day 80 | open

[nightchan]

Who: Night & Anyone
Open: Open
When: Day 80
Where: The Ranch, namely out in the pastures
What: After coming back with Rin from a failed trip to the Skyway Night has her own way of handling the situation.
Format: Either or, I'll run with both.
Warnings: Mentions of character death, language.

[Unsurprisingly, it was easy for Night to disappear for any short span of time with little consequence. Back in the days of her nightmarish youth it was a survival technique which she continued to put to use, although for awhile rarely, during her time living among humans. It was second nature to her.

So of course after her failed trip out to the Skyway with Rin she disappeared for two days. Her room was empty, bed untouched, coat left behind, and any other signs of activity were almost nothing. She had never experienced grief before, not to this extent. Anger, frustration, deep sadness and self-loathing yes; but nothing like this. She had never lost something- someone so dear to her before that she didn't know where to start in coming to accept this reality. How did she go on from here? How could she live any life now knowing the one person she ever truly loved was gone?

For awhile she felt lost. Like the small cat who used to belong to a small girl, she had no one to run to for unconditional comfort and love. The memories of her time with Monaka would resurface and she'd be brought to tears every time, unable to stopper the lump in her throat and the pain in her chest from growing.

Spread out over the tall pasture grass she'd been out here for hours and staring up at the sky while flies and bees hummed over her. One hand sat on her chest, just where her heart would be, and the other lay close to her head, in it clutching a few plucked wildflowers. At some point she'd need to return back to where everyone else was, but not today.]
 

Comments

[hellpyre]

[That's okay, Night. You're going to be found by one of your fellow demons.

Well. One of the demons you actually seem to like.

Rin leans over from behind Night, looking down at her with a quietly worried expression.]

'ey.

[nightchan]

[She has her eyes closed when Rin leans over. She had already caught her scent so her coming over wasn't much of a surprise to Night.]

Oi.

[hellpyre]

[Yeah Rin wasn't really going for the element of surprise.

She flops down, resting her chin on her folded arms, kicking her feet in the air.]

Gonna come home soon?

[No questions about how she's doing, or condolences over what happened. She spent two days hiding in her room crying, staring at the wall, and losing track of time. She doesn't blame Night for hiding, too.]

[nightchan]

The cows accepted me as one of their own. This is my home now.

[She doesn't know when she'll go back. The future is fuzzy.]

You look better. [She says even with her eyes closed still.]

[hellpyre]

Well, Cow Queen, we miss you. And the cows will still be here in the mornin'.

[Rin's tail twitched a little]

Support helps, y'know. Just sayin'.

[there was a moment of quiet after that, before she admitted something else:]

Bon recited sutras for me... it was nice...

[nightchan]

It's nice out here too. [Warm, comfortable - familiar. She inhales deeply, slowly.]

I'm waiting for the pain to stop. [It sounds awkward as she says it, still unsure of exactly what this pain was and if it'd ever stop. She wasn't human, how was she supposed to deal with this?

She opens her eyes, the whites glistening with threatening tears. So she stares up at the sun like that will help.] He must be worried about you.

[hellpyre]

Mnn... it is. And he was.

[Rin pushed herself up again, looking down at Night as her eyes open. The tears didn't surprise her, but she really couldn't hug her as they were sitting right then, so she opted instead to move closer and touch her forehad to the other demon's, closing her own eyes against tears that threatened to return.]

It doesn't really go away... I wish it did. It sucks. Emotions are crappy. But you've got others here who are goin' through the same thing, and that helps make it hurt a lot less. So... let us help you face it together, okay? Please... ?

[nightchan]

[She makes the mistake of blinking, sending a tear rolling down the side of her face. When Rin presses their foreheads together she closes her eyes again.]

I wasn't born human. I don't know what to do. [Even if she wished she had been born human, it was still the truth.] She was the reason I'm even here like this. She was the reason I became an exorcist.

[hellpyre]

You don't gotta be born human to feel like one. Way I see it... ? The way you're feelin' right now over losin' some one close to you makes you more human than you realize...

But humans also gotta turn to each other for support and if you keep hidin' like this you're never gonna know what to do next.

You became an exorcist for her, and I became one for my family. We lost 'em, but we don't gotta lose why we started down this path.

[she smiled, just a tiny one]

Keep movin' forward. That's my motto.

[nightchan]

[It brings a smile to her face before she realizes it when Rin says that. She was right. Even if it did feel easier to lie here and let herself be consumed by grief she knew she could never settle for that. It would have been an insult to everything Monaka did for her.

Slowly she sits up, running a hand through her hair and dislodging a few strands of grass before giving up. She stares out over the pasture, a few cows grazing in the distance.] Did someone teach you that or did you learn from experience?

