hungry? Lemme know if you want anything, I can go pick it up."

Let's get this out of the way first - he has a host role to play, in his favourite place of the sports gym. Then, he can actually get personal. --In a friendly sort of way, promise.

[mustknow]

It's that guy! Who at some point Xehanort really needs to learn the name of, especially since a while back someone told him about a Tidus. Drawing that connection simply hasn't happened yet!

"Shouldn't you be relaxing?" That's not an answer! Or at least, not an appropriate one! "...Slim pickings if you're not really into sweets," he ventures after a moment. "I'll be alright. I think we're on kitchen duty this month anyway, I'll get my chores in."

... IS orange on kitchen duty? He's not actually sure but it sounds good!

[blitzcheer]

There's a huff of a chuckle, amused, and he puts his hands to the side of the floor with them - as if he's about to pick up something invisible(??).

"Hey, no need. You like fish?"

And there in a shimmering gold appears a green lunchbox. Tidus unclips the lid, and there's some fish and vegetable skewers, along with sushi rolls packed within.

"I can go heat up the sticks if you want. Or I've got some other stuff. Good time as any to eat it."

It was for missions, sure, but they were exploding with fish, so Tidus didn't really care. There was some food too in the kitchens too, from those who knew most of the train wasn't up to cooking - or much of anything else.

[mustknow]

Things he has not encountered before: sushi. Which is pretty obvious by the way he eyes those rolls with distinct unfamiliarity. It looks... not too questionable, frankly, but what IS it? "Fish is alright. Is this from that world we visited for three days?"

With the obnoxious tests. The ones he couldn't pass, which he still found profoundly insulting?? At least the fish hadn't been bad! "...I think those are kabobs of some kind, but what are those ones?" Questions, questions, questions! Still, the notebook and tablet are both set aside, he's not rude enough to refuse, and there's not a sugar cube in sight!

"...And how did you pull that out of nowhere. And that sword earlier? Is it a personal skill?" Or can anyone learn it, more importantly!! He remembered Tidus pulling a sword out of nowhere and putting it BACK, and now a lunchbox and how much stuff does Tidus have invisibly lurking around?

[blitzcheer]

xehanort tidus has SO MANY SNACKS HIDDEN AWAY.

Tidus sees he has Xehanort's attention fully; his first question getting a hum in response, positive, as Tidus crosses his legs, maybe getting a little more comfortable. "Kabobs? Skewers? These-" he picks up the sushi rolls, more the length of a forefinger than the usual size, an actual roll that finger food. "They're something they make in a place called Japan? We had nori last month, the seaweed? It's that and a special kind of rice."

Which he ends with a shrug, his information ending, and he'll hold it out with a - "Try it" - since whether Xehanort likes it or not is the more important detail, to Tidus.

But whatever Xehanort does or goes to eat, Tidus can bring up his hand, on his wrist a gold bangle is worn (and on his other, his SCA). "It's called an arms band. It puts things away in there. Like...magic. Some people call it hammerspace." And something else, but he always forgets what those are. He twists his wrist, as if showing it off.

"Some worlds have stuff that do that. Handy, huh? We have a few people can use on missions, but - wasn't any time to hand them out."

And they weren't really needed, for this one.

[mustknow]

Xehanort has learned some months ago that he'll never figure out what he does and doesn't like if he doesn't give everything unfamiliar at least one try. The downsides of amnesia: what's obvious to some is a deep and profound mystery to others! Like tastes. So the offered roll is taken, albeit carefully.

And then examined, and then sniffed. "..If mine has anything like that, I haven't seen it." But he's not going to dismiss the possibility! "It is very handy. Can anyone get one of those?" Arms bands, specifically.

Probably no though, he's already figured out the train only offers what someone would normally have access to, and hammerspace isn't one of those things. Experimentally, the sushi roll is bitten into like it was a taquito. It's not instantly revolting, so he keeps going. Mystery food, and it's not loaded with sugar!

[blitzcheer]

Someone has a bitter rivalry with sugar here.

"Not anymore - used to be able to, but then it stopped." There's a curious note to the way he says it, so he explains: "It's never happened before. You can't buy everything, but no one's gotten something and then they can't. If there's anything out there like it," he goes on, "that anyone can get, I don't know it. But some people get a bag version they can put and pull stuff in. About this big!"

He makes the size of around a football.

[mustknow]

Xehanort. He has a bitter rivalry. So, so bitter. People always offer sweets but where's all the delicious salty snacks?!

Fish rolls however aren't bad. Weird, but not bad, and he can appreciate a finger food that doesn't get mess everywhere. It doesn't take a lot of effort to work on either, which is another benefit! Low effort snacks and food right now are absolutely an ideal, since even getting back up to return to the other side of the train for kitchen things would be a monumental effort.

"Huh." That led to other questions, but he's not going to pursue them right now. Maybe the train just liked revising its ideas of what they did and did not need. "Good, but not as good as having entire things pop out of nowhere." He can envy it a little! Especially given Tidus kept weapons AND snacks in there apparently, without needing a bag for any of it!

After a long, long moment he offers a hand; proper greetings should have happened a LONG TIME AGO but somehow things never quite worked out that way. "I'm Xehanort. My friends .." There's a pause and a frown. He doesn't have any of those anymore, and the ones he did have were illusions. "...My friends call me Ted."

That doesn't sound much like 'Xehanort'! And the choice is careful and deliberate. Did Tidus qualify as a friend? Maybe he would, in time. But if there was going to be an association.. he'd rather it be with the pleasantness of that unreality.

[melodiouspacifist]

The sight of Xehanort in the gym almost made Demyx flee again.

