463/A Fox and a Knight, pt. III

A Fox and a Knight, pt. III
Date of Scene:	18 October 2015
Location:	Mitakihara/Pikarigaoka - King Penguin Park
Synopsis:	Ayana once more asks Lena about Evil, and once again the answer gets complicated.
Cast of Characters:	Lena Reiniger, Ayana

---

Ayana has posed:
It's a beautiful day in the park. The kind of day when kids are all out to play, and the sound of their rauccous laughter fills the air. There's a cool breeze blowing in off the bay, just enough that mothers are busily chasing after small children with sweaters and making them put on an extra layer against the mid-October chill.

But there's one girl, here, who doesn't seem affected by cheery nature of the day. Ayana sits alone on a bench, dressed in a blue and white plaid skirt and matching seifuku collar. She has on thick stockings and a light sweater against the cold, but sits passively on a bench, staring at the sidewalk as if nothing in the world--including the cold--could possibly affect her. The girl's long locks of raven black hair are a mess, blown asunder from their usual loose ribbons by a breeze.

Lena Reiniger has posed:
It's the kind of day that you just don't worry about anything. The sort of day where all the worries of the world can just be blown off so a little peace and quiet can be enjoyed. Lena, having been more than a little busy with things like learning to work with a new device, and saving the world, and all that good stuff has decided that today is the perfect day to just unwind. So she's out for a stroll in the park.

Dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater that isn't too thick, the Belkan girl is strolling along with hands in her pockets, listening to the sounds of people and their comings and goings, mostly appearing to be unconcerned with what's actually happening around her. Yes, she's rather in a much more upbeat mood than she has been recently, and certainly much more than a certain other girl.

Ayana has posed:
A ball bounces across the walk way in front of Lena, chased by a squirrel six year old. The boy rushes after the ball, nearly running into Lena in the process. It bounces against Ayana's legs, and the girl looks up to meet the eyes of the boy as he pounces on his ball. "Got it!" he says, then grins at Ayana before turning to rush away the way he came--once more nearly running straight into Lena.

Ayana's eyes follow the boy as he runs, until they land on Lena. She blinks in surprise, then tilts her head faintly. "Lena?" she asks, a bit surprised. Of course, without her fuzzy ears, perhaps the Belkan won't recognize her.

Lena Reiniger has posed:
She practically trips over herself stopping before running into a runaway child! She does manage to catch herself before her head gets too far ahead of her feet though, so no face plant for her! She rocks forward on her feet and then back and finally rights herself, watching the child as he goes chasing after his ball. Lena sighs, shaking her head. So carefree and so ignorant of how dangerous the world around him is. Though in the end, she smiles just a bit, content in knowing that she had a hand in making sure he could remain carefree and ignorant.

Lena's about to continue her walk when she catches wind of her name. She stops in her tracks while her mind parses the voice, trying to decide if it's someone she knows. It sounds at least somewhat familiar, but she feels like she hasn't really heard it in a while. Finally she turns and looks in that direction and at least at first there's no real hint of recognition on her face when her eyes meet with Ayana's.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana blinks at Lena, then reaches up to cup her head with her hands, making little fox ears out of her fingers. "I can't show them, here," she explains quietly, then offers a half-hearted (but ultimately failing) smile to the other girl. "How's your hand?"

Lena Reiniger has posed:
With the visual aid, it all falls into place and recognition comes to her. She nods, and offers a much less failing smile. She's surprisingly gotten a lot better at being a more happy individual of late, much less gloomy. Fear not! She can still angst with the best of them! But not now. "The little fox..." she says, changing her course and heading for the bench her... enemy is sitting on? Is the girl her enemy? She's not entirely sure how to place the familiar to be honest. While she's certain the girl's master is firmly in the enemy group, this one... she's very hard to place. She pulls her hand out of its pocket to show off, free of cast and sickeningly awful brusing. "Healed up nicely," she says, finally moving around to lean against the back of the bench. "Haven't seen you around lately."

