Stroll (Tag: Tadashi)

Xion could hear the gravel crunching beneath her shoes as she walked down the flowered path. She paused at bench before sitting down. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she did so and smiling as a breeze washed over her. This was relaxing. And it was exactly what she needed after leaving home for the first time. She could easily admit that she was homesick, to the point where her chest was aching and she could be brought to tears if just the right word was said.

Tadashi was getting back from the supermarket, his cart full of sweets and candies and cakes and cookies. And icecream. Obviously icecream. That one, though, was safely put in the refrigerated bags so it could resist at least a couple of hours without any risk to melt. It was a nice thing he had been allowed to take the cart with him, even if, surely enough, it was quite hard to move to around on the gravel... but at least it was just one cart and not a bunch of heavy bags! Still though, it was no easy job and, right when he was passing by a girl, one of the boxes of cookies in his cart fell off almost by her feet. He had to stop and go to take it, smiling apologetically to the girl.

Xion looked up at the man rather startled, mostly because he had startled her but secondly because she had recognized him. There was no way she couldn't have recognized him. Not with the way her memory worked. She remembered everything. In extreme hyper detail, so even seeing his face once, she would remember. Her mouth worked furiously as she tried to string together a sentence but for once she couldn't think of what to say. "I-I y-you're...!" was the oh so intelligent garble that spilled from her mouth.

He had already recovered the box of cookies and was ready to put it back in the cart when the girl started stuttering something ehe couldn't quite catch. He blinked twice in surprise "Are you ok?" he asked concerned, approaching her once more, wondering if she was fine or if it maybe she had been hit by the cart...

Xion took a deep breath, trying to muster what little bravery she had to converse with her internet idol without appearing like a crazy fangirl, though the second part of her goal may have already been shot. It was times like this she had the easy ability to talk to someone like her older brother. "I... Saw your videos online..." Xion mumbled softly. "You're TheCrazyVideogameNerd."

"Oh..." it was all he could say as she said she had recognised him, while his cheeks started blushing: he was being recognised quite often here, it wasn't something that used to happen quite as much where he used to live... but, well, in his old town he didn't really have any contact with the geek community so that quite explained it, here it was a whole new world... still, it was pretty surprising, and... somehow, sweetly embarrassing. As usual when he was nervous, he passed a hand trough his hair "Y-yeah... that's... that's me... ehm... you can call me Tadashi, if you want... and y-you are?"

"X-Xion. Xion Fair." She managed to squeak out. As her nerves took over, she averted her eyes. She didn't see that Tadashi was just as embarrassed as she was. She was more stricken with her own awe to realize he was in the same boat as she was and that there was nothing to be so embarrassed about after all. "So... your videos? You really have powers after all?"

He passed again a hand through his hair: gosh she was more tense than she was! That was definitely a first... and he wasn't sure how to handle that but he guessed he couldn't do much, possibly just talking a bit she would start to relax. "Well...nice to meet you, Xion." he smiled sweetly to her before he chudlked tense at her question: so at least not everybody had managed to understand it! "Ah... ehm... yes... I-I do... It's just easier to say they are effect, you know... than explain I have powers..."

Xion smiled uncertainly but nodded. At least he wasn't like one of those people who tended to act one way on the screen and another in real life. "I know the feeling." she said quietly. "People here... They ask what can you do? Me? I just remember everything... Not really that cool."

He listened to her and, in all fairness, he found she was a bit harsh on her power: he found that pretty cool! "Panamnesia! I read it somewhere... why not really cool? I think it's pretty awesome!" He smiled to her, honestly finding her power cool and interesting "Even if... probably kinda stressing?" he added with an empathetic smile

Xion quickly looked away. Her brother always worried she was being pushed too hard because of her ability. It was stressful but that was just what she had to deal with. "But... it's not useful." she said. The powers that the other students had, it was obvious they were useful in the field, on missions and becoming future UN agents. Xion was just here because her brother had managed to talk her into it.

