1394/House of Worship Woes

House of Worship Woes
Date of Scene:	19 April 2016
Location:	Pikarigaoka - Old Church
Synopsis:	Norie invites Ayana to her regular meeting space in the old church in Pikarighoka to talk about some things she's decided.
Cast of Characters:	Norie Okana, Ayana

---

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana sends a text to Ayana. Norie has not been particularly good about keeping contact. But this seems to be how she normally is. The Text is simple.

TXT From NorieOkana: 'I would like to talk, if you have the time. The chuch, like last time. Thank you.'

And thusly, Norie Okana is here. Her disguise is down--- her hair is long and straight, purple-- along with her eyes-- and slightly pointed teeth and pale complexion. But she's also not in the Lacrima garb, nope, she's in a Seiyou School Uniform.

She is sitting in one of the pews quietly to herself, she doesn't look confrontational like last time- she is standing around and waiting.

She seems less dour somehow, however and more neutral. She blinks staring forward.

She doesn't appear to be ready for a fight and there's no sign of traps.

Norie has mostly been frank with her discussions- Ayana hasn't given her a reason to attack or hate her, afterall. One of two people who've actually tried to help and follow through, afterall.

Not liar like Sky Jack.

Ayana has posed:
There's always a sense of trepidation on the fox's face when she enters this supposedly sacred place. Christianity has very stern view of 'idols' like Inari, and this one very distinclty venerates the god whose name she has taken for herself in magical guise.

Ayana steps through the big front doors to the church dressed in a thigh-length black cotton dress and matching thigh-high sweater-socks beneath her sneakers. Ears and tails are--for once--hidden behind a thin veil of illusion, but the girl is easily recognizeable for her sapphire eyes, orange hair, and those sharp-fanged teeth.

Quietly, Ayana creeps into the Nave. If Norie's not paying too close attention, she might not hear the kitsune stealing in; it's not that she's trying to be sneaky, it's just that silence is a natural talent for foxes, and today there's no Ikiko with her to give away the sound.

"Hi," Ayana says as she leans over the pew behind Norie, arms trailing down into the seat next to her.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana seems to be in some sort of intense mental thought because she doesn't notice Ayana creep up on her-- and she only blinks when Ayana says 'Hi'. She doesn't quite jump, but her eyes do widen a bit.

"Hello." she says. She sounds a little more 'straight' than when she normally sounds. No stuttering.

She looks back forward. "Thank you for coming." she says softly.

"I've had some things happen to me." she says softly.

"I've come to a few conclusions." she says.

"I've been a fool. Norie is just a disguise. If I wasn't an idiot. I'd had realized that sooner. I've been dropping it when I'm able. Like now. And you know what?..."

"I only needed to drain two people last week. That's down from nearly two or three every other day." she says.

"I hate it. I hate being this." she says with a deep breath.

She looks around confusedly.

"Where's the werewolf?" she asks. Not quite concern on her face, but a bit of wonderment. She'd been around the last two times, afterall.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana shrugs just faintly. "We do things separate sometimes," the fox gives as explanation; almost defensively. Almost.

"Why do you hate it?" the Kitsune asks, shifting the conversation back to something more useful. "I mean, I'm not saying you shouldn't hate it; having to drain people sucks. Being dependent on food that others find weird sucks. But still, it's good that you've reduced the requirements. I assume this is what you really look like, now," Ayana murmurs thoughtfully. She frowns, then points upwards, and a pair of orange fox-ears pop out of her hair. "Keeping these hidden is a chore," she notes. "Kinda like you and your purple hair I guess. Although probably worse for you," she admits.

"Anyways ..." thoughtful the fox for a moment, then she asks, "Maybe I can get Ikiko to figure out what made you like this and how to fix it. She fixed me when I was overwhelmed by something I didn't like. She's really smart, and cares a lot about these things."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana merely listens and purses her lips. "I see." is all she says.

"I want to be normal." she says. "But I know I can't be. I can't ever be 'Norie' again." she says. She looks down. "Yes. My hair used to be shorter and black, and my eyes were blue, and I was not as pale. Now. I look like a corpse." she mutters.

She frowns. "People don't find it weird. They find it horrible and terrible and want me to stop." she says.

She looks back down. "Someone hit me with some sort of attack." she says. "It felt.. good. At first." she says. "Like... it made me feel warm, and-- I could /feel/ again..!" she says, her voice raising to a pitch, only a moment, but it seems to be overtaken fairly shortly by the same neutral tone she's been using. "Then.. like. Some realization hit me... that I'd never feel that again... and then I began to feel like I was burning alive. Like pieces of me were being stripped away." she says. "I had to go to that place I go to when I skip around." she says. "Riventon-san called it 'The Dusk Zone'." she says.

"I had to heal myself there. I hated it. I had to sit there for two days and watching weird things stare at me."

"I had lots of time to think thou." she says.

"I realized I've been lied to a lot. Except for two people." she says as she sighs a bit. "Riventon-san. And you, Ayana." she says.

