paixaorpg | Interesting Happenings at the Hotel Actua Are [Closed]

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Interesting Happenings at the Hotel Actua Are [Closed]

Character(s): Selphie, Ban, Leon and Jing (remember that this is the posting order!)
Content: Strange, strange happenings at the hotel. Including coffee hunting, cigarette destroying and much much more!
Setting: Actua Are - the one in the centre of the dome
Time: Mid Evening
Warnings: LOUDNESS

New places were definitely not a good place to be outside in after dark. Selphie wasn't too familiar with the map function of her electronic journal and so, she didn't know that there was a map on the small device. She had just decided that it was best to stay on the path from Niflheim gate until she'd found some type of shelter to take cover in for the night. There weren't any animals -- though there were plenty of fake plants and trees -- so Selphie didn't really need to worry about getting attacked by those; it was people that Selphie was more worried about.

Thankfully the day of her first evening she managed to find a vacant, but incredibly shabby hut to sleep in. Feeling that it was safe enough to stay in, Selphie had slept into the safety of the drafty house. She didn't stay too long in case the original owners of the building came back and thought her to be a burgler or something to that effect. She'd have to be on her best behaviour. Besides, the brunette had a promise to keep to a certain blond from her home who was also here and Selphie always keeps a promise; even if that promise was to grumpy old Seifer Almasy.

She'd set off early the next morning, stopping to drink water but not having any luck finding any type of food to eat. She'd just have to do the best she could to ignore the rumbling in her stomach until she could scrounge some more of Paixao's currency. But for now she'd just have to deal with what she was dealt until she could get a new hand to play with.

She stayed true to the path in front of her for hours until she finally noticed a large building that was finely decorated. It looked like a place of business, maybe a place the brunette could get a job? She was used to doing dirty jobs so working tables or washing dishes wouldn't be too much different.

"Actua Are," Selphie read the sign as her pace had quickened with a burst of energy despite the protesting of her empty belly. "Maybe there's more people here!" she said to herself as her legs carried her quickly to the entrance of the building.

Entering the building, Selphie saw that this place was finely decorated, with embroidered couches and finely groomed and dressed staff. One of them approached Selphie with a smile and said, "Welcome to Actua Are, Miss!"

Selphie smiled back before thanking the person who had greeted before starting to wander about the hotel looking for anybody who just so happened to look like one Squall Leonhart.

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It had been a long, winding walk for Midou Ban; since his arrival, little in the ways of cheer had crossed his path. Still donning the soiled rags Ban arrived in, a citizen had been kind enough to endow him with bandages at his request to ease the condition of his wounds and make him decent for casual travel. A cigarette made Ban easily discernible amongst the crowd, likely one of the few with any still on hand, having wandered through them for hours since his initial advent.

The street corner had been his home in the meantime, struggling to find a job in the form of retrieval that could provide him with a source of income. A piece of cardboard with his poor handwriting served as advertisement, but had yet to deliver; his face screamed of malnurishment, but it was more due to his injuries than actual starvation. Times like these were common, but it had been a long time since he had roughed it alone... Ginji, he occasionally mused, you better be alive! We've got a rep to protect.

His current location was the Actua Are, shamelessly plugging his services in yet another attempt at accumulating some cash. Somehow, through it all, that confident look never strayed from his eyes; at first glance, you could swear someone would go up to him at any moment and offer him the gig of a lifetime. It was hard to resist those baby blue hues which easily drew most in, unruly spikes taking little away from his handsome complexion.

"I don't do small-time, and I'm not a charity case." The fantasy seemingly broken, Ban began yet another caustic triad. "Find someone else to do your stupid errands!" He exclaimed, shaking up most around him; The staff had tried numerous times to have him ejected but Ban remained unreceptive of their advances, making them primarily futile.

... Besides, he had a promise to keep.

The sign read 'Actua Are', but otherwise didn't seem to give any indication as to what sort of business it was.

Or maybe it did, and Leon was just too caffiene deprived to notice. He supposed, at the very least, it wouldn't hurt to go inside. Maybe, though it seemed rather unlikely, he'd get lucky and there would be coffee in there; a few seconds ago he could have sworn he caught the scent of mocha on the wind...

He paused briefly in his quest to look at the bandaged man sitting on the corner. Heh. Whoever he was, for some reason...he made Leon think of Aerith; had she been with him, she would have been dragging him over so she could fuss at the stranger's wounds. Not that he looked as if he would have been greatful. There was a crudely written sign propped up next to him, but from his angle, Leon couldn't read what it said.

