Warm Feelings

[Pascal]

(ooc: July 15. Open mainly to anyone looking to get to know Pascal and Hubert more. I'll bring Hubert in after a few posts. DO NOT let this thread get too far without me, okay?)

"You just watch, Pascal. It's only a matter of days before you start to miss that grumpy kid with the glasses."

Much as Pascal hated to admit it, Fourier had been right. Today was just a kind of day where she couldn't seem to stop thinking about the friends she had left behind in order to come to the island. Hubert especially seemed to be plaguing her thoughts. That in and of itself was strange to Pascal. Sure he was her friend, but that was all... wasn't it? Well, worrying in her room wasn't going to accomplish anything. She had set out for the beach and currently found herself pacing along the warm sand with her boots kicked off and discarded under the shade of an umbrella she had found abandoned nearby. It was crazy. Normally Pascal didn't think about her friends this much, especially not Hu, so... why was she now?

"Maybe this weird lock thingamajig has something to do with it?" Pascal wondered out loud. That seemed silly, but she'd heard of sillier things happening. At last, Pascal came to a stop along the shoreline and let the foamy waves lap against her bare feet. As she stood there, amber eyes drifting shut and her mind beginning to wander, she wondered if maybe it was homesickness making her think of her friends. She'd had a bout with homesickness once before, but that had been a long time ago. No, there had to be some other cause. Pascal was sure of it. She just didn't know what it was.

Pascal had become so preoccupied by her own thoughts that she didn't hear anyone shuffling in the sand behind her. In fact, it would have been unsurprising by that point if someone really did catch her off guard by sneaking up on her. But that seemed unlikely. Who else could possibly be on the beach, anyway?

[Rayman]

Rayman had been laying down on the beach. Soaking up some rays, eating some fruit and blasting music into his head with his ipod that he had bought in the shopping center. Sounded like a perfect, lazy day for the limbless hero.

After a few minutes of laying there and doing absolutley nothing, a seagull must've mistaken his nose for a perch, and landed on it. "Hey get outta here!" he exclaimed, getting up and scaring the bird away. It was then he noticed Pascal, who seemed lost in her own thoughts. Hating to see people down in the dumps, Rayman walked over to the female and asked. "Hey are you okay?"

[Pascal]

Usually Pascal would have replied with some perky remark saying that she was all right, but that the present moment she had been too preoccupied to really do so. She did acknowledge Rayman's presence as she turned her attention to him, though. Amber eyes seemed to lack their usual sparkle for the present moment, but otherwise Pascal seemed okay. "I guess... I dunno. Kinda feelin' a little down, and I was thinking about home and stuff." Pascal explained. Maybe she did miss Hubert. She had gotten used to spending time with him and working with him in battle. In a way, she guessed she missed his grumpiness contrasting her zaniness.

"So, I thought walking around on the beach would help. I don't really know if it is or not, though." she said. If anything, the sun and sand and water were just reminding her of where Hubert was from. That wasn't doing any better at making Pascal feel good, though. It was just driving her insane! Why was she feeling so weird about being so far from home and unable to see Hubert?

[Rayman]

"Oh, I think I see what you're talking about." The limbless teen said, thinking about it briefly. Rayman had traveled all over the Glade of Dreams, but he never actually left it. So he couldn't really speak on the matter of being truly homesick, but he didn't want to make pascal feel bad.

He then gave a supportive smile as the girl mentioned walking on the beach cheering her up. "Of course it helps to walk on the beach, heck it helps me when I'm feeling down." His grin grew even bigger. "Yeah, just a quick walk on the sand, then napping in the sweet, glorious sun. Nothing in life better than that." he sighed, thinking about the Glade of Dreams, not exactly homesick, but enjoying the thought of home.

[Pascal]

That got a genuine laugh out of Pascal. Rayman sounded like he had a good life if walking along the beach really did help to cheer him up. Usually letting her mind wander while walking along had done Pascal good, but today it had had the opposite effect. Just hearing someone else talk about how it had done them good was enough to cheer Pascal up some. "Sounds like you really enjoy yourself. Doing simple stuff is relaxing in its own way, you know? I guess the two of us kinda think alike in that respect." she said.

"Name's Pascal, by the way. Don't think I've seen you around the mansion before. Did ya just get here or something?" she asked. It wasn't every day that she saw someone that appeared to lack support for their hands and feet. Yet, it looked like Rayman was doing just fine without arms and legs! How odd and yet fascinating! Pascal couldn't help but smile just a little as she imagined how funny it must would have been if she lacked those things.

