Altered Tundra

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

It’s because you have a ship. Duh.

Or at least that’s what Kai wanted to say to her, but he decided against it. She seemed to be angry with him as it was. If he were to give her yet another reason to berate and act as if he was completely in the wrong, then Kai wouldn’t get away with anything or be able to have any fun. He didn’t really understand what crawled up her butt, though. What was her problem with how Kai was? Aira never had any problem with it. She actually encouraged it instead of judging and trying to change him. Granted, there weren’t any life or death circumstances when they had grown up in Twilight Town, but there were still some things that could’ve gotten them into some trouble, but Aira never once berated Kai.

It was safe to say that Kai wasn’t exactly in the best of moods. He wasn’t about to let her ruin his good vibe, but he also found himself curious about certain things. He didn’t do much. The only thing that he did was push a button and make the ship experience some serious speed. Was it uncomfortable for them? Yeah, it was, but Kai found it exhilarating. The uncertainty of not making it really made him feel alive. Better to live fast than not to live at all. But perhaps Kai was thinking too much about what he wanted and not enough about what Cielle was feeling. Truth be told, he didn’t know her that well. The only thing he knew was that she was looked after by Leon and the others in Traverse Town. Anything else was a mystery to him.

So, finally, after about a solid minute or two of not talking or even looking Cielle’s way, Kai would do just that, though this time he had the facial expression of someone confused and who felt guilty. “I guess we really don’t know each other that well. I keep thinking that, because you resemble Aira, that you would be okay with what I’m used to. I guess I need to remind myself that you two aren’t the same.” In a rare moment, Kai had admitted that he was wrong in assuming something about Cielle. “So, perhaps you can explain that to me and explain what your point of view is.”

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

When Kai had asked all of those questions, he wasn't sure what to expect from Cielle. He wasn't certain if she was going to respond to every question or feel lost in the quantity he had asked. Frankly, it was amazing that she had answered just about every single one he had asked her. And it was interesting to him knowing some of the information and fun facts that she told him. The most interesting answers she told him, at least from where Kai was sitting, was about The Darkness and that Despa person. She let it slip that they were two of four Keybladers, as it were. Kai's first thought was to inquire further about that.

"I'm not so sure what that means, but it sounds to me we need to find some traveling companions," Kai told her, nodding to himself. He gave her a curious glance. And as Kai did look at her, he thought about something. "So, if your Keyblade is called Star Seeker, is that why you're so touchy about me being touchy with these buttons?"

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

When the brief silence was broken by Cielle, Kai, who still had a feeling of anxiety from her previous outburst that was caused by his own actions. His hands were on his thighs and he was sitting in a perfect, ninety-degree angle. What Cielle had said previously stuck to him, or rather, it was the way she said it that made an impression him. If anything, Kai had the feeling of tyranny grilled into him. He was her guest and this was her ship. Regardless of anything, Kai had to respect the way she had everything from the buttons to the way the seats were aligned to an artform. She couldn’t have some newcomer ruining it.

As Kai returned her gaze, carefully might one add, he thought about it. Did he have any questions? Okay, that was a dumb thing to ask himself. He had a lot of questions, but where to start?

Kai was once again silent for almost a full minute until he wasn’t. “These things called Gummi, what are they? And how exactly are these ships different than others? Are there more out there? What world did you come from? Why is that Despa girl after you? Oh and do you know if there are any worlds out there that sell Berry Jelly Dogs? Oh! And what about that Leon guy? Does he not have any emotions? Or is he just always stoic like that? What’s a Keyhole? What do you call your Keyblade?” Kai asked without pause.

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

Kai simply remained completely still and quiet for the remainder of the trip. He felt like if he said anything or even moved a single finger to itch his face, she would explode at him, in fear that scratching his nose might set off the nasal alarms. Kai didn’t think someone could be so rigid. He never met anyone like that in his fourteen years of being alive. Though it was plenty obvious to Kai that she resembled Aira a great deal and was likely her twin sister (the jury was still out on that one though), Kai knew one thing to be true.

They were not alike one bit. Where Aira was kind and understanding and sweet, Cielle seemed to be the inverse. While it was true that she had some kindness about her, this didn’t apply to some of the things that Kai himself was used to getting away with. Cielle was far too strict and on-edge. She should lighten up a bit. “Man where’s Alexander with his Berry Jelly Dog when you need it.”

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

In hindsight, pushing that particular button wasn’t a good idea. Kai had no idea that was the maximum overdrive button. Had he been in the know of that specific knowledge, he would’ve never pressed the shiny, red button, because he wasn’t prepared for the sheer speed of the ship. This was noted in the amount of terrified screaming that both Kai and Cielle seemed to unleash in unison, likely not even realizing that they were doing it at the same time. At some point, however, Cielle managed to cancel the turbo boost and the ship had soon returned to its normal speed, though not without it jerking both of the ship's occupants against the glass. At the angle Kai was at, he could see they were nearing a world that appeared to be blue and silver in color.

Whatever awaited them there, however, would have to wait. Kai saw Cielle’s eyes shoot him a nasty glare. She didn’t seem happy with him at the moment. When Cielle had stood up as sudden and as fiercely as she did, Kai immediately put his hands up in the air, signaling his surrender to her impending rage. “I didn’t hear you.” That was Kai’s only response to her previous order not to press any buttons. In his defense, he was too busy deciding what button to push to listen to what she had to say.

Thoughts on pre-made characters/roles?