But he was pretty sure it didn't say coffee. Turning away, he took Actua Are's front steps two at a time and stepped inside. Nice enough place, he supposed. A smiling young man approached him, welcoming him into the establishment, not seeming the least bit put off when all he got in return was "Coffee?"; he pointed off to the left, and waved almost relfexively as Leon stalked off.

Selphie was standing on the second floor of the hotel when she spotted a familiar looking mop of shaggy brown hair, only it appeared to be longer and more of a mullet than anything else. The pants, the gait that this person walked with, they were all so familiar to her that she couldn't help but wonder if Seifer had been right. There were subtle differences to this Squall lookalike however besides his hair. The coat was a key factor in her deductions. The fact that this person beelined for the coffee when the Squall that she knew would have waited until the crowds were finished looking at him before helping himself to the bitter beverage, gave it away.

They looked like Squall, but there was a definite possibility that they weren't who Seifer had indeed thought that he was. Selphie knew however, that there was only one way to find out who this person was as the door opened to reveal a young boy in a yellow duster jacket. That person could wait as Selphie's pace brought her quickly to the stairs. One by one on light feet the brunette made her way over to the beverage area and got her first close look at the Squall clone.

Well...he had the scar, the eyes, the same aura about him, everything was so different. He seemed older, more muscular, like he'd seen something that he never wanted to bear witness to for the rest of his life.

Selphie smiled warily to herself before tapping the man's shoulder, hoping he'd turn so she could look at his face. "Excuse me, you look like a friend of mine and I was just wondering if you know anyone by the name of Squall Leonhart?"

At least if she poised her concern as a question, Selphie could hope for the best and pray that she hadn't offended this man.

He had said, according to his journal, that he was going to search for somewhere to stay at before he did anything else for the day. In a rare incident of betraying his words, the young lad managed to spend most of the day exploring. It wasn’t as if the consequences for glancing around the area were much – other than he may as well have to sleep upon the train he found a good three or so hours into his morning (more like ‘early afternoon’ travels.).

The sights he had seen during those hours were quite alluring to the bandit’s young eyes. The culture of Paixao, the artistic influence was something that captivated him dearly. A fond reminder of one of the reasons he stole such captivating treasures- to have and to hold as his own. Of course, the true fun of it all was the journey itself. While there were many items worth the money and beauty to steal, it just wasn’t the same as the thrill of having to truly work for something. Even a small thing like a sock became even more valuable when you have to plan and exercise your mind and body for it.

The scenery still managed to intrigue him, never the less, by the time he reached the train he realized that he was getting quite weary himself. While it had been morning by Paixao standard time, he had left Promier in the middle of the night. With the combined addition of his lack of sleep for the past few days and his lack of proper nutrition, Jing’s awareness was slipping away with every second. No matter how loud the noises had been, no matter how hard the young man tried to keep himself awake – the comfortable setting would finally steal the last of his will to stay awake.

Needless to say, he had gotten his rest but the cons outweighed the pros in this situation. When he had finally gotten himself up and out of the seat of the cab, the light of day seemed to be fading. Worst yet he found himself victim of a very common situation for people in unknown lands: He was lost. To add onto that he was most certainly starving at this point without proper knowledge of where he was or where the nearest area that served food was.

Jing still kept an upbeat mood about this with hopes that there was at least a place where he could lodge, if not get nutrients in his stomach. His usual luck finally came to him an hour later as he glanced up at a rather interesting sign. Interesting only because of the fact that when he muttered the name of the place out loud, it had a beautiful ring to it.

“Actua Are..” He sounded out again, simply due to the fact that he liked the name. With a name as captivating as that, he wondered what could possibly be inside. So thus, lead by his curiosity, he let himself inside of this place in hopes that he’d find at least something.

The young and weary bandit, sadly, wasn’t prepared for the people in which he would meet once he got inside.

Twitch. He'd been so close. So close. He could almost taste the coffee...Just a few more moments and it would have been his. All his...

But no. Someone had to interrupt him. Damn it.

Leon turned, eyes narrowed, and peered down at the girl. How...did she get her hair to do that? Er...that wasn't really important. At all.

"..." He really, really hoped that every single person who came within 5 feet of him wasn't going to ask if he was Squall Leonhart. Really hoped. Because if they did, he was going to have to do something drastic...and that would upset Aerith.

"The name is Leon." Not that she was going to listen anyway. "What do you want?"

