Things bothered Norie Okana the last time she saw Sachiko Hayakawa-- and her 'sister' that was very obviously 'not that' to her. Norie, mainly, did not like being told to back off from somthing that she was there FIRST to. So she chose to flagrantly disobey the wants and desires of some silly monster pretending to be a human like she was.
What's a monster like her going to do to herself? Put more dark energy in her? Feh!
So thusly, Norie Okana was out in the late afternoon. The sun was bright and on the cusp of slowly turning to dusk. Still time to run home and get home on time for many people before dark.
She'd grown accustomed to that energy scent. She'd joked before, that Sachiko was a cinnamon bun. Well now she almost smelled like one to the vampire.
She softly padded down the path, somewhere near the library- and somewhere near a pond, as she kept alert. Looking. Stopping and looking around. Continuing forward. Repeating these motions.
She was hopefully getting close, she figured- to her cinnamon haired target.
Sachiko is on the little bridge that spans the koi pond, dressed in a bathing suit beneath her jean shorts, leaning over the railing with a stick in one hand. The end of that stick has a little string tied to it, with a leaf at the very edge. "C'mon fishies," she says, as she leans out over the water, "You know you're hungry." She has her hair up in a pair of braided ponytails, and no shoes on in the late-spring heat. At least she looks comfortable!
It's been a difficult decision, but for the past few days Kukai Souma has been keeping an eye on Sachiko from a distance. It's been more complicated than he wanted to be, but hey, it seems to be working. She's been in school and at home lately, and he hasn't seen anything happening. And she doesn't know what he looks like in normal form, which is good.
So for now he's at a nearby stall, poking at a bowl of noodles, watching Sachiko play in the koi pond. She seems happy, and calm. Which is good. No more of that stupid necklace - at least not that he can see from here.
Momo Akatsuki trails along in a rather simplistic pink sundress, with an equally simplistic plastic visor hat on her head as pink hair flows down her neck and slightly along her back. She had an appointment to keep, a meeting with a friend at the bridge. She was very excited, and even had a special pink donut that she'd managed to get at a nearby bakery that she was going to give to Sachiko when she got there. It was wrapped in wax paper with a small silk ribbon of dusty rose pink tied about it, a colour that Momo felt fit both her and Sachiko to some degree.
Norie's eyes trace down on Sachiko. She smiles. Not too far away. Her senses served her well here. She's walking toward's there--- her eyes shifting, her hair shifting-- dropping the guise of Norie along her walk in the slowly dissapearing light. It'll be early evening soon.
She doesn't see Momo approaching. She doesn't notice Kukai watching from afar. She approaches Sachiko slowly, sliding up along her. She turns her head and looks into the water as koi and other fish swim by. She purses her lips.
Does Sachiko really think she can catch koi with a leaf? She shrugs. "Hello Sachi-chan~" she says softly.
"How are you?" she asks, just the hint of some sort of upturned lips. Going for a smile, but stopping about halfway to let them drop back down.
"I enjoy the dance the other day." she says, just a little breathily. "Did you?" she asks.
Sachiko yelps in surprise as Norie speaks up next to her. "Ai! Where did you come from?" she asks, nearly dropping her little stick in the process. She peers at Norie, then looks around, then smiles. "Yes, I enjoyed the dance. And Momo-chan is coming here now, too. We're going to go see the animals at the zoo together."
A few more noodles go up into Kukai's mouth with the chopsticks as he looks over at Sachiko again - and nearly chokes on them as he sees Lacrima standing next to her. That was the last thing he wanted to see today, or ever. He taps the table. "Hey, chef, got to run for a second, keep the bowl waiting for me, huh?"
He stands up from the stall and turns, moving off and looking around. There's nowhere to change around here, dammit - not many bushes, and no empty back rooms. He loses sight of Sachiko looking for somewhere - there! A small copse of trees and bushes. It'll do, and thankfully there aren't many people around. He hopes Sachiko's ok...
Momo's Chroma Crystal pulses without her noticing. She'd already seen what it detected, and was watching with rapt pink-eyed attention with eyes that looked like saucers. Part of her wanted to change, but she'd made a promise.
That promise actually kept her from moving forward because something told Momo if she went any closer she'd stop being able to keep that promise. She'd stand there, a sentinel on the path to the bridge just up on a small hill, and watch as things unfolded.