[superdrowningskills]

[As much as he makes it seem as if he's completely detached from the rest of their little community, Alucard does make something of an effort to keep tabs on the movements of the other residents of the Bastion. Moreso now than he had before Marie's disappearance. Perhaps he feels no personal attachment to any individual beyond a measure of respect, but he does feel the need to somewhat play the role of a guardian; there is no purpose to his existence if he does not.

That's how he finds himself in the pasture. It may not be entirely unusual for a demon to wander off by itself for a time, but it's better to be sure there had not been another disappearance than to find out this was so in a moment that might be terribly inconvenient.

The dhampire doesn't immediately approach Night when he finds her, debating on if it's even necessary at all. He has confirmed she remains withing the Bastion, and she would have found out about their new addition sooner or later, so perhaps there is no need to disturb her...]

[nightchan]

I know you're there. [She was downwind of him, having caught his scent when he got closer.] You don't strike me as a nature-lovin' kind of guy, you know.

[superdrowningskills]

[...Or she could begin the conversation instead. Just as well, he supposes.]

At times it is preferable to man-made structures, although I admit I am more accustomed to forests than grasslands.

[Forests provide far more cover than open fields do, after all. So much easier to transform and simply vanish for a few decades there.]

[nightchan]

So what brings you out here then? Not much forest around here. [She preferred open space like this to shady trees. It was warmer out here and she found it much easier to fall asleep like this out in the sun.]

[superdrowningskills]

[Sunlight may be good for naps for normal people, but the only reason Alucard has thus far managed not to get the worst sunburn known to man is by the sheer grace of healing much faster than humans and avoiding standing in direct sunlight for long periods. Overcast days are a bit of a blessing.

He watches the clouds change shape for a moment, thinking of an answer. He doesn't care to tell the truth, lest she question his motives; best give a half-truth.]

...Some days I do not wish to recall past events.

[nightchan]

[She tilts her head towards him, watching him through the blades of grass.] I think everyone here feels like that to an extent. You're in good company.

[unflattering]

[Maka's no expert at coping or comforting others by any means, the way his world operates it's all in your soul and how hard you to hit things and...well, Night didn't have a soul and he could never bring himself to hit her. But two days of not seeing her was enough, and if they were going to talk to each other again, he'd have to initiate it.

So when he sits down next to her in that pasture, he's silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. But then--]

Hey.

[nightchan]

[She smells him coming, the breeze doing him no favors if he wanted to be sneaky about it. She keeps her silence, eyes closed, when he sits down and for a long moment there is nothing said between them. She isn't sure if he does plan on saying anything nor is she sure if she wants him to leave or not.

But he does speak up in the end. Still she keeps her eyes closed.] Hey.

[unflattering]

[Well okay


what now.

He scuffs his feet and shifts his weight back to his hands, looking from Night to the sky above them.]

So...

[Come on, Albarn, say something.]

Are you mad because I washed your fur off of my sheets?

[Oh god that was stupid, just kill him.]

[nightchan]

[The question is so out of the blue that she snaps her eyes open to give Maka an extremely startled look.

Before that the corners of her lips start to pull as she tries to stifle a giggle onslaught. Quickly she tries to cover her mouth with her free hand. She can't reply just yet, too busy trying not to bust out laughing.]

[unflattering]

W-well!

[Seriously, please kill him.]

I never know with cats, or people that can turn into cats. S-so...[he tucks his knees up to his chest and presses a hand to his face in some vain attempt to hide the redness blooming up.

Unfortunately it's spreading to his ears, so any idiot could see it anyway.]

...I hadn't seen you in a while and I was worried. [Talking about how you feel is hard.]

[nightchan]

[Her laughter dies down enough for her to sit up, pulling her hand from her face to give him a warm smile.]

I'm sorry I worried you. I didn't realize you missed my company that much!

[unflattering]

I value all my friends, and if something's wrong I'm going to investigate it...and...

[UGH FEELINGS.]

Since Miss Marie disappeared I've been...worried and...

[Basically he was worried she had vanished.]

I-it's not like I can sense where you are.

[nightchan]

[Her sensitive hearing picks up on that mumble and her smile falls.]

I'm sorry, Maka. I came back from the Skyway two days ago learning that someone very close to me didn't survive. [Her own voice is quiet, subdued. It still hurts, but she pushes past it.] I needed time to myself.

[unflattering]

Hmm...

[Then it must have been the girl that she had mentioned before.

It certainly seems like a lot of people are turning out to have not survived the Calamity. What if...

No, he shouldn't be thinking about something like that right now.]

I get you. You don't have to apologize to me, I'm just a fussy worrywart, that's what Soul would always say.