To dive head long or not? There was nothing that Selphie couldn't do after saving the world and hey, now that she'd gotten a really good look at Leon's face and heard his voice. His eyes narrowed the same way; everything was the same.

But they weren't the same person. They just looked, spoke and acted alike. Maybe this person was an older version of the Squall that she knew.

Glancing over, the brunette knew that she'd interupted Leon in getting his coffee so she took it upon herself to pour the man a glass seeing as he was already annoyed with her. Reaching over for one of the white mugs, her other hand reached for the coffee pots handle and she poured a cup full of the steaming liquid and smiled over at Leon.

"I didn't mean to interrupt you Leon," she apologized.

"You ran into someone that I know," she began in explanation to his demand. "A big tall blond guy who probably got really mad at you. Well he wanted to know if you are the Squall that we know from back home at Balamb but you're not so..."

Sheepish grin insert here.

All right, so...maybe it wouldn't be as bad this time. The girl, whoever she was, didn't seem inclined to argue over his identity. In fact, she seemed...perfectly willing to accept the fact that he wasn't whoever Seifer had thought he was.

And she was pouring him coffee.

He took the mug from her, mumbling a "Thanks", and took his sweet time sipping from it. Mmmyes~ So good. Sigh~

"Seifer. I think I'd remember someone like him. And I don't." Well, he did now...but that wasn't the same thing. Really. "Sorry?" Not really, but...eh.

"You're welcome," Selphie replied happily. "By the way, my name is Selphie Tilmitt and you don't know me but hey, it's nice to meet you."

It was the least she could do after interrupting him. Maybe he wouldn't be miserable and grumpy if he got a little caffiene into him.

"Seifer's not that hard to remember. He's tall, loud and arrogant. There are some days where you can hear him a mile away! And he's not afraid to speak his and he's really quick to rush into things but hey, that's Seifer and I grew up with him so I'm used to it by now."

"Hn..." Selphie. He'd...try not to forget that as he had a feeling he'd be seeing her again. And Seifer too.

She reminded him of Yuffie somehow, and he tried not to shudder outwardly. One of that girl was enough; he couldn't handle any more than that.

"Well I know I'll never forget him now..." Unfortunately? "But before yesterday I'd never seen him before; he seems to have trouble understanding that."

Leon moved away from the counter, and sat down at a small, unoccupied table next to a window. "He's a stubborn ass." Pot, kettle, black.

[OOC: D: i couldn't help myself. so...here's a song for Selphie's hair. kinda. :o {Defying Gravity (http://s42.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1NHCEV5Q3LMKD0ZS7Z5LPKIKXZ)} eheh.]

((ooc: =D I love show tunes!))

Selphie followed behind him and took a seat opposite his own and stared out of the window. Turning the pot black indeed. Each and every one of them from the Orphanage gang -- that included Leon too now she figured -- were stubborn to a certain degree.

She nodded. "We're all stubborn to a degree, trust me."

Leon peered at her from behind the rim of his mug and the hair that fell into his face. Something...didn't seem right. Shouldn't she have...left once she discovered he wasn't...who she'd thought he was? Why had she sat down at the table with him?

She was...too friendly? Maybe she didn't really believe he wasn't lying. Twitch.

"...Does that mean there are more of you here? People who think I'm...someone else." Oh hell.

Just...concentrate on the coffee. Yes. There you go. Just...Coffee. Sigh~

[ooc: :D ehe.]

There wasn't so much as a hint of his presence in the air, as Midou Ban crept up toward the speaking pair. Smooth annexes composed themselves, the arch of his expression aligned perfectly from point a to b forming a listless look. Disheveled locks colored a flush shade of brown cascaded down the sides of his cranium, adding a stylish shade to his guise; half lidded sapphires peering carefully through a small set of violet bifocals.

"Yo."

Emotion was void in his speech, but given his appearance it was to be expected. One could surmise his arrival into Paxiao couldn't have come at a more inopportune time, but the last thing Ban would've wanted was pity. A cigarette continued to hang from his lips, pinned down in place by the corner of opposing tiers; handling one just didn't seem sensible in his current state of rags.

"Well unless the Squall that I know is going to magically appear in this very hotel, I can't really compare notes now can I?" she interjected. "I'm not gonna pry but unless you wanna dish out some of your history to me, I can't decide so I'll have to take your word."

Selphie should've grabbed some juice, or hot chocolate. Hell, even a glass of water would be wonderful right now! Instead, she waited for Leon to reply.

