View source for 1324/No Going Back

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/04/05
|Location=Mitakihara - Kikoku Street - North
|Synopsis=Lacrima learns the hard way that there's nothing for her to return back to being the hard way, thanks to Amu Hinamori.
|Cast of Characters=160,85
|pretty=yes
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{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Last Year, Norie's brother, Ryo Okana, promised to take her on a camping trip when school ended. Things were different then. Norie was vibrant, friendly, normal and had a good relationship with her brother. Then just a few months later- horribleness happened- she attacked her brother. Then things soured when Norie became unable to reach anything even similar to her former self.<br /><br />Norie, had hoped, that the camping trip was still happening. She even drained extra people- and stored energy in her necklace for the two days she'd be gone--- and it's not like she'd be expending much energy relaxing by a lake!<br /><br />The day came and her brother was nowhere to be found and she'd found out- the hard way- that he'd left without her. On purpose.<br /><br />Something inside her broke- she devoured the energy she'd stored in depression- like it was some sort of magic cure- which it was not, then proceeded to starve herself in depression over the past few days. This was a mistake. It was a horrible horrible mistake.<br /><br />Feral, animalistic, those are the best terms that described Lacrima as she sunk her hands against flesh- draining energy from people in alleys, not caring who-- taking more than she should- powerful flares of dark energy happening with every drain. Some of these people-- five of them in a row- looking something like a small teenage gang that wasn't up to anything bad- perhaps just a group of friends, are not doing well at all. They need help in bad ways that can't even be described.<br /><br />When that last person gets drained- she finally comes too- blinking once. Shaking a bit.<br /><br />"Ahaahaa---"<br /><br />"Haaaaaaa...." she seethes through her teeth. She's still coming down off some high and what she's done still hasn't hit her yet.

:'''{{#var:85|Amu Hinamori| (85)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It's not ''quite'' cold enough, yet, for ice cream. That doesn't stop Amu Hinamori for getting some anyways. The teen emerges from Frozen Beach with a foolish smile on her face, sporting a massive cup of chocolate chocolate chip with chocolate sprinkles, gummy bears, and strawberry syrup. Don't judge, it's tasty!<br /><br />"Amu-chan, are you sure you can eat all of that?" Miku asks as they make their way along the sidewalk back towards Amu's home. <br /><br />With school out, Amu has defaulted back to her own personal style: part goth, part chic, all Amu. Today it's white candy-skull jacket with black sleeves and pink stripes, over a too-short black skirt and of course tall stockings and stompy boots. "Miki," Amu says amusedly, "when you get a little older, you'll understand that the question is not 'Can I eat all of that', but rather 'should I eat all of that.'" Amu takes a bite of her ice cream, then notes, "The answer is: 'no, I really shouldn't, but I'm gonna anywa--'"<br /><br />"Amu-chi!" Su's voice pipes up with worry, which makes Amu even more concerned, because Su ''never'' interrupts. And yet all three of her charas are on edge, staring in the same direction: towards the alleyway just across the way.<br /><br />"What is it, you guys?" Amu asks, momentarily forgetting her indulgent ice cream.<br /><br />"Bad energy," Ran supplies, oh-so-helpfully. "Like that Riventon guy, only ..." she trails off.<br /><br />"Right," Amu says with a huff. "Well, look, let's just deal with it. Whatever it is. Stay close," she says to her charas, even as she reaches into her little box to touch the yellow egg that still hasn't hatched.<br /><br />Amu rushes towards the alleyway, ice cream still in hand, to try and figure out what's going on. What she finds is something straight out of a horror movie. Some girl, glowing with dark energy and practically ''feasting'' on teenagers! Infinity students (which makes them inferior teenagers), but ''teenagers'' nonetheless! "H--hey!" she calls angrily. "HEY! Stop that! This isn't okay!"

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima releases that last boy, body now inert as she tries to calm herself-- but right now, she is definitly more 'Lacrima' than 'Norie' right now- she has to be. Survival instincts pre-empt almost everything in Norie's life now, wether she wants it too or not.<br /><br />If she was more in control, She'd try to explain herself, try to apologize and run- but control isn't the word for what she is in right now. She turns to face Amu, as she purses her lips.<br /><br />"Oh look." she says. "Another one here to cry at me, for surviving." she says softly. "Are you going to call me 'horrible'... 'evil', too?~" she asks in an almost melodic tone as she takes a few steps toward's Amu. Then she places two fingers to her forehead and closes her eyes and takes a deep, seething breath.<br /><br />"I need more." she says matter of factly. Oh, then she tries to walk away.<br /><br />Yeah that may not be a thing Amu wants to happen. More of this!?

