Lacrima often came here when the Church had closed and everyone was gone and it was empty. She often used this place to reflect. There was someething about it. That was familar. Not calming nessacrily, but. It felt better than--- well some other places in Japan. She was pretty sure, at this point, that it was the more western architechture of the church-- an A-frame building with a steeply and stained glasses windows.
She appeared-- in a flash of black energy in the middle of the aisle. Not as Norie, but as Lacrima--- a form she'd taken to using more and more recently when she was able to. She looked around. No one in shock surprise. It's just her. Good, she thinks.
She walks a few steps up the aisle and has a seat in one of the pews.
She sits and she thinks. Hands against her dress in her lap as she frowns, looking down at her hands, she flexes a them a bit as she sighs.
Jiaying Maki is back at the church, having determined that she would find out if western churches would make her bounce or catch fire or something. One might notice she's got some water nearby in a small bucket. She doesn't really believe it buuut....
Still, she's wearing her hoodie, a scarf and a pair of cargo pants and she seems to be barefoot. That's an odd one really. She's not out of her disguise or anything mind. So when she tests the door and finds it open, she's totally surprised. Taking a breath, she steps through the doorway, looks around, then begins laughing. Why had she been so worried?
Lacrima looks up. Huh? Did the door just open. She frowns a bit and turns her head to look back at the door, narrowing her eyes a bit. She's expecting... Ikiko. or Ayana. They'd be the only ones to look for her here. Maybe they heard about what she did to Sachiko...
Then it's... neither? She has to search her memory. Oh! It's the girl from the ice cream shop that one time...
She purses her lips a bit, as she head tilts.
"What is so funny, Jiaying-san?" she asks.
Lacrima would not be recognizeable to Jiaying at first. Jiaying met her as Norie.
This is Lacrima. This looks like someone different.
Jiaying Maki jumps quite literally at the sound of a voice. She spins quickly on her heels and says out of reflex, "Shui wo ma?" before frowning and muttering, "Oops. Hi! Whoever... you are." She leans forward to get a better look at the girl, wondering why she didn't come as herself to make the whole seeing in the dark thing easier.
It clicks after a moment and she asks, "I wanted to see if I could get inside without... why are you here?" She decides to try and change the subject, not wanting to admit she was testing the limits of western architecture, belief or her own ignorance!
Lacrima mmmms. "Oh." she says. "It's me. Norie. Remember. From the Ice Cream Shop. This my form when I'm not in disguise." she says softly. She looks back ahead. She sighs a bit and places her hands onto her lap as she leans back more straightwards rather than slouching. "This is the spot I come to think and reflect." she says softly. "Usually. I also eat here. But. Not today." she says. "'Eating Food' for me is just an entertainment activity. I don't get sustence from it."
"I'm not feeling like being entertained right now." She says with a soft frown as she looks back forward to the front of the church.
"Tell me, Jiaying-san. Do you feel regret when you do something bad...?" she asks softly.
Jiaying Maki looks around quietly and steps into the church proper, a surprisingly subtle movement for the girl involving reaching behind herself and removing something from behind her. There's a subtle shift and the fact that she's magical and all! She's indoors so she doesn't worry about dogs or anything though. She takes a seat on the pew and looks over to Lacrima and hesitates before answering, her breath caught. "I do if I think it was bad? That's kind of a flexible term though isn't it?"
She frowns briefly and her disguise drops completely, leaving her ears still hidden by her hoodie, but there's a floofy tail suddenly visible and her eyes seem to almost glow in the minimal light. Much better! And maybe it'll put the girl at ease or something. She's not completely sure why she did that.
Lacrima blink a moment. "Ah. You're a foxgirl." she says softly. "I know another foxgirl. Her name is Ayana-chan. I thought you were her at first. She's only one of two people that know I come here." she says softly. She frowns a bit.
"I have a friend. She lets me drain her. But her 'friends' disagree with that and try to stop me. I tried to drain her the other day. They interfered. I ended up draining her in the battle. Now she's in a coma. One of those friends is telling me she might not wake up."
