114/The Wall of Angry Wasps

The Wall of Angry Wasps
Date of Scene:	15 July 2023
Location:	Sports Pavilion
Synopsis:	What happened when Darien took Himeko over to Kazuo's stretch of wall at the dance. Nobody died! Not even when those who are Not Mahou heard a certain mermaid's song, and reacted ... less than ideally ...
Cast of Characters:	Kazuo Saitou, Mamoru Chiba, Pyrite

---

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Darien started over toward the wall , taking tiny bites of a wagashi flower and making sure Himeko (who has been given the rest of the flowers) is close by, where he can keep the shadows away.

There's a resident shadow over there, but it's at least relatively still, attached to a tall upperclassman in a school uniform. White-haired. Possibly related to Takashi? Probably not, there would undoubtedly have been grousing about any cousins at the school. He's leaning against the wall, looking like he would rather be asleep than here, and possibly like he's going to switch to that occupation right there on the spot while still vertical.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
And that white-haired upperclassman is someone upon whom Hematite's gaze didn't dare rest--

But here they come anyway, and Darien's hand is lightly at Himeko's back, and they're aiming for a bit of wall right nearby, and Darien's hooked a folding chair with one foot and slung it at the wall with exactly enough force and spin to get it with its back to the wall without actually touching.

He may be showing off a little, since he glances at Kazuo and grins, dark blue eyes sparkling. But it's Himeko he talks to first. "Do you want to sit on chairs or the floor? Oh--"

THEN Darien addresses the upperclassman, teasing in his tone but not necessarily on his face, "I'm sorry, is this your stretch of wall? You've been guarding it all evening."

Pyrite has posed:
    Himeko eats only for show, generally. But she accepts the candy and chews it and swallows, even if it's just going to wind up floating around until it decays into dust from being engulfed in ethereal energies and Dark Energy-charged ectoplasm. She makes no noise as she follows Darien across the dance floor, not that anyone could hear either way over all the noise.
    Too big. Too loud. Too many people. Too many shadows. They overlap and intermingle, jerk and move suddenly, and she is not as strong as she used to be. Being selective over whih shadows she passes over and which ones she travels through is a task that requires all of her attention.
    Thankfully, hanging onto Darien's hand with both of hers allows her to both convincingly fake eating and make her legs move back and forth as though she was walking instead of floating.
    Eventually, the hectic trip to the wall is complete. The girl with long black hair and red eyes is finally able to relax -- or whatever the equivalent is for a dead thing that has lingered far beyond its time in this world and is all needles and screams; broken promises and spiders dry and curled up after having their lives siphoned away the same way that any insects would have been if they'd become trapped in a web.
    The angry wasps-sensation that touching Darien produces is, if anything, soothing for such a creature.
    She is accustomed to being trapped and furious.
    She barely looks at Kazuo, but doesn't let go of Darien unless indicated to do so. And then, she doesn't go far.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo gives something more or less like a sidewise bow, to the extent he can do so when his shoulders are already interacting with something. "I've shared before, I can share again," he replies. Gray eyes take in Darien without quite looking at him directly; focus more closely on Himeko, for a moment. "Especially when it looks like someone else could use it more than I have been. Excuse me, miss. Are you all right? Do you need a drink?" Have you slept in the last month? ... perhaps he won't ask that one out loud.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The unfiltered touch between Darien and Himeko is something made of corrupted empathy and the seeping transfer of power; he needs to protect her, she needs him to anchor her. It's not something visible, except-- in body language, at least, on Darien's part. Maybe on Himeko's too.

He doesn't make her let go of his hand, but he has wagashi in his other hand, so he looks a little offbalance himself. If both hands are occupied, how can he fight? Good thing he doesn't need to right now. He glances down at her; it's mean to make her do social in the middle of this mess of people. He squeezes the hand of hers that's easiest to, and steers her into the chair he'd pulled over.

He still doesn't pull his hand away.

Darien does, however, look back up at Kazuo. "There are a lot of people," he says apologetically to him, then looks back down to Himeko. "You don't have to answer him if you don't want to, but you can. It's okay."

