paixaorpg | The Calm After the Storm [Active]

Entry tags:

The Calm After the Storm [Active]

Character(s): Soma, Mina, Himeno, Hayate
Content: Friends, both old and new, meet and discuss the events at hand.
Setting: Actua Are, N9
Time: Mid afternoon
Warnings: Cursing, wishy-washiness, ~~kissy faces~~, and other violence.

Soma had not moved much in the intervening hours, only sitting there dumbstruck. Mina was in the city. Not only that, but she was in the same hotel he was in. This was a wonderful turn of events, not least because he had begun to doubt his own sanity.

Now that the hour was growing later, he was starting to feel edgy. He'd started fidgeting, not certain if he should remain with Hayate and Himeno, to whom he owed so much, or if he should seek out a second table. This was absurd, in truth, because he knew that without an anchor he would have made a run for it. He didn't want Mina to see him like this, not again; not after what had nearly happened last time.

He still could not bring himself to look at any of the citizens of the city for more than a moment; their brightness served only to remind him of his own dark heart. A heart not worthy of... what? What exactly was it he felt himself unworthy of? The demons that tormented him constantly laughed but would come forth with nothing more.

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Soma's actions over the past several hours since breakfast had worried Hayate a bit. The "She's here" from earlier made him assume that the friend Soma had been looking for the previous night was nearby.

He still wasn't quite sure where to begin, but playing things as they happened would have to be something he learned along the way in this place, apparently. At the moment, he was keeping an eye on the journals--mostly the message board--considering all the information being posted on it. At least this was an easier method than word-of-mouth for getting emergencies across and he had at least some bearing on what was going on.

However, even with the distraction of 'information' on the boards, Hayate had to hope that Soma's friend would show up soon and hopefully Soma would calm down.

It had taken a little longer than Mina had expected to wash the stain out of her sock where that blister had burst, but she'd managed to get it out and freshen up. Surely, after she'd waited for hours during catastrophes, Soma could stand to wait a few-

No, he couldn't. He'd noted in the journal that he'd had some concerns about his sanity, and only that slight concern had prompted Mina to tuck half a dozen paper charms into her sleeves, where she could reach them in a moment if circumstances mandated it, and take the stairs two at a time down from her room to the restaurant.

This golden city... she'd only been in it for a few hours, and already she had the feeling that something was amiss. All the plants were artificial, some ingeniously crafted from valuable materials, and she hadn't seen an animal yet since she'd entered. With no living things, there could be no local kami to ask for assistance if Soma's concerns were...

Mina shook the thought out of her head. I trust Soma. I have to keep trusting him, she reminded herself. He's kept himself out of trouble so far, there's no reason he wouldn't again. She scanned the crowd for a head of white hair, easy enough to find in a crowd of unnaturally-blonde people...

Himeno had at first been very happily stuffing her face with her pancakes, but the sudden change of tone at the table had slowed the girl down considerably. Eating anything without much gusto wasn't really normal for her... but she had finished, and at this point was quietly sipping yet another cup of tea as they waited.

They were all being so quiet. She could have cut the silence with a knife. The tuliped haired girl hoped this girl would appear soon, and break this uncomfortableness. Himeno didn't do well in awkward situations.

Awkward. Yup, this was definitely awkward.

Soma's head snapped up as soon as he felt Mina enter the room. Even amidst the sea of light, she shone like a beacon to him - a light that, instead of piercing his soul like an accusing stake, nurtured him. Seeing her, a smile - the first real one he had worn in days - transformed his face. No longer was he the brooding man, face lined with worry; he was himself, or as much himself as he could be in the circumstances.

A black mote of regret, of doubt, sprang up in his mind, but was promptly shoved to the back. His troubled dreams seemed so far away, the memories of another life. There was nothing here to warrant that ever happening... and yet...

No! I will not doubt myself, he told the mote of darkness. I've come too far!

But have you come far enough? Who knows better than I the dark recesses of your soul? Of your secrets, your lies? Your deepest fears? Remember, Soma. I share your soul, now...

And just like that, Soma sank back into his chair, looking drained. His face was ashen, his breath light and rapid. Now was not the time to get sick...

