The quiet artist, in repose. It's a classic pose. A girl holding a sketchbook and quickly sketching with her opposite hand. The pencil she uses is a soft lead- one of those special artists pencils. She's sitting on a bench on the pier that looks out over the ocean. It's a nice view of the theme park and just beyond that... the brightly lit dome of the Augusta's ballroom.
Ugh. Hoshi was lucky. She had the connections to get to go. She didn't. She imagines that fancy ball. With it's lovely dresses and handsome boys all dancing as she sighs and lowers her sketchpad. She's not upset. Dissapointed. Maybe a little sad.
Someday, she thinks, I'll be a famous artist when I'm ready and all sorts of people will invite me to thier fancy balls and dances and parties!
But right now. Well she's sketching.
It occurs to her, however, that she's alone currently and she places her sketchbook down and looks at her phone. Hrmm....
Ayana-chan? Nooo... she's probably doing something with Ikiko. So.. Ikiko would be out too...
Hoshi's at the ball...
...Tadase's at the ball.
...frick. Everyone is at the ball but her! ugh!
The plight of the well off- but not that well off Mahou Shoujo.
Huh. Eilam. Is he at the ball? She wonders and texts.
Reikoi: Hey. uh. If you're not busy. I'm at the end of the pier sketching in Uminari City. Wanna visit? Kinda lonely feeling. she kind of texts like she talks most of the time.
She'll wait a bit for a reply before she gives up and goes back to sketching.
It really was complete coincidence that Eilam was in the remotely same area at this time of night. He as well had not gone to the Ball, primarily because he didn't enjoy the idea of showing his face or presence off to the public at large in this day and age. A strange thing, to him, really. He'd come out of his shell more and more over the years, enjoying life more... and now with the digital age, he felt the need to hide more and more. To keep himself off of records.
Which is partly why he came out to the harbor this night! Away from the crowds, planning to come and enjoy dinner at a restaurant that was a bit snooty about offering takeout.
Eilams phone buzzed, a soundclip from the song "Cinderella Search" playing briefly as he reached down to pick it up and see who was poking him at this time of night! Huh... Reiko? That was unexpected. The reply was rather simple. 'Okay. Are you hungry?' and he was quick to finish his food while waiting on the reply, going about returning to the towncar when he was done to have the driver take him towards the Pier. He would make it to where Reiko was, with little or fair text warning depending on if she'd rather focus on drawing or replying. His attire today was a bit more 'relaxed' than the last times she'd seen him. At least in that he wasn't dressed up like he was going somewhere fancy. A pair of crisp black relaxed-fit blue jeans, a nice flannel-colored short-sleeve button down shirt, hair otherwise just loosely held back by its' own weight from being combed. And, of course, the ever-present walking aid.
Reiko Touyama texts back!
Reikoi: Actually... yeah. If you're offering... yes! <'><
She places her phone back down as she goes back to sketching. Drawing at night was a challenge.
Drawing-- giving the illusion of a 'nighttime' in pencil was an advanced technique, but Reiko was good with her shading.
She looked up, when she heard the sound of a stick hitting wood. That put an image of her head of Eilam walking over.
And it is!
"Hi, Eilam-san." she says with a short smile.
"How are you?" she asks as she lowers her sketch pad. She motions over to the ballroom.
"There's some sort of charity ball happening tonight. I bet it's fun..." she says as she sighs wistfully.
While he wasn't entirely sure /what/ she liked, on the way towards the Pier itself, Eilam stopped to pick up a bit of several things. Salad, soup and orange-zest bread, rice, a couple different kinds of meats... even some fish! Not sushi specifically but baked fish. A bit of everything, probably too much for her unless she was like /really/ hungry, but hey. "Hello to you too, Miss Touyama." Eilam said with a bit of a wave offered, even if it was just from the one hand. His other hand had the bag in it.
