(no subject)

[monster_san]

WHO: FUU and SUNDRY
WHERE: mostly heropa-centric!
WHEN: THRUOUT MAY
WHAT: an catch-all
WARNINGS: not a warning DON'T THINK THERE WILL BE ANY but hmu by PM or @ compassinks if you wanna do a Thing

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JAIME

[monster_san]

[Well, whether or not Jaime thinks it's a big deal, Fuu is determined to do something nice for him on his birthday. She remembers how he made sure to remember her birthday back when she was first here.

Besides which... she owes him a debt of gratitude, and affection. When she had returned, and realized how different things are, she had resolved on caution, not leaping back into friendship as though nothing had happened. That wouldn't be fair to him, she'd thought, she would leave it to him to figure out how close he wanted to let her be.

...and then Hikaru had arrived, and that plan had promptly gone up in smoke.

So Jaime is going to have a nice (if slightly belated) lunch for his birthday, at a cute, and also genuine, little Mexican eatery in Heropa. Heck, he might already know the place. And that's that.]

You might have to advise me, Jaime-san. I'm afraid most of my knowledge of Mexican food is still about baked goods.

[khajidont]

It's all good. Mexicans know how to cook. It's, like, in our blood. You're gonna have to tell me what you usually like and we can take it from there, [ Jaime says, looking at the menu with a small smile. It's funny - he'd never liked going out for Mexican food nearly as much before coming here. But while he can and does cook for himself, there's nothing like being cooked for sometimes. That, and they can cook way better than Jaime can, his mother's cookbook or not.

He grins at her, expression lopsided but affectionate. ]

You didn't need to go through the trouble of doing this, you know.

[monster_san]

[Fuu giggles. She's not sure she knows of a culture that doesn't boast of its own cuisine, but Jaime's is certainly justified.]

I like most kinds of fish, and almost anything green. But I'm a little inexperienced with spices. [not totally naive, but she's not going to be setting her mouth on fire anytime soon.

she's not at all surprised at that remark of Jaime's, either.] Perhaps, but whether or not I needed to, I wanted to. Isn't doing whatever you want a typical American trait?

[Her tone is lightly teasing, but her smile is sincere.]

Besides, a birthday between milestone ages still counts.

[khajidont]

I'm pretty sure doing what you want is a human trait, [ Jaime points out, though it's not one that he indulges in on a regular basis. A lot of things get in the way of actually doing what you want at the end of the day. Maybe doing what you want is less of an American trait and more of the trait that you have when you're nine years old and you have the responsibility to do well in school and not a heck of a lot else. ]

But hey, congratulations on assimilating. It's exactly what everyone here wants you to do. As for what to eat... [ He taps at the menu. ] Tamales are pretty common for celebrations.

[monster_san]

[She looks at the different options for tamales, then. She kind of knows what they are, but she isn't sure she's had them.]

Hm... tamales it is, then. I think these will be my first.

[Then she smiles. She knows Jaime is being facetious, and she'll answer in kind, but it amuses her for another reason too.]

If I look like I'm doing what everyone here wants me to be doing, I'll be pleased. [She laces her fingers together on the placemat, contemplative.] Having to adjust my outlook from the last time I was here to now has been a little challenging.

[khajidont]

Really?

[ Jaime's been here all along - it's hard for him to think too much about how strange it is to have the world go by while you're not in it. He gets it on a technical level, of course, but it's not something he can imagine. ]

What's changed, really?

[monster_san]

[Fuu laces her fingers together to rest her chin on them as she studies Jaime. He had been sixteen... seventeen, perhaps, when she had left this Earth. And here she is now, treating him for his twentieth birthday.

Some people don't change much between those three years, of course. When living a normal life, free of worry and strife, one year can feel much like another.

But Jaime? It's silly to think, especially given her particular reasons to avoid such simplistic comparisons, but Jaime is older, wiser, but weary as well, and while not jaded, there's more of a distance... she had always thought it was absurd, when playing an RPG, that the starting age of world-wise cynical veteran was twenty, but it seems the writers were onto something without knowing it.]

Well, there certainly weren't entire cities appearing in the desert. Really, the international situation from before was only strange because it involved interdimensional visitors with superpowers... other than that, it was remarkably similar to how things had been on my own Earth until about five years ago.

