Log: Completed.

[tierce-horizon.livejournal.com]

When; During yesterday's heat-stroked Scooby door pandemonium.
Rating; G.
Characters; Kairi (tierce_horizon) and DILF heartthrob James (re_enaction).
Summary; Toweled Kairi and Psycho'd James find solace from the surrounding chaos through coffee and conversation. Similarities between the two are discovered, and a creepily interesting friendship begins to bloom.
Log;

Kairi sank into her seat with a disgruntled sigh, twirling her straw around the iced coffee she ordered. the welcomed drop in temperature with each sip kept her mind off the fact that, well, she was practically naked. In a café. This place really sucks sometimes... Her eyes soon glanced up at the entrance, doing her part of a favor by keeping a look out for someone.

Running his fingers through his dirty blonde hair, James nervously looked around. This place did smell pretty strongly of coffee - of many other things sweet, at that - but it’s not as though he can really trust what he smells or sees in this city. Swallowing and tugging at the collar of his tank top, eyes darting about the shop he’d entered before raising an eyebrow and tilting his head. There’s a girl in a towel. At least he didn’t have to worry about if he had to wear shoes in this store, then.

Kairi noted the newcomer's noting her fashion statement, causing her to blush an insane amount. I know, I know, I'm special, she thought to herself with a subtle eye-roll. Oh, wait... Black tanktop, jeans, older... Oops. A meek hand went up to wave at the one-person audience. "James, right?"

James grinned; an awkward, nervous grin that he must’ve been saving up, as it almost hurt to stretch his face in that way. Raising his hand in the same meek manner, and waving it slowly, he made his way to where Kairi sat. “And, you must be Kairi then.. I, uh.” He paused, hand steady now at the back of his neck, and eyes fixated on the wonderful pattern of the table and not the pattern of her towel. “I didn’t know that, uh. Your clothes.”

Kairi managed to blush a deeper shade of red. "Yea...I was...about to take a shower, then this whole door thing happened." A sheepish grin crept onto her face before glancing elsewhere and sipping the last of her coffee. "At least you were lucky enough to be dressed before walking through one."

Seating himself, James smiled at the laminate of the table. “Well, though I may be dressed, I would kind’ve give it up for a nice shower. Traversing the Underworld is, uh.. Well, it doesn’t make you the cleanest of souls?” Pulling his head from its downward position, to at least check on the status of her drink, he gestured nervously to the counter before mumbling, “Would you like another drink? I’d be pretty fine with buying you something. Uh. Maybe, uh.. Something pink and sugary looking?” Kind’ve like her hair, he mused with a hum.

Kairi found herself giggling as she slid the empty glass off to the side, leaning over the table and tilting her head to get a better view of James' face. "If you insist on buying one, sure!" Her smile soon faded to make way for an intrigued expression. "The Underworld, huh? What's it like?" she asked in a curious tone while discreetly adjusting her towel.

James let out a short bark of a laugh, brought on by the nervous crush to his chest by the awkward social conditions that he’d been thrust into. “The Underworld? It’s.. It’s not a place for girls such as yourself to be? It’s just really weird, weirder than this City is,” he said quietly, voice a crazy mix of hoarse and deep rumbles, before he continued, hand rubbing at his eyes. “It’s not something that someone, uh.. Well. If you haven’t experienced something like it before, I guess it would be a little scary at first.” He shoved himself up from the table, and went to order some black coffee for himself; something sugary sweet for Kairi.

Scarier than suddenly owning an extra body part for a day? Yikes... As James got up, Kairi uprighted and settled back against her chair, glancing around a few times before retucking the towel into itself. The last thing she needed was to have the damn thing slip off her. At least there's hardly anyone in here right now... With an airy whistle, she laced her fingers together on the table surface and watched her thumbs twiddle.

