MAKIMASUKA? MAKIMASENKA? LOG!
Suiseiseki, third doll of Rozen Maiden, fell out of the N-Field with a whimper as she hurried to clamber inside her open box, floating rather unsteadily in the air. Finally, she was able to do so, and sighed heavily as she set to zooming across the landscape, keeping her eyes open for her new Medium. She had gone through a lot of trouble to get here, and, though she was glad to be away from chibi-Ichigo and the chibi ningen, she also knew she was going to miss them--which irritated her to no end. She sighed again as the box flew closer to the ground. Suiseiseki was sure she was close to her new Medium--the doll's artificial spirit was helping at least that much--she had only the vaguest idea of where to look. So she kept searching.
Katara had fallen into a bad mood after a harsh, but not uncommon, argument with her brother. She had headed into some nearby woods to blow off some steam under the pretense of gathering firewood, which she was going to do anyway. She was arriving back to camp with an armload and a better mood, smiling as Aang was being...Aang, playing around the now set camp. "Great job guys. It looks good."
A shiny green light not larger than the size of Momo's clenched hands put together descended into the middle of camp, twinkling as it flew around the perimeter of the camp and then bobbed slowly towards the camp's human inhabitants.
Katara blinked, noticing the floating orb of light. "Wow....what is that?" The rest of the campers looked up as well, minus Toph, who wouldn't have cared if she could've seen it anyway. Katara found herself mesmerized by it, watching it as it floated down.
Sokka brandished a net, creeping up behinds the light as it got closer to Katara, a grin on his face. He would catch the little green light...yes, he would...
Then Suiseiseki's box dropped out of the sky and hit Sokka over the head.
Katara couldn't help the giggle as she went to pick up the box. "That's what you get for chasing strange lights." She looked the box over before setting it down. "What....is this?"
It was a dark brown wooden box, with a raised relief of a golden rose on the upper side. The green light twirled around Katara once or twice, then went to circle around the box's snaps as if telling Katara to open the box. Sokka rubbed his head and eyed the box suspiciously. "What if it's a trap?"
Katara flipped the snaps to open the box. "You think everything's a trap, Sokka." She sat on the ground, opening the box as she did so. Inside the box was lined with fluffy white cushions, and curled up in the box was a doll--with long brown hair covered by a white kerchief and green clothes with black lace trim, her tiny fists clenched as she appeared to be sleeping. A golden key lay beside the doll on the cushioning. The green light hovered anxiously above the doll, as if impatiently waiting for something.
Katara looked to the doll that lay there, picking up the gold key. "She's...so pretty." Picking up the doll and the key, she eventually figured out what to do and began winding up the doll. "Must be some weird lost technology or....something new...or..something..."
Suiseiseki's body moved awkwardly as the winding up began to give her body power once again. It was always best to be wound up by a Medium, even if you had been doing all right before. Her eyes blinked slowly, and she turned around to face Katara with a little bit of a flourish, hating once again that a Maiden's first moments in front of a Medium had to be so...so...awkward. Graceless. She'd correct any impressions of that soon enough. "I am Suiseiseki, third doll of Rozen Maiden desu~," Suiseiseki said cheerfully. "Since you have awakened me, you have won the right to swear on my rose ring desu~"
Katara blinked at her, nearly freaking out before hearing her speak. "So cute. Nice to meet you, Suiseiseki. I'm Katara. But um....rose ring?"
Suiseiseki held up her right hand, and the green light hurried over to her hand, touching down on the doll's ring finger before circling behind her. Where the light had touched lay a metal ring, its top molded in the shape of a rose, with accents on the side of small squares that almost resembled thorns. "Katara-sama must swear upon my ring to protect my Rosa Mystica, that which keeps me moving desu~" Suiseiseki said solemnly. "That is, to become my Medium desu~"
Katara raised her right hand, believing this to be the correct thing to do. "I swear to protect your..Rosa...Mystica." She was having a hard time believing a doll was talking to her, but after all she'd seen and experienced, it didn't really strike her as new.
Suiseiseki took Katara's right hand in her left and smiled as she added, "You're also supposed to kiss the ring, desu~"
Katara blinked as Suiseiseki tugged on her arm. "Oh...right..." Katara laughed a bit nervously before kneeling down to be at a comfortable height, kissing the ring as instructed. Green shiny lights exploded as the ring disappeared from Suiseiseki's finger, reforming on Katara's with heat that was just a tad bit uncomfortable. Suiseiseki beamed at her new Medium.
