It's been a warm summer day, the sort that are hot enough to make the city almost steamy, held at bay on the edges by the bits of breeze that make it rather lovely. In the main chunk of the city, the tall buildings hold the air still, and as darkness starts to fall upon the city, the air becomes downright sultry. Lights start to pop up, coming on automatically as daylight starts to fade, and at the touch of dusk, there's a mix of lingering sunlight with harsh street lights marking out their spots.
Naru is clearly on her way somewhere, no longer in her school uniform, she's in a dress instead, dark red and sleeveless, the skirt light and swirly around her legs. There's a few people out and about, going about their evening business, to meet friends and family, a great many coming home from work rather late. The young woman appears to be alone as she travels along.
Evening, dusk, Norie Okana likes the night. Well. She didn't always used to. She used to be afraid of the dark. It seems kind of silly, in retrospect, that she was one of the monsters she used to fear that could be hiding in the dark before. Norie Okana has a job to do soon. She needs a little energy boost.
She has a purple tank top, and a short skirt. She has her 'disguise' off--- more Lacrima than Norie, but still dressed the part-- with long purple hair, deep purple eyes, a pale skin and those slightly sharp canines. She's heading down towards the Neon District, walking today, to hit a club. Find a mark to drain. Be done and back in time.
Ahead of her it's quiet in the evening city tonight. It's perhaps a side street, leaning to not a lot of people going up and down. There's also a lone girl walking.
Alone. With no one nearby--- she gently quickens her pace to catch up. Time to put on an act. She acts all scared.
"H-hey. You're walking alone. Aren't you worried about thugs or jerks on a road like this?" she asks- she does a good job of acting pathetic and worried.
Naru startles a little as Norie comes up beside her, and her attention goes to the other girl. "Er." She starts and then she looks up the street, and down the street and then back to the other girl. "Um. Not really." She considers that and then gestures to the buildings. "I'm more worried about getting lost, to be honest. I've never been to this place before."
Naru glances over Norie a moment. "Are you worried?" She asks, considering the girl's pathetic and worried act, which looks real enough to her.
Norie Okana does a good job of pretending to be worried and pathetic. It's because she used to be, in her head. She remembers what it's like to be afraid of the dark and be afraid of being alone. Her violet eyes are wide. "A little." she says. "I was on my way somewhere and I guess I did get lost!" she says with pursed lips.
"I mean I guess I can just call someone." she says with almost a pout. "Yeah... maybe I'll do tha-----"
As they pass a nearby alley, apparently, a hand grab's Norie's shoulder- from the shadows and drags her into the alley. "Ahhhh!" yells Norie.
Well. That just happened. What's Naru going to do!?
"Where were you trying to go?" Naru asks, a touch of a frown on her face. "Perhaps I can help you find it?" She offers helpfully, reaching for her purse, perhaps for her own phone.
Naru startles as they pass by the alley and a hand reaches out to grab at Norie and first instinct..
"Hey! You let go of her!" Naru is really absolutely terrible at running away from dangerous things, terrible. Awful at it. No, of course she takes a step or two closer, to reach out for Norie to ensure she doesn't just get yanked away.
Norie Okana looks so worried and scared when she reaches out to try to grab Naru's reaching hand almooost as she's about to completely dissapear into the shadows. Her grip is tight, the touch of her skin is cool. That's odd on such a hot day, isn't it?
Then all the worry and and scaredness and pathetictness gives way to a neural expression.
"Wow. That was really easy!" she says as she herself attempts to drag Naru off into the shadows with her-- her strength more apparent now as she /yanks/. "Are you always this trusting to strange worried people in dark places?" she asks.
New plan! Naru takes a moment to process that suddenly she's the one beign yanked by the person she was attempting to rescue, and that moment means she's well yoinked into the alley before she starts trying to back pedal.
"Wait what?" Naru tries to yank her arm back. "Well.. yes, actually. Usually. There's a lot of strange and worrisome. What do you want?" She isn't terribly freaked out, per se, more analytical about the reality of being dragged off somewhere by someone who wans't what she appeared at first.
