✼ 2nd zap | action/written ✼ back-dated to 9/22
[It's her fourth day in Luceti, but Pao-lin still wakes up at the crack of dawn expecting to see her own bedroom plastered with posters of her favorite martial artists and anime characters. Instead, she's faced with the blank walls of her new living space: room 36 on the 8th floor of community housing building 7. The people at the Welcome Center had randomly assigned it to her on Monday night, and she'd moved in then because she didn't have anything else besides the clothes she wore, a few extra clothes from the shop, and some basic toiletries.
She's sort of regretting it now. It's too quiet here in the apartment, especially on a mostly-empty top floor. The Welcome Center at least had a few volunteers manning it late into the night, along with other New Feathers temporarily staying there to get their bearings like she had. The hum of their presence distracted her from the truth of her situation - a truth which now fully sinks its claws into her, alone as she is in an apartment built for at least three people.
Someone has snatched her away from Sternbild, from her job and her friends. Someone has trapped her in the middle of nowhere with people she doesn't know, for a purpose that's simultaneously clear and muddled.
It's not that Pao-lin is unused to being by herself. She lived with Natasha back in Sternbild, but Natasha was a busy woman, working a side venture as some sort of independent business consultant along with her day job as Pao-lin's manager for Odysseus Communication. Pao-lin would be frequently left to her own devices at nights while Natasha worked from home. But at least then she had her movies to watch or manga to read or her sketchbook to draw in. Not so in room 36: it's bare and bland, a well-furnished prison. She's not home anymore. And no one will notice or care, because apparently time has stopped back in her world.
Pao-lin suddenly finds herself having to blink back tears. She rubs at her eyes, telling herself that it's just because she just woke up and her eyes are dry. Anyway, she's not allowed to be depressed until she's done her forms for the day.
This is a rule she's had for years, almost as long as she's been training in kung fu and tai chi, though she didn't consciously verbalize it to herself until later. Doing kung fu makes her happier and stronger, so obviously she's never allowed to sit around and whine about things until she's at least gone through a few forms to keep the gloom monsters at bay. And even then she shouldn't ever dwell too much on bad things: she has to keep on keeping on, because it'll make her stronger and she'll be able to protect herself and those she loves. It's okay to be sad for a bit, because it's normal to feel sad about certain things, but in the end she has to defeat the gloom monsters. She has to be strong, and she can be strong if she just keeps training.
Pao-lin brightens at the thought of training, and throws off her blanket. Maybe if she just follows her usual routine here, things will start to feel less weird and more manageable. Plus, she's a Hero. She needs to stay in shape so that she can be ready to help people at any time!
After washing up and brushing her teeth, Pao-lin changes into a kung fu uniform she found in the shop, and heads to the rooftop to practice. Anyone who happens to catch her on the roof will be treated to an informal lightshow, for Pao-lin also practices channeling her NEXT power through her movements and strikes. She'll spend about half an hour up there; she'd normally spend a lot more, but she hasn't eaten breakfast yet, so after showering and changing she'll head to Seventh Heaven.
Pao-lin brings her journal with her to the restaurant, both so she can review the Luceti guide and make sure she understands as much as she can about her situation, and to also ask a question of the Lucetian masses. She's still a little weirded out by the idea of talking into a book, so her question is written instead, in readable round print.]
Does anyone want to come with me to the Battle Dome sometime? It sounds really interesting, but I don't want to go by myself, since I haven't been there before. I think it would be a lot more fun to train with other people! Plus, I want to see what everyone else can do, so I can learn!
I'm Pao-lin, by the way. I hope to meet new friends while I'm here in Luceti!
[Her post-breakfast wanderings take her to the library. She'd corresponded with frost_jewel over the journals yesterday who mentioned that she spent a lot of time in the library, so Pao-lin's curious to see if she'll find her there. And she's just curious about the library in general: maybe they'd have a bunch of shelves for manga and comics like the Sternbild Public Library did! Which is a long shot, admittedly, but Pao-lin's willing to settle for some fantasy novels too, or some how-to books on drawing. She doesn't know how long she'll be stuck in Luceti for, but she might as well keep herself occupied if her captors were nice enough to provide her with entertainment.
Armed with a small stack of books from the library, Pao-lin wanders over to the tea shop to stake out a place to read while drinking some tea. It'll almost be like she's back home in Sternbild.]