"As for how I am, better now that I am with you, right?" He's terrible at times. Though she did mention the ball, walking over towards where she was and setting the food bag down near her. "I got you a bit of everything since I was not sure exactly what you wanted. Eat as much as you like. And about the ball... mm, I had considered going, but my nerves got the best of me. You might have appreciated the chance to go, just to know what it is like, but I imagine it would not have been the most fun. Unless you like stuffy uppersociety things?"
Reiko Touyama mmmmms and shakes her head. "I've been to one before." she says. "A giant butterfly Shade attacked it so I guess that was ruined..." she mutters. She sighs a little. "Still. The fancy dresses... the food.... dancing under that dome with the moonlight shining in..." she thinks tapping her chin as she looks to the food and blinks and blushes. "Woah.. that's a lot. Uh! Thanks." she says, accepting it with a polite bow and getting on eating. "Do you want some? Or did you eat already?" she asks politely.
She starts on the fish. Because she does eat fish. She sighs.
"I guess I'm just a romantic thinker like that..." she muses.
She looks down at the sketchbook next to her and then back up.
"I like it on the pier. I like the smell of the ocean and the warm breeze." she says. "It's better at night. Less of a crowd. Cooler- and the water reflects everything really good." she says.
"Oh? Well, nevermind my warning then. Seems you would be right at home in the highlife, haha." He moved to take a seat near Reiko, looking up at the sky since she'd mentioned the moonlight bit. That really did sound overly romantic. But, it took all types and he's known a fair few over his life.
"Hm? Oh, food. I was actually eating when you sent me a message, but if it would make you feel any better about eat, I can share something with you? I know some people do not like being the only one eating, but if no problem, then have as much as you like." he actually snickered at that, "After all, it is nice to see a cute girl who goes for fish first over salad or soups. After my own heart. I greatly enjoy salmon with rice, myself. Extra salty, smoked salmon."
Reiko Touyama blushes. "I like fish." she asides. "I mean. Even as food. People find it odd I like fish because I like fish normally. I mean. Like. In a tank or a pond, so much they think I wouldn't /eat/ them." she says.
"Like they except me to be picketing with a sign--- 'Fish are Friends, not food!'" she insists.
She offers a piece of the fish- on a fork. As if to feed him. Yes- she's going to do that. Yes it's potentially super adorable.
"But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the tasty ones." she says innocently.
She thinks a bit. "You must think I'm silly sometimes." she smirks. "And weird. Because you know. I turn into some sort of magical girl I dreamt up with my friends that became real somehow." she says innocently.
When she talks about liking Fish, that gets a nod out of Eilam. "It was not that I thought strange of you... I am kind of that way myself. In the past, I have had pet chickens. For eggs, rather than meat and so forth. Lovely birds. I could never eat chicken after that. Just did not have the right connotation to me. So I would understand if you did not want to eat fish. I was tempted not to get it, but thought there was no harm in finding out what you do, and do not, enjoy eating. Worst that happens is you do not want it and I eat it instead, right?"
At that, Eilam stretches a bit and looks around only to decide to be a bit lazy, turning and laying on the planks of the pier on his back, feet towards Reiko, while otherwise looking up at the sky. Because why not, was probably 'clean enough' and while not the most comfortable, he'd slept on worse. "And no, I do not think you silly. You tried to protect me the other day from that thing that happened at the art show you invited me to. I have not forgotten that. I still owe you for that."
Reiko Touyama is enjoying her food and overall the evening too. "Yeah. I like sushi a lot though. My grandfather's good at making it. His is the best! He usually does it up nice in my wensday bento for school..." she says. "with a smoked fish of course, cuz warm raw fish... ew!" she giggles a bit.
She stands up and walks to the side of the pier as she leans her arms down on the railing a moment. "Heh. I like koi most of all though..." she says softly.
