[open] a comfort of frailties in me

[pinwheels]

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


I ☆ Merlaut Apartments

[ Having spent as much time out near Mortis Lake as she has, it's no surprise that Rinoa is quick to recognize the different silhouette of the cliffs when it appears, the apartment building standing tall against the sky with its many, gleaming windows reflecting the light. At first, she thinks it's probably a hotel, but closer inspection leaves her sighing in relief. Without the fees that a hotel would incur, she can probably set up some kind of home base here. It's not like she needs somewhere to sleep, exactly - that need seems to have disappeared along with all her loved ones when she came to this place. But having somewhere she can at least rest between explorations or whatever else she's doing here? It's good.

It seems she's not the only one with that idea, either. She sees many of the others, friends and strangers alike, flitting through hallways and between rooms.

Rinoa chooses a room on the third floor and opens the door to the worst mess she's ever seen in her life. (And she's been in Seifer's dorm room.) It's with a sigh, and then a smile, that she gathers the creature at her feet into her arms, laughing when it delivers a gentle headbutt to her nose. ]

This is gonna take lots of work, Felix. Are you up for it?

[ Of course, the four-legged, feathered creature isn't likely to be a whole lot of help, but it's nice to feel like she has a partner again. ]

II ☆ Wall Market

[ Even plunged into darkness, this place feels like the seedy side of Deling City, and Rinoa doesn't think she's particularly fond of it. Weirder still, it's tucked into a cave in the depths of the mountain, a cave that she's pretty sure she wasn't there when she first came through the place. It's strange, how this world just seems happy to rearrange itself at a whim, dropping in new places and creatures for them to find. And really, this new place seems like there could be a lot of different things to it. It's just that most of the buildings are empty and those that aren't are hard to maneuver through when the dark of the cave presses in.

She's been in here for a little while now but it seems her eyes can't adjust any further, and she's still not able to see clearly enough to make out the finer details. What she wouldn't do to be able to cast Fire...

Something catches her eye, and Rinoa turns to see... a Moomba? No, not a Moomba. But something very similar. It has a Moomba's overall build, its large paws, and it stands on two legs as it watches her. But the end of its tail looks more like a brush than a flame, even appearing to have paint at its tip.

If there's anyone around, she'll look at them now with a small frown. ]

They're kind of like something from my home.

III ☆ Wildcard

[ This is basically Rinoa's catch-all post for August! She was a little quiet her first couple of weeks here on account of me being busy, although in-character she probably spent at least some of her time waiting around and hoping Squall showed up. Two weeks in, she's realizing that she's gonna need to relearn some of her independence from her friends and loved ones, and just have faith that he'll come to find her when he can.

She'll be spending the month trying to make her new little apartment look nice and otherwise exploring the island with Felix, so feel free to hit her with anything at all, prompt-wise! You can reach me via PM here, or at denouements if you wanna hash it out first, or you can just throw it at me! ]

Comments

[bridge_princess]

Yes, but are they trouble?

[The voice came from one of the dingy alleyways. This place reminded her a little of hell, though Tifa'd already told her it was something called "Wall Market." The similarities were very real, even if there were no drunken oni, no throngs of youkai...

Her eyes glowed a bright yellow, enough to eerily illuminate herself. Her powers might not work, but that little change did have a tiny use for someone this used to being underground. She looked on at the moomba, frowning.]

Wonder if things from home are going to start showing up like that...

[pinwheels]

[ The voice takes Rinoa by surprise for a moment, until she turns and sees the glow of Parsee's eyes in the dark, recognizing her in that same instant. With a glance back toward the not-Moomba, she shakes her head. ]

If they're anything like Moombas, they shouldn't be. Unless the thing they're mixed with is...

[ She shrugs, feeling kind of helpless. It would be one thing if they were actually just plain old Moombas. She could probably even communicate with them, then. But as far as these creatures go? She doesn't know anything.

She sighs. ]

Would it be a problem? If things started showing up from your home?

[bridge_princess]

Depends on what the thing's mixed with, eh? Well... it's not doing anything right now, so there's that at least.

[She stepped up and looked at the creature quietly and grunted to herself. There was a lot from her world that she didn't want to see. A lot of things would just be... a thing? It was hard to say.]

Depends on what came. Tsukogami could be really annoying. I could see lots of crap being forgotten and waking up, and they get really irritating when they're bored.

