View source for 3525/A Work in Progress

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2018/11/14
|Location=Waldians Home
|Synopsis=Sakura visits Akari at the Waldians' home, where they have a chat about how far Akari has come.
|Cast of Characters=222,41
|pretty=yes
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{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:222|Akari Hayabusa| (222)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Akari arranged for a letter to get delivered to Sakura, asking her to stop by ... the Waldians' home in Mitakihara!? She was instructed to make sure she wasn't watched, to head straight to the backyard garden, and 'please don't shout my name :P'.<br /><br />When Sakura arrives, Akari is sitting on the grass in a spot that doesn't have a convenient view from outside. She's in her Bell form, dressed in a tank top and stretchy pants, except ... it has blue hair like she has in her Akari form, and the markings on her skin are blue instead of red, and her glowing cat-eyes are golden!

:'''{{#var:41|Sakura Kinomoto| (41)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sakura Kinomoto arrived a bit... late. because Sakura. She was okay, though! Roller blading in, she had skated, then made her way to the other girl's home. She didn't think she was being watched(Tomoyo assured her that nobody but her was watching her. Oh Tomoyo-chan, so silly.)<br /><br />Sakura came up and... "H--" And stopped herself from yelling. Oh gosh. Loud, happy greetings was kind of her thing.<br /><br />NO! SHE COULD DO THIS! She steeled herself, clenching her face, a look of determination on her face. Hi... Bell," she almost whispered. "I'm here...."<br /><br />OH GOSH IT WAS SO HARD NOT TO BE EXCITED TO AND SOUND LIKE IT TO HER BIG SISTER!

:'''{{#var:222|Akari Hayabusa| (222)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Akari turns and smiles at Sakura. "Hi, Sakura-imoutochan!" she says, in an equally quiet voice. Rubindorn is hanging around her neck in pendant-form; the crystal is also a more rosy shade than it had before! "Guess who got purified by Princess Runealy this weekend."<br /><br />She gets to her feet, and winces. Seems she's got a few aches and pains there. "Let's head back to the safe room, then you can make all the noise you want," she adds, with a slightly teasing grin. She starts leading Sakura into the Waldians' house.

:'''{{#var:41|Sakura Kinomoto| (41)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sakura Kinomoto gasped and then eeee'd. Silently. And it was SO HARD! Once they were inside and... "OH MY GOSH! You are?&gt; That's so cool! Welcome to our side! what are you going to do? Oh my gosh oh my gosh what are you eeeee! You're so cool and awesome and oh my gosh!" And tackle hug. "Also hiiiii!" ALL OF THE ENERGY!<br /><br />And all of the hug. She held on and yayed and just... held onto the poor, poor girl. As tight as her little arms would let her.

:'''{{#var:222|Akari Hayabusa| (222)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Akari lets out a yelp at the tacklehug! "Ack! Careful!" she says, grinning down at Sakura. "I'm kind of hurt a little bit! The ritual was supposed to remove demonic influence, not deal with ... with ''my'' weird situation." She does give her little sister a squeeze, though.<br /><br />Rubindorn pings. <span class="fg_162">&lt;&lt;SIE HATTEN WAHRSCHEINLICH NICHT NACH DRAUSSEN GEHEN SOLLEN.&gt;&gt;</span><br /><br />Akari nods. "Yeah, yeah ..." She smiles at Sakura. "Rubindorn says I probably shouldn't have gone outside."<br /><br />She starts Sakura through the medieval-styled house and up the stairs. "I was actually kind of doing heroic stuff already, actually," she says. "It was just really hard since darkness can't really fight darkness, I always needed help." She leads her into a room surrounded by all the other bedrooms, with a screen showing an outdoor scene, a turned-off TV, and a white bed with heart-shaped pillows. "And I mean ... I'm probably just gonna be doing more of the same, really." She sits down heavily on the bed, and smiles at Sakura. "Being a sort of unaffiliated hero ... fighting creatures of darkness ... dodging Lacrima-san ..."<br /><br />She hesitates. "Speaking of which, uh, you do know you have to keep ''really quiet'' about the fact that she's secretly trying to help me, right?" she says. "If the shadowy figures find out somehow, she's gonna be in ''huge'' trouble, and they'll pass the job along to someone who ''won't'' wait until I'm surrounded by other heroes before trying to capture me."

:'''{{#var:41|Sakura Kinomoto| (41)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sakura Kinomoto nodded, listening and... "Don't worry. My lips are sealed. Though, ummmm... if it IS just pretend... maybe... I shouldn't be there..." she said softly. "I mean, Lacrima is already like. SUPER mad at me. So if I'm there I might antagonize her accidentally and she might get reallllllly mad and try to catch you for real, you know?" she said, shaking her head.<br /><br />"So... if there's no real danger, maybe it would be best if everyone but me was there? Sorry... does that sound selfish?" And there was a big ball of worry in Sakura's stomach now. What if something DID happen to her big sister?

:'''{{#var:222|Akari Hayabusa| (222)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Akari nods slowly. "That's fine," she says. "I mean, the thing is, she's going to be 'genuinely trying' anyway, it's just that there will ... presumably ... be enough people to stop her that it won't work." She looks down at Sakura. "Besides, your defenses aren't all that great anyway."<br /><br />She smiles. "Don't worry about me, Sakura-imoutochan," she says. "Lacrima-san just needs to put on appearances. She won't ''really'' try anything unless she knows I can fight back and that I'm surrounded by people who won't hold back."

