[Sunday, June 22nd. Sometime between 4:00 PM and 11:00 PM!] [With our fellow travelers going on their way to stop Hell being summoned on Earth (again), they are travelling across the way to the Black Forest in a van. It's been a long and tiring trip, but time is of the essense.] [Currently, however, gas is of the essense as well and this little van can only go so far. Luckily, convenience has a small self-serve station just up the road. Most of the ones who can sleep are already fast asleep in the van as well, but there's a few who are still up as they pull in.] [Mini start] * Roseli is up because she's been passed out for a loooong time. She still looks groggy, though, and as soon as the van comes to a stop she tumbles out and starts stumbling for the restroom, muttering something unpleasant in Portuguese. * Togo has been dozing as well. Years in the military and on the streets have blessed him with the ability to sleep soundly in relatively uncomfortable positions. The aftermath... well, by the number of pops and cracks as he steps out of the van and stretches, that's not as easy as it used to be. * Keiko is extricating herself from an unconscious Luana as they pull up. She still looks like a mess, having long since wiped the makeup off her face, and almost gotten some of the blood off of her skin. She scans around for people mentally a moment, then makes sure the path is clear (with her MIND) as she slips off the seat and out... more or less after Roseli. * Jamie stares at Togo, not because of the noises, but because, well, hope's not compleatly dead. (Plus he still owes her a cookie) * Heinrick is busy filling the gas tank, having been the responsible adult who functions on very little sleep. He's rubbing his arm idly as he does so. * Togo feels the stare on the back, again thanks to years on the street training him to sense impending danger. "... you want some regular cookies as a down payment until I can get you a huge one?" * Jamie nods. * Keiko leans against the wall outside the restroom Rose is likely in, continuing to play keep away with bystanders. * Roseli is in the restroom, in fact! She shut and locked the door, even. * Keiko can't get in that way! She's got her arms wrapped around herself and is looking down. It's not like she has to see people to play keep away. * Togo heads into the little gas station mini-mart to get some cookies. * Heinrick leans against the van as he waits for it to fill up, looking vaguely upward but also at the surroundings. No one seems to be sneaking up to murder them or anything right now, so this is a good thing. And also unusual for them. * Jamie totally murders Heinrick while he's looking the wrong direction... WAIT NO. (Rose is so going to be in the bathroom for a while.) (Keiko'll give her a minute or two before she breaks the lock.) (The bathroom has a toilet to hide the blood while she slits her wrists.) * Togo returns. With Oreos. "Best I could do here." *hands them over* (My gun has a silencer! :D Like it matters.) * Jamie takes them, and after a moment remember to thank Togo for them. "Thank you." * Keiko waits and shakes and waits and hugs herself and waits, while Jamie is bought COOKIES. The indignity. Finally she turns her head to the side slightly, giving the door a look. Then she closes her eyes and telekinetically unlocks the door from the inside before pushing it open a crack and saying, lowly, "Don't have all day, Roseli." ( Jeebs. Like everyone's here almost. ) (Almost!) (Nearly!) (Told yo we needed time for stuff.) (you rather) * Jamie looks at the bag of cookies like she doesn't quite believe they're real, but then opens them and starts to nibble on one. * Heinrick starts to reach for his pipe then thinks better of it, rubbing his upper arm again. "It's feels rather unusual to actually be out in the open again..." He may be talking to Togo but he doesn't seem to be talking to anyone in particular. * Roseli sounds like she's dry heaving, or maybe crying, or both, which Keiko can hear once she cracks open the door. Nevertheless, she stops not long after Keiko says that and says, "Minute." And slams the door shut again. * Togo grins. "As in not underwater, or as in freelance?" * Roseli flushes and runs water from inside! Keiko might hear that! * Heinrick reconsiders the pipe, sighing as he gives in and puts the tobacco in. "*You* worked freelance. Not I. I obviously meant the alternative." * Keiko