Touka 002 ❀ Goodbye, Dream of Normalcy

[girlpowertouka]

Characters: Touka Kishi and whoever wants to join her
Location: Right next to the coral
Time: Late morning
Style: Whatever
Status: Totally open

Comments

[failpriest]

"Miss!"

The call comes from ever-so-slightly in the distance - close enough to be heard over the sounds of Noise closing in on the girl's prone form. A particularly good ear might catch the click of a safety coming off a pistol, followed by a round going in the chamber, and two consecutive shots.

The strange creatures give a squawk, effectively deterred from further attacking what they'd deemed prey, scurrying off into the distance by the warning shots.

A moment later, the tall, lanky priest is crouching down beside Touka, a look of concern on his face as he gently lays a hand on her shoulder, free digits holding the still-smoking percussion revolver.

"Are you alright...? Here, let me help you up. Those things are pretty ruthless...!"

[failpriest]

"Ah! Tokyo." He said, as if this were some sort of revelation. (Hint: it isn't.) Abel gives her a thumbs up. "I'm from Rome - well, that's to say... that's where I work. I'm a traveling priest, so I'm on the road a lot... My job takes me all over the place! It's a little crazy."

Blue eyes wander upwards, to the vast expanse of ocean beyond the barrier. "But not as crazy as this..."

[girlpowertouka]

"Oh! Right, you said that." Touka's a bit of an airhead sometimes. "Rome is in Italy, right? In Europe? Where else have you traveled to?"

Touka looks up at the barrier, too. "Yeah, this is a little crazy." But crazy is pretty normal to Touka, so she doesn't think THAT much of it. Even she thinks it's all a little weird, though.

[failpriest]

"That's right - in Italy," he confirmed. Though, that meant her world map predated the war - if her Earth and his were similar in timeline, anyway.

"Ah... Albion, and Germanicus... Franc... All over the map, really! My boss is a slave-driver... So cruel... Overworked and underpaid... Ah, she takes the poverty vows too seriously...! Honestly.

--Oh, but have you traveled abroad at all? It's really nice, especially if you're doing it to sight-see or explore."

[girlpowertouka]

"Oh, okay." The other countries he mentioned didn't sound familiar, but Touka wasn't great at geography.

She half-smiles at his mention of his boss. Sounds a bit familiar. "Your boss? What is she like?"

"And no, I've never left Japan. It's been quite awhile since I even left Sakura-Shinmachi, actually, now that I think about it."

[failpriest]

The world is a vastly different places in 3065 A.D. - most of the countries had been renamed with some homage to their origin... but territories and entire countries had been shifted around and sometimes even dissolved entirely.

But all of that is soon forgotten; Abel's face takes a grim pallor at further inquiry into his boss. "Sh... she..."

He abruptly turns, grasping both of her hands and shaking as if terrified. "She's horrifying! A real demon! You don't even want to know how many holidays I've worked in the past ten years. She sends me to the middle of nowhere with two dinars in my pocket - two! That's not even enough for the train! I spend my life half-starved!!"

Oh, the melodrama...

[girlpowertouka]

Touka laughs as he grabs her hands. Okay, maybe not that familiar.

"That sounds quite harsh. So is your boss a nun like Yae-san?"

[failpriest]

He pulls the melodrama back some, settling for a haggard sigh. "No, not quite... she's a Cardinal. One of the higher-ups in the Vatican, under the Pope. She's a very powerful and influential woman! And suuuper scary..."

[girlpowertouka]

She laughs again. "So what is it you do, exactly? As a priest?"

[failpriest]

"Hm! Well. Usually, I go and help churches in areas that are short-handed, or having problems due to - ah, political tensions. The Church plays a very large part in things where I'm from..."

He tilts his head down to her. "What about you, Miss Touka? Do you work?"

[girlpowertouka]

That sounds weird to even Touka. "Hmm? Political tensions? Does the Church really have that much to do with things like that?"

Touka shakes her head. "No, I'm just in high school." She would like to work and do something useful, like all her other friends do, but Onii-chan would never let her have a real job. It was just cooking and cleaning and all that other stuff for Touka.

[failpriest]

"It does, it does..." But he'd prefer not to elaborate on why - the reasoning was rather unpleasant, and he was trying to keep the spirit light-hearted and cheerful.

"Oho. What sort of thing do you want to study when you graduate?"

[girlpowertouka]

Study after she graduates?

"Hmm. I really don't know. None of my friends went or are going to college, even my brother, and he really likes to study and stuff. I don't know what I'm going to do after I graduate."

Probably continue to be useless, but in new and exciting ways. Maybe she could help Juri-san, since she's over at the clinic so much, anyway? She'd love to work for Akina-san, of course. But that was so never going to happen. She sighs.

[failpriest]

"No?"

There was a minor pause as he mulled this over. "What would you like to do?"

[girlpowertouka]

"Um......" She thinks this over. "You know, I really don't know. I haven't thought about it."

Any vague thought she's ever had about the future has involved Hime-chan and Onii-chan getting married, and she and Akina-san getting married and buying a house right next to Hime-chan and Onii-chan so they could all raise their kids together. Then maybe she could work for Akina-san, too.

[failpriest]

"Really? No idea at all?"

Had he been able to read her mind, he would've found that all rather endearing - and adorable. But, alas. "Maybe it's something you could give some thought while you're stuck here, in that case? It couldn't hurt, right?"