Lacrima can almost feel pink eyes upon her. Or maybe the potential purification powers nearby is making her uneasy. She doesn't turn around though, to regard Momo. She still doesn't see Kukai. She smiles a bit. "I'm rather glad." she says softly. "That you enjoyed that dance." she says.
"So you're going to the zoo? That'd be a waste of your time, wouldn't it? Isn't it close to your bedtime...?" she asks, just innocently--- hand slowly reaching toward's Sachiko-- as if to place a hand on her shoulder.
It's for pretty obvious reasons. Maybe Sachiko won't catch on. Maybe the others will.
Sachiko blinks in confusion, then looks around at the park. "Well, it's sti ll open for another hour or two," she says, "and it's a weekend." She doesn't flinch away from Norie. Why would she? "Anyways, it's not my bedtime yet. And if it was I'd just ignore it."
Ever have that horrible moment where you run into a small patch of trees and bushes for whatever reason only to almost fall into a pair of teenagers canoodling on a blanket in privacy? Yeah, so has Kukai, now. Horribly red in the face he waves off the shocked, mystified boy and girl, clambering back through the bushes. "Sorry, sorry!"
Dammit. Where to now, then? Wait, there's a nearby standalone bathroom. Hopefully it's empty. Kukai charges towards it, starting to panic a little now in the back of his mind. He bursts into it and a few seconds later there is a bright flash of light from inside. Sky Jack lunges back out, running hard even as he summons his flying skateboard, hoping against hope that he's not too late.
Momo's lips curl up and her foot steps forward but something stops her. Momo is a Good Girl. What she wants to do is breaking a promise to her girlfriend, the her best-friend, to her first friend her age. She can see and thanks to her Chroma Crystal, know, what is going on. She can't bring herself to break the promise though so she just stands there. Hating herself for being a Good Girl. Hating Sachiko for making her pinkie promise. Hating Lacrima for existing. Hating the world for being like that.
Momo stands there. Kukai is incoming and as Lacrima places a hand on Sachiko's shoulder a moment---- she suddenly clamps her hand down a little hard as she clenches her teeth together as her eyes trace upward across the way. To the spark of green.
She suddenly shoots around and NOW she notices Momo-- and her teeth clench.
She looks back to Kukai. There's a flash of purple from her location as the rest of her costume actually comes into existence--- not just the looks.
"Kukai. Souma." she says with a tone dripping of ice. "I wonder what his rush is. I know whyyyy~" she says to Sachiko.
"He doesn't want me to take what you offer so freely~" she speaks in that sing song tone. Her eyes trace down to Momo-- she wears a really smug look down at her. What will Momo do?
Sachiko's eyes widen as Lacrima clamps down on her. "Norie-chan, you're hurting me," she whimpers quietly, then looks towards Kukai and Momo. "If you need energy, just take some and then leave us alone. I wanna go to the zoo."
Sky Jack is still racing back towards Lacrima, even as most of the normal people in the area are leaving because of the growing magical influence. He sees her place her hands on Sachiko and wills himself to go faster, seeing that flash of purple, trying to get to them. "Sachiko! SACHI! Get away from her!" It's not sure which one that last bit is aimed at...
Prism Keeper Pink appears where Momo stood after a bright flash of light right there in the middle of the path. The promise had been broken. Norie didn't keep away, and now.... Now Pink wouldn't keep away either. Cameras appeared around her, like she was some sort of celebrity except they faced outwards. The small wings on her back started to flutter and then she was zipping towards Norie with flames of hot pink flickering in her eyes.
Lacrima holds on tight to Sachiko, not relasing, not letting go--- for reasons that become clear as she lifts herself up and off the ground attempting to take Sachiko with her. Sky Jack knows how to fly. Pink has wings. She can hover and float. "Get away?" she asks. "Why? So you can hurt her further? Like you did my other friends?" she snaps at Kukai. "You're no better than the filthy boys I drain. No more. I'm done keeping promises for liars and creeps. I'll drain whoever I feel like." she says coldly at Kukai again.
Prism Keeper Pink flies in- she lifts her otherhand and fires off a bolt of dark energy. A warning shot. "Take one more foot forward and I'm draining her now." she snaps. "This is between me... and Kukai." she warns. Not like Pink has to obey such silliness. She looks down at Sachiko with bemused eyes a moment. She's expecting incoming soccer balls any moment really. Of course. She's also holding Sachiko in the air now-- unless Sachiko wormed her way out before lifting off!
