[OPEN]

[anti_nonsense]

Who: Rita, Francis, and you!
When: During the day or so the Ringmaster allows for everyone to consider their choice.
Where: The carnival, or what's left of it.
What: Rita reunites with her cat, returns to what remains of her temporary home in the carnival, maybe gets sappy over her boyfriend, maybe gets talking about the decisions they all have in front of them.


At long last, they made it back. The carnival doesn't look anything like Rita remembers it, but there's a vague sense of familiarity in the air. Once their immediate business is concluded and the Ringmaster has left them all with time to deliberate their future as mortals (or not), Rita takes the time to wander out into the empty, grassy space of what used to be the trailer park. It doesn't take long for Francis to find her, and together with her cat, she locates the space that seems to vaguely coincide with the home she shared with 9S.

Littered on the ground in several haphazard piles are books, papers, clothes, electronic devices, and all sorts of knickknacks collected from various worlds. Rita sits on the grass next to one of these such piles, pulling out an item one at a time, examining it, and setting it aside. A magic textbook here, a tacky t-shirt there... Everything, with some kind of story behind it.

"Nyaa?" Francis seems to ask her, tilting his head.

Rita shakes her head, as if comprehending and responding to his question. "No... he isn't here. But we'll all be back together soon. I promise."

Despite the wide open space, she's so engrossed in what she's doing that she may not notice someone approach while she attempts to sincerely reassure her cat.

Comments

[alphudo]

There are... a number of people Yuusei has wanted to talk to over the past while. So much has happened, so much has changed, but there's always been some big thing or other that's been going on, that's held everyone's immediate attention. There's been so much going and going... It's exhausting. It's all been exhausting.

Finally, though, everyone's efforts have culminated into a victory, a success conjured by their own collective hands. Finally, they can settle down and breathe, if only for a day.

They'll be going to the Winter Court tomorrow, but for now, they have today.

Yuusei's gait is no longer the nervous, unsteady wobble he had entered the carnival with upon receiving his new body, so approaching Rita while she surveys her belongings and speaks with her cat is a thoughtless task. One arm folded behind his back, he absentmindedly adjusts his shirt (still wearing his Summerlands outfit in all its clownery) as he comes up beside her.

He greets her with a soft smile. "You'll never guess what I found laying around."

[anti_nonsense]

Rita looks up from her conversation with her cat to give Yuusei a somewhat confused look. He's not the first person she expected to approach her here, and with a line like that...

"What?" she asks, her brow scrunched with uncertainty.

[alphudo]

His smile broadens as he sits down and brings his folded arm around. In his hand is a very familiar tool, the very one he had been using when he first spoke to Rita in the carnival.

"I found your wrench."

[anti_nonsense]

Slowly, Rita's eyes widen in recognition. "You're kidding," she murmurs. "Of all the things to survive to this point... hah. I can't believe it."

[alphudo]

"Funny, isn't it?" He tosses the wrench up in the air (away from Rita) a couple times before simply placing it on the ground. A silence falls over him.

Physically, Rita doesn't seem to have changed much compared to their first encounter. Were her legs already like that? He can't recall. He remembers she disliked these changes, however, at least at first. He wonders if that's still the case.

His lips purse.

"...I... kind of can't believe we survived to this point. It feels like we should've..." Mm, maybe don't take it so pessimistically. "I don't know. I'm just surprised we're still here."

He knows not everyone stayed the whole time. He knows many of them had disappeared suddenly, even before he'd shown up.

[anti_nonsense]

"I'm surprised for you, maybe," Rita quips, "but I knew I'd make it."

It's easy to say that now, but it's probably not entirely true. There were a few moments when Rita genuinely thought all was lost. But now that she's past that point, she can just pretend those doubts never existed.

Looking back over the piles of belongings around her, she adds after a moment of reflection, "...Should've been more of us who made it here."

[alphudo]

Yuusei snorts but otherwise says nothing in the way of snarking back. He about expected that kind of attitude, though he doesn't find himself particularly bothered by it. It reminds him of Jack in a way.

His eyes shift to the pile as well, taking a moment to identify some objects for curiosity's sake. He feels like he recognises some of them, but he can't place it immediately. He never got to know too many folks, but several of those he did...

He nods. "...yeah." It's impossible to tell what all of their fates were. He hopes the majority were simply whisked back home. "I'm sure... they're at least happy, those who couldn't be here."

[anti_nonsense]

Rita scoffs, shaking her head. There's a pause before she bothers vocalizing the cause for that reaction.

"...9S got left behind in Shabon, when we were all captured. Sure, that means he didn't have to go through everything that happened in Polaris, but... he's probably still stuck there, with no idea where we are or if we're okay..."

It's frustrating, not being able to just go there, to tell him she's all right, to bring him back with her...

[alphudo]

"Can we go get him back?"

In five-seconds-ago-hindsight, maybe saying such a thing was a little insensitive, but it's the first thing Yuusei can even think of, what with this offer of cosmic power looming over their heads. If they're blessed with these miracles...

"With the kind of power we're about to have, I mean... Would we be able to return? I know it would be difficult, but..."

9S was one of the first carnival folks he ran into when he arrived here. They never grew close, but their occasional chatter is enough to make his chest ache at the thought of him being alone.

"Would we be strong enough to do that?"