Norie Okana throws up a wall of black at the entrance to the alley. It should be enough to keep Naru from running away. It'd be different if Naru had any sort of power. Norie doesn't even sense that one way or another. She just keeps that neutral expression, not even a malevonent smile.
"I want your energy. Of course." she says softly. There's this weird dark purple aura around her now. Why are these things always black or purple anyways? Maybe it's the pretty colors of dusk.
A pause. "You're not panicing." she insists. "Why?"
Or green. Green is equally popular as purple if one asks Naru. Black is just classic. Naru glances briefly at the wall of black and then back to Norie.
"Are you planning on killing me?" Naru asks plainly enough and then erms softly at the question of her lack of panic. "I've never found it helps the situation, to scream and freak out and the like."
Norie Okana blinks once. Huh?
"What? No. That's stupid. I'm a vampire. I feed off energy. You'll just wake up super tired in a few good hours. Probably." she says. She's still gripping Naru's hand. Still kind of keeping hold super tight. She has faith she can keep hold of a simple girl.
"Killing humans is stupid when I need them to live, don't you think?" she asks. 'Humans'. She looks human enough. Save for the paleish skin- but that can be explained easily enough as not enough sun.
"One less human, one less food source!" she sings out.
She hasn't started draining yet. Maybe she's suddenly caught up in the conversation. Maybe the talking has caught her off guard. Really. She's used to just screaming as she drains. Then a pause.
"Wait. Only magical girls talk to me." she frowns and almost hisses. "You're not one. /are you/." she asks warninginly.
"Mmmm. Any possibility you could just grab enough to leave me fairly zonked, but still conscious? There's a gallery opening tonight and I /really/ was hoping to go." Naru requests, perfectly reasonably, really.
"Wait? Vampires feed off energy? I thought they fed off blood?" Naru blinks a moment, the surprises going both ways here, really. "That's kinda cool, actually. Makes WAY more sense than the blood thing. Which always seemed kinda gross."
"Uh." Naru hesitates a moment on the question about magical girls.
It's cool? to her? It's /cool/ to Naru?. There's a sudden, palpable fire in her violet eyes. It's so easy to get angry and Naru probably said the wrong thing.
"Yes. It's so /cool/ that I get to become a horrible monster when I rather be dancing, or with my old friends, or even feel actual happiness ever again!" she says with a mock smile that looks wrong- like she's unpracticed smile. But it drops quickly.
"Yes- it's so /cool/ I had to give that all up to be this thing I don't want to be." she says more coldly.
"But that's okay. I'm learning now. I just had to stop caring about what people think of me. I can't belived I wanted to be 'human' again." she spits out hatefully.
"Draneje." she says coldly. That aura begins to encompase Naru's hand and she's begining to drain now. It stings cold.
"No!" Naru protests all of those and tries to yank her hand away, to no avail, but she does try. "It's /not/ cool that you were once someone else, who wanted different things, and not this. That part, not cool at all. It's also not cool at all that you didn't want this. That's very much not cool."
Naru winces at the sting of icy cold as she feels that somewhat familiar sense of lost energy. "The fact that energy drain seems to be so damn common, it's cool in a seriously annoying kinda way."
It's fairly clear in short order that the lack of answer about Naru's magical girl status was not for an attempt to hide any magic, she is as delicate as the human she is.
Norie Okana spits out. "Lies. You say what you mean. Humans always try to hide that in doublespeak and lies. I remember what that's like. That's okay." she says coldly. "I could do this quicker, but I'm going to have a fun doing it slowly now. I wonder how long you can stay awake..." she says softly as she purses her lips.
She hrmphs! "I need energy to keep coherent and not become a feral monster. I don't think I die- but I like having intelligence and being in control of my actions. Don't you?~" she asks mockingly.
She keeps the drain going. Stinging cold, always.