gets knocked back from the slam , floating herself slightly rather than hitting the ground. She says quietly to herself as she sets herself down, ( Why would you be glad for the void? Voids suck. They're all "Oooh, nothing here! Emoemoemo..." ) ( And then Musashi writes a book about them. ) * Roseli finally unlocks the door, again, and steps out of the bathroom. She looks... well, she looks like hell, hastily cleaned up. Bloodshot eyes, messy appearance, washed out skin, and still plenty of bandages and some bleeding. Not smelling very good, either, what with the vomit and all. * Roseli glances at Keiko as she walks by. "Yours," she says, heading for the convenience store counter. * Heinrick takes a draw off the pipe as he glances in Roseli's direction for a moment. His face is unreadable. * Jamie finishes the first cookie and stares at the second one before trying to pull it apart. She breaks the top cookie part in half , but the broken off bit doesn't have any filling on it and she eats that bit first. * Togo glances back at Jamie, then pulls out a small container of milk and puts it down next to her. "This might come in handy." * Keiko looks after her and murmurs, "Sorry," before she walks in herself. She is focused on washing herself off. Less dramatic, but then again, she's been crying the entire way so far, so! * Heinrick glances at Togo for a moment. "Watch the gas, would you?" He heads in to the store before Togo has a chance to respond. * Jamie blinks at Togo, and when she's done eating the quarter cookie in her hand she puts the rest of it back in the bag and opens the container of milk. * Togo nods, and takes over the gas pump. * Jamie takes a sip of milk, and then a second one. * Jamie puts the milk down and fishes out her cookie to nibble on some more. Figure when we finish saving the world this time, we'll find a good bakery somewhere and get you a buncha cookies the size of your head. Different kinds, so you can figure out what you like. Sound like a plan? * Jamie nods after a bit. "Do... do they really make cookies that big?" * Roseli has a bag of pretzels and a cup of gas station coffee, and when Heinrick enters the store is also asking for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She's leaning pretty heavily on that counter, too. * Heinrick has quit IRC (Ping timeout) ( In Germany? Probably ) ( Heinrick fell into the walk-in fridge! ) * RowynAway has joined #mc4 * RowynAway is now known as Heinrick If you go to the right bakery, yeah. Biggest one I've ever run into was maybe three, four feet in diameter. * Heinrick goes to the counter to get some first aid supplies, as meager as they are at a gas station, refills for his pipe, and aspirin. Don't forget the aspirin. * Roseli picks up her goodies and slips the cigarettes and lighter into her pocket. She gets out of Heinrick's way, commenting on the asprin: "Good call." * Jamie takes a few moments to respond before asking, in a slightly awed voice. "How do... how are..." She stops and then leaves it at "Big cookie." Then she takes another sip of milk. ( How in my name does somebody EAT something that big?!) * Heinrick nods a little and then side-comments. "I'd have thought you'd need more gum." 's like gum. But better. * Roseli pinches her nose, right in between the eyes. "So fucking shot right now." * Heinrick sighs. "We are being run ragged, I agree. But I think the attendant wishes to get back to his duty of minding the week-old hotdogs. So perhaps we should continue outside." * Keiko makes her way out of the bathroom at least cleaned up, makeupless and de-blooded. She runs her hand through her hair as she walks around to the front. * Roseli makes a vague grunt of agreement and has a sip of her coffee as she heads back out. * Heinrick heads out. Sans coffee. He might need it, since his hand seems to be shaking a bit. * Jamie is already out, having never actually moved from the van, she has a box of Oreos and some milk. * Keiko looks to Rose and Heinrick walking out and then towards the car. She pulls out a pudding cup and a spoon from her coat and cracks it, starting to eat. * Roseli stops before she reaches the van, as she tucks the pretzels away in another pocket. "Hold this," she says to Heirnick, handing him the coffee. Maybe he'll even take it! * Heinrick doesn't take it, leaving Rose to be covered in vomit and coffee! How mean! Or it would be if that