Ghost Train (OPEN!!! GO GO GO!!!!)

[aleX]

Benson looked up from the broken train track. His manager was talking to him again.

"Benson, I know you're busy, but could you help me out with something?"

He had a weird habit of doing that. He'd ask you if you could do something like it was a question. But if you worked for him long enough, you'd know better. He was really telling you what you were going to do.

"Sure, boss. Whatcha need?"

He looked up and scratched his head. Then he sighed.

"Well.. A train went missing."

Benson looked at him and furrowed his brow.

"You... lost a train?"

"Don't you get smart with me, boy! I'm the one paying ya! And of course I didn't lose it. It went out an hour ago, and hasn't come back. We called the other station and they haven't seen it."

Benson sighed.

"So you want me to go look for it..."

"That's the spirit!"

He clapped him on the back.

"Go find that train and maybe you'll be getting a little bonus, eh?"

Benson brightened up instantly. He smiled and thanked the man and ran down to put his stuff away.

[High's .Valentine.]

Grinding wheels, shrill horn, and big pounding machines that go kachoo, kachoo, kachoo. To be honest, the girl had never been this frightened in her life. What are these things?! Iron monstrosities that roars and moves at a painfully slow pace, yet make a ruckus loud enough to stir the heavens. Even her Kannon seemed to be no match for these colossal worms. Yes, worms! They looked like worms! Though not wriggly, there were long and rigid, move as one and thunderous. The girl stood in the corner of the station, peering with wide eyes at the machines. Thankfully for her, there was no one at the station, for she would have gathered far more attention than the iron giants on the tracks.

She seemed to be in her early teens, and would have looked normal enough if not for her attire. The girl was dressed in an unusual outfit, making her seem like she had just stepped right out of Halloween Town, albeit her costume was a bit more aesthetically appealing than the rest of the gory citizens of Halloween Town. Fitted in black and white, the girl, if turned around and scrunched up so her face would be hidden, might have been mistaken for a panda. Her head was tucked under a tight fitting hood so that only her black bangs stuck out and her face was visible. The teen had the fluffy black ears, the paws with silver claws, and the white furry belly. All in all, she might have been adorable. If it had been the right season for costumes.

The girl jolted as one of the trains roared, steaming and huffing as it began to wind its gears, ready to leave the station for the next city. How she had arrived on this world, no one was sure, but the first thing she heard when she touched down on the rusty brown cobbles of this world was the piercing cry of the train whistle. And well, the next thing she knew, she was cowering against the wall in an attempt to create distance between the monster and herself. Nowhere on her little green island home could she find anything as noisy as this and well…she just doesn’t bode well with it!

“AH!” She shrieked as the whistle wailed again before the train started to slowly moved out of the station, making the whole station rumble as the wheels churned in an effort to slide the giant machine along the path.

"Oh dear...oh my..." The poor girl mumbled as she cowered in her corner. Where are all the people? Did these monsters eat them? Would she be next?!

[Shane {Naminé}]

Blankness.

It was something she was used to, being a representation of the word itself. Found broken and without memory in one of the floors of Castle Oblivion, her pale skin, flaxen hair and white dress symbolized it. No being could possibly be devoid of color and life, and yet, here she was.

Maybe it was by this reasoning that upon seeing the blank piece of paper she had the sudden urge to fill it with color. An instinct to do something about its blankness, even if she couldn’t do anything about her own. She was promptly supplied with the necessary tools - a gift from Kairi and Sora as it were -, and she soon found herself drawing page after page, creating artistic replicas of memories that were never hers. Her hands moved on their own accord. A slight stroke here, a few harsh lines there. It came to her naturally, and soon, the white marble table was overflowing with colorful pages and vibrant figures.

She fingered the silver colored pencil in her hand gingerly, reveling in its lightness. Eyeing the large pile of colors scattered among the table, Naminé allowed a small smile to escape from her lips. The moment she had come into contact with the art supplies, she moved with practiced ease, her fingers expertly pulling out random colors. She was satisfied that there were a lot of varieties, and that they were light and easy to use.

