1167/Deep Blue Sea, Part 1 - From Above

Deep Blue Sea, Part 1 - From Above
Date of Scene:	09 March 2016
Location:	Uminari City - Juuban Avenue - North
Synopsis:	A freshly awakened Blue takes to the sky to clear her mind. An unexpected reunion follows.
Cast of Characters:	Hiroko Koumoto, Kaeru Aokawa

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Hiroko Koumoto has posed:
    School was different today. How could it not be? Living is a process full of rude awakenings, but the worst of them are those we don't see coming, which upturn the bedrock beliefs which make our lives feel stable. Not long ago, Kaeru's experiences called into question something precious: her sense that the world made sense. Even at the age of ten, one builds up a sense of how reality works. Effect follows cause. Some things are possible. And some things are impossible.

    Like magic. Like the Prism Keepers and the Shades and Griselda. It had been a game once, but now it was real, and the stakes seemed all too high. Sure, she had power, and that power could be fun or exhilerating, but just how dangerous was it? Could she get badly injured? Could she die? Maybe the risk was worth it. Maybe she enjoyed it. But still, the feelings and thoughts were new. Feelings and thoughts that, at this moment, are only her own.

    School ended a half-hour ago. Swim practice was cancelled, perhaps expectedly. It wasn't too long past that the world was plunged into a mysterious darkness, and even though it had faded days ago, the teachers at Seishou Public were still being extra protective. Finding herself with nothing to do, with thoughts to think and feelings to feel, and nobody around to share them with at this very moment, Kaeru decides to try something new.

Kaeru Aokawa has posed:
Kaeru Aokawa goes to the pool anyway to gaze into it. She was making sure everything was ok. Nobody is around, and the damage done by the 'Ool' shade was repaired hastily. The plaster was still drying on the wall. She sighs softly as she pulls out her new pendant - it glows as she holds it. "Hmmmmm...." she muses as she gazes at the pool. Just two days ago she watched something out of a child's game happen here.

The Prism Keeper game. Who knew that it was _real_? First Reiko, as Prism Orange, appeared, fighting a shade. And then, when she got her butt handed to her, Roy the talking bird, also part of the game - handed her a prism. And then she transformed into something very similar to the costume she played the game in. It's all very confusing. She just sits there by the pool, just gazing into the water. Imagining the shade. A blue frog then jumps on her lap, making Kaeru jump.

"Oh hi," she cooos, picking up the frog and snuggling it. "I'm glad you came... I'm so confused about... everything. Our costumes have wings, right? Maybe... I could try flying a bit... nobody can recognize me..." She smiles faintly. "I couldn't recognize Orange even know she wore teh same kind of costume she did in the game..." The frog just ribbits in response.

"Alright... here we go. "Chroma Prism Blue, Transform!" And with a flare of bright blue light she ends up in her costume. "Hmmmm...." she cooos. "Well, let's try this thing!" She does a running start and JUMPS as high as she can - she'd sail through the air, her wings fluttering as she almost falls flat on her face on the other side of the school wall but manages to gather herself and begin an ungainly flight. Not knowing how to fly, she tries 'swimming' through the air like a frog - it'd look hilarious if anyone was around but the streets are rather deserted - a frog is perched onher back as hse does this.

Hiroko Koumoto has posed:
    Nobody said flying was easy. It comes a little more naturally to some of the Prism Keepers than others, but for all of them, it's very much a learning experience. The more they master their powers, and the more flight experience they gain, the easier it becomes. Maybe that's something Blue can get behind. She's an athlete. She's used to training, even when it's difficult, though this particular "sport" will likely require a lot more effort from her than the others she plays. But it's something she can do with her body. At the very least, like any form of physical exertion, it might focus her mind and let her think about things more clearly.

    And so she finds herself awkwardly gliding through the air. It's not clear if her "swimming" movements are helping or not. Maybe. But she gains altitude readily enough with a bit of effort, getting high enough to escape notice from the pedestrians below. One doesn't need to get very far before they simply look like a speck from the ground.

