Post by Sinopia DeStellanova on May 8, 2020 16:37:37 GMT -5
The last few nights had been rough on her.
Hell, coming to Menagerie had been rough on her. Everything about it made her upset and angry. She had spent the last four years (more like 3.5 really, but it felt like longer) fighting in a war to avoid being forced to come here. Coming here anyway hurt. Hurt enough that she seriously considered not coming at all, and either staying in Mistral or going back to Vale and figuring out what to do from there. She was 14, didn't actually manage to finish her elementary school education, and was a faunus with minimal skills. Sinopia had no illusions that she'd end up homeless and struggling to eat, but even that sounded better than setting foot on Menagerie. That was more or less how she'd been living during the war anyway.
What convinced her to come wasn't the promise of stability or happiness. No, there were only two things that convinced her to get on the boat to that god forsaken island. The first was that Alina and few of the other child soldiers she knew were going to be there. The second was that she still held some vain hope that her mother might be alive, and if she was, she was probably on Menagerie.
She was separated from her mother while fleeing from Vale when the government started rounding up faunus. Sinopia never saw her again after that. Her father claimed that she was just going to be taken to Menagerie and would find her way back to them eventually. Death was difficult enough to explain to a ten year old, but the circumstances in which they lost her mother made that even worse. She believed that for so long, too naive and too lacking in context for what was going on with the rest of the war to understand that it was a lie. Now 14 and armed with a better understanding of what they were fighting for and what started the war, she knew that she wouldn't find her mother here. Yet, she wanted to try anyway because she really wanted to believe that she might be alive.
Just stepping onto the island felt like walking on hot coals. The weather was hot, especially when compared to the weather in the northern part of Anima, just south of Mistral, but it was made all the worse because she arrived in uniform. A uniform designed to survive Anima's winters. Sinopia didn't have any other clothes to her name, none that fit anymore at least. She managed to bring some clothes with her while fleeing Vale, but that was four years ago when she was ten. Since then, she had grown about 8 inches and was considerably more muscular. Even if she hadn't lost them during the war, there was no way any of them would fit. Even her uniform was a little tight by this point, which made it all the more uncomfortable to be here.
But what made it really feel like walking on fire was the sheer amount of guilt she felt for even being here, and the burning anger of knowing that her father's grave was going to be here. Such anger was uncharacteristic of her, but it was insulting. Why would they put it here of all places? For someone that dedicated his entire life, even before the war, to avoiding it? It was nothing but a slap in the face and she found it unforgivable. It left her with an emotion she wasn't sure how to deal with. Sinopia was rarely angry to begin with, but even when she was it closer to 'irritated' than the rage she was feeling now.
Sinopia tried to make sure none of it showed when she greeted her uncle, the person she'd be living with for the time being. He was doing is best to try to look dignified despite the features common in her father's side of the family, most of which she had as well. He had bright orange hair and eyes, his hair shaved short because otherwise it would almost certainly be frizzy and entirely unmanageable. His face was long, his chin pointy, and his forehead wide, and he was completely covered in freckles. His ears, both human and faunus feature, were even bigger than hers were, and given how big her ears were, that was saying something. She was surprised he didn't want to wear a hat because they looked very silly, but she supposed it'd be weird for him to hide his only faunus feature on Menagerie.
She had only met him once when she was five, so she didn't remember him or his children very well. All she could remember was that he got her a book on trains, so he was pretty cool as far as she was concerned. He moved to Menagerie after the Great War, so it was hard for him to come so far north. The one time he did come, he didn't bring his wife or three sons, so this would be her first time meeting all of them. It was a little bit overwhelming.
For as much as that made her anxious, nothing could have prepared her for seeing his house. It was on the outskirts of the city, far enough that it'd take a really long time to walk anywhere from it. It was huge, two stories tall with part of it built over the water. Enough rooms that each of his sons had their own, and he still had enough room for a large office and a guest bedroom. The garden outside was large enough that he could have built a second house on it, and it was so immaculate despite its size that it probably took a team of people to maintain. Sinopia was completely dumbstruck when she found out this entire place was theirs and there weren't going to be fifty other families in it. She was so stunned she couldn't move for a good three minutes once she saw the room she was going to have all to herself was larger than the apartment her entire family lived in when she lived in Vale. She understood that most people had a lot more than she did, but actually seeing it made her feel like she was dreaming. It was so far beyond her wildest imagination, and yet this was normal for these people. She had never felt so out of place.
