[Open]

[hippocarnival]

Who: Yuya & everyone
When: Day 146-152
Where: Around the Carnival & Summerlands
What: Recovery, new changes, and continued antics while the carnival has a nice, long break.
Warnings: None, probably?

[Handstands]
[Yuya's in significantly better health than when they first arrived. He can still feel the residual pain and his stamina is rebuilding, but he's much more lively than before. He also realizes he needs to rebuild his strength, so even if he can't perform yet he's at least practicing so that he'll be ready to bounce back into action as soon as he's cleared.

He's taking his exercise outside the tents so the rest of the performers have plenty of room, and instead can be found tending to his errands around the carnival... on his hands. Just walking on his hands, knees bent for better balance as he navigates from the trailers to the cookhouse for lunch.] Excuse me! Coming through!


[Shadow]
[His shadow has been acting up since he returned. At first he was sure it was just a trick of his mind, but the long it goes on, the more chances he has to see that it is, in fact, just moving on its own sometimes. Okay, that's weird, but he just tries to ignore it. Only it doesn't end there, and by the second week it's taken on a different shape entirely. That's not uncommon, he's been assured, but when he finds it morphed into someone a little broader, taller (older), with hair that spikes up... it's unsettling.

He knows who it looks like. He's standing, shoulders tense as he glares at his own shadow. In the middle of the walkway.]


[Summerlands]
[Yuya's come to accept the Summer people. They're certainly not at domineering, volatile, or frightening as the rest of the Summer Court, and plenty of veterans--not the mention the Ringmaster seem to trust them wholly. So he's navigated deeper into the city, to one of the miracle gardens hidden behind pillars and wisteria.

It's a very small, circular garden, flush and green with scattered flowers. The greatest concentration of them, currently, is around Yuya--who's sitting down with dried fruit to snack on, looking serene.

It's easy to tell what's going on, because as soon as anyone steps in with a positive feeling flowers will start to sprout near them. The better they feel the bigger, brighter, more beautiful the flowers become. They smell wonderful, and something about that scent will bring good memories more easily to the front of their mind--no doubt generating more good feelings and more flowers. It's cyclical.]


[Wildcard]
[???]

Comments

[hippocarnival]

Wh--but, you--[His hand retracts and he leans over in shock.] You're not? But we've been saying Reira-kun and brother and--

[He crouches to her level.] You're a girl?! Why didn't you say anything?!

[soft_focus]

....Mnh....

[Oh. This is a little odd.] ...when you say it now... ...it sounds a little weird, I guess.

...but... ...mostly, mom said I was going to be Reiji-niisama's brother...and everyone else said brother after that, so... [Well that's one thing down but.] ...what does 'kun' mean though? [They didn't really teach her honorifics.]

[hippocarnival]

[That honestly sounds even weirder. He remembers her having an argument with Reiji like that, referring to Ray as Reiji's real sister... so she was adopted? But how do you mess up that far in adoption, even?]

Kun is usually for young boys, you really didn't know what it meant? [Now he feels stupid. He bows his head with an exasperated sigh.] I'm sorry!

[soft_focus]

...I just knew what I was supposed to call people, [she 'clarifies', blinking.]

...why though? [Sorry about what buddy, it's all good.]

[hippocarnival]

[He lifts his head, rubbing the back of it.] Uh, for being rude? I wouldn't have kept calling you a boy if I knew.

[soft_focus]

....why would it be rude though, you didn't know.

[L O G I C] ...It's only rude if you already know, isn't it?

[hippocarnival]

[Yeah, okay, that is logical.] I guess that's true... but you should speak up next time! You don't have to let people call you things you're not.

[Now he wonders if Mr. Know-It-All Reiji was aware of this. Or Chairwoman Akaba.] Does she know that you're a girl...?

[soft_focus]

...Well, you didn't call me a boy until now.... [This is part of the oddity-until they were dealing with a more...singular language, she didn't actually realize they were using the wrong word in Japanese.

And...] ...She?

[Be More Specific.] ....I don't know, the Ringmaster probably knows... [Wrong She.]

[hippocarnival]

No, Miss Akaba! Your mom? Why wouldn't she say you're Reiji's sister? [The Akaba's are strange and mysterious people and Yuya doesn't understand their plane of logic at all.]

[soft_focus]

Oh.

[Well, she just shrugs.] ...I don't know.

...I don't think that part mattered to her anyway... [It seems a little irrelevant in the grand scheme of child soldier programming.]

[hippocarnival]

[Well that's just even more confusing. Yuya scrunches his face, trying to make sense of that.] When you dueled Reiji, you said Ray was his real sister. That means you're adopted, right?