"Now we have sworn a contract desu~ Now we are bound together desu~." The doll knew that using Livejournal was better than resorting to a contract with the chibi-ningen.
Katara winced at the feel of the ring on her finger, but soon passed. She looked to the ring, nodding. "Yeah...I guess we are."
Sokka stared at the doll, then his sister, then the doll. "Why do I get a bad feeling about this?" he muttered.
Katara looked to him, crossing her arms. "Are your instincts talking to you again?"
"Yes. Yes, they are. And they are saying that nothing good will happen because of that…doll," he said, crossing his own arms in reply.
Katara stood, brushing herself off. She looked to Suiseiseki. "Meet my brother, Sokka. He likes to talk to his instincts."
Suiseiseki moved to Katara's side, as if trying to hide behind her. "That human is weird desu~" She was reminded of Jun, only in a much more oafish way. Of course, that put him number one on her brand new list of "people I don't like in this world".
Katara threw her hands up as if glorifying some unseen god. "THANK YOU! At least someone agrees with me..." She then turned, pointing to the other two. "That's Aang...and the other is Toph. She's a big ray of sunshine."
Aang eyed the doll curiously and waved. Suiseiseki decided that he was all right, and definitely better than her new Medium's brother. Like Nori. She sensed the sarcasm in her Medium's words as the girl pointed out the last member of the party, and couldn't help but let that affect her view of the last girl a little. Her eyes were sightless as well. A blind human? How very strange. "Suiseiseki is pleased to meet the companions of Katara-sama desu~" she said finally.
Toph turned her head in her general direction. "So you're with Sugar Queen, huh?" She stood a moment before turning back to where she'd been. "Seems fine to me. Her brother's just paranoid."
"Where'd you even come from anyway?" Sokka asked the doll, mostly in a last ditch attempt to not be ignored.
"I traveled through the N-Field desu~” Suiseiseki replied, somewhat in derision. "I do not expect you to understand such things desu~" Truth be told, she was a little surprised at how hard it had been to get here. Crossing realties was a lot more difficult than that Laplace’s Demon made it seem.
“N-Field? What’s that?” Aang said, suddenly paying attention to the conversation. Since it was him asking and not Sokka, Suiseisseki felt somewhat obligated to attempt to explain.
“It’s…sort of like a dream world desu~ There are thousands, hundreds of thousands of worlds that can be reached through the N-Field desu~ Many of them are the worlds in people’s own dreams and hearts desu~ But also larger worlds and realities, like yours, can be reached through it desu~” Suiseiseki said, trying very hard to sound helpful. After all, this world was her chance to make a brand new impression. No longer would she be called a “wicked doll” by insensitive louts.
“Wow! You can really travel through it?” Aang asked, eyes wide.
“Humans can, too, if they know where to look for an entrance desu~” Suiseiseki replied. “Very old reflective objects, like large mirrors, are best desu~. The entrance object must have a certain ‘history’ to it in order to work properly desu~.”
“So you’re from another world, right?” Katara asked. “What kind of a world is it?”
Suiseiseki looked around her rather primitive surroundings and shrugged. “Very…full of cities, in most places desu~. It’s very different from here desu~ For example, my world doesn’t have the ‘benders’ yours does desu~” Thanks to Sui Dream’s advance research, she was a little smug that she knew quite a bit about her new world.
“No benders?” Toph said, her voice a little jarring when it seemingly came out of nowhere.
“Well, at least that would mean no Fire Nation,” Katara said, her tone light but Suiseiseki could tell her Medium was serious about that statement.
“But we Rozen Maidens have special powers desu~” the doll continued.
“Like what? Since Katara is bonded to you, does that mean she can use your powers too?” Aang asked.
“I am the gardener, and I am most powerful in the dream world desu~” Suiseiseki said in reply to the first question. The boy did seem nice, but he talked so fast, it was hard to keep up with him. “You see, every human’s dream world has a tree in it, and all those trees connect to a great tree that is the basis of the N-Field itself desu~. I help to nurture…or, if necessary, harm…those dream trees desu~.”
“A dream gardener,” Katara said, sounding a little awed. “That’s really amazing!”
“Pff. And you believe the doll,” Sokka muttered.
“I can prove it desu~,” Suiseiseki shot back, her eyes gleaming with what chibi-Ichigo and chibi-ningen would have recognized in horror as her “mischievous eyes”. She held out her arm and the green light circled around it, summoning a plank of wood which Suiseiseki then brandished at Sokka. “Go to sleep desu~!”
