kingdoms_of_auradon | Happily ever after with a little flavor

Sponsors for the ship? So... Sponsor'ship?

Rare had an hour seemed so long on the Isle, or carried so much hope. The King and Queen spoke to all who wished to speak with them, and to Yen Sid. At one point they even opened the barrier enough to go back to the ship where they conferred inside a silence spell with Sylvando. And once more for the King and Queen to return a few minutes later. Then back on the Isle they pulled a few individuals aside once more. Oddly, not those from the Isle this time. Aqua first. Then Lea. Then Æn'kae.

Finally the hour came to an end and the King and Queen called for everyone's attention. Mal stepped forward to address everyone.

"Alright, so here is how this is going to work," she told them without preamble, once she had their attention. The wind pulled at her purple hair, pulling it like a banner behind her. "Here are the terms by which we will take the people we will name to Auradon. Each person will be assigned a sponsor. If you want to change sponsors you may let us know once we are back in Auradon. Your Sponsor will be watching out for you. You need to check in with him, her, or them, regularly. How often that will be will be between you and your sponsor, but the sponsors will report to King Ben and myself. Behave and you'll get to stay in Auradon, and we will let you know when your probation is over and you no longer need to check in with your sponsor. Break the rules of Auradon, hurt anyone, steal.... depending on how bad the act and how many were harmed, we may, with your sponsor decide to give you a warning... or you may wind up back here. This is a chance to prove that the sorting magic was wrong, that you are good people. Or can become good people given the chance." Mal looked and sounded like she was clearly waiting to make her own judgments.

"As I list each name, please go to your sponsor if he, she, or they is here. If not, come stand with the king and I."

She took a deep breath. "Xion, your sponsor is Lea." she pointed to him, suspecting that she didn't actually have to, but it was good to set a pattern.

"Utau, you are with Sylvando, who is on the ship so come join us." Then a bit of a wicked grin. "He's also keeping an eye on Nadeshiko and Nagihiko, why not let him keep an eye on all three of you," she said, knowing she was throwing fuel on an explosion waiting to happen. But she trusted Sylvando to sort out which of the kids actually belonged on the Isle.

"River you are with Æn'ki. Hope you like animals," she said with a grin that wasn't all that softer than her last as she gestured to him.

"Morgana and Emporio, you are with Aqua," she added nodding to the woman with the blue hair. "Of course we understand if any of you want to stay..."

She turned to the Headmaster. Doctor F.... We're aware of you, and your efforts, I assure you. We'll be speaking with those heading to Auradon. But for now, stay where we can see you while the rest of you, those coming with us? You have ten minutes to get your stuff if you have any and say goodbyes to anyone if you want to. Goodbyes with the headmaster will be supervised so we can make sure he is being as good as he claims these days. Alright. Ten minutes, starting now!"

**************************************************

The gathering of belongings and saying of goodbyes was accomplished in the allotted ten minutes without much trouble. Getting everyone onto the boat, then equipped with lifejackets- thankfully the boat's owner was a bit over prepared so there were enough for everyone, if only just-, and reasonably settled for the trip back took a bit longer, however. The boat was a large catamaran, painted mostly in blue and purple pastels. The life jackets however, were the standard safety orange, and so stood out as sharply as they were meant to. The water was still rough so once everyone was equipped, Sylvando advised those unused to boat travel to settle down somewhere until they were in calmer waters.

Getting back to the mainland took time as well, though not quite as much as getting there had, as the tide was in their favor for the return trip. Still, there would be plenty of time for conversation, awkward silences, or angry glaring during the trip. And Sylvando himself wouldn't be adverse to conversation, provided it didn't interfere with the steering of the vessel. Those without their sea legs would also want to be careful walking around, as the boat-while large for a catamaran- wasn't large enough to prevent it from rocking.

Once they'd reached the harbor and the Bibbity Bobber had been secured in her berth, her passengers and crew disembarked and began the trek back up to the school. There seemed to be an inordinate amount of junk that had once been clearly blocking the road before the path to and from the harbor had been cleared. All of it was the sort of things one might expect to find in a modern city- cars, sign boards, fallen trees and lamp posts, etc- but there seemed to be too much of it for the simple vanishing of the populace to account for it all. Very odd.

Once they arrived at the school, they were led past the pretentious sign and statue of King Beast and directed into the lobby. There, they were issued phones and information sheets. On account of everyone being exhausted, no formal welcoming ceremony was planned for that evening, and those staying were directed to the dorms to get showered and settled in. Since that was sure to be a process in itself, Ben, Mal, Sylvando, the other sponsors, and anyone who still had the energy would likely be around for all that as well until everyone got settled. Thankfully the exhaustion had been anticipated, and it was announced that there was soup in the kitchen's refrigerator that had been premade and portioned out and needed only to be reheated for supper at each person's leisure.

The next morning however, proved that Auradon was still Auradon and couldn't really go without some kind of official welcome, as those who came down to the lobby would find a simple but tasty breakfast of muffins, fruit - provided by Malia-, tea, and coffee waiting for them along with the eternally chipper Sylvando, ready to answer any further questions they might have.

