12 Black Feathers [Action]

[first_darkness]

[ It's early in the morning when it happens.

A small area of black appears near the fountain, just floating in the air. As the minutes pass, it slowly grows until it's about ten feet in diameter, even partially consuming the fountain. About ten minutes after it first appears, Saten fades into view in the very middle, appearing almost as if she's asleep. She floats there for about three seconds before abruptly dropping to the ground.

At that, she seems to wake up. She lifts her head after a moment and slowly looks around. It takes several more seconds before she slowly pulls herself to her feet.

She spends a while looking about her, but before too long the fountain catches her attention. Or in particular, the water in the fountain. When you've never seen anything before, fluid dynamics are absolutely fascinating. So despite the fact that everything non-living within a five foot radius of her turns pitch black, she spends the next several hours running her hand through and splashing at the water. After all, she can see it just fine.

She can be found in the vicinity of the fountain for pretty much the rest of the day and well into the night. Saten is more than content with just staying where she is and observing everything around her for a while. She may not be dressed like a New Feather, but she does seem to be acting a lot like one. ]

Comments

[de_bel_survivor]

[At a more reasonable hour in the morning, Kouki went out to check the shops. He's planning on seeing what's new in the item store and stock up on a few things, before going over to the battle dome.

But the closer he get to the plaza, the easier it is for him to sense a familiar presence. Seeing as it's been a while since they talked, Kouki paused for a moment, before making his way over towards the fountain.

The fountain sure is a popular place to go.

Once he arrives at the plaza, he see Saten...just observing. Kouki walks closer to her, until he see her expression better. Her expression and how she acts so far...she acts like a New Feather.]

...Hello, Saten.

[He's going to place the blame on the Malnosso.]

[before_my_darkness]

[ The Malnosso are always a good target for blame, yes.

She looks up and smiles at him. ]

Hello. You know my name.

[ Kouki might recognize the flow of her speech as being the same as back when he had been turned into Abel the Shepherd. ]

[de_bel_survivor]

[He somewhat recognised it, as much as he like to remember that time as the Shepherd.]

Yeah, I do. I take it you don't know my name?

[Either they temporarily turned her into a blank slate (so to speak), or the Malnosso make her younger.

...Which is a nice reminder that Saten is a lot older than him.]

[before_my_darkness]

[ A lot, indeed. But not at the moment! At the moment she is a young little thing.

Well, aside from the "little". ]

No... should I?

[de_bel_survivor]

Ah...no. You either forgot or technically haven't meet me yet.

[Unless her world have something like Cain and Abel, or other things equivalent to the King of Bel.

Either way...since Saten obviously don't know his name, he should give it again.

...Abel or Kouki?]

[before_my_darkness]

How would I forget? [ After all, it's not like she really has anything to forget!

... or does she? ]

[de_bel_survivor]

["The Malnosso made you younger and therefore, you forget your memories as an older person."
"You hit your head on a rock."
"Trauma."

...Uh, hm.]

Well, we met when you're older. [Way older.] But since you changed into someone very young, you forgot your memories as the older you.

[before_my_darkness]

I see. Can that really happen?

[ Because she doesn't have much experience yet but there's something about it that doesn't seem like it should work. ]

[de_bel_survivor]

Yeah. It's because...well, someone else forced the change on you.

[Where is Atsuro when you need a good exposition lackey?]

[before_my_darkness]

... How did they do that?

[de_bel_survivor]

[A wizard did it]

By applying Shifts onto us.

[before_my_darkness]

What's a Shift?

[de_bel_survivor]

A Shift is like...a phenomena. [Um.] Sort of like magic!

[before_my_darkness]

... I still don't think I understand. Sorry.

Is it bad?

[de_bel_survivor]

Oh, it's fine! I dunno how to explain it, just that Shifts can happen.

It's only bad if it's troubling you, especially after you recover from them. It's why people usually look out for each other when they're under a Shift here.

[before_my_darkness]

Will I know when I recover from it?

[ Memories are new and exciting things and she's not quite sure how long they last or anything like that... ]

[de_bel_survivor]

They usually last about a week at least, and you'll know when you recover from it.

[A part of him want to see Saten's--the normal Saten--reaction to this. Just a part.]

[before_my_darkness]

[ Cursing her own ignorance and naivety. Also slight mortification, but that's not anything she'd show to anyone else. ]

What's a week?

[de_bel_survivor]

A week is seven days. So after seven days, a week's passed.

[As long it's not a difficult subject, Kouki can easily explain simple things.]

[before_my_darkness]

So I'll recover after that long?

[de_bel_survivor]

That's right! [Hm.] How long have you been here, as far as you remember?

[before_my_darkness]

Hm... [ She looks up at the sky, straight to where the sun is. Then she turns and points to where it was earlier in the morning, when it was lower in the sky. ]

The sun was there when I got here.

[ Saori taught her that the sun has a name! ]

[de_bel_survivor]

Since the early morning...which means you got about the whole week until you're back to normal, Saten.

[Here's hoping she can take care of herself in the meantime.]

[before_my_darkness]

[ She laughs. ]

That makes it sound like a really long time. Is it?

[de_bel_survivor]

[He chuckles and grins.]

It does, but if you have something to do in the meantime, time will fly before you know it.