City Paralyzed in Dusk [Irisu-chan]

[Konaa]

As ever, as usual, it was Dusk in the never changing Twilight Town. People were shifting around, buying, selling, showing off, talking, working, cleaning, fighting. All peacefully...as peaceful as a fight could get, anyway. Who would possibly dream of not participating in the social fun there was to be had? Well, look up about 30 feet. A young boy was snoring in the shade on top of a building next to the marketplace.

While the rest of the populace were enjoying their never changing lifestyle, Konaa was enjoying his: Sleeping, eating, and sarcasming. The people of the town didn't really understand this, and constantly attempted to drag him into their social network. Which was why he was sleeping on a roof...anyone who noticed him wouldn't want to go through the effort to get him down. And so he dreamlessly slept, undisturbed by fate and events. Who would dream of disturbing such a peaceful, simple existence?

[Iris|Kairi]

Snoring?

A blond young lady was walking the streets of twilight town, admiring the quaintness and watching the people bustle about with a smile on her face. One could say that Iris was one to fall into the "participating" category. She had bought a small bag full of pastries and two halves of a sandwich, and also a bottle of a fizzy fruit drink. She'd managed some easy chit chat with some street-side strangers, finding this to be a place she liked. People were friendly. There was much action to keep her amused, not that that was hard to do anyway. She was a happy girl, easy to please.

Then she heard the snoring. Was it snoring? How could someone be sleeping with all this going on? It sounded up high...

Tilting her head up curiously, she looked around for the source. A rooftop?

Next thing she knew, she'd jumped up onto the roof and found the sleeping boy. She giggled. How cute. She crouched down next to him.

Who would dream of disturbing such a peaceful, simple existence?

Why, Iris, of course.

[Konaa]

Konaa was about as unsuspecting as you got. He underestimated people because he was a genius, and therefore didn't expect anyone to want to bother to wake him when he was positioned strategically upon the rooftop. He did not take certain blond girls into account during this calculation, however.

zzzz...zzzz...zzzz...Wait...what was that hovering over him? Unconsciously he puzzled over the shadow that had blocked out the sun over him. He determined it was a person due to the shape and size in seconds...and that was while asleep. Really scares you to think what he could do while awake, if he EVER woke up.

However, he did so now, disturbed by the presence of the stranger. For it was a stranger, when he opened his eyes the person sitting before him wasn't a familiar face. Of course, he wasn't expecting her to be quite so close, and his brain had just woken up to the fact that there was someone sitting besides him. He reacted how he felt necessary.

"GAH!" The boy scrambled back, almost falling off in his surprise.

"D-do you mind?! I have sleep to get, you know, and I'd rather not break my bones!"

[Iris|Kairi]

Her eyes widened and she jerked back in reaction, forgetting to consider that her observing him would possibly startle the poor boy. She was just used to there not being something called "personal space". Her people were nomadic in nature, always together and close. True, she was alone now, which felt very empty and odd to her.

Nonetheless, her startled expression melted away within seconds and she smiled, giggling softly to herself. "Well, then don't break any, silly. Calm down. I didn't mean to interrupt your sleep...I'm sorry.." she said, her voice pleasant and soft, the epitome of harmless. Such a happy, soft voice.

Sitting back on her bum, she crossed her legs Indian style and sat her bag and fruit juice down, rummaging for a pastry. She pulled out two, shyly holding one out with slightly blushing cheeks.

"Want one? This is the only way I can make it up to you..."

An offering of warm, sweet goodness wrapped in the crispy paper fresh from the store..BEHOLD the power of food!

[Konaa]

Well, this was unexpected. Konaa was met with another surprise so soon after the first.

Normally when he snapped awake, people became touchy and said things like "Why are you sleeping on such a nice day" or "You're suppose to be working!". He had grown used to people not understanding that work was too hard for him. Hence his sneaky naps.

However, upon almost falling off the building, and his snappy comment at the girl that had disturbed him, he was soon stunned into silence, for her response was far different from the typical waker.

Well, then don't break any, silly. Calm down. I didn't mean to interrupt your sleep...I'm sorry.."

An...apology? He certainly wasn't expecting that...or a peace offering to "make it up to him". Instantly he was suspicious...They were probably poisoned, or something....But hey, free food is free food. Yoink!

He accepted the pastry gladly, allowing a small smile to break through his emotionless features.

"Thanks, I was getting hungry anyway."

