[The sparkles in Rinku's eyes light up. She lowers her legs down and kicks idly at the log underneath her, and she nods at Korone.]
M-hm. [They have in universe, anyway.] It was kinda awkward because we got kidnapped by this guy who was putting cursed items in stores 'cause I guess there's people who think if they hurt us and study us enough that way they can give our powers to Ellipsans 'cause most of their power holders died during the Tragedy, which is pretty messed up and also sad? And that guy specifically I think wanted revenge 'cause this one time he oh right you had a question.
[Rinku screws up her face and thinks.]
A XROSSâBEAT's this hypnotic sound wave -- wait, the other question's the important question, right? There's been things I'm worried about and trying not to, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
[She gently taps one of her fluffy horns, and her tail swishes.]
Like this is getting a lot easier and taking less energy and sometimes I forget I have them, so some of the guild staff told me I'm probably getting stuck this way 'cause that used to happen with people who used the animal shifts a lot? And I used to worry a lot about if I changed too much for home, but now I'm less worried about that 'cause the last time I went home I was back to the way I was. Same age and no scars and everything! And the illusion candle versions of my unitmates still liked me. But also also there's still kinda the what if they freak out? Not just about this, but the scars and how I got older and I'm not in high school anymore and I figured out some stuff about myself. But these days I can mostly just say they wouldn't and keep going.
[Smile! But then she bites her lip and thinks, then takes another sip of her drink.]
And there's how if we don't find a way to connect worlds and let anyone who wants stay or come back to Ellipsa, then Neechan's gonna go to some other world forever. But I'm not smart like that for research and stuff, and there are people who are who work really hard on it, and it's better if she and her parents go there instead of stay in the City which is the most messed-up place I've ever heard of, and there's a whole lot of messed-up places, and that scares me but I already told you about that and the not-wanting-to-get-sent-to-hell thing. But we talked about it, even though I didn't think I had a right to be sad.
And... [Deep breath.] This one time, I wanted to keep people from worrying about me. It was after the heart thing, and after you guys were all working so hard to save MK-san but I couldn't do anything. 'Cause I'm not nearly as strong and people'd just worry, and 'cause I'd just got mind controlled by the Nightshade right before then.
So I made a deal with Davis-san, do you know him? The guy with horns who reads people's souls and does the whole [hums an approximation of the tune] thing when you agree to something. I'd take a high-risk quest with him, and in exchange for me showing him how things worked, he'd step in if I were in trouble, but otherwise I'd do the whole thing myself.
Except it kinda went wrong and he had to step in right away, even though I had a whole bunch of preparation. And I lived and stuff! And whatever the Faemoose did when they trapped you in the shadow thing, it wouldn't work on me! But it was really scary anyway, just seeing all that and getting thrown around and... having to kill stuff. People. 'Cause the fae that sent the moose showed up, too. [shudder]
He told me later it was a lesson, or something. That he always planned to step in, and it was supposed to teach me it's okay to rely on other people even if you're trying to be strong. I must've forgotten that, huh?
no subject
M-hm. [They have in universe, anyway.] It was kinda awkward because we got kidnapped by this guy who was putting cursed items in stores 'cause I guess there's people who think if they hurt us and study us enough that way they can give our powers to Ellipsans 'cause most of their power holders died during the Tragedy, which is pretty messed up and also sad? And that guy specifically I think wanted revenge 'cause this one time he oh right you had a question.
[Rinku screws up her face and thinks.]
A XROSSâBEAT's this hypnotic sound wave -- wait, the other question's the important question, right? There's been things I'm worried about and trying not to, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
[She gently taps one of her fluffy horns, and her tail swishes.]
Like this is getting a lot easier and taking less energy and sometimes I forget I have them, so some of the guild staff told me I'm probably getting stuck this way 'cause that used to happen with people who used the animal shifts a lot? And I used to worry a lot about if I changed too much for home, but now I'm less worried about that 'cause the last time I went home I was back to the way I was. Same age and no scars and everything! And the illusion candle versions of my unitmates still liked me. But also also there's still kinda the what if they freak out? Not just about this, but the scars and how I got older and I'm not in high school anymore and I figured out some stuff about myself. But these days I can mostly just say they wouldn't and keep going.
[Smile! But then she bites her lip and thinks, then takes another sip of her drink.]
And there's how if we don't find a way to connect worlds and let anyone who wants stay or come back to Ellipsa, then Neechan's gonna go to some other world forever. But I'm not smart like that for research and stuff, and there are people who are who work really hard on it, and it's better if she and her parents go there instead of stay in the City which is the most messed-up place I've ever heard of, and there's a whole lot of messed-up places, and that scares me but I already told you about that and the not-wanting-to-get-sent-to-hell thing. But we talked about it, even though I didn't think I had a right to be sad.
And... [Deep breath.] This one time, I wanted to keep people from worrying about me. It was after the heart thing, and after you guys were all working so hard to save MK-san but I couldn't do anything. 'Cause I'm not nearly as strong and people'd just worry, and 'cause I'd just got mind controlled by the Nightshade right before then.
So I made a deal with Davis-san, do you know him? The guy with horns who reads people's souls and does the whole [hums an approximation of the tune] thing when you agree to something. I'd take a high-risk quest with him, and in exchange for me showing him how things worked, he'd step in if I were in trouble, but otherwise I'd do the whole thing myself.
Except it kinda went wrong and he had to step in right away, even though I had a whole bunch of preparation. And I lived and stuff! And whatever the Faemoose did when they trapped you in the shadow thing, it wouldn't work on me! But it was really scary anyway, just seeing all that and getting thrown around and... having to kill stuff. People. 'Cause the fae that sent the moose showed up, too. [shudder]
He told me later it was a lesson, or something. That he always planned to step in, and it was supposed to teach me it's okay to rely on other people even if you're trying to be strong. I must've forgotten that, huh?