Description: Meeting Shurui again for the first time, Hotaru manages to make a better impression when not yelling at her like she did during their SNF together. After some inquiries and answers, the two come to find they share a mutual concern about some other people in their lives.
An aura, some fragments of a voice, and glowing symbols. These are the things Shurui has to go on, and, having only met one person who was able to read and interpert such information, she's at a bit of a loss. Yet, even after such potentially soul-crushing event, Shurui hasn't had even the slightest bit of nerve to give up. Oh, damn no. She's lucky enough as it is- Kenji is okay, no one was kidnapped at the YFCC (she has assumed so, anyway), and, well... had Shurui arrived a few minutes sooner, she could have been kidnapped alongside K' and Whip, experiencing who knows what at the hands of NE-
..... was it NESTS, in fact? Something seemed... off, even as Shurui second-guesses herself. Either way, she'll try to find that guy. She'll come out of hiding and revisit old allies and acquaintances if she has to, NESTS, bad memories, and all be damned.
Standing among the remains of the YFCC, Shurui narrows her eyes. She keeps checking back here, hoping to check a glimpse of an employee. Alma, Rose, Frei... anybody. Especially the former two. Psychics would be especially useful here, because.... Her eyes cross at her inability to answer that question. .... Because, uh.
She needs to start someplace, and she doesn't want to yank on the Guardian Kings' collective shoulders for information just yet. She can't out Kenji through all that again; he should be entering into tournaments and neoleague fights, not... fighting gods. Shurui finds a piece of rubble with her sneaker and kicks it in frustration across the sidewalk, hands inside the pockets of her jeans
Shurui.... adds a period there. :|;;
"Some mess, huh?" Had Shurui been less distracted, she would have sensed the approach of the other girl without too much trouble. She stands a couple yards behind and to the side of the frustrated student, hands clasped calmly behind her back as she surveys the mess that is the front lobby of the YFCC. Rebuilding and clean up is going to be quite the project. An expensive one, straining the already tapped resources of the non-profit community center.
Hotaru Futaba turns her head from side to side as she looks over the aftermath of that most destructive visit. "We're going to need a lot of volunteers to undo this one," she adds after a moment, blue eyes slowly shifting over to focus on Shurui directly. Leaning her head to the side just a little, she offers the girl a friendly smile that slowly shifts into being just a bit sheepish, "Oh, it's you. Hello." Unclasping her hands, she takes a step forward, extending one hand in an offer to shake. "I heard you helped in the fight outside. I was inside, myself. I hope you're doing all right"
She pauses for an awkward moment, clearly having more she wants to say before she turns to the side, hand going up to rest at the back of her neck, "I, ah, well, this may seem out of the blue, but I really have owed you an apology for the longest while for my behavior when we faced Hayato-sensei together in that SNF. It was a..." She shakes her head, looking back toward Shurui, "Well, let me just say I'm sorry. I don't even remember everything I said, but whatever it was, I didn't mean it..."
Hotaru's voice summons the distracted Shurui from her rock-kicking, causing her to turn around to face the girl, genuinely caught off guard. "... Oh, uh. Didn't notice you there." She turns to regard the rubble before her as Hotaru comments on it, slowly nodding. "... If you want help... I could try. But I have to do something first. Something important."
However, as Hotaru speaks as if she knows her, Shurui's thoughts drift off that topic, gazing at Hotaru through rose-tinted lens. Shurui doesn't seem to recongize Hotaru at first. After all, back then.... Hotaru's figure cut a different blurry profile in the Gedo student's eyesight at that time, as well as a different manner. After regaining her hand from the amiable girl, Shurui takes a moment to prop the glasses on her forehead, gazing back at Hotaru with dark eyes. Even her aura is... wait, there's something *familiar*, but-
Hayato? It takes Shurui a moment to clue in. ".... Hotaru Futaba?" Her face turns from slight confusion to awe. "Uh, it's okay. I think." She rubs the back of her neck, then gazes up at the slight taller pig-tailed girl. "I can definitely tell you've changed, so, uh, I *do* believe you. Realloy, I didn't take it too badly either way. Lots of people talk trash during a fight." But to have such a change in aura would reflect something deeper than just an embarrassing phase, unless you were someone like Ayame.
