Video Game: Kingdom Hearts SOS: The Road To Light

Beuce looked on as the castle gates appeared to be open for a coronation ceremony. Well, that was their way in at least, but it hardly helped them talk to the two girls. Beuce shook his head at AJ's proposal that they find out what the Duke was up to. "I guess we could keep tabs on him just to be safe, but I doubt he could hurt a fly if he wanted to. Still though, you're right about us not exactly blending in." Ignis then chimed in hesitantly with her idea about dressing up. Beuce gave a slight chuckle at her pleading not to make her wear a dress, but decided not to tease her about it too much. "Well, unless you can turn back into Raisor at will, I don't see another option. I'm not a fan of stuffy clothes either, but it's the easiest way to blend in. Come on lets hit the town quickly and try to find something we can wear. We'll pick you out something pretty." Beuce said, changing directions and heading toward the closest thing he could assume to be shops. ​

 

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The first thing ignis had said when they left was, 'He does realize that we can all hear him as we walk by, right?' "Perhaps not but if he is this open maybe we can find out what he is up to. What secrets could he possible find out?" Ignis continued, 'Well, there's only one way to get in I can think of, and I really hope you guys can think of something else.' She let out a giant sigh and sunk down a bit, feeling the weight of the words she was about to say. 'We're gonna have to dress up and sneak into this coronation ceremony...' He did not think it would be that easy but what did he know? Ignis then pleaded with them 'Please tell me you have a better idea! I don't want to wear a dress! I can't stand them!' "I do not see much of a option." This was when Beuce spoke up and said, 'I guess we could keep tabs on him just to be safe, but I doubt he could hurt a fly if he wanted to. Still though, you're right about us not exactly blending in.' "I think that it would be better to know what he is up to then let him do what ever." He thought for a moment. Then said, "It reminds me of my homeworld in a way I had to be watching over my shoulder." 'Come on lets hit the town quickly and try to find something we can wear. We'll pick you out something pretty.' Beuce said, changing directions and heading toward the closest thing he could assume to be shops. He did not have much choice but to follow. On the way he thought it might be best to get to know Beuce some more. That and he had some questions. "So on the boat you were looking at a large tome. Where did you get it and was so interesting about it?" Thinking some more something came to mind about dressing up. "So we have to find a shop and somehow get dress clothes but we have no way to pay for them. It is not like a way to pay is going to flow our way, although things seem to happen and, who knows maybe a way to pay for the dress clothes will just show up."

Ooc: shut up achievement
AJ: 2
Beuce: 1
Ignis: 1

 

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Ignis continued to pout as Beuce made fun of her and having to wear a dress. She wanted to knock him around for making fun, and it didn't help anything with him saying he didn't like dressing up either. She had no interest in playing dress up for anything, and there was a reason that she skipped out on pretty much all the parties held back in her world; at least while she was still well known and her home wasn't a pile of rubble.

"You can joke about it all you want, I don't like dresses or parties or anything fancy like that." She kicked her feet up a little as she continued to walk. "It's not like I don't like dresses because I've worn them either, I just can't stand how they look and would keep me from being ready for any fight. They're a nuisance, and anyone who spends so much time worrying about clothes like needs to get a new hobby."

She continued to look around, wondering where they were going to find clothes. The few times she was forced, and by that, blackmailed, into going to parties by her father, she went in her normal everyday clothes and stayed in the corner away from everything. All people seemed to talk about were themselves and how well they were doing. And if she were to come across that Duke at the party while dressed up, she would die of embarrassment. The guy was weird enough, but it just made her think of all the weird people that try to take advantage of others for their own reasons. Just the thought of it made her face flush red.

"No no no no no no! If I wear a dress and let people see me in it, it'll ruin my image!" She got up behind AJ and Beuce and gave of the scariest aura she could muster. "Realize that if we do this, you are not to speak to anyone else about it, understand!? Or you're going to suffer!"

 

Nothing really happened much during their long boat ride. Everyone seemed content to keep to themselves and, he assumed, wallow in horribly depressing thoughts. Not that he wasn't having a few horribly depressing thoughts of his own of course. They all had a lot to think about, and that was fine. It was the prospect of being alone with such thoughts for too long that bothered him. He shivered as he recalled his primary example of that particular kind of psychological trauma.

