[[Backdated to Thursday night]]
When Ionia finally returned to her room on Monday night, Katrina had already been asleep. The wild shock that had lead her to punch Grandpa Falcon and run from him had faded, leaving her feeling numb, empty, and exhausted. She'd entered as quietly as possible so as not to disturb Katrina -- even if her roommate had the sharp sense of a feline, Ionia was small and light enough to move pretty silently when she wanted. Katrina was bound to be a little desensitized to white noise, anyway, given the few occasions Ionia had worked on an invention through the night. She paused when she saw baby Tessie on her bed, adorned with a ribbon and curled around a bag of sweets. It was too dark to read the card and she dared not turn on a light, lest Katrina wake, but her hands shook as she carefully set the candied fruit and the card on her nightstand, then shot Katrina's sleeping form a thankful look. Even if Ionia had robots and Katrina didn't like them... even if Ionia sometimes stayed up very late working on things... even if that black mark was still on the wall where her secret project had exploded... even after all that, she took the time to make a surprise like this?
Ionia wasn't in her pyjamas. She was still in dire need of a bath, and she needed to break another transformation ball if she wanted to wake up human.
She didn't care. She curled up on top of the sheets, Tessie held tightly to her. She only let a few tears escape before she fell asleep.
By the time she woke up on Tuesday, Katrina was gone. She had slept in much too late to make it to her morning classes, and she was burrowed half-underneath Tessie in her tiny pikmin form. It took her a while to squirm her way out, then carefully climb down from the bed and reach the bag of necessities she'd packed for her adventure. She unzipped it with a little effort and squirmed her way inside, resurfacing minutes later with a transformation ball. She had wanted to save it for when she met DJ. Well, there certainly wasn't any reason to save it now. She gave it a solid whack with her leaf, and found herself immediately human once more.
The first thing she did was take a shower. A long one, until the mirror was fogged and the water ran too cold for even a blue pikmin to bear. After that, she dried, dressed, and sat down on her bed, staring at the room around her. When she was a pikmin, it was easier to accept things. A dim, primitive sort of cattle-complacency dwelled in her tiny, immature mind. She'd spent so much time as a human that she'd almost forgotten what it was like. And now... now, she'd sentenced her heart to another 24 hours of the emotional torment humans felt so keenly. She had wanted to be human so she could go to class and apologize to everyone, but... somehow it wasn't as imoprtant anymore.
"He is not real," she whispered. "He is not real."
A part of her knew it would be a bad idea to dwell on it, but she couldn't think of anything else. Now that the shock had worn off, there was nothing to dam the torrent of funny feelings smashing through her tummy. This was worse than when she'd ran away. This was worse than when Petunia had said those horrible things. It was worse than when Mommy and Daddy had fought. Worse than when DJ had left. Not that it even mattered how much that had hurt, right? Because he'd been there all along watching Ionia pine for her first friend. Telling her lies and letting her make a fool of herself and buying her forgiveness with a letter from himself and if he had been there the whole time, then what had been stopping him from playing with her again instead of playing that horrible, unforgivable trick?
Ionia didn't want to leave her room anymore, but suddenly her surroundings seemed just as intolerable as the outside world. Reminders of Grandpa Falcon were all around her. This... this wasn't right. First of all, her bulletin board. Drawings of DJ, of Grandpa Falcon and the Blue Falcon. Carefully and lovingly removed... then ripped into shreds. "You are not important to Ionia anymore." Newspaper clippings about F-Zero races, pictures of cars she'd printed off the computer, drawings of herself with sunglasses and a scarf winning the Grand Prix all on her own. Also ripped. "Ionia does not want to be an F-Zero racer anymore." Next came her workdesk. Physics notes? Gone too. She did not want to be in his class anymore, either. All the parts he'd donated to her when her meagre discarded appliances had proven far too limiting? Gathered up into a box. She would give them to Daddy or the frog boy who liked to invent things, too.
Her top-secret project. Her most ambitious undertaking. Hours of work, puzzling over blueprints, struggling to reverse engineer parts, poring through Google in hopes of stumbling on a site that could magically fill the gaps in her knowledge. Limitless frustration and hurt when it had blown up in her face, and the all-encompassing triumph of making a breaththrough. She had been so close, before repairing F-Zero took priority and she'd run away. She slipped the heavy metal bracer onto one arm, ignoring the half-finished wiring hanging out and flexing her hand. Ionia wants to do a Falcon Punch someday. Ionia will punch a building in half. Ionia will be strong, just like Grandpa Falcon.
Just like Grandpa Falcon. Everything in her life smacked of him. Ionia's hand tensed into a fist, and for a moment, she looked as if she were about to hit something. She relented, however, and lowered her arm, slipping the bracer off. This, too, went into the box of parts to be given away. It had been a stupid dream. Grandpa Falcon had already spoiled the surprise, anyway.
