itsjustcambot | Chapter 1

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Chapter 1 - A New Face

[ The camera is floating along, recording seemingly nothing. the hallway is empty. But then, it gently swings around the corner. Aha. There's a new face. Or, rather, a new back -- long dark hair tied at the bottom, legs in marigold, with little red ankle-high boots. Click, click, click, are her heels as she walks slolwy down the hall, until she comes to the end. She looks left, looks right, gloved fingers reaching up toward her lips in a thoguhtful pose. Then, she turns over her shoulder. Ah, now there's her face. Her gaze lifts to the floating little camera.]

It's a bit unnerving, with you following me like that you know. [yes, she's talking to the camera] I don't suppose you can tell me which way to go? [and the camera swings back and forth, as if shaking it's head 'no'. The girl frowns, and turns back to her dilema. Left.. or Right?]

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[Someone's going to beat you to the punch, Dagger. That being the person underneath the cloak. He's still about ten feet away - he's very good at projecting his voice - when he grins and grabs the edges of the cloak, yanking at it and undoing the whole careful set up that he had to rig so it didn't fall off him. But that's one of the things you learn in a theatre troupe. With an elaborate, dramatic swirl, the blanket-like cloak comes off and gets thrown to the side, and there indeed is Monkeyboy, grinning about as widely as she's ever seen and just looking so damn thrilled.]

Bring my beloved Dagger back to me!

[It's like she's been punched; for a second, she can't breathe. She can't move, she's just... staring. At him. That face, that smile, things she thought she'd never see again, anywhere but in her dreams.

It feels like she's falling -- but she catches herself. She's running, because he's so close, but so far away. She can't risk it, that he'll just vanish, like he has so many times before. She has to know, now, before she lets herself believe another illusion.

And then, she's throwing herself at him, arms outstretched, flinging them around his neck. She can feel his clothes, his hair--

He's real.]

[Yeah, he's gotta brace himself for that one, but he knew it was coming. She kind of likes to pounce on him, doesn't she? Not that he's complaining, mind - far from it. He catches her, of course, much like he once did outside Alexandria Castle as Bahamut assaulted the city, wrapping his arms around her to bring her close to his shoulder, that grin calming down into a very happy smile.]

You grew your hair out again.

It's not fitting for a Queen to have short hair. [and when she says that, it sounds like bitter mocking. As if she's heard it too many times herself. Then she draws back, hands on his shoulders, and looks up at him] I haven't seen you in months, and that's the first thing you have to say to me?

It's fitting for the Queen of Alexandria to do whatever she pleases no matter what those stuff-headed nobles of yours think. Remember? You can do anything you want to do or be anything you want to be. You're already the best queen I've ever known.

[And then she's looking him right in the eye and he can't help it, he's turning a touch red and looking away from her a bit sheepishly, then back at her with a still-sheepish grin.]

What's wrong with that? I always loved your hair, you know.

[Yup, that's dodging the subject.]

[It's her turn to blush. Just a little.] Don't change the subject! [And then she thumps him on the chest] And you know, you should be ashamed, butchering a classic script like that.

[Displaced anger? Maybe a bit]

Ow! [He raises a hand to rub the "thumped" spot, but he's laughing instead of actually being hurt by it. Sorry Dagger, you're a strong woman in every other regard - not so much with your arms, though.]

I didn't butcher it, I only took a few liberties! I felt the situation called for them. [And he smiles again, letting his forehead rest on hers.] After all, I did pray to the sun and the twin moons to let me see you again. The thought of you is the only thing that kept me going so long.

[She pauses. They've never been really close like this. Not when it wasn't a life-or-death situation. She looks up at him through her eyelashes.]

We thought you were dead. [And when she says it, the words sound heavy.] I saw what happened. How-- ... How did you survive that?

I, uh... [Okay, this is not unexpected. But that doesn't make it any easier to handle. Because she's not going to like what he has to tell her - especially not the part about forgetting about her. Obviously that's fixed now, but it still happened.]

[Fortunately, he has an option that will at least give him some backup. He steps away from her, taking her hand at the same time, and gestures down the hallway.] Come with me, okay? There's someone you've got to meet, and he can help me explain everything. It's... okay, it's kind of all really weird and we still don't know everything and we probably never will, but we can at least tell you everything we know. Cambot, take us to wherever Squall is.

[With a quiet beep, the Cambot which had been monitoring them this whole time turns and starts floating off down the hall.]

"Squall?" [She sounds confused, but it's all too easy for him to lead her around. She follows almost without thinking. At least at first. She stops, and digs in her heels] Zidane, Wait.

Yeah, Squall - he's my best friend. Well, one of them. [And they'll get down about half a hallway before she digs her heels in, jerking him to a stop and making him pretty confused.] Yeah? What is it?

It's just -- you've been gone all this time, and now, here you are -- here we both are, who knows how-far-away from home. It's all so sudden. [Right, as if that explains anything.]

[Actually it kind of does a little. Because that was, more or less, how he felt when he got to the other world and that war among the gods.]

Yeah, it kind of is - we don't know how we got here, any of us. We kind of know why, but not really how or how to fix things. But now with you here, everything just got so much better.

[And he smiles at her, that smile that's so sincere.]

[she averts her gaze. When did she become so bashful? She looks down at their hands... How her hand just fits so nicely in his.]

Are we really stuck here?

...Yeah, we kind of are. We don't know how to get home yet - but hey, if we've gotta be stuck somewhere, this is a pretty great place to be stuck! A lot better than where we came from- I mean 'we' as in 'me and Squall,' not 'me and you.' It really is a long story.

[You know, Zidane, you're supposed to be smooth. This? Is not smooth.]

Well, it sounds like we've got plenty of time, at least. [whether or not she thinks that's a GOOD thing, is questionable]

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Chapter 1 - A New Face

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