"Usually people come to stop me. Because they don't like that I need to drain energy. Do you see me going around smacking chicken wings out of hands because 'oh no the poor chickens!'" she says with mock concern on her face. "So rude." she hrmphs.
"I do say what I mean." Naru confirms with a nod. "And I'm not couching it in double speak either." She winces again, the chill getting more sharp.
"I don't think you being unhappy at what you've become is cool at all. Nor did I say that to begin with, but you're not in the mood to hear it now. I am sorry about that, I wasn't trying to offend you." Naru sighs a little. "I even offered you energy, if you recall, but instead of compromising, you'll just knock me out. If you could leave me somewhere that I'm not likely to get robbed, that would be appreciated. I mean once I do pass out."
"You'd think cold would numb, but no. Yours does feel different than others, I have to say." Naru comments thoughtfully, her whole posture drooping a little as she starts to lose more energy and her limbs get so much heavier.
Norie Okana keeps draining. She frowns. "You don't get to decide what I want and how much I take. I do." she says coldly. "I tire of those trying to control who I drain from or how much I take." she frowns. "It's so stupid. I don't tell other people how to eat or act, but yet they do it to me." she spits.
She hrmphs! "I don't have blood-- as far as I can figure out-- so I'm cold to the touch. Not warm. As for the drain it always stings a little~" she ings out---
She seems to increase the drain amount a little, she can see Naru's changed posture perhaps.
"Tell me what there is to compromise on?" she asks. "Hrm?" she asks. "What will you try to stake me through the heart?" she asks with mockingly wide eyes, as if she might be foolishly scared of such a thing.
"Typical." she spits out again, hatefully.
"You can ignore me completely, I expect you will." Naru comments as she starts to sink to her knees, her legs just not being willing to hold her up any more. "But there's one person here with doublespeak, and twisted words and it is not me. You claim to be unhappy with being the monster you've become, but it doesn't seem to actually bother you all that much. You're looking for reasons to be pissed at me, to justify draining me, so that you don't feel quite so guilty about it."
"You know as well as I do that I can't do a thing about it, I offered a compromise, you declined, at some point.. not really soon, because by your own words you're trying to make me suffer more, but at some point I'll pass out." Naru reminds, as if Norie needs reminding. "It really does sting, like holding something cold for too long, but all through, as if there's ice chips in my veins or something. It's really very different from Fiore's, which I was not expecting."
Norie Okana frowns. Well that upset her-- her energy drain just increased another bit. "I am unhappy." she spits. "But that doesn't mean I sit on my butt and let myself become a feral monster for the rest of my life. I can enjoy this, and accept the fact I will never be human again- that my lot in life is to hurt others now. Or I can be the mess I was for the first eight months, constantly starving myself, trying to lie to myself, and willing to listen to people who would lie to me about 'fixing me'." she says angrily.
"I was tired of being scared. Now I'm the one frightening others." she insists. "Eat. Or be Eaten." she insists.
"Fiore?" she asks.
"Ow." Naru's breath catches as the drain increases, but she nods in agreement. "I'd argue that you're still scared, but of different things now, and the bluster and telling me how much you're a real monster now is .. well.. never mind. You're not listening anyhow." She bows her head, it's gotten too heavy to hold up as she kneels in the alley.
"Fiore. He's the last one who energy drained me. Plant based." Naru explains, without really explaining all that much. "It felt more hazy, the energy drain part. The thorns were sharp, although not icy sharp. I never really considered how many different ways sharp can feel until right now."
Norie Okana frowns. "I'm answering your questions you just don't like the answers." she says. Or maybe dark minds just think differently. "Or maybe you're just another silly human who can't possibly understand until they fall into the same predicament." she says.
Ohhh how she /wishes/ right now she could turn humans. She'd do it right now. Make this girl like she is. come back in a month, she what a mess she is...
She how she herself must had looked like...
But she can't as far as she knows. Nor does she want to expend the energy to try to flood the girl with her own darkness. She needs it for later. Riventon has given her a job. She needs to see it through.
