First Flower

[gimmiemyflower]

I'm not sure if this'll work, but...I'll just speak out to anyone here that's listening. If you can hear me, please respond!

And if you can respond, please tell me who you are and what's the last thing you remember?

This is Kairi, and the last thing I remember was the seven of us were all fighting against Xehanort. We...weren't doing as well as we'd hoped, and the worlds were falling apart...then I remember a whole lot of darkness, and then I was here.

Comments

[memoryreprieved]

[ Well, isn't that a familiar... voice? In her head...? That's odd... And a little invasive and perhaps she would have cut things out right then, but that soprano is definitely the sound of... and it's, well. Nearly identical to her own. Perhaps a slight bit older, but... ]

Kairi..

[ She thinks it before she really... realizes she does. But then her focus shifts, the "tone" of her thoughts becoming more distinct. ]

The last thing I remember- is fighting the Organization. Only they weren't..? But you're right- they were being led by Xehanort. I'm not sure why I forgot. [ Actually, it's kind of disconcerting that she would have to be reminded like this. ]

[gimmiemyflower]

[It's pretty weird hearing what sounds a lot like her own voice back in her head as well. It's just different enough to distinguish it, though...and also just distinct enough to know it's not Namine.]

Xion...

[But she sounds even more unsure than she does.] You forgot that battle?

[memoryreprieved]

When I first woke up here... but things are coming back now. [ Which she is okay with. The last thing she needs is another thing she doesn't know slapping her in the face later, okay? But right now, she's struggling along to keep her thoughts settled and forward. ]

Me and Roxas... I remember we were on the islands. And Axel had split off from us. But then something happened and we were swallowed up by the darkness. I guess... everyone was.

[keepingthebeat]

[Well, that's certainly an odd thing to have popping into their heads. But given the whole place is strange, maybe it's just par for the course.

Of course, even mind to mind they still answer the only way they know how - it's not words Kairi gets back, but music. Music that seems to tell a story. The last they'd seen was the bright light of the portal fading away and then... darkness.]

[gimmiemyflower]

[This was not at all a response she'd been expecting. Kairi is confused by it for a moment, almost wondering if the music is coming from somewhere else, only to finally realize that it's someone. And strangely, she can still understand what it means.]

What sort of portal? And...who are you?

[keepingthebeat]

[The second question is easier to answer, and so it's the one they answer first, as the music offers up that they're the guys who keep the beat going and make the music happen. There is unfortunately, no actual names to go with it, but it's more than she might have had before.

The portal, on the other hand, is harder to explain and there's the musical equivalent of a considering pause before they begin to speak up. It's still hard to explain, but the music speaks of a bright, bright light high above the Grid. A light that's only there when a path is open between the User world and the Grid.]

[afterthemoon]

I...

[He starts saying something, but clams up. Not sure if he should even be talking to Kairi.]

[gimmiemyflower]

[That almost sounds like someone, but she can't tell who.]

...What?

[afterthemoon]

There was light... not darkness.

[notquiteanobody]

[ Roxas can't help but to grumble a little. He'd been fine with people he knew couldn't talk doing this talking directly into his head trick, he was less fine with people he knew could speak just fine doing this. It reminded him far too much of his time in the simulated Twilight Town... DiZ really knew how to mangle whatever he had for a heart.

It takes a moment, but a jog of his memories remind him of the voice's owner. And while he's still not thrilled with the whole of all of it, he at opts that Kairi didn't know what tends to get on his nerves.

Remembering how he spoke to the small platypus, he tries thinking really 'loudly' to pass along his thoughts]

I can't remember if I made it over to that fight... I think I was still on the way with my friends when the darkness came.

I don't think I was there because when I woke up here, my first thought was complaining that Sora didn't wait for us.

[gimmiemyflower]

Okay...it feels like a lot of us are around that same point.

[If she didn't know before that this sort of thing got on his nerves, she has an idea of it now, and feels pretty bad about it.]

Um, I'm really sorry if this surprised you...I was just trying to reach everyone.

[notquiteanobody]

[ Mentally he chides himself. He thought he'd been getting better about trying to just let his 'loud' thoughts do the talking. But either Kairi was better at listening than he was at being quiet or maybe he just wasn't as good at it as he'd hoped. ]

It's okay. It's not a bad idea, really.

...

Just some bad memories, you know?

