Karma ((Vivi))

[Rain]

This time, Rain planned ahead for her entrance into the next world. When she arrived, she balanced herself when she toppled over, and the moment she could see straight, the girl stumbled into an empty lot behind a building, away from prying eyes and any possible monster attacks. A good few minutes of recovery sounded like a good idea before getting dragged into another life or death battle.

But, as luck would have it, no giant dragons or other reptilian creatures went berserk on the town. (She did not stop to realize that it was almost tragic that she thought of a normal day not filled with mortal danger was "lucky") In fact, the Town felt quite calm and serene. Not to mention, after all of her time in the dark, this place seemed bright and cheerful by comparison. So, after a little while of recovery, Rain made her way for her first bit of exploration.

Because of her poor eyesight, she did not take the time to see the toll the journey had brought on her. Her eyes, once brown, were now nearly black in color, and her hair had lost it's sheen and turned limp, and was also darker than before. Her skin, while not overly tanned before, had become two shades paler.

But really, nothing alarming or worth noting.

There were lots of people out, despite the hour. Rain could not remember seeing so many people outside when it was sunset like this.

It must be Saturday, she thought, and it sent a throb of pain and nostalgia through her.

She could hear the kids the most, loud and boisterous as they ran around, and even heard the bounce of rubber against the pavement.

"Hey! Pass it here!"

Rain turned automatically, and looked at the group waving to her. Even as it came closer, she could still see the bright red rolling on the stone ground. She bent down to scoop it up, ignoring the horrid, horrid memories of dodgeball this particular ball gave her. At least it wasn't a blitzball. Those things were deadly.

The girl pushed it out of her mind, and focused on a kid with a funny hat walking toward her. She assumed he was trying to retrieve the ball. So she chucked it at him. She knew her aim had improved substantially, and had no embarrassment to worry about this time.

Though she may or may not have underestimated her strength. Slightly.

[Vivi]

Vivi was not the most coordinated child. Never had been. Never would be. So when a child playing catch tossed the ball in the jump rope king's direction, Vivi of course didn't manage to catch it. The red ball casually rolled over to a new person and all the kids kind of stopped to look at her. Vivi knew from experience new people were rare, but becoming less so.

The tiny mage had had a similar problem when he'd miraculously shown up out of nowhere. Sitting on the train station steps and looking out at the sunset. The Disciplinary Committee had been the ones to find him like that, lost, confused and curious.

They'd tried for weeks to find his parents, family or where he'd come from. No dice. And since there was no where to go and no one to go to, Vivi was fostered by a family here. He'd spent nearly a year here and was starting to get settled into the daily life of being a normal kid. It wasn't so bad.

But it wasn't home...

Vivi had approached the girl to get his ball back when she'd thrown it to him... or at him... as the instant it hit him, it knocked him back. Vivi sat up off the ground and the ball came back down from it's height and bonked him on the head, laying him out again.

A few of the other kids kind of giggled. That always happened to Vivi. The tiny mage just sat up and rubbed his head under his hat.

"...Nice arm..." He muttered quietly, already admiring the girl's strength.

[Rain]

When Rain threw the ball, she found herself wondering for a moment about the child's hat. It was a funny thing. Like a witch's hat but brighter and with a face. Well, from out here it looked like a face. How strange. But she was ripped from her reverie when the child bounced back from the ball's strike, and sprawled on the pavement. Rain gasped as the poor child tried to sit back up, only for the ball to bounce back onto his head, and topple him over yet again.

Oh no. She hit him hard enough to send him to the ground. She dashed up to meet him as he was getting himself up a second time, and she dropped to her knees, not wanting to touch him, but still close by.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry! Are you hurt? Of course you're hurt, you got hit in the head." She babbled, her hands gesticulating wildly as her emotions flew, her voice high and strained as she rambled. "I wasn't trying to peg you, I swear- I mean, I guess it's just been a while and I forgot how to throw, but please don't worry, I can handle this! How hard did I actually hit you? You can see straight, right? What part hurts- oh, are your parents nearby? We can go back to them. Or, wait, you probably just want to sit down for a minute. I can go get them for you, if you want. Ah, but we have to wait, I don't want to leave you alone yet. I could get you an ice pack, maybe?"

