Description: After the battle for the crown has been lost, Arika finds herself in the lower hull of the ship, trying to tidy herself up before finding her teammate. Surprise! Eva finds her first. Despite whatever inner demons are haunting the punk princess, she knows that while she may have lost the tourney, she's gained a friend.
Water is seeping through everywhere. The heart of the Suiryuu is nearly full and evacuation has begun to be put into motion. The final battle has been completed. It's been won, and the hostages are about to be let free.
After being carried out of the chamber, Arika asked to be let down here. She'll make it to the evacuation, she's -got- to. The punk princess just needs a few moments to collect herself and deal with the fact she lost that match before facing those she's come to consider as friends. Sitting in the ever-rising water, the diva dips her hands into it and rubs them over her face to clear the remainder of the blood off while she attempts to crack her nose in the other direction to set it properly.
This just makes her wince, and both hands tent over her nose as the tears well up in her eyes.
"There you are." Eva's voice echoes throughout the chamber as she runs up to Arika and kneels down, not really caring about the water at this point. "I didn't want to escape until I was with you." Leaning in close, she continues, "... I watched the fight from afar. You were amazing! Even if you didn't win... I'm sure everyone knew you were not an easy oppo...."
Eva trails off. ".... Arika." At this point, Eva settles into a more comfortable kneeling position, completely ignoring the water instead of merely tolerating it. ".... Be careful. The salt water'll just make the pain worse right now..." A hand lifts up, gingerly touching Arika's back, then, if she doesn't shrink away, letting it stay there. Contact, from a friend. That's the one thing Eva can offer, right now, even moreso than words.
"..... Please.... could you talk to me about it? I don't mind at all. I did this with my brother all the time, so.... I promise you I won't get annoyed or angry." She looks down. "... Sometimes, I try to be my brother so much that I forget the part of myself that was the sister... and I think that's the part you need, right now."
For a moment, a brief moment, Arika does shrink away from her teammate. The fact that Eva has to see her like this, after losing the tournament is bad enough. The fact that Eva has become close enough to the diva, that she can almost tell how the punk princess is feeling is unnerving.
However, Arika finally relaxes and slips her hands from her beautiful black and purple nose. With the blood gone, it looks almost worse. "Ain't the pain I'm worried 'bout," she mutters quietly, in a very broken manner. "It's the blood." Vain until the last, she is. But then, she'd not be -her- if she wasn't. "It was a good fight... did me best and you lot can all go 'ome now. That's wot's important, ain't it?"
It never -was- about winning the tournament.
The hand doesn't stay over Arika's back; it withdraws as soon as Arika does, but Eva doesn't seem at all disappointed. "I should have brought something to help you with that nose," Eva replies softly. ".... It may not be good to use the water here to clean it off anymore. The water here is probably contaminated with things from the ship."
Silence. Eva lets it sit there, allowing Arika some room to breathe before she speaks. "Arika....." She furrows her brow. ".... R did some horrible things to you." Eva can only imagine what happened beyond Arika getting collared. "I'm glad that you kept it together this long. You're very strong... a lot stronger than I am when it comes to that. When I searched that Black Noah ship or whatever, I barely knew what I was doing; I just wanted you back. I didn't want to see you end up like Sakura did, or even worse." Sakura was at least able to recover.
"It's just like Thailand.... we found out things about ourselves. Strengths, and weaknesses. I still..." Eva pauses. "I still carry my brother's ghost around with me, and.... you seem to have found some demons yourself."
Demons. A good way of putting it. Arika glances up at Eva, silent for a very long while. Drawing her knees up tight against her body, she exhales a very long, very pronounced sigh.
"R... this ship... everything..." There's a sudden blink, and then she laughs. She kept it together? Her? Kept it together? The diva is actually laughing but she feels like crying. "Eva... I did that for -Drake-. Kept it together for 'im. No point in lettin' 'im down, was there? 'ad to try and keep you safe. Fat lot'a good that did, seein' as 'ow I was forced to fight you... I nearly got us both killed jumpin' in to 'elp Sakura and the Suiryuu..."
Slumping her shoulders forward, she falls silent again and nods. Just like Thailand. Only this time, someone gets to go home with a prize from inside the chocolatey egg!
"... Everyone needs their reasons to fight. Arika.... look at me."
Eva tries to catch the Brit's attention, moving her own body if she needs to, in order to get herself within Arika's gaze. "We went through a lot of.... things. And yet, despite all that, I'm fine. Because of you. You helped me with I was shaken, you jumped in after me when battles got tough, you did a lot of things that probably would have seemed to be stupid in someone like Seishirou's eyes. And you didn't fight me at all. You kept yourself busy until we were able to find a way to free you from the collar. You fought the group that came to save you, yes, but you did it in a logical fashion since you had control."
It may have been worse for Arika, because of that. "... When we get back.... let's just take a long vacation. Maybe bring Hime and Naerose with us, if they want to come with us. Maybe Ryuujin will join, if he feels comfortable with it."
Emotionally unstable as she's feeling, when Eva says 'look at me' the diva actually does. Arika is not usually one to take orders well, but it seemed more of a request to her. "You're fine 'cause of -you-, Eva. All I did was force you to come into those situations after me..." At the mention of Seishirou, she blinks and then rubs her hand over her face -- salt water and all -- no matter how dirty the water is now.
"You know wot 'e said to Tiffany? 'e was rootin' for -me-. Me. Can you imagine?" She'll likely never understand -why- he said that unless she asks, and she's maybe a bit too proud to ask.
"I did promise you that, didn't I? A vacation. I want to go 'ome." Funny. She doesn't actually elude to what 'home' is. Whether it's Southtown, or London. Whatever she's thinking, she just wants to go once all this is done.
It was more of a request- Eva's not all too good at giving orders. "... I don't do well unless I have something or someone to believe in, Arika. .... That's my weakness. When I am able to believe in something, my will, and then my body, they all follow." Against the dying lights of the ship, Eva's face seems almost eerie despite the all-too-human expression of conflict on her face, due to the persistance of her eyes' color against the lighting. "That is also my strength. You didn't force me into anything; I willfully volunteered, even when I knew my body was tired."
".... Seishirou probably knew you would fight at your best, either way. That's the sort of people he wanted for this tournament, and you embodied it. Tiffany seemed to do the same, in my opinion, but he knew you a little better." She pauses. ".... I think he got what he wanted, even if it was not exactly what he wished for."
Eva stands. "... Let's leave. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can place this all behind us and rest. A shower, a bed, a nice breakfast.... I know you enough to know that you're not in the best of health, both mentally and physically, but.... please trust me in that these three things will get you started on the right path. And I'll be with you, all the way. Because you're my friend, and I know you have a good heart. I've seen it, time and time again."
Log created on 01:42:10 10/31/2007 by Arika, and last modified on 15:29:42 10/31/2007.