As they cut through the ocean waves toward their destination, Kaida would carve from time to time as the others were more content to stare out at the waves or perhaps brood with their eyes shut. His companions would only look at each other when another wasn't looking, and the various amounts of anger, guilt, and pity were... worrisome. It was quite clear to him that his teammates would need his support on this. He had stayed relatively clear of his companions affairs up until this point but considering just how similar a case he held within the memories of his past life, he couldn't sit back and do nothing while Kaida and Aux suffered.

Ananta he would just have to support because she was Ananta, who was a bit too naive and needed to just cool her jets sometimes. Something she proved quickly when she jumped in front of Kaida and began a rather provocative interrogation of the locals. He sighed as he stepped out of the boat just before Stratos, who... may have been stable enough to be on the support with him? Whatever the case with him at the moment, Steel chose to analyze the situation at hand. The green creature seemed to think they were locals, and the fact that four out of their group of five looked like normal humans meant that such was the general populace of this world. The two out of place were worried about being spotted, so... maybe it was best to get information out of them. Since he himself wasn't all that... standard in appearance, he came forward with a question designed to be as broad and ambiguous as it was misleading. He turned to the green one, hoping to divert attention away from Ananta's statement as he addressed him with:

"Excuse me, sir? Can you tell me where we've landed?"

Landed could mean so many different things after all.

 

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Kel may not have had any idea who this Thomas person was, but he didn't appreciate someone who looked like that saw that he was weaker than someone. His other remark didn't fly well with Luna and presumably Aislinn either. Slowly Kel was starting to feel glad that he wasn't from this 'England' place. If the people there were anything like Ratcliffe then it was something he could live without.

"You really do like nature Luna." An idle comment for sure, but it would help pass the time unless something happened.

 

Luna looked over to Aislinn as she placed her hand on her shoulder. She nodded her head as she walked off with the other three. She then looked at Kel as he spoke to her. "You really do like nature Luna." She scratched her arm as she giggled awkwardly in response. She looked up at the tall trees that were around them. "Well....I've been around nature for a big chunk of my life. Sometimes, my parents would take me and my brother camping. Other times, I would be out here for either training or just be there just to appreciate it. It makes me appreciate everything Mother Nature does for us. It gives us places like this. It makes me want to protect places such as these woods, you know?" She clasped her hands together behind her as she smiled kindly.

Aislinn had then asked John Smith as he was preparing for their departure. "So what exactly are we looking for, what are these savages that you speak of? You mistook us for them so they must be at least somewhat similar to you and I. Are they dangerous? Why are you so worried about them?" Luna was also curious about that as well. Just what were these 'savages'? Were they as bad he described them? Surely they were wrong about it. The girl wanted to keep an open mind about this. She didn't want to judge anything or anyone too soon.

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Beuce looked to AJ as he asked about the tome he was reading. It they were all going to go after the guardians at some point, so there wasn't really any reason to hide it from him. Although, with all these people in the crowd, it could make them stand out if they were talking about magic and other worlds. "I'll tell you later. We're not in the right crowd for that kind of discussion, if you catch my drift." Afterwards he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pouch lined with grey scales. The container in which he kept his Munny. "Wait do you not have munny? I thought we all did. Most places I've seen accept this as currency, despite being disconnected. It's kind of odd, come to think of it." He sorted through it and counted it up. A little over 6,000 all in all. That should be more than enough to cover whatever clothing they were buying. Ignis seemed to be growing increasingly flustered, which only drove the urge to tease her. Beuce didn't say anything in response but gave a coy grin. he brought his hand up to his mouth and made a locking motion, before throwing away the imaginary key. "Well, I'll need something with gloves. This kinda stands out." He knocked on the glass arm with his left hand, causing a melodic resonant sound. Far from what you would expect from typical glass.

AJ: 2
Ignis: 2
Beuce: 2​

 

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The past few days had been anything other than pleasant. The ride was long, it was expansive and it didn't seem to have any real end in sight. They were merely on a small boat, that barely managed to fit the five of them, on the way to god knows where. There was nothing to see, nothing to mark their location and nothing to tell them where they were. They started on a broken beach, setting sail into an ever expanding ocean. And they continued to move across this ocean, slowly but steadily. There were no fish or birds to see, merely an endless expanse of water. The sounds of small waves and ripples as the bow was rowed and cut through the sea was one of the few sounds that the group was able to hear on their journey. The only other noise that continued to fill the air was that of the sound of knife scraping against wood. The sound coming from Kaida whittling away at a block of wood that she kept handy, in an almost obsessive manner, for the whole of the sea bound voyage. That was the only real noise that came from another person, as the rest was just a deafening silence.