Turned out, her uncle was actually quite wealthy and was probably the only reason she was able to eat every day growing up. He came to Menagerie early enough that he was able to setup a small transport business to help move people and goods around, and it became successful enough that it was eventually bought and he was given a very comfortable job that probably paid more than it was worth. Even though he put it like that, she had no doubt he was still working hard. Most of the people on her dad's side of the family were like that. Stubborn and unable to sit still. It was always hard to picture her uncle like that when her father was doing everything he could to help faunus in Vale so they didn't have to go to Menagerie, but after talking to him about why he came she understood a little. Her uncle wanted a safe place for faunus because not everyone wanted to fight and not everyone could be expected to. Having a faunus homeland meant everyone would have a safe place they could go to. It was a reasonable enough goal.
It didn't make Sinopia feel any better about being here.
The week was so busy she didn't have much time to feel uncomfortable. There was so much to catch up on. She had to meet her extended family, learn the layout of the house (much more difficult than she thought it would be because it was so big), get used to the hot and humid weather (terrible because it made her hair and fur frizz everywhere), buy new clothes, set up her room, learn where everything was in the city and how to get home, meet the private tutor her father hired and get ready for school, and that was only scratching the surface. Most importantly, she had to learn how to adapt, and that was proving much more difficult.
She hadn't slept more than about two hours the entire week. The nightmares were bad, but they weren't the primary reason she was having so much trouble sleeping. This was the first time in her life she ever needed to sleep by herself. In Vale, the apartment she lived in was only one room, so her parents just piled in a corner with her while they slept. During the war, everyone slept together, and when she was traveling with Alina sometimes they even slept in the same sleeping bag. Here she might have had a plush bed, fluffy pillows, and enough blankets to always keep her warm, but it felt cold and isolating.
All of Menagerie felt like that. There were so many people it was impossible to know them all, and even trying to say hello to random people got her strange looks. Even the ones she did get to talk to didn't understand anything. Every night her new family had dinner together, but she wondered why they bothered given how they acted. They'd ask about each other's day, but no one ever seemed interested. Her cousins didn't even want to be there and were quite vocal about how they would rather be doing something else. It all felt very strange in ways she couldn't describe. Sometimes they tried asking about the war, but their parents quickly shushed them as though it was such a terrible thing to ask about. Sinopia didn't mind talking about it, though she avoided the topics that were difficult to talk about. What made it hard wasn't the subject, but how little they understood. They didn't even seem to understand why she bothered fighting at all given they could all just live here. It was frustrating.
For as crowded as Menagerie was, it was such a lonely place. She was really glad Alina was there. Fortunately, for the time being, there was so much to be done, she didn't have time to dwell on it.
---
Today was her first day of school. Ever. Back in Vale, she was home schooled by her mother. That ended when her family had to flee the city, both because her mother was probably dead and because trying to get an education out in the wilderness during a war as nigh impossible. She could read, write, and do basic math, but she had no idea how good that was or what her education level was. This was going to be her first time learning with such a big group. Would she even be smart enough for this? She really didn't want to hold anyone back because she was too stupid and unprepared for all of this.
Despite all the anxiety she had around attending, she was also excited. Going to school was one of the few positive things she was able to think of when she was on the boat to the island, and she was trying really hard to come up with positive reasons to come. Sinopia was a naturally curious person, so the thought of going somewhere specifically for learning new things always appealed to her, and she was disappointed that her parents never let her attend school in Vale. That there would also be other people trying to learn in the same place made it seem almost magical. She had always been shy, so having such an easy way to try and connect with others sounded wonderful. It was almost enough to counteract the anxiety she had for being there in the first place.