She frowns.
"I don't even feel bad about it." she says as she looks back down to her lap. "No... regret. Or remorse. I dunno if. Being upset at not feeling bad is remorse in itself. I don't even know. It's so stupid and confusing." she says as she gnashes her teeth together.
"It's like every month... I lose /something/."
Jiaying Maki crosses her legs there on the pew, chin resting against her hand as she listens quietly, When she hears about the friend she nods slowly and asks, "Was that why you were getting ice cream the other day?" vaguely remembering something of the sort. Or was she remembering it wrong? Still, either way she leans forward and asks, "Do you feel bad now? Or are you feeling bad about not feeling bad? Because I kinda wonder if they're the same thing." As an aside she adds quickly, "I briefly met Ayana, that's a different issue and I've got to ask someone if they meant what they said since it hit kind of close to home."
She quickly shakes her head and asks, "What happened in the fight? Did you pick her out intentionally or did she try to help you?"
Lacrima frowns. "No, this was after the ice cream parlor visit where we met." she says softly.
She frowns. "I visited her in the park. For energy, of course. She said to take. I moved to take. Those 'friends' come out--- one kicks electric socceer balls and the other is like her stupid pink girlfriend or other and hates me. Anyways..."
"As I was being hit with-- that positive energy-- which-- hurts and burns parts of me away-- I was draining her to repair myself. I guess I overdid it." she frowns. "Yeah. That." she says.
"Anyways. The Soccer ball one, Kukai-- or 'Sky Jack' straight up tried to kill m the other day in return. I lost my arm and everything I had to spend twenty four hours in the place I go to when I get hurt too bad." she frowns.
"So. He'll be trying to wipe me out now. Just as well." she frowns.
"He's a jerk anyways." she insists.
Jiaying Maki quietly listens again. At the note that it was voluntary and all, she scowls and says, "You never once... attacked her before or tried to hurt her? You were careful?" She actually sounds a touch annoyed! Especially since she knows the one in question and he's come up more than once as a jerk. And she thinks he's kind of a jerk after the beach, but that's something else.
She runs her fingers through her hair, her ears twitching beneath the hood briefly and despite herself, asks, "Wait you can regrow your arm? That's ne-.." she catches herself before too long mind you. Tapping her fingers against her chin, she asks, "Can you... find a way to give energy to your friend? Maybe we can help her that way. And if he attacks you again and I'm around I'm hitting him for everyone else mad at him." All 121cm of fury. Probably doesn't mean as much, but it's the thought that counts!
Lacrima blinks. "Yes I can. It just takes absorbing dark energy to repair myself--- or intake enough human energy." she says softly. "But dark energy can't actually fuel me, I need to take it from humans." she says matter of factly.
She head tilts and frowns. "She was a friend. She let me drain her. People didn't like that so they tried to stop me..."
"Like.. it's like if you were eating a chicken drumstick and I came and knocked it out of your hand because I didn't like you eating the chicken-- when the chicken said 'Okay, eat me!'" she says matter of factly.
She sighs miserably. "It's not like I meant to send her into a coma." she huffs. "Those jerks made me." she mutters.
She hrmphs. "Stupid idiots. All of them..."
Jiaying Maki looks confused, really confused as she asks, "Wait wait, dark energy?" Hey that actually does sound bad. She looks around, then stretches her legs out on the pew and leans back, watching from over the back of the thing again. "Was it having any lasting effects on her?" There's a question that should probably have been asked earlier. Still though.
That frown returns briefly as she adds, "I like chicken, but I'd feel bad eating one I considered a friend. But.. then again I don't have the same troubles now do I?"
At the last part, she crosses her arms on the back of the pew and shifts once more, probably a bit antsy in a church still, "Did you try to run?"