Returning with the drinks, James tried to relax in the café chair. He rubbed at his chin, bemoaning the fact that he didn’t have a razor to shave with, and then began working on his coffee. It wasn’t that he was some kind’ve social shut-in..
But you’d clam right up too, if some sugary pink haired girl was sitting at a table with you, clad in just a bath towel. After a long sip of coffee, and a brief pause, James gave off his lopsided grin and gestured meekly towards Kairi. “So, uhm. Where about do you come from? I mean, originally.. And, uh, in the City, too. Not, not being too strange asking that, am I?” He worriedly lifted his coffee to his mouth again, sulking his shoulders forward.

Kairi accepted her drink with a distracted smile, quickly taking a sip before setting the glass down. Almost like it was her means of snapping back to reality.

"I used to live in a paradise of sorts...called Destiny Islands." She cupped the glass in both hands, rubbing her index fingers against the smooth surface as she continued, "I miss it from time to time, but then I remember that one of the best parts of living there is also here, in the City. Though..." The expression on her face turned into one of hidden pain, not really wanting to delve further into the subject.

"I um...live in building 12," she spoke up quickly with an answer to the last question.

James knew when to not question looks, or, well, he believed he did, at least. It was hard to figure out if he should stop the sentence from coming out of his mouth, but it was out before he knew that he’d said it at all. “Though there’s something weird about the best part from your life, right?” Confused at the awkward sound of his own voice, from seemingly nowhere, and how he was leaning on the table, James retreated back to his relaxing sulk, having embarrassed himself yet again. He muttered into his cup, “The city.. It kind’ve twists the nice. It reminds me of another place.”

Kairi found herself blushing once more, but for different reasons. Was she growing as transparent as Sora? Even a complete stranger managed to figure out what was on her mind. "Yea, you could say that..." With fingers still sliding over her glass, she glanced back at James, obviously distracted by his last statement. "This place reminds you of another? You mean there are more?"

“Oh. Oh yes. Uh, I- heh, imagine this if you can, but I actually just escaped another place like that. In a way.” James smiled and spoke to his coffee, still feeling awkward speaking so much towards a teenage girl in a towel. “It wasn’t really paradise, like, well, like where you come from. But, it wasn’t as nice as this. It..” He paused, and rubbed a thumb against his chin hard, in thought. “It was like going through trials to prove yourself. Or Hell.”

"To prove yourself?" she repeated, sipping more of her drink before leaning back over the table. "Why would you need to prove yourself? Couldn't you just be accepted for who you are?"

James raised his eyes from the lukewarm black coffee to look at Kairi, though with her leaning over the table, it was hard to really focus on her face. “Well, uh. I’m not all that nice of a guy, who I am. Things just happened. Circumstances, and, uh, well, it just..”, he trailed off, fumbling over his words and fumbling with his coffee cup.

"You seem like a nice guy," she spoke matter-of-factly before resting her chin on a propped up hand. "Unless this is all an act and you're planning on kidnapping me." Kairi smiled simply at him, indicating only half-seriousness. Yea, he was nice, but he was sure nervous. Though that might have been due to her attire. "Besides, if 'things just happened', why prove yourself over something that was out of your control?"

“K-Kidnap you?! W..what? No..”His fumbling succeeding in knocking the coffee cup over one of his hands, spilling the almost cold coffee onto his skin and table alike, James paused and set his palms down on the table to calm himself, before looking back at Kairi and shrugging. “Well, because the town I came from was fueled by my own repressed - uh - memories. And things of that sort. And it was there to punish me, so I had to prove I could get out.”

And then, thinking, he seemed to realize something and his hand clapped to his forehead. Oh, right. I drove into the lake.

Kairi jumped back a little in her seat as the coffee poured itself out of its container. With a momentarily flustered expression, she grabbed a bunch of napkins, wiping down what she could reach on the table surface. "I-I'm sorry, I was kidding..."

The remaning napkins were handed over to James, though not before absently patting them over the caffeine-soaked arm. "Repressed memories?" she muttered softly. "I had something like that happen to me too...a couple of times."

