2554/On A Very Special Episode Of Curse Hunters...

On A Very Special Episode Of Curse Hunters...
Date of Scene:	08 March 2017
Location:	Plot Room #1
Synopsis:	Norie talks to Alexis about recent events and also the awful reality of ENERGY ADDICTION.
Cast of Characters:	Norie Okana, Alexis Raskoph

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Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana has sent a text to Alexis asking him to come to the manor. Norie herself has had enough time to be accustomed to her body again. She hasn't had enough time to see if there are long term emotional impact. She still needs to check in with Alexis.

Norie is wearing a fancy dress, and more Lacrima than Norie, with pale skin and the purple features with her hair and eyes. She's staring out a window on the upper floor in the main study.

She seems to be looking down at the grass which is starting to green in the upcoming spring, slowly.

Soon she'll be able to make a garden in her backyard. She closes her eyes softly as she takes a deep breath.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
It takes a while for Alex to respond to the text with so much as "I'll be there." Which might not normally be that noteworthy, but usually when he responds directly to a text message, it comes at the kind of speed that defies all logic.

Not to mention that it takes a considerable amount of time for him to actually arrive to the mansion. More time than he usually takes, anyway. At least, when he does get close enough for her to actually sense his presence, she can tell that he's (finally) coming straight for her.

ANd it is such, then, that a quiet tap of boots along the floor echoes through to her ears, closing in. All the way up until Alex, with his hood up, has come to stand besides her before the window, his own eyes turning to peer down through it.

He doesn't say anything. At least not yet. He just imposes himself to standing there.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana reopens her eyes and looks up and to the right. "Hello Alexis-kun." she says. She turns back around and sighs as she walks to the center of the room. "I have recently gone through an ordeal where my mind was switched with someone else's. If I was acting not like myself recently, it's because I was infact, not myself." she says.

"I am back in my proper body now." she says coldly. "As much as I hate it." she says as she walks to the couch on the far side of the room. It's an old antique two seater.

"How are you faring?" she asks. "No one's come to me with complaints so I assume you are doing your best." she says quietly.

"How goes your patrols with that girl?" she asks.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"Hello, Norie," responds Alex in kind-- but despite the straightforward verbal answer and the deadpan tone it is carried out with, the greeting doesn't really end there. While she's still there, within hand's reach, his hand goes up, to splay along the top of her head and brush there lightly, for just a brief moment. It's perhaps more instinctive at this point, but it is still strangely affectionate-- almost sibling-like at that.

He doesn't move after her when she walks for the way of the couch, however-- but he does keep his eyes on her when she does, turning at the window just enough that he can maintain eye contact.

"...That's what it was, then," he murmurs quietly. "I thought something was off." His nose wrinkles once, and his head tips to the side. "Who... Was that?"

His head turns to direct his gaze away from her once she asks about *him*, however, and he promptly responds to it by way of "I'm fine." Obviously very deliebrately curt.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana seems to let that action happen. She doesn't respond to it, but she does readjust her hair. She head tilts at Alexis. "Kukai Souma. That's who I was switched with. I. Used the time to. To feel things I did not have a chance to feel before I became this thing. I also thought hard about some things without the fog clouding my head in pessimistic thoughts." she says.

"I wrote myself a letter for the future to myself while I had the clear head. I did lots of things I'd taken for granted. Like finish a comedy series I liked that had ended while I was like this. It was nice to laugh at it and get to the end." she says.

"I was a mess for a few days when I returned to my body. I am. Acceptable now. I don't feel like where I was before it happened. Which..."

"Before. This happened. I met with...."

"He is. A boyfriend. Of sorts. Boyfriend in waiting? We'll call him that." she says. "And. I was. Able to ask. Something. That I felt I could not. I asked if..."

"I made him happy."

"--and it hurt to ask. It felt like I'd assaulted myself with positive energy. I'm not sure if the effect was the same. He. Replied. Positively." she doesn't say how.

"I think.. I think it may be possible to force positive emotions in this way. Eventually. I imagine it would hurt like that did." she says. "But. It's now a course of study I'm going to look into." she says.