The silence hadn't quite been broken, but it was jolted temporarily when Soma sat up. There were very slight signs of relief in the Knight of Wind's expression when Soma smiled toward a girl with brown hair who was looking around. The relief at the situation didn't last long however, when Soma sat back, looking sick and seeming more than a little panicked about something.

"Soma." The knight of wind was worried again, though his expression didn't show much of it. This situation was getting to be the most awkward one Hayate had ever been in, at this rate.

Mina had smiled back when she saw Soma perk up, then frowned when he sank back into his chair and looked ill. This... was not a good sign. The miko made her way through crowds of blonde heads and pushed an empty chair over to the table, then approached her ~~boy~~friend.

"Soma? Are you okay?" she asked. A slight hesitation, and then she added softly, "Is it... him? Or are you just worried about...?" After another hesitation, she moved a hand to check his temperature. Maybe it was just a fever making him uneasy.

She hoped Soma would calm down in a moment, reassure her that he was okay (even if he really wasn't, it would show that at least he was there), or that it was a physical illness and not... If it was, well... she hoped the hotel could be quickly evacuated until he did calm down.

Himeno perked when she saw Soma suddenly snap his head up. Following his gaze, she spotted the brown haired girl who was approaching them. Was this who they'd been waiting for?

She would have given the girl a warm greeting, but the worried look on the girl's face, caused Himeno to glance back to Soma herself. Huh? What was wrong? Soma looked positively awful suddenly. What was wrong?

She was at a loss, as Mina came over, asking Soma what was wrong. The Prétear could only look on as much at a loss as Hayate was. Yup, this was definitely awkward.

What could they do? Was there even anything they could do? She tried to think of something to say, but remained unusually tongue-tied.

As quickly as the dizzy spell had come on, it receded. His breathing slowed back down and deepened, his eyes - when had they gone red?! - faded back to blue, and his whole body seemed to relax.

"Too much light..." he mumbled, closing his eyes. Even as Dracula, the light had never affected him like this. It was unnatural, far too pure and bright. Like the light of a sun gathered into several small vessels, then refracted through strange lenses.

Another shudder, and Soma finally seemed to calm down. He sat a little straighter, quashed the knot of nausea in the pit of his stomach and forced his eyes open by millimeters. Just a normal room, filled with abnormal people. No brilliant halos of light, no walking suns...

"I think... Think I'm okay now. The light is gone." Looking to Hayate and Himeno, he reached up to rub at the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Sorry I worried you all. I don't know what all that was, or why it happened; I've never felt anything like that before."

Finally he turned his eyes back to his longtime ~~girl~~friend, Mina. "It... It is really you, isn't it?" he asked, referring to the last events he'd experienced in that accursed castle.

Knowing the feeling of wanting to keep things a secret, Hayate didn't pry into anything further.

At Soma's remark about not knowing why it happened, Hayate glanced at Soma, thinking. Maybe that shattered pendant charm had something to do with all this?

Soma's remark toward the girl made Hayate give her a curt nod, "I'm Hayate."

After introductions were through he glanced at Soma, "Speaking of strange occurrences, something strange did happen while you were asleep last night. One of your items--a pendant necklace with a calming sentiment to it--shattered." He described the pendant in a little more detail and then looked away. The shattered crystal still made him think of his own experience of shattered crystal back in Leafenia.

"Mina Hakuba," Mina introduced herself, settling into her chair. A moment latter a golden waiter hovered expectantly near, and she quickly ordered a fruit salad, fishing for the few coins she had left after paying for her hotel room.

Hayate's description of the broken pendant made her pause for a moment. "My talisman?" If her special token had shattered, then Soma could be in a lot of trouble-- and the people of Paixao in even more. Nonetheless... she took a deep breath and nodded slowly.

"That would explain why he seems more upset than usual... But it's okay," she added quickly to Soma. "This city is full of bright things, I can get you another one and charm it even better this time. I've gotten quite a bit of practice."

Her fruit salad arrived, and she thanked the waiter before turning back toward her friend. "Maybe... maybe one of the paper charms I was using to practice will help until I can find you another piece of jade?"

