Passing the time

[hotheadwarmheart]

Who: Lea, Vexen, Taiki, eventually Xion, and anyone who comes to visit while she's in coma-land
Where: The medical car
When: The week or so following Xion's post-event collapse, while she's recovering in medical
What: Visits, conversations, fretting, and eventually Xion's awakening
Warnings: Mentions of medical stuff, probably some angst and feels, likely talk of Kingdom Hearts style violence and death in at least one thread

Since the odd happenings of the 22nd and Xion's subsequent collapse, she had been in one of the medical car's recovery rooms, unconscious, while her mind, heart, and body sorted themselves out. And aside from the time during which everyone was teleported back to their beds, she was seldom without one or more of her friends or family members in attendance watching over her and trying not to fuss too much.

Small tokens of caring sat on the bed next to her pillow. A piece of paper (weighted down with a pen clipped to it) bearing drawings of seashells, one for each day she'd been there and each paired with a chibi-style drawing of Roxas. Glittering crystals that resembled flower petals, equal in number to the drawn seashells. And perhaps other gifts too, also following the theme of counting the days. Waiting for her to wake up.

Waiting that was bound to take longer than any of them wanted. So ways to pass the time and keep Vexen from wearing a hole in the car's floor from pacing would likely be welcomed, as would any friends who wanted to visit and/or pass on their own well wishes to Xion or her caretakers. Or just talk to them. They all worried, even if they showed it differently, and distractions were good.

((OOC: This is a catch all log for conversations between Xion's friends, their friends, and anyone who wants to visit them while Xion's in medical. Feel free to start your own threads for conversations and the like, though thread-hopping should likely be avoided unless all involved are cool with it to prevent confusion. There'll also be a closed thread header for Xion's eventual awakening; exact time and who's present for it TBD.))

Comments

Xion's Awakening- Platform day; just prior to arrival- Closed to Xion, Lea, and Vexen

[hotheadwarmheart]

Re: Xion's Awakening- Platform day; just prior to arrival- Closed to Xion, Lea, and Vexen

[nobodys_puppet]

Xion didn't know how long she had been out this time. She didn't know where she was or who was with her. She just... wasn't aware. Too much else had been screaming through her. Too many things she had no words for. No way to explain or describe even of she was awake and could talk.

That also made it hard for her to think and process, however. She couldn't make sense of any of it, or most of it anyway, and what little she though she maybe had some idea about... she wasn't sure on.

Perhaps that was why she hadn't slept as long this time as she had after that potion spilled on her, or after that one mission on the beach, or after any number of long sleeps back in the Castle That Never Was.

Part of her knew she needed to talk, to get answers, but she didn't know even how to begin, what to ask. The who wasn't so hard. Once she knew what to ask, she'd aim the questions at Axel. After all, he would know what she needed to understand. He always did.

But she didn't so much wake to ask him as she settled enough not to be overwhelmed and clearly her body couldn't do more by being asleep. Whatever weird thing in her told her it was time to wake up... woke her.

Just another thing about herself she didn't understand, didn't know how worked. But was that a Replica thing, a Xion thing, or an everyone thing? Was Axel able to just decide to wake up, if so, how did he know when to do it? How did he do it?

For Xion, after a sleep like this, it wasn't a choice, there was no deciding. She just slowly went from unaware to aware. She knew her mind had been busy and could remember some of the thoughts. It hadn't been quite like dreaming, and even though there had been pain it hadn't been quite like nightmares. But it hadn't been quite like after the potion either. There was nothing settled nothing new understood or accepted. There was just less pain. Enough less that her eyes slowly opened.

Confusion.

Where.. was she? She didn't recognize that ceiling.

Fear. Had she been taken away? Where was she? Where was Axel? Where?? She turned her head, eyes wide, but the colours beside her pillow caught and held her attention. Her gloved hand reached out and touched one of the drawings of Roxas and shells.

What....?

But at least she was no longer terrified. Just... confused.

[hotheadwarmheart]

It was about then that Lea entered, carrying a tray that bore two mugs- one of coffee, one of tea- and several breakfast pastries. He grinned when he saw that Xion was finally awake, setting the tray down on the nearest available surface and moving to her bedside. "Well, good morning, sleepy-head," he said. "You gave us quite a scare there, you know that? Feeling any better?"

[nobodys_puppet]

She normally would have given him a look over using the word feeling, but she was mostly just confused. "Where am I?" she asked. "What happened?" And... she looked down to shells and drawings and crystals, confused, but also...

Her fingers touched one of the shells lightly. "How long?" Did each separate thing count for one day, or...?

[hotheadwarmheart]

Given what had happened, Lea was referring as much to physical feeling as emotional just then. "The medical car," he said. "In one of the recovery rooms. You were..." He paused slightly, reconsidering just where he wanted to start. "After all the weird stuff that happened on the 22nd, the next morning, you just... woke up screaming. It was way beyond anything that had ever happened with you before, and I was worried so I brought you here."

"Vexen helped get you set up here and make sure you were OK. He said it was probably the shock of three years worth of memories coming back to you all at once that caused it; you just weren't made to have all that slamming into your head and heart at once, so you fell asleep to let your body deal with it and recover."