[pinwheels]

[ Rinoa raises her brows at that. For now, she's not too worried about the not-Moomba; it doesn't seem to be doing much harm where it is, if it's even noticed them. There's a vague thought about trying to make friends with it even, maybe, but right now she's more focused on what Parsee is saying. ]

What's a Tsukogami?

[ The name is probably butchered on her tongue, the name entirely unfamiliar to the young woman. ]

[bridge_princess]

Mmmm? Oh, so. Imagine if you had a shovel. Your father bought it, or maybe your grandpa. It's not some sort of heirloom, just a good shovel. You use it around the house for a while, but one day, you just don't find you need it.

Years and years later, nobody's dug a ditch with it. It's lonely and forgotten in the shed. Finally it gets so sick of you never digging a ditch with it that it wakes up and comes to show you how tired it is of being ignored. By pulling pranks, or if it sees a new shovel and thinks you slighted it? trying to dig your grave. ...usually just the pranks. Most of them are annoying, not violent.

But that's a Tsukumogami. A thing forgotten that eventually wakes up and gets angry at being ignored. [She shook her head, grunting as she finished the explanation.] And there's a whole lot of forgotten crap in this place. I'm just imagining one of the buckets getting up and shouting at us.

[pinwheels]

[ Rinoa's eyes are wide, amazed, as she listens. Of course, she's never had a shovel - she's even pretty sure that that man doesn't even own one either - but the concept makes sense all the same if she considers it with something like jewelry or clothes instead.

Tsukumogami. Creatures come to life because something like the jewelry or the clothes - or the shovel - had feelings like humans. And she kind of gets that, too. After all, who wants to be forgotten, abandoned for someone new?

Although the thought of one of Squall's gunblades waking up in a sulky mood to rival that of its owner makes Rinoa giggle into her hand. ]

They don't sound too bad. Just kind of lonely, maybe.

[bridge_princess]

That's sort of why they get that way. It actually takes a hundred years to happen at a minimum, so they've usually been alone and unused for a while. But, much as I get it, they are so... so... so... whiny.

Seriously. they never shut up about it. [Says the queen of jealousy and finding ways to be jealous about everything.]

[pinwheels]

[ Rinoa can't help but giggle again at that one. While she hasn't known Parsee for very long at all, she can tell that that statement in and of itself is somewhat hypocritical. She doesn't call the other out on it, though - instead she offers the other a smile, one that's a little sympathetic. ]

I get it, though. A hundred years is a long time... being left alone for that long would be hard.

[ It hasn't been 100 years since they arrived in the void, Rinoa thinks, but despite being with other people, being separated from the ones she loves is hard. For those creatures... it must be really hard. ]

[bridge_princess]

If you really think about how a youkai becomes a youkai, it usually makes a certain amount of sense. They have to get pretty bent out of shape before they turn nasty about things. Hashihime aren't exactly favorite in company usually either.

[A shrug.]

Really, youkai come into existence most of the time because people don't pay attention to how they impact the world around them or the people around them.

I

[starshower]

Rinoa!

[The voice comes from down the hall, elated and happy to see that the familiar girl has also taken an apartment on the same floor. Tifa rushes up to her, and greets both her and the smaller creature in her arms with a smile. She's gloveless today, having just finished with both Cloud and Aerith's rooms, and while she looks tired with red eyes, she's no less glad to have the extra company on the third floor.]

You're here, too! [She leans forward to peer into the apartment, hoping that maybe it's different from theirs... Nope. Her nose wrinkles.] These rooms sure are something, huh...?

[pinwheels]

[ In a new place, it's always a relief to hear a familiar voice, and Rinoa recognizes Tifa's instantly. So it's with a smile that she turns to face the other woman - although the expression falters a little when she sees the strained red in the other's eyes. For now, though, she answers the question, glancing back toward the room as Felix answers Tifa with a happy chirp. ]

Yeah. It's gonna take a lot of work, I guess. You got a room up here too, right?

[ She doesn't even wait for an answer to the question; instead, she reaches out, her fingers finding a place on Tifa's gloveless wrist. Her eyes are soft as they scan the other woman's face, searching. ]

Hey, are you okay?

[starshower]

[Tifa nods, but when Rinoa reaches out for her, her shoulders tense up ever so slightly before her expression softens. She realizes that she doesn't look her best right now, and she can still feel how heavy her lids are against her eyes, but the concern is appreciated.]

