[Open] Shifting Your Perceptions

[skyward_eyes]

Who; Nida, Ignis, Mono, Open
What; Family is something Nida wishes he had, and maybe it's in reach. Also a chocobo chase
Where; Markets, Library Rooftop
When; Early April
Warnings;

I. Chocobo on the Loose | OTA
It's actually impressive, just how much a chocobo could grow in a year. Back when he'd first acquired her Hibiscus had been small enough to tuck under one of Nida's arms. These days the crimson feathered bird walked at Nida's side, her head up to his shoulder, happy on her training lead and with a small, weighted saddle on her back and full backs at her sides to help train her to the feel of weight on her. Soon enough she'd be more than large enough to start their riding training together, and Nida wasn't excited about that.

But with her increased age was coming to be a reasonable young bird.

Or so Nida thought. Being a guard, on duty, in uniform, sometimes wasn't the best thing. It meant that some children liked to play their little pranks. Which int his case meant running past Nida and cutting his lead line. Hibiscus, bothered by the sudden motion, jerked aside. And then realized that she was further away from Nida than she should be. Which meant freedom. For a moment her little bird brain considered. And then, seeing nearby melon, she strode confidently away.

"Hibiscus?" Nida said, shocked to see her walking away. He lunged for her cut lead without thinking, and she, seeing this as play, darted away with a warble.

"No, wait, come back!"


II. Afternoon Shopping | Closed to Ignis
Their schedules were such complicated things that often Nida and Ignis left their free time that would be shared together for, well, things far more interesting than basic errands. But things had been busy lately and there was a lot of things that needed buying, and Nida had just come off shift, so... Well, when he saw his husband moving among the vegetable stalls, he of course made his way over.

"Hello my gorgeous love. How are-"

Nida pauses in his way to kissing his husband's cheek when he saw what was in Ignis's hand. Spinach. That earned a cringe.

"You doing spinach stuffed in something for dinner? Promise the 'something' is potent. I prefer not to taste my cooked spinach."

Yeah, sometimes Nida was a picky eater too.


III. Heights Give Perspective | Closed to Mono
The talk with Ignis had taken a while, but in the end they had come to the same conclusion. Of the two of them, Nida would be the one to extend the initial offer. And what better time than tonight, while the two of them were celebrating the success of the young man. For tonight Mono had climbed all the way to the roof of the Library, at good speed, with no rope. Then he'd gone back down. And come back up again. While he was approaching the top the second time Nida had laid out the snacks he'd asked Ignis to prepare for the night. He'd had confidence that all of this result to the evening.

IT was something needing celebrating. So Nida pulled the small 'bento boxes' as Ignis had called them, from the bag at his side. A light evening meal, as a gift from his husband, to broach the subject.

"I'm quite proud of you, Mono. And this? Our celebration meal."

Comments

[monochromatically]

Mono again, looks for a hint that it might not be true. There was a weird nagging at the back of his mind that suggested otherwise, especially when Nida said people didn’t let go that easily… It was a feeling he couldn’t quite explain. An anxious pit in his stomach. Like he got when he couldn’t quite remember if something was one way or another in his world sometimes. “Even if it’s something important?”

But they had never lied to him before, and they had done nothing but help him so far… Even when he was hiding, or following in secret, or wearing a bag on his head, they hadn’t gotten annoyed or tried to discourage him from being around. And he’d been told more than once now that they cared… That was a new experience in exclusive to this world for the most part, and it made him really hope that they were right. “I guess, if you’re sure.”

The boy was going to try his best to avoid testing that, though.

He kicked his feet a little, picking at his food a bit. His voice getting a little smaller, but there was a slightly happy undertone to it. Like he was hopeful, and warming up to the idea. “I haven’t lived with people in a long time.” Mono couldn’t even accurately say how long it had been since the orphanage anymore, and that had ended on a rather scary note… He couldn’t really count his time with Six as living with someone, either. It was more like running together. “But I kinda like the idea, especially with you guys, since I got to know you guys better since I got here.”

[skyward_eyes]

"Especially when it's something important. People matter more than things."

And that's definitely his final word on that. And he smiles that Mono has agreed. Because this meant they could have this. And if it worked out, Mono would have somewhere safe to be.

