Description: Bumping into the fighting Diva on her way to seeking out Drake, Hotaru poses a critical question about Arika's version of events in Thailand.
Night is just beginning to blanket the beach. Not quite dark yet, but neither is it bright at all. It's the time when dusk fades away into darkness and stars begin to twinkle in the sky but aren't yet visible. Thus, the beach isn't exactly busy and the punk rock princess should be easy to spot. She's the only girl -not- in a swimsuit; which is very unusual for her. A backpack is slung over one shoulder and she's heading down the beach from the direction of the beach houses.
Question is; why is she doing this? Recently returned back to Southtown, she traveled with the model so far as his house and now? She's about to head back to the hotel to talk to the bad about the free gig she promised to the AIW should they want it. A way to promote their federation before another exhibition match. The girls aren't going to be overly joyed by this, but she can sweeten them up with some of her own money; stuff she's been saving to get the club back in London up and running.
It took some digging around to find the address for Drake, AKA Domino, wrestler and fighter extraordinaire. Hotaru also tried looking into a place to find the other Shooting Star, Arika, but had no success discovering anything /local/. Well, maybe Drake can answer the questions she has anyway, she had figured, as she had started out on the trip to the beach homes.
A taxi ride got her in the general vicinity and then she hoofed it on foot from there. A paper printout map is in her hands and now and then she glances at it to make sure she's on course for Drake's address. She grins somewhat jealously at the various people enjoying the relaxing beach as night slowly settles in. Dressed in her Seijyun school uniform complete with the blue blazer to go with it, she realizes that she could very much stand to enjoy an afternoon at the beach after all the hard work she's been through lately.
That she happens across Arika is a fortuitous coincidence and not one the pig-tailed girl is going to pass up on! "Arika!" comes Hotaru's voice as she approaches from a right angle. The punk rock fighter is one of the few people she thinks might be able to answer something that has been troubling her mind for a few days now. Picking up the pace, she walks through the sand, realizing that she's getting plenty of the stuff into her shoes... Alas.
Could be worse. Hotaru -could- be getting sand in other places, but being as how she's walking along the beach and not lazing back on the sand, she's saved a sandy fate.
As her name is called, Arika's body tenses. For one, she doesn't recognize the voice. For another, well she's just not trusting of the people that would know to look for her -here-. Back straightens and she spins in the direction of the call. Spying Hotaru her eyes narrow for a moment, but then she recalls the help the girl offered in Thailand and she relaxes a little.
"Bit late for a wee stroll on the beach, ain't it?" And just like that, the Cockney is back in place. All signs of who she really is replaced by the persona she created for herself on leaving home.
Spared a sandy fate unless she finds herself getting fed a face full of the stuff by Arika, at least! Looking for Drake for help is somewhat a process of having no real other choices. Even though she fought briefly at the side of the Shooting Stars, she still knows that at least when it comes to her and Drake, there's probably some underlying issues still. And that means that there might be trouble with the taller girl from England as well. The eye narrowing is missed in the shadows and distance, but that doesn't mean Hotaru thinks she's entirely off the hook!
The shorter school student rests her hand behind her head a bit sheepishly as she gets close enough to be conversational. The wind off the shore ruffles her hair and skirt as she shakes her head a little, "Ah- Actually, sorry to trouble you. I just saw you and thought I'd say 'hi'." she explains quickly before adding, "I was actually hoping to visit with Drake about something..." Her eyes stray toward where the map in her hand says his house should be in the distance.
"Ah... um, do you know if he's home? Or, er, I guess you would know, that's probably why you're..." Her voice fades out as she seems to realize that not only is she ramblng, but she's treading on things that aren't really her own business anyway. "I- I- mean, sorry to have bothered you." she murmurs a little uncomfortably, shifting her feet in the sand.
Oh ho ho. Thing just got a whole heck of a lot more awkward, didn't they? Arika certain begins to take the defensive. Bag is tossed onto the sand, hands set to her hips and her brow raises a little. "Just wot do you want'em for?" It's the 'try getting past me' stance. While the diva doesn't look upset, there is a slight show of jealousy right there.
"And if 'e is at 'ome, considering the 'our do you 'onestly think he'd be takin' guests?" Granted, Arika's not certain at -all- what his plans for the evening are. She never did bother asking him, she was in too good a mood on the way back to Southtown to pester. His parents are great people, and she absolutely adores them both.