actually happened. But he does take the coffee. * Roseli isn't covered in vomit, either. She did hastily clean herself up, after all. * Keiko actually floats the coffee just of Heinrick's hands as she walks up behind them, murmuring, "You're shaky." * Roseli instead opens the pack of cigarettes and taps it out in a practiced motion, then lights it. Yeah, she's so done this before. * Heinrick sighs slightly and shakes his head. "I am aware of that. I will take care of it soon though." * Keiko nods slightly and murmurs, "Yeah, sure." She uses her real hands to take a bite of pudding. * Roseli has a drag of her cigarette, and she looks at it with something akin to wonder. "Lucky," she comments. "I only got two shots." * Roseli plucks the coffee out of the air with her free hand now and has a sip. She's looking slightly better. Or worse, depending on who you ask, probably. * Heinrick reaches into his coat and uses the van for support as he tries to manage his shaking while he takes out his syringe and preps it. He frowns. "The last dose always occurs at the best of times, does it not?" * Roseli shrugs slightly. She glances at the van. * Jamie has cookies, they arn't the best cookies ever, but Togo said he'd get her cookies and she has them. * Heinrick manages to carefully insert the needle, only a faint look on his face showing that he even feels it. Soon enough the shaking stops and he slowly flexes his fingers. * Keiko plays keepaway again, because they don't need people asking questions about druuuuugs. After Heinrick shoots up, she murmurs, "Lu will be fine. Jamie's Jamie. Togo's a moron." * Roseli blows out some smoke. "He's in a good mood. Makes me want to kill him." * Heinrick sighs. "We still need him though. Much to my chagrin." Hm. * Roseli sips more coffee. * Heinrick sighs and rubs his head. "We still need him, Rose." Better. Gave up that sword because we 'need him'. * Keiko mms, then looks between them before murmuring, "That sword's nothing but trouble." * Heinrick shakes his head. "Keiko's right. It cost us Shibamura after all." And luckily that is all it did. * Roseli snorts. "Would have made this job a lot fucking easier." And that fae... don't trust 'em. Even with the promises. * Heinrick pushes up his glasses. "Would it make you feel better if I stated that punching him in the face would be acceptable?" * Keiko smirks a little. "Wanna go back and kill him? I'd be fine with that." More trouble than it is worth. At least for right now. If it weren't for... I'd have never given him anything. * Roseli nods, thinking and smoking. "Might have to punch him, yeah." I am afraid I do not know that much about fae. It is not *exactly* my area of expertise. But if that is what he claims to be, I cannot say that it is a pleasant first impression. (Half expecting Togo to burst out of the van and go, "I'm listening, you know!") ( We don't care!) (Bah.) * Jamie continues to munch on cookies as intraparty conflict is easy to figure out. Rose is right. * Keiko frowns and says, "It's always about taking the body when there's no way to fight." (Why waste precious face-punching time by saying we don't care?) * Roseli shakes her head. "Don't want to deal with this bullshit anyway. Saved the world enough." (Jamie knows the score. :D) * Heinrick smirks. "Perhaps we should get muffins instead." And you get controlled? No thanks. * Heinrick sighs and shrugs his shoulders slightly. "Turning a blind eye would certainly be easier." He leans back. "Regardless, I am pretty well controlled if I miss an injection as it is..." * Keiko looks confused at that one. Maybe she's just tired, so she eats pudding instead. * Roseli makes another one of those vague sounds and looks at the van again, sipping her coffee. Maybe she is thinking about punching Togo. (AFK for a sec) * Heinrick doesn't look as if he would be too put out if it happened. (back) * Jamie puts the bag of cookies down and looks out the van's window. * Keiko sighs, then speaks up to say, "We need everyone. That includes you both." * Roseli shakes her head and abruptly changes the topic. "How are you holding up, Keiko?" * Keiko looks off to the side. "You... heard it already." Didn't have much before... have even less now. * Roseli nods slowly. "You'll be free soon, though." She has another drag of her cigarette. "Hear that's worth something." * Keiko laughs weakly. "Freedom's worth what you can do with