[OPEN] I'm in here

[immobileyes]

Who: Mary Kozakura (immobileyes) and YOU
When: IC 2/27-3/01
Where: Residential District, right by the not-so-standing apartments
What: Mary tries to dig up things from her fallen apartment over the course of a few days, success is varied
Rating/Warning: None!

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[ It was hard enough, waiting for the water level to go down enough so that Mary could return to where her apartment was (had been) without risk of drowning. Seto's hoodie, the jacket Hiro had given her... they were the only things she'd been able to find at the time, but now she can search for anything remaining from their apartment.

So feel free to come across a tiny teenager over the afore-mentioned days, getting drizzled on and trying to pry up pieces of the smaller rubble - and HNNNNNGHing at the bigger pieces of debris that she can't budge at all - as she hunts about. The stuffed animal she'd received from Lily is gone, the headband from Kaoru and Shiho has been twisted and bent beyond repair when she miraculously finds that... the dried flowers, from the bouquet Elza had given her... no sign of them. All of her tea...

Mary almost wants to cry, but not yet. She just keeps looking.

And don't be alarmed if she seems worn-out when you see her. It's not some weird elemental effect, she's just terrible at stamina. ]

Comments

[harepiece]

[oh shit... MARY... Those are all things that definitely sound like they'd either be broken as hell or super super gone, except maybe the little bear. BUT STILL--]

Okay! All right, those should stand out. [EXCEPT THE FLOWERS, RIP IN PIECES FLOWERS. He notices that she pauses after mentioning the books too, so:]

As long as we find those, we can fix them even if they're a little water-logged. I've seen people at the library do it!

[immobileyes]

R-really? I thought if the ink bled, they'd be ruined...

[ Oz, please instill a new sense of hope in her, that all of her beautiful boy-on-boy stories will still be intact.

And, you know. Textbooks. Those are important too. Sure. ]

[harepiece]

That depends on the type of book! Some of them are printed in a way that makes it so the ink won't run at all.

[The magic of THE FUTURE... Or just printing presses that aren't from Ye Olden Times.]

They have this special tool that can be used to iron pages flat, too.

[Her boy-on-boy stories will live...! If they can find them...]

[immobileyes]

Iron... that sounds sort of dangerous, but-- [ Also kind of amazing? She's never heard of tools like that. ]

If that's the case, then I need to find those books even more now!!

[harepiece]

Between the two of us, we'll definitely find them!

["If they're around" is the pessimistic unfinished half of that sentence. Good thing Oz is too Shonen Sure™ to consider it a real possibility!!

ANYWAY, TIME TO DIG IN THE RUBBLE.]

[immobileyes]

Yeah!

[ And Mary does eventually succeed, after some heaving of a bit of a chunky block (that may require Oz's assistance). It's completely soaked through, but the cover appears to be two statuesque blobs surrounded by even more multicolored blobs. Flowers, maybe. ]

[harepiece]

[OZ WILL ASSIST IF NEED BE!! He's here to help!!

But oh, that cover sure is looking a little blobby... Is it meant to be like that? Is it ink running?? He just can't tell.]

Oh—! Is that one of them?

[immobileyes]

Yeah... [ JUDGING FROM THE WAY SHE'S HUGGING IT TO HER CHEST. ] The picture's all messed up, but I'm glad it didn't fall apart...

[harepiece]

[POOR MARY...]

If it's still in one piece, it can probably be fixed! Oh, but... [Since the front cover's bleeding and all--] You might want to open it and make sure the words haven't bled, too.

[immobileyes]

Oh--

[ She's looking alarmed now, gently prying the pages apart. And, well.

... Yep, that ink's definitely bled. ]

... Oh.

[harepiece]

[OOPS... He doesn't think there's a machine in the library that can put ink back onto a page...]

Did it? [He's assuming so...] Was it something from home, or can you get another copy of it here?

[immobileyes]

I got it here, so I can get another one... s-so it's not that bad...

[ BUT THIS POOR BOOK. ]

[harepiece]

[TIME TO GIVE IT A VIKING FUNERAL.]

Oh! That's good, then! We'll get you a new copy as soon as possible. Let's look a little more in the meantime, okay? There might be some others in that area...

[He'll helpfully start poking around once more!!]

[immobileyes]

Y-yeah! [ But now that he's here-- ]

Was everything really okay with you, Oz? Nothing got ruined?

[harepiece]

Nothing that can't be replaced. [Not even their menagerie of cybuddies managed to get swept away!]

We got lucky since we're on a pretty high floor... Oh— [DIG DIG, oops, that looks like a soggy and smushed flower...]

[immobileyes]

Oh--! That's...

[ ... SHE'S SO SORRY ELZA YOUR FLOWERS ARE DEAD-- well even more dead.

Would he be mad, she wonders, if he knew what had happened? ]

[harepiece]

[IT'S JUST ONE, IT'S PROBABLY FINE-- maybe... He picks up the flower carefully.]

Is this one of them? It doesn't look like there are any others under here...

[immobileyes]

Yeah... I dried them, so I wouldn't have to throw them out, but I don't think there's anything I can do about it now.

[ IT'S A LITTLE SAD-LOOKING. ]

[harepiece]

[Maybe it can be re-dried...... He's still holding it carefully because he's not sure if he should put it down or not WHY.]

Hm... It might not be the same as before, but it should still be able to dry out again, right?

[immobileyes]

I... hope so. If flowers retain too much moisture, the head will fall off the stem...

[ She knows that much, at least. ]

[harepiece]

[Somehow, that seems extremely morbid when it's worded like that...]

You could press them, right? Maybe that will help.

[immobileyes]

They were pressed before... I'm not sure if I could do it again.

[ Well, it'd get the water out, at least. ]

[harepiece]

[One problem solved... maybe.]

You could press them and then laminate them once they dry out! That way you won't have to worry about them falling apart or getting wet again.

[immobileyes]

Lamin-- you mean, like make them into bookmarks?

[ ELZA YOUR LEGACY MIGHT LIVE ON... ]

[harepiece]

Exactly! You can press them between two sheets of laminate and then cut it down to any shape you want. I've seen them do that at the library before, too!

[Bless future libraries for having copy machines and laminate machines and that bigass scary paper cutter.]