sora (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
arsarcanum) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
logsinthenight2020-01-18 05:15 pm
arsarcanum) wrote in logsinthenight2020-01-18 05:15 pm
we jumpin! we poppin! we joppin!
characters: Sora, Mewtwo, Link, Carmilla, and you!
location: Various locations around Beacon and the Landmark hotel!
date/time: January 10, then 13-20-ish! Activity for the end of the blizzard, the yarn bomb, and a tiiiny bit through the Lights Off event (Sora will NOT be affected by the lantern effects in this post unless specifically requested! It's going to be one day of the illusion of normalcy :))
content: Sora continues to make friends! Get his hands dirty! Settle in at the Landmark! Stay busy so he doesn't think about things! (Will match tag format!)
warnings: Moderately low self-esteem and identity stuff, but nothing above a pg-13 rating!
[ A ]: Armory; Closed to Mewtwo
The soldier told him to leave the giant psychic cat alone, so he's going to! Seriously! He doesn't want to infringe on their space, especially if it's been through the same kind of life that the soldier has, so he's been dutifully going to the armory, going right down the steps, moving through the knife forms that the soldier had taught him followed by some unaided magic practice (because there's no telling if his cybernetics will always be there to help him aim), then leaving again without searching too much of the area. The routine has been good for him, helped him keep his mind off things.
But. He does hang back every so often to see if a giant fluffy tail suddenly whisks out of view. Or if an ear pops out from behind a display. Okay, so he doesn't want to disturb the cat, but he does still want to see if it would be open to being friends. He and the soldier started clicking pretty quickly, after all. He doesn't see why or how being a cat in a similar situation would make much of a difference.
So there he is, in the basement of the armory, going through the motions of the knife forms slowly, then quickly. He keeps messing it up, having to go back to the beginning of the drill. It's a bit annoying how he can't pick up things as easily as... others can, but he's doing his best. He's also not paying much attention to whoever might be around him, large cat or otherwise.
[ B ]: Miner's Castle #3, Bathroom; Closed to Link
After the meal on the 10th, he excuses himself to go use the bathroom. (Seriously, the soldier gets the bathroom all to themselves? To be honest, he has half a mind to make them share with him if only so their karma balances itself out.)
He opens up the bathroom door, all ready to go, when he stops dead. Uh. Those are certainly a lot of blankets in the tub. Did they adopt a pet? Wait, there aren't any animals in Beacon, are there? Is there someone else camping out here, besides Duster on the couch? Man, they really have a thing for strays, don't they?
Sora will furtively move forward, not wanting to disturb what's in the tub. Or who's in the tub. His bladder is forgotten by now; he just wants to know who this is.
[ C ]: Moving between Beacon's public library and the Landmark; Open
The walk between Beacon and the Landmark takes a few hours, but he figures that he's gotta walk it sometime if he's going to get moved into his new digs. So that's what he's doing! This is one of two trips he's taking between the two locations; on one, he's carrying a cot over his shoulder and a backpack, and during the second he's carrying just a backpack. Not much to carry if he's only been here a couple of weeks or so.
He already thinks he might regret the distance from so many of his new friends - the separation from Hana, the Librarian, and the inhabitants of Miner's Castle #3 is going to be the worst, he can already tell - but the promise of being able to become neighbors with some new friends, Rhys and Carmilla included, isn't a terrible exchange. You can't be too far from your friends if they're always in your heart, after all.
One will notice that he's not taking a bike during either of his trips. This is because he does not know that they exist. Oops.
It's a pretty long walk. It might be better with some company? Or at the very least, if there are two people on the road at the same time, it's kind of awkward to not at least say hello. Sora, at least, is very good at saying hello.
[ D ]: The Landmark; Closed to Carmilla, somewhat open
He wasn't sure who is living in the penthouse suite, but they went gone ahead and ordered chintzy decorations for their door - little balloons twisted into bats hovering over the copious lack of a welcome mat. He isn't really sure if they're supposed to like, have an aesthetic? But after he figures out that Carmilla's living there, he's decided that they're cute, no matter what their intended aesthetic was supposed to be.
