[July Open] 65% more rock per rock

[rutility]

Characters: Rutile, Leo, the Fool, Padparadscha, Raven, and anyone else who wants to hop in!
Date: Early July
Location: Die Rosa Tulpe, outside city limits, etc
Situation: A pre-business meeting with the Fool, discovering their talent with Leo?, discussing the barrier with Padparadscha, roommate shenanigans with Raven, and July's Faith 4
Warnings/Rating: Nope!



A ▸ ARRANGEMENTS, FLORAL | the fool

Despite their dedicated exploration of the city, Rutile still has not managed to see every location in Aifaran. Die Rosa Tulpe is low on their list for being primarily a food place, and given that Rutile has little interest in food (except for the proportion of it that spontaneously turns to ash, which they've gathered is rare), they've taken their time getting around to it.

When they enter, they're not certain why that is. The coffee shop is actually quite pleasant, with plenty of green and growing things, and at this time of day, uncrowded. It has just the right amount of proximity to the street that one doesn't feel isolated, but enough privacy to be a good place to work. Rutile stands in the door, observing the patrons. Their eyes widen when they see the Fool sitting at a table with his wares, but, never one to intrude, they keep to themselves unless noticed.

B ▸ MIND YOUR MANNERS | leonardo watch

Rutile appraises the milky white stone between their fingers with some disinterest. Quartz, they decide, based on the hexagonal structure and the scratch it leaves on their forearm, and they toss it behind them without a care for who or what it may hit. Small loss: one couldn't step outside without tripping over some variety of quartz.

They stand up and dust their labcoat, straightening it around their shoulders, and turn about to head back into the city. In their hand rests a small collection of precious stones that they contemplate as they walk away; deep in thought, they're hardly watching where they're going.

C ▸ ARE YOU MY DAD? (FAITH 4) | open

If Rutile has been homesick lately, their feelings are quickly cured by the Arybar child leaking some sort of chartreuse sticky substance all over their labcoat. Their skill with juniors is unremarkable at best; now, with hardly the authority to say for sure what is wrong (are they hungry? sick?), it takes something of a dive.

Still, they do their best. Rutile crouches down to eye level with the child. "Alright now," they say, and try to be gentle. "That's quite enough of that. I can't help you when you're upset like this."

The child cries louder. Rutile cringes inwardly. Few juniors have ever been this difficult.

D ▸ NOTHING VENTURED | padparadscha

Rutile is of several minds about their upcoming journey with Aly: first, and foremost, they are excited. It feels good to finally have something to do besides yell at other Dreamfolk across the Lae. But second, and of no smaller concern to them, is the danger of the proposed venture; they do not fear much for their physical safety, but it is a fool who wanders away in secret and expects to be found later. And the third, secret, smaller mind simply wants Padparadscha’s opinion.

It has been several centuries since Rutile last had to actively seek Padparadscha. Like another limb, Rutile feels it keenly when Padparadscha isn't by their side, and the ghost of their presence has haunted them for millennia. They’ve grown used to having them nearby, and though they easily recall a time when they and Padparadscha roamed separate from one another, it is so long ago now that they’ve forgotten what it’s like to be independent creatures. The difficulty of it surprises them. Though they’ve learned Aifaran’s layout well, they still don’t know Padparadscha’s haunts, and the landscape is so different from their island that there are few similar areas to try.

So rather than waste time combing the city, they send them a text message, via yimo:

I would like to discuss something. Can we meet somewhere private?

and sit down to wait for a response.  

E ▸ WILD CARD | open

[ PM me or hit me up on plurk for a starter, or just write one in yourself! I'm game for anything.]


 

Comments

[bestofthevein]

"...It seems as good a place to start as any, and roughly fits with your description. If your parents aren't there, we can contact them from one of the terminals. Does that sound reasonable?"

Kit raises his eyebrows at Rutile's swift and logical breakdown of the next steps in this rescue mission, his lopsided little smile widening. He glances down at the girl, still grinning. "Rutile's got it all figured out, don't they?" he asks her, all good humour, and that at last seems to bring a little smile to her face that is shared with Rutile when she looks their way. That response seems to settle the matter: the Skyway platform is their destination.

Predictably upon arrival, the girl's parents are nowhere to be found, but the terminals are all free and in working order. Kit spots the child enough rhinn to make the call, then takes a few steps back to grant her some privacy while she contacts her parents. Standing next to Rutile, he exhales wearily and lifts up a hand to scratch at the crown of his head. "Poor kid," he mumbles to them as an aside, "must've been terrified before you showed up."

[rutility]

"Rutile's got it all figured out, don't they?"

These words, and the smile on the girl's face, work wonders toward reassuring Rutile that their effort is truly valued. They lead their companions to the platform and, when her parents are still missing, stands back as Kit helps the girl with the terminal.

"... must've been terrified before you showed up."

"I don't think my showing up actually remedied that," they observe wryly, their gaze flicking from the girl to Kit. "I'm not used to dealing with little ones that are quite so... little," they add, with a slight grimace. "Where I come from, we don't really interact with the truly new juniors; our leader Adamantine takes care of them during their earliest years, and after that they're simply part of the community. This notion of parents... Well. I doubt I'd be a very good one."

