The process of diving down after the boy first started as automatic before she learned that she had to embrace the idea of adaptation. She wasn't going to get different results repeating the same thing over and over again anyway, so she began to test how long her stops could last for and how much longer that gave her air. For each repeat, she grew better at timing when to stop. Sometimes she stopped for longer than she would have expected. It began with instinctual stops before the girl began to plan ahead. She knew she'd die this round, but in the next round she would know to stop before she hit the water so she could breathe a larger breath. Kaida would drown if she waited until she was close to stop, so she had to keep consistently going when they were at the same distance. At least until her timing got so good she was definitely getting a great deal closer. Kaida noticed that as this went, she was getting closer to the ocean floor. And what was perhaps 10 or 20 attempts later, she reached the point where the blue haired boy touched the ocean floor at quite a distance from her and held a hand up to her as if to take. But gasping out resulted in her drowning right then. Her pattern of stopping and swimming grew perfect as she dove down. A final stop allowing her to give her all to reaching them. As she reached out she finally grabbed their hand and went to pull up, but the figure used their strength to pull her down until she hit to ocean floor heavily. Like water was no longer keeping her afloat and gravity pulled her down as if she was in air. And she could breathe too. Was it an air bubble? It didn't seem so. Her clothes floated. But the ocean seemed still, like when she stopped time. So it must have stopped. But she didn't do it. As she sat up she looked up towards the blue haired figure, it was dark down on the ocean floor with the exception of light coming from some of the underwater fauna. She tried to focus her eyes in as she stood up and walked closer, "A... are you...?" But when she was within a foot of them, the figure began to distort, making her stand a little guarded as the hair turned from blue to blonde and the clothes began to change. The height got a little smaller to match her's. Their eyes were closed, but when they opened to look at her, a smirk appeared on their face, "You made it." Kaida looked at the reflection of herself a bit confused, looked up towards the top of the ocean looking frustrated, before finally looking back at her reflection in disappointment, "Really?" The reflection snickered and said, "I'm not quite sure why you have that look on your face. You followed me all the way here. Granted, that took infinitely longer than I would have liked. But it was enlightening in a way. Who knew someone could die from drowning in so many variations. But you're here, and now I've got a task for you." "Task...?" Kaida had been so focused so long on trying to save the drowning boy that she had completely forgotten as a realization hit her eyes, "Right... my task was-" "-At the bottom of the ocean." "So the sinking body-" "-was bait. I mean I couldn't get you to swim otherwise." Kaida looked confused as she said, "But the blue hair... it was... familiar." "I don't know anything about blue hair. I took the form of something your mind desperately wanted to keep a latch on. An insecurity." The reflection chose to elaborate. "You didn't chose Aux or Seiza?" "I could have. But I didn't want that specific emotional drive. I wanted the curious you, not the panicked you... so..." the reflection raised their hand and smirked, "...your task!"
Drowning. Chasing. Drowning. Chasing. How many times had this cycle repeated itself at this point? Her body was just as energetic and alive, refreshed each time. But her mind grew exhausted. How many times had she felt the sharp pain of drowning? Her mind had begun with each consecutive dive to teach her better techniques for swimming. Remembering how others swam and eventually getting it down. She'd managed to learn how to swim and dive in this loop. But she couldn't reach the body who was drowning. That wasn't the initial task, she knew that, but she needed to reach them. If they were passed out they wouldn't be able to do anything to save themselves. But she couldn't reach them, the further and faster she swam the deeper they sank. Like a fish being lured. But it worked and she knew it. She had started counting and had reached about 127 before she lost track. And that must have been a long time ago. Or no time at all. But the loop kept her from turning around. She tried. Her brain knew this was happening but she couldn't stop the instinct to jump in. She wanted out of the loop. And that meant getting to this boy. Or getting to the bottom of the ocean. Whichever one came first. She could grab the boy, bring him up, and go back down. At this rate she knew how to swim, so starting over would be a piece of cake. But she still couldn't see the bottom of the ocean from here. As she dove in again, she watched him sinking even faster and it was infuriating. She just needed to get him, that was all. She just wanted to stop this nonsense and stop him from sinking so quickly. She needed to stop drowning. This loop needed to stop. Everything needed to stop. Stop. Kaida moved for quite a bit of time not feeling any loss of breath. Watching as the water seemed to move still and the boy actually seemed to not be moving rather than him sinking further. She dove further just in reach of his hand before the water began to move once more and the body sank ever further. Kaida was in a bit of shock that it worked but not before she felt herself gasping for air. And she was on the beach running once more. Diving in after the boy as he sank deeper. And she teached out and willed time to stop. She dove further just about to reach the boy before time began once more and she tried again. She felt herself not losing air as quickly this way, and getting closer each time. But he sunk so quickly she'd still have to speed up. But as time began she gasped out for air and felt her lungs fill once more. Drowning. Chasing. Diving. Stop. Diving. Stop. Drowning. Chasing. Diving. Stop. Diving. Stop. Diving. Stop. Drowning...