"...I didn't see my parents a lot. Still don't." she says. "So grandpa took me to the koi pond a lot growing up. It's why orange is my favorite color! Goldfish are cute too. Not as cute as koi." she insists. "I have some pet goldfish. Sushi, Blub n' Spot. cuz. Spot has this black spot on his forehead. It's really cute." she says.
She sighs a bit. "The water's really pretty tonight. Not very wavy.. not turbulent. Makes me wish I knew how to fis----"
Creeeeaaaaak. "Huh?" she blinks as she stands up and looks around. Craccccck! Crack!
"EEK!" she cries out as the end of the plank of pier she was on gives out. She grabs quickly to either side of the boards quickly as the rest of her dangles. The sides of the plank are sharp and nasty and the break's caused nails to fly upwards. Getting close is going to hurt like a jerk.
Small Favors-- her hand hasn't sunk into anything too shrap.
"Nrg.. can't get to my... prism..." she mutters. She makes the mistake of looking down--- ugh.
Falling from this height, even into water, can't be good.
Too add insult to injury, two tiny koi appear and frantically make rapid circles above the spot as if yelling and panicing in a 'oh no, what do we do!?' manner. They bump head first into each other fairly quickly.
Everything was so relaxing, and then just like that... it was chaotic. Wasn't that so how things worked? Everything was nice and then it wasn't. Laying down as he was, Eilam didn't really have a chance to try and react so much as things were just presented to him, with Reiko suddenly hanging and him not really having a chance to think. Water wasn't even really Eilam's thing, he'd dealt with it before. it was /not/ an enjoyable experience. The threat of drowning when you can't really die, but still have to suffer with it?
Pushing himself over, Eilam grabs for his stave out of habit only to realize it probably won't help much in the situation, beyond offering her something to hold onto. Did he even have the strength to try and lift her up? Getting to the edge, Eilam pressed his staff up against the two support pillars on either side of what Reiko was holding onto, rather than the planks itself. "Try to grab onto this! I ... am not strong enough to lift you." Not that she weighed a lot, but he was barely able to lift /himself/ up, let alone someone else. It would, if nothing else, give him a chance to reach down and try to grab hold of the hem of her jeans to lift her up enough she might have /some/ room to let a hand go and grab onto the more sturdy, less nail-ridden grip.
Reiko Touyama doesn't want to hit the water. Nope. She could chance that she'd be able to grab her prism, that's around her neck right now on a necklace, under her shirt if she didn't fall unconcious. But what if she did? She'd drown!
Eilam comes to help! It's dangerous where Eilam is. There's jagged edges. Nails. He'll hurt himself or cut himself probably. She looks up at the staff and she moves one of her hands to grab onto it suddenly. She isn't athletic even a slightest, but she is used to dealing with high stress situations out of henshin by now.
She takes a deep breath. "I---I know." she spits. "If I could just free up a hand..." she says. She can feel Eilam grab her hem of her jeans and she erfs. "Hold me..please? Just.. just for a /second/..." she says as she closes her eyes. Eilam is grabbing the hem of her jeans. She's grabbing the staff. This may be enough.
She quickly releases a hand off from the plank of wood, relying on the staff now as she quickly yanks the length of rope tugging her Crystal out as she grabs onto it with her freehand.
"Chroma Prism Orange.... Transform!" she calls out!
There's a flash of orange light and-- she's transformed. This was quicker than usual--- she sighs. "Okay let go." she says.
She does in fact- let go-- becauuuse, well. She has fairy wings when she's Prism Keeper Orange---- which let her hover downwards--- then with a quick loop hop back up to the pier behind the bench she was sitting at.
Her transformation doesn't last long because she dismisses it immediatly-- or it's forced off--- then she falls down to the floor of the pier with a small 'thump'. Did she faint!?
"I--I'm okay." she mutters.
Okay not faint.
"N--need a moment."
