008 → It's only different seasons

[wrigurun]

Characters: Wriggle Nightbug, Open
Setting: Floor 35 (summer), Lift (winter)
Format: Action tags, tags will follow original taggers style
Summary: The summer was fun, winter was not
Warnings: Potential character death

Floor 35
[Maybe it was the mist, or maybe it was the winter, or maybe it was the knowledge that no matter what the tower would probably get the better of her weighing down on her shoulders. Whatever the reason, once thing that was certain is that Wriggle had been miserable for a long time, much longer than usual for her and her normally curious and aggressive disposition had been significantly subdued for the past month.

The rain didn't mean much to her, she had nothing that wouldn't be fine after being dried out. The heat she'd been able to stave off by staying in the shadier areas of the tower and moving as little as possible. However as the humidity started to rise she felt a sort of nostalgia, a longing for the carefree days of Gensokyo. She could have easily become more depressed at the thought but she was tired of sulking. Even though this place could be a nightmare at times there was nothing stopping her from experiencing the same joys she did at home.

The fact that she'd almost forgotten it meant that she had to work even harder to preserve that memory.

As dusk starts to fall Wriggle wanders down to the lake with a large jar of fireflies collected from the forty-first floor. She can't control them here and she can't fly but right now there's no place she'd rather be and she's sure they'd enjoy it more too. She unscrews the lid and releases them into the floor. Even if she can't control them they seem to float around her as she skips and dances and sings in a slightly off key, basking in the memories of summers past]

Pandora, Pandora, Pandora's box was cat coloured ♪
Pandora, Pandora, Pandora's box, was it black or white? ♫

Lift
[After the summer autumn had actually been fun but everything took a sudden nosedive the moment winter rolled around. She'd had a hard enough time getting by during the tower's actual winter but this was on a whole other level. Wriggle had stolen all the sheets that werne't in use from her dorm room and cocooned herself up in them but even that wasn't enough to keep the harsh chill out. There was nowhere to keep safe and Wriggle didn't know if she should stay in the dorms or try and find somewhere else.

Eventually she manages to get off the bed but struggles to keep herself afloat, even her legs feel too frozen to move. She wills herself forward and into the lift, hoping it might take her to warmer weather. Who thought moving around could be so exhausting? Wriggle bundles herself into the corner and closes her eyes just to rest a little while, content with riding the lift to wherever until she's ready to move again.

Although if someone doesn't wake her and help her get warm soon she'll surely perish]

Comments

[wrigurun]

[For a moment her smile seemed slightly solumn. She shrugged, only slightly avoiding eyecontant. Even if it was nostalgia for something she'd probably never get to truly experience again, it's not like she had to give a reason to be happy]

I guess I just missed those summers when I used to play by the lake. It's been so bad here lately that I thought having fun again wouldn't be a terrible idea, you know?

[geometry]

I guess. [He didn't really play by a lake too often because he... had never actually seen a lake. But he had seen the vast ocean of the Land of Lotus and Frogs, and that was a pretty good place to chill too, on the rare occasion that he allowed himself to chill about anything anywhere.] Kind of see what you mean. It really could be worse, all of this heat... I like it a lot more than the constant rain, anyway. [He grimaces at the mere thought of all the ruined food and soggy supplies.]

[wrigurun]

The rain's not too bad but... yeah, I like this a lot more.

[This was weird... for once she didn't feel like fighting with him. It was actually kind of nice to agree on something like that]

Was it hot where you came from?

[geometry]

Yeah, it was. Um, one of the places I lived, it was kind of gross hot because of all the factory work and body heat and stuff, but the other place was... tropical, kind of. Much better.

[wrigurun]

Ew... yeah that does sound gross.

I didn't live anywhere tropical but it did get humid during the summer. I didn't think you'd like that kind of weather since you seem to hate everything.

[Despite what she said there wasn't a single hint of snark in her voice]

[geometry]

[ ;A; ]

I don't hate everything!

[He sounds kind of whiny.]

[wrigurun]

Well yeah! Of course you don't, you just said you liked tropical places.

But like, a lot of the times I talk you to you never seem happy.

[But was Wriggle ever that happy around him either?]

[geometry]

[He kind of shrugs in response. The simple answer is "that's because I'm not", but...]

