006 [Audio/Action]

[ribbonbon]

[As far as she's concerened, life has not been great for Pilouette as of late. She failed to meet anyone to invite to her and Precis' slumber party. She hadn't worked up the courage to dance with any cute guys at the masquerade nor did she introduce herself to any of the New Feathers. These things probably aren't even that hard to do and she still couldn't do any of them. And during the most recent experiment, she found herself being rude and aggressive to people she didn't even know. She even threatened to beat up a few people, not that she could have actually done it.

She's thoroughly disappointed with herself and she imagines that if her grandparents had any idea she had acted that way, they'd be ashamed. She couldn't even completely blame the Malnosso this time. Sure, they'd taken away her memory but she's the one who decided that it was okay to trust a flash card. She's so embarrassed that she's spent the last few days after the experiment mostly cooped up in her apartment.

When Pilouette finally does decide that she needs to actually go outside, she's surprised. That morning she checks her calendar and realizes that it's already October. She had been 17 for nearly a month and hadn't even remembered.

Who even does that?

When she arrived in Luceti, she had only been 16 for a few months. And now she's a whole year older. Though she's never had a party or a big celebration for her birthday, there were always little things she could count on happening. Phone calls from her dad and her grandparents. A slice of cake from the bakery of family friends, usually with a little note. Her best friend inviting her to see a movie or go shopping after school instead of just going home.

And, while she tries to present herself to most people as a mature person who can deal with anything...

The absence of these things makes her a little homesick and combined with everything else, she's not exactly in the best mood.]

[So, after a change of clothes (she IS still pretty embarrassed and even if its not exactly a great disguise, maybe it will help) Pils is in her usual thinking spot sitting against the back wall of the school, fiddling with her cellphone. She has never felt more lucky about finding it than she does right now. She's looking at photos of family and friends, trying to curb her homesicknes, but as she reminisces, a thought plants itself into her mind. Though she's well aware of the difference between time at home and time in Luceti, it never quite stops bugging her. And thus, she turns to the journal, if only to try and get her mind off things.]

If you get older while you're here, you go back to being the same age when you get home, right? But what if it kept happening? Like you come here, stay for a year, go home, then come right back? Like, over and over. You'd be the same age for a super long time, right?
Wouldn't that be like, totally weird?

...And, um, to anyone I ran into over the weekend...Um, I'm sorry. Really sorry. I, um, wasn't myself, I guess? You know? Sorry.

...S...Sorry!

[action]

[For a while, she'll be behind the school, looking through the various photos on her cellphone, but eventually she remembers something she's been meaning to do. She had been thinking perhaps that she should get furniture of some sort after the experiment that took place a few months prior. Not because she especially wants it, but being trapped in a corner on a blanket while your floor has become a pool of lava isn't really the most fun experience and she would like to avoid it, just in case it happens again. So, one may run into her as she carries various bits of furniture to her apartment.

However...being nonathletic and generally not very strong, whatever she's taking has to be pretty light. So she'll be carrying folding chairs or a small plastic table and similar things.]

Comments

voice;

[menial]

I think you might have discovered the secret to immortality, Pauline.

['See, this is what it sounds like to make fun of someone a little bit.']

voice

[ribbonbon]

[She gives a little whine before answering.]

I'm being serious here! Don't you think it would be weird to not get any older for such a long time?!

voice

[menial]

Sure, yeah, but you wouldn't remember, right? So it could have already happened and you wouldn't know.

voice

[ribbonbon]

But you might remember if you came back here, right? And if you did...It would be just really weird. Like, if I went home and I was sixteen again, but I came back remembering being seventeen...It would be like time travelling but not.

Time science is so weird...!

[Voice]

[tailasoldastime]

It... it's alright, Pilouette. It was the Malnosso's doing. [He rubs the back of his head - it is still strange, this was the first time they never did the shift to him. It almost makes him wish they did. You just can't win with them.]