:'''{{#var:85|Amu Hinamori| (85)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"... ''Excuse you''," Amu says, angry now not only at watching kids be drained of energy, but also at being ''ignored''. "YES I'm going to call you evil, and horrible, and frankly a stark-raving ''bitch''. Ran!"<br /><br />"A--amu?"<br /><br />"Now!"<br /><br /><br />"Right!"<br /><br />Amu throws her ice cream aside and flashes her fingers over the lock-shaped necklace she wears. Picture-box, picture-box, as she calls, "<span style="color:#FFB6C1">Atashi no Kokoro: Unlock!</span>"<br /><br />The lock glimmers with a brilliant and blinding pink light that swiftly engulfs the teenager, blasting away the mundane. Ran jumps into her egg with a little wiggle, and pink ribbons of power begin to swirl in that magical light silhouetting Amu. Opening her arms wide, Amu beckons the floating heart-marked pink egg towards her, and smiles as Ran's egg sinks into her chest. The ribbons begin to fold around her, transforming into a belly-bearing pink top and a short cheerleader's skirt. Heart-soled shoes, a tennis cap, and a long ribbonny scarf complete the outfit.<br /><br />"<span style="color:#FF6961">Chara Nari: Amulet Heart!</span>"<br /><br />Amulet Heart wastes no time getting down to business. Like a linebacker, the cheerleader-magical girl rushes at Lacrima, shoulder forward and growling angrily as she rushes to tackle the vampire from behind.

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The difference when Norie is in control, and when 'Lacrima' is, is night and day. Norie is 'careful'-- she tries not to hurt people this bad. She does it because she has to. Lacrima... just doesn't care. Not that Amu has ever seen the other one.<br /><br />Lacrima looks toward's Amu when she talks and purses her lips a bit- bemusedly, and that's all she gets. She's been called worse words-- wait. Has she?... she has to actually stop. She feels she has but...<br /><br />...not?<br /><br />She frowns as she searches, it's confusing. Sometimes having a weird mental imprint of someone else to compare things too is hard.<br /><br />She seems infact, so lost in her thoughts that the next feeling she feels is being tackled into a wall and it hurts! It hurts a lot in fact- as she frowns. "I see." she says.<br /><br />"So you have power. You're not just a girl." she says.<br /><br />"Oscuro." she mutters.<br /><br />Darkness envelopes her- black like ink-- and painful to touch if Amulet Heart keeps contact-- and she seems to slide into some sort of shadow form-- reforming somewhere in the shadows.<br /><br />She raises her hand and fires off a rather powerful blast of dark energy toward's Amulet Heart from those shadows--- she's trying to remain hidden until then- though her Chara(s?) can probably pinpoint exactly where she is. She's practically a big black dark energy signature at the moment.

:'''{{#var:85|Amu Hinamori| (85)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Amulet Heart grunts as the pair slam into the wall together. She raises her firt to throw a punch, then yelps in surprise when her target isn't there. "What the...." <br /><br /> The blast of dark energy comes as a surprise, catching Amulet Heart square in the back. She screams in pain and rolls away, raising a pink pom-pom to ward off the attack. Oddly, it works. <br /><br />"What the hell is wrong with you?" she asks, as she rolls back to her feet. Ducking out of the attack, she reaches up into the air and draws forth a sparkling baton topped with a heart. "<span style="color:#FF6961">Spiral Heart!</span>" she calls, throwing the weapon into the shadows. The baton goes almost comically wide, as if she weren't even trying to hit. Which she isn't, since the weapon will turn unerringly in a moment, hopefully when Lacrima isn't paying attention. Then she charges right into the dark again, trusting Ran to get her to the right place.

