In One Ear, Out the Other

[sailorlaughter]

Who: Pinkie
What: Pinkie gets a regain, becomes even more kawaii
When: Third week of March
Where: Pride HQ
Warning: Body horror?

System Crash penthouse; Tuesday

[Early in the morning, there's a high-pitched scream from Pinkie's bedroom.

She won't respond to any knocking or shouting. But she's never really locked her bedroom door, so it's not exactly hard to get in if you feel like it. Honestly, you probably could have heard her even outside the penthouse.]

Pride HQ; Friday

[Despite what's happened, Pinkie's come to the conclusion that she can't just stay inside forever.

She has to start small, though, because it is nervewracking going out like this. She ordered several very large and rather gaudy hats, and is wearing one around despite the fact that it sort of doesn't match her outfit. For once, she's dressed very down, almost to the point of drabness. It helps.

Pinkie's uncharacteristically quiet, slinking around and standing quietly in corners of public areas for a few minutes before slipping out again. Someday she'll have to go perform again. She has to get used to the terror of this, of knowing that her life as she knows it depends on nothing more than an oversized floppy hat. Every time she goes around people and nothing bad happens, it helps a little!

It's not even that she thinks the ears look bad, necessarily. They kinda match her hair, and she likes the way they move. But every time she sees them, all she can think of is Tiger and his cracked gemstone. No one wants her to have horse ears. It'd be better for everybody if she didn't.]

Comments

PENTHOUSE

[tigermillionaire]

[Steven's been generally on edge since getting back, and so his first response to that scream is thinking that something awful has happened. He yelps, abruptly sitting up from his bed. It's only a matter of moments before he comes clattering down the hallway.]

Are you okay??

[He shouts through the door. No answer. Another couple moments pass, and then he pushes it open, curling around the door frame defensively.]

Pinkie...?

[sailorlaughter]

[There's a little shriek from the area of the bathroom.]

Don't come in!

[But she sounds tearful. The bathroom door is wide open, and if Steven ventures closer he can easily see Pinkie sitting on the bathroom floor, still in her pajamas, clutching a towel over her head.]

[tigermillionaire]

[He stops and pauses, staring in the direction of the bathroom door. He isn't sure what to do. She's obviously distressed, and is telling him to stay away, but...

In his indecision, he settles into a crouch, putting himself on the same level as her.]

Did...I mean...

Did something happen? It's...It's okay.

[sailorlaughter]

[Sniffle] Yeah......

[And really, she does know it's probably okay. Tiger showed her his weird stomach gem, and she saw when he had all his problems. She can trust him in return. It's just...]

...don't freak out?

[tigermillionaire]

[He crawls the rest of the way over to the door, peering in cautiously. He looks her over very briefly, before nodding his head, and smiling sympathetically.]

I won't. Nothing really freaks me out about this stuff now.

[sailorlaughter]

Yeah, I guess. [Consider what happened to him, that is totally fair. Pinkie sniffs again, and then lowers the towel.

Most obviously, her ears are gone.

On second glance, they're actually still pretty visible. They've migrated to the top of her head, and now rather resemble light pink-furred horse ears. They stand out pretty well against the darker magenta of her hair, especially since right now they're pinned back in obvious distress.]

[tigermillionaire]

[Just seeing the ears missing is kind of scary - there is definitely an element of body horror there, even if it's kind of weirdly tame at the same time. Yet, when he looks up and sees the ears are still there, just differently...it becomes a lot easier to deal with.

He looks surprised for a moment, and then smiles a little, genuinely charmed. He reaches up like he wants to touch them but then stops himself.]

Oh wow...Wow, they're like...animal ears.

[They're really cute.]

[sailorlaughter]

Yeah! Like...horse ears, I guess? They move.

[If nothing else, having someone else present who's fairly calm about the situation is helpful. The ears seem to have a mind of their own, but she guesses that makes sense; she's not really used to having to think about what they're doing. But she can definitely make it happen, and she twitches them demonstratively.]

[tigermillionaire]

[His smile widens a little. He doesn't want to be rude, but...it's really just sort of neat, isn't it?]

That's so cool...

[He says it without really thinking, and then blushes a little.]

I mean...if you wanted them, but...I think they're cool.

[sailorlaughter]

It's not...

[Pinkie hesitates.] I don't know if I don't want them. It's just...I can't let people see me like this.

[tigermillionaire]

[Steven frowns. Yeah, there's always that. The one good thing that came from all this weird stuff happening to him is that pretty much everyone who cares has already seen his gem.]

Yeah...I mean...You've got pretty big hair, right? I get you could hide them. Or...we could pretend they're a headpiece! I think...I think this stuff is happening so much now, they can't even focus on all the little things anymore.

[sailorlaughter]

I'd still have to cover up where - all this.

[Her balled-up fists hover briefly over the space where her ears used to be, like she's not sure she really wants to touch it.]

I don't even...our last show wasn't even fun, Tiger.

[tigermillionaire]

Yeah...

[He's not going to deny that. He sits down beside her, leaning against the bathroom wall.]

I haven't had fun doing that in forever. I'm just kind of...too freaked out all the time.

HQ

[blindfoldcode]

[Part of her thinks it's better to steer clear. The other part is worried because it's not like Pinkie to not be the center of attention. Kido almost sneaks up on her from behind.]

What are you doing?

[sailorlaughter]

[Well, geez, she wasn't hoping to be snuck up on. Pinkie squeaks and jumps away.]

Oh! Um....h-hey, Kido!

[blindfoldcode]

Is everything okay? [She's worried about this hiding. She hides. Pinkie does not?]

[sailorlaughter]

Uh......yeeeeeeeeah?

[She's not a great liar either.]

[blindfoldcode]

[A beat. Another questioning look.]

Do you want to go get ice cream or something?

[sailorlaughter]

Like...outside?

[Pinkie glances dubiously at the door.]

[blindfoldcode]

Well, we could probably just ask one of the chefs...

[sailorlaughter]

Oh! Uh...yeah, sure!

[But Kido's the first person she's really had a conversation with outside the penthouse since the Thing happened. And that's fine, she trusts Kido anyway, but she doesn't know the chefs all that well. Plus they work for Pride. Which she does too! But it's different.]

Can you ask them?

[blindfoldcode]

Yeah, sure. Do you want to, um... Do you want to come back to the MANTICORE place? [Man that's a weird question to ask and there's a moment where she looks kind of ashamed... But it's Pinkie. But she's also very worried Pinkie is going to be upset with her. She tugs on her hood a little.]

[sailorlaughter]

Oh. Would...would that be okay?

[She hasn't really reached out to Kido since she switched bands. She moved out even before then - Pinkie figured she didn't want to deal with the mess that was System Crash anymore. Which...yeah. It's kinda a mess.]

[blindfoldcode]

[See she was more afraid she was the mess and making things worse. So it means something that Kido, who doesn't touch people? Grabs Pinkie's hand to pull her toward the penthouse.]

It'd be fine. You don't look good, anyway.

[sailorlaughter]

Oooo-okay!

[She hadn't expected to be grabbed, but Pinkie lets herself be pulled along nonetheless.]