Naps Feel Good [Luka]

[Holly Mason]

Holly wasn't entirely sure why she came to class today.  Sure, there was a test in one of her earlier classes that she didn't want to miss, but with enough effort she probably could have rescheduled that.  She had been feeling weird in general lately.  She hadn't missed a day of class in almost two weeks, she did all of her assignments during that time as well, and there hadn't been any rumors about dismantling the establishment either.  To anyone that knew her, something was clearly wrong.  After last night, she felt a bit better in some ways, worse in others.  Fortunately, the ways she felt worse would go away quickly.  Right now, she was just really tired.  She fought four difficult enemies and then spent a good deal of time after the fight consoling and talking to other people.  She was never able to fall asleep right after the fight anyway, and her fight continued for some time after the wolf died.  So, she only got a few hours of sleep the previous night, and this class was just so god damn boring...

Without realizing it, she had fallen asleep on her open book.  It was oddly comfortable because of how thick the text book was.  The moments passed and a small puddle of droll was starting to form outside of her mouth.  The teacher apparently noticed that she had fallen asleep, muffled the sound of the lunch bell so it wouldn't be nearly as loud and told everyone to leave quietly so that Holly would miss lunch.  Even if she was aware of what was going on, she wouldn't mind much.  She needed the sleep more than the food, and she wasn't shy about eating in class anyway.

The moments passed and eventually the room was empty save for her.  At least it was quiet.

[Luka Kurokawa]

Luka wobbled down the hall carrying a rather large stack of papers in her hands. The girl wasn't someone that could be called "physically inclined." Not in the least. Here she was having a great deal of trouble just carrying some stacks of papers. They were just some things that she needed to bring to the Student Council room for safekeeping. Nothing too important really.

Lunch had already begun for a large majority of students, yet the girl had yet to eat. Once she returned to the Student Council room, she would certainly see about indulging in something to eat. Yet, the girl's wandering eye happened on an empty classroom by chance. Well, to be precise, it only seemed empty at first glance. But what the girl managed to catch was a glimpse of a familiar figure. Luka entered the Student Council room which had only been a door away and deposited the papers. But rather than grabbing something to eat, she decided to venture into the classroom that she just glanced into.

The figure of a tall blonde girl was sitting in a chair, her head against an open book while sleeping. Did she simply come here to rest? No. That was unlikely for a few reasons. It was likely that nobody woke her up when it came time for lunch. How unpleasant. Lunch was about to end anyway though. Looking at the girl for a moment, Luka considered her options. In the end, she went with her guy. Hoooolly~? She gently poked the girl's shoulder a few times while whispering. She made sure she was just loud enough to wake her up. Leaving her here like this was simply something that she could not do.

[Holly Mason]

It took her a moment to notice the poking.  The voice did more to make her stir.  She shifted in her seat before slowly lifting her head and turning to Luka.  She blinked blearily a few times clearly confused.  Was Luka even in this class?  For that matter, where did everyone go?  Eventually, her eyes moved over towards the clock and her sleepy mind started putting the pieces together and she slowly started to understand what was going on and what likely happened.

"That son of a bitch," she said as she rubbed her eyes.  "I suppose it's good that I didn't have any lunch plans."

There were certain downsides to being a 'problem' student.  This particular teacher had a bit of a sense of humor about things and would often do completely harmless things to irritate her.  It was more effective in the past, but even now it still managed to get a forehead rub out of her.  

"Thank you for that," Holly sighed, leaned in her desk and rested her head on her fist.  "I didn't get much sleep last night with...well everything that happened, and even after that I had trouble sleeping.  It feels like all of our work hasn't brought us any closer to actually solving the issue, or hell, even learning about the issue and it's been getting to me."

