Emily drifts through the next couple hours without really paying much attention. Her class on Combat Acrobatics proves to be a bit frustrating with the teacher and every single other student being a magically enhanced person way above her skill level. Even with the lax rules of physics that the universe provides, Emily still can't quite rooftop jump across two lane roads or climb sheer face surfaces. It doesn't help that the professor has a bit of a mean streak and treats Emily as inherently inferior for her lack of magically enhanced ability. Two and a quarter hours of hell, to be sure. Emily could have sworn that she'd have the gravel of the asphalt imprinted on her face, but she remembers that as realistic as it is, it's just a simulation.
After a quick cat nap on her couch, Emily finally works up the energy to go to dinner. Another uneventful passing through corridors takes her to the dining room, with a bored circle of the entrees completing her tray of stuff she can only half-identify. She never did think too hard about what type of food is actually available in the Kingdom Hearts universe. It was always sort of assumed to be like reality unless noted and the ice cream bars are definitely analogous to reality. At least everything tastes fine for the most part. It takes a minute before she finds Sora, Riku, and Kairi, walking over and sitting down by them.
"Hi, Kiko!" Sora says, smiling.
"Hello, Sora," Emily says, lethargically. As much as she'd like to talk with Sora about stuff, she's just too tired from so many failures. She slumps her head down by the table, expending as little energy as possible to eat her meal. From Emily's limited field of view, Kairi seems just as tired but not quite at Emily's phase. More sort of a slouching back into the chair pose than putting her face on the table.
"How was class, Kiko?" Riku asks. Emily perks up a little at her idol finally talking to her without a prompt.
"Oh, it was... I don't know, really hard," Emily says, giving her best smile. Progress!
"She was in Combat Acrobatics with me," Sora starts, enthusiasm high in his voice, "She's great."
"No, I'm not," Emily starts, "I just fell to my virtual death twenty times at anything with a wider gap than an alley. I'm not even in the same league as everybody else in that class."
"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Sora starts, "For somebody completely natural, you did awesome."
"Some use I'll be," Emily says, cynicism oozing, "It's like being a prime contender at the Special Olympics. Even though I'm great in my division, I'm still handicapped and useless at anything that matters."
"Special Olympics?" Riku asks. Everybody else also looks curious.
"It's a competition for retarded people..." Emily says, realizing that she really needs to cut back on the references to her old world, "Nevermind. Sorry, forgot it's different here."
"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Sora consoles, "For you to even be here means that you're a cut above the rest. That you're taking an action role without any powers just means that you'll be unstoppable with them."
"Except I don't have them," Emily starts, "Sort of kills that argument. Unless they're going to give me a magic necklace or inject me with chemicals or something. Seems unlikely. Anyway, how was your day, Kairi?"
"It was really hard," Kairi starts, "I don't think I can do this."
"Oh, nonsense," Emily says, doing her best to be reassuring in spite of Kairi pretty much just echoing her, "You're a Princess of Heart, whatever that means. That has to count for something."
"But I'm still useless," Kairi starts.
"Please don't say that," Emily starts, "You're special. You just need to find your calling and... stuff."
"Thank you," Kairi says. Emily goes back to eating her food, too drained to think of anything else to talk about.
"What else did King Mickey talk with you about?" Sora asks towards Riku.
"Well, I already told you about the weekend event," Riku starts, "He also wanted to make sure that morale is high. I've been trying to make sure everybody has friends, but there are still a few loners that refuse to talk to me."
"Loners are scary," Sora starts, "Who would want to stay away from other people? Anybody that would avoid others must hate them."
Emily finds this offensive. Lots of people just simply have problems with relating to other people. It becomes a self-feeding loop of isolation and denial when people start taking the viewpoint that there is something inherently wrong with the person. She knows from experience, since she was always the 'tall creepy girl' when growing up. To hear somebody that she respects say stuff like this feels like an arrow in the chest. She really wants to say something.
"Yeah..." Emily says, half-heartedly. She can't argue with Sora. He outranks her in importance and arguing over something like this isn't going to endear herself to the group. At least Emily isn't a loner any more. She could care less about anybody else suffering as a result of this flawed viewpoint.
"What was happening with you at lunch?" Sora starts, sounding careful, "That really creepy professor had a robot carry you here, then you just sat there with a blank expression. I'm sorry if this is not a topic you want to talk about."
"Oh, it's fine," Emily starts, thinking fast on a way out of the truth, "Anyway, it was some crap involving an initiation. I don't know what any of it was supposed to be, but it broke my mind for a couple hours. After I woke up, she just scolded me for being weak and sent me away. I have no clue what any of it was supposed to be."
"That's so unprofessional," Sora starts, "I hope she gets fired sometime soon. She and her psionics program are worthless."
"You really shouldn't say that, Sora," Riku starts, "We're trying to approach all angles of possible combat application as possible. Psionics might be rare, but it's a valid option."
Emily just tunes out as Sora and Riku have a small argument. She still can't quite figure out the status on Sora and Kairi. He seems to be aware that people hold the opinion that they must be together, but there's just something missing. Emily never really thought too hard about it before, but she now realizes that Sora and Kairi don't treat each other any differently than Riku and Kairi... or Sora and Riku, for that matter. It irritates Emily how inaccessible their little microcosm is. All she wants is to get in so that she can convince Riku how special she is.
"By the way, how are your friends, Kiko?" Riku asks.
"Huh?" Emily says, looking confused, "You guys are my best friends."
"I mean your other friends," Riku starts, "You know, Greg and Ahmed and them."
"They're nice people," Emily says, being as concise as possible.
"You don't like them?" Riku asks, looking at Emily with a bit of concern.