[Iris|Kairi]

"Oh, if you're really hungry, I have a half of a sandwich, too." she chirped quietly, smiling brightly at the boy. Good...she'd gotten a smile, no matter how small. She handed over the pastry, holding her own in her mouth as she rummaged through the bag again. Digging under the rest of the pastries she pulled out the halved, individually wrapped pieces of sandwich. She sat hers down in front of her and held the other out to him, using her now free hand to pull the sweet cake out of her mouth.

"I'll be glad to share." she replied shyly in a sweet voice, followed by a grin. It was nice to be near someone. Iris wasn't the type to like being alone. She'd take any sort of interaction, even if it had turned into a peaceful lunch on the roof. It was oddly comfortable.

After a moment of silence, she tilted her head. "You seem surprised..." she noted curiously, almost as if she were asking him why he seemed so shocked.

[Konaa]

Man, this pastry was good. Better then most food he normally had. Twilight Town's food was pretty good...but not quite this good. This pastry was almost worth waking up for. He held up a hand to deny the sandwich offered to him, however.

"This'll do, thanks."

The girl seemed very eager to share her food, and Konaa couldn't blame her, it was great. As he munched, his smile slipped away and bored indifference returned his features. He was starting to warm to this girl despite his facial expression, considering her food didn't SEEM poisoned. He had already forgiven her for waking him, even though he forgot to tell her that.

Finally, someone who wasn't a complete pain to associate with. honestly, people wondered why he was so anti-social, but was it any question with how ridiculously uptight people were with their silly little social structures?

Hm? A question? Ah, she noticed his surprise. Well, she was a good reader of character, he hadn't even known he was letting that look out. Well, he supposed he'd best give her an answer...this was all very unusual, talking with someone.

"Well, I usually get nothing but trouble from people when they wake me up and I snap at them in surprise...They get flustered, and say that I shouldn't be sleeping, that I should be working, that I'm wasting my life. Really, though, they're the ones to talk. All this work, this running about, it just tires them out. Makes em worried they did things wrong. They don't sleep well cause of it. Me...I just think that you should live simply, eat, sleep, eat, sleep. There's nothing more you need then the basic systems of the body...but that's just me."

He fell silent...he wasn't usually so verbose.

[Iris|Kairi]

Iris bit into her sandwich, chewing happily. It was funny. She didn't really require food at all. She didn't need it. She survived off the energy of the worlds she traveled on. But ever since she'd decided to snack every once in a while to sample flavors, she actually held cravings that she effectively called "hunger". Food was a wonderful thing.

"Well, I won't bother you. It's your choice, and it sounds very peaceful. They shouldn't bother you. I just don't stay still long enough to make a life like your's possible. I travel a lot, explore. I'm looking for more of my people." she chirped softly, smiling once she swallowed her bite of sandwich.

"Hmm! ..but don't you want to make some memories?" she asked, her eyes suddenly wide with realization. If all you did was eat and sleep over and over again, what kind of memories would you have? What would you reflect back on? What would you tell your children? ...how would you HAVE children? These thoughts alarmed her slightly, but the look was only fleeting across her face.

[Konaa]

Konaa liked this girl. She was honest, which was more than he could say for most people. She was sorta nice, too, which was an unimportant but nice bonus. So he decided to keep talking to her instead of dropping back to sleep. He had to ponder her question for a few seconds, though, because it confused him throughly.

"Memories? ...Uhhhh..."

That was a weird question. What use were memories? They're just the ghosts of past events lingering in your mind, good or bad they were irritating. Still, he could understand why someone would want good memories, and how it'd be nice to have something to look back on. But he really didn't need that. all his memories were of sleep and pissing people off.

"Don't really want em...Or need em, for that matter. What am I gonna use em for? It's harder to fall asleep when you're thinking about stuff, after all..."

[Iris|Kairi]

"Use 'em for? You don't have to think about them...but they are nice to have. You can see how far you've come, have interesting stories to tell your children. Sometimes they make for good dreams...Either day, good or bad, I can't imagine not having or making them. I would feel...empty, I imagine. But I don't know for sure...never will." she chuckled to herself, continuing to munch on the sandwich in between hand motions as she talked. That said, she almost let of of her sandwich and sent ti flying while she talked, meaning she suddenly lurched to keep hold of it, laughing at her own clumsiness. "Wheew...That would've been bad for my sandwich!"

"Anyway, my memories tell me where I've been and remind me where I'm going. They're pretty handy." she grinned, continuing. "In fact, I'm making some right now and their rather pleasant."

This boy was nice. Maybe he did sleep a lot, but when awake he was pleasant. She fell silent now, smiling to herself about meeting a new person today. It was nice to talk to someone, but she knew she couldn't overstay her rather sudden welcome. Like he said, he liked to sleep. It'd be rude of her to interrupt him too long.