She was practically working herself into her own hysteria. She usually reacted better to injuries, and instantly went into an aiding mode to better give them help, working with a level head. But this time, it was an injury she had inflicted herself. And on a child. As a result, her almost constant guilt came out with a vengeance.

Kiri, you're a horrible, unforgivable person that deserves to be shot!

[Vivi]

Vivi blinked as the girl began saying several different things at once. The little black mage slowly shook his head, but she wasn't paying attention so he waved his arms too, indicating for her to slow down.

"I...I can't... answer more than one at a time!" He cried helplessly as he tried to stop the onslaught of questions and suggestions.

"I-I'm Vivi. A-and no... I'm ok. W-we don't need to find my parents. I-I don't have any anyway." He rubbed his head again. "I-it doesn't hurt...m-much. I'll be f-fine." The big brown hat flopped back a bit to reveal the perfectly round black head to the girl, brilliant yellow eyes watched her curiously. She was really strong, but she seemed kind of nervous. Vivi knew immediately she wasn't from here, because if she was, she would have known it's not unusual for Vivi to end up face first on the ground. In fact, it happened more often than not...

Unless he was playing jumprope... he was the king of jumprope...

"W...where'd you learn to throw like that?" Vivi asked her, adjusting his hat as he stood.

[Rain]

Rain promptly shut up and clapped both hands over her mouth, blinking worriedly at the boy as he cried out. Oh, of course she was going too fast. What was wrong with her? She was usually more collected than this. She kept her hands over her mouth as he spoke, almost using it as a reminder to slow down.

So the boy's name was Vivi. What a strange name. But it was kind of cute, too. It almost sounded like "Skippy"- no, she told herself sternly, she was not reminding herself of Skipper. That was one embarrassment she refused to relive.It was something you would name a puppy or a kitten. But this little kid was such a polite little-

No parents? Rain looked at him with momentary horror. If the child had no parents, then he was... an orphan? This had gotten ten times worse for her. Just the word had such a horribly heavy connotation. What was worse: "Oh, I pegged a kid." or "Oh, I pegged an orphan."?

Her soul was doomed to eternal damnnation.

Then she blinked when she remembered that, technically speaking, she was an orphan too. That made her feel better. Evened the playing field a little bit. She still had to get used to thinking like that, the wanderer reminded herself dryly. She had to stop calling herself "Kiri", and remember that "Rain" had no family to speak of either.

Heartless? She wondered, for a startled moment, when his hat moved, if she was losing her sanity and her visions were following her into the world of light. She carefully removed her hands, and rubbed her eyes before focusing back on Vivi, making herself blink slowly and think clearly. Her vision still had not adjusted to the light properly. The boy's black hair obscured his face entirely, making it look- in her blurred, extremely far sighted vision- like a perfectly round black head. And the high collar of his blue coat must have been hiding his jaw. But his eyes were bright and reflective, so he must have been wearing glasses. (A fact which Rain had to shake off, so as not to feel even worse about hitting him). It was strange they were yellow, but she had seen more unbelievable things than yellow glasses. Then she remembered that it was sunset right now. The sun must have been shining off of them and giving that appearance.

"W...where'd you learn to throw like that?"

But, he was acting perfectly normal, so really, there was nothing to worry about either way. In fact, his speech made her wonder if the poor kid was someone who was picked on a lot. Glasses, a stutter, and lack of coordination almost always gauranteed bullying. The blind girl smiled wryly at his question. She had no idea. But if her mind could not recall when she had actually learned, then she knew it had to be during that time. Remaining in her crouch, she shrugged a bit as she looked eye to eye with him.

"Lucky talent, I guess. "I've always been stronger than I look."

Which was true enough for "Rain", anyway. She might have left it at that, but as she looked at him, she felt a little... sorry? Nostalgic? All the little things about him acted as a reminder, and giving her the urge to extend a bit of hope vicariously through him, like the way she would have wished someone had done for her when she was younger.

"But... I did still have to practice a lot to get this good. I was bad at the rules for the games, for a while. It doesn't help I'm so hard headed, so I really had to knock them in there." She rapped her knuckles against her head for a moment to drive the point home, then sighed dramatically. "But I guess it didn't do me that much good anyway. I must suck worse than I thought if I can't even throw it to a kid properly by now." Feeling a little more at ease, Rain gave a friendly smile. "But it's nice to meet you, Vivi. I'm Rain."