( open ) may catchall

[memors]

WHO: ryoji + you!
WHAT: post-surgery wuh-ohs, ducks, and some gardening
WHERE: around base
WHEN: first couple weeks of may
WARNINGS: cw for discussion of surgery, needles, etc.


a. post-op glitches

[ So, as it turns out, the only thing worse than signing up for two enhancement procedures at once is dealing with the aftermath when your brain is fried.

No matter how approachable and grounded Ryoji is, even he can't escape from his hubris, and having never experienced significant pain in his human form, he didn’t…think it would be all that bad. Uncomfortable, maybe, inconvenient, yes…but he completely did not anticipate the way that the pain fully overrides any other cognitive thought in his brain. It hurts, to move, to think, to simply be conscious, and he has only stumbled out of the medbay for a few moments after being released that the impact of the double surgeries fully overloads him at once.

For a few long, untenable moments, it’s like he blacks out completely – and when he comes to again, staring at the hands that caught up, it’s like he doesn’t recognize them. Are they his own?

A simple question carrying a lot of weight, when he can’t remember anything about who he is or what he’s doing here. All he really seems to recall is that he was going somewhere, and given he just received a nice teleportation upgrade, well.

In attempting to find his destination by testing out this new power he can’t even remember how he got in the first place, he may just wind up in your room, looking half-dead (ha) and delirious. While he's usually in his human form, he may appear as a Shadow instead, without consciously making the effort to change. Whether you’re awake or asleep or even just heading back to your room yourself, he hardly seems to register another’s presence, instead muttering to himself: ]

No, this isn’t right…

[ He needs to go to…the top level of Tartarus, right? So why can't he remember how to get there? ]

b. duck tales

[ Well! Those were events that sure transpired, and while Ryoji is still feeling out some of his new abilities, he’s at least recovered enough from the surgeries that he’s back in his right mind and up and about again. Whether or not he should be, strictly speaking, remains to be seen! But whatever, it’s fine. Violet needs walkies.

Around the base, Ryoji can be encountered walking…a duck. A beautiful, newly acquired mandarin duck, wearing a jaunty little bow around her neck. Since Outsiders aren’t, you know, supposed to keep pets, strictly speaking, Ryoji has taken great care to plan routes for them that will hopefully avoid crossing paths with LILITH officers. However, Violet is as inquisitive and independent as her owner, and also a duck, so when she catches sight of your shoelaces or anything shiny you may have dropped on the ground, she waddles right over to pick at it with her beak, chirping with enthusiasm.

…Or that’s how it sounds to Ryoji, anyway. ]

Ah, hello there. I’d love to chat, but we have a schedule to keep…oh, but if you’d like to join us, you’d be more than welcome!

[ Who wouldn’t want to walk a duck?? And Ryoji is there, too, I guess. ]

c. flower gardening

[ At various points during the month, Ryoji can be found in the greenhouse, tending to some flowers. It’s a curious hobby that he’s picked up, one he didn’t expect to find himself so captivated by, and one that’s perhaps a bit ironic for him, all things considered – yet even given his proclivities, there’s something so captivating about the way life can bloom from a seed, with just a little sunlight and water, a little currency of time...

...and whatever mutant fertilizer they use in here, but that’s not important.

Whether you’re enjoying the plantlife independently or have approached to peek at the flowers that he tends to, Ryoji swiftly plucks one of the blossoms, sweeping down into a bow, and offers the flower to you with an outstretched hand. ]

Please, take this. You deserve it, as the only thing here that eclipses its beauty.

[ He’s feeling back to his usual self, it seems. ]

Comments

[memors]

[ His smile renews a little; she's a bit of prickly one, isn't she? But there's a sincere kindness in her heart. She could have dismissed him outright after he gave her the flower, but she still accepted it. ]

There's no need to apologize. I'm used to much worse responses, believe me!

[ Takeba-san clocking him over the head and Kirijo-senpai threatening to execute him come to mind... ]

Certainly. What is it?

[ Whether it's about him or about LILITH or anything else, he'll do his best to make himself useful to her and answer. ]

[elfsufficient]

[ She doesn't quite meet his gaze, her own instead staying fixed on the delicate petals in her palm. ]

Why did you give me this flower?

