video (un: Ventus); backdated 5/28

[theoceanbetween]

[Yo, Reverie Terminal. You're treated to a video of nothing but ceiling and muffled noise for a moment, until Aqua twitches her wrist and lo and behold, it's a girl on-screen!

There's more silence as she seems...caught? On what to say. Or who to say it to. She turns to mumble something to someone off-screen, before sucking in a breath and going for it.]

Hey. I hope everyone can see this?

My name is Aqua, and I'm looking for a boy about [she gestures below her chin, though it won't be helpful at all from the network's vantage point] this tall named Ven, and a young man about my age with brown hair named Terra. And if you've seen any strange monsters around here, I'd like to know about that too.

[Aqua sweeps a hand through her bangs after, thinking again.]

...I've only just arrived here, but this place is confusing. More than any place I've been to before.

[Like, mostly because of the waking up after being knocked unconscious by nothing aspect? It's not as if Vanitas is around anymore to cheap-shot her.

HOLD ON, SPEAKING OF BEING UNCONSCIOUS!!!]

Oh, actually, um. [WELL.] Is it normal for our old clothes to be replaced by suits like this sometimes? There was no one around when I woke up...I feel like this needs to be addressed. Thank you.

Comments

[theoceanbetween]

[Aqua doesn't know how to respond? There's a stretch of silence that is her thinking very hard about this, especially after what Alucard said.]

I thought monsters would be strange as a rule, but now I'm not so sure...

[Normally some waylaid inhabitant would have already pointed her in the right direction!]

Has it been peaceful here?

[oculusriffs]

No, you're right, they are. You just happen to be on board a space station with a batch of exceptional weirdos.

[that's not to say she's a weirdo — well, unless she is. he doesn't know. but, considering her latest question, coupled with the questions she asked earlier, it's easy enough to infer that she has people she cares about. with that first impression, Dave is pretty sure that she is, at minimum, a weirdo more apt to be a friend than stir up trouble.]

[so, maybe his tone isn't as flat when he offers an answer. it's maybe just a tiny smidge more friendly.]

Peaceful's not the right word for it. Dangerous in occasionally really stupid ways is probably a better way to describe it.

If it helps at all, though — in my experience, weirdos are pretty good at defending themselves.

[theoceanbetween]

[Oh my god? Aqua didn't mean it that way either! She clears her throat. Ahem.]

I don't know if I'd call anyone weird. But it is weird that we're all here together.

[Aqua hangs out with Mickey Mouse, is a vampire or android really that strange in comparison?

She honestly has to wonder if the - boy? - she's talking to is also someone unusual. At least, unusual to her and her very small baseline for what constitutes normal. She can't anticipate anything anymore when nothing and no one matches a pattern! He definitely gets her attention with that last bit though.]

Can you be more specific? What have you all had to defend yourselves from, if not monsters?

[Bad apples or bad decisions?]

[oculusriffs]

[he briefly considers holding a personal pool to see how long it takes for Aqua to relent and call someone weird. but then, he'd probably lose track of it almost instantly, and it's also entirely possible that she's not the type to relent. he'd lose the bet against himself either way.]

[but that's not an unfair thing to wonder, and in return, he would think hanging out with Mickey Mouse is pretty weird. Dave is pretty much your standard BHK, around the same age as Ventus and everything — he even favors weapons that are blade-like.]

[his idea of unusual, though? it involves way too many crocodiles, chilling out on a meteor for three years, and also carrying a stuffed bunny named Liv Tyler through space to an Armageddon-style explosion that winds up creating a sun twice the mass of his universe.]

Ghosts, mostly. They're usually more annoying than they are dangerous, but I've heard of hauntings getting a bit violent, too. Spacequakes that aren't actually there, ghosts trying to trip you up. Stuff like that.

[if he sounds nonchalant, it's because ghosts aren't that unusual to him, either.]

BHK oh my GOD

[theoceanbetween]

[Aqua would take too long to make it any fun, it's true. She will probably also like Dave on principle, just based on those facts alone. He definitely doesn't come off as a bad kid!

Or, er, bad monster? Monster kid? She's not sure yet. Alucard has put all these ideas in her head.

Dave might also quickly overtake Alucard in that respect, because what. Ghosts? They're bumbling through space on a mysterious station and people are getting plucked off worlds and such completely at random and there's ghosts.

Hold on, let her digest this.]

You're the first person to mention ghosts. And you say they weren't dangerous but they caused...illusions?

[All these seemingly unrelated people and events are making this a real mess to sort through, goodness.]

How did you deal with them?

lmfao it's true!!!

[oculusriffs]

Really? 'Cause those are pretty much the main attraction here, aside from tryin' to figure out the godawful food they've got on offer.

[Dave's probably the last person anyone would want putting ideas in their head. his ideas are usually somewhere between bizarre and terrible and also distorted with gratuitous jpg.]

[but, he also doesn't mind answering her questions honestly.]

As far as I know, there isn't a way to deal with them. Every haunting I've heard of or seen has stopped eventually — probably so they can take a ghost nap or have a ghost drink or something.