The meaning of life

The meaning of life
Date of Scene:	24 November 2012
Location:	Traverse Town
Synopsis:	Rhyme encounters a mysterious girl and teaches her about the true meaning of what it is to be alive.
Cast of Characters:	Rhyme, Leida

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Leida has posed:
The dark twilight of eternal evening looms overhead in the city of wandering souls, the stars twinkling like countless freckles of light across the deep umbral blue of the sky. It is a beautiful sight and the city has been built to accomodate the atmosphere it creates. The tall grey walls of District 3 are awash with the yellow glow of iron street lamps and house windows, lighting the way through the darkness for the residents of this mysterious town.

Because of the lack of a day/night cycle, time tends to be ambiguous here. People wander the broad plaza at all hours going about their business, meeting friends, or simply gazing upwards and wondering what might be on the other side of the curtain.

One such person is seated on the edge of the fountain, tucked away in the corner of the district with bright golden arches. A small girl, perhaps in her mid teens by appearance, dangles her legs over the lip of the outer stone basin and splashes her feet back and forth in the chill clear waters. Her head tilts back and forth in a sing-song way as she hums quietly to herself, the movements and cadence of her tune lanquid and lacking much in the way of emotion.

Rhyme has posed:
One of the denizens of the great city of twilight wears the curious fashions of a clashing city of Shibuya. Or, rather, the ex-city of Shibuya. Where once was a vibrant city of clashing ideals and a strange (and morbid) game of death played by beings of a higher plane with the souls of the dead. And, you know... Crazy people.

One such strangely dressed girl in a baggy sweater and a black beanie with skull patterns emblazoned on it, who is TOTALLY not crazy, meanders up to the girl and smiles brightly, tilting her head slightly as she watches the humming girl kick her feet, something feeling off about the tone, the rythm, something.

"Hello! Sorry to bother... Is anything wrong?" She asks politely, beaming a big friendly smile towards the seated girl.

Leida has posed:
The small teen doesn't respond immediately, continuing to hum her strange tune softly to her herself but after a few moments she comes to what sounds like a break in the rythm and the noise dies out to be replaced with the sound of lapping water from the fountain.

Slowly, she turns her head to the side to regard the other girl, just far enough that she can take in Rhyme's strange appearance from the corner of her eye. Her loose bangs scatter over her face and she peers through the weave of dark hair giving the impression of a shy child trying not to draw attention.

Her gaze drifts from the odd hat down to her feet and the drags back across the stone courtyard to stare into the rippling reflection cast by the crystal waters. "Tell me..." She asks, her voice soft and wispy. "Do you understand what it means to be alive...?"

Rhyme has posed:
Rhyme waits patiently after her question, beaming at the young-looking girl as the surrounding air falls to silence and ambient sounds. Then, Rhyme's beaming smile is met by the eyes of the girl she was concerned for. Her smile doesn't waver, though it dims in consideration, softening from 'super ultra happy' to a more helpful glowing grin.

She reaches her hands up to adjust her beanie around her short blonde hair, pushing the black knitted cap around to get it a little more comfortable and to scratch an ear before she recieves a... Rather strange question.

"What it means to be...alive?" She asks, her smile dimming and dimming before she takes a step closer, a bit of a sad look on her face. "Are you okay? I... Well I guess it's a little complicated, but I died twice, so... Being alive is different. Being dead is empty, and dark, and lonely, and being alive is bright, and hopeful, and vibrant, and filled with possibilities."

"I don't know if I'm still the same, but I'm alive. I think." She grins. "Could be wrong!"

Leida has posed:
The girl sitting on the fountain listens to this answer quietly, sitting perfectly still as Rhyme lays out her version of life and death from the point of view of one who has experienced both. Her head dips once in a slow nod in response and she hunches foward to peer deeper into the water.

She whispers again and wraps her arms about herself as if warding off a chill. "I see... so that's what it means..."

She pauses for a long moment and then starts to kick her feet again. "I am alone... alone in this dark and empty shell... Does that mean... I am no longer living...?"

