recolle | open || helping people is a way of life

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open || helping people is a way of life

WHO: Minako Arisato and YOU!
WHERE: All over Recollé
WHEN: All of June
WHAT: Performing tasks for Zee, and anything else she's going to do for the rest of the month
WARNINGS: None for now. Feel free to PM this journal or message me at

raynestorm if you want to work out something for a prompt!

FOR THE GOOD OF THE CITY
Anywhere in Recollé; any time of the month

[Minako's list of available prompts is here! I'm open to doubling up, but no more than that, please. If you're looking for an excuse to bump into her randomly instead of doing something preplanned, the Confectionary prompt would be best, since she works there!]

A PUPPY PHONE
Anywhere in Recollé; any time of the month
"Do something nice for your neighbor" for Viea Village, or "pamper someone" for Enprise

Hmm...how am I supposed to do this without ruining your Evoker?

[It's a question asked to the air. You might find Minako walking her silver Shiba Inu on the streets, looking at some Bluetooth devices on her phone's browser-- or maybe she's in the electronics store, browsing the shelves. Either way, Koromaru is patiently walking beside her, making sure his Leader doesn't trip or bang her head on something as she muses to herself.]

Maybe I should just experiment. If I break your collar beyond repair, thanks to Retrospec it'll come back brand new...probably.

[Koromaru gives an agreeing bark.]

Okay, let's do that then. [And noticing someone near her, she waves them down.] Hey there! Question for you! What brand would you recommend for a Bluetooth device?

[Or maybe you see a text message from her.]

if I wanted to give my puppy a phone in his collar, how would I go about doing that?

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[Ragna's expression darkens slightly. It's bad enough he even had to acknowledge that in front of her, but the last thing he wants is her pity. (Sympathy might be a better word, but it makes no real difference to him.) He scoffs, finishing the sentence for her.]

Not something that can be "healed"? Yeah, don't think so.

[Not that's he's actually tried, but he has every reason to believe it won't work. It would be one thing if it was a simple injury, but considering his entire arm has turned pitch-black (which he stubbornly hides beneath long sleeve and glove to spare himself people freaking out) he figures it won't be that simple.]

And we're not here for this crap anyway, so we can move on with out lives any time now.

[Minako holds back a sigh, the unease in her stomach sitting more heavily than ever. She'd been hoping that she'd been tactful enough for a neutral response from him, at least, but it seems she'd touched a nerve anyways. Though she can hardly blame him. He's not the only friend of hers who has gone through a body transformation.]

Fair enough. I wanted to offer it just in case it could be. I'm sorry.

[She pulls out her phone to go down the list of Zee's suggestions, deciding to "move on" as he'd requested.]

So what do you want to do? We could egg someone's house. [As much as she wouldn't like to, it'd be something to make up for insulting him.] Or we could plant flowers...do yardwork, do something for a neighbor, talk about family...

[That seems to placate him, if only a little. As much as he hates her concern, he knows her well enough to figure out she didn't mean any offense to him. Plus, she's willing to drop the subject when asked, so he has no reason to stay mad at her.]

What for? None of this is your fault, stupid.

[Ragna waves his working hand dismissively, his tone lighter than before. It's not like he can really blame her for bringing it up, but as far as he's concerned, they're done with that topic. It'll probably be better for their teamwork (whatever it may be) if they steer clear from it, too.]

Do I look like a goddamn gardener to you? [As usual, he's nothing but a pleasure to work with.] I doubt any of the neighbors would appreciate an egg to their face... What does that leave us with? Talking?

[He's not exactly a talkative type, but it sounds like a low effort kind of task. Hell, they're already talking right now, no? It can't be too hard.]

[She wrinkles her nose at him for calling her stupid, but she's familiar enough with being called an "idiot" by other male friends when she's being silly that it's mostly for show. At least he's in a better mood.

Talking about family might ruin it, though. Maybe she should go first.]

I can talk about why I love my family. [She gestures for him to join her on the porch of the townhouse, where there's a swing seat and a couple of armchairs.] I'm warning you now, though, I can get very sappy.

[Ragna doesn't answer immediately, pondering that for a brief moment. Family, huh... Not exactly the kind of conversation he'd like to have if he had any say in that matter, but it might be better than planting flowers at least. And hell, he might even get away without really talking, consider he doesn't even have any family to speak of in the first place.]