On Wednesday, Ionia ventured out of her dorm. Her transformation ball had worn off, and she hadn't bothered to bring along Clucker, Grounder or F-Zero. Even their company was somehow intolerable to her. Her mind felt clearer now that she was small again. To feel like she had yesterday would be intolerable. She had to look ahead and plan from there.
First of all, she made her way to the Zoology room. With her diminuitive size, the footfalls of the student body were a very real threat. In between classes, she took shelter in the corners, behind trashbins, anywhere that would be safe. She went unnoticed; she had yet to post about her return on her journal, and even then, many of the students had never even seen her as a pikmin. In between classes, when the halls were silent and empty, it was safe for her to make her way to the box of transformation balls outside of the lab. It took some doing, but she was able to climb into the box and fish one out for herself. She had promised to help out at the cafe on Thursday, and a good pikmin kept promises and tried to help.
She was done with being a bad pikmin. A busy pikmin was a good pikmin, and a busy one didn't have time to think about unhappy things. She rolled the transformation ball over to a safe corner and stashed it behind a drink machine. It would be better to take it back to her room, but she had more work to do before the school day was over. The zoology room was not too very far from Leader's classroom, and she'd promised she would bring him something red.
Ionia went outside, next. One of the doors hadn't fully shut; a stick had been kicked into the doorway and was now holding it slightly ajar. It was a little hard to climb over, but at least she could get outside.
By the time the dismissal bell rang, there was a small pile against the wall next to the biology room door. A bright red bottlecap, a tube of cherry chapstick, a flattened can of Coke, a ruddy feather from a robin's breast, a dead ladybug, a crumpled Skittles wrapper. Ionia had not stayed to see if her treasures were noticed or simply swept away by the oblivious feet of departing students; she knew it would take a long time to roll her transformation ball back to the dorm and she wanted to be safely back before the tide of students made navigation perilous.
Thursday was the day of the cafe. She'd had fun with Yoshi and Kirby, and for a moment she'd forgotten all about her troubles. That had only been temporary, though; once she was back in her dorm again, those heavy and unwelcome feelings found her once more. She sat at the computer, picking at a candied fruit slice and reading over her old journal entries. It seemed like she mentioned Grandpa Falcon almost every time she made an entry. His name glared at her mockingly from the list of tags on the side, positively dwarfing all the others.
No good.
Ionia set aside her candy and started typing.
--
ionia is home.
sorry
ionia has decided that ionia does not want to be a big person anymore. ionia is quitting school. there is a box of parts in her room that anybody can have for making things.
daddy can ionia come live on your windowsill again
katrina thank you for the candy and if daddy lets ionia go live with him then ionia hopes your next roommate is quiet and good and has no robots
Ionia wasn't in her pyjamas. She was still in dire need of a bath, and she needed to break another transformation ball if she wanted to wake up human.
She didn't care. She curled up on top of the sheets, Tessie held tightly to her. She only let a few tears escape before she fell asleep.
By the time she woke up on Tuesday, Katrina was gone. She had slept in much too late to make it to her morning classes, and she was burrowed half-underneath Tessie in her tiny pikmin form. It took her a while to squirm her way out, then carefully climb down from the bed and reach the bag of necessities she'd packed for her adventure. She unzipped it with a little effort and squirmed her way inside, resurfacing minutes later with a transformation ball. She had wanted to save it for when she met DJ. Well, there certainly wasn't any reason to save it now. She gave it a solid whack with her leaf, and found herself immediately human once more.
The first thing she did was take a shower. A long one, until the mirror was fogged and the water ran too cold for even a blue pikmin to bear. After that, she dried, dressed, and sat down on her bed, staring at the room around her. When she was a pikmin, it was easier to accept things. A dim, primitive sort of cattle-complacency dwelled in her tiny, immature mind. She'd spent so much time as a human that she'd almost forgotten what it was like. And now... now, she'd sentenced her heart to another 24 hours of the emotional torment humans felt so keenly. She had wanted to be human so she could go to class and apologize to everyone, but... somehow it wasn't as imoprtant anymore.
"He is not real," she whispered. "He is not real."
A part of her knew it would be a bad idea to dwell on it, but she couldn't think of anything else. Now that the shock had worn off, there was nothing to dam the torrent of funny feelings smashing through her tummy. This was worse than when she'd ran away. This was worse than when Petunia had said those horrible things. It was worse than when Mommy and Daddy had fought. Worse than when DJ had left. Not that it even mattered how much that had hurt, right? Because he'd been there all along watching Ionia pine for her first friend. Telling her lies and letting her make a fool of herself and buying her forgiveness with a letter from himself and if he had been there the whole time, then what had been stopping him from playing with her again instead of playing that horrible, unforgivable trick?
