2071/A day of shopping

A day of shopping
Date of Scene:	27 October 2016
Location:	Uminari City - Game Center Crown
Synopsis:	Amu and Lacrima run into each other in the Crown.
Cast of Characters:	Amu Hinamori, Norie Okana

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Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori sat down at the table and slowly slid some change on the counter. "Go ahead, have fun. Just don't break anything, okay?" Her little sister, Ami, nodded and took the change, running off. Once she was gone, her charas popped out of her bag, letting out sighs of relief.

"Finally, we're safe. Why did you have to bring her?" Miki asked. "Because my parents needed to go to this meeting and they needed me to watch her. And go get some groceries. Besides, they gave me some spending money for it so it's not like it's a complete waste of time."

Miki sighed. "you just wanted the spare change." Ran nodded. "Completely, and here we thought she was trying to be a good big sister." Su shook her head. "Isn't watching over your little sister enough?" "Oh? Truly I am the epitome of greed," Amu said with a nod. "I guess the three of you would rather watch her instead of me, right?"

All three of them irked. "A-a-a-actually you're being a really good sister!" "Great sister!" "Absolutely wonderful sister!"

Norie Okana has posed:
The Game Center Crown. Lacrima had to get out. You can only... really stay in one place so long. She choose somewhere she felt 'safe'- the Game Center Crown. Less issues there. Less likely to lose control.

She walked across the area past Amu's sister running in front of her. She paused to let this happen, then continued walking to the counter to look up at Motoki.

She ordered a chocolate milkshake- with a swirl of cherry sauce, whipped, with a cherry on top.

She turns around and looks for a place to sit-- and in fact walks right by Amu at first. She isn't paying attention.

She has to stop and look around a bit like she was trying to remember something before she turns back around and blinks. Oh. It's Amu. She's here.

That's... great. She thinks sarcastically.

"Amu." she says politely.

She turns back around and finds a place to sit.

She then proceeds to look at her Milkshake and squints her eyes at it. She doesn't begin drinking it.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori blinked and looked up. "Hmmmm? Oh! Hey! Lacrima!" she said with a big, jolly grin. Totally not falling asleep or anything, nope. "Mind if I sit with you?" she asked, before... sitting across from her. With her cherry milk shake. She glanced over to the playing kids. "Ami, I'll be over here." "Okay!"

She then smiled at Lacrima. "You're looking nice today. How are you feeling? What brings you here today?" She glanced over to the kids. "I'm just babysitting my little sister. You know how it is."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima head tilts at Amu as she looks up from her milkshake. "Hrm?" she asked, looking back at the kids, then back at Amu. "You have a sister?" she asks quietly.

There's a long awkward pause after this.

"Ah." she says quietly. Well now she's suddenly morose.

She looks back down at her milkshake. "You know." she says. "You don't need to be 'feeding me'." she says. "If it's making you fall asleep weird places and times." she says flatly.

She seems rather silent. She's still not touching her milkshake. Maybe she just buys it to look at it.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori nods. "Yup! Ami. She's... a bit of a brat sometimes. But she grows on you and, inside, she's really a good kid." Suddenly Ami's ear piercing singing can be heard and Amu grits her teeth. "A. Good. Kid. My parents just... spoil her for attention," she said with a sigh.

She then reaches out and takes her hand. "Oh, I know, Lacrima-chan. Really, I'm fine. Beesides, this is just temporary. There are going to be others who can help you feed soon, I'm sure. Maybe Nade-chan can help. Or we can find some others. Who knows?" She gave that 'I'm your best friend ever!' smile again. She took a sip of her milkshake. "I know I fell asleep in the car, but that was just because I hadn't slept well the night before. That's all," she lied.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima head tilts and frowns. "Oh, I'm sure Kukai will be absolutely thrilled at that prospect." she says sourly. She crosses her arms and sighs a bit. "I'm very worried." she says softly.

"It seems." says. "Everytime I find a new baseline for 'normal' and I feel 'safe and comfortable'..." she says. "I learn something new about myself that makes me unstable again until I can cope in however many months it takes." she says with a frown.

"I don't like feeling like I'm not in control. I hate it. Ri----" Riventon-sama. But she stops herself before she says the name in full. "My mentor." she says. "Says that I'm always in control. But it often does not feel this way." she says quietly.

A pause.

"Do you know. Vampire myths?" she asks. "Most don't apply to me." she says. "But..."

She hesitantly sort of fidgets as she finally takes an overtly long sip on her milkshake. Sip. Sip. Sip.

She finally continues. "I found out- I can... do something similar to. Making more. Like me." she says. "I'm not sure on the specifics." she says quietly. "I just know how to do it now. Because of a dream. How I usually learn 'what I can do'." she says.

"I'm afraid." she says.