****************

Professor Yen Sid and the Headmaster stood and watched the ship through the barrier until they could no longer see it. Then the headmaster, looking bitter, turned on his heel, stalked back to the school, muttering under his breath about needing to speak with someone. He did not say who, but it did not seem like it was likely to be a pleasant conversation.

Yen Sid, on the other hand, turned to those who chose to remain. “Shall we get these supplies in before the humidity destroys them?” he asked, gathering his things into his bag before grabbing it and one of the boxes.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

nobodys_puppet

She went with him. "School? Is... is this another go to class or explode thing?" she asked, quietly, going with him.

From:

hotheadwarmheart

"Nah, there's no actual classes or anything here," Lea said tiredly. "Not now anyway. The school's just where we've been staying. You were there before, when we got switched."

From:

nobodys_puppet

She nodded, then hesitated. "Axel...?"

From:

hotheadwarmheart

He glanced down at her with a wordless sound of acknowledgement of her question. "Hmm?"

From:

nobodys_puppet

She clung tighter to his sleeve. "Is... is my being here... bad?" she whispered.

From:

hotheadwarmheart

He didn't know whether she meant 'here' as in 'in Auradon', 'in this world', or just in the general sense of her existing and he didn't have the energy to try and figure it out just then. The answer was the same no matter what anyway. "No," he said. "It's never bad that you're here."

From:

nobodys_puppet

"But you.... you..." how to say it? She was struggling to explain what she was seeing in him, what was making her so worried now. "Are... Am I draining you... like I used to drain Roxas..?"

From:

hotheadwarmheart

Oh, that's what this was about. "Nah," he said. "That was thanks to a weird magical connection and Marluxia screwing with things. Just something about the Isle... I was exhausted like this when I got back last time too. I'll be fine after a good night's sleep."

From:

nobodys_puppet

"Oh... Okay." He wasn't lying this time, right? Right?

"So then... ice cream tomorrow instead of today?"

From:

hotheadwarmheart

"We'll probly have to take a raincheck on the ice cream," Lea said. "We're a bit short on certain supplies and they don't get automatically restocked here like on the train."

From:

nobodys_puppet

She looked horrified at that. "There... is no ice cream... here?"

From:

hotheadwarmheart

"Not currently," Lea said. And while he didn't say so directly, his tone indicated that he was rather too tired to care about the lack of ice cream just then. "Shocking, I know. You might actually have to rough it and eat things that aren't ice cream."

From:

nobodys_puppet

"I.... will wait till we can buy ice cream..." she decided. There had to be somewhere to buy it. She found a place in Diatu, this was another school... so there had to be another place. Right?

From:

hotheadwarmheart

"You'll be waiting awhile, then," Lea said. "But sure, whatever. You usually tend to do what you want anyway."

From:

nobodys_puppet

She let go of his sleeve, shrinking in on herself.

Did... did she do something wrong? Did... did he not want to be her friend any more? Was something worse going on then being tired?

From:

hotheadwarmheart

Lea continued a few paces before he realized she'd let go. He turned back to face her. "C'mon, Xion," he said. "We gotta keep moving if we wanna get back to the school before it gets dark." Seeing her body language, he added. "You can have your latest existential crisis or session of worrying over some random thing once we're back in our room. It'll be a lot more comfortable. There's pillows and everything."

From:

nobodys_puppet

She wanted to ask him something, but didn't know how... and was afraid that her fumbling would just make whatever she had done wrong worse. So she hurried over to him and grabbed for his sleeve again, afraid he'd not want her to, but also afraid he'd vanish or leave if she didn't.

From:

hotheadwarmheart

Lea managed a slight smile as she grabbed his sleeve again, then continued back toward the school with her in tow. Whatever was going on, whatever innocent phrase or random event had upset her this time, it would pass. It always did. And on the off chance it didn't, at least after a good night's sleep he might be able to deal with it.

From:

nobodys_puppet

She stayed close, terrified until they got to the room. It looked just like it did last time, more or less, but now that she was here...

"....Axel?" she asked softly. "There are only two beds..." that hadn't dawned on her the same way when she and Emporio had been here.

From:

hotheadwarmheart

"Yeah every dorm room has two," Lea said. Part of him just wanted to collapse into bed as he was, but instead he sat down on his bed and began taking off his shoes. Not everyone could sleep comfortably with their boots on.

From:

nobodys_puppet

"Then... where will Roxas sleep when he arrives?"

From:

hotheadwarmheart

"Wherever he wants," Lea said. "There's still plenty of free rooms." OK maybe not exactly plenty, but still enough to deal with another small influx of people easily.

From:

nobodys_puppet

"But... if this isn't Diatu or the Train... can't he stay with us?"

From:

hotheadwarmheart

"there's no way to get a third bed in here," he said. "So no. The room next door is still free though." He wasn't going to bother arguing that Roxas might not turn up. Mostly because statistics wouldn't be on his side, judging by their previous interdimensional adventures.