i_am_not_cute | ⚡ 9th zap

[Early in the morning, Pao-Lin returns from her mission, exhausted but itching to get back to normal (Luceti) life. Two weeks just for combat testing? What the hell was that about? She's a pretty fit girl, and there'd been two days of break in the middle of it all, but some of the things the Malnosso made her do strained even her. Which, she supposes, was the point of it all, but it still sucked. She's so very glad to be back in the village, with friends and good food and her own apartment, and when she gets back to said apartment she sits on her couch with some snacks and her journal to check what she missed. There's going to be a lot to go through, but after being up and about nearly nonstop the past two weeks, Pao-Lin doesn't mind sitting still for a while, so sit still she does, eagerly flipping through the pages.

The eagerness quickly fades when she comes across Ginia's journal post not two days before, declaring the departure of one Rupert Giles. The announcement unsettles Pao-Lin: Giles was one of the first people she'd met in Luceti, someone who seemed like he'd always been around and always would be. Although the two hadn't been that close, she'd liked him a lot and they'd experienced quite a few things together. To have him just suddenly be gone...

With unease burning in her throat, Pao-Lin continues perusing past entries. Seems like some sort of experiment happened while she was away...not that anyone seems to remember what happened then. (Perhaps for the better? She's certainly glad she missed out on things.) There's an announcement from the Malnosso about the missions, and --

Toph. Toph is gone, too.

Her heart thuds against her chest, tripping over the news. She has to take a moment to catch her breath so she can process things. How could this happen? Pao-Lin wonders. Weren't she and Toph supposed to become even better friends in Luceti in the future? They couldn't do that if she were gone! Were Toph's future memories really just fake ones created by the Malnosso, then? In other circumstances, Pao-Lin's innate optimism would take over and reassure her that maybe Toph, like Luca, would come back eventually. She'd have to, if they were going to be much closer later on. But Pao-Lin's tired from her mission, and barely recovered from learning about Giles' departure, so she's not bouncing back into shape as easily as she should.

The final blow comes when she finds Mia's voicepost about Amiti being sent home. After that, Pao-Lin doesn't even bother checking the rest of the entries.

Three friends, gone within two weeks. She didn't even get to say goodbye to any of them properly. And none of them had even known she was gone, either: by the time she'd actually found the mission summons in her journal, Pao-Lin had to report in. There was only enough time for a quick message to Luca letting him know that their drawing lessons were temporarily on hold, and then she had to get ready and head out, more concerned with what she'd have to do on this mission than about losing friends in the meantime. It's not like the girl has any shortage of them in Luceti, but they're still all dear to her, seeing how few she's had in her life prior to this.

Pao-Lin slowly closes her journal and sets it on a nearby coffee table, next to her forgotten snacks. She lies down on the couch, clutches a pillow to her chest, and silently cries a little.]

***

[Once she's pulled herself together sufficiently enough, Pao-Lin heads out into Luceti to go about her day. Despite having spent most of the past two weeks involved in strenuous physical activity, she'll still go through her kung fu forms by the river, though her movements won't be as spirited or as focused as they usually are. She'll take her main meals at Seventh Heaven, but she'll drop by the bakery for some pocket food before wandering aimlessly through the streets, not going anywhere in particular but not wanting to stay at home and brood, either. At night she can be found at Good Spirits, staring morosely at a melting milkshake. If approached at any point, she'll put on the brightest smile she can, but at this moment the brightness will be less like sunshine and more like a flickering lightbulb.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[As Atsuro makes his way around the plaza, he happens to spot a familiar face! One that he hasn't seen in a couple of weeks, at that. So he walks on over to the girl and waves as excitedly as ever. It hasn't really occurred to him that something is very off about her but... he'll soon figure that out, probably.]

Hey, Pao-lin!

[Pao-Lin glances up, blinking confusedly at the sound of her name, as though she has to mentally confirm that, yes, it's her name. She gives a big smile, but it seems slightly forced. (She is genuinely happy to see a familiar face again, though.]

Hi, Atsuro. How've you been?

[Hmm. Strange..]

I've been well. Just hanging around as usual. How about you? I haven't seen you around in a while.

Yeah...the Malnosso called me for a mission about two weeks ago, and I just got back from it.

Oh really? How was it?

It was all right. Just boring and tiring. It was for combat testing, so I had to do a lot of simulations and stuff almost every day. [She yawns.] They let us have two days off in the middle of things, but still.

It sure does sound tiring. At least you got to have a small break though, I guess.

[..hm.] They took you outside of the barrier, right? Do you happen to know how they did that..?

[She shakes her head.]

It was kind of like with the drafts, if you've ever been on one of those. You just go down to the tunnels and they teleport you to wherever you're supposed to go.

Nah, I haven't been on one. [Yet, anyway.] Kou's been on a couple of them though, I think. Luke said the same thing though... Man.. [And here he was hoping he could find some way out of the barrier..! Ah well. Back to the drawing board.]

But hey, at least you're back now, so I guess I should say 'welcome back!'

Hehe, thanks. It's good to be back. [Even with the bad news that she'd come home to.] Did I miss anything interesting?

No problem! And not in particular, I think.. [He's not sure exactly how long she's been gone, anyway..]

I see... [Wait, now she remembers something.] Oh, I saw people were talking on the journals about forgetting something this past weekend, or something like that. Do you know if that was an experiment? [It really couldn't have been anything else, but...]

[Oh. There's something she missed then..!] You know, I really have no idea. I don't remember anything from it at all, so... but I guess it couldn't have been anything but an experiment. It was probably a good thing that you missed that. [At least she doesn't have to be completely confused by it..]

Yeah, no kidding. I hope it wasn't anything too bad, though... [She frowns.] It couldn't be worse than one we had around Halloween, ugh. [Don't tempt fate, Pao-Lin.]

Halloween? [Wait.. he heard about that...] Is that when the moon fell?

Yeah. There was some stuff going on with weird masks, too -- they were making people act weird. [It wasn't just the people wearing the masks, either: she got yandere-hugged by Amiti, but she almost attacked Giles entirely of her own volition, too.]

Masks? I didn't hear about those before... That sounds kind of crazy though. [Then again, all the experiments do...]

Aside from that though, is anything up? You seemed a little preoccupied before.

Ah, n-nothing! I was just...just thinking about my mission, that's all. It was kinda interesting being out of Luceti when it wasn't for a draft.

[Suspicious.]

You sure? [..] ..Well, I guess I'd feel the same way if I was just on a mission. It does sound kind of interesting, after all.

Well, it's kind of like traveling, right? I never got to do much traveling when I was at home, so...

⚡ 9th zap | action ⚡

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