Everybody's Best Attempts Didn't Do No Good [Closed]

[redthenightless]

Who: The SDM
What: Regrouping after the Cream of the Crop event
When: Backdated to... sometime soon after the event...?
Where: Patchouli and Meiling's House
Warnings: Drama? Confusion? Shenanigans?

Comments

open!

[notsogreatwall]

[ Meiling extended the invitation for many reasons: convenience, respect, guilt. Her behavior could be excused, perhaps, but the following radio silence? That was all her doing.

While everyone is gathering, she busies herself in the kitchen, preparing especially bitter tea for herself, and trying her hand at cookies. They're actually not bad, if one likes walnuts with their chocolate chips.

But of course she doesn't have to sit there in front of the stove and actually watch them bake. No, she does that because she is making herself as scarce as possible at the moment. ]

[lunardialled]

[ Sakuya walks in with tea for everyone else, leaving the pot wrapped in a tea cozy on the table. That's the first step, of course. But... ]

Meiling. I owe you an apology. To say that I wasn't myself is an understatement...

[notsogreatwall]

You don't-- [ She does, but it's not something Meiling can just say. ] I wasn't feeling right, either. [ Sitting there, she clamped her arms around her knees and rocked back-and-forth on her feet a little, still facing the oven.

...was the oven even on? It didn't look like it. ]

[lunardialled]

[Meiling doesn't have to say it. Sakuya knows, if for no other reason than guilt.]

But you didn't outright attack anyone. No one that didn't deserve it, and I did.

[She notices that the oven isn't on, and fixes that problem.]

You're the one who stopped me from actually killing anyone...

[notsogreatwall]

[ Meiling jumps a bit at the loud pop! of the oven's dial. ] Oh! I knew I forgot something. Thanks. [ It takes her a long moment to think of a response. ] It's good that I helped, somehow... but I almost hurt you. I can't--

[ She stops herself with a quick sigh. ] I almost lost it.

[lunardialled]

It's no trouble.

[Sakuya shakes her head.]

You did what you had to do. I couldn't stop myself; I tried to snap out of it, but there was nothing I could do.

[notsogreatwall]

[ She threads her fingers into her red hair, head down. The laughing. The crying. The yelling. It was all still ringing in her ears, fresh. ] No! I didn't have to do that. I could have picked a different way.

[lunardialled]

[There's a moment when she, too, remembers the laughing, the crying, the yelling, and that moment of true fear that was all hers. It makes her shiver, just slightly.]

...if you hadn't, instead of spending hours knocked out where I couldn't hurt anyone, I might well have killed you, and ojou-sama, and...

[notsogreatwall]

Mm. [ Meiling bites her lip and stays silent for a long moment.

Then, strangely enough, she laughs a little. It's quiet but it's there. ]

[lunardialled]

...what's so funny?

[Just going to back up a little.]

[notsogreatwall]

[ It's a stupid thing to laugh about, but Meiling stands swiftly, hands behind her back and leans toward Sakuya. She's smiling a little, and sounds more like her usual speaking-before-thinking self. ] You wouldn't have been able to kill me. Not like that.

[lunardialled]

[Sakuya raises an eyebrow. Really, Meiling? Pushing the point?

A knife flicks into her hand, then a moment later, goes back to its holster.]

Ah, that's right. Your dragon was showing...

1/2

[notsogreatwall]

[ Meiling flinched away, briefly. Cocky as she might have sounded, Sakuya's threats were always ones she took seriously.

Gulp. ]

[notsogreatwall]

[ At that observation, she hugged herself with her arms, fingers digging into her sides a bit. ] I... guess it was, huh? Hah....

[ She closes her eyes, focusing on her words and her breathing. ] It's been a while since I had to be careful about that.

[lunardialled]

It certainly was. I definitely wouldn't want to face down an angry dragon again, particularly not when I'm in my right mind.

[She pauses, sitting next to Meiling and putting a hand on her shoulder.]

...do you think that was an effect of the milk, too? Or something else?

[notsogreatwall]

[ A weak smile. ] Not a lot of people would want to.

[ She nods. ] It was just because I couldn't keep a handle on my emotions. I remember that everything was just... swirling around in my head. Like someone was reaching around and stirring it around inside. Kinda hard to focus like that, which is how I've been keeping control this whole time.