Rhyme has posed:
"Well, I mean, it's not as simple as that!" Rhyme corrects, waving her hands frantically to either side. "Okay. Let me try again. I'm here! In front of you. We're talking! The feeling of water on your feet, having a voice to speak and sing with, the stars in the sky...It's all part of being alive. The sensations, the experiences, the... Being alive has ups and downs, but I've been dead... All I had were my thoughts, in a dark void, with no body, with nobody around... Lost in nothingness. It's horrible."

Rhyme steps forward, extending her arms and attempting to lightly hug Leida and console her. "You're not dead, you're alive! Here, with me, in the city, under the stars and next to the water. You shouldn't say such sad, sad things." She sniffles a bit, releasing Leida quickly, looking apologetic. "Sorry... It was just so sad to think about!"

Leida has posed:
The girl looks slightly surprised as she is hugged and sits up a little straighter, tilting her head to look over at Rhyme again. Her amber eyes are half-closed and glassy as if she were only recently awakened from a long slumber but despite the haze her gaze seems piercing and intelligent.

She looks away. "Sad... Is it sad... to be all alone...?"

Rhyme has posed:
"Only if you let it be sad. It can be okay too! The quiet times when you are all alone to think, to look at the stars, to sleep, to dream, to do any number of things! Being alone can be just as nice as being with many people! Rhyme beams, looking away slightly. "I was alone for a while. But that doesn't mean you can't laugh, you can't smile, you can't enjoy yourself."

She grins. "Hey, you want to get some food? There's some good places to eat around here. I'm Rhyme! What's your name?"

Leida has posed:
"Only if I let it...?" The girl tries the words out for herself as if they made no sense when spoken by another. "How strange..."

She looks up again, over her shoulder at the grinning girl and her offer of food. Something stirs inside of her, a strange longing sensation... was it hunger? She couldn't be sure. Infact, she couldn't remember when the last time she ate was... or if she ever had. How strange.

"Leida..." She offers up her name to question and looks down at her reflection, tilting her head to the side at the image that is presented to her. "I don't think I remember... how to smile..."

Rhyme has posed:
Rhyme should have all sorts of bells, warning whistles, bad feelings, or some sort of premonition. But she doesn't. She wants this girl to recover, and she feels a strange sort of desire to help, regardless of what is afflicting the strange, dead-eyed girl.

"It's not strange! There's a lot of people happy to be alone. There are other people most happy with people around! It all depends on what you like."

"So are you hungry? I found a place that serves steak ramen after a little convincing..." She grins mischeviously. "It's almost as good as home. It's nice to meet you, Leida!"

She pauses, looking strangely at her new distant friend. "... Don't remember how to smile? ... What happened to you?"

Leida has posed:
Leida, as she calls herself, looks again at the cheery girl hovering over her shoulder, still hiding behind her bangs. "I don't remember..." Her gaze drifts down to the pavement then back up several times, her focus drifting from thing to thing. "Did I ever know how to smile...?"

She suddenly stands up, planting her boots into the water of the fountain and turns around to look at Rhyme directly for the first time. This bizarre behavior doesn't seem to register on her face. "What is... steak ramen?", she asks with genuine curiosity.

Rhyme has posed:
Rhyme beams at Leida helpfully, her bubbly smiles trying to FORCE the happiness into the sad, depressed-looking girl. "I'm sure you did. Of course you did! Smiling is like a force of nature! You don't learn it, and you don't foret it. Smiling just is. When you're happy, you smile. And even if you don't smile on the outside..."

Rhyme extends her hand. "You still smile on the inside. Now! I know what makes me smile, and that's some good noodles. Steak Ramen is tasty noodles with a bunch of stuff in it, and then a steak, on top of that. It's like two meals in one! Helps you grow big and strong and not like a little twig." She grins. "There's a place just down the way that isn't half bad if you want to try it."

Leida has posed:
"Smile on the inside...?"

A perplexed look crosses her face, head tilting slightly the side as she mulls over this string of strange philosophies. Leida wasn't quite sure what her new friend was talking about about. Friend...? Was this person her friend? She hasn't said anything to that effect but still the word sounded rather nice in her head.

