1231/Falling Apart to Half Time

Falling Apart to Half Time
Date of Scene:	20 March 2016
Location:	Uminari City - Juuban Avenue - North
Synopsis:	A vampire and a witch walk into a dance studio...
Cast of Characters:	Norie Okana, Sachiko Hayakawa

---

Norie Okana has posed:
This is a good use of your power. said the voice in Norie's head- with a very sarcastic air. She'd appeared, in an instant- quick short jump through the dusk zone, on a roof next to the 'Ereganto Dance Studio'. This angle let her get a good view of the room- while keeping her hidden. Shut up. said Norie back into her head.

Lacrima... Norie. Lacrima, You know we're going to need to feed after that, right? Unless you want to go home and ris---

Shut up. I know. Whatever.

The voice in Norie's head stopped talking as she sort of leaned forward against the edge of the building, wanting to see who was in there today. If she couldn't be there...

She could pretend very hard. Couldn't she?

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
Inside, class is mostly already complete--ten little girls stand in a line, all in their lotards and tights, practicing plies at the bar. Most of the little girls are wearing beautiful outfits, well-fitted to their particular size, with nary a hole or a scratch on them. Their ballet flats (none are in toe shoes, yet) are all shiny and new, and their tights are glistening white.

One little girl, though, looks completely out of place. Her tights are a riot of tie-dyed colours, and her leotard has holes on one hip and is missing a shoulder strap. Her shoes are a dirty shade of brownish-tan that may once have been pink or white, but now just look disgusting. The whole outfit says 'hand me down'; way down.

Sachiko has her hair pulled back into a pair of pigtails, and she stares at herself in the mirror as she performs the plie once again. She's still learning, but unlike some of the girls here, she's already taking this exercise far more seriously. In only a few weeks of practice, her plies are more precise, more exacting than the other girls. It's only a matter of time before she's allowed to try something harder.

"Sachiko," says the instructor, "very good, but lower yourself further. You must go deeper. Find your inner strength. Your balance."

And so Sachiko's plie goes just a little deeper on the next time through. No argument, no anger, no disagreement; Sachiko does exactly as she is told.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana just sort of stares- well. Not staring, she's watching intently in a manner that could be interpurted as staring. Unblinking and eager. It seems it's a younger class today. She pulls her watch up into her field of view. She guesses the class she was a part of was moved. A possibility- not like she'd know.

Still...

She watched and imagined and alone in her thoughts and she closed her eyes as she could hear the muted voices inside.

She imagined being there in her mind. Having fun... at least one of those girls in her group she could had called 'friend'--

Of course.

She screwed up. The hunger go the better of her.

She sometimes wonder how she wasn't found out yet. She figured it was only a matter of time that someone would remember enough before the attack to pinpoint her.. or someone was going to realize she was around all these events.

Maybe.. when the class is over...

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
The girls are given a few more minutes to practice, before the teacher instructs, "That is all. Thank you. I will see you all on Wednesday." The instructor is the same one Norie remembers at least. She was a strict teacher, but not cruel.

The other girls squeal excitedly and rush off to collect their bags, chittering and chattering. But not Sachiko. Sachiko stays at the bar, frowning severely as she continues to plie in slow, even measures. The teacher doesn't notice her at first, but after about the third plie, she turns and glances at Sachiko, watching the young girl practice.

With a frown, the teacher approaches and asks, "What are you doing, Sachiko?" she asks.

Sachiko straightens from her Plie, then turns to look over her shoulder. For a brief moment, the girl's eyes lock with Norie's--and she stares at her. But it doesn't last long. Sachiko's eyes turn back to meet her teacher's, and she observes, "Attempting to make my plie deeper. It is not good enough."

The teacher frowns, just faintly, then sighs. "Sachiko-chan, I said that class is dismissed. While I appreciate your dedication, I also expect obedience. Go and change. Your case worker should be here any minute to pick you up."

Sachiko stares at her teacher, unmoved for several moments.

"Did you hear m--" the dance instructor starts to ask, but Sachiko cuts her off with a look.

"I heard you," she says quietly. "Very well," she mumbles, then trudges her way towards the back of the room.

