these days have opened up my eyes; [Open Post]

[miseris_socios]

Who: Ken and whomever wants to encounter him.
Where: Kitchen, training gym, games car. (And wildcard option.)
When: Between February platform and the healing/time reversal plot.
What: Ken's getting used to train life... and also makes A Mistake.
Warnings: Training prompt has suicidal imagery (thanks Persona 3) and the closed prompt has severe depression warnings.


[Kitchen Duty]

Ken is on red team, despite the orange hoodie he's wearing, and that means apparently one of his chores is to make food for other people. It might not be the prettiest, but he'll do what he can. He doesn't bother much with the avocado though, instead serving up a couple of plates of omurice to set out for whoever drifts past. It takes him a little bit to start working on some of the other things - the pasta is boiling away and he's wandering around trying to familiarize himself with where everything is.

Sometimes he's poking around looking for storage containers or having to climb up onto the counter to reach things, but he's always careful to clean off the counter afterwards.


[Training] (cw: suicidal imagery)

Ken is no slouch when it comes to training, and he's found the climbing ropes. He scales the large structure easily, rolling off of it onto a mat and springing up, miming stabbing a spear into something. He can easily be found doing handstands or practicing rolling or doing all manner of gymnastic-like exercises.

When no one's looking, he takes out his Evoker and presses it to his head, pulling the trigger and letting Nemesis take some shots at a training dummy with lightning. He presses a hand to his chest when she manifests a spear and stabs the dummy herself. It hurts, but it's the only spear he has right now.


[Games]

He can't practice forever. Once he settles down a little bit he heads into the game car on occasion. He's not all that hard to find - occasionally he's on one of the VR games, but more often he's playing solitaire or looking at the Duel Monster cards. He's studied the notes left nearby carefully, so all that remains is to try to build a deck.

... Somehow.


[Wildcard]

While he's found a few cars to frequent, he's still exploring. It's easy to find him in practically any car.


[Field Trip to the Darkness] (closed to Vexen) (cw: severe depression)

Vexen is not a hard person to find. He's very tall and the black cloak makes it easy to pick him out, even from behind. He's about to call out to the man to say hello, but suddenly a dark-colored portal opens up and the man disappears into it. Frowning, Ken runs in after him.

That was a mistake.

It's dark, so dark, everything is dark. He can feel something cold gripping onto him, Nemesis' whirring getting louder and louder, somehow sinister. What is he doing here? What is he trying to prove? There's nothing he can do to make anything right. There's no point in him continuing to pretend like he's innocent at all - he hasn't been for a long time. He can't rely on anyone here.

Better to just be alone, or just be nothing at all.

He suddenly stumbles out into brightness, a black-coated individual in front of him, but he's not really seeing Vexen. He's trembling, suddenly freezing and pale. His knees hit the floor, followed by his arms and head right after.

Comments

[nobodys_puppet]

"Oh." Was she supposed to say something else? Could she leave now? She wasn't sure.

[miseris_socios]

"It's okay. It just means I can't... really help on that front." Hm.

"Oh... I didn't introduce myself. I'm Ken."

[nobodys_puppet]

"Ken," she repeated. "I'm Xion..." she said quietly. She no longer had that hesitation she had at Daitu, not knowing if she should use her number or her name. She was a person now, she knew she was never going back. She was Xion.

[miseris_socios]

"Xion." Strange name, but that's not her fault. At least it's unique enough to remember? "It's... um. Good to meet you. If you have other questions that maybe I can help with... I'm in sleeper two, cabin C. You can always leave a note by the door or something if you can't find me? I'm usually here, sometimes the library... sometimes I'm in the kitchen."

[nobodys_puppet]

"Other questions?"

Run. Run now. The questions are endless.

[miseris_socios]

"I mean... I can do my best? There's a lot I don't know, too. But if you're really even younger than me I bet... a lot of things are confusing."

[nobodys_puppet]

She nodded. Pretty much everything was confusing, really. She had so many questions starting to pile up in her brain now that she didn't quite know where to start.

[miseris_socios]

"You can think about it. I... even though you don't know a lot you still seem smart. Smarter than a lot of adults I know." At least she's asking things.

[nobodys_puppet]

"I seem... smart?" Not a word she was used to hearing. At least, not about herself.

[miseris_socios]

"... People sometimes start thinking that they're smart enough, that they know everything. But smart people ask questions. It's people who are dumb who think that they don't have to."

[nobodys_puppet]

"But..." she was confused a moment and then... "Hey! Axel is smart!" she protested. He was the one who always answered her and Roxas' questions, after all. He was the smartest person she knew!

[miseris_socios]

Uh. How to handle this. "I didn't say it was the only way to be smart. But if you don't question things you can't learn anything."

[nobodys_puppet]

"But he already knows a lot!" she protested again. So much more than she ever could. Or would.

[miseris_socios]

"So? There's always more things you can learn. School isn't the only place to learn things."

[nobodys_puppet]

She nodded at that. "I learn a lot from Axel."

[miseris_socios]

"You can learn a lot from books, too. Do you read much?" If not... maybe he can help. He's not the biggest reader himself, but there's only so much they can do on the train.

[nobodys_puppet]

"Axel gave me books at the school." That... didn't help that much. Helped some, but in some ways it just confused her more.

[miseris_socios]

"Fiction or nonfiction?" He can see where she might get use out of both.

[nobodys_puppet]

"What is fiction?"

[miseris_socios]

Oh boy. "So it's... a story. A made-up one, but it can be fun to read because some of the characters are really neat. If you've seen movies in the cinema car, it's like that but reading it so the pictures are in your head."

[nobodys_puppet]

"Oh, Axel told me about those." She still didn't understand the point.

[miseris_socios]

"... If I look in the library and see one that I think you might like, will you try it?"

[nobodys_puppet]

"Why?" she asked.

[miseris_socios]

"... Because sometimes it's fun to try new things?" He was doing his best here, okay.

[nobodys_puppet]

Axel said things like that too, but she didn't find it fun. Usually she just found it terrifying. But... she was allowed to say no now, right? She... wasn't sure. And froze in indecision.