Rita awakened in a cold sweat that morning. What the hell was that all about!? It had to be a trick, like the moving shadows from the other night... It just couldn't be real
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When Kairi had approached the seat, Phoenix had been busy looking out the window at the snowiness outside, a light frown on his lips. When he had lost consciousness, everything around himself had sung of spring - and now, all he could see was deadened landscape and cold snow, an ironic contrast to the sunny sky of Los Angeles.
Realizing that someone was speaking to him took Phoenix a moment, as his mind was entirely preoccupied - but as Kairi continued to speak, he snapped out of it, blinking a bit in disorientation as he turned his head to look at her.
The first impression that Phoenix came to was that Kairi looked incredibly young, from the roundness of her face and eyes to the length of her limbs. Or maybe I'm just getting old - like Maya says, Phoenix thought to himself in amusement, as a slight smile tugged at his lips both in response to the welcoming expression on Kairi's face and to his own thoughts.
"...u-um...sure! I don't mind - and it's nice to meet you, Kairi," Phoenix said, his expression softening away from the more conflicted emotions underneath the surface as he picked up his paper bag of food from the seat next to him and settled it in his lap, giving Kairi room. There was no reason for him to take out his confusion on another person, Phoenix reasoned - especially since Niikura and Mike had made it clear the night before that they were all in the same situation. "My name is Phoenix. Or if you want something shorter, a lot of people call me Nick."
Kairi plopped herself down next to Phoenix when he moved his food, and she smiled up to him. "Phoenix ... I like that!" After coming to Landel's, she had met so many people and heard so many different names. She hadn't met someone named Phoenix yet, though, so that was something new! "It's nice to meet you. I hope you don't mind my sitting with you; you just looked ... somewhat confused, so I figured I might as well help."
Settling herself in, Kairi looked into the bag of food she was given and closed it, deciding to perhaps save it for later instead of eating it straight away. Besides, if she was given something different from Phoenix, she'd feel terrible, just as she had felt when she saw Rita's horrible looking food.
"I hope you don't mind my asking," Kairi started again, pushing some of her red hair behind her ear as she looked up at Phoenix. She couldn't help but notice how spiky his hair was ... so was Sora's hair style popular in other worlds, too? She'd have to tell him; she was sure he'd find amusement in the fact. "But are you new? I ask because I don't think I've seen you around before, and I've ... been here for a while."
Phoenix lifted up his left hand and scratched the back of his head awkwardly as his expression turned briefly sheepish. So much for seeming like a capable adult, he thought to himself wryly. "...I guess it's pretty obvious," he started, a rueful emotion appearing in his eyes before he sighed, his gaze moving from Kairi down to his knees, which he had tucked up against the back of the seat in front of him. "But yeah, I...I'm new. I woke up here last night."
As he paused for a moment, it seemed as if Phoenix had a lot to say about what had happened - but the silence he extended was full of uncertainty of how he should approach the topic. While Kairi had made it clear that she had been at this establishment for a long time, Phoenix had his trepidations about speaking openly about how he had felt and what he had experienced - especially to someone who seemed so young. Taking a second to consider how he was going to continue speaking, he began to unfold his paper bag, the material crinkling underneath his fingertips.
The word 'help' in this context seemed strange in this context, as Phoenix couldn't even begin to think about where to start. Taking a deep breath, Phoenix decided that the best way to approach the situation was head-first - after all, if he didn't it would be a waste of both his and Kairi's time, as he knew the bus ride wouldn't continue indefinitely. "I um...I know it probably sounds weird, but since you've been here for a while...I was wondering...would you tell me about this place?" Phoenix then turned his head slightly so he could look at Kairi once more. The question was oddly worded and more than a little probing, and Phoenix's tone was incredibly awkward, but he had no idea how to segue his way into the topic without sounding like a weirdo.
Kairi smiled up to Phoenix with a shake of her head. "No, not really. I just am good at remembering faces, that's all. Since I've seen so many people come and go, I mean. So, don't worry about it." She hadn't meant to make him feel awkward, so she hoped that maybe he would believe her if she told him otherwise.
