2018-01-02: A Globe, with Sides
- Log: A Globe, with Sides
- Cast: Riesenlied, Jacqueline Barber
- Where: The CaraKin
- Date: 2nd January 2018
- Summary: Odjn talks to Jacqueline about how to have a challenging conversation with someone you care about. ... and demolishes a Saucery Globe in the meantime, with sides.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
After the rather harrowing trip to the Sacred Grounds, Riesenlied has come back with the CaraKin to recuperate, though at some point, her fatigue had overtaken her and she's wound up taking a nap in what I can assume is one of the guest rooms...
... though it doesn't stop her fondly rotund companion from having the energy to just go ham on a Saucery Globe with a prowess that can be described as somewhere between 'phenomenal' and 'profoundly terrifying'. "Oh, hmm, gosh, urgg, I'm alive again...!" Odjn exclaims with crumbs and grease on her mouth. "You guys are the best!"
Somewhere, Lunata is maybe, maybe just a little glad that they have a black hole where spare MREs can go off to...
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
It had been an exhausting trip for everyone...but Jacqueline knew if she tried to rest now, her dreams would be filled only with unpleasant things. It was for the best that she stayed awake, and with Odjn here things were bound not to be dull.
Jacqueline watches in a mix of awe and terror as Odjn tears into the Saucery Globe. She's never seen someone reduce it so quickly...it was almost frightening.
"I'm glad we could help...don't overdo it now, though!" Jacqueline says. She didn't want Odjn to get sick afterward...and to that end she slides over a beverage to help Odjn in her noble quest.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Odjn grabs the milkshake and slurps it down with prodigious proficiency, glug glug! "Aaaah... I'm in heaven right now... can't believe I just went ahead and chugged that nasty stuff down like that but--" she huffs. "You know Riese was just gonna throw herself first in line otherwise."
She makes a little face for a moment, before awkwardly pawing herself with a napkin. It's of limited effect. "You doin' okay, Jay? I know you take a lot of things hard yerself..."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline chuckles as she watches, though her gaze is soon drawn upwards to the sky when Odjn brings up Riesenlied.
"...I know she would've. Without hesitation." She replies with a sigh, massaging her forehead. "I'm sorry you had to do that. I...I wasn't thinking straight. I should've tried counteracting it with a potion...or taking some with me, and seeing if I couldn't figure out a way to reverse it..."
She glances toward Odjn with a sheepish smile. She knows the little dragon has her number.
"I'm...recovering, at least. It helps to have something to take my mind off of it..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Odjn's little ears perk up at that, with a grin as she says, "I could always sing you a little ditty like old times. ... man, it feels like it's been ages since then." She shifts a little uncomfortably. "I remember ridin' on your wagon on that horse you never named... Riese was pretty much a different person then too."
A pause, as she waggles her little finger with a cheeky grin. "Y'know Riese always said you're an inspiration for her? Before we crossed the ocean, we never had to really deal with people the same way in Adlehyde. So she was super nervous about what she should act like..."
She bobs her head. "I think seein' how you act and the way you interact with people... it really helped convince her it was okay, y'know?"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"It does, doesn't it...? So much has happened in such a short amount of time..." Jacqueline comments, her eyes finding the sky again. She remembers that day, too. Things seemed so...simple, back then. She thought she understood everything, she thought she knew what the world was like...
But that day taught her how wrong she was.
Before she can dwell on that thought further, Odjn says something that gets her attention.
"...She does...?" Jacqueline says, surprised. She stares at her a moment, quietly.
"I...I didn't know. She's been an inspiration for me, too. I...if I never met her, I don't think I'd be the person I am today." She says, shaking her head slightly.
"Despite all our differences, and everything that has happened, she reaches out to people. She...before I met her, I don't think I would've believed that there could be a touch of...humanity, so to speak, to the Hyadean people." She says.
"And it made me think...that maybe there were other things I was wrong about. People like Miss Neriah and Miss Iskandra...people think they're monsters because of something inside them they can barely control. If it weren't for Riesenlied, I don't know if I would've been capable of extending a hand to them..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Odjn lets out a bristling little cackle as Jacqueline expresses her surprise. "Well, Riese back then... y'know, she's got a fluffy cucco inside, but she always feels she has to put up an appropriate front for all the different kinds of people she deals with. Stern and tough for the smelly elders back at the Photosphere, inspiring for the people down below, invincible for the troops she led... and y'should've seen her fretting about how to carry herself like a Drifter!"
She bobbles for a moment, peeking behind to make sure Riese is still asleep and she isn't about to get into trouble for tattling.
"'m glad to hear, though... you're both learnin' and givin' each other a lot to model on. I think she's a lot more genuine nowadays. Has to worry a whole lot less about steppin' on eggshells. Y'know?"
