NERV Hawaii: Stella's Intro

<Darkling> Crack! Pop! The embers of the fire spark and hiss some more, startling you. You must have been dozing a moment there. It is getting pretty late of course, the celebration dying down. People were still dancing and singing and shouting all around though, despite the hour, despite the amount of drinking, and despite a good number of them having passed out on the ground to sleep off everything they had imbibed.
<Darkling> The fire itself managed to cling to life, having been mostly forgotten and no new logs tossed into its bright and hungry maw for over an hour now. It lit up the few people around you, mostly new faces, and ones you didn’t recognize. But there was Cecelia, playing her viola and stamping her foot to a tune she conjured from her head.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella watches Cecelia, seeming troubled despite the festivities. She's busy sketching away something, having kept away from most of the people that night beyond pleasant formalities and small talk.
<Darkling> Camille had been around now and then, checking up on the girl, making sure nothing happened to her during the night.
<Stella Lacroix> If anyone seems to have perked her up it was Camille, but only marginally so. The gloom is strong with her tonight. After a while she gives her drawing an appraising look. She shivers a little at it, but seems satisfied just the same.
<Darkling> A very drunk man staggered up to the fire, collapsing down in a heap against a log, spilling most of if not all of his drink in the effort, and making more than enough grunts and groans to be mistaken for one of the farm animals not far from here. "What a night!" He shouted out to no one in particular.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella turns her nose up just a bit after tucking her drawing away into a little folder, not approving of the newer people like him at all. She makes her way over to the fire herself now, looking down at it. "Have you ever been blessed with any visions?" She asks quietly.
<Darkling> If anything, the fire likely gave birth to visions, but instead it just crackled and ate at whatever it could in the cool night air.
The drunken man had already fallen asleep against the log, the remainder of his glass spilled dark red across his chest, an awful snoring noise coming out of his mouth.
Stella Lacroix - 01/02/2017
Another look at the man, then the fire. In the case of the latter the look is genuinely sympathetic.
<Darkling> Camille is by your side again at that moment, wrapping a thick wollen blanket around your shoulders. "So you don't catch a chill in the night my sweet girl."
<Stella Lacroix> Stella looks up at Camille, offering a fleeting smile. "Thank you, your grace." Her gaze drifts to the fire again. She starts to say something in a questioning tone, but then stops, perhaps thinking better of it. "Is..."
<Darkling> "Speak child," Camille prompts her. "Tell me what is on your mind?"
<Stella Lacroix> "Is everything as it should be? It's been so much busier here lately... and somehow different."
<Darkling> "All things will be as they will be. Only the future will tell." A normal person might smirk at what she said next, but Camille kept a cool placid face. "Or perhaps you will."
<Stella Lacroix> Stella, for one brief moment, looks about at her surroundings as if she owns the place. Then she breaks out into a sickeningly sweet smile. "Perhaps so. I'll try not to disappoint."
<Darkling> Crack! Pop! The fire sparks again, sending a shower of tiny orange lights dancing into the sky, snuffing out one by one.
<Stella Lacroix> She looks at the sparks and the fire, perhaps trying to wish them to ignite the drunken man. "Are you enjoying the night yourself?"
<Darkling> No answer. Other than the drunken man you're alone. It's as if Camille turned to smoke, leaving only the wollen blanket behind wrapped around you.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella looks over her shoulder, then sighs, attributing the disappearance to special powers. "One of these days I'll learn to do that, too."
<Darkling> You hear more shouting in the distance as a rush of wind howls over top of you, the fire nearly smothering out. It passes by moments later, leaving you alone to the fire and snoring drunk.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella shivers. The shouting gets her attention, though, so she's off in that direction.
<Darkling> As she stands she trips on something and collapses into the grass.
<Darkling> Crack! Pop! The noise repeats several times, shouts getting louder. Yet everything seems muffled down in the grass.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella stays planted face first in the grass for a bit, contemplating the situation. She tries getting herself into a sitting position, looking to see just what it was that tripped her.
