Description: With Vega becoming more active, Rose feels the need to warn Megumi about possible danger from Shadaloo. Visiting her at home, Rose chats with Megumi about working alone versus working together, and Rose's own tendency to eschew help...
As evening sets in, a lot of people return to their homes. Such is the case for Megumi tonight, who had spent most of the day in meaningless leisure time; doing whatever came to mind. But she's in her apartment now, engaged in nothing more interesting than merely watching TV. She's the only one here at the moment, and the door is closed and locked.
Because, you know, locked doors have historically proven their worth at keeping Shadaloo operatives out.
Nor rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night... anyhow. It has been an eventful weekend for Rose, who spent most of her time in Metro City simply playing a hunch the cards gave her. Amazingly, it paid off, so to speak; she got to face down one of Vega's dolls and introduce herself to Charlie Nash. Worse things could happen. But now, a little jetlagged but determined to get a difficult chore underway, the psychic steps off the elevator on the fourth floor of Gorin Heights.
Even if you're not psychic, finding Megumi's apartment isn't a huge chore in the modern era (it might also be in a little directory). Still, as the psychic steps up to Megumi's door, knocking on it with three quick raps of her knuckles, she finds herself tense. The last time they met, this didn't really go over so well, and Rose isn't confident she'll be welcome here. Only the gravity of the situation gives her enough spine to really go through with it.
Megumi also becomes tense, right as the door is nailed a few times to signify someone wants her attention. The TV is turned off, then she goes to the door...actually checking behind her before using the peephole...Rose is there. The door is unlocked, and Megumi opens it, looking a little confused. "Coulda called ahead if you wanted to see me, y'know. Unless..." Realization hits her. "Something's up, right now, isn't it?"
Or your fears could, you know, be totally unfounded. Raising an eyebrow, the psychic regards Megumi first with surprise, then with a neutral expression betraying a hint of... pride? Who can tell with Rose. "It might depend on your definition of 'up'," the fortuneteller says carefully, closing her eyes for the briefest of moments and then opening them again. "I have some news, and then I have... a question or two." Carefully brushing her shawl about on her shoulders a bit, she glances right at Megumi instead of glancing around inside. "May I?"
"At least you're asking. That's better than a lot of folks." Megumi comments as she backs away from the door, leaving it open. "Just lock it again once you're inside, I guess. Wasn't expectin' company tonight though, as you can probably tell." She goes over to the couch, sitting down and looking back to Rose. "I'm listening." She's not exactly warm towards Rose at the moment, but does look to be paying attention without any specific ire or hostility.
With a nod, the psychic steps inside, gently shutting the door behind her and then locking it. Unable to resist, Rose does glance around the apartment a bit, taking it in but not noting anything particularly, or at least if she does it doesn't show on her face. Deciding that sitting on the couch with Megumi would represent a presumption on familiarity, she decides to stay standing just inside the door, then clears her throat.
"You've dealt with Shadaloo before, or so you said..." she begins, fixing her gaze on Megumi with a calm expression. "And by now you must know that Vega has returned, from whatever stasis he had been in, and he has returned in force." And here her eyes narrow a bit, as if she were recalling something unpleasant. "You are in danger, considerably more than before. He has already attacked other young people with similar abilities, and used innocents as leverage."
Megumi's mood does not improve with mention of Shadaloo. Indeed, it goes the other way; she's disappointed and fairly upset, if still calm about it. "I know. I know about that. I've heard about it from Kensou already...that's exactly the sort of thing Vega does." She's meeting Rose's gaze, in any case. "And I probably am in trouble...but he hasn't done anything in the last few weeks. I don't know. It's strange...seems like an on-again, off-again enemy...doesn't make sense."
There's a flicker of... something across Rose's face when Megumi mentions 'the sort of thing Vega does', but if she has a comment she keeps entirely silent on the matter. Already Megumi is wary; it would probably be off-putting to mention her link to Vega point-blank, after all. "Ironically, you may have a saving grace. He seems particularly interested in reclaiming his 'Bee', whoever that might be, and it is clearly a person, not an object," Rose says carefully, seemingly irritated at NOT knowing who the Bee is. "Unfortunately the girl I... met, one of his so-called 'Dolls', wasn't very forthcoming with details." Game called on account of unconsciousness.
Megumi's eyes narrow at the mention of the Bee. Not anger; it's more disappointment. "That's Cammy. He called her a 'Bee' when he attacked her at SNF. I don't know what that title has to do with anything, but Cammy's who he's referring to. How is that a saving grace, though?"
Blink. For a moment, Megumi's comment is met only with silence. All the signs had pointed at it, but she had either been too dense or too... distracted to put them together. "Cammy... a young girl, school age, with blonde pigtails?" the psychic asks, Megumi's question about saving graces forgotten in her haste to understand this. "I don't remember the name of her school, but she wore a white, black, and navy blue uniform..."
Megumi confirms, "That Cammy. I...well, I guess you never saw, but she was one of his... 'Dolls'," Megumi uses the word with obvious disgust, "And I guess it's typical for him. She doesn't remember anything about it though, and I haven't been wanting to remind her of what she did tell me before...well, I guess it's amnesia. I only got pretty vague details, anyway. But yes, it's that Cammy. My age, blonde hair, really fast in fights."
