worm OFF the string

[ramengroupie]

Who: Ken, Wormmon, and anyone who finds either of them!
Where: Medical carriage & gym carriage
When: Horseshoe 26
What: Ken follows up on a mishap he suffered his first day here. Wormmon trains so this will never happen again.
Warnings: Reference to puncture wounds. Soccer player without a shirt on. Bug.

[ I. Medical Carriage ]

Those entering the medical carriage: be warned. Ichijouji Ken is not wearing his shirt.

He's folding it quite conscientiously, instead, setting it aside, and then turning to the supplies he has laid out on a table. Antibacterial salve, bandages, gloves....Wormmon had seen to a problem Ken'd picked up on the platform before infection could set in, but Sticky Net can only do so much. So Ken washes his hands, puts the gloves on for good measure, and carefully peels away the webbing slapped tightly to his solar plexus, revealing a gash beneath.

The sort someone might get if they, say, upset a particularly large cat.

Aside from this issue, though, he looks to be in the peak of fitness: he's a skinny nerd, yeah, but he's a skinny nerd held together by taut muscle. Nobody's going to mistake him for a bodybuilder, but he has been playing soccer for years. This involves a certain amount of training, and its results.

Picking up the salve, Ken eyes his wound. He thinks it's healing well, but...

"Itching is...expected, correct...?"

[ II. Gym Carriage ]

Wormmon had been very upset when Ken-chan had been hurt. It is, in his opinion, the WORST THING to have happened on the train (never mind that it happened before they got on the train). He must train, on the train, to be sure he will be able to prevent anyone from hurting Ken-chan in the future!

Thus, while Ken-chan takes care of the parts that might involve looking at dried bl....dr....While Ken-chan checks up on himself, though Wormmon is worried, he is more determined to be productive! And therefore he is in the gym car.

Crawling across the length of the car, up the wall, across the ceiling, and down again. Over, and over, and over, and over, in a loop. A very.

Slow.

Loop.

This bug does not have speed on his side. But he's puffing with exertion, determined to do as many laps as possible! He's going to make Ken-chan proud of him!!!

....And he's also crawling right in the middle of the car, so if anyone comes in:

"Oh, scuse me."

They will be greeted by a voice from over their heads.

Comments

[ramengroupie]

"I see. Well, I'm grateful you came."

She has a notebook with her today. Ken's glance falls on it, and while he's not going to say anything, he wonders.

[nobodys_puppet]

Grateful? She didn't know what that meant. "I... could leave..."

She could finish rewriting her list another time.

[ramengroupie]

She's still nervous around him? But she healed him anyway.

Xion's a good person, just afraid. Ken has entirely too much personal experience with that feeling.

"You don't have to. In fact, I like your company."

He needs to get back to Wormmon or his partner will worry. But he can't just leave someone who healed him feeling awkward, even if he has no idea how to make things un-awkward, himself. "It's good you're doing better."

[nobodys_puppet]

"Wh....why?" she asked, confused. Why did her like her company? Why was it good she was better? She didn't understand.

[ramengroupie]

Why? For which?

But, wait, the answer is the same.

"You're trying your best." Ken looks down at his hands. "People who do that inspire me."

He knows. It's hard to reach out when something has you afraid. But she has. She did. Twice, now.

That means a lot.

[nobodys_puppet]

"Inspire....?"

[ramengroupie]

Hm. How to explain this? Ken picks up his shirt to re-dress while they converse.

"Do you know anyone who can do things you know are hard?"

[nobodys_puppet]

She nodded. Axel and Roxas. Axel could do near about anything, and when she was having trouble with her Keyblade, Roxas fought without one so she could use his.

[ramengroupie]

This is working, so far. "How do you feel when you watch them?"

[nobodys_puppet]

"Oh. I can't feel," she explained.

[ramengroupie]

"You can't?"

Sorry for the parroting, but Ken needs a moment to adjust his mental model. That....That would explain quite a lot about Xion-chan that had remained a mystery.

They've been approaching her all wrong, and assuming things. He'll have to adjust.

[nobodys_puppet]

She nodded. "From what I have learned, you need a heart for emotions. I was not created with one, though Axel thinks I might have one now. But even if I did, I would not know how to feel. I do not think I am different enough to have a heart, I don't think."

[ramengroupie]

She was created, and isn't sure if she -

Okay, Ken's run into this before. It was a long time ago, and he doesn't want to start jumping to conclusions again, but he thinks he's beginning to know where he stands.

Possibly.

"I see. You have a lot to think about."

Is it wrong of him to be glad she's on the train? Anyone who'd create someone without a heart......

Ken doesn't want such a person to succeed.

[nobodys_puppet]

She nodded. She was trying to learn. She was.

Her gloved hands curled more tightly around her notebook.

If she knew what he was thinking, she might have thought to tell him that her friends assured her that in the future he would be stopped... but that was a whole other complicated tangle.

[ramengroupie]

Xion-chan has to take learning what to do with her heart (or how to develop one) at her own pace. Ken doesn't want to push her, but he also doesn't want to assume she can't do things.

"I suppose to rephrase it, then....Inspiration is when watching someone do something difficult helps you decide you can do it, too."

He can say it now, can't he? He can. Ken looks up, thinking back.

"In the past, I didn't know where my heart was. I forced myself to think I didn't need it. I found it eventually, but it's not like the past disappears. I had to decide to move forward."

He smiles at her. "So I want to support you."

[nobodys_puppet]

There was a lot in that that was confusing. The first bit she had to think about for a while, to see if she could remember that ever happening. If it did it probably was with Roxas, since she went on missions with him for a while... right...? She wasn't sure. She'd have to think about it.

But later. The rest of what he said, well except for the the support thing which was also confusing, had her immediate attention. "You... were a Nobody too...?" she asked, stunned.

[ramengroupie]

Somebodies and Nobodies...

So that's it. That's it, for sure.

"I thought I was. Not quite the way it works in your world. But I tried to be someone other than myself."

Other than his full self. Valuing the wrong things. Believing a person like himself was the worst kind of person, and then trying to outstrip the best because it hurt. Constantly feeling compared. Resenting it.

Yet in the end, had anyone bought into that mistaken view of life more than he had?

A Somebody who had tried to be a Nobody, thinking he was a Nobody trying to be Somebody. That was Ichijouji Ken.

[nobodys_puppet]

"A Nobody is generally someone with a strong will who loses their heart but does not fade..." Can you tell she's the exception, given the strong will bit?

[ramengroupie]

Being a former squishy child, Ken's not going to discount Xion just because of her demeanor. But the explanation helps him adjust his understanding.

"I see. You have a hard road ahead of you."

It's said with sympathy, but not pity. And belief. Ken has to believe Xion won't be overwhelmed by her own circumstances.

He also should probably take a step back and stop projecting. He's thinking of studying criminal psychology, not the kind you need for counseling, but a freshman gets a full overview...

[nobodys_puppet]

"A hard... road...?" Didn't her book say that trains used rails not roads? Not that she fully understood rails either...

[ramengroupie]

....He messed up again. This is a good exercise in being precise. He's grateful to her.

"You're going to experience difficult things. But you might discover things about yourself, as well."

[nobodys_puppet]

She still was confused about the road thing, but at least that made some sense. She nodded. "Axel says that's what I'm supposed to do," she said, softly.

[ramengroupie]

She's used that name before.

"You're close to Axel, aren't you?"

[nobodys_puppet]

"Close? He's one of my two best friends. Does that mean... close? I am not sure where on the train he is...."

[ramengroupie]

"Mm." It does mean that. And if he's on the train, so much the better. "He sounds like a good friend."