The Tower isn't really a happy place.

[wrigurun]

You got that right...

[She gives a sigh, trying to push back all the bad memories that were stating to resurface. This was her time to be happy and she wasn't going to let it take that away from her]

But you can't never be happy! You should relax! Do you know how to sing?

[geometry]

Uh...

[He's never really tried. But just for the record, his voice is kind of bad, so don't say the narrative didn't warn you.]

[wrigurun]

That's okay, I can teach you the song I know!

[Wriggle isn't particularly any better but she's certainly more enthusiastic about it]

[geometry]

[It's okay, Wrigs. Not everyone can sing like Aaron Tveit a boss.]

Sure?

[He doesn't sound terribly enthusiastic about it, though. More flat and a little confused. Singing was never particularly a thing he tried to do, and he had a feeling that he'd just start to feel really stupid if he tried now.]

[wrigurun]

Okay! Uh...

[It only just occurred to Wriggle that she'd never taught anyone anything in her life]

Well, first you need to... uh...

[She just made up a tune and started singing it but Equius probably wanted more detailed steps than that]

First you need the tune. Mine goes like this!

[Wriggle hums out a melody, starting with a few long notes and then adding a lot of quicker ones on the end]

Okay now you try!

[geometry]

[Intensely uncertain, Equius tries to hum out the earlier parts of the song, seemingly attempting to use as little of his actual voice as possible. It just kind of sounded extremely breathy, like he wasn't even using any of his voice at all. That's weak, Equius. Weak.]

...can you do the last ones again? [He didn't catch them ;a; ]

[wrigurun]

Uh, yeah sure!

But you gotta do it louder! I can barely hear you.

[And she hums though the melody again]

[geometry]

[He gets the notes this time, but all attempts to sing louder are half-hearted at best and kind of fall back into his original volume after a fraction of a second. This is really going to kill your throat, Equius, seriously. I am cringing.]

[wrigurun]

[Wriggle just laughs at his attempts, but it's an earnest laugh rather than a mocking one. Typical Equius]

Okay that's a bit better. You don't have to be shy, no one's gonna judge you, it's just for fun!

[geometry]

[Shy?]

[He shrugs. It's not being shy! It's just... being... well he doesn't know the name for it but it's totally not shy.]

I-I dunno.

It's hard.

[wrigurun]

It's not hard at all! Even I can do it, see?

From the window appeared a black and white cat ♪
A frog also sang a fairytale of white and black ♫

[geometry]

[Deeeeeep breath.]

From the window appeared a black-and-white cat
a frog also sang a fairytale of white and black...


[It was.]

[A little better.]</small?

[wrigurun]

[With a large grin on her face Wriggle kept singing, encouraging him to keep up with her]

Say, what colours am I? ♪

You are red, blue, an earthly gold, green color- wait...

[For a moment she stopped singing and looked quite thoughtful while muttering under her breath]

Red, blue, earthly gold and then... silver, brown- no black, white and grey!

You are red, blue, an earthly gold, silver, black, white and grey ♫

[geometry]

[Red, blue, an earthly gold... all accurate for him, even though they were just the words of Wriggle's weird song. The edge of Equius' mouth twitched a bit at that, but it soon went back to its usual worried frown. He mimicked her again, but still didn't get it as loud or as confident as she did.]

Did you just make this up, or...?

[wrigurun]

I made it up a while ago, it's just a lot of colours to remember.

Not to mention they're easy to mix up, who would have thought green and silver sounded so similar?

[Even though she says this smiling it slowly becomes strange to her. They weren't always so similar, were they? Green, silver, no they sound nothing alike and yet...]

[geometry]

...They don't sound similar to me.

[Green. Silver. Uhm... yeah, no. Maybe Wriggle's just feeling a bit drowsy from all this warm weather.]

[wrigurun]

They... don't?

[Instead of saying things carelessly she focuses very hard on the words as she says them and they come out somewhat differently]

Gin... Mido- Eh!?

Hontou da yo! Onaji janai!

[And even that came out differently. She quickly clamped her hands over her mouth. All this time Wriggle had been so sure she'd been speaking Japanese but assuming she was and actually making an effort to speak it didn't quite correlate]