... I guess it ain't the worst on that list. Might as well give it a shot.

[He responds to the invitation with a small nod, following her to the porch and taking a seat on one of the armchairs. If he's to suffer through her family stories then he can at least make himself comfortable first.]

Go ahead, I'm all ears.

[He doesn't look very attentive, but they'll be getting the task done, so...]

[Minako takes the swings seat for herself, pulling her legs onto it so she's fully facing him.]

Mmm...well, let's see. My mom and dad passed away in a car crash when I was seven. [Not a happy start, but.] But they were good people. They were more hands-on with raising me and my twin brother than most parents were in the area, I think. They took us traveling, and encouraged us to be friends with the people in our community. They actively helped with neighborhood projects and activities, too, and that stayed with me as I grew up. It spurred me to join ReVA once I got here.

I have an adoptive dad, too. Lucian was my doctor when I first came to Recollé, but we got very close, and he asked to become my official guardian late last year. He was on Retrospec for a bit, but then he became a civilian again...and now he's in Europe doing work for Doctors Without Borders.

[The whole time she talks, her expression is calm. Somewhat wistful, because she misses all of them so much, but content because these adults have always given her peaceful, happy memories.

That will definitely change once she talks about Minato, though...]

[Well, that's quite a start. Hearing that, Ragna actually straightens himself and listens properly. He didn't really expect to care too much about her story, but that one hits a little too close to home to ignore.]

... You too, huh.

[He says under his breath, more to himself than Minako. It's almost uncanny how similar their backgrounds are, yet she seems so much more at peace with it. Sure, Ragna has some good memories of his parents, too, but he's always refused to think back to them, figuring dwelling on that would only make the loss hurt more. Listening to her talk about her parents like this he can't help but feel a pang of guilt in his chest for that.]

They must be proud of you.

[Not that he has any way to ascertain what the dead think, but he's oddly confident in that.]

I hope they are.

[She knows that Lucian is, at least-- he is a man of few words, but he told her as much the day he asked to be her adoptive father. As for her parents...she'll have to ask them when she meets them again one day.]

My twin brother, Minato, is still alive. We were separated soon after our parents died, and lost touch. [That is, Minato ran away from their grandparents and cut off contact.] But last October we met up by chance, and we've been getting to know each other all over again.

[Here she releases a heavy sigh.]

Not that it's been easy, but I do still love him very much.

[The way she describes her relationship with her brother somehow manages to rub Ragna the wrong way, so he frowns slightly as he speaks.]

How the eff does one even "lose touch" with their freaking twin? A former classmate, coworker, ex or whatever, sure, you can drift apart. But one's sibling? Even if you're forced apart, you don't just forget about the closest person you have and move on with your life.

[Frankly, even he's a little surprised at how strongly he feels on the matter; it's not he can speak from experience, it just seems like the way things should be. If he had a sibling, he'd do his best to have that kind of relationship with them.

... If he had a sibling...

Ragna lets out a snort and leans back in his armchair, annoyed by how worked up he's getting over something that ultimately has nothing to do with him.]

So, what's his excuse?

[He assumes it must have been Minato's fault because while he doesn't know anything about the guy, he couldn't possibly believe Minako would sever contact with anyone close to her, let alone her own brother.]

[She visibly winces. All of this is something that she very much still needs time to come to terms with herself, even though it's been so many months, so Ragna's less than delicate dive into the topic is poking at some wounds she hadn't wanted to acknowledge.

There's a part of her that feels defensive on Minato's half as well, instinctive and fierce because she loves him and dislikes anyone speaking ill of him and this is his story, besides, something private and not to be spoken of so freely-- but she very firmly pushes that down. Her friends have told her many times over that Minato has done some horrible, emotionally scarring things, and that she can't try to protect him from the consequences of them. Especially when the consequences have to do with her own mental health. Acknowledging his mistakes is important, even if it feels like she's talking badly about him.]

He felt like a burden to our grandparents. [A sigh.] After our parents died, we were split up, since none of our relatives could afford to take in two kids at the same time. Minato went to Jiichan and Baachan, but he was apparently constantly in the hospital due to lung complications after the car crash. [Yeah, the baby Arisato twins had been in the car, too.] I guess he got it into his head that they were better off without him. He stopped writing letters to me just before I got into high school, and I found out later that he'd left home to basically strike it out on his own. That's how we lost touch.