Frowning, Rose puts her hand to her chin in thought, trying to put the pieces together in her mind. "I met..." And here she pauses, closing her eyes for a moment. "...fought one of his other 'Dolls', a girl whose name I did not discover. She said the Bee was her 'broken' sister... and her own obedience to Vega was so absolute it chilled me to the bone," the psychic adds, her frown deepening. After a pause, however, she looks to Megumi with a stern expression. "You have precluded the question I had come to ask you; for answering it, you have my thanks." Once again, she regards Megumi carefully, gauging the girl's mood. "You must be especially cautious now. If you are in danger, please come to me," she adds. "While you may not believe it, I will do my utmost to keep you safe."
"They'll kill for him," Megumi adds, eyes closing as her head turns aside some; recollection like that can be rather shaking. "Or use people as hostages to draw someone out, and they don't think anything's wrong about it...and it's not even their fault, it's just sick..." She nonetheless manages to jump topics with Rose, "And why would you even offer that? What's in it for you, getting dragged into this? Don't think you'd be so wild about it if you knew what it's like when someone like him or Vice or Iori or anyone like that gets to you..."
The question doesn't seem to make any sense to Rose, and it shows in the tone of her voice when she responds: "Because it is the right thing to do? Because it is my duty?" Crossing her arms, the psychic regards Megumi with that same stern expression, rather more like a teacher talking to a student than a parent with a child. Still, there is a slight ring of disappointment involved. "If you think I am unfamiliar with facing down powerful evils, then you are mistaken. Power such as ours... the darkness in someone's heart affects that. Turns it to... dark pursuits. If through my aegis I can help protect others, ward off fear that much, then I am doing something positive."
Megumi is still not even looking at Rose, though her eyes are coming back open. "...Heh." It's an almost-laugh. "Y'know, I've said stuff like that before even when I tell myself it's ridiculous, that being nice like that is just in movies and videogames and books. I guess it's not fair to you, but hearing someone actually say that just seems...weird."
Megumi holds up an open hand in a 'wait' gesture, pausing a moment before she says a little more. "You're pretty set on this, aren't you? Taking Shadaloo on, even though you've seen what they do to people like Cammy and everyone else? Even though you know what they'll do to you if they get the chance?"
There's a heavy pause in the air before Rose can bring herself to respond, and before she does she finds a nearby chair, one with sufficient distance between herself and Megumi to allow the young girl space, and sits in it, suddenly seeming rather older than her appearance suggests. "My fate -- opposing Shadaloo -- was ordained from the moment I was born. I cannot talk overmuch about my past; there are some things only meant for me to know, at this time." The dark violet eyes once again lock on to Megumi's face. "I have said the very same things to Chun-li and Charlie Nash, two individuals of great ability who oppose Shadaloo as well."
Her shawl rustling on her shoulders as she does so, the psychic puts a hand to her chest, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a moment. "But to answer your question, no. I am not particularly interested in opposing Shadaloo on the whole, though I do my best to do so when the opportunity arises." And here, again, Rose's eyes narrow. "It is Vega in particular who I oppose. This may sound callous to you, but Shadaloo as an organization pales in comparison, as a threat, to Vega himself."
"I'm not going to dig at that," Megumi responds to Rose's insistence on a secret history. "Dunno what it'd be, but if you don't want to say, then I'm not prying." At least she's making eye contact with Rose once again. "And I really don't know if that's callous or not. Callous would be saying 'It's not my problem' to the whole thing and walking off, I guess. And I'd have trouble blaming anyone for doing that. But...do you remember what I said about this when you came at me back at the forest?"
That actually earns a bit of a chuckle. "You said a great many things," Rose says, not without some humor. "Not the least of which were a few appropriately concerned statements about how trustworthy I was." Folding her hands in her lap, Rose regards Megumi coolly, trying to gauge what she's getting at. Many people tend to attribute her responses to psychic power, on occasion; what few know is that even without her abilities Rose is a keen judge of character. "I can only guess you are referring to your offer of help, regardless of how much or little you trusted me."
Megumi is keeping rather quiet overall, with none of the brief humor Rose shows. "That's what I was talking about. It still seems weird, but...I guess if you really wanted something out of me, you'd have lost patience by now and just hit me until you got it." Megumi finally shakes her head a few times. "It still feels weird though, you just showing up and offering to help. People aren't like that, y'know? But if you're really doing it..."
She stands up before concluding, "Then I'd say it's a two-way street. I'll do that, but you'll call me right back if you need it, right?"
"I am..." And here Rose pauses, almost self-consciously. It's very easy for her to tell others they can count on her, but the psychic has increasingly, of late, found herself the recipient of these very sentiments: from Chun-li, from Athena, from Charlie. And each time, she has nodded and smiled as she was supposed to. Perhaps, however, her challenge to Charlie to think of others as his strength has convinced her, at least in part, to start practicing what she preaches. "I am not good at accepting help. It is a failing of mine. But I promise you, that I will remember that statement."
"I can tell you a lot about a different kind of failing." Megumi paces over to stand beside her couch, eyes kept on Rose. "Used to be the exact same way, not taking help. Don't like dragging people into this sort of stuff, but if the help's there, take it. I've...seen exactly what happens if you don't. Everything just gets worse and worse from there."
Sensing that the visit is drawing to a close when Megumi gets up, Rose also rises, moving toward the door in a sweep of purple coat and pale gold shawl, turning around once she gets there to regard Megumi again. "But I believe you have a strength that has grown from ovecoming that," the psychic says quietly, meeting Megumi's gaze. "Perhaps a strength not even you realize. Maybe in the coming days we can learn from each others' experiences." She seems ready to go, but suddenly turns back around before unlocking the door. "Thank you for showing faith in me. I hope it will not prove to be misplaced."
Log created by Rose, and last modified on 10:54:14 02/15/2006.