asgardmeridiem | [OPEN LOG]

Entry tags:

[OPEN LOG]

Who: Jade + literally anyone
What: Jade bribing people into her restaurant with free things.
When: Day 355.
Where: The Highwind, in Heimdall's district.
Rating: PG-13 for language at most!

EDITED TO ADD: Also, totally feel free to threadjack and use this as a mingle log IF YOU WOULD LIKE ♥

[ It had worked once before, back in the heat of late summer in Asgard, so Jade was trying it again. She had dragged the sign out to the front of the store, right in the middle of the sidewalk, and written in huge letters:

free hot chocolate! :D
just come inside ♥

The temperature hadn't broken the sixty degree mark today - it was getting chilly fast. Both Orihime and Annabeth were gone, and the store was oddly quiet. Jade will be found keeping herself busy throughout the day with odd little chores when it's completely empty of customers - sweeping, dusting, and occasionally dozing in a booth near the door when the boredom becomes too much to bear. ]

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[There's someone else in the room staring right back, though by now Naminé might be used to the fact that sometimes when Samantha caught sight of her she just stared. Half the time, she just stayed staring in that sort of unnecessarily intense way from across the room... sometimes she came over.

This time she actually flipped a coin before heading over and sitting down.]

Hey.

[Naminé, at least, is not one to fail to acknowledge such a thing; she offers a wave somewhere in there, small and undemanding and satisfied to be nothing more than a greeting, should Samantha choose it to be.]

[Unnecessarily intense or not, Naminé does not seem to mind. (It can be hard to tell, truthfully, what she's really thinking - but she smiles readily enough when she sees Samantha has decided to come say hello in a more vocal sort of way.]

Hello...! Have you been having a nice time?

[You know. Sitting across the room and staring intensely at her. Possibly with hot chocolate involved.]

Well. [She settled and one hand took hold of her tail to make sure it flopped on the other side of the two of them. No shenanigans you.] The cocoa's good, even if I'm not big on sweets. I'm mostly enjoying that the world didn't actually die on us while we were visiting the hippies.

[Totally not mentioning the staring at her part. Nope. Everything's normal You'd think she would get better at this whole social interaction thing after nine months around people.

...not really.]

[Hey, it's not like the only one with weird social things to overcome. Naminé pulls her own hot chocolate in slightly, as if to make sure Samantha has ample table space. (It wasn't really a problem in the first place.)]

It's something warm, anyway. [Even if she doesn't share the lack of interest in sweets, there are other factors she can consider easily enough.] Yes... that's definitely a plus. [And still she smiles, but it's a wryer thing, her eyes lowering briefly toward her cup. Her brow scrunches just a little and then relaxes again.]

I don't think I'd have been able to forgive myself, if it had. [And, you know, she still could. She's already having a hard enough time--] Not that... I could have done anything. I guess it just feels like I ought to have been there, you know?

You can't heal the dead. The attacks weren't the sort your magic was able to help. Still... I do know what you mean.

[She took a little sip, not pulling in needlessly close this time. The room was warm enough without help, unlike that time not long ago when they'd both been freezing.]

So, outside of helping fix things, which I know you've been up to, what've you been doing?

[If she means to clarify, she seems to find it unnecessary soon enough as Samantha continues. Nodding,] I know that. And-- thank you. I do wonder, though-- if there's something more my magic will be able to do, some day. I don't know anyone else who's been able to accomplish much more with the powers we've received in Sigyn's house, but....

[She shakes her head slightly; pipe dreams, and all that. She takes a sip of her own. Her mouth moves a little higher at the edges.]

I can't say you're wrong. [Somebody's way too much of a busybody not to.] You know - working, drawing, resting....

[Having a very unpleasant reunion with her former moirail--]

I, um. [The smile weakens, in the process betraying her in her attempts to keep it afloat.] I even got to see someone I knew again. They left the city for a while.

There's the next tier... but we haven't unlocked it consistently yet. [She shuddered and looked out to the room. She didn't like the idea of having access to the fourth tier of Hel's magics, at all. It didn't matter that she had gotten the runes implanted. She still didn't like it.]

Heh... at least you're honest about it. [She blinked at that comment and glanced over at her.] Who came back? And please god don't say it's Sollux. I already know he's back, and being his usual useless assholish self.

Mm. I'd rather not need to use it at all, but... maybe someday it will be available to us. [The shudder does not go unnoticed; if she has an inkling of what it is, she doesn't make any suggestion of it. Instead,] Something wrong? [It's very gentle.]

