kingdoms_of_auradon | Don't Be Afraid To Be Who You Are

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Don't Be Afraid To Be Who You Are - Auradon Side

The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down

Just over a week after the Isle visit people would find themselves drawn outside. The reason might vary, it was a lovely day and the air had the sweet scent of spring. It was the first truly warm day, and perhaps that was it. But for whatever reason everyone, or nearly everyone, found themselves outside and then drifted peacefully off to sleep.

As they slept a gentle rain came down upon them, soft enough to wake only those in a cursed sleep. The water not only broke dark spells and curses on the people the rain touched but for some people it brought a very different sort of transformation.

A number of the Missrecalled might find themselves awakening older than they had been when they fell asleep. Some of them might awaken with all their older self's memories, or maybe those would come with time, or maybe the memories would need more help to return. But when everyone awoke with a light dew on their faces and clothes, some people would be in for quite the surprise....

Gift In Time Gift In Time Nary A Reason Nary A Rhyme Gift In Time!

After the odd outdoor nap, many might wish to head into their rooms to get changed and freshen up. Or maybe they wouldn't go back to their room for a while, but when they did they would find a gift on their beds waiting for them....

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Rain

It was nice for it to finally feel like Spring. Sephiroth went outside with the rest and soon sat down under a tree, dozing off to sleep burrowed under all three wings.

He awoke feeling refreshed, sleepily blinking as he uncurled his wings and stretched them. But as he looked around at everyone there, he would probably have more than a few startled reactions to see them.

Gifts

After that bizarre experience, Sephiroth wanted to get away and think and try to make sense of everything. He was stunned to enter his room and see something he hadn't seen in ages. Unable to believe it at first, he advanced quickly into the room and picked it up. Yes ... it wasn't an illusion; it was really there. Reverently he turned the pages, seeing the recipes for his mother's favorite meals, written in her handwriting. How had it gotten there? And why?

The Rain Rain Rain

Eli normally would not have gone to sleep outside now that they were somewhere with actual doors that locked. But it was still daytime so probably safe. Maybe. And actually to be honest, Auradon kind of scared her a little. So far no one went after her and Foulques was winning the stupid bet. But she kept waiting for the other oddly non-patched shoe to drop.

So when she wandered out for her nap she found a place between two trees behind the school in hopes no one would find her. She was about to lay down, then had one more plan. She climbed.

Eli had trained, she was good at climbing.

She settled herself into the tree, in the crossing of some branches by the trunk, and used leaves to hide herself. That done, she gave into the drowsiness and Elianne fell asleep.

.......................

And Kaylin Neya fell awake. Specifically she fell out of the tree. Anyone nearby who missed the sound of her falling probably heard the sound of her game-nerfed swearing. In at least six distinct languages even. It was probably fairly impressive, if someone limited in content.

Finally she got herself untangled and took stock as her memories caught up. Too many to process all at once. She swore again and headed towards the school, looking for something stronger than water to drink.

For those who are used to Elianne, in some ways this young woman still looks just like her. If nothing else the height is practically the same. While Kaylin no longer looks as starved and scrawny as Eli did, she is still on the underweight side. Her hair is still a ragged mess, though now it is at least clean - or had been till she hit the grass - and pulled back into a messy bun that was staked with a gnawed up stick. Like Eli her clothes were wrinkled and looked slept in. But at least they actually fit.

While the black leather pants were as patched as anything Eli wore, the long sleeved shirt with the buttons on the wrists, the tabard, the leather armor between the shirt and the tabard... those were all actually intact. She wore a belt over the tabard. The belt held three daggers in sheaths - two curved and one more futuristic, a gift from adult Leia - a belt pouch, handcuffs, and a beat stick. The tabard itself was grey and blue with a flying hawk stitched on it in gold thread that looked dingy and in need of a wash, and a second gold hawk was beaded on one shoulder.

But clothing was clothing. For the most part, nothing there really made her look too much more or less like Elianne. They had the same fair skin though, and the same brown eyes. Though on Kaylin there were heavy bags under them. But the hard edge in them, that bit that never fully softened... that was still there.

But in some ways she looked nothing like Eli any more. It wasn't just having her hair up, or clear age difference. It wasn't even just that she also wore an antique gold bracer with jewels on it that Eli could have never afforded.

The mot obvious difference was what looked like a tattoo on her face. A thin delicate design of a flower. Deadly Nightshade, specifically. Another big difference though was how she held herself. Her glance was sharp and she seemed observant in some way. But more... she held herself with confidence. It wasn't the swagger Eli put on when she was bluffing. It was the walk of someone who knew she could hold her own in a fight. And who generally knew how to avoid a fight in the first place when she wanted to.