She has to ask. "What happened to you?"
"Nice of you to offer... I'm not sure what the plans are yet," the young martial artist replies to Shurui at first. Her voice carries with it a certain amount of curiousity at what important thing is on the grey haired girl's mind, but she doesn't speak of it at first as the conversation shifts into the apology she feels to be long overdue. "Nn," she answers with a nod as Shurui correctly identifies her. She remembers, only gradually, something about the other girl having trouble with seeing. That she pushes her glasses up out of the way to help her leads her to conclude the girl must be farsighted...
She says she can tell there's been a change and the YFCC volunteer instructor sort of shrugs sheepishly. That she's quite different as she was back then is something she would readily agree to. That it's so clear to someone she's only met once before comes across as just a bit of a surprise... but considering how she was behaving back then, perhaps it shouldn't be, she muses. "Mn," she shakes her head at the mention of talking trash, turning to the side to glance once again toward the smashed in lobby doors.
"That wasn't trash talking. That was me acting woefully out of line, acting under a perspective that was more than just slightly askew. I'm better now... It was a rough time," she murmurs, offering the best insight she can manage while remaining vague. She isn't in the habit of discussing the way she was running around testing out a killing technique on anyone who got within striking range after all. It makes for awkward conversation.
"I imagine Alma will have to call in some contractors to draw up plans for the clean up effort... So until then you should be able to take care of that important thing you mentioned," she continues, glancing back toward Shurui once more, head leaning to the side slightly. "Need any help or you got it covered?"
"I remember your name," Shurui says, recovering from her initial shock, "because I somehow won that fight without a scratch. You don't owe me anything; apologize to Mr. Hayato if you wanna apologize to someone." Teachers and people in places of authority always held a strange biased sphere in Shurui's rules of social conduct. "If you haven't already, that is."
Rough times. If Shurui only knew. She still is in the belief that Marise is dead; if Shurui were to face her, would she stand her ground as well as Hotaru had? All those memories, tucked away, turning her from an overconfident girl to someone who took self-preservation closer to heart. And look where *that* got her. That correlation, at least, came without having to face down her demons, literally. Yet.
Need any help?
"..." Shurui's silent for a while. "... I don't know if you can help me, really." More like *want* to help. If Hotaru stood her ground against NESTS as this new, gentler persona, it's clear that she'd be plenty help. "... Two friends of mine were kidnapped at the hospital. Brother and sister. I'm the only one who has any real notion of who the guy who did it was. But." She shrugs and brings her right hand out of her pockets in order to motion towards her eyes, revealing a severely swaddled lump of cotton and bandage that looks more like a mold of a thick mitten than a cast. Noticing it, she frowns and sighs, shoulder sagging. "I guess I can tell you. My eyesight's bad, but I can see auras. Body energy. Whatever you wanna call it. That's why I didn't recongize you at first. There was enough of a difference to confuse me until you clued me in." She raises her hand cast. "So yeah, I know what the guy's *aura* looks like, I know his techniques, but not what *he* looks like. And the police and the detectives and whatever can't do shit without the last bit of info." She lowers her hand. "I came here because I know Rose and Alma are really powerful psychics. Kinda stupid, I know, but I got to start somewhere."
There's a slight dip of the girl's head as Shurui mentions Hayato. Done and done, the two having had their peace as Hotaru faced him for the mid tier SNF title belt some time ago. "Oh," the girl replies softly as Shurui seems unsure if she can be of any help. It's none of her business to pry, after all, and it could be a personal matter or something to which her own set of skills might not be of any use. "It's ok-" the girl starts, willing to drop the subject if it makes the Gedo student uncomfortable.
But sh econtinues, speaking of friends - brother and sister, taken right out from a hospital at that. Eyes dart to the injured hand once it is produced before shifting back to Shurui's face. That she came out of the fight against NESTs injured isn't too surprising. Very few escaped from that violent encounter unaffected in some way.