She tried to recall other people who might be her friends too but the images are fuzzy in her mind, like mirages of things that never really existed. She pushes against the haze, trying to resolve people, places, anything familiar but a sudden sensation of rejection assaults her and her consciouness recoils from such thoughts instinctively, muddled and disoriented. What was she thinking about again...?

"I'm not sure I understand..." Leida looks back at Rhyme with her blank stare, all of these things happening in the blink of an eye underneath the surface of her mind. "But... I think I am hungry... Will not being a twig... make me happy?"

Rhyme has posed:
Rhyme giggles. What odd questions! "Well, it'll definitely make you less hungry! Plus, I love eating food. Being happy, and full, with nice people around... It's the best!" There is a brief pause, her undaunted smile remaining as she looks off into the distance. In her own head, there was not a haze, but rather emptiness where her dreams should be. She had been living in the moment, for a while, but now she really had a new dream to file away - Help this girl. She seemed so helpless and lost and she felt so bad for her that the bright idea of helping her seemed too good to pass up.

"Come on, it's this way!" Rhyme continues beaming happy smiles at the lost girl, trying to simply gently grab her by the wrist and take her across the street to a little hole-in-the-wall ramen shop.

Leida has posed:
Leida puts up no fuss when her arm is grabbed, allowing herself to be led away from the fountain silent and obedient.

For a moment, when the hand touches her wrist, something stirs inside. A presence both horrifyingly familiar and achingly distant rumbles across a gulf in her mind, reaching out to touch the foreign presence through her skin. It tastes the upbeat girl, soaks in a tiny fragment of her essence like a conoisseur of fine wine and finds something unusual. Confusion runs rampant through its mind, trying to decipher the sensation. Best to remain silent for now and see what happens.

A faint twinkle of light shines behind Leida's irises for a moment but it glimmers and disappears almost as quickly and the girl blinks, trying to make sense of the thoughts that were both hers and not as they fade away as well. Instead the constant fog that permeates her thoughts settles back in and she resumes her quiet trek with Ryhme leading the way.

Rhyme has posed:
Well that was a new sensation! What was that tingling?

Must be more of that weirdness Rhyme had been feeling since she woke up in traverse town! The itches, the weird tinglings, the terrible headaches, the pains in her chest... She had learned to accept, adapt, and ignore. They were all small prices to pay for being alive. Again.

As Rhyme three-quarters-leads one-quarter-drags Leida into the shop, an aging shopowner waves to the two. Rhyme quickly comverses with him, ordering two bowls of ramen, before sitting down at the front counter-bar area, leading Leida to a chair next to her. The shopowener busies himself with preparing the food, as Rhyme turns to her new compatriot.

"So... What are you interested in? Do you have any hobbies? Have you been in Traverse a long time? Do you... um... have any dreams?"

Leida has posed:
The girl watches Rhyme order and take a seat, following suit on the stool next to her. Her short stature has her riding a little low compared to the bar counter but not enough to impede with eating. She sits up straight, hands clasping together in her lap, the very image of an obedient and well behaved child.

"Umm..." The machine-gun questions force Leida to go quiet for a moment, thinking out her answers.

She wasn't sure how long she had been in this place or even what its name was until now. Her travels had brought her here many times in the last few weeks as the roads between worlds inexorably seemed to lead through or past the strange city upon which the sun never shined. As for the current visit, she couldn't remember when or how she had wound up here.

It was always the same. Fragments of consciousness woven in and out of periods of nightmare or blackness. From one moment to the next she could never be sure of when or where she would pass from fitful dreams to the waking world and that fact had never seemed strange to her until just now. How odd.

Unable to answer the first question, Leida deviated to the next and wondered just what it was that she liked to do. Certainly wandering seemed to be something she did with great regularity. But did that mean she enjoyed it? Why did she move around so much anyways? Didn't she have a home to go to? There weren't enough pieces of the puzzle there for her to put them together.

The final question really throws her for a loop. Before she can even process the thought something screams at her internally again, threatening to overwhelm her with nausea and she turns away from the dizzying cries with a wince.

Finally, with no answers forthcoming, the girl simply looks down at the counter top and says, "I don't know..."

