flickerflash | Backdated to the 15th, after Jilly's post

Backdated to the 15th, after Jilly's post

[Recently Katie was kidnapped by the Malnosso. The usual story, really. Only she found herself not minding so much, because mostly all they did was shut her in a room with a box of chalk and blackboards and pens and paper and television with all kinds of cartoons, and music, and they told her to do whatever she felt like. The only thing she hated were the shots, and she doesn't know what those were for. But they were meant to be for her own good, so they said. Weird and made no sense.

Today, she finally understands what they were trying to do.

Might have helped, if they weren't who they were.]

[Written]

Dear Jack,

I seem to have forgotten everything, so I'll be home in a few minutes to look under the couch cushions. It's always the last place you look, isn't it? Don't worry, I'm still alive.

Love, Silvertoes.

Dear everyone else,

Could the person who gave me a hand the other morning come find me? I'd like to thank you for saving my life. If you don't have time, don't worry. I'll find you instead.

Love

[...screw it. She leaves it there. She can't go home yet-- the glamour is newly awakened and she can still feel it spitting and sparking and sometimes dying, and she can't properly control it. And right now she has a lot to think through. Not the least of which being she died.

So she'll be out in the forest until further notice. Angry and upset and thinking she's going to kill someone for doing this to her, or maybe she'll just give in to the urge to cry instead. She's only nine. Going on three hundred.

Someone's paying for this.]

((ooc: You are more than welcome to stumble across her in the forest; however, keep in mind that if you do, you run the risk of your character being enchanted. That means seeing the world the way Katie sees it, and that includes seeing all of your echoes and the echoes of others. For more information, see Katie's permissions post.

...and fill it out while you're there, if you wouldn't mind. |Da

Just to set the date right in everyone's head, this is the same day Ragna is tearing up the forest.))

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That so, Tree-chan? [Okay... she's backing away from him. Thrown off by this, Sanji halts all advances, unsure if he should be hurt or worried. That she's lying doesn't register clearly yet.]

Yeah, it was a monster. [In the forest... where you are now... And these two coincidences click together and spark of a mild case of panic. He tries approaching her again, this time making his concern obvious]

Oi! Did you-- You didn't run into anything out here, did you?

[Katie's constant backing up fetches her against a tree, and she jumps-- but the concern in his voice overrides her other worries for a moment and she raises a hand to shake at him. The other one steals straight to her forehead like she has a headache, which probably isn't exactly reassuring. She can feel a dizzying rush of glamour. Not now. It makes her speak fast.]

Oh no, no! I haven't run into a single thing out here! Especially not monsters. It was so quiet I fell asleep under a tree. Really. Anyway, if there's monsters out here, don't you think you should go home where it's safe?

Edited 2012-06-21 11:30 (UTC)

[He could say the same for you, Katie, even knowing you're not a normal girl. And sadly, the same tactic won't work on him twice; he sees that hand meeting her forehead and very pointedly disregards every warning with a suddenly quick-footed approach, because it's starting to occur that you're lying]

Katie-chan. [It's not a tone he usually strikes against her, but Sanji's being serious] What's going on?

[Katie visibly cringes at that tone. If she were a cat, her ears would be wilting-- wait 8|]

It's nothing. I-- I forgot. That's all. I forgot why I was out here. Really, I'm f-- [And if he's worked out she's lying, that's just not a good thing to say, is it? She breaks off, gritting her teeth a little as the other hand runs through her hair.]

I mean, I'm not fine. Terrible, in fact. I could die at any moment.

[It's just as much a lie, really. She tries to slide around the side of the tree though as he broaches her personal space, because she only barely has a lid on it. If he touches her...]

[Color Sanji visibly startled; he's never seen her like this before, and to be honest, her last outburst takes him aback. Was that a lie, too? He can't be sure anymore, so there's a distinct pause as she tries to wiggle away into more distance.

Ultimately, what pushes him forward is the deep-seated fatigue he's been carrying all day. After having Nami and Shikamaru affected by Ragna's poison, nearly seeing Noel killed, and then there's a chance Katie ran into him... No, he's not leaving until he works out some type of answer he can be happy with. He's sorry, Katie.

At least he tries to tone down his concern, attempting a sympathetic smile as he reaches out and touches her shoulder] Oi, then maybe I can help.

N-n-- [She tries to flinch back, and ends up falling back. Whoops. But it's too late. Sanji's touch feels like static shock-- and the glamour surges forward, through that offered conduit and into Sanji's body.

It might feel kind of pleasant, that warm, faintly fizzy-tingly feeling that sweeps over him. But the world doesn't even let him do the courtesy of blinking before it abruptly changes on Sanji - voices that weren't there before, shifting, golden strands of light in the air. And Katie throws up an arm reflexively to hide her face, but it doesn't hide the ears poking through hair suddenly shot through with white.

Hell.]

[Um.

Shit.

There really is no pause between his fingers brushing her shoulder and Luceti suddenly exploding into a Wonderland on steroids - if this can still be considered Luceti. After his last experiment, he's immediately inclined and desperate to believe they're stuck in another memory, even if that doesn't stop him from reeling back in shock--

And bumping into someone. Which, funny enough, he isn't exactly expecting, seeing as he and Katie were alone two seconds before.] Wha...?

[Between parsing the sight of his friend with cat ears and the voices whispering all around him, shrill and quiet and hushed and explosive, Sanji turns like he's struggling against a tide of sensation. And then he nearly bites his tongue off keeping a scream to himself. That he's frozen in place is the only reason he doesn't jerk forward and try to grab her shoulders - Vivi's shoulders, that look so thin and fragile and malnourished that he's afraid of breaking them, like the rest of her.