"That was seven days ago," he said, indicating the gifts. "The shells are from Taiki, since he had some from before. The drawings are from me. And the little crystals are from Vexen. We've all been really worried about you."

[nobodys_puppet]

Oh. She'd passed through the medical car before. She didn't usually stay, though. But at least she knew that meant she was still on the train. She tried to process the rest. Which day was the 22nd? She... could guess... but she wasn't sure.

She did remember waking up screaming, though. And the pain.

He was right about that. She didn't recall it ever hurting that badly before. But she was memories, in so many ways, and she went from having her memories, to no memories, to having them back again. She shuddered. She had been gone. She had... not been. Not in any real way.

Though she supposed that just proved Axel right yet again. She... had apparently changed. Or had she become instead?

She needed to think about that.

But... why would Vexen have helped? Hadn't he made it clear that he didn't want anything to do with her or Axel? So why had he helped? She was... confused.

Seven days. She looked to the stuff at the side of the bed, then back up at him. She was so confused. So they each left hr something each day? Why? She looked back to the items again. The images of Roxas and shells. The actual shells. How... How had Taiki known? And why would Vexen leave crystals? She... didn't understand. She ran a gloved finger over one of the shells.

Why wasn't Roxas here? Why did her chest hurt? But it... wasn't as bad as it had been.

[thawed_pride]

As if summoned by Xion's unvoiced questions, Vexen chose that moment to enter the recovery room. He looked haggard, worn out from his inability to stay still while stressed, but his expression immediately softened on seeing Xion awake. Even with Axel's reassurance that this had happened before and his own assessment that she would be fine, his shoulders had carried a tension that eased out of them when he saw the girl up and moving.

"Good morning, child. You're looking better."

As he entered the room properly, the tray of food caught his attention, along with the redhead who had brought it. He huffed quietly, but still walked over to grab the mug of coffee and a pastry.

"And I'll have you know, Axel, I did make a brief stop by the dining car today." He took a bite of the pastry, then pointed it accusingly at Axel. "We're supposed to stop at a platform at the beginning of a new month, yes? No matter how worried I might have been, I was hardly going to go out there without at least a cup of coffee."

[nobodys_puppet]

She was... was so confused. She scooted further up on the bed, away from him, as she pulled back on her hood. She would be terrified, except Axel was there and he wasn't attacking and he said the crystals were from him...? She hunched her shoulders, looking to Axel fo answers.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea looked up as Vexen entered, giving him a small, amused smile. "Yeah, I know you and coffee," he said. "The question was if you'd get anything else besides coffee."

Upon noticing Xion's nervousness, though, he explained. "Vexen's been here more often than not while you were asleep. Practically wore a hole in the floor with his pacing; honestly, I think he was more worried about you than I was, if only because this is the first time he's ever seen this kind of thing happen to you. He acts grumpy a lot of the time, but he really does care."

"That's why I told him and Taiki about using the seashells to marks off the days. They both wanted a way to show you how much they cared and were worried about you while you were asleep. Only Taiki had any real seashells though, so Vexen and I had to do something different. I did the drawings, and Vexen got little crystals from some flowers in the greenhouse car; he wanted what he gave you to be something that was special in its own way, and flowers are pretty important where he and I are from."

[longforgottenpromise]

Taiki has been worried, of course he's worried. He still has the swirling emotions of Xion in his head, ebbing and flowing but always there.

It's a relief though, because lay so still... Those feelings tell him she's still alive and she's thinking, or at least feeling.

He taps on the door before bracing himself and entering.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea was already there when Taiki entered, sitting near Xion's bedside with a mug of tea close at hand, working on something in his journal notebook. He glanced up at the tap on the door; the curtain had been drawn to block out the glass front for the sake of privacy, but it parted easily to allow Taiki to enter.

"Hey, Taiki," he said, smiling slightly. "No change to report, I'm afraid. Though honestly you'd probably know before I did if something did change with her."

[longforgottenpromise]

"It's been steady, still just... a lot of feelings." How someone asleep could feel so much is almost frightening.

He sat down near Lea, placing a shell next to the other items counting the time and then reached out cautiously to touch Lea's arm.

"How are you?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea nodded slightly. That sounded about right. After Xion woke up, they were going to actually have to sit down and talk about emotions sometime, possibly with Taiki's help. Maybe that would make things easier on her next time.

Taiki's question though... Lea considered brushing off the concern with a bit of sarcastic bravado, but, no; that didn't feel right. "I'm... dealing," he said. "I'm worried, but I've been through this before; I know she'll be OK eventually. Vexen's way more frazzled than me, since it's his first time dealing with this."

He closed his notebook, using the pencil to mark his place before reaching out to rest a hand on Taiki's shoulder. "How about you? You holding up alright? This has to be rougher on you than it is on anyone else besides her." After all, none of them shared quite as direct a connection to Xion as Taiki did.

[longforgottenpromise]

"It's strange but I'm fine, just worried." He had never seen anyone sleep like this before. At the mention of Vexen though he frowned slightly.

