The Search for the Newcomers, November 2012 Edition.

[stringmods]

Who: Open to Everyone, but only Newly Accepted Characters can start threads.
Where: All around the city, anywhere from the 5th to the 20th.
Summary: Newcomers arrive and by now the Government is more ready and sends everyone out to go people hunting.
Warnings: ARRIVALS. Also assume the first thread is the ones who tell you about the city, and the other tags for the character can be talking with others in the city and learning more about it.

[FOR THOSE IN THE CITY:]
They were getting much better at this, it was for certain.

The COMPS had been upgraded with a new program, HORUS which allowed them to spot abnormalities; if something or someone showed up suddenly in a city that was constantly scanned, then there was a high probability it was a newcomer. There was also a sort of left energy from the travel; the Wise Men called it leftover Magatama Residue, where the magical energy used to pull them to this world and keep the String intact was still faintly present around them. It wouldn't last more than a few minutes, however, and due to the fact they could appear in most parts of the city, it made finding the newcomers was both easy yet frustratingly difficult. As the blips appear on your radar function, they were nice enough to calculate for you the best transport and destination routes to take to get there.

Now it was just left up to chance and make sure you got there fast enough that you were still able to find them relatively easily. For the most part, the fact they stuck out would most certainly help...

[FOR THOSE WHO JUST ARRIVED:]
You're not in your homeworld anymore. That much is evident. So how do you feel? Happy? Sad? Troubled? A little of all three? No matter what, the memories of a butterfly man named Philemon are fading like a dream; you'll remember the details, but perhaps not everything he has said.

There is one word that stays with you, however.

Persona.

So...here to save the city, huh? First you'll need to find out more information. And who knows, maybe a familiar face or two...

[OOC: As stated above, only new characters can start a thread, but feel free to jump in any of them. characters arrive with their clothing and whatever items they had on them the moment they were taken; the remaining items will be later found in their apartments.]

Comments

[yoursandmine]

"Where else would I be?" They'd yet to have ice cream after his admittedly upsetting mission, after all. Though this wasn't Twilight Town... nor did he remember how, precisely, he'd gotten here. Just some butterfly face and a garble of words that didn't quite make sense.

...It is really weird, having to look up at her. Maybe he should buy some new shoes too. Except that information isn't as important as her next words; Axel..?

His expression falls.

"We only saw each other this morning, Xion." Axel get's no comment, but from the way he ducks his head it's clear he's struggling with... whatever he's struggling with right now. A tightness in his chest that makes him want to turn around and start walking, to occupy himself.

He doesn't know what that is.

[whereibelong]

She rubs her arm a little sheepishly. Where to even begin? If Roxas was shorter than her... what else was different? Did he remember things differently like Riku did? Well, she could still try to explain at least.

"It's really complicated. This world is really different from all the other ones we've been to. I still don't..." She trails off, seeing Roxas' expression. She'd gotten fairly good over two and a half years of seeing them almost daily - with few gaps, especially from the end of the first year onward. She couldn't figure out what Axel was "feeling" as easily - he was still too guarded with his emotions at times - but Roxas was easy to read - and that expression didn't mean good things.

"Roxas...? What's wrong?" she asked gently, her face softening into a worried expression.

[yoursandmine]

The blonde shakes his head, at a loss for words before he finally looks up to meet her gaze. His tone is pretty grim, like he's telling her the worst news he could possibly say.

"One of our members was terminated at Castle Oblivion. I never got a chance to find out who..." But there's a twist in his stomach that says it's Axel. Or that he doesn't want it to be Axel, which doesn't make all that much sense because how could his stomach tell him that?

It just can.

"We were all gonna have ice cream together, but if he's terminated then Xigbar said he's gone. Poof. That's what happens when we die."

[whereibelong]

As her best friend speaks, Xion's face flashes through a series of emotions - shock, faint unease, and then, after a moment, to sadness and sympathy. That was... that was while they were still in the Organization. What was more, that was back... back before almost everything had happened. Practically the day after she'd gotten the Keyblade for the first time.

He didn't know... he didn't know so much back then. How is she going to explain this? How is she going to tell him everything that's happened?

Except... she sees that look. That face. And with his words, she knows why he's upset. She knows who he's talking about, who he's afraid for.

And forgetting that this isn't the Roxas who is used to her doing this, she leans forward just slightly, so she's a bit more on his level, and wraps her arms around him in a tight hug, if he'll let her.

She wasn't going to lie. "Xigbar was right, that is what happens when Nobodies disappear but..." she turns her head a little, as if to look back at his face, if she could see it, "Axel is fine, I promise you."

If he wasn't then... well let's just say there was a lot of other problems to deal with.

[yoursandmine]

No one's ever hugged him before.

Not that he can remember, at least. But here he is on the eve of his 26th day, getting a hug. Somehow, a hug is just right. It makes him tense and jerk a little, but Xion's doing it, so it's a friend thing, obviously. She wouldn't do anything less.

It's just right. A hug. So he relaxes a little, leans in slightly, looks back to her to make sure he's doing this right. She doesn't seem at all bothered by it.

"Promise..." He doesn't know how she could promise something like that; mostly because he wasn't at all sure the choice was up to her. It feels like sometime today, she'd changed, to the point where it was him relying on her, to the point where she was teaching him things, not the other way around.

Which was different, but not bad.

"Okay. Then he better come back soon." He attempts a clumsy hug in turn...but drops his arms pretty quickly, cheeks slightly red.

This hugging thing was hard.

[whereibelong]

Soon, huh? That... will be complicated, considering Hinoto-Ri is the place that it is.

"I don't know how soon he'll be able to get here, but as soon as he can, I know he will," she said. Knowing Axel... knowing the lengths he'd gone to to get into the digital Twilight Town and find them when DiZ had trapped them there... But if what she'd heard about this world war right he wouldn't even know they were gone. That meant he'd only be able to come if he was summoned himself. Which... wasn't impossible, but who knew when that would be.

Between the awkward jerk when she hugged him and how quickly he drops his arms, Xion realizes this... whole thing is probably pretty new for him. She releases him and takes a step back, a little sheepish herself.

"So... when did you get here?" It was probably a good idea to figure out what she needed to explain... and what she should do. Somehow leaving him by himself didn't seem like a good idea.

[yoursandmine]

Unfortunately, Roxas isn't aware of the things Xion is. Otherwise her persistence would likely put him more at ease. Instead he just shrugs, looking around at the street and odd.. artworks with a little bit of wonder.

"About an hour ago, I think? I felt really funny before that..." He doesn't mention that he collapsed, or had a weird dream. He'd write about that later in his journal, when they RTC'd. Somehow, dreams just felt like something...secret.

He wanted to keep it to himself for now, until he figured it out. Perhaps it was the reason why he'd fallen asleep in the first place.

"Have you been here all day, Xion?"