"Oh! Can I know your name?"

[Konaa]

Use 'em for? You don't have to think about them...but they are nice to have. You can see how far you've come, have interesting stories to tell your children. Sometimes they make for good dreams...Either day, good or bad, I can't imagine not having or making them. I would feel...empty, I imagine. But I don't know for sure...never will."

huh. He'd never really thought about it like that before. It goes to show how deep human reasoning is, as people grow so differently and think so differently. Really incredible.

"I guess you've got a point. I don't think I'm going to have children, though, so it doesn't mean much to me."

He'd never really put any thought into it, but now that he did, he quickly concluded that children were way too much work to raise. He didn't have parents, but he could only assume that it was extremely bothersome to have a child and carry it through its early years. And he was unlikely to like someone enough to have a child with them, anyway. So no fathering for him.

The girl asked his name next. This was a strange but fairly common practice. People seemed to think a lot of adding labels to everything. He supposed it was convenient to distinguish people from one another, but really, appearance does that enough already. Still, she asked, so no reason not to answer.

"Pretty sure it's Konaa."

[Iris|Kairi]

"Pretty sure?" she asked, tilting her head, wrinkling her nose a little. Maybe he had amnesia..and that's why he didn't want to make any new memories in case if covered up old forgotten ones? Her mind ran wild for a moment before she decided it was probably because he either didn't talk much or no one took time to ask for his name. It seemed both were likely.

"Konaa...I like it." Iris grinned, reaching up to adjust her goggles on her head. They were starting to pull on her blond hair again. "I'm pretty sure mine is Iris," the blond giggled quietly.

After a few moments of fighting with her goggles, she gave up, leaving them how they were to take a sip of her juice. Mmmm...her favorite. "Good!" she exclaimed suddenly, but soon her voice turned soft, "We're not strangers anymore. On the path to friends! People usually remember friends..so you'll have a memory of me! Granted, I'm nothing spectacular that you'd tell kids or anyone else about, but it's still there...well, for now." she chuckled. "Just think, if someone came by and asked if you'd seen me you could say yes!"

Now, this was beneficial to her, if he could hold a memory like that. Looking for her missing tribe of people was no easy job. Being nomadic, if they were still alive, which she believed they were, then they'd be constantly on the move and may pass by here. Who knows! They might even be asking for her, and should they happen across Konaa, he could tell them! Wouldn't that be wonderful...

[Konaa]

...Hey, was that a jab at how he said it? No, probably meant in good humor. Iris, eh? It was a nice name, as far as they go, but then, he didn't have a whole lot of experience in judging names. She seemed confused at his uncertainty at his name, but that was fairly normal for people who asked him name.

The girl-no, IRIS then sort of went on a bit of a rant about how they were friends now and they could share memories or...something like that. He wasn't really paying attention.

It wasn't that he didn't have any memories of his own. He wasn't an amnesiac. But his memories were pretty dull. He'd basically been doing what he was doing his entire life, sitting around, sleeping, slacking off, and sarcasming. That's how he was, probably how he was always gonna be. So memory didn't really catch his attention as a topic.

He did catch the comment about how he could tell people who were looking for her that he'd seen her if they passed. That was a little strange...Not something someone typically said in his experience, unless someone was actively looking for them. Iris had some people who might be looking for her, apparently. Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"That's a strange thing to say. Should I expect people to come by looking for you?"

[Iris|Kairi]

Iris looked at him, and for a fleeting moment a sort of..pained sadness flashed in her bright teal eyes. It was only for a second though as she considered her answer with a thoughtful expression. Perhaps it had been a strange thing to say...but she'd got carried away with her optimism again. Oh well, couldn't be taken back now.

After a moment she smiled and shook her head. "Nah...I doubt they'd ever come through here, let alone ask for me. They don't even know I'm looking for them anyway. But there's alway a possibility for everything, you never know. They really don't need to come down onto worlds the last time I checked..." she rambled slightly, forgetting that Konaa had no idea what she was talking about.

But then she remembered and blushed lightly. "Sorry...I'm talking about my race of people. I've been looking for the other half of my tribe." she explained. "They're nomadic and wander the universe, so they're hard to keep track of...very hard to find.."

It was clear that his troubled her more than a little. Deep down she was afraid that they were...gone. Destroyed. No one had heard from them for years. No one knew they existed. She could find hide nor hair of them, and limited clues to where they'd even been. Iris's face appeared less bright, but again it returned to a normal pleasant as she pushed the negative thoughts away and replaced them with optimistic hope.