"Have they... Xion and Vexen I mean... Did they talk. Before this happened? Properly I mean..."

Because their encounter on the platform had been tense, to say the least. Xion had been worried about Vexen hurting Lea, Vexen had seemed afraid that Lea would hurt him and yet they had worked together to help Xion.

That was good, he hoped.

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Hmm...", Lea said, thinking back over conversations he'd had with both Xion and Vexen. "Not that I know of; at least neither of them mentioned it. I know she met him, since she was there when he ran into me the first time and tried to get between us. I sent her back to the cabin, though, since Vexen and I had some... issues we needed to work out among ourselves without a well meaning and overprotective third wheel involved."

"We managed to get things settled, at least enough that nobody's gonna be hurting anybody, if that's what you're worried about though. And I made sure Xion knew he was alright and that neither of us was planning on hurting the other too, once I made it back to the cabin myself."

[longforgottenpromise]

"Yes. I was with her when they met." He nodded, looking at the sleeping girl again, "She was very worried that he would hurt you."

And Vexen had been worried that Lea would hurt him. Taiki was glad that neither situation was the case.

"I'm glad you were able to sort things."

[hotheadwarmheart]

"She'd likely be worried that anybody from the Organization would want to do that," Lea said. "After all, she and I were betraying the Organization before it was cool, and it can be hard to tell exactly when people from back home are from at first."

"And I wouldn't say things are exactly sorted. I mean, we're not gonna fight each other, and we're willing to work together for Xion's sake and for the general peace of the train, but well..." He sighed a bit. "Let's just say I imagine it'll be awhile before he actually trusts me, if he ever does."

[miseris_socios]

Ken's wandered into and out of the medical car to find Vexen, and this time he spots someone else around. He's been checking on Xion, but he's kept his distance. They're not close, so he doesn't want to be overbearing.

He peeked into the room, watching silently, before raising a hand to her current caretaker. Hello?

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea had been working on that day's seashell drawing when Ken entered, focusing on finishing up Roxas' hair, so it took him a moment to realize that he and Xion were no longer alone in the room. Upon noticing movement out of the corner of his eye, though, he looked up, giving the boy he saw there a slight, apologetic smile. "Hey there," he said. "Sorry; didn't see you there right away. Are you a friend of Xion's?" He figured that was most likely, given the boy's apparent age, but it didn't pay to assume.

[miseris_socios]

"Um... we met in the library the other day. I was hoping Xion wasn't still in here..." He glanced around as if Vexen was hiding in the corner. "Do you know where D - where Vexen is? ... Please tell me he went to bed..."

[hotheadwarmheart]

At the comment about Vexen, Lea's smile turned into one of wry amusement. "Well, I see you know him fairly well," he said. "But yeah, after awhile of watching him attempt to wear a hole in the floor with his pacing, I shooed him off to bed under threat of physically dragging him back to his room in full view of the rest of the train if he didn't go willingly. How long he'll stay there is anybody's guess, though hopefully it'll be long enough for the train's mandatory six hours to kick in on top of it and help him catch up."

"Anyway, my name's Lea. What's yours?"

[miseris_socios]

“Good. He needs more sleep in general... I keep thinking that I’ll sit in front of his door to keep him there, but he can teleport.” Grumble grumble.

“I’m Ken. Ken Amada.”

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Yeah," Lea said. "Dark Corridors mean you have to get creative about containment, especially if you don't have some kind of magic that can block them."

"Nice to meet you, Ken. And nice to know I'll have some help with him. I've been helping him look after Xion since she's one of my best friends, but I'm finding out that looking after him is almost as big of a job in its own way. I mean his sleep schedule has always kind of sucked, but he's got less excuses for it now, and none for not eating properly."

[miseris_socios]

"My sleep schedule also sucks, but in my defense I've spent the last two yeas moving around almost exclusively by night." As for the eating... well. His traded orange hoodie hangs loosely on him. It's not hard to guess he's underweight beneath the clothes.

"He... um." He glances to the side, having trouble making eye contact as his cheeks flush a bit. "He kind of... adopted me? I think? I... have to take care of him. And... I guess that makes Xion my sister. ... I told him that if she's really his kid he has to be there for her."

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Ah, but are you actively resisting trying to improve it?", Lea said. "If not, then you're doing better than Vexen. You'd think a grown man- and a scientist to boot- would know better, but no, it's like trying to get a toddler to go to bed. Except instead of wanting to watch cartoons, he wants to do research. Hopefully he'll need a bit less persuading once Xion recovers." Somehow, though, Lea doubted that would be the case.

He was mildly surprised at the next bit of information though, his smile becoming a bit fonder though the amusement remained. He wondered what Isa would say, if he knew? Would he gently needle Vexen about 'picking up stray puppies' the way he ad with Lea? "Yeah, she's his daughter. Though how it happened is... unusual to say the least. I'll let him go into the details if he wants, but let's just say that magic was involved."

"And I'm happy for you. I mean, this probably won't be the last time you hear me complain about him, but you and Xion could honestly do a lot worse. He's basically a good guy, and I know he used to take care of Ienzo too, back before things at home went bad."