Mission: Building the Future in Pagoda

[lucetimods]

Who: Anyone who volunteered
What: A very special mission that will fill you with a youthly sense of purpose. Or something.
When: July 20th - July 24th
Where: The enclosure of Pagoda
Summary: Mission detailed here. There are survivors to help and buildings to repair, and plenty more to keep the volunteers on their toes.
Rating: PG-13 for reasons

Direct further questions here!

Comments

[rashness]

[ You all are such jerks! She was a jerk, that girl was a jerk, and that guy was a jerk! Hopefully they are having fun with Pilouette... but for his part he's struggling to get back up onto his feet. He's hoping that he can get up there, but he's getting dirt under his fingers as he balls his fingers into a fist and grits his teeth as he gets up here onto his knees at least. Siiiiugh ugh ]

[ribbonbon]

[Meanwhile, Pilouette is squeaking and shrieking, doing her best to just...not get hit by the ball. Given that Pilouette is...well, Pilouette that's proving a little hard to do. She wonders if they're aiming for her, but...No. She's sure she's just imagining it. It's probably just that she's so bad at the game.

When she notices Rin trying to get up, she stops for a moment to call out to him.]

Hey! Do you need- [She lets out a shrill squeak as she ducks under the ball again.] Do you need help?!

[rashness]

No! I've got this, I'm fine! [ Huff, she should keep her head in the game! He's just going to drag himself to the medical tent! He's got this...! ]

[ribbonbon]

Well...Okay! But try to- [Another shriek as the ball whizzes past her head.] -take it easy for a little bit, okay?!

[With everything going on around them, she's sure it might be a little difficult for him to do that, but...well. Hopefully he will. After a moment, she turns her attention back to the game, hoping that focusing a little more will make it easier.]

[rashness]

[ He might be a little bit bow-legged for a bit, but he manages to get on his feet, get walking, and walk as normally, finally, to make his way back to the medical tent. It still feels sore, but it's normal, right? Still, he can get some water and sit in here. And maybe offer to help... somewhere. But still. He'll go in there and wait for Pilouette to return from playing with the kids, he decides ]

[ribbonbon]

[Well, he's not kept waiting much longer. Before too long, Pilouette enters the medical tent, bit more tired than she was before and sporting a few scrapes and scratches here and there. When she spots Rin, she sits down next to him.]

Feeling better?

[rashness]

[ He's just sitting in a chair. He's not so hurt as to need a bed. Honestly, he's not that hurt at all, it just hurt a lot for a bit there ]

Yeah, I'm fine...

[ Except maybe pride ]

[ribbonbon]

You sure? For coming from such a small kid, that kick looked like it hurt pretty bad.

[She smiles a little. She never thought she would see Rin, of all people, get taken down by a little kid.]

[rashness]

Right?! She was really strong, so it's not like I was cheating!

[ And now he just sounds indignant. Stupid little kids! With their arbitrary rules that say you can't have demon strength! ]

[ribbonbon]

[Pilouette can't help but laugh, just a little bit. She wonders why she worries so much about acting like an adult with someone like Rin around.]

W-Well, I don't think she was that strong and I still think you could have like, dialed it back a little but...yeah, you weren't cheating. [She pauses briefly.] But, you know, even if they got a little mad, I think they were having a lot of fun playing with you. With everything they went through, it's probably good that they were able to argue over something silly like a game for a little bit, you know?

[rashness]

[ Yeah. Rin was going to continue to just be petulant, but put like that he adopts a more sober expression and nods ] That's what I was thinkin'. I was working on the wells, but I saw a lotta younger people looking confused and stuff, so I figured we could play a game.

[ribbonbon]

I think you did a pretty good job of cheering them up. I'm not sure they had quite as much fun playing with me, though.

[After all, shrieking and screaming while dodging a ball doesn't make for a very good game of soccer.]

I bet you're one of those people that's like, really good with kids, right? [Considering the way he acts sometimes maybe he can understand them really well...?]

[rashness]

[ Someone who's good with kids... wait, wait, what's that mean?! His face flushes ups a little and- ] Huh?! What'd make you think that?! Kids can be real jerks, and 'm not that good at it myself?!

[ribbonbon]

I dunno...You're just kind of...big brother-ish sort of, you know? Like, you're always trying to help people out and look out for them.

[Not that she has an older brother of her own, but she's been around enough big brothers to make an educated judgement.]

Like I said. Big Brother-ish. Sort of.

[...Ish.]

1/2

[rashness]

You think so?! [ And he leans forward now, taking ahold of both of her shoulders with a look of manic pride. His eyes are alight the blush hasn't totally faded! But he generally looks like he's on the ball and feeling good about this now. ... So good he is perhaps putting too much pressure on her shoulders. But that's besides the point, because- ]

[rashness]

Well, that's not surprising, [ and that is in contradiction to his first reaction but shut up. He says this smugly as he leans back and tilts his nose up, with pride ] After all. I am a big brother.

[ HEH HEH HEH take that Yukio someone said he was legit. ]

[ribbonbon]

[She's a little surprised when he grabs her shoulders like that, especially with how hard his grip is. Still it's nice to see that his mood has lifted a bit; he just seems so proud of himself. It takes some real effort on Pilouette's part to not laugh, but she can understand what he's feeling.]

That's right, you mentioned you had a brother before...Well, if he has a big brother like you, I think he's pretty lucky.

[After all, even if Rin is kind of a dork sometimes and sort of weird sometimes...and kind of stubborn...he's pretty reliable and he's a good friend. At the end of the day, she knows that she can count on him.]

[rashness]

[ !!!

!!! ] If he shows up here you've gotta tell 'em that!

[ribbonbon]

O-Okay!! Uh, if I ever meet him, I'll tell him! I'll tell him right away! [She's a bit startled by how intense Rin's getting about this.] B-But I'm sure he probably knows...right?

[Not that she knows anything about Rin's brother, but...]

[rashness]

He could be reminded about it! The guy's a real jerk sometimes, you know!

[ But he does call him Nii-san so that's... something... ]

[ribbonbon]

Well, all siblings are kind of jerks and annoying and stuff sometimes. That's what my friends back home said, anyway. Still...I bet it's nice having a brother, right?

[rashness]

Of course it is! ... Probably?! But the guy's always tellin' me the study more and tellin' me to so this and that too! [ But... but he misses him so much here. It's just easier to reflect on it negatively. And it's that, more to whatever frustrations he's voicing here, which makes him clench a fist. ]

[ribbonbon]

...Maybe it's just his way of saying he cares about you.

[Pilouette doesn't have siblings of her own, but she starts to think about her closest friends back home and how they would nag her about little things here and there. As much as she would pout about it, she knew they were usually right.]

Some people are weird like that. You know?

[rashness]

'Course it is! [ But there's bigger problems with Yukio but... no, no. He's much better off not being here. Rin somewhere between groans, growls, and sighs before he closes his eyes and runs a hand over his face ] I mean, we're brothers.

[ribbonbon]

It's like I said, I bet he's really glad to have a brother like you, even if he doesn't say it all the time. Like, even if he did show up here, he probably wouldn't need me to tell him how lucky he is.

[She would hope so, anyway. She doesn't actually know anything about Rin's brother beyond what he's told her. Really, she probably shouldn't assume so much, but...]