semi-open ☆ on a night when it seems we've gone insane

[promisedyou]

WHO: Mio Sonozaki and those who want to get involved in a small player plot and its aftermath!
WHERE: Various locations in Recollé
WHEN: June 17th and onward, as denoted in the prompts.
WHAT: One of Mio's regains causes her to become a little paranoid and stab a few people.
WARNINGS: Stabbing, murders, hallucinations. Also the potential mentions of suicide and abuse. If anything else comes up, let me know and I'll edit as necessary.



☆ OPTION I. ( closed to those who are getting stabbed / early morning to early afternoon on the 17th )

[The streets of Recollé aren't safe, not for Mio. Everywhere she goes she can hear the voices. Even though she should be aware that it's probably the paranoia talking to her. But even so it's difficult to just push it all away like it was nothing.

But maybe you're out there, in a secluded area, on your own in the early hours of the morning and right before it turns late.

Surely nothing could possibly go wrong, right?]

★ OPTION II. ( closed to hairstroke / late afternoon to evening on the 17th )

[She's stabbed five people already. And while she's snapped out it for a moment, it's only that one moment that she finally realized what's happened. And the whole thing is actually terrifying that it makes her fingers tremble as she manages to take out her cell phone and immediately input Leon's number in hopes that he'll answer.

Please, please answer. She hopes that for her own sake that he will. But she believe in him. She always has.

Even if the demon in the back of her mind tells her that she shouldn't. After all, he's yelled at her several times before. He won't love her now. Not after what she's finally done. It doesn't matter if it's because of some disease or something else. She has blood on her hands now. Not as Shion Sonozaki. But as Mio.]

☆ OPTION III. ( open on the 18th from early morning to late afternoon )

[At this point, Mio's... around, but there's a blank look in her eyes. Emptiness. As if she's been completely drained of life. What people might immediately notice besides that fact is that her hair is a lot shorter, only going a little bit past her shoulders.

Nevertheless, she isn't doing anything.

In fact, she's just staring into the vast expanse of space just simply waiting. Maybe it would be best to talk to her.]

★ OPTION WILDCARD

[If anybody wants to play anything out from the 18th onward and visit her while she's in the mental ward on the weekends! Or for those who wish to have a personalized starter for option one, feel free to give me a heads up and I'll write something up.]

Comments

[promisedyou]

No point?

[Mio finds herself scoffing ever so slightly, laughing once again in spite of herself.]

There's definitely a point. But of course, I know better. I'm not allowed to kill myself again.

["Again", implying there was a first time.] I'm even stopped again...

[She wants to cry again. Because the last time she felt this way, that she didn't deserve to live in the slightest the person who came to her aid was Leon. He was the one who ran towards her when he heard those thoughts of her. What were they again?

Mio remembers it too well.

'I'm a horrible person. I'm scared that I'll become the person that I was before. That I'll hurt other people, the ones I care about, so... before I can do that. It's better this way isn't it? If I kill myself here, there's no chance that I'll betray anybody. So--'

And he called her. He begged her not to do it. That his life would be meaningless without her. But doing this... it's selfish, this time. It's not a selfless act that she can use to protect other people. It's a selfish act so she can forget that anything bad ever happened, kind of like drinking alcohol.]

Then again, I already promised that I wouldn't. I can't punish myself, the demon, that way. [Her tone is so strangely nonchalant and relax that it's almost difficult to tell that she's actually pretty shaken, deep down. Mio's just really good at hiding it.] And why does it matter? Are you going to take it away from me? From this demon that only cares about herself?

[Yeah, she's still going to continue to spit his earlier words right back into his face.]

1/2

[cardcaptured]

[No, those implications were not lost on him, those hints of other attempts on her life aside from this, and the look of stunned, hurt surprise that crosses his face as it hits is a fleeting one.

'When'? He wants to ask. 'Why would you feel that was an option?'

There was so much he didn't know about her situation, stuff he never bothered to ask or things people never felt to tell him, and having it all crash down now was overwhelming. Never mind that killing herself would be pointless, when there were means to revive her almost immediately, but the fact she wanted to harm herself in such a way to begin with...

But then she tosses back his thoughtless words like a dagger, and he can't help but flinch. The grip on her wrist tightens for just a moment, before sliding loose, pointedly looking away from her.]

I honestly should. You really don't deserve it.

[If it was who he thought it was from, which it seemed more and more likely it was. But instead of acting on it, he drops her wrist and walks away, retrieving his phone from the ground (with thankfully minor damage), and beginning to search his bag for something. This was becoming pointless. The longer he was getting wrapped up in this, the more time he was taking away from finding Leon's body, and if Mio wasn't going to cooperate in the end...]

You really are selfish, you know that? Don't you think other people won't care if you do something like that to yourself? That they won't hurt just as much if they wind up losing you, too?

[His back is turned to her as he digs through his bag, making his expression unreadable, which... probably was for the best. It was easier to say these things when she couldn't see his face.]

That's why I'm not taking that from you. It should be a reminder that there's people out there who value your well-being, even if you clearly don't.

[cardcaptured]

[And finally he extracts what he's looking for, a watch that may or may not look familiar to Mio. It was the closest thing he could grab in his hurry that wasn't too large or unwieldy that could do the job, and his stomach roils at what might be found there now. But it had to be done.