So. He can fly, and he can jump up really high and float where he's hovering, and the concierge very kindly let him borrow a permanent marker as long as he promises to give it back (he will!). So there he is, hovering by the door of the penthouse suite, drawing a little fangy smile onto each and every balloon. Is this sabotage? Vandalism? Defacement of private property? Yes. Sora is living life on the edge.
[ E ]: The Invincible's Tavern; Open
Sora's got two things lined up in front of him as he sits at the bar at the tavern, ocarina up to his mouth as he busts out those spirit-communication blues; one is a line of orange slices on a plate with a few whole oranges sitting next to them for good measure, and the other is his tablet, open to the spirit communication guide Daylight posted a week ago.
He seems to be wanting to communicate something specific, in the spirits' language, to them, but every time he tries he gets the equivalent of sniffed at and ignored. After a moment, he puts down the ocarina and puts his chin down on the counter. He sighs deeply. He is SO put out.
"C'mon. It was one glass." Ignored. The spirits go on doing what they do; mixing drinks for other people. Mixing drinks for the people around him, actually. He turns to the nearest person in the room, looking distraught. "Am I doing something wrong? I don't know if it's the ocarina or if it's me."
[ F ]: The Invincible's kitchen; Open
This one's a pretty simple task, but there are a looot of moving parts to cabbage rolls, apparently, and Sora would like to get all of them right. He might be taking up an appreciable amount of kitchen space as he boils heads of cabbage and combines the filling. (The recipe is kosher! Always thinking of you, Midge Maisel.)
He either needs to get past you for something in the pantry - that is a whole seven or eight spices on this recipe, he's forgotten one for sure - or he is very, very obviously struggling with the "rolling up the rolls" step of the instructions. He's made twice as many leaves as the recipe requires because he knew that this step would be, hm, difficult! But he's bombed three of them so far and he's starting to look a bit frustrated. He thought he knew his own strength, but apparently not!
"Hey, are you any good at like..." He scrunches up his nose and makes a rolling gesture with his hands. "Rolling? Things? Can you help me?" Please tell him you have sushi roll experience or something. He is bamboozled.
[ G ]: Yarn Bombed locations; Open
Sora's been out all day, dashing around here and there to look for something extremely specific! He's been up trees and on top of buildings, basically a cartoon as he crawls all over the yarnbombed place to look for something, uh, extremely specific? He's already got a couple of things under his elbows - a few scarves, a hat, and a sweater - but there is one last thing that he needs. One last thing!
If you're here just to spectate, spectate away, If it's the end of the day, though, apparently you have it. Whatever it is is pink and blue, and Sora needs it. Sora will come up, full of hope, and say, without any preamble, "Hi! So, is there any way I could trade you for that?"
location: Various locations around Beacon and the Landmark hotel!
date/time: January 10, then 13-20-ish! Activity for the end of the blizzard, the yarn bomb, and a tiiiny bit through the Lights Off event (Sora will NOT be affected by the lantern effects in this post unless specifically requested! It's going to be one day of the illusion of normalcy :))
content: Sora continues to make friends! Get his hands dirty! Settle in at the Landmark! Stay busy so he doesn't think about things! (Will match tag format!)
warnings: Moderately low self-esteem and identity stuff, but nothing above a pg-13 rating!
[ A ]: Armory; Closed to Mewtwo
The soldier told him to leave the giant psychic cat alone, so he's going to! Seriously! He doesn't want to infringe on their space, especially if it's been through the same kind of life that the soldier has, so he's been dutifully going to the armory, going right down the steps, moving through the knife forms that the soldier had taught him followed by some unaided magic practice (because there's no telling if his cybernetics will always be there to help him aim), then leaving again without searching too much of the area. The routine has been good for him, helped him keep his mind off things.