Ionia didn't want to leave her room anymore, but suddenly her surroundings seemed just as intolerable as the outside world. Reminders of Grandpa Falcon were all around her. This... this wasn't right. First of all, her bulletin board. Drawings of DJ, of Grandpa Falcon and the Blue Falcon. Carefully and lovingly removed... then ripped into shreds. "You are not important to Ionia anymore." Newspaper clippings about F-Zero races, pictures of cars she'd printed off the computer, drawings of herself with sunglasses and a scarf winning the Grand Prix all on her own. Also ripped. "Ionia does not want to be an F-Zero racer anymore." Next came her workdesk. Physics notes? Gone too. She did not want to be in his class anymore, either. All the parts he'd donated to her when her meagre discarded appliances had proven far too limiting? Gathered up into a box. She would give them to Daddy or the frog boy who liked to invent things, too.
Her top-secret project. Her most ambitious undertaking. Hours of work, puzzling over blueprints, struggling to reverse engineer parts, poring through Google in hopes of stumbling on a site that could magically fill the gaps in her knowledge. Limitless frustration and hurt when it had blown up in her face, and the all-encompassing triumph of making a breaththrough. She had been so close, before repairing F-Zero took priority and she'd run away. She slipped the heavy metal bracer onto one arm, ignoring the half-finished wiring hanging out and flexing her hand. Ionia wants to do a Falcon Punch someday. Ionia will punch a building in half. Ionia will be strong, just like Grandpa Falcon.
Just like Grandpa Falcon. Everything in her life smacked of him. Ionia's hand tensed into a fist, and for a moment, she looked as if she were about to hit something. She relented, however, and lowered her arm, slipping the bracer off. This, too, went into the box of parts to be given away. It had been a stupid dream. Grandpa Falcon had already spoiled the surprise, anyway.
On Wednesday, Ionia ventured out of her dorm. Her transformation ball had worn off, and she hadn't bothered to bring along Clucker, Grounder or F-Zero. Even their company was somehow intolerable to her. Her mind felt clearer now that she was small again. To feel like she had yesterday would be intolerable. She had to look ahead and plan from there.
First of all, she made her way to the Zoology room. With her diminuitive size, the footfalls of the student body were a very real threat. In between classes, she took shelter in the corners, behind trashbins, anywhere that would be safe. She went unnoticed; she had yet to post about her return on her journal, and even then, many of the students had never even seen her as a pikmin. In between classes, when the halls were silent and empty, it was safe for her to make her way to the box of transformation balls outside of the lab. It took some doing, but she was able to climb into the box and fish one out for herself. She had promised to help out at the cafe on Thursday, and a good pikmin kept promises and tried to help.
She was done with being a bad pikmin. A busy pikmin was a good pikmin, and a busy one didn't have time to think about unhappy things. She rolled the transformation ball over to a safe corner and stashed it behind a drink machine. It would be better to take it back to her room, but she had more work to do before the school day was over. The zoology room was not too very far from Leader's classroom, and she'd promised she would bring him something red.
Ionia went outside, next. One of the doors hadn't fully shut; a stick had been kicked into the doorway and was now holding it slightly ajar. It was a little hard to climb over, but at least she could get outside.
By the time the dismissal bell rang, there was a small pile against the wall next to the biology room door. A bright red bottlecap, a tube of cherry chapstick, a flattened can of Coke, a ruddy feather from a robin's breast, a dead ladybug, a crumpled Skittles wrapper. Ionia had not stayed to see if her treasures were noticed or simply swept away by the oblivious feet of departing students; she knew it would take a long time to roll her transformation ball back to the dorm and she wanted to be safely back before the tide of students made navigation perilous.
Thursday was the day of the cafe. She'd had fun with Yoshi and Kirby, and for a moment she'd forgotten all about her troubles. That had only been temporary, though; once she was back in her dorm again, those heavy and unwelcome feelings found her once more. She sat at the computer, picking at a candied fruit slice and reading over her old journal entries. It seemed like she mentioned Grandpa Falcon almost every time she made an entry. His name glared at her mockingly from the list of tags on the side, positively dwarfing all the others.
No good.
Ionia set aside her candy and started typing.
--
ionia is home.
sorry
ionia has decided that ionia does not want to be a big person anymore. ionia is quitting school. there is a box of parts in her room that anybody can have for making things.
daddy can ionia come live on your windowsill again
katrina thank you for the candy and if daddy lets ionia go live with him then ionia hopes your next roommate is quiet and good and has no robots