1st Solo [video]
Aug. 13th, 2011 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
whithersoevergo[In the darkness, a hunched figure appears near the fountain and the sound of a cello echoes over the network. The playing is precise and haunting, executed flawlessly until a single note is missed, then two, then there’s the sound of the bow being dropped and a scrape as the chair falls backward and the tall figure unfolds upwards, finally realizing that he's not where he was when he started the song.]
Saya?
[He looks around, movements as measured and precise as the music as the cello is packed away hastily. The figure stands again, turning, a pale, concerned face finally coming into view.]
SAYA! ANSWER ME! …Saya?
[He starts off in a direction, intent on something. Someone should stop probably him.]
[ooc: Pretend this is happening tonight, and just posted now because it's easier, okay?]
Saya?
[He looks around, movements as measured and precise as the music as the cello is packed away hastily. The figure stands again, turning, a pale, concerned face finally coming into view.]
SAYA! ANSWER ME! …Saya?
[He starts off in a direction, intent on something. Someone should stop probably him.]
[ooc: Pretend this is happening tonight, and just posted now because it's easier, okay?]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Action;
Date: 2011-08-14 02:19 am (UTC)Not anymore.
[He doesn't know, obviously. And, much like Solomon, Saya can't bring herself to tell him about his own death. Or the words he spoke to her before it.
She's still a little watery-eyed when she does look up but she's wearing a faint smile too.]
I'm sorry. Ah... I mean, I'm sorry for crying. You've seen me do that enough though.
[She brushes back more tears.]
[OOC: Pff, and I meant to tack on this last comment. Edit all you need, I can't type worth a damn 90% of the time.]
Action;
Date: 2011-08-14 02:34 am (UTC)His human hand reaches out to wipe away some of the errant tears, his own rare smile appearing as he offer her his embrace, should she need the comfort.]
You have nothing to apologize for, Saya, ever. I am only sorry I don't understand what has happened yet.
Action;
Date: 2011-08-14 05:56 pm (UTC)Saya doesn't even fully recognize it now, though she can comprehend it better than she did before. Now that she had time to think of things other than Diva and Chiropterans.
She accepts the embrace not so she can cry against him but just so she can embrace him, her hold tight as she presses her forehead against his chest. It's still seeking comfort but instead of the comfort of mere presence, it's the comfort of it actually.
It really was Haji. Alive. Kai might have talked of him coming back one day to comfort her but she knew if he did, it would never be while she was awake. And for the first time in their years together, she actually wondered what it must be like waiting. Constantly waiting.
Her next words are muted, muffled against him.]
I don't know how to say it. Now that you're here, it's like a bad dream.
[She sighs out a long breath, relaxing against him. She didn't know what to explain first but she knew she had to start somewhere. And try not to cry.]
People here come from different places, different times. Even people you know. For me, I came here after going to the opera house. After Diva.
Action;
Date: 2011-08-14 10:05 pm (UTC)[He holds her the way he always does, with all the care and affection he can give without her knowing the full truth. The truth that if she only asked, there is nothing he wouldn't do for her, be for her, that he loves her and always has, always will.
Even if she loves another as he suspects.
But for now, she's warm and in his arms and its those rare moments that he holds to, when their world can reduce to just the two of them. But it doesn't stop him from listening and while he doesn't quite believe the things she's telling him, he's starting to understand.]
Shouldn't you be sleeping then? You were so tired before we were planning to leave.
Action;
Date: 2011-08-15 03:20 am (UTC)I should be. I was going to at home. Here... I don't know. I sleep but it's normal. And before this, I was here for almost six months.
[She looks up now, a sheepish look on her face.]
I don't understand it much. I haven't really thought about it... I try not to think about it.
[Now her attention focuses on the lapels of his shirt, her voice soft.]
It makes me think of Kai and the girls.
Action;
Date: 2011-08-15 03:35 am (UTC)[He knows that Somolon means Saya no harm, but it's easy to imagine him finding some way to keep her awake, to keep her close to him longer and it concerns him. None of Diva's chevalier's have shown any restraint when in comes to their experiments and designs.