Throughout the entire ordeal, Eilam wasn't really paying attention to much. He should have been, but really, all he was worried about was not wanting Reiko to find out what it's like to drown. Perhaps a strange thought over 'I don't want her to drown' so much as 'I don't want her to experience it'. Small differences for some, big for Eilam. He's... weird that way.
Once he saw she was able to get a hand on the staff, Eilam's hand pressed into the wood as he tried to lift her a little until she said to let go. She deserved his trust that much, right? So... he did. And it was only once she was on the pier again that Eilam let out a small breath of a sigh and looked towards her as she tried to recover from the brief moment. "Slow, deep breaths. If you breathe too fast, you will make it worse." in fact, he moved next to her and without considering she might find it embarrassing, wrapped his arms around her and attemepted to be of some comfort. He wasn't really sure how acquainted she was with the notion of being in danger, but no harm in trying to be nice, right?
It also probably meant she'd notice, before he did, that there was something poking her stomach on his hand. Apparently the snapped wood and nails... he'd pressed down onto some of it in the moment and had yet to realize that... well, it was still in his hand.
Reiko Touyama needed a moment. She was sort of shivering. "Ahahaha--- it's so easy to not be scared of heights when you're crashing into skyscrapers but--- oh dear lord that was frightening." she says with a bated breath.
Oh, she's behing held? No, that's fine. That's perfectly fine because right now she needs to feel that. "S--sorry about that! I didn't expect that to happen!" she says with wide eyes. Then she's squinting a bit at Eilam. She's squinting because....
Her glasses are now somewhere on the bottom of the Tokyo Harbor under the pier.
"Nrg...darnit, my glasses..." she mutters.
She does, however, feel something poking her stomach that /doesn't/ feel like a hand and it's sharp. "Ow. What's that?" she asks as she touches Eilam's hand.
"..A..ack! Your hand!" she says worriedly. "Is it hurt?" she asks.
"Nothing to apologize to me about, you are the one I was worried for." Eilam hadn't even recognized that her glasses had fallen, and in fact, it was only when she touched his hand that he realized something wasn't right. "...oh. I will be fine." In an effort to 'out of sight out of mind' the moment, he tried switching hands to the one that he was using to grab onto her pants with. "You are adorable, though, worrying about me when you nearly just fell off."
What's that? A warm feeling against her cheek? That would be Eilam rather casually kissing her cheek. "Thank you for worrying about me, but as I said, I will be fine. I would tell you why, but I think we will have company soon, to find out what happened to the pier. If you get your stuff, we can talk more in my towncar? I cannot say I trust this pier anymore tonight. It has nearly cost me a friend as it is."
Reiko Touyama slowly works her way to her feet and sighs a bit and---blush!? A kiss to her cheek!? Another one!? And at least this one doesn't have a picture being taken by a naughty butt fox. :I.
She swallows. "Let's get you a hospital or somethng then..." she says. She assumes that's in order. She grabs her things-- and food carefully as she swallows and follows along the pier carefully. She's keeping her ears open for any awkward creaking right now.
"I'll be fine..." she says more to herself than to Eilam.
Instinctively he started to say 'no hospitals' but refrained, instead just going along with her on the way back out. When he saw her walking carefully, after he'd gotten his stave, it dawned on him she didn't have her glasses. "Oh, here, let me walk with you just to be sure." He moved so his injured hand was away from her rather than between them, reaching down to take her hand as they walked along. "I asked my driver to wait as it was, so he should still be in the same parking space at the street near the fountain."
And indeed, he was, looking curiously at Eilam and his hand but saying nothing when Eilam shook his head at him. "Join me inside? It will... be a good chance to talk to you about something regarding me anyways. I was planning to bring it up sooner but the chance did not really present itself."
The interior of the car was the same as last time, quite new, the back half closed off, the large three-seat back seat and two rear-facing seats otherwise nearby. Plenty of room.
Reiko Touyama likes Eilam's fancy town car, and it's comfy and private and she can just sort of finally decompress and lean against the door and stick the side of her face to the window and see through what's probably a tinted window.