"Everyone else... just lying to me. To try to get me to 'stop' doing the thing I need to do to survive." she says disdainfully.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana's eyes narrow carefully, and for several moments she doesn't say anything. But her lips do purse, and she seems impressively thoughtful. "I told you once that I served a dark master," Ayana points out gently. Reaching up, the kitsune toys with the orb dangling from her collar carefully. "He made me do things I did not wish to. He treated me well; gave me a home, food, things I enjoyed. But he also abused my wishes."

She takes a breath, then says, "And also, he lied to me for a very long time. He convinced me that what I was doing was going to make a better world; a safer world. I loved him," Ayana points out gently. "I still love him. Like a brother. But the only thing I can trust him to be is selfish. He did not care for me; he only cared what I could do for him. The same will be true for you," she points out gently. "He won't lie to you if he does not need to. In fact, he will tell you the truth as long as it is convenient to do so. But if telling you the truth ever conflicts with his plans, he will not hesitate to lie to you."

Ayana straightens up, then steps over the pew, down, and then sits beside Norie on the bench.

"Riventon is not a nice man," she points out gently. "But he will pretend to be if he can use you. He will probably say things like how useful you are. Tell you that you see the true way of things. That no one understands you but him. These are manipulations."

"I am not telling you this to say stop associating with him," Ayana points out gently. "You will make your own choices. I just want you to be aware of the kind of person he is. He will try to use you to get to me, if he learns that you are my friend. Or to get vengeance on my girlfriend, whom he blames for stealing me." Not that she didn't.

"But ... none of this is what you have come to talk to me about," Ayana surmises quietly. "I promised to help you learn to drain people carefully, and I mean to keep trying. I will not abandon that position unless you begin hurting people intentionally."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana listens to Ayana. She purses her own lips and keeps quiet as she listens. She blinks once or twice, but she's otherwise politely quiet for a while. She talks when Ayana is done.

"I didn't mention you to him." she says. "He told me things, private to him. Things I don't think he'd had trusted me with those things unless he trusted me to some degree." she says softly.

"But I will keep your words in thought." she says softly.

"I don't doubt he isn't nice... but I'm not either. Hurting people.. isn't 'nice'. Even if you don't want to do it." she murmurs.

"I know he isn't 'nice'." she says.

She looks back forward. "I know you won't 'take back' what you've promised me." she says softly. "I can trust you." she says. "You've promised to help me, and you've honestly tried. If it doesn't help me, it's my own fault at that point." she says.

She places her hands into her lap.

"...on the matter of your friend helping me." she says.

"I can tell you what I /do/ know about my power. I have dreams. I know the origin, and why I have it." she says.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana's nose twitches a little at the response from Norie. Judging by the way her ears are flat against her head, she's not happy about this conversation. But there's nothing she can do about it, so she says nothing.

When the conversation wraps back to helping Norie, however, her ears slowly loosen up into a more natural position atop her head, swiveled forward towards Norie. "I don't have a very good memory," Ayana notes quietly. "It got messed with by magic, so sometimes I forget things. I'd like to hear the story, but it would be better if you tell it to Ikiko-chan. She's the one who will try to find out how to fix the curse, anyways. She's really good at it."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana nods. "Then when she's able to visit, text me." she says softy. "I'll relate what I know." she says softly.

"But to be honest."

"I do not think this can be reversed. You're welcome to try. I would love nothing more than to--- be human again." she says, deadpan. "But the more I think about it, the more I realize I have more in common with those things in the dusk zone than I have with you... or anyone else." she says with a sigh.

"Like I found out the fact I can't feel some emotions anymore is completely normal for someone in my predicament." she says.

She looks back up over at Ayana. "When you were like this. Was it like that for you? Could you... 'feel everything'?" she asks.

Ayana has posed:
One of Ayana's ears folds down as she tilts her head aside. "Well," she murmurs thoughtfully, "I don't remember a lot of it. I was wild," she explains quietly. "Overwhelmed with darkness. I remember, vaguely, trying to take some boy as a pet by felling him with dark energy. And I remember that Yuzu-fruits are very, very dangerous to the dark energy."

She frowns a little, then admits, "I mostly remember feeling like I was overwhelmed with selfishness. I took what I wanted, and didn't ask permission. I nearly killed Ikiko-chan," she explains. "Just because it felt good. Control ... it's really important to keep control, or you wind up doing things you'll regret."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana frowns. "That's what it's like when I get 'ravenous'. I don't remember any of it, except that I hurt people when I'm like that, until I feel 'not hungry' anymore." she says. "and I don't care about who I drain or when. It's why I was so worried about energy draining a lot." she says. "I dunno how I'd explain that if.. if one happened in the middle of class... or a bus." she says with a sigh. She's stammering finally. Though she seems to tense up fairly fast. "I haven't become like that since I've dropped being myself all the time. It's easier for me to drain some student and they get accused of sleeping through a class- than it is hunting at night in an alleyway." she says.

"I'm sure I'll be caught with that too and someone will tell me that's wrong next." she says almost smugly.

"I can't win. I've learned that now. Not with some of these others. They think it's so easy to just... 'target thugs'." she mutters.

