Video Game: Kingdom Hearts SOS: The Road To Light

As Aux commented on his noteworthiness in comparison to the blue fluffy alien and walked off all depressed, Steel found himself contemplating how it wasn't really all that simple. After all, the alien wasn't exactly supposed to be hanging around here either. Really, the two of them were two needles in a haystack, except the haystack was like to run screaming from the two needles at any moment. He briefly considered just wandering off to somewhere quiet to remove his clothes and act like a wild animal crawling on all fours... except he wouldn't easily pass for most breeds of dog and would attract negative attention even if he accompanied someone.

So standing there with a surfboard in his hands and about two-thirds of the party gone off to either have a mini-vacation or wallow, Steel found himself just... taking in the beach. He sighed as he considered joining Kaida and Stratos for Ice-cream, wondering briefly if they had sea-salt, though he discarded the possibility rather quickly. He also wasn't really sure how good an idea it was to leave Aux to himself at the moment. Kaida seemed to be doing a much better job at coping currently, which wasn't at all helped by her own blatant anger towards her friend.

Unsure, Steel just stood there. A figure clad in heavy clothing on the boardwalk with clawed hands and feet, a scarf and sunglasses covering his face, and holding a large surfboard.

"...Dad gum it."

 

For the most part, everyone had changed by now. Except Steel who, no matter how hardhe tried, would always stick out like a sore thumb. Kaida had placed a flower necklace around Ananta and that caused the woman to look down at it, holding it carefully and curiously. It seemed that a lot of people around here were wearing them and enjoying themselves, so she had no idea if it was for tourists or a normal thing on this world. One way or another, they all got one put on them except Aux who had his basically thrown at him.

Ananta tapped her chin and looked about, finding a nearby stall with an arrangement of flowers on it. "Excuse me, what flowers are these?" she asked, pointing at an array of hibiscus flowers. "Ah, those are hibiscus. Perfect for this beautiful island, yes? Go on, take a few, they are beautiful, so I will let you have them. I grow so many, I tend to give them away, ahaha." the woman at the stand spoke, waving for Ananta to take her pick. "I'll need five, is that still okay?" she made sure, glancing at the woman. "Go on, dear, I don't mind." the woman insisted, fanning herself. "Believe me, I have so many I could make them trail from her to the mountains about a thousand times."

Ananta looked at the woman and then looked ever the hibiscus. She saw ones that looked pretty good, so she picked out pink, green, yellow, blue, and red. For herself, she put a pink one in her hair. She walked to Steel and placed a sky blue one on his head. She found Aux before he wandered off and gave him the red one. She helped to stick it in his hair. Ananta stopped and stared at the green and yellow one before she mulled over the way Kaida acted after Ananta grabbed her to pull her along. A wave of anxiety came over her and she thought about how she was doing the same thing she did to Karina again to Kaida. "Why am I like this...?" she thought to herself, holding back tears as she breathed to calm herself down. "It's okay, it's okay. She isn't mad at you." she tried to reassure herself. Whether or not Kaida was angry, Ananta knew that she had to take her time and maybe try to work on her social cues a little better.

Looking around, she saw the stall Kaida and Stratos were at looked it over before she shrugged. She came in at the end of their conversation about her, but she didn't hear any of it, so she was ever the oblivious one. She waited until they started to talk about ice cream and that caused her to perk up. Kaida dragged Stratos along, to which Ananta lagged behind and got a banana from the fruit stall before joining them at the ice cream stand. Kaida mentioned Stratos being a vanilla guy and that got a reaction out of Ananta before she quickly cleared her throat. "I'll take a coconut flavored ice cream in a waffle cone bowl with a drizzle of chocolate on top." she said, watching the man make their order.

In the meantime, Ananta put the green flower in Stratos' hair and then she placed the yellow flower in Kaida's hair. "Since you gave me a flower necklace, I'll give you a big flower." she said, smiling. "They're called hibiscus, according to the lady at the flower stall. She gave them to me for free since she has so many...supposedly." Ananta glanced at Kaida's dress and then at Stratos' trunks. "Well I see we're all dressed for the part, huh? Your dress is really cute, Kaida. I kinda wish I went with a dress now." she chuckled. "But then I wouldn't be able to show off my body like Stratos and Aux, so eh...." she shrugged "I needed a change from that other outfit. It was dirty and singed and other things were wrong with it. I probably won't even change back into that outfit..." She said this as she got her ice cream from the man at the stall. She didn't want to openly discuss the fact she bled on her clothes in front of the stall. She learned that was at least something you don't do with people. "We need this break. We need it more than anything else, I think, right now." she spoke somberly, spooning ice cream into her mouth.

