melodiesoflife | Shenanigans for Lydia for December and January

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Shenanigans for Lydia for December and January

Lydia Deetz Catch-All posts for December/January

Who: Lydia Deetz, open (unless otherwise specified)
Where: Around Aquares Ixen probably.
When: Throughout December and January
What:Various prompts and potential logs involving Lydia Deetz and anyone else interested.
Warnings: Not yet?

Early December, at the former Occult store. OPEN
Lydia had volunteered to help with clearing out the old Occult shop. It gave her a chance to use her Necromancer jobs again, and she honestly wasn't that scared. Even if she missed Henry, it was nice that the property would be getting a new purpose.

Besides, she might be able to find some cool things that weren't too dangerous, that she could keep.

She found herself working with Duster on a few of the haunted areas, and wow—it was..definitely haunted. Mostly mischief makers; Lydia could deal with that. It was fun though, and nice to be useful. Even if most of her issues with her Shadow had been resolved, she still enjoyed being useful.

[Haunted areas:Basement, Back Alley, Large Shelves / Main Floor, Windows, Bathroom, Office. See also main 'log' here.]

Early December, out to dinner. Closed to Ales Mansay

Lydia was very grateful for Ales being there for her during her encounter with her shadow-self. She was also very grateful that she'd been there for him. Especially since they needed to talk about some things. She'd known part of his past, but not all of it—and it might be good for him to get it out. He was still her friend, like she'd said.

That doesn't mean everything was sunshine and rainbows though. Some very good points had been raised during Ales's confrontation. At the time, Lydia had been focused on getting her friend to accept the parts of himself he repressed. But now...they needed to talk about some other important qualities with friendship.

Mid-December, Aquares Ixen. OPEN

Lydia missed being able to bike. But snow made it kind of impossible to do so easily, and she wasn't going to fight the drifts that hard. After the emotions of November, among other events, she was enjoying focusing on the mundane for a change. That of school, and then preparations for the Starlight Festival.

She was especially excited for this one, as her basement darkroom was getting some use. The materials had been hard to find at times, and she had learned things she thought she already knew again. But if it paid off, it'd be worth it. Which meant shopping for supplies for frames and other bits and bobs.

Mid-Late December--Current, Aquares Ixen, plains around the city. OPEN

Lydia had gotten a new job—as much as she adored her Necromancer combo. But she needed to try new things, so she'd swapped out Ghostbuster for Dragoon, with Vampire as her secondary job. That said, she knew little about armor. Or Spears. Time to do some research, window-shopping, and maybe some bargaining.

This also meant some monster-hunting, even though she didn't like it, for money.

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On the one hand, K'pandolu was glad most of the ghosts they'd spotted so far were more interested in mischief than anything else. It was a little easier- or at least different- from fighting them. On the other hand- well, this one seemed to have taken a particular liking to messes and pies, and now she was wearing some of its latest effort. She wiped her face, frowning at her hand, and glanced at Lydia.

"Where do you suppose it's getting the filling from?"

Lydia was trying to hide the grin on her face. She'd managed to smother her giggles for the sake of her friend's pride. "I could make some guesses, but I don't know that you'd like the answer."

They'd taken cover outside of the room where the ghost had made its home and were planning a new salvo of attack. "I really don't want to just trap it if we don't have to. Maybe we can reason with it?" Not that Lydia wasn't equipped with the best jobs for this, or prepared to take the ghost down in the hard way if needed.

It's good enough for K'pandolu to feel marginally better about the situation! She grimaced, with a small nod. "Probably not," she agreed.

She tilted her head and hummed for a moment. "I'm willing to try it, if you believe it'll work," she said. "You've spoken with ghosts before, haven't you?"

"Spoken with, danced with, visit regularly..." Lydia responded airily with a grin. Then she took a breath, and moved to the doorway of the room. Polite, and keeping her hands visible. "Hello? Mr, or Mrs, Ghost? My name is Lydia, and it's nice to meet you."

Time to see if that got a pie to the face or not.

"Danced with?" K'pandolu perked up in interest, but let it go as Lydia moved, leaning forward to just peek around the doorframe, ready to move.