Lacrima blinks. "Yes. That's what powers me. Dark Energy." she says matter of factly. "I'm sorry, did you think I was powered by rainbows and puppies?" she asks softly with a more coy smirk across her lips just for a moment before she returns to a frown.
"It takes. It doesn't give. So no, I can't just 'return the energy'" she says bluntly.
She frowns a bit. "The one in pink, uses 'Positive Energy'. 'Light Energy' 'Purifiying' whatever you want to call it." she says. "It's...."
"Everytime an attack like that hits me... I--- come very close. To remembering what it was like to be human. What it was like to feel 'happy'." she says. "---then it begins to sink in hard that you're nothing but a monster and nothing can ever fix you and you're nothing but something horrible and dark and you'll never be happy again." she frowns.
"It's hard to run away when you're being bombarded by attacks like that. All I could do was sit there... and drain.. and.. drain." she says.
Jiaying Maki drums her fingers on the pew and says, "I should hope not, those are the really scary things. Dogs always bark and chase me around. Even the cute ones." She sticks her tongue out at that, then leans forward, chin resting on her crossed arms while she asks, "So you don't eat chi or anything? Because I always figured that's what did it for jiangshi. Or blood for the western kind."
"The one in pink?" she asks after a moment, "You said you almost feel normal again. Is that.. like because of pain from it or something else?" Maybe she should go find the one in pink. "It's not the bai ch-.. the pink haired guy with a stick right?"
Lacrima huhs? "No, this is pink haired girl uses...cameras.. that shoot.. positive energy. It's really strange." she frowns. "Pink haired guy with a stick? I'm afraid I'm not really familiar." she says matter of factly.
She head tilts very softly and purses her lips as she seems to think with a neutral expression. "I'm not sure. Positive Energy can force darkness out of a person. But I'm 'all darkness'. So what happens to me? Do I stop existing? Pieces of me strip away when it gets powerful. It's awful." she says softly. "And I come out from those kind of forceful applications feeling like I'm missing... things. Like.. like I'm not myself for a bit." she mutters. "Sometimes crazy. Sometimes very sad. Sometimes... other things." She says as she slumps a bit.
Jiaying Maki glances around the church quietly, contemplating. Running her fingers through her hair again she asks, "Do you still have the... it was a necklace right?" She frowns, trying to make sure she remembers. "Do you still have it? Maybe I could see what I can find on it. How it works or how to counter it or how to break it?"
She slips from the pew and walks over to the pew that Lacrima's at and settles down there before leaning back, resting her foot against the pew in front. "What have you already tried? So I'm not just... going down the wrong path?"
Lacrima motions to the necklace around her neck. She removes it and offers it to Jiaying. "It's an empty vessel now. I use it to store excess energy. I won't let you leave with it. Sorry. I do know it was used to kill the last 'weilder' of my power." she says matter of factly.
"I'm not exactly sure how." she says softly. "This wasn't.... his. It belonged to the hunters who killed him." she says matter of factly.
"I've no clue how it ended up in some antique shop in Japan." she says bluntly. "My dreams happen in Spain."
Jiaying Maki carefully takes the necklace and looks it over. Holding it up to what little light there is, she gets an idea and asks, "Can I take a picture of it at least?" Not really having expected to take it at all, let alone even having it here in person. She tugs her hood down, realizing it probably doesn't matter if it's up or down right now right?
"You dream of it? Like... you dream of the prior owner dying? Are there other dreams?" Hey dreams are something she can pretend she knows about! Well, not really, but that's really weird dreaming about some other guy's death. "How do you now it's Spain?"
Lacrima nods. "I don't see what having a picture will or won't hurt. I have another friend researching it to." she says matter of factly. She frowns a bit as she looks down. "I dream of the prior owner of occasionally. The power named him 'Poderoso'- 'Powerful'. He wanted the power. He let himself be consumed by it for the power so that's what the power named him." she says softly. "I dream of the ritual sometimes, but it's hazy. I don't know his 'real name'. I see him use his powers--- it's how I learned how to use mine. I think my brain treats these like a really weird instructional tape." she says.