He woke up at night? The redhead gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry you woke up at night. When I first woke up I woke up at night, too. Thankfully, I ran into someone I knew," a pause. "Kind of, anyway. But either way, I knew him somewhat, so it was better than wandering around alone. I hope you found someone to be with, since I'd hate to hear that you were alone out there. You did find someone to stay with, didn't you?"
Kairi couldn't help but watch at the man begau to look ... well. Not happy, but that was understandable. At his question about the institute, she nodded her head, trying to get her thoughts together.
"Well, alright. I don't mind at all, so please don't think you're bothering me. First of all, as you saw, this place isn't actually a mental asylum," another pause, and Kairi gave Phoenix a sheepish smile. "Or, I guess, it's not a military compound. It used to masquerade as a mental asylum before, but the head doctor was kicked out, and now it's run by a general, and we're given dogtags and pins and other things, such as this money system, and the ranking. It's all quite confusing, to be honest. I don't actually understand the new system that much, but I'm trying my hardest to learn.
"Also, at night, as you saw, things become different. The lights shut off, and the monsters wander around ... if you didn't find your flashlight, it's under your pillow. Most of the time we all try to stick together. You can look on the bulletin board during the day to see groups talk about plans for that night; I'm in the Arts and Crafts group, so if you ever see us on the bulletin board, feel free to say hello."
Kairi hoped she didn't sound too confusing. The last thing she wanted to do was confuse him.
"Also, there are weapons to find in the recreational field shed if you're looking for something. Mostly they're just aluminum bats though, but they're better than having nothing at all, you know?"
Phoenix waited until Kairi was entirely finished, absorbing all of her information with an evaluating look in his eyes as he paused the motions of his hands upon his bag of food. While he usually interrupted in court when contradictions were presented to him by witnesses, he felt instinctively that this was an entirely different situation, and that listening and observing would prove to offer more data to work with.
If there was one thing that Phoenix was both reassured by and concerned about, it was that Kairi had made it clear that even she was confused about what was happening in this place (whatever it was). Then, she had reconfirmed to Phoenix that everyone here (whether they were "patients" or "military officers") worked together to explore the inner workings of the buildings at night, and encountered monsters along the way. Hearing about the bulletin board helped as well - Phoenix wanted to apologize for everything he had done to the two people that had encountered him the night before, and considering the amount of people that were wandering about, he'd worried that he would have no way of contacting them. Making a mental list of what Kairi had told him, Phoenix nodded slightly to let her know that he was listening, even while he had focused the entirety of his attention upon her.
"...I ran into a few people last night, but we didn't get very far," Phoenix started honestly, grimacing slightly in embarrassment as he remembered making a run for it from both the blond teenager and his battle-scarred friend (and he made a concerted effort to try to forget that he'd thwacked his lookalike across the head with his flashlight - it had been an accident, but Phoenix was sure from the look that he'd gotten that it hadn't been interpreted as one). "We got attacked by weird bats and...stunted overgrown termites." And in all honesty, Phoenix still wasn't sure what to make of them - just the memory made his brain want to reject the thought of actual monsters, but the chew marks on his boot had made the fact near to impossible to ignore. "I'll tell them about those weapons - all we had were our flashlights, and um...they didn't help much."
Pausing momentarily, Phoenix shifted a little, putting his feet down on the bus floor with a soft clunk, as he felt slightly less defensive in the face of everything Kairi had told him. While his mind was constantly grasping at details and trying to make sense of everything, he was capable of acknowledging that his state of mind might have to be a constant one, considering Kairi had been here for a while and didn't seem to have a steady grasp on what was going on. Being in the dark about details wasn't an unfamiliar feeling to Phoenix - the only difference being that he normally wasn't dealing with supernatural monsters that looked like they were from a horror movie and weird institutions that didn't have a purpose that revolved around a logical reason - it was normally about common, solvable issues like spirit mediums that channeled ghosts and murderers. I never thought that I would see a day where I'd think those things were normal and logical, Phoenix thought to himself, in dry, sarcastic amusement.