As the only witness that might have any information of use to the police, it bears explaining why she can't describe the kidnapper's appearance. A subject Shurui gets to shortly, clarifying what Hotaru already understood to be the case regarding her eyesight. Sapphire blue eyes widen just a little as she speaks of seeing auras before she calms, deciding to accept it on face value for now and put off wondering just how that works for the time being.
"Hn," the girl muses, bringing her hand up to rest against her cheek as she listens to the problem. Of Rose she knows little, but Alma is a subject she can speak on. "Alma doesn't even know yet," she states, waving her other hand toward the disaster. "He went over to China to help out in that city where the explosion happened recently. We haven't been able to get in touch with him... I don't think you'll find him here today."
She ponders silently for another moment, "I don't know much about Rose, but she does have contact information on file. I'm not sure if the records computer is back to working yet though," she muses, facing the building again. "She is a pretty important person at the YFCC, however, so someone else might know how to reach her without needing to look anything up."
She leans her head back, gazing up at the sky over the building, her hands shifting to rest against her hips, "Sorry to hear about your friends... To disappear from a hospital... how scary. What were they there for? How did you find out what happened?" she asks, eyes searching the sky for answers it seems loath to offer up.
Do psychics come when you need them the most? Shurui certainly hasn't been great on this concept; then again, aside from Alma's encouragement, Shurui has no evidence that she could even be capable of anything to do with the mind. It still seems so.... foreign, for lack of a better word, to think of something you can't physically see or touch as something reachable. Yet people have shown in the past that such things can and do happen, like with Stasya.
Shurui listens to Hotaru, a brief nod signaling her understaning. So Alma's not going to be here for a while. Perhaps that's for the best; K' may prefer torture to being rescued by a man who wants him to be the next posterboy for Gucci. And Rose? Well, she'll cross that bridge when she finds it. For now, she needs to make a decision.
And that decision is whether or not to tell Hotaru. About Whip, about K', about the mysterious kidnapper and the possiblity of sucking yet another person into the big cluster of insanity that is NESTS. .... If this kidnapper is from NESTS. She isn't so sure.
She looks at Hotaru, pursing her lips together. Should she tell this girl? The fact that her aura has changed could just as well mean she wears her mask doubly well, like that Ayame girl. Looking at Hotaru long and hard, Shurui finally begins, seeming to change the subject, "There's an employee that used to work here. Went by the name 'K' or 'K Dash'. You seen him around?"
It's vague enough that she could be asking for *his* help, even if the prospect would seem possibly laughable to anyone who has been in his presence more than two seconds. But this abstract question is to serve as Hotaru's test: if she shows dislike, disdain, or anything that would ring of falsehood, all Shurui has to do is walk away.
Until then, her eyes keep secretly focused on Hotaru's aura, as if believing they could readily decipher minute changes in emotion or mood. .... Like an amateur peering into a crystal ball, her guesses could only be just that: guesses. Unless the reaction is truly that overwhelming.
Gifts such as that possessed by Shurui or Alma are foreign territory to the young martial artist. All she knows for certain is when she had need of help with an issue concerning tampering with her mind, Alma was able to help her in a way she suspects very few others in all the world possibly could. It was an experience that bridged the gaps of their collective memories, each sharing moments from each other's childhood in a vivid, unforgettable manner. To this day she carries with her those images of Alma's experiences as a young boy... his mother... his feelings of being alone. It drew the together, helped them form a profound bond rivaling that which could exist between only siblings.
But even with all that behind her, the girl can offer nothing in the way of advice or counsel with regards to what Shurui can and cannot do with her own blend of that similar power. That is up for the girl to discover on her own or with the aid of others who are it.
Shurui seems to dodge her questions with a shift in topic, bringing up the young, ashen-haired man Hotaru is quite familiar with. "K'?" She blinks slowly, turning toward the building, "I know he was here when all this happened," she states calmly, waving her hand at the smashed in front doors, "But I was inside while I know he was fighting back the assault from the outside. I don't know everything that happened, but word has it that his..." Her voice fades slowly, the pig-tailed girl whirling back toward Shurui suddenly.
