shiningworld | first sign of distress...

Entry tags:

maromi

first sign of distress...

[It's a normal day. Well, as normal as it gets here. Maybe you're walking along on the beach or exploring the guest houses and other parts of the island. But as you're going about your daily business, you might notice something small and pink lying around--perhaps half-buried in the sand as if having washed up there on the island or lying under a bed or in a drawer somewhere in the guest house or what have you. On closer inspection, it appears to be a plush doll(?) of a pink dog.

What will you do with it? Will you leave it be or...?]

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[There is a white ferret suddenly sniffing and growling at it, followed shortly after by a young woman. She crouches down and looks at it.]

What did you find, Chip?

[Plush dog just plushin' it up from where it's laying on the ground on it's side...staring at you...making no sudden movements whatsoever...

Wait, did it just blink? Or was that your imagination?]

[The ferret hisses again and scurries up it's master's leg, then up her arm and onto her shoulder. Rio stares a the doll, then reaches out and carefully picks it up.]

Chip, what are you getting all fussy about?

[She brushes sand off the plush and smiles.]

It seems okay...

[Thanks for brushing that sand off of us, that would have been bad if it had gotten into our eyes and ears or something. Not that it really could anyway, right?

The plush continues to just stare at Rio and Chip, almost a bit curiously, as if taking in it's rescuers and the sky for a moment in thought. Wherever it's washed up at, this definitely isn't Tokyo. At least our human savior seems friendly, even if the ferret with her is not...that's right, we're looking at you, Chip.]

[Chip doesn't like you either, Maromi. His crazy guardian-pet sense is kicking in and he'll just hiss every now and then, which results in scolding from Rio.]

Chip, it's just a doll! Jack's dolls are scarier than this! It's not even as big as Choco!

[Rio smiles and holds it up, looking it over.]

It doesn't seem to be too beaten up. I wonder who it belongs to...

[Come on Chip, we're totally friendly. Just a pink plush dog that quite possibly is a little too intimidated to make its true presence that fully known with you around just yet. ~~Ferret teeth are sharp and that would not be fun if Chip suddenly decided to tear into us.~~

Sadly, Rio, there's no tags on it that indicate an owner and it's not like it's going to start speaking for itself to say who it's owner is. Though, at the mention of one, the doll almost gives off the air of being sad and lonely without it's owner around...]

[Rio looks at the doll carefully. The air around her, for just a moment, seems to shimmer. But then it's gone. She wonders if she's just imagining that feeling. She's used to having to project emotions onto Choco, due to Mint often treating the toy bear as if it were alive.

Oh well, no matter. She smiles and looks over at Chip.]

We should bring it home, don't you think? If it belongs to someone, we can at least keep it safe until we find out who it's owner is.

[Chip growls and moves onto Rio's other shoulder, keeping his eyes on the plush.]

[Yes, yes, Maromi greatly approves of this! Lying around in the sand is no good at all!

Maromi's eyes seem to vaguely follow Chip a little when Chip moves to the other shoulder and when Rio looks away in time. If you're gonna be keeping your eyes on us, then we can certainly try to keep an eye on you as well, Chip.]

[Rio seems fairly oblivious to anything being odd about Maromi. Or maybe it just doesn't seem strange to her. After all, Jack's dolls float around and talk half the time. Him and his weird Mighty Power and all that...

Rio gets up and dusts herself off, then begins walking, Chip perched on her shoulder watching Maromi. Rio smiles.]

You'll be nice, won't you Chip? After all, we need it to be happy and in good shape when we return it to it's owner!

[That would be nice if Tsukiko was here, but were the chances of that happening? In the meantime, the doll seems perfectly content to hang around with Rio for a little while until then. Provided Chip isn't gonna lash out at us or something the second you're not around, of course.]

[Chip has unfortunately resigned himself to being a "good boy" for Rio's sake, but he's keeping an eye on you, dog-thing. There's no one here to protect Rio but him!

Rio takes Maromi back to the guest villa she's adopted as her new temporary vacation home and sets him down on her bed. She laughs a bit.]

Thank goodness Rosa isn't here... She'd make fun of me.

[Chip hops off of her shoulder and onto the bed, curling up on the opposite side from Maromi. Just watching.]

[Well, we would never make fun of you, Rio! Also this is a pretty comfy bed to hang out on.

Guess the ferret's not leaving us alone anytime soon. Ah well. Watch all you like Chip, 'cause absolutely nothing's happening here. ~~JIIIIIIIIIIII~~]

{Rio sits down on the bed, putting herself between Chip and Maromi.]

I wonder who you belong to... I know there are a few little girls on the island. Maybe one of them dropped you.

But I don't know where any of them live.

[Maromi gets the feeling that none of those girls are Tsukiko but...it would be so nice to meet them and make more friends, of course~!

Since there's someone more interesting blocking us from having a staring contest with the ferret, Maromi's gaze vaguely seems to wander towards looking at Rio now instead.]

You're a strange little doll, aren't you? I wonder what sort of child you belong to...

[Tsukiko technically wasn't a child, but she had certainly seemed like one in the sea of adults she had constantly been drowning in back in Tokyo. What was she doing now, without Maromi around? What if she wasn't able to cope without Maromi around??

The little doll's eyes, it's whole body and demeanor too in a sense, seem to slump a little when thinking about it.]

[Rio gives it a sympathetic smile and pokes the doll in the side a bit.]

Cheer up!

