paixaorpg | Long Lost Lottie [Open, Active]

Character(s): Lottie, open
Content: Miss LaBouff returns to Paixao and she doesn't know what to make of it.
Setting: Muspelheim Gate
Time: Week 29, sunset
Warnings: None

In front of the impressively glittering, larger than life golden gate of Muspelheim, Lottie stood, tapping her fingers together nervously. Despite the other-worldliness of this experience, it wasn't her first time going through this and thus she was handling it remarkably well. Sure, she was rooted in place and absolutely confused, but she wasn't crying. That was progress.

As she made her hesitant way inside the city, she bypassed the line and the usual greeting entirely. She simply couldn't handle that right now. As it was, she could barely sort out what she was feeling, much less how she'd returned here and why she didn't remember what had happened when she was gone.

She knew she'd been gone. Though she had no memories in between now and the last time she'd been in Paixao, she just had a feeling. That aside, she was torn between feeling annoyed and a little frightened that she'd been brought back and...a little relieved that she was. She had made some friends here that she knew she couldn't have seen again back in her own world and it was a shame to think she had just up and left without even saying good bye. But this world was dangerous and bizarre and...and...and she wasn't rich here!

That set her lip to wobbling a little bit. Lottie bit the betraying pink bottom lip and found a bench to sit down on, completely overwhelmed.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Squall was, by no stretch of the imagination, anything resembling a people person. True, he did have a little bit of experience by way of Rinoa, but that wasn't really enough to help through most things. But even then, he rather grudgingly figured he might as well at least see what was going on. There wasn't really anything else immediately pressing, at the very least.

(Even if he might have wished that there was, but that was neither here nor there and anyway, why would anyone he knew have shown up when they hadn't done so yet?)

"Is everything alright?"

Lottie had been sitting demurely, making a fuss out of smoothing out non-existent wrinkles in her red dress, but when Squall approached, she froze like a timid deer. This was just the blessed silence before the coming of the storm. His kindness (such as it was) was all it took to get her going.

"Oh, I'm truly not, you just don't know what it's like!" she wailed dramatically, eyes filling up with tears again. She pulled out a pink handkerchief from her bodice, wringing it in the throes of her despair. "I was gone, I swear I was, but now I'm back an' it can be so dangerous here! With all them spooky Organization fellas and some people are just plumb crazy around here too! I think it's the lack of natural sunlight, I surely do. You just can't breathe with all them domes hangin' up over us!"

...Yep, definitely out of his area of expertise. Rinoa hadn't ever gotten this bad, even when things were more than a little out of their hands. But he'd gotten himself into this, and he supposed it would have been just a little bit rude to walk away now.

"There's sunlight in some of the other worlds, I guess?" he answered with a shrug.

Whether or not that was really natural sunlight was up for debate, but it was better than the domes, and even he had to admit that they got more than a little bit annoying at the best of times. It just wasn't the same somehow. Wasn't right somehow and that was really the problem with the place, in the end.

"I can't do anything about the Organization, though."

"Oh, bless your heart for wantin' to, though," Lottie sighed, sniffling. "'Spose they're likely waitin' in those other worlds too, just lookin' for the right opportunity to --" she jumped up, forming her hands into claws and grimacing, her mascara running from eyes -- "pounce on poor, unsuspectin' folk like us!" She paused in that pose, looking quite terrifying indeed, before suddenly blowing her nose into her handkerchief, loudly.

"I do apologize, sugar. I plumb forgot my manners." She folded over the handkerchief, making quick work of dabbing at her eyes and making herself more presentable. "My name is Charlotte LaBouff, but y'all can call me Lottie." She smiled demurely at him, as if her earlier theatrics never happened.

"What's your name?"

Edited 2011-02-27 03:29 (UTC)

Were they? He was aware of the fact that it was a little odd that the worlds seemed to 'open up' slowly at the best of times, and odder still that there'd been a point when no one had even known about them, but did that really mean the Organization was waiting in them? They had to have known they were there, but was it worth it? Were there enough people there to both snatching people when they had a whole city stretched out before them.

Somehow, he had a feeling Lottie wouldn't want to hear his suspicions. It would probably only set her off again, and he could deal with her slightly better if she wasn't wailing.

"Squall," he answered. "Squall Leonhart."

"Squall!?" she echoed, one hand pressed against her heart in shock. "Goodness, what a fancy name! Sounds dangerous." The playful growl in her voice implied she was less than put off by said danger. She finished patting her hair into place and stood up, primly smoothing out the red fabric of her dress skirt. "Now, then, Squall, I don't s'pose y'all could fill me in on what's been happenin' in my absence? I pride myself on having my ear to all the best gossip, I mean, news, and I surely would appreciate it if you could bring me right back into the loop!"

Dangerous? Squall wasn't at all sure he'd really consider it a dangerous sounding name, but then again he'd had it all his life. That probably meant he had some sort of bias, right? But it was less important. He had to figure out how to...

How to explain that he payed almost no attention to the kind of gossip that she was most likely looking for.

"What do you remember hearing about last, last time you were here?"

She paused, bright blue eyes rolling up to the domed ceiling in an exaggerated expression of thought. "Well, lemme just see here..." she muttered, mostly to herself. "Last time I was around, I think I was hearin' some business about a...Halloween Town?" She blinked a few times, long lashes fluttering. "Well, that can't be right, can it? Hm, an' somethin' about some kinda Mayor."

Lottie peered up at Squall, nose crinkling a bit. "Any a' this ringin' any bells?"

A few. It wasn't much, but it was at least enough to give him a general idea of where to start. The world had changed precious little since then, to the best of his knowledge, but that was alright. Things didn't always move quickly.

"Halloween Town is one of the other worlds past this one. Right now there's three we know of. Destiny Islands, Halloween Town and Spira. They're supposed to be... rooms in a castle, if you can believe that." There was a pause, so that he could take a deep breath. Most of the time he didn't say quite so much all in one go. "As for the mayor... the general opinion of Paixao's mayor is that his either inefficient or has poor taste."

An inelegant snort escaped Lottie. "Well, that's just like a politician, ain't it? Seems some things never change, regardless of the world you find yourself in." She smiled up at him, clasping her hands together. "Thanks for the update, Squall. Real kind of you to help a stranger like me out."

She turned in place, hands going to her hips. "Alright then! Guess I should find my way back to where I was stayin' before. Sure hope no one's moved in since I've been gone! I'd have to stay in...some kind of public housin'." The very idea made her shudder.

Edited 2011-03-19 23:21 (UTC)

Squall couldn't really answer Lottie's question about politicians. The only one he was particular familiar with was Laguna and he wasn't exactly what anyone could call 'normal'. Even by what he was assuming was the usual standard for that sort of thing. Fortunately, it didn't seem like it was a question that needed to be answered.

"It's probably still open."

He hadn't really seen most of the natives move in to places that had been abandoned, so all that left were the various other people who showed up in the place and that wasn't enough to take up all the places there were to stay.

Long Lost Lottie [Open, Active]

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