And so she found herself sketching again. This time with a purpose. Time passed by, and all she could remember is her hand holding a different colored pencil every minute of everyday, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Blurs of color moved around her surroundings as she focused on her task, losing herself into it that she was oblivious to everything around her as the drawings increased.

It wasn't too long thereafter though, about midway through this particular piece of art before Memories Witch had to pause, holding lightly onto the softest shade of blue in her fragile hands. Staring down upon the sketch now, her usually shining porcelain blue eyes seemed to have lost some of it's gleam that she'd started out with. A frown etched lightly into her pale lips, casting a grim look about the rest of her. It wasn't so much the picture in which troubled her the most, rather it seemed to have been her lack of, if that helped explain how she felt any. And really, it didn't seem to explain it. There was only way way to clearly explain how she felt, and that was simply to say that she'd lost the muse she started out with. The picture had already been painted out for her, in the corners of her mind, and to start out the day, she wanted to put such a lovely painting down on paper. However, doing so seemed to be easier said then done. Merely halfway through the piece already, the gleaming picture in which she'd seen several times already seemed to have vanquished, casting itself back into darkness.

Letting the barest of sighs escape her lips, Namine set the sky blue colored pencil down and pushed back the chair, making a slight screech against the pearl white floor as she did so. Bringing herself to stand, she took one fleeting look at the sketch pad and slowly shook her head, seemingly upset. It had been the longest time since she could last recall losing such a muse, one that had been so strong to begin with. It wasn't something she would take lightly, but it was also something she knew would fix itself in all due time. And so, gathering up her sketchbook and a small colored pencil box with her, Memories Artist started toward the door which would free her from the snow white room that surrounded her on all four walls. Perhaps all she needed was simply a vacation, or some time away from her work. Perhaps she just need a break.

And there seemed to only be one place in which she could safely retreat to. Rather, there were several that she knew of, however this one was just on the top of her head at the moment, and seemed to be a good place to start, in hopes of finding something that may trigger some of her inspiration again. All she needed to do was find that something.

With this goal set in her mind, keeping her thoughts occupied and focused on the task at hand, Namine took her leave from the now abandoned mansion and continued her stroll through parts of Twilight Town, before her feet carried her to the one place she hadn't imagined to be her heaven for the afternoon. Standing directly outside of the Twilight Town train station, Namine had to pause and look up at the building before she finally pushed open the door. Perhaps it had been fate that led her astray and into this particular building. Though only time would tell whether this would be the case, or simply just out of luck that she happened to pop in.

Her icy blue eyes scanned the area around her, surveying each person as they either parted or boarded a train that would in a matter of moments leave the station. Though she had to do a double take before finding an odd girl - who looked to be in her teens - standing off by herself in a nearby corner, as though trying to avoid the trains at all cost. Perhaps this was why fate had chosen to bring her into this particular station. If only to meet one new person.

Smiling at the thought, Memories Artist approached the girl, her eyes gleaming in a friendly gesture, "The trains are not going to hurt you," she spoke softly, but loud enough that the girl could hear her over the train engines as they came to life. "They're merely means for people to get around the world."

She paused for a moment, letting this sink in for the girl before deciding it would be rude to continue the conversation without properly introducing herself. "I'm Namine. And you are...?"

(Meh. Sorry it's not the greatest. XP If I do not get to reply before Thanksgiving, then I will most likely reply again sometime on Sunday night as I will not be home until that time.)

[High's .Valentine.]

“Oh goodness!” The girl cried, tackling the other much more frail looking blond in her relief of finding someone else in the station other than those monsters. She continued to cling to the girl even though the truth was reviled. There were no man eating monsters, just giant transportations to get from one place to the next. Now she just felt silly. Here she was, whimpering and sniffling in the corner of the station, thinking that those ‘trains’ will just rear up and gobble her in one bite! Though the girls look similar in age, and despite the Panda Girl’s clear advantage of height, it was obvious who the more naïve of the duo was.

“Sorry!” The girl in the panda suit let go of the shorter girl, putting her paws together and ducking her head in an attempt to apologize for springing on her. Oh my, hopefully she didn’t crush the poor fragile girl, who was called Namine, apparently. Namine was so nice to her too!

