Mission 13

[skysmirror]

Characters: Xion and all who wish to talk with her
Content: Xion's decided to do some information-seeking re: potentially awkward subject
Location: Media deck
Time of Day: Afternoon, probably before Vanitas found Ven
Warnings: Potentially awkward conversations of "the talk" variety, depending on how much people notice about her reading material.


Xion had taken to spending a lot of time on the media deck this week. Mostly because the weapons deck, where she usually liked to train, didn’t seem like such a good training ground anymore.

Then there was the fact that the media deck looked so much like Beast’s Castle. She’d liked that world, and it was good to have a bit of home here, even if only for a short time.

She’d decided to take the chance to finally try to some investigating into some things she’d heard about but everyone seemed to be hesitant to explain. Not that they probably wouldn’t tell her eventually if she asked, but she didn’t like to bother them when it made them feel awkward. The library was supposed to have books on everything, right? She could just look it up there.

First thing was first, though. She played for a bit with the dog-footrest until it settled down enough to follow her quietly as she looked for books. Not that there was a lot, but she found a few geared towards “teenagers and the changes they’re experiencing” that looked promising, and then a few novels just because they looked fun--and were about relationships, which was interesting at the moment.

Sitting down in a chair (that had moved so it was beside a table), she decided to start with one of the novels. She picked up one that had two smiling blond girls on it (it looked like the first of a series) and began to read.

Comments

Assuming this is after the riff, but before his network post

[eyeofwildtiger]

Why did he have to make that stupid wager in the first place? He was fairly confident that he'd win, but didn't even think about how humiliating losing was going to be. So, now he was stuck. Doomed. And he didn't even have his bunny to comfort him.

Well, he wasn't about to get fitted so soon, so he roamed the decks, trying to find some way to vent his frustrations. He'd merely peeked in most of them, finding the new settings way too strange for his liking.

When he got to the media deck, he was pleased to find that it was relatively normal, freaky statues aside. He perked up when he saw who was currently in there, too.

"Yo," he greeted.

Probably a bit before the riff, but wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff works.

[skysmirror]

Xion really didn't see what was so bad about wearing a dress that Lea and Kotetsu would make a bet that involved the winner NOT wearing one. Granted, they took some getting used to, and Rarity sometimes could be more enthusiastic than might be wanted. The results looked good, though, and fit well.

Then again, they were boys, and boys didn't wear dresses. Or so she'd been told. Maybe that had something to do with it.

At his greeting, she looked up and smiled. "Hello, Kotetsu."

The footrest-dog was out from under her feet and on its way to greet him almost before she'd finished speaking.

Works for me!

[eyeofwildtiger]

Kotetsu looked down at the... dog-thing. That was new. He reached down to scratch what he assumed was its head.

"What're you up to?"

She's reading Sweet Valley,if you couldn't guess. X3

[skysmirror]

Guessing which end was the head was usually pretty easy--it was the end not shaking a very tail-like tassel.

Xion held up her book in answer to his question. "Reading."

That was my guess. X3

[eyeofwildtiger]

"Oh yeah?" Kotetsu gave the footstool-dog one more pat before shoo-ing it back Xion's way.

"What'cha find?"

w00t! It's kind of sad I remember the title of the first book in the series as well as I do.

[skysmirror]

Xion petted it as it settled down (beside her chair this time), then held up her book for him to see. It was a simple paperback, the cover of which showed a picture of two smiling, blond girls and the title Double Love.

"It didn't look as interesting as some others in the series, but I thought I should start from the beginning."

I don't think I ever really read many of 'em...

[eyeofwildtiger]

"Usually good to do," he agreed. He took a look around for any more excitable furniture. As soon as he stepped inside, a hat rack plucked his hat off of his head. Before Kotetsu could protest, it gestured Xion's way, then at the door. Kotetsu sighed and came closer, checking out the bookshelves.

"No offense meant or anything, but that seems kinda... girly? I kinda thought you'd be into something with a little more action."

They were my brain candy for years.

[skysmirror]

"It's better to get the whole story." She smiled at his reaction to the moving furniture. It did take some getting used to.

The comment on the book made her frown in thought. 'Girly' is a new descriptor for her. "Most of those didn't have many girl characters, and didn't have much about relationships or anything like that."

[eyeofwildtiger]

"Ooooh~?" Kotetsu turned, giving her a grin. "Relationships, huh? Got a crush on someone?"

[virtualunknown]

Since his conversation with Xion, MakubeX had mostly been keeping to himself. He had quite a bit to think about. He'd obviously upset her and he worried that she'd hold it against him.

He figured he could pass time with his Cambot project. However, his Cambot had not returned since that day. So, finally he decided he'd better go find it.

He decided to start by making a quick scan of each deck before searching them more thoroughly. When he came to the media deck, he paused when he saw Xion sitting there.

He didn't know what to say, or if he should say anything at all, so he stood in the doorway, calculating...

[skysmirror]

Xion had needed some time to think and cool down, herself. She had been upset, but had cooled down enough to not hold anything against him. Really, by the end of the conversation she'd been concerned about him, he'd seemed so upset by the memory.

He'd seemed to need some space as much as she had, though, so she'd given it to him. There was enough to do in seeing the most recent changes to the satellite...and to her friends.

At the moment, though, her attention was focused on her book. Not that she really understood a lot of what the twin girls in it were saying about "cute guys" and the importance of having the right friends. Trying to soldier on, she didn't notice someone else had arrived until the footrest-dog barked and ran to greet them.

She looked up, and gave a small smile when she saw who was in the doorway. "Hey."

[virtualunknown]

"Hello."