The ghost seemed faintly visible- a woman, and still somewhere in the preparation stages of cooking, judging by her clothes. She leaned forward, eyes sparkling in mischief. "Are you sure that's a proper greeting, child?"

When no pies came directly at her, Lydia moved to curtsey a bit. "My apologies. I was trying to not be rude." Still with that friendly smile--and she recognizes mischief.

So far so good!

December was a good time for heavy meals. The discounts in various restaurants, the hot chocolate handed out in the streets, the cookies that everyone was buying, and the vacation days were a combination of ideal laziness.

However, he did have the promise to go eat out with Lydia. He had to actually get out of the house and walk in the snow, hoping that everyone shoveled the sidewalk in front of their houses so that the Teensie could get through without climbing mountains. He managed to arrive at the restaurant only 5 minutes late, but that still was late.

"Sorry about that. I'm not used to the ice."

Lydia more than understood and had spent some time cleaning the walks and paths outside of her house extra well. "It's fine Ales, I'm just glad you're here." Lydia genuinely meant that, as they did have some things to talk about. Even as much as this would be a fun dinner, and she'd missed spending time with her friend.

"You've never been ice-skating have you? I think you'd enjoy that."

He let out a scoff - nothing mocking, but the notion was ridiculous. "And where would I ice-skate in the jungle? Trudging through the Mystical Piques is enough snow for me. I couldn't fly over the mountains all my life."

At least he could always curl inside his hat when it got to cold.

Lydia's smile was a bit sad, as...they probably wouldn't have time to do any ice skating on Crystallis. "Ice skating doesn't always have to involve snow. I wish I could take you with me and show it to you."

"In your world or here?" He tilted his head upwards, curious as to what Lydia meant. "Won't any old pond do the work?"

"If I could take you to my world, I would Ales. Both my normal home, and the Neitherworld." A genuine smile, and she giggled a bit. He'd likely not like her normal world, but she'd show him anyways so he had perspective. Her mother would love him.

"Not unless the pond can support the weight of the skaters. It depends on the coverage and thickness of the ice."

"Not much weight here," he joked. "Unless dinner changes all that. What does this place make?" He looked around, judging if he could discern the menu by the plain wood tables and casual atmosphere of the other diners.

"Mostly it seems to be hearty fare, like stew. But they have wonderful rolls that go great with it, and a great selection of cheeses." Lydia responded, as she scouted out a table, then pulled Ales over. In some ways, the place was like a far more upscale tavern. "And not much weight or not, it'd still depend on how thick the ice was. I'm not losing you to drowning in a frozen pond."

She means that so much; Ales is too important as a friend.

Ales would have to eat twice his weight to make any effect on the ice. Not that he thought about that unfortunate fate. Explosions were a cooler way to go.

The waiter stopped by their table and handed out two stiff sheets of paper with the menu written on them. The corners were stained from the passing of many hands.

"Soup sounds good. Barely stew?" There was a regular old potato stew listed, but that reminded him of Yuffie's annoying nicknames from the day they met.

Lydia is peeking over at Ales' menu to see what he's reading. "Barley?" Maybe it was a mispelling. "If it's like the one I know then that'd be a type of grain, in addition to the other stuff." They could ask the wait-staff if needed.

"Huh." He squinted at the menu, then at the waiter. The restaurant appeared to be clean. "This better just be a mistake their menu-writer made, else this place's credibility is going own."

Nanami had the Dragoon job, though she'd never really used it all that often. Between her own prior training in fencing, and her shift to support jobs over physical jobs, it was mostly something that sat in her Crystal unused. But she could still offer to go shopping and advising.

"Let's go the next street over. We're not going to find anything over here."

Lydia was more than happy for the company. Sometimes it seemed like she and Nanami had so little in common, and yet other times they did. Like shopping, even with their different tastes. Lydia was also more than happy to listen to any prior experience Nanami had about things.

"Sounds good to me. I appreciate you coming with me too." Looking around, and Lydia gave a little laugh. "It's not quite like shopping at the mall in the pre-christmas rush, but it's similar enough. Feels weird to be doing something normal."