Rhyme has posed:
Seeing the emptiness and confusion on the girl, Rhyme just smiles, nodding slowly as she tries to do more then listen - she tries to reach forward, as she once did, a hand sliding into her shorts pocket to finger the pin. She used to be able to read minds - to scan others, to reach out. She had to try. Something... Something was wrong. So she closed her eyes, and she focused.

The results were... Unpleasant.

First, as she closed her eyes her smile died. A sharp pain shot across her skin, through her arms and into her head. Then, her whole body started to itch like mad, and she couldn't help but feel something growing on her back - muscles she didn't know she had flexed before disappearing.

From an outside perspective, it was far more weird. Rhyme seemed to be concentrating on something in her pocket, then black tattoos scrolled their way suddenly across her arm, stylized and jagged. Without her clothes tearing, two fairly large black wings seemed to erupt from her, flexing out and splaying wide before shimmering into nothingness as quickly as they had come into being. Finally, atop her head, two lumps formed - ears, or something, under her beanie, pushing the woven cap up a bit. Her hair also seemed to be a mix of stylized black 'bangs' drawn on, and her normal blonde hair, with two animalistic ears hidden mostly under the skull-emblem beanie.

Doubling over, Rhyme held her stomach with both hands, stopping her concentration. The tattoos cleared up quickly, and her beanie sagged back down with nothing keeping it up. The transformation reversed... And Rhyme opened her eyes, looking apologetically at Leida. "S-sorry. I don't know what happened. I don't really have any dreams either, so don't feel bad. I'm sure we'll both have some. Are you... okay?" She wonders, forcing a smile as her skin crawls with the strange, foreign sensations concentrating on that pin had inflicted upon her.

Leida has posed:
The surge of weird energy is hard to miss for someone so intrinsically attuned to the nature of darkness as Leida, even if she doesn't realise the true nature of her current existence. Intrigued by this strange transformation, the demon exerts its control slightly and watches the weird tattoo emblems and wings dance into being upon the elder girl's body through the windows of its host's eyes.

Leida looks on passively as she is used as a proxy for the creature within to peek into the real world without actually influencing it, allowing it to remain hidden. This costs it dearly in the meager amounts of power it is able to control but the price is considered worth it upon this strange revelation. Perhaps it will have to find a way to push its host into getting closer to this one and find out more about her. She already seems to be making headway in that regards by sheer chance so then it might not have to do much at all.

But then, such things will have to come later. Even now its powers fade and regress, the creature fading into slumber once more to await an appropriate surge of darkness to feed upon and again grow stronger for a time.

Leida blinks as the temporary wave of darkness retreats from her mind and glances about as if seeing their location for the first time.

"I am... still here...?" She whispers quietly then looks back at Rhyme as she speaks at her again. "I am... fine...?" The answer seems natural but she's not quiet certain it is her own.

"Yes... I am... fine..."

Rhyme has posed:
Rhyme smiles pleasantly, and nods as Leida mentions that she's okay, and the Steak Ramen is served. Rhyme grabs her chopsticks, digging in with one hand as the other tugs down the top of her beanie. She sluuuuurps and munches loudly, to which the shopkeeper seems pleasantly surprised at, before explaining how the piping hot soup was to be eaten.

"So, dig in! Use the two sticks like this..." She shows the pinchy motions with her fingers and the chopsticks SORT OF LIKE SOMEONE GOOD AT THEM. GIRL FROM JAPAN. WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED. "And eat your food! Sort of pinch stuff with them and use it to put them in your mouth! Also, eating loudly is actually good manners because it shows how much you're enjoying the food!" She relates, before digging into the feast before her. It is a rather huge amount of food.

Between slurpy mouthfuls, she looks at Leida. "Why would you be anywhere else? I mean, we've been talking for a while now."

Leida has posed:
Strangely enough, the explanation for the utensils is unecessary. The world from which the small girl hailed shared striking similarities to the Japan Rhyme knew and loved only about a five hundred years in the past. The myths and legends of feudal Japan were all too real in her world, however, as evidenced by her current unwanted visitor.

