Scene #8761: I Am My Sister's Keeper

Owner	Pose
Meika Kirenai	<X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Ishirou says, "Meika... what's happening?" <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Kayoko Kirenai connects, and mutes. <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Meika Kirenai says, "I can make things better. I can help people. Like- I promised even, I'd- I'd rescue Courage, I need to make good on that. She's not even- that's not the same rule, so it's-" Metal catches bad against a chopping board, nearly chipping into the wood instead of an onion laid across it. It doesn't matter that Meika is holding it, that Meika is the one whose motion messed it up- the sound makes her flinch. The knife gets dropped with a dull clatter, and her hands thrown up near her shoulders, exasperated. She doesn't even notice her finger is bleeding. <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Ishirou says, "Meika..?" <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Ishirou says, "I know you want to help people and make things better." <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Meika Kirenai crackles back online, quieter. "I do. R-right. So what's stopping me right now, huh?" The radio she's set down on the kitchen counter keeps blaring. She hits a switch on it, with more force than needed, and it goes silent. Meika doesn't pick back up the kitchen knife, or even look back in its direction. She just grabs the radio, and her half-finished cigarette resting in her dad's ashtray, before storming off towards her room- not like anyone is home to hear her stomping footsteps. . . . . . It's a long while until its opened up again, a sports bag slung over her shoulder, and two old softball bats just barely peeking out. Expression utterly dour, she shuts her door from outside, and tacks a ripped-off note on it, addressed to her parents and youngest sister, for when she's back from- What club is she in, again? It's jumbled and scrawled, reading 'I'm sorry dinner's not finished, I don't know when I'll be back, don't worry or anything, but if I-' and continuing on for a while of failing to meaningfully explain or excuse her own coming absense. Left on her desk are her phone and radio, two things she shouldn't have and that she hasn't left home without in months. Her sketchbook, gun, and its one still-full magazine don't get abandonded. It doesn't matter if the doors slam when she leaves the empty suburban house. She doesn't even remember to lock the door. Her chest siezes up, as hastily-tugged on boots contact pavement, and every ache and bruise on her body flares back up into awareness. Bitter guilt feels like it'll melt straight through her esophagus with every shaky breath. Chill air, the first-lit streetlights, a tugged-tight jacket, and a bag that's a makeshift war kit, and the dregs of a cigarette Meika half-hopes will start to burn her fingers, make up the magical girl's regalia to work with down her path out of the city. It doesn't feel like enough.
Kayoko Kirenai	<X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Ishirou says, "Hello, is anyone there? Does anyone know where Meika is?" <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Kayoko Kirenai says, "... I know where she's going. I can take care of it, Mister Ishirou." <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Ishirou says, "...Alright, if you need help let me know, okay?" <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Kayoko Kirenai says, "I can handle it. I said I can." <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Kayoko Kirenai says, "It's Lobotomy Corporation, every single time. Every time she does something stupid like this." The setting sun flickers black in the teal-orange sky. Kayoko's warning is brief enough that the pedestrians and the gridlocked cars traveling home from work aren't sent into a panic, but Meika might be. Kayoko's eye has been following her since leaving the house, unblinkingly severe, and the moment her foot crosses the line that Kayoko deems 'too far', she makes it absolutely clear what she's meant every time she's said that it is up to her whether Meika leaves or not. Light drips down from an incandescent scrape in the air above the sidewalk, the fluidity of it blinking off a moment later to form a solid concrete wall in front of Meika. Illusory, as she knows from experience and from a ping of echolocation, but tangible to the touch if she tries to push her way through it. More importantly than the semi-physical barrier, though, is the implicit announcement: I know, and I'm not going to let you. Kayoko has made mild inconveniences on Meika's trips to the warpgate before, irritatedly flashing her with light, shifting around buttons, to demonstrate her disapproval, but it's not until now that she puts her foot down, from however many miles away she happens to be. Inscribed on the wall in prim, glowing letters, visible only to Meika, is the first warning; bargaining. THE DAME COMMANDER ISN'T HAPPY. SHE THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN THIS. The writing wobbles, lingering for a few seconds while Kayoko tries to study Meika's face to tell when she's read it. When the words blink away, they're replaced with another set, white glow slightly less harsh. YOU CAN STILL TURN BACK AND APOLOGIZE.