They day went reasonably well. It didn't live up to her imagination, but she had to remember that this wasn't a real school according to her uncle. It was just a communal school put together by the White Fang to help displaced children that wouldn't be able to go to school otherwise, and she would only be there for as long as it took to figure out where she was academically. If she did well enough, he should be able to get her into a nice private school even though she'd be a year behind. She just had to work hard and try to catch up, so she took her current studies very seriously. She'd take her sessions with the tutor her uncle hired just as seriously. But for the time being, she was glad it didn't go badly. She was mostly able to keep up and didn't seem to be bothering anyone. People just kept talking too much and it made it hard to hear the teacher sometimes, and some of them looked like they didn't want to be there at all. That was the most disappointing part really. Her image that everyone would love it as much as she did was shattered almost immediately, as well as any belief that sitting and reading about math was a normal thing to do.
She didn't have anywhere to be today, so Sinopia figured she'd just grab a snack and head home. The problem was, she couldn't quite remember where the place with the really good breakfast burritos were. Those were nice to get for the trip home. Easy to carry, and full of delicious meat and egg, but it wouldn't do her much good if she couldn't find it. Menagerie was smaller than the territory she was used to running through, but it managed to feel bigger in a lot of ways. There was just so much more stuff. Look to the left, there was something besides trees. Look to the right, all of these buildings and all of these people instead of open fields. It was overwhelming. That people kept bumping into her back and arms and making her feel even more nervous and on-edge wasn't helping, but she supposed that was her fault for standing in front of the door because she was confused for so long. After taking a moment to step out of the way she started taking a good look around the area to see if she could get her bearings well enough.
Sinopia looked different from the other students. Her clothes were ultimately picked out by her uncle because she found the number of options too dizzying to even think about, and ended up spending about twenty minutes frozen in decision paralysis before he stepped in and picked for her. That meant that he ultimately went with his style, which was nice, formal, and with a little bit of fanciness to it. So, she went to a school like this in a short-sleeved white ruffled blouse, and a knee-length black skirt with some golden plant patterns along the right side. It was the kind of outfit she could have attended a symphony in Mistral in without looking out of place. She had a few odd features herself. Her ears were massive even by faunus standards, and she had thick freckles running down her entire body. It wasn't helping her feel any less out of place.
---
2564/2564
Hell, coming to Menagerie had been rough on her. Everything about it made her upset and angry. She had spent the last four years (more like 3.5 really, but it felt like longer) fighting in a war to avoid being forced to come here. Coming here anyway hurt. Hurt enough that she seriously considered not coming at all, and either staying in Mistral or going back to Vale and figuring out what to do from there. She was 14, didn't actually manage to finish her elementary school education, and was a faunus with minimal skills. Sinopia had no illusions that she'd end up homeless and struggling to eat, but even that sounded better than setting foot on Menagerie. That was more or less how she'd been living during the war anyway.
What convinced her to come wasn't the promise of stability or happiness. No, there were only two things that convinced her to get on the boat to that god forsaken island. The first was that Alina and few of the other child soldiers she knew were going to be there. The second was that she still held some vain hope that her mother might be alive, and if she was, she was probably on Menagerie.
She was separated from her mother while fleeing from Vale when the government started rounding up faunus. Sinopia never saw her again after that. Her father claimed that she was just going to be taken to Menagerie and would find her way back to them eventually. Death was difficult enough to explain to a ten year old, but the circumstances in which they lost her mother made that even worse. She believed that for so long, too naive and too lacking in context for what was going on with the rest of the war to understand that it was a lie. Now 14 and armed with a better understanding of what they were fighting for and what started the war, she knew that she wouldn't find her mother here. Yet, she wanted to try anyway because she really wanted to believe that she might be alive.
Just stepping onto the island felt like walking on hot coals. The weather was hot, especially when compared to the weather in the northern part of Anima, just south of Mistral, but it was made all the worse because she arrived in uniform. A uniform designed to survive Anima's winters. Sinopia didn't have any other clothes to her name, none that fit anymore at least. She managed to bring some clothes with her while fleeing Vale, but that was four years ago when she was ten. Since then, she had grown about 8 inches and was considerably more muscular. Even if she hadn't lost them during the war, there was no way any of them would fit. Even her uniform was a little tight by this point, which made it all the more uncomfortable to be here.
