leires | Ship Stuff

[Rina, you do know this suspense is KILLING him, right?]

Oh boy- just how am I supposed to handle all of these surprises?

[ THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT!!! She just giggles again. ]

Won’t be many more after this, at least~

[ She turns her head a moment and looks out at the Tokyo bay in the near distance. ]

…Have you been liking it here by the way?

[He follows her gaze as she looks, sticking close by but also giving himself a chance to actually observe the scenery without coming unglued like he had with the skywheel.]

Well...it's nothing like Corona, first off. But that isn't a bad thing.

[He toes at a pebble as he passed by it, watching it bounce away into a culvert.]

Japan is so...big. Everything about it is big, and there's so much to see and do...I feel like I could spend several lifetimes here and never actually do it all.

But that's what I like about it. The possibilites are truly endless.

Really? I’d never thought of us that way before… we’re actually a lot smaller compared to other countries. But I suppose in comparison to a place like Corona we would be pretty big…

[ She looks away from the bay and back down at their hands entwined. ]

Hopefully in the future we can experience even more of it together. There’s a lot of places outside of the city I’ve never been but always wanted to go see myself.

I mean, if it helps? Corona felt big to me. I grew in Old Corona, on a farm. I'm probably not the best litmus test for things that are big.

[He snorts, shaking his head a little.]

I'd like that, though. Anywhere you want to go, I'll go with you.

That makes me happy to hear.

[ She smiles a little and squeezes his hand. ]

Not just Japan though. I want to go to all sorts of places in your world, too.

So long as I’m with you, I’d be happy anywhere.

Well, you're in luck! Since uhh...Rapunzel and the others went on a little detour without me, they've been all over Corona to places I haven't had a chance to see yet. So I think it'll be about time for us to get to go see them, too.

[He's not sure Rina would WANT to see it, but...he does want to ask his dad and Edmund about the dark kingdom. Maybe there's not much left there to see, but...he feels like it's an important part of his heritage nonetheless.]

And unlike Japan, we do, in fact, have dragons. Real ones.

Was that when you were in prison? [ JUST. CASUALLY MENTIONING THAT. RINA PLEASE. ]

Oh! Maybe we could go on a big adventure then! After I graduate, anyway. I think it’d be exciting to see a real dragon.

[ AND??? DANGEROUS??? GIRL. ]

...yes that's when I was in prison, thank you.

[He clears his throat into his fist.]

But yes, we can talk all about that when you've graduated. I'll probably still be working at the kingdom by then, so there's no rush or anything.

[Rapunzel didn't keep him on any sort of set schedule, and he knows she'd delight in letting them go on an adventure together.]

[ She nods and was about to say something else when she realizes they’re close enough to their destination now that their little “detour” is starting to be visible over some of the trees. ]

Oh! We’re almost there! Come on!

[ And at that she starts to speed up, pulling him along…

Towards something that looks like a giant robot. ]

Edited 2021-08-07 06:24 (UTC)

[A giant...

...

Varian can see it before they've gotten to it properly, and already he can something giddy and quintisentially nerdy begin to stir deep inside.

Rina may be pulling him, but within seconds he's going to be running whether she is or not, straight for said robot.]

Oh man, oh man oh man-!

[ DON’T WORRY SHE’S DEFINITELY RUNNING NOW THAT HE IS.

As they get closer she realizes that there’s a crowd starting to form around it and the horn has moved into position. ]

Ah—!! We’re in time to see it transform!

[ HECK YEAH ]

Tra- Transform?!

[RINA WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT CAN TRANSFORM-

But it's already happening even as they speak, he can see it with his own eyes. The crowd only gets bigger as the music starts to swell.]

[ She slows down now that they’ve joined the crowd in front of it. The statue’s full size is now clear and it’s fucking massive. ]

Just watch!

[ And no sooner does she say that do the plates of armor start to spread apart in time to the music, revealing bright pink light beneath.

Welcome to the Unicorn Gundam Varian, you’re fucking welcome. ]

[Varian watches with rapt attention as the gundam changes in front of them, the armor shifting and opening up, showing off the lights it's been outfitted with. Varian can't help but join along with the crowd as they gasp in awe when it happens, though he does wish he could get closer than they are right now. What all can that robot do, he wonders? It's several sizes larger than any of the automatons that Varian built, and that alone has him feeling giddy just looking at it.]

You didn't tell me you had robots!

[ Aaaaaaaand this was what she meant by not wanting him to get the wrong idea. ]

It’s um… not quite a fully functional robot, unfortunately. Remember back at the school where the Wizard had that mechanical head and I said it was likely an animatronic? This is one of those technically - though all it can do is the transformation sequence every few hours. The rest of the time it’s just a statue.

[ It’s finished now and the crowd is dispersing but there’s still tourists and fans marvelling at it, taking plenty of pictures. ]

It’s a life size replica of one from a popular anime series though - it’s called Mobile Suit Gundam and it’s about giant mecha being piloted by human characters in space to fight other mecha. This one’s Unicorn Gundam.

Oh...so it's an animatronic...

[Technically. While he does sound a little disappointed by that, it's still not enough to completely squash his enthusiasm. If anything, it just gives him more ideas...more to think and talk about, for sure.

He tugs on Rina's hand just a little so they can get a bit closer, but not so close that they're in the way of people trying to take pictures.]

So what was it built for, then? Just as an attraction?

[ Don’t worry Varian, there’ll be real functional robots later 👀

As he tugs her forward she nods. ]

Mmhm. Gundam is really popular all over the world. Even my parents grew up watching it. So people love to see life size Gundams.

[ She points past the statue, at the mall behind the plaza. ]

There’s also a store in there that sells Gundam merchandise like model kits to make miniature ones yourself and a cafe with Gundam based food.

[Oh god why did you tell him that, it's like you're TRYING to create a monster-]

Okay, we have to go there at some point today. Please?

[He's going to buy one of those kits, mainly so he can study it for actual building purposes. Don't try to stop him because it's already happening.]

Sure. I can even buy you one if you like.

[ Yes. Yes she IS in fact trying to create a monster. ]

Did you want to go now or after?

[...

......

............]

...can we go now?

Of course we can.

[ She’ll take his hand again and lead him that way if he’s done gawking at the statue. ]

Come to think of it, I haven’t brought you to a mall yet have I…

[ It was pretty much just her school before which

Well

That was its own overwhelming experience, I’m sure. ]

[It was...so overwhelming that Varian had to just stay inside for a while afterwards. How on earth can a girls only school have that many girls in it

AND ALSO BE THAT BIG???

But he'll start getting more used to it as time goes on. He's already halfway expecting the Gundam store to just be unreasonably huge, if he's honest.]

Lemme guess...it's big?

Heehee... yeah. It's big.

[ Hmmm, how to explain it... ]

It's kind of like... a big indoor market place. There's all kinds of stores in there, and places to get food too. It's easy to spend several hours in one if you want to go shopping.

Maybe that won't be as unfamiliar as I'm expecting, then. The market place in the Kingdom is all outdoors, so it's pretty big.

[It's still nowhere near as big, but don't tell him.]

Maybe we can do that another day. I have a feeling today is going to be a lot already.

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