Far away, long ago, glowing dim as an ember... [OPEN]
Characters: YukimiBotamon!Ari... and anyone who happens by her.
Date/Time: November 7, early-ish afternoon.
Location: Where Section 1 Housing once stood.
Rating: PG to be safe - for now, it all depends on who shows up.
Summary: It looks like Ari ended up with a familiar, too, and since she has someone to watch her back, the two of them have managed to sneak out of Temporary Housing for a little personal errand.
------
A little white ball of fluff bounced after a black rat through the Sphere's streets on the way to where the former was fairly sure Section 1 Housing used to be, the rat grabbing a rolled-up scrap of journal paper between his teeth, just in case.
So many people had animal companions with them as well, just another happening in the Sphere, apparently. Cats, birds, dogs, rabbits, you name it.
Ari wasn't sure she even normally liked rats.
But she definitely liked this one, who she'd woken up a foot away from this morning, and she wasn't sure Cara or Sailormoon had even noticed him. If they had, clearly they hadn't minded, and Ari... well, anything the Sphere sprung on its inhabitants was dubious to a degree, and it occurred to her she was being hasty, but he'd grown on her. She found something comforting about his reserved, polite manner, not to mention his soothing voice. She trusted him already. And he seemed to trust her as well. After all, she'd seen an opportunity to get out of the house without being noticed, and she'd been wanting one since she'd been reborn. He hadn't tried to talk her out of it, and having him with her meant she had someone to look out for her. Someone who did basically have hands, rats are pretty dextrous...
They stopped at their most hopeful destination, and as he started rummaging around, she let her mind wander a bit. Maybe he should have some kind of a name? "Shadow" came to mind - she flashed back to her dream momentarily and shuddered a bit with a squeak - but no, that seemed a bit... cliche. Maybe he'd just have to be "Rat" for now. There were plenty of animals in the world that didn't have more "proper" names. The idea of him being fine just being Rat, what he was, seemed natural to her. She'd have to ask him...
"Is this it?"
She bounced over to where he was pointing at something lodged in the ground. A charred wooden box.
"Yes, I think it is!" she answered. Right where she'd been burying it whenever she didn't need its contents before the fire. Or so she assumed. It's not like the exact spot behind the building could be pinpointed anymore.
Rat dug at its sides until he could yank it out of the ground, then pulled it open.
Inside was her stamp set.
The two took out each stamp, one by one, checking them and their inkpads over. Most of them had been ruined. Either the rubber had melted away, the corresponding inkpad had been dried out, or both.
But...
"This was 'your' stamp, correct?" Rat asked, holding up her favorite one - the starburst-shaped one that she was pretty sure was called "Hikari", perfectly in tact.
"That's it," she said, smiling.
He smiled back, pressing it down into the pink pad, then onto the unrolled scrap of paper, leaving a clear print. "I'm afraid this is the only one in usable condition."
"That's fine! It would've been a little difficult for us to bring the entire box back home, wouldn't it?" They laughed for a couple seconds. "Thank you."
Their work out here was done for the time being. They'd go back home with the stamp like they hadn't been out...
Unless Cara and Sailormoon had noticed she was gone after all. Well, that's what the journal paper was for.
In a minute, Rat was pressing his paws into the inkpad and fingerpainting a dictated message from Ari in hot pink, a little white legless baby animal and her similarly-sized familiar sitting out in the open...
Date/Time: November 7, early-ish afternoon.
Location: Where Section 1 Housing once stood.
Rating: PG to be safe - for now, it all depends on who shows up.
Summary: It looks like Ari ended up with a familiar, too, and since she has someone to watch her back, the two of them have managed to sneak out of Temporary Housing for a little personal errand.
------
A little white ball of fluff bounced after a black rat through the Sphere's streets on the way to where the former was fairly sure Section 1 Housing used to be, the rat grabbing a rolled-up scrap of journal paper between his teeth, just in case.
So many people had animal companions with them as well, just another happening in the Sphere, apparently. Cats, birds, dogs, rabbits, you name it.
Ari wasn't sure she even normally liked rats.
But she definitely liked this one, who she'd woken up a foot away from this morning, and she wasn't sure Cara or Sailormoon had even noticed him. If they had, clearly they hadn't minded, and Ari... well, anything the Sphere sprung on its inhabitants was dubious to a degree, and it occurred to her she was being hasty, but he'd grown on her. She found something comforting about his reserved, polite manner, not to mention his soothing voice. She trusted him already. And he seemed to trust her as well. After all, she'd seen an opportunity to get out of the house without being noticed, and she'd been wanting one since she'd been reborn. He hadn't tried to talk her out of it, and having him with her meant she had someone to look out for her. Someone who did basically have hands, rats are pretty dextrous...
They stopped at their most hopeful destination, and as he started rummaging around, she let her mind wander a bit. Maybe he should have some kind of a name? "Shadow" came to mind - she flashed back to her dream momentarily and shuddered a bit with a squeak - but no, that seemed a bit... cliche. Maybe he'd just have to be "Rat" for now. There were plenty of animals in the world that didn't have more "proper" names. The idea of him being fine just being Rat, what he was, seemed natural to her. She'd have to ask him...
"Is this it?"
She bounced over to where he was pointing at something lodged in the ground. A charred wooden box.
"Yes, I think it is!" she answered. Right where she'd been burying it whenever she didn't need its contents before the fire. Or so she assumed. It's not like the exact spot behind the building could be pinpointed anymore.
Rat dug at its sides until he could yank it out of the ground, then pulled it open.
Inside was her stamp set.
The two took out each stamp, one by one, checking them and their inkpads over. Most of them had been ruined. Either the rubber had melted away, the corresponding inkpad had been dried out, or both.
But...
"This was 'your' stamp, correct?" Rat asked, holding up her favorite one - the starburst-shaped one that she was pretty sure was called "Hikari", perfectly in tact.
"That's it," she said, smiling.
He smiled back, pressing it down into the pink pad, then onto the unrolled scrap of paper, leaving a clear print. "I'm afraid this is the only one in usable condition."
"That's fine! It would've been a little difficult for us to bring the entire box back home, wouldn't it?" They laughed for a couple seconds. "Thank you."
Their work out here was done for the time being. They'd go back home with the stamp like they hadn't been out...
Unless Cara and Sailormoon had noticed she was gone after all. Well, that's what the journal paper was for.
In a minute, Rat was pressing his paws into the inkpad and fingerpainting a dictated message from Ari in hot pink, a little white legless baby animal and her similarly-sized familiar sitting out in the open...