"We like the idea of it too. Otherwise we never would have suggested it."

[monochromatically]

Mono managed another one of his small, tilted smiles. “Yeah, I guess you guys wouldn’t have if you didn’t want to.” That would be kind of silly for someone to do, after all.

He glanced curiously at Nida a moment later. “Maybe I can learn how to help too. People do chores and stuff when they live in a house, right?” He remembered hearing other kids in the city talking about having to do chores and stuff. It all sounded like rather easy things, but if that was normal for kids, then he wanted to make sure he knew that stuff.

[skyward_eyes]

Well, that made Nida smile. Yeah, chores was something he could agree to.

"Ignis might be weird about it at first, I don't know. But at Garden, where I was raised, we were expected to help take care of where we lived when we were cadets. Only seems right to ask you to do it if you're willing. But if it's really hard for you, then I won't force it."

[monochromatically]

“Yeah?” He tilted his head curiously. He didn’t mind if Ignis was weird about it at first. Most people were kind of weird to Mono sometimes about a lot of things.

And because of how his world was? It wasn’t like he knew what to make of things most of the time himself.

But he was glad to hear he could help, and do things like chores would be an interesting experience for him. Most kids he heard talking about it made it sound like they were boring or time-consuming… But it didn’t really sound that bad to him. He could think of a lot of things he’d find worse than chores. “Okay! I think a lot of the stuff I heard about is pretty easy? I just kinda need to learn how you guys like to do the stuff. That way, I can do it the right way.”

[skyward_eyes]

"Well, you can definitely learn from us. And we've got lots of things that would be considered chores I suppose. Except either way, we'd expect you to, you know, keep your own room tidy."

Other than that, he'd let it go if he had to. Just to have Mono with them.

[monochromatically]

His room? Was that considered a chore? “That makes sense anyway, if my room is messy I won’t be able to find anything!” Mono might actually be more tidy than most children, not wanting his space to remind him of the Pale City and its state of ruin. Even more so, not wanting to find himself leaving a space in the terrible state that the porcelain children had at the school, it would be unsettling. His bigger fear when it came to making a mess was one made by mistake. One made if his powers got reacted poorly in some way. It hadn’t happened here beyond with the tell-phones, but the child hadn’t ruled it out entirely.

“I don’t got much stuff, anyway. So it’ll be easy to keep clean. Except clothes, I’m not good at hanging and folding stuff…” Washing it was weird too, he so he tried to take very good care of everything. Probably the other reason why his old trench coat got the most wear if it wasn’t cold out.

[skyward_eyes]

"I'm glad to hear that," nida said with a smile. "I can try and teach you some folding, but I don't mind doing laundry stuff."

He finishes his treat and sets it aside. "Would you like to come tonight, just for a little bit? See the house and think?"

[monochromatically]

Mono couldn’t really think of a reason not to. It wasn’t like he had anything particularly important or exciting to do that night. “Yeah? I guess I could? I don’t got anything else I have to do today.” The imps had recently gone back to Illyana, and he didn’t have anyone that he needed to check on that night, since he’d been following people around fairly often when he wasn’t working on practicing climbing.

And it would be… Like a test visit. To see how he felt in the house, and get a better idea of if there was anything that he hadn’t thought of that might make him or them uncomfortable. Right…? That seemed… Kinda like it made sense.

[skyward_eyes]

"Well then," Nida said with a smile to himself, "I'm looking forward to it. You don't have to stay the night, but I will be happy to have you see it."

And Mono could even pick a room if he wanted.

[monochromatically]

Mono would be amazed at the idea he could actually pick a room, but at the moment, he was just excited to see things and get an idea of what he’d be in for. “Okay, should I visit at a certain time?” And if he did decide to stay the night, at least he didn’t have much stuff to worry about moving…

( ooc: This is coming at a good time, lol. Mono would not have done well in the new orphanage. )

[skyward_eyes]

"Why not now?" Nida suggests, eyes bright and full of a mischievous energy he normally didn't have on climbing nights.

[ooc: yeah, if Nida had learned of the orphanage he would have been like 'please come home with me'. Meanwhile tommy going to be suss for his kids and try even harder to watch out for them.]