"Well. The archeitecture and the fact everyone speaks spanish and I've matched the style of dress in my research early on. I did a lot of... um."
"Studying on my own. Early on. When I could spare the time. I didn't like feeding. So I was constantly starving myself-- and paying for it."
"I do dream of his death. I know that he was strong enough to resist 'positive energy'- not like me." she says softly. "So they used that necklace and did something to him."
"The power in it infected me when I started wearing the necklace. It named me 'Lacrima' or 'Tears'." she says bluntly.
Jiaying Maki fishes her phone out and begins taking pictures from all sides. She takes some effort to look over any of the metal bits. She gets a weird look on her face, then asks, "Have you taken it to a jeweler? Had them.. determine how it was made or maybe a maker's signature or anything?" She holds it up to the light, scowls and mutters to herself, then offers the necklace back. While subconsciously wiping her hand free after handling it. "It named you? Like.. in the dream in Spanish? Or is it something else? What's it sound like?"
"Have you seen Papaya? Popo... I'm going to have to write that down. Have you seen what he looks like in the dream?" Hey she wants to help! And... that's all she has to go off of. Brainstorming and hoping she's not treading the same ground as someone else.
Lacrima frowns. "I just knew my name was Lacrima. When I thought of myself as 'Norie', I'd feel that was wrong. There was a short amount of time where I stopped responding to my name in school because my brain expected to hear 'Lacrima'." she frowns.
Huh...? A jewelers? "Well... No. I haven't actually." she says softly. "Maybe I should try that..." she says softly as she purses her lips.
"'Poderoso'." she says softly. She spells it out, she takes the necklace back and places it back around her neck. It's safe there.
"Huh...you're. The first to ask that." she has to gather her thoughts. "I'd say he'd had been in his.... twenties?" she says. "or.. early thirties.." she ponders as she taps her chin. "Handsome man with.... a dark blue hair--and similarly colored eyes...." she says. "Wore these.. really fancy clothes.. a cape. Like he stylized himself a nobleman. I know he lived in a manor, so it's possible he was. I'm not sure on that specific." She muses.
"I'm not sure on the specific location. I keep trying to force myself to dream but they just seem to come whenever they want to." she says.
She sighs and shakes her head. "I know he isn't in here with me." she says.
"Something else is though. It used to talk to me a lot. Until... well..."
"I gave up trying to fight what I was.." she says.
"Now it rarely talks to me." she says.
"Used to insist I was stupid for wasting energy trying to pretend to still be a human twenty four seven and it was right. I was needing to feed constantly to maintain that." she says.
Jiaying Maki takes a moment to write the name down using Pinyin, should the other girl care enough to really notice. That gets pocketed after she writes down the description as well. It shouldn't be that hard to find a blue haired nobleman in Spain with a manor right? Then there's a sudden furrowing of her brow and she asks, "What did the clothes look like? Both the guy in the necklace and the hunters. If you can remember them that would be good too!" Though she has the sinking feeling that it was too long ago to ask them for help and she's sure they're not haunting the place so no stuffing the ghost into a stuffed bear and having a chat.
Watching the other girl, she eventually scoots over a bit closer and actually tries to give her a hug! "I'm not sure I'm a good example, but I still think you're a person or you would be here so clearly upset. Don't give up! I'll do what I can to help!" One might notice that she adds in something approaching an undertone, "I should introduce you to Meifeng. I would probably have to translate for you, but she was a... a uh. Polty-thingy." She tries to remember the correct term, shrugs and says, "Kinda angry ghost that threw things."
Lacrima frowns a bit at the hug. Yes she frowns, but does seem.. gracious? She doesn't return it though. Lacrima is also cold to the touch. Not a warm body at all. "Of course I'm a /person/." she snaps a moment....
Then she seethes and frowns. "Sorry..." she says. "Just... I'm a person! I have things I like I do...." she says. "...and I have some friends...."
