tampered | Ongoing, open

Ongoing, open

When; Thursday, January 6th, afternoon.
Rating; PG-13 for Serious Talk about killing people.
Characters; Umi (

soulofocean) and whoever wants to jump in.
Summary; After a discussion with Ken to top a terrible week, Umi feels like a time alone is necessary. So she turns to the only place where she can find peace: the ocean.
Log;

She'd said she would wait, but that last straw had sent her out of the apartment in a flash. Umi couldn't simply stand to be indoors anymore. Not with the thoughts of the recent events running through her head, threatening to drown her in worries. There was a limit for everything, and contrary to what most people would believe the Water Knight knew hers very well. It was getting out or going crazy. Worried as she still was, ask Umi which of those she was going to choose. She had a mind to wander a bit to get her temper to calm down and didn't plan to return until nightfall or later.

...She felt she belonged here. With the waves rushing ashore, the sea breeze soothing her down, she felt at ease. It was always good to remember she could have this closeness with the sea no matter where she went, when everything else seemed to fail her.

Sighing, she smiled with strange contentment, cherishing the solitude as she walked on, not minding the cold in the least. All the contrary: enjoying it.

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The weekend had been an especially long one… what with a failed escape attempt, causing havoc among the people in the City who were not supposed to be involved in the action, and being trapped in several shards himself. If it had only affected him it wouldn’t have bee as bad really… Even with the murders and death he had been forced to witness… But, so many others had been pulled in, tormented by this City and it’s whims.

Now what? What direction should he go in now…? He wasn’t really sure and maybe that was how Eagle found himself staring off into the crashing ocean waves of this place’s sea. They didn’t have anything quite like it on Autozam. This was like a barrier in itself. You can walk up to its edge… but no closer…

For a moment Umi was too ensnared with the waves rushing ashore and the feeling of peace they always brought her to notice someone approaching. It was too cold to walk barefoot on the snow-covered sand, even for her. But the sensation of the cool sea wind lashing at her face and hair brought her back to life from all her awful week of worries.

It was only when Eagle was closer that something caught her attention and caused for her to strain her eyes, trying to discern who that was, approaching through the distance.

For a moment she wondered if she should just walk away in the opposite direction, but something made her decide against it. Unless it was someone she definitely didn't want to see she had no need to avoid the world, right?

Eagle also didn’t notice the approaching girl not until she was close enough for the distinct blue color of her hair to stand out in stark contrast against the snow. He stopped in his tracks… just watching her for a minute maybe deciding if he should stay or leave. Some how this place seemed something Umi would feel more at home with than he did…

But, no… she had spotted him too hadn’t she? It would be rude to just turn and walk away now, even if he didn’t feel very much like conversation at the moment.

“Hello, Umi,” Said as cheerfully as he could manage, “Enjoying the beach?”

"...Eagle! Er. Yeah! Sort of." There was surprise in her voice, and not for nothing: she'd certainly not expected to find the Commander there. Perhaps someone from the beach house had seemed more likely, but...

Not that she would mind, she found. It intrigued her a bit, thinking what would Eagle be doing down there on his own, in the cold. She sighed, smiled, and looked back at the ocean with a bit of wistfulness. "Guess you could say I needed a while here..."

“A place like this is a change from the rest of the City.” It had to be agreed with.

Fortunately the typical Autozam style fashion was already fairly warm so the chilling breeze off the ocean wasn’t that troublesome. Or maybe lost in thought as he had been he just hadn’t noticed the cold yet.

“Since water is your element you feel more at home near the sea?”

"...Yeah. There's that. And how peaceful it is here." Umi herself wasn't bundled up as much as one would think a day such as that would call for. But she appreciated the cold. It cleared her mind all the faster. Besides there was this sensation of... cleanliness, in that cold. It made her forget a lot of unpleasant things about bloodstains and guilt and burdens just out of how clean it felt.

Hoping her face wasn't growing maudlin, she tried her best to cover that up with a smile. "What about you? Still... resting from that whole deal? The shards, I mean."

The accursed things... Maybe it wasn't the best subject to talk about.

No, it wasn’t really the best subject, but also not one that could really be avoided… since it had happened such a short time ago.

“I suppose this could be called resting, even if Geo would disagree.”

He took a moment to step back away from an unusually large wave that crashed ashore. Unlike Umi the thought of getting cold water on his feet was not a pleasant one.

“At least all of the shard have been returned to the fountain by now. I just checked it and the water is flowing like it should again.”

"That's good to hear. That no one else's going to get caught into those weirdo false memories..." Umi herself hadn't seen many which hadn't been memories. Those were the ones she considered hurt the most. She lowered her eyes and frowned, guessing a bit at what Eagle's own purpose for seeking solitude might have been.

She looked back up at the Commander. "You're still blaming yourself for that, aren't you."

She'd never been one not to say it like she felt it was.

Tch… Either Umi was being far too observant or his thoughts were very poorly veiled. He suspected the later.