She looks back at Eilam. "Huh?" she asks softly. "Talk to me about what?" she asks. Her heart flutters. Is he going to confess!? Oh dear! She's not even prettied up or anything!
Wait.. no. It would had been WAY more romantic to do that under the moonlight.
Why is she even thinking about this.
"Is.. something wrong?" she asks softly. "Besides your hand?" she frowns a bit.
"Nothing wrong, no, just... something about me." The car lurches a tiny bit as it starts to drive somewhere. Really the driver was just going about driving around, nowhere in specific, letting them talk. Since that's seemingly what Eilam wanted. "The other day, at the art exhibit. You asked that girl to protect me. You tried to protect me. At the time, I could have said I did not need it, but that would have been dismissive of your efforts, and I appreciated them. You both put yourself in danger for me. I... appreciate that more than you might realize, the thought behind it. But that said."
Eilam held his hand up after reaching into a console drawer between the two back-facing chairs to pull out a towel, setting it on his lap and his injured hand on it. Depending on just what she could or couldn't see, she'd notice a large piece of the wood and several nails... well, attached to his hand. The details hardly matter. "The reason I mentioned I will be fine is... apparently there was always something magical about me. I just never knew it was magic until shortly after that. Even now I still do not know."
He did wince a little, but with a bit of a strained effort, Eilam pulled the wood hunk away, and the nails that were in it, dropping it on the towel. His hand got wiped off on the towel and just rested there. "I cannot die. And any injury I sustain heals itself quickly enough. It might be a bit much to take in, but if you need proof... feel free to examine my hand. After all, there was several nails through it, not to mention the digging in of the wood. It is mostly back to normal now, except... I need to have one of my aids back home work out the splinters and such. It might be a bit... much for you to see such so soon."
Reiko Touyama blinks. "Well. I figured you have some sort of magic because you can see my fish and stuff." she says. "I mean you couldn't at first. But I dunno. Maybe something kickstarted that." she shrugs. "Maybe it was the Shade encounter?" she asks as she head tilts a bit with a sigh.
She takes it in 'he can't die'. She blinks bit. "You can't... die?" she blinks a bit. "But I thought you said you /weren't/ a vampire!" she insists with wide eyes.
She barely seems even phased. She's probably been through a lot with a soft frown.
"....I've seen a lot of nasty stuff you know... I think I can deal with someone pulling junk out of thier hand..." she says a little sheepishly.
"But doesn't it hurt?" she asks wide eyed. "Still?"
"I am not a vampire, silly. And of course it hurts. But I have been hurting for a few hundred years now, so I can deal with something like this. What about you? Are you going to be okay?"
Completely blunt and a bit too forward about that! Once again with a 'Might be a vampire' box checked off, but apparently he isn't? Or so he claims. Though as she claimed she could deal with it, Eilam reached to grab his stave and started to twist it apart. He winced a little as he had to use his hurt hand to do so, but when it came apart, he pulled out the estoc that was always inside of it. Then he turned it around and rather unceremoniously began to use the tip of it to ... get the splinters out of his hand. In a very 'butchers shop' manner.
Incredibly crude for one such as Eilam with all his 'sophistication', but considering the... healing thing he'd just explained, he was apparently just getting it out of the way fast and not dealing with the pain slower. Ripping the bandage off as it were.
"I could understand if you would rather not... associate much with me now. And if that is the cas I do wish you the best. But I had thought you deserved to know the truth of me since you put yourself in harms way for me the once."
Reiko Touyama blinks once. "One of my best friends is a doll girl who is currently possesed by the angry spirit of an abanonded doll." she says matter of factly. "I'mmmm pretty sure... undying... heals himself constantly guy is pretty low on the weird meter for me." she says tapping her chin. She goes to adjust her glasses---- then.... sort of smooooothly brushes the side of of her hair like that's what she meant to do all along.
