vatheon | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who: Xion and whoever else finds her
Where: The ferris wheel
When: late afternoon/evening
What: Xion's just come across Caden's body, shock ensues
Style: I'll match whatever
Status: Open

After the ordeal that was yesterday's evening outing, Xion decides to head in the opposite direction, hoping for something maybe a bit less eventful. When she came across the carnival it seemed like a great place to kill a few hours, even if she was alone. Carnival rides and games are something she hasn't tried before, and Xion makes a mental note to ask her friends to come with her next time.

The carnival provides the exact kind of distraction Xion was looking for, at least until she comes upon the ferris wheel. It doesn't take her long to notice what's wrong.

She doesn't know whose body it is strung up, or who would be so cruel as to put it there in the first place. Regardless, she's at a loss for what to do now that she's found him.

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The carnival is not Squall's assigned quadrant. In fact, he hardly ever comes this way at all. But ever since Selphie's departure from the bubble, he's found himself drawn more and more to places that remind him of her. The cake shop that she brought him to on his first day, the chocobo farm where she worked, and now he was in the amusement park quadrant, simply wandering around the grounds.

The rides and attractions do nothing to make him feel better, but he supposes that just looking at them doesn't exactly work.

When Squall first spots the girl just standing there, he doesn't give her a second thought. But as he draws closer, he can tell that she's staring at something, clearly shaken. He follows her gaze and...

...what the hell!? He's going to have to tell the rest of the Defense Force about this. But first, he better make sure that girl is okay.

"Hey. You alright?"

It occurs to her that she needs to do something, even if it's just as simple as notifying someone over the network, but her stalled thoughts are interrupted when she hears him speak.It takes her a second to realize he's addressing her, but when she does the reaction is instantaneous.

"Nevermind me! There's someone- somebody's..." she takes a breath to calm herself, "Someone's hung a body off the ferris wheel."

She points upward to where she was looking before, unaware he's already noticed the issue. Conventional death is something she's not dealt with before, and she hopes this stranger knows better than her.

Were this any other kind of situation, he would make some kind of sarcastic remark. But this poor girl is freaking out and while he's never enjoyed a proper civilian life, he knows and understands why a person would react this way. "I'm with the Defense Force. We'll take care of this."

It's not normally in Squall's nature to touch other people, but he puts a hand on Xion's shoulder, hopefully this will help her calm down a little bit.

She's relieved to hear he's in some position to handle it. The Defense Force certainly sounds like the right group to, anyway.

"That's good. I doubt I would have been much use on my own."

Normally she'd feel rather uncomfortable with a stranger touching her, but he seems familiar enough to her she finds she doesn't mind. It's a question she'll save for later though, still preoccupied with the matter at hand.

"Why would anyone do that?"

Why would anyone do what? Kill a person or hang them up like some kind of morbid decoration. Somehow, Squall doesn't think it matters what she's referring to.

"I don't know," he answers before taking out his SFC and leaving messages for Minato and Serph. "Do you need to sit down?"

She doesn't know what she was expecting with that question, and it's honestly one she isn't sure she wants answered. She pulls her hood in around her face before responding.

"No, I think I'll be fine. I was just surprised is all..."

Xion feels more out of place now than anything. There won't be anything for her to do until they get the poor soul down.

She's pretty brave, he has to admit. This isn't just any dead body, it's one that was put on display like an ornament. Even some of the trained students at Garden would find it unsettling.

He doesn't know how they'll get that body down, and he doesn't want to do anything without consulting someone else either, so all he can do is wait.

But for now, he's going to wonder how that body got up there.

Xion's seen quite a few things in her short existence, but a body on public display hasn't been one of them. To say it has left it's mark would be a true statement, and she's silent for a while reflecting on it. She's faced the finality of death herself, but she can't understand why anyone would be so cruel as to show off their crime in such a way. It's just not a concept Xion's ever had any kind of exposure to.

She's going in circles trying to muddle it out, so she turns to Squall instead. Her tone is hesitant due to her thoughts.

"You sound like you've dealt with this kind of thing before."

Ha. Ha ha. There isn't anything else for him to do, so he'll talk to her.

"I've seen a lot of dead bodies." One does not become an elite mercenary without seeing a few corpses in their lifetime. Hell, many of those dead bodies fell by his own hand. But he never killed out of sport. "And a couple months ago, some messed up people propped a dead nurse up on top of the coral."

"So things like this have happened here before?"

And just as she was getting a good opinion of the place. She isn't sure whether to ask him if most of those bodies he's seen were from here or his home, but that's just another question she doesn't know if she wants answered.

"Unfortunately, yes. Rarely, if that makes it any better."

Which it doesn't. But as nice as the idea of a world where everyone gets along and lives peacefully is, Squall doesn't believe in those ideals. Nice to think about, but it's not possible.

"Two months ago, some locals thought it would be funny to kill a nurse and prop her up on the coral."

Instead of his usual leisurely walk, Serph had run to the Amusement Park, and it's not long until he spots Squall. He sees an unfamiliar girl with Squall, though. The person who found the body, perhaps? Speaking of which, where is it? He expects it to be somewhere nearby on the ground or something.

He approaches and gives both a nod in greeting. Since he remembers how people had been during the April Fool's murder, he asks, "Are you two alright?"

"Nowhere is perfect I guess."