[figment_of_imagination]

[Darkness. Yes, that was familiar. Figment doesn't find the whole voice-in-the-head all that peculiar, though he has to take a few minutes to stop trying to look around to find the source. Still, Figment doesn't answer right away. He knows part of his answer, of course, but the rest... Well. He wants to give the nice sounding girl the truest response that he can!]

Hi there! [he's transferring along at last] I'm Figment! I was collecting ideas! Fishes and seashells, swimming in the sand! But then it got very dark, yes. So very, very dark. [If he tries to put a real location to where he was though, it's still just a blur. He doesn't let it bother him.]

[gimmiemyflower]

[Kairi doesn't recognize the person at all, but there's something about him that sounds kind and childlike. She had thought this darkness just affected the people she knew, but it seems like it went way beyond that.]

Hi, Figment. What were you collecting ideas for?

You didn't see what brought the darkness or anything?

[figment_of_imagination]

Oh! Oh! So we could use those ideas to inspire new ideas!

[Figment sounds very joyful about his job.]

But darkness... no, I don't know. I think that maybe... [He trails off, but due to the weirdness of their minds being... whatever they were, the thought continues without his meaning.] ...I think he would know.

[blitzdream]

[ What the? ]

Whoa! Kairi!?

[ Guess he shouldn't be surprised to know she's around here, too. But... he hadn't exactly expected to hear her out of the blue like that. That's a little bit weird. But... really no weirder than what Riku just explained to him not too long ago, admittedly. ]

[gimmiemyflower]

[Kairi does recognize that voice, although it feels like forever since she's seen or talked to one of her childhood friends.]

Tidus!

Are you all right?

[blitzdream]

[ Well, Kairi, maybe if you had stopped acting like you were too cool and grown up for the play islands, we would still be brodacious, okay? ]

I think so, but how the heck are you in my head like this? Is this something else you guys forgot to tell me? Because that's totally not cool!

[ Seriously, telepathy is awesome. (Psst. Tidus, you're doing it, too, right now.) ]

[salvagedlight]

[Unlike a lot of others, this one isn't so surprised by this method of communication. He's used it himself, after all, if rarely - only when Sora was so deep inside his own heart that they could link like that. But now they were all on that level.]

I remember Vanitas... and then being engulfed again.

[gimmiemyflower]

[She's relieved to see Ven here again, if only to have someone else around who's been here before and has some idea of what comes of it. His last memories are distressing, though.]

I remember he was there, too... [Then comes another thought; one she doesn't like.] You don't know if he's here too, is he?

[salvagedlight]

[He's been here a little too much in his opinion. Don't get him wrong, if he had to spend over a decade in someone else's heart, Sora's the best choice, but still - he'd rather be on his own two feet.]

I haven't seen him yet - but I don't know if that means he isn't here or if he's just waiting. If he goes after anyone, though, it'll be me.

[townandcastle]

[Things were different. The world could sense that much. He was starting to get a better sense for things which was strange and now it seemed he could hear a voice. The voice of a girl named Kairi. Well, she wasn't an inhabitant of his world, but he was filled with people that helped others and that had rubbed off on him as well.

He wasn't sure he could even respond at this point, but he'd like to try. All these new experiences meant he could make friends, right? And that was one of the first things he had learned as a world was that friends were very important.

And so Kairi might catch an unfamiliar voice of a young boy.]

Haha. Gosh, this is a new one. Hello Kairi. I remember a darkness too, which is weird because usually I don't see a lot of darkness around me, at least, not in a long while.

[gimmiemyflower]

[She catches on to another voice, but doesn't quite recognize who it is. Is this someone else that Sora met, or another stranger?]

Um, hello! Who are you, though, and where were you that you don't usually see a lot of darkness?

[ttlynotanagent]

[Perry perked up at the sound of a new voice. It was a girl this time. By this point he'd gotten at least slightly used to the idea of communicating view telepathy or heart speak or whatever you wanted to call this. So, it didn't disturb him really.]

Hello, Kairi. I'm Perry the Platypus. I don't think we've met, but I haven't met a lot of people that seem to be popping up.

I was in Disney Town when this all happened. It was a pretty normal day from what I remember, but then there was all this darkness. I hope I haven't let people down again.

[gimmiemyflower]

[And there's another new voice, although this one sounds a bit odd. Definitely not one she's heard before.]

Hi, Perry. It does sound like there's people here that we've never seen before.

[She works to sound more encouraging.] I'm sure you haven't! It looks like this happened to everyone, no matter what they were doing.