No one talked for the duration of the boat ride. Stratos himself was no different, merely keeping to himself and stewing in his own thoughts. Were this any other time he would try to make small talk, crack some kind of joke or make some kind of inane observation to break the ice and get everyone talking again. But he wasn't exactly up to talking himself, and as such couldn't really force himself to bring out of the doldrums of their own thoughts. They had all experienced the same things. The same futility in their struggle against No Heart and the same loss in their friend's sacrifice. Yet, it wasn't as if he could say they all felt the same way. Stratos was used to feeling weak, used to losing someone as a result of this and had always managed to muster up the will to use this to propel himself forward. While this time was no different, it was much harder to stomach and not so simple to get over. Hikaru had been a good friend and one of the longest standing members of the SOS brigade. He wasn't the strongest or the smartest, but he was probably the friendliest of them all. He was a force that always gave his all for others, only this time literally. And while Stratos had grown exponentially stronger than his old self, it was still nothing compared to No Heart. He was simply outclassed in every respect, an no matter how much effort he could put into something right now, it would simply be batted away by the mastermind.

He did his best to try and not linger on these feelings of self loathing or loss, instead directing them to trying to figure out the others. Kaida was obviously the worst off of them all, as he could not begin to fathom the guilt or anger she probably felt in regards to the situation, only being second to Aux himself. Stratos had looked towards Kaida with glances of concern whenever he could, simply trying to figure out how to get the girl to do anything but row and whittle, but there was little he could come up with. Whenever he looked to Aux, however, he had constantly subconsciously glaring at the man. He knew that it wasn't his fault, or at least it wasn't willingly wasn't. Yet, even Stratos had a hard time accepting this. Just as he had reconciled that Aux was no longer truly their enemy, he betrayed them and killed one of their friends. He wanted to believe that Hikaru's sacrifice meant something, and that Aux wasn't going to turn on them anymore, yet no matter how much fact he had he still couldn't quell an instinctual anger towards the man.

When it came to the others, he had no idea what to make of Ananta. He never really understood the way the girl thought, always being on an almost opposite wavelength from her. Yet, in all of her strangeness, he figured she still had her heart mostly set on friendship, and figured she was probably more crushed then most at the loss of Hikaru. Steel too was someone he never really understood, but he felt more worried for him then most probably would've. He had been the sole person to actually fight back against No Heart, he had been their ray of hope in that darkest situation. Yet, even that wasn't enough to save them. Stratos knew how it felt to be powerless, but he wasn't sure if Steel did as he always seemed to have a calm and collected head on his shoulders.

Yet, in spite of all of his concern and evaluations, he still didn't speak up. The only thing he did to help was row. In fact, he did his best to row as much as he possibly could; to row until he physically couldn't. It was the only thing he could think of to lessen everyone's burden, and it certainly distracted his thoughts. And Stratos didn't want to think all that much right now.

Eventually, the rowing was brought to an end as to after what felt like an century of travel came to an end. The group had hit land, the boat lurching forward as it came to a stop across the sandy beach. This one seemed different then the one they had just left, so it was good to know that they hadn't miraculously traveled in a circle. The biggest difference, of course, were the two strange looking beings that were on the shore. Getting out of the boat, he walked over with the others as they began to speak with the strange people. While he was with Ananta's statement at first, he noted that they weren't exactly the most normal looking group either as Steel started to speak. Wait. What if this was just what the people of the world looked like? Stratos began to think about that some more, before he eventually just shook his head and said, "yeah, we're pretty lost and getting our bearings would be helpful."

