thebastion | Day 120 :: action [OPEN]

[Ryu's usually up early, but he never really noticed anything about how anyone looked. Isn't that just how people look?]

[But he knows hospitals are for when you're sick, and he doesn't want anyone to be sick! So he follows along, curious.]

[... Ryu has never been very good at being subtle.]

[If he goes early in the morning, Georges will shoo him right out.

If he comes later, though, he can visit at the hospital.]

[He will come back later. What is going on? He's curious.]

[What's going on is that there is a baby!

And a Mireille too, but she is holding said baby.]

You can come in, if you want.

[But how is baby formed? He does not know, but he heads in to look. He doesn't really know Mireille well, considering how new he is, but he's glad she looks all right.]

... Hi.

[He blinks a little bit, and heads over to get a closer look.]

Um... I didn't see that baby with you when you went in...

[Rin does want to see Mireille and the new baby, especially since she's gotten pretty close to the other cook and wants to make sure she's okay. But she has duties to tend to in the kitchen for now.

Which is where she'll be if anyone wants to see her instead of the new arrival.

But c'mon. Who doesn't want to see a new baby?]

[Patchouli is not really interested in the new baby this time. She doesn't seem to have expected Rin, though.]

Hello?

Oh! Hello, miss Okumura. It's nice to see you again.

[When Patchouli finds her, Rin will be half-behind a fairly large stack of crates that she's moving in to the kitchen. The voice gets her to poke her head around as much as she could, her look a bit curious.]

'ey Patchie-chan! You're not gonna visit Mireille?

[She figured that's where everyone was today.]

Not today. If everyone else is there, I'll probably just end up getting under someone's feet. I can wait a day, can't I?

Oh. ... yeah I guess I can understand that.

[She shifts the weight of the crates, moving to put them down in a corner near the pantry door.]

So. What's up? Just lookin' for somethin' to do?

Yes, I think that's about right. [Though, maybe she just wanted to spend time with someone she knew!

... no, not for this character. Well, she would probably be okay with it, but she's not going out of her way to get companionship, either.]

[Well too bad, Rin already thinks of her as a friend. So there.]

Well, I could use some help, if you're up for that?

[Patchouli needs more friends. Um, eventually.]

Well, I'll... see what I can do.

[She'll get there eventually.]

I won't make you do any cookin' or anythin'! Just help me get things, if you're okay with that?

Certainly, miss Okumura. I'll do what I can.

["Miss Okumura"? Wow no.]

... y'can call me Rin.

[... oh.]

Very well, Rin. [Honestly, she could stand to shake off some of her formalities.] Just tell me what you need!

[There we go, that's better.]

Uhm. Lessie... I need some potatoes and carrots.

At once!

[She's off to go get those carrots and potatoes with due haste. Okay, she's not perfectly sure where they are, but how hard can they be to find?]

[Well the pantry is a big door in the kitchen that leads in to a room filled with food, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Rin can't help but chuckle a little at Patchie, though. It wasn't often she had some one so enthusiastic about helping her.]

[~~Well, she wants to be useful for something slightly more than three times per day!~~ She finds the potatoes and carrots fairly easily, and... well, she hopes she's quick about it. She returns immediately with them.]

Here they are, Rin.

[~~Understandable~~

Rin takes the given items in her apron, taking them the rest of the way to the cutting board. She moved pretty fast in the kitchen herself, but any help was welcome regardless of speed.]

Okay, there's a big pot on the stove, I need it about... half full with water.

[Frederic had been in the Bastion for a while now, but by his own volition keeping quiet and to himself due to what he heard of recent events that happened just before he and his three friends had arrived.

But a pregnant woman didn't escape him in the few times he had been lurking outside in an attempt to get an understanding of what the Bastion was and why they were all there. Seeing her led to the hospital early that morning piqued his interest.

He followed some distance behind them, but Georges was quick to shoo him back out again, for which he politely apologized, wished them the best of luck and ducked back out.

Knowing how had Polka had been taking everything, though, he didn't stay away long, and once afternoon rolled around he went to the younger girl's room and urged her to come along with him.]

I want to show you something, Polka.

Edited 2013-10-24 04:18 (UTC)

[ Hearing for sure what this place was and what had become of her home had put her in more of a panic then she had been in before. She was usually the optimist of the group; after all, when you have to face your own death for so long, you have to really work to find all of the beauty In life, right? The news that the world they had worked so hard to save was fine, though ... the news that the one she loved had gone with ...