Sachiko drops down to the ground and starts untying her shoes. It doesn't take her long to have them off of her feet. Then she pulls on a pair of ankle-high leather shoes without bothering to put socks on. Finally, Sachiko grabs her bag and starts her way towards the door.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana is sort of dreaming off into her head. Something she does a lot nowadays. She has a lot of time to kill at night- afterall. She doesn't sleep. Usually she talks to that stupid 'voice' in her head all night- all it does it try to stop her from wasting energy keeping her 'disguise' up.

Norie didn't find keeping herself --- herself-- as a disguise-- even if the voice insisted it was that.

But she gets broken out of her reverie when she noticeds Sachiko staring out the window /at/ her.

She blinks and ducks down out of sight a moment--- was she seen?

By the time she peeks back up, the class seems over and empty---

She with a short skip through the dusk zone-- short-- quick- she appears in the room. She's positive it's empty.

She may actually just be caught by Sachiko at the last moment as she moves over to the bars a moment, placing a hand against them. Ugh, why was she risking being caught.

She could just... drain anyone that came in-- right? Not like anything caught her coming into the studio this way. Maybe--maybe she could break in here at nights. Yeah...

...but that's silly isn't it?

Dancing by yourself?

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
Of course, with Sachiko off the bar, the instructor feels free to leave the room and go back to her office. Sachiko, meanwhile, has curled up with her tiny little bag, huddling it close to her chest, rather than rushing out to greet her case worker.

So when Norie simply appears, the girl is staring straight at her. She blinks in confusion, and in surprise. And then she realises it's no different from any of her other delusions. Stepping out from behind the rack of props, she makes her way towards the edge of the dance floor, then pushes off onto her Heelys. There's plenty of warning for Norie as Sachiko skates her way across the room to join her at the bar.

"Hi," Sachiko says quietly. "Are you a magical girl? I am. And I saw you just appear out of nowhere, so you must be one, too, right? Did you see any of the Clockwork Lord's minions outside?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Attack!.

That's the voice that screams in Norie's head. It causes her to twitch noticeably as she turns to suddenly face Sachiko for a moment--- she's going to- then she stops herself.

Because this is a young girl. Norie has 'drained' a lot of people- but they've all been about her age- or much older. Could someone so young even 'survive' being drained by her? She didn't know.

--and she wasn't going to find out. Not today at least.

Besides...

This girl has a very wierd reaction to her right? She isn't scared. Or nervous. Or running for her life. She's..

Asking her questions.

A 'magical girl'?

Good going. I hope you're not going to let her leave this room. Shut up.. Norie's internal conversations with her voice was weird. At least no one else could hear them.

Norie regards Sachiko. Oh. She thinks.. she's a---

Magical girl?

Ha! Pink and frills don't suit you, anyways..

Norie just sort of twitched again.

"Maybe." she finally replies. Neither yes. or no.

"What's a Clockwork Lord?" she asks. "It was just me outside. I think.". Her tone is sort of low, quiet in it's own way-- but loud enough to hear.

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
Sachiko's stare seems all too empty. She doesn't seem to make much of the long silence from Norie; she just patiently waits, as if she's used to exactly this sort of thing--or as if she's somewhat checked out of reality.

When Norie finally does manage to come back to the questions at hand, Sachiko's face animates again, and she looks somewhat worried. "I think he got to you," she notes concernedly "He's trying to make everyone's time run out, and you just lost like a whole thirty seconds!"

Sachiko frowns, then glances over her shoulder at the window unhappily. "One of the Tick-tock Minions is supposed to come and pick me up and take me back to the Tower of Time ..." she trails off, then sighs and looks back to Norie. "I'm Sachiko," she introduces herself. "Sachiko Hayakawa. You can call me Sachiko if you want. Or you can call me Princess Petal."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana stares again. What? What? No..

She sort of shakes out of whatever just happened. "No. Sorry. I'm just thinking." she says flatly. She runs her hands along the bar.

"I used to come here until a few months ago." she says softly. "I see sensei is as strict as ever." she says flatly still.

"Time doesn't mean much to me anymore." she says.

She turns more fully back to the girl. She gives a name. She twitches a bit. She can't use her real name- afterall if Sachiko told sensei later-- then she'd know somethign was wrong and she'd have to answer questions later- and the voice in her head is already eating up all the internal schadenfreude anyways as she thinks this over.

"...Lacrima. You can call me.. Lacrima." she says as she grates her teeth a little. She hates this.