"...someone important to him had to be taken to the hospital." There's a mixture of suspicion coupled with worry, one eyebrow raising just slightly as the girl puts together the things Shurui has said into one comprehensive picture. A brother and sister, at the hospital, now gone? She lowers her waving arm, folding it across her stomach with her other. She seems apprehensive as she continues, "Why? That's related, isn't it." she declares rather than asks.
She unfolds her arms as she waits for a moment, eyes searching Shurui every bit as much as the girl is trying to study her. Perceptive, her mind is already drawing conclusions that Shurui probably isn't anticipating her to. "What aren't you telling me?" she asks, a little bit more insistant, though her voice is subdued, calm, already dreading the answer she expects to be coming.
Shurui is still learning, just as any fighter would. Chi and Psycho power are different energies, springing from different wells of creation, but the path to knowledge, experience, and mastery is the same. It was Alma who helped Shurui understand why her power seemed 'different' from chi, and that very definition has already made a difference.
Now, she just needs to conjure information from data few can see.
Shurui nods as Hotaru gives her answer, walking over to sit down on a concrete bench still left standing in front of the building. Only, as she goes to sit, Hotaru mentions something about 'someone important.' Whip. Her facial expression visibly changes as she watches Hotaru begin to fill in all the gaps of a story that grows more and more terrible with each piece placed in its proper spot. And now, Shurui's left with the task of confirming such bad news before the admirably calm Hotaru.
The Gedo girl looks at Hotaru very carefully, her lips turning inwards until they form a thin line. Then, she gives in with a sigh, shoulders sagging. ".... He was kidnapped, along with his sister, from their hospital. When I came over, he was already knocked out. Whip tried to fight back, but she still hadn't healed from the YFCC fight. Couldn't open the door." She lifts her bandaged hand. "One of the security guys later said it was like the door had been fused to the frame. My fist would've collapsed before I got anywhere." The hand, cast and all, falls down. "Whoever wanted them, wanted them and just them really bad." Would NESTS be that careful? With their tendency for grand collaborated attacks and the fact that they now seem to be led by a man with an unapologetic god complex, why would they take the time to steal the very experiments they tried so hard to destroy just days ago? "I'm not sure who kidnapped them was the same person behind the attacks on the YFCC or not."
The young martial artist is quiet, waiting for Shurui to confirm what she already suspects. The seconds tick by as the girl seems to weigh having to be the bearer of such unpleasant news. But no one is going to relieve her of that responsibility, it would seem, and the pig-tailed girl isn't going anywhere. When the truth comes out, she gasps lightly all the same. Kidnapped, captured right out of the hospital. First inclination is to blame NESTs. They have been chasing him forever. Perhaps they found him in a vulnerable state and made their move when he couldn't fight back. It would be the /smart/ thing to do if one were to approach the problem with insidious intent and complete lack of honor.
As Shurui continues, the girl's eyes narrow as she listens to the account intently. The door fused shut; Shurui couldn't get in... The girl glances toward the wounded hand. She assumed it had to do with the fight outside the YFCC, not something else entirely.
"Yeah..." she whispers softly, hugging her arms in front of her, glancing to the side, avoiding eye contact as she rolls the information around in her head. "But you said you can identify who it was? How did you get the chance to... " she pauses, as if trying to think of the right verb to go with Shurui's perspective on things, "...sense who did this?" Was it simply sensing it through the door or did she have an encounter with the kidnapper?
"How many people was it?" she asks then, blinking suddenly. To carry of K' and Whip, not to mention /being able to/ take them against their will, even in less than optimal condition... seems like it'd take more than one person to her!
