routedout: (♠ "There's a river")
Sone Miyuki ([personal profile] routedout) wrote in [community profile] leires2024-10-23 07:49 pm

eien no owari ni

cw: hallucinations (audio and visual), body horror and insect horror at the end

[ scene: nighttime. Miyuki is out again, having left her room after Bria went to sleep, searching for her bat. she has symptoms of what might be a fever, and visions of her dead best friend follow behind her.

"Miyuki... Aoi thinks you should go back to bed." ]


Shut up... why would I listen to you? You're not even actually here...

[ "Boop boop... Aoi just thinks... you'll be safer with Bria..." ]

I'll be safer once I find out who took my fucking bat--!

[ another Aoi appears, this time without the kitty hairpin.

"Boop boop... this Aoi believes in you! Miyuki... you're so cool."

"Miyuki... please..."
]


Ugh, just stop it, both of you...

[ holds her head, as if having a headache. a thought occurs to her.

she heads to the infirmary.


"Miyuki! Wait!" ]
actuallycuring: (The Cooler Karen.)

[personal profile] actuallycuring 2024-10-24 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
[Karen's been having a good week, all things considered. It's tempting to think the Team Aqua motive has been boosting her mental health, or she's benefiting from some kind of positive energy she gets from transforming, but those are only figuratively the case--it's just that being Cure Aqua again, even temporarily, makes her feel like things are turning around.

It's also why she feels safe being out and alone late Thursday night, though she probably would have been regardless--she didn't get to be the person she is today by ignoring people's suffering.

Her decision is validated when the door opens, and she looks up from typing something on her ID.]


Oh! Sone-san.

["Good evening," her instincts tell her to say, but Miyuki is probably here because it isn't.]
actuallycuring: ("water nothingness moon lovely")

[personal profile] actuallycuring 2024-10-24 03:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[

For a brief moment that will haunt her for the rest of her life, before it occurs to her what the implications of being out and about at this time could be, Karen thinks Miyuki is just calling her out on her sleep schedule.

]


--yes, well, I wanted to make sure I was available while... everything is still going on.

[She puts her ID away.]

What can I do for you?
actuallycuring: (The Cooler Karen.)

[personal profile] actuallycuring 2024-10-24 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I think we can handle that.

[Maybe Karen should doubt this... but Miyuki is obviously telling the truth about how she's feeling.

She gets up to look over the shelf of pain relievers, not that she really needs to when she has their contents memorized. The stronger painkillers she gave Ai back then seems excessive for a headache, so probably best to go with something like ibuprofen or acetaminophen. As for the other problem...]


I could get you some tea if you'd like. It might help you get to sleep a little more easily.
actuallycuring: (Karen designs a flyer)

[personal profile] actuallycuring 2024-10-24 07:33 pm (UTC)(link)
All right.

[Karen settles on ibuprofen, handing a bottle to Miyuki.]

You can take it with water, or you can wait until I come back with the tea, if you'd like.
actuallycuring: (pic#17062142)

[personal profile] actuallycuring 2024-10-24 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[Karen smiles at her, and heads off towards the kitchen, leaving Miyuki to her own devices.]
actuallycuring: (When she was older and was in)

[personal profile] actuallycuring 2024-10-24 09:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[It is Thursday night, and the sooner everyone is safely in their rooms, the better. Hm, on that basis, maybe she should head back after this. So Karen decides to prioritize getting back to Miyuki first, send her on her way, and then come back to the kitchen to clean up and maybe have some herself. For now she leaves everything out.

The route from the mess hall to the infirmary is a familiar one for Karen, and it doesn't take her long, even with the cup in her hand.

She opens the door.]


I'm back, Sone-san.
actuallycuring: (expressed little o her reaction)

[personal profile] actuallycuring 2024-10-24 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[It takes the briefest moment for Karen to process what she's seeing. She recognizes Miyuki. Miyuki has something. Miyuki is moving--

It all happens too quickly for anything else. The force of the blow knocks her over. She falls. Her arm falls. The teacup calls. But she isn't aware of any of it.

Minazuki Karen is no longer aware of anything.]
burdenedbee: (and bottle it up)

1/3

[personal profile] burdenedbee 2024-10-25 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
[Maybe it’s a testament to how tired she is, that Bria actually manages to fall asleep Thursday night. More than likely, though, it’s the company. When she first started spending time with Miyuki, she’d pretend that Miyuki was one of the other Honeys. Capable Marisol. Funny Caroline. Athletic Sierra. But somewhere along the way, she’s come to love Miyuki for Miyuki. She knows she doesn’t know all of her. She wonders if Miyuki even knows all of Miyuki. But she loves her. Not in the romantic sense that she’d disavowed at the last trial (though every now and then there’s a flutter in her chest. Pretty girls are a weakness of hers. Between Ai, Ruby, and Miyuki, she was doomed) but instead the type of love that Bria sees as most pure and sacred. The love between sisters—- not of blood, but the kind that picked each other. In Miyuki’s presence, it was oddly easy to fall asleep.

Which is why waking up is so distressing. Her head is quiet, she’s still cut off from the lace—- and she’s alone.]


… Miyuki? [She begins to tear apart the blankets. Like she can materialize her missing friend out of nowhere, all the time, she’s painfully aware that it’s Thursday night. They know what happens on Thursdays.

She doesn’t even waste time with her shoes. She just moves. To the bathroom, first, the most logical place—- but it’s while she’s opening the door and peering in that two things happen.

Her nerves scream back to life as she returns to the living—- the lace looking in the distance once more.