[She's not sure why she feels compelled to talk to this doll. Maybe too much time around Mint and Choco. then again, if Ille was to be believed, Choco had some kind of sentience, even when it wasn't under a spell that transformed it into a little Chinese girl. So who knows.]

We'll find your owner, and you can stay here where it's safe until then!

[Maybe it's because Maromi's such a good listener. ^^;;

It's a little hard to tell since Maromi doesn't really have a distinctive mouth, but it's almost like if could, the plush would be a little happier and smiling a little more now. Rio, you're so nice~!]

[Rio has a habit of being too nice, and it's been her downfall more than once. And really, she hasn't learned her lesson at all. She picks Maromi up and smiles.]

I wish I could bring you back to the resort with me. I bet you'd have lots of fun there. There's always something going on.

[Well, Maromi always love to meet people and have fun with them. Even though Maromi's not too sure of how it would be able to get to this resort, if it knew what it looked like, it would be tempted to try to create a little piece of it here for you to contend with if that made you happy...

But otherwise it makes no comment on it other than the slightest of head movements as if it's tilting it's head curiously at you while listening...]

[Rio flops onto her back on the bed with a sigh and holds Maromi up over her head.]

I wonder how everyone's doing back home... I hope they're not worried or anything.

[She smiles a little.]

There was supposed to be a sky resort trip soon... They've probably already taken off.

[Maromi's head flops to look down at her from where she's holding it up. If Maromi was a talker, it would probably have encouraging words to say such as:]

I'm sure everything will be fine, Rio! They'll surely wait for you to come back rather than leaving without you!

[...But Maromi is a stuffed animal so there's no way it possibly said that just now, right?]

[Of course not. But Rio will laugh and just keep talking to Maromi.]

Oh well... Sky Resort always makes me a little nervous anyway! Missing one trip will be fine! I'm sure Linda and Tiffany will be able to handle it on their own!

And maybe Owner will even get Rina to come back to take my place, and then when I got home, she'll still be there! And then we can catch up a while. It's been so long since I've seen her.

[Maromi seems to nod its head, clearly listening while she talks. It may not know who Owner or Rina is or anyone else, but they sound like they might be very interesting people!]

I should enjoy this vacation while I can, right?

At home, I usually end up having to work even when I'm on vacation. So this is a nice break.

[Maromi agrees with you 100% Rio]

Yeah, it's always nice to relax sometimes and just take a break and rest...

I'm popular at work, so Owner barely gives me a chance to breathe some days.

But I love my job.

That's good! Working can be hard and tiring...but I'm sure Rio is the best at her job!

[Even though you haven't told it what your job is]

[She is actually legally recognized as the best at her job. She has a big shiny badge to prove it, which is currently sitting on the bedside table next to a deck of cards.]

I just do my best for the customers. If they're happy then I'm happy!

I fought for myself once, and that was nice, but I'd really rather just make others happy!

Making others happy can be the best! [However, Maromi also adds] But please don't forget about your own happiness too, Rio! I would be so sad if Rio wasn't happy too!

I was sad for a little while, but it's all better now. It was all just a big misunderstanding... Kind of. Rina's happy now, so it's okay.

[She laughs and pokes Maromi's nose.]

It's not hard for me to be happy. And part of my job is to spread that happiness around!

[A tiny laugh and small movement of the arms when it's nose is poked]

Wow Rio, you're so cool and nice! I'm so happy that I got to meet someone like you!

Rio giggles.]

I'm happy to have met you too. I'm sorry Chip is so grumpy. I'm sure he's just homesick.

[Chip is curled up by her hip just glaring at Maromi. Cause this sit ain't natural, and this s coming from a creature that watches it's owner use what is apparently mind control on a daily basis.]

[Getting glared at would be kinda scary, but this is Maromi who still manages to sound cheerful despite the unhappy ferret before it. We're mostly harmless Chip, you'll come to see that soon enough...]

That's okay, I understand! I hope Chip feels a lot better soon!

[Yeah, Rina seemed pretty harmless too and that ended up with a few hundreds people pointing guns at Rio. So Chip's a bit cautious.]

He probably just misses Rosa and Tiffany and the others. Rosa used to give him bits of chicken that she that she'd get while she was Misery!

...

What sort of toy is this?

[Ieyasu picks up Maromi by the ear.]

[The toy doesn't resist getting picked up in such a manner but--was that your imagination or did it just make a squeaking noise as if it was in pain from getting pulled by the ear?]

...

[Ieyasu shakes it a little]

[The plush makes the same squeaking noise of pain again, and this time it seems like it's little arms are even flailing a little bit more with the shaking]

...

[Poke]

Is something in there? Hello?

Oof... [Yep, it definitely made a noise just now when it's poked as it's eyes now seem to swivel to look in your direction, blinking once as if waking up from a trance...and even though it doesn't have a distinguishable mouth, it's eyes droop a little, as if it's a little unhappy with you for poking it and pulling on its ears, Ieyasu.]

[There is a plush dog? Well, she can't resist plush things in pain! ~~Kon has taught her that much~~. SO HERE SHE GOES, trying to gently dig the thing out of the sand. Poor baby. You've been through so much, haven't you~]

It'll be ok! You're almost out.

[You have no idea Rukia...

Maromi really appreciates getting dug out the sand though. Despite it not having said so yet and a lack of distinctive features other than it's large eyes (that seem to vaguely move to look up at it's savior), you might get the feeling that's very grateful for your help here.]

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first sign of distress...

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