Having just navigated her way through the clothing room (read slipped and fell and scrambled around through it) Chihiro was finally beginning to gain her (spaceship?) legs. But now that she was cleaned, clothed, and at least vaguely navigating her way through the ship she felt a little bit better. The very confused state of mind still hadn't fully left her yet, but she was starting to manage.
If this could really be called 'managing'.
Chihiro wandered almost freely, following lights and walkways that led her to a room that if you asked her to find it again she'd probably be at a loss. But she was here, nonetheless. And she was trying to find someone who could maybe help her?
"Hello? Is anyone there? Mom! Dad!" She called out, letting her echo be her only reply.
For someone who wasn't actually there, the Katara replica was fairly accurate. This made sense: as long as she wasn't imprisoned or fighting some kind of nightmare monster, the waterbender was usually eager to see what new people boarded the ship. This was no exception: Katara would have seen the frightened look on the young girl's face and been instantly drawn to trying to ease her worry and walk her through things.
Sadly, this Katara did not have such heartfelt intentions, but the little girl didn't need to know that did she?
"Hi," she said. "My name is Katara. You look pretty lost. Can I help you with something?"
Other people! This was a good sign.... right? Even the people in the spirit world hadn't harmed Chihiro. So this shouldn't be too different....
Right?
Chihiro bowed low to Katara, her own self not yet making the change from Sen to Chihiro yet. She still hadn't ruled out that she had just waltzed into another area of the spirit world, after all.
"My name is S-se-- Chihiro! My name is Ogino Chihiro," She said, almost too loudly in that way she got when trying to over-compensate for her timidity, fear, and confusion. "Do you know where I am?"
Katara, well, her likeness, laughed politely, but returned the bow. "You don't have to bow so low, Ogino Chihiro," Katara said. "I'm not that much older than you, and I'm as much a person on this ship as you are. My name is Katara."
She put her hands to the girl's shoulders. "You can calm down. No one is going to hurt you here. But to answer your question: you're aboard Stacy, an intergalactic spaceship that's has many, many other people here who have also been brought from their worlds. The Captain would usually explain what's going on, but he's been busy today. I guess...you might have some question about what a spaceship is?"
That's good: play up the waterbender's ignorance. Real Katara would also try to be accommodating about things like technology anyway.
Stacy. Right. That's what the voice had said before. But that still didn't make any more sense than before either. She understood the spaceship. She understood that it was Stacy now. Heck, even the other worlds thing wasn't too far of a stretch for her. Hadn't she just spent a long time in the spirit world, after all?
It was the 'why' that was missing.
"Wh-why are we all here?" Chihiro asked. She wasn't so much scared of Katara, actually Chihiro thought she might like Katara once she got to know her better. She looked nice. And friendly. And when was the last time Chihiro had even seen another human?
But none of that could override her general timidness and overall confusion.
She wouldn't have had anything to fear from Katara, if in fact that was Katara. Sadly, the Nightmare King was just very good at recreating Katara, both in probing through her dreamscape and most likely Aang's as well. The King had her down pretty well.
"I'm afraid the reason we're here isn't a very nice one. Basically, everyone here is a hero in their world in some way or another. The reason we're here is because the worlds we all lived in are gone now: they were destroyed by a vicious species called the Ohm, and Stacy retrieved us before our worlds were destroyed. The reason we're here now is because we're the last hope against the Ohm in preventing them from destroying other worlds."
The real Katara would have hated saying something like this to someone so young. This Katara simply waited for the young girl's reaction, to gauge what they could use against her.
No. That couldn't be right. Her world couldn't be gone. It just couldn't. She had just got her mom and dad back. She had her name back. They were all supposed to be safe. And...
"Haku!" Chihiro gasped, hands clamping over her mouth as she realized that Haku was still on her world. Or at least... she thought he was.
"H-haku! He has to be safe! He has to! He just got his name back. He was going to fix things. He has to be okay!" Chihiro argued. It didn't matter to her if it made any difference or not. All that she knew was that she was here. And so far she hadn't seen hide nor hair of Haku. And if her world was gone.... then what had happened to Haku?
The fake Katara paused. It cared about Chihiro's agony (it could use it later) but now it needed to tell Chihiro something different. It was perfectly willing to lie, but after a quick thought it realized it didn't have to. The King had seen some of Katara's dreams, and it remembered that little fledgling group Katara had been a part of.
