Well! Okay! So like Rindo told Hot Pants himself, when he first met her she was actually sort of intimidating to the point he wasn't entirely sure how to feel. She was strong and she was brave and very, very Verdant in a way he almost couldn't entirely conceptualize. Hot Pants was a very unruffled sort of person, and that was both admirable and a little strange to him given how much of a mess Rindo is himself. Despite this, however, he did initially want to get to know her and I think the way she reached out to him bit by bit helped ease him into the idea of actually trusting her.
"Memories bring their own pain. But in the end...I'd rather be the one who remembers. It means they live in some form, even if they're not there in the world."
For a while, he wasn't totally sure what he could and couldn't tell her and what she did and didn't want to know. Hot Pants was an adult and older than most of the people he's dealt with canonically and even in Chroma itself (Shale and Steel notwithstanding because obviously they're old.) Rindo did his best to be neutral, mostly, because that's what he thought was best in this situation. Hot Pants was someone that struck him as no-nonsense and responsible and willing to do what it took to keep things balanced, but the change really came when she actually started asking him to spend time with her on Saturdays after trial. The mutually beneficial distractions meant a lot to him, and upon knowing and realizing that even she was starting to be a little affected by what happened, it helps him open up a little more to start explaining some of the things he was thinking and feeling, and some of the things she told him really helped redirect his thoughts (i.e. the idea of remembering the dead becoming part of the reason he wanted to clean up the cemetery, thinking about the people lost, thinking about leaving the Prism ever, etc.)
"Being a hero, anyways...it's a burden. But I think maybe knowing that you've helped people, that you've saved people...maybe that's worth it all, in the end. The suffering and heartbreak. You did good in the world."
To him, for all intents and purposes, Hot Pants is someone that's been working toward something greater and someone that would classify as a hero which is probably why the idea of her being dead where she's from freaked him out. Obviously being from the Reapers Game and everything he knows about second chances, but it just didn't settle right. People who are trying to do good things and are trying to save people from corrupt beings of power shouldn't just be taken away like that. The longer they spoke, he sort of lost that frame of mind where he viewed her as being so powerful and put together and began to see her more as a trusted friend and confidant who was trying to help the whole problem and not just fixate on getting out of the Prism and going home. The way Hot Pants approached the plot was, in a sense, really interesting to him because Hot Pants still made it a point to continually say that they had to find ways to face the hard and scary parts and push them all ahead.
When she refracted, of course, he freaked out. The Residents never knew ahead of time who refracted and who killed, but it was obvious her colors were off when she came to visit on the Saturday she killed November 11, and it worried him a little that the Animals wouldn't be able to help purify her and help her, that she'd lose her second chance. It was a refracting effect to have her be ambivalent about it, but it really kind of frustrated him enough to wake up and start to act again like "this is still bad, and we have to find a way to stop it." Hot Pants didn't always ask him what he thought about stuff, but she did make it a point to ask him how he was feeling and try to be supportive and that actually meant a lot to him. Probably more than he could verbalize.
"It's a fair question. But sometimes, letting it simmer and grow inside is only going to lead it becoming a bigger problem. Facing things like that is...tough. I won't lie. But there are times that you need to bite down on the bullet. Its up to you when those times are."
In a sense, I think he wanted to be a little more like her even if he wasn't sure how to or in what capacity. He wanted to be someone who could keep their head up and continue treading water, someone who could keep fighting for people and someone who knew how to keep a decent balance in things. I think he mostly felt like she was a good example to follow even if it wasn't quite in the way he'd do it. She was both someone he vaguely idolized and also a close friend, and even in the end where he felt a little embarrassed or tried to push aside how he felt because he didn't want to dump it on her, he did at least feel comfortable enough making the attempt and that's probably all one can really say for Rindo. More than anything, he valued her company and her support and I think going back he'll definitely remember the things she's taught him in order to keep moving, hoping that maybe someday she'll really get a second chance because she deserves it, in his opinion.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
HOT PANTS;
Today I stood and walked away
I'm never coming back this way
I've got my things, I'm here to stay
I'll try to walk another way
Well! Okay! So like Rindo told Hot Pants himself, when he first met her she was actually sort of intimidating to the point he wasn't entirely sure how to feel. She was strong and she was brave and very, very Verdant in a way he almost couldn't entirely conceptualize. Hot Pants was a very unruffled sort of person, and that was both admirable and a little strange to him given how much of a mess Rindo is himself. Despite this, however, he did initially want to get to know her and I think the way she reached out to him bit by bit helped ease him into the idea of actually trusting her.
For a while, he wasn't totally sure what he could and couldn't tell her and what she did and didn't want to know. Hot Pants was an adult and older than most of the people he's dealt with canonically and even in Chroma itself (Shale and Steel notwithstanding because obviously they're old.) Rindo did his best to be neutral, mostly, because that's what he thought was best in this situation. Hot Pants was someone that struck him as no-nonsense and responsible and willing to do what it took to keep things balanced, but the change really came when she actually started asking him to spend time with her on Saturdays after trial. The mutually beneficial distractions meant a lot to him, and upon knowing and realizing that even she was starting to be a little affected by what happened, it helps him open up a little more to start explaining some of the things he was thinking and feeling, and some of the things she told him really helped redirect his thoughts (i.e. the idea of remembering the dead becoming part of the reason he wanted to clean up the cemetery, thinking about the people lost, thinking about leaving the Prism ever, etc.)
To him, for all intents and purposes, Hot Pants is someone that's been working toward something greater and someone that would classify as a hero which is probably why the idea of her being dead where she's from freaked him out. Obviously being from the Reapers Game and everything he knows about second chances, but it just didn't settle right. People who are trying to do good things and are trying to save people from corrupt beings of power shouldn't just be taken away like that. The longer they spoke, he sort of lost that frame of mind where he viewed her as being so powerful and put together and began to see her more as a trusted friend and confidant who was trying to help the whole problem and not just fixate on getting out of the Prism and going home. The way Hot Pants approached the plot was, in a sense, really interesting to him because Hot Pants still made it a point to continually say that they had to find ways to face the hard and scary parts and push them all ahead.
When she refracted, of course, he freaked out. The Residents never knew ahead of time who refracted and who killed, but it was obvious her colors were off when she came to visit on the Saturday she killed November 11, and it worried him a little that the Animals wouldn't be able to help purify her and help her, that she'd lose her second chance. It was a refracting effect to have her be ambivalent about it, but it really kind of frustrated him enough to wake up and start to act again like "this is still bad, and we have to find a way to stop it." Hot Pants didn't always ask him what he thought about stuff, but she did make it a point to ask him how he was feeling and try to be supportive and that actually meant a lot to him. Probably more than he could verbalize.
In a sense, I think he wanted to be a little more like her even if he wasn't sure how to or in what capacity. He wanted to be someone who could keep their head up and continue treading water, someone who could keep fighting for people and someone who knew how to keep a decent balance in things. I think he mostly felt like she was a good example to follow even if it wasn't quite in the way he'd do it. She was both someone he vaguely idolized and also a close friend, and even in the end where he felt a little embarrassed or tried to push aside how he felt because he didn't want to dump it on her, he did at least feel comfortable enough making the attempt and that's probably all one can really say for Rindo. More than anything, he valued her company and her support and I think going back he'll definitely remember the things she's taught him in order to keep moving, hoping that maybe someday she'll really get a second chance because she deserves it, in his opinion.