Tags: prior major character death, supernatural elements, spirits Word Count: 717 Rin/Maki (love live!)
Maki swallows as she looks her newest (and clearly "best-est" from the distance between them) friend as she smiles, with her entire body up, at her. She can feel her face heating up under the girl's stare, but blinking is out of the question.
The girl blinks easily. Then, she speaks. "You need something!" the girl declares.
"N-no, I don't!" Maki forces out, automatically, before she can think about whether there is something she needs. She feels out of place, like there's something she's forgotten. Something important about herself, or where she's going. Or perhaps where she came from.
"M'hm! You do!" Everything the girl says finishes with excitement. Maki isn't sure that she would be able to manage a piece of ending punctuation other than an exclamation mark.
She clasps Maki's hand and tows her into a small shop that she would swear wasn't there when she stepped past the space moments before when the girl had yet to capture her. But she's not sure that she stepped past anywhere to get to where she is now, reality feels unfocused and she thinks that's why she follows the girl's tug through the entrance.
The shop is tidy and corporate, Maki notes, as the girl hops around the desk that rests in the centre of the room. The girl then rifles through the drawers for something unknown. It sounds like there are at least five wind chimes between the six that she opens. Maki wonders if that is what she's supposed to need.
After some time, in which Maki reads the titles of the books (Theurgy research checklist for international dynamism operations, In the Realm of Verification and Moral Philosophy: Critical Encounters and The Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents), the girl erupts from under the desk with a cell phone clutched in her hand. She pokes at it with fervour, and then clasps it to her ear. Which is a gesture that she has to look at twice, because she's holding it much higher up than Maki would have expected. And she is doing that because that is where her ears are. Her pointed, cat ears.
Maki folds her arms and resolves not to stare. The girl turns as she evidently gets a response on the other end of the phone. "Nozomi!" she chirps, and then launches into a very fast conversation in something at least related to Japanese, but that Maki can't follow the words of.
She has a tail poking through the back of her shorts.
Maki stares. A blush creeps up over her cheeks.
"Okay, see you later! Love you!" the girl exclaims, then snaps the phone shut. She launches her smile at Maki again, but at least this time she's half-prepared and has the forethought to plant her feet.
The girl presses her lips against Maki's, then retreats to beam, work apparently done. Maki's throat refuses to produce words as much as she tries to work her lips into sounds.
"Nozomi told me that every girl needs a kiss! But I'm purrty sure she also thinks you need the usual thing. Will you be okay to stay here with me for a while?"
Maki's tongue still won't unstick from the bottom of her mouth, so she nods in reply, before she can turn the gesture into a refusal. She's not certain, and on some level wants to object, but she thinks the girl might be right.
The girl's shoulders soften and her tail comes to rest in a tidy curve off to one side. "It's nice to meet you, Maki. I'm Rin, me and Nozomi will help you find your way."
Maki's heart drops out of her chest. "Oh," she says.
The girl cringes, but circles her arms around Maki anyway. "I'm sorry," she says. "But you said you can stay here for a while!" She squeezes Maki in a hug. "We can play and have fun, until you work things out. Until you get what you need."
"Thank you," she replies. "Having a friend sounds-" she breaks off, to her horror, having to sniff to keep from erupting into tears. "Sounds nice." They can't be easy to come by, now that she's died.
Rin begins rubbing her back in small circles. Maki thinks that right at that second, that's what she needed.
Fill: team Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei, G
Word Count: 717
Rin/Maki (love live!)
Maki swallows as she looks her newest (and clearly "best-est" from the distance between them) friend as she smiles, with her entire body up, at her. She can feel her face heating up under the girl's stare, but blinking is out of the question.
The girl blinks easily. Then, she speaks. "You need something!" the girl declares.
"N-no, I don't!" Maki forces out, automatically, before she can think about whether there is something she needs. She feels out of place, like there's something she's forgotten. Something important about herself, or where she's going. Or perhaps where she came from.
"M'hm! You do!" Everything the girl says finishes with excitement. Maki isn't sure that she would be able to manage a piece of ending punctuation other than an exclamation mark.
She clasps Maki's hand and tows her into a small shop that she would swear wasn't there when she stepped past the space moments before when the girl had yet to capture her. But she's not sure that she stepped past anywhere to get to where she is now, reality feels unfocused and she thinks that's why she follows the girl's tug through the entrance.
The shop is tidy and corporate, Maki notes, as the girl hops around the desk that rests in the centre of the room. The girl then rifles through the drawers for something unknown. It sounds like there are at least five wind chimes between the six that she opens. Maki wonders if that is what she's supposed to need.
After some time, in which Maki reads the titles of the books (Theurgy research checklist for international dynamism operations, In the Realm of Verification and Moral Philosophy: Critical Encounters and The Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents), the girl erupts from under the desk with a cell phone clutched in her hand. She pokes at it with fervour, and then clasps it to her ear. Which is a gesture that she has to look at twice, because she's holding it much higher up than Maki would have expected. And she is doing that because that is where her ears are. Her pointed, cat ears.
Maki folds her arms and resolves not to stare. The girl turns as she evidently gets a response on the other end of the phone. "Nozomi!" she chirps, and then launches into a very fast conversation in something at least related to Japanese, but that Maki can't follow the words of.
She has a tail poking through the back of her shorts.
Maki stares. A blush creeps up over her cheeks.
"Okay, see you later! Love you!" the girl exclaims, then snaps the phone shut. She launches her smile at Maki again, but at least this time she's half-prepared and has the forethought to plant her feet.
The girl presses her lips against Maki's, then retreats to beam, work apparently done. Maki's throat refuses to produce words as much as she tries to work her lips into sounds.
"Nozomi told me that every girl needs a kiss! But I'm purrty sure she also thinks you need the usual thing. Will you be okay to stay here with me for a while?"
Maki's tongue still won't unstick from the bottom of her mouth, so she nods in reply, before she can turn the gesture into a refusal. She's not certain, and on some level wants to object, but she thinks the girl might be right.
The girl's shoulders soften and her tail comes to rest in a tidy curve off to one side. "It's nice to meet you, Maki. I'm Rin, me and Nozomi will help you find your way."
Maki's heart drops out of her chest. "Oh," she says.
The girl cringes, but circles her arms around Maki anyway. "I'm sorry," she says. "But you said you can stay here for a while!" She squeezes Maki in a hug. "We can play and have fun, until you work things out. Until you get what you need."
"Thank you," she replies. "Having a friend sounds-" she breaks off, to her horror, having to sniff to keep from erupting into tears. "Sounds nice." They can't be easy to come by, now that she's died.
Rin begins rubbing her back in small circles. Maki thinks that right at that second, that's what she needed.