vatheon | 33 - Soldier

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33 - Soldier

Who: Duke and puppies and YOU
Where: park
When: This weekend
Style: [ for now ]
Status: OPEN! Although note, Duke is in a terrible mood.

[ Duke is out at the park today, tossing a ring for the dogs that Ioder left with Dhaos and him.

The bubble floats above his head, only most of the time... its a murky purple black color. A bit like one of those depressing rainclouds. Occasionally, it moves like its a swirling of fluid down a drain, only for Duke to grimace and stare intently at the dogs and one of them takes the place of the doom-and-gloom look.

Only it repeats. After a little while, the darkness fills the bubble again, and eventually a drain. The dogs will fill in the bubble eventually, but... for now he's a little stuck looking. And also looks like he hasn't been sleeping well or properly, but that's Duke for you. ]

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.... So that is why they hadn't returned.

[ Well, perhaps this is who the owner is. He'll step over and right the book a little.

Fai's image flickers in the bubble above him a couple of times, before the library takes its place in the bubble. He remembers you, Fai. ]

Sorry for the mess.

[ The puppies seem to be giving Duke somewhat worried looks, buuut... he's ignoring them. ]

[It takes him a moment but Fai eventually recognizes Duke, trying not to think about their last meeting too much because reminding the other how sunburned he was might be embarrassing. He'll keep his thoughts on the dogs so that's what stays in the bubble, trying to pet both of them at the same time still. It was only fair that way, right?]

No need to be sorry, it doesn't bother me. Is this yours too?

[He offers up the ring to Duke.]

... Yes. I .. didn't mean to hit you, if that's what it did.

[ He'd just sort of been... listlessly tossing it out.

Only the most fair. However, once he lifts that ring, both dogs pay rapt attention to it. Is it going to go flying? ]

[With the dogs' attention drawn away he feels like he can finally fully catch his breath after all of that giggling.]

You didn't, it just startled me.

[Fai's a little curious about that ring, since he's never seen anyone use something like it (considering how little he's been around animals it's not that surprising). It doesn't go past his attention that both pups seem to be worried about their master, and now there's a near mirror image of Duke in his bubble. He knows that his thought bubble is giving him away but he's still too afraid to ask.]

[ Duke spots it - shown by the image of the bubble in his bubble (BUBBLECEPTION-), before a little more of that purple-black fog seeps back in. Then the ring is the focal point. ]

You toss it.

[ Duke holds his hand sideways, flicking his wrist out. ]

They'll chase it, and come back so you can do it again.

Oh, that's actually pretty neat. [He imagines that the dogs enjoy it quite a bit, with how they came running after it earlier. But of course it doesn't take long for his thoughts to return to Duke. Animals are easy to make happy, people are a lot harder. Duke doesn't seem the type to keep a lot of friends around who would notice something wrong and try to make things better. Fai decides he might as well be the one to make an effort.]

...are you okay, mister?

If I recall correctly, its the shape that allows it to fly, and easier caught in jaws.

[ He pauses, a bit like a statue for a moment, before blinking down at Fai. ]

... I'm not terribly good at pretending so, am I..

[ He's not. A restless lump in a bed, empty seat at table, and oddly enough, empty spots on a book shelf appear in his bubble. All tinged with that murky color, but... ]

You're not, but there's nothing wrong with that. It's better not to keep inside something that weighs you down, especially if someone else is offering to help you bear it.

[He lives with people whose first instinct is often to deny when they're sad or worried, the elder Fai and Johnny staying in the little one's bubble. Having someone be honest so quickly is a nice change. And Fai really does want to help if he can. It bothers him to see others hurting.]

Did you lose a friend?

[ Duke stares at Fai for a moment.

There's... pretty much nothing in his bubble for a moment, because... Well, the boy had pretty much found the root of all his problems. He lost a friend.

There's a flicker of something in the bubble - a wing, large and white and yellow, definitely not something that could be found in Vatheon - before Duke focuses on...

That might be the bark of the tree behind Fai that's being detailed in in the bubble. ]

...Recently, here.

[ But a tiny calendar flips and flips and flips back before the bark takes focus again. ]

[He takes a moment to stare right back at Duke. In trying to make sense of the information he's getting from Duke versus what's showing in his bubble, a slightly blurred version of that large wing appears in Fai's bubble. It's clear he's not getting much of an explanation but he does have some idea how it's affecting the other.]

It's hard to lose someone. It's a feeling that never goes away, it just hurts less later. But if you don't find some way to make it better it will be there all the time, reminding you of what you don't have anymore.

I have never understood that insistence. That it hurts less, later. The only way I can think it does, is that you are numb to everything, thus nothing hurts, but nothing is "good", either.

[ There's some words that don't get said - but its hard to forget, what you're missing. Two people shapes, one blinks away and leaves that murky dark void, which stains up the other.

