Welcome to Gaia! ::

[Dani :~: Disney :~: Throne Room]

After Noelle’s response Dani went back to her pancakes doing her best to try and cut up pieces and doing the normal thing of putting the food in her mouth. She remained quietly watching until there was suddenly uproar. Her pancakes forgotten as she stared at Louis.

She felt a wave of warm aura run through her body and her immediate reaction was to glare at the Guardian of Light. She was suddenly feeling a lot more vulnerable and these auras, while the intent of being comforting, made her feel on edge. ‘This is not good. ‘ Dani’s focusing quickly on the Guardian. ‘This is just going to give me bad flashbacks. Remember the board game of Paranoia Dani? Where the game forced people to take ‘Happy Pills’ and if you didn’t you were weird or be killed. Remember that Anamorphs book you read fifteen times where the aliens injected the kids with a serum to make them okay as the aliens would do surgery to take their flesh while alive. I am getting the same feeling here. ‘

She loudly heard Joe start to complain about Louis and when she took a second to look in herself to find emotions like Joe did, there were none. After Joe got his feelings out Dani took a second to reach around Noelle and tug on the bottom of his tank top . The intent being to get his attention.

She quietly said to Joe “Do you not believe in second chances? I think knowing them,” Dani pausing to give a very hard look at the Guardian of Light and Merlin, “They did a very hard reset. As much as what I have gathered about Louis I cannot really hate someone. I can understand you are angry at both Louis and Nich; but, Nich was one of the first people do to a combination move with me. We did something awesome against that battle with the bad Rae.”

Dani took a breath to calm herself down to get back on track and whispered again to him. “I guess what I am saying is: I understand you are mad but don’t hate him. Also I don’t like conflict.” Dani finally decided to let go and go back to focusing on what was occurring around the room. Half of the food eaten and forgotten.

[Nicholas <> Disney Castle <> Throne Room]

The bard turned as the fourth Earthing entered with the Guardian of Light. His brows immediately shot up in surprise, and he instinctively grabbed his knife and held it in a defensive position. He wasn't sure how Louis had come back, but like hell was Nicholas going to stay defenseless. The other Earthlings were staring, yelling, being as threatening as he was, but Nick's mind was racing.

How did he survive his supposed death?

Why was he here after they had just supposedly left him?

What the actual hell was going on!?

The Earthing known as Joseph proceeded to go on a small rant, even calling out Nicholas and how unhappy he was with the bard being there, before finishing about how he wasn't a 'good leader'. Nicholas looked at Joseph, staring totally deadpan before finally uttering a very curt response, dripping with snark. Nick was ready to have his clean slate, if that butthead didn't want to let it go and try to move on, he could be snarky about it too.

"No s**t, you overemotional hothead. Now shut up for a change and have some respect." Turning away from Joseph, he gave a small wave to 'Louis' from his seat. "Well, this is awkward. Welcome to the party table, pretty sure a majority of us are ready to throw down with you even though you have no idea what's going on. Not gonna lie, thought I'd be the most hated one at the table. So... uh... Enjoy the new title, I guess." He shrugged, placing his knife back on the table and crossing one leg over the other. He leaned slightly, his gaze never wandering from 'Louis'.

[Joseph: Disney: Throne Room]

The male opened his eyes, turning his head to look at Nick. Really? That's how he wanted to act right now?

Joseph closed his eyes(the right one now involuntarily twitching slightly), and went back to his quiet position. No, no use being petty. No use trying to 'win'. Any conversation will probably just result in Joseph being the 'a*****e' or Nicholas being the 'winner'. Hell even by not saying anything, Nicholas could be considered the 'winner'.

Joseph didn't care at this point. If Nicholas didn't like his attitude, Nick could shove it where the sun didn't shine. After all, one thing of helping out didn't fix everything, nor did it erase everything in the past.

