CEEEELEBRATE GOOD TIMES COME ON

[soul_mods]

Characters: EVERYONE!
Location: Shibusen Ballroom
Rating: ...we'll go with PG-13 to be on the safe side.
Time: July 30
Description: It's time for the party everyone's been talking about! And it seems Shinigami will be making an announcement. How interesting...
Feel free to 3rd person or action log this!

Comments

BALCONY

[soul_mods]

[A quiet respite from the music and activity of the room, feel free to step outside for a bit of fresh air. Don't stay out there too long though--the fun's all inside!]

BALCONY

[killswithkisses]

Yoko avoided the crowds as she maneuvered her way to the balcony. In the end, she decided to go to the dance much to Alfred's begging. Now here she was, dressed up in a crimson evening gown and her hair pinned up in curls on top of her head.

She leaned against the railing, sighing to herself as she glanced behind her at the party then back to the city.

[failsavior]

Normally Namatame wouldn't have come. He had doubts about celebrating a victory he had never taken part in, and even more about whether he would have been welcomed here by a few of those who did deserve to attend. He wasn't much good at parties, either. He could smile, bow, shake hands and converse for a while, but it never felt completely natural when he did it. Misuzu had always been the more socially graceful of the two of them.

It had taken him right up until the last minute to decide that he would go (he'd actually come late, because of the time it took to find a reasonable suit)--not for his sake, but for Mayumi's. Even if Namatame hadn't managed to find her killer himself, the killer had been found and stopped by others. That would have been what she wanted.

He missed her, seeing all the people bustling around inside. Mayumi's presence would have brightened the night threefold--but she wasn't there and would never be, even in a city named for death.

[killswithkisses]

Yoko was drifting off as she stared out at the city before the door opened behind her and she turned to see someone she didn't recognize enter the balcony area too. She blinked a few times; he looked just as awkward as she was with this party. Yoko turned away, keeping her eyes on the city as she remained quite for a short moment.

Finally, Yoko spoke up," Some place huh? This is pretty different compared to where I'm from."

[failsavior]

"Huh?" Namatame hadn't noticed the young woman there until she spoke. "Oh...yes, it is." He wondered what it was like where the woman came from. The other world he'd know of had been terrible, the grotesque wandering around the stuff of children's books and always trying to crowd around him and that little girl. But if there were even more worlds, where people could live and survive, how many possibilities were there?

He probably needed to say something more--make smalltalk, or something. He was at a party, after all. For lack of anything else he fell back to the topic of the party, and the reason it was being held at all. "I heard that this party is a celebration for the defeat of some kind of murderer. Were you here it happened? I only got here a few days ago, so I was absent for the whole thing."

[killswithkisses]

She smiled a bit at the man as she leaned her back against the railing now. Yoko looked over to the party that was now in full swing then turned to the man. "Yeah it is, his name was Tohru Adachi."

Yoko looked down to the floor," He killed a number of people. I have been here since the beginning apparently but---I had only remembered arriving on a few days before the big battle." She was about to continue on when she realized making small talk and not knowing the others name was rather awkward. She smiled sheepishly and extended her hand," Yoko Ritona."

[failsavior]

It took a second to realize that the woman was introducing herself, but Namatame shook her hand. "Taro Namatame." He released her hand again, looking out at the scenery and thinking. The killer really had made his mark, in Inaba as well as this city. That Adachi had stopped at nothing, even turning up in a city like this.

He considered asking further into things but dismissed the idea. If Miss Ritona only remembered past a few days (and why was that?) before the end she was unlikely to know too much, and if she started asking questions as to why Namatame was so curious he wouldn't know what to say.

"It's a nice party," he said instead. "I may not have been there for everything but happened, but I can see what it left behind. Somebody who caused all that...it's no wonder that people are celebrating now."

[killswithkisses]

Yoko smiled gently at the man," Its a pleasure Taro," she replied as she shook his hand. She looked on curiously at him as he let go of her hand and moved his gaze to the scenery outside.

"Yeah, its nice to take a break...though I'm not really one for parties," She said as she gazed out with Namatame.

She was quiet for a moment," but---this is only the beginning. Theres still much to do, especially with these witches."

