Kingdom Hearts: Daybreak (IC)

Palmund had not been walking long when a commotion from the infirmary caught his attention. Immediately he headed for the noise, but along the way caught sight of someone else.
A tall man with silver hair, who apparently had not left the infirmary himself all that long ago, was heading somewhat in Palmund's direction. Palmund was relieved to finally find someone who was more than just a castle guard, and changed his course yet again.
Coming closer, he recognized the young man from his previous time at the castle, and though the years had ensured that Palmund couldn't entirely place his face, he still had the faint recollection of times past.
However, when he noticed that the man was wounded, and rather severely, with a long cut down his body, Palmund instantly felt uneasy. Something was bothering him, but nevertheless, he made up his mind to investigate this near-stranger further
"Hey, you there!" he called, catching the fellow's attention, "Yes, you! I'd like to have a word with you if I may!"

 

Raven felt some slight amusement from Kelianne's reaction alongside the reassuring feeling that Kelianne was a good choice. While she considered letting Kelianne dragging her the whole way, she kept a pace that would only make it seem like Kelianne was dragging her. "It isn't so much a matter of trust as it is a matter of trying to remain in control. You do have a point about Virgil though. I wonder what his impression of Jordan is. Like you said, he should know better. I can only assume that when the two met they interacted long enough for Virgil to be willing to leave Sophia with Jordan."

As the pair walked, Raven saw Palmund out of the corner of her eye. Fortunately he didn't see her. "So grandpa number one has made his move. I wonder how the King of Darkness will act. That being said, I'd rather the great uncle here not see me for now." Raven hurried her pace, this time pulling Kelianne along until the pair were far enough away from Palmund that he wouldn't notice.

While Raven didn't harbor any dislike towards Palmund, she had a habit of keeping away from the extended family. Given that Sophia's parents were the only ones who really knew Raven, she couldn't see Sophia's grandparents viewing her in a positive light. To them, Raven saw herself as a wild card. Someone they couldn't control in any attempts to sway Sophia to their side. In that sense, it didn't matter that Raven's only intentions were to protect Sophia. As such, Raven did her best to avoid the rest of Sophia's family.

"Sorry about pulling you away so suddenly like that Kelianne." Raven spoke as the pair exited the castle. "I just happened to notice a distraction that would stall us from finding Sophia. Which also brings up something I should have mentioned with asking you to fill the role as one of her guards. In light of the king and queen's assassination, our roles have extended. In addition to protecting Sophia from any harm, it is incredibly important we protect her from her family. I fear that her grandfathers may try to draw her closer to them and use her against the other."

 

Thalia's eyes scanned the crowds as they normally did. The young woman had become an expert at making herself blend in after plenty years of practice. A hood pulled over her head kept light from reflecting in her eyes, and her hair pulled up made enough of a lump under the hood's fabric to hide her horns. Her tail was concealed beneath her cloak, and the rest was hidden under the visage of darkness her hiding spots always provided. Since denizens of the Dark Realm often would be brooding in dark corners, Thalia learned to find the pockets of shadows free of any interruptions of that sort. Places where she could watch, be a spectator.

Typically, she looked for anything that she might learn, or take. People talking a bit too loudly about something interesting, someone leaving an object where it could easily be grabbed, those sorts of things. Recently however, her lambent gaze seeked something else. From the descriptions she had heard, the girl that piqued her interest was small- perhaps as small as herself, with flowing locks of blonde hair, piercingly blue eyes, and a cheerful aura that seemed to follow her wherever she went... at least, that was the perception Thalia had been given.

She kept watching for anyone that seemed to match this archetype. It wasn't easy, given that a good portion of those from the Light fit that profile, but after a bit of time spent striding through the streets, she finally saw a young girl about her age that seemed to fit the descriptions. The lady looked to be accompanied by a particularly grumpy looking red-haired man, and his equally grumpy looking, paler friend. Thalia could tell by the girl's attitude that she was not one of Darkness- or, not completely, at least- yet she still spoke to the two darker looking young men as friends. Perhaps it was not completely rare to see ones of Light and Dark conversing so freely, but Thalia had noticed a recent tension between the two groups. Regardless, this was enough to draw Thalia to the group.