 

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The next thing that Ignis had said was, 'No no no no no no! If I wear a dress and let people see me in it, it'll ruin my image!' This was odd coming from someone who not moments ago had said that anyone who spends so much time worrying about clothes like needs to get a new hobby. He wounded which one it was but said nothing. Ignis then got up behind him and Beuce and gave of the scariest aura she could muster. 'Realize that if we do this, you are not to speak to anyone else about it, understand!? Or you're going to suffer!' Was she seriously threatening them? It was not worth saying anything on tho. It did not seem like the time or place to be doing this. He let out a sigh. There were other ways to deal with things and Ignis could have just asked them not to say anything but she had to threaten them. "Look I do not like dressing up just as much as the next person. In fact I would almost rather go naked then to dress up, but that does not seem like a good idea nor appropriate." They need to get into the castle and there was no other way in getting a boat then gain friendship with the people inside. When Beuce said, 'I'll tell you later. We're not in the right crowd for that kind of discussion, if you catch my drift.' He just gave a simple nod to this as he understood where he was coming from. Then Beuce said, 'Wait do you not have munny? I thought we all did. Most places I've seen accept this as currency, despite being disconnected. It's kind of odd, come to think of it.' "I just thought there would be a local currency of each place. Look I do not know as much about other places as you do." He said 'place' because saying another world and someone over hearing it did not seem like the best idea. Beuce then something about the need with something with gloves. "From the looks of things it looked like everyone entering the castle had some sort of hand covering so if we did not we might stand out." He then continued there walk.

AJ: 3
Beuce: 2
Ignis: 2

 

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Kel listened along to Luna's story, nodding along due to somewhat understanding where she was coming from. As nice as all that sounded, it wasn't something that he could really see himself doing. Back home the nearest woods had a more 'interesting' set of residents alongside its usual group which made things dangerous. Some of the more threatening ones were the reason that they had a wall up in the first place. It made for an effective deterrent for them to have to deal with. Of course, silently listening wouldn't answer her question.

"Sounds like a cool experience, wish I could do that myself."

 

Luna looked back at Kel omce she had finished recounting some tales from home. "Sounds like a cool experience, wish I could do that myself." Luna tilted her head a bit before thinking about her next words. After a few moments, she opened her mouth. "Well, maybe this would be a good sort of opportunity to do just that! If not....well...when this is all over, I would like to you everyone else camping! It's really fun! Everyone should at least have a chance to experience it at least once!" She smiled as she looked at Kel. She started remembering some times she had with her family during their camp outs. Starting a fire, pitching up tents, making smores, and sleeping under the stars. Her smile dimmed a little at the thought of them. Her home was still in shambles. Ruins everywhere, no life to be seen or heard, especially no stars to sleep under. "Though...maybe I should wait until my home is restored at the very least....." She whispered to herself before plastering her usual smile on her face again.

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"Well, that wasn't suspicious at all." Steel muttered as Pleakley was dragged away shouting. Frankly, the alien should pipe down a bit if he was aiming to remain undetected. "Still, it didn't sound as if the 'smaller, fluffier, me' is exactly a nice guy. I recall them saying something about him using a little girl as a shield?"

He was also vaguely interested to learn that there was an alien he could readily be compared to, although that was cause for another concern entirely.

"Sounds like we can't do much more than play along for now, at least until we know more. So... how should we go about this? I mean... I've never really fit in all that well in the first place and now I can apparently pass for an alien."

 

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Kaida was not entirely sure why Ananta seemed to be on the protective end so suddenly. Did the girl think she was helpless and was not capable of her own decisions? Why would she walk in front of her like she was about to be attacked and what was she to gain from assuming that? The reason Kaida just went and waved in the first place was because their presence was already alerted and it was basically going to start out with these two aliens either speaking with them under more peaceful pretenses, or they would just become hostile immediately and attack. Either way, Kaida was prepared to confront it. And that's why it puzzled her more than made her feel comforted why Ananta walked in front of her just under the assumption it would be a hostile start. She was not going to assume the worst, maybe Ananta just was having moments back to events with No Heart. She understood. Or maybe, unbeknownst to her until the thought occurred, she looked far more out of it than she actually was. Kaida backed up from Ananta slightly only for Steel to speak up and use language that made it clear they were from another world.

It was more of a twitch reaction based on what the Order taught her, but she almost aimed to scold Steel for being so overt about it. But then she remembered when Glen used a keyblade glider in Corona and smashed into Rapunzel's tower. That was being overt about it. Steel's was just more of a subtle thing that the creatures would either pick up on, or not pick up on. She had to teach herself to stop worrying about that, especially since at this point with the order of the universe itself being so out of wack, it might not even matter if they let slip to a few people they were not from here. But she did not want to make a habit of it. Stratos jumped in along with Steel's angle which worked out very nice for them. And it turned out these aliens were not from this world... maybe? Kaida remembered a vague conversation she had with Seiza once upon a time that some worlds were more like a chain of worlds grouped together, so it was possible that there could be an awareness of "other worlds" but not quite be aware of the scale of it. Kaida remembered not getting it at the time, but now it finally made sense. She made a note in her head to bring that up to Seiza later if this world turned out to be an example of that.

