tabularasa_rp | [open] I'm in love with a shooting star

Entry tags:

[open] I'm in love with a shooting star

Who: Rinoa Heartilly + you?
What: catch-all for January!
Where: different places around the Void
When: during January
Content Warnings: n/a! will update if anything comes up

I ☆ ❝We promise to see shooting stars together.❞

[ It's easy to miss the changes that happen to the world when you've spent most of the last however-long indoors. In the end, her time in the nightmare that was Mementos hurt Rinoa somewhere deep, bringing with it a heavy feeling in her heart that took time alone to process. It was a little while after the clocks started to work that she emerged again, and she wasn't surprised to find that her processing time had brought with it further changes to the rest of the world.

The sky was one such thing, dark where it had been a light near-nothingness before, complete with auroras and stars that aren't from home, but could be. Since finding it for the first time, seeing the lights dancing across the darkness of the endless abyss, Rinoa's found herself spending a lot of time outside, amongst the ever-cycling purple scenery of the lake, looking up through the canopy and watching the stars. Sometimes, Angelo and Felix come with her; sometimes, like now, she's alone, her companions resting back in their apartment.

Every time a star falls from the sky, it brings with it a mixed feeling. There's a sense of its beauty, an absent-minded smile on her lips as she watches its path across the sky. But with it comes the hollow sense of homesickness that has haunted her ever since she got here, worsened by the fake Squall in the nightmare, strengthened even further by the taste of her magic, pulled abruptly away upon waking.

It's a feeling still trying to burrow itself into the pit of her stomach when she realizes that the star she's watching is getting remarkably close. But where most might try to move away, Rinoa moves toward it, black boots hurrying over the withering grass, and it's with pursed lips, a curious expression on her face, that she gathers the small glowing rock into her hands. ]

Wow...

II ☆ ❝I can be fearless, too.❞

[ When she's not watching the night sky, the next best thing is training. Rinoa's never been good at fighting alone; even here, she's proved that she needs people around her if she wants to stand even the slightest of chances against a foe. But she's already seen how people tend to wink in and out of existence around here, which brings with it a special kind of fear unique to her existence in the Void.

It's not the same terror that woke her from nightmares back at home, or the pain of the reality she's living now - no one can be as precious to her as Squall; there's no one she can fear losing as much as she fears being without him - but she does have friends here, people she trusts and has come to rely on. If something happens, and if they disappear too... what then?

She can't fight alone.

But maybe she can learn.

Without the power of her magic, Rinoa is left to the blaster edge perpetually strapped to her arm, and it's with that that she makes her way from place to place, setting up targets of whatever she can find and obliterating them before starting over. Today, she's in one of the many caverns within the mountain. If you find her here, feel free to join her; perhaps you can even teach her how to use something new! ]

III ☆ ❝Cool 'em down, Shiva! Freeze them to the core.❞

[ It's not like snow is a new thing in the Void; it was part of Rinoa's arrival on the top of Mt. Silver, a constantly-falling cold in a place that otherwise seems to not know how temperature works outside of "mild". She's even experienced the sudden storms before, the way the snow sometimes just tends to just dump itself out of the sky into whatever is underneath it, only to disappear moments later.

She's never tried to actually build a snowman, though.

This particular snowfall has been going for quite some time now, and the rocky ground underneath it is covered in a blanket of crunchy white. Rinoa's clothes don't offer much in the way of warmth, but that doesn't stop her from stomping into it, gathering handfuls of the stuff and piling them into rough spheres in order to try and create a figure.

Whatever she does make, well... it's not very good.

If you try to tell her as much, though, you're liable to get a snowball to the face! ]

IV ☆ Wildcard

( something else in mind? hit her with something random, or hit me up if you want to request something specific! ♥ )

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AHHH! HOT HOT HOT HOT!

[Swallow. Oh fuck, that was a bad case of heartburn right there. She put a hand on Rinoa's shoulder, coughing. The heat subsided as the stuff just kind of ... melted away, or whatever it did in their stomachs right now. But she coughed up some smoke.]

Ok... recommendation. Don't... eat... stars.

[ They've been through a lot in the Void so far, but Rinoa has to confess, as she watches Parsee take a small bite out of the fallen star, that this might be the strangest part of it all. Her eyes light up with humor when the other's face turns bright red, although a moment later the amusement is replaced with concern, the younger woman reaching out a hand, unsure of what she's meant to do. Okay, maybe this wasn't a great idea! It's hot enough in her hands that surely it might burn Parsee's tongue... maybe she should have thought of all this before she told the other to go ahead, if she so wanted.

Although in Rinoa's defense, she didn't imagine that Parsee would actually go ahead and do it. For her part, she's not even sure she could get her teeth through something like this.