((OOC: TL;DR You can catch Pao-lin doing her zap-a-riffic kung fu on the roof of CH7 during the early morning, eating breakfast at Seventh Heaven afterwards, browsing the library during late morning, or drinking tea and reading around lunchtime! Placeholder comments and the like are encouraged, since I know we have to deal with this fairytale event. :D;;))
She's sort of regretting it now. It's too quiet here in the apartment, especially on a mostly-empty top floor. The Welcome Center at least had a few volunteers manning it late into the night, along with other New Feathers temporarily staying there to get their bearings like she had. The hum of their presence distracted her from the truth of her situation - a truth which now fully sinks its claws into her, alone as she is in an apartment built for at least three people.
Someone has snatched her away from Sternbild, from her job and her friends. Someone has trapped her in the middle of nowhere with people she doesn't know, for a purpose that's simultaneously clear and muddled.
It's not that Pao-lin is unused to being by herself. She lived with Natasha back in Sternbild, but Natasha was a busy woman, working a side venture as some sort of independent business consultant along with her day job as Pao-lin's manager for Odysseus Communication. Pao-lin would be frequently left to her own devices at nights while Natasha worked from home. But at least then she had her movies to watch or manga to read or her sketchbook to draw in. Not so in room 36: it's bare and bland, a well-furnished prison. She's not home anymore. And no one will notice or care, because apparently time has stopped back in her world.
Pao-lin suddenly finds herself having to blink back tears. She rubs at her eyes, telling herself that it's just because she just woke up and her eyes are dry. Anyway, she's not allowed to be depressed until she's done her forms for the day.
This is a rule she's had for years, almost as long as she's been training in kung fu and tai chi, though she didn't consciously verbalize it to herself until later. Doing kung fu makes her happier and stronger, so obviously she's never allowed to sit around and whine about things until she's at least gone through a few forms to keep the gloom monsters at bay. And even then she shouldn't ever dwell too much on bad things: she has to keep on keeping on, because it'll make her stronger and she'll be able to protect herself and those she loves. It's okay to be sad for a bit, because it's normal to feel sad about certain things, but in the end she has to defeat the gloom monsters. She has to be strong, and she can be strong if she just keeps training.
Pao-lin brightens at the thought of training, and throws off her blanket. Maybe if she just follows her usual routine here, things will start to feel less weird and more manageable. Plus, she's a Hero. She needs to stay in shape so that she can be ready to help people at any time!
After washing up and brushing her teeth, Pao-lin changes into a kung fu uniform she found in the shop, and heads to the rooftop to practice. Anyone who happens to catch her on the roof will be treated to an informal lightshow, for Pao-lin also practices channeling her NEXT power through her movements and strikes. She'll spend about half an hour up there; she'd normally spend a lot more, but she hasn't eaten breakfast yet, so after showering and changing she'll head to Seventh Heaven.
Pao-lin brings her journal with her to the restaurant, both so she can review the Luceti guide and make sure she understands as much as she can about her situation, and to also ask a question of the Lucetian masses. She's still a little weirded out by the idea of talking into a book, so her question is written instead, in readable round print.]
Does anyone want to come with me to the Battle Dome sometime? It sounds really interesting, but I don't want to go by myself, since I haven't been there before. I think it would be a lot more fun to train with other people! Plus, I want to see what everyone else can do, so I can learn!
I'm Pao-lin, by the way. I hope to meet new friends while I'm here in Luceti!
[Her post-breakfast wanderings take her to the library. She'd corresponded with frost_jewel over the journals yesterday who mentioned that she spent a lot of time in the library, so Pao-lin's curious to see if she'll find her there. And she's just curious about the library in general: maybe they'd have a bunch of shelves for manga and comics like the Sternbild Public Library did! Which is a long shot, admittedly, but Pao-lin's willing to settle for some fantasy novels too, or some how-to books on drawing. She doesn't know how long she'll be stuck in Luceti for, but she might as well keep herself occupied if her captors were nice enough to provide her with entertainment.
Armed with a small stack of books from the library, Pao-lin wanders over to the tea shop to stake out a place to read while drinking some tea. It'll almost be like she's back home in Sternbild.]
((OOC: TL;DR You can catch Pao-lin doing her zap-a-riffic kung fu on the roof of CH7 during the early morning, eating breakfast at Seventh Heaven afterwards, browsing the library during late morning, or drinking tea and reading around lunchtime! Placeholder comments and the like are encouraged, since I know we have to deal with this fairytale event. :D;;))