The girl realized she was so distracted in her own thoughts that she did not realize they basically went through a bargaining stage for them to presumably do their dirty work in exchange for a vessel. Well, that ideally would be a ship but that was just vaguely worded enough where she realized they could turn around and do this mission and simply be rewarded with a unicycle. But Aux accepted the terms before she could even open her mouth to comment on that and the blonde just seemed to stare at the redhead with indignation for a long moment before letting out a sigh, giving up quickly on that. He could not read her thoughts and she was not exactly offering verbal support or ideas. Even now, when she could have just walked between and told them to hold on, she did not. Instead she just silently sat back and felt herself zone out again as she watched the two leave.

So they were going to go and find some sort of blue creature that they had no visual reference of other than allusions to what Steel looked like. Without knowing it, Kaida started staring at Steel with this intense look which to anyone outside of her mind probably looked very, very weird. But she was processing his appearance. She was still not used to the whole wolf thing, but she was probably more used to it than most people. She came from an academy of keyblade wielders located on a world for shelter. She trained briefly in the same class as a girl who basically had the head of a fox and a tail and no other part of her looked like a cat. She tried to remember the girl's name, it was just a passerby. There was also someone with just cat ears, which was a little odd since he also had human ears and Kaida did remember asking if they could hear out of both of them and inquired about which pair of ears they covered when they went to a concert or something. The point was that Steel was not the first person she met with animal features, and he very well may not be her last. But at this moment he was the only one in the group who was, which caused a bit of a problem.

Kaida thought it was weird blend did not seem to kick in for him here, maybe it was because of the other aliens? She had no idea. It must not have been an anomaly enough for this world to try and correct it to make it easier. Kaida clicked her tongue curiously in thought, not realizing she probably had been staring at Steel for a solid half minute now pretty intensely. The blonde then took a few steps closer to Steel and quickly roughed up the hair on his head, without even asking about it. once it was messed up she tried to make it look like bangs. Then she pulled his hood up (yes I'm assuming he has a hood) so it covered up his ears. It stuck the hood up a little bit, but didn't look that odd. Then Kaida reached into her bag and pulled out a nice pair of sunglasses she managed to pick up when shopping for clothes in Shibuya and she placed them on Steel's face so it was covering his eyes.

Kaida stepped back to look at her work a minute and kept poking at his snout before she just finally shrugged, giving up and fixing up the hair again to try and make it look somewhat like he was maybe just a scene kid that dyed his hair. Though she felt like she was failing at that.

 

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Stratos gave the two aliens a skeptical look, as they seemed to be having a very overtly shady conversation in front of them. Sighing as they left, he nodded at Steel's statement, saying, "yeah, we don't have much else we have to do here. Besides, if it turns out this weird blue dog is dangerous, then it's still our job to stop it anyway, right?" The boy was a bit on the eager side to have a mission to get to, likely having felt antsy from being cramped on the boat for the past few days. As he looked to everyone to gauge their response, his expression turned briefly concerned as Kaida hadn't really said anything but instead seemed to be staring at the others. Quickly turning his gaze back to a more general look of the group he said, "so first we should get our bearings as to where we are right? So who's ready to start exploring?"

 

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Ignis looked at her own pouch with munny that she was dragging around. It hadn't really crossed her mind about using it to buy stuff, since she hadn't actually bought anything in a proper store since joining this whole escapade. At the very least she had saved up quite a bit, but she wasn't really sure if there was an exchange rate or not when comparing munny to another world's currency. Or maybe Beuce meant they just took it as it was without any exchanging. She looked around trying to see if he couldn't find anything to wear. There wasn't anything that Ignis was even remotely interested in wearing as she looked through the windows of the buildings. The pit in her stomach kept growing as she knew eventually she'd have to take something, and not only did she not want to wear anything, she couldn't even say they looked good. They all looked stuffy and heavy, and she was ready to just break into the castle through brute force. As she kept looking, she noticed an old woman was having a hard time lifting up some bags, and she figured it wouldn't hurt to help her out while looking around. She patted Beuce on the arm and pointed in the direction of the woman, letting him know she was going to help her out.