At least she's here. Shurui has to remind herself that when her momentum fails her, yes, but she's here. K' and Whip won't disappear. Even if they manage to escape the very next day and leave her scrambling to feed them, she won't leave them the satisfaction of being alone. Of not having an ally. It's a pledge she's silently made to the Guardian Kings for being her saviors, as well, even if she's not sure they'd ever need to collect on it. God help them if they needed Shurui specifically, if only because it means they're facing a problem so specific they need a nearly blind psychic (and not the fully capable psychic that is a part of their team!) to help them. But she'd help them, all the same.
Of course, helping is sometimes a concept better talked about than done, unfortunately. "Er, well." Shurui takes a moment to awkwardly itch the uppermost part of her head. Did she sense who it was? "The thing is, I didn't recongize him at all. I mean, even with you, something felt familiar. Think of it this way- everyone looks different, right? And, when you get familiar with a person, you remember their face. Appearances can change really quick, but there's usually a thread of 'man I knew something was weird' when you find out who they are, right?" Shurui gestures with her left hand. "... er, it's kind of like that. And, well, while I'd be able to identity who he is if he came up to me again, but I can't do much beyond that."
When Hotaru asks her next question, Shurui blinks. ".... Just... one." Why didn't she think that was all that strange earlier. ".... It was like... some sort of grappling system. Or something. I just saw how K' and Whip's auras were on him. It was like... he had this all planned. He probably did the same thing to K' as he did Whip- his body made a jabbing motion at her leg, like he was hitting her with a syringe." The assumption only comes to her because it makes perfect sense. K' *should* have been able to take him o-
".... He also did something really weird to K'. When I came, K''s powers were going out of whack because he was unconscious." It feels like a weight is coming off her, recounting this to a third party even as she wonders if this was truly a smart move. ".... He put his *energy* into K''s body. A *lot* of it. And it seemed to help make K''s flames go down."
Slowly the girl nods her head, listening attentively to the details Shurui is able to provide. Just one person then. It could be a NESTs agent, perhaps. The girl has seen some of the interesting technology the mysterious group can bring to bear first hand. She nods slowly as the other girl explains that she would be able to identify the stranger if she saw him again, but that she doesn't know where to begin with it. "Hn," the blue eyed fighter muses, otherwise doing nothing to interrupt her.
Just one then. One with a very thorough plan of execution. A professional job, and far more subtle than the NESTs approaches she's seen so far. "I see," she continues a the mention of a possible syringe. That might explain it. If he was able to jab them with something to weaken them before they could stop him, perhaps one person could very well deal with the both of them on his own.
But it's the final details that provoke the most response from Hotaru as the girl's eyes widen a little, taking in the information piece by piece. "Wait, his flames? What were his flames doing burning while he was unconscious?" She looks far more confused now, and it's easily written on her face. K''s powers out of control, his flames burning when he isn't awake to suppress them, but... what of the glove? "Did something happen to it? That red glove of his?" And what is the deal with this kidnapper helping him with that problem? Was it just a safety measure or was it an attempt to aid?
Yet another thing Shurui didn't consider. Yes, she knew the concrete reason the glove was off. It had been off since the fight. But why did his powers only flare out of control then? Why not when he slept? "..... K' lost his glove during the fight," Shurui absent-minded says as her eyes drift downward, slowly, as if on the verge of her own awful discovery. "... Igniz... he tried to break K' by going after Whip. Nearly killed her. I... er." She looks up. "I carried her off. There was an ambulance nearby. If it hadn't been there..." She drifts off distractedly, as if replaying the entire battle over in her head. Of course she knows the answer. "K' got so mad he ripped the glove off. It..."
Shurui was never there at the hospital room the entire time, of course. She had Kenji to worry about, her own doctor's appointments for whatever light injuries she recieved. School. Homework. Cooking so that she'd have something to bring with her.
"His aura never seemed to recover. It looked so weak..." Shurui suddenly says out of nowhere, shock painting her face pale. ".... I thought it was just because Whip was in the hospital. I mean, I'd feel the same way, right?" She grits her teeth. "That ****ing *bastard*. What the hell was he trying to prove?!" Poor Hotaru. Not only does she have to deal with the news of K', she has to deal with.... a somewhat unstable Shurui. "He can't just go doing **** like that! He has a *sister*." The anger feels more personal, however, despite the cover Shurui tries to give it. What about *her*? How can he go and do something so stupid when she really wants to have him around?