And she hears something. Bria bolts.]
Edited 2024-10-25 00:38 (UTC)
burdenedbee: (i am the vengeful daughter)

2/3

[personal profile] burdenedbee 2024-10-25 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
[She couldn’t tell you how long she takes, between then and when she gets to the clinic. But the entire time, she’s pleading with her own body to move faster, hurry, maybe she won’t be too late.

When she finds Miyuki, standing there, she feels relief. She even sighs happily, as she puts her hand on Miyuki’s shoulder.

Then she sees Karen. Horror. And she knows, without asking, or checking. She knows because she can tell the lace exists again—- frustratingly out of reach—— she’s too late.]


Miyuki.
burdenedbee: (i said)

3/3

[personal profile] burdenedbee 2024-10-25 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
[Bria still hasn’t processed Mimi’s betrayal in a healthy way. Instead, the shadow of what Mimi did, and what Bria did after, haunt her near constantly. It adds a layer of fear to every relationship here: no matter how much you trust someone, no matter how much you know a person, no matter how much the two of you love each other—- there’s always a chance that they can surprise you. That they can betray you. That they can do something dangerous and terrible that puts everything at stake.

Over the weeks, Bria’s taken the despair that Mimi left her with, and combined with Bria’s determination, she’s made her own safety nets. Backup plans, for when things go wrong. After last week, especially, Bria’s been thinking about what she might do in hundreds of different scenarios.

She has one for this. A plan. A way to fix things. To save her friend.

Bria’s fingers are digging into Miyuki’s shoulder now.]


Miyuki.


Don’t be afraid. I’ve got this.
burdenedbee: (and spites as good a reason)

[personal profile] burdenedbee 2024-10-25 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
[Bria pulls Miyuki in close, squeezing her.]

Shh. Shh, Miyuki, it’s going to be fine.

I’m here. I’m going to help.
burdenedbee: (and put a drop)

[personal profile] burdenedbee 2024-10-25 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
It’s okay. It’s okay. I’ve got you. [She keeps saying it like she’s so sure. But she also has to force herself not to look at Karen. She guides Miyuki over to one of the cots carefully, to sit her down, and supports her fully with one arm and her torso.

Her other hand? Tapping away at her ID.]
burdenedbee: (with mine)

[personal profile] burdenedbee 2024-10-25 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
[Bria keeps tapping away, all the while, her heart is pounding with desperation. The plan all depends on Miyuki’s agreement, on her participation, but with the state she’s in now, Bria doesn’t know if she can trust her to do that. At this rate, she’ll give them away. It’ll all be for nothing. There will be no hope——

and that’s when she feels it. The power that saves desperate girls. She has it in her still. Just a little. Just enough to—- she pockets her ID, mission complete.]


Stay here, okay? I’ll be right back. I’m… getting help. [And she hops up and races out of there.]
burdenedbee: (and put a drop)

1/2

[personal profile] burdenedbee 2024-10-25 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
[Bria runs. She runs the whole way outside, desperately holding onto the sliver of power she holds within her.]

Please. Please, you have to help me. You have to help me purge her.

[and for the first time since she arrived here, her bee sisters respond. They buzz to life, swarming about her head and hands.]
burdenedbee: (youll never understand)

2/2

[personal profile] burdenedbee 2024-10-25 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
[When she returns back to the clinic, they’re still visibly buzzing around her.]

Miyuki. I know this is—- terrifying and awful. But I need you to trust me.

We’re friends, right?
burdenedbee: (and put a drop)

cw body horror, insects

[personal profile] burdenedbee 2024-10-25 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
[We’re besties.

Three girls had once said the same thing to her.

Three girls who were now dead.

The bees buzz louder, seemingly reacting to Bria’s mood shift, the energy in the infirmary turning increasingly hostile.]


That’s right. Besties. [And she snaps on it. The instant she snaps, chaos begins.

Bees rush into Miyuki, right through her ears. It doesn’t hurt, and even if she should feel them in her head, she can’t. Their humming encourage her as they ease her mind. Why don’t you take a rest? they seem to ask. Images flash through Miyuki’s mind—- a candle, with Mars’ name on it, held by a hand with blue nail polish. A girl running through the forest, being hunted. Caroline, frozen in beauty in her coffin. Rows and rows and rows of reddened honey. Three girls in a bathtub, taking off their clothes to dress up another teen, and applying makeup to their new sibling’s face. A face looking in a vanity mirror. Sierra’s body on the forest floor, crooked and broken. A girl in an old fashioned swimsuit poolside, while a man watches her. A girl exploding into a frantic despair inspired dance on an outdoor stage. Brilliant shining smiles as the lottery numbers are called off the radio. A boy screaming “Don't you know who I am?!” in a prison of honey. A meadow with pink flowers. A swarm of bees lifting Mimi off the ground, while a circle of girls stand below her, holding hands, steam rising from the lake they stand in. A cavern of honey. Mimi’s screams, before Bria turns and looks at the Miyuki in the memory, or whoever’s eyes Miyuki’s seeing all this in, and says “Run.” A group of adults in wicker hats with veils, shouting “THE HIVE IS HIGHER!” Bria shouting at a woman with a pinched face, screaming that it’ll kill them all, kill them just like it killed Caroline when they forced her to be Queen. “Secure your rule.” the same woman says, in another flash. “Kill her.” and Bria, on the ground, glaring defiantly up at whoever Miyuki’s seeing through-

Canoes. Crystal Goblets with lemonade. Laughter. A field of flowers, and a buzzing bee.

Let us keep your secrets the bees seem to say.

Go to sleep, and forget this ever happened.

Bria lets her hand fall.]
Edited 2024-10-25 02:41 (UTC)