"Excuse me miss, but do you need some help" Ignis bent down and picked up some bags, which she guessed was filled with flour or something, since it folded in as she lifted it up.

"Oh, thank you very much. I haven't been able to move as well lately do to my age, so it's very appreciated." The woman thanked Ignis as she tried to pick up another bag.

"Here, I can carry that as well," Ignis claimed as she lifted up the second bag, leaving the old lady's hands free from work. "I used to do a lot of heavy lifting back home, so it's fine with me."

Ignis followed the lady into her house and laid down the bags where they were needed. Doing labor like this almost made her smile, thinking of years past where she would help out around the house with her sister's planting. It was always an annoyance to her, but it was enjoyable helping her out just to be with her. Though it also reminded her of the smell from the fertilizer bags, and Ignis began to wipe the memory away for now, not needing to be reminded of that part of the past.

"Do you mind if I ask you question, ma'am?" She had noticed that the lady wasn't dressed up like some of the other townsfolk and found it curious. "Are you planning on going to that coronation ceremony? It seems like a bit deal around here."

"Oh no dear, I'm too old for those kinds of things. What about you? I haven't seen you around here before, so I would guess you were here for the coronation?" The old lady stared at Ignis with almost a penetrating look.

Ignis felt a little uncomfortable with the old lady's stare and averted here eyes. "Actually, me and some friends were just passing through. Our boat took us here, and it wasn't our intention, but since there was the ceremony and all, we figured why not go. The only problem is, I don't exactly have clothes to wear."

"Well, that's no good. Wait, here for a minute, I'll be right back." The woman walked upstairs and left Ignis curious as to what she was doing.

 

Ananta sighed as the two creatures walked off. Aux went ahead and agreed to something they would do for a vessel. She was all for this, seeing as she was still unable to summon her glider again. Though it was an odd request. After all, they wanted them to find some 'dog' that looked like...Steel? Ananta couldn't even imagine how there'd be more than one of him considering Steel was....pretty unique after all. She turned to see Kaida had backed off a bit during that interaction and that made Ananta sigh to herself. She wanted Kaida to understand that Ananta wasn't trying to be super protective. Though walking up to and waving at a strange creature was odd, Ananta figured the girl had seen her fair share of oddities. Sure Kaida was capable of defending herself, but Ananta wanted to show Kaida that she was all up for being there in her time of need. At the same time, Ananta understood that not everyone needed somebody to hover over them or be nearby at all times. Especially after recent events, Ananta was the last one who should be even trying to do such things. Perhaps this was just her way of trying to make amends for her mess ups. Ananta looked to Kaida and mulled over what she could do to help. She knew that Kaida was most likely not going to want to talk about things. The girl probably just needed to be left alone and to her own devices on most things. Interaction right now was crucial and Ananta honestly was trying to figure out a way to show Kaida she was there.

Kaida had walked over to Steel and mussed his fur up, trying to make him look for humanoid. She ended up giving him sunglasses and raising his hood. Ananta laughed at the sight, calming a bit before speaking. "Okay, that makes him look way better." she spoke, looking at Kaida. "Good job." She gave a thumbs up before she tapped her chin and started to think. "Kaida's on the right track, we probably need to try and blend in here. Perhaps find a shop to wear things that more closely resemble what the inhabitants wear? Or maybe I can use magic to make that happen...? It'd take a bit, though...." she spoke, touching her stone. "Honestly, my clothes are the most outlandish here next to Steel. Luckily, on my world, we didn't really need to bother with appropriate clothing. Our crystals kept us at a normal temperature. Weather changes were drastic and sudden on my world. Blazing hot one day and freezing cold the next. Heck, it could pour down rain in the morning and still be very hot and humid...like here." she looked around. Then she started to feel anxious. "S...Sorry I...I went on a tangent, I'll be quiet." she spoke, her voice lowering little by little until she was staring down at the sand.

