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{James : Disney Castle : Balcony}

James chuckled lightly as she explained what she had or not actually done in regards to the games, especially in regards to the .hack// games which James had thoroughly gotten obsessed with when they had originally come out.

"I'm not saying I know everything about Final Fantasy, the ones prior to the playstation I definitely have learned a lot more about through the wiki too, such a useful thing," he concluded with a chuckle of his own and then fell silent as she began to answer his question.

He was impressed, she was pretty well versed much like he was, doing all kinds of things musically and artistically. She even went on to describe some of the things she liked, such as tea, long walks, snowfall, and described her habit and enjoyment of going outside regardless of what time of day it was on the first snowfall, and explained her mother's specific instructions while camping causing the corsair to chuckle again, stargazing seemed to be another thing interest that they shared as well.

"I'm not overly fond of swimming actually, I can but I don't get a whole lot of enjoyment out of it, unlike my wife, she loves it, me being mostly skin and bone though, I tend to sink like a brick," he stated with another huff of amusement.

"As for what I like to do, I'm obviously a big fan of games, rpgs primarily. I like to read, write, and draw, though I'm no where as good as you are. I do online roleplaying as well," he stated. Kyla might have noted that he wasn't referring to all of this in the past tense as she did, but that was more a matter of habit than anything. "I'm fairly musical as well, I was involved in choirs since the fifth grade, even traveled the world on summer and spring tours during my middle school and high school years with a prestigious choir in Nebraska called Bel Canto. I played the trumpet from fourth grade through eighth grade, but stopped after that since it basically meant joining marching band which I had no interest in. A few years after High School I picked up the ocarina as a hobby and learned to play songs on it by ear. used to enjoy making recordings of them and posting them on youtube actually. I also like to cosplay, I've been to at least one convention a year since I graduated," he continued, he always forgot just how much he had been involved in over the years until he actually bothered to list them off. "My wife and I both like making props for cosplay too, we had started a business of making them by commission before all of this happened," the corsair stopped there, hoping that he didn't sound to boastful to the pictomancer.

"I also like to go camping, I love nature and just going for hikes. While I didn''t have a telescope star gazing is another past time of mine as well. I had a fair bit of time to just star gaze as I drove around on patrol at my job. I've always loved the moonlight, who knows maybe that's why I ended up with Fenrir."

{James : Disney Castle : Balcony}

James was still trying his best not to feel like he had been boasting too much, he couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed as she commented on how he had acted during the parade.

"I'm definitely used to performing, I won't deny that. Coming off of the conversations that we had had before leaving the hangar, I'm surprised I was able to let loose and enjoy it as much as I did," he stated rubbing the back of his head a bit.

She seemed surprised that he cosplayed and made props and commented on how much easier cosplaying would be with the dress spheres. He thought about it, and how their attires had changed over the course of their journey. Even his had changed since his battle with Kuro Oni. The long coat replaced with a vest instead, it was like his heart was shaping his attire more to fit the melee possibilities of the Lunatic Pandora, his attire more fitting for closed quarters combat. He simply nodded his head with a slight chuckle in regards to her thoughts on cosplaying with the dress spheres.

"It is wonderful knowing that Michelle isn't lost in the darkness like everyone else from Earth, knowing she's here is a huge drive booster really, whether she fights with the group or not. I'm glad that she's staying here though. I prefer that she be safe, she has never really been one for fighting," he stated doing his best not to think about what had happened during the brief time Michelle was on the front lines with them, that stupid curse and how the two of them had nearly gotten killed. "As for our props, not really sure how competitive it was, it never really felt like there was a ton of competition, but it was really just getting started too, so who's to say what could happen. We work predominantly with different foams and plastics actually. Foam core made for a good base for a lot of props, we would then build up the thickness with craft foam and cover it in a sheet plastic called styrene," he stated with fondness. He truly loved crafting and making props.

He fell silent again as he listened to her talk about her passion for drawing and animating, yet again it seemed she was always thinking about all sorts of things, both in regards to this world, and their home and sort of bridging the gap between them. It was definitely interesting to listen to her theories and thoughts on all of that. He was glad to hear her laugh and giggle, it was so much better than the way she had been since before this conversation. Her thoughts turned somber a bit as she asked the question that she had apparently been thinking about since Yen Sid's offer.

