Exploration times!

[waitingnomore]

After meeting people on the Observation Deck and determining that no one, by virtue of no one she had spoken with ever having seen a Keyblade before, that Sora, Riku, and Mickey were still asleep, Kairi had decided to find her way around the ship itself. She didn't know how long it would take until their worlds were restored, so she had decided to

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[i_am_the_bafo]

No, that green-haired girl only looked innocent and nice from behind.

Because when she turned around, she looked vapid (if cheerful). The very large tome she was carrying, on the other hand, looked somewhere between cranky and irritated.

"Nice? Heh. It's a good source of material, that's all. It sure as hell isn't an Overlord's Castle."

Meet the Sacred Tome, aka Zetta.

[waitingnomore]

Hi, Zetta. How's it going? Read any good books lately? OH WAIT!

Kairi couldn't help herself and stared for a moment at the girl and the book. Even if she had seen strange things during her very brief time on other worlds, a talking book definitely topped the chart. She recovered after a moment, her mother's admonishments for it being rude to stare sounding in the back of her head. Really, where had her manners gone?

"Well, I've never been in an Overlord's Castle," she explained with a smile, "But this is still a nice garden. I haven't seen anything like this since I was a little kid."

Living with a grandmother she barely remembered and often picking flowers in a garden under a purple-blue sky.

[i_am_the_bafo]

Totally not the first book joke he'd heard, keyblade girl.

One eyebrow slowly lifted as the Overlord's amazement at her statements built. Trapped on this stupid ship in a stupid garden and she thinks it looks nice.

"You're a hero type, aren't you."

[waitingnomore]

Be glad it wasn't made out loud, book boy.

"Sort of?" she replied, feeling pleased he thought her one even when the most heroic thing she'd ever done was go after Sora and Riku when she got sick of waiting for them to come home.

"I don't have that much experience."

[kaya_waterwave]

Katara had popped over to hydroponics to spend some quality time with Zhin. She had felt guilty that her space dog had not seen her in so long, so she was delighted that Zhin did not hold this against her. In fact, she seemed almost serenely happy to see her owner in the first place, and bowled Katara over a little with licks before they were interrupted by a girl Katara had never seen.

"Yes, it is," she agreed, always glad to visit this particular area of the ship. "I may not be an earthbender, but this is always a nice place to visit. You're new, aren't you?"

She gave the girl a reassuring smile. "My name is Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, and this is my pet Zhin. Nice to meet you!"

[waitingnomore]

"Are you the same Katara who's in the Outsiders?" Kairi couldn't help to ask before she caught herself. Her mother would give her the Look if she realized Kairi had forgotten manners as basic as introducing herself.

"I'm Kairi, from Destiny Islands. It's nice to meet you, too!"

[kaya_waterwave]

Oh don't worry Kairi, Katara won't get on your case about it: she's actually surprised someone would know her without having met her yet.

"Well yes, I co-lead it with Beastboy. So you're new to the ship: what brings you here?"

Zhin, for her part, is sniffing curiously at the stranger.

[supersonicracer]

By this time, Sonic had opted to park himself in Hydroponics to relax. He had taken his sword, Caliburn, with him as a precaution. Could never be too sure when something might come up. As he relaxed at a nearby tree, he couldn't help but hear the girl's question and look up.

"Huh? Oh... heh, yeah, I guess you're right...!" Sonic said, coming out of his relaxing stupor.

"Please forgive my companion, he tends to drift off at times. My name is Caliburn and this lazy one's Sir Sonic." the sword said.

"JUST Sonic...!" the hedgehog replied.

"You're getting a title, like it or not." Caliburn bickered.

[waitingnomore]

Kairi, upon realizing she'd woken him from his doze, was about to apologize when his sword actually spoke. Her mouth hung open for a moment before she forced it shut and gave both hedgehog and sword a sheepish smile as they proceeded to argue about the issue of titles.

"I think I'll call him Sonic if you don't mind," she managed to cut in during a lull in the bickering, "I'm Kairi. I woke up a few days ago."

[supersonicracer]

"Nice t' meet ya, Kairi." Sonic said, turning around to face the girl before moving to join her. "Same situation with me, actually...!"

"So, what brings you here, Miss Kairi?" Caliburn asked. "Trying to get acquainted with this ship?"

[waitingnomore]

"Yeah," she said with a nod and a smile, "I want to find my way around here, then I'm going to find someone to show me how to fight. I don't want to be useless when the Ohm attack."

Which is what it came down to. Kairi had seen herself as nothing but a burden to be used against Sora and Riku. She didn't want that anymore, didn't want her friends hurt because she couldn't pull her weight in watching their backs when they finally woke up.

So she needed to get strong. Hopefully she could find people to teach her.

[stormfall_aqua]

Aqua had found her own way to Hydroponics, mostly just wandering aimlessly. When Kairi greeted her, she offered a polite smile.

"Yes, it is."

There was something familiar about the girl--something she couldn't quite place.

[waitingnomore]

There was something familiar about this woman: familiar in the same way an old woman's face and purple skies and large castles were behind the fog in her mind. She couldn't quite place it and didn't bother trying to fetch it out from under the years of warm sand and sea air and laughing boys with longing eyes.

"It's pretty amazing these are all from different worlds," Kairi said, letting her hand reach out to run along the leaves of the nearest plant as she studied it. What sort of world had it come from? Did it blossom after the rainy seasons? Or grow fruit?

"Looking at them all tangled together like this, you wouldn't be able to tell, would you?"

[rainfell_aqua]

Aqua gave Kairi a soft smile as she watched her examine the plant.

"There are a lot of similar plants and animals between worlds," she said. "Though each world has its own special features."

[waitingnomore]

"I've heard," she said, fondly remembering Sora trying to tell her all about his time away in one big rush before Riku hit him over the head and told him to slow down. They had all the time in the world to catch up.

"There's this one tree from back home. It grows these star-shaped fruit. There's a story about them that says if two people shared one, they'd be connected forever."

She stopped then, feeling embarrassed she could go on a tangent like that and glanced up at the familiar woman.

"Sorry. I don't mean to sound so weird. Everything about this place is still sinking in."

[andyallgrownup]

Andy smiled, turning to face the familiar girl again. "Hey Kairi! Yeah, it really is. I don't come down here anywhere near often enough." Honestly, he wasn't sure why he was even here, usually he stuck to training. He needed to be stronger then next time there was a situation that needed to be dealt with.

[waitingnomore]

Well, even boys needed a break from training and a moment to just enjoy the scenery. Back when they'd been kids with toy swords, Kairi often wound up sitting to the side and going "boys and Selphie" while everyone else play fought around her. Watching Sora and Riku and helping them keep score had been fun and she did have a good time in her way. But now Kairi was regretting not joining in more often.

"I'm surprised. Considering how nice it is here, you'd think it'd be more popular."

[andyallgrownup]

Andy shrugged. "Well, I'm pretty sure it is more popular. It's not like everyone here is on the same sleep schedule," he said. "Still, it is rather beautiful here."