[ She would think that he's realized she's not a warm, friendly person, especially given their first meeting... Really, he should have no reason to want to get to know her, but still...? ]

[memors]

[ That's where she might just be surprised, because — ]

I want to know more about you. There's a lot of depth that awaits just beneath the surface, isn't there? And I meant what I said. You truly are very lovely.

[ For all he may be a shameless flirt, he always means it. He just...finds that much to admire about the people around him. ]

[elfsufficient]

[ ...Oh. Yes, that does surprise her. Maybe not the words themselves as much as... the sincerity that she feels coming from them.

She knows of his true nature, but... He had said that there's no joy for him in deceiving people. And though the demons of her world would just as easily say such things to fool humans, despite her reservations... She can't deny that she feels no malice coming from him.

Under her breath, and so very softly, she grumbles with her lips pressed together tight. She's never really been called "lovely" before...? ]

How can you say something like that so easily? [ . . . ] You're the sort who can say that to most anyone, aren't you?

[memors]

[ Quickly, without thinking: ] Yes, I am!

[ ...And then it sinks in a little. He knows how it sounds — how many times had he been clocked over the head by Takeba-san for letting his flirtatious nature get ahead of himself? Yet that's just it — it is always sincere. ]

At least, that's what I've been told. [ He scrubs at the back of his neck with one hand, a little bashful. ] I'm of the opinion that people should be more used to hearing such things about themselves. If everyone knew well their own value, how incredible they truly are...

[ A reflective chuckle. ]

Well, there'd be a lot more fat heads in the world, but it'd be worth it.

[elfsufficient]

[ He knows exactly how it sounds, and his immediate and self-assured answer pulls Fern's lips further and her brows knit together into a frown... Yet, still, she can't sense any kind of malice... Or even any of the smarminess she would have expected from someone like Mister Sein. ]

...I think there's a difference between being confident and knowing your own value and being too full of yourself.

[ . . . ]

What are you hoping to gain by treating everyone that way, though?

[memors]

Hoping to gain...?

[ What an odd thing to ask, though if she were looking for ulterior motives, this would be where she would find them. A more dishonest heart might try such tactics to curry favor, to form attachment and bonds where they haven't grown earnestly. He doesn't see the sense in that, in making relationships only skin deep.

Why would he ever stop there? ]

I suppose...your friendship? Though if you were up for a date, I would be more than happy to take you out to dinner sometime, too.

[ There it is... ]

1/2

[elfsufficient]

[elfsufficient]

[ He almost had her at 'friendship,' but........ ]

No, I don't think so. You seem much too comfortable asking someone out on a date.

[memors]

[ She's not wrong, and likewise, he's comfortable accepting rejection, too. Maybe another opportunity will arise to ask her again, once they know each other better. He's just grateful she didn't bash him over the head!

...It could have happened. ]

Then what about just being friends for now? We could spend some time looking over the flowers and getting to know one another better.

[ It's a start! ]

[elfsufficient]

[ It definitely could have happened.

Thankfully, they come back to the topic of friendship which, yes, she can probably do that. She hasn't had very many of those in her life. ]

...Fine.

[ It's a start!! ]

[memors]

[ It's a start!! And one he is more than happy to run with. Another friend means another connection, another person to better help him understand the nature of a human heart, to open him up to new experiences. There's still so much he doesn't know about her, but can't wait to discover. ]

Great! Do you want to start by telling me what brought you to the greenhouse today?

[ Did she have a specific purpose, or does she just enjoy the surroundings? It feels a lot...livelier than many parts of the base, despite being staffed entirely by robots. ]

[elfsufficient]

[ A deep breath drawn in, and then out. Despite her misgivings about Ryoji and his true nature, he's... perfectly friendly in a way that she can never be, and it's... perplexing. Someone who isn't truly a human, having a far easier time building human connections. It's ironic, isn't it...? ]

It's brighter here than anywhere else in the base... and most places I've seen in the city so far. And greener, too.

[ ... ]

It's the place that is most like my home.

