Open Log

[threatenwithcuteness]

who: Lola Pacini, and YOU!
what: Lola Out and About in September
when: That thing I just said.
where: Keeping it vague for fun, but pretty much anywhere within the protected city.
notes: Starting with prose, but will match formats for replies.

A. Cockiness

Anyone that follows Lola’s photo feed might notice a lot more photos of views from very tall places, or selfies with backdrops that don’t make any sense. Too tall to climb and generally places that only make sense for those with wings.

Or maybe a girl with a pair of jumping boots. Lola’s been practicing since the whole kidnapping thing. She’s still not certain about her ability to fight, but if she gets used to them maybe she can comfortably run away from more things. Which leads to how she practices, she stretches a little doing long jumps out in the park.

Then later scaling the outside of some of the easier to land on buildings. Ones with a lot of little ledges she can land on all the way up. Of course she’s got a helmet and pads on in case she misses an early jump. But she’s only this ambitious as she’s been getting better. Mostly.

B. Diamonds

Lola’s usual way to de-stress is painfully mundane: shopping. She loves clothes, and jewelry, and all things that make her look her best. She loves make-up and spa stuff and generally just spends her time off on herself.

So you can find her in the quaint boutiques and high end shops looking at dresses, and matching her hair to the colors of different make-ups she finds. Hair changing color as if by magic wherever she is. Trying to determine if a color is actually good on her or if she just thinks the color is pretty.
Of course, if you’re in the same shop looking at something that isn’t you, Lola won’t hesitate to say, “You probably shouldn’t get that.”

And then bluntly state why.

C. Stay

Lola’s at work but she’s the boss and she doesn’t have a shift scheduled. She’s just taking up a table in the Cantina’s little courtyard and scrolling on her phone. If it wasn’t for her name on the cantina, a few obvious paintings of her and she’s always there, you might mistake her for a customer.

She’s here because, as much as she decided she felt more at home in the quarantine, it didn’t mean she didn’t miss home. And the Cantina, and her pictures, were what she had of home. Friends she’d never see again. It was a bit much, and while she thought about popping home for a few days or a week… she never did.
She honestly thought that’d make it worse. So she’ll just stab herself in the emotions, in the corner. And you can tell because she hasn’t noticed her hair is dark gray right now.

D. Wildcard

((Like, hit me up with whatever, I’m easy. If you’re really concerned Private Message me and I’ll probably say yes.))

Comments

A

[wit_and_sword]

The more garden like areas of quarantine were a good, peaceful place to collect her thoughts. With so many now gone from guard duty, she was taking double shifts, and with school taking up time, she appreciated now just a chance to walk by herself.

Even better was her discovery of what were called 'audio books; to think a chance to enjoy a book while also enjoying a walk. For all she did have a preference for the more informal books, every once and awhile someone would suggest what was referred to as a 'classic' and she would feel compelled to listen.

This was what she was doing when she stopped to witness a young woman training in jumps, the springy grass cushioning her falls.

She took out her ear buds. "Are you training for a competition?"

[threatenwithcuteness]

Lola looked a bit confused at the question, then realized what it looked like, and realized that was the most reasonable answer.

"Oh, no, I don't really think any competitions would allow these, they kinda cheat? And would be rough on a track field." Lola looked at all the places she took off from. Her boots didn't make her jump 'higher' so much as release enough concussive force to launch her. On streets and concrete she might leave a magical burn, on dirt and grass she was leaving tiny little divots in the ground.

"I just wanna be better at getting away from creepy people who kidnap folks." Her voice was a lot smaller with that. Admitting what happened made it real, for the few seconds she let it be. Then she pushed the memories back into their corner and made them fake again.

For as long as she could.

"This place is really pretty and even with protective gear concrete hurts."

[wit_and_sword]

"We're in a place inhabited by individuals with special abilities," She answered. "I would think it more a case of 'leveling the playing field'."

The young woman had a point on all other accounts. When she mentions the kidnapping, Elizabeth does think she might've seen her during the rescue mission, but the specifics of that evening were all a blur; all that mattered at the moment was getting everyone safe.

"Are you learning by yourself, or have you had any instruction at all?" Learning to jump and how to take a fall might've seemed silly to some, but it was basically all she and her sisters did during the first year or so-mostly because all they seemed to do was trip or take a misstep in lessons.

[threatenwithcuteness]

Lola in the temple didn't look like Lola, aside from the height. The big difference is she was too tired and hungry to maintain her hair color. It'd turned silky white, which quickly turned grimy unshevled gray from the lack of showers.

"I dunno, I've never done any sports sports here. Just the working out to stay in shape, to make myself feel better when I have too much ice cream." Lola's athletic, but she's not sporty. That was Shay's thing, Lola did it to be near her friend. "But I still feel they aren't fair for athletics, cause it isn't me. Just something that only works for me and rejects everyone else."

"Um, a few people try to help me, but I don't really wanna take up their time." Lola, for as much as she tries not to, prefers a bit of self-sufficiency when she can manage. She can't with homework, or writing, or anything academic. But this is her thing, she can do this herself. Even if a few people could help her, "Plus the only person with a really useful thing to offer went home. And he took his hanglider thing with him."

It worked better when you had impossibly infinite pockets to keep really large wooden glider-paracutes in!

[wit_and_sword]

"Hanglider?" She had read of such things in passing, and seen images in the media, but she never considered one in real life. "You were learning to ride such a thing?"