"And I liked ice cream... and chocolate bars...."
"But I'm not /human/." she insists.
She sighs and keeps her hands on her lap.
"Nrg... well... Religious--like robes. Hoods. Can't see thier faces... thier robes were a sort of clay-like red/brown." she says softly. "They spoke a different language. I dunno what. Not Spanish."
She just sighs. "So I can't tell you what they were saying." she says. "In my dream at least."
Jiaying Maki notes the reaction to the hug and offers a gentle squeeze in response to them. In regards to the comments that go with it though, she adds two things. The first being, "I didn't mean it that way and you know it. I mean you're not just some monster and... yeah. Also chocolate maeks me feel funny."
At the mention of the robes and religious sort of wear she asks, "Really? Robes and all? Wonder if I can figure out when that was..."
Lacrima shrugs. "I dunno." she says. "Sometimes. The dreams feel like they were at different periods." she says softly. "I know that's possible because I know I won't die on my own accord." she says softly. "So for all I know, he lived ten years, or maybe even two hundred."
She purses her lips a bit.
She just sighs miserably. "Yeah..I know. Just. People get the two confused." she mutters. "Like Kukai."
"I can't belive I visited that jerk in the hospital." she mutters.
She sort of wraps her arms around herself. "Sometimes I wonder if I'll be pushed far enough that I end up killing someone...."
"...I wonder what happens when I do that." she says softly.
"Will I even feel bad...?" she asks softly.
Jiaying Maki chews her lip as she thinks over the provided information. Eventually she asks, "You have had someone try to just.. remove a posession right?" Since in her head it does sort of sound like that. Might just be her head filling in what she's familiar with though.
She looks around the room quietly, sticks her tongue out at Lacrima playfully and reaches up to tug her own ears, "Yes, I'm sure I'll forget the difference any day now." though she soon returns to a more neutral appearance, toned with worry. "Do you feel bad right now? I mean really... if you feel bad now, I bet you'd feel bad then and it would be something to do your best to try and avoid right? Maybe we can help control it somehow!"
Lacrima blinks. Control.... "Oh. Well." she raises her left arm and motions to a bracelet there. It's etched in midchildian runes, but also some other weird runic symbols that seem different. "Someone made this for me. It's an inhibiter. It's sort of like a flow control for my energy. It's let me be 'Norie' longer so far. He's still working out the kinks... this is the prototype." she says softly as she lowers her arm again.
She huhs? "Do you mean hit me with a positive energy blast.... yeah." she says. "A few times. It's horrendous and hurts a lot and screws my head up."
She frowns. "I dunno if I feel 'bad' or not. I feel...."
"Introspective? Like. 'I wonder if...' more than.... anything..." she says softly.
"It's why I come here to think. It's quiet usually. No one tends to bother me here, or expects to find me here."
Jiaying Maki looks at the bracelet curiously and if allowed would actually try to hold her hand to get a better look at it. "They're still working on it? Do you know what it's uh..." She trails off, her ears twitching briefly as she works the word out, then asks, "Do you know what it targets? Does that make sense?" SHe scowls and decides to try and obscure some embarassment there with a quick shake of her head.
"I don't know about the positive energy thing. I Was wondering what would happen if someone did like a ritual or used a tag to try and force evil spirits out of a victim." She trails off and adds, "You know if that even makes you feel funny, maybe I could do tags that make it quieter or something."
Lacrima shakes her head. "No, it's some form of magic science I don't quite understand. I will have to ask Riventon-san about it. He's the one who made it." she looks down. "He understands me best. He's like me... 'Dark Energy' user."
She head tilts. "Huh? Well. I dunno." she frowns.
"I dunno if I'm willing to try. When things like that hurt... they /hurt/." she says.
Jiaying Maki frowns at that and says, "What does the bracelet actually do?" Not at all liking the idea of someone using something blatantly labeled as dark. Which is coming from someone who hangs out with a ghost and can exert will on them! Her excuse being that it's not labeled dark of course. "Can you... not use dark energy for a while? You said you could use it or people and uh.." She scowls. That's kind of a crap choice isn't it.
