And I feel summertime passing in haste, like running out of patience... [OPEN]

[hellpyre]

Who: One very broken half-demon and whoever might actually go looking for her.
Open: Open
When: Day 80
Where: The Bastion, Rin's apartment
What: Rin hasn't been seen since she and Night returned from looking for their lost loved ones. Some one is bound to notice her absence sooner or later
Format: Action
Warnings: None

[Rin had been an almost constant presence in the distillery kitchen in the month and some odd days she had been in the Bastion. If she wasn't out on the Skyway or sleeping she was helping Mireille, and even on her worst days being able to cook was enough to put a small smile on her face.

But for the past two days - ever since leaving with Night to the Skyway and returning - she was nowhere to be found. She wasn't in the distillery or anywhere else.

Well that wasn't entirely true. She was in her apartment. But that was the only place she had been in nearly two days.

And she would wind up staying there, so long as no one came looking for her...]

Comments

[silvervine]

[ Unfortunately, there's an incessant scratching at the door when Kuro wanders back to the apartment. He'd been off on his own adventures. A wandering off for a day or two wasn't all that weird when there was so much to explore and so many chickens to follow around.

His claws are nice and sharp, so he makes quite a bit of racket, but his voice is pretty strong as well.

Hey! Hey, the door's closed.

Because that wasn't obvious. ]

[hellpyre]

[Luckily Rin can hear him, even back in her bedroom where she's lying on her side staring at the wall, because really that demon telepathy isn't limited by walls.

Upset as she is, she can't really ignore her familiar, so soon enough the front door opens.

She looks awful - hair messier than usual, bags under her eyes, clothes a rumpled mess. She doesn't even try to smile at Kuro.]

Sorry, buddy...

[silvervine]

[ R-Rin?

He hadn't expected her to answer the door in that sort of state. He comes in, twining around her ankles as he rubs his cheek against her.

What's wrong? ]

[hellpyre]

I... it's nothin'...

[Except that it obviously wasn't, and her voice even hitched just trying to get that much out.

Bending down, she picked Kuro up and moved to the small couch in the living room, sitting down to scratch behind his ears.]

[silvervine]

[ But you're sad.

He settles in on her lap, kneading his front paws against her thigh. ]

[notduchess]

Rin, if you haven't been washing while you've locked yourself in here, I will drag you out by that tail and scrub you down.

[ The knight remembers another talk, where being very down on herself was Rin's thing. Sulking and isolation seems to be the next step. ]

[hellpyre]

[She has a better reason for this sulking, though.

The door doesn't open, but she does call out.]

I'm fine.

[Yeah that's a lie]

[notduchess]

And that's why you haven't been seen doing anything you normally do for two days. Clearly.

[ The sarcasm. It might seep through the floorboards. ]

[hellpyre]

... okay, fine, I'm sick. And I don't want anyone to catch it.

[More lying.

Rin you're really bad at this.]

[yinyangfox]

[ For his part, Seimei had recovered. He was never one for wallowing in grief or self-pity in the first place, but Kaoru had done well to pull the onmyoji out of his funk earlier than anticipated. As such, he'd busied himself with laboring on his house, enduring Kaoru's attempts at making him sleep somewhere other than under trees and attempting at cooking for himself in his finished cooking pit.

Failing miserably, but unwilling to ask for help, he made several more abysmal attempts before finally giving in and wondering if something weren't wrong with the pit. The one person he knew to ask for advice was Rin, so he went in search.

At the distillery, he was informed that Rin had not, in fact, been made available. Finding her behavior odd, Seimei does the only thing he feels he can. He summons up a shikigami servant and sends it into the apartments. Already once he'd gone in without invitation, and the feeling - while exciting at first - had left him in a state of unease for quite some time afterwards.

So instead, a stranger paces brazenly into the house, marches up to Rin's room and knocked. ]

Tap-tap-tap.

Hello? Lady Rin, are you in? I have a message for you...

[ Outside the door stood a dark-haired man with kind eyes and a broad, toothy smile, dressed in clothing not unlike Seimei's, though predominately black. In a sort of self-torture, Seimei's shikigami tended to take after Hiromasa. Sooner or later, he'd have to let go; for now, it hurts less than banishing the memories altogether, and the shikigami find the form familiar and easy to adopt. Besides, no one but he knew it was Hiromasa's likeness. ]

Lady Rin, the honorable Abe no Seimei requests audience with you. He awaits your response. Tap-tap-tap. Shall I tell him that you are unavailable?

[hellpyre]

[Rin would have ignored it, if not for how damned insistent the shikigami was being. And at her bedrooom door, too. That made it that much harder to put a pillow over her ears and try to pretend she was asleep.

Soon enough she slipped out of bed, hair a tangled mess, dark circles under her eyes and her knee length skirt and baggy teeshirt all rumpled and askew on her body. It was probably a good thing she didn't have much in the way of cleavage, given that her shirt was almost completely off one shoulder.

When the door opened, she looked as annoyed as she could, not wanting to betray just how much she was grieving. It didn't even phase her that this appeared to be a total stranger in front of her.]

What does he want... ?

[yinyangfox]

What does he want?