Pyrite has posed:
    Himeko is navigated to a chair, and seats herself. Unlike most people here, she is wearing her school uniform, not anything fancy or party-like. It is sufficient. So she just looks like someone's kid sister or an out-of-place elementary schooler who wandered in. When addressed, she looks up at Kazuo. She tilts her head inquisitively, a faint smile perpetually on her lips (or maybe it's just how her mouth looks).
    "Had candy." she answers eventually have considering Darien's advice. "Drink comes later."
    Then her red eyes move back to watching the crowd of kids dancing and talking and enjoying themselves.
    Her hand squeezes back on Darien's. It's habit. Normally she'd be tightening her grip around a blade.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Candy does not imply hydration. Candy is not going to fix eyes like --

oh.

The red is not a reflection from the skin around the eyes.

Kazuo nods back to Himeko's faint smile (or default expression), suitably grave, and settles back more solidly against the wall. They don't match in many terms, but they're both in uniform, and he at least is watching the crowd of kids in a way that - half-lidded eyes or not - on closer examination suggests half that the kids might be alien life forms, and half that he's reflexively monitoring for any threats. So it's not quite impossible that he and Himeko might match in one of those ways, too.

The half-visible across-the-room flashes of white that mark Masato's outfit and Takashi's hair, with the accompanying Zoiey, are never actually out of his peripheral vision. That might or might not mean they count as threats to him.

Darien is also not quite out of his peripheral vision, though. So who knows?

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Darien takes this grave silence as his cue to eat the wagashi that Chiyo pushed into his chest right before Himeko found him, which he does, carefully. He definitely came in with gloves on, maybe he'll put them on again sometime when Himeko isn't holding one and the other is getting sticky.

Maybe he'll have to put his glove back on over sugary sticky candy residue. D:

From this angle, the little ponytail at the nape of his neck is visible, pulling back only the sides since the rest of his hair's too fluffy to stay. In the halls at school, in photographs, he's usually wearing glasses-- either he doesn't need them after all, he's wearing contacts, or he's intentionally dulling the world he sees. He watches a black-haired girl follow Usagi out the doors; he watches Takashi and Zoiey dance again; he watches Masato and Jason finally start navigating the dance like the social powerhouses he knows they can be.

"I need my hand back for a sec, Py-tan," he murmurs to the little girl, then sleight-of-hands a pack of handi-wipes from formal dress isn't supposed to have pockets?! somewhere and de-stickies his hands, then takes out another little towel to de-sticky Himeko's.

Once they're both seen to and the wadded-up little towels are lobbed overhand directly into one of the big trashcans on wheels, he gives Himeko his hand back and says cheerfully to Kazuo, "You look like you're waiting for someone to stab someone else. I regret to inform you that both known potential culprits are currently under watch."

Because that's totally something an honors student prince of high school would say. So is, "Do we know each other?" with no context.

Pyrite has posed:
    The red-eyed girl's smile actually goes away as she looks displeased at the wiping of her hand to cleanse it. She withdraws her appendage as soon as feasible and examines it, rubbing her fingers together and staring like she expects to see her flesh rubbed away and the bones beneath showing through. Well, she will get over it. In the meantime, her frown is very :< and she looks askance at Kazuo as though he is responsible for her suffering.
    Her attention drifts back to Darien when he offers his hand again, though she accepts it cautiously, just in case there are more sticky-wipes lurking in her future. She perks up at the mention of stabbing, her smile returning but slightly more broadly than before.
    "Will there be bloodshed?" she asks. Because that's totally something a 10-year old girl would say. So is, "Shall be joining in?" It is said with as close to excitement as she ever shows. Maybe not excitement... Anticipation? No, that's the wrong word...
    Hunger.
    That's the one.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo is eyeing a girl approaching the booth where the musical decisions are made, and likely enough about to say something deadpan back to Darien about 'if she's going up there to stab the DJ, more power to her,' or perhaps offer something more solemnly to Himeko again in answer to that frown. But then she's not frowning. Not at all.

There is the briefest of pauses.

"Not likely here," he admits to Himeko after a moment. "There might be some kind of a fight. But probably outside rather than in, so that they don't get dragged off by the teachers. And probably not much worse than a bloody nose."