Sachiko squeals unhappily as she's lifted from the ground. She looks wildly towards Sky Jack, then towards Prism Keeper Pink. "What's going on!?" she asks, confused and scared. "Norie-chan, put me down," she begs, "put me down, I didn't do anything. No one will hurt you if you put me down. What are you doing?"
Jack can see the blazing hot pink figure approaching from the side now - she must have been watching out over Sachiko as well. It's obvious they were both trying to take care of her without interfering, but now...
He pulls up to a stop, glaring at Lacrima as she speaks. "Your other friends are all filled with dark energy! I've been trying to help you, but you'd rather do this the hard way! I'm not going to let you hurt her, and if you start draining whomever you like I'm going to take it personally!"
A soccer ball does spawn in front of him, but he's not sure he could fire one without Lacrima moving Sachi to block it. Still, it's as much a warning symbol as her dark bolt a moment ago was. "Put Sachiko down. Don't hurt her. Otherwise this is going to be a very bad day for you."
Prism Keeper Pink scowls at Lacrima, her small lips curling into a much older expression, one that humans and their ancestors have been showing since time in memorum. Pure, unadultered hate. "If you hurt her, the last thing you'll ever have to worry about is who your next victim is. You won't have to worry about anything anymore ever.". The constructs muscle together, eventually a large pink camera construct right behind her back as if there to re-iterate the point her words are trying to make.
Lacrima talks to Sachiko. "No... No they'll /hurt me/." she spits out. "They lie. They cheat." she says. "They don't care. They just say things to let themselves sleep at night." she says. "Do you know who's been keeping thier promises to me, Kuaki!?" she asks. "Riventon. /He/ figured out how I can /be myself/ for longer. While you sat on your butt. Pretending to help." she says.
She does, however, ignore further pleas. Sachiko is now a tool to use in this situation. She raises her upwards.
"Draneje." she says sternly, clearly, for the two to hear, as that slightly purple aura encompasses Sachiko, and she begins to drain her.
keeping her eyes trained on Kukai, clearly, just daring him and Momo to stop her this time.
She isn't fooling around this time.
Sachiko whimpers. "I never pretended," she says to Lacrima, clearly upset at the accusation. "I tried to help you. I just wanted to dance with you. I always let you take what y--" she cuts off as Lacrima begins to drain her, with a high-pitched squeak of pain and terror. "No ... don't ..." she begs.
Jack yells back at Lacrima. "You're hurting someone who wants to help you! We've been trying to help you but you won't let us! You want to listen to Riventon and his lies!"
And then Lacrima raises Sachiko and that purple glow begins surrounding them. With an angry yell, Jack launches the soccer ball towards Lacrima's exposed feet and lunges towards her, the cricket bat forming into his hands almost instantaneously, intent on knocking her away from Sachiko and ending that awful, painful squeal from the young girl!
Prism Keeper Pink goes beyond words and reason and just drops below and then up behind the camera. There's a satisfying *CLICK* as it starts firing a wildly erratic, completely undirected beam of pure energy. Her fury is too much to let her focus it the way she should. She just tries to feed more and more of the fury into it, but it's entirely uncertain if she's even touching Norie with it. There's just a hope that all of it is touching her and she's in immense pain while Sachiko is not.
Lacrima darts upwards, away from Sky Jack to the right--- she's prepared for him. The ball goes flying past and then he's coming up with the cricket bat. He hrmphs. All while still holding onto Sachiko. Luckily, this series of movement has caused her to stop draining- so that purple glow has dimmed. Does she need to be still to drain? Or concentrate? Or maybe it just mkaes it easier to keep her eyes on not getting destroyed.
Then... purifying beams of color energy from Prism Keeper Pink, they rake across her area and one hits in her chest---and the other, past her upper left arm-- the off hand she isn't carrying Sachiko with. This leaves ghastly wounds on her person-- black ichor and foul smelling mist.
"Nrg....." she looks down at her wounds. Reminders that she isn't human... there's no blood or tissue or bones there Just. Black. grisly--- gunk.
Lacrima considered Sachiko a friend. A dance partner. But even that was tried to be taken away from her recently-- not by anyone here of course.