    The view is different from the air. Tokyo is a notoriously difficult to navigate city. Before the advent of GPS, it wasn't uncommon for people to fax each other maps of the area near their homes, to help their friends find their way during visits. Up here, though, it all looks so much simpler. There's the school. The pool. The sports fields where Blue sometimes plays during recess. There's the lilac tree in the center of Seishou's grounds, where Reiko and her friends meet during lunch. And down the road, some distance away, Blue can even spot her house. She doesn't head that way just yet, though. Instead, she finds herself drifting toward the center of the city proper. Right now, she's just flying.

    That house might remind her of things. It's not just her, after all. What would she tell her mom if she got hurt? What if she was injured and couldn't make it to a big swim competition for the sake of her school? How would her life change?

Kaeru Aokawa has posed:
Kaeru Aokawa almost fell a few times but she was starting to get the hand of it - but her only mean of transportation was still just that awkward 'swimming'. She finally stops as she floats near Tokyo Tower, hmmmming softly. "Mom..." she murmurs. "I'm not sure waht to do here..." she whispers as she is hovering in midair, those oddly-inadequate-looking fairy wings managing to hold her aloft as she cradles a frog to her. "How can I explain this, Mom, that I'm now a magical girl, that I have a war to fight?"

She sighs softly as she turns her back on home. "No - they can't know. And I've come home hurt before." She then starts heading in a new direction. Towards the outer edge of Tokyo near the harbor. Looking toward another house that she dreaded - where her dad now lives. With... HER. That woman he married. She thinks her stepmom's horrible and doesn't give her the time of day. But... this new expereince... maybe she was wrong. She tried tothink of anything bad that the stepmom did and can't think of anything." She doesn't descend, but stays up there, just... studying that other house.

Hiroko Koumoto has posed:
    Far beneath Blue, life continues on that street where her father and stepmom now live. It's hard to spot people at this distance, but there's a car approaching . . . only to drive right past, oblivious toward Blue's observations and expectations. That's perhaps another strange thing about the world of magic. While the few fight a desperate battle to avert catastrophe, everyone else just keeps living. Or maybe it's just Tokyo. Tokyo is a city which is built precariously on the knife's edge of disaster. The Earth is sometimes hostile here: earthquakes and vulcanism and, most dangerously, the floods which often result from those events. But it's a city and a culture built to withstand these things. The disaster hardening infrastructure is some of the best in the world here, and people are trained on how to respond. And when things happen, they rebuild.

    They just rebuild and move on. They write off Walpurgisnacht as a freak weather event and D-point as a freak astronomical event. They total up the cost of damage, bury their dead, rebuild, and move on. They don't share the emotional scars the magical girls of this city do. Maybe it's better that way, but it's still a lonely life sometimes. Thankfully, Blue isn't in this fight alone.

    On the street below, Blue can see people now, clearer than before. She's probably losing altitude. Maybe she's getting tired. She's thankfully already some distance past her father's house now. Maybe she should find a secluded spot to land.

Kaeru Aokawa has posed:
Kaeru Aokawa was just drifting idly by, but she is starting to see people clearly. Hmmmm. Maybe she was falling. She looks around. Yeah - she's losing altitude. She moves towards a pond she sees, and awkward tries to 'swim' towards it. She realizes that the water she saw was a park as she moves to splash down in the pond - literally - as she aimed right for the water and ends up in the water. She just floats there, blinking, her eyes not bothered by the water anymore, and she knows hse canhold her breath a while. Eventually she pokes her head up to see who or what is in this little park, and if anyone noticed a blue froggy girl falling in.

Hiroko Koumoto has posed:
    It's quiet here, almost. Blue can hear birds, both those nesting in the park's trees and a few dabbling ducks gliding along the water, their heads occasionally disappearing beneath the surface. But farther away, the sound of cars is audible. There's a major street near here, though it's not quite visible from where Kaeru is. She can, however, see the people who arrived here from that direction. Clustered on one side of the pond, a small crowd has gathered, mostly talking to each other, none of them particularly close. They look young, roughly her age, though she can't make out more than that at this distance. Nobody seems to have noticed her. The far side, though, seems mostly empty, and she could likely easily find a spot to get back onto dry land and unhenshin, if she was in the mood to explore. She'll probably need to for a while, at least until she recovers her energy.

