22: Set Astray (Private Text, Action) (Hours after Battler's Open Post)

[enchantressofore]

Text: Private to Ace D. Portgas, Smoker, Tashigi, Namur, Marco, Yang Xiao Long, Grell Sutcliff, and Yuugi Mutou

I need some time alone and will not be returning home for now. Please leave me be.

--------------------

ACTION: Phantomhive Manor Subarchway

[ It's been some time since she's encountered Battler, some time since she reunited him with Terra. Even now it still seems like a blur, one that nauseates her and makes her feel like her head is about to explode.

It's with the thought that no one will look for her in Everglade that draws her to it, but even there it is still bitterly cold. The only shelter she can find is trudging into a subarchway, exhausted by the time she seats herself outside an elaborate gate. Not only exhausted, but cold, weak, and bewildered.

There's a lot she can say about what's happened, and yet at once there's nothing at all. She's swimming in her own mind, nearly drowning and failing to notice anyone around her now that she's sitting there and at rest. The fact that she keeps going over what happened and can find no answers is what's most prevalent right now. ]

Comments

CLOSED - Namur, immediately post-Battler.

[enchantressofore]

[ She can't do it.

Adela's cold and silent when it's all said and done. Battler is gone, but even when he was there she didn't strike him. She had the chance to, but she didn't. Would it have been better for her to strike him down? Did she do the right thing by letting him go, by letting him live? She doesn't know...

It leaves Adela standing there in the cold, some distance away from where she was, one hand gripping her bangs as she gets lost in her own thoughts again. It hurts. It hurts because she doesn't know. It hurts because she could have chosen wrong and she doesn't know and won't know until it's too late. It hurts because it doesn't feel like it's over at all, like all of this can blow up in her face at any second because she was foolish and cowardly and weak.

What keeps her from screaming is a mystery then, but it's probably not a good idea to stay still in the blizzard still blowing in the city. At that moment however, she's blind to anything and everything outside her own head. ]

[om_nom_namur]

[Lord of the Sea, at least she's safe. Namur couldn't move fast enough, feeling always five steps behind and two minutes too late since he realized that Adela had met with the asshole. It occurs to him now he probably should have raised hell on the networks, got Smoker and Ace and Marco on the move. They might have been closer starting out, instead of across the entire shitting world in Everglade.

Oh well, he finally found her, in spite of the wind and the snow, and she wasn't ripped to pieces. Namur breathes a sigh of relief, catching his breath for a moment before moving up alongside and tugging on her ponytail.]

Hey. How'd it go?

[enchantressofore]

[ She winces at the tug but otherwise doesn't move, not looking at Namur -- she doesn't need to in order to know it's him, his voice and shadow are large enough for her to know for sure. But what can she say?

She shakes her head, unsure of what else to say or do. Unsure of what Namur would think of her. She can't face him. She can't face anyone. Not like this. ]

I do not know.

[ Her voice is quiet when she speaks, and the next thing she says might be almost impossible to hear in the wind. The weight of the words, of the action that requires them, still feels like it's crushing her. ]

I let him go.

[ Not "I was too scared to move". Not "He got away". She made the choice to leave him be once Terra was found. She didn't strike him down, like she probably should have. Even if it might have been in vengeance and rage, it would have protected so many people, and yet she... ]

[om_nom_namur]

[Namur frowns, then kneels in the snow next to her. He figured whatever happened, it'd be pretty huge.]

A'ight.

[He takes her face in his hands and touches his forehead to hers.]

Still got their scent, if y' wanna change yer mind. Otherwise, let's getcha outta here. Gonna freeze yer ass off.

[enchantressofore]

I... I already had the chance to. He was right there, my sword at his throat... All I would have had to do was slice his neck open and it would have been over.

[ Her eyes are clamped shut when he moves her face, and she shakes her head as she takes another unsteady breath. ]

I should have, but I... I...

...

Namur, I cannot return home like this. Not... Not now. Not after this. Not when I had the chance to end it and... I not only couldn't, he still walks free because of me...

[om_nom_namur]

[Namur nods.]

Know what? Mean, I ain't tryna tell y' who t' be or nothin', but. Think Revenge'd be a shitty color on y' anyway. Got an idea where y' can go while y' figure out how y' feel 'bout that. C'mon.

[And by "come on" he means "let me pick you up" because that is what he does next, settling her seat in the crook of his arm.]

[enchantressofore]

[ Adela doesn't get a chance to protest when she's lifted by Namur, and she ends up leaning on him as she tries to pull herself together. She's freezing then, but that's the last thing she's worried about. After what she'd done... ]

... Where?

[ Is he trying to take her back? But she... She can't, can she? What would anyone even say to them, after what happened... ]

text;

[sizedoesntmatter]

Take all the time you need. I can understand wanting to be alone sometimes, I understand it myself right now.

I just hope that by doing it, it will help you.

text;

[enchantressofore]

You may not wish to speak with me anymore by the end of it, Yugi. It might be for the best to start that now.

text;

[sizedoesntmatter]

Unless you did something truly horrible to warrant me never wanting to, I very much doubt it.

