She always smiles, despite herself.. (Open) [[FINISHED]]

Xaurneme stood on a rock in the middle of a lagoon. The mermaids hid and fish swam away from her. There weren't even any pirates or injuns around. Such a boring place.. she thought. I might as well get some practice in. And with that final thought, she drew her weapon, a long rope with a metal dart and red cloth at the end of it, and let her mind go. She swung and twisted her companion, and moved her body accordingly, fluidly. Aiming at one of the large boulders in front of her, she swung, and the boulder erupted into dust and irregularly shaped pebbles. The debris and gravel sunk to the bottom of the crystal blue lagoon, and Xaurneme sighed. "Those pebbles were too big, Xaur, you could have done better," She told herself. Her eyes scanned the area once more, searching. But for what?

Ant walked along, head bobbing up and down with his bauble dragging behind him. It had been walking for weeks on this particular world, looking for anyone to play with. At some time or other Ant had come across several different people, but all of them wanted to play heart tag and ran off. That game was getting boring to Ant, he always got their hearts in the end.

A noise erupted nearby and Ant's antenna snapped toward the source. Someone was causing quite a bit of commotion. Maybe they'll play with me, thought the little shadow. Bauble in tow, Ant walked towards the source of the noise, stopping at the top of a small dune to find a person with a whip smashing rocks.

For a moment Ant simply stared, wondering what he should do. Then he made up his mind, raising his 'voice' and shouting to the woman, "Can I play?" Without waiting for an answer, Ant stepped to the nearest bolder, and smashed it to thousands of pieces in a single blow.

Xaurneme glanced over, one eyebrow arched. He's so small.. she thought. She turned to him and studied him quickly. He didn't seem like an average Heartless.
"I wasn't playing," She said, in a high, smooth voice. "I was practicing for combat."
She leapt over to a boulder closer to the tiny thing and stared at him.

Ant looked at the human, its eyes staring blankly back at her. Training? That was boring and dull. He didn't want to do that. "Training isn't fun. We should play a game!" Ant said, its eyes arching in a mockery of glee. Humans generally responded better when he did this. Something about him looking cute. He didn't pay much attention to the one who told him. All he knew was this expression got people to play with him.

Xaur looked down at the thing questioningly.
"A game?" She murmured. "I don't have time for games."
She turned, readying to leave, then glanced back at the little Heartless. A smile played around the edges of her lips. This was the closest thing to humor she'd ever "felt" before.

Ant watched the woman begin to leave, then stop. When she turned back Ant jumped up and down playfully. "I know a game we can play! It's called Ring around the . . something. I don't remember how to play exactly, but I know it has something to do with getting the other person to fall down!" Ant bobbed his head, his antenna quivering with excitement. Without waiting for an answer Ant leaped at the woman. "Ready go!!" It said, mid flight and diving right at her knees to trip her. All the while Ant thought, Finally someone to play with!

Xaurneme knelt and caught the creature.
"What do you think you're doing?" She asked.
She stared into the yellow orbs that were the Heartless's eyes.

"We're playing a game!" Ant said, hanging by his neck and staring back at the woman. "But if you don't like this game we'll play a different one!" it said, eyes curved once more in mock glee. Ant twisted in the woman's grip and slipped out of her grasp. He quickly climbed down her body, snatching her whip before leaping off. "We'll play keep away!"

Without turning turning back to the human Ant ran off, leaping from bolder to bolder, laughing all the way.

Little cretin.. She thought, chasing after the Heartless. She quickly manuevered from boulder to boulder and found herself in front of it.
"Now be good and give me my rope dart," She said.

"Nope!" Ant said, laughter in his voice. Once more it bound off, this time uncoiling the whip and using the weapon on the nearby landscape as he ran. Bolders shattered into large chunks and trees were splintered.

Xaurneme sighed and sped towards the creature. I'll kill this thing once I get my hands on it.. She decided.Once she was behind the little bouncing thing, she snatched and grabbed at it.
"Come here." She said.

Ant yelped as, once more, he was grabbed by the neck and yanked back. He looked back at the woman who had caught him. "Awww you caught me." It said. But Ant didn't care, he was getting bored of that game anyways. "So what you think we should play now?" it said, looking quizzically at the woman.