“My name is Jeannie!” The strange girl smiled at Namine. “Thank you for being so nice to me! If you haven’t came along and explained to me what those things are, I probably would have been here shivering through the night!” Scratching her panda head, Jeannie chuckled with embarrassment then glanced behind the girl’s shoulders at the trains. “Back on my world, we don’t have anything as big as this! People usually ride in carts drawn by horses or sometimes, if we’re lucky, we ride pandas!” She patted herself, as if to silently explain to the girl what a Panda is. From experience, she had gotten into the habit of expecting that people had no clue what the heck the black and white bears are except for the people on Bamboo Island.

“So it carries people from one place to the next…? Does it really move that slow all the time? I can walk faster than it!” In the brown eyes of Panda-Chan, who was suddenly curious once her fright had been helped cast aside, this machine was quite inefficient if it moved at that pace! Walking past Namine, she headed towards the train, her claws clacking along the pebble ground as she jumped down from the dock and onto the rocky surfaces that support the tracks.

Tapping the iron beast with a clawed finger, she glanced back at Namine. “So it really doesn’t bite!” She called out with an excited grin.

[aleX]

Benson was eager for that bonus, but he also wanted to do a good job and please the boss. He figured that the best way to find this ghost train was to find out where it was supposed to go along the tracks, then just follow it down. So, after he had his stuff put away, he went inside the station and got a map of the tracks. According to his boss, the one that went missing was on track 4, which had a long ways to go to its next destination, so it has a pit stop half way there. Maybe that's where it got held up.

He folded up the map and put it in his pocket, waiting for the next train that ran on track 4. That was one of the perks of being an engineer (or an engineer's assistant, for that matter) - you get to ride on the train for free.

As he waited, though, he noticed two figures that were very odd looking. The thin blonde didn't attract much attention, but the other one... The black and white... dog? Was it a dog? He couldn't tell. It had fur and claws. Oh! It must be a crab! He didn't think they came this far up the beach though. Were they really that big?

To sate his curiosity, and because he had nothing else to do while he waited for the train, he walked up to the pair.

"Um... Hi. I was curious... You aren't a crab, are you?"

[High's .Valentine.]

Now that she was perfectly satisfied that the machine would not suddenly swallow her whole, she gave the train a teasing kick and a giggle. As she was climbing back up to the station platform and heading back towards Namine, a young man walked up to the two.

“You aren’t a crab, are you?” The girl froze in mid step. As if reacting to the word ‘crab’ her black and white suit seemed to stand on end like the hide of a startled cat. Jeannie ever so slowly turned her head, her brown eyes crackling with the fury. She didn’t know about him, but on Bamboo Island, crabs are tiny little sea creatures with orange hard shells and pincers. Hardly black and white and soft and furry. Hardly.

Turning fully, she stared up at the man with gritted teeth and gave him a furious leer, her eye twitching madly. “Excuse…me…?” Her little black paw folded into a quivering fist. “A crab?!” Exploding, Jeannie stamped at the ground, the claws on her feet making an unnerving grinding sound against the cobble of the platform. “DO I LOOK LIKE A CRAB TO YOU?!”

“LISTEN MISTER!” The infuriated panda stomped towards the poor man, waving a clawed fist as a threat. “I EAT CRABS AND IDIOTS LIKE YOU FOR DINNER! I AM A PANDA! A PANDA!!” Grabbing the ears on her hood, she shoved her head in his face. “You see these furry things! Ears!” Releasing the black felt, she grabbed him by the waist in an effort to embrace him. “I’m soft and fluffy! Not hard and grimy!”

Letting go of him, she pointed at herself. “Black and white! I’m black and white! Tell me, have you ever seen a black and white CRAB? You dolt!” Jeannie roared, stamping her feet on the ground once again in an exhibit that will shame any tantrum-prone child.

[aleX]

Benson chuckled. No, he'd never seen a crab, true. But he'd never seen a "panda" either, so what did he know? Odd creatures, definitely.