it. Maybe I'll invest in a stock market." * Heinrick 's lips thin. He appears to be considering what to say. Gotta save up for retirement in... ten, fifteen years. Why not take up gambling? You would make for an excellent poker player. * Togo has quit IRC (Quit: ) * Keiko looks over at Heinrick oddly, then murmurs, "Once." Hm? * Keiko shakes her head. "People stop playing games with me when I win a lot." She lets out a weak laugh, then murmurs, "Even mother got tired of it." Well I'm certain it would take more than just once. But freedom is only as free as you make it. * Roseli chuckles into her coffee. * Keiko shakes, then murmurs, "I can make a lot of things, Heinrick. But I can't make anything out of something I'll... never have." * Heinrick 's lips thin again. "A family." * Roseli twitches. A little. She decides now is a great time to smoke some more. ( Rose is a chainsmoker ) * Keiko looks up to him a moment, then looks back down. "Dammit, Heinrick. What the hell do you know, anyway. I'm not even free to use the one thing I have. My powers." * Heinrick chuckles to himself. "Absolutely nothing, apparently." (This situation is only slightly high stress, and she's been off of cigarettes for a while now. ;P) (Rose should give Keiko a cigarette.) (Let's be good rolemodels for our wards) (The world's only ending a little!) (She might!) (Then Heinrick goes in to buy booze) (Child protective services is awesome) (Actually, what the hell.) * Keiko snorts and murmurs, "What does freedom... get me? What I want, I can't get. What I don't want, I always have." It's like a... sphinx riddle. * Roseli looks at Keiko and holds up her cigarette. "How about one of these." Brief pause, then, "Want one?" * Heinrick just stares at Roseli for a minute. Not sure how to react to that. All you ever *wanted* was to be free, Keiko. That's why you hate us. Don't try pretending you don't care anymore. * Keiko grabs the cigarette out of the air. She looks to Rose and says, "Dammit, I wanted to be free... with my mother. With Luana. With... with a daughter." ( Loggin'! ) * Brett has quit IRC (Quit: ) * Roseli snorts slightly. "Lot more to ask for." She shakes out another cigarette. "Like raising the dead." * Heinrick twitches his hand slightly but only just slightly. Must be the chemicals dying down. He sighs and adjusts his pipe. His eyes are half closed as he murmurs. "An impossible fantasy..." * Keiko laughs weakly and says, "Sure, that." She licks her lips, then says, "I don't know what to do anymore, Roseli. I don't... have anything to look forward to anymore. Unless... Lu doesn't change her mind. At least... I mean, Jamie really wants you." * Roseli laughs a little. "Now." She lights her cigarette. "Ten will be back soon." * Heinrick fiddles with his pipe, still eyes cast down. "So what would you do if raising them from the dead were possible?" * Keiko floats the cigarette back into her mouth and sucks on it lightly, before coughing. "Ugh. Awful." A moment, then, "So? Jamie is Ten..." * Keiko trails off and looks over at Heinrick. After a moment she murmurs, "I hope that it's never possible. When I kill Eileen, I want her to stay dead." * Jamie picks the bag of cookies up and breaks another one so she can just eat the outside. * Roseli looks vaguely amused and offers her coffee to Keiko as well, half-jokingly. Mmm. * Keiko closes her eyes and floats the coffee. "I--I mean, I'd love to see my mother again. I really would." * Heinrick gestures with his pipe to Roseli. "And your cohorts too..." But I'd... I'd rather have Eileen dead a thousand times over for killing her. * Roseli has a drag of the new cigarette. "Ten won't stay dead. Jamie has to follow me. When Ten returns, she won't, and Ten..." * Heinrick chuckles slightly. "Wiser than I was..." He then turns to Roseli. "When Ten returns, she will have a choice, won't she?" Yes, and Ten hates not being in control. Because Jamie does. Who doesn't? * Keiko snorts and looks back at Roseli. "Jamie's never known freedom, Rose. Or control." Ten's an illusion. She'll always be an illusion, until someone makes it not. You don't know that. * Jamie shoves an entire oreo in her mouth. Jamie as she is now may not be the same as Hotaru and Ten once were. Or she may be. It is hard to say. * Roseli nods. * Keiko looks at Heinrick with a frown, then pokes him with the cigarette. "Don't make up dumb possibilities. You don't even know