<Darkling> As her f ace rises there's another one staring back at her, sideways in the grass. Cecelia's pale skin was accented by a line of crimson running down over her and pooling beneath her face and staining the grass.
<Stella Lacroix> Her eyes go wide with disbelief at first, and then she reaches over to stroke the girl's cheek. "Cecelia?!" Her voice barely a whisper.
<Darkling> The crimson smears across her cheek with the brush of your fingers and Cecelia doesn't blink or flinch.
<Stella Lacroix> "Cecelia!" A little louder this time, and then she's patting the downed girl, perhaps trying to find the warmest spot. She gives up after a while, getting some of her senses, and then she starts crawling. Away from the shouting.
<Darkling> The Cracks and pops of the fire has erupted into booms and explosions in the night. You crawl into the drunken man. You're not sure how he's still sleeping through all of this.
<Stella Lacroix> "Eeeh..." Cecile makes a soft, disgusted noise. Time to move around his drunken ass and find somewhere safe. Maybe the cathedral...
<Darkling> The man reaches up suddenly, grabbing your arm and gurgling as blood pours out of his mouth, his eyes wide and staring at you with all the urgency and intent in the world.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella lets out a loud scream and flails wi;dly, any semblance of stealth lost. "Get away! Let go!"
<Darkling> You break free of his grasp easily as his eyes loose any sign of life and his arm falls limply to the ground.
<Stella Lacroix> What a relief. In the heat of the moment Stella runs, making a beeline for the nearest building.
<Darkling> Nearly twenty feet away from it you hear a whistling noise before the small stone building you were running for erupts into the sky showering you with dirt and rubble, knocking you backwards off your feet and down to the grass again in a daze.
<Stella Lacroix> More contemplating of the grass. This time Stella stays down for now, panting heavily and getting all wide eyed again. Maybe it's best just to stay down...
<Darkling> You hear the screams now above all else, people running around you, guns firing back and forth as bodies hit the ground, more blood soaking into the grass and dirt. And then a hand is grabbing you, pulling you up.
<Stella Lacroix> Instant flailing and panicked screaming. A few moments of that and she actually tries to get a look at who's holding her.
<Darkling> A bright light blinds her as she looks at the face. Even beyond the light the face is just a black mask and visor on top of a black clothed body. "We've got a survivor over here!" It yells. More hands grab you pulling you up.
<Stella Lacroix> A flurry of choice words follow. Stella squints, but soon she calms herself enough to stop struggling. Still, she's breathing pretty heavily.
<Darkling> An actual face amongst the masks appears in hers, but the features are hard to make out. "Alright. Take her in for testing." The face says, and then blackness.
<Darkling> ~~~~~~~~~~~~
<Darkling> You startle awake in your bed in your bedroom.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella stares at the ceiling, breathing every bit as heavily as she was before. Takes a few moments for the relief to kick in. Then she's off to do some morning rituals. Face washing, brushing her stupidly long black hair, silently cursing fate...
<Darkling> At least it was just another nightmare, albeit a very vivid one. You've been told several times by your therapist that the memories would fade with time, but she's yet to have been right. Three years had passed, you had lived for some time with a foster family in New York, but a month ago you had been relocated to this house in Hawaii.
<Stella Lacroix> A quick, lukewarm shower, drying off, and an absurd amount of time spent messing with her hair before she just desides to leave it as is. Then she dresses up in dark clothing and trudges out of her room, head kept down.
<Darkling> You pass Seo-yun, who appears to be dressed up as a cat with full ears and a tail today, on your way out of your room. She waves with a smile and a 'mow' noise.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella smiles as well, though it's a tiny one. "Hail, noble spirit animal." Her voice is probably quieter than intended, but louder than her usual when she's in these moods. Looks like she tried to muster some enthusiasm.
<Darkling> "Rough night?" Seo-yun asks, her eyes looking a little larger than life with the makeup and contacts she had on.
<Stella Lacroix> "Yeah. Stupid recurring dream." She says with a sigh. "How about you? So far so good?"