"I don't know if it would hurt. I've never actually had to do it to a cursed... item? Before, but I uh, the dream thing you know?" Her mind sort of wanders back in a loop back to the dark energy thing. "Have you tried using any other kind of chi?" Hey she sticks with what she knows! "I mean, can you only feed on humans? It would be kinda grim, but there are feeder mice or something. Or maybe just absorbing chi at an event or something?"
Lacrima huhs? "Oh... the braclet um...."
"Well, it's an inhibiter like I said. It stops me from burning energy as fast-- so I can 'be Norie' longer, for example-- without risk of falling into well 'starvation mode'-- where I get wild eyed and a little uncontrollable." she frowns.
"In other words, it gives me more space between 'meals'." she says.
She head tilts. You mean energy besides human energy. Yeah. I tried a bunch of things that are 'alive'-- Trees." a somber pause. "Animals." she frowns. "I kind of even tried touching a live wire one time and just sort of.... blew me to my feet and I had to spend energy healing myself from that."
She looks down. "I need to touch someone... and say a word to drain. I can't just 'absorb' ambinent energy like that." she says. "It also hurts when I drain someone. They'll know something's wrong...."
"I'm told it feels like ice crystals inside your skin."
Jiaying Maki sort of squirms for a moment and says, "I really hope it's not like Daji.." She quickly shakes her head and holds her hands up, then says, "I don't know, I just worry about anyone that would use it at all willingly. Or is he like you and unable to resist it?"
Holding a finger up, she asks, "So you did try things like trees? What happened?" Then there's a sudden dark look and a scowl. "I... may have an idea for a victim that is both helpful to you and maybe not so... reprehensible."
Lacrima frowns. "Riventon-san trusts me with things. Some of those things I can't tell you." she says. "I'm really sorry, but my friend's confidence means a lot to me." she says gently. "I'm sorry." she says gently.
She frowns. "...Nothing happened with the tree. I'd.. rather. Not talk. About the animal..." she says softly.
"Um. huh?" she asks softly. "Who?" she asks curiously as she scratches the back of her head. "I've tried lots of things. What's important to me is timing. I can't go... cruising for 'thugs' or 'thieves' or 'neerdowellers' when I'm on the cusp of blacking out."
"...I dunno what happens when I blackout. Usually I 'wake up' middrain and I have to stop myself from going further, dead stop." she frowns a bit.
Jiaying Maki holds up a finger and says, "I guess the hunt makes it a bit tougher. I was going to suggest maybe preying on the angry dead. The spirits too frustrated to move on who are violent and... I uh, usually either have to force them around or purify them." The finger she's holding up generates a little blue flame and she quickly adds, "I won't try to poke you with the fire. You said someone else tried it right?"
She sighs, leaning back, head resting against the pew. "We all keep secrets and we all have things we have to protect. I don't know him, I just worry about the terminology used along with the whole use part. It makes me think of.. family."
Lacrima suddenly let's loose some sort of squeal, when the flame lights--- it sounds... unearthly, not human, not any animal she knows and black mist bellows about her as she folds herself--- into the smoke and she doesn't immediatly reappear. Where did she go!?
Oh. There she is. Up in a rafter. She's hunched down--- perching like some sort of animal on a branch.
She snaps out, yelling loud.
"YOU PUT THAT OUT RIGHT NOW." she seethes... there's just. Something about the sudden shift in her tone of voice... she just went from meek and unsure to suddenly threating and yelling and speaking really straight forward.
This was probably not the best of ideas on anyone's part.
Jiaying Maki gets over the initial surprise of the girl suddenly squealing and disappearing. Which was definitely an odd reaction. She starts to shake the fire out, then frowns and says, "I said I wasn't going to try and poke you with it Norie." She gets kind of a funny look on her features, then she shakes her hand once more, the fire seeming to change in shade just a touch. Something subtle. "Does it still bother you like this?" Before shaking her hand out. The fire had felt less like it was focused on burning the bad at the moment before she made it go away.