Meika Kirenai	Watching the sky only from how it tints the sidewalk, the flickering colors are a gut-feel worry more than something Meika cognizantly notices. Of course she knows. Of course. There's no way I'd just wind up lucky. The weather isn't why the magical girl shivers. The frustrated noise she makes when met with the wall is silent, of course. The scratching sound of her fingertips against its tangible illusory surface, though, are her own doing. "C-come on. Just- just let me go. You don't have to.." Meika's voice is quiet, knowing at least her sister can see even if she can't hear. It only crosses her mind after that other people, though, might. Hands shove back to pockets, Meika tries to circle around the concrete wall, pace picking up. Her stomach jumps to her throat upon seeing the faintly-glowing words, and it makes her want to tear her eyes away- she doesn't. Emotions flash across Meika's face- shame and guilt. What else could be expected? I wish she didn't expect better. But this is- Meika bites her tongue from saying anything actually aloud. Anxious, angry, she stamps a foot on the ground, just standing there and watching the wall. "Come on. C-come on, Kayoko. I don't want to go back, and- even if I should apologize, it's..." Why am I bothering? People will hear. People will stare. She tastes blood, again. "You try winding up empty-handed. If she- she's mad at me, she'll still be mad. Even with this. Won't be better unless I do something." She tugs the straps of her sports bag tighter to her back, and hunches her shoulder up. It's really obvious to any onlooker she's rushing somewhere, dipping aroudn the walls she can see and trying to get towards the train station. Closing her eyes only does a bit of good, she can focus fine on her echolocation with them open, still, but it still lets her not look at what she really, really doesn't want to.
Kayoko Kirenai	<X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Lilian Rook says, ". . . Does she hate me?" <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Kayoko Kirenai says, "N-no! No. I'm sure she doesn't. She can't. How could she?" <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Kayoko Kirenai says, "She's-- I know she's been happier, from you helping her. She has." <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Lilian Rook says, "Was I being too pushy then? Maybe it's normal that she wouldn't want to trust me." <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Lilian Rook says, "Or perhaps she was just putting up with me, and I couldn't tell the difference." <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Lilian Rook says, "I know she seemed happy, but . . ." <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Kayoko Kirenai says, "I-I-- I don't think you were too pushy. She's at the point where she needs someone to be a little pushy, because she...." <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Kayoko Kirenai quietly, "I know she was-- happier. I can promise that she was." <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Kayoko Kirenai says quietly, "... I appreciated you helping her." Kayoko sits against the cement retaining wall alongside the river, below the sightline of the streets. There's no mud on her shoes and uniform, and she has a pensive expression when looking at her radio. She shifts on the dirty rock slope, back scraping against the wall, as she pulls her knees up to her chest. Her radio's muted, and no matter what she writes on the walls around Meika during her escape, Meika isn't actually able to hear what Kayoko says. Her fingers dig into the mud beside her, muscles flexed and trembling, while her shadow follows through on the motion of throwing a rock as hard as she can. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. How can she be this ungrateful? If I needed help, and if Miss Rook gave me a tenth as much as she gave her, I'd be doing everything to make sure she felt it was worth it. Not making her worried that I hated her. Kayoko twitches, the background process of tracking and stopping Meika needing her attention and draining her resources. Her head droops down, and without any dramatic flicker, her tidy ponytail has flyaway strands in disarray, sticking to the sweat that's suddenly visible on her pale face. She takes a deep breath and wipes a hand across her forehead, smudging it with dirt that isn't there anymore. <B-anter> Kayoko Kirenai connects, hotmic-ing the sound of rock rasping against rock in the background. "When you have magic, is there some amount of using it in daily activities that starts to count as... cheating?" . . . <B-anter> Kayoko Kirenai says, "... But it wasn't about school, anyways. I was thinking about it because, Polly found some of my photos, the ones I don't submit to the club or anything." . . . <B-anter> Kayoko Kirenai hotmics a sigh, then a scraping noise. There's a short pause. "Okay. I wasn't really sure, since it seemed harmless enough, but it felt wrong to me. So I'd rather stick to not relying on it that way, not for things that could get me an advantage over people." Miles away, Kayoko turns her attention back to tracking her sister's escape through the city, as she's been able to do since Meika stepped out the door at the beginning.