In the end, she's left kind of uselessly patting Parsee's back, watching as smoke emerges from the other's coughs like she's some kind of Ruby Dragon; somehow she doesn't laugh at that, but she does laugh at the recommendation. ]

I'll try to remember that! But you know, at least you got to make a wish now too!

[There was still some smoke leaking out of her mouth and nostrils when she finished coughing. She managed a little laugh and glanced over at Rinoa out of the corner of her eye, giving her a cheeky grin. Well, she wasn't wrong. That was definitely one way to 'earn' a wish of her own wasn't it?]

Wonder which of our will come true. Ngh... that's one heck of a heartburn, but it's fading. And now, whenever you light your place up you can see the bite taken out.

[ As far as Rinoa's concerned, there's no reason both of their wishes can't come true. Even if she knew Parsee's wish, she'd probably maintain her stance on this, too. Stars made on wishes are powerful things. A pat or two more, and the girl lets her hand drop, her smile in return just as big and playful. ]

It makes for a really unique decoration, you know? Even if other people in the Void collect stars to use as lights for their rooms, no one will have one quite like mine!

[Of course Rinoa would think their wishes weren't incompatible, that there were ways for them both to have what they wanted. Even if she wasn't actually sure what she wanted yet.]

There you go again with that...

[But she did laugh. Yeah, her starlight in the room was going to be plenty unique. It had a youkai-sized bite taken out of it. Nobody else could say that in all likelihood, mostly because nobody else was likely to be stupid enough to actually take a bite out of the star like that.]

You know, why don't we take it back to your apartment. I don't think I've ever been have I?

[ The suggestion makes Rinoa light up; she's certainly not opposed to inviting friends back to her place - she's even spent the time to decorate it nicely - although admittedly she hasn't really done it yet. Perhaps because it's as much Angelo and Felix's space as hers? Still, she offers Parsee a bright smile, nodding. ]

You know, that sounds like a great idea. We decide on a place to put it together, okay?

[ A pause, and then: ]

Do you want to pick up some food on the way? We can eat!

[Pick up food? She was just thinking of ferrying the stone back to where it could be kept. That was... but then Rinoa was offering to spend more time with her and uh... yeah, no, she wasn't getting a little scarlet faced or flustered.]

yeah, we can get some food on the way back. Maybe, I don't know, stop by Wall Market. They've got the skewers down there and we can bring them with us.

[Ahem. She firmly reminded herself not to ask Rinoa 'are you sure you want to spend that much time with me.' She knew what Rinoa would probably say, after all.]

[ Admittedly, it's not entirely selfless - Rinoa is starting to feel the pangs of hunger coming on, and she's sure Angelo and Felix will be hungry when she gets back too. And despite everything the hashihime might ever have assumed, the young sorceress enjoys her company. So in response to the agreement, she nods, a bright smile on her lips. ]

Okay! Wall Market it is, then my place! And extra skewers for my companions~

Yeah, I bet your dog would like getting its paws on a few of those. We can do that.

[She started to lead the way, feeling... better than she had in a bit. It was kind of a weird sensation, but it was mostly better. This whole 'doing things with people' thing was taking getting used to.]

I wonder how long these're going to be dropping out of the sky like this.

[ She grins at Parsee as she follows along, side-by-side with the other. ]

Not just Angelo. Felix, too. Actually, I'm kind of worried that the food might... you know, stop doing that thing where it keeps, um, reappearing? The two of them eat so much. So I just have to keep my fingers crossed, or they might start eating my apartment. [ Rinoa giggles. ] Or bits of falling stars.

[ As for Parsee's observation, she can't really do much more than offer her a slight shrug of her shoulders. She has no idea. But maybe she could start a collection... ]

Considering what we've been dealing with over the last however long? [She tapped her lips, considering a moment.] I understand the concern. You never know around here and there's a lot of unsure situations. But, at the same time it's never let us starve so I don't think that'll happen or there will be a solution.

The Void's weirdly conscientious isn't it?

[ She can't help but giggle at that one. It's true; despite everything the Void has thrown at them so far, the overall living conditions haven't been terrible. There's always the potential for things to have been so, so much worse. ]

Mmhmm! We're lucky, I guess.

[ As lucky as they can be, given their situation. Surely there are much worse places they could have found themselves captive. ]

Lucky? Heh. Well, we're fortunate yeah. I think the Void needs or wants us to be around, so it has to make sure we're taken care of to at least a certain extent.

[She thought about it while the two of them were walking. Honestly, if she had ever seen or played the Sims, she would have likened their situation to that. It wanted them around, but its comprehension of what was best was sketchy at times.]

But I guess there's reasons I feel lucky being here, yeah. It's... better than home for the most part.

[ Of course, that's one viewpoint Rinoa can't quite get on board with, even if she can understand why Parsee at least feels that way. For her part, there's a lot about home that the Void is missing - even if it's mostly just the people she wants to have here with her.