I think it's a neat idea. Though it might seem a tad controlling to some players, others, like me, look at it like answering a casting call. I mean, in essence, we do audition for RPs with our own characters, so these seem like the reverse of that. Instead of us auditioning with our characters for the RP, we are auditioning our writing skillset for characters/roles already made for us. That, in itself, is highly interesting to me.

I considered doing it myself for one of the games I have GM'd in the past. Maybe I'll do it in a future one.

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

Too late.

Kai’s curious, little fingers had reached out before Cielle had a chance to stop him. The button in particular that Kai seemed to focus on was the green button on the top row closest to where Kai sat. As it would turn out, touching the button wasn’t so bad. It seemed to have resulted in a message to Cielle from Cielle herself.

“Oh?” Kai mused curiously, looking over to Cielle curiously, “daily reminders are important. I used to give them to myself a lot, though it was mostly to remember to wax my surfboard--” And then suddenly Kai was overcome with a sudden, bummer-like feeling. He wouldn’t ever get to surf on the beaches of Sunset Terrace again because it was now lost to darkness. Kai leaned forward, accidentally pushing another button. This one, however, was not a self-reminder that was in Cielle’s voice. It was the turbo booster button. And before either of them knew it, the Kingdom Gummi Ship was going full-speed ahead.

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

Something that Kai had to admit to himself was the surprise of just how large the Gummi Ship actually was. He didn’t doubt it, but he also never had seen a spaceship in person. The experience of just seeing it had thrown him for a loop. Thankfully, Cielle was quite patient with him. After gawking at it and somewhat stuttering on his words, he managed to collect himself enough to get into the cockpit (as Cielle called it). He didn’t understand how something that seemed so compact could take off in such a blur. Kai nearly lost his lunch when it left the docks and..

“This is Amazing!!”

That was all Kai could muster when he saw--when he saw--outer space. He didn’t know how to process it all. A kid from Twilight Town never dared to dream that, someday, he’d be able to leave his town. He had no idea other worlds that were just as expansive and rich with their own civilization existed at the same time his life did.

It was just...overwhelming.

Kai spun around in his seat, feeling like he could do this all day, though he looked at the array of buttons. “There’s so many!”

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

Kai watched Cielle’s movements closely, seeing her not only summon her Keyblade, which he just now realized was a totally different one that he had. Unlike his, which was a longer, mono-colored Keyblade, hers was bright and patterns of a night sky along with it. Kai also noticed the top of the blade was shaped like a moon and had a star in the center. It was almost as if it sought out the stars for the light. Whoa, where did that come from? Kai shook his head, bringing himself back to planet Traverse as Cielle did another action.

“What is that?” Kai muttered to himself, seeing a bright light come from Cielle’s Keyblade. The light then surrounded her as he felt a gust of wind pass through, revealing itself around Cielle’s person.

It wasn’t an intense wind that had been created, but it was enough to cause Kai’s hair to be blown back from over his eyes. Though, he didn’t notice that. His focus was on the barrier surrounding Cielle and how it spoke to him. He couldn’t really explain it, honestly, but Kai felt drawn to this wind. Almost as if it was meant for him and Cielle was just the middle woman. And then she told Kai to try. This made Kai jerk his stance a bit, giving Cielle a raised-eyebrow glance. He didn’t know how he was supposed to go about it. Would he simply have to call the name of the spell out?

Don’t overthink it. Just do what feels natural.

Kai couldn’t explain why those words popped into his mind, but they felt familiar.

“Okay..”

Kai took a few steps back, glancing over to Cielle. She seemed supportive of his endeavor. He found that comforting, at least. He then faced forward, holding his hand out in front of him., summoning his Keyblade. As he felt a strange pass through him, Kai did just as she told him to do. With the determination of a furious storm, Kai’s mouth uttered the single word.

“Aero!”

At first, nothing happened. Kai wasn’t sure what he did wrong. Maybe he didn’t pronounce it correctly? Or perhaps he didn’t have it in him. Just as he was about to give up, Kai felt something inside him pull for the surface. This sensation felt like a cool breeze passing through him, his entire body was pushed back about one or two feet, throwing Kai off his balance. In just a few seconds, Kai heard the whisperings of the wind suddenly get extremely loud. And close. He didn’t know what was happening. And then Kai saw the look of pride on Cielle’s face. It was only then that Kai looked forward. It was faint, but he saw the sight of an ever-rotating wind barrier around him. He went out to touch it.

That was a mistake.

“Ow!”

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

Kai had done as she asked. Though he had several questions after every bit of information she told him, he wanted to hear the entire story before he would ask her any sort of follow-up questions. Truth be told, as she had told him everything, he wasn't sure what to ask or what to say first. He had so many questions about — well, everything. He had questions about this mysterious group known as The Darkness. He had questions about what their plans were. He wanted to know if they were after him simply because he was one of these 'Keys', or if there was a grander scheme of things that they seemed to be after. Kai wanted to know why they felt the need to plunge worlds into darkness. Then, on the menetion of these things called Keyholes, Kai wanted to know what they were, too. Just so many questions Kai had and so little time to ask them. Then Cielle simply asked him one question that put all others to rest.

Do you want to continue?

Kai thought about it for a long, hard minute. This was an important thing to consider. The danger was likely going to be higher than it had been. There was no guarantee that Kai wouldn't face additional danger - a danger that exceeded the sort here in Traverse Town. If he really wanted to continue, Kai would have to put that into his mind that, if he went forward with everything and wanted to continue, he acknowledged that he'd be putting himself into more dangerous situations.

"I.." Kai began to speak, then he stopped himself. Like before, it seemed like his mind was far ahead of his mouth because the sight of Aira came to him. The specific sight was her being taken by this Despa."I only have one question. When do we leave?"