She raises a brow. "Princess Petal?" she asks quizzically. Something seems off about this as she looks around.

"Why are you sharing that so openly?" she asks.

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
"Lacrima?" Sachiko asks, tilting her head. "That's a funny name. Lacrima. Lacrima. It doesn't sound Japanese," she notes, sneering just a little as she peers at the taller girl. She frowns, then peers closer at Norie.

Then she shrugs and leans away again, then pushes away from the bar to turn a pirouette on her Heelys. "I don't see any reason to hide it from you," Sachiko notes with a shrug as she turns 'round a second time. "You're clearly a magical girl, too, even if you've forgotten. And the Clockwork Minions already know about me. They took my Sister and my Momma, so it's not like I have anything left to lose by you knowing the truth."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana says. "It's spanish. It means. 'tears'." she says flatly.

Is she a magical girl? The voice doesn't even have to laugh at her and say 'No'. She knows it's 'No'-- well. Technically at least. She's a vampire. She drains people. She attacks people-- and if Sachiko was a little older-- she'd probably be on the floor and drained-- waking up alone in a bit.

Instead, Noire is here having to uncomfortable talk to a young girl who is claiming to be a magical girl while she feels weird about it. Great.

When Sachiko relates that they taken family part of her is conflicted. 'Old' Norie would probably be worried and offering hugs and genuinely caring. Part of her still does. Though right now-- she feels very little. What's worse is that she knows she would feel worse about it.

What's happened to her? That she can't even evoke .. something about this. It makes her feel sad. Maybe.. maybe she can pretend.

"I'm sorry." is all she can say flatly- whelp that's the best she can do, it seems. "Have you met any of these 'Minions' yet otherwise?" she asks. Yeah she's suddenly taking this delusion seriously it seems. At least in part.

Even if something still feels off.

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
"Mmm, the Clockwork Caseworker should be here any minute," Sachiko says. She glances down at her leotard, then wrinkles her nose. "They don't let me bring my transformation watch into this place," she explains, "so I won't be able to fight her. But it's not like I ever win," she glumly explains.

Looking back up at Norie, she considers the girl for a moment, then asks, "So you used to be a dancer? Why'd you stop?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana looks to the door and pays more attention to it suddenly. If someone is coming in, she'll get ready to leave the moment that door's handle jiggles. She looks back to Sachiko. "I see. A caseworker." she says.

She partly is thankful for the prior warning. Sachiko asks why she stopped dancing.

"Because I'm dangerous to those around me." she says flatly. "--and I hurt someone I didn't mean to." she says.

"I'm not a hero Sachiko-san." she says as she turns back towards the bar.

"I'm probably more similar to your 'Minions' really." she says, not really excited about this comparison.

"As it stands I'll need to hurt two people before I head home tonight."

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
Sachiko blinks at Norie, but doesn't say anything for several moments. She just stands there behind the vampire girl, looking at her face through the mirror.

Eventually, Sachiko tilts her head to one side, then notes, "Well if you have to hurt someone, it might as well be someone who can recover from it, right? Someone who you can't hurt too bad because they're a magical girl. So you can hurt me if that's what you need to do. Just don't kill me, and I'll be fine tomorrow. Magical girls always recover fast."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana visibly twitches. 'The hunger' isn't nagging at her yet. But it'll only be a matter of time before it happens tonight. This isn't a situation she's encountered before-- someone 'offering' essitentially a free meal.

There's a war going on in her head right now.

On one hand, this is one less person she needs to unwillingly attack tonight... right?-- and someone will be along soon to check on her- so it's not like she's leaving her alone in some dance studio overnight alone and in danger, right?

Another part is disgusted at her she's even considering it. What if she goes too far? She should go now. She's tempted..

Then that's that dark voice- egging her on.

Then there's the normal part of her calling her a fink, calling her disgusting. Calling her a bad person. 'Norie' would never do this.

"Hahaha... I don't know what to do." she says in a nervous twitchy way. It's a much different tone than the flatly rational tone she was using before. "I could drain you! You're offering! But---hahaha..."

Her eyes seem to shift color from that blue to a purple. "Haha- who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth~" she says.

She reaches her hand down to touch Sachiko's elbow. Then another hand comes down to join the other on Sachiko's opposite.

