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

[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."

[virtualunknown]

MakubeX nodded and took a seat, careful not to put his full weight on the chair. It was still odd.

"What are you reading?"

[skysmirror]

She showed him the book, her face reddening a little.

"I just thought I'd try it. It's not as interesting as I'd thought it would be."

[virtualunknown]

He looked at the cover, smiling slightly.

"Mmm... It does look... different. But, then again, there isn't much of a selection here."

[skysmirror]

"There isn't." She returned the smile. "I think some of the others are trying to fix that."

She paused, her expression sobering. "Are you...feeling better?"

'Okay' didn't seem to be quite the right word to use here.

[virtualunknown]

"Oh... Y-yes. A bit."

[skysmirror]

"That's good." She seemed to find her hands fascinating for a moment, then looked back up."I'm sorry. It must have been hard for you to talk about, and I didn't make it easier."

[virtualunknown]

"It's fine. I... was more worried that you'd hate me." He looked down, tracing a pattern on the table.

[skysmirror]

She was taken aback by that. "Hate you?"

[virtualunknown]

"Well... yes. You seemed so shocked..."

[skysmirror]

"I was, yes." Not to mention confused and a lot of other things. "I hadn't expected anything like that. But..."

She sighed, trying to think of a way to explain herself. "I've been the puppet who's strings were being pulled. So when I hear about the same thing happening to others...it hurts." She paused. "But I can't hate someone for something they did, or will do. That's not fair to either of us.

"Besides, I don't think I could hate you. No matter what."

[virtualunknown]

"That's understandable." He looked back down at the table, trying to hide his blush at the last comment.

"...I'm very glad to hear that."

[skysmirror]

She blushed a little herself when she realized what she'd said--that had slipped out before she knew she'd spoken the thought aloud. It was true, though, so she made no attempt to backpedal.

(Not that there are many people she can say that about.)

[virtualunknown]

"So... we're okay, then?" he asked, glancing up.

[skysmirror]

After taking a moment to parse his meaning, she nodded. "We're okay."

[virtualunknown]

"Thank goodness," he said with a sigh.

[skysmirror]

She nodded, adding her own sigh of relief. "Right."

That dealt with, they could move on to other subjects. "Were you looking for something when you came here?"

[virtualunknown]

He looked at the table again and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um... my Cambot hasn't come back. I was trying to find it."

[skysmirror]

She just barely managed to hold in a surprised laugh. It wasn't funny, really, though maybe they should have expected that to happen. She does smile before she speaks.

"Do you want me to help?"

[virtualunknown]

"I'd appreciate that."

[skysmirror]

"Okay." The books are set aside for now. "Where have you looked so far?"

[virtualunknown]

"Not very far yet," MakubeX admitted, "It's been difficult with the oddities this week."

He gave the footstool and chairs an apologetic look. "No offense."