Much like Momo she hates this stupid world. She has grievous, purification caused wounds. She's going to heal them. She's going to heal them the best way she knows how....
"Draneje." she calls out again. She begins to drain--- again-- channeling that power. Channeling it into trying to repair this awful damage to her person while she avoids fire.
This is a little more than Sachiko is used to giving willingly at this point- most certainly.
Sachiko gasps when the draining stops. "N--norie," she whimpers. "Stop," begging, in that small voice. "Stop!" she calls out, louder, to Prism Keeper Pink and to Sky Jack. "Don't hurt each other! Please, stop fighting!" She reaches up and hugs Lacrima. "Stop fi--" and then she's being drained again, and she was already tired from the first. She screams out in pain and anguish, and tears begin to flow down her face as Lacrima draws her life force into herself. "S..stop," she begs again, but she's already seeing stars, her vision going dark.
Jack follows upwards after Lacrima, knowing his ball would probably miss. "DAMMIT! Stop this immediately, Lacrima! You're hurting her!" He sees the beams from Pink slash across the dark figure and wound her badly. This is his chance!
He lunges forward on the skateboard at Lacrima, trying to come in under or past Sachiko, the cricket bat in his hands crackling with electricity, intent on forcing Lacrima to stop her awful draining of the little girl! "Let her go! Can't you hear her?! Stop!"
Prism Keeper Pink realises on some level that it was probably her attack that urged Lacrima on. After all, the vampire had said if she attacked she'd hurt Sachiko. This particular knowledge was too heavy for Pink to bear and she fell in a dizzying spiral of despair towards a swathe of trees and didn't emerge that could be seen.
Lacrima can feel the hug. Somewhere inside herself, she snaps. Norie-chan. /Norie-chan/. /Norie-chan/. "LACRIMA. I'M LACRIMA!" she spits out. It's most likely the stress of everything right now giving her an identity crisis. Between some sort of guilt of draining Sachiko, between her hate for Kukai, and the purification aftershock that coursed through her from those pink beams she's draining to heal.
She's cracking. Wide eyed. Almost in that feral state Kukai's seen once before- but not recently.
She lets Sky Jack get close with the bat- it impacts---
But this time she throws her hand forward trying to touch Kukai this time.
"....DRANEJE!" she calls out. This time... despite the shock from the electrified bat-- she attempts to drain both-- Kukai and Sachiko at once with wide eyes. Sachiko--who's taken more of an energy drain anyone else she's ever drained-- and Kukai-- who's having the attempted drain now. At least Kukai can use this moment to try to get Sachiko away more properly regardless.
Pink seems to be off the field-- not like she has surpreme awareness at the moment.
"No," Sachiko whimpers, barely the energy to even speak, now. "You're Norie-chan," she says, just before the darkness takes her. The little girl's body goes limp, as Lacrima continues to drain her energy. But there's nothing left; she's a dry well of emptiness. Even breathing is fast becoming too much effort. So she gives up on that, too, for the moment.
Jack is too close to dodge the hand. She slams it into his chest and begins sucking away his energy, his life force. Fortunately, he is strong and built for endurance and speed, but his energy is rich and healthy and filling, even if his own powers prevent her from pulling as much as she might from Sachiko or any unprotected person. It's still painful and draining.
Kukai drops the cricket bat, which vanishes before it hits the ground, and tries to ignore the freezing chill of Lacrima's hand on his chest as he reaches out and wraps his arms around Sachiko, veering backwards hard and pulling at her, trying to pull the little girl away from the energy vampire - he's got her and he won't let go!
Lacrima listens to Sachiko, who insists she's still Norie. No.. no not like this. Sky Jack finally succeeds in taking Sachiko away from her--- and she almost lets it this time. She blinks once and looks down at herself. She doesn't know why. Her expression's suddenly changed to it's normal neutral state.
There's Sachiko, limp in Kukai's arms... and...
She doesn't feel anything. Nothing.
Not 'bad', not 'remorseful' she feels well energized. Full. 'content'.
'Content'.
She lost something again tonight. She doesn't know what. Maybe...
Maybe she doesn't want to know right now. She just clenches her teeth--- and before Sky Jack and retaliate again- or Pink can come flying from somewhere--- she steps backs into suddenly flare of shadow-- into the Dusk Zone- and away from here.