[OPEN] I feel this burning inside, a feeling no one should know...

[thebigsister]

Characters: Eleanor Lamb and YOU!
Setting: Floor 15, the workshop.
Format: Starting with action, but I'll match your preference.
Summary: It's time to put all that compound intellect to use and brush up some borrowed skills to give her suit some much needed maintenance. So behold, Eleanor Lamb is actually looking like a human and not some weird monster out of a horror game.
Warnings: Hopefully none? Will add as necessary, though.

[The suit needs to be mended or patched in places where monster claws have worn it. Her harpoon and her ADAM needle need a little sharpening and some good hits with a hammer to straighten them after they've been crooked slightly. And of course, she needs to check the airtight seals on her helmet.

Eleanor, unfortunately, only owns another set of clothes that aren't her suit: a rather girlish white dress. Two of them, in fact. But she's been using one of them as a nightgown, the other relegated to the empty depths of her trunk. Without any other option - and no, working around naked was obviously not an option - she moves about the workshop in such clothes, barefoot and wearing no protective equipment, as she goes about giving her suit proper maintenance. She's slightly distracted, busy rummaging her own mind to find the right set of memories or skills to complete the task at hand, but of course... she's hardly defenseless even without the suit. Absorbed by her task, she doesn't notice when she begins half-humming, half-reciting a familiar poem/song:]

In the House of upside-down, cellars top floor, Attic's ground. In the House of upside down, laughing cries and smiles frown. In the house of upside-down, found is lost and lost is found...

Comments

It was a sad, sad thing.

[thebigsister]

That was the idea, I suppose. But of course, it did not flourish as it was expected.

[Eleanor shrugs again, shifting to work her armor carefully.]

Then again, there is nowhere to run, under the ocean.

[fallen_stage]

[His armor finished, Kuja starts fastening his boots on.]

That would be a difficult place to flee from. Was that Rapture's natural state, or..?

[thebigsister]

There is nothing natural about Rapture, except perhaps the end it found.

[Eleanor sighed.]

It was built that way, isolation meant as protection. But in the end it didn't exactly work out that way.

[fallen_stage]

Because of greed at the bottom of the sea, Rapture was crushed under the ocean's weight.

[Oh there he goes, being poetic. He can't help it, the image of an underwater populace has a certain romantic appeal. No doubt that occurred to the creator and its inhabitants as well. How cruel is harsh reality!]

That's the problem with isolation: if you aren't strong enough, then there will be nothing to aid you when you crumble.

[thebigsister]

And worse, should you be weak in isolation and attempt to enslave the strong to aid you when you crumble, you shouldn't be surprised when they turn back and scorn you for taking away their freedom.

[Personal experience? What are you talking about...]

These two are mutual bad influences

[fallen_stage]

[Kuja smiles at her as he finishes up his boots.]

Precisely! Those who are so weak will be devoured by the strong. No one suggests to a shark to help the fish that strays from its school.

Sob.

[thebigsister]

But there is beauty, when it happens. And it can happen.

[Eleanor smiles faintly, thinking of many things that she will never say outloud.]

What they fail to understand is that kindness is not weakness. It is not the mark of slavery. There is great dignity in it, but it should be free or it is nothing but empty lies.

[fallen_stage]

There's beauty everywhere, even in a shark devouring its meal, blood swirling in the open water.

[Kuja starts to put on his other boot, but pauses at Eleanor's comment. It sounds too much like Zidane familiar.]

So I have heard, and so I have seen. I can be cynical at times, but don't doubt that I believe in kindness too.

[liar]

[thebigsister]

I am glad to hear that.

[She smiles at him, a softer smile.]

[fallen_stage]

[He smiles, back, pleased. Eleanor was going to be useful, he could tell.]

I'm glad to have met you.

[Boot complete, Kuja buckles himself into his curaiss.]

Well, it was a pleasure to talk with you, Eleanor.

[thebigsister]

Likewise.

[She shrugs a little.]

I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunity to talk again.

[fallen_stage]

Of course. Farewell.

[With that, Kuja walks out of the workshop.]