Kayoko Kirenai	With Meika having her eyes closed, Kayoko needs to take more direct measures. Reading Meika's lips, her first tactic would be to transcribe the radio, to convince Meika that this isn't a one-way choice and that backing down now would still get her sympathy. Meika's cut herself off from that-- and maybe she doesn't deserve that gentle of a touch at all, anymore. Meika is three feet to the right of where she seems. People brush past her, walk full-force into her, confused at why they didn't see her. The press of bodies is absolutely indifferent to Meika's true position, bulldozing through her without any respect for her personal space. Whenever her eyes are open, she sees flashes of purple hair in the crowds, sternly following her to pull her aside. Meika is clinging to her bag, pushing through the crowd, turning her head side to side shiftily. Tricks of light draw the attention of street corner officers, bulges in the bag suggest she's fresh off of a shoplifting stint. There's the visible outline of a cigarette carton in her pocket. The hard rap of a flash of solid light flicking her arm is the reminder of Kayoko's building anger, like a shove and a hissed 'come on!'
Meika Kirenai	The trust that others, whose faces are pointed right at you, will see you and avoid you as you walk, is something hard to bypass. Knowing people are coming in close and dipping out to slip past them, so they don't- ansi"H-hey, don't touch me-" -collide with her shoulder wrong, isn't so easy when she can't trust their movements to account for her. It's fine. If they don't see me, then it's- Tugging her coat close and leading with her shoulders, eyes-shut, she clenches her teeth and tries to brace into all the impacts, like the crowds are something able to be muscled through. Heavens know how bad that'll look when Kayoko doesn't hide her real position. Muttered 'Sorry, my bad''s ring out from that person just behind them, no, the other way-, twisting her words that nobody would even respond well to coming from where she's standing, hidden- deflecting what blame and surprise she can away. Everything else from her shifts silent. Not having more of those messages is a blessing. The aching guilt only gets worse with every single step she takes, fighting with the burning necessity to do this all, and the angry frustration that wants her to just stop there and cry. Instead, fingernails dig into her palms, and teeth bite the inside of her cheek, focus and self-punishment in one. Each step still comes. The times Meika doesn't duck out of the way in time, can't shoulder-check through, though, tumbling down to the pavement is terrifying. Legs shake and ache with still-healing wounds, as she fights to spring back up before risking more than hard bumps. Just- just let me go, Kayoko. Come on... She doesn't even bother mouthing her want. It's hard, still, to keep her eyes closed all the time, especially moments as frantic as that. There would be little point to begging people not to look at her. Kayoko won't let them, save for what's incriminating. The stares of cops are one thing- the flashes of familiarity are worse. That's fine. That's fine. I can handle this. Half of a shout escapes Meika's mouth, actually making sound, when Kayoko's blow surprises her, punctuating her own effort to keep deflecting attention- A dozen car alarms, all far from her, blare up into being. The glow that pulses out with the sound they make is a dare back to Kayoko to handle, the closest thing to spite she can manage.