“Woah! Settle down!” Aang said, holding out his hands in what appeared to be a peace gesture.
Suiseiseki gave him a pouty look. “He needs to go to sleep before I can lead you into the dream desu~. It’s easiest if I just knock him out desu~.”
“Maybe we’ll wait until we’re ready for bed tonight,” Katara said, smiling in amusement. The look on Sokka’s face had been priceless.
Katara had fallen into a bad mood after a harsh, but not uncommon, argument with her brother. She had headed into some nearby woods to blow off some steam under the pretense of gathering firewood, which she was going to do anyway. She was arriving back to camp with an armload and a better mood, smiling as Aang was being...Aang, playing around the now set camp. "Great job guys. It looks good."
A shiny green light not larger than the size of Momo's clenched hands put together descended into the middle of camp, twinkling as it flew around the perimeter of the camp and then bobbed slowly towards the camp's human inhabitants.
Katara blinked, noticing the floating orb of light. "Wow....what is that?" The rest of the campers looked up as well, minus Toph, who wouldn't have cared if she could've seen it anyway. Katara found herself mesmerized by it, watching it as it floated down.
Sokka brandished a net, creeping up behinds the light as it got closer to Katara, a grin on his face. He would catch the little green light...yes, he would...
Then Suiseiseki's box dropped out of the sky and hit Sokka over the head.
Katara couldn't help the giggle as she went to pick up the box. "That's what you get for chasing strange lights." She looked the box over before setting it down. "What....is this?"
It was a dark brown wooden box, with a raised relief of a golden rose on the upper side. The green light twirled around Katara once or twice, then went to circle around the box's snaps as if telling Katara to open the box. Sokka rubbed his head and eyed the box suspiciously. "What if it's a trap?"
Katara flipped the snaps to open the box. "You think everything's a trap, Sokka." She sat on the ground, opening the box as she did so. Inside the box was lined with fluffy white cushions, and curled up in the box was a doll--with long brown hair covered by a white kerchief and green clothes with black lace trim, her tiny fists clenched as she appeared to be sleeping. A golden key lay beside the doll on the cushioning. The green light hovered anxiously above the doll, as if impatiently waiting for something.
Katara looked to the doll that lay there, picking up the gold key. "She's...so pretty." Picking up the doll and the key, she eventually figured out what to do and began winding up the doll. "Must be some weird lost technology or....something new...or..something..."
Suiseiseki's body moved awkwardly as the winding up began to give her body power once again. It was always best to be wound up by a Medium, even if you had been doing all right before. Her eyes blinked slowly, and she turned around to face Katara with a little bit of a flourish, hating once again that a Maiden's first moments in front of a Medium had to be so...so...awkward. Graceless. She'd correct any impressions of that soon enough. "I am Suiseiseki, third doll of Rozen Maiden desu~," Suiseiseki said cheerfully. "Since you have awakened me, you have won the right to swear on my rose ring desu~"
Katara blinked at her, nearly freaking out before hearing her speak. "So cute. Nice to meet you, Suiseiseki. I'm Katara. But um....rose ring?"
Suiseiseki held up her right hand, and the green light hurried over to her hand, touching down on the doll's ring finger before circling behind her. Where the light had touched lay a metal ring, its top molded in the shape of a rose, with accents on the side of small squares that almost resembled thorns. "Katara-sama must swear upon my ring to protect my Rosa Mystica, that which keeps me moving desu~" Suiseiseki said solemnly. "That is, to become my Medium desu~"
Katara raised her right hand, believing this to be the correct thing to do. "I swear to protect your..Rosa...Mystica." She was having a hard time believing a doll was talking to her, but after all she'd seen and experienced, it didn't really strike her as new.
Suiseiseki took Katara's right hand in her left and smiled as she added, "You're also supposed to kiss the ring, desu~"
Katara blinked as Suiseiseki tugged on her arm. "Oh...right..." Katara laughed a bit nervously before kneeling down to be at a comfortable height, kissing the ring as instructed. Green shiny lights exploded as the ring disappeared from Suiseiseki's finger, reforming on Katara's with heat that was just a tad bit uncomfortable. Suiseiseki beamed at her new Medium.
"Now we have sworn a contract desu~ Now we are bound together desu~." The doll knew that using Livejournal was better than resorting to a contract with the chibi-ningen.
Katara winced at the feel of the ring on her finger, but soon passed. She looked to the ring, nodding. "Yeah...I guess we are."
Sokka stared at the doll, then his sister, then the doll. "Why do I get a bad feeling about this?" he muttered.