He doesn't know how to make it better, he just knows - or thought he did - how to not make a huge mess of his pain. ]

I think the idea is that you find other people and things that make you happy. When you're enjoying them it makes the old pain feel better.

[That's how it worked for Fai when he came to Vatheon, at any rate. Memories of the tower were replaced with the memories he made here and the people who cared about him. Even though he still had nightmares from time to time he knew he could wake up and find comfort in the world and people around him.]

[ Duke's silent for a moment, and his bubble is mostly still as well. ]

... For the most part, the things that made me happy had to do with the one that was lost.

[ For a moment, Zelda pops up in his bubble, but it is probably gone so quickly that long blonde hair is noticed, before bark and then purple murk.

No, he made a mess of that. He makes messes of everything- ]

I... make a mess, of some sort, whenever I attempt to get close. Likely better if I do not.

[ And there is the drain-like spiral to the murk. ]

[Fai shakes his head.]

You shouldn't say things like that. I'm sure the people who care about you don't see it that way.

[Once again it's his elder brother who shows up in Fai's bubble. He's convinced Yuui thinks this way sometimes still, even though he's tried hard to remind his brother that it's not the case.]

The ones who have left the bubble? Or those who have gone into a coma?

[ He pretty much has that for options. Zelda, Zelos, Ioder, Yuri, Lady An, Guy were all gone, even if some of those were only sorta on the list of 'they care'. Dhaos is in a coma. Malik attempted then left. Their faces flicker through the bubble, fading to nothing for those who left. ]

I see little other way to phrase it - I don't understand many of the things that make humans 'human', and through incomprehension, make mistakes, or don't notice things that others would until it is terribly inconvenient for all involved.

[ The wing again, only this time its attached to a body that spreads past the thought bubble and is stained with far too much red.

Bark. The dogs, the toy ring for throwing, the grass under his feet. ]

Or the ones who haven't had a chance to get to know you.

[Fai doesn't get everything about being human either, but he imagines Duke struggles with that more than he does.]

It's okay to make mistakes. People will forgive you.

[Or this little one will, at least. But his own bubble is starting to turn murky the more he worries that he's bringing up something else that Duke isn't ready bring up. He glances away for a moment, hoping to dispel some of his discomfort.]

Maybe... maybe we shouldn't talk about this. I think I'm making things worse instead of better.

[ Sorry Fai, Duke doesn't understand that yet. That someone he doesn't know - someone who has heard little, if anything about him - would worry about him.

It's probably clear by the blank look and clear bubble. He can't.... wrap his head about that.

The second gets even more confusion, before a bit of murk, and...

No, Fai is starting to get the right feeling. Duke isn't particularly ready to talk to anyone new about some of these things. ]

There is little 'worse', I think, that another can push me at the moment.

[ Fai would have to get things from Duke's head, which makes it a good thing that its working in pictures. Little Fai picking murk out of Duke's head, to hand it back to him, makes Duke have that murky raincloud above him. ]

.... Would you like to try to play with the dogs?

[ ... He's trying a topic change. ]

[It's okay, it just means Fai will have to show Duke that it's a possibility. There was once a time where Fai had difficulty believing strangers would want him to be happy. Those he now called family were patient enough with him until he came to see things differently.

He will accept that topic change, moving to stand and dust himself off a little. But the idea has been suggested and he hopes that eventually he can be of some help for Duke. It sounds like he has practically nobody.]

Okay. Is there a certain way I'm supposed to throw it?

... A wrist movement like ... this.

[ Duke shows the flick, slowly. ]

Helps it fly further.

[He watched Duke's example, then practiced the motion a couple of times before really giving it a try. The disk doesn't go very far but the dogs don't seem to mind one bit as they happily bring back the ring. Let's face it he's never really had to be athletic. ]

So what are their names?

Ico and Iona.

[ No, Duke doesn't really know why.

And the dogs really don't mind. It means that Fai can toss it for them again all the sooner! ]

If you curl a little, to use your whole arm and end with the flick, it goes a little further. Or in a direction unintended.

[ Frisbys are tricky things. ]

[Fai takes the ring back from the dogs, slipping it on his wrist for a moment so he can pat both of them on the head.]

They're nice names.

[He tries to take Duke's advice into account but his throw doesn't improve all that much, and it does happen to fly off at an awkward angle. The boy looks a little sheepish about it now even though he's sure it's not a big deal.]

Do you bring them here to play a lot?

[ From the way Duke watches it, it doesn't even reach the scale of "possible big deals". ]

Once in a while. The island has a similar amount of room, but they treat this place as somewhere new often enough....

I'll have to come here more then. [Mostly because he likes being around the dogs, but also because he thinks Duke might need more people to talk to. Fai pets the excited canines, throws the ring one more time and waves to Duke.]

I should get home. It was nice to meet you again.

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33 - Soldier

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For a second i read "the ring" as like... The Ring (or any other ring-for-fingers)

lol, oh you

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