Their little cooperation on the mission meant nothing, not when he knew...

He exhaled. This was a small train. He couldn't avoid him forever. He wasn't thrilled the train brought him here, not at all.

What was done couldn't be fixed, no, but they were going to have to find some way to coexist.

If it went south, he still had an escape route. Just to be sure, he pulled his coat on over his ugly orange t-shirt, but left it open, only the tiniest concession.

"Hey." Demyx greeted, albeit a decent several steps back, out of reach of the man who was seated. He would not be. "I don't like you...but we've both got to be on this train together."

[mustknow]

With the slowness of the bone-weary, Xehanort looks up to regard Damon with a silent, unblinking gaze.

Not Damon.

Damon was the illusion, this wasn't a renowned hero known for an uncanny knack for finding out secrets that should never have been brought to light. No master of invisibility, obviously.

Murphy claimed that the illusion didn't make people into something they weren't already ... so how much was real?

"Damon. I have no idea at all who you really are," is the quiet response, barely audible over the hum of the rest of the train's occupants. "I assume you're another one of my future victims, or a friend of one of them. Let me tell you a helpful secret, if this is so."

The tiredness is etched into every word; there's no menace to it, no malevolent cruelty, no vicious humor at what seems to be fear in someone else, just a dull and distant unhappiness. He'd rather be on that world, illusory though it is, contending with the alarming habits of Damon than this unknown. "I will treat you exactly as you treat me. If you don't want an enemy, don't make one."

[melodiouspacifist]

"Demyx." He crossed his arms. "That's my name. That's the name you gave me."

He stared at him a moment, looking grim.

"That is really convenient for you. You've never known who I am. You've never cared, actually. Destroying other people's lives has never been something you worried about. I don't think charitably you can call me a victim, exactly, or anyone else."

He couldn't pretend he didn't cooperate, regardless of how coerced he was to do so.

[mustknow]

"It doesn't matter what other people call you. What matters is what you choose to respond to."

And apparently, he chose to respond to Demyx! Which was entirely and wholly on Demyx himself, as far as Xehanort is concerned. No one on the train was forcing him to respond to that name, and he's not taking responsibility for it.

Or the rest.

"It seems to me if you truly wished anonymity and staying out of each other's way you would never have said anything." His tone remains the same. Is this what he was supposed to be fighting to prevent? To save people like this? Trying to save their lives, so they can continue to ruin his? "So get it over with. Bare your fangs and claws, pull out a weapon and strike, or strut around and make threats, tell me you'll kill me if I step out of line like all the rest have. Then you can pat yourself on the back about how you told off the horrible evil threat and leave feeling better about yourself."

[melodiouspacifist]

"I would love to use my actual name." Demyx responded instead. "Except it was stolen from me, by you. Along with my past, so what's left behind is exactly what you wanted." He retorted.

"The 'x' is the sigil you magically marked me with. So you could find me and track me, no matter where I went. If I strayed you could hunt me down and destroy me."

He stared at him a moment and snorted. "This isn't at all satisfying and if you did know anything about me, none of that sounds like something I would do. I'm not much into threats or fighting, thanks. I'm a musician. An artist. A performer."

Demyx was considering what the best move was here, not moving closer, but also not threatening. Calculating. A rare open look at his intelligence.

"It's not really going to work to keep running from you. It's kinda annoying, actually, I didn't really believe Lea about you being from the past but..." He sighed and dropped his hands.

[mustknow]

"Then take it back. Here I am." He sets down his pencil and spreads his hands wide, the faint tremor of exhaustion hidden as best he can.

By degrees, his tone darkens towards bitterness and dull anger. "You and yours, denouncing actions I have yet to take, certainly seem intent on causing the very future you complain about." He looks back up, a short, sharp jerk. "But I will not be bullied and badgered about things I haven't done. So as Braig says it, put up or shut up."

And the opportunity is there, even if Demyx is just a musician and performer. Xehanort is unarmed, and visibly too tired to resist even someone who's not a skilled combatant. If he wants vengeance, there's a perfect opportunity for retribution for years of trouble and unhappiness and worse.

[melodiouspacifist]

"How can I? You just said it yourself, you don't know."

Demyx sighed heavily. "I don't really want to bully you either. I can't forgive you...the future you. But I'm not stupid, you're not that person yet."

He finally stepped closer.

"I don't want to waste my time being angry or scared." He frowned grimly and stepped forward again now and held out a hand.

"I don't want to be friends, but I don't want an enemy either."

[mustknow]

He straightens as best he can while sitting against a wall, shoulders tight, unable to hold the open-armed position for much longer and letting his arms drop to his sides. As Demyx steps closer, Xehanort heaves himself to his feet; it's neither steady nor graceful, and if it wasn't for the wall right there he'd probably have fallen over.

He should have weighed the cost of being an anchor a little more. This was pathetic, he couldn't even stand there and put on a decent front.

"No."

It's etched in harsh resentment, that one short, sharp word.

"No. You don't get to turn up a stranger, tell me you don't like me out of the wild blue, deride me for things I haven't done repeatedly after I offer peace, accuse and attempt to shame me for actions I have not taken, and then claim 'I'm not that person' and hold out a hand as if you'd come to offer nothing but a truce!" He levies a finger at the Nobody; it's just as unsteady as the rest of him. "If you meant any of it you would have taken my offer when I made it, but you had to get your piece of hate out first, didn't you? And now that I've refused out of the hurt and insult you've offered you can go play the innocent who 'tried to make peace', isn't that right?"

Xehanort is learning, as much as he didn't want to. Every event since he's arrived on that platform has been a clear and ongoing lesson, and finally it's beginning to stick.