He was half curious what the other girl's reaction was to this exchange, but he was having too much fun with the furry thing in front of him.

"No, I've never seen a black and white crab before."

He was beaming at this point, thoroughly amused. He tousled the thing's fur and snickered again.

"A panda.... Right...."

He'd have to remember that. Although, it wasn't likely that he'd ever see another one.

"Anyway, I'm sorry, little panda, but I've got work to do. Strictly human business."

He winked. It was kind of cute, now that he thought about it. This time, when he looked back to the one in white, he paused.

A few seconds passed and he looked away. Did he know her from somewhere? No, most likely not. There weren't a lot of fragile people like her around here. And definitely no one so... pretty...

Benson shook his head. He had to go find that train.

He stepped aboard the train nearest him, which he knew was on Track 8. He gave a little wave, and then found himself somewhere to sit.

[High's .Valentine.]

As he tousled her furry panda hood, she couldn’t help but grin at the big man. Her anger slowly shifted to an expression of content. It was like petting a cat. One might have expected the girl to start purring for Benson.

Then he turned and left, heading for the train that had pulled in while she was hissing and spitting at the male. Staring with curiosity, little Jeannie seemed to have suddenly made up her mind. Grabbing Namine by the hand, she pulled her along as she raced after the man towards the train.

“Come on Namine!” With no regard to whether Namine has a schedule to keep to, Jeannie pulled the pale girl towards the train, stopping tentatively in front of the opened doors as if one step in and the sliding gate will close on her and catch her as she enter. Slowly, she peeked in, full on alert for the door that might catch her by the head. When nothing happened, the Panda girl dashed in, pulling Namine quickly in with her just in case the door decided to close on the poor girl. She would surely snap in half if it did! As for Jeannie, she would probably just be stuck halfway.

Spotting Benson, she jumped into the seat next to him and patted the seat next to her to signal Namine to sit too.

Looking around, she gasped at the lack of controls in the transportation vehicle. In fact, it was quite empty, with lots of seats.

“Why are there no controls? Does it mean I tell it where to go?” She turned and began shooting questions at Namine. For in her mind, since Benson was ignorant enough about what she was, he probably didn’t know much about this moving colossal. Namine on the other hand, had been imprinted in Jeannie’s mind as a walking-talking encyclopedia. “This monster listens to your command?”

The door remained open in the meanwhile, allowing Namine to escape if she wishes to.

[aleX]

Benson looked over at the panda and raised an eyebrow, a smirk on his face.

"Do I have a stalker now?"

It seemed that the girl didn't register the question out of excitement or curiosity or whatever was going through her head at the time. She started asking the pale girl all sorts of questions about the train, and Benson paused, deciding whether or not it would be okay for him to answer questions that weren't being asked of him.

"The conductor is up in the front of the train, controlling it. The way it works is fairly complex though..."

He closed his eyes and leaned back into the seat, waiting for the girl's response.

While he waited, he thought about what he was about to do. He figured that the train would get there in about another two minutes or so. From there, he would have to talk to some of the train directors at that other station, find out which train wasn't on time, figure out what track it was on, and then just simply follow the track down.

It would be pretty straight forward.

So he hoped.

[High's .Valentine.]

She would have told him that she wasn’t talking to him. That is, she would have told him that if he wasn’t answering her question. Namine forgotten for a moment—the girl had probably sneaked off—Jeannie turned and grasped Benson by the arm, pumping it in a fit of excitement over the bizarreness of this traveling method.

“Conductor? Is this a person? But then I don’t get to chose where I want to go? I just have to sit in this giant monster and wait for it to move?” By then, the door had closed and the train jolted into a painfully slow forward motion. Giving a little cry of surprise, Jeannie jerked in her seat and clung to the man, the only person she was holding onto at the moment as the train started to move, gaining pace. It squealed and cranked and groaned and rumbled, and Jeannie had the frightening image and stomach lurching feeling of getting digested.

“W-w-what?” She gripped tightly to Benson’s arm like a support pole. He was the salvation in this madness, this colossal planning on digesting its passengers. She had been a fool to trust it.