"Wanna go sit under those trees?" she asked the two, pointing at a shadey spot that, surprisingly, had not a soul near it. "Maybe we can talk about that thing you had out earlier."
​

Aux 2
Ananta 4
Steel 4
Stratos 5
Kaida 7

 

​

As he was dragged over to get to get some ice cream, the boy watched as Kaida ordered some for him. As she called him "vanilla," he cocked his head to the side with an almost "really" kind of look to him. As she explained it was just a flavor, he slowly nodded, saying, "right," before taking the sweet .Looking at the white scoop on the cone, he paused a bit before deciding to bite into the ice cream. Recoiling back, the boy kept his mouth open a bit as the cold radiated through his teeth. Waiting a bit, looking at the scoop, he then decided to try and go in more slowly licking it before looking back to Kaida. "Alright, this was a good idea. Thanks Kaida." He nodded, very content with the flavor he was given. "Maybe we should try and go find more tourist traps around the worlds," the boy joked as he went back to his desert.

In the midst of his eating, Ananta had come over, placing a flower in his hair which left the boy a bit confused. All the same, after Ananta finished what she was saying the boy said, "well, you should probably figure out a more permanent outfit in that case. Don't think that'd blend in in most places," he joked towards the green haired girl's current outfit. "Also, I don't think we should get too comfortable just yet. People here still might need some help, and I don't want to lose to this trap around here."

 

"I suppose you're right. But as it is, we haven't really seen much in way of danger...I mean, compared to everyone else, those two...Jumba and Pleakly? They looked the most foreign." she pointed out, spooning more ice cream in her mouth. She steered the small group away from the ice cream stand at least so they could talk a little. "And uh...." she thought for a second. "This must be your first time eating ice cream, huh Stratos?" she asked, commenting on him trying to straight up bite the thing. "Makes me wonder what your world was like to not have ice cream...or tourist traps, for that matter." she commented. "Though I suppose it's all about what your world did in comparison to others, I guess. My world didn't really have tourists, but we still had our own traps of expensively cheap products." She wiped some chocolate off her chin and licked her finger.

"And by that, I mean things that were made really cheap and being sold for like, ten times it's value." she pointed at her bracelet. "For instance, this thing. It was like, 40 munny and looks like it was made with 2 munny. But hey, it looks cute far away. Just don't look too close....." she said.

"But you're right, these won't work too well on other worlds. Just give me a bit, maybe I can think of something? I'll look at a magazine and see what this world considers fashionable...maybe it'd be nice to look different than what I'm used to for a change." she said, returning to her slightly melted ice cream.

Aux 2
Ananta 5
Steel 4
Stratos 6
Kaida 7
​

 

When Ananta placed the flower in her hair, she shifted it back so she could see what it looked like before putting it back on and saying, "Thanks Ananta. That was sweet." she took a couple licks of her ice cream and watched Stratos recoil back from the cold and giggled and said, "Be careful not to eat it too fast or it'll hurt. I think Aux called it a brain freeze once?" she looked as if to try and confirm with Aux before she felt her mood set off again. She listened in to Ananta talking her clothes and sitting down, while Stratos made a comment about the outfit not blending in most places. Then she heard Aux yell about something being small and blue and realized he was already on the hunt. Kaida looked over at the others and said, "Maaaybe we should... help with that." and she tilted her head in the direction of Aux while she started making her way back slowly, holding the ice cream in both her hands.

As she walked up to Aux, she reached up and placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "Aux. Chill. What happened to you being the calm one?" Kaida looked at the old lady and said, "We're looking for a small blue..." she remembered them saying it looked kind of like Steel, but she couldn't imagine wolves were walking around everywhere here so she added, "...dog?"
"We don't usually sell yule logs this time of year, dear."
"No. Dog. A dog."
"You want a hot dog?"
"A SMALL AND BLUE DOG!" Kaida finally yelled out ending up giving into the frustration as well.

 

​

Stratos had heard Kaida's warning far too late as when he had finished half of his ice cream, he felt a sharp pain running through his head. Clutching his head, the pain continued to cut through him, and throughout all of his journeys and battles there was barely anything that could've possibly prepared him for such an assault. It soon faded after a few moments, and Stratos shook his head trying to recollect himself. After a moment he turned to Ananta saying, "well, my world didn't really have any of this kind of stuff. Well, it had buildings and people and all that, but aside from that, from what I've seen in other places I guess you could call it pretty...bare." The boy seemed to be a bit uncomfortable as he thought back to the state of Rennshalt before looking over to Aux and Kaida, chuckling a bit. Gesturing to the green haired girl he said, "come on, I think they're making head way."