At the bottom of the ocean. Her task didn't quite sink in until she was standing on the beach. She was going to have to swim? Well that was just wonderful. The task on it's own would have been monumental enough if Kaida were not forced to overcome some of her fears. Was it a fear? Falling in the ocean and not being able to swim seemed like a reasonable thing but it wasn't like she was afraid of the ocean itself. She remembered the Symphony of Sorcery when she became a fish and swam around to the music. She was not afraid then. Kaida walked to the shoreline nervously and stared at it for a long while before walking further in. When the water level was at her knees, she waited a moment before she felt that ping of nervousness come back and she turned around to take a deep breath before she heard a voice calling out. She couldn't figure out what it may have been saying, only that there was a shout coming from the ocean. When the girl turned back to look for the source she saw someone standing at a distance in just the right spot where the light of the sun obscured their face. But she recognized features. Blue hair, a little taller than her, a black and green shirt. He had a hand reaching out towards her and Kaida strained to see but felt herself begin running towards them. Why? Who was this? Why was this the urge. But the more she ran at them the deeper the ocean became and the further away they seemed. She ran until she felt a sudden drop off in the water and let out a yelp before plummeting in deep into the water. She sank quickly, not knowing what to do with herself with no knowledge of swimming. She wasn't even trying to float back. She couldn't find the person anywhere and her surprise at the drop off made it so she was running out of air quickly. Kaida looked to the bottom of the ocean, or tried to but only saw the black abyss that seemed never ending. She let herself sink further as she tried to hold her breath longer. The sharp pain from holding breath too long overtook her first, then she panicked and flailed her arms to try and push herself up to the surface. It worked a little, managing to get her arms moving in a way that brought her closer to the surface. But it was not enough. Kaida couldn't hold her breath anymore and felt herself gasp out as the water began to fill her lungs. There was no real use in squirming or trying to cough the water out, but the blond attempted anyway. It only resulted in more water sucking itself in. The drowning itself did not last much longer before things began to grow dark. Then the light suddenly flashed bright again, and Kaida found herself standing knee deep in the water looking towards the blue haired figure again in the sunlight. Her body ran towards the water first before her brain processed things seemed to go back in time. Kaida stopped herself just before the deep drop off. She just drowned, didn't she? Well, clearly not. But she knew enough to not run an inch too far. The blond knocked herself on the head and had to remind herself a million times that this was a dream. Of course things looping wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. But that drowning pain was so real. And where was the blue haired kid? She didn't see them on the horizon anymore. She looked down and saw them sinking. Their face obscured, but it looked as though they were drowning. Why the girl who couldn't swim felt the logical solution was to jump into the deep water to save them was beyond her. But she had held her breath and was swimming towards them anyway. She wasn't making it very far, single she wasn't using any proper swimming technique. But she kept going further and further trying to chase after them. She held her breath for quite a long time trying to make chase before that familiar feeling of drowning came back. She tried desperately to keep it held as she tried to keep telling herself this was a dream. But that didn't stop her from gasping out and feeling the water rush into her lungs once more. Her vision grew dark before it grew brighter. Kaida felt herself standing knee deep in the water and making chase at the blue haired kid again before she managed to stop herself at the edge of the deep end again. This was a loop wasn't it? It always started right as she charged in and felt determination to reach the boy. She looked across to find them and they were gone, and in the water she saw them drowning again. And her instinct told her to jump in and save him. It kept her from giving herself much time to think about getting into the water and only gave Kaida just enough time to reprocess this was the beginning again. She dove into the water and swam further with a little more practice but she still didn't reach the boy before drowning again.
It was going to be interesting to be taught by Yen Sid. She at first was excites by the idea before they put her in Eraqus' group. But now she was back with Yen Sid again. So it worked out! Which was good. She figured learning Time from the best person who could teach it to her was great. But Kaida was focused on the gummi phone with a fixation. She had avoided gummi phones in the past, it was a technology just a bit too advances for her to get. But she spent the night focused on it and at rhis rate had the face of a high school girl completely absorbed into conversation. But she wasn't. She was playing Classic Kingdom. Kaida was zoned in near completely when she barely heard an apology and just let out a "mhmm" with no visible interest in the outside world. It wasn't until she heard Yen Sid clear his throat and look right at her that she looked at him and quietly closed out the game and put the phone back in her pocket silently while maintaining eye contact.