There might be the faintest tone of apology to that. Sorry there won't be enough lacerations for you this evening, they're not on the snack menu, or something.

The other question gets a flicker of gray eyes back toward Darien. Actually Darien, this time, rather than Himeko with Darien around the edges. "You're Shields, right? We haven't met. Kazuo Saitou. I'm a year up from you. You've probably seen me in the halls, the hair's hard to miss." Presumably he means the halls of the school, not Obsidian. Unless, again, he turns out to be related to Takashi. In which case who knows.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"...what he said," Darien tells Himeko, all apologetic again. He crouches down as swiftly as only a high-schooler or professional athlete can, attention fully on her for a moment. "That's a big 'probably not tonight,'" he murmurs, "and you'll be able to tell if that changes. Remember? The air tastes like it first, and don't the shadows get easier when that kind of anger's spilling around? Let me know if you need to leave, and we can stop by your place if you're really hungry."

Then he looks up, from there, and his Earth-blue eyes meet Kazuo's grey, and there's something behind them -- a plea, maybe. Understand. Or possibly don't or help -- it's strong, but not obviously any which way. His tone is mild, then, and he says, "Ch-- yeah, Shields. That must be the case. Thanks for answering for real instead of messing with me."

Pyrite has posed:
    Himeko's smile dims back to its typical faint curve at the news that there probably won't be any serious harm to anyone tonight. She can't help this awful energy she gives off, no matter how it might frighten the other kids her age. It's just... What she is. She sits up straighter and her distant gaze sharpens as she nods her head slightly in response to Darien. She must learn. Much has changed since... Since... ...Since something. Since Before. But she's out here now, and staying out here means learning.
    No matter how foggy her memory becomes or how much easier it would be to go back to repeating the same actions over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and--
    She goes rigid. "Have to go back now." She hops up from her stolen chair and starts to move as though to run off, but is then stopped in place like an invisible force is glueing her feet to the ground. She lurches to a halt and then turns to look back at what's restraining her. Ah. Her hand is still holding Darien's. Unless he lets go, she is staying right here.
    "Have to rest." she says in explanation as she looks back and forth between Kazuo and Darien. The latter with a questioning look, the former with caution. It seems that these two have things to talk about. Maybe they are Connected.
    Will leaving her older brother with Kazuo be okay? Will this white-haired man attempt to take Darien away?

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The instant Himeko goes rigid, Kazuo's attention is off Darien and on her. His hand lifts as she hops up, but he does not put it out in any way that might put it between her and any exit -- it's lifted to reach and steady if need be. It ... is not need be. Because Darien is (a) right there and (b) still holding her hand.

("If you never," sings the girl who went up to the DJ booth, "let go of my hand.")

There's a breath or two, with questioning looks. With caution. Kazuo frowns at Himeko, but it's like his expressions are reversed from normal; the frown seems to convey more approval than anything else. "Could you two use cover ducking out?" is what he asks.

("Star Light!" the girl sings. "If you believe in yourself more, you should surely be able to change your future --")

... and the offer turns into a glare, not at either of the two by the wall, but over toward the DJ booth. Kazuo's hand curls into a fist, and his lip curls back, reminiscent of Jason's earlier. (Being reminiscent of Jason in any fashion to do with teeth might possibly be unfortunate for him, alas, but Himeko might also be a little too distracted at the moment.) "-- forget that," he says. "I'm out too." If they do need cover, they can put him between Himeko and the teachers, or something.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Darien's up on his feet immediately as soon as Himeko goes rigid, and she pulls at his hand, not pulling it out. "Yeah thanks," he says in Kazuo's direction, preoccupied. "Let me help you through the shadows, Himeko-chan," he tells her insistently, already moving in the direction of the door, holding on tight to her hand, moving as fast as the crowd will let them. He doesn't shove anyone out of the way-- he doesn't have to.

They part, and there are brief uncomfortable expressions on some of the people they pass, and on others, indulgent ones; Saitou is moving fast with a Look on his face, for one, and for another, there's a little girl pulling Darien Shields through the crowd to the doors.

"I just don't want you to fall..."