"To be honest...I don't know anything about fighting, so I felt helpless. The other two were able to kick the monsters around, but I ended up accidentally hitting one of them with my flashlight..." Phoenix trailed off, as he gave Kairi an embarrassed smile. "...so I'm not sure that I'll be much help, even if I get a bat. Are you..." Phoenix thought quickly, wanting to get his wording correct, "...are you able to fight, too?"
The question was asked in utter unsureness, as Phoenix didn't want to presume either way and offend Kairi - after all, he was in a supernatural situation, so it wasn't that far of a jump to extend the boundaries of his thoughts to understanding that Kairi might be capable of defending herself, even while she looked much younger than Maya.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Kairi said with a sympathetic smile, nodding her head gently. "But don't worry, it happens sometimes. I didn't get very far with my friends either last night, but you just have to get up and keep going the next night, you know? don't let it get to you, especially since you just woke up last night. There's a lot of the institute to see, anyway. You could never see all of it at once in one night. Not to mention outside of the walls of the institute ..."
At the mention of the bats and overgrown bugs, the princess shuddered. "Oh, yes, those are wandering around at night. The bugs are so gross to me," she admitted with a small laugh, pushing her hair behind her ears. "And those aren't even the worst kinds of things to run into. Be sure to stay away from the Sun Room at night; most of the time there's something horrible lurking inside. My friends and I normally only go to there if we have to run across to get into the cafeteria. Otherwise, we never stay and wait around."
At least, she didn't. Who knew if Sora had? She'd have to ask him ... if she remembered.
Kairi was glad at Phoenix's admittance of not being able to fight, because it made her feel better about her own ... lack of abilities. "Oh, don't worry. I ... know next to nothing," she said with a small smile. "My friends tell me they're going to teach me, since my last roommate left her sword behind and I took it before the institute could take it, but I still don't really even know how to use it other than ... swinging it around and hopefully hitting the monsters and not the people I'm traveling with.
"But, if you want," she continued, smiling. "I could ask my friends if they could post more fighting lessons? I know there used to be some a while ago, but I guess they're gone now. If there were any, I would go with you so we could learn together and you wouldn't be alone?"
Kairi's words were infinitely reassuring, and in the face of them Phoenix's expression warmed and his posture relaxed a little, the look in his blue eyes softening a bit. Knowing that he wasn't the only one who wasn't capable of defending himself was also helpful, even if he still felt deeply guilty for hurting Niikura the night before - if there was some way that he could make it up to the teenager, he would.
"...I would like that," Phoenix started simply, as he shifted in his seat and made himself more comfortable. "I never thought that I would have to defend myself like this - I would have taken a self-defense class before if I had known."
Not that it would have helped me kill those monsters from last night, Phoenix thought to himself ruefully, but at least it would have stopped me from hurting someone else.
There was a soft beat of silence as Phoenix considered what else he wanted to ask, his gaze turning to his lap - after all, since Kairi had a good amount of experience in this institute, he couldn't help but to want to pick at her brain for evidence and data. "If you don't mind me asking..." Phoenix trailed off, as he turned himself slightly so that he was facing Kairi a little more comfortably, his right hand moving to rest on his knee as he held his lunch sack in his left, "...how long have you been here? And you mention a lot of different places, like the Sun Room - would you happen to have a map?" A bit of a professional tone entered his voice, as if Phoenix was well-versed in asking questions - but he tried to keep it on a softer note, as he didn't want Kairi to feel as if he was interrogating her on a witness stand.
"It was the same for me, but everything changed a year ago," she said with a small smile. "It's funny how things can change in the blink of an eye. I've only been here for a few weeks, but ... it makes it seem like I haven't been home in years. Back then, I never thought I'd have to learn how to protect myself from ... real things. Nightmarish things. I was used to just watch my friends spar all the time. Never would I have thought that this would have happened," Kairi's smile turned sad then at the memory of home, but she quickly replaced it with her usual bright smile. "But okay! I'll see if I can ask around. Maybe I'll even ask my friend Sora to teach us. He's good at fighting."
