Enter Jeliza-Rose! (Muns can call her 'Jez' for convenience lol)

[unclouded-rose.livejournal.com]

Mickey coughs theatrically. "'What is your name?'"

The young girl could feint. Really. Disneyland? She was at Disneyland? How did she get here? What saintly thing had she done to deserve it? Had she died and gone to heaven? It was a frightening and exciting prospect. “J, Jeliza-Rose!” She stumbled, her head snapping from one direction to the other, trying to take in as much of it in as quickly as she could, just in case it was just a dream.

"What is your quest?" asks the Cat. It's perched, suddenly, on the roof of one of the gate-stiles.

She paused her fangirling at that. Quest? Her quest? She softly nibbled on her bottom lip. “…I guess… Oh!“ She grinned in remembrance. “To marry my Captain Dickens, and explore the Hundred Years Ocean with him!” But where was Dickens? Disneyland would sure be a lot more fun with him, she thought.

"'What is the average w..?'" Mickey frowns down at the notebook. "You know, I don't really see why that's important." He flips a page. "'If you could be granted three wishes, what would they be?'"

"Or," the Cat says, examining its tail with interest, "if you were a genie and someone you were trying to give three wishes to was trying to trick you into giving him more, what would you say?"

She barely had to think about it before choosing to answer Mickey’s question. “I’d wish for… A four leaf clover for luck! A real, lucky one, of course. Then… The most beautiful wedding dress ever made. And last, a submarine for me and Dickens to explore the ocean in. And it has to have a girl’s name, of course, that’s what you name sea vessels!” She stated knowingly.

Mickey looks rather nonplused at the next, but reads, "'When the revolution comes, what skills will you be able to barter for food?'"

“…” What kind of Mickey Mouse spoke of revolutions? She tilted her head in confusion. “…I’m… Just a little girl…?” She was startled out of her usual imaginative fancy. A rarity.

The Cat rolls its eyes in a friendly (and rather disconcertingly out-of-sync) way, and asks, "Milk, dark, or white chocolate?"

She smiled again at the easier question. “Milk chocolate.” She told the familiar cat.

"'Choose the two coolest: robots, pirates, fairies, bears, ninjas, monkeys, vampires, or humans,'" says Mickey, giggling a bit as he goes through the list. "'Explain.'"

She was beginning to have a few questions of her own. But if she were any kind of child at all, and she was, she’d be obedient to, at the very least, the great Mickey Mouse. “Pirates, because they hunt for treasure, and brave the seas! Just like my dear sweet Captain~” She drawled in her Southern accent. “And…” She paused to think over the other choices. “Fairies are pretty~ And they have magic. Pirates and fairies!” She concluded.

"Great!" Mickey flips through the blank pages of the notebook at top, cartoon-y speed. "Well, I think that's just about it! Oh, and I'm supposed to ask, 'for your safety: are you carrying anything sharp?”

Just a plastic doll’s arm. She’d left the train shrapnel behind with her selective memory.

(( Rose be from the novel/movie Tideland. :3 She is being played at the end of the story, but supressing the final events. ))

Comments

[sensiblesusan.livejournal.com]

This girl worried Susan. Childhood fantasy was something with which she was well-acquainted, but there was something ... odd about this girl. She couldn't put her finger on it.

"Jeliza-Rose? My name is Susan."

[unclouded-rose.livejournal.com]

Jeliza's eyes went now to the new lady. With her experiences, women now made Rose a tad uneasy. Not a one of them ever turned out to be nice at all, though this one had yet to be mean, so she politely returned, "Hello..."

[sensiblesusan.livejournal.com]

"Has anyone explained to you where you are yet?" Susan asked. It seemed like as good a place to start as any.

[unclouded-rose.livejournal.com]

Rather straightforward, wasn't she? Honestly, it was a little off-putting for Rose. The woman wasn't rude, but seriousness was an alarming symptom as well. She nodded meekly, beginning a prayer in her head that went along the lines of, Dear God, please don't let there be any crazy, bossy ladies in Almost-Disneyland...