Kaeru Aokawa has posed:
Kaeru Aokawa hmmmmms as she floats in the pond - she climbs out, shaking off - her uniform dries fast - part of the little incidental magicks, as she moves to climb a tree. Getting up into the canopy, she peeks her head out the top to look up at the sky, seeing a bird. She smiles as she sighs, just watches the kids from afar, not quite willing to dismiss her henshin yet. Perhaps... something would happen. Or perhaps she should work up the courage to go by dad's house but knowhing him, he'd just call Mom to tell on her again. Sigh.

Hiroko Koumoto has posed:
    Sometimes children find themselves at the whim of the rules of the adult world. Blue knows what that feels like all too well. She has seen firsthand the ugliness of divorce and custody laws and the intrusion of legality into the home. She watched as her family split into camps, as something whole was torn in two, to be governed by a set of rules meant to be "fair" to adults. Children can have many reactions to those realities.

    But this time, she might not have a lot of time to think about it. She rather readily scales the tree: simple enough for her in her normal form, and easier still in her henshin. Nobody seems to have spotted her yet, though she's a little more exposed now. It might be a good idea to break henshin sooner rather than later. But up in those tall branches, she gets a better view of the area. Now she can see over the smaller trees in the park. She can see the road adjacent to the green of the park, and she can see what lies just beyond it. It's a school, one that looks familiar. She has been here before. Maybe Blue coming to this place was simply an accident, a coincidence. Or maybe some quiet corner of Blue's mind was unwittingly guiding her here. It's hard to know.

    And then her eyes are drawn back down to the crowd next to the lake. Yes, those are students, and she knows that uniform. Like her, it looks like they've just gotten out of school. A moment later, her eyes drawn to a familiar yet distinctive mop of unruly blue hair. It's him. It's her brother.

Kaeru Aokawa has posed:
Kaeru Aokawa squeaks. She just barely manages to break henshin as she jumps out of the tree. She's back in her Seishou uniform as she gets out of the tree. "Kumiko..." she muses. She watches, to see what's going on. She hasn't seen him in a long time - and she has no explanation of why she was so far from her home - on the other side of the city. But she doens't care.

She builds up her courage, tucking the prism away under her shirt, and runs for it. She runs right over there and pulls up, "Kumiko-kun!" she chirps, waving. "Hi..." She then trails off, blushing a bit.

Hiroko Koumoto has posed:
    "Neechan?" is the first word that passes from his lips. Kumiko sounds surprised, and he looks it too, blue eyes a little wider now. There's more than a passing resemblence between the two siblings. He has grown, though that might be hard to tell. To Kaeru's eyes, he might actually look even shorter than when she last saw him. Girls around her age are usually going through a big growth spurt, so the gap in their height might have increased. With how tall she is, she stands a full five inches above him now.

    That height of hers seems to draw a bit of attention. There's a bit of murmuring from his nearby friends. It's nothing malicious. They too just seem surprised to see you. This is likely the first time they're seeing their friend's sister.

    "What are you doing here?" He sounds a little awkward, maybe embarassed at the attention you're getting from his friends, but he catches himself. "I mean . . . it's good to see you. It's just a surprise. Me and my friends sometimes come here after school." His eyes drift to the pond. "I guess it's the kind of place you would like too." He remembers that much, at least.

Kaeru Aokawa has posed:
Kaeru Aokawa smiles. "I know..." she murmurs. "I... well... they canceled swim club with all the weird stuff - so I caught a bus and just... wanted to come here. I missed this park, this pond... and thought... I'd just come by and visit it..." She shrugs. A necessary lie - not like she can say she flew. "I wasn't looking for you, Kumi-kun... just... a lucky coincidence..." She smiles faintly, clicking her tongue. "Yeah - if you listen you can hear the frogs..." she muses as she takes Kumiko by the hand and drags him over to the pond.