They nudge Kit gently with the back of their hand, the touch light enough not to damage. "I'm glad you arrived. You're quite good with the child."

Kit seems to have a knack for that, anyway. Being good with people. Rutile well recalls their arrival in Aifaran, and how Kit was the first palatable person they met. At the time they didn't note it, but now it's clear that diplomacy is one of his skills.

[bestofthevein]

It's one thing to know that he's good with kids, but quite another to have that ability acknowledged and admired outwardly by someone else. Kit looks away with an abashed smile at that nudge and lifts up a hand to rub at the back of his neck. "Well, thanks," he says, a little flustered, because what else can he say? For a few more moments he keeps his eyes on the little girl animatedly talking to her parents--ostensibly telling them where she is and what happened, before they can come collect her.

Then, glancing Rutile's way again, he says a little more quietly, "You shouldn't sell yourself short, though. Plenty of parents where I come from don't give a damn about their little ones--or anyone else's. You care," he says meaningfully. "That's more than some kids ever get."

The little girl, having ended her call, comes skipping back over to Kit and Rutile with brightness in her eyes. "They're coming to get me," she announces happily. "Can I have some ice cream?"

"I dunno," Kit answers, grinning, "can you?" time for dad jokes apparently.

[rutility]

"You care. That's more than some kids ever get."

More than some deserve, Rutile almost says, but the thought is unnecessarily cruel, and they keep it to themselves. Despite this recognition, they can't bring themselves to fully dismiss it; better to let Kit's words be the last that hang in the air rather than sour the moment.

Then the little Arybar marches back, her tears replaced with smiles and a spring in her step, asking for the ice cream. Even Rutile rolls their eyes at Kit's reply, but they're not above a snicker when the child misunderstands and says, "Can I please?"

"They may not know how to find you if you leave this area," Rutile points out. "I don't know if there's ice cream nearby." (They do not admit to not knowing what ice cream is.) They glance at Kit, imploring him to either put a stop to this (doubtful; Kit doesn't seem like the type to say no to anyone) or to step in. "Though if there is, I suppose one of us could retrieve it while you wait here with the other," they say to the child.

[bestofthevein]

Kit is definitely not the type to say no to a smiling child. He just doesn't have it in him.

In the end, they all seek out the ice cream together; Kit does have an understanding of what it is, given the last several months he's spent in Aifaran, and is only too glad to buy himself a cone as well in addition to the little Arybar child. (He isn't a total cad; he offers to get one for Rutile, too.) And so he is affably arguing whether chocolate soft serve is superior to strawberry (or whatever passes for strawberry in Konryu) when the child's family arrive at the train station and, amid thunderous exclamations of excitement and relief, sweep the little one up into their collective protective arms.

There's at least six of them, though, so there are lots of hugs to go around. Rutile and Kit appear to be on the receiving end of them, whether they like it or not.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" cries a tearful mother, while a blubbering father has to be cajoled away by a concerned auntie from suffocating Kit with the force of his embrace.

"We were so worried--please," the mother entreats, looking between the pair of them, "you must let us treat you to dinner. It is the very least we can do!"

Kit coughs, eyes still watering from the force of that hug, and manages a weak smile. "Um, sure," he says, sending a questioning glance Rutile's way. He gives a small shrug, a decidedly 'sorry dude, what else could I say' kind of gesture.

[rutility]

There was nothing else Kit could have said, except perhaps Another time, you must be very stressed and exhausted, or We're just happy to see such a loving family reunited, or even No, sorry, it's very late and my friend will pass out when the sun sets. Any list of generic pleasantries likely would have done the job. Rutile can't complain much about it, as they had been reeling too much from the hugs to say anything productive.

Thus Rutile and Kit end up whisked away to dinner by a large group of chattering Arybars, all of whom seem to have something important to say at exactly the same time, making conversation rather impossible. The restaurant is small - quaint, really - and cozy, with the many of them crowded around a table, and Rutile sits close to Kit in an effort to take up as little space as possible. When the menu comes around, Rutile has a difficult time explaining that "No, truly, I don't eat anything," only to be told, "Oh yes, we can see that very clearly; you're practically a sack of bones!"

In the end, Rutile lets them order something, and then slides it over to Kit, who will hopefully appreciate it more.

The dinner ends with as much joviality as it had begun, with several new contacts programmed into Rutile's and Kit's yimos and an insistence that if they were ever in the area again to certainly stop by. The Arybar family is seen off with waves and well-wishes, and even the little girl smiles at Rutile and thanks Kit very seriously for the ice cream. Despite the chaos, it is nice to be so unabashedly appreciated and welcomed into their family; it is a feeling of companionship and acceptance that Rutile sorely misses, and their departure introduces an ache to their heart all over again.

By this time, the sun has long since set, and Rutile feels the lack of light dragging on their limbs. Despite this they smile, and gently tap Kit's shoulder. "That was quite an evening," they say, tired yet bemused.