She huffs. "I don't know why my drain stings. I know it makes it difficult to drain discretely. I need to touch. And it stings. And I need to say-- that word." she says.
"Is it that cold?" she asks curiously now. She's never really asked how it /felt/ she just knows it hurts due to the reactions of others who are clearly not Naru.
"Oh! I'm quite certain I can't understand completely. Of that I have no doubt." Naru agrees with a nod. A slow nod, without the usual pep that it probably would have if she wasn't slowly eeking her way towards the darkness of unconsciousness. "That's part of what I'm trying to understand."
Naru lets her eyes close, the lids heavy now, but her voice is still surprisingly strong, all things considered. "Do you always have to ambush people, or do you have any regulars who are willing to be donors?" Naru asks, an edge of curiosity to that question. She nods again at the mention of cold. "It's weird cold. Like having little shards of ice under my skin, which makes no sense, because you're pulling energy out, not putting things in. It's not like crippling pain, but it does hurt. More now than when you started, too."
Norie Okana scours. "Donors. I had one. A friend. But then that jerk... Kukai. He tried to protect her and now she's in a coma." she hisses. "He had to get involved in bussiness that wasn't his. She wanted to help! One of the only people who truly wanted to help me!" she spits out.
"And he ruined everything!" she frowns. "Forced me to take /too much/ in the fight."
"How would anyone else willingly giving me energy be any different!? Back to the anology of.. knocking chicken wings out of hands!" she frowns.
She keeps that drain up. "It hurts? More? Hrm. See. Usually. I just take everything in a fast drain." she says. "From awake to sleeping in an instant~ I wonder if that hurts more if this hurts more..." she muses.
She then... abousltely scowls and releases Naru's hand, ending the drain. It appears she did not infact, take it all.
Naru slumps a little, as her hand is let go, the stopping almost as startling as the starting was and she stays as she is for a while longer, knelt with her head bowed, her arms limp.
But conscious.
"Well. I'd say at a guess on why someone else would be different than Kukai, would probably be because they aren't Kukai." Naru notes with her eyes still closed.
"Okay, it's weird when you stop." Naru comments and she shivers, as if all the cold hits her at once now that the drain is gone. "The hurt stops right away, but the cold takes a few moments to dissapate. That was really freaky." She slowly lifts her head to look at Norie, opening her eyes. "I'll heal back what you took, I mean it takes a little while. Won't whoever's in a coma do the same? Eventually, longer I guess if you took more." She mmmms softly, thoughtfully.
Norie Okana frowns. "Her idiot girlfriend was there. She uses some sort of purifying light magic that hurt a lot. I hate it." she says with a frown. "/She/ tried to stop me too." she says.
She frowns. "You always recover if you're not dead~" she insists. "She isn't dead. Neither are you. How lucky!~" she sing songs out.
"I don't expect humans to change." she insists at Naru. "Looking back I even see how I was like that." she insists. "They'll always be those who want me to curl up and die-- even when people volunter like that!" she spits.
"It is lucky. I'm fond of not being dead, thank you." Naru replies sincerely, her voice quiet still. "People do change, but humans aren't a single thing any more than magical girls are a single thing, or vampires are a single thing. There's differences between individuals, and those are really quite different."
Naru takes a deep breath, slowly starting to move arms, and flex legs, and see how much energy she has left for possibly even getting up off the ground. Perhaps not just yet.
Norie Okana frowns and hrmphs as she brushes off her arms a bit. "I've been proven wrong repeatedly every time I've given humans the benefit of the doubt since I've become this thing. I don't see that changing any time." she insists. "I'll take care of myself." she frowns.
"I know who I can trust now." she says. "And that's all that matters." she looks around and leans down---
"You should be fine. You're awake- after all. You'd be unconcious if you weren't 'fine'." she insists.
She begins to walk away. Then a pause. "Thank you for the energy." she says. Afterall, being a jerk isn't cause to be THAT rude.
Before she turns the corner and out the alley.