[failsavior]

Taro. It had been a long time since anyone outside family had addressed him that way, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. He doubted it was intentional--other countries had different customs, not to mention other worlds entirely--but he wasn't sure he wanted to even imagine being so familiar with someone again. Not now. "Please," he said. "Just call me Namatame."

He thought about what she'd said--the witches, the war. Adachi hadn't even been a point in all that, had he? The whole thing was important to Namatame, of course, and it must have been important to those kids and everyone who'd know the victims here, but in the long run all that only mattered on the side. And how were they going to address the main issue?

"Yes, you're right," he started. "I haven't been here long, and I don't know much about fighting like this, but as far as I can see it will take a long time before any of this is over." He faltered. "I can already see that it's going to be difficult for everybody."

[killswithkisses]

Yoko blinked a few times when he corrected her and she gave a small bow," Sorry. Namatame then." She stood up straight again and listened as he spoke after another moment of silence.

"...yeah..I'm not sure how long any of us will be here--months--years even," She replied solemnly,"...It will be hard for those who aren't use to war. I lived through fighting all my life really---until recently when I had finally settled down then...came here."

Yoko had a frown now, thinking back to her friends and students in her own world. She never admitted to anyone but being here was taking its toll on her. Yoko rubbed her temple before looking up at him with a sheepish smile," Sorry- I think I had too much to drink.."

[failsavior]

Namatame shook his head. "Oh, no, it's all right. What you say is true." It must have been hard, he thought. She wasn't that old--she was a woman, but a young woman. To have seen fighting for most of her life meant that it must have gone on while she was a child, too. There was a lot of that going on here. Namatame had probably met more kids than adults who had been taken in to fight this war so far, which was a less than comforting thought.

"Do you need any help?" he asked her, eying her with concern. He was no stranger to alcohol himself, and while he usually held it well he knew what it could do to someone. "You must have had it hard, then and now. Don't make it any harder on yourself."

[killswithkisses]

He seemed genuinely worried about her as she was avoiding his look. Yoko wasn't really use to people she didn't know to be worried about her well being. Her eyes met his as she turned slowly to face him when he gave his last reply.

"No it's fine...this isn't the first time. I tend to babble on though sometimes," She said with a small shrug," To be honest, maybe coming to shibusen was best for someone like me..My friends are either dead or on their own path of life after all.."

[failsavior]

Dead or moving on. Though his experiences were different from hers--in Ritona's case, her friends had probably died because of the fighting she'd mentioned--Namatame could understand that easily. He was in the same situation. Mayumi was dead, his boss had fired him and his wife had divorced him...even Namatame's family had started getting along without him since his disappearance and arrest. They'd all found ways to go on without him, while he'd lingered over the murders.

Still, things had changed. The real reason he was here was to pay his respects to Mayumi, after all. He hadn't managed to catch her murderer, but at least he knew the murderer had been caught. But then what next? Before he'd expected to serve out his rightful punishment in prison, but here--there were so many ways he could go, and yet he couldn't start because he hadn't chosen anything this freely in a long time.

"I think I understand," he said. "Maybe not in the same ways, but while I don't know if it was best for me, being taken here has certainly...changed

[killswithkisses]

Yoko knew he probably did go through the same things she went through in a sense. She knew everyone here had their own stories to tell from their own worlds. Yoko knew this all too well with Alfred. Their exchange of stories was quite nice. Since coming here she opened up more often than back in her own world.

She smiled at him," Perhaps it was best for everyone here to be here in a sense...This world will definitely will change us," Yoko sipped from her wine glass," whether for the best or not will be up to us to decide."

[failsavior]

Namatame couldn't see how he could change for the worse anymore with all that he'd done in the past--short of things like actually committing murder, anyway, though he knew he'd come frighteningly close a few weeks ago (and the part he didn't dwell on was the fact that he had almost died then too). He was more or less at rock bottom, so he could either stay where he was now or start working his way back up

[killswithkisses]

Yoko really didn't mean people who turn evil. But then again who was she to know what each person will do? She followed his eyes to the life of the party behind the closed glass doors. It did look like everyone was having fun. Yoko smiled. It was good to let loose for awhile, especially with what was to come