asphodelmeadows | [Open Post] Evening, Residential Area

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[Open Post] Evening, Residential Area

Things were falling apart - she didn't like it.

Nanase had a very set pattern to her days, for a very specific reason, and yet the last few it had collapsed in on itself. She still made it to class, to swim meet, to bed at the same time, but the bits in between didn't come naturally to her, like her feet had forgotten where to go. It had led to more than a couple run-ins with her folks, when she'd normally sidestep the chance by habit. She was thrown so off, she'd actually headed home today when her teammates did, and the blank stare her mother shot her in the kitchen was as oddly jarring as taking the time to dry her hair, or going through her closet and pulling out an old sweater and pants to replace her uniform.

The material felt fresh, never worn as she slipped back onto the street, and she pulled roughly at the stiff sleeves as she stomped through the snow still on the ground. She remained uncertain where to go, but her street eventually circled back around, passing near every house in town. Surely there wouldn't be many out in the middle of dinner time, or on the outskirts of town. And even if... What's so jarring about a girl taking an uncharacteristic walk around the neighborhood?

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"What?" Mari started, and reflexively crossed her arms. "What's your problem?" Of course, she was the one doing the staring...but when people got snappy with her, she automatically gave attitude right back. It didn't help that lately she was so weirded out by everything.

Still... She tried to reign herself in a little and said, "I haven't seen you here before."

-as if she didn't feel like she was missing something, already. The returned defense just made her frown thinner.

But she couldn't just snap back- She at least got a straight answer, which was a first tonight.

"Well I don't walk this way most nights." Or any night. "I was just looking around."

Edited 2013-01-18 21:36 (UTC)

Her eyes narrowed a little, but otherwise her posture lightened up a bit--only a bit, because she was still a little on edge from...everything.

The answer might not have meant anything to her at a normal time. Now, things weren't normal, so she absently tapped her chin with a finger and asked, "Most nights, or never before now?"

"...never. Why would I? I don't know anyone on this end of the street."

Or at least she didn't think so - she never visited her classmates, after all. Either way, what was strange was it shouldn't be strange. She hadn't lived in Asphodel long, after all.

Even if it felt like the days there were countless.

It might have been the answer she was expecting--at least, it wasn't that surprising, though she couldn't say exactly what she was thinking it meant yet.

"So...what made you change your mind?" It didn't even occur to Mari that she probably sounded pretty creepy asking these questions.

"-I just wanted some fresh air. Why? Is it weird for somebody to walk around here?"

Her answer was namely defensive (After all, what was so suspicious about this?) but there was a real uncertainty to her frown.

"Well, not really, but..." As she answered, she thought about how odd she must sound, and she really couldn't blame the other girl for being defensive. It was just...she felt like she was on the tip of something, but couldn't quite realize what it was.

"I was just thinking--you know, things have been a little weird lately." And she just wanted to figure it out, but she wasn't sure if many other people even noticed it.

...that didn't answer very much. But Nanase's wary stance actually relaxed a bit. The vague reply spoke to the strange anxiety that had plopped her out on the street in the first place.

"Weird how?" Not the most detailed on inquiry, but Mari clearly has a willing audience.

Normally, she might just have brushed it off and not bothered to talk about it with a stranger. But maybe her willingness to discuss it was just another strange thing...

"Like things don't make sense anymore," she said. It wasn't all that clear, but how else was she supposed to describe it?

"....you mean like, you don't know why you went into a room sort of thing?"

She wasn't certain what to say herself. She knew she felt like something about her day, her life was just 'off kilter' but when she tried to pin down real examples, she couldn't wrap her mind around it.

And the struggle was quickly showed in the wordless huff she gave.

"Yeah," she agreed. That was a good way to describe it, though she did want to clarify one thing: "But it's not like knowing why and then forgetting."

Mari really wanted to know that it wasn't just her, at least.

"-no, just. Why go at all..."

Nanase trailed off, her irritation ebbing away to a glazed sort of confusion. Why were they talking about this? Vague anxieties, uncertainties... Yes, that feeling was still there, unshakable, but she shook her head all the same, trying in vain to clear her head.

When it didn't work, she rubbed her brow with a near-bitter grumble.

"Maybe it's just the weather or something...."

She nodded, even as a part of her really did want to ignore it and go about things as she usually did.

However, mentioning the weather reminded her of something else- "The weather's weird, too! That blizzard we had wasn't snow..." She could still remember when she caught some of the snowflakes in her mouth and found them surprisingly sweet.

"...what are you talking about?"

She might have been playing off the oddities before, but now she was just baffled. What was so strange about a little snow?

...and why did just asking herself that feel... wrong? Wrong in a very different way from before, leaving her expression to briefly blank out.

"Didn't you go out in it?" Of course, part of Mari wasn't so sure why she'd been so adamant about going out to the grocery store in the middle of it...or why she'd ended up turning back partway. "It was like...something else, but it wasn't normal snow."

"-of course I did. I had to go to school." Nanase really didn't get what she was talking about, even if the days of the blizzard did seem something of a blur, looking back.

But... considering it now she couldn't help frowning as something occurred. "Classes weren't cancelled... Even when roads were covered." Did she really walk across town in that?

Mari nodded along, since that did seem strange now. "It's weird, right? I mean, that was no normal snowstorm." But she couldn't quite wrap her head around it, either.

Nanase gave a small, stilted nod, but the confusion was just clouding thicker over her face. She could barely register what Mari was pointing out, much less what it might mean.

And the sensation was so strange she abruptly waves it off, pasting on a forced indifference.

"It doesn't matter now - The storm's over. If it's anything to worry about, something else will pop up."

"What? Of course it matters!" Mari sputtered a bit and through her hands askew, though she couldn't really say what exactly it meant or why it mattered, either.

It was just... She couldn't stand how things were suddenly getting different. But it was getting harder to think about, and she shook her head. "I don't know..."

"Exactly."

For once today, Nanase didn't feel two minds or uncertain about what she thought. She was quite happy to latch onto Mari's uncertainty.

"If it isn't just this or that and things are really getting... weird somehow-" Nanase stuttered there, since she honestly couldn't wrap her mind around any specifics like she apparently could. "It'll keep being weird."

"Yeah, something like that. I just can't figure it out...but you know what I'm talking about, right?"

Even Mari was having trouble with anything more specific than what she'd already gone over, and it was so frustrating being unable to pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

But at least it really wasn't just her, so maybe she could stop feeling a little less like she was going crazy.

"-well yes, something's off lately."

She didn't feel quite comfortable admitting it anymore, whether it was the confusion that hit her moments ago, or the unknown cause was now looking much bigger than presumed.

And here she thought she just forgot to do some chore or something.

"I wouldn't be out here if things were normal."

"Right..." She recalled again how they started talking and massaged her temples. They were on the tip of something, she was sure of it, but they just couldn't quite get there. Besides being frustrated, it was also really unnerving.

After a moment, she said, "Sorry for being weird. I'm just glad it's not just me."

"Don't sweat it- Everyone feels off sometimes." Quite literally, in this case. In multiple ways.

Nanase stuffed her hands into her pockets, getting more aware of the said odd weather by the second. But - even if she wanted to brush this whole mess aside - she did feel there was something unfinished here. So she tacked on a belated introduction, polite enough for its delay.

"I'm Shimizu Nanase, by the way."

It was almost painfully true in so many ways, and Mari couldn't let herself dismiss it too easily.

Regardless, she was still glad to at least get the name and responded simply, "Mariella Hale." She wondered briefly how old Nanase was, since she knew well enough that looks alone were hard to go by. Mari certainly didn't look eighteen.

"Do you go to school?"

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