[ The shikigami's brow cocks up. Hiromasa it might look like, but a shikigami was its own force and personality. And being a spirit god, they don't tend to follow common social mores and dictates. Eyes trail lazily down, lips quirking in a grin. ]

Well. I know what I'd want. But I don't know what he wants. To talk, I guess? The exact message was-- Heck I don't know. Something like "Lady Rin are you well-blahblah-I cannot figure out this cooking thing because I'm a hopeless idiot setting myself on fire-blahblah-I will die without someone feeding me like a naked baby bird-blahblahblah-My hat is stupid.

[ The shikigami sniffs and stands there, staring at Rin before bearing his teeth in a broad grin. ]

So, I'll go tell him you said no, throw yourself off a cliff, right?

[hellpyre]

[Rin stares for a good minute after that... wonderfully eloquent explanation. A hand goes to her temple, fingers rubbing there while she grumbles under her breath.]

Lord...

[She can't even grieve in peace, can she?

She waves a hand, shifting her shirt back up on her shoulder. She wasn't even going to bother getting properly dressed for this nonsense.]

No, it's fine, I can deal with it...

[Maybe. She couldn't promise keeping herself together was going to be on the agenda, but she was willing to try.]

Where is he?

[kyotoprincess]

[Of course Bon notices, and he starts to get worried. Once he starts looking, the first place he'll check for her is her apartment. So eventually he comes over and knocks on her door.]

Oi, Okumura! Open up.

[hellpyre]

[There's no answer, but should he dare to try the door, he would find it unlocked.]

[kyotoprincess]

[Yeahhhh he's going in to look and see if she's in there. He'll search the apartment until he finds her.]

[hellpyre]

[The living room/dining room and kitchen are completely devoid of life. The apartment is in much the same slightly messy state it usually is in, though the kitchen is suspiciously clean, as if no one had touched in a couple of days, not even to make a snack. Given that Rin's cleaning only ever goes so far as the kitchen, it's pretty indicative of just how little moving she's done.

There's also something on the kitchen table that's never been there before - a slightly tarnished True Cross pin - the kind only given to certified exorcists.

Her bedroom door is cracked open slightly, but its just as quiet in there as it is out of it.]

[individuates]

[Kaoru approaches Rin's door with a small pile of clothes on his arm - nothing too extravagant, just a few shirts and a skirt. He hasn't seen her around lately to give them to her, so he decided to take a chance and visit her at home. If all else fails, he can just leave them here, right?]

[he raps his knuckles gently on the door]

Rin-chan? It's Kaoru.

[hellpyre]

[For a while, there's no answer, and it's almost as if she might not be there at all. But soon enough the door clicks open, and moves to just a crack, a tired blue eye looking past it.]

Kaoru-kun...

[individuates]

[he smiles brightly as the door opens, lifting his armful of clothing, but it flickers and dies, fading into worry at the sight of her at the sight of her]

Rin chan~ -

...you look awful.

[hellpyre]

[She groaned quietly at the comment, pushing the door the rest of the way open. Her hair was an absolute mess, dark circles under her eyes, cheeks puffy from tears and clothes rumpled and hanging off of her at odd angles.]

Thanks. Nice to see you too...

[superdrowningskills]

[As much as he doesn't look it, Alucard does somewhat keep track of the movements of the others. His sense of smell may by far be his strongest sense, save perhaps his ability to recognize dark powers at work, but if he listens very closely, he can faintly hear the movements of the others on the floor above. The fact that he hadn't heard the sound of Rin leaving her room in two days is somewhat worrisome given the fact that she is far less prone to needing bouts of solitude than he is.

Had this been his world, this would hardly have been his problem. Here, despite appearances, remaining as utterly detached as he had been had proven impossible. The others he considered allies, but he would not feel terribly mournful to lose them in one fashion or another. Rin however... She is one he cannot help but feel somewhat of a bond with; both of them half human, half creatures of darkness. And with this odd behavior he can't help but... care. As much as he would like to remain as numb as he can possibly make himself, he cares.

Thus the reason why he finds himself standing outside of the half demon's door.]

Rin. Are you well?

[hellpyre]

[Unfortunately, Alucard wouldn't get an answer, at least in any verbal sense. His hearing would have clued him in to breathing inside the apartment, in the bedroom, and maybe a sniffle or two, but other than that Rin doesn't seem responsive at all.

The door, however, is unlocked, should he feel the need to try it.]

[superdrowningskills]

[If it weren't for the sniffles, he would have left after a moment, thinking she was asleep. As it is, he hesitates a moment before trying the doorknob. When it proves to be unlocked, he quietly slips inside and makes his way to the origin of the sniffling. He remains standing in the doorframe as a show of respect; he has entered her domain without permission, and he will not venture further into the place she likely feels safest if not asked to.]

...You are not well.

[Although it's a statement, there is something of an unspoken question in it. "Do you need someone here with you?" It does not matter if she wishes to speak or not - why should she be forced to when he has kept his silence since the day he arrived?]

[hellpyre]

[He'll find her as a lump in her bed, huddled under a blanket with only the mess of black hair above it to indicate that the lump belongs to her.

It moves a little, and her tail peeks out from under one side, curling.]

No...