Yeah, I'm alright. Actually, I haven't felt this great in a while!

[That much is true. After talking her problems through, she feels lighter. More at ease now that she's had the chance to be heard. It shows in the way she offers Rinoa a gentle smile, placing a hand over hers and giving it the most gentle, reassuring squeeze, making sure that her concern does not go unacknowledged.]

There's just a lot going on, y'know?

[pinwheels]

[ Her head tilts. For a moment, she doesn't quite believe Tifa's words, spoken as they are when her eyes are red. But the squeeze somehow does the trick, the younger woman nodding up at her new friend. She removes her hand from Tifa's arm, smiling again now that she knows that she really is okay. ]

You can say that again...

[ She's a little jealous, in her own way, that Tifa managed to make it here with friends from home. Not that she'll ever say that, of course. But there's still a sick, empty feeling whenever she looks at the space where Squall should be, or Angelo, or any of the others... ]

It's hard to get used to. But at least we have like... a home base, now?

rinoaaaa, baby girl come here 🥺🥺🥺

[starshower]

Yeah! It's kinda nice... having someplace besides the bar to call home.

[As much as this place can be a home. This is so far from hers that she knows it will never be, nor does she want it to be, but at least she had her apartment in the slums to go back to after a long day of work. Somewhere to hang her hat, so to speak. Even if there is no night, and no sleep.

They have a long way to go before it's comfortable, though.]

Do you need any help with the cleaning? Not gonna let you live like this.

I want to hug them both and never stop

[pinwheels]

[ It's not home, not really. But perhaps it's the closest thing they can get, here. Even places that seem like home - like Tifa's bar - they're wrong, somehow. And while there's still a part of her that wants to find her field, there's also the fear that if she did, it would be wrong somehow, wrong in the same way everything else has been. And being the closest thing also means that it's somewhere she can rest, or sleep - if she ever needs to sleep again.

She looks around at the apartment, at her new friend frolicking around in the detritus of the room, and then back to the other woman with a small smile on her lips. ]

I wouldn't say no! There's a lot of work to do, and Felix isn't going to be a lot of help.

[ She's met with a chirp, and she can't help but laugh, looking back to the creature again. ]

Don't argue with me when you know it's true!

[starshower]

[She echoes Rinoa's laughter with her own when the bird argues with a chirp, but she takes that as an invitation to equip herself with a pair of rubber gloves and a broom and offers Rinoa a similar pair.]

These may be a bit big, but they were the only others I had.

[Cloud wore them earlier, and might have stretched them out even more, but it's better than nothing.]

Whatever you do, don't touch the green stuff in the sink. No idea what that is, but not too eager to find out.

[pinwheels]

[ She accepts the rubber gloves and broom from Tifa quite happily - there's a question on her lips for a moment as to where they may have come from, but she figures it has to have been the beach, what with its random assortments of trash all over the place. Or perhaps the bar? Either way, they'll be useful to have, even if they are a little big on her hands. ]

Does it clean up? Like, with water or anything?

[ She's worried that if she doesn't get rid of it, that Felix may try to drink or eat it. ]

ii.

[bachagain]

[ oh. leo was just about to approach rinoa, curious both about 1) how she was doing and 2) the strange focus she had on that new, novel, paint-y creature, but it sure looks like he's noticed first.

and she's gone and answered one of his unasked questions too, like a champ. he tilts his head curiously with her words, looking at the... paint-moomba-smeargle thing some more.

kind of like something from her world, she said, so it's not fully something she knows about... still, even a part of it is better than knowing nothing, so: ]

Really? I like 'em, they're real creative looking! What're they called?

[pinwheels]

They're called Moombas. But...

[ She pauses, taking in the creature's traits again before she turns back to Leo with a smile. ]

Their faces are different, and their tails too. The ones at home don't have that... paint-stuff. They're friendly, though. Some of them helped my friends when my... my father—

[ —even in explanation to a guy who is still essentially a total stranger, she has trouble saying the word, her nose wrinkling in visible distaste as it sits on her tongue— ]

—had us thrown in prison.

[ But moving on from that! ]

I wonder if these ones are friendly too... Unless whatever they're mixed with is, you know... not friendly?