Ayana has posed:
"I've been busy," Ayana admits quietly, "but the same goes for you." She inspects Lena's hand thoughtfully, then nods. "I'm glad it healed," she says honestly. "It looked bad last time ..." she trails off, then takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Something clearly weighs on her mind. "Ayana," she introduces herself. "At least that's what He named me. It doesn't really mean anything, I guess, but you can call me that, too, if you like."

Something causes the fox-girl to hesitate, then she looks to Lena. "Magical girls attack without asking someone to stop. But ... what if they're right?" she asks quietly. "What if sometimes, something is so evil that asking will only give that evil a chance to hurt you, first?"

Lena Reiniger has posed:
She shrugs, replacing the hand while looking out across the park. Eyes are trained on the people around them, but her ears are holding on to each word the girl says. She chuckles and nods, "yeah... it was pretty bad." She decides to omit how the doctors that saw her pretty much agreed she wouldn't regain the use of her hand, but she showed them! To the name she says nothing, and doesn't even really acknowledge that she even heard it, but it is nice to know that name of the person you're fighting, right? Well... fought once, sort of.

Of course then comes what is by now a familiar song and dance and Lena, though she doesn't want to offend, can't help but roll her eyes a little and sigh. "I'm... probably not a good person to be asking something like that. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've said as much before," she says, looking over her shoulder to the other girl.

Ayana has posed:
"Why?" Ayana asks quietly. "Because you consider yourself to be evil?" She shakes her head, then says, "I cannot ask Takashi. And ... I cannot ask my friends, either. They wouldn't ..." she trails off, then sighs. "Do you believe he is evil?"

Lena Reiniger has posed:
She frowns, trying to decide how she wants to handle the question. It's not exactly so simple in her mind, after all. She looks off to the side, tongue clicking against the roof of her mouth while she thinks. She is cut off though by the second question which is much easier to answer. "Your master," she asks. She takes a deep breath before shrugging. "No, I don't think he's evil," she admits without much hesitation. "I think he's wrong and I think he's going to end up hurting a lot of innocent people, but I don't think he's so far gone that I'd call him evil." She eventually hops over the back of the bench and takes a seat next to Ayana, leaning forward with arms resting on her legs. "You know... he helped save the world. I'm sure it was for completely selfish reasons, but if he were evil; if he were truly so far gone that he couldn't be brought back... well..." she trails off, mind wandering to some distant memory. "I've seen people like that," she continues, voice becoming a good bit more somber. "He'd have let the world burn if he was like that."

Ayana has posed:
It's like a weight lifts off of the fox, at those words. Like Lena's words have reached out and grabbed her from dark abyss, dragging the girl back up into the light. Ayana lets out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding, then leans over and hugs Lena tightly. "I didn't know he saved the world," she says quietly. "Will you tell me about it?"

Lena Reiniger has posed:
Well, the hug was a little unexpected and she's not entirely sure how she feels about it, but it appears Ayana needs it, so she's not going to make any real attempt to break away from it. Lena even goes so far as to reach up and ruffle her hair a little bit. She shrugs some, unsure how to explain it. "Just... a sin from the past come back to haunt an innocent world. He just happened to be there and he just happened to help us. I don't know why, but he could have just as easily stopped us. I'm sorry, I'm really not good at telling stories." She sighs and looks up. "He's a dangerous person. I won't say he isn't, but... I think there's someone in there that still wants to be saved."

A chuckle, she shakes her head. "I told you I wasn't the best person to be asking these questions." Eventually she leans back on the bench and closes her eyes. "You asked if I thought I was evil and, to be honest, I don't think I am. But I've done awful things, and I've committed at least one unforgiveable sin, but I'm trying to atone for those mistakes. I think I'm a lot like him. I think... the only difference is that I had someone there that was willing to reach out and save me when I cried out."