[sensiblesusan.livejournal.com]

"Do you have any more questions?" Susan's voice was gentler now, having assessed the girl's reaction, and deciding that a lighter touch was needed.

She wondered where she'd find a place for the girl to stay. The First Aid Station was already full...

[lil-channeler.livejournal.com]

Having heard a child's voice on the intercom, Pearl went down to the entrance plaza to find Susan already there. Slightly shy, she half stood behind the woman's skirts before addressing the other girl.

"Hi, I'm Pearl and I'm eight years old." She looked up. "Is this another friend for us, Miss Susan?"

[sensiblesusan.livejournal.com]

"I think so," Susan said, in answer to Pearl's question. "Pearl, this is Jeliza-Rose."

She didn't quite nudge Pearl out in front, but she put a hand on her shoulder for reassurance.

[lil-channeler.livejournal.com]

Taking comfort from the hand, Pearl smiled. "How old are you, Jeliza-Rose?"

[unclouded-rose.livejournal.com]

She blushed, as she'd spoken at the same time as Pearl. "Oh, I'm, nine." She slightly stumbled, blushing a little more at the mistake, but still grinning.

[lil-channeler.livejournal.com]

Pearl blushed and giggled, too. "That's not much older than me! Maybe you'd like to play with my ball sometime. It's a red one with Mickey on it that Mr. Kira gave me when I first got here."

[unclouded-rose.livejournal.com]

"Sure, and--" She faltered there, looking down at her filthy dress, and the two pockets of either side of them, both of them empty. All of her doll heads, her only toys, were gone now.

She got sad for a minute, but braved ahead, "Um, yeah, and we can go on rides together, right?" She corrected, barely missing a beat.

[lil-channeler.livejournal.com]

There were lots of free toys in the store. Maybe they could find some more dolls. Of course, they wouldn't be the same, but Pearl was making do with her ball...

"Of course! But not the scary ones." The little girl had had enough scary things happen without adding to the mix. "I can play in the mornings after breakfast, but I have lessons with Miss Susan after lunch. I'm learning to read!"

[unclouded-rose.livejournal.com]

"There's scary rides in Disneyland...?" She looked confused, reaching back into her memory for the Disneyland video she used to watch before mommy and daddy sold the VCR to the pawn shop. And once she thought about it, she vaguely recalled a ride with some old lady's head in a crystal ball and spiderwebs and such spooky things. "Well, that's okay, we don't have to go on anything scary." Though she secretly kind of wanted to... But only if she could find someone else to go with her. "What about that mountain ride? The one where you go through mines and stuff!" She remembered that that one had been her favorite on the video.

[lil-channeler.livejournal.com]

"You don't think the fast ones are scary?" asked Pearl. She'd been thinking more of going on the slow rides in Fantasyland. "You know, there's one where you're in a flying boat and go over a whole sparkling city..." She thought Mystic Maya would have liked that one.

[unclouded-rose.livejournal.com]

"Not really?" She replied, a little confused. "I mean, they're fast, but they're exciting!" She grinned for a moment, then went on, "I think the ones with ghosts and skeletons scary." And peat men. But there just couldn't be any peat men in Disneyland. Or Almost-Disneyland. There just couldn't.

[lil-channeler.livejournal.com]

"Oh," said Pearl biting her lip. "Okay..."

[unclouded-rose.livejournal.com]

Rose paused. "...But you don't have to go if you don't want to." She was a little disappointed, but she didn't want to push her new friend away. "I can go on a fast ride by myself. I'd just want someone to go with me on a scary-scary one."

[lil-channeler.livejournal.com]

Pearl looked sad for a moment. There were a lot of rides she was scared of... but then she brightened up. "Oh! I bet Calvin would go on the scary ones with you. He's a boy I live with and he doesn't like girls much, but I bet if you dared him or was extra nice to his tiger, he'd go with you."

[unclouded-rose.livejournal.com]

Jeliza's face brightened at the sight of another child. She eagerly held out her hand to be shook, though the barest of a shy blush formed at her cheeks. "Hi, Pearl!" She grinned, then nodded a little more enthusiastically to Susan. "Are there many children around here?"