"Time will tell how things pan out at the end of this journey, until then it is impossible to know. I don't think Michelle and I could ever be truly happy here if we did stay, our families, our friends. After fighting so hard to get it all back, I can't imagine never seeing them again," he stated with a sigh. "One things for sure though, we'll never be the same again."

{James : Disney Castle : Balcony}

James nodded his head in agreement regarding her never go back statement. Her thoughts then turned again towards their living arrangements now and how their missions would work from now on, primarily if they would be riding their chocobos again. It made the corsair think about his black and red feathery companion Feni, whom last he had seen was still in the stable car aboard the train, though he kind of doubted that was the case. She spoke of "The General" whom he figured was one of the Chocobos in the car, he had surely seen him, though he couldn't recall. Every time he had been in the stables it had always been in passing, when she mentioned the excursion it took him a moment to think about what she was talking about, then he remembered their trip to the strange toad sage back in Narnia.

Thinking back to Narnia brought back more bad memories than good, It was when Cory had first attacked, that stupid spell that had nearly gotten both Michelle and himself killed, that had nearly seen Michelle lost to her own darkness, his near death experience at he final battle. He noticeably cringed at the memory of his fall off of the platform. He noticeably shook his head trying shake the memories from his head.

"That was during a particularly emotional time for me, so I really don't remember much of it. Either the trip or the frog sage. It's definitely different than riding a horse I'll say that much. I would definitely like to ride Feni again, we might get the chance to ride in the forest outside before we go back to doing missions. If I go would you like to come with me?" he asked eagerly with a smile.

He remembered his time riding Chocobos in Final Fantasy XI. The music that played was just so fitting, it was slow for Chocobo music but it fit really well and the Chocobo's steps always fell right with the beat. Monsters didn't attack you while riding, so it was purely for fun, especially when it was a chocobo you raised yourself. They even had made a chocobo hot and cold game in FFXI that you could play while riding your chocobo, and just like in FFIX, he had always been pretty good at it.

[ ATE : Speaker of the Dead : 1 ]

[Nick(?) :: Disney Castle :: Cornerstone of Light]

"No...No, it really doesn't make me feel better. It doesn't make me feel better in the slightest that I, according to you, am a self aware mental projection of your cancer ridden noggin!" The image of Nick exclaimed, flailing his arms in frustration. "Why, if I wasn't so damn ghostly, I'd...I'd...I'd kick some dirt and have a hissy fit. Or something. I'm too frustrated to be frustrated. No, stop. More important things to do than flap my lips like an idiot. You still haven't told me how you know my name. And what castle are we at? The one in Anaheim? Florida, perhaps? Or are we ******** seas in one of the four outside the USA?!"

He yelled again, stopping only to look at Yen Sid. His mouth fell agape, and he could only mutter out 'Yen Sid, Yen Sid, real Yen Sid' over and over before turning his gaze back at the blonde agromancer.

"We're...we're not in Kansas anymore, are we, Dorothy?"

[ATE ~ Speaker of the Dead ~ 2]
[Noelle ~ Disney Castle ~ Chamber of the Cornerstone]

Noelle followed Nick's gaze and could see that he'd figured the situation out for himself. She winced and watched him sympathetically, wringing her hands. How to explain this . . . any of it. Telling him that Earth was destroyed wasn't even the bad news. Or the worst of it, anyway.

The small blonde took a breath and looked up at Nick, "We're not. We're at Disney Castle. The Disney Castle. It's all just . . . really messed up and awful, but . . . turns out Kingdom Hearts is real. Sora and Riku are over there. As for why we're here . . . a Darkside destroyed Earth. We, and other kids from Earth, survived for some reason. We're starting to discover that it might be because there's something special about our hearts. So we, you, are alive, and we're trying to find a way to get home."

Noelle stopped there, letting him take at least that in. He could react in any number of ways to that, and she couldn't be sure whether it would be good or bad. She was trying to be sensitive about it--it was a lot to handle. But the worst part was, she only had more bad news from there.

[ATE ~ Speaker of the Dead ~ 4]
[Noelle ~ Disney Castle ~ Chamber of the Cornerstone]

Noelle frowned as Nick kept shouting, taking a breath to try and keep an even temper. The deep sigh didn't help at all, and her anger began bubbling over.

