Natsumi Matsumoto would had gotten a text from Lacrima two night ago that looked like gibberish- like a cat walked across the keyboard. If Natsumi replied. She'd get no answer. For two days.
Eventually Natsumi gets a text:
TXT: 'I'm so sorry. Things are on fire. I don't know what to do.'
TXT: 'Please come to the manor. Please?'.
It sounds super pleading.
When Natsumi Matsumoto gets to the manor, she'll find it in mostly the same state it's been when last time she was here.
Lacrima opens the door. Runs down the path. Grabs her hand with a pleading look and begins to usher her inside quickly.
There's a palpable anxiety in the manor right now. Not even in the metaphorical sense. It's thick- eminating trace darkness. If you were mundane- it'd be rubbing off on you. Magical people can sense it, but it's not affecting them- but it's not the most comfortable feeling in the world.
Lacrima just sits down with Natsumi and just leans into her and begins crying. And crying. and crying.
Natsumi Matsumoto looks around as Lacrima leans against her, blinking momentarily before lifting her arms and enveloping Lacrima in them. "What's wrong, Norie?". Her voice catches a little, her distress at seeing Lacrima like this leaking into her voice.
She had been surprised to even get the text, because it had been ages since Lacrima contacted her. Of course, it ran both ways but Natsumi had always felt that Lacrima preferred her space, and would reach out to her when needed. After all, that was how Natsumi herself tended to be.
Lacrima needs a few moments. The couch in the vestibule is comfortable. With the walnut coffee table in front of it. And the manor is super pretty- if anything. She cries and cries and as she cries that anxiety begins to disapate, back off. Just a little. It's clear that Lacrima is the source.
Norie.
This is not a name that Lacrima hears often anymore when people talk to her- and it helps when Natsumi calls her by that names.
"I'm sorry. I'm terrible. Things keep happening and I worry and.. I made a mistake and I don't even know how..." she says as she holds to Natsumi.
It's rare. For Lacrima to /want/ contact. So maybe something is really wrong.
Natsumi Matsumoto clutches Lacrima tightly to her bosom, resting her forehead against Lacrima's hair. "What happened?".
Her words are soft, not prying or pushing. They are filled with her love for Norie, and her love for Lacrima who is Norie. Nothing more than that, a loving inquiry into the mind of the girl she loves.
"You don't even have to tell me, if you want. I'm here for you no matter what.".
Lacrima just keeps there. "I don't." she says quietly. "I don't want to talk to you about it. I don't want you to be scared of me." she says quietly. "But people are probably going to tell you anyways eventually." she says queitly.
"I-- I.. turned... someone. A friend..." she says quietly. "I mean.. like. Turned them. Into a vampire. or something." she says.
"I don't. Remember. We were just. In the park. I was. walking. To clear my head." she says. "And he came by. And said hello! and we talked. and joked about the 'No Skating!' sign near the pond because the ice was weak..." she says quietly.
"And.. then I wake up. In the snow. Hours later.. a long way away from the pond. In the woods. And he wakes up, and he's all wrong and it's terrible." she says.
"I'm so afraid. I'm so afraid. I don't want to do that to anyone. I never wanted to. I promised people I wouldn't! I'm afraid people are going to come for me now." she says.
"I..need. To take you. To some people. Very soon." she says quietly. "Mamoru and Kunzite. So. You can. Go. Somewhere. If you ever. Need help with me." she says. "If I change or... anything...!" she says.
Natsumi Matsumoto lifts a hand to gently caress Lacrima's cheek, catching a tear on the side of her index finger in the process that she gently wipes on her own sleeve. "I think I'll be alright, but if they are people you trust I don't mind meeting them. I think we all make mistakes sometimes, and that may be a dark mistake but it doesn't change who you really are where it counts. You are Norie Okana, the cutest girl ever. The person that attacked your friend isn't really you. It's a hunger.".
She sighs softly, closing her eyes. "I think being afraid of it is the right thing for you to do though. Being afraid means you can fight against it even more, because in fear we can fight at our hardest sometimes.".