This isn't real. This can't be real.]

V-Vivi-chan?!

[Damn, damn, damn, damn--]

Ignore them! [Her voice is muffled behind her hands.] If you don't, you'll give them power!

[Honest truth, that. It hurts. But in Sanji's case, given the baggage he hauls around? She has to tell him, for his own safety.]

[Only heard on the outer ring of his attention, Sanji doesn't have a chance to heed that warning. Or much of a choice, either. Vivi is looking back at him in misery, eyes sunk deep into her skull. Her once lively figure is thin enough to put a skeleton to shame. Nausea threatens to overpower him the longer he stares on in horror, and it's only when she steps back and turns away that he catches himself, shaking and needing to lean against a tree for support.

And then he begins to take note of the rest of his surroundings. It's not just him, Vivi, and Katie; there are other figures nearby, and fish in the air, weaving through the golden strands of light. More sights and sensations that he can name.

Ignore them. Ignore them. Shit, he's trying. He really is. He holds a breath in his chest and stares at the ground, slowly releasing it through his mouth.]

... Katie-chan, are you-- [What are you, is the first question his mind asks. He never cared to know before, designating her to the category of powerful children with powers, but considering the situation...

Another deep breath. He inclines his head in her direction] Are you alright? [She did fall, after all]

I'm all right.

[She's not all right. Katie turns her head away and finally lifts a hand to cover the ear closest to Sanji, as if not seeing it will make him forget. He may forget in a day or two, when the mists come down; she'll hope for it.]

You're just seeing things. I'm not really here. Go home and sleep it off.

... Katie-chan, it's okay. I already saw the cat ears. [There are probably other cat-like features on display, too, if he gets a good enough look at her. Not that he's really trying now, mind. His eyes are closed in the vain hope that maybe she isn't blatantly lying and he just... hit his head without noticing. Or that Luceti is gifting him with a horrific hallucination made of fish and nightmare fuel.]

They're-- [She stops short. Because really, there's a line every fae gets to, and the one they don't cross is denying their own existence. Which she's perilously close to doing.

Ignore me and I'll go away. She glances up at him with a nervous look and finds his eyes are shut. Oh. That's... good.]

It wears off. A few hours, a few days. Somewhere there.

[Ow.]

[Truth or lie, that one? It's hard to tell, listening to the pitch of her voice alone. But the alternative (if it's a lie) would be weeks or months, and that's enough to scare Sanji into believing, for his own selfish sake.]

Alright, I understand. [His eyelids itch, curiosity starting to rise up in rebellion. Eventually he'll have to open his eyes.] We're... still in Luceti, right?

No. We're on the moon. Which looks like Luceti. {There's only so many truths she wants to tell right now. She has faith Sanji can work that one out. The same as this:] I'm sorry. I did it on purpose.

[That wins a very tired, but very startled bout of laughter. The moon, she says. Despite the predicament he's found himself in, Sanji appreciates that convoluted bit of truth. And he supposes this answers once and for all if Katie is conditioned to lie no matter the circumstances; this isn't just a quirk she picked up.]

If it's the moon, I better be extra careful then. [His tone is light, but his eyes stay closed] And no, Katie-chan; it's my fault for pushing it. You were just trying to keep me out of trouble. [And herself as well]

[She's glad his eyes are closed, because it makes it a little easier then to reach out and pat his hand timidly-- with her fingertips, keeping those sharper nails away from him.] Will you be all right? Do you think you should ask someone to come get you?

[Despite the vivid surge of denial that wants to surface, Sanji considers that angle... only to dismiss the possibility seconds later. He's not technically injured, as it were - just hallucinating. Or something like it. Whatever this is, he figures it's a secret Katie would prefer guarded (and let's face it, who the hell would believe the chef anyway?). Sanji's better off clearing his head and then stomping home by himself.]

I'll be fine. [He means it, and aims a smile in her direction. His eyes finally open.] I've only got a few shitty days of this, right? Think I can handle that much.

[She shies away when his eyes open, but given he's smiling at least she doesn't retreat all the way back around the tree. So she smiles uncertainly back, and her eyes shift to the Zeff shadow that's followed him around for as long as she's known him.]

It's not okay to listen to them sometimes. Not while we're on the moon. But parents usually have good advice. [Zeff's close enough to count, she thinks.]

[Strange advice, that, and Sanji can't make sense of it until he follows her gaze upward -- and promptly chokes on a noise in his throat. Considering there are flying fish in the air, he shouldn't be as surprised as he is. Too bad his hunched shoulders and round eyes point to another truth.]

Zeff-- [But he's not-- can't be real, right? Zeff's back on the Baratie, cussing out his employees and customers alike, not... not here. A protective selfishness demands he not be in Luceti, and even if this one is just an illusion, Sanji alternates between opening his mouth to speak and gnawing on the bottom lip caught between his teeth, distressed and too tired to hide it.

But not gaping, oh no. That's reserved a second later for when he catches sight of the malnourished ten-year-old peeking out from behind Zeff's leg.]

[Katie is silent as the grave, now, too tired and hurting from the honesty she has shown. She exchanges a glance with the Zeff shadow and shuts her eyes. At least she knows one of them will do his best to keep him out of trouble.

While Sanji's attention is caught, she takes a step back. Two. And then vanishes into the trees, quietly as a cat.]

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Backdated to the 15th, after Jilly's post

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