Drifting

[therewerefifty]

Who: Makie and you!
Broadcast: Nope
Action: Twin Roses / Iskaulit
When: Nowish

[Makie moves back into the Twin Roses with a lack of fanfare.  It's comforting to at least come back to a place with a room that still reads as distinctly hers; the peasant dresses are still tucked away.  The replacement weapon she had made is still here.  Her assurance that she has another life waiting for her in Adstring is gone.  So now, this ship is the only home she has.

She's spent the last weeks rebuilding her stamina, even if it's just by walking the length of the cargo bay and taking long walks through the Iskaulit.  She'll always be a ghastly pale woman, but she no longer has to stop quite so often to get her breath back, and  a recovered appetite means she's finally putting a little meat back on her bones.

She still drifts through the weeks quietly enough.  There's a lot to take in.

-------

Today she owns the melancholy she feels, taking a trip down to the Iskaulit to visit the memory tree.  Her own name is attached here; it's a vague sort of surprise.  She reaches out to remove it, hesitates.  Then finally plucks it from the tree only to move it, clipping it to the piece of card with Lilly's name scrawled on it.  That Makie is long gone, and maybe she gets a happy ending.  It doesn't matter.  It just feels right.

Then she settles quietly by the tree, Misty's shamisen in her lap, and plays.]

Comments

Iskaulit

[monolike]

[Somehow, Sorey manages to find her. He spends a lot of time on the Iskaulit anyway, so maybe it was inevitable, or maybe he's been checking Makie's usual haunts since she came back to see if he could find her.

He does, and she's playing, and it's so peacefully nostalgic that he just comes right over, stands nearby for a polite amount of time, then quietly sits down on the grass nearby to hug his knees and listen.]

[therewerefifty]

[She's aware when Sorey arrives, but the rest of her memory is filled in by now; he's not going to begrudge her continuing to play by any means. Besides. It's nice to have an audience sometimes.

It's some time before she comes to the end of the piece, melancholy as it is, and she lets the last note die out naturally before laying the bachi gently across the strings.

Then she looks up and smiles. Hey.]

[monolike]

[Beams back at her.]

You know, there are these huge, gorgeous ruins near where I grew up. The presence there is sort of heavy...but the ceilings are huge and vaulted. Makes everything ring.

I think your music would sound so pretty in there.

[therewerefifty]

Acoustics. It would sound lovely. [Some of the rooms on the Iskaulit are a bit like that, but she didn't want to draw that much attention. Still.]

Do you know what the ruins used to be?

[monolike]

Not at first. [His smile turns a little sad, but it's an old kind of pain. He's starting to come to terms with it.] Then I found out that the ruins were built for my grandfather, over a thousand years ago. That was...really cool.

[therewerefifty]

[...she definitely appreciates the sadness, but she's also confused. A grandfather, over a thousand years ago...?

She's also not going to ask. It's obviously a painful topic; another time.]

They must hold a very special place for you. Have you explored them through?

[monolike]

[Lmao that hesitation. Makie, you are so very sweet; he's missed you terribly.] Oh yeah, definitely. Mikleo and I practically grew up in them; as soon as we were old enough to climb we were in those ruins almost every day.

[therewerefifty]

It sounds like a lot of fun. [She...climbed trees as a kid? Was kind of precocious in very early years before lessons on Being A Lady started taking precedence. And that whole seppuku thing.]

...Mikleo is a friend? Brother?

[N e v e r met him]

[monolike]

Oh, he's my partner! We've been together since we were babies, and we'll be together until we're gone. [Said with all the confidence in the world] I should bring him along next time you play somewhere, I know he'd love to listen. Probably drill you on traditional arrangements or something, too.

[therewerefifty]

[Oh lord, that's some beautiful confidence there, you sweet kid. If she wasn't currently feeling the death of all her familial attachments, she might have been able to dredge up a smile for him. Instead, she glances down at her hands.]

I never mind an audience. Is he a musician, then?

[monolike]

[Yeah well, confidence is better than that wavering uncertainty he had for a while, so he's kind of faking it until he makes it. Either way, the air around Makie goes a little dark and heavy, so Sorey scoots a little closer to her.] He's not, but he really likes to learn about new stuff. Music in particular has so many cultural ties.

[therewerefifty]

[It's a reasonably fleeting heaviness, at least. She's trying not to dwell on it too much, and music is a good subject for distraction.]

It does. There are so many different instruments and styles I'd never heard before coming to the Fleet. Misty introduced me to jazz.

[monolike]

What does jazz sound like? Can you play any of it?

Twin Roses

[passingthrough]

[Kitty is happy to see Makie returned to the ship. She took it hard when Wrath, Anders, and Wolfe all came back but didn't return. Of course, in the boys' defense, they actually tried and the Atroma shifted the transfer order and they didn't fight it further than that. And now only Anders remains of the three of them again. She hopes this reunion isn't so short lived.]

I feel like there should be a song to re-greet old crewmates. Not that I'm calling you old. [Apparently, Kitty appreciates fanfare more than Makie, but since there isn't a song all she gets is lip service toward one.] I guess I could throw confetti at you, but the Atroma already took care of that and we don't have maintenance crew anymore. [She misses Castle and Misty and assumes Makie feels similarly.]

[therewerefifty]

[She certainly misses Misty. Or she did, once she remembered Misty existed. She can't help but smile at Kitty's greeting, though, shaking her head a little.]

Confetti is a very inconvenient thing.

[passingthrough]

Don't complain too much. They might switch it to glitter, and then we'd really be doomed. [THE HUMANITY!]

Do I hug you? Are we hugging friends? [She wants to hug her, but isn't entirely sure she wouldn't be stabbed for it and she couldn't blame her since once upon a time Kitty would have reacted similarly herself.]

[therewerefifty]

[She's not startled by the idea of hugging, but that delivery sure is something else.

...Kurt already hugged her. She liked it very much. So.]

I...think we are....?

[passingthrough]

[She'll take that as full and complete hugging permission and try not to abuse it. She steps in to hug the girl.] It wasn't the same without you. Also, too many guys.

[therewerefifty]

[There's some soft laughter at that, shaky though it may be. Her own hug is not as gripping as Kitty's perhaps, but it's... trusting. Gentle.]

We'll have to fix that.

[passingthrough]

We could write a formal letter of complaint to the Atroma to send us more women. Or were you thinking of knocking a couple of our guys off? [Kidding of course.]

[therewerefifty]

[Kidding, but it strikes very close to home. She's quiet a moment.]

...I think I'd like to not kill anyone. For a while.

[passingthrough]

Hey... Of course. I mean nothing would make Vash happier, right? [She tries to keep it light, but looks concerned.]

[therewerefifty]

[She does smile at that, even if it's just the tiniest quirk of her lips.]

Keeping my captains happy. Very important, I imagine.

[There was just... kind of a lot of death just before she woke up here.]

[passingthrough]

Oh, probably. We get so surly and unpredictable otherwise.

[She can totally relate even if it's been a long time. It's not the kind of thing that ever feels that long ago.]

It's rare that's ever come up anyway. [It's not like there are zombies attacking them every day or something!]

[therewerefifty]

I hope it stays rare. [Heck no! Psh, like that'll ever happen.]

I think it might be nice to just rest a while.

[No illness, no killing people in the middle of winter. It sounds like heaven.]