[memors]

[ At least...the credit for his ability to connect with others isn't really his own. ]

Your home...you must come from somewhere quite unlike Neo Tokyo, then.

[ He also enjoys the bright warmth and greenery of the greenhouse, but not necessarily because it reminds him of home. There are part of Neo Tokyo that almost echo the cozy hustle and bustle of Iwatodai, but not quite.

He just...appreciates how alive it all feels. ]

What's it like? Your home, I mean.

[elfsufficient]

[ Idly, Fern's gaze lowers to take in the sight of the strange, foreign flora that blooms at their feet. The plants here have all felt... similar, but none quite the same as what she's seen or studied at home.

She hasn't dared to touch any of the plants here, having been under the impression that she shouldn't, but now that she's seen Ryoji has been going so far as to plant his own flowers... Fern lowers herself, kneeling before the patch of flowers. ]

It is much less crowded than this place, even in the big cities. You can always see the sky, wherever you are. The air is crisp and fresh. Outside of towns, when we're traveling to wherever Mistress Frieren goes next... we're usually surrounded by nature.

[ She reaches out and to feel flower petals between the fingers of her hand that does not hold the bloom he'd given her. ]

The plants here aren't like the ones at home, either, but this place does remind me... of Mistress Serie's garden. She grew it with magic.

[memors]

[ The place she describe sounds so foreign to him, but it also sounds...nice. For how much he adores Iwatodai down to his very soul, it too was crowded, brimming with life and energy and noise, and while he loves that, what would it be like to live somewhere much different? To exist among life of another sort, not unlike this greenhouse?

Briefly, he thinks back on the ruins of Kyoto, of how in the absence of humanity, nature had reclaimed what once was its own, intertwining into something melancholic, but still...utterly beautiful. Even in the desolation, life finds a way to persist, born anew into a different form.

The air here is pumped in and artificial, but he takes a deep breath of it anyway. ]

Magic to grow a garden? [ He's never seen or heard of anything quite like that. It sounds remarkable. ] She must be a powerful mage, to imbue life itself. Growth is an act of creation, isn't it? To encourage something to become more than what it was before.

[ To move it along to the next step in its journey, its fate. ]

[elfsufficient]

[ Fern studies his expression carefully; what thoughts run through the mind of a being known as a "Shadow," anyhow? Given their few interactions thus far, she sincerely cannot even guess. He's much too foreign to her beyond the simple fact that they're of different worlds.

And yet... And yet, the way he speaks of magic and life doesn't feel so foreign. He almost sounds like a mage, himself, or at least like someone with time in abundance, to be able to ponder such notions as creation and life, and yet seemingly embrace every bout of whimsy that takes them, too.

(If only she knew.)

Without another word, Fern summons her staff into her hands and walks to a more spacious swath of grass. After only a moment taken to focus, a small patch of colorful wildflowers bursts into life around where she stands. ]

[memors]

[ If only she knew. Yet there is something eternal about his soul, for death has persisted as long as life, always its shadow, and so for all those musings feel new to him, they also...feel as old as time. It's a complex feeling, one that he cannot begin to unravel.

As is the one that swells within him at the sight of the wildflowers that bloom from her magic. With a soft gasp, she enraptures him, demonstrating creation with such ease that it takes his breath away. To create life as easily as he grants death should be no simple feat, and yet perhaps in the magic of her world, life is just unceasingly abundant. It's remarkable. ]

Fern-san...

[ He'd known she was powerful from their battle together, but this is something else entirely. Stepping nearer and crouching down, he pinches one of the wildflowers between his fingers, twirling its stem. ]

May I keep one of these? Will it wilt, once plucked?

[elfsufficient]

[ It isn't all too surprising that anyone might be enchanted by this display. Even she had been, too, when she first witnessed her teacher casting the spell. Ryoji's reaction is as expected, though Fern cannot even begin to imagine what all runs through his thoughts. As far as Fern is concerned, the spell is the marvel in and of itself; she needed only to learn it. ]

...It acts as any other real flower would. So, yes, it will wilt.

[ She blinks. ]

Do as you like. It's now part of this greenhouse that you've done as you wished in, isn't it?