It wouldn't be quite as resiliant to damage as the necklace had been, but it was only a temporary fix anyway, and Mina was sure she could find another bit of jade to make a new talisman with-- after all, the people of Paixao had decorated their entire city with precious material made to look like foliage, and she'd seen more than a few golden trees with sticks and leaves broken off. It didn't seem so much to be stealing as it did to be the people were offering their goods to the newcomers.

Anything was better than nothing at this point, that much was certain. Even a paper charm would help.

"Oh, um, and I'm Awayuki Himeno," Himeno chimed in, offering Mina a warm, small smile. "Pleased to meet you," she then added.

A lot of this was going over her head, but then that wasn't always difficult. She had slept peacefully the night before, unaware of anything that Hayate had witnessed, so this was all new to her too. She had no idea what it meant, but did get the impression it wasn't good. Then again when would be something shattering be considered good usually?

Well, unless it was something evil... then that might be good... But, well anyways, she realized her thoughts were getting a bit carried away.

Soma smiled a rare and open smile - the type he hadn't been able to smile in what felt like a long, long time - and looked to Mina with relief. Some people might have been put off by something like this; in order to keep him sane, Mina had to effectively cast a spell on him. That might have come uncomfortably close to outright bewitching for some.

He understood the necessity of the casting, though. Without it, Dracula's power would blacken his soul, leading him down a path that would inevitably bring destruction to all he held dear.

Carrying an enchanted charm was a small price to pay.

Besides, it was from Mina, and that made it worth more than anything else to him.

"Paper should work, I hope. At least temporarily. But as long as you're close, I don't think we'll have to worry about that so much."

Himeno and Hayate, he reminded himself, did not yet know the monster that lurked within their new-minted friend. Perhaps the day would come when he would have to tell them of his darker half - but he fervently hoped otherwise, for to acknowledge the power was to give it strength. Given the way things had been going, however, he knew that he'd be facing Dracula all too soon. Whether he wanted to or not.

Might it not be prudent, then, to tell these people? Or would he be justified in not telling them, at least so soon? It was an open secret among his friends; Arikado knew from the start, as had Yoko. Hammer had learned at the end of their first visit to the castle, and the others had figured it out or been told along the way.

He resigned to wait a while. If they had to be told, the time would come. If not, they were better off for not having the knowledge. It was simple logic. Simple and quite foolish, but Soma clung to it desperately. The less people who knew about him, the better...

What Soma and Mina were talking about mostly went over Hayate's head, as well. However, once again...he had the knowledge of the fact that many people weren't comfortable telling personal stories and secrets, himself included. He still remembered how hard it was to tell Himeno who Fenrir was and in a sense...why he was so afraid to have Himeno as the new Pretear. Everything had worked out in the end, but it had been a difficult situation to deal with on all ends.

Instead, he managed a nod at both Soma and Mina. "If you need anything, just ask." He had done a lot of odd jobs in Awayuki Town. He could probably do the same here.

Belatedly, Mina nodded-- she'd been slightly distracted by... breakfast? lunch? whatever the meal could be called. Furthermore, Soma's silence on the topic had been the awkward sort that meant he'd rather no one else knew of his... condition. At least Hayate had apparently understood that some things were best left unspoken about.

"Awkward, isn't it?" she giggled to Himeno. "You introduced yourself in the traditional way, and I introduced myself the way those from Europe and America do. I guess I've spent too much time around foreigners..."

"Oh, um, yes!" she suddenly spoke up, echoing Hayate's sentiments, "If there's anything we can do, just ask!"

Poor Himeno contiuned to look quite lost, but apparently it was starting to become blatantly obvious. "Ah ha... Just a... bit," she replied Mina honestly, with an awkward smile.

She then blinked at Mina's comment. "Oh... ah, yes I guess I did? I'm sorry if it was confusing..."

She really hadn't yet thought about the cultural differences, but in hindsight, she wondered if the knight she had met when she first arrived had been confused to at her introduction. Oh well, she'd have to be a little more careful.

With that business taken care of for the time being - and with Mina close at hand - Soma seemed a new man. He favored Hayate and Himeno with a warm smile and sat up straighter, looking much better than the half-drowned, mostly-crazed individual Hayate had dragged in off the street the night before.

"The offer is greatly appreciated, Hayate. And if there's ever any way I can repay you, let me know. I know, it's your job," he continued with a wry smile, "but still. If it weren't for you, I'd be in much worse shape than I am. I am eternally grateful." And coming from me, that's saying something...