As the three headed towards another shop, Thalia followed them. Still in the visages of her enviroment, as she normally moved, but open enough that her gaze never left the party. She was so focused on following them that she hardly even considered the risk of breaking her typical covert strides, perhaps forgetting them altogether as she followed them into the shop. As she entered, she realized what she'd done to herself. Now she was in a store with nowhere to hide, following what could very well be the princess herself, and quite possibly appearing incredibly suspicious while doing so. Though she had lost sight of the girl, she could still see the two men... and with how out of place and probably devious her entire scene looked, it was likely they would notice her as well.

 

Thalia had started to panic a little. She tried to never, ever let someone notice her, and here she had gone and surrounded herself by people. When the man reading his magazine spoke up, specifically to her, she turned her head to look at him. She was, by no standards, an expert in fashion. The only kind of culture she understood relating to fashion was what she was able to surmise from people she watched. Whether or not that was good fashion, she could never really tell. She heard another voice behind her, but her mind was racing so fast she didn't even think about it until suddenly the voice was right in her ear- or, horn, rather.

When she turned and found her face to face with one of the men, his eyes now glowing a deep red, Thalia nearly had a heart attack. She gasped and stumbled backwards, falling flat on her ass. Had she been in a decent mind to yell at herself for looking like an idiot, she probably would have. She stared up at the man in silence for a good bit of time. It had been a while since she'd last talked to someone... long enough that she couldn't remember when that was. There were a few seconds without words before Thalia finally replied. "M- Mr... Mr. Black L- Leather?" She stuttered over her words. "No, no, I don't know, um.. I don't know who that is..." her hands had started to tremble slightly. If she were any kind of assassin, she'd easily be one of the worst in the business. "U- um.. yes, I'm here t- uh.. the princess, yes." Thalia nods as though anything she'd said made sense.

 

Thalia was more shocked than anything else. The dark demeanor of the young man had seemed to disappear completely, and his new-found kindness seemed like... well, actual kindness. Though moments before her heart was racing with fear, hoping that nobody would see her scales, that thought had basically vanished from her head. Not that it was no longer a concern, but she was so startled by the man's reaction, she didn't know what to think.

"Y- yes.." she slowly replied. "That would be good... starting over." Thalia extended her small hand to shake his, not even thinking about if he saw the scales on her forearm or not. "Jordan... well, um.. it- uh, it's good to meet you Jordan." There were another few moments of silence, mostly caused by confusion on her part. Formalities weren't often something she encountered. Finally, she remembered how this sort of thing work and replied with a warm smile. "I- I'm Thalia." her hand had mostly stopped trembling by the time it reached Jordan's, perhaps not completely though.

 

Thalia's eyes looked over the girl in surprise. Had her venture really been this easy? Panic attack aside, was a normal life this close to her this whole time? "Not um.. not friends, no." She looked exactly like she had been described. "I just wanted to meet you, is all." She found herself not really needing to ponder her words as much for some reason, like she had started to develop some sort of comfort. "It's nice to meet you, Princess Sophia." Almost without thinking, he pulled the hood off of her head, letting her hair down free- as well as revealing the horns and scales that adorned her. In the light, the cyan rings around her deep blue eyes reflected, making them seem to glow. "I'm Thalia." She smiled as though she had practiced this moment in her head over and over... which she had. She was so caught up in the excitement of meeting the Princess that she hadn't even noticed the other newcomer.

 

Thalia's smile widened from horn to horn, and it wasn't likely it would shrink any time soon. Even as she had played the scene over again and again in her head, she never saw it going this way. As Sophia cheered excitedly along with various questions and speak of ice cream, Thalia couldn't do a thing to respond. All she could do was giggle and laugh.