"I do," Emily responds, hoping for an exit out of this conversation. Riku looks at her for a while longer, a sense of expectation in his eyes to a response Emily isn't quite giving.
"...but?" Riku asks.
"They're boring," Emily starts, deciding to just be direct lest Riku pry more, "Except Chou, but she makes me feel uncomfortable."
"Why does she make you feel uncomfortable?" Riku asks.
"...I don't know," Emily starts, "I feel like she took advantage of me."
"It is normal in her culture," Riku responds, "As she mentioned, the Feylinus are wary of outsiders and for any of them to induct you is a rare blessing."
"That's just the thing," Emily starts, "I don't know anything about her culture. She had no idea that I'd find her... falnesmir or whatever to be offensive. She doesn't really know that much about humans, I don't think. Not only that, but she also doesn't seem that smart or perceptive, either. It makes me feel like she's going to do something else to make me feel bad. Not only that, but she's a total crybaby. I feel like I'm trying to avoid stepping on leaves in a forest when I'm around her."
"She's adjusting," Riku states, "Cut her some slack."
"I can't help myself," Emily responds.
"I just want to try to get everybody together," Riku starts, sounding concerned, "Feylinus are notoriously hard when it comes to gaining trust. You did something that got through to Chou and she trusts you. She wouldn't stop talking about you when I saw her at lunch. That means a lot to us that we were able to find somebody to be friends with her."
"Why me?" Emily asks, "I'm no good with people. Not with people that sensitive."
"Because you stood up for her," Riku starts, "That has to count for something."
"I just did it because that jerk sergeant was getting on my nerves," Emily says, disinterested, "Chou is a nice person, but I just don't like being around her. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"Not really, no," Riku says, a small tinge of disappointment in his voice, "Thank you for telling me the truth. I guess I was wrong to think there was something artificial about your behavior. Anyway, please tell me why Greg, Danielle, Ahmed, and Christopher are 'boring'?"
"Because they are," Emily starts, "I can't relate to them. Greg is obsessed with this dumb game and uses magic to take it to a level I could never approach. He and Danielle sort of creep me out with their closeness. They look like brother and sister, but they hug a bit too close and talk like puppy dogs to each other."
"I don't get that sort of sense from them at all," Riku interrupts, "I think you're reading too much into their relationship."
"Now that I think of it, Ahmed sort of scares me," Emily continues, "He can tell what I'm feeling and he looks sort of like an Arab. What if he takes offense at my feelings? He's obsessed with swords and stabbing things to the point where he doesn't even care about his only class that doesn't involve swordfighting."
"Kiko," Riku interrupts, "Everybody here except you went through a psychological screening process. The only people that didn't pass with flying colors were 'the White Stars', but Mickey wanted them specifically for some reason. Regardless, everybody here knows that in-fighting is strictly forbidden and the non-aggression rule pretty much guarantees that no smart person would ever attack anybody else."
"Non-aggression rule?" Emily asks. She's already imagining Riku talking about the book she still hasn't read all the way through.
"It's on page three of the black binder," Riku starts, fulfilling her prediction but not quite as cynically as she expected, "If any student within this school attacks you outside of a controlled environment without your permission, you are to shout for help and go entirely on the defensive. Any and all students present must work together to subdue anybody attacking out of aggression. Once the situation is averted, the administrative office is to be contacted and everybody that was present must go to the hearing."
"Oh," Emily responds.
"You have nothing to worry about," Riku assures, "So... what's wrong with Christopher?"
"He was sort of mean to me this morning," Emily responds, giving a small frown as she thinks back to earlier, "And he has no sense of humor. He acted like it was insulting for me to want to give him a nickname."
"Names mean a lot where he comes from," Riku explains, "It's a big part of his identity. And in what way was he 'mean to you'?"
"He called me a whiner," Emily states, coldly and directly. Riku looks at her intently for a few seconds before trying to hold back his laughter. Emily starts to feel sort of insulted by this, but she does her best to hold back her protests. She can't argue with Riku about his behavior or she will look bad to him and take her further away from her goal.
"Sorry, sorry," Riku apologizes, "I can see why he'd think that, though."
"You think I'm a whiner?" Emily asks. This can't possibly be good for getting Riku on her side.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Riku explains, "I understand that you're a bit disoriented and confused."
"Yeah," Emily says, thankful that Riku provided a way out, "I'm sorry if I complain too much."
"Don't worry about it," Riku responds.
"Are you doing anything tonight?" Emily asks.
"Paperwork and stuff," Riku answers, "Sora and I volunteered for part time positions. Anyway, I'm still concerned about your rejection of the people I introduced you to. I didn't have a psychological profile or anything to go by, but your profile mentioned video games as a hobby you used to have back in your old world, so I tried to set you up with people that appreciate them. If you want, I could introduce you to some other people. They probably won't be as nice as these, though, and I still want you to try to be there for Chou. I know you have difficulties with talking to people and I know that Chou makes you feel uncomfortable, but please try your best."
"Well... okay," Emily concedes. She finds it sort of condescending and a bit forceful for Riku to talk to her like this, but what can she do? She's banned from complaining lest she ruin her chances with him.
"You should probably read the rest of the book and go to bed," Riku suggests.
"I guess," Emily says, turning towards Sora and Kairi, "It was nice seeing everybody. Please don't quit, Kairi. I like seeing you here."
"I promise, Kiko," Kairi says enthusiastically.
"I'm really tired, so I think I'll go to bed early," Emily says, getting up, "I'll see you in Basic Training tomorrow, Riku. Good night."
"Sweet dreams," Sora responds as everybody gives a small wave. Emily will have to remember that gesture for the future. Little things like that are what groups are all about. She smiles to herself as she walks back towards her room, thoughts of the inevitable future with Riku on her mind.