While she might be awkwardly fumbling her diction, Hotaru is still a perceptive enough girl to know when she's put someone else on the defensive. Her eyes widen a little at the change of posture and she lowers that hand behind her head so that she can wave both of her hands in front of her rapidly, palms forward, as if hoping to stave off any violent reaction.
"I'm so sorry, how rude of me. I'm glad to know yout, Drake, and Eva all made it home safely." Hotaru adds before pausing a second. She starts to respond before Arika even finishes speaking, "Oh, it's nothing, I- I just-" she starts to explain, before her eyes widen a little more as she realizes she didn't even understand everything the young woman just said. The furrowing in her brow for a long moment is her trying to puzzle that out. She's never been good with accents or placing them, either. In her mind, Arika's cockney dialect might place her as being from Los Angeles or Italy or... well, she just really doesn't know.
But she does figure it out after a few seconds and she glances off to the side toward the horizon then back to Arika, "I guess it is getting later than I realized. I had to stay late at school tonight, but... But I didn't want to take a lot of his time, there was just something I wanted to ask him. Something..." She frowns, her voice becoming far more quiet. "...about Thailand."
Staving off violence for now, Arika's arms slide up to cross over her chest. "No thanks to that mess at the prison," the diva says with a shake of her head. Regardless of what the others kept saying, she's got absolutely no love for Sakura or anyone else involved with the Shadaloo now.
"Spit it out," she says as she keeps her deep blue eyes steeled on Hotaru. "No sense in botherin' 'im when I'm right here." At least her 'Cockney' isn't so bad as to use 'roit' and 'moit' instead of proper usage of the words. Perhaps a little faux pas on her part, but she really can't bring herself to talk quite -that- poorly.
Lowering her protesting hands, Hotaru bends her jacket-covered arms around her back and clasps her hands together now. "Right, the prison... Eva told me about that. Even with how things may have gone, what you three did helped keep some of their people busy long enough for the missions to be successful. I don't think the rest of us could have done it without you," she states sincerely.
But at the almost demand that she ask Arika her question, Hotaru balks a little. Perhaps she thought that she might fare better with Drake than the young woman who had slapped her in the cheek a while back. But... Arika /was/ a part of the incident Hotaru is so curious about...
"Okay," the young fighter appears to consent to Arika's request. Trying to push her way past her to go to Drake's house at this point would just lead to an unfortunate experience for all, no doubt! "I was visiting with Eva a few days ago... and the battle we all participated in near that radio tower came up. And, well, Eva told me some strange- or, rather, there were a lot of things she remembered about it that I don't remember happening. I remember the ghastly devil woman. That's Marise. But Eva told me that other than the Shadaloo warriors, there was another person we fought there. Someone with claws... but I don't remember anything like that. I was wondering... if you or Drake knew what Eva was talking about?"
That's right. Arika is big and scary. After that showing in Thailand, she's quite certain Hotaru must think that, and it's all she can do to keep her icy demeanor and not laugh. Eyes narrowing slightly she watches; as though just -waiting- for the pig-tailed girl to try and push past, but when she doesn't the diva stands down.
That's to say that the blonde relaxes her posture slightly. Enough so that it's noticeable, but to the point where she's still on her guard and untrusting of the other girl. "That thing has a -name-?" Said name is locked away, so that she can go hunting a little later on. A deep frown creases her brow now, as she remembers Marise sneaking off before she was able to run a piece of wood through the demon heart. "I suspect Eva is thinking about Kurow."
The look on Hotaru's face suggests that Arika's answer was one she didn't want to hear yet is the one she /expected/ to hear. The girl shakes her head slowly, eyes lowering gaze at the sand thoughtfully as the simple response seems to be given an incredible amount of thought. "You're sure it was Kurow? Kurow Kirishima? Teenager... about my age. Grey hair, a little taller than yourself...?"
She sounds a little incredulous. As if she would be more likely to accept the idea that Arika is just making something up in a random fit of insanity than to think that she is actually telling the truth.
"We fought against him? And I was there?" she presses further, as if trying to make sure that there is no room for ambiguity at all.
"Positive as I am of you standin' in front'a me, mate." Arika subconsciously shifts her hand up to the area where Kurow slammed those claws into her throat and tried to rip it out. "Knew it the minute I laid eyes on'em 'e was no good." Twice he's tried to damage her livelihood by jamming those claws of his into her throat, and so she's got no love -there- either.