"Just relax~ This stings a bit." she says.

Then there's an awkward pause. What is she allowing herself to do..!? Nrg--- but she's so close...

...and she said it's okay.

Something still feels really off about this.

She doesn't want to do this.
R
But she can make one less person's life miserable right? If someone gives it freely.

The dark voice inside is practically begging her to finish this. So she does.

"Drenaje.". There's a soft purple glow--- then the stinging feeling of a low level energy drain. She's controlling it. She isn't ravenous with hunger so at least.. at least she's able to control it. Right.

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
Sachiko stands very still while Norie wars with her own inner demons. Literally. The little girl doesn't seem to understand the true depths of danger she could be in, right now, but when Norie's eyes shift color, she blinks once in surprise. then she reaches up to hold out a hand for the vampire, because obviously that's what she needs.

Except Norie goes for the elbows instead. That takes Sachiko at least a little by surprise, evidenced by the first show of emotion on the girl's face all night that isn't resignation. She glances down to her elbows, then back up at Norie, and her brows pinch just a tiny bit.

"It stings?" Sachiko asks, her voice wavering just a little. But it's too late. She's already said this is a good idea.

And it seems like it's going to make Norie's life so much easier.

This is what magical girls do, right? They help people! The save the villains! And if Norie thinks she's one of the villains, then the only right thing for Princess Petal to do is--

        -- gasp in pain. Make soft noises of unhappiness. Squirm and try to get away. Squeal a little as tears start to stream down her face.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana doesn't stop, she can feel that energy recharge her-- she can feel it sating things inside her head. It isn't quite a 'high'-- more feeling like the satisfaction one gets when they get to a buffet after starving themselves. She gets lost, for a moment in the feeling and then there's a gasp of pain and she breaks out of the reverie really quickly.

She increases that hold on her shoulders harder-- she's trying to get away. Lacrima doesn't want that. Norie wants the girl to fight harder. Right now she's feeding. Right now Norie is the furthest thing of what she is right now.

She doesn't stop- she doesn't stop until---

Something just screams inside her and she stops-- for a few reasons-- mainly. One of those voices in her head finally screamed at her loud enough to make her look at what she was doing.

Secondly, she was getting close to where Sachiko might aswell be passing out anyways. Anything past that is dangerous.

She looks down-- her eyes shift back to that blue and she just looks horrified quietly.

W--why did she allow herself to do that.

"Sachiko.... Sachiko... are you okay? Can you hear me?" she asks with a more worried tone to her voice.

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
As soon as Norie lets her go, Sachiko stumbles back a step, and then falls on her bottom to the wooden floor. She stares up at Norie as she slides another few centimeters, then wobbles.

Exhausted. Overwhelmed. Underprepared. Sachiko wobbles again, but then stays upright. She blinks, then gasps, then starts scrabbling to get away from Norie. "No no no no no," she mumbles to herself.

"The Clockwork Minion's coming. It's coming. It's coming and you're not prepared. What'll you do? You don't have your transformation watch. You don't have your powers! And now you just let some kind of monster drain you! Can't help Anshi like this. Can't help mama. Oh no. Oh no."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana just stares down at Sachiko. 'Let a monster drain you..'

A monster~

Norie visibly twitches again. "--but.. you said..."

She should had just left. She should had just /run/ and--and--

No! No! No!...

"You said it was okay!? I'm not a monster! I'm not a----"

Here she is. Arguing with a little girl who isn't in her right mind apparently...

She just leaves the same way she came in-- not even rationally hard.. fast-- untarged enough that she reappears in the alley and knocks over a trash can. She just begins-- running.

She doesn't even know if it's the right way. She has to get away from this before she does more foolish things.

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
Sachiko whirls around and stares at Norie just as she vanishes into the dusk zone. "MONSTERS ARE FRIENDS TOO!" she yells out after her, even as sh e puts her back to a wall.

Of course, the yelling draws footsteps from the dance instructror, who pokes her head back in. "Sachiko?" she asks. "Why are you still here! Where is your caseworker!?"

Sachiko grins a little, foolish grin. "Put off the Ticktock Minions," she mumbles. "I will make my own time. Let it FLY!" she says as she starst to nod off.

"Good heavens," says the ballet instructor, as she rushes to find a phone to call Sachiko's case worker.