Honestly, Kairi didn't mind all of the questions that Phoenix was asking her. She liked helping the newer patients, after all. "I don't mind," she told him warmly. "Ask my anything you like, and I'll try my hardest to answer for you."
How long had she been in the institute for? "A few weeks," she said once again, trying to think. "I ... don't know the exact number of days, but I do know that I'm ... I think it was A rank? So that must mean a long time, right?" a soft laugh, and she continued on with the answers to the rest of his questions. "I do have a map that I can give to you, if you'd like, since I already know most of the institute," she told him. "Perhaps we can meet up tonight before anything else and I can give you the map then? Whatever is easiest for you, really."
"..." Phoenix's expression turned concerned at the negative emotion in Kairi's tone and posture. While she had told a relatively vague story, with no particular details as to the people she was speaking of or where she had come from (save for Sora, but Phoenix had no idea whether or not he was somehow connected to the rest), Phoenix had been able to instinctively feel out her emotions, and he couldn't help but to think that Kairi's quick change of topics was her way of putting up an unconcerned, albeit cheerful façade. Reminded of Maya, Phoenix wanted to address Kairi's first words before continuing onwards - but as per usual, he was tongue-tied and awkward, especially since he didn't know Kairi well enough to feel that he could help.
"...I would, if I knew where I could meet you," Phoenix started honestly. As he had nothing to use to give a good comparison to where he had woken up, he had little to nothing to help guide Kairi to where he would be residing in the evening. "Since I don't know where I'm going I can't tell you a lot, though I wouldn't mind meeting tomorrow if we can."
Phoenix perked up slightly as he heard a soft squeal and whistle from the front of the bus as it braked, his balance on the seat forced slightly forward as they stopped, and there was a loud hiss of air as the vehicle was put into park.
Realizing that someone was speaking to him took Phoenix a moment, as his mind was entirely preoccupied - but as Kairi continued to speak, he snapped out of it, blinking a bit in disorientation as he turned his head to look at her.
The first impression that Phoenix came to was that Kairi looked incredibly young, from the roundness of her face and eyes to the length of her limbs. Or maybe I'm just getting old - like Maya says, Phoenix thought to himself in amusement, as a slight smile tugged at his lips both in response to the welcoming expression on Kairi's face and to his own thoughts.
"...u-um...sure! I don't mind - and it's nice to meet you, Kairi," Phoenix said, his expression softening away from the more conflicted emotions underneath the surface as he picked up his paper bag of food from the seat next to him and settled it in his lap, giving Kairi room. There was no reason for him to take out his confusion on another person, Phoenix reasoned - especially since Niikura and Mike had made it clear the night before that they were all in the same situation. "My name is Phoenix. Or if you want something shorter, a lot of people call me Nick."
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Settling herself in, Kairi looked into the bag of food she was given and closed it, deciding to perhaps save it for later instead of eating it straight away. Besides, if she was given something different from Phoenix, she'd feel terrible, just as she had felt when she saw Rita's horrible looking food.
"I hope you don't mind my asking," Kairi started again, pushing some of her red hair behind her ear as she looked up at Phoenix. She couldn't help but notice how spiky his hair was ... so was Sora's hair style popular in other worlds, too? She'd have to tell him; she was sure he'd find amusement in the fact. "But are you new? I ask because I don't think I've seen you around before, and I've ... been here for a while."
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As he paused for a moment, it seemed as if Phoenix had a lot to say about what had happened - but the silence he extended was full of uncertainty of how he should approach the topic. While Kairi had made it clear that she had been at this establishment for a long time, Phoenix had his trepidations about speaking openly about how he had felt and what he had experienced - especially to someone who seemed so young. Taking a second to consider how he was going to continue speaking, he began to unfold his paper bag, the material crinkling underneath his fingertips.