[monochromatically]

“Really?” He asked, setting his now empty bento aside with a curious tilt of his head. “I guess I don’t got anything else to do, since I passed the test.” He added with a little shrug. Climbing nights were the most exciting ones, after all. Then when he was finished, it was either people following or back to the apartments.

(ooc: Poor kid’s ‘earliest’ memory is at an orphanage and it didn’t end well at all. He’d be like, yep let’s go now! Awww Tommy ;; he’s a good too. )

[skyward_eyes]

Nida picks up the bento and tucks it back into his bag.

"Well then, let's see ourselves to that, right? I'd say I'll race you down, but we both know I'd win."

[monochromatically]

Mono picked himself up, brushing some of the crumbs off as he did and tilting his head at the almost challenge posed by his teacher. “Well yeah, you’d win now. I’m still learning!” But hey, the kid couldn’t help but hope he might improve enough to actually be a challenge someday! That was part of the goal. The better he learned, the more ready he’d be for whenever he had to go back to his world… At least that was the hope.

[skyward_eyes]

"You are, but you're learning fast, Mono. I'm so proud. I'll have to come up with a new challenge soon, and with it being spring, there is so much more we can learn."

For now he was moving to the edge, clearly ready to head down.

[monochromatically]

Mono was going to take a while to get used to the whole, people being proud of him thing… But it really was a nice feeling. Like he already felt he accomplished something, but it was new in a strange but good way. “Yeah?” Mono tilted his head with curiosity. “What kinda stuff?” He asked, moving to the edge and carefully beginning his much smoother descent down the side of the building.

That was actually a particular source of pride for the boy. Going back down wasn’t nearly as difficult as it was when they started their lessons.

[skyward_eyes]

Nida waited for the boy to start heading down before he started himself down as well.

“Well, now that you can go down and up this, it’s time to start working on using momentum to your advantage. Some simple parkour. Lessons that will help you move faster and this can help on roofs too.”

[monochromatically]

“Parkour…” He mused with a curious tone as he continued working his way down the wall to the bottom. “That’s like the fancy stuff you do?”

That would be neat, and definitely useful. Especially since Mono spent a lot of time traversing roof tops and rather perilous areas of the Pale City. Not that it seemed like something to worry about here, but he definitely wanted to learn everything he could. It was useful, especially if his abilities couldn’t help him somewhere along the way. Which, more often than not here, was the case.

“That’d be really useful, especially to get around the city faster!” He added as he finally reached the ground below, a few moments behind Nida.

[skyward_eyes]

"Yeah, a lot more like what I do," Nida answered. He'd start with tricks on how to safely fall of course.

"It's a good thing to start learning some of the basics at night, so we aren't bothering people."

[monochromatically]

Learning to fall safely was a very good one for the kid to learn. Especially good, really.

But Mono was definitely excited about the idea of learning to do some of the other stuff Nida could. He already liked the climbing lessons, so even more? That would be great.

Following along, he listened curiously for more details. “Yeah? I guess that makes sense, would be kinda bad if we bothered people or got in their way. They can get mad if you do.” He responded. It seemed sensible was all.

[skyward_eyes]

"Exactly," Nida smiled. "And part of it is that I want you to learn the basics before you have to do them at speed around other people."

And he's going to figure that out when he's got time too.

[monochromatically]

Mono definitely could understand that. His eyes were wide as he considered even trying to do what he saw Nida doing at a normal speed. “Yeah, if I tried going fast, I’d bump into people or trip a lot, I think. I trip a lot alright sometimes.” The child added with a wise-looking nod. Six used to find it kind of amusing, the way he’d throw himself into things and then end up flat on his face.

[skyward_eyes]

And to think, Nida hadn't bothered being fast around Mono yet.

"We'll work on it. But you need to consider your clothes and how they fit if you're going to do parkour. You don't want to get caught on stuff, or have your movement restricted."

I DID NOT GET THE NOTIF FOR THIS! AHHH!!! D:

[monochromatically]

Mono didn’t need to think too long about what that meant, and the kid had to frown a little. “So then… That means my coat might be a bad thing for that?” The kid was starting to realize how impractical it was, but it was hard to let go of something you’d had for as long as you could remember.