Vingt-Et-Un † myself in the reflection that i must not meet

[expiatrice]

[Action]

[1. Mayfield High - Hallways. It started after lunchtime. It's still during break while she's making her way to the faculty office, when she starts hearing things that should not be there. Eyes wide and suddenly stopping dead in her tracks, she promptly drops all the papers and folders that she was carrying in her arms. ...Well, it's more

Comments

[expiatrice]

[Pretty badly. To be accurate, she's regressed to a state she's been through 5~6 years ago, but whelp.

The pale figure tilts her head a bit sideways at the call, and while her glance crosses Nina's, they don't seem to have registered her at all.

...

There's a concerned woman.

...

But she must be addressing someone else.

On that conclusion, she keeps walking, though the pace is slow enough for even a child to surpass with ease.]

[expiatrice]

[This woman is saying things she's lost the ability to understand. ...Ah, no, more like, it can't possibly be applicable. Who does she think she is, a lost child? Nevermind that Ciel does look like that right now. Without her usual calm and confident "everything going to be okay!" demeanor and her adult attire, she just looks like an abandoned child.]

I don't have a home. [plainly. ...Unless she means...?] ...Oh. Are you going to lead me to the new place where I'm supposed to be?

4

[answerer_sword]

[Bazett is stumbling and panting as she heads back to her house. After several drug filled encounters, including a few that had escalated into physical violence, most of the hallucinogens were out of her system. Not all of it, but enough of it that she can still tell that she is in Mayfield

[expiatrice]

[True enough, it's gotten to her very badly. She managed to stay lucid during the day, but it broke at night.

The inquiry goes unheard. Short of telling her where to go, now that she's had her situation explained to her, no one should ever have the desire nor need to address a monstrosity like her. So she just keeps walking slowly, not even stopping once to acknowledge that someone else has just called out tp something.]

[answerer_sword]

[The girl continues shuffling along, as if she did not hear Bazett calling to her.]

[Bazett decides that she needs a better way of catching the girl's attention and walks up to the blue haired girl, doing her best to remain upright and balanced.]

Are you alright?

[She speaks as loudly as she can without yelling outright.]

Do you need help? Where are you trying to go?

[expiatrice]

[She'll easily get pulled aside. In fact, depending on how strong Bazett's grip was, she'd be effected by momentum that much more; it'll be obvious that there's no strength and energy behind her step, and she's doing the bare minimum to keep standing and walking forward.

The dull blue eyes gaze over her.

Ah, she's being asked something.]

..Mm. To find my newly assigned quarters.

Action ☆ High School

[fatedmagica]

[ Madoka was just casually walking down the hallway. She even waved cheerfully and was about to say a little "Good day! How are you?". Madoka's been slowly recovering from the news of droned Mami and wanted to show Ciel that she was okay again! But then Ciel just... stopped. ]

E, eh? Um... Ciel-san? Is everything okay?

[expiatrice]

[She just stays frozen for a beat, but the familiar voice does manage to snap her out of her stupor. Exhaling slowly, she blinks once, and the light comes back to her eyes.]

--! K-Kaname-san?

[fatedmagica]

Ah, sorry-! I didn't startle you, did I? Y-you just didn't seem like yourself, um... i-is everything okay?

[expiatrice]

[The clicks are sounding in her head.

Even if she can't ignore the guilt, this isn't the time. She's at her day job in Mayfield, inside a public building, around people who knew and relied on her. And Kaname Madoka...

She knows the loss that the pink-haired girl, normally cheerful, has suffered around droned friends from home.

So more important than anything else, she can't crack here, not around another innocent girl.

Quickly doing her best to gather her bearings as quickly as possible, she smiles apologetically.]

No, not at all. It's... aha, I'm not sure what just happened, but I thought I just saw something strange. It must be-- a trick of the light. I'll be fine! I'm also sorry for startling you. How about you, Kaname-san? Are you doing okay? [She'll also steal a quick glance down. Oh boy, better pick back up all her stuff in a bit.]

4

[pkeccentric]

[occasionally, working late has its advantages. give Ray a pot of coffee and he'll make it last until the very, very wee hours of the morning - a bad habit he's had for years. it hasn't changed even in Mayfield because, hell, if he doesn't have his old routine to fall back on, he might as well be one of those lifeless drones. even if the town conspires to change him in irrevocable ways, it'll never ever hollow him out.

