131. Null

[corrinesbell]

[Thursday morning, Sheena gets up.

It doesn't take long to make the decision to go to the tea shop, carrying the journal in her right hand, even though it's sort of early. But early is the point, isn't it? It's a pretty dark morning, with low and heavy gray clouds. Maybe it's going to rain.

Minutes after she arrives at the tea shop, there will be a sign on the Welcome Center door.

Tea Shop Closed Today

She stays inside for a while, making some attempt at cleaning and organizing the back room. It's a terrible attempt; she's not even there for an hour before leaving, headed back to the house.

The empty house.

Her empty left hand touches the doorknob, jerks away as though shocked, and drops back to her side. The rest of the morning, she spends sitting on her front steps, doodling and writing words, then scratching the words out, on the journal pages. There is one word  that is written more than once, filling in spaces between the rough images]

real?

[It's after lunch when she decides enough is enough, snapping the journal closed. Sheena rises from the steps to turn and walk away, toward the barracks - and the thing that will take her to the beach.]

[[ooc: She'll respond to written replies (or voiced ones if you're mad about the shop closing!) and, of course, to actions~]]

Comments

Written

[phantasmgap]

Reality is what the mind makes of it.

If you believe it to be real, it is. The human mind is such that they cannot disbelieve what they see, however, save through blatant delusion.

Written

[corrinesbell]

What you see can be wrong.

Written

[phantasmgap]

And yet part of you wants to believe it because your eyes are not supposed to betray you.

[She has an inkling of what is troubling this girl, so after a few minutes, she adds..]

Is the soul less real than the body because it cannot be seen?

[markofthewise]

[The barracks happens to be in his back yard. So when Sheena comes on walking down the road, Sokka just happens to be outside, cleaning out the nest box for Hawky, while said bird screeches at him overhead for messing with his own home. Sokka is on the ground scrubbing the insides clean when he looks up to see Sheena passing by.]

Hey Sheena. On your way to train?

[corrinesbell]

[Gotta admit, she does stop to stare at him cleaning this box. But her expression doesn't change from what might best be described as irritated boredom.]

No.

[markofthewise]

The ocean then? Watch your step in the teleporter. Someone spilled something in there and hasn't bothered to clean it up. [And he refuses to do it until the guilty party comes forward to do it themselves.]

[Written]

[fortunefail]

Real?

[Yuan has no clue what to make of this entry.]

[Written]

[corrinesbell]

[It's not really an "entry," just a bunch of shapes and scratchings-out. Sheena has barely-average penmanship on the best of days, but today it's just stiff]

Opposite of made-up.

[Written]

[fortunefail]

[Anything written in the journal and broadcast is an entry, in Yuan's opinion. Even if it's just... assorted words and scribblings.]

I know that much. Is there any particular reason you're writing this in your jounal? [He'd tone down his attitude if he knew what was going on, but he's absolutely clueless.]

[action--let me know if this is okay?]

[all7seas]

[If she does eventually make it out to the beach, Jack Sparrow can be found there. He has just tied up the Joanna to the dock and is making preparations to go about his daily search for Jilly on the beach.

When he spots a familiar woman wandering out of the fort, he raises a hand in greeting---friendly, of course, though he might seem a bit preoccupied today.]

Oi! Hallo, Beautiful Sheena.

[action -- is okay!]

[corrinesbell]

[She'll get there eventually. When she does, she nods once to the pirate and half-waves, sort of. Damn. Someone else is here, and she was hoping for silence.

Oh well. He does live there.]

[all7seas]

[He approaches with a coil of rope slung over one shoulder.]

Don't see you out here too often. All to rights in the village?

[action | written]

[wise_maiden]

[It's later in the day when Raine has a chance to check her journal. The sign on the door was hard not to miss, although ordinarily, an odd notation with a word and scribbles might not have gotten so much response...

but none of those written responses are locked either.

She moves to check the house first, though she has a feeling the summoning ninja won't be there.

So there has to be another location. Maybe a rooftop? She'll look around for a bit, before it gets too dark. Though if all else fails, she'll leave a message instead.]

... Sheena?

[action]

[corrinesbell]

[She's on her way home as Raine leaves the message, journal closed and tucked under her arm. The sun's going down - earlier now in a noticeable way - but it's not hard to recognize the woman coming up the road from the direction of her house, as she turns toward it.

Raine. Sheena stops, fighting a strange instinct to turn and go another way. As if things weren't messed up enough - she'll have to tell all of them.

But she waits. They should know, anyway, and maybe Raine wanted her for something else.]

[action]

[wise_maiden]

[As soon as she notices Sheena in the distance, she closes her own journal as well, stopping in her place for a moment to tuck the book away, but keeping her gaze focused in case the woman tries to disappear.

And then she approaches, again, not slowly, but not quickly either.] Ah... there you are.

[Written]

[starfishlovesyou]

[Blankly staring at the journal. What's with all the words and scribbling out?

Expect to see a nice, big question mark on the journal pages with this message underneath.]

What are you doing? Is something the matter? [...Did the cake not do the trick?]

[Written] I went OMG FUUKO!

[corrinesbell]

[Sorry, Fuuko. Cake isn't gonna do the trick for this one. Sheena's return writing is stiff, with a forced neatness.]

Just thinking.

[Written] Haha XD Great reaction

[starfishlovesyou]

[Just thinking? Hm.]

Need any help? [You know, with thinking.]

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[He shouldn't be heading to the tea shop so early nowadays. He had no obligation to work, especially so early, but it had become somewhat part of his routine. It was a nice walk as well, which was how Albert rationalized his decision to head to the Welcome Center in the first place.

He pauses when he sees the sign on the door, frowning. He enters, his satchel lightly hitting the door as he shuts it, and heads for the stairs up into the tea shop. He knocks before entering the shop.]

Sheena?

[action]

[corrinesbell]

[Albert.]

It's closed! Did you miss the sign?

[there's an edge to her voice today.]

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[Despite the noticeable change in Sheena's voice, Albert shuts the door behind him and remains just inside the shop.]

So you are not sick. [He had wondered if she would even be in the shop.]

[Action]

[ombra_lira]

[Sheik's out and about, once again song-hopping to check his little stone markers. He's been checking them every few days or so, to make sure the locations he'd picked are neither in the way, or subject to moving around with the elements. Naturally, the one at the beach isn't as secure as he'd like, so he's currently messing with it, digging into the sand a little to try and get the thing to stay put in a new spot still visible from the warp point itself. He's a little surprised to see Sheena show up more or less out of nowhere.]

[Action]

[corrinesbell]

[Sheena takes no notice of him and sits down, wrapping her arms around her knees and staring out at the ocean. Whether she deliberately didn't acknowledge him or not is up to him to decide.]

[sundead]

[dark and rainy is perfect for Ayumu, though he still looks rather out of it as he heads on his way for school. He's remembered his umbrella, though since it's for the chance of clear skies and not the chance of rain, he doesn't have it open. He's mostly in his own world until he spots the ninja heading out of her shop.]

Hey... Sheena?

[Even if most of his knowledge of her is 'fake,' he still knows that expression isn't normal.]

[corrinesbell]

[Sheena stops, and turns just enough to see who it is.]

Oh. ...Hey, Ayumu.

[the toneless voice isn't normal either.]