Scene #8447: Coming Home, The Way We Always Have To

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Kayoko Kirenai	Thursday evening. Two days after Chevalier Vermillion left Kagoshima on her scooter to visit Lobotomy Corporation, and two days that she's been gone. Two days of Kayoko being questioned by their parents, by their teachers, and lying to them in a way that's mostly the truth when she says that Meika probably just needs some time away. Two days of being questioned by Sister Kurokawa and the Holy Refulgence, and telling the truth in a way that's mostly a lie when she says that she doesn't know where Chevalier Vermillion has gone. Taking care of their youngest sister, taking care of retribution. Collecting her assignments so Meika knows what she has to do when she gets back, and studying supplementary materials for the classes they don't share so she can help her get through it. Two days of back to back Temptation attacks and sleepless nights. Kids and knights both don't get to be selfish for a day without consequences. Meika notices almost the moment that she passes back into Kayoko's perceptive range, kilometers and kilometers away, still well outside the city limits. A flash of angry blue light cuts through the afternoon haze right in front of her face, both as an expression of irritation and a warning of what comes next. The highway around her distorts like a mirage, then blueshifts and compresses into an inverted lens of spherical perception in front of her, then finally vanishes, leaving her completely blind. Meika's experienced this before, plenty of times, whenever she gets into severe trouble. From the outside, she's completely invisible, allowed to pass unmolested into the city limits, so long as she goes to talk to Kayoko first. The network of Cherubs, always on the lookout for a misstep to rat out, won't be allowed to be the first ones to know that she's back. Meika knows where to find her, too. A year ago, early on in their careers as a pair of magical girls, the Knights had let a Temptation slip and wreak havoc through the city's infrastructure, almost resulting in district-wide flooding. All that remains now are collapsed drainage tunnels that no one else remembers exist. Cobalt is waiting inside their unofficially claimed chamber, standing behind the rail of the elevated walkway over the entrance tunnel. The air is thick with the built up layers of cigarette smoke and mildew, quiet except for dripping water and the rumble of cars overhead. Fairy lights are strung up across the walls, a bright touch of cheerful personalization in the damp space, filling the room with dim shadows rather than pitch black. The chamber is as much a treehouse for a pair of sisters as it is a prison cell. A minifridge that Kayoko had claimed was for her dorm had snacks in it, at one point. Cigarette butts turn to mush in the slimy ruts in the ground. Chevalier Cobalt, in her shining metallic armor, is distinctly out of place visually, and still leans against the corroded railing as if she belongs.
Meika Kirenai	Meika's return home from the Lobotomy Corporation facility is far too drawn-out to really resemble the pulling-off-a-bandage feeling it comes alongside. The warm shadows of the evening sky, the earliest wedge of the silver moon, the yellow haze of scattered sodium lamps, and the busy cars straggling home, all shepherd her journey back across the threshold of Kagoshima. If not for the caffeine in her system and her own acclimation to this aching sort of exhaustion, it'd be a lullaby. Gentle enough to distract herself, just a bit. And then, in the familiar display, the warning flash, Meika squints her eyes shut. They won't be helpful anymore. Her surroundings twist and pull themselves inside out as she drives onwards, the rhythmic rumble of her scooter, the rush of wind, the sounds of other drivers, all echo and rattle and give hint to her surroundings. It's probably reckless to drive this way, even with the aid of her echolocation, but the guilty feeling that it's for the best that nobody sees her, and the thankful pang of knowing her sister is doing it to shield her from the worry and ire of others mask out any thought to safety. Put-put-puttering to a halt near the riverside tunnel entrance, Meika chokes her scooter's power off, and leaves it leaning against a fence. She grabs her bag from it, and fishes out a cardboard cigarette packet and rattling butane lighter, by feel instead of sight. There's no visible flame when she lights a cigarette, and the hazy smoke trickles past the boundary of what her sister's tricks of the light can control, seemingly from no source to any passerby. And then there's not a single thing more she can do, to put off what's coming next. Meika's footsteps echo, splashing in puddles and ricocheting off walls. She makes no effort not to be heard, short of calling out a greeting. Tobacco mixed with dusty mildew, a small, rattling cough is the first sound that comes from her throat in the abandonded tunnels. Her cheek itches, where still-present black sludge, a remnant of the Army in Black, has gone unnoticed enough to not wipe off. She leans at the edge of the entryway to their chamber, and stays still. It's on her to speak up first, in that soft and unsaid admission of fault. That's the way it's supposed to be, here, that's the way the exchange always goes. Contrasted to her sister's sparkling armor and gilded raiment, Meika's wrinkled school uniform and well-worn jacket feels like an insult. A finger taps a rattle of ash to fall down to the ground below, when she takes the burning cigarette away from her lips, to free them. "...Hey. I made it back. How's... how's Kyou? Have you seen her..?"