But what made it really feel like walking on fire was the sheer amount of guilt she felt for even being here, and the burning anger of knowing that her father's grave was going to be here. Such anger was uncharacteristic of her, but it was insulting. Why would they put it here of all places? For someone that dedicated his entire life, even before the war, to avoiding it? It was nothing but a slap in the face and she found it unforgivable. It left her with an emotion she wasn't sure how to deal with. Sinopia was rarely angry to begin with, but even when she was it closer to 'irritated' than the rage she was feeling now.
Sinopia tried to make sure none of it showed when she greeted her uncle, the person she'd be living with for the time being. He was doing is best to try to look dignified despite the features common in her father's side of the family, most of which she had as well. He had bright orange hair and eyes, his hair shaved short because otherwise it would almost certainly be frizzy and entirely unmanageable. His face was long, his chin pointy, and his forehead wide, and he was completely covered in freckles. His ears, both human and faunus feature, were even bigger than hers were, and given how big her ears were, that was saying something. She was surprised he didn't want to wear a hat because they looked very silly, but she supposed it'd be weird for him to hide his only faunus feature on Menagerie.
She had only met him once when she was five, so she didn't remember him or his children very well. All she could remember was that he got her a book on trains, so he was pretty cool as far as she was concerned. He moved to Menagerie after the Great War, so it was hard for him to come so far north. The one time he did come, he didn't bring his wife or three sons, so this would be her first time meeting all of them. It was a little bit overwhelming.
For as much as that made her anxious, nothing could have prepared her for seeing his house. It was on the outskirts of the city, far enough that it'd take a really long time to walk anywhere from it. It was huge, two stories tall with part of it built over the water. Enough rooms that each of his sons had their own, and he still had enough room for a large office and a guest bedroom. The garden outside was large enough that he could have built a second house on it, and it was so immaculate despite its size that it probably took a team of people to maintain. Sinopia was completely dumbstruck when she found out this entire place was theirs and there weren't going to be fifty other families in it. She was so stunned she couldn't move for a good three minutes once she saw the room she was going to have all to herself was larger than the apartment her entire family lived in when she lived in Vale. She understood that most people had a lot more than she did, but actually seeing it made her feel like she was dreaming. It was so far beyond her wildest imagination, and yet this was normal for these people. She had never felt so out of place.
Turned out, her uncle was actually quite wealthy and was probably the only reason she was able to eat every day growing up. He came to Menagerie early enough that he was able to setup a small transport business to help move people and goods around, and it became successful enough that it was eventually bought and he was given a very comfortable job that probably paid more than it was worth. Even though he put it like that, she had no doubt he was still working hard. Most of the people on her dad's side of the family were like that. Stubborn and unable to sit still. It was always hard to picture her uncle like that when her father was doing everything he could to help faunus in Vale so they didn't have to go to Menagerie, but after talking to him about why he came she understood a little. Her uncle wanted a safe place for faunus because not everyone wanted to fight and not everyone could be expected to. Having a faunus homeland meant everyone would have a safe place they could go to. It was a reasonable enough goal.
It didn't make Sinopia feel any better about being here.
The week was so busy she didn't have much time to feel uncomfortable. There was so much to catch up on. She had to meet her extended family, learn the layout of the house (much more difficult than she thought it would be because it was so big), get used to the hot and humid weather (terrible because it made her hair and fur frizz everywhere), buy new clothes, set up her room, learn where everything was in the city and how to get home, meet the private tutor her father hired and get ready for school, and that was only scratching the surface. Most importantly, she had to learn how to adapt, and that was proving much more difficult.
She hadn't slept more than about two hours the entire week. The nightmares were bad, but they weren't the primary reason she was having so much trouble sleeping. This was the first time in her life she ever needed to sleep by herself. In Vale, the apartment she lived in was only one room, so her parents just piled in a corner with her while they slept. During the war, everyone slept together, and when she was traveling with Alina sometimes they even slept in the same sleeping bag. Here she might have had a plush bed, fluffy pillows, and enough blankets to always keep her warm, but it felt cold and isolating.