She pauses, shoulders slumping. "... Man... Hotaru." That was her name, right? ".... Sorry. Kinda still sorting through things for myself. ... But I guess that's all the more reason to keep going, eh?"
Slowly the rest of the pieces come together. The glove was shed in anger, discarded like an anathema, a tie to that horrible organization lead by that terrifying megalomaniac who called himself Igniz. No wonder he couldn't put it back on, she muses thoughtfully, hand coming up to rest at her mouth lightly as the details are shared. Whip nearly dead, K''s aura on the fritz, weakened by his own out of control power... No wonder the two of them were vulnerable.
The girl takes a step toward Shurui, lowering her arms, reaching out to take hold of the other girl's hand, "It's okay, it's good that you're trying to do something about it. Don't be hard on yourself." she encourages with a flicker of a smile that may very well go unseen. "Do you know where his glove is now?" It's an item of some curiosity. If... if he doens't need it any more, great. If he's going to die without it though? It might be good to have it somewhere safe, just in case.
"It's okay," she reacts to the apology with a shake of her head, releasing Shurui's hand. "K' is tough. He'll be all right. I wish I knew what could be done to help though..." She studies the girl for a moment, leaning in just a little, hands clasped behind her back, "He's a good friend of yours, isn't he." she declares, observant as always. She never knew of this connection between the two. But there's a lot she doesn't know about K'.
"Hey now, you're going to have to stay strong for when you see him again," she grins just a little, her tone supportive but just a little upbeat, "He seems to get agitated easily at the first sign of worry in others."
Later on, perhaps, Shurui may come to that conclusion as Hotaru. It's so easy to blame K' for actions that seem selfish and at the same time so unconcerned with personal well-being; it's harder to look back at it from his own viewpoint. For now, Hotaru's presence and understanding will have to do in lieu of such thought.
Shurui's hand twitches as Hotaru touches it, but, as soon as it registers, the girl's hand accepts Hotaru's own. This Hotaru... she really has changed from the first time Shurui met her. Or, rather, she had changed from the person she tried to become. The physical element of Hotaru's smile goes unseen, but the warmth in her voice and manner makes it just as evident. Whether Shurui will come to regret this conversation or not, Hotaru *does* seem to have some trust-worthy aspects to her. Maybe, this is the first step.
"... I'm not being hard on myself," Shurui murmurs in soft protest. "I'm being realistic." K''s glove? Shurui ponders this over. ".... No clue, really. I haven't seen it. But, I mean, unless he wears it, it's not really like I'd be able to spot it unless it was up close." Could it be in K''s apartment someplace? It's possible. Or, maybe, he threw it away? The prospect of blindly rummaging through someone else's belongings, *especially* K''s? That's... a sobering thought.
K' is tough. Whip is tough. But it hurts Shurui to not *know*. Her mind keeps filling in the blanks, refusing to take lack of information for whatever comfort it could give. It was always someone else who gave her comfort when she needed it the most; they didn't even need to offer her anything. Just concrete evidence is enough. "I dunno what he considers me, but I consider him a friend, yeah. He's rude, selfish, is as social as a brick wall.... and, with him and Whip, life feels..." She shrugs, readily shifting to another subject. "... You might not be able to to anything now, but later, something'll happen. It'll just be up to you on what you wanna do when the time comes."
Shurui mentions that she doesn't know where the glove is and Hotaru merely nods softly. Makes an unfortunate amount of sense. It would be nice to know, but it seems that for now they will have to assume it isn't going to turn up. She says nothing more of it, not really knowing where to go with trying to find it. She doesn't even have a clue where K' lives, or where he might have gone before the trip to the hospital. And maybe it's lost for good anyway, and K', and those who care about his situation, will just have to make the best of it.