"What if I make someone else like me?" she asks. "I... wouldn't... I wouldn't wish. What I've been through on the people I don't like very much." she says.

"But...it's so easy. To feel alone. Like this." She says. "For someone to not understand. How this feels." she says.

"Would it be that easy to make someone understand...?" she asks quietly.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori dropped her shake. Fortunately, her charas dove down to catch it. She just stared at Lacrima with a look of horror. It only lasted a few moments before her eyes lowered. "Lacrima-chan. I'm sorry. I know it must be lonely. I know it must be horrible. I know it must feel like the worst thing in the world to have this thrust on you like that."

She was silent for a long moment. "But you can't do this to someone else. You know how this feels. How horrible it feels. Doing that... would be wrong. Pure, unalterable wrong. It wouldn't be something you were forced to do. Something that was bad but you had no choice. It would be something you'd willingly do and... it could destroy people. If it's really as horrible as you say, then what do you think that would do to a person? Even worse, what if they weren't like you? What if they decided to force it on others? What if more and more people who were like you, had this forced on them because of it? Or all those people who would die because of it." She looked up nervously.

"I know you feel alone ,but you're not. We may not have the same experiences, but we're still here for you. We still want to help you. But... if you... if you ever went to that point. If you ever crossed that bridge and... did this to someone... I'm... not sure you can come back from that."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima quietly looks down. "I don't even know the extent of it. What it does. How it works. If it's even permanent. There's no others like me- and even if there was- it's possible they had a choice. It'd be. In our names. Our.....kind? don't name ourselves. The power does." she says. "Lacrima." she says. "Tears." she says. "In Spanish. I was just the unlucky one who was cursed. I didn't want this power. It knew this. It'd knew it'd make me sad. But I've already told you this." she says.

"The one who wanted this power last. The one it was taken from and put into that necklace." she says. "His name was Poderoso." she says. "Powerful. In Spanish." she says. "He wanted the power. To hurt people and be strong and impose his will and lots of other horrible things and he did that for a very, very, very long time." she says.

"If there is someone else like me. You'll know their intentions in the name." she says quietly.

"You'll know who wanted it-- and who didn't." she says quietly.

She just sort of sips her milkshake again. "I know." she says. "Jia-chan also promised the same thing. That'd. If I did that. 'That'd be it.'" she says quietly.

She sort of lays her hands into her lap.

"I just want to go home." she says quietly. "Not... the manor. Or Jia-chan's place. Home. I miss my brother. And mom. and my dad. But all I do is worry them when I'm this thing. Because I don't smile anymore. Or laugh. and seem depressed- and they send me to a therapist I have to lie to and keep a story straight to because I most certainly can't tell him I'm an immortal vampire that can't feel happy feelings." she says.

"I miss school. and sitting in a classroom. You don't have to act anything in a classroom. You sit there and listen to the teacher. It is so easy-- to-- to /be normal/ in that kind of setting." she says.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori blinked a little bit, staring at the woman. Her hands moved into her lap and she listened to every word. Every single word. She didn't know what to say. What could she say? Lacrima was going through something that was just... horrifying. To do this to another person was... she couldn't imagine. Just the thought of her maybe doing it to one of her friends. Or worse, to her little sister.

What Kukai said flashed in her mind but she tried to shut it out. "I... I see," she whispered gently, her eyes lowered. "I'm sorry. I see."

"Have you... when you talked to your parents did you... did you ever tell them what happened? Exactly what happened? what you are now? Or... did you try to hide it from them? Try to... keep them safe?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima frowns. "They think I ran away." she says quietly. There's a pause because she was about to say 'don't you read the news?'. Then she frowns and digs out her smartphone and opens the local news site and turns to an article from July 20th.

(+bbread 8/64).

"That's me. That's my real name." she says. "And what I look like. When I was 'Norie'." she says quietly. 'Norie' has shorter black hair and blue eyes- and a normal complexion.

"I can't /tell/ them what I am." she frowns. "Go ahead. Try to tell your parents about the three tiny people that follow you around and tell you things that you can see- but they can't." she says.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori urked. "Well, she has you there," Miki said.

"Shut up, Miki," she muttered. She then nodded and read it over. Finally, she sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I... I couldn't imagine what it would be like, having to do that. Having to... run away. I can't tell my parents because, well... they're freak out. But I know--"

"Big sister!" GAHHHH! Amu jumped! "I ran out of coins!" "Just, just go play in the ball pit or something." "I wanna play more rocket shooter five!" "Ami, now isn't the time!" "I WANNA PLAY IT!" Amu sighed and face palmed. "Lacrima-chan, I'll be right back. I need to go get some more coins." She got up to walk to the machine with a shake of her head. Leaving Ami behind. "Hi! I'm Ami! You're really pale!"