All of Menagerie felt like that. There were so many people it was impossible to know them all, and even trying to say hello to random people got her strange looks. Even the ones she did get to talk to didn't understand anything. Every night her new family had dinner together, but she wondered why they bothered given how they acted. They'd ask about each other's day, but no one ever seemed interested. Her cousins didn't even want to be there and were quite vocal about how they would rather be doing something else. It all felt very strange in ways she couldn't describe. Sometimes they tried asking about the war, but their parents quickly shushed them as though it was such a terrible thing to ask about. Sinopia didn't mind talking about it, though she avoided the topics that were difficult to talk about. What made it hard wasn't the subject, but how little they understood. They didn't even seem to understand why she bothered fighting at all given they could all just live here. It was frustrating.
For as crowded as Menagerie was, it was such a lonely place. She was really glad Alina was there. Fortunately, for the time being, there was so much to be done, she didn't have time to dwell on it.
---
Today was her first day of school. Ever. Back in Vale, she was home schooled by her mother. That ended when her family had to flee the city, both because her mother was probably dead and because trying to get an education out in the wilderness during a war as nigh impossible. She could read, write, and do basic math, but she had no idea how good that was or what her education level was. This was going to be her first time learning with such a big group. Would she even be smart enough for this? She really didn't want to hold anyone back because she was too stupid and unprepared for all of this.
Despite all the anxiety she had around attending, she was also excited. Going to school was one of the few positive things she was able to think of when she was on the boat to the island, and she was trying really hard to come up with positive reasons to come. Sinopia was a naturally curious person, so the thought of going somewhere specifically for learning new things always appealed to her, and she was disappointed that her parents never let her attend school in Vale. That there would also be other people trying to learn in the same place made it seem almost magical. She had always been shy, so having such an easy way to try and connect with others sounded wonderful. It was almost enough to counteract the anxiety she had for being there in the first place.
They day went reasonably well. It didn't live up to her imagination, but she had to remember that this wasn't a real school according to her uncle. It was just a communal school put together by the White Fang to help displaced children that wouldn't be able to go to school otherwise, and she would only be there for as long as it took to figure out where she was academically. If she did well enough, he should be able to get her into a nice private school even though she'd be a year behind. She just had to work hard and try to catch up, so she took her current studies very seriously. She'd take her sessions with the tutor her uncle hired just as seriously. But for the time being, she was glad it didn't go badly. She was mostly able to keep up and didn't seem to be bothering anyone. People just kept talking too much and it made it hard to hear the teacher sometimes, and some of them looked like they didn't want to be there at all. That was the most disappointing part really. Her image that everyone would love it as much as she did was shattered almost immediately, as well as any belief that sitting and reading about math was a normal thing to do.
She didn't have anywhere to be today, so Sinopia figured she'd just grab a snack and head home. The problem was, she couldn't quite remember where the place with the really good breakfast burritos were. Those were nice to get for the trip home. Easy to carry, and full of delicious meat and egg, but it wouldn't do her much good if she couldn't find it. Menagerie was smaller than the territory she was used to running through, but it managed to feel bigger in a lot of ways. There was just so much more stuff. Look to the left, there was something besides trees. Look to the right, all of these buildings and all of these people instead of open fields. It was overwhelming. That people kept bumping into her back and arms and making her feel even more nervous and on-edge wasn't helping, but she supposed that was her fault for standing in front of the door because she was confused for so long. After taking a moment to step out of the way she started taking a good look around the area to see if she could get her bearings well enough.
Sinopia looked different from the other students. Her clothes were ultimately picked out by her uncle because she found the number of options too dizzying to even think about, and ended up spending about twenty minutes frozen in decision paralysis before he stepped in and picked for her. That meant that he ultimately went with his style, which was nice, formal, and with a little bit of fanciness to it. So, she went to a school like this in a short-sleeved white ruffled blouse, and a knee-length black skirt with some golden plant patterns along the right side. It was the kind of outfit she could have attended a symphony in Mistral in without looking out of place. She had a few odd features herself. Her ears were massive even by faunus standards, and she had thick freckles running down her entire body. It wasn't helping her feel any less out of place.
---
2564/2564