The word 'help' in this context seemed strange in this context, as Phoenix couldn't even begin to think about where to start. Taking a deep breath, Phoenix decided that the best way to approach the situation was head-first - after all, if he didn't it would be a waste of both his and Kairi's time, as he knew the bus ride wouldn't continue indefinitely. "I um...I know it probably sounds weird, but since you've been here for a while...I was wondering...would you tell me about this place?" Phoenix then turned his head slightly so he could look at Kairi once more. The question was oddly worded and more than a little probing, and Phoenix's tone was incredibly awkward, but he had no idea how to segue his way into the topic without sounding like a weirdo.
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He woke up at night? The redhead gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry you woke up at night. When I first woke up I woke up at night, too. Thankfully, I ran into someone I knew," a pause. "Kind of, anyway. But either way, I knew him somewhat, so it was better than wandering around alone. I hope you found someone to be with, since I'd hate to hear that you were alone out there. You did find someone to stay with, didn't you?"
Kairi couldn't help but watch at the man begau to look ... well. Not happy, but that was understandable. At his question about the institute, she nodded her head, trying to get her thoughts together.
"Well, alright. I don't mind at all, so please don't think you're bothering me. First of all, as you saw, this place isn't actually a mental asylum," another pause, and Kairi gave Phoenix a sheepish smile. "Or, I guess, it's not a military compound. It used to masquerade as a mental asylum before, but the head doctor was kicked out, and now it's run by a general, and we're given dogtags and pins and other things, such as this money system, and the ranking. It's all quite confusing, to be honest. I don't actually understand the new system that much, but I'm trying my hardest to learn.
"Also, at night, as you saw, things become different. The lights shut off, and the monsters wander around ... if you didn't find your flashlight, it's under your pillow. Most of the time we all try to stick together. You can look on the bulletin board during the day to see groups talk about plans for that night; I'm in the Arts and Crafts group, so if you ever see us on the bulletin board, feel free to say hello."
Kairi hoped she didn't sound too confusing. The last thing she wanted to do was confuse him.
"Also, there are weapons to find in the recreational field shed if you're looking for something. Mostly they're just aluminum bats though, but they're better than having nothing at all, you know?"
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If there was one thing that Phoenix was both reassured by and concerned about, it was that Kairi had made it clear that even she was confused about what was happening in this place (whatever it was). Then, she had reconfirmed to Phoenix that everyone here (whether they were "patients" or "military officers") worked together to explore the inner workings of the buildings at night, and encountered monsters along the way. Hearing about the bulletin board helped as well - Phoenix wanted to apologize for everything he had done to the two people that had encountered him the night before, and considering the amount of people that were wandering about, he'd worried that he would have no way of contacting them. Making a mental list of what Kairi had told him, Phoenix nodded slightly to let her know that he was listening, even while he had focused the entirety of his attention upon her.
"...I ran into a few people last night, but we didn't get very far," Phoenix started honestly, grimacing slightly in embarrassment as he remembered making a run for it from both the blond teenager and his battle-scarred friend (and he made a concerted effort to try to forget that he'd thwacked his lookalike across the head with his flashlight - it had been an accident, but Phoenix was sure from the look that he'd gotten that it hadn't been interpreted as one). "We got attacked by weird bats and...stunted overgrown termites." And in all honesty, Phoenix still wasn't sure what to make of them - just the memory made his brain want to reject the thought of actual monsters, but the chew marks on his boot had made the fact near to impossible to ignore. "I'll tell them about those weapons - all we had were our flashlights, and um...they didn't help much."
Pausing momentarily, Phoenix shifted a little, putting his feet down on the bus floor with a soft clunk, as he felt slightly less defensive in the face of everything Kairi had told him. While his mind was constantly grasping at details and trying to make sense of everything, he was capable of acknowledging that his state of mind might have to be a constant one, considering Kairi had been here for a while and didn't seem to have a steady grasp on what was going on. Being in the dark about details wasn't an unfamiliar feeling to Phoenix - the only difference being that he normally wasn't dealing with supernatural monsters that looked like they were from a horror movie and weird institutions that didn't have a purpose that revolved around a logical reason - it was normally about common, solvable issues like spirit mediums that channeled ghosts and murderers. I never thought that I would see a day where I'd think those things were normal and logical, Phoenix thought to himself, in dry, sarcastic amusement.
