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 Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 3:35 pm
"...don't tell, but I think she's lying," Dani whispers laughingly to Reno, watching the way he touches his wrist at the insane ballerina's words. "She's very good at improvising, as I've learned. You'd be surprised how well she can hide her attempts at teaching Minnie plushie animation methods."At the mention of her name in conjunction with the ballerina from Hell, Minnie's head snaps up and her little round ears swivel forward, as though she is startled and rather offended to think that Dani would ever think that she would be in league with Kat. The very thought! A respectable bear and such a dissheveled wreck...! The very thought!! Minnie pouts, glaring sternly at the ballerina that continues to act (and fail to truly be) threatening. "So, besides the plush that you saved from the cupboard, is there another reason for your visit? Do you need the Psychiatrist in the Wall again, or was this a purely social visit?" She smiles as Chevyo begins to purr in her arms, burrowing deeper into her soft, fuzz-covered shirt.
"Be civil, Kat, or else I won't share my chocolate cupcakes with you," she threatens as an after-thought.Threats now? How many ways are there to keep people in line?
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:26 pm
Nervously, not quite entirely trustingly, Reno glances sidelong to the amused fox-girl. It's a long, thoughtful moment before he whispers back, "...Kay," giving his wrist one final, anxious touch beneath the cover of his shirt cuff. "Whatever you say, yo. Wait a sec -- plushie animation methods?"
He doesn't quite sputter. "She didn't... Minnie, did she, yo? That's not why...?"
Meanwhile, when one relentless regard does not fade sheepishly away (as it properly should, upon proper application of this respectable dancer's most dire intimidation!), Kat narrows her eyes, planting her hands on her knees and hugging her plush tightly to her stomach, lest the Turkish Plushie Thief decide oh so cruelly to strike again.
"Ah 'ed," Kat begins menacingly, "'uggah aah, 'oo oo'ed ahr. Eh eye ocklate ahn eye Onnie! 'Uggah aah!" Even with Dani's absent, if nonetheless authoritarian threatening, the ballerina does not yield, hissing impressively... or so she thinks... and beginning to puff up.
Reno spares a curious glance for this odd defensive method, and then shrugs it off, returning his (yet indignant) attention to one Dani. "Purely social, yo," he sniffs, vainly stretching his tongue for the tip of his nose, where icing still remains. "Mostly I wanted to see Minnie, yo, make sure I wasn't just delusional."
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 7:09 pm
"Yes, plushie animation methods," Dani repeats calmly, watching as Minnie turns up her nose to Kat and trundles over to Reno, rising to her hind legs as though begging to be picked up. "And no, Minnie is not one of her evil experiments. Minnie is a Velveteen; she was brought to life because of my wishes to give her life, not by any arcane rituals performed by an insane ballerina. From Hell," she adds.Obviously, nothing can get through that thick ballerina skull. Giving up for the time being, her interminable patience nearing its limit, Minnie huffs and toddles away to Reno, staring imploringly up at him with outstretched paws. Now she needs someone to make her feel better about her failures in keeping Kat in line, and red-headed Turks have proven to be good sources of that in the past. "Fear not, Reno, you are not delusional," she chuckles. "Minnie was once inanimate, she is now alive, she was not animated by an insane ballerina." She falls silent for a moment, pondering something...
...before turning an insidious grin toward the Turk.
"You know what?" she asks. "I want you to go upstairs and get ready to move. I'm going to take you home and make you a real meal. When was the last time you had a real meal?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 7:32 pm
Kat chews. Kat swallows. Kat folds her arms around her plushie, glaring knives at one little bear as she goes shambling away, and then Kat clears her throat, suddenly all sophistication and candied grace borne of her lot in life. It's not a lot, she thinks inanely, but it's my life.
"My experiments," Kat interrupts, stiffening her shoulders and continuing to puff up by slow, gradual, and utterly annoyed degrees, "are not evil, monsieur and madame. They are, in fact, perfectly ethical. Aren't they, Bonnie? Aren't they ethical?" Kat takes a moment to coo to her stuffed prairie dog, smoothing the soft, beige fabric.
For a long moment, Reno is silent, staring across the guest room at one ballerina who is, beyond any doubt, absolutely barking mad. "...Kay," he murmurs after that long, disturbed moment, as he absently bends down to pick up the begging bear. "Hallo, Minnie. Does Minnie need a hug, yo? I think Minnie needs a hug."
And, content in the knowledge that he has already asserted himself in everyone's eyes as a bleeding heart perfectly capable of murder, Reno hugs the little bear, as promised. "S'a good Minnie, yo. Is she really from Hell?" This last is directed up to Dani, and with reasonable concern. "How d'you know, yo?"