It's exhillerating to think that such a profound benchmark in his life might be getting challenged at this very moment... but also very terrifying as the repercussions thereof are something she can only guess at with what limited insight Shurui has been able to offer from her perspective of things. As Shurui explains K''s 'attributes', Hotaru grins just a little. Yeah, he might be rude, selfish, and anti-social at first glance, but the girl also knows there's more to him than that. Or else someone like Shurui wouldn't care so much.
"Yeah," Hotaru replies. "If you find out who took them... be careful. Sounds like it could be really dangerous. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know." She takes a step back then, arms crossed loosely in front of her as she considers the Gedo girl quietly. An interesting person - a fighter who can't see so great? That takes guts. A flush passes over her cheeks as she can't help but remember how she treated the girl either. Different times, she reminds herself. And practically a different person at that.
Turning to the side to look away, the girl speaks up again, "You going to be all right, Shurui?" she asks, her tone nothing but sincere. Having to witness friends being kidnapped, but being powerless to stop it from happening? The girl has never been in a situation like that, but she can't help imagine how awful it must feel.
Hotaru hits the nail right on the head- K' may not be the most amiable of people, but there are things that made Shurui so distraught over his, as well as Whip's, kidnapping. Whip would be easier to understand, if Hotaru ever met her; despite being a soldier, the young woman has a warm and open heart to go with that profound loyalty and keen mind.
Looking at Hotaru as she makes her offer, Shurui slowly nods, then gently smiles. "Thanks. I'll let you know; I don't intend to do anything stupid if I can help it." Hopefully nothing as stupid as charging a metal door. Of course, *that* was a very crucial exception. "... Hotaru... uh." She looks down. "The same goes here. Concerning the YFCC. I could help clean up, or..." She ponders nervously. "Maybe you could... make a charity tournament? If you did, and this whole mess is over with, I'd enter it. I don't think I'd attract anyone by myself, but, I'm sure I could see if some of the people at Gedo could join."
To offer that help back so quickly- there really is something different about this Hotaru. Something... comforting. "Yeah. I think I just need to turn in for the night. Maybe, if I sleep on it, I'll think of something when I look at the situation with new eyes." No pun intended. "... What about, well, you? You sound like you knew K' somehow. Was it through the YFCC?"
Hotaru nods slowly as Shurui says she'll get help if possible. No one will be better off if she ends up in some bad circumstances as well! When she speaks her name, however, the girl pauses, "Hm?" At the mention of a charity tournament, the girl's expression brightens some. It would be a fitting way to raise the funds, she ponders. "I'll mention that idea to Alma. I think he'll like it," She grins. "Good suggestion." The tightness of funding for the center has often been a source of stress for the young model, and it hasn't escaped the perceptive girl's attention. A tournament would be a great short term solution to help with the repair costs!
"If he goes for it, I'm sure something will be said. You can count on it," the pig-tailed girl grins. At the mention of turning in for the night, the girl dips her head in acknowledgement. "You bet. I'll keep my ears open for any news about K' and his sister." she continues, her tone becoming more somber. Given the secretive nature of the young man's life, there's really no one she can think to turn to that would be able to help in a situation like this. When someone is being kidnapped by NESTs or other secretive sorts, you can't exactly just call the cops and expect things to get anywhere!
"That sounds good, Shurui. Good ni-" She cuts herself off at the question that comes next, however, as Shurui asks how she knows him. Sapphire blue eyes blink, her brow furrowing as she actually has to think about it for a moment. "Y-yeah," she finally responds, a faint smile at her lips, "That's how we met." For some reason it felt like she had always just kind of known him. To realize that it really hadn't been that long ago seems to catch her off guard. "I mean, that's how I know him, yeah."
She turns to the side then, facing away from the other girl. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you - I wish it could have been under better circumstances. I hope your hand gets better soon." A soft exhale escapes her lips as her thoughts begin to wander. Who is messing with K' /now/? And just how is he doing without that glove of his anyway? "Good night, Shurui." Clasping her hands behind her back, the young martial artist takes her leave, retreating back along the sidewalk.
Log created on 00:35:48 09/04/2008 by Hotaru, and last modified on 01:03:34 09/09/2008.