Her hands clasped together and fidgeted as she stood there, lost in her thoughts. Going on about her world was pointless, nobody probably cared anyway. Maybe Steel would be curious, but he was her only friend right now. Well, the only good friend anyway. Kaida was on the cusp of friend while Aux was inching ever closer. Stratos was still an acquaintance or stranger to her. They'd probably been to a world, but they didn't really talk much. She couldn't remember if they'd talked before this, anyway, so Ananta figured they weren't even close to being friends. Her fingers eventually managed to remove her gloves and she moved her eyes to glance at the ring on her left hand and finger. Yet another reminder of the one man she was promised to. He gave it to her shortly before she went home the day the world had ended. It was his final gift before they were to finally be wed. It brought a smile to Ananta's face, but only for a brief moment. The smile soon faded and she put her gloves back on.

"Do we go to find clothes or not?" she asked, looking to everyone. While she had her fears, Ananta knew that she could not let them take over her. She knew she had to stand strong and look forward, try to bear the worse of it, and eventually talk to the ones she had wronged. There was really only one person she wanted to talk to the most, but she was off once again, hurt by Ananta's words. In that moment, Ananta vowed to try and show Karina she was deeply sorry for saying such things. She was way out of line and had no right to judge the girl. She just wanted a chance to listen to Karina. She wanted to ask Karina why she felt the way she did. Even if she could never truly understand the girl, Ananta wanted to show she was at least willing to try. And perhaps with that, prove to the others that Ananta was somebody that they could all count on. Someone they could all be friends with. Maybe even figure out how to feel comfortable around them. Truly, Ananta wanted to be their friends, even if she was at odds and ends with all of them. This journey was starting to change her for the better and Ananta could feel it. She just had to fix and change what she had done wrong first. Then she could truly be a better person.

But first, they had to figure out where this dog was that Jumba and Pleakly were talking about. If it looked like Steel, it'd be very easy to find. Though maybe it was smaller? Like actually dog sized? It had a girl captive, supposedly, so they could possibly just start with watching out for any girls with dogs that looked killer. That would be an odd start, of course, but in all honesty, when were they not odd? Blending in was going to be easy. Finding their target? Not so much.
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He continued his walk with Beuce and Ignis. At some point a random old lady showed up and Ignis went to help her out. The first few shops they had walked past. One of the first shops they had past had some fancy clothing. He had looked into the window of said shop. This shop had a sign that said now 50% off and get this suit for the low low price of 10'000. Cheap buy now. If the suit was cheap he did not want to know what expensive was. What was shop trying to paint something in gold or something? He had seem people come and go into the shop. It must be the look of dressing up or something he did not know. Now that Ignis was gone and Beuce was the only one there. He asked him, "So what do you thing is going to be at this coronation?" He was somewhat interested on what Beuce had thought of the whole thing. Most of the shops that they had pasts so far had high price tags in the window of the sore so he had to guess that everything inside would be just as much if not more.

As they walked something came to his mind and that was how Beuce go his glass arm in the first place. It must have been painful to lose an arm. That said he was not about to ask him how it happened. It seemed like a rude thing to do. It was like pointing out how different someone was. He did not care that much. To him it was more about what was in the heart then what was on the outside. As he continued his walk with Beuce he continued to look in the windows of the shops. He knew at one point they were just going to have to beak down and go into one.


AJ: 4
Beuce: 2
Ignis: 3

 

Beuce nodded in acknowledgement as Ignis tapped his arm and went to help the old lady. It probably wasn't a good time to get separated in the crowd, but he didn't really see any harm in it. It likely wouldn't take long, and they were just going to be exploring in this area anyway. All these shops were way overpriced. Who actually had the cash to drop on this kind of crap? "Hm?" He responded to AJ's question. "Oh, probably some dancing, maybe some food. I've never actually been to a ceremony like this, so i can't say for sure. Though, the important thing is that the princesses are there so we can keep an eye on them and make sure nothing goes wrong." Beuce looked into a shop window. It had a suit for 2,000 munny. So far, that was the cheapest they'd seen by far, but it was still on the pricey side.

"Come on, lets try this one out." He motioned for AJ to follow him into the shop. The shopkeep was a middle aged man in a white shirt and black buttoned vest. "Excuse me sir! I was looking to purchase one of your suits for me and my friend here!" He called out. The man turned to see the two enter, still clearly dressed as outsiders. "We're on a bit of a budget, so I was wondering if the price might be negotiable." The man looked thoroughly unamused.

AJ: 4
Beuce: 3
Ignis: 3​