Well, she was smiling. That was a good sign. And she acknowledged him, so maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry.

"...may I come in?"

[skysmirror]

"Sure." She gestured to where another chair was already moving to the other side of the table.

Her smile widened when she saw the footrest-dog making a clear bid for MakubeX's attention, barking and butting what would be its head against his legs. "You might want to pet him first, though. He won't stop until you do."

[virtualunknown]

"I... right." MakubeX leaned down to pet the creature. ...it was a rather odd feeling and certainly not something he was expecting to do today.

[skysmirror]

Xion would have spared MakubeX the trouble by picking it up, but having tried that before knew it would just squirm and cause more trouble. It seemed pleased with the attention, though, barking once happily, then heading back towards the chairs as if to lead him to them.

She puts her book down, nodding to the footstool-dog with an apologetic look. "Sorry about that."

[virtualunknown]

"It's fine. Enthusiastic little thing..."

MakubeX noted the chair moving and walked over, wary. What a dilemma... If the chair were like the footstool, would it mind if he sat upon it? He didn't want to think about what an angry chair could do to a person.

[skysmirror]

"He's just glad for the company, I think."

Fortunately, the furniture seemed to be aware that it was furniture and meant to be used as such. Xion noticed his wariness, though. "It's okay."

[beforethemoon]

This deck was the only really safe one on the ship this week, so of course Isa had decided to hang out there instead of anywhere else.

"Hey, Xion," He idly greeted as he entered the room.

[skysmirror]

The moving furniture and dim light took some getting used to, but once that was out of the way, it was actually a pretty nice place to spend some time.

'Hey, Isa." Xion waved from where she sat.

[sailormagic]

Considering Twilight now lived in the media deck, she ran across anyone who was visiting there at just about any time of the day. In this case, the unicorn turned the corner of one of the book cases, three volumes balanced in a stack on her back, before she sees Xion.

"Hello! Have you come to take refuge from all of the other decks, too?"

Twilight wasn't eager to have a mane longer than Fluttershy's or anything else that had been going on, but the media deck actually felt more like home now than it had before because of the moving furniture. Even if she wasn't moving it herself, it was still magic.

Twilight could mention later that Xion's books were supposed to be in the "bad book" area. X3

[skysmirror]

The deck felt a little more like home to Xion, to, with the similarity to Beast's Castle. Not that many of the familiar objects were here--she hadn't seen Cogsworth or Lumiere--but the atmosphere was familiar enough. Having never had a chance before to enjoy looking around there, she was happy to have this one.

She looked up at the sound of hooves on the floor and saw Twilight approach. Not that she knew much more about the pony than her name, but she smiled shyly. "I guess you could say that. The weapons deck isn't any good for training now."

[buildingproblem]

Harry found he spent a great deal of his time on the Satellite wandering around lost. Perhaps those who had known him back home might have made a snide comment about him getting overly dependent on those tracking spells he was so good at, which was rather unfair given GPS's were closed off to him, but he was convinced it had more to do with the place reworking itself every other week.

Case in point, a castle sitting right in the middle of where the library/used DVD store should have been. Really, he'd been to parts of the Nevernever, a place shaped by the whims of beings beyond mortal comprehension, that made more sense than this place. Though at least here the talking inanimate objects just offered to take his coat and give him a shave, and didn't try to rip him apart and turn his soul into something unpleasant.

Not that he was taking the shave anytime soon. Experience with prior musically inclined straight razors had taught him the dangers of that.

Anyway, he had been one more wrong turn away from shelving his pride and going back to ask that coat rack for directions when he'd stumbled upon Xion, looking as cozy as could be with her feet propped and a book in hand. Sighing in relief, a clear sign he hadn't yet noticed which book she was reading, Harry moved over toward the girl, only slightly regretting that he had to interrupt her quiet time.

"So, is this the part of the dungeon where I get guidance from the oracle, or are you the deceptively cute midboss?"

[skysmirror]

Xion had been to enough different worlds to have a fairly good sense of direction, and was usually able to navigate the changes easily after a day or so to get used to them. It also probably helped that she tended to not go many places other than the residential, cafeteria, weapons, and recreational decks.

The media deck's similarity to Beast's Castle this week had helped her orient herself more quickly. She'd simply had to use what she already knew of that world, and not having to worry about remaining unobserved helped. Fortunately all the moving objects were friendly--the greatest worry was being bowled over by a dog-footstool eager to be petted.

She'd gotten nearly halfway through the book at this point, and was thinking that seeing it through to the end might not be worth the annoyance of reading about two sisters arguing over a boy, or who had the better friends. Didn't they have more important things to do?

So she was more than happy to put it down to smile and greet Harry. She was somewhere between oracle and midboss, really, but she didn't know enough about either to know that. "Hi, Harry."

[buildingproblem]

Harry didn't mind the lack of answer to his inquiry. Even back home most people found his sense of humor odd at best, and those little comments were more his way of saying hello than anything else.

Moving over to rest against an end table, after making sure it wasn't someone who'd take offense first, he turned and smiled. "Nice reading spot you've picked out. Nice, quiet, almost impossible to find in this maze."

[skysmirror]

Humor was something Xion hadn't heard a lot about before coming here, so she was developing her own sense of it. So she didn't know enough to think of Harry's as odd, just a little different.

None of the furniture was the type to be offended easily, though Harry would soon find himself supplied with a chair. Not to mention the footstool-dog begging for attention somewhere around his knees. "Maze? I didn't have too much trouble finding my way around. Maybe that was because this is like one of the worlds I went to, though."

She sets the book cover-up on the table to make focusing on talking on a little easier.