"Will you calm your tits, I'm doing you a ******** favor!" She hissed, waving a warning finger at him. "You're a villain you got that?! The only reason why I can see you is because you thought you'd terrorize me for information!"

The agromancer paused and took another deep breath, rubbing her face with her hands. She was trying to be gentle but her irritation with him got the best of her. Hopefully the information she'd just given him would shut him up long enough for her to continue.

"You're a villain." Noelle repeated, though much more calmly now, "But not by choice. When Earth was destroyed, we chose weapons and summons attached themselves to our hearts. Chaos attached to yours. We've been here for a week, and in that time Chaos has been fighting you--the real you--for control over your body. You're losing. You put this seal on me--" She showed him the mark under her collarbone, "To try and get information from me about my comrades, others from Earth. But when I refused, Chaos took over momentarily. When you returned, you asked for my help, and I agreed to try and help you find a way to stop Chaos from taking over your body. However, when I came here, to Disney Castle, your communication with the seal was cut off by the Cornerstone of Light. You, the one that's here now standing before me, are the fragment of your heart left with me by the seal. Now that this fragment is severed from your original, it's out of communication with your memories and with Chaos. So you are as you were before Earth fell."

Noelle stepped back a little, unsure of how Nick would react to all this information. He asked for it, though, so all she could do was oblige.

{James : Disney Castle : Balcony}

James fell silent once again as she began speaking as she began talking about what had happened when once back home and then wasn't sure what the person thought of her anymore. He couldn't help but laugh as she then began frantically waving her arms about in a very anime style, denying what she had said she thought she was. He wasn't sure exactly how to react though aside from that. He was certain she knew he didn't mean anything by it, and she certainly already knew he didn't feel that she was a snob or an airhead. The only true airhead that the corsair knew was Dawn.

She then continued to explain about how she had felt when she had first met Riku, and how she wasn't sure what he thought about her now, how they would probably never be friends and all of that.

"Riku was the first canon character I met in this universe," The corsair stated. 'I didn't really have too much time to be awe or star struck though as it was right in the middle of battle against some Heartless, he saved me and then helped me get to here. It was pretty cool to be honest."

She then went on a tangent about Sephiroth, explaining how his motives even though he knew them all too well. He probably knew the most about Sephiroth or FFVII in general than the vast of the group. She then continued to explain Sephiroth's motives in Kingdom Hearts, him being Cloud's darkness and how if James had run into Sephiroth unless he had picked a fight with him, the masamune wielder would probably just leave him alone.

"I didn't mean that as though he would try and kill me on sight, though who's to say with the way the Darkness is acting. I just mean it's not like I would be able to walk up to Sephiroth and actually speak to him and have him acknowledge me."

Again she switched tangents... How many did she have to go off of? Had all of these thoughts been piling up in her head since the start of their journey and she hadn't really had anyone to talk to them about until now? He supposed overall this was a really good thing that she was finally letting it all out. Explaining what she had done regarding going to meet Ajora and the consequences of it, blaming herself yet again for the state that Kyle was in currently.

"I'm amazed your head hasn't exploded with all of these different thoughts you have... Don't worry about all of that, what's done is done and there is no point lingering on it. Kyle will get fixed up I'm sure. As I've said, I wasn't there during that so I really have no right to judge, I just know my own mistakes could have had far more dire consequences if I wasn't careful,"

Another tangent this time to Genesis and the obsession with Loveless. Which made the corsair think of his own obsession with the poetry. It wasn't so much that Loveless had truly resonated with him, just as the Epitaph of Twilight had drawn his attention.

"Infinite in mystery, is the gift of the Goddess. We seek it thus and take to the skies. Ripples form on the water's surface. The wandering soul knows rest," the corsair concluded his recitation with a light chuckle before turning his focus back to Kyla. " Sorry, I'm a pretty big fan of Genesis' poetry myself, just like he did to Sephiroth in Crisis Core he sort of beat it into my head. The story of Loveless didn't so much resonate with me as just caught my interest, similar to how the Epitaph of Twilight did in the .hack series... I'm weird that way. As for a story or character that resonates with me. Back when I had my berserk nature issues, I used to relate very well to Kenshin Himura. The whole berserk rage that I used to have... It used to feel very much like Kenshin's Battousai side. Kind of silly I know...," he concluded rubbing his head slightly embarrassed again.