At the moment what she wanted was booze. And food. And a place to sit and think for a bit. So yeah, she was striding purposefully towards the front of the school, watching and listening for anyone who might be approaching.

Gift In Time

Kaylin hadn't even made it all the way back to the room that had been Eli's when something small came hurtling through the air at her. She caught it just before it slammed into her face. It was flailing too much to get a good look at it, save for the impression of something vaguely cat sized with pale wings and maybe a tail?

"Ocean wall it, Hope! Stop it!" she snapped. "I don't feel like having blood running down my ocean walled face. I have enough to deal with right now. Like where the actual happinesses have you been this whole ocean walled time. And what the actual happinesses were they talking about time? And while we're at it, if I am my adult self again then WHY THE ACTUAL OCEAN WALLED DOUBLE TAILED THRICE CURST MISBEGOTTEN CAST OFF CAN'T I ACTUALLY CURSE!?"

Rain

Kaylin had been heading to the school when she saw him and stopped. She had seen him and Prompto on the boat, but that had been as Eli. She was an adult now. Or at least she was supposed to be. So going up to a near total stranger and asking him to take her flying was out of the question. She knew better. She did. She struggled not to go over and say something anyway.

Sadly her face was so expressive that generally anyone with working eyes could read her mind just by looking at it. And today was no different.

The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down Aqua loved the scent in the air that came with each change of the seasons. She headed outside happily to take it all in as she jogged. But eventually she found herself tiring. She stretched so she wouldn't stiffen up, then found a tree to sit against. She closed her eyes to meditate, and then...

She hadn't fallen asleep during meditation in years. And yet she fell asleep. She awoke lightly bedewed some time later, bemused at herself even as she yawned. "I wonder if this is how Snow White felt..."

Gift In Time Gift In Time Nary A Reason Nary A Rhyme Gift In Time!

Aqua came outside again soon after she found her gift. She wanted to see what it would do. So she could be found later that day attaching a new charm to her Keyblade. As soon as she did, however, her outfit changed and she was in a ballgown with a wide skirt - pants under it. She blinked looking down at herself. "I am not sure which I am more curious about," she said out loud, smiling a bit, quite amused, "why my clothing changed... or how I am supposed to fight in this..." She smiled at whoever was nearby. "I suppose I should just be thankful this one doesn't talk." She held out her sparkling blue Keyblade, watching the glitter languidly drift down from it.

Sephiroth looked over and saw her and did indeed deduce what she wanted.

"Hello," he greeted, and waited to see what she would say.

Aw ****s. Well, might as well. She walked over to him. "Sephiroth, right?" she asked to be sure. Of course how this strange woman knew who he was if he couldn't tell this was Eli suddenly grown up could be... odd.

Sephiroth nodded. "And you are ... Eli?"

He was still trying to figure out what was happening here. Some sort of curse? Was that why everyone had fallen asleep? Was it a spell that would need to be reversed? Why were only some affected? He wasn't that surprised that he hadn't been, although he did wonder why he had fallen asleep. Most magic didn't affect him, so it disturbed him when some did.

Rain Rain Rain Puppy Pile

As much as possible, Xion had stayed close to one or the other of her best friends. Or both. Both was the ideal. Thankfully they were all together when the impulse to go outside hit. She kept a grip on each of their sleeves and tried to hide herself between and behind them, listening to them talk to each other. But then she was sleepy and they seemed sleepy. She had a moment of panic when she and Roxas were both sleepy that she was broken again, and then Axel was sleepy and that was also terrifying, but then...

Then she was waking up with one of her arms under Roxas' head, and her legs under Axel with her other hand in his face and she was just... so confused. And damp. Her face was wet like she had been crying. Or like she'd been standing at the edge of the ocean with her hood down.

Wait, her hood was down! She took her hand off Axel's face to try and fix the hood, but the way she was laying, she couldn't. Her squirming, however, might be what started to wake her friends...

"Ocean wall... I used to be. It's Kaylin these days. And I guess I should appologize for the little spit I was back then. Probably won't," she admitted, "but probably should."

"Ocean wall?" he repeats with a raised eyebrow.

A smirk. "Heh. At least we finally got you to Auradon."

"....Finally? Other than Roxas who the happiness was trying to bring me here? And why?" The instant suspicion was the same. Her response was what changed.

“It’s just an expression,” Sephiroth replied. “I know people were concerned about you being in a place like the Isle.” He thought it was more than just Roxas. He himself had been concerned when he learned of it.

