Lost in a New City

[leekspin]

Characters: Orihime Inoue, OPEN!
When: March 11, 2012
Where: ??????
Rating: PG
Summary: Orihime arrives...and has no idea what to do about that.

Comments

[alma_karma]

Alma picked his way through the deserted streets, swinging the sleeves of his overly large sweater absently as he walked. It was starting to get a little warmer outside (not much warmer, really, but even just a little was better than nothing), and cabin fever drove the boy outside fairly often. Usually he would limit himself to the areas nearest to the apartment building (mostly for Yu's peace of mind), but today he'd taken his widening circles further than usual.

He rounded a corner, turning to blink slowly when he caught a flash of movement in his peripheral vision.

Making assumptions, ho ho ho!

[leekspin]

Orihime was still a little unnerved...shaken, even...by her previous encounter with the child in white. She hugged her arms tightly as she walked, her brow drawn in quiet consternation. It seemed like she'd just escaped one prison to be tossed into another one. And this time, she didn't think her friends could help.

She knew she ought to have more faith in them, but really...really...

Another flash of movement caught her eye. She whirled around, clenching her hands into fists and frowning. She didn't like being made to feel helpless, and if she was going to be haunted again by another eerie child, then she would just have to muster up the lecture of a lifetime!

...Except this one actually looked like a little kid. His reiatsu was far more human, too. Orihime's furrowed brow jumped upward in surprise, her hands and posture immediately relaxing.

"Anou...hello...?" she ventured.

no worries~

[alma_karma]

Alma started a little, sure that the person he was seeing was just one of the many ghosts and figments that frequented Credinta, but the ghosts never spoke. Whispered, yes, hissed around dark corners, but they didn't really speak.

Not usually, anyway.

He took a few steps closer, watching the newcomer curiously.

"... Hi. You're not a ghost, right?"

[leekspin]

Vast relief swept through Orihime, and she practically doubled over as she slumped with a heaved sigh. Thank goodness, his voice sounded normal!

"No! Definitely...definitely not!" she laughed, patting herself vigorously to show just how corporeal she was. If that made any difference at all. "I thought there were others like me here, I'm so relieved! Ah...can I come over?" She didn't want to zoom straight for him and scare off the first normal person she'd met.

[alma_karma]

She sure seemed human, and with all the evidence presented Alma was sure. She even seemed nice, which was often a rarity with newcomers. Sure, being pulled into a new world could be scary and confusing, but that was no reason to be a jerk.

Ah, the wisdom of a child.

He nodded, face breaking into a wide grin as started closing the distance between them himself.

"Yeah! There's a bunch of us here. Not so many as there used to be, though."

[leekspin]

Orihime beamed. Alma's grin was infectious and warm, driving away the chills she'd been harboring. If he could still maintain his cheer in a place like this, then surely that meant there was hope, and something to be honestly happy about. She trotted forward as well, coming to a stop before him and offering a quick bow of greeting.

"That's a relief! ...Although I guess I shouldn't be too happy about other people getting stuck here," she admitted with a sheepish grin. "I'm Inoue Orihime. ...'Inoue' is my family name," she explained, just in case he wasn't familiar with Japanese custom. It was hard to say what nationality he was just by looking at him.

"If it's okay to ask, what happened to the ones who used to be here? They went home?" He didn't SOUND crestfallen the way a person would when mentioning people who had died, so she hoped she was correct in her guess.

[alma_karma]

Alma nodded, accepting her explanation easily. He had experience with that particular custom through Yu... though he'd always wondered Yu's "first" name went last while his own went first. They came from the same place, so they should be the same, right?

Not that that had mattered too much after a while. Not while there were far more interesting things to focus on.

"It's nice to meet you, Orihime! I'm Alma!" He nodded at her question, though his smile faded a bit.

"That's what everybody says. I got to go home once. Just for a few minutes."

[leekspin]

"Oh?" Orihime brightened significantly. "Even a few minutes is encouraging! Thank goodness," she laughed. "I wasn't really sure what to do if this was supposed to be a permanent thing."

But why did he seem so sad about it...?

She started to ask, but was cut off by a sudden ferocious growl! ...From her stomach. Orihime looked down as if puzzled, then grinned sheepishly. "I guess I was so disoriented that I forgot I was hungry, ha ha!"

[alma_karma]

He perked back up again quickly, swinging an arm to point back the way he'd come from.

"Wanna go to the apartment building? It's where we all stay. We've got food and stuff to share."

[leekspin]

"Oh, yes please! If that's really okay!" she beamed, clasping her hands together in delight. In a place as desolate as this, she couldn't imagine where they managed to obtain food. She'd have to be careful and not be too greedy, since she could eat quite a lot even for a girl of her size.

She tapped her cheek thoughtfully. "Ah...Libitina-chan said I got 702. Is that a room number over there?" It seemed like the most obvious solution to the mystery, but it was best to ask first.

[alma_karma]

"'Course it is! And yeah, that's your room number! There's only nine floors so you're near the top."

He held out a hand toward her, offering to lead the way.

[leekspin]

Orihime smiled, touched by the boy's kindness and open warmth. There was no hesitation whatsoever as she placed her hand in his, as well as her trust. Alma was as genuine as a person could be, and though Orihime wasn't exactly hard to win over, he'd still earned the link of friendship with her.

"I suppose the view must be very nice from that floor, hee hee!" Not that the city was much to look at, really. Hence, the 'hee hee'.

"Still, nine floors is an awful lot! The building's in good shape?" she asked, choosing her steps carefully as she followed him through the dust and rubble.

[alma_karma]

Alma took her hand gently. He was usually pretty good about minding his strength, but sometimes when he got excited... it was better to be careful.

He led her through the rubble with easy, steady steps, apparently quite at home in the desolate landscape.

"It's okay. There's some places where it's messed up, but everybody's been working on fixing it up."

[leekspin]

"I'll pitch in!" Orihime said with a firm nod. "I don't know much about construction, but I'll definitely help! I can sew, and--"

Should she mention her powers? Given the choice between having people flip out over her supernatural abilities, and someone suffering because they didn't know who to turn to for assistance, she knew what the right decision should be.

"Er...well it probably sounds strange, but I can heal people too, if they get hurt or sick. So please make use of me, Alma-chan."

[alma_karma]

"You can?" He turned to look back at her, a wide grin forming after a few moments.

"That's great! With magic? We used to have people here who could heal with magic."

[leekspin]

"Well, I guess it's a little like that!" Orihime replied with an uncertain smile. "But I don't need any supplies, essentially. It's a power that comes from my spirit." She was glad to see that he wasn't recoiling. In fact, he seemed to be accustomed to those who had special or supernatural talents, and that was something of a relief. The last thing she wanted was to scare a very nice kid.

"It's kind of nice to know there have been others like me, though. I was afraid I might seem too weird!" She touched the knuckles of her free hand to her temple. "So the others who live there...they can do unusual things too?"