Laby Inbox

[magusrobin]

Chise's Laby Inbox

Please feel free to leave a text, video, or audio message! (And please let her know who is calling, she's new to phones)

UN:Robin

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Action, just after the future timeline event

[fragmentaryblue]

The timelines come together again, a seam stitched in triplicate. Blue finds herself in the middle of town, not even a half step misplaced from where she had been prior. To her credit, she tries immediately to shift into the flow of time--only to find that door shut and bolted once more.

She wants to scream.

She walks instead. Whatever errands she had been on were forgotten, out to the edge of the island by the beach she goes, feeling for any loops or tears that she might sneak through. Out to the forest, to the farmlands, even to those atrocious cliffs. She walks and walks and walks.

She finds nothing but a watertight cage all around her.

Perhaps she should have fled earlier, when Time was ripped into its disparate threads. Taken the blade of her to the fabric of null time and ripped her way through, consequences be damned. Maybe she could have done it... But she hadn't. She had stayed. And now the chance is gone again.

She heads home for the rest of the evening. There's nothing more to do out here--the others can take care of that forest witch and her tasks.

Early the next morning, Blue opens her shop like usual. There's work to be done--inventory to take, plants to water, some of them had been ready to harvest for ingredients before the world broke, and they weren't any less ready now. It's busywork, but right now, she needs it. And others will likely need medicine after all they've been through. Black Cat especially.

She doesn't think much about her assistant as she sorts through the bottles in the front room. She expects that she doesn't have one anymore, and any further feelings regarding that have been reassigned to a later time.

[magusrobin]

Chise found herself back in the present-day(?), repaired Somnius much in the same way - one moment she was helping collect more of the Shards, placing them together in a pile with the other Dreamers who had found their own and then… here.

The rush of life, light, the presence of others and the replacement of the emptiness that had filled the air… it was all almost enough to bring Chise to her knees in relief. They had made it. Somehow.

The rest of the day was a blur, wandering through the streets to make sure she wasn’t actually dreaming, settling back at her still-crumbling Cottage. The redhead slept heavily that night, not realizing how exhausted the entire ordeal had made her.

And - while Blue thought she might not have an assistant anymore - Chise woke the next day with clear action in her mind. She had to get to work…

But now that she was standing in the doorway to Tinctura, the girl hesitated. What if Iris didn’t want her there anymore? She would understand - would try not to let it hurt her - but… the shop and its owner had become intricately woven into her daily life. Something to cherish.

She forced herself to open the door, taking a step inside, all the while her gaze searched for her friend.

[fragmentaryblue]

There's not many places in the front room to hide, so Chise finds Blue easily enough, elbow deep in a cabinet, counting small blue bottles that clink together as she moves them. She's not so occupied, however, that she misses the tinkling of the bells attached to the door, alerting her that someone has entered.

"One moment--" she responds to the bells, extracting her hand and recording some numbers on the notepad in her other hand. That gets set on the shelf to resume later, and she turns to see... A familiar red haired girl. Surprise registers in her expression for a brief moment, before she recovers to a neutral frown.

What is she doing here? Surely as timid as she is, she would have preferred to stay away from this place, away from Blue herself, who had all but demanded she cast a death spell on herself. Adjacent to those thoughts, she notes that Chise is still alive, and a complicated feeling of restrained relief follows in the wake of that.

"Can I help you?" she inquires, hand coming to rest on her hip as she waits for a response.

[magusrobin]

That small glimpse of emotion…. It was too quick. She couldn’t tell if that was shock or surprise or… like she shouldn’t be here. Was there any care in it, any concern or relief? The other’s countenance now so neutral, she couldn’t tell.

It brought her right back to other moments - moments when she had searched out comfort or acknowledgement, but was left with nothing. Moments when she had stood in front of countless doors, unsure of whether to open them.

Chise had opened this one. The only thing to do next was to keep going.

“I… I figured I still had work… If you’ll have me.”

It wasn’t as strong as she wanted it to sound, too filled with unsureness. But Chise wanted to be here, wanted this place to remain for her.

She would respect Iris’ wishes, though, if she was turned away.

[fragmentaryblue]

It would have made more sense if Chise had stopped by to say she'd found some other occupation, or at least to say that she didn't want to work at Tinctura any longer. But to show up assuming that her job was still available, as if nothing had happened... That was a certain kind of nerve, to be sure. Or a kind of recklessness, perhaps.

The silence that sits between them feels deafening. Blue pins the girl with her gaze for a few seconds, then glances contemplatively around the shop. ... Uncomfortable as she is with Chise at the moment, it doesn't actually require a lot of her trust to simply work together. Tinctura is less of a real investment and more a way to pass the time, after all.

And keeping Chise here allows her closer supervision of the girl. She has to understand that, too.

"...If you like." She gestures to the far wall, tone still carefully neutral. "Put your things in the back. Then check that our counts are correct for that cabinet." Everything should still be in order as it was before the world broke, but it doesn't hurt to make sure of that.

[magusrobin]

Chise was known for her reckless abandon - except in this case, she was selfishly holding onto the threads of something that might be too broken to fix. If anyone from home were here, they might have told her that was wrong, that she should let go… but Chise wouldn’t. Even if it was selfish of her.

Something eased just the tiniest bit in her posture at Iris’ disconnected words. She wasn’t being kicked out. And, neutral as they were right now, that was the better option. There was still a tightness in her chest, like inwardly she was awaiting for something to snap - for things to change so irrevocably that nothing could piece them back together again.

“Right.” Her own reply neutral, like a breath exhaled, as she nodded. Simple instructions. Things she could follow and do on autopilot. Things that kept this fragile peace between them.

That was fine. It would have to be - for now.