She hasn't really thought about the rest of it, though - the idea that the Void needs them, or wants them somehow. And so as they continue walking, she frowns, a thoughtful expression on her face. ]

I guess I hadn't thought of it that way. You think it needs us here somehow?

[She would readily agree that the Void really wasn't a great place, all considered, even if it wasn't openly malevolent towards them. However, her old life was honestly really really shitty, so that had a lot to do with it. She definitely figured Rinoa had more to go back to, however.]

I... am thinking it's less that it needs and more that we've changed things and it wants us around, but that's hard to tell for sure. It's not communicating that much. So everything's kinda guess work, you know?

I would like to know, but still.

[ Her head tilts, a wondering expression on her face. What the other is saying would make a lot of sense. With the changes that all of them seem to have made to this world in some way, it wouldn't be a surprise if the Void or its gods wanted them here now. Whether because it liked what was happening or they were some kind of experiment or—

Her stomach twists in response to that last wandering thought, and she shakes herself out of it, trying not to let the unhappiness show too clearly on her face. ]

I guess it would be nice to understand why...

I'm... still not sure that the world understands why. But, I think when it does we will eventually understand ourselves?

[The shudder was picked up and Parsee scooted a little closer to Rinoa, looking up at her and cocking her head. She could tell something about this upset her, and there were so many possibilities as to why. She wasn't entirely sure what to say about that, though. She'd never been great at sugar coating.]

You're not sure if we can trust it yet are you? I'm not... but I'm used to that.

[ Yeah, Rinoa has never been particularly good at keeping her feelings off her face. It's why others are generally as good at reading her as she is them. But even with that, there's a lot Parsee doesn't know about her, reasons that she might have to lack trust towards whoever or whatever their overseer here is...

She nods in response to the question, looking back down at the other. ]

Yeah, I guess that's true. There's... I have a lot of questions, you know?

[ She offers Parsee a brief - but thin - smile. ]

I think we both do. I'm not sure we have the same reasons, but I think we both do.

[For her, the distrust was more of a natural default setting than a specific worry about what might be the motivation or the long-term implications. She was so used to weird megalomaniacal behavior that she expected it from situations like this far too easily. It could make her oddly blase at times.]

I guess we have to resort to experimenting to figure it out, don't we?

[ Another nod. She knows that Parsee is right. It's not even just the two of them - surely everyone here has questions, frustrations they want cleared up and addressed. Even those who have friends here have things they don't understand. For Rinoa's part, all she can do is hope that whoever or whatever brought them here is benevolent rather than cruel.

Parsee says something that helps her shake it off, though, and Rinoa looks at her with raised brows. ]

What kind of experiments?

That depends on what we want to test. I know that if we coax the Void enough, it starts to learn what we think is supposed to be the case. That's how time started to work right. I was arguing with my clock for ... I guess months honestly, before it worked properly and eventually time started to flow.

So, we can test its limits over time by convincing it of things. That's one experiment. But there's probably others. What do you want to know most?

[Hey, if it got her mind off of what had been causing her to be a little gloomy? Probably not a bad thing. And it was definitely something to do with their time here, right?]

[ Test its limits by convincing it of things... Despite how hard Parsee worked with the clock, it kind of hasn't occurred to Rinoa until now that that's how they're making things happen - by talking, and thinking, about things. Perhaps because her own thoughts, no matter how repeated and longing, seem to have led her nowhere at all.

But as for what she wants to know most...

She shakes her head, frowning. ]

I dunno. I think most of my questions are about "why", and I really don't think experimenting would find us an answer to that, you know?

"Why?" Oh, now you're not wrong there. That question has been really hard to get the Void to communicate about yet.

[She had definitely tried. It was readily apparent in her voice that she'd put in an effort to try and figure out. But for now, anything of the sort was frustratingly elusive, and she didn't like not knowing the real motivations of this world for holding them essentially hostage to help make it reality.]

I've seen it put words into blank spaces, but it's like a parrot. It repeats back poems, things we've said, songs we've sung. It happens sometimes at the fringe of the void. But it doesn't actually talk to us.

[ Despite all her concerns, Rinoa can't help but chuckle at that one. ]

Like Leo's songs, right? I've seen them written down here and there...

[ She hasn't really given it much thought, but she can't help but wonder if she could make her mom's song appear in the same way... ]

[Almost exactly the same, which was why she nodded quickly. On top of that? Rinoa was probably right to wonder. She almost certainly could get that song to appear just the same way if she nettled the void in the right way.]

Yeah, just so. I'm not sure it understands language yet, not completely. So it might be trying to pay attention to how we talk? And then parroting it back until it gets the meaning.

It's getting smarter though.

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