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 Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2024 11:47 pm
It had been a truly terrible night. First gargoyles, then a magic gameboard from hell with every fear she didnt know that she had. By the time she had escaped the game, Halia was a mess. She was shaking and trying to not cry more than she already had, and all she wanted was to hide away and never come back out.
Halia was making her way home when she passed her work, lights still on but the sign flipped to closed. If she was lucky, maybe Kieran would be working and would let her sit inside for a few moments, or maybe he would let her help with closing tasks to keep her mind busy. Anything to sit inside somewhere warm for a few moments and smell the comforting scent of the environment.
She headed for the door, pushing it open and slipping inside. She winced, even the sound of the bell on the door causing her to jump with how raw her nerves were.
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 12:09 am
It was late,t he shop was closed, and Keiran had already sent most everyone else home. It was just end of night inventory and some minor cleanup to do, and that was all things he could do on his own.
Butt he bell dinged, and Kieran frowned, ducking out of the back fully prepared to politely tell a customer that thy really were closed--
And as soon as he saw Halia and recognized how distressed she was, he softened immediately and moved around the counter.
"Hey," he said. "Bad night?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 12:14 am
Halia's eyes were red from having cried on her walk over and she rubbed at her face, hoping she didn't look like too much of a mess. When Keiran came out from the back, she gave him a watery smile and nodded.
"Yeah... really bad." She admittedly didn't know him all that well, but he always had a kind smile and gentle nature, so she felt at ease around him. "Could....could I just sit for a minute? Or...maybe help out with closing stuff?" The cut on her cheek from the gameboard had stopped bleeding, but it was still angry and still stung. Still, that was thankfully the worst of the injuries she had sustained.
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 12:17 am
"Sit down," Keiran said, "I can make you some quick hot chocolate. Or something else, whatever you want." He was sympathetic and gentle, gesturing for her to take a seat at one of the tables near the counter. Whatever was going on, Destiny City was a ******** of a place to live, and probably the poor girl had been caught in some form or other of magical nosebleed she didn't need to be a part of.
The way innocent people so often got caught up in it all...Keiran hated it.
"Do you need me to get the first aid kit?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 12:21 am
"That would be really nice, thank you. Hot chocolate or tea, whichever is less trouble." She took a seat, almost seeming to huddle in on herself.
When he mentioned the first aid kit, she reached up and touched her cheek. "Oh. Um, yes please. It's just a cut but...Neosporin or something would be good." After all, who knew where those damn wires had come from? Or what else might have touched it after getting cut.
Halia sighed and picked at the hem of her jacket, feeling small and insignificant. "Has it always been like this here? Magic and stuff, I mean..." Her voice was small and soft, though it was clear she was trying to work something out in her head. "There was..... this set of dice and a game board..."
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 12:26 am
"Hot chocolate, coming up," Keairan said, sweeping over to the espresso machine to start milk and chocolate syrup steaming. While that ran, he ducked into the back and came out with Neosporin and some bandaids, which he deposited on Halia's table.
"Yeah, at least as long as I can remember," Keiooran said, honestly. The fact that his memory stretched back much less far than it ought to was....not something they needed to get into. Purification-related memory loss was a whole ******** set up a plate for her, with a mug of hot chocolate and a slice of apple crumb cake--ahh, Keiran loved getting to do Fall pastry specials--and brought it over, setting it next to the ointment and the nadainds and taking a seat across from her.
"That's a new one to me, though. Haven't run into anything like that, but I've seen...a lot of crazy stuff, over the years."
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 12:31 am
Trembling fingers picked up the ointment and applied it with practiced ease that spoke of a familiarity with dressing her own wounds. She didnt even look when she opened the bandaid and applied it perfectly to where it needed to sit.
"Hel- a friend said that their partner encountered it last year and also the year before. It was terrifying..."
The cake looked lovely, and she was sure that any other time she would be delighted by it and truly appreciate it, but right now she felt both numb and overwhelmed at the same time. She took a bite of the cake before wrapping her hands around the mug, trying to focus on the feeling of the heat to ground her.
"I....I felt so useless.... more than I usually do. I just started sinking in mud, and then there were wolves..... I couldn't do anything but cry." Tears started to well up again and she shook her head, feeling small.