With the balance in his heart more or less restored - he would never be able to truly walk the gray line between light and dark, not with Dracula's power burning in his breast - he was no longer receiving glares from every native who happened to look his way. The waitress still did not smile when she brought his food, but that was par for the course. She didn't smile at anyone else, either.

Now, however, he seemed slightly abashed. "I really am sorry about everything that's happened," he said to his new friends. "There is more to tell, but... I know this sounds like I'm drawing back, but there are some things you'd both be better off not knowing about me. I'm sorry."

Awkward? Hah.

Hayate made another brief nod, "I will." He wasn't used to being thanked. After all, no one really knew what the Leafé Knights did for them and no one ever really thanked them.

When Soma said that there were some things they were better off not knowing, he glanced over at Himeno, remembering his own argument along those lines. It had been his main stance on Himeno not being told about Fenrir's past and his involvement in it. Sixteen years worth of guilt and regret over one story. Though everything's passed now and the story told, I still wonder if it would have been better off unknown. "There's no need to be sorry. I know the feeling well enough myself," he said stiffly, his own intense blue eyes meeting Soma's. He found it a bit ironic that he was suddenly filling the roles other knights had played for him. He'd made his choice, Soma would have to make his own. He wasn't going to force his acquaintance's decision, nor would he hold it against him.

Even the people bustling around the restaurant seemed artificial. Some too friendly, others too antisocial, and every last one of them too predictable. Mina felt as though she were watching clockwork gears tick around their table, and it wasn't the sort of repetitive and hypnotic actions that made one feel comfortable and drowsy.

The city itself struck her as being one huge machine, albeit a huge and complex one whose purpose remained a mystery. Maybe it was like a computer, she mused to herself, and its purpose depended on what its owner(s) used it for. But what was this city being used for, and by whom?

She ordered a small cup of tea and alternating between stirring and sipping it thoughtfully as she watched the denizens tick-- move-- for a few minutes, then stretched, hiding her discomfort in a faked laziness she'd been practicing for a long time now. "How long have we been here? Maybe the waitress would like to see some new people come in..."

With an apologetic smile to Hayate and Himeno, Soma nodded to Mina. "Perhaps it is time we go see what we can do for living arrangements. We can't very well stay in a hotel for however long we're going to be here..."

The comparison to a clockwork construction would have seemed accurate to Soma, had Mina voiced it aloud. It reminded him of a bright mirror to the horrors he had seen in Dracula's castle, with shining people and animals in place of the zombies, demons, and outright abominations the castle walls had held. To one whose heart contained the amount of darkness Soma's held, it was just as much torture to be in Paixao as it was to be in that Hell-spawned castle.

Standing from the table (and his half-finished meal), Soma offered Hayate and Himeno a formal bow. "If ever you need my help, you know where to find me." From his belt, he removed the bag of holding that contained his coins and poured out a double handful onto the table. Gold, platinum, copper, silver, bronze... There were coins of every precious metal, of a hundred denominations both real and fictional. A veritable treasure trove of history in a scattering of coins... "Take care... my friends." Hesitating only a moment, he offered his arm to Mina. (And then they left. Nyah! ^_^;;; Sorry for minor godmoding, Yui.)

Hayate gave a final nod to Soma before he left.

Soma had a very good point about needing a more permanent home than a hotel, though the knight of wind wasn't sure how they'd manage to find something, given the distances of the city and the fact that he should consider employment, as well.

Hayate cast a glance at Himeno again, now that the other two had left. "We should consider moving as well. Apparently there's a festival across the city, if you want to go."

"Ah, take care!" Himeno called after the departing pair with a wave. Once they were out of sight, she lowered her arms, and turned her gaze to Hayate. They were alone once more, but somehow it didn't feel awkward. In fact now a lot of the awkwardness melted away.

"Really? A festival?" she echoed, seeds of interest blossoming.

"I wonder what kind of festival a place like this would have...?" she then wondered aloud, as she started to rise from the table pushing her chair in, and casting a smile to Hayate.

"Well, I guess can't hurt to check it out!"

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The Calm After the Storm [Active]

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