003 ~*~ A call to... arms?

[not_so_great_wall]

[ Phone, calls to: Holland, Shiki Tohno, and Taiwan ]
Hi! I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time, but I'm wondering if you wanted to come up this Saturday to help with the gardening? I think one final push, and we'll all be done!

I'll be preparing a big dinner as thanks for coming out, so any time you can spare would be great~


[ Action : 340 Brady Lane ]
[ Speaking of dinner, Meiling knocked on the other bedroom door, calling in for its occupant. ] Miss Patchouli, dinner is ready!

((ooc: No open portion this time around, but please use this as a chance to call or show up randomly at the house if needed!))

Comments

[not_so_great_wall]

[ Meiling stamps down a frown as she peeks around the edge of the door. She steps in, closes it behind her, and walks over to wave her hand in front of Patchy's face (but not too close). ]

[wizardoftheweek.livejournal.com]

-That gets her attention, and she turns slowly to face Meiling.-

[not_so_great_wall]

Hi. [ Tiny smile as she leans in. ] Aren't you hungry?

[wizardoftheweek.livejournal.com]

...

No. Not really.

[not_so_great_wall]

When did you eat last? [ Please say "sometime in the last 24 hours". ]

[wizardoftheweek.livejournal.com]

The last time you fed me.

[not_so_great_wall]

Still no appetite. [ It wasn't a question. She shifts to sit on the edge of the bed, one leg dangling off the side, and hands in her lap. ] I didn't think you'd be this upset. [ With her. ]

[wizardoftheweek.livejournal.com]

...

You don't even know what I'm upset about, do you?

[not_so_great_wall]

[ Quizzical look. ] I... don't?

[wizardoftheweek.livejournal.com]

I know that look... it's the one you get when you feel guilty over something.

[not_so_great_wall]

Mm. [ She nods lamely. ]

[wizardoftheweek.livejournal.com]

... I don't think you ever had a chance to meet him, now that I think about it.

[not_so_great_wall]

...meet who? [ Meiling blinked. She is definitely missing something, here. ] At the... party?

[wizardoftheweek.livejournal.com]

-Weakly, she reaches over to a specific book on the nightstand. It's a scrapbook, made apparent as she opened in it. It's filled with pictures... most of which are of herself and a certain young man (http://ohmytenth.livejournal.com/profile/).-

[not_so_great_wall]

[ Meiling watches, and scoots in beside her to get a better look. It takes several page turns for Patchy's issue to fully set in. ] --your friend... is he gone? [ Well mostly set in. ]

[wizardoftheweek.livejournal.com]

He was... more than a friend. But... not quite a lover. Just... someone very important to me. His name was Hayato Gokudera... I just called him Gokudera for the most part. How silly that I was formal with him, right to the very end...

[not_so_great_wall]

Oh. [ Meiling flailed internally. ] You miss him. [ A certain statement, made to buy time. How was she going to handle this? Relationship problems lie within foreign territory for her. Mostly, she's in shock that Patchouli had gotten that close to someone in the first place... ]

[wizardoftheweek.livejournal.com]

... -She just turned back to look at the pictures, the sadness in her eyes apparent.-

[not_so_great_wall]

[ Hello, Captain Obvious. Meiling rested a hand carefully on the edge of the book, glancing over the photos as well. Even if it was a year or more, it's such a short period of time in their long lives, so she's having trouble grasping just how deep all this can possibly go...

But that doesn't stop her from trying to be reassuring. ] It's good that you kept these.

Tell me about him. If... you want to, I mean. [ Unless it's painful. Obviously, she should know more about someone who was so important to Patchy than just his name and what he looked like in pictures. ]

[wizardoftheweek.livejournal.com]

He was... human. Young. A prodigy mafioso, and the right hand of the future capofamilia of the Vongola clan. He took a considerable amount of pride in that.

[not_so_great_wall]

How did you meet? How did you two... you know. [ "Get close"? She just can't help her curiosity at this point. Maybe talking about it will help; maybe it won't. Meiling won't know unless they try. ]

[wizardoftheweek.livejournal.com]

The strangeness of this town eventually forced us together. We... became close on our own, though.

[not_so_great_wall]

Forced you? [ Meiling gave her a surprised look, which softened only after a moment. ] --at least you made the best of it.

[wizardoftheweek.livejournal.com]

I... like to think we did.

... I truly loved him, in the end. Even though we weren't together... I fantasized a life with him at my side. It was nothing more than foolish dreaming...

-Droplets began to hit the pages below.-

[not_so_great_wall]

Dreams are never foolish. [ Says the master of dreaming; both while awake, and not! She doesn't waste a single other moment, scooting back so she can drape her arms around Patchouli's shoulders. It's about the only kind of comfort she thinks she can give right now. She's never seen this side of Patchouli before, and it kind of scares her - the hug is just as much for the gatekeeper as it is for the wizard. ]