"I like shopping," Nanami said. "Even if I don't plan on buying anything myself." She had finally gotten the hang on living on a budget in Aquares Ixen.

"I do too, but it's hard to find things I like." That, and usually there were always the girls like Claire, who mocked and bullied Lydia. The mall was their home.

"I don't think they exist here, but I like going through Vintage stores and thrift stores too. Seeing what I can find, and remaking or modifying it. You ever do that?"

"No. We always bought new stuff," Nanami said, a bit puzzled. Why go to a thrift store if you could afford not to?

Dark eyes widen, then the grin grows. "Because sometimes the older stuff is the best stuff. And even if it's not directly to your taste, you can find cool things and modify them. Put two blouses together to make one new one, dye an old ugly pattern and add new flourishes to it. It's really fun."

Still no judgement--Lydia had gotten some grief at times from her own parents about it, until she'd appealed to Delia's artistic sensibilities.

"Maybe if you're an artist or something," Nanami said. And if people who hung around her and her brother wouldn't look down on anyone who didn't wear the latest trendy thing. Maybe someone like Tenjou-san could get away with making it popular, but Tenjou-san attracted a sort of person who saw her weirdness as admirable.

Lydia blinked, and looked at Nanami for a second. "I am. So was my mother." The other girl probably didn't mean it as a snide comment, but Lydia'd been on the receiving end of that type of remark too often back home.

Nanami stopped, clearly puzzled. 'Yeah. But I'm not. So you can make all kinds of things from what you find, and I can't."

Honestly, in the past,s he probably would mean it as a snide comment. Now it's a reminder that Lydia has talents and an idea what she is doing. And Nanami really doesn't.

Lydia's dark eyes widened, and she hung her head sheepishly a bit. "I'm sorry Nanami. I'm just...used to that being used derisively." Reaching up to brush her hair back. "I can teach you, as it's really not that difficult. And you can always have me make you stuff too. I don't mind." They were friends.

Due to all the other things going on and Cloud's involvement in the Starlight Celebration festivities, the whole affair with the Occult Store had slipped Cloud's notice. He knew Reno was trying to open up a place of his own but he didn't know the details. But now that the holiday was done he had time to help out.

This meant he was ripe fight fodder for Lydia and whatever ghosts were in residence.

Hefting a box he glanced over to Lydia for directions. It wasn't too heavy, but still cumbersome enough to limit his movement. "Where should this go?"

Oh shoot, where had that box come from again? There were some that needed special care given it had used to be Henry's shop. Lydia had learned that the hard way, clearing out B-13's basement of his stuff. "I think it should be safe just to head to the stack with the others by the back door?"

Pausing, Lydia's eyes going up as she thought and tried to remember if that had been one of the boxes from one of the haunted rooms or not. "What's it filled with? Because we were taking care with the chemicals and some of the artifacts".

"Sure." He gave the box a gently rock in his hands, not enough to shake it but to try to get a sense of how full it was or how fragile the things inside were. The last thing he wanted to do was stack a heavier box on this one. Still, by the back of the store he found a good place to put it down.

"Not sure. Didn't want to cause any trouble by opening it." If he had to check through every box then they'd be here all day. It was the sort of thing someone else should have done before they started.

Lydia tensed a bit as he shook it--then breathed a sigh of relief. Not that she didn't trust Cloud, but who knew what would react with what? Following where he put the box down she's pulling out a bright pencil and some ink and a brush.

"Where'd you find this, Mr. Cloud?"

Some of the other boxes already showed her handywork of where they'd been found in the shop, so it was easier to keep track.

"It's just Cloud. And I found it with the others out front. I think this is one of the ones that was supposed to be brought in. Right?" He shrugged a bit. He wasn't here for the initial packing so he was mostly just helping with the physical work and putting things where he was told.

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Shenanigans for Lydia for December and January

Occult Store

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dinner

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Aquares Ixen, Shopping

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Occult Store, Early January to avoid Santa Cloud Conflict?

Re: Occult Store, Early January to avoid Santa Cloud Conflict?

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Re: Occult Store, Early January to avoid Santa Cloud Conflict?