Ciel should probably be accustomed to the noises from the garage by this point; the mechanical, screechy shriek of power tools and the crackling of sparks. for her sake, he tries to be as quiet as possible. tonight turns out to be a little different.

stopping to unplug the drill he's using, something walking past the window catches Ray's eye, causing him to squint and stare. and then his eyes widen altogether when he realizes just who it is. he grabs his coat from the table and opens the garage door, running out to approach the figure walking across the street.]

Miss Ciel? What're you doing - ?

[expiatrice]

[They'll probably need to talk about that in the future, given that some nights she doesn't spend it in the house. She sometimes "sneak" out at night too... Well, as long as he's okay and doesn't make the kids, drone and conscious, complain, she'd be more or less kosher with anything he does.

There is no response, she just keeps walking. If Mayfield classifies parents and children according to their physical age, the clash will be apparent now. Instead of the energetic and patient woman who acted to be in her early twenties, the figure now looks like that of an abandoned child. Yet there's no doubt, they're the same person.

She's... definitely not herself right now. Or at the very least, her usual self.]

[pkeccentric]

[she doesn't respond or turn to glance at him or anything like that. the change in her demeanor is so jarring that he has to wonder if this is even the right person, if maybe it's someone else entirely who just looks like Ciel. if that's the case, he'd be happy enough to apologize and just walk back to the garage and forget this ever happened. it's too late to be wandering around in the dark, and even though Ray's built a career upon that practice, sometimes even he can get a little wary.

but it isn't a lookalike. he can tell just by the profile that it's Ciel, and her reaction only troubles him further. he keeps up with her and eventually tries to walk in front of her, blocking her path.]

You shouldn't be out in just that. It's cold. [you could get sick is what he'd like to say, but something tells him that she won't care much. call it a hunch.]

Uh, where are you going?

[expiatrice]

[she will give a small shake of her head at the 'cold' comment. As he's guessed, she doesn't particularly care.]

I have to find the new quarters.

3;

[decadenzas]

[his visits to the church have become almost daily now, so his showing up after class isn't as much of an oddity as the absent lighting, and certainly not as out of place as the oppressive air surrounding the building.

maybe a more cautious person would turn around at the door, and maybe after a full and tiring day of dealing with batshit people he'd know to throw the towel in at this final straw. instead, he quietly edges around the perimeter of the church, searching for the source of the worsening atmosphere.]

[expiatrice]

[The lights were... an accident. In all retrospect, leaving them on may cast less suspicion, which is what Ciel would have wanted, and while that may lure a false sense of normalcy and security to visitors, not many would come by the Church anyway.

Her own magic went haywire on her near the power box, short-circuiting the whole system. But that's details no one needs to know about; to avoid causing more infrastructure damage inside, she's effectively moved out to the woods in the back, and that's the source where the unease is coming from. It won't grow stronger the closer he gets; the strain in the atmosphere was her own less-than-successful attempt in desperately clutching onto her own sanity, which she's all too painfully aware is quickly slipping. Hallucinations and intangible voices as they may be, they take source from the one thing that she is utterly helpless in facing.

He'll hear some rustling; her shuddering breath may or may not be picked up, muffled with it and the sound of the evening breeze.]

[decadenzas]

[that instantly sets him on edge. between the mass incoherency and penchant for sudden attacks he had already experienced so far today, he's not going to risk being caught off guard.

he hesitates at one of the larger trees, resting a hand against its trunk and holding his posture in a somewhat relaxed way despite the tension coiling through his muscles. another beat, and he raises his free hand to his mouth to amplify his voice.]

Is anyone out there? [unsure whether to expect an answer or not, he places both hands against the tree trunk as though ready to topple it over as a barricade if need be.]

[expiatrice]

[If it means anything even if it's written in brackets beyond the 4th wall, he won't get attacked!! ...Or at least the odds for that are extremely low. A-anyway.

The fact that someone spoke registers. To whom the voice belonged to and what they've said, however, didn't wholly stick.]

--N-no, I...!

[He might or might not recognize that voice, but he's likely never heard such a struggling and feeble tone in association with it.]