That would be enough to break even the biggest optimists.

She knew, In the back of her mind, that she couldn't keep wallowing in her own little pool of grief, and that even if she did, eventually the friends of hers that were here would pick her up. It looked as though Frederic already had a plan for that. She looked up at him as he entered her room, but at first, she didn't say anything. Instead, she started at him for several moments.

... as much as she wanted to tell him to go away, she didn't have it in her. So, slowly, she nodded and pushed herself to stand from her bed, making her way toward him. ]

[It wasn't difficult to tell just how badly Polka was taking everything. He knew from his own experience that it was easier just to wallow in it then get up and find something else to focus on until the morose, melancholy feelings passed, and he, too, had been feeling much the same way she had for vastly different reasons.

But they couldn't remain like that, and even as she responded in silence to him, he offered her the tiniest of hopeful smiles and his hand to guide her out of the room.]

I understand how you feel, Polka. You worked so hard to save your world from all that pain and misery, over and over again, only for an outside force to take it and those you care about away from you. Similar things happened in my own world, in my home, and I was just as powerless to stop it then as I was now.

But I want to show you that there is still hope even in such a dire place as this. Life does go on.

[ She didn't look at him directly as they began to walk, hand in hand, but she was listening. She knew that what he was telling her was true.

Their lives went on. The lives of the people in this place all went on. But what about Allegretto? What about Beat, and March, and Salsa, and everyone who had been in their world when it was destroyed?

Why had she been saved, with only a few friends, when the people she had been so willing to sacrifice her own life for were destroyed?

She felt like she should not rightfully be alive.

But Frederic, Viola and Jazz all probably felt similar. Polka knew she didn't have to take on all of the guilt on her own, even if she would never wish the kinds of feelings she had on any of her friends.

How was what Frederic had to show her going to make her feel any differently than she did now? She didn't know. She was going to see, though. ]

[They did feel that way, but to Frederic it was just as much the natural order of things as it was the unnatural intervention of whatever had occurred to make all this happen. People lived and people die. Wars took more than they gave, and there had been faces back home that Frederic would never see again because the war or illness simply took them away before they had a chance to grow old. What had happened in Forte, and even what had happened here was no different.

But as with the passing of his sister and his inability to return to his home land, he had to stand back on his feet and continue ever onward. As did Polka, when she finally felt strong enough to do so.

But he kept quiet as he led her in to the hospital, stopping only when they came across the room where a single baby was sleeping in a hospital crib, it's little chest rising and falling visibly.]

One of the other survivors here was pregnant when we arrived. I was told by the leader here that because of the efforts of others, she was able to give birth without complications.

Polka... we may have lost our friends. And we will always feel that pain in our hearts. But good can still be done here. This newborn should give us hope, because he and his mother both survived in this difficult place thanks to others selfless actions.

[ A baby? In a place like this, would the baby have a chance at a good life? Still, she couldn't deny that life was something to celebrate. Finally, she looked up at Frederic. ]

The baby is really okay? And the mother, too?

[ She returned her gaze to the sleeping newborn, her expression softening as she watched his little chest rise and fall. He looked so sweet and innocent… ]

Would this world really be okay for him to grow up in? I know the people here are trying to rebuild, but ... it would be difficult to raise a child here.

[Frederic nodded to her questions, tucking his hands behind his back as he watched the child sleep.]

They both appear to be completely healthy.

[He paused for thought on the other things she said, eventually deciding that his honest opinion on the matter was better than trying to speculate beyond that.]

Truthfully, I can't say for certain if it will be alright for him to grow up here. But the raising of a child is not just the duty of the mother, but everyone around her, so it is something we will all eventually take part in to ensure that he lives with good influences all around him.

And for whatever it may be worth, this is the world he will know, for better or worse. Unlike us he will have little to pine for because he simply won't know any better. Certainly, we can tell him of our worlds and what's been lost, but to a child born in to this his world will be none other than the Bastion.

And with that in mind, it is the generations that follow us in this place that will continue to make it grow and thrive.

[ Polka is quiet for a long time as she listens to Frederic's words. She moves a little closer, watching the sleeping child with a gentle expression on her face. Something about what he had said before, about it being everyone's responsibility to help raise the child ... it struck something within her. Back home, she had been prepared to give her life up so that the people she loved had a chance to live on in their beautiful world. While she knew that wasn't going to help here, and would never help again ...

There were other things she could do. She had to help raise the child, like everyone else.