Ayana has posed:
The ruffling of her hair draws Ayana's ears out of hiding. The pair of them twitch at Lena's ruffling, but her hair is already so messed up that anyone looking is unlikely to even see the two fuzzy ears for all the mess.

Ayana closes her eyes, as well, and puts her forehead on Lena's shoulder. "But what if he won't listen to me?" she asks quietly. "What if ... he just unmakes me if I tell him I am worried? I don't want to die. But I don't want him to hurt people. He is so worried that everyone else will hurt /him/; that everyone is out to get him. And I know why: a lot of people /are/. So he builds up these defenses to try and protect himself. But in the process, I think he's losing himself. I don't know how to save him, Lena."

Lena Reiniger has posed:
What if he won't listen to me seems to be a pretty common concern when these sorts of situations come up, and if experience has taught her anything, typically no, they don't listen until the time for listening to good advice has been left well behind. She's not entirely sure she wants to say that to Ayana though, given the girl's clear distress over the situation. Somehow she's pretty sure the familiar isn't going to take 'maybe the only way to save him is to kill him' as a very good answer. In truth she doesn't like that answer either. It reminds her too much of the past. "I don't have a good answer..." she finally admits. She's not really sure that he'd just outright get rid of his familiar if she displeased him, but at the same time she doesn't want to give advice that might lead to that. She'd rather not have someone else's death on her conscience! "Though... if he won't listen to reason, he may need someone to beat some sense into him before he'll listen. Sometimes being someone's friend means you have to be a little rough with them." She shrugs before pulling Ayana into a tight hug. "I don't know, but I promise you this, Ayana... I'll do everything I can if you want my help."

Ayana has posed:
Ayana makes a soft noise at the hug, then nods her head just faintly. "You can't hurt him, though," she tells Lena quietly. "He loves me, and I love him, and I don't want to see him hurt. Just ... if he really is hurting people, he has to be stopped. I think something is making him do it; some evil that is trying to manipulate him. I just don't know what, or how to beat it."

Lena Reiniger has posed:
She really can't help the little bit of a chuckle that escapes her. She smiles, but nods all the same. "You're asking a lot there, but... I'll do my best. Making my job a lot harder." Quite a lot harder, but she'll just have to come up with a way that won't be too hard on the girl's master. The hug continues for a bit longer before she finally pushes Ayana away, holding her at arm's length and fixing her with quite the concerned stare. "You realize he'll be very upset if he finds out you told me any of this, right? You also realize I'll need to know what I'm walking into if you expect me to stand in his way, right?" She slowly releases Ayana and stands up from the bench, hands returning to their pockets. "I'm not going to lie, I'm basically asking you to betray your master in telling me what I'm going to be fighting. So if that doesn't sit well with you, I won't stop you from walking away and we'll just forget about all of this," she says, looking around at everyone enjoying their time in the park. "But if you really want my help, then I swear to you on my honor as a knight of Belka, that I will do everything in my power to save him."

Ayana has posed:
Ayana raises her head to study Lena, but before she can give a reply, her phone starts to ring. She blinks, then says, "I ... need to think about it," before picking up the phone and walking away. "Hi hi, this is Ayana," she says into the device.

Lena Reiniger has posed:
She's got an amazing poker face! All that military training, probably. When the phone rings and she gets her answer, Lena nods. At this point she's decided she knows the answer is going to be no. At least in her experience that's how these things tend to go, but she wants to believe that isn't going to be the case this time. As she walks off, Lena turns and decides this is probably her best time to take her leave. She's not going at a particularly quick pace though, so she's very much able to be caught if her presence is still required.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana glances over her shoulder as Lena starts to go, and those foxy ears of hers twitch just a little. Then she seems to remember she's in public, and they vanish altogether. Ayana holds out a hand towards Lena, but it drops slowly as she gets distracted by the call. "Ikiko-chan. I'm sorry, I just ... kinda forgot." Just like she's forgotten to give Lena an answer. "Did I miss something important?"