"'ow could you forget? I know 'e was movin' pretty quick..." Enough that Hotaru's attacks were missing him frequently but she -was- trying and providing a decent distraction. "... but'cha 'it'em a few times, mate. You don't remember at all?"
As Arika speaks, the shorter girl lifts her eyes to look back into her face as of weighing everything she was saying against what her own memories were. Well, that, and she needs to really concentrate on what she says to she can make any sense of the words coming out of her mouth!
But Eva's words had set her off to wondering... and now Arika has confirmed it. "N-no, I don't," comes the stammering admission. It's a frightening thing to basically be presented with powerful evidence that your own mind has lost track of a very crucial detail about a non-trivial event in your life. Were it not for the dim lighting, it would be easy to see the color leave her face slowly. "And I can't imagine why... why Kurow would be there, fighting for them either. He's seemed like... well, he seems a decent enough young man." Her hands come forward from behind her back to fold in front of her as she thinks pensively.
"Or maybe he- he was being compelled to fight for them. Just like Sakura is! Or, was. But I don't know how I could forget seeing him there. I met him long before I went to Thailand, after all." She breaths before exhaling slowly, glancing to the side toward Drake's home as she falls quiet. "Well... Thanks. I'm sure Drake would have told me the same thing."
Arika blinks at that and the frown deepens slightly. "You don't remember any of that?" Doesn't remember the fight? Any of it? There's something wrong with that. "Kirishima was a bit of a wanker -before- 'e was over there, mate. Attacked me at the end'a one'a me fights, because I won. No clue -why- since I'm fairly certain he ain't involved with the chit..."
But that's really not important, is it? The diva curses and shakes her head a slight bit. "Or -maybe- 'e compelled you to forget wot 'appened. 'e -does- work with the Shadaloo after all and they seem to be doin' that an awful lot."
Hotaru looks very skeptical of the idea at first. After all, nothing in her own recollection fits the description of someone who would behave the way Arika says he would have. But even though she's had her issues with the punk rocker, she has no reason to believe Arika would just flat out lie to her either. Especially not about something as strange as this...
Which means that her explanation as to what happened is, almost by default, the only thing that makes any kind of sense. She can't remember Kurow there because /he/ did something to her. He made her forget. The idea is so incompatible with everything her conscious mind tells her, she begins to feel a bit of a headache, lifting one hand to rub against her temple absently.
"I don't know," she says at first, though her tone suggests that maybe... maybe she does believe Arika, but isn't ready to admit it. "I'll have to look into it some more." The girl takes a step backward, feet shuffling in the soft sand as she packs some more of the stuff into her shoes. Oof. "But thank you. Something is wrong... I'm not sure what yet. Or how. Maybe it is his fault. Maybe it's just me." She takes another step back, clearly aiming to go somewhere and think this through by herself
Looks like Hotaru might fall, so Arika reaches her hand out in case the girl needs to steady herself. She keeps it there until she's sure Hotaru is just aiming to shuffle off. At the last second she reaches down for her backpack, hefts it up over her shoulder and reaches into the front pouch. A small bottle is extracted and she looks it over once in the dimming light before tossing it toward the girl.
"Tylenol. It'll 'elp with the 'eadache." A surprising turn for the diva, at least so far as Hotaru is concerned. She may not trust the girl fully yet, but there's no way she'd want to go through such a large memory loss like that and not have people who were there watch her back a little.
After doing this, though, she lets Hotaru wander off by herself if she desires to. Not wanting to keep the girl longer than necessary.
She catches the bottle with a look of slight surprise on her face. But the surprise is replaced with a grin of appreciation. Having someone offer a little help is some solace against the uncertainty and confusion that holds so much sway in her mind now. Nor did she miss the helpful hand ready and raised in case she needed it.
"Thanks," Hotaru replies, twisting the bottle open and sliding two of the pills into her hand. Replacing the lid, she tosses it back to Arika with a slight nod. "You've been a big help. I'll ah... I'll see you around sometime," she states, a somewhat hopeful tone in her voice. Hopefully she can smooth things over with the two Shooting Stars members that seem to be a little on edge with her.
With a wave of her hand, she turns then, clasping her hands together in front of her as she walks toward the inland, getting off the beach. Something's horribly wrong. Eva made her suspect it. Arika completely confirmed it. Now she has to figure out her next move.
Log created on 21:12:17 07/12/2007 by Hotaru, and last modified on 12:27:11 07/14/2007.