Katara looked to him, crossing her arms. "Are your instincts talking to you again?"
"Yes. Yes, they are. And they are saying that nothing good will happen because of that…doll," he said, crossing his own arms in reply.
Katara stood, brushing herself off. She looked to Suiseiseki. "Meet my brother, Sokka. He likes to talk to his instincts."
Suiseiseki moved to Katara's side, as if trying to hide behind her. "That human is weird desu~" She was reminded of Jun, only in a much more oafish way. Of course, that put him number one on her brand new list of "people I don't like in this world".
Katara threw her hands up as if glorifying some unseen god. "THANK YOU! At least someone agrees with me..." She then turned, pointing to the other two. "That's Aang...and the other is Toph. She's a big ray of sunshine."
Aang eyed the doll curiously and waved. Suiseiseki decided that he was all right, and definitely better than her new Medium's brother. Like Nori. She sensed the sarcasm in her Medium's words as the girl pointed out the last member of the party, and couldn't help but let that affect her view of the last girl a little. Her eyes were sightless as well. A blind human? How very strange. "Suiseiseki is pleased to meet the companions of Katara-sama desu~" she said finally.
Toph turned her head in her general direction. "So you're with Sugar Queen, huh?" She stood a moment before turning back to where she'd been. "Seems fine to me. Her brother's just paranoid."
"Where'd you even come from anyway?" Sokka asked the doll, mostly in a last ditch attempt to not be ignored.
"I traveled through the N-Field desu~” Suiseiseki replied, somewhat in derision. "I do not expect you to understand such things desu~" Truth be told, she was a little surprised at how hard it had been to get here. Crossing realties was a lot more difficult than that Laplace’s Demon made it seem.
“N-Field? What’s that?” Aang said, suddenly paying attention to the conversation. Since it was him asking and not Sokka, Suiseisseki felt somewhat obligated to attempt to explain.
“It’s…sort of like a dream world desu~ There are thousands, hundreds of thousands of worlds that can be reached through the N-Field desu~ Many of them are the worlds in people’s own dreams and hearts desu~ But also larger worlds and realities, like yours, can be reached through it desu~” Suiseiseki said, trying very hard to sound helpful. After all, this world was her chance to make a brand new impression. No longer would she be called a “wicked doll” by insensitive louts.
“Wow! You can really travel through it?” Aang asked, eyes wide.
“Humans can, too, if they know where to look for an entrance desu~” Suiseiseki replied. “Very old reflective objects, like large mirrors, are best desu~. The entrance object must have a certain ‘history’ to it in order to work properly desu~.”
“So you’re from another world, right?” Katara asked. “What kind of a world is it?”
Suiseiseki looked around her rather primitive surroundings and shrugged. “Very…full of cities, in most places desu~. It’s very different from here desu~ For example, my world doesn’t have the ‘benders’ yours does desu~” Thanks to Sui Dream’s advance research, she was a little smug that she knew quite a bit about her new world.
“No benders?” Toph said, her voice a little jarring when it seemingly came out of nowhere.
“Well, at least that would mean no Fire Nation,” Katara said, her tone light but Suiseiseki could tell her Medium was serious about that statement.
“But we Rozen Maidens have special powers desu~” the doll continued.
“Like what? Since Katara is bonded to you, does that mean she can use your powers too?” Aang asked.
“I am the gardener, and I am most powerful in the dream world desu~” Suiseiseki said in reply to the first question. The boy did seem nice, but he talked so fast, it was hard to keep up with him. “You see, every human’s dream world has a tree in it, and all those trees connect to a great tree that is the basis of the N-Field itself desu~. I help to nurture…or, if necessary, harm…those dream trees desu~.”
“A dream gardener,” Katara said, sounding a little awed. “That’s really amazing!”
“Pff. And you believe the doll,” Sokka muttered.
“I can prove it desu~,” Suiseiseki shot back, her eyes gleaming with what chibi-Ichigo and chibi-ningen would have recognized in horror as her “mischievous eyes”. She held out her arm and the green light circled around it, summoning a plank of wood which Suiseiseki then brandished at Sokka. “Go to sleep desu~!”
“Woah! Settle down!” Aang said, holding out his hands in what appeared to be a peace gesture.
Suiseiseki gave him a pouty look. “He needs to go to sleep before I can lead you into the dream desu~. It’s easiest if I just knock him out desu~.”
“Maybe we’ll wait until we’re ready for bed tonight,” Katara said, smiling in amusement. The look on Sokka’s face had been priceless.