caughtinanetwork | [text/action] 002; A Wish to the Starry Sky

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[text/action] 002; A Wish to the Starry Sky

[It's been a couple of weeks since Luke arrived. In all that time, he'd never quite relaxed. He still feels like there's something he has to do, a duty he hasn't fulfilled. And sitting here unable to do anything is making him more and more restless.

On top of that, he keeps having such awful nightmares. It wasn't like this before... before he even got thrown out of the manor in the first place. Then he had to kill people - to kill or be killed...

Akzeriuth just made it all ten times worse.

So, late at night, he lays on the couch with his head on the arm of it while staring out at the balcony, and Guy sleeping on the other end. Once he realizes staring isn't going to do anything, he quietly heads out to the balcony, where he just sits and looks out for a while.

After that, and realizing that he feels terrible from lack of sleep, he decides he really ought to do something about this. Though he hates typing on the SFC, he'd rather not potentially wake Guy up by talking, so he'll try it anyway, lazy typing and all.]

what do you do if you cant sleep?

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[She listens curiously as he fiddles with the device. It doesn't take her long to realize he's going for the video and pulls her hood up before letting the feed start.

even with most of her face obscured, her apologetic smile is still visible.]

Hi there!

I know you wanted to see what I looked like but, um...

[She falters as she tries thinks of a reasonable explanation for hiding her face. 'I'm a replica and you might not even see a face yet' isn't the best thing to just blurt out.]

...well, my coat is pretty distinctive anyway, so I'm sure you'll be able to spot me.

Oh... Why - ...

[He has to admit, he is a bit disappointed. He wanted to see what she looked like and all!

Back in the day, he might have voiced that and ask why she's doing something like that. But... Well, it's her choice. Her reason, her decision. So, he trails off his question, shakes his head, and gives a nod instead.]

Okay. Then I'll look for you tomorrow! If I get any sleep, anyway...

I hope you do. I'll be watching for you too!

[aaaand timeskip to tomorrow in the plaza.

Xion's loitering about as she waits for Luke to arrive. It occurs to her that more people see her with her face obscured like this than anything now. She hates that she has to hide her face from a new friend like this, but she just can't leave herself open to those types of questions with anyone new. Hopefully Luke won't mind so much, and she tries not to let in show on her face too much. A friendly outing shouldn't be anything to worry over so much.

She scans the plaza one more time, to make sure she hasn't missed his arrival while lost in thought.]

[Luke did manage to get more sleep than he did during other nights here, thanks mostly to Guy and the music box he made. He's still a little tired as he walks into the plaza and glances about, but at least he doesn't feel like immediately going back and taking a nap.

He can't help being a little excited, a little nervous. He doesn't do this thing often - never, honestly, until he came here. He never had the chance, having been locked away for most of his life and only barely introduced to the world a few months ago.

Luke tries not to let that mix of excitement and nervousness show, but he can't help stopping and moving his hands into fists or up to his hair and looking around until he catches sight of that coat. There's a second or two when Luke doesn't quite realize it's her, but once he figures it out, he grins and heads towards her.]

Hey! Ah - ... [And it occurs to him that he has no idea how to pronounce her name. That "X" symbol doesn't exist in Auldrant and all...]

Xion.

[She fills in the gap with her own name. It makes her feel a bit sheepish to have to do so, but it's not enough to make her lose the smile she greets him with.]

Xion! I... Sorry. I didn't really know how to say it...

[Better than what he was about to say: "I knew that!", though it is embarrassing to admit otherwise. He rubs the back of his head and glances off to the side thanks to that. So that "X" thing is like an "sh" sound, huh...]

So, uh... hey. [He glances back to quirk his lips up in a smile. He can do this correctly, right?]

Oh. It's alright.

[She's still smiling when she turns in the opposite direction. His nervousness isn't lost on her, but she doesn't see any reason to bring up. Wasn't she herself just worrying over a similar thing?]

There are some nice shops this way. Unless you had somewhere else in mind.

[And now his attention is back on her again, her and the direction he's facing. His nervousness is fading a little, enough to make him grin and chuckle lightly, even as he's admitting his lack of knowledge about this place.]

I don't know where anything is right now, so... lead the way!

Alright!

[It takes several minutes, but after leading him down the city's streets they come upon one lined with shops. She slows her pace and begins looking into windows and examining the wares.]

One of these is a stationery shop. I'm sure we could find journals there.