Keeping the watch in his grasp, the bright, intricate circle (if one could call it a circle... it was much more square than that) flairs into life beneath his feet. Setting the accessory onto the ground, beneath his feet, he adjust his grip upon his sword, leaving one hand upon the hilt and the other carefully on the end of the blade. Bringing up the memory in his mind, letting his body's past instincts take control, a stream of Cantonese leaves his lips as the wind whips beneath his feet, in almost a chant. The words seem to have vague meaning, more mystic in nature than anything else, and after about a minute, he opens his eyes, a location materializing in his mind.]

... you left him in Tisse?

[It's less a question and more a statement of disbelief. That wasn't all that far from here...]

[promisedyou]

I know. [Of course she doesn't deserve it. As the monster that she is, as the demon that she's become, there's no way that she's deserving of it. How can she be? She never deserved love to begin with. Not as Shion. Not as Mio. And maybe if she killed all of her emotions and truly become a demon like she says she is... like she said she was... this would be so much easier to handle. But it's because she still has feelings that everything hurts so much more. It's only when he uses whatever spell to find Leon that she finally stands up from where she was sitting.] All the people who cared about my well-being are gone. They died along with him. [She means that proverbially, of course, but whether Xiaolang decides to take that literally or otherwise, she honestly could care less at this point.] My own sister wouldn't care if I died. But that wouldn't be proper punishment for me, in the end. But since you've found him, I'm no longer needed here. That's why I shall exit the stage while I still can. [If he doesn't plan to stop her, she plans on walking away. She has to go.]

[cardcaptured]

[The logical course of action would be to end it here, to go and call Li-Na and tell her what he had learned, where Leon's body would be. After all, at this point, they were just wounding one another, going farther and farther from a place where they could reasonably fix this. It was better to break now, than feed into things further.

But that barb digs deep, hitting something hot and furious inside of him, and he can feel the textured metal of his sword's hilt digging painfully into his hand as his grip tightens around it. After he had defended her from her sister's criticisms, and how he worried over her disease and disappearance. How dare she. HOW DARE SHE.]

I CARE.

[The words are hard and ragged around the edges, struggling to control his breathing and the blind anger that made him lightheaded. He whips around to face her, too upset to even conceal the hurt upon his face.]

Do you think I like any of this, Mio? You took the life of someone dear to me, and just because I'm not patting you on the back and telling you it's going to be okay doesn't mean I want you dead!

I know you didn't do it on purpose. I know it's not your fault. But do you expect me to brush it off and say 'it's just an accident' and try to make you feel better, when I lost my one of my only family members here in this stupid city?

[His voice hitches, and if he was a more emotional boy, he'd be in tears, but instead, his voice just grows louder, his words coming out quicker and more desperate.]

Do you think I like hearing you talk about hurting yourself? Do you think I want to lose another person close to me? Would you feel any different if I was the one who killed him instead? If I cut off contact with you, worried you, withheld information from you, talked about ending my life, and then expected you to sympathize with me, despite all of that?

[It's so much, so much pouring out of him, and, honestly, for as much as he got onto her about being selfish, a lot of this is fairly self-centered too. But he's young, and while a bit more mature than a lot of his peers, he's still fairly clumsy with these things. He's not at a place to look at it from a more even standpoint.]

I can't forgive you for that. I can't. But it doesn't mean I think you're a monster, or a demon, or whatever else kind of terrible being you're wrapping yourself up in believing. You did a terrible thing, and you need to take responsibility for it, but not at the expense of your own life.

[promisedyou]

... [Maybe she should be lucky that she's practically turned her back on him to the point where she's about to leave because it's growing a lot more difficult to conceal any of her emotions. She won't cry. In fact, she doesn't say anything for the longest time, before sighing.] You don't get it. Not once did I want anyone's sympathy or forgiveness; I knew that I never deserved it. In fact, it would be so much better if you hated me. Wouldn't that be so much easier? After all, I did a terrible thing. I need to pay for my sins. That much I knew already. I wasn't planning on running away. I said that already, didn't I? I'm not allowed to kill myself. I'm never allowed to. Because it won't erase the blood on my hands. It'd make me feel better, just for a little bit. But I can't atone for what I've done that way. It would be way too easy of a choice. I've never been able to make any choices myself. None of that matters, though. Not to you, or anyone else. They're just pretty words that I say to be convincing... to seem like I'm still human. [Was she ever human to begin with? She recalls those words... that the one with the demon is Mion. She was Mion. She was supposed to have the demon, not her sister. That's why she committed those crimes, not just because of some stupid disease. Maybe she should stop pretending to be human. He might not think she isn't, but Mio knows better.] Just forget about me. Forget everything I've said before today. All you need to see isn't the kind, but playful Sonozaki Mio. She never existed to begin with. She's dead. All you need is to never forgive the horrible Sonozaki Mio. To hate her because of what she's done. Because it's a sin that can never be undone. I'm finished talking. [She isn't allowed to say anything more than that. Anything more and she won't be able to do what she has to in order to atone. Which is why she doesn't hesitate. And she finally, finally walks away.]