After all... I don't want to lose another friend.

text;

[enchantressofore]

[ The words just make it harder. She has to swallow back the fresh emotion at at it, and in a few minutes Yugi does get another couple of replies. ]

I aided Battler, Yugi. I helped him to find Terra. I did not stop him from leaving afterwards.

I do not know if it was right of me to do, but I had the chance to kill him and did not. I was a fool to believe him, even if he was honest this time. I knew he could still bring harm, and I still let him go. He could still hurt so many because I was a fool.

text;

[sizedoesntmatter]

I assume you original intention was to kill him, but choose to help for the sake of someone else. That's understandable and not something I would hate someone for.

I mean I didn't aid him, I went on my own because I refuse to be near him and plus better to look in different places than have two people looking in the same places.

So your already much stronger than I am in that way.

text;

[enchantressofore]

I do not know if that is what I did or if I simply did not want his blood on my hands, Yugi. It might have been because I have never killed before and could not bring myself to do it, even if it would have been for the best if I had. I still do not know for certain what stayed my hand back then. I do not know why I acted as I had.

You paint too good a picture for me. I am not as good as that.

[ A few minutes, and another text arrives. ]

I told myself it would be enough if he never brought harm to anyone else. Now, I do not know if I can feel that way, or if I ever truly did in the first place.

[Action]

[hellish_butler]

[Fortunately for Adela, Sebastian is on his way the estate. After he finished cleaning up his store with his party back in Nova City is finished, he went to his second home in Everglade.

So when he found this girl loitering outside the locked steel gates to his matter.]

Hello? Ms. Adela is it? What are you doing here late at night? It's dangerous to be out here.

[He opened the gate, so she can get in.]

Well, come on in. It's cold outside. I'll make you hot chocolate, if you like, and being it's late, you can stay overnight until morning.

[Action]

[enchantressofore]

What? Wait, I... You do not need to do that.

[ Adela shrinks a little more where she's sitting, looking away from Sebastian before slowly getting back to her feet. ]

I... I apologize, I will leave and go somewhere else.

[Action]

[hellish_butler]

[Why do brats children like to try the butler's patience? It's a good thing he's almost experience in the babysitting area.]

And would you rather be food for the rogue vampires or werewolves out here? I think your friends won' appreciate it. Therefore, you're my responsibility.

[With a gentle insistence.]

Please, come in. You'll be safe and you shall be treated to my hospitality, which Funtom Corp. is very well-known and famous for.

[Action]

[enchantressofore]

I...

[ It'd be no less than what she'd deserve, she wants to say -- to be preyed upon and torn apart. Maybe she does. She doesn't say anything else however, feeling more defeated than anything else with absolutely no will to defy or resist. Maybe that's for the best at the moment. ]

... Very well.

[ Adela slowly follows him then, her eyes on nothing more than the ground before her while she does. At least it'd probably be warmer in there. ]

[Action]

[hellish_butler]

[Honestly, from his point of view, with that guilty look on her face, she looks like a child who did something very bad and she ran away from her parents...or whoever is the guardian. Mabe an argument...?

In that case, Sebastian will have to take care of her until things settled down. He leads over the pathway through the front yard, where there is a fountain and iced over trees and sculptured animal shaped bushes frozen over Jack gets creative with the ice sculptures. Being it's too cold late at night, the stray cats were inside the house.]

I believe you have not been here before, but welcome to my estate, the Phantomhive Manor.

[His demeanor is warm and friendly, which he carried for his young customers in his shop. He opened the large double door to his home, and when she enters inside, it's very well-lit and warm, and there are cats sleeping on the grand stairs, and they just...wandered all over place.]

If you follow me to the dining room, you shall have hot chocolate...unless you preferred something else like tea or coffee?

[Action]

[enchantressofore]

You need not be so kind, allowing me to stay here is already more than enough.

[ In a better state of mind she might have commented on the elaborate ice sculptures, but instead she's just quiet.

Adela takes a bit to look around, pausing every so often to kneel beside the cats curious enough to approach and sniff at her. If they let her, she'll gently pet the ones who demand attention and relax a little when she does. Cat therapy is the best therapy

It also means she's going to be some distance away if Sebastian happens to notice that she's lagging behind. ]

Text

[swordlore]

Adela, please talk to me. I won't come looking if you truly wish to be alone, but I'm worried and want to be sure that you're safe.

Text

[enchantressofore]

I am somewhere safe, you need not worry for that.

Re: Text

[swordlore]

Good, then I can worry about everything else.

Are you in danger? Did anyone hurt you?

Text

[enchantressofore]

I am not hurt or in danger, Miss Tashigi. Of that I can assure you.

[ A few minutes, and she sends another one. ]

Is this about the post Battler put up on the network earlier?

Text

[swordlore]

I did not even see it, but I suppose I should go look. This is about me worrying because I care about you a lot. That's all.

Text

[enchantressofore]

You need not care for a fool such as I. Not one who cannot separate right from wrong anymore. That is why I need time.