After she holds both hands up and says, "I don't like using that anyway, anything bigger than that and I end up eating a lot and then sleeping for a while."
Lacrima has this really, wide eyed, edged look suddenly -- and it actually doesn't go away until the flame goes off and then she sort of comes back down to neutral and blinks once, before she stands up straight and looks around. She frowns as she looks back down at Jiaying and she hops down to the ground with a light footfall of heels clacking.
She walks back and around to the spot she was sitting before softly, like nothing even happened. She frowns.
"Please do not do that again. I'm sorry. I didn't think you had 'purification' magic." she says.
"I react violently to it's prescene. It's not something I can really control." she frowns.
"I'm sorry. It's not a reaction I have control over. I do stupid things in it's prescene. To be honest-- the last time that happened was response was to launch a bolt of dark energy at it." she says.
"So.. please?" she asks with wide eyes--- the expression of apology seems almost mocked and practiced on her face. The visage of someone who obviously know they should be apologetic, but can't quite grasp it. LIke she was acting at it.
And really. She is. Feelings suck when they go away and all you can do is remember what they felt like.
"I'd prefer if you didn't do it again period. Please." she says softly. "'low setting' or not."
Jiaying Maki watches the vampire jump back down and settle down. She drums her fingers a few times on the pew, trying not to show that she's somewhat rattled. Especially since she had done something to test a theory she's sort of pretended she couldn't do in shifting the fire. That's probably going to bother her for the rest of the night, realizing how easy it was. "I won't do it again and... you know it wasn't a low setting." The last part is said in the tone of someone already trying to forget she'd done it.
"You said that someone hit you with a lot of positiive energy before and you felt human, but that it... hurts? Why did they stop? What was happening when the pink one did it to you?"
Lacrima frowns and looks down. "The first time was this girl with pink hair. Not the one with the cameras. I guess pink hair is bad for me." she says softly with a soft chuckle. "She looked like a cheerleader. Anyways. She yelled something like 'Negative Heart: Lock On' and then 'Open Heart!' and then something... bright and sparkling impacted against me."
"It was.... it was really nice at first! Like.. like I could just... almost... feel happy. Like. If I reached just a little harder.... I could be human again and be happy!" she says almost excited with the correct candor to her voice for that... but she suddenly frowns. "Then.. it felt like someone just yanked it away... and then it set in that.... that I'm nothing but a monster... that eats energy... and can't feel things like happy or love and that's all I'll ever be.... and then.... I just... I started to feel parts of me strip away. Physically. Like I was 'losing consistency'." she says softly.
"It didn't stop...." she says softly. "I brute forced my way into the Dusk Zone when I realzied what was happening. Barely." She says softly.
"That's what it felt like. The camera using girls felt like that.. but on a smaller scale. Like... little beams of pink energy." she sighs.
Jiaying Maki shakes her head and says softly, "I'm not that flash. I'm even that good." she holds both hands up and looks them over, palm, then back. "I don't fully understand what I do when I used that. What I did at the end - I don't like that it's that easy." She stands up, brushing herself off. "So it's not just weathering the storm, just being blasted with it until the evil is gone." She doesn't sound really that confident at this point anymore. "You're not just some monster. If my mother wasn't and I'm not, you're not either. Don't give up." Sounding like she's being honest, but she still sounds disheartened. She fishes around in her pocket and pulls out a small tag and after reaching behind her, she suddenly looks quite human and any magical aura she had is gone. "I need to get home before my father figures out I'm gone."
Lacrima purses her lips and listens. "I know..." she says softly to it with a soft sigh and she keeps her head down.
"I'm going to stay here for a few moments longer." she says softly. "Have a nice evening, Jiaying-san." she says gently. "Please don't get in trouble with your father." she says.