James waved his hand meekly as Kairi pat his soaked arm down, smile slightly askew on his own face. Taking over from where she left off, he wiped the coffee away as best he could, though he had a sinking suspicion he’d smell like this the rest of the day. “I, well, I guess, uh, I took the kidnapping thing a bit too seriously. I wouldn’t, though! I mean, kidnap you. That wouldn’t happen, I .. I assure you.”

Deciding that he was finished with his coffee, and it was finished with him, he stuffed the napkins into the nearly empty cup and rubbed his hands onto his jeans, just.. Thinking for a little.

“Guess we have something in common, then. A little memory problem.” James smiled at her, before continuing with, “Though, I wish you didn’t seem so upset. Uh, I mean, just, your words. They come out so, um.. Sad? Kind’ve like a ..a..” he grasped for words, “A kid picked last for a game? Or, not at all.”

Kairi's gaze trickled down to the soon-to-be-sticky table and she giggled quietly. Even if he did kidnap her, they might not notice. Silence for a moment, before she frowned inwardly at herself. Sora and Riku not noticing? How could she even think that?

"Picked last...I guess that's one way of looking at it." Kairi chewed on her lower lip in thought, then nodded to herself as if convinced of the analogy's accuracy. "But it's not like I can spend the rest of my days thinking about that, right?" The one in her voice was soft, somewhat unsure. She was a strong gal, that much was common knowledge among friends. But...if weak people were allowed to show strength, why couldn't strong people show weakness? "Just gotta move on."

His head resting beneath his chin, James watched Kairi, confused at what she had said. Move on? ..Back in Silent Hill.. Should I have? But, I killed .. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he flashed a fake grin to her and nodded his head. “You might have a point. You shouldn’t look in your past and let it bother you, or..” He stopped, not really knowing what she was trying to move on from, rubbing his chin with his thumb again. “Or.. Associate with anything from then? Well, no. You should, but you shouldn’t.. If it makes you think like this. Makes you talk in that way.”

Oh, what was he saying, anyway. “What am I saying, anyway.” He shook his head, and excused himself from the table, carelessly leaving the coffee cup there. “I--I’m not really a good talker, and you shouldn’t really come to me for ..for advice on something to do. But, I live in building 11. Room 21. In-- In case you ever need to stop by and stop being the sugary sweet you?” He left his answer hanging in the air, uneasily glancing over his shoulder towards the doorway.

Stop being...the sugary sweet her? The words rolled over her lips in a quiet breath. Was this really all just a mask she put on? ...Nahh...it was probably just girl problems. She responded by looking over her own shoulder and smiling, "And I'm in room number 998 next-door, if you ever need a dose of sugary sweet."

Kairi's focus shifted over to the door James was about to exit from. "You sure that's a good idea? Might make you wind up someplace you don't wanna be."

James focused his attention back to Kairi, and smiled at her before shrugging, hands shoved into his pockets. “Well, I can make due with wherever I wind up. And I kind’ve hope that it’s an empty bathroom, or my own room.” Extending his hand to her, he nodded slowly. “I think I’ll need something, uh, a little sugary sweet. Sometimes.”

Kairi rose with a grin and accepted his hand, only to squeak ever so slightly as the towel warned her of slipping off. One hand gripped onto the fabric tightly, while the other resumed shaking James' hand. "Thanks for the little chat, James," she chirped with an extensive blush. Now that they were standing up, she was able to get a better view of his face. And...well...cute. She cleared her throat and loosened her grip before flashing another smile and sitting back down.

Quickly averting his eyes to his bare feet, James laughed nervously and nodded quickly, eyes clenching closed whenever any bit of towel entered his vision. “No! Really, it was nice to get out and actually talk to someone. I think I might’ve been.. Alone by myself too much, that ticking doesn’t help.” Opening an eye to take a chance with what he might find, he reluctantly stepped backwards, waving a hand in a meek wave before exiting.

What a nice girl.

Shame about the towel, though. He thought, grin twitching at his lips.