aworldforusall | And you know you're never sure

And you know you're never sure

WHO: Xi and anyone who wants to run into her? Iunno.
WHERE: Around town
WHEN: Fall? The consensus seems to be that it is Fall.
OPEN/CLOSED: Open as a 24-hour CVS, baby
PROSE OR BRACKETS: I'm doing brackets, you do whatever you wanna. It's a free country. Quotation marks are cool
WARNINGS: Discussion of Xi's past may include mentions of: Death! Torture! Abuse! Evil racist scientists! Cats!

[There's another teenage runaway in the alleyways of Birchpointe. She's particularly small, even for her age, but you can't tell under all the clothes - a ratty grey baseball cap pulled tight over short white hair (no ears to either side of it, so they must be tucked into it... right?), brim shading strangely reflective silver eyes, enormous stained green hoodie concealing her hands, some hideous faded floral print skirt from the free box at a thrift store somewhere, and baggy black sweatpants tucked into boots that are clearly a size too big. Despite that, if you catch her running she's really fast and surprisingly sure of step. And she doesn't generally walk.

Maybe you find her in a back alley, splitting cans of tuna with stray cats. Or maybe you just see her running somewhere and find she looks interesting! Or, if you look particularly interesting (and even if you think you don't, Xi can find something interesting about you), maybe she'll just end up following you as you go through your day. She does that sometimes.

Go on, talk to her if you wanna. It'll probably be a nice quick conversation that you'll be able to walk away from no problem.]

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[For a while Arthur avoided going back into town, by now he adjusted himself to be able to come back. As he walked along the streets. Trying to remember his way back to the Ambrosia since he hadn't been there in a while. When suddenly a girl was running, but he didn't see her coming as he almost lost his balance as she ran into him. As he gave out a solid "OOF" from the impact.]

[Look, sometimes Xi doesn't look where she's going when she runs. It's rare, but it happens. The shock of the impact knocks her onto her back, and there's... a "Clunk" noise? That's not normal.

She looks up at whoever she ran into, trying to simultaneously push down the subroutines and remember that word she was taught to say whenever she did something bad, like refuse to take a treatment or knock over a beaker. "Sorry," right? But that was a lab word, and the lab was bad. But where all lab words bad?

So yeah, she's just staring at you, Arthur. No particular emotion, just... staring. From the ground. What a fantastic start, eh?]

[Arthur shook his head, looking around to see what hit him. As he noticed the young girl on the ground and... Oh dear, is she homeless? Arthur looked at her with a bit of concern giving a small smile.]

I'm sorry, I guess I didn't see where I was going.

[He holds out his hand as he bent down a little.]

Are you alright?

[Well, this guy said sorry. Must be a word outside of the lab too. Xi'll get the hang of this being outside thing eventually... it's not really like she has a choice, right?

She nods.]

Mm.

[Then she grabs his hand, her own hand still wrapped up in sweatshirt sleeve, and lets him pull her up. Man, Arthur, her right hand feels... cold. And really not fleshy. But maybe that's just the sweatshirt messing with you?]

[Arthur felt that. Immediately his heart sunk, was she all alone out here like this? Had she not have enough to eat, is that why she's so cold? So many questions raced through his head, but he kept a calm pleasant smile around her. Arthur gave a nod.]

You seem cold, I'm on my way to the Ambrosia, would you like to accompany me there? I can buy you something to eat or maybe some coffee too.

Edited 2015-07-01 01:59 (UTC)

That's not why...

[Her fingers reflexively move a bit under the sleeve, and she swallows. Something besides tuna would be nice...]

What's the Ambrosia?

[He noticed that, but he decided not to question it for now. As relaxed his shoulders.]

The Ambrosia Nectar, it's a nice bar and grill, there's a lot of friendly people there. Pretty welcome atmosphere for anyone to come in really.

[Gives a nod in greeting.]

My name is Arthur, what's yours?

[Bar and... grill? Place with food. Xi likes food. Way better than nutrient shakes, anyway, not that that's saying much.]

Xi.

[Sounds like... the letter Z? But not quite?]

It's nice to meet you, Xi.

[Arthur proceeded to lead the way for them.]

They also got a pool table and some other stuff there, have you ever played pool?

[Xi blinks and sort of... tilts her head to the side. Pool?]

No?

[She'd ask what that even is but... she doesn't want to seem stupid.]

Oh it's great, I just discovered it recently myself. You see you have these balls you need to roll the balls into these little holes on the table. But you have to be careful not to hit the 8 ball into any hole. Otherwise you lose the game.

