not_so_great_wall | 005 ~*~ Of blood, sweat, and tears

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005 ~*~ Of blood, sweat, and tears

[ Toast was in the toaster, so it was time to fetch the mail! Meiling skipped out, humming tunelessly as she opened the box and pulled out... oh, that's quite a few letters. This was exciting!

She enters the house again, deposits what isn't for herself or Patchy on the coffee table, and then ascends the stairs. ] Miss Patchouli, we have mail! And breakfast will be done soon~

[ No, she didn't read the address or anything, and just slipped her not!daughter's letter under her door before making her way back into the main bedroom to get dressed. She mumbles to herself as she digs through the closet. ] --that's weird.

[ Meiling then calls back into the hall. ] Has anyone seen my cap? I know I can't wear it to work, but I like to have it on around the house!

((OOC: Action is closed to house-mates, but feel free to put any phone threads in here if you want!))

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-Patchy exits her room in a panic.- My books! All of them are gone! We've been robbed!

Robbed!? [ She stops her search and rushes out to go over and look into the other room. ] Oh my--

How could that happen? That'd take a dozen trips... [ Small exaggeration, but still; it had been a LOT of things. ]

I'll just use my tracking spell. They can't be far.

-... A whole lot of nothing happens for a good second.-

M-meiling... my magic...

[ She watches as Patchouli works her magic (literally).

...and waits...

And... nothing? She blinks. ] What's wrong? Are they far? Are the robbers blocking you somehow? [ Meiling puts a fist in her palm. ] They're really going to be in for it, now...

My magic... it's gone.

W-what? But you--

And there---

[ Meiling furrows her brow. ] Why would it just... disappear? And your books, and... my hat? [ Well, at least it wasn't like when her powers were stripped mid-flight. That was kind of painful. ] Do you think the letters have anything to do with it? [ Coincidences? Mayfield? Nah. ]

-Patchy quickly snatches one of the letters, opening it without hesitation.-

[ She turns on a heel to go back to the nightstand and open hers. Meiling is more or less skimming it after noticing it doesn't have content like the one that came with her cap.

....when she gets to the photos, she moves to sit down on the bed, but missed and ends up plopping down roughly on the floor, her face as white as the sheets. ] How-- What is this?

-Patchouli's reaction... comes in a shriek.-

[ Meiling burst back into the hall so fast you could swear she would have come through the wall had she the power to. ] What happened?! What-- [ Oh. She sees the letter, and the confusion vanishes. It's the same as the one she just crumbled up in her fist in her rush to get out of the room. ]

They... they... I...

No... No no... not again...

-Without another word, she pushes past Meiling and heads downstairs.-

[ There isn't time to ask more questions, but she is stopped in mid-thought as she realizes that Patchy actually physically moved her aside.

That's... never happened before. She bounds down after, taking steps in multiples, and reaches for her shoulder, the letter discarded from that hand. ] Miss Patchouli!

Find Lady Flandre and hide. -Her voice was direct and stern. Far more so than it ever had been before.-

Hide? [ She flinched away from the tone momentarily, but recovered. ] I'm-- I'm not a coward! [ Meiling other fist was clenched tight. No, she might have avoided fights by happenstance before, but she did not hold her position by running and hiding. ]

What... are you going to do?

What must be done... -And with that, she kept on moving, right to the garage.-

[ Why do her priorities have to be so conflicted right now? Yes, she needs to go secure Flandre because she can't trust that other household in a crisis like this...

--but right now, Meiling is moving to stand in the wizard's path, barring the door, with her arms folded under her chest. ] We don't...

They can't make us do anything. We can stay here. We'll be safe here. [ Her confidence wavers for a moment in light of the fear the letter instilled in her, like the legs of a chair bowing under a heavy weight. ] I'll make sure of that.

What can you do? You've none of your youkai abilities. Not to mention that you're only one person.

[ She opened her mouth, but found nothing to reply with.

You're only one person.
You're human.
You're worthless.

That's all she heard, and Patchy might as well have stuck a knife in her head to drive the point home. Her hands clutched at her forearms, knuckles white. ] I'm... I wouldn't let you down. Either of you. [ Her gaze lost almost all of its ferocity, because she was pleading with those words. Please. Believe in me. ]

...

-Patchouli, once more, just pushed past her.-

You all already left me once before. You, Sakuya, even Remi. I cannot rely on you or anyone else. Not here. I'm sorry...

I-- [ It was like she was a swinging door. Like she wasn't even there. How can she be blamed for something she didn't remember? For actions of someone that she wasn't? ]

[ The more time she spends here, she greater the risk to Flandre was. She knew this. ] Come with me. Please. We have to find her! We're the only ones who can keep her safe. [ Patchy has to believe at least that much. ]

I have something I need to do here.

[ She took a deep breath, preparing to argue that point but... no, that would waste too much time. ]

--okay. [ Meiling walked over to the tools inside the garage and grabbed the long garden hoe. Turning the tip over on the concrete floor, and with a loud shout, she stomped her foot down on the apex of the curved metal arm that held the square end of the tool a few times. Once the square tip was pointing away from the shaft, instead of sitting at its normal angle, she set it over a shoulder and made her way back into the house and then out onto the street.

It would make a crude weapon, but it was better than nothing, and she had to hurry. Forgetting about pacing herself, she bolted out, leaped over the fence, and tore off down the street.

Hold on, Miss Flandre. I'm coming! I'll show you both what I can do! ]

[Flandre wasn't exactly an early riser--or at least an early-start-doing-something-productive specimen.

Case in point, all she had really done was wake up and proceed to flop on her open windowsill and stare at the clouds going by. That one looked like a flower! And that one a bat wing, and that other one a cat, and--

--a red thing up against the fence in the front yard. A familiar one.]

...Meiling?

Why is Meiling on the fence?

[ She's there because she's tired. That distance is nothing to walk, but running? Not the smartest thing. Meiling uses the fence to brace herself with one arm, the other dragging the end of the hoe and planting it on the ground for support.

She wants to cry out. Wants to shout and scream and warn off anyone who so much as looks in the direction of this house, but no... there's no need to panic the girl.

A few more moments are spent catching her breath before she crosses the yard and bangs very loudly on the door. ] Miss Flandre! [ Pant, pant. ] It's me! Meiling! ... open the door, please!

[Flandre chitters a bit in surprise, opening the window a bit more and leaning out of it above and a little to the left of the front door.]

Is it time for school again, Meiling?

[Her sense of time was a bit on the odd side.]

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005 ~*~ Of blood, sweat, and tears

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