But then, after a few seconds of quick breathing and painful clutch of pinching pincers, Jeannie’s curiosity took hold again. Letting go of Benson, she tentatively stood up and looked around her rather empty surrounding. No one seemed to be on the train except for the three [or two]. Then the window on the other side of the train caught her attention. Running to it, she grasped the window sill and peered out, amazed at how fast the vehicle was moving. Everything became one long string of multiple colors.

“This thing moves fast!” Turning, she grinned brightly at the engineer before returning to the view. No doubt trying to sort out the different shapes that had flowed into one.

Soon, everything began to take its form again. The train was slowing down. Jeannie waited until she could see the man-made stones of the station platform replace yellowish grass before standing up. Much to her surprise, the train stopped and the sudden lurch sent the unsuspecting girl flying to the nose of the train. She rolled, like a black and white puffball and slammed into the door leading to the next car, where she came to a stop. Lying on the ground, she groaned, dizzy from the spin.

"Ahhh..." The Panda-Girl whined weakly, her head smarting from the collision.

[aleX]

Benson examined his arm and saw five little holes that blood was just barely starting to bubble through. He wiped it off on his shirt and stood up, watching the girl at the other window. She had really never seen a train before, huh?

From her excitement and complete curiosity, he guessed that was the case. Her head was darting to and fro, looking at everything there was to see out that little window.

Suddenly, the train slammed into a stop, and Benson did a quick meld between his shoes and the floor of the train and leaned back so that way he wouldn't fly forward. He did lose his balance a bit, but since his feet were firmly rooted in, he didn't fall.

He unmelded his shoes and walked over to the girl who had flown to the front of the car.

He squatted down to get a closer look at the girl.

"Are you alright? You know, that's not supposed to happen...."

Benson figured that he might be finding out a bit more about this missing train story fairly soon. The trains were never supposed to stop like that. They were supposed to go past the station a bit, and then slowly come back to the platform.

There must have been something in front of the train that made them stop so suddenly.

[High's .Valentine.]

“Owie, owie, owie, please!” The girl wailed, reaching up with a quivering paw to grab Benson by the shirt, puncturing holes in the cotton. “I can’t believe it…” she said, her eyes shut tight and mouth pulled into a thin line of grimace and shock. “I just can’t…it’s suppose to be safe…Namine said it was safe.” Pushing herself up with the free paw while pulling with the other that was clutching to Benson’s shirt, she got into a sitting position and slowly opened her eyes. She gave a small cry when all she saw was white, but the cry faded into a faint wheeze as her vision slowly returned. Either she had hit her head so hard, she lost her eye sight for a mere moment, or maybe it was simply because she had squeezed her eyes together too tightly.

“I thought the trains are suppose to be safe!” She pulled at Benson’s shirt, looking up at him with a hurt expression. “It almost killed me! I would rather be eaten!” Sighing, Jeannie let go of Benson’s shirt with difficulties, paying little attention to the holes she left in his attire. It was natural for her to go around punching holes in things. She only learned that people can be upset when they find holes in their clothes after she had left her Bamboo Island. The citizens of Bamboo Island had let her do whatever she wanted, she was sacred after all, and the prophecy. Even after learning the etiquette of respecting other people’s property, poor Jeannie still forgets from time to time. At the moment, she was too frightful to notice. In fact, she felt like she had been tricked! Tricked into riding this train, tricked into getting hurt! She was going to leave this moment before she gets her head knocked off!

Heading towards the open door, Jeannie didn’t quite care that she was getting off at a foreign station. Why, this whole place was foreign to Jeannie. It would just be another adventure.

Just as she approached the door, it slammed shut, almost catching her metal claws. With a shriek of surprise, she pulled back too hard, turned a 180, and fell flat on her face.

“…” There was silence as the Panda Girl laid where she had fallen. The train began to move again, pulling away from the station Jeannie had regarded as her savior. After several seconds of silence, Jeannie suddenly bolted up and slammed her furry body at the door in desperation.

