11

[asea]

[When Walter wakes on this fine Monday morning, he rouses at the pink ceiling and jolts upright into a sitting position. The lack of hair over his right side yet presence of even bangs alerts him. A quick look down reveals nightwear that is not his. Among . . . other things. The shirt hangs a bit, for the lack of a better phrase.

To his right, a flower headband greets him. Next to it, a pink StarFish Communicator lies innocently. Picking it up, he locates the user ID, then sees a dim reflection of himself from the screen.

Impossible. No, rather -- it must be Lamufao. Does Thalassino have anything to do with it?

How dare they.

It is true that, decorative elements notwithstanding, the architecture of the room strongly resembles a unit in Phasma Apartments. He climbs out of bed; standing, he finds himself remarkably short compared to what he's used to, and the sudden change is a little disorienting.

First things first: if he's in this body, then, surely . . . ]

( action for Tidus )

[Good morning, Tidus. How are you in Walter's body? Let it be of note that his apartment is incredibly bare besides the random assortment of flowers everywhere, so it's not very exciting. If Tidus isn't awake now, the harsh rapping on the door might stir him. Should he answer the door, a petite girl standing at 5'1" in pajamas will greet him with a frown.

After that encounter, using Shirley's communicator . . . ]

( audio )

. . . Hes.

[If she is indeed the only other Ferines in Vatheon, Shirley should be the only one to understand: "curse." On top of using her voice, if very flatly, he means to draw her out. She's not in his body, so he has no other place to begin. He can't summon his teriques like this to do the roaming for him.]

Comments

[Voice]

[shirleyhopeful]

[The moment that Shirley heard Hes, she could tell who the other person was. Well, this is going to be awkward. At least now she knows who has her body.]

Walter...we need to figure this out. I'm not sure we can survive like this for week.

[Voice]

[asea]

[ -- good. She sounds all right, if . . . different. Naturally.

And no. No, they can't, because some Orerines is inhabiting his body and he does not belong in this one. This is blasphemous in so many ways, and he can't be bothered to count them.]

Where are you?

[Voice]

[shirleyhopeful]

[Shirley meant that there were people going after one another during this event. ...Like what Walter is doing now.]

Right now? I'm in the Plaza trying to see if there's anything we can do about this situation. [And damage control]

Should I meet you there?

[Voice]

[asea]

[That is not a problem for him because he can punch them -- wait. He can't do that in the Merines' body. He can't very well abuse her crystal eres, either . . .

But did she just tell him to come meet her outside when he's stuck in her pajamas? Surely, she can't be telling him to dress her?]

The plaza? The apartments should be more ideal for a meeting like this.

[Voice]

[shirleyhopeful]

[Now you know Shirley's pain of being a crystal eren!

And she is assuming that he was already dressed! But she couldn't help but wonder...]

I don't mind meeting in the apartments either. I figured it would be the easiest place to meet up! [And stop brawls]

I'll meet you in a bit! [Also was it just her or did it hurt to smile?]

[Action]

[asea]

[Ditto on that, except frowning takes a little more effort. It feels off.

At any rate, she seems to understand, so Walter lays the communicator down and stands around in the room, waiting for Shirley to "return." He leaves the door unlocked, contemplating if he's ever met or seen the owner of the voice she's using.

Still, this is a situation that should have never happened. This is the worst way to begin the day.]

[Action]

[shirleyhopeful]

[As Shirley knocks on the door, the force led to the door opening a bit. Realizing that it was unlocked, she walked into 'her' room looking for a certain someone. How odd, this was her room after all, she didn't need to feel like she was intruding or anything.]

Walter? Are you there?

[Action]

[asea]

[Rounding the corner from her bedroom, Walter calls. Contrary to what she might have expected, Shirley's body is still dressed in her pajamas, and he hasn't even thought to put the flower headband on. As well, the projection of her voice is distinctly rougher -- still hers, but lower, more subdued.]

Merines!

[Action]

[shirleyhopeful]

Walter?

[Well, this was something new. Shirley just stared at herself for a couple of seconds. How surreal was this? Anyway, after staring, Shirley just continued]

Um...do you need help changing into you...my clothes?

[Action]

[asea]

[Very surreal,yet it is unfortunately not a dream; though this would be a hideous dream to be having in the first place.

. . . it's the logical and practical thing to let Shirley dress her own body, but Walter looks a little alarmed regardless. Potentially go out? Like this?]

Do you mean leave the apartment in your body, Merines?

[Action]

[shirleyhopeful]

[Shirley thought of what to say. She didn't want Walter to stay in her apartment for the whole week, she didn't want him to stay coped up in one place all week. She let out a smile before walking over to where her clothes are]

Yes, I do. I don't think it would be good idea to stay in one place for the entire week. And besides, we might get a better idea on how to return to our bodies if we do go out.

