maskormenacelogs | (no subject)

WHO: Fuu Hououji and you
WHERE: Heropa & Nonah
WHEN: Throughout August
WHAT: Fuu is out and about in the summer!
WARNINGS: None.

Heropa and Nonah, out'n'about
[In the run-up to the school year starting again, Fuu wants to get in as much of her actual job as she can... that is, writing video game reviews for a man who takes editing a teen entertainment magazine way more seriously than any one person possibly should.

So she's wandering around the arcades (the lovely air-conditioned arcades) and outside; if you're at a game or playing a game or if you're even concentrating on your phone a little too hard, you might find her looking over your shoulder.]

At the beach

[August is a time for swimming! Or, if you're Fuu, finding some less crowded areas of Florida beach to do a little magic practice. Today she's seeing how much sand she can pick up with her Binding Winds spell and how fine a blade she can shape with her Emerald Typhoon. Though keeping in mind the setting, she keeps it more to an Emerald Light Breeze.

She notices that even modest displays of magic seem to be clearing the beach more than they ought, and sighs at the suspicious looks being aimed at her. This hadn't happened in June.]

Oh dear. It seems I'm still being viewed as a witch.

It's not easy being green (St. Walker)

[Well, it's been a couple of months now since that incident where people were living out altered lives. That's long enough for it not to be so awkward anymore, right?

So she'll head over to Walker's house and ring the doorbell--she's got a few treats that the woman at the animal rehab place told her would suit an opossum, and for Walker himself, some tea. ~~Earl Grey. Hot.~~

???

[Got another idea or want one? Drop me a line!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Within the arcade, a crowd has gathered around one of the descending claw machines, notable in that it's predominantly small children, many of whom are hugging stuffed critters of the type within the machine to themselves.

A closer look will reveal the reason - perched atop a stepstool, a look of joyful concentration on his face, Malms is systematically emptying the machine. He doesn't seem interested in the prizes themselves, tossing them to kids particularly excited about one particular character or another without a second thought before feeding more tokens into the machine once again.]

[Fuu takes note of the children congregating around the claw machine, but she can't see who it is that's so methodically fetching things out of it.

She finally spots him when she politely nudges her way through the crowd of children and sees someone familiar, who isn't one.]

Oh my, Mr. Vovokosi! I had no idea you were such an expert at this game.

[Having successfully captured another prize, Malms looks up to see who's talking to him. He grins up sheepishly at her, still a foot shorter even with the stool.]

Oh, hello! I saw something I recognized in here, and I... may have gotten a bit carried away. There was a game very like this, the Moogle's Claw, at the Gold Saucer back home - I'd generally play a round or two anytime I passed through, and give the prize to the next child I met who seemed like they could use a gift.

[Fuu leans over the largely emptied stock of stuffed animals.]

Judging by the practice you've made on this, am I right in guessing that the Moogle's Claw is a little more difficult than this ordinary metal one? [She taps on the plastic.] It's certainly made you quite popular around here!

[though she wonders if he'll be so popular with the owner of the arcade.]

Well, none of the prizes here move of their own volition, so that certainly makes things simpler.

[Malms smiles at the gathering of children.]

It reminds me of home - in Mor Dhona, where the organization I was part of was based, there was a group of children, refugees from Doma, who'd seen me and my fellow adventurers passing through, and so decided to organize their own Adventurers' Guild.

[They move? Well. given what he's said about some of the things in his world, that is not altogether strange to learn.]

Mr. Arcademaster my need to step up the game in consideration of us imPorts. [Her smile softens, though. That sounds absolutely adorable.] Sort of like a band of Junior Adventurers? What kind of adventures did they get up to?

They actually managed to stop a gang of thieves from making off with a rare grimoire, with only a very little assistance from me.

[The Lalafell smiles, remembering the adventure.]

After that, Slafborn, the head of the actual Adventurers' Guild there, took them under his wing and kept them occupied and out of too much trouble.

Children will find some trouble regardless, of course, and the fact that I suspect about half of them are being trained in the arts of the shinobi contributes to that, but I know they're being watched out for.

Oh, good for them! Dangerous, but good for them. [really the idea of children confronting ruffians alarms her, but their childhood sounds much rougher than hers in every way.] That's very impressive, but I'm glad that they have someone looking out for them... and redirecting their energies from gangs of thieves.

[not that they'd like to hear that themselves, she suspects.]

I suppose they'll be very well-equipped to deal with the world when they grow up, though... especially if they're being trained as shinobi.

Oh, I handled the parts that had the potential to be dangerous - they just tracked down and confirmed the thieves had the book. But I won't deny I was glad to have Slafborn working to keep them occupied after that. They'd already seen enough of the cruelty the world has to offer, fleeing from the Garleans across the sea to Eorzea. They deserved the chance to just be children.

[Malms glances back at the gathered children, now starting to disperse as the flow of toys seems to have dried up.]

All children deserve that, really. But even we Warriors of Light couldn't help all of them...

[Sad... there are children like that in her own world, and in this one, and probably in every world in the multiverse. There may always be, Fuu thinks, and it won't ever not be terrible. It's not that anybody should fear for their lives but children... especially not them.]

It's hard. There are too many terrible things that can happen in any world. Usually things started by adults, like war. [She sighs.] If you've helped even a few of them, you've done immeasurable good. But it must be hard to think of the ones you couldn't.

I can only hope that it won't all be in vain...

[He hops down from the stool, the mood for playing the game gone as he remembers just how high the stakes he fought for were. He looks up at Fuu, considering.]

Have you ever had to give up something you wanted, in order to obtain something you needed?

I hope that as well, but I think if there are others like you and Sir Slafborn, your chances are good.

[Good intentions don't fix everything and oh how she knows it, but it's better to have people working towards good than not.

She considers his question. If stretched to a point, maybe--giving up an irretrievable part of herself to save a world. But that would be from a certain point of view, and moreover, she doesn't really want to speak of it more than she has to.]

Only on a very small scale... nothing that would be considered a great sacrifice.

[but she suspects that Mr. Vovokosi is going to explain such a story from his own life.]