Leida looks at the huge bowl of steaming noodle soup for a moment and then gives a soft gasp of surprise at the messy table manners of her companion. Apparently, that must be a newer social trend. But being the impressionable young thing that she is, the girl takes her own chopsticks and digs in loudly.

Unsure of how to deal with the unwieldly steak, she simply goes around it and nabs some of the noodles, leaning over to inhale them with a gentle but audible slurp. Her actions are altogether far more graceful and dainty than the Shibuya resident, however.

Leida closes her eyes as she takes in the first bite, testing the mixture of flavors and texture contained within. After a moment she exhales a small wisp of steam and looks down at the bowl with newfound appreciation.

"It's good..." She attacks the food with more gusto now but still retains her manners. After all, she's a good little girl. Rhyme's question goes unanswered.

Rhyme has posed:
"The steak should be tender, so just like squeeze it with your chopsticks, Leida." Rhyme beams, noticing how proper and reserved the girl was. She was like... A princess, or something. One of those prim girls from the movies, about samurai and hime-samas and all that jazz. The crummy feudal soap operas that were on television late at night.

She gives an eager nod at the mention of how good the food is, slurping and devouring down her bowl. "Whenever I'm down, or even just hungry, a bowl of this always sets me right. It's great that there's a place around here that does it."

Rhyme munches on a big mouthful after that, staring into her bowl. "Reminds me of home. I was fighting to be alive again, and now it doesn't even seem like that's possible."

She rubs her eyes a bit with her sleeve, her bright smile returned. "But that's sad stuff. You don't... Talk much, do you? I'd hate to make this uncomfortable for you."

Leida has posed:
Slowly the contents of Leida's bowl begin to dwindle as well. Once it is pointed out to her how to go about getting at the meaty topping, she works that into her routine as well, going back and forth between slurping noodles, chewing on small bites of steak and tipping the bowl forward to sip at the flavorful broth.

Only when Rhyme mentions her homesick nostalgia does she pause, staring quietly into the murky water for a few moments. The shadow of a memory ghosts across her eyes and an overwhelming feeling of loss assaults the girl though loss for what she cannot remember. Even the emotion itself is hollow and faint, like the remnants of someone else's impression upon her mind.

"You do not have to worry about my feelings," she speaks with startling clarity and poise suddenly, as if a completely different person. "I no longer have anything left to protect."

The change is brief and after a short moment Leida goes back to devouring the food, only pausing to whisper a final bit of wisdom born from the shadows. "Everyone loses their home. Everyone does..."

Rhyme has posed:
Rhyme finishes off her intense amount of food, nodding happily at Leida. "You're doing well! Keep eating like that and you'll grow up big and strong! It's important to eat a lot so you have energy to do stuff!" She offers as sage advice. "An active lifestyle and a good appetite is the key to a good life." She smiles, before ruffling Leida's hair a bit playfully.

"Then find something to protect. Find a dream. Find something to do, set your mind to it, and do it! It's true that everyone loses their home..."

Rhyme stands up, paying for the food as she does. "But that's why you find a new home."

Leida has posed:
A hint of surprise flashes across Leida's face at this suggestion. Find a new home? Is it really that simple? Something tells her it isn't, some nagging doubt from deep inside. Images pop into her head unbidden, visions of nightmare and eternal darkness. People flee and scream from the horror given material form that is the clear focus of these thoughts and for some reason the feeling of being responsible hits her like a hammer.

No, there can be no redemption for what she's done. Whatever it was the sheer madness of it has marked her forever, rising up to claw at the meagerest sign of hope and crush it utterly without reason or provocation. It is the reason for her lack of focus, the why of her inability to remember the who or what of her vagabond existence.

She doesn't belong here, among the happiness and optimistic cheer. The glimpse of light is too painful for her tormented soul to bear.

With the first real show of emotional reaction, Rhyme's words cause her to suddenly melt down into tearful mess. The change is swift, her face going from placid detachment to a scrunched up ball of digust at herself in seconds. "I-I'm sorry! I don't belong here...!"

With surprising speed the girl turns and bolts from her seat out the entrance of the shop and into a nearby alley. The shadows rise up to swallow her, their depths tearing a hole into an even thicker darkness that spirits her away to parts unknown before twisting shut behind her.