But if Saya wishes to change the topic he will oblige, reaching to brush the hair from her face.]
Then Diva's children still live? You are with them and Kai?
[Which is good, he tells himself. Kai makes her smile, if she's found her family again... it was a good life for her once, it would be again.]
Action;
Date: 2011-08-15 04:08 am (UTC)[It's like this is a new idea that hasn't struck her in some time.]
No, not at all! He takes care of my transfusions but he's never done anything to me. I mean medically beyond that.
[Or at least not under the influence of a curse. And she's long since given up counting those as Solomon's doing when they do happen.
The topic change brings up a bright smile. While it makes her sad to think of them in some ways, she does still enjoy the memories she has of them with Kai.]
Mm. I was, that is. Kai's better with the babies than I am. Once I went to sleep, he was going to watch after them.
Action;
Date: 2011-08-15 04:25 am (UTC)But there's no way he can miss the smile, that smile, the one he hasn't been able to give her since the days when he was still human. Before Diva. But if she's truly gone... oh, well. Something to think about later.]
Kai is a good man, Saya, I'm sure they will be in good hands. Was he watching over them alone?
[He can't think that he'd leave them entirely in Kai's hands, even if Haji's primary responsibility would be watching after Saya as she slept. Was there something Saya isn't telling him?
But perhaps this isn't the time or place.]
Come. Perhaps there is a better place for this discussion, Solomon mentioned a penthouse?
Action; 1/2
Date: 2011-08-15 04:34 am (UTC)[And she's saved by the second question, which apparently jumpstarts her from being thankful about seeing Haji again to remembering why she came in the first place.]
Oh!
Action;
Date: 2011-08-15 04:39 am (UTC)[Oh, that's right!]
He even has some things of yours. Or... the other Haji who was here.
[That's always been a weird topic for her and she tends to think of them as 'the other Haji' or 'the other Saya'.]
I actually came to get you. I got a little sidetracked though so... we'll go back there.
[She pulls away from Haji then as she asks.]
Solomon mentioned it? You've been talking to him too?
Action;
Date: 2011-08-15 04:45 am (UTC)He says dinner will be arriving soon, you should eat if you're hungry.
[Saya first, no matter what. And if it's not the human food she wants, he won't turn her away if it's his blood she wants. It would hardly be the first time.
And after, perhaps they need to discuss this 'other Haji' business.]
Action;
Date: 2011-08-15 05:02 am (UTC)She doesn't catch the crack about the penthouse, at least yet, but she hms.]
Arriving? We must be ordering tonight.
[Which with Solomon was never a little affair. It seemed to make him happy though so she never breathed a word about how she'd be just as happy with a ridiculous amount of Chinese food as she would be with four-star cuisine.
She nods though.]
Just follow me then, it's not that far away.
[It's a testament to how many years they've spent together that she's just kind of falling back into routine. Her leading, assured he was following nearby.]
Action;
Date: 2011-08-15 05:09 am (UTC)[He says it simply, with all the decades and decades of experience he has with it, falling into step behind her and to the side just as he always has. He makes sure to keep his eyes on the shadows, and on the streets, learning the layout as they go.]
Action;
Date: 2011-08-18 12:57 am (UTC)Action;
Date: 2011-08-18 01:08 am (UTC)The strange fact that he also feels gratitude towards him for caring for Saya in this place only confuses the issue further. But for now... the location appears safe and Says seems to have no hesitation.]
You are comfortable here?
Action;
Date: 2011-08-18 03:56 pm (UTC)[Then she pauses, smile slipping and voice lowering a touch.]
Haji... he's dead, isn't he? Not here of course but at home.
[She hated asking it out loud, in Solomon's own apartment, but she couldn't help it. No one else had ever come from home besides Diva. And that Diva was so big and pregnant, obviously from a time when Solomon was still firmly her Chevalier, that she wouldn't have had any answer for Saya.]
Action;
Date: 2011-08-18 09:35 pm (UTC)[He looks around the apartment, getting his bearings as Saya speaks. He's never really cared much, one way or the other, where they lived so long as Saya was comfortable and safe, but this was... nice. Certainly nicer than the apartment David and Kai had secured in New York.
