RP: YSS Miharu Mission 5, Aftermath (4th day)

"You said you loved me," Kotori said, pulling a knife from her kimono, pushing the easy chair not quite in her way into the couch against the far wall. "You said you wanted to comfort me. You had the chance and didn't." She knelt down next to Yukari, held her by the pigtails, and put the knife to her neck.

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"Yes," Yukari said. " ... I always knew, and I blamed myself. I hurt her, not you, and the blame is mine."

She looked forward, down the corridor. "Nonetheless, I am weary of my guilt. We have larger things to fight besides ourselves, and marrying you has been some time in coming. We must prepare for what is to come. Carrying anguish over my own stupidity will not ready me. Marrying you, with Koto-san there, will.

" ... She does not have to like you. I love you both differently, now. Can that not be enough?"

Tom stopped walking, tilting his head to look straight in front of him, at some spec only he could see on the horizon.

"The wounds... they run deep. I kept my eyes closed to how much blood had been drained... Kotori put on such a strong face, even as I continued to slash at her."

He fell back into the corridor's wall, sliding down to the ground slowly.

"I am human, yes, and I can never be Nekovalkyrja. But, Yuka... I can feel their pain. In... every conversation. Rin... Cho... Tori... Yuzuki... You... in every conversation I have with them... I only get glimpses into their lonely world... and I..."

His form paused for a while, trembling without tears.

"...I feel their pain. Not just their's... I see everyone's pain... when they talk to me... I have to be Kotori... I have to put on a brave face... for them... so I can help them... but it's so hard... and I don't understand how to make Kotori better, Yukari."

"Because I am part of... her pain."

Yukari saw her lover's shoulders sag under the weight of the emotions he carried and shared in. Emotions that she, too, tried to help lift. It was part of why she loved Tom so much, this kind of selfless behavior. It had destructive moments, too.

She knelt down before him.

"You cannot be made of stone, Tom." She considered her words. "You are the caretaker. You are there to salve them, soothe, provide comfort. There will be times when you fail. We all do so. But we will be better for it."

She put a hand on his leg and squeezed, her face tightening. "Koto-san is angry and bitter and hurt, but she is strong, just as we all are, now. She will recover because she must. The crew as well, especially with you looking after us."

Tom curled into a ball, his arms crossed over his knees. Yukari's touch drew a quick darting of his eyes towards the door to Kotori's room.

"I can... be strong because I have you. I can bear my burdens because I have you... but who does Kotori have?"

Finally, he looked up at Yukari, his eyes recovering some of their life.

"I am 32 years old, Yukari, and... for the human I am... I have learned things. Kotori... she is still very young."

There was a spark of distress that rose in him, some corner of his mind picking up on a dark suspicion and running with it.

"She needs a friend. She needs someone she can talk to. Go to her, or find someone she can talk to... I will be fine... but Kotori... do you understand? She needs a friend! Go... please. Find someone. Or be that someone... for her. She cannot be consumed by those dark thoughts..."

Nyton exited the medical center and cleared his mind until he was certain he was a decent distance from Hoshi. He dared not risk any stray thought to be picked up by Melisson. While his eyes had picked up Rolf walking into the medical center after him he could not pause to give it any thought.

To the man the meeting had been one of misdirection. His confidence in Melisson's purported honesty had been shaken. He needed to know if she still told the truth or not. If anything while she seemed to be keeping her word it all still reeked of suspicion. Despite his doubts the intel he obtained was likely valid. Plus he seemed to have succeeded in annoying her.

Melisson, like Mefpralphra, was an immovable object. Nyton had no illusions of attempting to break her even as he tried to emit that notion from his mind. As much as he wanted to scream at her for all her crimes there was no point in doing that. The best he could hope was to make her stay unpleasant until her execution.

The news of Reiaz seemed the most urgent; especially if he would indeed seek to hunt down the killers of Mefpralphra. Reiaz would need to do so quickly because, just as Melisson pointed out, the effect of avenging Mefpralphra will be more potent while she was still missed. He would address the recordings of Rolf and Melisson's meeting later. Right now he wanted to bring his concerns to those who needed to know.

Strangely enough he felt excited at the prospect of meeting another enemy.

Nyton moved rapidly towards Kotori's room. A quick inquiry had determined that everyone he wanted to speak to had also converged there. Instead of reaching Kotori's room for a meeting he found two very despondent officers a slight ways away from Kotori's room. The looks on their faces spoke volumes of misery.

For a brief moment, Nyton feared the worst.

"Suzuka, Freeman, you two-? Did something happen to Kotori-dono? Am I too late!?" he blurted out.

Yukari, at that moment, thought she was not that friend. And the strange tone of Tom's words made her hair stand up on the back of her neck. They suggested danger, but from what? What was so dire?

When Nyton found them, she could assume only providence. "Claymere-san," she said, calmly, turning to stand and face him while shielding Tom. "You are not too late for anything. If you are looking for Kotori, she is in her room. She ... she probably could use your company.

"Focus on listening. I think she requires a friendly ear."

Relief washed over Nyton briefly even as he was uncertain as to what was happening. Questions arose as to what caused Yukari and Tom to look sad if Kotori was indeed well. Yukari's words hinted at something else being the matter. He would have to address the previous matter another time.

"I see." he replied simply. Without another word he began to walk towards the door to her room. He did not know what he faced but from the looks upon the faces he saw he prepared himself.

Nyton rang the doorbell and announced his presence.

"May I enter, your highness?"

The voice beyond the door came as a sharp crack. "GO AWAY!"

His form trembling, Tom stood up slowly with his own strength. He had broken into a cold sweat, his face ashen.