She fidgets, her tail flipping back and forth. "Um, but... it comes with trouble too... and-- I haven't really ever had to have a tough conversation with Riese, y'know?"
She gawks with those big eyes of hers as she looks at Jay. "How do you have a tough conversation with someone...?"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I think we all do that, from time to time." Jacqueline agrees with a nod, and a slight chuckle. "The 'me' people see when I'm managing the store, the 'me' they see during an expedition...the 'me' my friends see when I'm alone with them...they're all very different."
She watches Odjn for a moment, as she glances back.
"...That's good. I'm glad to hear that she's more able to be herself." She says...then goes quiet, when it becomes clear that Odjn's leading up to something. She watches her quietly for a moment and looks away, thinking on it.
'How do you have a tough conversation with someone...?'
"It can be...difficult, sometimes. When you have conflicting positions, or one that might be somewhat...controversial. The only thing you can do is try. If you leave it unsaid, it'll only grow and weigh on your mind, until it comes out at moment that may be...inopportune." She says, then offers her a reassuring smile.
"...But, as long as it's coming from a place of love and concern, I'm sure they'll understand. That's no guarantee they'll see things your way, of course, or that it'll even go the way you want, but...as I said, the only thing you can do is try."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Hmm...." Odjn furrows her brow, her tail wapping back and forth a little as is usually the case when she's a bit antsy. "I mean, of course I'm comin' from a place of love 'n concern, but..."
She swallows. "I think... I think Riese's hurtin' herself, with that thing she uses? That little gem that sparkles with all the colors of the rainbow?"
The little dragon munches on a piece of bread -- yes, she has sides with her Saucery Globe, the horror -- and goes, "I heard it's made out of -- herself. Like, the light that spreads around her is... a piece of herself? Frozen into some kind of crystal. I don't really know all the science behind it... but... I can kinda feel herself spreadin' a bit thinner when she uses it."
She sulks for a moment. "But... Riese's lookin' so happy to be reachin' out to all kinds of things she can't before... how do I say 'you're hurtin' yourself, Riese!' to her, you know? It's tough. I've never done this kinda thing before!"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline stares at Odjn, somewhat surprised. She...hadn't considered that before. She hadn't given much though to that gem that Riesenlied carried, the gem that allowed her to reach out and connect with people...she had just thought it was a new power Riesenlied possessed.
"It's...a piece of herself...?" Jacqueline replies quietly. And...using it was hurting her. Spreading her thinner. Jacqueline folds her arms in front of her and stares down at the counter, her expression darkening somewhat. She's quiet for a moment before she looks back at Odjn.
"...Does she know? Does she know what it's doing to her...?" She asks.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"... I've never heard her say she does or anything, but... y'know, I'm even more scared if she did know and she just can't turn away from it?" Odjn mumbles. "Apparently it started happenin' to her after she ran into that Guardian at the desert temple. Eek-quits or something? I'm butcherin' the name. Somethin' about the way the Guardian's power reacted to her body..."
Odjn sags just a little more. "But y'know... she's long talked about how much she wished she could talk to the Guardians. Hear their viewpoint... so I'm kinda scared she'll be stubborn and not listen t'me."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Ah...Equites." Jacqueline comments with a nod. So, that's when it all started...it seemed that meeting was responsible for much. She leans back quietly, arms folded in front of her.
That power...it seemed to be what Riesenlied wanted most. How cruel, that it would come at the cost of herself...
"There must be...other methods to communicate with the Guardians. Other methods to reach out to what she couldn't before..." Jacqueline murmurs.
"...I know. It's frightening...having to tell someone something they may not want to hear. I don't think there's anything more I can tell you that I haven't said. Just...be sincere, and make sure she knows what it's doing to the people who care about and rely on her." She says. "And...if you want, though I'd understand if you'd prefer to do it alone, I could go with you, to offer some support..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"... yeah... I think there must be a way! That's what we're all about, finding better ways!" Odjn claps at her cheeks and puffs herself up. "And, thanks, Jay..." She bobbles over and-- stops herself, wiping herself off again before giving the alchemist a biiig hug. Or, at least, as big as a foot-tall mascot like herself can manage!
"I might getcha to help give her the talkin'... maybe get Noe too, since I know she lectures her about how she goes overboard all the time."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Exactly." Jacqueline agrees with a nod. She can't help but smile as Odjn goes over to her to give her a hug, which Jacqueline readily returns...and she can't help but chuckle, when Odjn brings up Noeline.
"I can certainly imagine that... But yes, whatever happens, I think she has a right to be involved." She agrees.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"It's settled then! And now-- time for round two!" Odjn pumps her hands as she raises her hands to go, "Another Globe please!" W-what?!?!
Lunata peeks from behind the corner where she's been hiding to mumble, "There isn't enough food on the CaraKin to make a second one... ... ..."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline sends Lunata an apologetic glance. Sometimes, being a friend was costly indeed...