Kayoko Kirenai	"What is her problem?!" Meika gains ground, snapping back into visual position so that she can weave through the crowd properly, when creating that magical glow. It winks away a few seconds later, of course; Meika's manipulated light is easily smothered beneath Kayoko's, though Kayoko has no way of knowing or stopping the car alarms themselves. The distant effortlessness with which she wipes away the problem looks callous to Meika-- but down in the riverbank, Kayoko's reaction is anything but. What would she even do if I didn't cover it up? Reveal herself to the whole city by accident? Would she really ruin everything that we and the Holy Refulgence do, just to be a little spiteful about me not wanting her to-- to get in trouble? Kayoko stalks back and forth beneath a bridge across the river, kicking rocks down the slope. Her face is dimly lit up by the aggregation of distant light warped into her sight, glowing with abstractly shifting color in the shadow, comprehensible only to her. She isn't grinding her teeth. No. Of course not. Because she only does this because she knows I'll cover for her. Just like I apologized to Miss Rook for her, just like I'll apologize to the Paladins for her, just like I'll explain to the Holy Refulgence and Mom and Dad and school. If she didn't, then she wouldn't even act out this way, because even she knows that the consequences are too horrible for her. "So, fine. You're right. I'm not spiteful enough to not." She's not sure when she started murmuring her thoughts out loud, but she is now. "But being protected is supposed to give you the time to get better, not worse. If you're still getting worse; if you're making the Dame Commander doubt whether it was even worth it... then I'll draw the line." The shoebox stuffed under Meika's bed is crushed in a flash of golden light. If this hurts the cherub inside, Kayoko won't feel too guilty about it. Drop scurries out of the box, held behind whenever Meika goes to sneak off somewhere she shouldn't. Despite her barely-veiled look of disgust at seeing the way the cherub stretches and rubs its hands together after being freed, she sets out a series of glowing arrows to guide it all the way to where Meika is. Meanwhile: the street Meika has been trying to cross has been busy with active traffic for five straight minutes. Other people, waiting for the crosswalk, have given up and wandered off in a huff, deciding to cross somewhere else. Each time Meika has done so, the same thing happened, pinning her for a while at each block until she can dart across traffic. Lights stay green indefinitely, detour signs direct cars to block Meika from crossing, walk signals stay red and even illusory cars fill the gaps between real ones. While forced to stay still at a crosswalk, Meika has nowhere to run without looking unforgivably suspicious when one of the cops approaches her. "Hey little miss, you're not old enough to be smoking that, are you? Just hand 'em over, no need to make this a big deal." Is she smoking? She didn't know she was, but there's a cigarette there, between her lips. "And, hey, while we're at it; you wouldn't mind giving me a look at whatever you've got in that bag of yours, would you? I'm sure it's nothing, but, well... you've got a bit of a look."
Meika Kirenai	Meika groans, silently, at the hassle of the traffic crossings. Pathing herself towards the few pedestrian bridges on her route pulls her out of the way, and adds more struggle, and more chances for interception- if Kayoko will even let her find them. It's too much trouble to keep her eyes closed, and from the attention being drawn, something she has to give up on protecting herself through, or face causing even more of a scene. 'Hey little miss,' Leave me alone- a faint flicker of revulsion crosses the girl's face, quickly replaced with fear, and then practiced neutrality. If her eyes scanned even once the officer's way, though, the inherent harsh, dagger-stare-y red of them is a dead giveaway to her current temperment- not that they'd ever think too hard on that. The police officer's first comment gets, on habit, Meika to reach up to her lip- the intangible cigarette is hard to try and grip at, even as she tries to flick it away. Hey, what's- Her heart sinks on the realization she didn't just forget she's smoking, and her teeth clench tight. Before she can say anything else, though, standing still where she is- 'And, hey, while we're at it,' It's automatic to flinch when the cop extends the topic out to that. Meika knows that even if her sister wouldn't do something extra to incriminate her, she's still carrying a gun- illegal on future-shattering levels. There's absolutely no way she can let him see it. {Kayoko can watch Meika's lips move. She doesn't hear the words she says, she doesn't hear the words the police officers hear. She just catches stuff about 'dispatch', made-up nonsense codes, a pressing emergency, gunshots fired. She can guess what Meika is doing by how the police reach up to check their radios, how fear flashes on their faces and they turn to rush off. Kayoko, too, can watch the flash of ugly guilt on her sister's face as she waves that lie.} Meika siezes her chance and turns to bolt across traffic, cross-lights be damned, even where the cars are still coming- slow-seeming with the busy traffic, she tries to hedge her bets and focus on the awareness tracking their echoes provides in the hopes it'll help her dodge getting hit. It doesn't matter if they honk, if people see and shout- she's sprinting, bootfalls silent, as obnoxious as running through city sidewalks and streets still is.