Her response is a bit forlorn. Xion doesn't have time to dwell on it however before another stranger approaches. She can only assume it's another of the Defense Force.

She answers the newcomer with a small, "I'll be fine."

First, on pure instinct alone, Squall starts to give the SeeD salute, but catches himself and stops. Instead, he nods back to Serph because that's how military protagonists roll. "Serph." Wasting no time, he gestures in the direction of the corpse. "It's over there."

Way over there.

Serph gives the girl a nod in acknowledgement, though she doesn't sound like she'll be fine just yet, before following the direction of Squall's gesture. He looks up.

... And up...

...... That looks really troublesome to get down, especially on foot. Alright.

Serph turns his attention to the other two. "I'll have Cielo bring the body to the clinic for an autopsy." To Squall, he says, "Take her somewhere else." After a pause, he adds, "The weather's nice at the beach."

Actually it isn't; it's cold up on the island. But Serph has a warped idea of 'nice weather'.

He's making a mental note to speak to the girl another day, when there aren't dead people ruining the conversation.

Edited 2012-06-03 07:05 (UTC)

She's far from fine at the moment, but it's what she'll keep telling herself to keep from feeling completely useless in this situation.

As she listens, she raises an eyebrow at the word beach. She hasn't made her way to the island yet and has been hesitant to use the elevator not knowing where it led.

Regardless of that, Xion looks between the two, unsure of what to say. She's obviously going to be more helpful out of the way than anything.

It's not that Squall finds the idea of handling dead bodies appealing in any way but...Serph. Really? You want him to take her to the beach and help her get her mind off this? He's not you, Serph, he doesn't have your uncanny innate ability to socialize with people.

Sigh, fine. He turns to Xion.

"You want to go to the beach?"

Shut up, Squall. You can handle a little socialisation. Serph believes in you!

That said, Serph just gives both of them a nod in farewell and starts walking towards the Ferris wheel.

Xion stands and watches him go before turning to Squall.

"I didn't know we had one."

There's an encouraging hint of curiosity in her voice. She doesn't know if it's anything like the beaches on Destiny Islands, but as odd as she thinks it is it might be what she needs right now.

"I'll take you then." Even if she didn't want to, he'd have to drag her somewhere. The beach is as good a place as any. He motions for Xion to follow him as he heads towards the exit of the amusement park.

And follow she does. A silence settles in as she goes, and she's left with only her own thoughts to focus on. Not wanting to dwell on the morbidity of the murder, although she's certain it will come up again later, the only thing she can come up with is that niggling feeling of familiarity she got from Squall when he arrived.

Voicing it makes her nervous however. She's certain she's never met him before, and if she isn't remembering him from any of her own memories it can only mean one thing.

So after what may or may not have been Xion absentmindedly staring him down while she works this all out in her head, she looks away briefly before simply asking, "Is the beach nice?"

"It's okay I guess," Squall answers. He rarely goes up to the island himself and it's been a while since he was last on the surface. Back in his world, he lived somewhere that was just a short distance away from the shore, so seeing the ocean was a common occurrence for him.

Reaching the elevator, he asks the Station Master to give them a lift. Conversation. Conversation, UH.

"Do you like beaches?"

"I do. I've got a lot of fond memories of one back home."

Nevermind most of those memories aren't hers.

Following him onto the elevator, Xion notices the awkward silence and isn't sure how to break it. Her companion is clearly not much if a conversationalist, and frankly, Xion's not in the right mind to try an fix that either.

What does he say now? 'Hope this one lives up to your expectations?' No, that sounds both stupid and sarcastic. He's trying. He really is. As a leader, he needs to know how to communicate with people.

Communication is hard.

"I'm Squall, by the way," he says before the elevator doors open. Yes, introductions are always a nice place to start.

Except he probably should have said that first.

Communication is hard.

"I'm Xion. It's nice to meet you."

Introductions are easy,even out of order. It's not like she's paying much attention to typical social courtesies anyway.

"...you don't have to do this often, do you?"

Despite how meekly she asks, the bluntness of the question leaves her internally cringing as soon as she says it.

He doesn't mind the bluntless. He's a social failure and he knows it.

"You're right, I don't," he replies. "I'm not used to this kind of thing."

The beach is a little cold - Serph, this is not nice beach weather - but his jacket does a fine job of keeping him warm.

"So what do you think of this beach?"

She looks over the shore, wrapping her arms around herself to keep out the chill. her coat does a fine enough job of keeping her warm, but she certainly wasn't expecting a cold beach.

"It's great, but I think your friend has a weird idea of 'nice weather.'"

"He has lots of weird ideas." Of course, Squall knows the reason why, but they're not here to talk about Serph and how strange he is. He looks out to the rolling waves. Even on a cold day, it's kind of nice. He supposes. "There's a beach near where I lived in my world."

"Was it anything like this?"

The one she remembers was always sunny and warm. Even with this one being as different as it is, the rolling waves are just as relaxing.

"No, it was always infested with monsters."

Which made it a great training ground, but hardly suited for relaxing.

"Monsters?"

Xion wants to guess there's some kind of story behind that.

"Just the local wildlife," he answered. If it weren't for the monsters, it would actually be a nice place for people to relax. Instead, it was a place for students to hone their skills. "There's plenty of dangerous creatures where I come from."

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BUSTS IN!!

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AND BUSTS OUT! Have fun on the cold beach, kids :>

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