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Somewhere inside, Lacrima asks herself that same question a lot. It's something Norie questions a lot. 'What is wrong with me.'. If it was such an easy answer, perhaps she wouldn't be in this predicament she is right now. Not that she'd admit that-- in fact- she insists to the contrary. "Nothing is /wrong/ with me." she spits.<br /><br />"..maybe nothing is right either~" she says almost singsong- like perhaps she was happy about it. Almost<br /><br />She expects that baton to miss wide-- and it in fact- does at first--- before it double backs it seems and smacks her right in the head. She winces out, calls out in a quick gasp--<br /><br />She's easy to find- even without the tell-- being flied at-- she throws out that palm for another bolt of dark energy---sinking back into the shadows-- trying to play a game of keep away she probably can't keep up for long at this rate.<br /><br />There's a soft tug of war in her mind. The Norie part of her wants to run away-- it wants to apologize and cry out and explain and run. The Lacrima part wants to fight this threat and perhaps drain it when it's subued it-- then they can both be happy because Norie'll be able to think again and be normal again! It's sort of strange and it's causing her to act slower than usual---<br /><br />Amulet Heart is going to thunk into her easily enough as she charges into the dark there- despite her attempt to dissapear into the shadows.~

:'''{{#var:85|Amu Hinamori| (85)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Amulet Heart reaches up to grab the baton out of the air as it returns to her hand. "You can't just ''drain'' people like some sort of '''''monster'''''," she yells at Lacrima as she barrels into her in the shadows.<br /><br />Heart swings the baton like a mace, then chases the weapon attack with a double-roundhouse of pink-soled shoes to the chest! She rears back as if to make another attack with the weapon at hand, only to take another of Lacrima's dark bolts to the chest, sending her flying backwards into the wall. Amulet Heart sinks to the ground, smoking from the dark energy. "Ow," she grunts, rubbing at her chest with one hand.<br /><br />Amulet Heart gets back to her feet and raises up her other hand. A second baton manifests, a perfect mirror for the first. Spinning the batons in her fingers, Amulet Heart lets out a low noise of exasperation, as if steeling herself for another blast of darkness. Then she charges right back in, wielding both weapons in concert as she attempts to overwhelm Lacrima with physical assault. But it's hard to attack something so completely in the darkness, and Lacrima is likely going to just slip away again, or perhaps dodge Amulet Heart's attacks altogether!

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Now that's a word that makes her snap. "/I AM NOT A MONSTER!/" she screams out--- the tone is slightly different this time- frantic, not as creepy or 'teasing' in that sing song manner- but still- it's all that's said as she draws her body backwards-- being smacked in the chest and thrown back again.<br /><br />Of course, her actions prove the contrary, she's here, draining people, like your common youma- leaving them unconcious, dangerously hurt in the process. Some of the people have nice scratch marks on thier body. It's not Lacrima's usual method. Usually- it's less directly-- just touching and running when they falldown.<br /><br />A second baton comes into view and Amulet Heart tries to charge back into the dark. This time there's nothing there. Lacrima hopped shadows again.<br /><br />"L--Luvia Oscura." she calls out.<br /><br />It begins raining 'bright' dark energy bolts from the sky-- or at least, from somewhere overhead in the alley-- covering the area wide in dark blasts-- mostly seeming concentrated around Amulet Heart.<br /><br />Thankfully, none of the unconcious teenagers are hurt or touched during this. But that's a small favor perhaps.

