voidtreckernet | video/action

[Video]

[ Della's face pops up looking... well, like everyone else - exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally. She smacks her beak a bit, before speaking. ]

... So. That sucked.

[ Fully aware that's the understatement of the century, Della draws a breath, and tries again. ]

I think we could all use a nice, long breather after everything... and, gosh darn it, as Train Mom, that is my sacred duty. Hugs? Head on the lap? Head-pats telling you that you did a good job? A shoulder to cry on? Venting out all your feelings without judgement? I'm right here.

[ She slaps her chest, then slaps a small sign on on the sports/gym car. It reads

EXHAUST PILE WITHIN

But as she does this, Tidus enters the scene - Della jumps, surprised, almost forgetting his presence.

He just smiles, holding up two cups with steam coming off them, then addresses the video feed as well. ]

We're also making big batches of cocoa too. Any of you that're gonna stress bake? There's room for that room - s'long as you don't need a nap first.

[ It's a small chide though, his smile small but sympathetic. ]

I've gotten out some incense pots from the supplies - you guys who got your head thrown into a blender by that aash-- uh, that jerk, [ he takes a swift glance at Della, then back ] --it'll help you relax. Just some, but better than nothin'. I'll set some off in Momma Duck's air nest, but if you're not doing great and you think you need a pot? Tell me. Raven made a lot of good stuff for good nights sleep if you need any in the medcar, too.

... So, yes. Cocoa. Incense. Hugging. And if you want to sleep with friends for a couple nights, we got air beds and extra pillows in here. Nobody has to get up and go until they feel ready.

And if that's not enough, that's fine too. Maybe next month we do something a little more organized, if you have any suggestions - movie night, sleepover night, big eat night, whatever, I'm listening. And I'm here for you.

[ Action ]

And inside the sports gym, the pair can be found. They have a few airbeds blown up, but there's more that still need airing up if you pop in straight after their message. There's also a tremendous amount of pillows. If you want to help, get blowing, and make these airbeds look nice and comfy!

The transgate from the standard coach has mysteriously been moved to the sports gym's outer hallway. Who did that? But it makes it easier to bring in the cups of hot chocolate from the kitchens, and for anyone who wants to bring snacks to do so. Take a seat, remember to bring your sleeping bag and whatever else you want. Plushes, your own musical instrument to offer some de-stress medication of your own with a melody.

And there's an area where small incense pots burn away, a gentle mist rising up. It won't heal the mind completely, but it will offer it some peace. And if you're worried about nightmares, a few of Raven's sachets and teas are available.

So come get a mom hug. Come and offer hugs. Just come and get something out of the company, whatever it is. Tidus and Della - and others - will be here to give a hand.

The life you had might've been fake, but the people around you aren't.

((OOC: consider this a mingling post, where everyone is free to tag everyone else! be the comforter, the one offering comfort, both, whatever!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Some time after that pillow goes up and over, someone takes a seat near her. A big, quiet someone, who's deliberately sitting with his back to her, his bulk between whoever this is who's huddling and hiding and the rest of the event. It's not the first time he's done this on the train, used his body as a physical bulkhead for someone who looks overstimulated, and it probably wouldn't be the last.

After a few minutes, he offers quietly, "If you need permission to leave, you've got it. No one's going to mind if this is too much right now."

"Yes and no." Rui offers after a moment as she lowers the pillow. She hadn't really noticed him that much when he sat down, but she half-sensed his presence.

"It's easier to sprawl out here than my bed. I'm used to doing it on my couch."

"Okay, that's fair," he says with a tired huff of a laugh. He turns a little, peering over his shoulder and cheered to see the pillow's come down. "Believe me," he adds with a wry twist to his lips, nodding at himself, "I understand not having enough space to sprawl out on the train's sorry excuse for beds."

"Yeah, I'm just used to my penthouse...and being alone. Personal space. That kind of thing." She responded with a bit of a heavy sigh.

It was the kind of night for heavy sighs.

She should ask him if he was alright. She might. Any minute.

He's not taking it personally that she hasn't. He shifts again, turning sidelong at her and drawing up his knees so he can lay his head on them. "Vice and virtue, do I know what you mean," he says with a very heavy sigh. "I've almost lost my fu-- 'scuse me, lost my mind trying to get used to how close to quarters are here. I don't think I'll ever be, honestly. It's a hell of an adjustment when you're used to your privacy."

"It's true." She said, looking a little bit empathetic. She didn't even blink at his almost-slip on the cursing. It wouldn't have phased her if he had.

"I've been living alone since I was able to afford my own place." Rui explained. "I was thirteen, so I'm not really used to all of this."

Wait, what? "You paid for your own space at thirteen? With money?"

"Obviously." Rui said with a bit of a blink. "That's when Galax really started to take off. I created a social media platform, I own and run my own company."

She hummed a moment. "Although that's true, it's not as though I have any employees, outside of X." There was an extremely low overhead if one didn't count the fact she essentially lived, slept and breathed work.

"But--" he protests faintly. "What about your crechekeepers-- caretakers? Parents? Why were you on your own at thirteen?!"

"We don't get along." She said simply. "It was just easier to move out on my own as soon as I could."

Then she didn't have to worry about it anymore.

Devero has to take a deep breath and actively stop himself from protesting further. He knows too well by now that his standards and expectations when it comes to kids are wildly out of line with-- pretty much every other universe's. And it's done no one here any good for him to get as mad about it as he wants to.

"All right," he says after a moment. "If that's what worked for you, I'm glad you had the opportunity. If there's anything I can do to help you adjust to this--" He waves a hand around, indicating the whole train as much as this one room. "Let me know?"

"It's working enough, I suppose." She was an outlier in her world, at least. Most people had family and friends around them and Rui mainly stuck to herself, with her A.I.

"It was for the best. The fighting wasn't worth it." She nodded a little bit. "Thanks. I don't know what to think about it."

Nothing she's saying is convincing him that a thirteen-year-old should have been allowed to live on their own, but he keeps anything further on that subject to himself. Instead, he says, "It's a lot. It still gets to me, and I'm in a double where I can actually get some real privacy if I need it."

Rui honestly didn't want to get into it.

"Oh, that sounds nice. The beds here are very cramped and I have roommates which is incredibly strange." She didn't really know them that well, but her first impression of Beau wasn't...great.

"You don't have to tell me," he says with a huff. "I hadn't had a roommate in a good 15 years before I boarded the train!"

"My only roommate is my A.I." Rui responded with a little smile.

"X is pretty good company." They were really her only company.

Oh hello, AI? That very obviously catches Devero's interest, enough so that he turns fully around to face her. "You have an A.I.? How advanced is it?"

"Well, she's smart enough to realize that an imposter who'd taken my form was in fact an imposter and she recognized me after I spoke to her, even though all my safeguarding was shut down by Berg-Katze." Rui considered.

"She does a lot of the work for my company, managing the social network with me."

"That's incredible," he breathes faintly, digesting that. It takes him a moment. "Is it fully autonomous, then? And you said its-- sorry, her name is X?"

"Essentially, for the most part. She does a lot of the monitoring my system requires and I couldn't manage my company alone without her assistance." Rui said easily.

"She makes decisions based on my pattern of behaviour, although usually if it's confusing to her she'll check with me. She learns constantly and has many different functions. She's not bad at driving my car either, when I get called away unexpectedly."

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