“NOOOOOO!! LET ME OFF!! STOP!!!” Jeannie screamed as she tugged at the door, placing her foot on the metal gate and pulled futilely at the handle.

“PLEAAASE!! STOOOOP!!” Her shriek was drowned out as the whistle of the train tooted. The train never stopped.

[aleX]

(OOC: Did you -really- post this on the 20th? And I missed it? Hmmm... I should start having it email me when there's a new post)

Benson picked at the holes absent-mindedly, and then brushed the front of his shirt with the back of his hand. He watched the poor girl fret about, knowing that everyone's first train ride was fairly traumatic. But he was still thinking about what made them stop so quickly.

He glanced and the girl clawing at the door, and smiled to himself, letting out a quiet chuckle. Then he shook his head and looked out the window.

He furrowed his brow in concentration and pulled out the map he was carrying. They weren't on the right track. They weren't on a track at all...

Benson jumped out of his seat and ran towards the front of the train. Expecting heartless, he burst into the front cabin.

Unfortunately for him, there were no heartless. He did see one startled old conductor though. Benson sighed.

"Excuse me, sir, but I think you should take a break. You're obviously too tired to conduct this train."

The old man looked at him with beady eyes.

"Then who's gonna drive the train, sonny?"

Benson gave the man his warmest smile.

"I've spent years on the tracks, sir. I can do it."

The man stared at him some more. Then he shrugged his shoulders and stood up, walking to one of the back compartments.

Benson sat down in front of the controls, and started pulling levers, putting the train in reverse so it could get back on the right track.

[High's .Valentine.]

[Yes, how dare you miss my important post. DX]

Sniffling and weeping, Jeannie leaned down against the door, sobbing about her poor misfortune. The Panda Girl didn’t notice the exit of the train engineer, so when she peeked up to see where he was—so she can cling to something of substance and sob on him instead—the girl had another fright when she noticed that the man was gone.

“Guy?” Jeannie called. She hadn’t gotten the man’s name yet, and neither had he. But that was not the Panda Girl’s main concern at the moment. The only person aboard this metal hulk was…gone. Did the train eat him? Was she going to be next? “GUY? MISTER?!” Jeannie called, tears welling as she stumbled up and grabbed onto one of the support poles in the train. “I don’t want to be ALONE!” Jeannie wailed, stomping the floor out of frustration. “Where are you, Mister?!”

Realizing something, Jeannie rushed to the front of the car, whipping open the door and crashing through to the front of the train in a flurry. In her despair, she had vaguely remembered the guy talking about a conductor driving this colossus. If she can get to him…everything will be alright!

Looking around, the first person Jeannie registered was Benson.

“Mister!” She cried as she ran up to him and jumped on him, clinging as tightly as she can. “Don’t you dare!” She roared at him, fury burning in her eyes. “Don’t you dare leave me alone with the train monster again! You have to tell me where you’re going! Otherwise it’ll eat me!” Pointing a sharpened claw at the man, she glared at him, making sure that her message was getting through that thick skull of his.

Finally, Jeannie noticed the shriveled old man in the corner, and all the cool machineries of the conductor room. As quickly as her fury had arrived, it subsided, leaving awe in its wake.

“Is this the room where you drive the train?” Jeannie murmured, still clinging tightly to Benson.

[aleX]

Benson recoiled a bit as the panda latched onto him, but he recovered quickly, still keeping an eye on the myriad of controls and gauges.

He wanted to tell her to slow down... After all, he could only answer so many questions at a time. But she didn't really seem to know what was going on. As if she was from a different world.

His eyes stared off at the distance as he day-dreamed. Benson had always known that there were other worlds out there - strange people were coming and going through Twilight Town every now and then. He'd never actually been to any of these worlds, though.

What would they look like? They obviously had some sort of humanoid creatures inhabiting them. And crabs, probably. Wait... Unless they didn't have water! All of the worlds had water, didn't they?

Benson slowly came back to the present and began to process the girl's words. Going.. Where we were going.

"We're going home. Or at least, to my home. And, yes, this is the room that controls the train. Fairly straight-forward, really. You wanna drive for a bit?"