Xaurneme yanked her rope dart away from the thing.
"Tell me your name first," She said. "Then we can pick out a game."
This little heartless struck a curiosity in Xaurneme she really hadn't felt before. She gently put the tiny thing on a rock in front of her, and stared questioningly at the bauble it carried.

Ant scratched its head and looked up at the woman before speaking "Name? Hmmm . . . Oh yeah! My last friend called me Ant!"

Then without warning Ant sat down and started playing with the silver bauble he carried. Humming a tuneless little song Ant spun it around and stared at it's silver coating. Ant had seemed to forget almost entirely that it was talking to someone and seemed quite content fooling with the bauble.

"Is there something special about that orb, Ant?" She asked, studying the toy. She knelt down to stare at it more closely. Her reflection stared back at her, emptily. Xaurneme looked at Ant, trying to listen to whatever it was humming. She couldn't catch a distinct tune, though, it sounded mildly familiar. More curiosity struck.

Ant jerked it's head back up to look at the woman, instinctively drawing the bauble closer to himself. The humming that was heard not a moment ago now silenced. It seemed somewhat weary of the woman now.
"Mine."

"I wasn't going to take it," She said. "I'm not a thief, like you."
Her eyes had turned cold, and she straightened up. Turning to go, Xaurneme looked back at Ant.
"Have fun playing by yourself, you little monster," She called.

Ant cocked his head to one side as he watched the woman go. It seemed she did not want the bauble. Confident once more, Ant slipped from bolder to bolder until he was close, before jumping onto the woman's back and looking over her shoulder.
"Playing alone isn't fun funny human! I know, lets go find others to play with! Go go go!" he said, clinging to her and slanting his eyes in glee.

Xaurneme cringed as the thing crawled up her back.
"What..? Others? There are no others around here," She stated simply, allowing Ant to ride on her back. She hopped from boulder to boulder, heading towards the forested parts of Neverland.

"Well of course not silly! You have to go find them! But you have to find the right kind. Most of them just take one look at me and play heart tag. Its so boring!" Ant looked across the countryside, trying to see if he could see anything to play with as they hurried by. But it was simply a barren wasteland filled with dead trees and enormous boulders. Ant didn't want to have to wait too long to find people. "But if we can't find anyone I could always call some of my friends to play with us!"

"Heart tag..?" Xaurneme asked. "And by 'friends' do you mean other Heartless?"
She shuddered at the thought. She could barely even stand this Heartless touching her. Xaurneme remembered her Heartless. That encounter would haunt her memories for the remainder of her existence.
Ignoring the flood of memories, Xaur continued towards the land.

"Ummm, I dunno. I just call em and they play with me. They look kinda like . . . . ummmm . . ." Ant looked around as though searching for something then pointed one claw in their path. In an instant three shadows rose from the depths and locked right onto the woman. All the while Ant clung to her, a smile in his eyes. "They look like that!"

"Argh.." Xaurneme sounded. The Heartless that had appeared were covering her almost completely, and the little thing clinging to her back didn't exactly help. She lashed one arm out, and flung the rope dart out and around, catching one of the shadows in the back of the head. It disappeared and gave her an opening to escape. She jumped from the boulder she was on to one a bit farther away. Poised for battle, she plucked Ant off her back.
"If these are your friends, then call them off," Xaurneme commanded.

Ant cocked his head. "How do I do that? The only thing I do is call them." he said, as two more appeared as though simply thinking of summoning them caused them to appear. Ant looked quite pleased with himself though. He dropped down on the ground and ran on all fours to the nearest shadow. "Hello!" he said, jumping up and down. The shadow glanced down at him, confused for a moment, before it once again focused on the womane who was not of their kind. The 4 shadows charged her with a mindless rage and hunger. They did not fight as though commanded, rather, more like they were acting on their basic instinct. Interest lost in the shadows who were not playing anything but heart tag, Ant sat down and began toying with the silver baubles once more.

OOC; Xaurneme doesn't have a heart. She's a Nobody.. o.O