[Luke looks into the windows as he passes by, taking note of everything that they pass by. In the past, he'd pass them all without caring, only having his goal in mind. But now... Now, he sees why he should pay attention to his surroundings. Even though it's not his goal, everything here is pretty fascinating.

When they stop, Luke steps up beside her and looks into the window as well. He can't help glancing at her reflection - he really has to wonder why she's wearing a hood like that.]

All right. [And after a pause, he really does look down at her.] You sure we don't have to pay? [Guy had told him that a lot of the things here were free, but it's still hard to get used to. After nearly getting thrown in jail on that assumption back on Auldrant, he can't help asking about it.]

As long as it's not from the Nostalgia Nook, yeah.

[She stops, having found the store she was looking for, and distracted from her earlier worries by the smalltalk. She's determined to not let any apprehensions spoil an opportunity to make new friends.]

This should be it.

Here? Okay.

[He steps inside and looks around the shop, already running a hand over some of the items. After a moment of just looking around, he gives a light grin and shakes his head, then looks over his shoulder at her.]

I still can't believe everything's free. Back at home, I got arrested for thinking stuff was free.

Seems too good to be true, doesn't it?

[She smiles tersely. Of course she recognizes it for the complacency measure it is, but her suspicions about their captivity are not what she came out to talk about.

She wanders over to another shelf and starts browsing the selection.]

These look nice.

Kind of weird, to be honest.

[Now that it's been ingrained that you have to pay for things... it's weird, to go back to that blissful ignorance that everything is free for the taking. But once their attention is taken elsewhere, Luke abandons his own exploration to go to her and look at the shelf.]

Hey, yeah... They are pretty nice, huh?

[His own journal was extra fancy, but these... they're really nice, in a homey sort of way. He glances at her, before he taps on a journal with a floral sort of pattern.]

How about something like this?

I like the flowers!

[She scans over the others, pausing at one with a nice blue filigree pattern. She made sure to keep note of where the floral one was on the shelf, however.]

There's this one, too. You said you liked blue, right?

Oh... hey, yeah! That one's really cool!

[Nice and absurdly artsy, just like his own tastes. He keeps a note of where it is, patting his hand against it before looking a little further.]

Whoa, here's some leather ones... [A few of them have covers that are far too bendy for his tastes, but the others look pretty cool!]

[She drifts over to where he's looking at the leather-bound ones and picks up one that's been dyed red, opening and closing it to test the binding. a small set of keys attached to the side jangle as she moves it around. Xion doesn't think that they'd do much good against anyone she can imagine that would want to break into her journal, but Luke mentioned something about someone breaking into his, right?]

Some of them even have locks. Useful for keeping annoying pets out, don't you think?

Oh, jeez, tell me about it. He's not here right now, but if he did come here? I bet he'd read everything I wrote and write stuff of his own too.

[Luke runs his hand over the cover and gives the keys a light tap. This one's nice, too... Now he has decisions to make. 8|]

He's that bad?

[Xion reaches over to pick up a simple black one. I's not got any fancy design or bright colors, but she does notice the lock is sturdier than some of the others. It certainly wouldn't stop anyone with a keyblade, but the extra bit of security doesn't seem like a bad idea to Xion.]

This isn't exactly what I had in mind, but I like it

The black one? Sure, go for it, if that's what you want. [He pauses, then holds up the red, secured one with a smile.] Might as well match you, huh? I'll get this one.

Alright then![She smiles at him, thumbing over the lock on her own.]

Is that all you wanted to look for?

Well, yeah, but... since we're here, why not look around a little? I still don't know anything about these places. Maybe we can get something to eat or whatever. [He glances at the front of the store, still a little unsure about just... walking out with this thing and not getting yelled at for it.]

Alright. Where would you like to go?

[She's already headed towards the door, with only minor acknowledgement from the clerk in the form of a pasted on smile and a quick wave.]

Wherever you want to go?

[He raises his hand in a tense wave of his own before ducking out of the store, journal held in both arms and shoulders tense. Nngh, he just gets this feeling they're both get chased down now - it's why he starts to walk a little closer to her. Gotta be ready to grab her and run just in case! Or better yet, stop and own up to it. But still.]

Are you hungry? We can eat... uh, whatever's served around here. Maybe have some ice cream later?

[She smirks bemusedly at how tense he is. the bubble's lack of currency was just something he'd have to get used to.

when he brings up the prospect of food Xion immediately shifts gears trying to think of a good place to go, but she perks up at 'ice cream']

You... you really think ice cream would be a good idea?

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