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 12:44 am
God, the poor girl had clearly been through it. Why Destiny City--or whatever magical force was involved--decided to throw s**t like this at people, Keiran would never understand. But he reached out and gently laid a hand on her arm.
"It's okay," he said, "that you were overwhelmed. There's not a lot you can do against something like that. But you made it through, and you got out, and you're safe now. That's what really matters."
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 12:48 am
"What's the use in having powers if I freeze and start crying? I'm just as useless as I was before.." The words tumbled from her mouth without her truly realizing what she said. The night had been long and her nerves were frazzled at this point. Secret identities were the last thing from her mind after that damned game.
She clutched the mug tighter, trying to will herself not to cry. She would not fall apart yet again tonight. Especially not in front of Keiran. She was sure she likely was already considered the "weird" coworker with how she jumped at every single little thing, and crying into her hot chocolate would not help that image at all.
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 12:52 am
Ah.
s**t.
Well, Keiran had a bit of a conundrum laid out before him, didn't he? Halia had definitely just admitted to having powers. That could mean any number of things, but he was pretty sure that meant that he either had an ally or an enemy sitting across from ********, he hoped she wasn't int he Negaverse, but maybe if she was---well, he'd just have to call Ida and see what they could do.
"Halia...what kind of powers do you mean?" He asked, carefully. This could go a lot of ways. "Badly" seemed unfortunately possible. But if, for once, he was lucky...maybe this was another Senshi he could look after.
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 12:57 am
Oh. s**t.
At his question, Halia froze, finally realizing what she said. Her heart was racing again and she looked up at him, fear in her eyes. Kerberos' words echoed in her mind about how agents of chaos could literally rip her soul out. This night quite literally just kept getting worse.
She made herself set the mug of hot chocolate down before any intrusive, impulsive thoughts came her way and she curled her hands in the fabric of her jacket. There was no point in lying, at this point. "The....senshi kind." She felt nauseous, a familiar wave of cold washing over her. She knew this feeling of dread and fear all too well. The feeling of being genuinely afraid. She could only pray to something she was fairly sure didn't exist that Keiran was someone she could trust.
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 1:01 am
The Senshi kind. Okay, theoretically,t here were three different types of Senshi. But Keiran swore that Halia looked...familiar, somehow. An itch on the edge of his awareness, like they had definitely met in their other lives and he couldn't quite figure out who she was.
"Okay, then. Hi, I'm Sailor Kerberos," he introduced himself. She'd recognize him once he told her, if he was right and they'd met before.
"And you're safe here. I promise." Even if she did turn out to be the Chaos kind of Senshi. But that felt...deeply unlikely, all things considered. Or at least, he wanted to hope so.
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 1:06 am
Oh. OH.
Halia's eye widened with recognition and she stared at him, trying to see the similarity between the man in front of her and the senshi she had met. She supposed she could see it, if she squinted. Though he definitely did not glow. That would probably be a good thing, though.
"Oh." She managed a weak smile, still fighting off the sheer terror she felt from outing herself on accident. "We've already met. I'm Aruna."
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 1:18 am
"Oh!" Keiran perked up. Good, this wasn't going to go terribly, and of course it was someone he knew. He could see it, now, like a veil being lifted.
It was always sort of a strange moment, to recognize someone for who they'd always been.
"Well, that worked out nicely then," he said. "Just...be careful about that in the future, yeah?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 1:23 am
Halia nodded, giving him a small smile. "Yeah, it's...it's just been a really long, bad night. I uh. My mind isn't all where it should be." How else does one describe the aftermath of a panic attack, really? The foggy feeling of your mind being wrapped in cotton, your body starting to feel exhausted as if you had just run a marathon. It was one of her least favorite things.
"Sorry for just....dumping everything at you." She was much more quiet as Halia, versus the anxious yet curious Aruna. She seemed far more subdued as her civilian self, more quiet. Perhaps it was the whole notion of an alter ego that allowed her to be a bit more vibrant as Aruna, be just a little bit louder and brave.
She took a deep breath and finally took a drink of her hot, or rather now luke warm, chocolate. Despite not being as piping hot as it was a bit ago, it did help soothe her raw, tired nerves.
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