Hiroko Koumoto has posed:
    Kumiko waves a brief goodbye to his friends as he finds himself pulled toward the lake. He's hardly weak, but even as an average boy his age, he has never quite been a match for his sister. Not that he seems to mind. "I'll meet you at the usual place!" he calls back to the crowd behind him. There's a handful of waves back, as his peers shout out a few OK's in response and start to drift back toward the main street adjacent to the park.

    And then it's a little quieter. One can hear the frogs, if only barely. There are only a few here. This particular pond was man-made, and though some species have taken advantage of the provided refuge, the diversity and density of life here isn't nearly as high as some of the other places Kaeru likes to visit.

    "Neechan. What is it? Are you OK?"

Kaeru Aokawa has posed:
Kaeru Aokawa sighs. "Yeah... I just ended up over here - just wandering today..." She kneels down as she puts her hand down,a nd makes a few ribbiting noises as one of the green frogs in the pond jumps to her hand. S he just picks it up and gently pets it. "Tell me... tell me about your mother..." she murmurs. "The woman that Dad married... tell me about her... I never gave her a fair shake. And I know I was a total brat during last Christmas." She sighs softly. "Just wondering... if I was being unfair."

She turns to look at you, offering the frog who is sitting happily in Kaeru's hand. "Am I being a total brat about this? I... I'd want our parents to reunite but... that's one dream that'll never come true, huh?"

Hiroko Koumoto has posed:
    The blue-haired boy's eyes again widen, his smile drooping a bit as his face turns more serious. Kumiko doesn't seem to have been expecting that. Maybe he's used to people talking around the issue. Maybe he doesn't like to think about it himself. But he doesn't shy away from it, now that he has been asked. He slowly sits next to his sister, eyes drifting toward the water in front of them.

    He waves off the offer of the frog as he begins to speak. "She . . . I don't know, neechan." There's confusion in his voice. Like her, he's a child. A younger one, at that. "I don't talk to her that much. But she's nice to me. She does most of the things mom used to do." He looks at Kaeru, his voice rising a bit. "I . . . I miss mom too. But you remember how it was sometimes, when dad and mom were together." He pauses, seeming unsure of whether he should say something. "Dad seems happy now. The house is calm." And then he chokes a bit. "It hurts me too. But maybe that's good enough."

Kaeru Aokawa has posed:
Kaeru Aokawa just puts her arm around you. "My house is quiet too. Other than frog song of course..." she murmurs. "I think Mom isn't looking for anyting else - she uses the frogs as a substitute - there must be dozens of them in various terrariums...." She sighs softly. "We even have several blue frogs and even a poison-dart frog but of coursey ou can't touch that one." She sighs softly. "But she's nice... she treats you well..." She sighs softly. "Maybe... I didn't give her a fair shake... next family gathering I'll... I'll try to be better. I bet she doesn't think much of me..."

Hiroko Koumoto has posed:
    "I don't know," Kumiko responds. "I think she . . . " He's interrupted by a buzzing sound, his phone vibrating in his backpack. Pulling his bag in front of himself, he removes the device, staring briefly at the screen before looking back at Kaeru. "It's my friends. They're going to leave soon. I need to work with them on a group project right now, so . . . " He slips the phone into his backpack and slings its over his shoulders once more. Standing, he begins to dust off the grass from his uniform pants. "It was good seeing you again, Neechan. And I'm not sure what she thinks, but . . . she can be nice." He waves, briefly exchanging goodbyes with Kaeru before heading on his way.

    And then the blue-haired girl finds herself again alone by the water's edge. She's about ready for round two by then; enough of her energy has returned that she could probably complete the flight back. Or if she wished to take a more restful route, there's a bus stop just in front of Kumiko's school. She has used it once or twice before. Either way, she'll have enough time to think about what she has learned today. This is progress for her, maybe, in some small measure. It's little sign that, even as she steps into a second, much more dangerous world, the perhaps more important side of her life might be looking up a little.