[She falters, opens her mouth -- shuts it, shakes her head.] Then I won't say it. [Welp. The description vexes her, really it does, but-- well, she knows he's always had a tendency to rub people the wrong way, sometimes. It's never really bothered her.] ... It was... good to see him again. [All things considered. It is, however, too somber.]

It would be good, yeah... even if it'd be better you not have to use it. And no, I just still don't like my powers here. I can use them, but I'd rather not.

Jeeze. It is him, isn't it? [She sighed and glanced over at Naminé. She'd honestly hoped it was Hermione or something. She'd run into her at the library the other day. Sollux was just rubbing her the wrong way.

As always.

Then again, considering her choices in romantic partners, it wasn't a surprise.] It could have gone a lot worse for me too. I don't think he knows how to talk without the sarcasm. Probably just better if I avoid him this time around.

Yes... I know what you mean. [Even though she can appreciate the powers she has here, things were... more complicated, back home.] Whether you like them or not, it's-- good to have a backup plan.

[The smile she offers in response is apologetic. The nod that accompanies it is probably unnecessary, but she offers that, too.]

No, not really. [There's a brief hint of a laugh to it that fades as quickly as it came.] He's not so bad, once you get to know him. But-- no one is everyone's cup of tea.

... We might have gotten along the first time, if I wasn't with Eridan. [She took a sip and closed her eyes, glancing away.] Don't mention that to him. He's better off staying the hell out of Fin-rot's way and vice versa.

I will say this for you, though, Naminé. You have the patience of a saint to put up with him if you can say that. But I'm starting to get used to seeing that.

[Her eyebrows raise slightly - but even though there's a lot she could say about that,] ... I'll stay out of it. The less the two of them see of each other, the better.

[The compliment seems as surprising to her as ever. She smiles all the same.] He was good to me. [That's all the explanation needed, really.] I don't know. Maybe you just haven't seen me on a bad day. [Except judging by the laugh, that was a joke.]

Agreed... Gods, agreed. [She still remembered the 'going away party turned bloody nightmare when Terezi showed up with a sword.'] The less those two deal with each other, the better for everyone. I'd rather stay out of it myself too. [But her tone said she probably wouldn't get the choice.]

Well... like you said. He wasn't all bad. Could be useful sometimes. [She listened to the rest and cocked her head, a wry look in her eye at that point. She gave a little thin snort and smirked.] But, ok, be honest. What are you like on a bad day?

[Naminé can at least offer her sympathies in a look, and she does so along with her firm nod. Those memories are fresher in her own mind than she'd prefer; it's just a good thing she wasn't there to see it for herself.]

Mm.... [She seems to need to consider this, contemplatively sipping at her drink.] Tired, mostly. [Heh.] Most of my bad days involve having a lot of work to do at the hospital. [By which what she really means is, there are a lot of injured people to attend to. That's never a good thing no matter how you slice it.] Things are... usually pretty good for me, here, the rest of the time. [... But in the interest of honesty,] When they aren't, I just... spend a little time by myself.

[That's right. Whether Sam knew it or not, Naminé had handled Terezi's fall-out of that night just as she'd handled Eridan's and hustled him the hell away from anyone else wanting to spread the fighting. Ugh, that night.]

That's not quite what I meant. You being busy? I could see you looking exhausted and fraz... [And then it dawned on her.] Naminé, when you have a really bad day... nobody ever really sees you, do they?

[Some people just need others around to help them out, sometimes. (Ugh, that time in general.)]

[She'd been just about to add her, 'I know, but--' when that last part happens and it rather effectively distracts her. Her lips press together slightly.]

... That depends. If I have work, then I go to work.

[But otherwise... well, there are implications.]

I don't have very many really bad days. Not like-- [She used to.] ... Some people.

[Tap tap. She took a sip from her mug. The two of them, for as short a time as they'd known each other, had a habit of catching each other in an off moment or two. At the very least, she was fairly certain that Naminé was... well, safe.]

But we have them, even if they're rare, and sometimes just going to work isn't good enough. [She sighed, poking a marshmallow.] You're allowed to ring my doorbell if you have one of those days. I'd rather you not be alone.

[Timing is everything, as they say.]

[Her eyes lower, focusing briefly on the marshmallow currently being assaulted, then shift over toward her own drink, which she sips from briefly.] Thank you, Samantha. I... really, really appreciate that.

But... that's okay. I think-- before I came to Asgard, it was hard to imagine wanting to be alone, most of the time. [Her eyes raise, consider the ceiling just a moment--] I'd had too much experience with it. But now-- I think maybe there are times when it's better I just... not trouble anyone. Even if they are willing to help. [Not that she didn't think so normally, but-- for the specific reason of not being in a good state.] You know?