Curiosity killed the cat – he believed there was a saying like that used for curious people. The closest quote the spiky haired youth could conjure up happened to be the saying of the “Stay Cats”, lead by named Kirsche. “Electricity killed the cat..” He once again couldn’t help but to say that aloud with a small hint of happiness in his voice. His memories of the ‘kittens’ and the place known as Fuzzy Navel were quite fond to him, as were those of all his heists. Moments later he realized his lips had curled into a rather interesting shape, a frown. Wandering into Actua Are, Jing couldn’t help but to question himself on whether he felt homesick or not.

He couldn’t deny the fact that he was nonetheless he could at least force himself to think in the present. Glancing to the side, he noted one of the employees coming near him – the same young man who had been helping Leon out earlier (not that he had known that.). For the second time the poor employee happened to be bombarded by a one-word question. “Food?” The employee was unfazed by such a coincidence and simply pointed to the left.

“Thanks~” Jing smiled, at least being polite enough to give appreciation for the directions. After only a short period of walking: three people standing around greeted his vision. Obviously, by the looks of them, they were not around from Paixao and it suddenly became a clear fact to him that there were more people other than him who had been taken to this place. Either that or maybe they were travelers? He didn’t really care to think about it and simply shrugged his shoulders.

His next spoken words were in the form of a question - a particularly odd one for those who had never met the boy and his companions before in their life.

“I’m assuming none of you have seen a talking black bird around here named Kir?”

Most people, in their right mind would think the boy was crazy for asking such a question.

Selphie glanced over her shoulder at the young boy who just interuppted her conversation that really wasn't going anywhere at all. Thankful for the intrustion the brunette shook her head sadly. "I have seen any talking black birds...Birds can talk?"

Blink. Blink. Blink. "TALKING BIRDS?!" she exclaimed loudly. "Since when did birds learn how to talk?"

What the heck was with this place? First a half naked midget and now a talking black bird? Maybe she was just have a string of really bad luck but Selphie knew that that couldn't be likely.

Selphie was very tempted to hide her eyes with her hand, shake her head and mutter Why me? for noone to answer.

This just wasn't her day.

Leon frowned into his mug. He didn't want to tell her anything about himself; it wasn't really any of her business. If he didn't though, he couldn't really be sure that she'd convince others that he really wasn't...that other person. He supposed he didn't really have to tell her anything; maybe just...something vague would do.

Sigh. "...Hollow Bastion; that's where I used to live." There wasn't any point in avoiding that subject; it occupied his thoughts more often than not now that people had started shouting his former identity every time he turned around. Or something.

He glanced sideways as someone approached the table; two people actually. He recognized the taller one as the bandaged man that had been sitting outside. The other, apparently younger, boy wasn't anyone he'd seen before. The conversation he was having wasn't one he was enjoying, but it was sort of...rude...for them to just come up and interrupt.

"..." He stared at them both blankly for a moment, then looked back down into his coffee. He wasn't sure he cared what they wanted, and he didn't know about any birds. So...

Whatever.

Jing was quite surprised at the brunette girl’s response more or less due to the sheer volume of her voice rather than her surprise that animals could talk. Even if the fact seemed to surprise the young thief it was nothing compared to the ringing now in his ears. Without a doubt, the fact that the girl seemed to think of talking birds as something of impossibility bugged him.

In his land there was much more than just ‘talking birds’. There were snowmen who walked, guns that had a mind of their own as well as their own freedom of speech as well as many other of the sort. Meanwhile, all he had seen here happened to be people and that, although a comforting thought – did depress him. All the different types of personalities and looks in his homeland were all part of what made exploring the area fun to him.

Sighing, the boy flashed Selphie a small smile before moving off to another table. He had nothing else to say upon the matter – and besides, he was quite hungry. If the other three were going to simply sit there and say nothing new, he might as well be polite and leave them as they were. Of course, not answering the question at hand may have not been all the proper display of manners but Jing would rather avoid the subject for now.

What a bother -- There he was getting ready to say something cool, and some annoying kid screws it all up. In his mind, Ban contemplated ways in which the interloper could be dealt with... the thought that the same could be said of him never crossing his mind. Rather than let his composure falter, Ban remained stolid; taking a long drag from the cigarette, letting it vent off to the side through a small gap formed in his lip by tilting his head.

"Won't bother you long, just hoping to see if you can answer a few of my questions. I'm looking for someone, kid's named Ginji -- Seen him?" Artic glazed, Ban's eyes veered in their direction void of aggression and sensitivity as he spoke. Inside, the mere mention of his comrade's name wrought his heart... and the only solution was to cut himself off from these uneasy emotions.

