Twenty-Second Strike - [Action]

[not_klonoa]

[End of classes usually signals happy, excited chatter and the footsteps of many different students, young and old, as they exit the school building to head home for the day and begin homework or other daily activities like work, chores, or just other hobbies. One student, however, lingers in the playground as the last of the people trickle out

Comments

[action]

[seraphgoddess]

[ Martel was taking a look around the town once again to familiarize herself with everything. It wasn't until she saw the young lumberjack sitting alone on a swing. She felt for her as she looked at those dark glazed over eyes.

Last time she had met Presea, she wasn't this depressed. She had actually looked happy. What could have happened to her since then? For a moment, she had a flashback of Mithos in the same exact situation. It was when she was picking him up from school, she found him sitting on a swing. He didn't bother looking up until she held his shoulder in comfort. Without knowing, she had started to approach Presea just like she had done with Mithos. The memory was still playing in her mind before slowly Mithos' face was replaced with Presea's. ]

Are you all right?

[action]

[not_klonoa]

[Presea can hear Martel's approach before she actually sees her, but even that isn't enough to get the girl to look up. In fact, it's hard for Presea to even notice them, what with her head in such a fog over her family's deaths back home. She also just passed the footsteps off as some straggler just leaving the school's grounds.

It was only when someone actually spoke to her in a familiar voice did Presea finally look up and acknowledge the one speaking. Her shock is clearly evident when she does recognize the face of being one she remembered rather well, a face she thought had left months ago.]

Martel...?

[action]

[seraphgoddess]

[ Whether she noticed Presea's shock or not, she doesn't make any indication. Instead she gives the girl a comforting squeeze before repeating her question. ]

Presea, is everything all right?

[ The concern is evident on the healer's face. Even though she doesn't know Presea as well as Lloyd or Yuan, she can still bring herself to feel concerned for her. The girl has been through a lot. Spending more than a decade in an emotionless state with no awareness of what's happening is hard to deal with. Especially when you finally wake up only to find your only living family are dead and you - only you - are stuck in a child's body. ]

[action]

[not_klonoa]

[The hug is such a strange thing - something Presea hadn't experienced for, well...she can't remember the last time she received a hug like this from someone. And Martel was always a person Presea trusted. There was something strangely comforting about her presence. A presence she was still unsure of was really there, but...really? She doesn't care.

Presea hesitates, then raises her arms and returns the hug rather stiffly, her voice soft and quiet.]

Y-Yes...I-I am all right...Martel. I was merely thinking.