Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been?

[alley_kit]

Who: Kit, her new Chocobo, and you
Where: Anywhere around the streets of Saeng Seong
When: August 1st. afternoon
What: Kit is taking her Chocobo out for a ride, since Salali needs the exercise and Kit needs the time to think about recent happenings. Anybody want to talk to her?
Warnings: Probably none? Will update if that changes.

Salali loped at an easy pace through the city streets. Kit knew she could go faster, but until they got to a more open area, that probably wasn't a good idea. The chocobo was a lot bigger than her, after all, and running into someone at speed could really hurt them.

Also, the easy pace, gave her some much needed time to think. What the leader of the Ragnar had said disturbed her. From the way he'd described things, it sounded like things here were similar to how they had been back home between the Cats and the Lizards. If that was so, then the Ragnar had a right to be angry. And something needed to be done before things got as bad as they had been back home; the lizards had destroyed Thundara as soon as Mumm-Ra had given them the technology to do so, and a great many innocent people had been killed, including very nearly Kat and herself. Whatever those in charge of Saeng Seong might be up to, the regular people who lived there didn't deserve to be punished for it.

But on the other hand, the leader of the Ragnar hadn't exactly presented himself in a way that inspired a whole lot of trust, what with the spooky messages, power failures, creepy candles, and a message over the terminals where he refused to really show his face. And aside from the whole sorta-kidnapping thing- which Kit felt was somewhat understandable, under the circumstances- the people of Saeng Seong had been nothing but kind to them. They'd given them money, a place to live while they were there, and had included them in their festivals and daily lives. Living here was the first time in a long time Kit had really felt secure, even if she still missed her brother and her friends. What if he'd been lying?

But then, the way those in charge had taken down the message... Why did they do that? Were they just mad at the Ragnar for trying to cause trouble, like they'd said? Or were they afraid that people would find out that they hadn't been told the whole truth?

Kit didn't know. The smart thing to do would probably be to go and ask Rhea about it. The leader of the Ragnar didn't seem to have a problem with her, and she was important around here. If anybody knew what was really going on and would be willing to tell them, it would be her. Kit had even kept the remaining stub of her candle, in case Rhea could tell her anything about it. But would that get Rhea into trouble? Rhea was nice, and the last thing Kit wanted was to do something that might cause her serious problems.

She sighed. That message had sure made things a lot more complicated.

Comments

[smallspot]

Diarmuid is on his way to the lake with Lir, when he sees the chocobo and...is that Kit riding it?

"Kit!" Diarmuid waves at her in hopes that she will stop so that they can talk. First of all, he would really like to see a chocobo up close, but in addition to that, he is curious if she lit her candle. Did she talk to Zeloph, what has she learned, and what does she think of Rhea's brother?

He has talked some with Yu about all this, but Diarmuid can't help but wonder what another kid his age thinks.

[alley_kit]

Kit looked up as someone called to her, smiling as she saw who it was, and changed direction a bit to meet him. She reigned Salali in to a gradual stop and smiled down at him from the chocobo's back.

"Hi, Diamuid," she said. "And... what's that there?" She indicated Lir. "Is he your pet?"

[smallspot]

"Hello, Kit! This is Lir," Diarmuid holds the Pokemon out so that she can pat him on the head if she wants to. "He is a horsea. Horseas are a water-type Pokemon, but he isn't a pet. He's my partner. We will fight together when we get bigger!"

To encourage her to pet him, Lir bobs his head and blows a bubble at her.

Diarmuid grins at the greeting and then turns to her chocobo, "I haven't gotten to see one up close before! Does it have a name?"

[alley_kit]

"Oh, so he's a Pokemon too!", Kit said. "I met Professor Oak and Dragonite while we were helping set up for the festival, but he was the only other Pokemon I've seen around here."

Kit giggles at the bubble and pet Lir's head a little. "Hi, Lir," she said. "It's nice to meet you."

Kit nodded. "She's not an 'it' though," she corrected. "She's a girl, and her name is Salali." At the sound of her name, the chocobo turned her head back to look at Kit and Diarmuid, giving Kit the opportunity to pet her head feathers a bit. "Her old owner isn't here any more, so I adopted her."

"Where were you headed?", Kit asked. "Me and Salali could probably give you and Lir a ride there, if you wanted."

[smallspot]

"Yes! I left him to play in the river during the festival, because he can't really help set anything up. He doesn't have arms!" Diarmuid lows Lir down again and the Pokemon seems to grumble at him for the 'no arms' remark, "Sorry, Lir. But it is true!" The boy gives the Pokemon a hug and then turns back to Kit and her chocobo.

"Oh! A girl, okay. Sorry about calling you 'it,' Salali! I didn't mean to upset you," he reaches out to let her smell his hand as he continues to speak. "You are a lucky girl, Salali! Kit is really nice. Take good care of her, okay?"