"The dragon god," Fake Katara said. "Oh, that's right! He's with us in the Outsiders! I guess Stacy knew he was pretty powerful so he was brought here too. Is he a friend of yours?"
That still Chihiro almost instantly as a wave of relief flooded her. He was here. He was safe. That was one good thing at least. And if he was here.... surely they'd find each other in no time, right? That was Haku for you. Without even meaning to be he was always there for Chihiro.
Remembering that a question was asked Chihiro almost hesitated a second before she nodded with a firm smile. "A-ah, yes. He is. Thank you for telling me he is here, ma'am!"
Yes. If Haku was here everything would work out just fine. He always knew what to do. And if he was here... maybe here parents would be too some day? Maybe things weren't going to be so bad after all.
She smiled. So that was definitely a weakness. In a way, that meant half of this fake's work was done: the Nightmare King was already taking care of Chihiro's little Haku as they spoke. Still, why let the Nightmare King have all the fun? There would be plenty of things that could take place for this little girl, and certainly the Nightmare King could find an acceptable way to bring out her fears.
"I could take you to the Sensoriums," Katara said, "If you want to see your world again. I could also take you to the City, where Haku is living in this hotel. Which would you like?"
It never once occurred to Chihiro that she was giving this girl too much information. Why would it? She was nice enough, certainly. And where Chihiro came from it was rare to distrust others. So it never crossed her mind that maybe she shouldn't be talking so much about Haku.
And that maybe she should reject the offer.
"You can take me to see Haku?" There's no hiding how her eyes light up at that suggestion. "Please! I need to see him."
When it thought about it, one of the worst things it could do to this girl was actually taking her to see Haku after all. It knew enough about the current state of things to know that Haku was going to be in a very bad state of mind, and in that state, even if he DID realize the illusions of the Nightmare King, he would likely think that Chihiro was an illusion as well. That would spawn many interesting possibilities, most of which would favor the king right now.
"Of course!" She said. "What are friends for? Come on, I'll take you there! You might want to stick by me though: some places here are a little dangerous."
And of course, Chihiro would stick very close by Katara. So far, Katara was the kindest and most helpful person she had met since waking on this ship. And she would be eternally grateful to her for the duration of her stay on Stacy as well.
"Dangerous?" Chihiro asked. She hadn't really seen anything dangerous so far. Unless you counted tripping on everything as dangerous. But that was Chihiro for you.
It really was a shame this girl was so trusting: the REAL Katara was every bit as friendly as she was acting now and would be devastated to know she'd been impersonated to lead a little girl to her own nightmare. Not that it mattered to it, of course: if anything, the real Katara's anguish over that and her accidental betrayal to the Avatar would feed the King well.
"Yes, there are still parts of the city that haven't been fully explored: its a big place. But I know just where to put you!"
"I just want to find Haku," Chihiro muttered in a soft voice as she followed Katara wherever it was she was leading her.
It still hadn't really crossed her mind that anything was wrong. Which was a shame. If she had known the real Katara, she might have been able to see through the deception. Or if Chihiro hadn't just recently arrived, she might have been able to focus on being a bit more cautious.
But the Nightmare King had picked the perfect time to prey on Chihiro. And she never saw it coming.
"Of course you do," it said, and it led her down into the city. Taking her to the hotel was no easy feat: it had to cover the true City so she wouldn't see the ensuing madness happening. The Hotel itself was deserted though, and for good reason: most of the others had gone off near Escherville or were located in other various spots,. In any case, the real battle wasn't happening yet: that wouldn't be for a little while now.
"Katara" opened the door to the place and let Chihiro in. "Come on in," she said, and closed the door after her. It kept its back turned: the sneer it was giving in Katara's body would have unnerved even the little girl to knowing there was something wrong. She turned to the girl now, and led her to one of the many rooms.
"Here," she said, and pushed her inside. Chihiro would hear the laughter of something not quite human outside as the door locked, but that would be second to the menacing growl that she heard now, one that sounded very close, and not at all friendly.
If this could really be called 'managing'.
Chihiro wandered almost freely, following lights and walkways that led her to a room that if you asked her to find it again she'd probably be at a loss. But she was here, nonetheless. And she was trying to find someone who could maybe help her?
"Hello? Is anyone there? Mom! Dad!" She called out, letting her echo be her only reply.