But. He does hang back every so often to see if a giant fluffy tail suddenly whisks out of view. Or if an ear pops out from behind a display. Okay, so he doesn't want to disturb the cat, but he does still want to see if it would be open to being friends. He and the soldier started clicking pretty quickly, after all. He doesn't see why or how being a cat in a similar situation would make much of a difference.
So there he is, in the basement of the armory, going through the motions of the knife forms slowly, then quickly. He keeps messing it up, having to go back to the beginning of the drill. It's a bit annoying how he can't pick up things as easily as... others can, but he's doing his best. He's also not paying much attention to whoever might be around him, large cat or otherwise.
[ B ]: Miner's Castle #3, Bathroom; Closed to Link
After the meal on the 10th, he excuses himself to go use the bathroom. (Seriously, the soldier gets the bathroom all to themselves? To be honest, he has half a mind to make them share with him if only so their karma balances itself out.)
He opens up the bathroom door, all ready to go, when he stops dead. Uh. Those are certainly a lot of blankets in the tub. Did they adopt a pet? Wait, there aren't any animals in Beacon, are there? Is there someone else camping out here, besides Duster on the couch? Man, they really have a thing for strays, don't they?
Sora will furtively move forward, not wanting to disturb what's in the tub. Or who's in the tub. His bladder is forgotten by now; he just wants to know who this is.
[ C ]: Moving between Beacon's public library and the Landmark; Open
The walk between Beacon and the Landmark takes a few hours, but he figures that he's gotta walk it sometime if he's going to get moved into his new digs. So that's what he's doing! This is one of two trips he's taking between the two locations; on one, he's carrying a cot over his shoulder and a backpack, and during the second he's carrying just a backpack. Not much to carry if he's only been here a couple of weeks or so.
He already thinks he might regret the distance from so many of his new friends - the separation from Hana, the Librarian, and the inhabitants of Miner's Castle #3 is going to be the worst, he can already tell - but the promise of being able to become neighbors with some new friends, Rhys and Carmilla included, isn't a terrible exchange. You can't be too far from your friends if they're always in your heart, after all.
One will notice that he's not taking a bike during either of his trips. This is because he does not know that they exist. Oops.
It's a pretty long walk. It might be better with some company? Or at the very least, if there are two people on the road at the same time, it's kind of awkward to not at least say hello. Sora, at least, is very good at saying hello.
[ D ]: The Landmark; Closed to Carmilla, somewhat open
He wasn't sure who is living in the penthouse suite, but they went gone ahead and ordered chintzy decorations for their door - little balloons twisted into bats hovering over the copious lack of a welcome mat. He isn't really sure if they're supposed to like, have an aesthetic? But after he figures out that Carmilla's living there, he's decided that they're cute, no matter what their intended aesthetic was supposed to be.
So. He can fly, and he can jump up really high and float where he's hovering, and the concierge very kindly let him borrow a permanent marker as long as he promises to give it back (he will!). So there he is, hovering by the door of the penthouse suite, drawing a little fangy smile onto each and every balloon. Is this sabotage? Vandalism? Defacement of private property? Yes. Sora is living life on the edge.
[ E ]: The Invincible's Tavern; Open
Sora's got two things lined up in front of him as he sits at the bar at the tavern, ocarina up to his mouth as he busts out those spirit-communication blues; one is a line of orange slices on a plate with a few whole oranges sitting next to them for good measure, and the other is his tablet, open to the spirit communication guide Daylight posted a week ago.
He seems to be wanting to communicate something specific, in the spirits' language, to them, but every time he tries he gets the equivalent of sniffed at and ignored. After a moment, he puts down the ocarina and puts his chin down on the counter. He sighs deeply. He is SO put out.
"C'mon. It was one glass." Ignored. The spirits go on doing what they do; mixing drinks for other people. Mixing drinks for the people around him, actually. He turns to the nearest person in the room, looking distraught. "Am I doing something wrong? I don't know if it's the ocarina or if it's me."
[ F ]: The Invincible's kitchen; Open
This one's a pretty simple task, but there are a looot of moving parts to cabbage rolls, apparently, and Sora would like to get all of them right. He might be taking up an appreciable amount of kitchen space as he boils heads of cabbage and combines the filling. (The recipe is kosher! Always thinking of you, Midge Maisel.)