Leon stood abruptly, coffee mug still cluthced tightly, posessively in his hand. He was...done here. There really wasn't anything more to say to Selphie, and he certainly didn't want to get into a conversation about talking birds.

...Reguardless of the fact that he hadn't seen a single living creature, aside from other people, the entire time he'd been wandering around. It was probably best to let that kid figure it out on his own anyway; you couldn't just...hand them everything, after all.

He peered at the other man near the table for a few long moments, trying to decide the best way to get around him and back to the coffee; not to mention where he was going to go after he'd reached his target. The table was no longer safe.

Belatedly he remembered that...whoever he was, had asked a question. Leon spared a few seconds to wonder how he expected anyone to know who he was talking about, but then decided it didn't matter. "No. I haven't." Consequently, he probably would have said no even if he had; he wasn't looking for anyone named Ginji...

The man who first replied was clearly going to be of no help nor was he interested, as he had not even thought to ask for the description of the individual Ban sought. Lightly scratching the side of his head with a smooth and continuous motion through his hair, Ban looked patiently toward the young lady with the auburn locks.

"What about you, missy?" Ban asked politely, using a particular phrasing which might have hinted toward his identity.

Missy? There was only one person that she had ever met here or through those journals that had ever dared to call her by such a name. At least now, as she glanced and looked at the man with porcupine themed hair and blue glasses, she could now put a face to the name of the "Invincible Ban Midou".

She grinned before her eyes went to the bandages, her expression going to one of concern. There was always a certain trust that Selphie would always worry about people, even if she only knew them by name.

"Are you okay, Ban?"

A certain amount of attention was demanded when someone, seemingly a complete stranger, knew you by name -- Ban could only raise his head a few inches, letting his blue stare fully take in Selphie's face, letting his own expression falter for a moment of disbelief. "I take it you're the person I need to be talking to... your name?"

The cigarette dropped slightly as Ban neglected to keep it in place in response to hearing his own name come from someone else's mouth for the first time, in a long time. A hand came up to gently knock it back into place, letting his face become as stoic when he first arrived.

It seemed unreasonable to believe that hope had come so soon... but not wrong, not in the least.

((ooc: YOU LIVE! T_T))

"Selphie," she replied before blowing a few raspberries at the man. They had spoken briefly over the journals, nothing more but they had exchanged names during that brief encounter. She watched with interest as the brunet's expressions changed from stoic, to surprised and back to stoic again; all in a matter of seconds.

The brunette frowned upon the cigarette dangling from the other's mouth and pulled it out of his mouth, her finger tips extinguising the front as the acrid smoke filled her nostrils. She quickly tossed the cancer stick into a nearby trashcan and smiled more for herself in a satisfactory manner.

She smiled sweetly at the other before looking around for some juice or water or... something.

A slight tilt of his head was all he could muster in response, completely aghast at how friendly Selphie was acting around him. Even Ginji knew better than to come between Ban and a smoke, but he had to keep reminding himself she clearly didn't. Face remained fairly still, in spite of the explosive desire to do everything to the contrary.

"... Charmed." Hands were stuffed into the depths of his pockets, eyes wandering off in her direction as she did the same.

Of course she wouldn't have known about his precious smoking habit even though smoking was one of those things that she detested. Selphie had a terrible habit of being wonderfully naive upon occasion. Now just happened to be one of those times as she began looking around for some juice or something. Drinking water was terribly boring after awhile and Selphie wanted something with some sweet, tangy flavour.

Eventually she cornered an employee and asked them where there was a place that had juice. They pointed her toward a restaurant on the second floor.

"Hey Ban," she called to him. "There's a restaurant upstairs so I'm gonna up there! If you wanna talk, I'll be up there!"

And she was off.

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Interesting Happenings at the Hotel Actua Are [Closed]

no subject

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no subject

To Selphie

To Leon

To the Girl with the Coffee

To Mr. Grumpy Pants

To the Girl with the...Hair.

To the man with the incredibly sexy mullet. ((XD))

To Selphie [D: I got nothing new]

To Selphie & Leon

To Leon

To Selphie, Leon, and Ban (who wields sexy sticks.)

To Jing

To...uh...everyone. D:

Re: To...uh...everyone. D: (Yea.. Mostly Selphie. XD )

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To Ban

To Selphie & Leon

To Ban (OWNED)

To Selphie

To Ban

To Selphie

To Hedgehog Head