[Voice]

[ribbonbon]

All they did was take my memory, though. I was the one dumb enough to just believe a stupid card...

[Voice]

[tailasoldastime]

But e... everyone did. H-Hastings did, a-and Rapunzel, and... [Belle...]

voice

[stilldontgotit]

Well, I came and went this last cycle, but it looks like the Malnosso went and fixed my age.

[Which is weird, but he definitely doesn't mind.]

Can't really complain, though. I'd hate to have to turn seventeen a third time around.

voice

[ribbonbon]

So you've already been seventeen twice...So, I guess you remember turning seventeen the first time, right? That must feel totally weird!

But...what do you mean they "fixed" your age? Like, how?

voice

[stilldontgotit]

Well, the last time I considered it my eighteenth birthday, since I kept all my memories.

As for fixing it... Basically, I was gone for a split-second, and as soon as I came back, they kidnapped me. Came back an hour or two later with my age in check.

It's been about a month, and the effect hasn't worn off yet.

[Voice]

[bamboozler]

You weren't yourself? Who were you, then?

[Voice]

[ribbonbon]

Uh...!

[Considering his previous insistence on her being a gang leader, she's not about to tell him what she was up to during the weekend.]

Well, I was me! But um, I was a me that I'm not normally!

[Voice]

[bamboozler]

Ehh...was it a you who was more fun to be around?

[rocketpunch]

[Precis has been spending most of her time vanishing into the tunnels to try and hack a numberpad, so she's been sparse for a while. It just so happens that on her way to get some food, though, she runs into Pilouette!

...Okay, she feels a bit bad about not talking to her for a few days, but...she'll understand, right?]

Oh, oh! Pilouette! Over here! [And she's running closer, Robbie moving behind her.] What're you doing?

[ribbonbon]

[Pilouette is actually pretty grateful she didn't run into Precis over the weekend, given the way she was acting.]

Oh! Precis! Hi! I just thought it would be good if I had...um, a chair. I mean, it's probably better than having an empty apartment, right?

[rocketpunch]

Ohhh, is your apartment still empty? [Given her room is a constantly accumulating new things, she kind of assumed Pilouette was the same way.] Do you need a hand? Robbie's pretty strong!

[Voice]

[niceguypose]

IT IS I WHO MUST APOLOGIZE! MOST WHOLE-HEARTEDLY!

[Voice]

[ribbonbon]

[Pilouette jumps a little, surprised from the sudden blast of noise coming from her journal. She does her best to compose herself before answering.]

Oh! Uh, n-no, it was like, totally my fault. I mean, I was the one who tried to pick a fight with you and stuff, you know?

[Voice]

[niceguypose]

I only encouraged you, and I said such cruel things to you. It is most unbefitting of me.

[rashness]

Oiiii! You're Precis's friend, ah- [...What's her name. It's something like "drugs" but not drugs. Tylenol? Tyri? No that's dumb. Uh- oh, duh! ] Vita! [Like "vitamin!"] Why're you carrying a fold out table?

[As he passes her carrying a, well, fold out table]

[ribbonbon]

V...Vita?

Oh, well, since my apartment is pretty empty, I thought it would be nice to have...well, stuff. Especially after that thing with the lava, you know? What about you? Like, what are you up to?

[rashness]

Just wandering- but wait, you're furnacing [That's "furnishing"] the place with something like that?

[action]

[i_am_not_cute]

Do you need help with that?

[Have an athletic, fairly strong (at least for her age and size) girl offering to lend a hand, Pils.]

[action]

[ribbonbon]

[She stops dragging her folding chairs, a little surprised that a stranger is just offering to help her, but...]

U-Um, are you sure? I mean, like, I don't wanna be a bother or anything, you know?

[action]

[i_am_not_cute]

It's fine! I don't want you to hurt yourself.

[If Pils has more than two chairs with her, Pao-Lin will take two of those chairs and easily haul them up with just one arm. Otherwise, she'll just take one of 'em to lighten the load.]