<Darkling> She smiles and jumps, bouncing in your face. "I slept great!" Then she realizes what you said. "Oh, I'm sorry, want to talk about it over some tea?"
<Stella Lacroix> Stella ponders it, seeming a little uncomfortable at first. After a few moments she nods. "Sure, tea will be great."
<Darkling> She takes your hand and bounces down the hall, her poofy white tail swaying back and forth in front of you. You pass by the open door of Aveltina, glares at you from her bed as she paints her toe nails. She sticks out her tongue, the spiked piercing it it gleaming in the light.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella goes along, sparing the glarer a little glance. Then she shows off her own nail polish, a particularly dark shade of black, by way of moving her free hand behind her back and shooting the girl the finger as she goes by.
<Darkling> Down the stairs they go as you follow Seo-yun. You see Darrel lounging in the living room reading a book. He glances up and waves, you can tell his eyes glance up and down Seo-yun more than once before going back to his book.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella waves with minimal enthusiasm, just to be polite. She manages a few halfhearted bounces along the way.
<Darkling> Satoshi is in the kitchen as you enter, as he usually was. The huge glass windows that looked out over the cliffside let in excellent light that he claimed was essential for repainting his figurine of a busty and anatomically impossible girl.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella looks from the figure to Seo-yun and back. Could this maybe be her in the future? Not long into the pondering she gives the oversized windows a glare, not a fan of the lighting.
<Darkling> Seo lets your hand go as she pulls a kettle out from the cupboard and starts filling it with water. Outside you can see red waves crashing on rocks and a smattering of surfers hanging out and waiting for the perfect wave.
<Stella Lacroix> More like waiting for skin cancer, at least so far as Stella is concerned. She looks around the room in search of a slightly less bright spot to sit. When her inspection is complete she deems it not worth the effort to move a chair there and just plops down on one.
<Darkling> "Please!" Satoshi starts. "Don't shake the table, this is -delicate- work."
<Stella Lacroix> "Sorry. Didn't dawn on me that you're doing ritual labor." Stella murmurs an apology, sincere despite the oddity of the statement.
<Darkling> He doesn't reply at all as he picks up a cloth and does what can only be described as polishing the figure's ass.
<Stella Lacroix> If there was any doubt in Stella's mind as to what sort of spirit Satoshi was trying to summon, that erased it.
<Darkling> After a few minutes Seo bounces over with two glasses of tea, managing to not spill, and sets one down for you. "Camomile. To help calm you."
<Stella Lacroix> "Thanks." She smiles and takes a sip of the tea. She opens her mouth once or twice, not managing to say anything. Another sip. "It... was about my old home. Guess it was kind of like this. Bunch of people who weren't related living with each other."
<Darkling> "You consider this a nightmare?" Seo jests.
<Stella Lacroix> "Stuff happened." Another sip. Stella moves to cross her arms, but stops herself, making an effort not to get too irritated. "One of my friends died. Other people blew up. Could see their body parts fall from the sky."
<Darkling> Seo just kind of stares at you, tea cup at her mouth.
<Darkling> "That is so cool." You hear Satoshi say. He's even stopped waxing dat ass.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella stares at Satoshi. If looks could kill...
<Darkling> He doesn't seem to understand and instead goes back to working on the figurine. Seo on the other hand has set her tea down. "That actually happened? You poor darling! That's terrible."
<Stella Lacroix> A few moments pass and Stella's expression softens, her attention going back to Seo-yun. "Yeah... sorry to have darkened the day so early." She mutters the last, barely audible.
<Darkling> Seo lunges forward hugging. "It's alright. I'm here for you."
<Stella Lacroix> She hugs the girl back, eventually muttering. "... thanks."
<Darkling> From down the hall you hear two voices and footsteps. Into the room walks Iris, smiling and giggling at Erika Jackson.
<Erika Jackson> Erika calls out to the everyone.  "Alright! I need everyone in the living room, I've got an announcement."
<Darkling> Seo and Satoshi look up at the voice.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella looks as well.