:'''{{#var:41|Sakura Kinomoto| (41)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sakura Kinomoto flushed. "M-my defenses are great! If... I know something is coming..." she mumbled, giving a soft squirm. "Oaky they suck... But I'm getting better! And the shield care is really, really good and strong and smart! She's just... dependant on me."<br /><br />She nodded and then gave her a hug. "Okay. You'll be safe then... okay? You have to be. You're my big sister and I don't ever want anything to hurt oyu. Ever ever ever..." she mumbled softly.

:'''{{#var:222|Akari Hayabusa| (222)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Akari smiles, and returns the hug. "Yeah, and you also need to make sure to take care of the Shield Card, all right?" she says. She ruffles her hair. "It's fine. Nothing's going to happen to me. I'll still be alive for ..." She shrugs uncomfortably. "... probably forever, really. I don't think I have that kind of time limit." She shakes her head. "But for as long as you're alive, you're my sister and I love you, and I'm not going to let ''anything'' happen to me." She smiles. "For your sake as much as my own."

:'''{{#var:41|Sakura Kinomoto| (41)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sakura Kinomoto blinked a few times and stared up at her ooking concerned... Then,... "That sounds lonely, if you live forever..." she mumbled. "But..." And then she hugged her tightly again.<br /><br />"I'll be your friend forever. And when I'm gone, I'm sure my kids, and their kids, and their kids, forever and ever, will be your friend. So you'll never, ever be alone no matter what!"

:'''{{#var:222|Akari Hayabusa| (222)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Akari winces at the tight hug. "Yeah," she says. "I'm still ... trying to wrap my mind around it all." She shrugs. "Y'know, I ..."<br /><br />She looks down at Sakura. "I'm not actually just a whole artificial intelligence made from scratch," she says. "My mind was based on a brain-scan of the knight who created me, Clara Meriva. They created me as an imitation of a ''legend'', a ''fairy tale'', about a group of 'living magical program' knights." She gives her a gentle squeeze. "But I still have a human mind. A human heart. And ..."<br /><br />There are tears in her eyes, but she's smiling. "I'm glad I met you. I'm glad you decided to be my sister. Not just because you helped me get away from Eclipse. But ... for whatever time we have together, however brief it is in the long run." She laughs weakly. "I've been thanking everyone around me, you know. I'm actually starting to think the world really is as good as you've said it is." She ruffles her hair. "I'll definitely try to be the kind of hero you are, too!"

:'''{{#var:41|Sakura Kinomoto| (41)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sakura Kinomoto shrugged, and looked up at her. She gave that big, happy smile she always did. "It doesn't matter what you were made for or... who you were scanned from or any of that." She reached up and rected a hand over her heart. "What matters is right here, your heart. You are so kind, and sweet and everything that makes a person great! It doesn't matter if you weren't human. Because now you're everything that makes a human a human!" She finally pulled back and giggled.<br /><br />"Of course the world is, silly! It's true. Sometimes... sometimes there are dark and scary times. Sometimes you can't fix everything that goes wrong. Sometimes you have to just try, so, so hard to make it better...." She clenched her fist, and then stared up at her. "But even if it's hard, that doesn't mean we can't try! That doesn't mean we'll give up! Even if it seems hard or the odds seem impossible, we'll try! We'll all never give up!"And then she took her hands in hers.<br /><br />"And that's why the world is good. Because none of us will give up until everyone can see!"

:'''{{#var:222|Akari Hayabusa| (222)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Akari smiles. "... Two months ago, I wouldn't have believed that," she says. "I would've thought you were just naively optimistic, and didn't understand how the world ''really'' worked." She shrugs. "Now here I am, under the protection of people who I ''fought'' two months ago, and every hour I figure out something I'll never have to worry about again. Like going darkness-crazy and trying to attack you."<br /><br />Ping! <span class="fg_162">&lt;&lt;OH, JA, GENAU.&gt;&gt;</span> ''Oh, yes, exactly.''<br /><br />She ruffles Sakura's hair. "Because you tried. Because ''I'' tried. And ..."<br /><br />She stops. "... no, that's not quite right," she says. "''I'' would have believed you. N-Nightbell ... is the one who didn't believe you. But she ... 'doesn't exist' anymore."<br /><br />She sits back, and looks over herself, and at the blue markings on her arms. "I've decided to accept this part of me," she says. "My designation on Belka was going to be 'Nachtglocke Eins', which basically meant 'Night Bell One.'" She smiles. "So, 'Nachtglocke' is going to be the new name for this form. You can still call me Bell, though!"

:'''{{#var:41|Sakura Kinomoto| (41)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sakura Kinomoto nodded and then... One more hug.<br /><br />"It doesn't matter."<br /><br />"You can callyourself Bell or Nacho or Lock or Cumquate or anything in the world you want. It doesn't matter. Because at the end of the day ,you're my big sister. And you'll always be by my side." She smiled up at her.<br /><br />"And I know at the end of the day, no matter what happens. No matter what we do. You'll always make the right decision in the end. because that's who you are. It just might take a few tries to get it right, silly. But that's okay. I don't always make the right choice my first time, either!"<br /><br />Tight hug, head resting against her stomach. "Just always remember. I'm looking up to you, Onee-san."

:'''{{#var:222|Akari Hayabusa| (222)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Akari giggles softly, and nods, giving Sakura another squeeze. "Yeah, 'Akari Hayabusa' is still a work in progress, I think, even if I have most of the fundamentals down," she says. "But yeah. In that case, I promise I'll do whatever it takes to be the best big sister you can possibly have, Imouto-chan!" she says. "No matter how many times we both have to try!"
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