It was a small thought, when compared to how much she still mourned the losses of Allegretto and everyone else in their world who hadn't made it. It was something that could keep her going, though. She couldn't help anyone back home anymore. She hated that. But she could help people here.

She could help the baby. ]

I wonder ... I wonder if his mother would accept me as her baby's older sister?

[ It was a thought she hadn't meant to speak aloud; it had sounded silly in her head, and it had sounded sillier when she had spoke it. The moment she realizes she had spoken those thoughts, she looks away, a blush on her cheeks. ]

Edited 2013-11-01 02:18 (UTC)

I'm certain she wouldn't mind you asking that in the slightest.

[Frederic offered her a smile and a gentle hand on her shoulder with that. Naturally he would have his own problems finding where to fit in to a place like this, but he could tackle that later when his friends were feeling better.]

If you wish to speak with her, I'll leave you to it.

[He should probably go find Jazz and say hello.]

[ She looks up at Frederic and smiles, nodding a little in response to him. ]

I think I will. Thank you, Frederic ...

[ Oh, he isn't going with her? Well that's all fine and dandy, but where is he going to go? To see Jazz, maybe? Or Viola? Or somewhere else entirely? ]

Where will you be going?

[It's good she's feeling better, because that was what he had set out to do.]

To see Jazz, of course. I think it's about time I pay him a visit.

[And with that he bowed to her.]

If you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave now. Please take care of yourself, Polka.

[ She nods and curtsies a little in response to him. It was only polite. ]

Please, give Jazz my well-wishes? I will make sure to visit him a little later.

[ She looks back into the room, at the mother of the child. Now to gather up the courage to go in there ... ]

[Although Alucard spots Mireille being escorted to the hospital earlier in the day, he has the sense to keep well clear until much later in the day when his curiosity finally gets the better of him. His mother may have been an adept healer, but he had never really had the knack for it, and any skills he might have picked up have long since been forgotten. Best to leave this to the people who know what they're doing.

When he finally deems it safe to venture into the hospital, it's near "dusk." He quietly lurks in the doorway to Mireille's room, unsure of what to do in this sort of situation.]

[By 'dusk' the baby is sleeping in the craddle, but Mireille will still invite Alucard in.]

Want to come in?

[There is half a beat where he hesitates before stepping into the room. He addresses Mireille first, feeling it impolite to do otherwise.]

...How are you feeling?

[Certainly a better way to start a conversation than "This is the closest I can ever recall being to a child younger than three."]

[She hears about the good news through the small, but vocal grapevine and curiosity sets her out to investigate.

She comes by in the afternoon, poking her head around the doorway, unsure if it was really good manners to check in on someone who... well, who just had a baby.]

['just had' isn't fully accurate, it's been over half-a-day by that point. Mireille is tired, but when she sees Night at the doorway, she will smile warmly.]

[knocks on the door to her room sometime in the late afternoon and peeks around it. Is it okay to be here, or... is this supposed to be quiet bonding time between mum, dad and baby? He has no personal experience of this - no younger siblings, and no relations who've had babies, either - but he was curious enough to leave Seimei's for a little while. He had practically taken root there the past few days.

...at least he has a present. He was taught never to show up empty handed.]

[Georges has actually stepped out for a bit, he has to take care of things at the Distillery and help Rin while Mireille is out.

Mireille looks up when she hears the knock, and she smiles when she sees who it is.]

Hello, Kaoru. Come on in.

Hey... [still lingering on the threshold, Tama-chan slinking around behind him. A slightly shy smile-] Congratulations!

...am I intruding?

Thank you, that is very thoughtful.

[She smiles, and then she shakes her head in response to Kaoru's question.]

Of course not, come on in.

[Mireille will need a lot of rest in the coming days, but that doesn't mean she wants to sit there by herself the whole time.]

[Colin's actually gonna go looking for Georges. Mama needs some time to rest after what she's gone through, and dad could probably use a helping hand, and maybe some new supplies for the kid.

His shoulders are slumped, and he looks awfully tired, but at least he's made the effort to clean himself up and NOT look half dead.]

[Georges is at the Distillery, though he's actually in the house attached to it. He and Samuel are working on getting everything ready for when Mireille comes home.]

Hello there. Did you need something?

Hey there.

[Colin gives a little wave as he steps just inside the doorway]

I hear congratulations are in order, and I wanted to come around and offer my services to help you get anything built that you might need for the new arrival.

Day 120 :: action [OPEN]

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closed to polka

hey big bro hey

<33

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