Meika Kirenai	No matter how quick of a pace she makes, it doesn't stop Drop from catching up with her. From some mailbox, or the eave of a building, or somewhere else that Meika still doesn't catch the Cherub's motion as having come from, the black-and-white striped creature impacts her shoulder, and quickly hides itself in her hood. That's somewhere the Cherub can hide that Meika can't protest, can't stop, and can't do much about. that's a threat in of itself, her familiar so close and able to whisper in her ear. {Kayoko can see Meika's face pale. She can see her stop walking. She can see Meika's tears well up. She cannot hear what Drop repeats at her.} "-ut the fuck up, get ???'? words out of your fucking mouth!" Audible or not, Kayoko can read just enough of it on Meika's lips for the slippery parts to fade off of her cognition. Meika stays standing there, and shrugs her bag up and off her shoulder enough to whip her jacket off and catch the scampering creature still in its hood. The jacket, the swaddled-up Cherub within it, and a modicum of Meika's fury get quickly shoved together into the sports bag, and zipped tight. It doesn't muffle the Cherub's voice enough for her to not hear, but the tightness in her shoulders, the trudge of her steps forwards, and her uncomfortable crossed-arms, fidgeting with sleeves that feel to short and fabric that feels too light to hide in, is the outcome Kayoko's actions result in. I get the message, sis. Loud and fucking clear. 'Getting it', though, doesn't mean she's going to turn back.
Kayoko Kirenai	The closer Meika gets to the warpgate, the fewer options Kayoko has. Horizontal bars of incandescence, not even bothering to complete the appearance of iron rods, appear at gut-height and solidify just long enough to smack her while walking. Meika misjudges curbs, steps in potholes, stumbles when climbing up stairs that aren't there, scrapes her shins on ones that aren. Minor bumps and bruises, aching annoyances rather than particularly violent. Kayoko knows those small measures won't stop Meika at this point. Once she's set her mind on something like this, the battering only hardens her resolve further-- limping on a sore ankle is a hair shirt, each bump preemptive punishment for the sin she's intent on committing anyways. It's just petulance at this point. "-ut the fuck up, get ???'? words out of your fucking mouth!" Recognizing that there's something said that a Temptation has erased from Kayoko's perception still doesn't make it possible for her to focus on it. The shape of Meika's lips as she forms the word are unreadable, basic mental processing sliding off the thought like ice, and it's only in retrospect that she even notices it. She can still see the look on Meika's face. Something feels sick and hollow in Kayoko's stomach, sparking hot tears in her eyes before she can force them back down-- Sympathetic tears. It's sad every time it happens, of course it is. That's normal; I'm not a monster. For a minute, Meika is an intentional blind spot in Kayoko's surveillance, just until she's sure that Meika isn't still looking so distraught about that. By the time Kayoko looks back, Meika's already almost at the warpgate. Nothing short of drastic measures can stop her from getting there, and one immediately comes to mind. The gun has been a sore spot for Kayoko ever since Meika got it-- it's reckless, it's illegal, and most importantly, it's not something that a Chevalier would use. If Meika wasn't insisting on bringing it everywhere with her, even to school and sleeping with it, like it's a stuffed animal, Kayoko would have taken it and thrown it into the harbor at this point. It's insane, worse than the smoking, worse than the sneaking out. Drawing a crowd, scattering cops in it, and having Meika pull out her gun would stop her. Do it around the warpgate, and she'd never be able to go through it again. And... it's effective, and Kayoko's mad, but it's still too harsh, isn't it? Taking her away from the multiverse, getting her in legal trouble, the way that Mom and Dad would get in on it, those are all things that Kayoko wants to avoid happening. She's still protecting her, after all, that's what this is about. She could transform. Drop down in front of her sister in a secluded alleyway and... fight her? She doesn't think Meika would transform herself, not for this, not when she's got so few pages left, but what if she does? Meika would be a page worse off, both of them would be hurt, she might not even manage to keep her from leaving, and... they would have fought. That feels like something that Kayoko could never come back from. It's unforgivable, crossing the line to fight family.