Walking over, hearing that the woman had adjusted her hearing aid, he turned to Aux saying, "nah, normally we just kind of walk around aimlessly until someone points us in a direction. Then everything we need to find and fight just kind of falls in front of us." He looked to the lady, with a tone calmer than the others saying, "excuse me miss, have you seen a small, blue, furry creature. Maybe a dog of some kind."

 

Aux's screams could be heard half a mile away. So of course the group's resident strong-armed man was causing a scene. Everyone turned away from the ice cream, but Ananta figured that maybe he needed to cool down. "I'll get a chocolate cone to go." she said, grabbing the ice cream as soon as it was ready. She made it over in time to see that Aux was....certainly not calm. He was pretty angry at a lady who couldn't hear his questions or words. Though Kaida wasn't helping either since she was starting to do the same.

"Okay guys, we need to calm down and not yell at the lady. Here Aux, eat this." she said, shoving the cone into his hand. "And Aux, shirtless is a good look for you" she said, smiling to him to try and distract him for a moment. She looked to see Stratos was trying to talk to the lady as calmly as he could. Luckily she just had to adjust her hearing aid, so maybe now she could understand them. "You think my outfit is okay?" she asked, trying to use her body as a distraction as well. But it probably wouldn't work, Aux wasn't that dumb.....was he?

Aux 4
Ananta 6
Steel 4
Stratos 7
Kaida 8​

 

​

Kel merely nodded to Ailsinn's reasoning. As he had considered, it could easily be the fact that they weren't in their territory and thus had no reason to attack. All it would take would be one misplaced step and then they could find themselves under siege. They likely already had an advantage just by knowing the land better than they did. "Indians?" Confusion aside, the mental image that he had thought of for the savages had been completely removed by what Smith had told them. Was it really wrong for them to live like that? Kel found himself asking that while keeping a lookout for any changes.

 

​

Stratos was pretty sure that the old lady had no idea what he was talking about, but with a smile, all the same said, "thank you for your time Miss." While Aux seemed to be in disbelief, Stratos shrugged and said, "yeah, most of the time." Stratos started to think about how the sequence of adventures they had had played out thus far, and, when Aux asked him what they were to do next he said, "well, this lady would be the person of convenience. Or, at least the first one. Generally around this time, we'd get going to the shelter and either some big thing would happen there or heartless would appear and we'd have to kill them. So it's probably our best bet to go there." While Stratos seemed ready to go, he looked around and said, "wait where's-" his attention was then drawn to the wolf man still standing near the shop where they had gotten all of their clothes. Stratos couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the very strange site that the wolf-man in tourist clothing was, before calling out. "Hey Steel, we're going to the shelter." Subtle.

Stratos then turned to Aux and said, "also, we don't really need to know where the shelter is. If we pick a direction and say we're going there, chances are it'll be there."

 

Kaida rolled her eyes at Aux's bewilderment over the winging it thing and she said, "Look, even if we didn't. What would we have to go on half the time? It's worked out fine most of the time. Also, I'm pretty sure we covered this in Pridelands." Kaida thought about the comment Aux made and licked her own ice cream cone and held the other one back towards Aux and said, "Come on, Aux. She even managed to grab cookies and cream flavor. Your favorite." she waited a long moment and got annoyed by his attitude and growled out, "Unless you're just really liking turning your back on everything you love lately." she realized how hostile that came across and her eyes widened and she looked away, eventually holding the ice cream out for Stratos to take since Aux had not yet and she sighed and reached into her bag and pulled out a map of the island and looked around and said, "The shelter's not far from here. So I'll get a head start... unless something happens otherwise..." and she folded up the map again and walked to leave.

 

Wow he really was that dense. Ananta couldn't really believe it, but hey, she at least got him to calm down, right? Things turned out for the better as the lady mentioned an animal shelter of sorts. "I suppose that would be a good start." she commented. Stratos ended up calling to Steel and telling him about what they were doing and where they were going. Though it still amazed Ananta at how novice Aux was at this whole world exploration thing. He definitely needed more tact, that was for sure. That could be worked on, though, as they adventured more. "Somebody should really drag him along to do more things than....being there." she muttered to herself. Ananta then heard Kaida get a little too hostile towards Aux and that shocked even Ananta. "Woah there." she said, watching Kaida immediately start to walk off towards wherever the map said to go.

Ananta followed and walked alongside Kaida. "So um...what happened back there? Are you okay?" she asked, wondering if this was even a good idea. She decided to not poke for any more, since she was afraid she pestered too much.