:'''{{#var:85|Amu Hinamori| (85)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Amulet Heart swings at the shadows, left, right, left, right, only to wind up with a rain of darkness pouring down on her head. "OW OW OW!" she yells angrily, as she ducks away.<br /><br />"Amu-chan!" Miki calls, worriedly.<br /><br />Amulet Heart ducks around a corner, then catches her breath and grimaces. "We can't keep this up," she notes to her Charas. The two who haven't merged with Amu only offer her faces full of uncertainty and worry. "Should have gotten backup," she notes. "But there's no time, now. People are getting hurt. I have to stop her."<br /><br />"You can do it, Amu-chan," comes a voice within her heart: little Ran, always the believer.<br /><br />"Mm, yeah, I believe in you," Miki agrees.<br /><br />"Amu-chi, we are wif you!" Su chimes in, approvingly.<br /><br />The little yellow egg, so close and yet so far, even seems to approve, giving a little glow of warmth on Amu's hip.<br /><br />"Thanks, you guys," says Amulet Heart, then she smiles. "Okay, let's do this." Then she pushes up, leaps into the air towards the near building. She hits the far wall and leaps off of that right away, dodging shadow-bolts as she goes. Up, up, three more jumps, and then she's up above the roofline.<br /><br />"Where is s--there!" Amulet chimes.<br /><br />"<span style="color:#FF6961">Negative Heart: Lock On</span>"<br /><br />Amulet Heart forms a heart over her chest with her fingers, and a brilliant pink-golden light begins to form there, forging a connection between Amu's heart and Lacrima. Then, she stretches her arms forward, and that pink-golden light flares ever brighter, searing away Lacrima's darkness as its brilliance grows.<br /><br />"<span style="color:#FF6961">OPEN HEART!</span>"<br /><br />And with her cry, Amulet Heart unleashes her full power: a beam of brilliant, purifying love that overwhelms Lacrima and reaches right into Norie's heart<br /><br />That light burns away Lacrima's power, but at the same time it fills Norie--the girl trapped beneath the Vampire--with reminders of good days, feelings of happiness, love, warmth, and kindness. It's the sensation of giving gifts to your loved ones, and receiving them in return. The knowledge that you've done something good, and feeling rewarded just by that knowledge. It's not painful--not to ''Norie''. <br /><br />But to Lacrima, it's pure poison.

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Purification. Lacrima's never encountered it before. She's encountered a similar thing, but it wasn't the same- and the OPEN HEART rakes over her---<br /><br />For a few moments, what seems like an eternity, Norie feels... normal? It's a very odd, unfamilar feeling to her but-- she can feel it! Happiness! Love! Not just remembering how they feel, but actually feeling it, but this lasts just for an instant because then that darkness flares into her inwards-- retreating from it's outer shell inward. Norie's actual body is long gone, consumed into this Lacrima form--- that wears Norie like a disguise--- and then those feelings set in-- it's true.. isn't it? She has to spend energy to be Norie.. she has to cocentrate and feed to be Norie but-- none of that is true to be Lacrima. It doesn't cost things, or take concentration to be Lacrima she just /is/. All these feelings play havoc with her as she's assault within the span of what feels like nearly an hour to Norie- but infact, only takes place within the span of a few seconds of being bombared with that light.<br /><br />Lacrima grabs the sides of her head--and begins to shriek--- this hurts.. it burns and someone has set her on fire. Darkness strips out of her- being burned away behind her--- fuzzing into non-existence. She's resisting.<br /><br />Still, that shriek changes into something more feral, animalistic snarl after a bit as even more dissapates and it's maybe through pure will or maybe some sort of other arcane power that she just doesn't... dust-- like so many other monsters.<br /><br />She does however, fall forward to her hands and breathes heavily as that black mist sort of continues to smoke out of her-- and some sort of weird ichor drips from her aswell.<br /><br />Her mind is racing. She needs to run--she looks up wide eyed, scared. She has no idea what that was--- it wasn't a beam... or a baton strike... it was something else and her mind is now having hard comprehending this completely.<br /><br />At some point however, some sort of intelligent realization returns to her eyes as she fades off into the Dusk Zone--- and she doesn't actually come out the other end somewhere else. At least nearby.

:'''{{#var:85|Amu Hinamori| (85)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Amulet Heart lands on the rooftop next to Lacrima's last location, then looks around. After a few moments of uncertainty, Ran pops back out, and the henshin vanishes.<br /><br />"Where'd she go?" Amu asks her charas uncertainly, and all three shake their heads.<br /><br />"I don't sense her anymore, Amu-chan," Miki offers helpfully, and Amu lets out a soft sigh of relief.<br /><br />Heading to the edge of the building, she says, "Ran," then leaps over the edge.<br /><br />"<span style="color:#FF6961">Hop, Skip, Jump!</span>" Ran chimes, granting Amu little fluffy wings on her wrists and ankles to slow her fall.<br /><br />"Keep an eye out for her," Amu says to her Charas as she alights on the ground. "I need to help these people."<br /><br />And so she does, turning to help the poor souls Lacrima has drained as best she's able. Unfortunately, her ice cream is a solid mess on the ground. How annoying.
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