Because her glasses are missing, duh.
"So you can't.. die?" she asks. "Waiiit. How old are you?" she asks squinting at Eilam now, because if he can't die, he's gotta had been alive for at least... fifty years! Right?
She may be grossly underestimating this as she purses her lips.
"I don't think I'm scared of you or anything." she says, wincing a little and looking to the right, a bit and away-- but not ultra squeamishly.
"I've dealt with a lot. I'm more scared of the evil scientist jerk that made an evil clone of me once and he lived with it and it was calling him nii-san and everything." she makes a shiver a bit. "Ugh. Now THAT'S creepy."
Eilam watched her idly, her subtle movements, the looking away bit. Wiping the blade off, he set it back into the 'scabbard' that was the stave and leaned it to the side, wiping his hand off after. It didn't take ten or so seconds before it was relatively back to normal.
"That is a bit weird, yes. ...the idea of cloning in general being that advanced... surprises me. As for when I was born... I do not really recall exactly when. We hardly kept track at that point, and my village was tiny from what I recall. I imagine it was the early 1700's or late 1600's. I have fairly vague memories from... just after I came to be like this and for a while yet until I kind of started to take control of my own life and actions."
With a light poke, Eilam reached over to poke her in the side. "A product of my... unchanging nature, I do not really age, ever. Nothing about me changes, really. I just kind of go back to how I was at that point in time that I apparently got frozen in. Including the sickness that ate away at my health. I am glad you are not bothered by it, though, I was worried you were going to get all upset and start calling me old or something." His tone seemed rather playful as he tried to tease her a bit so the moment didn't turn too stiff.
Reiko Touyama has to purse her lips. Now. Reiko likes older boys. Yup. She does! It's a fact! But maybe... just maybe... she thinks 'should I draw the line at 500 years?'. And then she thinks. 'Well, I could be fifty and still be too young!' she thinks. And then she just sort of pushes most of that out of her head because maybe this isn't the right time to be thinking about her personal preferences.
Then she just shakes her head. "So you just keep 'reseting' is what you're saying, regardless of what happens." she says softly.
She seems to think about this as she blinks. "Oh! Um. Well that jerk makes like dark energy clones. His name is 'Riventon'. He made one of me that kind of--- was the opposite of me? Loud and rude and wanted to make everything /super bright/ neon orange." she says with a huff.
She sighs and peeks back out the window. "That's a long time to be alive, honestly." she says as she purses her lips a bit. "Have you done a lot in that time?" she asks curiously.
"A lot more than I wanted to, and probably a lot more than I deserved, but here I am, and still doing new things. Though I can say, in all my time, I have only met one you." Eilam smiles a bit at that, leaning over and letting an arm, the one that wasn't hurt to begin with, reach up behind her and rest on the back of the seat. "And I am still happy the one you I met is adorable and introduced me to the concept of magic. I do owe you for that. At least, in my own way. So if you ever feel like asking for something, or just sitting on that until you need something, do as you like with that. Though chances are I would probably just give you whatever as it is on the basis of you being cute to pick at and being my adorable magical friend."
Reiko Touyama blushes a bit and clears her throat. "Well I've been dealing with this stuff for about a year..." she admits. "The world's almost ended twice. I've faced a god n' his challenges for the sake of the fox friend you met! I know like a werewolf! I've fought an evil scientist repeatedly because he thinks the world's his experimental lab to do with as he pleases. Like I said, one of my friends is currently possessed by a creepy abandoned doll."
"And you know, I'm some sort of magical color princess, or whatever." she says. "So like."
"This is like very low on the 'weird-o-meter' for me." she giggles. "And pretty soon I think a lot of the stuff you're seeing now will be low too as you go on." she says.
She sort of shakes her head, and blushes again with a hrmph! "If I have need of stuff I have my ways." she says softly with a big yawn. "Nrg..." she says.
"This whole night's tired me out." she mutters.