"We are heading to the lake so that I can do some thinking about things and Lir can play. We would really like a ride if you don't mind. I haven't gotten to ride a chocobo yet!"

[alley_kit]

Kit nodded, giggling a little at Lir's grumbling. "He's right, Lir," she said. "Can't really do something like that without arms. But I bet you can swim and do other stuff better than any of us can, so don't feel too bad, OK?

Salali sniffed Diarmuid's proffered hand almost expecting there to be food in it. When there wasn't, she lowered her head slightly so that he could reach the top of it, making a little warbling noise, as if in answer to Diarmuid's command to take good care of Kit. Because obviously she would, but right now, if he didn't want to feed her then he must want to pet her, right?

"I think we can handle a ride to the lake," Kit said. "Salali's strong enough to carry a grownup, so both of us and Lir shouldn't be a problem, right girl?" She patted Salali's side, then indicated for her to crouch so that Diarmuid could climb on behind her.

"And were you thinking about that message from the Ragnar too?", Kit asked, taking an educated guess. That was the most likely thing she could think of that would required serious thought.

[smallspot]

"Yes, he can! Lir is very good at swimming and he is also good at catching fish!" As he speaks, Diarmuid gives Lir another hug. Lir squeaks more happily this time. When Salali lowers her head to indicate he can pet her, Diarmuid smiles and his smile wides when she makes that affirmative sound.

"You are the best chocobo, aren't you? Thank you for watching out for my friend and for taking us to the lake!" Diarmuid gives her one last pet and then moves around so that he can crawl up behind Kit. It takes a little bit of fumbling around because he has Lir too, but eventually Diarmuid manages to get up and balanced behind her.

"Thank you too, Kit! Now to the lake!" Diarmuid's voice is full of excitement, though some of that disappears when she mentions the Rangar. His voice also becomes a lot quieter and very contemplative, "Yes...I am confused and not sure who to trust now. Why would Zeloph go to all this trouble and put himself in danger just to lie to us? And why can't the scientists tell us what they are really doing? Is what they are doing so bad that we won't want to help them anymore no matter how nice they are to us?"

[alley_kit]

Salali made a happy chirrup and leaned into Diarmuid's petting, clearly enjoying it. She crouched on Kit's command, though, and waited in that position until Kit nudged her back up. "Hold on to me," Kit instructed Diarmuid, then nudged Salali's sides with her heels, setting the chocobo trotting forward again, heading for the lake.

Kit sighed, though as Diarmuid voiced some of the same thoughts she'd been having. "I dunno," Kit said. "He said the people here don't treat his very well, and that they didn't, even before things went bad. There were places they weren't allowed to live, and places they weren't supposed to go. They have a right to be mad about all that. And when people get really mad, sometimes that's the only reason they need to do something."

"But he didn't really seem like he'd do something like that," she said. "He seemed nice, just kinda... spooky. Though he said that was Ragnar kids doing that, so I dunno. I'm not sure they could make the air feel like that, though; kinda heavy with magic." She paused slightly, thoughtful. "Or maybe that was the mi-as-ma doing something. It sounds like that's what's causing all the other problems around here." Except the heavy-feeling air didn't make anybody sick, just nervous, so that didn't entirely make sense either.

"I dunno why the scientists won't tell us," Kit said. "But... well, they said us touching makes energy, so they must be using it for something. And if they're trying to keep it a secret, then that probably means they think people'll be really mad if they find out what's really going on."

"I wanna ask Rhea about it," Kit said, "but I don't want to get her in any trouble. Cause if she knows something and tells us, the scientist'd probably be really mad if they found out." Grown-ups didn't like tattle-tales any more than kids did... and had a lot more power to do something about them.

[smallspot]

"Zeloph said they wouldn't dare to hurt her because she is the one responsible for bringing us here! I am going to go talk to her later today. You should go talk to her too. I think it will be okay as long as you are careful. Don't talk about things where others can hear or on the Network, for example!" Diarmuid shifts Lir to one arm and then puts the other one around her, "I don't think he is so spooky. He's just...sad."

Of course, Diarmuid has an odd opinion on what is spooky and what isn't because of where and when he lives. For example, the miasma itself was spookier to Diarmuid than Zeloph was.

"I bet that he misses his sister, and he said that even though they don't age anymore they are still dying. We have to find a way to help save them! Maybe he can stop being sad then!"

"There are still a lot of us touching and producing energy, but...there hasn't been a new district opened in a long time," Diarmuid hadn't really thought about it before now. "They opened pretty quickly for a while, but it's stopped now. What are they using the energy for?"

[alley_kit]

"Even if we did say something on the network, they'd probably just take it down," Kit said, clearly a bit annoyed that they'd taken down Zeloph's message. "But you're right. Gotta keep quiet about it. I'll probly stop and talk to Rhea tomorrow, though, now that I know it won't get her in trouble."