...and then, with the treacherous smile and worrisome words of one D-chan Spiro, there is silence in the guest room.
Reno manages, "Two years. Rude's sister's. She made some kind of stuffed turkey thingo. What, yo?"
"Yeah," starts Kat quietly, beginning to bristle. Considering that she is, after all, an insane ballerina, she's beginning to sound remarkably sane... and perhaps somewhat familiar. "Yeah. What, yo is right. Since when have you ever -- you're a hostage, you're not -- a dinner guest! This isn't -- sensible! This is downright insensible! You've always done this, always been so -- so -- not seeing!"
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:02 pm
Dani blinks in utter astonishment as Kat begins to speak clearly and coherently for the first time all day...perhaps for the first time in many days! The sudden change is not wasted on the half-fox, who gapes unashamed at the ballerina as she states the ethical nature of her plushie experiments, cooing to her prairie dog by the end.
...something strange is going on... Minnie is happily lifted from the floor and hugged, growling pleasantly as she burrows into Reno's arms. She glares at Kat from across the room only briefly before going back to enjoying her cuddles. It's so nice to be loved. "I don't know if she's really from Hell," Dani mutters. "I suddenly have my doubts, though." But she musters a bright smile as she nudges him in the vague direction of the door. "Then go get ready. Make yourself reasonably presentable, I have critters living in my house that you want to make a good impression with. I'll make something nice."
She falls very silent at Kat's words, though. "I may be a hostage, but I can still be friendly, as Reno has yet to hurt me.
"Completely forgetting about that kidnapping thing, of course, because man, that was painful."
"Maybe I am insensible...but how would you know what I've always done?" she asks distantly. "How am I 'not seeing'? Who are you, Kat?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:27 pm
Dani certainly isn't the only one gaping at Kat. Although, once gently nudged, Reno moves vaguely (and somewhat aimlessly) in the direction of the door, he can't seem to take his eyes from the ballerina -- and when she begins to furiously address his Shrink inna Wall, the Turk glances between the dancer and D-chan, lost and bewildered.
Absently, he hugs Minnie again, seeking reassurance from the little bear (who had once, not too long ago, been an inanimate object) that his entire world has not just crumbled into madness.
"You've never been seeing," Kat huffs, curling into herself. As though on after-thought, her dark, floppy hat tumbles from her head, releasing a wild flood of tangled orange hair. "Never ever ever never. Didn't see when I moved away, didn't see when I thought I was in love, didn't see me right in front of your face. Couldn't see through the skirt, through the viking hat, through the feather, whatever. Never see, never ever never ever. Not you, not Maru, not no one.
"You're all so not seeing."
Meanwhile, although he feels a few paces behind the rest of this brimming disaster, Reno pitches a valiant attempt to defuse a situation that seems to be spiraling dangerously out of his control: "Y'know, hostage is such a strong word, yo..."
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:58 pm
"You're telling me that I was supposed to see something," Dani murmurs. "How could I see when you were hiding it? You never opened up to me. You hid behind the viking hat and the feathers and the skirt. How was I supposed to know...how am I supposed to know...?
"...I know you, though, don't I?" she whispers. "I thought I did, but I could never be sure, because even if you sounded like someone I knew you never acted...right...the same...
"...in love," she repeats firmly. "Jess-chan...is that you?" Minnie is quite happy to have the hugs; even so, the strange tension growing in the guest room is hardly comforting. She squirms a bit in Reno's arms, trying to find a comfortable place and yet unable to in the oppressive air bearing down upon her.
What's going on...?
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:15 pm
"Viking hats," Reno continues, lunging desperately for footholds in the metaphorical darkness that are quite literally not there, "are highly overdone in, uhm, today's... cultural society, yo. I've never liked viking hats. Minnie, as the last sane thing in the room, do you think everyone's gone bonkers, yo, or just me?"
There are tears in her voice now -- ragged shreds of tears long suppressed, bitterly clawing their way free from those shadowed, hidden places. Kat's arms tighten around her knees, drawing them tight against her chest, and tan material darkens with moisture, as the little stuffed prairie dog is pulled into a fierce embrace.
"D-chan," Kat sobs. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I thought he was offering me the world."
"...Definitely everyone, yo," Reno decides quietly, and starts backing toward the door, a Minnie still secure in his arms.
They're blowing this popsicle stand!
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:10 pm
Without another word, Dani rises from her place on the bed and strides across the room, kneeling behind the ballerina and wrapping her arms around her old friend. "Oh, Jess-chan," she murmurs. "It's okay. I understand. It...it took me a while, but I understand. But...what happened? Why are you here? What about..."
And here she stops, saying nothing more, falling back on the silent comfort that is all she has ever been adept at.