Also, you're twenty.

HIKARU

[monster_san]

[Fuu wasn't exactly in favor of being made to share a subconscious with others. Some of the dreams had been silly, and largely harmless, but others... others had not been.

Everyone, it seemed, had been subjected to them. Fuu's own nightmare of Cephiro had been bad enough, and she was well over a year away from that horrible day. And she'd seen Hikaru in a normal, horror-free dream of Cephiro, but where else had Hikaru been during those nights? Who else had been with her?

She's busy drawing a map for one of her campaigns at the kitchen table as she ruminates over these questions, when she looks up and sees Hikaru herself. Fuu smiles and puts down the pencil.]

Hikaru-chan! Are you looking for tea?

[godkaru]

[The dreams had been strange in a way Hikaru hadn't expected from this world. Cephiro, sure, but not this place. She'd been lucky that she hadn't suffered her own guilt-ridden nightmares, but some dreams hadn't been pleasant.

She's trying to reach up into a taller cabinet jumping from her tip-toes and then stops.]

I-i am, yeah. Everything here is so tall.

[monster_san]

It is, isn't it?

[Fuu makes a mental note to buy a stepstool. Darin and Allura don't need one much, but the under-20's or the under-10,000's in Allura's case aren't so lucky.

Not that Fuu has more than a handful of centimeters on Hikaru, but it's still enough to get the tea down. Everything is tall and only just within reach. There's probably a metaphor in that, she thinks, considering what Ronan had said about the real reason the dreamscapes had gotten out of control.]

Would you start the kettle, please? [She gets the teapot ready; Fuu is not going to prepare tea in anything but the proper way. And sorting it out gives her a few moments to decide if she should be delicate or just ask bluntly... no, it's Hikaru, she should just ask.

Jaime really was right about things feeling different.] Are you all right, Hikaru-chan? After that shared dreamscape, and the dreams bleeding into reality.

[godkaru]

Mm! [Hikaru happily gets the kettle and gets it started.

Oh, but the question... She smiles gently at the kettle, just watching it.]

I'm all right, Fuu. They were just dreams.

[monster_san]

[Just dreams... Fuu nods, with a faint, rueful smile.]

They were. But it can be disorienting, you know, having someone else's imagination getting mixed up with your own.

[Imagination... imagination and memory both. Fuu's hands tighten on the tea tin for a moment. She knows Hikaru... she knows Hikaru isn't going to place blame where there's no fault, but she also knows how painful her last memories of Cephiro are.

Fuu counts herself lucky that Hikaru didn't find her way into a nightmare of Emeraude, but it's going to touch her all the same. Dog girl.]

And I... have to tell you something, about some of the dreams that I had.

[godkaru]

Hm?

[She climbs down and finally settles, leaning against the counter a little watching Fuu.]

Yours weren't bad, were they?

CATRA

[monster_san]

[Fuu is in the mood for a few things today.

One of them is contemplation of their situation. It's gone from winter to spring, and she's been spending that time trying to adjust to the world having moved to very different places. Last time, her worries were being used as a tool in the increasingly warm war between America and the USSR. This time, it is the potential of global destruction at the hands of a sister entity to the Porter.

The other thing she is in the mood for is: sushi.

One of these is a need she can fulfill, so she's walking into one of her favored sushi places in Nonah when she sees a familiar face.]

Oh, Catra-san, hello! How are you today?

[plentystrong]

[ Meanwhile, Catra has been flouting her imPort status and the fact that she fought in the very recent moon invasion to get some free sushi, which she is now happily munching on while slouching in her seat.

Her ears perk up when she sees (and hears) Fuu, and she has the decency to chew and swallow before answering. ]

It's Catra. [ Deadpan, because Catra does not know about Japanese honorifics. ]

I mean, I have sushi, so I'm good.

[monster_san]

Oh--'san' is just a polite way to address someone in Japanese. Like 'mister' or 'ms.'

[It's been a little while since she had to explain that, now that she thinks of it, and she finds herself wondering if she should have just used Miss to start with...? But she wonders if Catra would have protested. It seems likely.]

It's hard to go wrong with sushi. [She smiles.] Would it be all right if I joined you? It seems like it's been a while.