Kayoko Kirenai	So Meika isn't harassed through the leadup to the warpgate itself, long enough that she could convince herself that maybe Kayoko's decided to let her go after all. Then at the very end, when she's at the number pad to input District 15's code and finally leave, sharp, glowing words scrawl across the buttons, searingly unignorable. <X-Paladins-Chatter> Lilian Rook quietly, "We talked about this. She seemed so sincere about it. I was sure she wouldn't risk everything for this." <X-Paladins-Chatter> Lilian Rook says, "I know she's that age. But I don't . . . deal well, with people, when I do whatever I can to help them, and even take some big risks to be there for them, and a 'mood' is enough to make them slap it out of my hands and forget everything." <X-Paladins-Chatter> Lilian Rook says, "That's still a choice. We're still responsible for those." <X-Paladins-Chatter> Lilian Rook says, ". . . Does she hate me?" <X-Paladins-Chatter> Lilian Rook says, "I'm just . . ." <X-Paladins-Chatter> Lilian Rook says, "Reassessing. How much of a help I can be." <X-Paladins-Chatter> Lilian Rook says, "When it comes to people who don't really need me." If she still wants to go, she can. When the last of the words fade away, there's no other resistance from Kayoko.
Meika Kirenai	{ It's easy to spot, if not watch, Meika take impact and stumble after impact and stumble. That they serve just to annoy, that they serve just to send that message, doesn't seem lost as Meika's face gets painted over with unsteady, guilt-pained falters in her usual scowling demeanor. She can watch, if she wants, that Meika stops trying to dodge them, paying the tax that's due. Rolling her ankle isn't something new- the reasons Meika has for her habit to nearly always wear boots may not be lost on Kayoko. She can only guess that each trip-following gasp might be silenced, as they firework into being on her sister's face. } It's really too much to hope that Kayoko gave up on stopping her. She double-checks as she walks, that the outlines of buildings, streets, cars, and people match up with what her eyes are showing her. She hurries, to give less time for her own actions to be skewed with in the eyes of others. There's no relief to be found in the break, no real feeling of Kayoko relenting. It doesn't matter that Meika is unhindered by her sister in this moment- there is always the looming threat that she could do something. Every motion of strangers, every prying eye has Meika shift and hunch up more, even without interference. Paranoia enough to let down her practiced habits of not overhearing whatever it is they think and want to mutter when they glare her way- wondering enough to check, invasively, what it is they see. Finding out that they just see her, just see that shifty, unstable, unkept vagrant-looking girl rushing by, and not something else, makes her want to vomit. She doesn't notice how bleary and mist-shrouded her eyes have gotten, from the sniffled-back tears she's been fighting, until she's at the warpgate's terminal, staring at the keypad and Kayoko's writings on it. Blinking barely clears them, but when it does, she wishes she hadn't bothered. Oh, god. This is it, isn't it? { Kayoko can see Meika mouth the words of her message. She can be sure it's made its way across to her. She can watch her sister's shoulders slump, she can watch her sister bite at her own already scraped-up bottom lip hard enough for skin to break again. She can watch the faint tremble in her older sister's limbs, from adrenaline, guilt, or anything else. She can see her fail to turn back. } <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Lilian Rook says, ". . . Does she hate me?" I'll fix this when I'm back. It'll be no time at all, I've got this handled. I can make it better. It'll- Thoughts race faster than her heartbeats can pound. Each pressed button feels like it's barbed, like a stake is being driven through her fingertips, and she wishes one really was, out of some ugly form of penance. She still presses them. That's okay- No, it's not okay. But this is my choice. She's right. I'm responsible for this. Someone has to be. If she's mad, if everyone's mad, if everyone hates me for this then- The last digits of the code get pushed in. Her path forward is locked in, and the aching, bile-burning guilt in her stomach alleviates for a fragment of a moment. It's too late to turn back. Nothing to show for it. I'll do something, I don't want to waste this, it'll be okay, I'll figure it out like always, I'll make it up to everyone, I'll leave stuff better than I left it, I can- Her shirt's sleevecuff wipes at a silent sniffly tear, as she steps through the warpgate. If I can't, at least everyone will see I never deserved this chance in the first place. Solace weighs even sharper and heavier than shame.