[Rayman]

Rayman chuckled at Pascal's first question. "Yeah, I guess we are." he smiled, hoping he was doing his job of cheering Pascal up.

"Anyway, nice to meet you Pascal. I'm Rayman." he introduced himself, pointing his thumb to his chest. "Yeah, I arrived here earlier, first thing I did go to the beach, hitting the sun and what not." the limbless wonder said, surprised that Pascal hadn't questioned his lack of limbs, which most strangers did when they met him for the first time.

[Hubert]

"So... how come you don't have arms and stuff? It's kinda funny looking." Pascal said. A fine instance of the young woman not really thinking about what she was saying. She just said whatever popped into her head, and in this case it might have sounded a little offensive. But even if Pascal were aware of this fact, she probably wouldn't have thought much of it. It was just her own way. She just spoke without thinking a lot of the time. Absentmindedly, Pascal went to poke at the area between where one of Rayman's hands was and where his arm would have been provided he had arms. It was just so goofy to Pascal, she couldn't help but giggle again. How often would she have the opportunity to do this?

----

On the opposite end of the spectrum, it seemed that the furthest thing from Hubert's mind at that moment was home. He hadn't been thinking much about Strahta, Lhant, or even his brother or other friends. That day he had set out for the beach with the intent of keeping his mind as far from the locks and keys as possible. So far he had been quite successful in that aspect. He'd even left his key safely tucked away in a drawer for him to think about at a later opportunity. Right then, the young Lieutenant just wanted to relax.

...At least, that had been his objective originally. The sound of an all too familiar laugh drove Hubert from his thoughts and caused him to look up so that he could see what was going on. For a brief instance, it felt as though he had frozen. There speaking with a rather strange looking individual, was Pascal. She appeared as happy as could be at that moment as she appeared to be poking at something. That was a relief. Hubert had almost been afraid that Pascal might not have been happy on her own. Yet, despite himself, he couldn't bring himself to go over to them. Even if he did go over, he hardly knew what he would say to Pascal. It had been a while since they saw one another. How would she and her friend even react to his presence?

[Sierra]

"Yo, you know that's like, mad creepy what you're doing there right?"

A shapely teenage white lioness stood behind Hubert and tapped her paw on the ground. She crossed her arms across her skinny chest and raised an eyebrow. "What's that, your girlfriend or something?" She looked the boy over and gave a snort. Humans were so skinny and scrawny. She gripped the lock at her chest. Hopefully some lions would show up so she could find whoever's key belonged to her lock.

"I'm Sierra," she said brightly, "What's your name?" She held out a large paw.

[Hubert]

Hubert felt himself jolt just a little at the sound of someone actually addressing him. He'd gotten briefly lost merely from seeing Pascal again. Naturally, he'd almost assumed he was on his own. This, of course, was proven quite wrong when he finally did turn to face Sierra. Never mind the fact that he was about to begin conversing with a lioness. Maybe talking would keep his mind off of the Amarcian woman nearby... unless Pascal came to him. He certainly wasn't about to go to here.

"G-Girlfriend? Don't be ridiculous. She... she's just a friend." Hubert replied. Okay, so maybe that was a rather bad lie. Hubert knew his own feelings for Pascal better than anyone. Alas, the woman had completely missed Hubert actually confessing his feelings for her some time ago. But was he going to give up? Not quite that easily. It was just a matter of actually figuring out how to get his feelings across in a way Pascal understood. "She... well, I haven't seen her in quite some time. I just don't really know how to go about beginning a conversation with her again." Hubert said at last. That much was true. He was at a loss of what to even begin saying to her. But that could wait.

"And my name's Hubert. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sierra." he said. Strange though it was conversing with a lioness (Hubert was sure he'd get over that fact soon enough), he didn't think it was going that badly. Besides, whether Sierra knew it or not she had saved him from a rather embarrassing beginning of a conversation that could have occurred between him, Pascal, and Rayman.

[Rayman]

Rayman just casually shrugged at the question. He was far from offended, he got asked that question a-lot, so it wasn't anything new to his ears, plus he knew she was just being curious, especially after she poked the space between his arm and torso.

"I'm actually not sure. I was born this way." he said, unsurely then tapping his large nose. Was he actually born? From the story Betilla told him, he was created by her magic and the power of Lums, special insect like creatures with magic powers. He then smiled as Pascal continued feeling the air where is arm was suppossed to be.