Though it's not much, it's all she can do. Utterly lost and not at all comforted by the sudden change of relation between the ballerina and her guardian, she nods vigorously in response to Reno's question and feeling distinctly grateful when the Turk retreats.
Time to make a break for it, indeed!
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:25 pm
Beat. Reno's eyes widen ever so slightly as Dani moves to embrace the ballerina -- well, that was certainly unexpected! One hand flails wildly behind him, floundering somewhere in the region of the small of his back for one bronze doorknob -- or, colloquially, his salvation from this madhouse. "Kay," Reno squeaks, "well, it's been fun, yo. Bye!"
And they're off! He hardly remembers to slam the door behind him.
Even with the frantic departure of one Turk, Kat's sobbing continues unabated, dry and heaving, moisture spent. "Y-you left, I thought, g-gone somewhere or s-something, and I thought, I thought, this isn't worth it, this isn't worth it, so I... I left. I left, and Maru was hiring, for th-the Observatory, a-and I thought, this is your chance..."
Her words dissolve again into tears, her motives left unexplained. Kat hugs her plush ever tighter to her chest, even as she leans back into her old friend's silent comfort.
"Siiiir~?"
With one little bear still held protectively in his arms, Reno creeps from the dwindling staircase, glancing suspiciously around the lobby of the same Observatory being tearfully discussed some few yards below. "Siiiir~? Are you done with your soducko thingo, yo? I kinda need the pencil, I dunno what Elena did with the others..."
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:50 pm
"You know me, Jess-chan," she manages. "I do a lot of stupid things. I move a lot. Ask Jou, ask Lance...they know. I didn't mean to hurt you...I thought it would be better if I left, make it easier on you. You were so happy, and I was acting like such a brat that I assumed (dangerous word there, my mother always said) me leaving would make it better.
"I guess that blew up in my face, huh?" she chuckles weakly. "I'm sorry, Jess-chan, I'm so sorry...will you forgive me? Even if I am stupid and insensitive and just a terrible person in general?" She begins to rock just slightly, back and forth, still embracing the ballerina, and completely ignoring--or perhaps just missing--Reno's hasty exit with Minnie still in tow."...I'll have you know that these things are some of the most distracting logic puzzles I have ever seen," Rufus calls from somewhere near that back of the observatory. He sits behind a book covered desk, the pencil twitching in his hand as he ponders over the latest puzzle in the book. The page proclaims that he has already made the jump to the hardest puzzles in the book. His free hand slides up and down columns, across rows, before he smiles vaguely to himself and jots another number in a hard-lined box.
"And why, pray tell, do you need my pencil, Reno?" He fails to even take his attention from the puzzle at hand, gaze glued to the page as he taps the pencil's eraser between two empty boxes. "What are you planning? And what have you been doing down there all morning, getting more therapy? I wouldn't get used to it; I think we're going to be leaving soon. Minnie stares at the strange, cold man that Reno addresses so formally, huffing as he sits behind his desk and pays only the most marginal attention to his subordinate. If she were closer, she would wriggle her way out of his arms, stalk across that cold man's desk, and chastise some attention into him.
Good thing she's not closer.
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:09 pm
"It wasn't stupid!" Kat explodes, throwing herself forcefully backwards into her friend's embrace. "It wasn't stupid! I was being stupid; I threw away everything for a man who was gone m-most of th-the time a-a-any--way -- M-Maru made me see... she said... she said...
"...things, and I kn-knew. It t-took a while, but I s-saw eventually." A dry, sad little scraping sniffle, and Kat tilts her head back to smile unsteadily at Dani, all misty emerald eyes and disheveled orange bangs. "O-of course I'll f-forgive you -- if you'll f-forgive me for b-being such a brat." Another sniffle, and something that might eventually develop into a wry smile.
"Did you think I had it in me? T-to dance an' stuff? And..." She pauses, swiping a hand at her nose. "...d-d'you think I could go to dinner with y-you and... wossname?"
The wossname in question starts somewhat at Rufus's voice, putting his head to one side and approaching the desk at a wary skulk. "Glad you're stayin' entertained, boss," he mutters, glancing to the opened book and shuddering away at the many, many numbers. At least they're not trying to kill each other, he reasons. Ninja numbers.
Alerted only somewhat to Minnie's agitation by her huffing, Reno untangles a hand to fondle her head, eyeing Rufus's pencil in a fashion that can only be described as predatory. "I need to gouge out my eyes, sir," he answers, quite truthfully. "Also, I need to unlock my suitcase. I need a clean shirt."