I do... but how do I put this? [She glanced over at her for a second, eyes lingering a little too long and that intensity there for a little bit before flitting away again.] Sometimes people are willing to let you trouble them because it feels... special to be the one that you can go to when nobody else seems to do.

...

But sometimes you just want the quiet. You see the difference?

[Selfish demons could be selfish. The idea of being important to someone else like that... she missed that thought sometimes. It could bring out the possessive side she hid, but that was a side she'd accidentally let Naminé see a couple times, just a little, so...]

[Naminé studies her back, focused but not intense in that same way. (That's the thing, with Naminé - she is patient, she is unwavering, but it's a calmer, cooler sort of thing, a focus that lingers but does not demand, that is so contained as to seem in a world of its own even when it's very clearly turned on something of this world.)]

[It's not until Samantha finishes that Naminé nods, just a little bit slow but not from lack of understanding.]

Yeah... I know that feeling. It-- really is special. [And truthfully, she misses it, herself. Lost those of her world who might see fit to confide in her that way, lost her moirail, hasn't found any other who has expressed such a sentiment to her again--]

[She swallows.]

It feels good, to be trusted. [More than anyone else - but she is more one to push away such selfishness, to let it be anything more than a service provided to someone else.] ... I'll keep that in mind. Still, I... also know what it's like to make things harder on others because of your own feelings. I-- I've always hated the idea of doing that ever again.

[Whereas, for all that she looked otherworldly and was hideously awkward, there was always a certain 'hereness' to Samantha, an in the moment edge that burned with fierce and intense focus. Evil Sam might have been dead, but it bore remembering that she had been a dark reflection of her. Where Evil Sam would chain someone to a wall and torture them for days until they loved them... Sam herself really didn't see any issue in possessively, fiercely and aggressively demanding something sometimes. Caught in the right moment, one could find themselves staring right into very burning red embers of eyes that were anything but cool and distant.

Right now, though, they smoldered. She hated public scenes. Eyes watched her.]

It is and it does... Look, though... I don't offer this lightly. I'd rather you not be alone if it's like that. [Paint herself the martyr, but then again so was Naminé a little.] But, I guess more than that... it would mean something if you came to the door one night.

[Was it bad that, maybe, just maybe, the manipulative side of her was coming out in what she saw as a possible weak-point in the girl's emotional armor?]

[Otherworldly to some, maybe - to Naminé, there is very little that is strange. Horns, eyes that burn, a tail... none of them strike her as being any stranger than half the things she's seen in her life. Unique, perhaps, but not anything worthy of fear. (She knows what fear looks like, and it is not, for her, that. Her demons wore black coats.)]

[For all that she enjoys the moment, all that she relishes it, what Naminé sees is the future, and what she sees is the past. Memories, all sorted out into neat chains that both bind and provide traction, provide something to hold to; the knowledge in those memories tell her of the future, as history informs what will one day be yet more history. It is in her nature to guide, to take what she has learned and use it to build a bridge to that future - not for her, never for her, but for others.]

['Come into my parlor', said the spider to the fly.]

[It's not the first part that makes her pause; indeed, it is the second.]

If that's the way you feel about it, then... I'll remember. [Not a promise, but,] And the same goes for you, alright? If you need me, all you have to do is call. [Here, have a little smile.] Thank you, Samantha.

[Witches get stitches, eh Nammers?

Naminé should be careful. Samantha was willing to do just that, without any warning, and considering what was coming soon, it might happen sooner than expected. But quite fitting to think of it like a spider, considering her little spirit guide.]

It is. and you're welcome. I'll remember too. [She took another sip and settled, bending a knee up and looking at the others.] Sometimes it almost doesn't look like we're in a war.

[Witches who can't heal, at least.]

[Naminé is perhaps more careful than she might seem. That said... she does have a tendency to be more inclined toward helpfulness than she ought to be, for her own sake.]

[Her smile lingers a moment before sobering. She does not relax any further, really - it seems like she never does. She will, however, take a quiet drink of her hot chocolate as her eyes search calmly over the crowd.]

It hardly ever does. I'm not sure whether it's a good thing or a bad one. [....] Not that I don't enjoy it. But... I guess it depends on the outcome. As long as everyone does what needs to be done when the time comes, it can't hurt. It... makes the city seem like a place worth fighting for.

[A home worth fighting for.]

[It was a tendency Sam might be trying to abuse a little... though not maliciously at least. Still, she nods at the comment.] It does depend on the outcome, honestly. If they're not going soft all at once when the fight comes here, then it's just something to help them with the stress and remind them who they care about here.

...it was the people that really got me caring about this war.

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