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima sips her chocolate milk shake as she just silently listens to Amu. She's about to say something else when /suddenly Ami/.

She's left along with Ami. She blinks once. Ami says 'You're really pale!'. Yes, yes she is.

"Yes." she says quietly. "I don't get out much." she says quietly. "That's why parents tell kids to play outside. So you don't end up looking like me." she says deadpan. She manages to switch to emotionless chatter pretty easily- with deadpan snark.

She gently waits patiently as she hides deeper into chocolate milkshake.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori was unaware, waiting in line. Meanwhile, Ami just smiled up at her. "Oh! But then what if you go on stage? You'll be all pale and ugly! Bleh!" She made a face. "You should go out in the sun more! Are you friends with big sis? Do you have any coins?" she asked. Oh, Lacrima could probably see where this is going.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima frowns.... what if she. goes on stage. Like when she used to dance in the dance club. This doesn't do much good for Lacrima's mood and depresses her further. She tries, very very hard to be nice to Amu's little sister.

"My name is.. Lacrima." she says. "I guess I am one of your sister's friends." she says.

"No, I don't have any coins. I'm sorry. You should wait for your sister to get back." she says quietly as she stares back into her chocolate shake.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori Ami nods. "Oh. Well, that sucks. so, are you a guardian too? Do you have any of the mini-people?" she asked with a big grin. "Where are big sister's?" Hiding. Away. From here. "How long have you two been friends? Can you sing? Are you like the prince? Are your parents here too?" Just... she's just going to go ahead and make everything worse.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima is keeping calm as she can. She's doing her best. Worst. She leaves. Right? Right... she can just. Leave. Whenever she wants. Ami asks about 'mini people'. She shakes her head. "No." she says softly. "I don't have any 'mini people'" she says. "And no, I'm not a Guardian." she says quietly.

"We haven't been friends for very long." she says. "I can sing." she says. "But I don't feel like singing right now." she says.

"Prince...?" she asks. "No. My parents aren't here. I'm here alone. Well. I was. Until Amu was here." she says.

She does peek up to see what's taking Amu, finally.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori Ami nodded. "Oh, so you're getting babysat by amu too? Are you--" "Ami!" Amu said, dropping some coins in ehr hand. "Run along, okay? Go... play your games." "Yayyy!" And then gave her big sis a hug before running off.

Amu sighed and sat down. "I'm sorry, she can be a bit of a handful. I hope she didn't bother you too much." She rested an elbow on the table. "I'm sorry, Lacrima-chan. I wish I could say something to help. Maybe... you can... try going backto school? I'm sure we could work something out at our school. The headmaster is pretty nice about those kinds of things."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima looks down. "No." she says quietly. "I know who he is. He leads.... 'Virtue'." she frowns. "and I am a horrible dark energy creature." she says. "I don't trust it." she says quietly. "I'm sorry."

She looks down. "It's okay." she says. "My brother used to give me a hard time. But it was on purpose." she says. "I mean. Like... not.. mean? Like...." she grumbles a bit.

"Sorry it's hard. To phrase. Things." she says. "Sometimes."

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori nods. "Oh, I know exactly what you mean." She then reached out and touched her hand. "No. You'd not. You're a dark energy person. you are NOT horrible. And you are not just a creature. You're my friend, Lacrima. And... I know it may scare you but... I'm sure he would allow it. If I talked to him. It could give you somewhere to be normal, I know. Somewhere you didn't have to be worried about doing bad things. Right? And you could share classes with me." Nail in the coffin, right there.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima frowns and shakes her head. "No." she says flatly. "I'm not ready yet. I want to go back.. to being Norie. If I go back." she says quietly. She sighs a bit and shakes her head. "It's been so long since. I used my disguise powers. Like that." she says. "To 'pretend to be normal'." she says quietly.

She sighs a bit and crosses her arms.

"Sometimes I think I should just... go home." she says. "But." she says.

"Just... I left because I didn't feel I could control myself. But I told you that before." she sighs.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori nodded, crossing her arms. "Well... you always have my number. You can always come to me if you need food and you feel you're losing control, you know," she said with a grin. She then cocked her head to the side. "And... maybe it would be good for you. Tell your parents that... you just can't..." She sighed. "Magic and parents don't mix well. They just..." She gave another sigh. "I wish I could give better advice. You just havee to follow your heart, Lacrima-chan. Do whatever you feel is right. If you go home, I'll help you, okay? and--" There was a cry from the game station. "And that's my sister. I'll be back soon!" and ran off. Again.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima sighs a bit and looks down. "Yeah." she says, deadpan.

When Amu goes off. Lacrima dissapears between when Amu leaves and comes back. Her milkshake is gone and there's a few bills- enough to cover her milkshake and probably Amu's.

She's probably gone back to Jia-chan's for the night.