her." * Heinrick sighs. "I don't know anyone, Keiko. Not even myself." You know that as well as I do. * Keiko grits her teeth, then mutters, "Don't try to make me pity you to dodge it." She then looks to Rose. "Just love the girl, Rose." She laughs weakly, then murmurs, "Freedom... is a lack of fear." Says the girl who acts like she feels she is an adult. * Keiko looks back at Heinrick. "Gimme a good reason I'm not." * Heinrick smiles a little at her. "I would prefer you to be mad at me. It is better than the alternative." Oh, that's easy. I'm certain that it is. * Heinrick smokes on his pipe, a bit aways from Keiko. * Keiko snorts and tosses her head, before taking a sip of the coffee. * Roseli smiles a little as she listens to the argument. "Of course, Keiko," she murmurs. "I'll love her until she kills me." She has another drag of her cigarette. "Going to check on Jamie," she more openly announces to the two before walking back to the van and leaving Keiko with her coffee. * Keiko lets out a little laugh, then murmurs, "Does it... ever end any other way?" * Roseli stops and glances at Keiko. "No." NOW she goes to see Jamie in her cookie-eating frenzy. * Jamie 's in the van, and while normally an absolutly meticulous eater, she's managed to get cookie crumbs on herself. * Keiko lets out a slow sigh, then stands there a moment. "So what do you have to do to be an adult, huh? What's it take until we fucking get to be people, Heinrick?" * Heinrick looks at Keiko funny. Then gives a long sigh. "Honestly, I have to say, I am confused, Keiko." * Heinrick gestures to Roseli. "She's an adult." He gestures to himself. "I am an adult." He gestures to Togo. "He is an adult. Why would you *want* to be us?" * Heinrick closes his eyes slightly. "But you wish to continue an argument against something that I never said. I believe you just like to argue." * Roseli reclaims her old seat and looks at Jamie, still amused. "Here," she says, handing her some tissues. (actually, nix that statement.) * Roseli leans in through the open doorway look at Jamie, still amused. "Here," she says, handing her some tissues. (That's better!) * Keiko looks back at him oddly, then says, "I'm not stupid. Just because I can't read you doesn't mean I can't read you." She then says, "Children... are never free, Heinrick. It's the first step." * Jamie starts to put the bag of cookies down so she can take the tissues, but then stops and holds it out for Rose. * Roseli takes the cookies. She looks at Jamie questioningly. * Jamie takes the tissues and wipes the crumbs off of herself! * Heinrick looks at her for a moment, strangely at her comments, sighing. "I never claimed that you were stupid. Perhaps it is time you started acting as if I was not as well." * Roseli glances in the cookie bag. "You don't like the filling?" * Keiko grits her teeth a moment, then says, "Nobody replies 'Says the girl who acts like she feels she is an adult' to someone who is an adult!" * Jamie nods. "It doesn't taste right." Your... dismissive words are obvious! Stop acting like it's... it's me who's hurting you! And you are not an adult. You are also not a child. * Heinrick looks at Keiko for a moment. "And you are also a person." * Roseli hands the bag back to Jamie before having more smoke, thinking about something. * Jamie takes the cookies back and rubs at her nose with her other hand. * Keiko squints, then replies, "It is a binary category, Heinrick." And that is where you fail at reading me. * Heinrick looks at Keiko for a moment. "You were taught it was a binary category. Find a third." * Keiko snaps at him. "No, that's where you keep... saying things that mean nothing. Just because you're bad adults doesn't mean that being an adult is bad." * Heinrick looks at Keiko for a moment, then bursts out laughing. * Keiko frowns at him, then sighs and mutters, "Do you do anything that isn't dismissive, Heinrick?" * Heinrick shakes his head, sighing slightly. "You may choose to take it as you may, Keiko. I am...tired of trying to convince you otherwise." He smokes from his pipe. "Just consent yourself to hating me and be done with it." He walks back over to the van. * Keiko glares after him. "Maybe if you actually said what you meant, instead of... nnh." * Keiko stands there for a moment longer, then slips into the side door and pushes it closed behind her, taking up her place by Luana again. [Mini End, I think.]