There's nothing in this song for him. Nothing. Darien tunes it out, there's nothing in this song for him, and they're through the crowd and they're at the door and they're through the door, and there's the dark of the parking lot and the deeper dark of the shadows next to the doors, where sodium lights from outside and flourescent from inside converge on the space and can't get through the metal, leaving a void behind.

Even the empty parking lot is better than the gym all full of everyone and everything.

The other guys, they'll be glad he left with Pyrite instead of without her. He keeps walking anyway, even after they're out, even after he lets go of Himeko's hand. He does let go. "You can rest," he says, and he says it like <s>he's sorry</s>a benediction, like a magnanimous gift of quiet, the taking of a burden. He opens his mouth to say something else, then closes it.

Pyrite has posed:
    She is not supposed to reveal who and what she is. So as soon as she is released and given permission, she runs as swiftly as a girl with her age, build and leg-length possibly can. Even outside, with less noise, her footfalls remain silent all the way across the campus grounds. Until she is out of sight of everyone looking at her. Not everyone present. Just those looking at her. The moment no one is looking at her, in the space between one never and another, the shadows she passes through seem to close like a door, and she doesn't come out the other side.
    It was get out or start Showing the curse of five-hundred years of isolation.
    The desperate, violent need to be seen and heard... And the attempt to keep those who can perceive her around forever and ever.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Darien and Himeko don't need Kazuo to clear the way. He lingers just an instant and follows behind them instead. That's the way crowds usually behave around him. So if any of the teachers keeping an eye on the area near the door glance over at the parting of the student sea, they'll catch a glimpse of him and dismiss the situation, rather than making the unwittingly poor choice to come over and see what's wrong with Himeko.

The students, well. He's not worried about the students so much. The really helpful ones are already accounted for anyway.

Saitou doesn't stop outside the doors, either. Stalking almost as silently as Himeko (not quite; his feet do have to touch the ground). Not as quickly, though. He's not running. Just moving like he's looking for ...

... is anyone not looking for blood today?

He doesn't look aside at Darien. Doesn't follow Himeko with his eyes. Though when she ducks into shadows and doesn't return, he does glance that way a moment later, and the frown flickers into existence again for a second, then drops away. She went somewhere, obviously. He doesn't need to know where.

There's no talking. Not from him. Not right now.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Far enough away from the doors that they can't be seen from them, and Darien finally stops.

He pats down where pockets should be, and instead of taking out handi-wipes, he takes out his gloves, and he pulls them on. "Thanks," he says, still looking at where Himeko disappeared. "She's old enough to get home by herself, and nothing in its right mind would try to stop her."

His hair's disheveled, cowlick firmly making its presence known, shadows sharpening some angles of his face and softening others; he almost looks like--

Darien looks back at Kazuo and smiles, and it's not the bright open grin seen across the dancefloor earlier, and it's not the mischief from when he showed off with the chair, but it's not an empty or easy thing. It's small, it's reserved, it's secret somehow. It belongs to this moment only. "She's very protective of me, so apparently you're not a threat."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Darien stops. Kazuo keeps walking. He pauses at the voice, though, and glances over his shoulder. There's no expression on his face. There's enough no-expression on his face to be its own expression --

-- and then Darien smiles, small and reserved, and Kazuo lets out a breath and turns around, at his distance. "We were at a dance. The only person I'd be threatening from there is that DJ."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Oof. What the hell was that DJ playing?" Darien complains, all the dignity leaving his body at once as he slouches into 'beleaguered teenager' mode. "I am so glad I didn't have a date. I would have had to dance to like. Any of that. Honestly if I didn't feel obligated to, I wouldn't have gone at all." And then he grins like he's getting away with something. "My friends are still stuck in there. If they didn't see us leave, that's on them."

A beat, and the tenth-grader's voice is quieter; he briefly looks back toward where they came from, then levels his attention on Kazuo. "I don't know what to say, except thanks again. You just seem so familiar, I thought maybe I forgot knowing you."

The slightest of pauses, and a searching look. Then, "Memory problems." That's accompanied by an easy smile of the 'everyone' variety as he taps his temple ruefully. "Anyway, good to meet you, Saitou-san."