"In case. In case if we can't fix you. You deserve to have your emotions back. I'm sorry I stole them from you and cursed you this. I know you don't hate me for it. I know you will forgive me. That still. Doesn't make it okay it happened." she says quietly.

"...and I still would had done it if it meant saving you. I realized. That much when I was in that other body." she says.

"That girl. The blue haired one. You patrol with. Offered to feed 'me' when I was not myself. I don't think she's realized I was not myself." she squints.

"Alexis. Has she offered you, energy?" she asks softly. "Please do not avoid this question. It is actually particularly important I know."

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"... I don't recognize that name," states Alex in a quiet murmur. "He seemed to recognize me, though. Maybe... Did you two have access to each others' memories while you were like that?" Beat. "Or maybe my reputation just precedes me. I'm... not sure how to feel about that."

"Worry about your own happiness, first," he offers to her after her explanation and the theory of positive emotion and such, and his eyes slowly turn to return to her. "You have been this way... longer than I have. And in the end, it at least gave me... a chance to see some people again. So if I can't be fixed, it wouldn't feel right, if... I achieved that before you."

"If I do get fixed, then..." His eyes close briefly. "...Please pursue it still. You deserve it just as much as I do. If not more.

Then there's *that* question. His brows move downwards and scrunch together, and he turns away from Norie again-- very clearly, he's actually considering the option of avoiding the question, despite her urging not to. At least until he eventually brings himself to mutter, "...Yes."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana listens and shakes her head. "Well if it works for me then it should work for you /easier/ as you're still human on some base level." she says quietly. "I have to work harder for it because of what I am. The upside is that Kukai knows what it's like to be this thing and has thusly stopped giving me shit about my actions." she says bemusedly.

She purses her lips. "And. Have you taken it. And has she told you about the specifics of her magic yet? Mind you. You're not the one in danger here." she says quietly.

"I get the specific impression you have certain fondness for her. And I get the impression she has a certain fondness for you back. And. When we are... fond of people..."

"Sometimes we don't tell them everything when we can help them." she says.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"'Fond'," Alex repeats after Norie, and he wrinkles his nose. He's no longer facing her, so she might not see it, but she'll probably be able to *tell* he's doing as much. They've been around each other enough for her to probably have picked up on some of his tics.

"I... don't really know how I feel about her," he claims, with a quiet breath let out in a sigh. "I didn't know her before I... turned. And it's... At least for me, hard to process... thoughts like that, now." It probably doesn't help a whole lot that even before he turned into a demi-vampire he wasn't particularly perceptive about girls liking him even if he happens to be otherwise incredibly observant. Just ask Naru.

"Otherwise..:" He frowns, and his head lowers downwards, slowly. "...I know enough."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana listens. "That's an acceptable answer. I didn't even know how love... romantic love. Felt. Until I was in Kukai's body. I used that time, to tell people that I loved them. It was nice. I know how it feels now."

She frowns. "You know enough. You understand that, feeding from a Puella Magi is a bad idea, for the Puella Magi then?" she asks. "They need to constantly recharge themselves with things a monster drops. Without those things. They die. That's how they charge their magic and person."

"Basically...." she purses her lips.

"When you take energy from anyone else, it's like a drink with a free refill. They will be filled back up with rest and food." she says. "A Puella Magi is like a drink where you need to pay for the refill with a Grief Seed or a Grief Cube." she says. "Or else it doesn't fill back up." she says.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"At least, from what you have said," mutters Alex, with another breath let out. "If I... turn back, maybe I will be able to figure out, then." He bites at his lower lip, for just a brief split of a second. "Part of me wondered if I would even remember her properly if that were to happen."

Funny how he keeps talking about that as an "if" rather than a "when".

"I know," he claims then, on the matter of the Puella, and his eyes drift further away from Norie, to peer through the window. "... I know."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana nods. "Very well." she says. "But that is why I do not drain Puella Magi. Even if it's offered." she says. "I am glad you know." she says quietly.