"Must be something...." A sigh and she releases Seo-yun.
<Darkling> Seo-yun and Satoshi get up and follow everyone out into the living room.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella heads out as well.
<Darkling> Everyone else is gathered in the living room, even Alevtina made it down from her room and is skulking against a pillar.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella doesn't even look at her. Instead she just waits for the announcement.
<Erika Jackson> Erika waits for everyone to get settled. "I've got some news for you all.  You'll be getting a new housemate soon.  Stella, you'll be getting a lot of new housemates."
<Stella Lacroix> "It's only me that gets a lot?" She asks, a bit confused.
<Erika Jackson> "Yep, because you're getting transferred to a new home."
<Stella Lacroix> Her eyes go wide and then she slumps, sending a quick look at Seo. "Oh... why? Did I...?" Her mind races. Maybe she shouldn't have talked about that dream?
<Erika Jackson> The Brigadier General seems to notice and shakes her head and raises her hands in a placating gesture.  "No no.  You didn't do anything wrong.  This is just standard procedure."
<Stella Lacroix> Stella remains sulky and slumped. She doesn't buy it, but doesn't question it either.
<Darkling> "Did we do something wrong?" Darrel asks.
<Erika Jackson> "Nobody did anything wrong. Students get transferred, it's no big deal."  She sighed.
<Stella Lacroix> "Where am I being transferred?"
<Darkling> Well that cheered Darrel up.
<Erika Jackson> "Just to another facility like this one.  You've got some time to gather your things and say your goodbyes before we head out."
<Darkling> With that Alevtina heads back upstairs to her room, Satoshi heads back into the kitchen, and the others just kind of hang around
<Stella Lacroix> "This really sucks." She remarks to Seo more than anyone else.
<Darkling> Seo nods. "I don't want you to go. No one else here is fun." She pouts.
"Hey!" Iris looks offended. "I'm plenty fun and you know it!"
<Stella Lacroix> "Probably nothing I can do about it. Want to share contact info?" She whispers to Seo-yun. "You can be my knight. If you don't hear from me within two weeks of after they take me away avenge me."
<Darkling> Her eyes light up. "Okay! Don't worry, none of their minions will strop me from rescuing you from their dungeons!"
<Erika Jackson> Erika crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella gives a quick thumbs up and gets a slip of paper, tearing it in half. She writes down her own info, then forks over the pen and other half. Noticing Erika's reaction she adds. "Bonus points if my virtue is still in tact when you rescue me."
<Darkling> "It won't be after I rescue you." She jots down her info and and exchanges papers.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella gives a quick thumbs up and manages to force a smile. Then she goes off to her room to get things in order, probably with a large dose of blank staring at walls.
<Darkling> As you pack up, Iris comes by for a quick goodbye, wishing you the best, before heading off somewhere else.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella responds with an amiable enough goodbye of her own.  And eventually her packing is complete.
<Darkling> Downstairs Erika is waiting for you.
<Stella Lacroix> Stella approaches, bags in hand. "I'm ready."
<Erika Jackson> "Alright, the limo's waiting, let's get a move on."
<Darkling> Sure enough outside there is a black limo waiting for you. A driver takes you things and loads them into the trunk and awaits with the foor open.
<Stella Lacroix> In Stella goes, her mood as black as her clothes. And it's plain to see.
<Kaimana>
Theres already an athletic pacific islander inside and she gives Stella the shaka. "Heya. Love the hair."
<Erika Jackson> Erika's in soon after Stella, she's as taciturn as ever.
<Stella Lacroix> "Thank you." She manages quietly after looking over Kaimana a moment. She settles in. "You know where we're going?"
<Darkling> Beyond her you can see the outline of a pale looking girl staring at the other occupant. She switches her gaze to Stella. "Another friend. This day just keeps getting better."
<Kaimana>
"I wish. Even Astrid won't tell me."
<Darkling> Astrid smiles the most manikin looking smile you've ever seen.
<Darkling> ===========End===========