[bachagain]

[ why does everything go from 0 to 100 so quickly with rinoa. she moves on from the statement... leo doesn't. sure, she's said some other things regarding the moombas, and sure, he was initially interested in those (and he still is, so he does pay attention to those other tiny facts... on the side) but ]

Mmm, maybe? They seem pretty soft still--

[ the other thing. he's gotta talk about the other thing. the other big... no, gargantuan thing! ]

Ah, no, we'll figure it out later! I'm gonna push Roombas [ moombas, ] aside really fast for that other thing you said! Did I hear that right? What kinda life do you lead that you can just drop that tidbit in and move right on like it's a tiny pebble?

[ he is Concerned for you, rinoa, truly ]

[pinwheels]

[ Roombas. The name almost makes her laugh, but Leo's attention is on the other thing Rinoa just said, and her nose wrinkles. It would do her good to remember that the majority of the people here are not like the unflappable SeeDs with whom she spends most of her time... ]

It happened a while ago, that's all! [ She doesn't want to explain the whole story, though. Explaining the whole story would only lead to more questions, some of which she doesn't dare try to answer. But she can still tell the truth, right? ]

That man, he's the general of a dictatorship's military. I'm... I was part of a group that opposes that dictatorship.

[ She offers Leo a smile, something tat's meant to be amused but no doubt comes off infinitely more strained. ]

That probably explains everything, right?

[bachagain]

Not really!

[ that whole dynamic seems like way too much to summarize into the simple phrase provided, and he'd be lying if he said otherwise. if leo is anything, it's horribly honest.

but! but he also gets the implications behind her vagueness and that smile. he may be a little dense sometimes, but he's observant enough regarding those things. leo's not going to bulldoze over rinoa for the sake of his own curiosity, when these aren't his things to know.

even if it's a bit sad to hear, regardless... ]

It explains... enough! I don't need to know everything. [ enough. he adds that lightly -- his own way of alerting her that, truly, he had no interest in pushing. ] Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to drag up things I shouldn't! You just don't hear that kinda stuff everyday, so it caught me off-guard.

[ so she can absolutely ollie out of this convo and back to roombas if it suits her fancy. ]

[pinwheels]

[ Rinoa can't help but to laugh at that, shaking her head at Leo. She understands him all too well - if she was on his side of the conversation, she'd no doubt feel the same way that he does now: curious, wanting to know more even as he says he's okay with not. So, no. There's no need for her to escape the conversation, and she's not offended, even with his worry that he's pushed her somehow. ]

You don't have to apologize. [ Her laugh subsides, but the smile stays there, and she reaches out to pat his forearm, a touch that's gentle and affectionate, a reassurance. ] I get it! It's just... a really long story.

[ Not like they've got anything but time in this place, but still... ]

And kind of big, too. Doesn't seem right to weigh you down with it too, you know? Not when there's happier things we could talk about!

[bachagain]

[ leo: i've only had rinoa for one day but if anything happened to her i'd kill everyone in this room--

--except, not really, but it's funny that he's the one being reassured when she's speaking about her evil dad... it's true that there are happier things they could talk about, but when a bombshell like that gets dropped it's a bit hard to walk away from it...

he smiles, small and thoughtful, in return for hers. ]

Well, yeah. It's true people's stories are pretty heavy, especially one that sounds like that... I'd never ask for any details without knowingly accepting that weight. [ even if she's okay with it, however, he still believes it's not up to him. ] ... What about you? Will it help? Do you wanna talk about it? I'll shut up, sit still and listen if you do!

[ so even still, it's up to her. it's not for him to choose what he wants to listen to, not when he's the one asking. ]

[pinwheels]

[ For a moment, Rinoa can't do much but stare at him, a hint of pink spreading over her cheeks. She's never been one to really shy away from her feelings - that's more Squall's style than hers - and yet since she became a Sorceress, hasn't that been exactly what she's done? Especially here, where she finds herself knowing no one, in a situation where she feels unsafe all the time... she's been more closed off than ever.

If Squall were here, it would be easy. After the change, he was the person she relied on, the person to whom she admitted every thought, every worry, even when fear kept her from confessing them to others.

But he's not here, and she's never felt more paralyzed in her life. It's just like before, isn't it? If she wants to be able to be helpful to those around her, she has to stop being afraid.

She takes a deep breath, considers Leo quietly for a moment. ]

You know, that's probably the least heavy part of the story. [ Her smile hints at apologetic. If he's serious about hearing it, he has to know what he's in for, right? ] If you want me to tell you... maybe we should find somewhere to sit?