"Not useful?!" he stared at her like she had just said some sort of blasphemy "This is like saying that all brain powers here are not useful! Just cause you're not the core of the action doesn't mean you're not as important..." he shook his head before he smiled again, getting an idea on how to explain himself better "You know... when people watch the 007 movies... they all love 007, he's their hero. Wanna know who's mine? The guy who prepares all the trinkets: without him, 007 would be captured in no time. When people think of heroes... they think of great heroes, but when I think of who I wanna be... I wanna be that guy." Then he blushed, realising how much he had talked and how openly.

Xion shrank in on herself. "But I'm not like Q." she said, knowing exactly which character he was talking about. Q was 007's Quartermaster. Q was the one who whispered in the ever so famous agent's ear and told him what he needed to know, provided the tools necessary to get out of his sticky situations, despite the fact he could probably do it just as easily without the tool. "This isn't like the games we play online."

"You are not yet like Q, aren't we here to learn exactly that?" he smiled to her, firmly believing in what he was saying "You think your power is not great, but... remembering everything! You can have such a wide knowledge of stuffs, you can be better than internet! Just... study the right stuffs!" he smiled again, hoping to encourage her

"Why would you say that kind of stuff?" Xion asked. "You don't know me." Socially it made no sense to encourage strangers to better themselves when more often than not people benefited from another's failure or shortcomings. This was what she had seen time and time again. While she could put her mind to work, she could never get emotionally invested in what she did. Even becoming an agent wasn't her idea, it was her brother's.

At her words Tadashi cocked his head to one side, looking puzzled "Why shouldn't I say?" he asked, honestly perplex. Well, that he was a nice, genuine guy was pretty evident from his video, but of course it wasn't so obvious he would have been in real life as well...

Xion shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "You don't even know me. I'm a stranger. You don't have any logical proof that I am good enough to be... well anything." Xion said, falling back on her obvious crutch of logic, theory and in this case the social studies of psychology and sociology.

"Well... I've known you for... five minutes, I think" he replied with a smile, teasing a bit but actually half serious "And with the power you have... well, I'm ready to bet you can be good more or less in everythig!" and, once again, he was just being his usual honest positive self "I'm ready to bet you would beat me at videogames just cause you saw my videos once!" he teased, but he actually quite believed it was true: with her power, she could easily memorize his schemes, his way to play, and therefore immagine a tactict to beat him...

Xion couldn't help a light laugh. She held her hand over her lips in an attempt to hide the soft noise. Sure, video games take tactic and skill but luck played an important role, that an anticipating the opponent's movements before they realized they were caught. "You realize that video games are one part luck, right?" she asked.

He was actually glad he at least managed to make her laugh: at least she wasn't so nervous anymore. It was something that made him happy, he knew what burdain could be being socially awkward and seeing someone relax maybe a bit even thanks to him was surely a pleasure. "What, scared to bet?" he teased her with a playful smile

"I don't gamble." XIon said. "The chances of my losing are too high for the winnings to be worth the value. And... My brother always bet and won so I'd have to do his chores..." So naturally she associated gambling with bad things. However, playing a video game for fun was much more her style. At least in that she didn't have to be the smartest in everything. "But... I wouldn't mind playing against you sometime?"

He couldn't help but chuckle at what she said: he couldn't help, it was simply funny! But her suggestion actually made him smile sheepishly again "Ah... s-sure... I'd like that..." well... he did enjoy the time he played with Hiro, after all...

Xion flashed a slight smile and nodded. She felt much more relaxed now that they had taken the topic off of her and her abilities. She was so used to people pushing her too hard because of what she could do and she just couldn't handle it. "There's an arcade here too," she said, recalling the map. "Have you gone there yet?"

"Yes, but I have tried only a few games so far... beside, I honestly love the place." he had to admit with an apologetic smile, shrugging lightly

"We could go check it out?" Xion offered, eager to try her hand at video games with someone she had idolized for playing them. Plus, it would be nice to have someone to play games with who was actually on par with her. While her brother adored games, he wasn't on the same level of skill as she was. "My brother Zack said there's a really good pizza place right next door too... So dinner if we stay out late?"