( open + closed ) catch all

[promisely]

WHO: Tifa & others!
WHAT: Catch all for May (potentially further) & TDM overflow
WHERE: Alllll over
WHEN: May - ?
WARNINGS: None as of now, will udpate if needed!

Comments

[promisely]

( she'll stand beside him, opposite arm fixed to one of the rails that juts before the glaringly empty row of seats. she has to wonder just how many people are left, if maybe her being drawn here was for some greater good, after all. it's hard to say so soon, but for the first time since she's arrived, not knowing doesn't feel so heavy. )

Maybe sometimes they don't deserve to be blamed. But I can't help but to feel like how someone acts when they're hurt says a lot about them...

( that, and how they act when others around them are. it's a lot to take in, it has been since she's arrived, both the world of his own he colors for her and the flickering of different scapes that pass them by. she decides that maybe it's a little easier, that this world wasn't too similar to her own. that it didn't hold the same aches in its rubble and rebuild, though she imagines plenty others. )

It's strange how they were able to pull so many of us not just from different places, but from different times. ( his world running parallel while her own flourished with its own fauna and fiends. ) Do you miss it?

( as if her voice was pulled back to the here and now, the city whirring on beyond his frame. ) Home.

[seafloor]

I feel like you know people pretty well, [ Kaito murmurs, pondering the thought. His gaze tilts down for just a moment before peeking back to those rubies. ] Makes me so much more curious to hear your stories.

[ But they can wait. For now, the dragon closes his eyes and lets his vision swim in memories of streets not unlike what they're approaching, bustling with activity, pack from curb to curb with the living.

Their train groans to a halt. Two or three people stand behind the yellow line on the platform. As the doors hiss open, Kaito smoothly turns on his heel and guides Tifa into the station proper—and after climbing a single flight of stairs, the pair arrive at a garage level where a sleek, pitch-black motorcycle awaits.

He still hasn't answered the question. But the wait is over. As Kaito hops onto the seat, the vehicle's console illuminates. He locks eyes with Tifa again. ]

Not a single second passes without me thinking about how time keeps marching on back home. You'll have time to make your own opinion of Neo Japan, but for me...

[ A helmet is offered. Kaito smiles. It's small, it's resilient—but it's full of hurt. ]

This world is a prison.

[promisely]

( she lingers a moment on the words. she doesn't pretend to have it all figured out, but she's always been one to pay too much mind to how others felt, and there were often far too many willing to take advantage of that glimmer of empathy. little does she know how much the word alone resonates with him. )

I wouldn't know where to start, really. ( as if they weren't sprawling, countless she'd be happy to revisit, while others beckoned to be told even through their pain. she finds her own curiosity hardly sated from the likes of where he'd come from, but she knows asking those sort of questions usually leads to them being asked back.

almost as if to balm that ache, the train shrieks against the rails as it comes to a slow stop, thankful to be able to commit herself to something as thoughtless as the cadence of limbs, pausing only once he shifts to climb onto the bike, cradling onto one of the helmets.

his words rattle her. a glimpse of something other than the kind boy that'd taken to her side when she'd wanted to detach from the world that was that immigration line, a hint perhaps at his own experience here, a chill licking along her spine. her thoughts storm too raucously to grab on to just one, taking hold of the helmet offered to her with a glint of sorrow in her gaze.

he doesn't know her, and she doesn't know him, not really. but maybe she could help it all feel a little less like that, if only for a little while. her stare waits a moment longer before she tugs the helmet on, climbing nimbly up to sit behind him, arms wrapping about his front - a wordless 'ready.' )

[seafloor]

[ Aha. Yeah, maybe that was a bit much. The tips of Kaito's ears flush with embarrassment, and that's only furthered by the wave of emotions that roll over him when she wraps her arms around his waist. Tifa's optics will blink once the helmet's on. Here comes a text message from... sugarcane?

Text flutters to the fore of vision as Kaito smoothly takes off towards the city limits. ]

Sorry about that.
I'm supposed to be helping you relax, not bringing the mood down.
I meant what I said, but.
This isn't the worst fate for us.

For some of the kids, this is objectively better than what's waiting for them back home.
Regardless of how I feel, I'm going to try my best to make life easier for other Outsiders—like you.

[ The roads are empty even in the middle of the day, but Kaito doesn't stick to them for long. ]

Hang tight.

[ A few seconds later, Kaito revs the bike into a wheelie before leaping it off the road! Ruined buildings, dead trees, and uneven ground awaits as the previously smooth motorcycle ride turns into something more appropriate for dirt bikes.

But the ride remains steady (well, as steady as off-roads can be), and Kaito tosses a glance over his shoulder to smile at his helmeted passenger. ]

Do they have bikes where you're from?
I can fly, y'know.
But riding around like this...
It's an exhilarating feeling that few things can beat.

[promisely]

( it's nothing for him to be embarrassed over. she'd never want to be the reason someone thinks they shouldn't feel, and she doesn't need him to make his experience here thus far seem anything that it wasn't for her sake. yeah, she's wildly uncomfortable, but she's sure he'd felt that way when he'd arrived, too — now here he is, offering a salve in the form of company and brief adventure.

an alert flickers across her gaze, notifying her of a message that's quick to give away its sender. so she just...? ah, now she's managed to open it, scanning through the words as the city pans on behind them. a beat, and then a reply comes through from ZANGANS. )

you don't need to be sorry
it doesn't have to be the worst of anything for you to be unhappy. you didn't choose to come here.
you don't have to pretend. not with me, anyway.

( the shift in terrain reminds her of their time in cosmo canyon, the unforgiving earth and forgotten grounds, even if it looked entirely different than this. )

of course we have bikes, silly.
pretty much most of the typical things... if you can believe it, i've actually gotten used to riding on chocobos more than anything else. just imagine a chick, only... ten times bigger, at least. ( she snickers at the thought alone, how absurd it must sound. ) i'll have to show you one sometime.

can you bring others with you, when you fly?

[seafloor]

You're very kind.
I am unfortunately fond of my contradictions, though.
You might have to deal with a little hypocrisy.
;)

[ Kaito hams it up further by cooking his head back to physically wink, too. Eyes on the road!!!

...Wait, he isn't even wearing a helmet. What a guy.

Despite racing quickly through the outskirts, Kaito's motorcycle is quieter than you would expect most bikes to be. Maybe it's 23rd century technology.

The sight of buildings begins to fade out—behind them, the city shrinks and shrinks. If she strains, Tifa might hear him laughing into the wind. ]

That's an absurd mental image.
I really want to see a chocobo, now.

I can bring as many people as I can carry when I fly.
But I can't extend my flight abilities to them.
Luckily, I'm a real strong guy! 💪

[ Kaito doesn't look scrawny, but he certainly also doesn't look buff.

...Then again, she's had plenty of time to feel the solid muscles of his middle while holding onto him. ]

We're almost there.
And if you're worried about attire, don't be.
It's a whole onsen over there, so the owners can provide you with towels and robes and all that.

[promisely]

i'm not sure if there's any way for me to show you, but i'm determined! i'll find a way to, you just might have to be a bit patient.

( was there even a way for her to get images from back home? there's still so much she has to learn, but she allows herself to tuck the thought away for a little while. like the line and that taunting paperwork, it'd still be there waiting for her by morning. )

you know, i only just realized that i don't have anything appropriate to change into for the springs. but i'm starting to think this is a little different than the ones back home.