Mirror mirror on the wall, tell me something, tell me who's the loneliest of all... ?

[hellpyre]

Who: Rin, OPEN
When: Day 94
Where: Skyway
What: Rin visits a statue and... sort of has a conversation with it
Format: Action
Warnings: None

Hey, four eyes...

[Coming to the Skyway alone was dangerous. Everyone knew that. But it didn't stop Rin from, every so often, going out there on her own anyway. Not to hunt, or look for supplies, but to sit in front of a statue that was really only familiar to her.

She didn't really know why she did it. She didn't really want to see it as like visiting a grave, though it sort of was. It wasn't like there was anything else of her sister, aside from the pin she had found when her and Night had first come across the statues of Monaka and Yuki.

And it felt odd to talk to something that couldn't respond, yet there she was, greeting the statue as if her sister was still alive and able to speak in return.

But she couldn't, and Rin would spend her time out there just staring at it, lips pulled in a tight frown, or teeth worrying at her lower lip in some useless attempt to keep tears back.]

... geez. Never thought I'd miss you this much, Yuki...

Comments

[notduchess]

[ The knight spots the tailed girl and heads over, but after catching part of that last...

Well, Duke will give some privacy.

That white hair will give away that the knight is nearby, but it also points out that the knight is facing away and..

Well, collecting more wood, it looks like. Something to pass the time. ]

[hellpyre]

[Rin's hearing was good enough that the approaching footsteps caught her attention, but only in so much that her blue eyes flickered over just quick enough to see Duke make a hasty retreat.

Giving her space... that was kind of the knight.

Rin didn't waste much more time there. She didn't see a point in lingering when all it was going to do was leave her with burning eyes and a sour taste in her mouth.

She stood some minutes later, brushing her pants off with her hands before stuffing hands in pockets and wandering over.]

Hey...

[notduchess]

... Done?

[ The knight straightens. There's some stacks of various bits of scrap where Duke had been kneeling.... but that's about it. ]

[hellpyre]

Mhm...

[She nods, glancing over her shoulder but with no intent of going back. She'd had her moment; it was time to get back to things in the Bastion.]

[notduchess]

Do you want to go find something to beat up for shards, or just scavenge on the way back?

[ Either is good with the knight, really. Something to do, to hopefully take the girls mind off things. ]

[hellpyre]

... I'unno.

[She sighed, rubbing at her upper arm with one hand while the other rested on the hilt of the plain sword at her hip.]

I'm not even... angry. Just... numb.

[notduchess]

Numb is okay. So long as you can still find ways to be happy.

[ Refusing to feel anything, just because your twin is gone, that's not okay at all. ]

Then this way.

[ they can just... amble back slowly. Or quickly, depends on Rin's mood. ]

[hellpyre]

[Ambling is acceptable. Rin nods and follows, returning hands to her pockets.]

I do. I have Bon... [a faint blush coloring her cheeks as she says that] and friends here...

I just don't really know how to deal with not havin' her here at all. Fifteen years is a long time to have some one in your life almost every day.

[notduchess]

I know.

[ The knight had mentioned it before. ]

I can't say that "throwing yourself into something and not giving yourself room to think on it" is the healthiest option, but it generally works.

[hellpyre]

There's only so much to throw myself in to here, though...

[And it leaves a lot of time for thinking, which she doesn't like.]

[notduchess]

I'm sure there's a bunch of small things that consistently get overlooked. At the very least, you can ask... Briar, how to help with plants. Anyone if there is any basic repairs - I'm told it isn't terribly hard to wield a hammer, although thumbs are a common casualty.

[hellpyre]

I guess. I'd be useless with plants - that was more Shiemi's thing. But I ain't a stranger to hard work.

[Once upon a time, when she had dropped out from school and had to look for work, labor jobs came up often given her lacking qualifications for anything else.

And she was strong.]

[notduchess]

I wouldn't know much to do with those either. I picked career soldier, which involves a surprising amount of sitting on your ass with a desk of paperwork.

Which is pretty good for just... distractions, really.

[hellpyre]

Can't say I envy that... I dropped out of school. If I hadn't been dragged in to exorcist cram school I probably woulda just wound up doin' odd jobs and labor for the rest of my life.

I hate sittin' around doin' nothing. But around here... that's half my days because I can only toil around a kitchen for so long.

[notduchess]

Its still, unfortunately, a people job. There's the ones you can help, which is nice, but then there are the stuck up dicks who what you for their convenience, or so they look nice.

[ The knight falls silent for a bit. ]

... did you ever start practicing sword fighting?

[hellpyre]

What, here, or back home? 'cause I had a teacher back home...

[past tense. No idea what had become of Shura.]

[notduchess]

Here. I remember talking about setting things up.

[ But then they lost a lot of survivors, and the knight doesn't remember what came of those plans. ]

[hellpyre]

Oh! Right, right!

[Forgotten, obviously. But easily recalled.]

No, I haven't. But I have a sword I can use now, so I don't have to pull Kurikara out.

[notduchess]

If you want something to help fill up your day, you can bother me about that. I know my style of fighting is going to be different than yours, but...

[ the knight shrugs. ]

Things to help generally are universal.

[hellpyre]

[Rin snorted at that.]