"To be honest...I don't know anything about fighting, so I felt helpless. The other two were able to kick the monsters around, but I ended up accidentally hitting one of them with my flashlight..." Phoenix trailed off, as he gave Kairi an embarrassed smile. "...so I'm not sure that I'll be much help, even if I get a bat. Are you..." Phoenix thought quickly, wanting to get his wording correct, "...are you able to fight, too?"
The question was asked in utter unsureness, as Phoenix didn't want to presume either way and offend Kairi - after all, he was in a supernatural situation, so it wasn't that far of a jump to extend the boundaries of his thoughts to understanding that Kairi might be capable of defending herself, even while she looked much younger than Maya.
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At the mention of the bats and overgrown bugs, the princess shuddered. "Oh, yes, those are wandering around at night. The bugs are so gross to me," she admitted with a small laugh, pushing her hair behind her ears. "And those aren't even the worst kinds of things to run into. Be sure to stay away from the Sun Room at night; most of the time there's something horrible lurking inside. My friends and I normally only go to there if we have to run across to get into the cafeteria. Otherwise, we never stay and wait around."
At least, she didn't. Who knew if Sora had? She'd have to ask him ... if she remembered.
Kairi was glad at Phoenix's admittance of not being able to fight, because it made her feel better about her own ... lack of abilities. "Oh, don't worry. I ... know next to nothing," she said with a small smile. "My friends tell me they're going to teach me, since my last roommate left her sword behind and I took it before the institute could take it, but I still don't really even know how to use it other than ... swinging it around and hopefully hitting the monsters and not the people I'm traveling with.
"But, if you want," she continued, smiling. "I could ask my friends if they could post more fighting lessons? I know there used to be some a while ago, but I guess they're gone now. If there were any, I would go with you so we could learn together and you wouldn't be alone?"
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"...I would like that," Phoenix started simply, as he shifted in his seat and made himself more comfortable. "I never thought that I would have to defend myself like this - I would have taken a self-defense class before if I had known."
Not that it would have helped me kill those monsters from last night, Phoenix thought to himself ruefully, but at least it would have stopped me from hurting someone else.
There was a soft beat of silence as Phoenix considered what else he wanted to ask, his gaze turning to his lap - after all, since Kairi had a good amount of experience in this institute, he couldn't help but to want to pick at her brain for evidence and data. "If you don't mind me asking..." Phoenix trailed off, as he turned himself slightly so that he was facing Kairi a little more comfortably, his right hand moving to rest on his knee as he held his lunch sack in his left, "...how long have you been here? And you mention a lot of different places, like the Sun Room - would you happen to have a map?" A bit of a professional tone entered his voice, as if Phoenix was well-versed in asking questions - but he tried to keep it on a softer note, as he didn't want Kairi to feel as if he was interrogating her on a witness stand.
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Honestly, Kairi didn't mind all of the questions that Phoenix was asking her. She liked helping the newer patients, after all. "I don't mind," she told him warmly. "Ask my anything you like, and I'll try my hardest to answer for you."
How long had she been in the institute for? "A few weeks," she said once again, trying to think. "I ... don't know the exact number of days, but I do know that I'm ... I think it was A rank? So that must mean a long time, right?" a soft laugh, and she continued on with the answers to the rest of his questions. "I do have a map that I can give to you, if you'd like, since I already know most of the institute," she told him. "Perhaps we can meet up tonight before anything else and I can give you the map then? Whatever is easiest for you, really."
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"...I would, if I knew where I could meet you," Phoenix started honestly. As he had nothing to use to give a good comparison to where he had woken up, he had little to nothing to help guide Kairi to where he would be residing in the evening. "Since I don't know where I'm going I can't tell you a lot, though I wouldn't mind meeting tomorrow if we can."
Phoenix perked up slightly as he heard a soft squeal and whistle from the front of the bus as it braked, his balance on the seat forced slightly forward as they stopped, and there was a loud hiss of air as the vehicle was put into park.
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