“Whether or not that had been the intended effect… my actions were partially responsible for causing what happened.” And that isn’t the worse of it… “If any action taken in this place can led to that kind of result…”

A pause here, knowing of course that she would not like to hear this, “then what ever I do in the future might also adversely effect the people here.”

"I wasn't really nice to you about that." The confession came with a little sigh of resignation. There he had some of the reasons why she was there too. Umi supposed that they had that one in common. "But that was because I was so mad at what happened..."

It'd been impossible not to be and shortly afterward, Aya too... No, she didn't want to consider it right now, the things she'd learned about the grimness of his world because of it. She'd undo all the good this time by the ocean had done her until now.

So instead she tried to reassure her companion. "It's just a matter of being more careful, Eagle. True, it was a mess. But no one's going to blame you for trying to get out of here!" She made a face as she remembered Ken's words about the matter and lowered her glance, smiling sheepishly. "Well. Almost no one...

An apology of all things was not what he was expecting.

“It wasn’t your fault that you were upset over what happened. That kind of reaction is a normal thing for anyone to have.” A head shake, “I wasn’t bothered by what you said to me after the fact. I just don’t like that so many people who weren’t involved were pulled into those shards.”

Thankfully both Lantis and Geo hadn’t been… did Hikaru also escape the effects of that? But… Lantis had been forced to watch that final battle, something he had tried so hard to avoid…
That hurt too.

“Who is it that holds a grudge for this? One of the two you are living with?”
Your turn Umi, “Is that why you are here? Because some one you know is upset…?”

"That's why you need to watch it. You should know this place is sneaky: it's part of the whole deal!" It hadn't been too much of an apology as an offer of understanding: truth be told Umi didn't consider her reaction too out of place either. Perhaps a bit too strong. She just wished that she had a better knack at reining her temper. She walked couple of steps to stand right in front of Eagle and looked up at him. "If it can find a way for us to blame each other and add to the bad blood? It WILL." Her eyes became steely. "It wants us desperate to get out..."

And that was something in which at least Umi could frustrate The City's plot. She wasn't there anymore. Her last conversation with Eagle had made her realize just how much of a home that place had become, against all odds.

...No, it was something she'd known for a while. But admitting to it like that had counted for a lot.

At Eagle's question she had to flinch a little. That one caught her quite off her guard. "Um. Okay, nailed it in the head: someone's upset." Why not admit that much? Though what an understatement that was... "But it's not because of the shard thing..."

Well, if the City wanted someone despite to leave it really couldn’t have chosen a more receptive individual. He had plenty of reason to want to leave this place as soon as possible.
But, talking to Umi sort of clears this mess up for him…

“That maybe true. But, I can’t see any other way but to try things to see what will happen. Only by gathering more information can we even have a chance of escaping this place.”

Not the kind of response she probably would have hoped for, but the one that still gives him something to fight for.

“What are they upset about?” Being so busy with plotting and escaping shards… Eagle some how missed hearing about the Ken ‘brain surgery’ issue.

"There's trial and error and there's risking it too much." Hadn't Umi been there herself. She didn't want to see Eagle entangled into another escape attempt gone awry that wouldn't just endanger everyone but leave him with guilt to deal with. It was an awful situation. "Go ahead and give it a go! But remember there are people around who'll be really upset if something bad happens to you."

Just how many more people needed to hear others cared for them in order to care for themselves? It was frustrating and saddening at the same time.

Going silent for a moment, Umi thought back to precisely the one thing that'd triggered all her stress to explode on her. And sighed, shaking her head tiredly. "Not really something I should talk about. But... sometimes it's tough when you get snapped at for caring."

That one would stay burning for a while.

So said to the person willing to sacrifice himself in order to save Autozam. If something bad happens to him he doesn’t really care… just as long as he is able to do something worthwhile before the end. That this kind of ending would bother others, there is nothing he can really do about that. Yeah, there is guilt from that too… But, a final wish is something very important.

He will of course spare Umi the go around with that this time. Her words did mean something but… they didn’t really change the situation any.

“For caring…?” That is a sad reason to be yelled at, “They must have a lot of worried on their mind to do something like that. Not that is excuses the action. Once they calm down again maybe they will see that you were only worried about them.”

"Yeah, I've been there before." Several times. This once it had grated more than ever due to all the tension and concern she'd been enduring for Ken's sake, all her best efforts to be there for him, to get Clef's help, to keep him company through the trouble... Umi understood he had a lot to affect him, as Eagle said. But that didn't make it hurt less, or make Umi feel less bitter. "That's why I just had to get out. This wouldn't really the best of times to go through that. I... don't think I'd react very well."

She wasn't about to deny she had her temper and was way too tired and upset and mad to hold back on it. Not this once.

Her eyes turned toward the waves again. "Maybe I shouldn't be venting these things on you, Eagle. You got a lot on your mind as things are."

Sounds like a hot-head to get so upset over something like that… it narrows the field of possibilities.