What style?

[notduchess]

"Beat it until it stops moving" isn't generally how I fight.

[hellpyre]

It's worked for me!

[But she's laughing now, which is good. She knows her "style" is no good, but what do you expect from a fifteen year old who only picked up a sword less than a year ago?]

[notduchess]

What happens when you run into something with a tougher hide? There's all sorts of things out there.

[ Well, then they're on a good track, Duke thinks. ]

[hellpyre]

Well, my flames, usually. Or... well, y'know. I do have friends who are trainin' to be exorcists. And actual exorcists who can jump in if I get over my head.

... not that I ever get over my head.

[Rin...]

[notduchess]

No good. What if the hide's too thick for flame to bother it much? Not that I've studied your fire or anything, but things like that happen-

Or worse yet, what if its a rock-like creature? Fire doesn't tend to do much against rocks.

[ Swords don't usually either, Duke- ]

[hellpyre]

Ah--...

[Yup, Rin is drawing a blank]

[kyotoprincess]

[Bon was worried when he saw Rin go off to the Skyway on her own. Even someone like Rin often needed backup in a fight with the monsters out there, so he quickly followed after her. He decided to keep his distance and let her do whatever it was she was out there to do, and he would just step in if she got into trouble.

When he saw the statue, though, his heart sank. Even though this Yukio was a girl, Bon could easily recognize who she was. Yukio had a very distinct look to him, and that seemed to carry over to a female Yukio as well.

Bon decides not to interrupt, not yet. He'll Give Rin the space to do whatever. But whenever she is done, she'll be able to find him nearby, since he's not hiding or anything.]

[hellpyre]

[He had stepped just close enough for her to pick up on the noise, but the fact that he had stopped also translated in to her realizing whoever had come out there after her was keeping their distance.

She didn't have the strong sense of smell Night had, but as she sat there she realized there was a faint scent in the air of the Skyway that was more familiar to her than others.

Oh...

She swallowed hard, forcing tears back, but she didn't break her silent vigil right away. A good ten minutes passed before she finally stood, hands moving as though she wanted nothing more than to reach out and embrace that statue. She knew what would happen, though, so after a bit of indecisive movement at her sides she simply wrapped her arms around herself as if she was cold and shuffled to where Bon was waiting.]

[kyotoprincess]

[She doesn't have to say anything, Bon already knows. As soon as Rin gets close enough, he'll reach out and pull her into a tight hug.]

[hellpyre]

[Rin welcomes the hug gratefully, wrapping her arms around him tightly and burying her face in his shoulder.

She stayed quiet for a bit, but eventually a quiet mumble left her.]

Sorry I didn't say where I was goin'...

[kyotoprincess]

[Bon would have given her a hard time for it, had he not just seen her talking to her dead sister.]

...It's alright. Just let me know the next time, and I'll come with you.

[He can watch her back whenever she wants to talk to Yukio.]

[hellpyre]

I will...

[A quiet sniffle, and she let go, sliding back to look back at the statue while keeping close to Bon.]

I wish I could take her back with us... I'm always worried I'm gonna come back and she'll be gone...

[It was weird to speak of a statue as if it was still a person, but Rin knew it would hurt more to say 'it' as opposed to 'her'.]

[kyotoprincess]

[Bon will break from the hug, though he'll try to keep a hold of Rin's hand if she'll let him. He'll also look at the statue of Yuki, trying to think of a solution to this problem.]

Well, we could take her back, if you wanted to. We would just need something to store her ashes in, like an urn.

[hellpyre]

[Rin's fingers curled around his instinctively, blue eyes glancing up at him thoughtfully. It wouldn't be the same... she wouldn't have a form Rin could see anymore, but if they were back home ashes would be the way things would be handled anyway.

Hesitantly, she nodded.]

We could look for somethin' out here.

[kyotoprincess]

Or we could go back, get something nice with shards, and come back here better prepared.

[He doesn't want to risk losing the ashes because of broken things.]

Also...

[He hesitates for a moment before asking the next question.]

Do you want to do a funeral for her? I could do it, I've seen my old man do it enough times to know what to do.

[Though he was raised Buddhist, and Rin was raised Catholic, so there would be very different funerals.]

[hellpyre]

[Good point.]

Oh... y-yeah, we can do that.

[She hesitates, too, with her own response. It really has nothing to do with religions in her mind, given that she really hasn't been a practicing Catholic in years and isn't about to start again after what she learned about herself.

It's more the... finality of it. Know that with a funeral she would have to finally, absolutely accept that she wasn't going to get her sister back. Some version of her, maybe... but Rin just knew that the one standing there, still as stone, was the one she had grown up with.

And she was gone.

She pulled a breath in and let it out, squeezing Bon's hand as she nodded silently.]

[kyotoprincess]

[Bon nods in return, but he doesn't go to leave yet. Even though getting everything done sooner is better (so they don't have to worry about a monster breaking Yukio's statue or anything), he doesn't want to rush Rin. This is very much about her, so they will go at her pace.]

Just let me know when you're ready, and we'll go do the preparations.

[hellpyre]

I will.

[She nodded again, sadly smiling up at him.]

Thank you... I think this would be a lot harder if you weren't here...