It's a lot of fun, I can teach how to play after we grab a bite to eat.

[They reached the place as he opened the door for them, it was a pretty quiet night at the Ambrosia, there were a few folks around demons and humans alike. But nothing to exciting was happening, Dominic the bartender gave a nod to them as Arthur went to find a table for them.]

Where would you like to sit, any preference?

That's... a game? [All the games the scientists had her play were training exercises with points. WHAT A STRANGE WORLD THE OUTSIDE WAS.] Okay.

Mm... [Her hat twitches a little as she looks around.] Over there? [She points to a seemingly random table. It looks nice.]

[Oh my, seems like he'll need to be introducing her to more fun stuff besides pool at this rate. Arthur looked over as he nodded, guiding her to the table hold out a chair for her first before he sat himself down. Holding out the menus for them.]

They got some pretty good sandwiches and chicken.

Do you like any of those?

[Xi holds the menu still through the sleeves of her sweatshirt, scanning it. She... recognizes basically none of this. Sob.]

Dunno.

[Except... wait...]

Crab cakes.

[Well, at least she's the kind of girl who knows what she wants. Sometimes.]

[Arthur looked over.]

Hm, oh yea, I've heard those are pretty good.

Do you want some of that?

I'm gonna get a spicy chicken salad myself.

[He nodded to the waiter for them to get their order.]

[Xi nods.]

Doctor R used to bring me crab cakes, sometimes, after tests.

[Quiet at that as Arthur ordered the food and drinks for them.

Tests?

As he turned his attention immediately back to her.]

Who's Doctor R?

[Xi flinches away a little at the sudden question. In case of capture, do not mention the personnel or goals of the organization. But this wasn't really capture, was it?]

... She was my favorite out of all the doctors at the lab. The others were nice sometimes, but she was nice all the time.

[The lab? ... Arthur furrowed his brows, was she being experimented on? He spoke a little quiet this time to her in concern.]

... Why were you at a lab though?

Was there a purpose?

Of course there was.

[Xi cautiously pulls back the sleeve of her right arm to reveal... a super obviously roboty hand.]

That's why it was cold.

[Arthur looked down gave a soft "oh." Then looked back up at her.]

What happened to your arm before, if you don't mind me asking?

They said it was gone when they found me, but...

[She grabs her shoulder with her other hand and frowns.]

I'm not sure.

[He lifted his brow as he observed.]

You mean you don't remember what happened before you were took in?

[Xi shakes her head.]

Xi isn't my real name, even.

[Arthur's expression softened as he looked at her.]

... There's a guy I heard that helps with people's memories.

Have you heard of him?

No?

[She looks down]

I... have not been out of the lab for very long. I don't know much at all about this city.

[He shook his head.]

Well he's kinda underground with helping others like I am.

His name is Nostalgia Critic, he helps others regain their memories back.

You should pay him a visit sometime, it might help your situation.

Maybe. I guess it couldn't hurt too much.

[She's used to things hurting.]

[Their food finally came as he gave a nod.]

We'll see if he's in the phone book later.

[As he started to eat his meal with a fork.]

Okay.

[Xi, for her part, tries to imitate him using a fork! But it goes. Not so great. Because she is holding the fork through her sleeve. And has never used a fork before. But in a rare moment of emotion she VERY DETERMINEDLY gets a bite in.]

[Arthur is patient as he carefully watched her as he ate his own food. Giving a nod every once and a while, shaking his head to confirm what she is doing right with the fork.]

[Xi has got this THESE CRAB CAKES STAND NO CHANCE!!!]

[Nods encouragingly, you can do ett!]

[AND SHE FINISHES those were good.]

[Arthur nodded as he finished too.]

Guess you liked those.

[She nods.]

Mm-hm. They're really good.

[Not as good as Doctor R's, but whose are, really?]

[Arthur smiled as he nodded.]

I'm glad you liked the meal.

[Glancing as he started to now wonder if she actually has a place to stay.]

... Do you need a room to stay somewhere by chance?

[Liz had been making her nightly rounds, and the alleys are always a place she checks - common area for shady shit. But this time, she only finds a young girl with some stray cats. Darn if that tuna doesn't smell good. But that's not important; the cat demon wonders about the girl, she hadn't seen her anywhere before, and it's a dead giveaway that she's been on the street for a while.

She won't engage yet, instead just watching from a distance to make sure the kid'll be okay.]

[Well, Xi is just chilling with her tuna and her cats. At one point her hat twitches and she glances around, but she seems mostly content for now.]

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And you know you're never sure

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