Reply
Sadly, this Katara did not have such heartfelt intentions, but the little girl didn't need to know that did she?
"Hi," she said. "My name is Katara. You look pretty lost. Can I help you with something?"
Reply
Right?
Chihiro bowed low to Katara, her own self not yet making the change from Sen to Chihiro yet. She still hadn't ruled out that she had just waltzed into another area of the spirit world, after all.
"My name is S-se-- Chihiro! My name is Ogino Chihiro," She said, almost too loudly in that way she got when trying to over-compensate for her timidity, fear, and confusion. "Do you know where I am?"
Reply
She put her hands to the girl's shoulders. "You can calm down. No one is going to hurt you here. But to answer your question: you're aboard Stacy, an intergalactic spaceship that's has many, many other people here who have also been brought from their worlds. The Captain would usually explain what's going on, but he's been busy today. I guess...you might have some question about what a spaceship is?"
That's good: play up the waterbender's ignorance. Real Katara would also try to be accommodating about things like technology anyway.
Reply
It was the 'why' that was missing.
"Wh-why are we all here?" Chihiro asked. She wasn't so much scared of Katara, actually Chihiro thought she might like Katara once she got to know her better. She looked nice. And friendly. And when was the last time Chihiro had even seen another human?
But none of that could override her general timidness and overall confusion.
Reply
"I'm afraid the reason we're here isn't a very nice one. Basically, everyone here is a hero in their world in some way or another. The reason we're here is because the worlds we all lived in are gone now: they were destroyed by a vicious species called the Ohm, and Stacy retrieved us before our worlds were destroyed. The reason we're here now is because we're the last hope against the Ohm in preventing them from destroying other worlds."
The real Katara would have hated saying something like this to someone so young. This Katara simply waited for the young girl's reaction, to gauge what they could use against her.
Reply
"Haku!" Chihiro gasped, hands clamping over her mouth as she realized that Haku was still on her world. Or at least... she thought he was.
"H-haku! He has to be safe! He has to! He just got his name back. He was going to fix things. He has to be okay!" Chihiro argued. It didn't matter to her if it made any difference or not. All that she knew was that she was here. And so far she hadn't seen hide nor hair of Haku. And if her world was gone.... then what had happened to Haku?
Reply
"The dragon god," Fake Katara said. "Oh, that's right! He's with us in the Outsiders! I guess Stacy knew he was pretty powerful so he was brought here too. Is he a friend of yours?"
Strange. Who knew gods had friends?
Reply
Remembering that a question was asked Chihiro almost hesitated a second before she nodded with a firm smile. "A-ah, yes. He is. Thank you for telling me he is here, ma'am!"
Yes. If Haku was here everything would work out just fine. He always knew what to do. And if he was here... maybe here parents would be too some day? Maybe things weren't going to be so bad after all.
Reply
"I could take you to the Sensoriums," Katara said, "If you want to see your world again. I could also take you to the City, where Haku is living in this hotel. Which would you like?"
Reply
And that maybe she should reject the offer.
"You can take me to see Haku?" There's no hiding how her eyes light up at that suggestion. "Please! I need to see him."
Reply
"Of course!" She said. "What are friends for? Come on, I'll take you there! You might want to stick by me though: some places here are a little dangerous."
Reply
"Dangerous?" Chihiro asked. She hadn't really seen anything dangerous so far. Unless you counted tripping on everything as dangerous. But that was Chihiro for you.
Reply
"Yes, there are still parts of the city that haven't been fully explored: its a big place. But I know just where to put you!"
Oh yes. She knew all right.
Reply
It still hadn't really crossed her mind that anything was wrong. Which was a shame. If she had known the real Katara, she might have been able to see through the deception. Or if Chihiro hadn't just recently arrived, she might have been able to focus on being a bit more cautious.
But the Nightmare King had picked the perfect time to prey on Chihiro. And she never saw it coming.
Reply
"Katara" opened the door to the place and let Chihiro in. "Come on in," she said, and closed the door after her. It kept its back turned: the sneer it was giving in Katara's body would have unnerved even the little girl to knowing there was something wrong. She turned to the girl now, and led her to one of the many rooms.
"Here," she said, and pushed her inside. Chihiro would hear the laughter of something not quite human outside as the door locked, but that would be second to the menacing growl that she heard now, one that sounded very close, and not at all friendly.
Reply
Leave a comment