"Yeah...", Kit said softly when Diarmuid mentions him missing his sister. "I know how that feels. I miss my brother too."

She nodded seriously at the comment about needing to save them. "We need to find a way to get rid of the mi-as-ma," she said. "Otherwise we won't be fixing anything, just stopping it from getting worse, like we are now." Pause. "I dunno how to do that, though."

"Touching-energy opened other districts before?", Kit asked, curious. "That hasn't happened since I've been here. How long ago did the last one open?" Kit had no more idea than her friend what they might be using, or saving the energy for, but was curious to know how it had been used before.

[smallspot]

"I don't know how to fix it either, but there are a lot of smart adults around. I am sure one of them will think of something to get rid of the miasma! And we can help them. Don't worry. We will save Zeloph and his friends so he can see his sister again, and we will make it so you can see your brother too!" Diarmuid gives her a one armed hug, before thinking back to his time here to answer her question.

"When we arrived, only Districts 1 and 2 were open. We went around and charged generators with touch energy to open District 3 our first month here. District 4 opened..." Diarmuid tilts his head while he tries to remember what month it was, "...one...two...three months later, in September! And District 5 opened at the beginning of February, about five months after District 4. There hasn't been anything since then. That's almost six months! Even longer than the time between District 4 and District 5!"

[alley_kit]

Kit nodded. "Yeah," she agreed, sighing a little. "I'm sure somebody'll figure it out. Til then, we'll just have to try and help however we can."

She frowned, though at the news of how long it had been since a new district had opened. "That is a long time," she said. "It could be that it just takes longer each time. Or maybe that those 'generators' just need charged again. ...Though if that's true, you'd think they'd ask people about it."

She paused, thoughtful. "Maybe we should ask about that on the networks," she said. "See if anybody says anything. That wouldn't be too suspicious, right?"

[smallspot]

"Right!" Diarmuid actually sounds excited about the idea, "We only actually had to charge the generators in one district. All the rest opened without charging generators of any kind. I didn't think about it then, but that is kind of odd, right? Why would things change like that?"

And why hasn't anyone noticed? Is it because so few from back then are still around?

"One of us should make the post soon! I have a feeling this might be important!"

Where, oh where, has Luke gone? 8/6, Outside Building 3

[smallspot]

Diarmuid is worried when Luke suddenly goes missing. However, since he has been in the city as long as he has, he knows to first check the hospital to see if his friend is just 'sleeping' like people sometimes do. While he is still worried about his friend, finding him there does mean he is still in the city and hasn't been sent home. That is a good thing.

There isn't much he can do but wait for his friend to wake up. However, that doesn't stop Diarmuid from going to visit Luke everyday to tell him stories, so that the red-head doesn't get too lonely while he sleeps...

It's kid logic, don't question it.

He is on his way to the hospital, in fact, when he runs into Kit outside of Building 3. He waves and then runs over to her. Once he gets close enough to see the worry on her face, he frowns.

"What's wrong, Kit?"

Oh where, oh where can he be?

[alley_kit]

When Luke hadn't shown up for their lesson Monday, Kit had been annoyed. She'd waited there all afternoon, but when she dot mack to her apartment? No call, no message, no nothing.

But maybe he'd been busy. Or had forgotten. Those kinds of things happened, after all. Surely there would be an apologetic message waiting for her the next day, maybe even a promise to make it up to her.

But no. Nothing. Another entire day passed with no word. It was about then that Kit moved past 'annoyed' and into 'concerned'.

It was now the third day and Kit had blown past concern into genuine worry. She'd asked around the building, even checked Luke's apartment. Nothing, No one had seen him, and the apartment was empty.

Which was why Kit was hurrying down the street to check the other buildings. Someone had to know what happened to him, after all. And upon spotting Diarmuid, she scampered over to ask him. He was Luke's friend too, after all, so surely he'd have some idea.

"Diarmuid!", Kit said, a little out of breath. "Diarmuid, Luke was supposed to give me a reading lesson, but he didn't show up, so I thought he might be just busy, but it's been three days, and nobody knows where he is, and his apartment's empty, and I'm really worried!"

After all that, Kit finally paused for a proper breath. "Do you have any idea where he is?"

:-D

[smallspot]

Diarmuid listens carefully as she talks--it's the only way he won't miss anything with as quickly as she is speaking--and nods once she is done. He turns and points off in the direction of the hospital, "He's sleeping! It happens sometimes. People fall asleep for a long time and no one knows why. The druids call it a co-ma, but it looks just like sleeping to me. When I realized I hadn't seen him for a while, I went to check at the hospital and he was there! I have had friends end up there before."