Kayoko Kirenai	The cigarette. Kayoko frowns, before Meika's even in the room, though not in the same way as a disappointed authority figure would, despite the way she presents herself. She looks reluctant, more than she does upset. "Could you not?" Her first words to Meika in days. "You know the smell stick in my hair whenever you do that around me." Cobalt stops slouching against the railing and straightens up, though her shadow stays leaning in the dim light. "Yes. Of course I did." She sighs a little. Studying while taking care of Kyou isn't ideal for either of them, but she manages. "You don't need to doubt that I would. I took care of everything else, too, before you ask, so you don't need to try to waste time going through all the rest too." Blue eyes, glasses-less, angled to look down on Meika while her lips twist into a pout. Metal clinks against metal as she crosses her arms disapprovingly. "What happened? Where were you? You know that us being in the Paladins now makes this worse, not better, right?"
Meika Kirenai	"Oh, come on. As if anyone wouldn't know exactly where it's from." No grace given to the thought that it's just rude and putrid in the first place to smoke around her. Still. She drops the lit cigarette to the ground, her heel twisting it into a muddy mess against the wet floor. Red eyes fix on the sillhouettes behind her sister, cast by the overhead strings of light. Meika's composure wilts, shrinks, like if she could meld into the lichen-patchworked concrete right now, she would. "...Yeah. I.. I knew you would. I-" Her canines clamp against her cheeks, biting back words until she's had a heavy moment to think. "I'm sorry if I scared her. I should have told her I wouldn't be there for a bit." I should have told you, too. But you know I know that, right? So it's just a waste of breath. She tries to find her sister's gaze, to meet it on common ground, but the second her piercing blue is focal, Meika flinches. "Out." Of course she was out. That's not even close to an answer. She backpedals, half of a bitter twist to her lip when she forces a real one out. "...I... wanted to check in on something. And then there was... work, that people needed help with. I tried to help." Tried. That's a keyword, when mixed with an expression and gaze that won't stray from the floor. "It wasn't paladins business, but.. but it was.. close. Some of it. Maybe there's a report you could check, or something. The... the company that dealt with the Magical Girl of Courage, you remember them. They had trouble with something else, and it took a while." No explanation to why she didn't tell anyone, and what amount of time 'a while' is. "...I'm sorry, okay? It was stupid of me to be there. It went bad." Her posture half-mirrors Cobalt's, an arm crossing in front of her chest. "You... didn't get in trouble with the Paladins for this, right?" Genuine worry enters her tone, hushed and trembling.
Kayoko Kirenai	"I'm sorry if I scared her." "She's getting used to it." Condemning. Not reassuring. "It's Mom and Dad who were worse about it. Even if they're used to it too, Dad still won't miss an opportunity to suggest something about it. You know how it is." Maybe you don't. You're never around for it. Kayoko runs her gauntleted fingers through her ponytail, twisting the ever-present blue tie around. "But it wasn't as bad as it could've been." Kayoko's stare doesn't allow anything to go unnoticed. Not that she'd even need to look in Meika's direction to see, but the unwavering attention of her gaze makes it completely clear that she notices every facial twitch, every downturned microexpression, every shuffle of feet and hands. At Meika's first, noncommittal 'out', she stays silent and still, implicitly expecting more. Learned from somewhere, undoubtedly. "'But it was close'. So, combat stuff?" Bruises and magically-healed cuts from the past two days of fighting solo ache beneath Cobalt's armor, but that's the one responsibility she won't even allude to being resentful that she was forced to take care of while Meika was gone. "The Magical Girl Of Courage? Is she what you were checking on? Or were you helping Lobotomy Corporation so that they'd let you see her?" Chevalier Cobalt can't really stay angry at Meika, knowing that she was out for that. Lonely, resentful, and jealous, absolutely. Irritated that Vermillion still, after a year, acts like she's more of a magical girl than her, not even bothering to tell her about going to visit one of the only other magical girls they've ever met, that they helped save together. But not angry that she went. "'It went bad'." There's no way for Kayoko to mistake the black ichor on Meika's cheek for mud, even at distance, in this lighting. "I didn't get in trouble. Just... you know how much I had to do to convince them--" The Holy Refulgence, not the Paladins. "--that letting us join would be better for you. That the freedom would help, rather than..."
Meika Kirenai	Getting used to it. I'm sorry. I know it's wrong. She shouldn't have to. Thoughts of words she won't ever dare tell her youngest sister, for lack of bravery, for lack of any possible explanation. A flicker of bitter, awful anger flares up in her eyes, and her boot toe skids as she tries to kick it against the floor behind her, with a slippery thump. Fingers fidget and balled-up hands move in and out of her pockets, restless. "Dad still won't miss an opportunity to suggest something about it." "You don't have to remind me." She leans more weight against the cold wall than she ought to, a sloppy posture. It betrays how tired her limbs are, how fading her muscles. "...I'm glad it.. wasn't worse, though." "I couldn't check on her yet. Had to get permission. I- I got it, but... stuff was going to be going wrong for them, all-hands-on-deck sort... I thought people would get hurt, and I was right. So I just... stayed out." She shrugs, like her reasoning ought to be obvious. Breath escapes her lips, shaking. The slight tremble to her body, ever so slightly carrying over to a quiver in her voice. "There was fighting, but I wound up okay." Mostly. Angry soreness dances up her forearms from where she caught an axe blow, even through the armor. "It went bad." "...Yeah." A hand reaches up to wipe her cheek on an overlong sleeve, staining it too instead of just her face. "I don't know. I don't know how, or-" Her voice cuts out for a moment, and she waits, the ceiling dripping condensed moisture every handful of staccato seconds. "One of the... Abnormalities, reacted. To me. Things got messy." 'Things'. Meika's phrasing, choked hesitation, cause that word to carry weight. "I don't think anyone else got hurt because of it." "Really. Better for me. I'm doing fine, Kayoko- I've always been. And I'm- you know it's a waste of time to change their minds. I don't want them to be mad at you for trying."