Lacrima softly sniffs. "I just know they want to help me and I don't want to hurt them. I guess that's as close to trusting I can get." she says quietly, as she loosens her grip on Natsumi-chan. "I don't even know if it was.. 'the hunger'." she says. "I was... fine. When I 'blacked out' and I was fine when I 'came to'." she says. "I wasn't hungry before, or after." she says quietly.
"It's so confusing." she says.
Her tears are purple. As always.
"I'm sorry. I'm a terrible girlfriend." she says quietly. "I want to go out soon." she says softly. "...a..d-date. An outing. I don't care just...I need. To..."
"You could feel it couldn't you? I'm so... terrible right now. It's oppressive."
Natsumi Matsumoto opens her eyes, looking warmly at Lacrima. "I feel a lot of things, but mostly I just feel warm fuzzies. A date sounds wonderful. Would a picnic beneath the stars be nice?".
Always the stars, so predictable was Natsumi.
"Or we could go somewhere not-star related. I know I'm kind of weird like that. Maybe just a normal picnic?". She smiled softly at Lacrima.
Lacrima sniffs. "That sounds... good?...no. It sounds... lovely." she says. She manages to find the word for Natsumi-chan. She mostly always will. She sniffs a bit- and just leans against her.
"Right..that's. Another reason. I want to take you there. One of the boys there.. reads stars...? Like you! Has a telescope and stuff on the roof." she says quietly.
"And you'd be more welcome there than I feel at least." she says. "I mean."
"It's a neutral place? They have... rules. I obey them. No fight... no factions... neutral." she says quietly. "But."
"I'm still. Me. I put people on edge."
Natsumi Matsumoto holds Lacrima gently, listening until she finishes speaking with her eyes focused entirely on the purple-haired girl.
"That sounds like the kind of place a lot of us magical sorts might feel uncomfortable. We are all about factions and fights. So I don't think you're alone at all.".
Lacrima sniffs. "I just want to stop hurting people but I don't have much of a choice." she says quietly. "But we've spoken about that before." she says. She softly takes a soft breath and nods a bit.
"I feel... a little. Better. Thank you...Natsumi-chan." she says.
"I just... needed you here... right now. I'm sorry...for being needy..." she says softly as she bites her lip and rests her head into Natsumi's lap.
"I'm a terrible girlfriend..." she mutters.
Natsumi Matsumoto strokes her fingers through Lacrima's hair, tutting softly at her. "You aren't a terrible girlfriend, or needy. You're a beloved sweetheart, and I've told you time and again I'm here for you. Never, ever, ever worry that you're being needy.".
Lacrima sniffs and just keeps lied against Natsumi's lap, gently closing her eyes. "I'm lucky you don't judge me." she says quietly. "You... don't. Hate me. For these mistakes." she says.
"Jia-chan got so upset... when I told her about that. She brought. Things. That could hurt me. With her. She didn't use any. But.. she did. Unfurl one. That made me feel like it could hurt me." she says.
"Some kind of wood..."
Natsumi Matsumoto gently caresses Lacrima's cheek, shaking her head. "Fear makes us all do things sometimes, even hurt friends. I fear losing you more than anything else though. I guess that's one reason I don't think I could ever hate you, or do anything besides want to be there for you. To try and help you overcome as best as we can.".
Lacrima nods a bit as she keeps her eyes closed. "I want to dance again soon." she says quietly. "I want to... dance. I miss it. I haven't danced... in so long." she says quietly. "Not since the last time we did." she says. "At the ball." she gently.
She opens her eyes softly. That feeling of anxiety, and oppression. Is almost non-existent now.
"I feel... better. Much better now. Thank you. Natsumi-chan. I just. So easy. For me to. Be. Worried and upset." she says.
Natsumi Matsumoto gently leans down, chuckling softly. "Ssssh. We all do that.". She presses her lips chastely against Lacrima's own.
Lacrima does blush, at the kiss. She returns, it, if lightly. With her cold lips.
"Jiaying..." she says softly.
"She said I got split. Like. The dark part. And. the Norie part. Got split somehow. One day." she says. "And she said. That. THe light part. Said I loved you." she says softly. "The dark part. Was somewhere else. But my memories are confusing because I was in two places at once at the same time." she says softly.
"But I think... my dark part. Is fond of you too. Else. It'd be. Acting. Against you." she says quietly. "Like it does everything else it doesn't like." she says quietly.
