bravenewworld | (no subject)

[ The days prior to Kyurem's attack on the city left Sanae out of sorts. While she was no stranger to fending off gods by this point--a thought that was still strange and a bit chilling to her--this was different.

Heatran never made it to Citadel. These attacks never struck so close to home before, figuratively and literally.

There was so much that went wrong during that short amount of time. The theater was in shambles, and there were injured among the staff; innocent people who knew nothing about battle, caught up in the shuffle and hurt due to the Divine Defense Force's oversight. Takuto was hurt, badly, and while he seemed to be healing up just fine, the fact that he sustained his injuries defending her... stung, to say the least.

More than that, she had actions to answer to. Mercy killing was not something that was looked down upon in the Citadel, especially on the battlefield. It was seen as a sign of respect, an act of charity for one suffering to end their life. But Union was different, and yet...

And yet...

During her work restoring the theater, or helping those who were unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire, the young priestess seemed distracted at best. She didn't speak much, and many of her actions were executed purely from muscle memory. She made few mistakes, but even in her daze, she was likely to miss something.

Even around town, fetching supplies, shopping for food--even just getting away--she was almost like a ghost of her usual, chipper self. She paid her respects at the Hikawa shrine often, praying for those lost that day. It still stung. From time to time, she would seek out familiar faces, be they people from Citadel, or those familiar faces from the city that welcomed her and called her one of them. Could she still say she was?

She felt like she could do nothing; and what she did do cast her as an outsider, someone who was not welcome here. She wasn't sure what to do... ]

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[ Oh, it was the nice woman she occasionally saw at the shrine here. Did that mean that Rei was busy... ...or worse. No, no, Rei was fine. She was strong. Stronger than Sanae was. There was no way that she could have gotten hurt in all of this. And if she was hurt--

Sanae would make sure to find whoever hurt her and make them regret it.

The question caught her momentarily off-guard, and Sanae stared in stunned bewilderment. ...She was asking if she was injured, probably. That had to be it. Pushing aside her morose mood, Sanae did her best to put on a smile, even if it wasn't as bright as usual. ]

Of course! We were really lucky. Oh. Um, I was wondering, is Rei in? I'm...

[ Why did this still feel awkward? ]

I'm kind of a friend of hers, I guess. I wanted to make sure she didn't get hurt, or check if she needed anything.

[ Someone obviously didn't watch the band, or she would know that Ami likely had that well taken care of. ]

[Kind of indeed, since apparently Sanae didn't know Rei was engaged and she was her fiancé. But Ami shook her head no as her florges was still tending to the gardens, every once and a while handing a flower to Ami to help her feel better.]

I'm afraid Rei isn't in right now, she's dealing with some family business and won't be back for another day or so. [Rei and she had a very good idea of what the issue was, but Ami was not the sort to share personal emotion and matters outside of their family.]

And Rei isn't hurt. [She assured.] Her personal medic made sure of that. [Thoroughly, in fact. Ami left no limb unchecked, no organ unstudied.] I can leave a message for her from you, if you wish.

[ She knew that Rei was engaged, but to whom was the question. She very rarely used the Warp Band as a means of communication, so their announcement went unnoticed by the priestess. It likely fell during a busy rehearsal time. ]

Oh, I see...

[ At least she was okay. Breathing a sigh of relief, the young priestess nodded. ]

Can you do that? I'd really appreciate it.

I don't mind at all. [She offered again as she was handed another flower by Hypatia.]

Can you tell her that Sanae came by to check on her? I kind of wanted to talk to her about something but...

[ She paused, then gave an apologetic smile. It isn't something she was sure she could talk to someone else about. It was a bit personal. ]

If it is of an urgent nature, is there anything I can do to help? As I said, she won't be back for several more days. But I will still pass on the message, of course.

Oh, no no, it's not urgent or anything! I can just come back, that's okay.

[Well, Ami isn't the sort to force someone to open up. She merely gives a nod of her head.]

Very well, I will let her know. I hope you have a restful day. ["Nice" was a long time coming for the city.]