{Bobbi, Demyx, Zell, Nanaki, Yuffie .:. Disney Castle .:. Throne Room}

Bobbi smiled and returned her attention to her plate of breakfast, steadily munching away as she let the pleasant cacophony wash over her. Everyone trickled in, and as more and more people found their spaces on the benches, the volume in the Throne Room rose. Friends were reunited, even. All in all, this was already one of the best mornings Bobbi had enjoyed in a long while, even before this crazy adventure began.

Then again, Bobbi had never particularly enjoyed mornings. She always preferred to lie abed until noon or so, and have breakfast around then. But this was nice, being up and awake and alert right away, surrounded by happy if sleepy friends. She felt the wash of comfortable familiarity, the feeling she'd always associated with "home" as the Guardian emerged from below. She didn't see right away who was with them, but the second she did she felt her stomach plummet just as Dawn choked on her coffee. She absently reached over and whapped Dawn on the back to help with the breathing thing.

Unless she was quite mistaken--and she could be, her memory for faces was only so good--the person with the Guardian, the Fourth Earthling (she capitalized it in her head) was Louis. And she wasn't likely to forget that face any time soon. Not after seeing it seized in a rictus of maniacal laughter, not after that same face had terrorized her very own heart.

The reactions of the others were immediate and unsurprising, but Bobbi found herself torn. A lot had happened between them in the past few days, yes, and very little of it was good. But seeing Louis standing there, beside the Guardian of Light, the very physical embodiment of all that was good, how could she react at all negatively? At least not out loud, or physically, she would keep it locked inside where it would do no accidental harm.

Besides, with what the Guardian had said about Louis not even remembering what had happened, what he had done, Bobbi couldn't find it in her heart to stay angry or hurt. As far as she was concerned, if this new person truly had no memories of those events, then he was not the person who had committed the atrocities she and her friends had been through. To her, memories were part and parcel of who a person was; without the same memories, they could not be the same person.

With a calmness that surprised even her, Bobbi stood from the bench seat she had been enjoying, patted Dawn on the shoulder, and offered a tight if sincere smile to the newcomer.

"As far as I'm concerned, the Louis who caused us so much trouble is dead," she said in a clear, carrying voice. She deliberately looked around the table and locked eyes with anyone who happened to glance at her. For once, she was un-afraid of any push back from her friends, or any conflict that her words might bring about. Maybe it was the Guardian's influence, maybe it was something else, but she felt like she had to say this. "If you don't have his memories, then you are not him. People may argue with me on that, and that's fine. A lot has happened to us, and some scars simply can't be healed. I get that, believe it or not. But like it or not, this person who bears the face of the man that we just killed is here now, and alive. We can give him a second chance, just like we're giving Nick a second chance now."

.:Just like we gave you a second chance in Narnia,:. Bobbi reminded Joseph, privately over the charms. Her mental voice would have come through with no negative emotional overtones, simply a gentle reminder. .:And will do again and again. Doesn't he deserve the same chance?:.

[Joseph: Disney: Throne Room]

The male tensed, then relaxed his body as he realized it was Bobbi talking to him. Not fully, though. Mostly because he was more than well aware of his own 'turning'.

That always burned fresh in his mind, even if it wasn't always at the forefront.

No one is stopping anyone from a second chance. I never said I wouldn't do anything with him. But no need to dance around the issue, and no need to deny fresh wounds or emotions.

Privately to Bobbi, he carefully worded his response, but even in thought it sounded like it came through gritted teeth.

Also I'm very much aware of what I did. What anyone else does is their prerogative, and what I do is mine.

There was a finality in the wording as Joseph ceased continuing the conversation, growing quiet.

{{Cue: And Then}}

The man stood in place, attempting in the best way he could to hide any emotional reactions from his face. Well that was a thing.

After very nearly jumping out of his skin literally at the sharp outburst that opened the following string of curses, tears, words of caution, words of warning, arguments, sarcastic words of thanks(to which he gave a raised eyebrow and half-smirk as if to say, “Thanks, I guess.”), whispers, and-- was that guy pointing a knife at him? -- heartfelt encouragement, he was left standing face-to-face with a girl wearing a living fur scarf.