"I need to get away from here," he whispered. "I feel sick."

He started to walk away, his steps small, showing no care for how he moved, occasionally scraping against the wall in his efforts to get away from the horrible scene.

Nyton almost recoiled upon hearing the shriek of Kotori. He had however been prepared for a negative response. To this he pulled out his notes from the conversation with Melisson earlier. He looked back at Yukari and Tom only to see one of them begin to cringe away. His face screwed into a hard stare.

"Freeman pull yourself together and hold your ground! I don't know what the hell is going on but you two had some hand in this I take it. After surviving the greatest threat of the universe now is not the time to tear at each others throats. Stand by to support me!" came Nyton's telepathic rebuke to both Yukari and Tom.

He returned his focus to the door. "I apologize for the further intrusion, your highness, however there is an important matter that needs to be addressed. It is also rather urgent and should not be delayed."

@Nyton, Tom & Yukari:

Another shriek split the corridor in which Nyton stood, though it was more metallic than anything uttered by vocal cords: almost two feet of glistening transparent zesuaium had suddenly punched out of the door.

Fortunately, Nyton had not been in the path of the weapon's business end, but Kotori throwing a wakizashi partly through a door from her bed was a pretty crystal-clear declaration that she was not receiving visitors, no matter what.

@Rolf:

"I'm glad you found that entertaining, Asher," Melisson returned, giving the yamataian man a hooded look.

"Stop!" Tom moaned. "Just stop! I don't want any more of this..."

Then the shrieking metal of the sword made him freeze in place, expecting the worst. Fearfully, he glanced back at Nyton, just in time to find the man safe.

"You want answers? I'll talk... just stop."

"Rolf," said the Malifarian, putting on a childish, pouting face, tapping the glass with each declaration of his name. "Rolf. Rolf, Rolf, RolfRolfRolfRolf."

"An f'ya information, I didn't say y'face made me wanna' punch you." He motioned his hands around in an odd way, as if trying to mold a pot. "Iss' mo' like... Indiscriminate violence! Yeah. Dass' it. Eva' since y'wormed inta' my head, y'face, an every mention of it makes me..." He squinted at that, putting his fists up and lightly boxed at the glass. "... Edgy. Like I'm ready t'stab a motha'fucka juss' lookin' at'cha. It ain't anger, I know 'dat much, 'cause then I wouldn'ta been good 'bout comin' in an' meetin' ya. It feels mo'like... an instinct."

@Rolf:

Melisson closed her eyes as she sighed, and then opened one to look at the man outside her prison. "Well, Asher - instinct or not - if you want me to acknowledge your name as Rolf, you'll have to say my name right as well. It is only fair, as far as I am concerned."

Yukari stared at the empty space where the clear swordblade was stuck in the door. She hardly could believe it.

Kotori truly was that upset? After everything they had endured, this provoked her to violence?

She was suspicious of the idea that Tom was the only one to blame. She was angry Kotori was acting like this, potentially killing her tactical officer in a fit of ... what? Rage at Tom? Yukari? Her situation?

Herself?

The scene was too close to the vision Melisson had put in her head, of Kotori losing her sanity and lashing out at those who cared for her most. If Kotori truly was acting like an upset child, there was less cause to worry. Yukari's instincts told her that was not entirely the case, and it made her too concerned to simply walk away.

Kotori could override any command she gave to the Mokuren crew.

"Taii-san," Yukari said, approaching him. "Please take the Juni away from here. When he is calm, have him relay the situation to you.

"I will stay here."

Rolf stared quietly at the interpreter, that same childish stare. The Yamataian then leaned back, and spun around in an about face on the floor, putting his back to her. For a few moments he seemed to quietly think it over. His head tilted left, and then right, before nodding in succession, seemingly coming to a judgment. He spun back around, hands on his knees as he regarded Melisson with and overly-stern stare.

"Awright, Melisson, I'll play ya lil' game," said Rolf, holding up a finger to signify the point. He leaned to the right, and pulled out Kyou's panties again, securing them over his face in Hentai-Kamen fashion. "But I'll warn ya, I brought protection." He pointed at the teal-striped panties.

@Rolf:

Melisson looked back at him, giving him a neutral stare. "Very well, Rolf. Consider me duly warned that you've covered yourself with a woven-fiber garment that provides partial cover. I will make sure to aim at less defended areas should I be inclined to attack you if I ever get past the transparent durandium of my cage."

"Iss' more morale protection, ratha' than physical protection." commented Rolf, double-gunning at the interpreter in such a way, contours of a grin forming behind the fabric. "Y'oughta try it sometimes. People ain't as likely to botha' as y'd think they would when y'do this kinda' stuff." He tapped the side of his head with his finger, giving a sagely nod at that. "Like, next time someone tries to question ya? Just do somethin' completely outta' tha norm. N'they'll either stare at'cha, or walk away. My case, they usually juss' walk away."

@Rolf:

"Oh, like... the next time Nyton comes to interrogate me, I lift my skirt, recline back, spread my legs and start to masturbate?" Melisson proposed with a raised eyebrow.

"... Yeah!" said Rolf fervently, eyes widening at Melisson somehow snatching exactly what he had in mind, right out of his head. "Just pull it back, stick it in, an'go at it. Tell'm you're busy, and he'll juss' eitha' leave, or sit an'watch. If he watches, just morph some guy parts on or somethin', despite what Hinoto tries t'convince outta' people, he ain't inta' that. And boom, y'got y'privacy again." He put his hand on his panty-covered chin.

"Well, unless he figga's out 'datcha' parts are juss' f'show, then you'll juss haveta' get creative." said the Malifarian holding out his hands, as if presenting the point to her on a silver platter.