[Luka Kurokawa]

Luka watched curiously as the girl finally stirred from her nap. She allowed her a moment to access the situation that she was in before smiling. No problem. What Luka figured had happened seemed to be true according to Holly. With that being the case, she was happy that she did happen to pass by and notice her sleeping. Honestly, Luka could only have wished that she stopped by a little sooner so that she would have more time for lunch.

But more importantly, there seemed to be a lot of heavy stuff on Holly's mind. Never mind the fact that she was tired from the various things that had gone on during the full moon. She was looking at the big issue that had been glaring down at everyone involved in this mess. Luka frowned for a moment before taking the seat next to Holly. That last battle was certainly a pain. A lot of stuff happened. Quite a bit to process. Luka had found out that Vice was dead, Holly received a new persona, tons of in-fighting, and that turtle guy showed up. Oh, there was an enemy there too, she supposed. Oh. Now that you mention it, you seemed to already be aware of Vice's death. Do you know what happened? She seemed more than aware. She seemed to know enough that she may have been there. Why did Luka want that information? She had no use for it herself, but she wanted to see everything that was on Holly's mind right now.

Luka smiled and turned to sit, facing the desk. Looking down at her hands, she continued speaking.  A small giggle escaped her. But I can see why you are worried about the situation. In all of this time, everyone has been growing much stronger. Yet, despite their growth and their accomplishments, they never got any closer to the truth. She took a deep breath and relaxed in her chair. She was in no rush to be anywhere.

[Holly Mason]

"Eh, I'm not too hung up on the battle itself," Holly shrugged. "We beat the enemy, that's all that matters in the end. Every group of people is going to have a few assholes in it," she paused for a moment, looking as a somewhat solemn expression crept on her face, though despite that she still seemed calm, almost eerily so. "Yeah, I happened to be exploring the cave he was in as it was happening. He wasn't when I got there, but he might as well have been. I'm not even sure if he knew I was there. He just kind of walked up to his shadow, who happened to be standing in this pool of really dirty, disgusting water, and let it stab him," she shrugged and laughed lightly. "It was kind of pathetic really. Not the kind of thing you'd expect from him.



"It's stuff like that that makes this entire situation so frustrating. We've been putting not just our lives, but our own sanity at risk and we don't have anything to show for it. Sure, maybe we've gained 'power' by some definition of it, but power on its own is completely useless if you can't even use it to accomplish whatever goals you have set out for yourself. I'm not sure what to do about it either. What we're doing clearly isn't working, but we're working completely blind here. I can't think of anything else we could do. New problems keep coming up too," she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "It's been on my mind a lot lately. It seems like things are going to keep getting worse if we don't solve some of these problems."

[Luka Kurokawa]

It was as Luka had feared. Holly had been there for the gruesome events of Vice's death. More than that, it seemed that the shadow that killed him was his own shadow. Hadn't that happened with Akira? That sounds quite familiar, actually. Ran went through the same thing just recently. His own shadow showed up. Only, it seemed to do a lot of talking rather than straight up trying to kill him. And in the end? She accepted her shadow and received a new persona. Could it be that Vice denied his? That seemed to be the case in Luka's eyes.

Luka didn't really know Vice personally, so learning of his death while disheartening, did not affect her personally. She wasn't sure how close Holly was to him, however. But what seemed to be on the girl's mind wasn't the death itself, but the situation overall. They were losing people and not having much to really show for it. And yet, more problems seemed to rise up to add to the pile.

In the end, Luka simply tilted her head and smiled. A few strands of hair dangled in front of her face as she looked at Holly. There isn't much else we can do but keep trying. Luka couldn't really say more than that. We've all grown quite a bit in terms of power. And though I can't speak for everyone, I've grown a lot as a person through all of these ordeals. My point is that through all of this hardship, I still manage to find something to be happy about. Perhaps its just optimism and childishness, but it would make for a very poor story to have people go through personal development only to have everyone die abruptly. That's my opinion anyway. She would linger here listening to what Holly had to say, respond, and so on as long as necessary. She was in no rush and this seemed important.