He reaches out for her hand and gives her a gentle pull, "I was just going to see him to tell him stories so he won't get lonely while he is sleeping. Come on! I will show you where he is!"

Re: :-D

[alley_kit]

It's good that Diarmuid knows how to interpret worried kitten, yessir.

"Sleeping?", Kit repeated, only somewhat less concerned than before. Diarmuid didn't seem worried, and he apparently knew what was going on, bit still...

Kit willingly took his hand, nodding. "Alright," she said. She didn't know where this 'hospital' was, and so was glad Diarmuid did.

"He will wake up eventually though, right?", Kit said as they walked. "This kind of sleeping is just for a long time, not forever?"

[smallspot]

It's not that different than worried boy when it comes down to it...

"That is right!" Diarmuid nods as he continues to lead the way toward the hospital, "I was scared the first time it happened to my friends, but they always woke up. It happened to Suzaku twice even! I guess some people are just more unlucky than others?"

He really hopes it doesn't mean Luke might leave soon. After all, Suzaku had ended up leaving, but others he knows who fell asleep are still here, so he's not sure what to think.

[alley_kit]

Kit nodded. It helped to know that Luke would wake up eventually, but she wouldn't be really reassured until she saw him and knew that he was OK.

"Yeah, I guess," Kit agreed. Then after a moment of quiet, she asked thoughtfully. "I wonder which ones we are? The more lucky or the less lucky, I mean." She honestly couldn't tell sometimes, in this place. Things had gotten so weird lately...

[smallspot]

"I'm...not sure..." There had been a time when Diarmuid would automatically have said they were the lucky ones, but now he isn't so sure, "Being awake means that we can fight and help figure these things out, but if we were sleeping we wouldn't have to worry about accidentally making the wrong choice or getting someone hurt."

To be honest, the little knight in Diarmuid leans toward them being lucky because he wants to be awake to fight, but he is still a child and there is part of him who would rather be sleeping so he doesn't have to figure these hard things out...

[alley_kit]

Kit nodded. "I guess it's like the book Luke was helping me with says," she said. "It's hard for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind. Or her mind."

"It would probably be easier to just stay in the Waiting Place," Kit said, "and wait for things to happen. But that's what everybody's been doing here for a hundred years. Just waiting for something to change. And it hasn't made anything better."

"So I'll take being awake, I think," Kit said, nodding decisively. "It's better, even if it is harder."

[smallspot]

"I agree. Knights don't take the easy way. Not when there are people who need help!" Diarmuid nods, but as he does, a curious look crosses his face, "What is the book you are talking about? It sounds like a very good one! I would like to read it myself."

Or have someone read it to him if it is too hard for someone his age to read. Maybe Luke will read it to him too?

"Oh! Here we are! The hospital. Lets go in!"

[alley_kit]

"It's called 'Oh! The Places You'll Go!'," Kit said. "And it really is a good book; it's got some good advice in it. The guy who wrote it must've been really smart."

Kit looked up at the big building as they approached, making sure to memorize its location. She nodded and followed Diarmuid inside, looking around. Going in through the big double doors brought them into a large lobby with a very high ceiling. Immediately visible were a reception desk, a couple seating areas, a gift shop, and a few potted ferns, as well a number of adults going about their business. A particular pair stood out as they walked by talking with each other. They wore white coats and carried clip boards and both had the type of air about them that Kit had come to associate with 'Important People'.

"This sure is a big place," Kit commented. She hoped Diarmuid knew where to find Luke in here because it might take awhile if he didn't.

[smallspot]

Diarmuid repeats the book's title to himself so he won't forget it and then nods, "I will have to ask the lady at the library to help me find a copy so I can read it. Thank you! Now, this way!"

He waves toward a hallway and then starts to walk down it. As they walk, several nurses and doctors wave at them. It's obvious they are getting used to seeing Diarmuid around. Finally, the boy stops in front of one room in specific.

"This is his room! Come on!" Diarmuid opens the door and slides inside. As he does this, he calls out happily, "Hello Luke. I'm back again. I brought Kit this time too. She has been worried about you!"

[alley_kit]

"They should have another copy," Kit said of Diarmuid's intention of going to look for the book. "But if it's out, just let me know and I'll lend you the one I got so you can read it too."

A number of the people in white coats- Kit could only assume they were the healers- waved to Diarmuid. It was obvious they knew him, or at least had seen him here before.

Kit followed him until they came to a specific room, Diarmuid calling out to Luke as they entered. Kit headed inside with him, almost worried about what she would see... but it was just Luke, asleep on the bed.

"Luke!", she said, hurrying over to him. "I know you're asleep and can't talk back, but I'm glad you're OK. When you didn't turn up for a couple days I thought something bad had happened to you. And I'm glad I ran into Diarmuid when I did; I'd have never known where to look for you otherwise."