“Was that situation with Ken ever resolved?”

It was true that Eagle hadn’t heard what had become of that guy. The last he had been made aware of was Ken’s rampage for unknown causes that the Network had been buzzing about. No, maybe that wasn’t quite true. Ken had been testy with him when he was whining about not being able to do the kinds of things he usually enjoyed. But. surely that was a temporary effect…?

...Okay, so Eagle was good. Maybe too observant for everyone's comfort or peace of mind. Umi's eyes grew wide with passing amazement, then she realized it wasn't really too much guesswork, what it took to figure that one out. Eagle kept an attentive eye on the Network, and Aya himself had told her he was mildly interested in the two of them. Who else would she have a tiff with? She and Aya never argued harshly, just bantered a bit.

"It's still in the works." She confessed angrily. Hardly at Eagle -- well, maybe a little. But mostly at the entire circumstances. "Keeping everyone's nerves on edge, on top of all the weirdness that's been haunting us..."

Actually, she'd left without saying a word to Aya. She hadn't even stopped to think about it. And the worst part was she couldn't bring herself to mind too much at the time, mad as she was. Being this temperamental did have its drawbacks.

Edited 2011-01-07 07:46 (UTC)

“I’m sorry that situation hasn’t been resolved yet. I had thought like most things in this City that the effects would have been temporary…”

But, it hadn’t ended on its own like any normal curse would have. What did that mean? Was it more like a situation with the shards… something that wouldn’t end not until every piece had been gathered and returned to the fountain?

“Do you have any idea what might have caused something like that?”

Eagle had asked Ken the same question only to have the conversation cut off… rather rudely actually. That meant of course that Ken had no idea. But maybe by this point they might have learned something?

Umi's glance remained on the crashing waves as she frowned, her eyes growing colder. "We think someone must've done this to him..."

She could slowly feel her rage being diverted toward the sole responsible for this, whoever that was. Concern for Ken's sake was gaining on her current anger at him too, though it couldn't fade away entirely yet.

Now he did shiver. The temperature of the air dropping away so suddenly like that… Because Umi was upset…?

She had never been like this before. Filled with such anger and rage that she was unable to control her magic. Something else the City was attempting to do…? To drive this girl into becoming something that she wasn’t?

It begged an unusual kind of question, one he never really thought he would have to ask a Magic Knight… since he used to understand their motivations so well…

“When you find this person, what are you going to do with them?”

Umi's eyes spoke pretty well of what she wanted to do to this person. Of what she felt herself capable of doing at that very moment. It wasn't helping her case, was it. Considering these things. She'd go there for solace and instead... she was mulling over all the trouble in their lives as of late.

She lowered her glance so she was staring at the sand instead of Eagle's face as she tried to keep herself from feeding the frustration, found it impossible, then looked back up at the Commander with grim determination in her eyes.

"Let's find them first and take it from there."

Long pause… just watching that girl and not saying anything for a moment.

“If you were someone under my Command I would remove you from that mission until you could handle the situation with a clearer head again,” Harsh words but spoken very gently as if even the phrase itself would cause serious injury.

“This place has a way of making people question who they are and what they want to accomplish… it seems to enjoy making people forget those things.” And a soft reassuring smile, “You just need to remember who you are. You are a Magic Knight… not a cold-hearted murder.”

Because that… that was what he has seen in her eyes just then. The ability to murder someone without a second thought about it.

"Then it's a good thing that I'm not under anyone's Command." Spoken stubbornly, but in all truth nothing could take the chance to help from her. Umi had already made a decision. It had been hard enough to see Ken suffer from this before, to realize what had happened to him back home under all the weight of the killing. To put him through that again... it was unforgivable. Much as she was angry at him beyond reason at the time, nothing could erase that pain from her.

She faltered at Eagle's next words, though, and her face grew sadder. Ken's own words earlier that day... and Aya's... everything they'd talked about came back to her and made her feel as tired as she'd really felt ever since that awful week had started. Anger had made her forget about her own tiredness for a while, maybe it still was at it. But the reminder of the things that had been haunting her for so long made it recede for a minute.

"I'm not cold-hearted, Eagle. But as a Magic Knight, I've killed before." It was a fact she was struggling to fully accept and live with after having it shoved in her face by The City so many times. The burden she had to bear, just like she'd told Eagle himself.

She narrowed her eyes with infinite sadness, making it impossible for anyone observant enough not to see this had such an personal meaning for her. Murderers... "Don't be so fast to call a person that. Things... are never really that simple."

“That was why I said you weren’t one…” Umi wasn’t that kind of person that was why it had been so surprising to see that kind of malicious power coming from her. “Maybe the City is trying to convince you that you are a murderer… but there is a difference between what you were forced to do as Magic Knights and what real murders do. A true murder doesn’t regret their actions.”

No, Umi was more like a battle scarred soldier than a murder.

“I’m sure you will be able to figure this situation out,” Here have a vote of confidence and support. “You are too stubborn to allow the City to have its way.”

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