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flickerflash) wrote2012-09-21 11:49 pm
[Accidental Video]
Some nights are a little worse than others. She's let it go on too long.
Katie is so tired. And worried. And sick of being away from human contact, and wondering why she should bother trying to avoid them anyway.
And hungry.
She's trying to ignore that last part.
It's very easy to let herself into a house full of pirates, because she is a ninja. Eternally at war with you lot, she is. It's just a matter of scaling the side of house #6 and opening her own private door through the brick wall. It swings shut behind her, no harm done.
This was Brook's room. He's no longer here, of course, just like Sigmund and Edward and Svala, all gone. Katie is so, so tired of people leaving. Brook left twice. It's not very fair. She wonders what she would do if she saw him on the street again today. He rather deserves to be hurt just as much, she thinks. (But that's not fair either, and really the only reason she's snuck into his room like this is she misses him. Brook was her first friend here. He carried an orchestra with him wherever he walked. It was marvellous...)
Jack's still here.
Jack hasn't left. But if she stays in the attic, he'll get involved, and not in a good way. And Norrington-- well. If she stays, she'll kill him. Or he'll kill her. That's the way of such conflict. It feels like a betrayal, really. She's just not sure who's doing the betraying. (And then, of course, these are silly notions altogether, and some days she wonders what on earth she's thinking. Today is not one of those days.)
Katie-the-kitten winds her way around the legs of Brook's bed (is it still too short for him?) and through the adjoining door into the music room. All the instruments are still here. No skeleton, but you know. These were precious to him.
Maybe she should break them.
She changes, human hands reaching out for the guitar. She could smash it on the ground, lots of little pieces, spell out welcome home in chips of wood and warping strings. From there, she knows, she won't stop. Sanji would be so disappointed. But he wouldn't hurt her, would he? Because Sanji's--
Sanji feeds her fish all the time, and he knows her. And he didn't run away. He's still here.
It's not fair. She's not being fair.
Her hand hovers over the neck of the guitar, and then fingers close gently and she pulls the instrument into her lap instead as she sits down.
She knows how to play. She had a guitar at home. Still has, in the attic. It's a child's guitar, nothing like this one. This one's a little too big for her to handle properly. She plays, anyway. Bink's Sake, for Brook; he taught her to play it, but she's heard it since the very day she arrived in Luceti. Maybe when she's done, she can just pretend he congratulates her on a job well done.
She doesn't intend to be overheard. But her much-battered journal is at hand, and in taking the guitar she's let it fall to the floor. At least it won't pick up her image. Just the music.]
[Accidental Video]
[The journal switches on to show...nothing. Well. Some carpet and what might be a music stand by a window, and a whole pile of sheet music off to one side. Nobody is visible, but someone can be heard tuning a guitar. It hasn't been played in a while. Poor thing.
When the guitarist switches to playing, it's clumsily picked out by rusty fingers, but the music itself is probably highly recognisable by a handful of people. The piece gets more fluid the longer she plays, until a couple of minutes into the song, when her fretwork first slows, and then trails off completely.
When she starts again, it's this piece instead, played through to the end.]
...twice more. [The voice is young and distant and distinctly Irish, and she giggles.] D'you think he'd come?
[And she starts playing again. Faster.]
[Action]
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[Vivi takes another bite of brownie, chewing slowly as she watches Katie eat. In a way, maybe it's stalling, but she really doesn't want to interupt Katie's apparently much-needed meal with the question she knows she has to ask.]
[Action]
[Better than mice, you know. Much.]
[Action]
It's no trouble at all, Katie-chan. Are you sure you don't want seconds? There's plenty.
[Action]
...could I take some of the trout with me when I go? Would that be all right?
[Action]
[And it's as she rises, gathering a large plastic container from the cupboard, that she decides she can delay no more. She keeps her voice casual as she works. Right now, it as if she's just making idle conversation.]
Katie-chan. Who is it you stay with again?
[Action]
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[Still, she keeps her expression pleasant; her tone light.] Oh? That sounds lovely. I'd love to see your artwork! In fact, I could even walk over with you once you're done here.
[Action]
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[She finishes filling the container with the last of the leftovers; three more large filets resting on a bed of wild rice.] And how long has it been since you've been home, Katie-chan? [Snapping the lid home, she turns to face Katie, her expression concerned, but not accusing. She may be wrong about this, too, but she thinks not. It's clear from the state of the girl that she's been going without regular meals recently, and from the state of her clothes and her pre-washed grubbiness, Vivi would guess she hasn't been in the shelter of a house for at least a few days either.]
[This seems more delicate now; most of the cards have been laid out on the table, at least from Vivi's side. Still, she doesn't want to scare the girl; she wants to help her. She holds out the plastic container of food, trying to make it clear with her body language that Katie isn't in trouble.]
[Action]
I think it must have been... more than one year, less than two. It's hard to say.
[Action]
Do you need somewhere else to stay? [She jostles the container of fish and rice a little to draw attention to it, since Katie's made no move to take it.]
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I'm comfortable staying there, but thank you.
[Action]
Then is Captain Sparrow all right? [Not, you know, kidnapped or anything?]
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I'm worried about you, Katie-chan. Your clothes are in a state, and before you washed up, it looked like you hadn't for a while. [She raises a hand to stave off any protests she imagines might be coming.] And even if that were just from playing somewhere in the woods, it seems as though you haven't properly eaten in days.
So, please, tell me: what's going on? Has Captain Sparrow been kidnapped? Have you been on your own?
[Action]
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Sanji-san? No, I don't think we've ever talked about you, actually. [Carefully.]
[Action]
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[She gestures to the kitchen sink.] Go right ahead.
[Action]
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