Aux 5
Ananta 7
Steel 4
Stratos 8
Kaida 9​

 

​

Beuce had said something about it not huring to get food before the coronation. It would not hurt to do so. The way things tent to go on missions he was sure that as so as they got there something would happen. Beuce was getting his hair done and he need his cut so he decided that there was nothing to but to follow Beuce. He turned to Ignis before he left. "See what you can find. It also would not hurt to get something for when we are back on the road so if you so happen to find anything we can take with us on our way out of here. It would not hurt to grab somethings." With that said and done to tossed Ignis some munny for any possible food that she could get. Then he left to go find Beuce. At some point he had lost Beuce but there was nothing that could be done about it. He figured that he would find him sooner or latter. As how many hair places cold there be?

He soon found a shop and entered the shop. Beuce was the only one in there which he was glade to see. 'But you do gotta tell me what you're doing at the ball. Did ya come to ask for one of the princesses hands in marriage? That would explain why you've got such a peacock-y suit.' He just smiled at Beuce. Then something came to mind. "So Beuce do you have anyone special back Home?" Since the topic came up of marrage he was somewhat curious. He did not know BEuce that well and this might be the chance to get to know him better so why not? "You do not need to answer that if you don't want to" he said with a smile. Then something came to mind as he waited for Beuce to get done. Did he want to get close to Beuce or anyone else of that manner? First there was Glen who was the closet person to a friend he had since he left his home world. Next there was Hikaru who died not that long ago. It seemed like everyone he got close to ether disappeared or died. It was the same with Aldwin. Maybe it was him. Maybe this way the way thing were meant to be. If he did not get close to anyone then they could not die or disappear. He then went into deep thought.

AJ: 9
Beuce: 8
Ignis: 8

 

​

After being left alone by her partners, Ignis looked around to see what she could find for some food. There were some stalls and she wondered what to eat. A lot of them were covered in fruits and vegetables, while a few looked like they were cooking up a few pieces of meat. She grabbed her stomach, trying to settle down it's rumbling, and figured she'd buy something nice and meaty first. She walked over to a stall and looked at what was cooking. At it's current point, she couldn't figure out what was cooking, but she didn't care too much. Given what she had eaten before living in a forest filled with many different kinds of animals, she wasn't going to be picky. She ordered a few pieces of meat put on a stick, just to make sure she didn't get her dress messy, and began to eat it, being completely satisfied with her choice. She walked around and grabbed some apples as well, eating them and feeling much better having put food in her stomach. She figured there'd be food during that ceremony, but it wasn't like she had to wait all day just to eat something. As she finished filling herself, she figured it was probably best to get some food for the others as AJ had suggested and bought some random assortment of fruits and vegetables and put them away to hold on to. She wondered how long it was going to take for the boys to finish up, and decided to look around the village some, wondering what else there was.

 

​

As Kaida made her comment towards Aux about the ice cream, a pin could be heard dropping into the sand below from the awkward momentary silence that followed. The boy didn't quite no what to say, and instead just took the ice cream in hand and watched as Kaida made her head start towards the shelter. While Stratos knew that she probably had a lot on her chest, he didn't particularly know what to say nor think that someone pestering her about it so quickly would do any good. So he elected to stay where he was for the time being. However, his eyes went wide as he looked over to say, "wait Ananta don't-" but before he could finish his statement she had already made her way over to Kaida.

Sighing, Stratos looked over to Aux and said, "well, I guess it's just you, me and him," he gestured in Steel's direction, "for now." What followed was a brief moment of awkward silence, as Stratos had no idea what to say to the man, both in general and about the situation at hand. Instead, he merely looked over to the melting ice cream that Kaida placed in his hand. gesturing it towards Aux as he said, "ice cream?"

 

​

As Ignis wandered around, she began to realize how quaint this place they had arrived was. She almost began to feel comfortable, like she was back in the village she had lived by the past few years. It wasn't big or exciting, but it was nice and peaceful. Funny enough, the only thing that seemed out of place was the gigantic castle in the bay. Finding herself on a bridge, she looked out and began to think about how they were going to get back to the other keybladers that they were separated from. Before it always seemed like they had some place to meet up after each world, or they were all forced in to the same world, depending on the time, but now they were completely separate, and who knew how they would get back together. Getting a little bored, she began to walk back to the little center of the town where she had left AJ and Beuce from, and wondered how they were doing. It almost seemed weird to her that she was starting to get lonely, but she figured it was just because she hadn't actually been alone for a while now, so it was hard to kill time without someone.

"Well, at least it's a comforting world," she mused to herself, staring out at the ocean, then catching that weird duke from before out of the corner of her eye walking across the big bridge, "at least for the most part. Though I guess things wouldn't be interesting if there wasn't someone like him."