But her next question makes him turn to her, expression serious as he tries to decide what to tell her. But he didn't want to start keeping things from her again as he did when her memory was lost. The things he didn't want to tell her because she was so... happy.]
I believe so. During the fight with James, your sword pierced him. I can't imagine he survived. [He pauses.]
I am sorry.
Action; 1/2
Date: 2011-08-19 03:40 am (UTC)[When had he ever failed to protect her, save during his absence the last time she awoke.
She mulls over his response, giving her head a shake when he adds the sorry.]
There's no reason to be. I did ask, after all.
Action; 2/2
Date: 2011-08-19 03:49 am (UTC)[At all, frankly. She hadn't been thoroughly insensible to his offers or his feelings but... well, who had time for such? And what right did she have to such? At the time, she firmly thought none at all.]
Can I ask you for a favor then, Haji? Don't tell him, alright? A long time ago when I first arrived here, [she leaves out the 'first time' bit because it's unimportant] he wanted to know if he could help raise Diva's twins if we both ever returned home. He asked me very nicely if he could be a part of their lives.
Action;
Date: 2011-08-19 03:58 am (UTC)[As if he'd do anything else. Telling Solomon he was dead or dying wasn't likely to accomplish anything other than create tension, and since Saya had to live here... he hadn't planned on saying anything anyway.]
I can imagine caring for Diva's children would be a priority for him.
[As it will be for him, he imagines, with Saya safe and hibernating. Assuming her earlier silence didn't portent his own death in which case... he hopes Kai keeps them all safe, and perhaps when Saya awakens, she can make him her Chevalier in Haji's place.]
Action;
Date: 2011-08-19 04:09 am (UTC)[She laughs a little, moving further into the apartment. She comes to one particular door.]
Babies are a surprising amount of work! I never imagined it but... well, I never really tried to. You wouldn't think something that little would need so much looking after.
[Opening the door, she flicked the switch just inside. The room is a touch musty from being closed up but the bed is made and the room itself is clean. A light sheen of dust has settled on most of the furniture, save the cello sitting in one of the far corners.]
When I first came here, Solomon said this was your room. He kept everything in case you came back. I come in here sometimes to clean but that's more or less it... oh, and I play the cello too. Not as much as I probably should though.
Action;
Date: 2011-08-19 04:37 am (UTC)Probably not. It's been a very long time since you had any regular practice.
[The cello is a mystery. It looks like his, but as he removes his case from his shoulder it is clear that there's another inside. He's tempted to take his out, compare the two, but what would be the point. It either is or isn't the same and the duplication would be no stranger than the fact that he's being told he was here before when he has no memory of it.]
You should take it to your room, I have no need for two. [Pause] And where is your room, Saya?
[Since he'll spend a fair amount there, he imagines, checking on her and the like.]
Action;
Date: 2011-08-20 03:44 am (UTC)She glances to the instrument after a moment, considering.]
I suppose you don't.
[She doesn't bother to mention why she hadn't moved it before now, how the sound of a cello had sent her into tears for far too long. Instead she gives him another smile, slips round him out the bedroom door and to the door straight across the hall from his own.]
This one. Solomon's room is right next to yours and the other room there belongs to Marishka.
[Saya pauses there, giving a somewhat sad look.]
She left the City before I came back though. I'm afraid I never really talked to her much.
Action;
Date: 2011-08-20 03:56 am (UTC)Who was she?
[The impact she had on Saya is obvious. There's regret there. Regret of a friend never known?]
Action;
Date: 2011-08-20 04:03 am (UTC)[She notes quietly, voice hushed like she's gossiping here.]
I think Solomon was in love with her too. I mean, I don't know for certain! He really did seem to like her though, you know?
[Back to a more normal tone.]
I only talked to her once and saw her now and then. She... ah, didn't care for me much. Before I arrived here, there was another me. From around that year you and I spent away from Red Shield, just after Riku's death.
[She looks a sheepish now.]
I was so angry then. It's no wonder she hated me. I probably hated her too... or the other me did. It's selfish but I always wanted to make that up to her somehow. I guess partially to make myself feel better but...
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