".....Why?" she asked, genuinely perplexed. "I mean I know I'm going to have to somehow explain all this spit to Roxas, and gods only know how I'll manage that, but he at least had a reason to c... be worried." she caught herself quickly. "But the Isle... I mean ocean wall, it's a happiness lot better than the happinesses where I grew up. And this not being able to curse thing is well past on my last ocean walled nerve," she griped.

“I would think any decent person would have a reason to be worried,” Sephiroth said. Although he didn’t know if he considered himself decent. “It’s not a place where anyone should have to live.” He wasn’t even sure villains deserved it. Certainly not children. “Where were you living before that?”

He smirked a bit. “I rarely curse anyway, so it doesn’t bother me. It is a strange type of magic, however. Of all things to block. There would be far better uses for such magical energy.”

"When I was Eli's age? Back when I was Eli? Whatever." She spat to one side, bitter. "I lived in the fiefs. When I was on the Isle, Chell and Foulques did a pretty decent job of making sure there was at least some food most days, even if I was too ocean walled afraid to trust it, or them. In the Fiefs? Most days the choice was eat trash if you could find it, or don't eat. We sure as happiness didn't have fresh fish. No one fished in the river. You never knew what all those dead bodies shoved in it would do and even if you were desperate, and we were... no fish I ever saw there and if there were and you caught something, you'd almost certainly be mugged for it before you got back home. At night there were Ferals. When I was on the Isle I was so ocean walled sure they'd show up... Of course now I know why they didn't, but Ferals meant that only the stupid, the drunk, or the powerful were ever out on the streets at night. Because that's when they hunted. The rest of us sat by the windows, if we had any, and bet on the Ferals because it was either that or let the fear curl you into a ball you never get back out of. I had over a dozen rooms I called home in the Fiefs because for the most part we were weak kids. Someone wanted the room we squatted in they usually let us leave without hurting us if we didn't argue or fight. One Winter we actually had a fireplace for a while. Until we were pushed out again anyway. On the Isle there was at least some food, no Ferals, no one trying to mug me or beat me up because I was in the way. I'd point out the lack of something else that was a constant in the Fiefs, but I was thankfully never pretty enough to run afoul of that fate. Compared to where I grew up the Isle would have been an ocean walled heaven if I could have trusted it. Compared to where I live now when I'm not here however? I want to make sure no child ever has to rot on that island again if this exists as an alliterative."

Sephiroth listened, deeply frowning and inwardly sickened and horrified. "Yes, I can see the Isle wasn't nearly as bad as these Fiefs. But I agree that no child should have to live either place. I also want to make sure children aren't stranded on the Isle ever again."

"Fine, I'm about to go inside and find out what the actual happinesses I have to do to help, and also learn whatever the ocean walled laws are here. And if this is like Nautilus all over again and there aren't any I am going to be ticked the happinesses off. Like I am at this cursing thing." She tried three other languages, and from the look on her face none of them worked.

"I don't suppose you know why you are suddenly older?" Sephiroth asked. He still wanted to figure that one out. Talking with her hadn't yielded him any answers to that.

She snorted. "I don't know. Some guesses, but they all can be summed up with swearing I apparently can't even do here."

"Heh. I would assume it's magic of some kind. Whether it can be broken or not, I don't know. I should see if anyone else has been affected." He stepped away, spreading his wings a bit.

"I Hate magic," she muttered, and she said the word magic the way one might say a swear word. "THAT I CAN SAY?! REALLY?!"

But most of the outrage in the second half was for show, her eyes locked on those wings, a kind of longing she can't quite hide in her eyes.

Sephiroth looked amused. He certainly didn't hate magic ... if he was the one using it. He didn't much like at all when magic was used on him, the few times that even worked.

"Would you like to come?" he asked.

While something in her expression remained guarded the rest of it lit up. "Flying?" she asked, and for a moment there was a hint of the excitement one might have expected from the child she'd been the day before. She managed not to bounce, reminding herself she was an adult but it was clearly a near thing.

Further amused, Sephiroth said, “Yes, if you would like.”

She nodded and walked closer. "Alright. Tell me where to hold on to not hinder you."

Flying! She was going to get to go flying!

She wondered if he'd curse like Clint if she messed with hi flight feathers, but decided to save that till after he actually liked her... Or at least didn't hate her enough to stop taking her flying...

(OOC reminder about the 4 foot rule >.>)

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Don't Be Afraid To Be Who You Are - Auradon Side

Sephiroth | OTA

Elianne/Kaylin Neya | OTA | CW: Potentially a lot, probably little

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Aqua | OTA

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Xion | KH | Locked to Roxas and Lea

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