There was such a stark difference between how her life was not even half an hour ago and how it had turned now, she couldn't do much else. Though Jordan was trying to calm the the princess, Thalia didn't particularly mind the questions or the estatic actions. She was simply happy. Quite begrudgingly she pulled her hands back from Sophia's long enough to pull that old cloak off. Though the scales along her thighs were visible now, she didn't really care who noticed them now.

When Jordan had finally gotten the princess to calm a bit and asked Thalia if she was hungry, she nodded, her smile not getting smaller in the least. "Food would be wonderful."

 

The young scaled girl thought the whole event was somewhat strange, but since everything seemed strange to her right now, she just shrugged it off and figured this was how life went. She enjoyed it of course, and the cheerful swaying of her tail showed that. She took the ice cream and started enjoying it. It was rare that she ever got to have it. Since ice cream melted, it wasn't at all easy to scavenge or find lying around. But this, it was one of the greatest things she'd ever tasted.

"Mmm.." she sighed, her tail shuddering with enjoyment. "This is wonderful, thank you, Sophia." Had she not been preoccupied with her ice cream her ridiculous smile would have returned.

Thalia noticed Jordan just staring at the small girl behind the counter. When the shopkeep told him off for this, Thalia had to cover her mouth to keep the ice cream from coming out she started laughing so hard.

 

Palmund's eyes widened a bit as he recognized the young man standing before him. Now much closer than before, Palmund began to work out the intricate changes the years had left imprinted on the youth.

Once the distinction was made; however, a rush of memories flooded Palmund's already clouded mind. He recalled his time spent here with a much younger Deimos, who had grown substantially since Palmund's last visit.

Deimos' creation had greatly peaked Palmund's interest, and the project was one of the multitude of reasons the old traveler had for visiting the land. At first, the young boy's distant manner had left Palmund quizzical to the success of the project, but watching the youth grow and become, well, human, had fascinated Palmund until the day he left.

Regardless, Palmund had always treated Deimos as a sort of estranged nephew, and seeing a friendly face, especially one of a boy who had not only been inseperable from Sophia, but also her main defender in the realm, gave him a much-needed relief. Surely, if anyone knew where Palmund's niece was, it would be Deimos.

"Deimos!" said Palmund, his shock and nostalgia quickly subsiding into his typical, broad smile as he recognized his friend. "How have you been, lad?" he remarked, clapping Deimos on the back, absentmindedly sweeping the bodyguard into his search by wheeling the younger man with him as his strides continued. "Have you any idea where my niece has gone?"

 

Raven thought of an answer for Kelianne. "Well if she's showing them around the town, then at some point she'd probably take them to get some sweets." While Raven was speaking, several orbs of light rose up and circled around her. The orbs paused before launching away from Raven at incredible speeds. Seconds later the orbs returned at the same speed, the momentum creating a strong enough current of air to cause Kelianne's hair to get a bit ruffled up.

To the unsuspecting, these orbs of light zipping by would take them completely by surprise. One of the orbs rushed towards Sophia and the others, stopping short of hitting any of them. The orb had stopped for an incredibly brief moment before zooming away back where it came from. Admittedly Jordan or Deimos might consider themselves to be under attack from that.

"Found her." The light that shot out quickly had traveled through the couple surrounding blocks, all of them returning when the one got close to Sophia. This method of using her light wasn't something Raven had ever mentioned to anybody before. It was similar to Raven's "Light Compression." By sending out her light in this way, Raven could get a sense of nearby light or darkness once the light she sent out returned. As such, Sophia's twilight was easily recognizable. "Aside from Sophia, there are four other people there. Jordan, his companion, and two others." Raven realized this was the first time she mentioned to Kelianne about Jordan having a companion other than Kate.

"Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if companion is the right word. He seems to be a shadow connected to Jordan." She explained as the pair made their way to Sophia.

Raven looked at the group as she and Kelianna approached Sophia. There was Sophia, Jordan, Deimos, the storekeeper, and one other Raven had never seen before. She didn't look completely human. She was curious who this person was and why she was with Sophia. Admittedly this was starting to make her look bad as one of Sophia's guardians.