Kaida was a bit surprised to hear that, but that surprise quickly changed as she said, "Well, I'm glad to hear you're happy! I hope it sticks that way as long as it can." Kaida didn't really have much more to talk about but didn't have any real place to go. So she just kind of wandered to another seat on the ship and pulled out a block of wood and started whittling.
"I suppose you're right... I've had a lot of doubt in my mind. Thinking maybe you guys didn't wanna say anything to avoid needless in-fighting. But you guys never really stopped giving Aux a bad time for the obvious stuff he's done wrong. I just didn't want to think I wasn't reading the room right." Kaida took a deep breath and continued, "I think you said you thought your dad was behind it, but there had been so many people there working with him from my past it was frustrating." she paused a while realizing she'd been ranting a lot and said, "Sorry, you probably didn't need that venting. You've got a free 'vent to Kaida' card if you need it."
"Confusion mostly. But then I figured someone should stick around with them." Kaida replied motioning her head in the direction of the trio, "Then I realized I was sitting silently over here and you were hiding here just out of sight." she did a bit of a thinking face and said, "But I've kind of been doing the same as you..." she placed a hand under her chin and asked, "You guys didn't resent me for leaving before that huge heartless battle, did you? I-I know I shouldn't give too much thought to that trial but I have been anyway." she seemed unsure but it didn't seem like it was actually bothering her all that much. Maybe a bit, enough for her to ask about it.
"Ah, the out of it look I give when I've got everything on my mind and nothing on my mind at all." Kaida chimed in suddenly and almost out of nowhere as she leaned on the back of the chair Karina was sitting in. She tapped a bit on the back of the chair and said, "I have that happen so much lately that I genuinely feel like I've missed out on half the adventure. What with that kid waking up, running into the trio again." she said the second part softly as she looked over in the direction of Sora, Riku and Kairi and she said at a soft volume with the intent only for Karina to hear, "I don't feel comfortable talking to them just by the fact I know more about them than they know about themselves and I'm worried I might bring up something that hasn't happened yet. And I don't think I'm going to be more helpful than the crowd of people than Ven." she stopped leaning on the back of the chair and walked around to look at Karina better and said, "But are you thinking about everything or nothing at all?"
Aye, welcome back! I used to watch your stuff back in the day, good to see a familiar face coming back. It's not really all that active here anymore but people still check in every once in a while. Can't wait to see what new stuff you come up with.
Kaida looked a bit confused by what exactly Aux was asking for her thoughts about. She improvised a little bit, placing a hand under her chin and saying, "I'm not used to you not wearing a hat. I could though. Get used to it I mean." Kaida looked down at the little girl and was trying not to start ogling over her and seeming annoying. She did refocus and looked at him confused and asked, "Deciding on a path right now or something? If you are, do what you feel you need to do or would be better for you. No matter what, I can't judge you for what choices you make." she didn't wanna admit she'd prefer he'd stick around. Probably because the last time she did, he hadn't anyway.
Kaida slowly approached Aux's family and those in that direct spot. Not really wanting to invade the conversation and being confused how his mom and sister looked so much different. Actually, the weirdest part was that they looked vaguely familiar. But she didn't want to ponder too long about it. When she heard where the conversation was going she snuck up and said, "Oh yeah, Aux is totally dating Karina. It's like a combination of uh..." she tried to keep up the joke somehow and was going to say 'peanut butter and jelly' but instead said, "Fire and Gasoline." she paused afterwards and waved her hand, "I'mkiddingaboutthedatingthingsorry. Hi, I'm Kaida." Kaida held her hand out and said, "I'm Aux's punching bag."
The minutes after the suddenly intense fight required a few minutes for her to mentally cool off. As people filed in and clarified exactly what was going on she looked around nervously to find Aux. If something terrible happened Karina probably would have mentioned it. Then Karina went into a long apology. Kaida stayed silent to get everything, pushing away the casual mentioning of stabbing for now. She reached out and put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Karina, this was clearly all a setup since we all got black-bagged here. This was going to be rigged no matter what, your father clearly just wanted you to be complacent. You can't take the blame for this when it isn't your fault. If you let yourself think it is your fault, he's won." she let go of her shoulder and said, "I'm sorry you had to go through what you did. I wish I could have been there to help. But what's done is done and your father clearly can't lie to us about this stuff anymore. We're here for you. Don't let him think we're not." Kaida's smile broke a second as she said with a mocking frustration, "And I can't believe I have to say this to anyone other than Aux but stop stabbing people."