"Please understand. I do not like this girl. But she is your friend. So. I will look out for her when the chance presents herself." she says. "Even if she decides to go on one of her little justice rants and try to fight me again." she sighs.

She head tilts. "I'm glad you're doing the best you can Alexis." she says quietly.

"I know this is difficult. I will continue to try to find a way to reverse this." she says quietly.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"... I fed from her once," Alex admits then, and his head turns itself further downwards, while his arm reaches to the frame of the window by the wall, pressing into it to help support his own weight as it leans forward. "Before I... knew. I don't feel proud of that. Especially since..."

"...It felt good. Better than I thought it would. It was so... filling, and felt more... I don't know what it was, but it was just *more*. Better. Enough I ended up doing it longer than I usually do. Enough I had to carry her home. I almost lost control. And, yet... Even now I still..."

The hand propped against the window moves to press it's palm against his face. "I still want to taste her."

... That probably did not come out the way he intended.

He peeks back at her, to the way of the couch, for just a moment. "...Please do not think too badly of her. She is... a good person. She just has... very strong ideas. About justice, and the sort. It's not like I don't find those same ideas... familiar. Even if I am not so tied to them anymore."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana blinks as Alexis says those things.

"Alexis, you need to stop feeding from her." she says plainly. "You're becoming addicted to her energy. The same thing happened to me with Sachiko. That's what made me drain her into a corner."

"I can't /make/ you do anything. But those are the signs I became addicted to Sachi-chan's energy. It's... very. Cinnamon bun. Her scent." she says.

"And when I am around her it's like something good in a very very dark world I live in and it's hard to ignore and not want to touch her and drain."

She shakes her head.

"Just. Please. Be careful." she says. "I don't want you to have to go through hurting someone who only wanted to help you." she says quietly.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"I *know* I can't!" Alex suddenly lets out in a snap and a growl, and his hand slams itself forward from his face into the windowframe. "And I haven't done it again! I just... Ngh. I just..."

A sound leaves Alex's throat. It's something akin to a whimper, but not quite-- still, the breath that comes out with it, is shaky enough to be noticed in not just his voice but in the way his body moves upon leaning forward to carry his forehead to pressing against the glass of the window.

"...I find myself having to consciously stop myself sometimes. When I'm with her."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana nods. "I understand." she says deadpan. "When I'm around Sachiko there's that. Cinnamon scent that just absorbs into my senses and it makes me twitchy. I've learned to control myself, since I've stopped fighting my hunger- It became easier to be around her. It's less 'I /need/ to drain her' and more 'I /would like/ to drain her.'." she says.

"It is still a conscious effort for me, too. What's important is that you know and are stopping yourself." she says.

She doesn't seem upset about the outburst.

"-and if I can stop myself. You can, Alexis-kun. You are still human somewhere in that body." she says. "Me?..."

"Even this form is false. This isn't my real form. Norie isn't my real form. My real form is something awful and dark. This is just a form I can take that has absolutely no 'overhead' of energy usage." she says.

"If I can do it. You can do it. Just. Please. Don't give up." she says quietly. "Don't please."

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"I'm trying," claims Alex with a heavy sigh. "I... I really am. It's just..." He cuts himself off there, and slowly starts turning himself around-- he still doesn't step himself away from the window, but now he can instead lean his back against it, so that he can face Norie. "... You've heard all of that before, haven't you? ... Or rather, experienced it. I don't really get to whine about it to you."

"Still..." He turns his eyes briefly to the side from her, and to staring at some dark wall. "I'm surprised you have as much faith in me as you do."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana says. "You're still human Alexis." she says quietly. "Just a darkness tainted, cursed human, but. You have a physical form. You're not a mass of dark energy with an intelligence." she says.

Then she begins to list to one side and catches herself.

"I need to go rest in the basement for a few hours." she says. "I am well but I am still have small tired spats. I will be over them in a few days yet." she says as she stands up. "There's food in the house. You're welcome to stay in one of the guest rooms. I need to head to my coffin." she says quietly.

"If you need me. Come to the basement and just knock on the top." she says.