The Rin in the Mirror

[Oddball]

I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could write Rin. After writing this,I'm still not sure.


The Rin in the Mirror

Emi spit the toothpaste from her mouth. Rather than using a cup to rinse with, she stuck her mouth straight to the faucet, took in a mouth full of water, gargled with it, and spit the remaining toothpaste and water into the sink. She smiled with her freshly brushed teeth and greeted her reflection. "Good morning, Emi. You're looking particularly cute today."

"Mu. Mu mumi. Mat muph muhmumum," said a voice to her left.

"Oh! Sorry!" Emi said and quickly turned to Rin. Rin's toothbrush was sticking out of her mouth and toothpaste was beginning to drool down her face. Emi quickly helped her friend finish brushing and apologized a few times for forgetting she was there. "Now what was that you just said?"

"I think it was 'muh-muh mumum'. I wasn't paying that close attention," Rin said.

Emi smiled. She should have expected a response like that from Rin. "What did you mean to say?" Emi tried again.

Rin had already stuck her head under the running faucet. When Emi spoke, she pulled it out and shook her hair like a wet dog. Emi jumped back from the spray of water and stumbled slightly. Jumping was an activity better suited from her running blades than her normal walking legs. She caught her balance and sighed. Really she should have seen that coming. If left to her own devices, this was Rin's idea washing her hair.

"I'm not sure I remember exactly what I said. That was a long time ago, a few minutes at least. I think it was something like 'No. You're Emi. That is a mirror. You're not going crazy and confusing yourself with a mirror like some kind of person that does go crazy and talks to things that aren't people, are you? Because if you are going crazy, I should probably stop letting you stick things in my mouth. Letting crazy people into your mouth sounds like a bad idea. Like trying to make a banana split and using an iguana instead of ice cream." She stopped and thought for a second. "I think there's a word for that.'"

"Bananaguana?" Emi guessed. Rin just gave her a 'what the hell are you talking about' look. That marked the end of that train of thought. It was as good a time as any to move back to the actual topic. Emi gave Rin a good-natured slap on the back. "I was just getting myself all pepped up for the day."

"By practicing going crazy. Is that a useful skill? Floss." It took Emi a moment to realize the last word was in no way connected to anything else Rin was saying. Emi removed a packet of dental floss and went to work on Rin's teeth. It seemed Rin had been chewing on paper again.

Despite the fact that her teeth were being flossed and her mouth wide open, Rin continued to try to talk like nothing was going on. Emi tried to make out the words at first, but she only managed to understand a few of them. It was pretty hopeless, so she decided to think about the lyrics to a song she liked instead.

"--ayhe aha ahawew luh drinking rainbow flavored dreams," Rin finished as Emi finished flossing her friends teeth.

"Drinking rainbow flavored dreams," Emi repeated in her head. She was going to have to remember that one. She actually kept a small notebook full of the more interesting things Rin said. It had come in handy when her class had been studying philosophy earlier in the year. It was a shame she had missed the earlier part of that sentence.

Emi decided to try her mirror explanation one more time. She blamed the fact that she was even trying to explain something to Rin on it still being early and not being fully awake yet. It sounded like a good excuse in her head.

"Sometimes you just need to hear somebody tell you something and you know nobody else is going to, so you just say it to your own reflection to make yourself feel good!" Emi visibly punctuated her statement with an over exaggerated nod of the head. Rin stopped, looked at Emi for a moment, and then looked at Emi's reflection. Then she turned to her own reflection to look. While Rin was seemingly lost in thought (a not unusual occurrence for her) Emi began to pack their things back into the little blue bag she used for bath and hygiene items.

Finally she head Rin speak, not to herself, but to her reflection. "Everyone likes you, Rin," she said in her typical flat uninterested voice. "You are the best." Emi smiled. "You are the sex goddess." Emi stopped smiling. This had gotten weird again. Rin looked at Emi from the corner of her eye, still keeping an eye on her reflection. "Nobody has ever said that to me before. I thought it would be nice. … It didn't really help."

"I'm going to the city today, did you have any plans?" Emi asked in order to switch the conversation around. Quick changes in conversation were a very valuable tool when talking with Rin.

"Usual weekend stuff." Rin scratched the back of her left leg with her right foot.

"Which is…?"

Rin just stared at her as if she couldn't even comprehend the question. "The … stuff I usually do on the weekend?"

"I just wanted to make sure you didn't want to come along or needed me to pick up anything for you." Rin just shrugged a reply. It was the type of shrug that could have equally meant, 'yes', 'no', 'maybe', or 'somebody has just set me on fire and I don't much care for it'. Now they were just standing in the bathroom. Emi looked in the mirror and adjusted her hair in order to give her something to do as they talked. "Want me to help you get dressed before I go?"

"Today is a sweat suit day," Rin smiled happily. Emi had bought Rin two pairs of sweat suits in an attempt to talk Rin into running with her. Rin joined her at the track once. After running half a lap, Rin walked the other half, and then just wandered off. It was the only time they had ever ran together. Still, It wasn't a complete loss though. Rin really liked the clothes. Between the elastic waistband and the large zippers on the front, they were remarkably easy for Rin to put on herself. If she already had her underwear on, which she did right now, she wouldn't need help dressing herself at all.

"Talking to the mirror isn't very interesting. It would be more interesting to hear that the mirror talk to me. If it could. It can't. Only a person that could think those sorts of things could think that it could." Rin jumped back to the earlier conversation as though no time had passed and nothing was said in between.