[plentystrong]

[ Catra isn't too wild on company right now, but on the other hand, Fuu is one of the few people in this place who agrees with her that the government is shady, and she's been wanting to talk more about that for a while now.

So she makes an inviting gesture. ]

Sure, sit down.

[monster_san]

[Fuu can tell that Catra maybe wasn't looking for someone to join her, but she's also pretty sure that Catra would tell her to buzz off if she was really committed to that, so she sits.]

How have you been? It's been fairly dangerous lately... though, it's often fairly dangerous on this planet.

[plentystrong]

[ Catra watches Fuu as she sits down, already dreading the small talk. So she cuts to the chase. ]

Yeah, OTO sure keeps us on our toes, don't they?

ALPHONSE

[monster_san]

[After her attempt to familiarize herself with Maurtia Falls nearly ended in disaster, Fuu has decided to take Rex's advice and not walk into an unfamiliar city on her own again. Although Jeopardy doesn't have the same reputation of dangerous humans, everything she knows and her limited experience tells her that this is also not a place to treat as casually as Heropa or Nonah.

She's wearing a flat sunhat as she looks up and down the street, contemplating where to begin. She's also concerned about Alphonse; although she didn't see any of his dreams, everyone knows what happened to Commander Taylor, and even if death is not always permanent here, there is nothing about it that isn't distressing.]

I suppose it's not that much stranger than Las Vegas, if you think about it... I'm sure there must be a spider-themed casino there too, if you looked for it.

[sonofgold]

[Al himself is going incognito as possible; he's in plain clothes, no Aegis insignia to speak of, and has a baseball cap over his distinctive golden hair. He's more quiet than usual, and as he's overtaxed himself physically lately, he is walking with the support of a cane.]

I don't know much about Las Vegas, admittedly... but the people here do seem to like spiders, don't they? They seem to like strange things in general. It doesn't really... fit in with the rest of the imPort cities, if that makes sense.

[monster_san]

[Fuu laughs a little, cupping her cheek in one hand as she starts off, regulating her pace so it will match Alphonse's.]

Spiders are a very misunderstood creature. I'm all for treating them with kindness. But... [she watches a lady in a big, leggy broach accost another tourist, waving a pamphlet festooned with pipe cleaners.] Well, it certainly underscores how different this Earth is from the one I was born on.

Though, [and she drops her voice] the circumstances of its existence raise a few questions about places like Heropa and De Chima, don't you think?

[sonofgold]

Yeah... they look scary, but they're helpful. I always try to trap them and let them outside when I find them.

[But he listens to Fuu's thoughts, nodding slowly.]

I never thought of it that way, but... it does make you wonder, doesn't it? All of the imPort cities could have popped into existence like this and we'd never know. Even if they've been around for years, it could be a situation like this, where they just appeared one day and all of the natives acted like they'd been there all along.

[He shudders slightly.]

As if these people haven't been through enough. Having their memories and history meddled with...

[monster_san]

Exactly. And where did the people here come from?

[The people walking about Jeopardy's streets seem real enough, going about their business with all the contentment or agitation or apathy that you would expect from any normal citydwellers. But what if they are transplants too? They could be from another dimension, or they could be from different parts of this Earth.

She nods in agreement with Alphonse's shudder of horror.]

It's not easy to be an imPort--I know people who have found and made good things for themselves here, but none of it is voluntary--but it isn't any easier for the natives of this Earth. They're at the whims of whatever strangeness and danger that springs up around us.

It's not right that we're blamed, sometimes, but I can understand why we're the focus of their anger.

[sonofgold]

Yeah. That's a lot of people to just pop up out of nowhere. And they're the same as the natives in other cities, right? They've acted like they've always been here. It's not like they were relocated from elsewhere in this world- that's too many people to disappear for it to not be noticed. Whatever force or mind control is behind this can't be THAT powerful.

[He shoots a glance at the nearest spider priestess, who seems to be weighing whether or not to approach these two new strangers.]

I agree. It's why I've tried to work with them- get them to see us in a more positive light. Like we're all on the same team. Of course, that's hard when even fellow imPorts don't trust us, and... well, you know what happened at that last swear-in. It feels like the universe is against us sometimes.