⚡ 15th zap | video/action ✼ back-dated to the 27th ⚡

[i_am_not_cute]

[In the late morning hours, the face of an androgynous-looking girl appears over the journals. Despite the bruises and scratches marring her face and exhaustion weighing down her eyelids just a tad, she's smiling brightly at the camera from somewhere outdoors. She does sound distracted, though.]

Hey, everyone! I guess I'm here again. Geez, I wonder how long it's been...

[She doesn't specifically remember what her last month here was. All she has is a general impression that it was chilly then, which is no help.]

Maybe it's been so long that no one here knows me anymore, huh? In that case: my name's Pao-Lin and it's nice to meet you! Hope things have gotten better since I left.

[The cheer fades from her countenance a little as thoughts of elsewhere stain her slowly returning memories of Luceti. She shivers a little, though that's related more to the cold than to her mental tangles.]

Well, I'm gonna go get some clothes. I'll be in the plaza if anyone wants to talk. I really wanna see everyone again!

[She really hopes that there's at least one of her old friends around. Normally she'd be okay with being by herself, but...not right now.]

***

[After Pao-Lin finds clothes more suited to the cold, she shuffles to the clinic to get her injuries checked out and properly treated if need be. Once that's dealt with, she visits Seventh Heaven to answer any replies she might have received while wandering around. (And to get a couple of bites to eat, of course.) Finally, she'll check that her old apartment at CH7 -- whoops, the Heart Building -- is still free. (Whoah, there's an elevator now?! Thank goodness. After the beatdown she received while fighting that old NEXT geezer, she really doesn't feel like walking any more than she has to.)]

Comments

Video

[the_dead_pool2]

I have no clue who you are.

[Just kind of a raised eyebrow visibly beneath the mask]

Video

[i_am_not_cute]

[Well, that's what the re-introduction is for, you silly goose.]

Ahaha, I don't think we've met before, either! But I don't mind making new friends.

[PAO-LIN ARE YOU SURE YOU WANNA BE FRIENDS WITH THIS GUY...]

Video

[the_dead_pool2]

[Well the benefit of her not knowing who he is means... well that she would actually might want to be friends.]

Well having a young teenage girl hang around is sort of Wolverine's shtick. You have any relevant skills? Martial arts, combat, high tech knowledge, magic, weaponry, tactics?

[Are you seriously interviewing her? What the hell is wrong with you? If I start listing all of that off, that would be way weirder.]

Video

[i_am_not_cute]

[Ignorance is bliss and all that. Which is why Pao-Lin doesn't (immediately) question the rest of Deadpool's comment.]

Well, I know kung fu, and I can generate electricity from my body...

[Kung fu fighting human Pikachu. This is who you are interviewing.]

[wildkotetsu]

[!!!]

Oi, oi — Pao-Lin!! [It's still weird to not say Dragon Kid all the time, but at least they'd gotten to this point now. Totally first-name buddies.] You look different! Your hair's shorter. Did you get gum in it or something?

[... The most important way to re-introduce yourself to your pal.]

[i_am_not_cute]

[Clearly the most important.]

I -- no, my hair's been like this since --

[Hold up.]

Wait. Have you been here all this time? Since I left, I mean?

[wildkotetsu]

... Sort of?

[He rubs the back of his head, grinning a bit more bashfully now.

Stupid oyaji.]

I thought I never left, anyway. You left before me, and then I guess I vanished for a while myself. Doesn't feel like any time passed, though; had to hear from everyone else that I'd even left in the first place.

[It was a confusing time.]

[i_am_not_cute]

[It's confusing for Pao-Lin to hear, too.]

Really? That's super weird... is there a shift going on?

[wildkotetsu]

Nah — nothing like that.

I don't think, anyway.

Think I just went home and only had a second of time pass there, or something. Went home but can't remember anything else happening there, you know? But maybe me showing back up could be a shift or somethin', because a lot of old faces came back at once.

[i_am_a_tiny_god]

[Idly, Pao-Lin wonders who's included in those old faces. But she'll figure that out later.]

Well, a couple of months have passed for me since I came back to Sternbild, I think. I cut my hair 'cause the bangs were getting in the way of fighting.

[She'd been using the hairpin to hold it back, but said hairpin wasn't much use when it got knocked from her head.]

[wildkotetsu]

Aaaa. This place is ridiculous with time. One of these days you're gonna turn around and I'll show up all gray-haired with a cane! [THE HORROR, THE COMPLETE HORROR.] It's pretty smart of you, though. Gettin' hurt because you get hair in your face would be pretty crappy, naa?

[i_am_not_cute]

[God save us from Grandpatetsu.

Pao-Lin glances upwards and to the side briefly.]

Yeah...I actually almost lost my hairpin because of it. I was using it to hold my hair back but then a criminal knocked it off when I was trying to arrest him.

[It was lucky that Karina was there to save her bacon with a well-timed icicle.]

[wildkotetsu]

It's good that you didn't lose it, at least... your parents probably would've been pretty sad...

Aa, then you're still doing your usual, huh? Dragon Kid in action! How's everyone else doing?

[TELL HIM ALL HE HAS MISSED, PAO-LIN.]

[i_am_not_cute]

[Aside from the fact that Pao-Lin was just pulled from a point in which Nathan and Karina were getting the shit kicked out of them by some geezer and also Kotetsu and Barnaby are still divorced?]

Ah -- pretty good, I guess. Barnaby's at the top like always! And I've started sparring with Origami to help him out.

[wildkotetsu]

That's good! Barnaby bein' at the top, I mean. He's a pretty great hero, and all. Learned from one of the oldschool heroes, too. [He grins like a dope, though his expression softens a bit.] S'good to hear, that everyone's doing alright. I'm usually pretty behind on this stuff while I'm here.

[A-ahaha.]

Seen my daughter lately, too? Where you're from?

Video

[windandrain]

Pao-Lin?!

[There's an audible squeak of excitement in the background, and the sound of a dog barking.]

You're back!

Video

[i_am_not_cute]

Saori! I'm so glad you're still here!



Er, I didn't mean it like that...

Video

[windandrain]

Oh don't worry, I'm happy to see you too.

[She is a lot less angry about confinement, really. She's had 3 years, she's adjusted.]

Video

[i_am_not_cute]

How long has it been since I left?

Video

[windandrain]

Two years...maybe? I don't remember dates well.

Video

[i_am_not_cute]

[That's okay, Pao-Lin's bad with dates too.]

Wow! I really must've missed a lot then, huh?

Video

[windandrain]

Yes. Yes you have. More than a lot. Honestly, more than I think would be right explaining on the network.

Can I come meet you? I'd feel better doing that.

Video

[i_am_not_cute]

[She nods.]

I'm at Seventh Heaven, in the back.

Video

[windandrain]

Then I'll be there shortly.

[She had already guessed. The tiny god demanded tribute, after all.

And a few minutes later Saori wanders in, looking around for a mountain of empty dishes...or something that might point her towards Pao-Lin.]

Action

[i_am_not_cute]

[Saori probably might not spot Pao-Lin at first, because there's a waiter standing in front of her table trying desperately to clear her pile of empty dishes in one trip. Once the waiter is gone, though, Pao-Lin spots Saori and waves her hand in the air to catch her attention.]