Kayoko Kirenai	Meika's reasoning is obvious. Kayoko can protect the entire city if she pushes herself enough-- and she'll have to, soon-- so Meika can help somewhere else. Cover more ground, push themselves harder, do more work, to justify the burden they put on the Holy Refulgence by demanding access to the multiverse. There was fighting, but I wound up okay." Kayoko knows what that's covering for, obviously. She puts a gauntleted hand on the railing then quietly vaults over it, slowing her fall to the tunnel floor with ribbons of light disintegrating under her greaves as quickly as they appear. "Let me at least check, since you've been fighting." Kayoko doesn't ask, so there's no room to refuse. Soothing motes of golden light dance around her fingers as she holds them up to Meika, flowing between them to gently clump around each source of pain like antibodies. "It's good that you got permission. To check on her. You have to actually let me know when you go to see her, though. It's not fair to keep something like that from me." "Reacted to you? Like in a...?" With the healing done, and standing on the same floor, Chevalier Cobalt's armor disappears with a lash, turning back into her school uniform. Pressed neat and spotless, in stark contrast to Meika's, and ripples of magical energy pulse through the ground around her feet to make sure even her shoes aren't stained. "Oh. It wasn't another magical girl, right? So it's... something with all of them. I don't know-- how to feel about that." "anyone else" Kayoko sighs, and there's a moment where it looks like she's going to wrap Meika in a hug. Her shoulders bunch up, she presses her lips together, but after a moment of silence she doesn't move, just quietly responds. "... Yeah. Be careful, Mei." "And don't be dumb. Yes, better for you. It has been better, hasn't it? I've-- I really do like being able to work with everyone. Even if it is a bit weird." Kayoko takes a few steps past Meika, into the exit tunnel. Rotten, stagnant water splashes beneath her feet, shattering the wavering reflections of the fairy lights across the concrete ceiling of the tunnel. "We should go home. We have a bunch of assignments to catch you up on, and Sister Shinkyou especially was-- well, you'll see. I'll be able to deflect questions, as long as you're working."
Meika Kirenai	"Let me at least check, since you've been fighting." There's no room to refuse, but she does so anyways, futile as it is. "No. No, Cobalt- I- I'm fine. It's fine." Meika can't stop the motes from reaching her, and settling around the aching bruises, melding through her jacket and around her arms. She sighs, and looks away, frustrated. "You know I wouldn't visit her withoug telling you, sis. Of course I'd let you know. I just- this had to happen first. I wouldn't do that." Do you know that, or trust that, though? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. Meika isn't even sure her assurance is true. If the Magical Girl of Courage was possible to visit, wouldn't it have been just as easy to skip town, and see her, all the same as for any other reason? As the light motes flicker out like late-evening fireflies, Meika shoves her hands into her coat pockets, and grabs hold of the handful of trinkets within them. Pens, her lighter, a crushed reciept, and old, torn-up pieces of index cards. "Reacted to you? Like in a...?" 'The heart...is pink... but your heart...' "I don't- I don't know how to feel either, Kayoko." She lies. It's obvious she doesn't feel good about it, the way her lips purse and her eyes wander. But that's not the kind of thing that's feasible to acknowledge. Not out loud. Not even here. "Yeah. This wasn't a Magical Girl. It's... maybe it's just something with all of them." "I'll... I'll talk to Miss Angela again, sometime. Maybe- Well... at least I probably owe her an apology." '... Yeah. Be careful, Mei.' In the moment before Kayoko speaks, before it's clear the hug she looks like she'll offer-- why? --wasn't ever there, Meika flinches, her eyes shut. She stays still, save for the pulse of breath in and out. "I was. I was careful. I was doing it right.". She cracks her eyelids back open, one at a time, and turns her back to Kayoko before she carries on speaking. "Yeah. Sure. I like that we can work with them too. That we can help more. Even when it's weird." I know what you meant, though. 'Better' because it wasn't good enough before, huh? When Kayoko steps past, footsteps rippling and echoing, Meika holds her breath, and stands up straight. "...I've got to make a stop, before we get home. Won't be too out of the way, I promise. We'll still get there faster than the train. I just... don't want to be empty-handed..." Steps just off rhythm, splashing louder, boots deliberately stomped into shallow puddles, Meika follows.