Kaida made a point not to leave her cell. Convinced fully this was a setup designed to try and pin something on her. But she did summon her keyblade as she said, "Aw look. Did someone get salty they couldn't slander me in front of a judge and now wants to take their saltiness out a different way?" "I know you're mocking me, but truth be told I did have some bullet points prepared ahead of time... being as how you're so keen on dishing out a burn..." He opened his hand where a large orb of fire appeared. "Allow me to repay the favor." He through the powerful fire spell with great speed at Kaida. The cell didn't give her much room to maneuver but she did manage to duck in enough time to avoid the fireball. It resulted in her readjusting her stance to try and throw a fire spell right back at him. He shot a more powerful fire spell to collide with hers. The explosion pushed back both of them and destroyed enough cell bars for Kaida to escape from. "You're quick... but your magic is severely lacking..." He looked around the prison block as if looking for something. "If not for your informant, I wouldn't even need to be here..." Kaida still stayed in the cell and said, "Ah yes, the informant. Care to reveal who that is? I'll give you free reign to kick my *kupo* for 30 seconds if you tell me." "And how is that different from every other encounter?" Kaizo quizzed before casting thundaza at her. Kaida would have probably had a witty retort but the thunder hit her in just the right way to remind her of the collar again. She took a deep breath and looked at him and decided he wasn't even worth talking to anymore. She flickered a little bit as her time aura kicked in. She stood still a moment before she seemed to jump forward with nothing in between her movements. This kept happening until she connected with her keyblade and pushed him away from her cell as she stayed firmly at the edge of it. He pulled himself off the wall, growing more agitated. "You never learn, do you?" He flew out his hands yelling "Stopza!" Everyone else but he and Kaida froze in time as he activated his own aura to match hers. He charged forward as the two began to fight with after image fighting after image.
"Iunno. This seems like a setup. I don't want them to claim I tried to escape and so that is proof I did the bad thing." Kaida shook her head in refusal though she did try to see if she could pry the collar off a little. Then she felt a bit of a warning shock 22/30
"I would think the trial would be over but maybe they had to address more charges and Aux didn't fold easily? Or... maybe that summit preoccupied their time. I thought they were overlapping but it seems like this ship doesn't really follow rules. OKAY KAREN?" Kaida yelled up as she stood up and looked towards wherever cameras may be, "YOU DON'T RESPECT LAWS IF YOUR BOOMER EGO IS SABOTAGED!" Kaida paused expecting a shock and never felt one. She placed a hand to her collar and asked, "Uh... are they preoccupied? Aux did you do something...." 21/30
Kaida thought about the question a for a little while before saying, "Home is... not really a specific place. But rather a space where you feel you can rest and be yourself with no worry." She rubbed her hands a bit to give herself something to do with them and sighed, "But that security of having once place you know you can feel that way... I miss it greatly. But when I'm with my friends it's the closest I've got. Which is the real reason I hate being in this cell for an undetermined amount of time. Cause they might just move on and I can't blame them for that." 20/30
"Nah I'm not interested in the Summit. I don't particularly care for my real homeworld and the leaders of Central Haven that are here just got me sentenced to life." Kaida replied with a hint of annoyance, but her tone changed a little as she followed with, "Only thing I care about, other than Aux and the other members of the Order, is if brother is alright. I haven't heard any news about him in a while. I..." she looked towards the cell where Aux used to be and admitted, "I already am just assuming the worst." 19/30
"That's a good question. One I'm sure everyone in my group would have a different answer to." Kaida looked in the direction of the others in the cell before continuing, "For me though, I got involved because I was in a leadership position already in Central Haven. Backing away wouldn't have been an option in the first place. But I stayed to help-" Kaida paused a minute as her brain stopped her from saying 'my best friends' since there was no plural that should have existed there, "-Aux. He got sucked into the fight on No Heart's side and I couldn't just let him make that kind of mistake. Now I feel too personally involved to walk away." 18/30
"Well there seem to be a lot of groups working together but with separate goals." Kaida clarified, "So if one specific team wanted us locked out of the fight well, that sounds like a smart plan to me. Can't have heroes around saving the universe if they couldn't even qualify for parole." 17/30
"It uh, sounds like you're talking about the Heartless. But some worlds have different quirks so I can't be certain." Kaida pondered for a moment before saying, "But most likely No Heart is involved somehow. I know the jail cell would say otherwise but I know nothing really about No Heart other than that he seems to be orchestrating a war between 7 lights and 13 darknesses. And seems to be grooming the universe for it by whatever means necessary." she rubbed her neck and said, "Iunno what No Heart gets putting half of us in jail cells, but it's possible that he had nothing to do with this... *kupo*ing Karen Campbell." Kaida felt a bit of a shock she was already prepped for. 16/30