He either needs to get past you for something in the pantry - that is a whole seven or eight spices on this recipe, he's forgotten one for sure - or he is very, very obviously struggling with the "rolling up the rolls" step of the instructions. He's made twice as many leaves as the recipe requires because he knew that this step would be, hm, difficult! But he's bombed three of them so far and he's starting to look a bit frustrated. He thought he knew his own strength, but apparently not!
"Hey, are you any good at like..." He scrunches up his nose and makes a rolling gesture with his hands. "Rolling? Things? Can you help me?" Please tell him you have sushi roll experience or something. He is bamboozled.
[ G ]: Yarn Bombed locations; Open
Sora's been out all day, dashing around here and there to look for something extremely specific! He's been up trees and on top of buildings, basically a cartoon as he crawls all over the yarnbombed place to look for something, uh, extremely specific? He's already got a couple of things under his elbows - a few scarves, a hat, and a sweater - but there is one last thing that he needs. One last thing!
If you're here just to spectate, spectate away, If it's the end of the day, though, apparently you have it. Whatever it is is pink and blue, and Sora needs it. Sora will come up, full of hope, and say, without any preamble, "Hi! So, is there any way I could trade you for that?"
no subject
"Well, I'm sure if you talk to some people around Beacon you'll find at least some with the same ideas about celebrating what we do have. I don't think anyone should really pass up the chance for cake if nothing else. Or pie. Gracia always made me a pie for my birthday," Maes admits. He reaches up for a cherry red and navy sweater, giving it a gentle tug to dislodge it. He holds it up but frowns, it's too small. He adds it to his pile, maybe someone else will like it, he likes the color for sure.
no subject
"When's your birthday? And who's Gracia?" Gotta be someone he cares about, if he mentions the name so fast when it comes to a celebration. Sora plucks a sweater off a tree, but doesn't actually really look at it? To be honest, he's just mirroring Maes.
no subject
The photograph is a little worn from having been looked at quite a bit, especially over the past year. The woman in the photograph is about Maes's age, with kind green eyes and a small smile. "THIS is Gracia! She's my wife and the mother of my most precious daughter. She's the absolute best cook in the world and I'm the luckiest man in the world to have her at my side!"
After making sure Sora gets a good look at thie literal angel of a woman, he turns the picture around so he can look at it himself. Maes's excitement wanes a bit, the smile turning to one of sad fondness. "She's my everything and I'm lucky enough to still have a few photos on me...I don't know if I could have made it this far in all these adventures with out here." He carefully tucks the photo back. He takes a deep breath, looking back up into the trees.
"May 29th, by the way. Gracia would bake me a pie. It changed from year to year depending on what was available. The last birthday I had before I died, I remember it was a cherry pie. Elysia helped with that one, the whole kitchen was covered in flour, but I was so proud of her for helping her mommy make it." He smiles at the memory. He hadn't gotten a pie last year, by that point he'd been with the Circle and there had been no one to bake one.
no subject
Sora peers at Gracia. That's a good smile - warm, like his own mom's. Now that he's seen both Hughes and Gracia, he wonders what his daughter looks like! He almost feels sad when Maes pulls the picture away because he wants to make sure he gets a good look at her, but all is forgiven when he sees the look on Maes' face as he looks at the little photo. Ah. Real love.
He likes the way he phrases that. Have her by his side, present tense. It's true.
"May 29th," Sora echoes. Huh. He did have that book on baking that he'd just turned back in to the Librarian... Maybe it was time to do a little celebrating. "I'm glad you got to keep stuff from her, between worlds. You're really lucky." He still has some pictures of his - Skyler's - family: family photos, another picture of his mom, and yearbook and photobooth pictures with himself and his little sister. It warms his heart to see them. As much as they aren't his real family, he still cherishes them as a family away.