"Or like that witch said... I should 'target adulters, politicians'." she laughs.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana tilts her head a little further, studying Norie. She doesn't interrupt the girl's htoughts; doesn't relaly seem to know what to say, herself.

"All I can offer," Ayana murmurs, "is contining to teach you how to drain subtly and take little nibbles instead of draining someone fully. I'm sorry, Lacrima-san. Other than this, and asking Ikiko-chan to help you, I don't know what else I can do except to be sympathetic."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana nods. "I know." she says. "Sometimes. I just need to talk to someone." she says silently. "I thought I had some friends. But they turned out to be liars." she says softly. "I come here a lot." she says.

"I don't know why. I'm not even Christian!" she says with a soft small chuckle. "There's something.. about the decor. The stained glass... and the gold trim." she says. "That's familiar." she says.

"At least to the power inside me." she says.

"It helps keep me at ease. I don't think it has any connection to the religion. Just... this kind of building style isn't common in Japan I guess." she says.

"It doesn't.. make you uneasy. Does it?" she asks. "Maybe..."

"We can meet someplace you'd like to next time? If you'd like?" she asks, a little silently.

"It can even be somewhere to eat! I can eat normal food! It just doesn't fix my energy issue. And eating helps me feel normal honestly." she says.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana's ears perk back up at the mention of food. Her greatest weakness! Oh no, the vampire knows it! The kitsune smirks a little, then explains, "When Ikiko and her friends freed me from Riventon's domination, I went back to being just a fox."

The kitsune wrinkles her nose, then explains, "Except I was orange instead of black like I used to be. It was weird. Anyways, they wanted me to be a girl again, so ... well, they went and found a way to talk to Inari, and begged to make me into a Kitsune. The rule is fifty years," she explains, "bug I'm only three. Ah ... maybe four now? I'm not sure. Anyways, Inari agreed to allow me to be a kitsune early, but only as long as I serve him. So ... this Christian place makes me a little uncomfortable, because their God does not like my god. But it's okay," she says quietly. "We can come here if it makes you feel comfortable. I get to be comfortable every night. You have to struggle to find comfortable places. So ... we can come here. I don't mind."

Beat.

"But I do like food."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana gets a bemused, content expression for a moment. Probably the closest she's going to get to a smile for a while. "Thank you." she says softly. "I do need to fight for small bits of comfort." she admits silently. "Things like this place. Or candy bars." she says.

"Candy bars are one of my 'nice places' too." she says.

"I'm pressed to call anything a 'happy' place nowadays, because I have not quite 'felt' happy for a while. It is not I do not want to feel happy. It's that I cannot feel happy." she frowns.

"I've tried. The closest I get are feelings of mild contendness, and antcipation." she says.

"I find things are easier to deal with if I can antcipate something something after." she says.

"Like waiting to get out of school so I could text you about meeting tonight. That was fun. I don't have much to look forward to." she admits.

She head tilts and smirks a bit, a crooked weird half smile. It looks odd. "I'll try to bring something next time then." she says. "It's the least I can do, for the help." she says softly.

"And it's hard for me to express gratitude in a way people will find meaningful for me. Since the most I can do is say 'thank you' in a very deadpan manner." she sighs and closes her eyes.

"Thank you. By the way." she says softly.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana tilts her head a little at the vampire, then bites her lip thoughtfully. For a moment she doesn't say anything. Then, she leans forward like she's bowing. "You should pet my ears," she says quietly. Her tails are wagging just loosely behind her, barely disturbing the skirt of her dress. "Some people say it makes them feel better. And it's the best way to express gratitude to me."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana frowns. "A warning, my hand will be cold." she says softly. But still, she moves her hand out, and pets the ears, a soft, pet downward, not hard- and indeed, her hands are cold. Not ice cold, but she isn't exactly a warm body either.

"I don't really have body heat." she says softly. "Very cold." she says.

"Feels nice though?" she says softly. "Fuzzy." she insists.

Ayana has posed:
"It's okay," Ayana mumbles, voice rumbling a little in the back of her throat. Those tails are wagging a little less lazily now. "I like having my ears scritched a lot," she explains. "Sometimes I scritch them on poles I see because it feels so good. Better when it's a hand than a pole, though," she mumbles happily.

After a moment, she leans into Norie's hand, tilting so that she can look at the vampire without forcing the hand away. "Does it feel nice?" she asks hopefully.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana gently keeps petting. No smile. That bemused look is still there though. "Yes, it feels nice." she admits softly. "Fuzzy. Soft." she says softly as she moves her hand away. "I should go now, Ayana-chan." she says with a soft sigh. "My parents are more at ease when I am home in my room. I've been home more often, which is good. They're noticing the slight improvement in my behavior, but it's not enough to stop them from texting check-ins." she mutters.

She stands up, gives a final pet. "Be well, okay?" she asks softly.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana looks up at Norie when she starts to go, then tilts her head aside. "Be safe, Norie-chan," Ayana replies quietly. "I hope you won't have to drain too many people. Text me when you need help again. I'll always do what I can," she promises.