And then Reno hesitates, the line of his shoulders twitching in ill-concealed dismay. "Wait, what, sir? We're leaving? Why? To where?" Another pause. "And do we have to take Elena, sir? Can't we leave her for the next, uhm, tenants? Like termites, you know, sir."
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:39 pm
"I was stupid, don't deny it," Dani mutters. "More insensitive, maybe, but still stupid. But you didn't know it would happen," the half-fox says consolingly, hugging the ballerina ever tighter as she listens to the piteous sobs. "But I'll forgive you, since you didn't really do anything wrong, to me. I did everything wrong...but I'm glad you can still forgive me.
"But I never considered you a dancer," Dani admits, a bit more cheer peeking into her voice. "You certainly impressed me! I could never do it." As she clambers to her feet, she offers a smile to the ballerina in the palm of her hand, held out in friendly familiarity for Kat to take. "And I'd love it if you'd join us," she murmurs. "You and your velvet, both."Minnie growls appreciatively as Reno draws her attention away from the rude young man behind the desk, turning her head into his hand--
--though this abruptly changes as he explains what the pencil is for. She bawls briefly at him for his thoughts of such grotesque violence against himself before turning her full attention to Rufus, as though to plead with Reno's superior in forcing some sense into the young man. Whatever Minnie might have wanted from Rufus, she won't get it. The president of ShinRa nods distractedly, filling in a few more numbers before pondering over the grid again, free hand trailing down to search for the drawers of the desk. "We can't effectively use these Sarnins, despite earlier beliefs," he sighs, hand brushing against Keiei's head as she stares up at him. "So I think we should be going...though, where to, I have no idea. With ShinRa still trying to make its comeback, I suppose we'll just have to search further."
He makes a small, triumphant noise in the back of his throat as he finds the handle and pulls the drawer out. Removing a pencil, he lays it on the desk before him and goes back to his feverishly intense puzzle-solving. "Just try not to get blood everywhere," he mutters distractedly. "It would ruin the effect of a clean shirt."
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:57 pm
"G-good," Kat mutters, wiping slightly more violently at her eyes. "I hope I s-surprised Maru, too. Though --" Here she pauses, staring beseechingly up at Dani as the fox-girl climbs to her feet, "please don't t-tell her! S-she doesn't kn-know yet, and I don't want -- I d-don't want her to. Not for a long time. I hate who I was, and I don't want a-anyone to remember me as that..."
The ballerina trails off.
But she accepts the hand offered to her, allowing her old friend to help her to her feet; as soon as she has regained her balance, Kat dusts meticulously at the plush head of her velvet, smoothing ruffled fabric and adjusting the white fluff of fur at her chest. "Thanks," Kat murmurs shyly, glancing up to Dani.
"Her name's... Bonnie, by the way. If you hadn't, uhm... guessed. So-chan brought me the key over Christmas, an' it was so weird, but there was a letter, so I knew where to go..." Absently, she hugs the plush against her chest, starting again to bristle. "...the nerve, stealing her! I didn't know if I'd get back to the guest room in time, so I stowed her away, and --"
"Shhhh~uh, Minnie," Reno chides quietly in return, as the little bear scolds him for his personal attempts at salvation. There is a slight pause, then, as Reno wonders at Rufus's complete lack of attention -- which might end up a blessing, he decides; what on earth would Rufus say, seeing the Turk hugging a tiny, be-ribboned bear?
Minnie is not, after all, precisely the manliest of friends.
Lightly, absent for his thoughts, Reno snatches up the pencil as it is so triumphantly produced, tucking it away into his pocket. "Yes, sir," mutters the Turk, taking another fearful glance at the number-riddled book before turning away. "Thank you, sir." And then he's off, setting across the Observatory for another distant staircase, and presumably his faithful, abused suitcase -- properly hidden away...
...somewhere.
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 3:56 pm
"Don't worry, I won't say a word to Maru," Dani assures the ballerina. But she looks troubled as the woman trails off, green-gold eyes glancing away toward another wall.
"But I liked you the way you were."
"I miss my Jess-chan," she says quietly. "You're amazing, you always were, and you still surprise me...but...I can mesh the ballerina and the Jessie I knew, but I can't forget about who you were. Because I liked that you, even if you don't."
She manages a weak smile as she watches Kat fluff the velvet. "I wondered about how you got her; but I don't think he was stealing her, per say." Good idea, Dani, stand up for Reno.
Watch Kat bite your head off for it.
"At least he brought her back, right?" she offers. "Better than someone like Rufus finding it."Minnie emits a low growl from deep in the back of her throat as Reno tries to hush her. How dare he try to keep her quiet when all she's doing is trying to keep him alive and whole! Is that a BAD thing now!? She grumbles to herself, cuffing Reno's nearest hand as the fur bristles around her (manly) ribbon.
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