"Yeah. Okay. I've got a bus to catch, Rin." I'll talk to you later today. Rin wondered how Emi was going to catch a bus. It was much larger than she was and she wasn't exactly strong anyway. That pondering didn't last long. Rin was more interested in the mirror right now. She titled her head slightly and gave Emi an expression best described as a half-confused smirk and then Emi was gone.

Rin stood there for a moment watching her reflection. She changed expressions, made faces, and watched as the Rin reflected back at her did the same. She'd used mirrors all her life and looked at them at least once every couple of days, but she'd never really thought about them before. The idea of talking to one fascinated her.

"You're not quite me are you?" Rin asked her reflection. You look like me looking at you looking at me, but you're not. Or you are but backwards. If you are a backwards me, you may be more forwards than I am." Rin watch the mirror match her every movement carefully. Part of her hoped that the mirror would slip up and do something she hadn't done herself. "If you could talk and think, what would you be talking and thinking about in your mirror reflected backwards world?"

Rin continued to look at her reflection. There was something slightly unsettling about something that wasn't you looking at you with your own face. The reflection had a sad confused look on it that made Rin feel bad. The idea that this was her own expression never entered into her mind. It was just the expression on the mirror's face.

"If I walk away, do you wait for me? Do you get lonely having to be nowhere until I stand in front of a mirror again? Or do you stop being if there's nothing here to reflect? If I walk away, do you die?" The questions came to Rin's mind but where left unspoken. Rin turned her back on the mirror, walked to the other side of the room, then returned to stand in front of the mirror again. "Have we met?"

The mirror, of course, never answered.

It was that strange time of day when it seemed to late to be afternoon but not dark enough to be called evening when Hisao approached. Rin had set a canvas on the ground utside the dorms and was engrossed in painting. Hisao said "Hi" and when she didn't answer, he just sat down to watch. The style of the painting was far more realistic than her usual work, but distorted in ways that took a second glance to really notice. Certain objects seemed to merge, perspective was off in places, and the colors seemed just accurate enough to be able to tell that they weren't the right shades.

"Looks pretty good," Hisao said trying to strike up conversation again. "What is it?"

"Bad luck. Don't talk about a work in progress."

"It's my luck. I can risk it."

"Dreams that taste like rainbows. Ice cream that's really a lizard. The things I think I would think about if I was not me but a just copy of me." Rin never turned to face him. She just continued on her work.

A quite "hmm," escaped Hisao's lips. "Where do you get your ideas?" Rin shrugged and continued. They sat in silence for several minutes before Hisao excused himself to finish some homework.

In the middle of Rin's picture, there was an image of a girl with short red hair and no arms. She stood with her back to the viewer observing the distinctive landscape around her. This Not-Rin wouldn't have to watch a world she was no part of. She would always be there even when Rin walked away. Rin looked at her finished piece. For some reason she felt happy.

[BobBobberson]

I like this. You made a pretty good image of spaced-out Rin. It made me angry to read this, so I can tell it was a pretty good Rin story. I hate Rin and her roundabout ways. The angrier I get reading a Rin story, the more in-character Rin is, so good job mate.

[Homeless]

Yeah, you got it. People seem to think the abstract is something you can bounce back and forth from. I don't think it's like that. Once you have the skill for it, maybe, but thats the thing. The one skill we are all taught is pretty much linear. (IE real things, get a job, get married, have kids) Abstract is different from the norm, actually thats basically the definition. I think to be a true abstract artist you need to basically be raised as such, or have parents with such ideals or be able to have that mind set on your own. I think that last part would be the hardest to achieve.

Being able to see the abstract would be like looking up at a tree, a lot of people focus on a branch, while a few people can see a handful of branches, but have a hard time going from one to another, but truly abstract can go from any branch they wish, and, in their own mind, understand the view point.

[Oddball]

I like this. You made a pretty good image of spaced-out Rin. It made me angry to read this, so I can tell it was a pretty good Rin story. I hate Rin and her roundabout ways. The angrier I get reading a Rin story, the more in-character Rin is, so good job mate.

I'll ... consider that a compliment.

[BobBobberson]

I like this. You made a pretty good image of spaced-out Rin. It made me angry to read this, so I can tell it was a pretty good Rin story. I hate Rin and her roundabout ways. The angrier I get reading a Rin story, the more in-character Rin is, so good job mate.

I'll ... consider that a compliment.

It's a compliment. But as you can tell, I hate Rin.

[Beoran]

Good, I enjoyed that! Especially the painting in the end and the mirror idea.

[Spirit Tsunami]

I'm not sure what the proper length of time is before it's been too long to review something without it being necroposting, which is why I prefer Fanfiction.net to posting fanfics in forums, but this was so good that I figured I'd risk it. Unlike this Bob person, I'm a fan of Rin's, and I thought this was very well done and very much in-character for Rin. Bravo.

[Mirage_GSM]

My opinion: If you have something meaningful to say about the story/topic, two years is okay. If you don't, two hours is too long.

[Oddball]

I'm not sure what the proper length of time is before it's been too long to review something without it being necroposting, which is why I prefer Fanfiction.net to posting fanfics in forums, but this was so good that I figured I'd risk it. Unlike this Bob person, I'm a fan of Rin's, and I thought this was very well done and very much in-character for Rin. Bravo.

As long as you have something to say, go ahead and say it. We don't seem to hung up on replying to old posts here.

Just keep in mind when you do reply to old things that not all the old people are here anymore.

Also, thanks. I wasn't sure how well I had captured Rin when I wrote that. She's a slippery one.

[lolawesome]

Rin is definitely the hardest character to write. I know. I've tried. And failed. Spectacularly.


You succeeded where I failed. Good job.