untrueheart | Act 3

Act 3

[Once upon a time, there was a girl who noticed that every single day, she had to track down her dearest love from wherever he happened to wander at the time. He could meander quite far if left to his own devices, which he was, more often than not, because establishing him a 'permanent' place to sleep at night? Had been overlooked.

That's not going to go on any longer. Rue leaves her room in the morning with some serious intent: first to find Mytho, then to convince him to get a room. His own room. ...Somewhere nearby. She has the perfect spot in mind. Of course, she has to find him first, a journey which takes her all over town and back again. Thinking of the only two things he's shown a real interest in doing, and with an eye out for anyone acting particularly odd and emotional, she'll stop a few people she happens to pass with a question:]

Have you seen a white-haired boy pass this way? Or perhaps he was dancing somewhere?

[Once all the hunt-and-find is over and done with (it is a long day), she might be forgiven for overlooking something upon her return to her own apartment. In truth, she doesn't get a good look until she starts to get ready for bed.

There on the living room chair is a pair of terrifyingly familiar black toe shoes.

That is all it takes to turn a frustrating but decent day into a rising nightmare; Rue screams once, turning to run out of her apartment and out of community building seven, as well. Distance, she wanted distance. If she could get far enough away they would not be real.

It is her particular brand of destiny that takes her on a collision course with at least one other person in her flight. Hopefully whoever they are can manage to stop her doing something foolish and irrational.

After all, it's just shoes.]

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[There is no space for want or not-want, not in Makie's direction. Buried under an avalanche of thorns in her mind, Rue can't spare a thought for anyone nearby. When some of the whirling finally calms, though, she can hear a person coughing.

Which leads her to look at Makie in silence.]

[The cough is deep and fierce and hacking, and muffled through one hand as Makie leans against a wall herself. It's not as bad as some earlier ones today and she's thankful, but at the same time--

She's being stared at. This isn't the best way to meet new people, Makie. She shakes her head around the coughing.

There. Breathe.]

Are you sure you're all right? [It's a colourless question without much force behind it, though she knows there's irony in asking, considering the situation. But she feels compelled to.]

[I have never been all right, says a whisper that lives only in the deepest part of Rue's heart. She keeps looking at her feet, at the ordinary black-and-white shoes there, forcing herself to remember that they aren't even dancing shoes and her mind is playing tricks on her. Again. That she learned she was never that other person to begin with.]

What's wrong with you?

[It's a lot, under the circumstances.]

[What indeed. She's too nervous to find out for sure. Makie shakes her head again, embarrassed now.] It's just a cough. It will pass.

[To deliver that question to her own shoes, though...] I might... ask the same question. If you need help, then...

[She says it almost apologetically. But her voice is clear.]

There's nothing you can do. [There were plenty of options, of course. Throw the shoes away, burn them, refuse to ever put them on. Now that she has the mental breathing room, Rue sees the irrationality of screaming and running away from something that could never chase her.

It was never the shoes, though. Not entirely the shoes. It was the name and the creature living within her, the one that wore the shoes.]

I...I don't want to go back.

[...

Makie watches her for a few moments. And then takes careful steps forward, sinking down to Rue's level to meet her gaze-- or at least glance at her on the level, with a sad expression.]

I don't, either. [It feels good to say that, quite honestly. But that's not the point, here.] I have no idea what you're running from, miss. But unless you have somewhere else to run to, I'm afraid it won't do you any good.

[You can't run from a thing you carry with you. So far, every crisis she's encountered in this story prompted her to run away and hide somewhere.

If only she could get her heart to slow down. She looks at Makie through the hair that has come to shadow her face. It was supposed to be over.]

There is nowhere to go here.

[It's the same point from a different angle. Makie just smiles tiredly.]

Do you have friends here?

[Friends? The way people usually talk about friends?]

Not really. Maybe one.

Can you find them today? Call them on the...the journal?

[There are two people she might think to call. One would recoil in unrestrained terror, probably run the other way but possibly just freeze there, and undo weeks of what can only be called progress.

The other doesn't ever need to know that she might still be that person.

Rue presses her lips together around an answer, just shaking her head.]

[Ah. There's so much more going on here than Makie can understand, and given the girl's first reaction she's not inclined to pry.]

Would some tea settle your nerves a little? I was heading to the teahouse. [She wasn't, actually, but there's no reason she can't change her mind. It's all she can offer.]

[Tea won't solve her problems. Going somewhere else will only delay the inevitable; she'll still have to face it when she gets back.

Unless it wasn't real in the first place. She can still hold onto that.]

It- it might. Help a little.

[Makie smiles faintly, and then stands.] My name is Makie Otono-Tachibana.

What a cumbersome length for a name. [Rue works on standing, with the wall for guidance to do it in a straight line.]

I'm- [She swallows almost audibly around a harsher sound than intended. The nascent call of the crow.] Rue. I'm Rue.

How very short in comparison. [There's a ghost of a smile. She won't offer to assist Rue up. Makie suspects that if she tried, the girl might take offence.] It's nice to meet you, Rue. Have you been to the teahouse before?

No. Afternoon tea is hardly my priority. [Not with practice to attend to and a wayward easily-frightened boy to watch. The more she talks, the more overt confidence finds its way into her voice.] Dedication to something means exactly what it says.

I am aware of this. [The more confidence that asserts itself, the more Makie's tone evens out into patience. She understands dedication.] What is it you are dedicated to?

[First, she has to swallow fairly hard.] Ballet. [But now is really not the time, given the circumstances.] I would prefer not to discuss it.

It would be hard for me to do so. I've not heard of it. [But she presses on for the shop without further comment, though her pace is slow. She wants to avoid aggravating her cough if she can.]

[It's incredible how many people have not heard of ballet. Now that she has her head about her, Rue remembers Souji mentioning the teahouse, when he first showed her to the Welcome Center. Still, she trails behind Makie, listless.]

[Makie says nothing else until they arrive at the stairs up to the tea house, then glances over her shoulder, voice quiet.] I can also leave you be, if you prefer.

[She doesn't want to be by herself. Ever.

She's too proud and self-contained to ask for this woman to stay.

This conflict leaves Rue speechless again, unsure of how to make a choice that ends favorably for anyone.]

[After a few moments of silence, Makie just half-smiles at Rue, turning to enter the shop. The door is held for just a few moments so she can come in without smacking her in the face.]

[Well isn't this a homey little place. Rue chooses the nearest table, with her back to whatever inoffensive thing - the wall, or a potted plant, or another table - she can find. She would prefer to see the door.]

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