She spoke so passionately, stumbling over words, failing to express herself clearly, that he felt a twinge of guilt rise up in him but not for whatever the others were going on about. She expressed concern for his well-being, empathy for what he was going through, having gone through it herself, yet, part of him knew half of what she was saying- like most of the things people were shouting and whispering bitterly around the room- were not meant for him, but Louis. He scratched the line of his collar bone with his thumb beneath the cloth of his hood.

He took a deep breath as others finished their peace and he considered the two offers left before him. He looked to the guardian. Normally, he'd have run- or more aptly described, pleasantly declined and retreated the moment he was able so he could lower his racing heart rate. But, they were there giving off that instinctual encouragement. He smiled softly and returned his gaze to the girl in front of him, “I am actually pretty hungry,” and he shook her hand.

“But first- excuse me for a moment,” the man shifted his eyes and released her hand, looking past the girl's shoulder at everyone else, making eye contact with Song long enough to nod appreciatively.

He locked his hands behind him, placed his feet together, and lifted his chin slightly, giving him the straightest posture possible. Deep breath.

“Good morning everyone,” his voice carried with practice and enthusiasm, even perhaps stepping up an octave to a singsong-y note that promoted a cheerier demeanor as he unclasped his hands and waved with one, the other finding solace in the hem of his jeans pocket, “It's a pleasure to meet you all. I realize it might be tough, given some circumstances I've been... vaguely filled in on, but I want to try and get along with everyone here... eventually. I've been informed many of you are from Earth, like me... which is still a little weird to say... anyway, sorry, first things first, Who Am I and Who I'm Not: My name is Steven. Louis, is my middle name, which I never go by. The only person who uses Louis is my mother, whom only uses it when she's angry and reciting my full name. That said, who I'm not, is whoever this Louis person was. Please do not call me that. It's Steven- with a V. Please don't use Steve, I actually hate that name for a bunch of reasons, but whatever. So yeah, nicknames are fine, just please, nothing derogatory. If you have any questions about me or whatever, I'd be happy to answer them. I look forward to getting to know you all. Thank you for your time and consideration.”

With that, a half bow to the group, and a glance back at the guardian, he smiled at the girl from before, “So what's for breakfast, Miss...?”

[ Guardian ; Yen Sid ; Merlin ; Genie ; Kyle : Disney : Throne Room Buffet ]

"Well it's a good thing that wasn't awkward!" Genie said, going back to cooking with more hands than one could feasibly keep track of.

Merlin's face twitched as he resisted a grin, though Yen Sid remained expressionless, watching the group. The Guardian stood silently at the head of the table, looking out at them all.

"Perhaps now would be a good time to follow suit and begin proper introductions," they began, glancing around from beyond their translucent veil; despite its near-transparency, no face could be seen beyond.

Kyle raised his hand awkwardly. "Uh, sure, but, um."


Deep green light was softly glowing on his fingertips, which seemed to be tracing themselves down his fingers, his palm, and slowly, slowly encroaching farther down his arm, appearing like rigid circuitry--an obvious build-up.

"Can I be excused for, like, 5 seconds?"

Merlin took one look at the young man and his eyes widened just marginally enough that those at the closest end of the table could see it. "Yes, yes, go take care of--"

Kyle, as a habit he'd all-too-quickly developed, was suddenly just gone.

"--that?"

Less than a second later, there was a deep, low rumble from the Hall of the Cornerstone below, as if a single large firework had gone off miles away. If anyone had been looking to the entrance--the stairwell opened up under the throne proper, which was slid over--they'd have noticed a very brief flash of green light. The rumbling was short-lived, and true to his word, Kyle was just... back in his spot not even 6 seconds after he vanished.

His hair seemed just slightly more windswept than before, but all trace of magic was gone.

"So! Who's first?" he asked, grinning and seemingly having a great morning as he grabbed for his tea mug again.