"And what about you where are you from?" he asked.

(lol Rayman's quoting Lady Gaga)

[Sierra]

"Ah huh," Sierra said, pursing her lips, "Sure, buddy. She's not your girlfriend and I'm not a white lion. I'm actually a zebra." She rolled her blue orbs and placed her hands on her hips. Waving a paw in the air the femme spoke, wanting to get her point across. "Isn't this whole thing about love and all that jazz, you know? You should tell her how you feel." She turned her chin upward and shrugged.

"Of course its none of my business." Flashing a pair of white fangs, she nodded her head. "Nice to meet you, Hubert. So, what's the deal? You gonna go talk to her or what?"

[Hubert]

Believe me, I've tried.

Hubert couldn't get much more straightforward than 'My every waking thought is consumed by you', at least that was what he thought, without just flat out spelling it out for Pascal. He wanted to say it wasn't as simple as all that, but deep down he knew it was true that he could just waltz up to her and say something. Who knew? Maybe she had been missing him too. "I suppose you have a point there. I could speak to her. Though... perhaps we should both go. I mean, I wouldn't want to just leave you by yourself." Hubert told her. Nice save. he told himself. Truthfully, nerves were beginning to get to the blue-haired teen and he was feeling his resolve slipping away. Besides, Pascal had someone else to speak to. It only seemed fair that Hubert could bring Sierra over to make the conversation more interesting.

(ooc: I think a little... push of encouragement might be required here. xD)

----

"Is that right?" Pascal asked. It seemed odd that someone would just randomly be born without limbs attached to their hands and feet. Yet, Pascal found it incredibly interesting. Biology normally wasn't her thing and she didn't really consider it biology, but this was just strangely interesting to her. It seemed that oddities had a way of finding her on the island. First Tails, and now this. So enthralled was she that she didn't even seem to notice Hubert. She thought she could see blue from the corner of her eye, but she decided it was just the light playing tricks on her. The chances of her friend just showing up were supremely slim. There was no way the Strahtan Lieutenant was present.

"Anyway, I'm from this place called Ephinea." she said. Best to keep her mind off of what she thought she saw. That way she wouldn't space out.

[Sierra]

"Aaaaaaand moving!"

Sierra was a forceful little lass; it came from years of being an unruly teenager and having parents who were in showbiz. She removed her paws from her waist and placed them on Hubert's back. "And we're going out into the clearing loverboy." Hubert was a stick. Sierra was a lion. You do the math on who won in this pushing contest. Sierra grinned ferociously. She was going to help this guy. Besides she liked his blue hair. Perhaps she could dye her hair; it wasn't like her parents would know, they were thousands of miles away in Las Vegas!

[Hubert]

"WAIT, WAIT, I CAN WALK MYSELF!"

Hubert, needless to say, hadn't expected a push of encouragement. But there it was. Sierra apparently had gotten sick of his dillydallying and had taken matters into her own paws. So, much to Hubert's dismay, they were moving toward Pascal and Rayman. Inwardly, the blue-haired teen was panicking. What could he even say to Pascal once they did get over there? He supposed there wasn't a chance to really think about it. He was being pushed toward the ultimate goal, white boots beneath him trying to act as some kind of stopper but only succeeding at creating a pair of paths in the sand, and it looked like Pascal was finally snapping out of her conversation to see what was going on.

----

Truthfully, Pascal had been so caught up in conversing with Rayman that she hadn't expected to hear the familiar (if not flustered) cry of dismay from the opposite side of her. Turning around, Pascal caught sight of what she was so sure was an illusion before. Hubert was being pushed toward her (and, evidently, he wasn't all that thrilled about that fact) by a white lioness walking on her hind legs. Pascal's mouth opened in surprise and it seemed that certain sparkle in her eyes had returned. Hubert was there.

"Hu! Hu!" Pascal practically squealed with delight. Just minutes before she had been idly wishing that someone from home would appear. Now that dream was coming true. Happy could only begin to describe Pascal right then.

[Rayman]

Rayman was about to talk some more, only to hear Hubert's cry. The limbless hero turned his unattached head a bit to see a blue haired teen and a white lioness. "Is she?" Rayman thought, noticing Sierra shoving Hubert towards Pascal. He then looked back at the bubbly female, noticing her glee upon seeing him. "Uh, is he a friend of yours?" he asked.