He didn't get to keep anything from the islands at all. He wonders if things would have gone better if he'd had anything to remind him that Riku and Kairi existed.
"She looks really kind. As long as she and your daughter have each other, and you still have them in your heart, I think that they'll be all right." Sora pulls a small smile. "I mean, that's the hope, right? That they'll still be okay even though you're far away."
no subject
"You know...now that you mention it, this is nowhere near my photo collection. Astoria got us gifts once from home and mine was a photo album. I wonder if I could make a similar request of the Night Market. Pluto can apparently get items that are more specific to your world -- Rosinante was able to get some newspapers from his home. A photo album shouldn't be too much trouble, right?" He could even try to get the one that Astoria had already transported to the Circle. "Maybe you could ask for something like that too or I can tell you how my request goes."
It wasn't the same as having them here and honestly he wouldn't wish this place on them, no matter the immediate comfort of seeing Gracia again. This was the path he was on now and he just had to keep hoping that one day he could be reunited with them if he kept looking for the long way back home.
He has a sense for these things and feels the need to show another picture with all this talk of them being together. Maes reaches into his pocket again and pulls out a different picture. "Take a look."
This one is even more worn than the first and he angles it so Sora can see it too. This one has the whole family. "She's kind...and she's also strong. I don't like it, but you're right. My girls have each other and Gracia will make sure they stay okay."
He didn't say it, but he thought about how they had to be, otherwise why was he suffering so much if they also had to suffer too? Sometimes it was like being in Ishval all over again. He never imagined there could be an experience worse than that -- being separated from Gracia by miles of sand and hell. Now there was a whole universe between them and he had a little girl that was growing up without him.
There was a reason he didn't pull them out as often as he did when he was alive. It was a constant reminder of that separation and some days it was harder to keep his feelings down. This conversation was proving difficult, but while Sora looked at the picture Maes turned his back to him to pick up his discarded pile and stealthly swipe at his eyes.
Maes was grateful for the darkness and diversion. He's always been quick to mask emotions, a trick he learned a long time ago, and it's barely a second later before he's cheerfully turning back. "Anyway. You're welcome to look at more if I manage to get an album. If not I do have a few more I keep at my cabin. Obviously anyone who is feeling down is immediately going to be cheered by Elysia's precious smile, right!"
no subject
Sora starts gathering up some of his dropped knitwear again, peering closely at the second picture. Mystery solved! "That's her? That's Elysia? Wow, look at her eyes! She looks just like Gracia!" She has pigtails that poof out into spikes too, just like Arielle, Skyler's little sister. It's a little painful to make the association, but the pain kind of makes him happy. It's fine, really. He knows that it's proof that Skyler cared about someone besides himself.
The entire family looks so happy here. Sora's a bit too intent on making sure he has those faces memorized to notice Maes welling up, but he will look up in time to see his arm dropping back down and the grin plastering on his face from... something else. "I'd like that a lot. She looks so happy when she smiles. Invite me over for that sometime, will ya?"
no subject
"Certainly. You're welcome to stop by any time."
Maes shifts his load and takes the picture back from Sora. He looks up at all the sweaters still there, "Well, I'm not sure I can carry much else. How about you?"
no subject
"Me either." Sora scoops up his pile and squints up into the tree. "I guess I have everything I need here!" He frowns. "Why'd they do this, anyway? Spirits are weird."
no subject
"Well, we're more susceptible to the cold than they are. Maybe they were trying to help keep us warm. We probably still have quite a bit of winter left to go."
no subject
Sora's going to turn away a little, back toward the path to the Landmark. "You gonna be good getting all that to your place?" It suddenly hits him that, despite Maes' offer of a couch a few weeks ago, he doesn't actually know where he's staying.
no subject
"I'll be fine, Sora. Once I get close enough I can even teleport straight into my living area."
no subject
"See you later, Mr. Hughes! Thanks for the scarf!" And with that, Sora will take a running start and literally fly off. Bye Mr. Hughes! Sora thinks he may have mentioned the flying thing! If he didn't! He's sorry!!!