[If Ragna notices her discomfort, it sure doesn't show. He's almost surprised she doesn't try to defend her brother's actions ─ she seems like the kind of person who would try to excuse the actions of people close to her, even if she was hurt as the result. In a way, he's somewhat impressed by Minako's fairly objective approach.

He reaches out to pet Koromaru absentmindedly (so that the poor thing doesn't get too bored with humans and their weird talk) as he listens to her explanation. Sure, it's not hard to see the reasoning behind it, but at the same time Ragna finds it pretty damn ridiculous. Maybe it's because he doesn't have any people close to him that the idea of willingly cutting off all contact with your loved ones sounds really stupid to him; just how ungrateful can that guy get?]

In other words, he's a dumbass.

[... That's one way of summarizing it, um.]

[If she's objective, it's because she doesn't want to get dramatic about it, and because she dealt with most of the emotional turmoil before this, and because being clinical about it will hopefully make the story easier to tell in time. It was just fourteen years of separation. No big deal.

(Alas, it's never "just" anything with Minako, she has too much heart for that. Fortunately for her sanity, she stopped feeling betrayed for the most part, and started thinking about how to bring her brother back into her life instead.

Results have been moderately successful.)

Koromaru pushes into Ragna's hand, his tail swishing, but in a subdued way in deference to the mood in the air. Minako breathes out a sigh and lifts her shoulders.]

He's gotten better about the emotions thing, I think. I hope. He's still cagey and I still feel like it's a one step forward, two steps back thing. For my part, I admit that I've unconsciously smothered him more than once, trying to fix things between us. But he's my dumbass brother, so whatever it is we have, I'm going to keep working on it until we're both comfortable.

[He certainly can't blame her for remaining hopeful and determined to get her brother back. In fact, he finds that pretty admirable, even if he still thinks Minato deserves a good talking to for leaving his family to worry about him for literal years. Like that was gonna make their lives easier.

There again Ragna is in no way connected to the whole thing so he shouldn't really get invested in it, nor is it his place to say any more on the matter.]

... Knowing you, you'll be able to do it. And it's not like you'd stop halfway anyway...

[He cringes a little at how cheesy that line sounded and suddenly becomes very absorbed in petting Koromaru's head, hoping Minako can pretend that never happened, too.]

[Luckily for him, Minako enjoys the sentiment behind cheesy lines like that, and gives him a warm smile for it.]

Thanks, Ragna. I'll keep at it a little bit at a time. It'll be an uphill climb, but... [She sighs out over her knees, staring out over them for a long moment and then shaking her head.] Anyways. Enough about my issues with my brother. Should I tell you about my cousins or are you getting tired of the sound of my voice?

For what? It's not like I did anything.

[Grumble grumble no he was definitely not trying to encourage her, shut up.]

Seriously? There's more? [He didn't even know people had families this big.] If there's some drama going on with those too you might need to start paying me for this.

[He's probably like, the worst therapist ever. But at least he's listening, right? Plus, he's got nothing better to do with his day anyway and he gets to pet a cute dog. Everyone's a winner in this scenario.]

[She just gives him a knowing smile and then laughs faintly.

Really though, she feels like her family is small. The loss of her parents left a hole that she has never been able to fill, not even after Mrs. Mochizuki became a surrogate mother, or after Lucian became her adoptive father.]

In udon? But no, no drama there. [None that is directly related to her, at least.] I'll keep it short. My cousins are from my mother's side, and are half Hawaiian. They're both on Retrospec [at least they are at the time of this thread, it will go down to one later] and twins, too. Sora and Shiori are aaalmost like a mirror of me and Minato.

Now you're talking.

[The corners of his mouth curl up in a tiny smile, which is more than people get from him most of the time.]

All of you got the app? Ain't that an amazing coincidence.

[In fact, it seems way too convenient to be one. But since when do they know anything about how people are chosen to end up on Retrospec aside from "apparently at random"? He's not exactly sure if having your family members deal with its bullshit is a good thing or not, but...]

Must be nice. At least you've got someone to bitch about Retrospec with.

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