[How do you mess up an adoption that badly.]

[soft_focus]

Umn-yeah. [She supposes???] ...Because mom isn't my real mom...and Leo isn't my real dad either.

[She doesn't really mind that bit. But...she does look down, frowning a little.] ...I think it would have been okay if niisama was my real brother though...

[hippocarnival]

... That's weird. [He's just saying.] Uh, not that you're adopted--that she was using the wrong words.

[He glances aside though as he considers that. Did that really make it less 'real'...?] She probably filled out paperwork and everything, right? So they're your real family if that's what you want. Reiji really cares about you, after all.

[soft_focus]

[Ummmmmmmmmm. She doesn't really know the answer to this.] ...I just know there were lots of scientists, and that I had to listen to her instead of soldiers...

[That count??? She's not sure if it counts.]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya turns his attention back to Reira and just stares.] Uh... scientists and soldiers?

[Why are scientists so fucked up in Arc V.] Did something happen?

CW: for some implications of child abuse, and child soldiers...that might become more outright said.

[soft_focus]

...Yeah. [It's another duh, though she's at least aware that it's not super normal, this time.] The soliders where I lived before told me to do things all the time, so I had to listen. ...but then someone else took me to LDS...and mom said I was going to listen to her and niisama instead.

[Is that a something happening? Yes.]

[hippocarnival]

[He would ask what she was doing with a bunch of soliders, but Academia was an organization full of child soldiers. He's seen first hand that sort of warping, and it makes his stomach twist in disgust that Reira was almost part of something like that. And then to put her in the Lancers anyway...!

He had a feeling she was forced into it, but that doesn't make it any easier to swallow.

He purses his lips to reign in the expression he wants to make, instead moving to put his hands gently on Reira's shoulders.] You don't have to do everything they tell you. Not if you really don't want to. You know that, right?

[soft_focus]

[.......Well, this is happening. She frowns...he definitely seems. Upset. But...well.] ....I know.

...Niisama helped me know that. ...when I said I didn't want to duel-he was happy, because I made a choice. ....and when I went to go help Ray-even though he didn't agree, he knew it was a choice. [They dueled over that and Errything. As it is.]

...I didn't want to die, though, [she admits, looking down. The sparrow on her head is quiet as well, tilting their head curiously toward the girl.] ...and...

...I didn't want to be alone again, either. ....and that's what would happen if you didn't listen to soldiers. ...you get hurt.

...or you die.

[.....They should perhaps change the subject, if at least for their sake.]

[hippocarnival]

Reira... [He can't even imagine being so afraid for your life like that. It has to be terrifying, right? She must have been so terrified for so long.

He leans over and moves to pull her into a gentle hug.] You won't--nothing's going to hurt you anymore. You're safe. Those guys can't do anything.

[soft_focus]

[Indeed she was. Too long, certainly, given the effects-now, after the fact, after it's all over, it's still repressed. In a different way, in a way that has her confused as she's somewhat overwhelmed by a wave of concern from the other, his arms holding her close. ...It's strange to think about-because after all, they're long gone now, but.]

...I know.

...I'm not there any more.

[...She does at least, return the hug.]

[hippocarnival]

That's right. You're not there anymore... you're with people who care about you, like Reiji. [Because he's sure Reiji's love for Reira is genuine, even if he disagrees with the whole "make her a Lancer and get her involved in the war" deal.] And me, and the rest of the Lancers.

[It explains a lot, though, about why she seems so confused over some of these things. She probably never had a real childhood. Well... they'd just have to fix that.] Everything's over now, so thing's will be better! You'll be with your family, and have fun duels and... [He wrinkles his nose in distaste.] Go to school, I guess.

[soft_focus]

....Can I just be with niisama and not with mom..? [She seems. More than genuine in that request, unfortunately. Also-] ....why would school be bad? ...Wasn't LDS a school? People like Masumi went there, right? [He might have tried hiding that expression, but there was At Least a small 'eck' feeling in the air just for a little there.]

[hippocarnival]

Er, I didn't mean we were going to live with you--[He's assuming that's what she means and, yeah, that'd be weird.

He pulls back a bit, matching her expression--but it quickly changes to a grin.] Yeah, but it was a duel school. Those are fine! But middle school isn't as fun.

[soft_focus]

....

...What's the difference? [It's probably for the best that he missed her meaning anyway.]

[hippocarnival]

Huh? Well, a duel school is for dueling. [Obviously.] Then there's elementary, middle, and high school. And there you learn stuff like literature, social studies, math, and stuff like that!

[How does he explain the purpose of that--] It's school to make you smart for anything?

[If you take it that seriously. Yuya sure doesn't.]