[Action]

[asea]

[The sudden movement catches his attention, and he takes that moment to get a good look at Shirley's new appearance. The body seems around the same height as her original, though that's about as far as the similarities go. And the voice -- it's rough and deep, nothing like how it should be.

Walter follows "Shirley" with his gaze to her clothes. She's right, as much as he doesn't want to do that; staying in this one apartment for the entire week would be ridiculous. Unpractical. Though, avoiding people in Vatheon isn't too hard a task to pull off . . . ]

If this is a curse, it should end within the week . . .

[Action]

[shirleyhopeful]

[If there was one thing Shirley was grateful for, she was glad that she was in a girl's body. If she were in a boy's...Shirley knew that she wouldn't looking at herself for the next week. Suddenly, she was thankful she wasn't in Walter's body. Just thought of it...

She shook her head as she continued to look through her clothes. The idea of dressing up 'Walter' seemed kind of fun now]

That doesn't mean you should be staying in the apartment the entire time. But if you're feeling that uncomfortable, I can always just bring you food here. [But...but...dressing up...]

[Action]

[blitz_acing]

[Tidus rolls onto the floor with a groan, standing up shortly after. He pushes his hair out of his eyes. He hadn't realized how long his bangs had grown; he'd have to cut them soon. He stumbles to the door, set on stopping the knocking that woke him up.]

I'm coming!

[He freezes. His voice was never that deep sounding before. Not that he wouldn't have minded a deep sounding voice. That's when he notices his overall balance is off. It just feels different. He slowly looks down, then back up, stunned for a few nearly a minutebefore he yells once. Slowly, he edges for the door before he finally opens it. He isn't sure who to expect, and he keeps hoping he might be wrong.]

Yeah...?

[Action]

[asea]

[ . . . that is not the Merines. Three words out of his body, and he knows she's not the one inhabiting it. Taking in the appearance, it also looks like whoever it is has been sleeping away -- then again, it's relatively early in the morn.

Looking cross, he demands flatly,]

Who are you?

[Action]

[blitz_acing]

[He slumps when he sees it's not his body, but someone else's. Which meant...he was probably supposed to know her. Running a hand through his hair, and continuously trying to keep it out of his eye, he tries to think of something to say that will make it sound like he's the person she thinks he is. Would gel work to keep this hair up? It was worth a try. He blinks, realizing she asked him a question, which solved the whole issue of trying to pretend he was someon else.]

You mean you don't know...?

[Action]

[asea]

[This is almost surreal. Knowing that it isn't the Merines, his patience for the new inhabitant of his body has already grown staggeringly thin. In fact, he's not interested at all in beating around the bush -- not when she's out there somewhere and he has to crane his neck to even make eye contact.

Resting a hand on his -- her side, he cuts to the chase.]

That body is mine.

[Action]

[blitz_acing]

[Tidus stares at Walter almost skeptically. If this was her body, where was his? He shrugged, stretching his limbs before walking back inside.]

What do you expect me to do about it? You can come in. Make yourself at home.

[Action]

[asea]

[How this stranger in his body responded rubs Walter in arguably the worst way. It's pretty evident in the maintained scowl, but he steps inside regardless to the flower-invested apartment.

He maneuvers past himself -- he's taking this remarkably well -- and heads to the bare bedroom to retrieve his SFC. With it in his possession, he whips around to face . . . himself. He could demand not to touch anything, except there's nothing to vandalize in the obviously neglected unit.]

You still haven't answered. Who are you?

[Action]

[blitz_acing]

What's with the flowers? Are you some type of gardener? You don't look like a gardener.

[Tidus doesn't bother to answer Walter at first, looking around. This guy really needed to work on his decorating, not that he had any room to talk.]

Is it weird being a girl? I guess I should be grateful. We're not too different...though it's still really weird. I think I should be asking you that. I'd kind of like to know whose body I'm in.

[Action]

[asea]

[Not too different? Unlikely. Walter isn't inclined to give Tidus the benefit of the doubt, instead maintaining an awkward coldness from the body of kind Shirley. Which means the barrage of questions is being ignored. He'll at least partake in basic introductions to progress.]

My name is Walter.

[Action]

[blitz_acing]

I'm Tidus. Nice to meet you, I think. The circumstances are kind of awkward.

Do you know where my body is?

[Action]

[asea]

It doesn't matter where it is; you'll be back in it within the week. Until then, don't do anything unnecessary.

[Action]

[blitz_acing]

Anything unecessary like finding out what sort of things you can do? Do you have any powers?

[Action]

[asea]

. . . Nothing that you can use.