Day 56: Magus Park (Morning)

[scintillatingly]

Getting to check up on Neku had been good (even though Sora realized that he was the one who'd been approached, rather than doing the approaching), but when the buses finally made their way through the snow and into the town, the boy was completely distracted by the view that followed. It really did remind him of Christmastown. There were no lights

Comments

[pullstrung]

The more he looked, the more it sank in that Buzz was nowhere in sight. Great. Great! Here he was in this strange place, and he had no idea where his friend was. As Woody sucked in a breath through chattering teeth, he wished his body would just be quiet for a second so he could figure out what to--

Something tapped him on the shoulder, sending a jolt of panic through his core. "Ahh! Whirling around, his wide-eyed gaze snapped onto a man in front of him. He wracked his memory, but realized he couldn't place the face anywhere. That wasn't such a surprise, though. He wouldn't have been able to immediately recognize his own friends' faces at this rate.

Either way, he looked like any other regular person -- blue eyes, dark hair, and not a very menacing expression. Still, Woody could only let himself marginally relax. He wasn't used to people just walking up to him like this. He wasn't used to being a person.

Person or not, though, he was pretty sure shouting like that wasn't the appropriate way to respond to a tap on the shoulder. Woody cleared his throat and straightened the collar of his coat in a last ditch effort to collect any shred of dignity he had left. "Uhh, sorry about that," he said. "Just, uh...you know, I wasn't sure if..."

He swallowed hard, not entirely sure where he was going with that. There was so much danger around here that it was easy for a toy to jump at his own shadow. It still sounded crazy to himself, and especially so when he said it out loud.

"I was just startled," he suddenly finished, shaking himself out of his floundering thoughts. "Sorry."

[in_your_defense]

Responding to Woody's words took Phoenix a moment, as he had been stunned into surprised silence, the emotion lingering on his expression. Slowly lifting his left hand, he scratched his head awkwardly, unsure of what he should say at first, as Woody had startled his brain into a blank slate.

"U-um..." Phoenix trailed off, the look on his face turning increasingly unsure as time passed, "...no, don't worry about it - er...being startled, that is." Deciding to overcome the strangeness of the situation with his own introduction, Phoenix switched his lunch bag from his dominant hand to his left as he lowered it, and he extended his now free hand out to Woody. "My name is Phoenix, and it's nice to meet you...I, ah...I noticed you were standing here and I was wondering if you wanted to join me in finding somewhere warm."

[pullstrung]

Woody wasn't sure why this guy would come up to him, of all people. Maybe he wasn't as smooth about this whole being-human thing as he'd like. Even if his first inclination was to hug the first wall he could find and go far, far away, he knew he'd only draw attention to himself, especially with how huge he was now.

It was like he had to relearn everything he thought he'd known about life! Well, not relearn, he hastily corrected himself. Just...adapt. As a toy, there wasn't any reason for him to think of all this as anything other than temporary.

Still, that didn't mean it'd be a good idea to brush off every person who introduced themselves. He'd been here long enough to know that there was definitely safety in numbers.

"Oh, right!" he said with a grin, doing his best to just act natural. "Right." Getting somewhere warm sounded really great right then, honestly. "Uh, my name is Woody. Hi." He extended a handshake before glancing around them. "Can't say I've ever been around here before. Do you know a good place?"

[in_your_defense]

Phoenix couldn't help but to feel that the fact that Woody was just as, if not more awkward than himself was ironic - normally he was the one stuttering and getting scared at all the wrong moments, but he got the feeling that Woody had him beat in that category. Though, for what reason, Phoenix couldn't imagine - Woody seemed like a pretty normal person, from what he could tell.

"I haven't had a chance to explore," Phoenix began honestly, as they finished shaking hands and he withdrew his own in order to draw his jacket closer around himself. A slight smile tugged at Phoenix's lips as he focused his gaze back on Woody's face - after speaking to Kairi, he felt considerably more relaxed, though her words hadn't done much to alleviate the massive confusion that he still felt about his situation. "I was going to wander around to find somewhere, so I could keep moving - but since I saw you over here and you seemed lost like me..." he trailed off meaningfully.

The defense attorney turned and took a step towards the town, outside of the park boundaries. He could see a slew of different buildings lined up on different roads, and he lifted his right hand to point as he looked back at Woody. "...we can go anywhere, I think. Maybe we can just choose a direction?"

[pullstrung]

Lost. That was a good way to describe Woody right then. He was probably more lost than he'd ever been in his whole life. Andy didn't know where he was, he didn't know where he was, and he didn't even know where his body was, for pete's sake! Was it really a wonder that people looked at him and knew something was off?

"Sure, anywhere's fine with me," Woody said, and a sudden shiver ran down his spine. "Just as long as it's warm enough to make all this, this..." He suddenly wrapped his arms around himself as he tried to search for the right word. "...shaking stop." Why did people's bodies do that, anyway? To tell them they were getting too cold? Why wouldn't just feeling cold be good for that? That alone was miserable enough for Woody to want to stay out of it entirely.

Not that he'd never been outside during the fall and winter, of course. But, somehow, it was a lot more bearable when he was tucked securely in Andy's arms.

"What about that place up there?" he suddenly asked, pointing at the building directly ahead. It looked like some kind of bookstore, if the name was anything to go by.

[in_your_defense]

Attention piquing at the strange way that Woody had spoken about his physical reaction to the cold, the look in Phoenix's eyes turned lightly confused as he paused briefly, lowering his hand to his side. The tone of Woody's voice and the intonation of his words had almost made it seem like he thought shivering was abnormal - but it was anything but for any human being. Weird, Phoenix thought to himself, before he recomposed himself and decided that he could address the topic later - for now, he needed to focus on getting both himself and Woody somewhere warm.

Nodding slightly, Phoenix began to trek in the direction that Woody had pointed. His gaze caught the name on the sign - The Bookworm (which was pretty self-explanatory, in Phoenix's opinion) - and he continued moving towards it with eager purpose, his body enjoying both being able to move and the prospect of warmth. "Bookstores are normally pretty warm," he reasoned out loud, as he walked. Turning to Woody slightly, Phoenix gave him a boyishly friendly, playful smile that reached his eyes - he felt a need to reassure the other man, as if it would give himself more certainty in turn. "A roof is a nice accessory, too."

[to here.]