"I still can't feel love... like this." she says quietly. "But.. if what Jiaying said is true..." she says quietly. "That does give me some comfort." she says quietly.
Natsumi's cheeks tinge red at Lacrima's words as she rises just a little from the kiss. She stays hunched over, gazing at Lacrima with sparkling eyes of adoration. "That sounds sweet, and a little scary. Mostly sweet.".
She gives Lacrima a warm grin and touches her nose to her's.
Lacrima sighs. "I apparently told her things? When I was split. Well the half. She could talk to. Stuff like. 'I'm sorry' and to tell various people that. And to tell you that I loved you. And I don't even know." she says silently.
"Jiaying wants to try to split me- and seal the dark part away- but I don't think it's a good idea." she says. "What worries me more is. She's telling me this and the 'dark part' isn't acting on it." she says.
"So it'll probably be bad for me." she says silently.
Natsumi Matsumoto nods solemnly. "It could be what it wants. Freedom to be nothing but it. Nothing inhibiting it at all. No Norie in the way of Lacrima.".
She sighs softly. "Which sucks, because it is kind of a good idea otherwise.".
Lacrima frowns. "I don't know. It often has control of me when it wants it, but I don't think it wants control because it had so many countless times in the past for that." she says quietly.
"I have...theories. But...they're just. Theories..." she says quietly. "Do you want to hear them?.." she asks.
Natsumi shrugs softly. "Only if you want me to hear them.". It wasn't much, but it was a question that offered two things. Lacrima could trust Natsumi, or fear that the worry that one of the theories may be true would worry Natsumi endlessly.
Lacrima purses her lips. "When I think about. The last person who was cursed with this power." she says quietly. "He wanted it- he wanted control. And to dominate." she says quietly. "If there were people before him-- who also used this power- they probably had similar goals. They sought it out. This power... had to be /sought/ out and /taken/ and /controlled/..." she says. "Is my theory that is. I have no proof." she says.
"Until. It was stripped from it's last user. Against his will. And put into this necklace." she says quietly.
"If this is true..." she says softly.
"Then I'm the first person to have this power- that didn't seek it out or control it or dominate it and use it for bad terrible things."
"I wonder if it's afraid of being used again by someone that can keep it in line." she says quietly. "Rather than be tied to someone who isn't trying that." she says.
"But I dunno. There's some parts that don't make sense either." she says softly. "Just..small things."
Natsumi nods solemnly, rising up and leaning back on the couch with her hand in Lacrima's hair as she looks up at the ceiling.
"If it is like that, then maybe it just wants peace and eventually you might be able to live without it doing anything to you. That'd be a nice thought.".
Lacrima shakes her head. "I don't think it's it's nature to not do things to me. If it wanted to hurt me, it had countless chances to do that." she says quietly. "It'd make me hurt all these...few friends I've made. It'd make me do much more terrible things." she says.
"I don't even feel it wanted to.. to do... what. It did. To my friend." she says quietly. "But it doesn't remember anything either." she says.
"But Jia doesn't belive that." she says.
"Not a lot of people do." she says.
"I mean. This thing. This Curse. Inside me. Isn't a blessing." she says. "I agree with that much. But. I don't think. It's /trying/ to actively do me harm. I think it doesn't know how to do things or feel things either because everyone it was attached to before may aswell not had been human."
Natsumi tilts her head as she leans forward and looks down at Lacrima with intensity.
"What if it is like an animal? Sometimes it can't help doing things it doesn't really want to do. I doubt poisonous frogs want to kill everything that touches them.".
Lacrima sighs a bit. "I don't know." she says quietly. "Maybe it's like that too." she says.
"I wish I could remember what went down during that split." she says silently.
"In both directions. It's just a mixmash of random thoughts in my head." she says quietly.
Natsumi Matsumoto nods softly, leaning down to try and awkwardly hug Lacrima in her lap. "Maybe you'll figure it out eventually. Like, what went on, what is going on, what will go on.".
Lacrima slips up to sitting against so Natsumi-chan can hug her properly, and she hugs, back just holding. Cold, but an unhesitant hug back isn't something she gives everyone. She just closes her eyes.
"Yeah. I hope so." she says silently.