fifth prayer

[prayed]

Characters: Kyoko Sakura and you.
Setting: Cathedral -> Restaurant -> Library
Format: Starting in prose, but I'll match!
Summary: Kyoko has been in the tower for 10 years now! Or at least, she thinks she has been. Despite still looking like a fourteen-year-old girl, she's actually matured quite a bit over the years.
Warnings: None.


Floor Thirteen
Kyoko could be found knelt at one of the center pews. It was one of those rare occasions where she wouldn't be found eating something. It was one of those rare occasions where her hair was worn down. The ribbon that might usually have held it in place, as well as a religious icon, were held between her clasped hands, giving the image of being deeply in prayer. The mumbling is nostalgic, although it feels incomplete without the sermon and hymns that might have accompanied it under more favorable circumstances. This wasn't her father's church, but she had taken to coming here all the same. It was the closest she could come to feeling as though she was back home and to God in Heaven, watching over them all.

It was certainly Him who had given her another chance at life, even if it was in a place such as this, riddled with torture, death and disappearances, but also filled with friendships could not have been fostered anywhere else. Friends that had been lost to her back home; and of course, the opportunity to follow the path of repentance and redemption that she had brushed off for so long.

Interrupt her?

Floor Twenty-One
The restaurant wasn't a place Kyoko visited often. The temptation of good food would often outweigh the risk of loosing an eyeball, a lung or a limb (even if such a thing could be recovered through the use of magic,) especially now that the monotony had grown so great. Besides, what was life without a few risks? Fortunately, payment this time around had been fairly easy (or rather, by a stroke of luck, something she was already in possession of--she'd taken to the idea of collecting unusual things in the tower and popping open prize pods on the rare occasion that they showed themselves.)

She could be seen walking towards the staircase with a small plate in her hand, spearing a piece of chocolate cheesecake and taking bites of it.

Floor Three
Reading wasn't a hobby that Kyoko had seen herself getting into, not outside of the occasional manga, but her time in the tower had managed to soften her up the idea. She still wasn't what one would call an avid reader, but occasionally something would manage to catch her eye. At that moment "something" happened to be closer to her teenage self's preferences: some sort of fluffy shoujo manga. The kind where love and courage would prevail in the end, justice would be served and the day would be saved.

So she stood there, not yet bothering to leave the aisle, leaned back against the bookcase, flipping through the pages. Kyoko appeared to be surprisingly pleased with her find. There was a stick of banana pocky clenched between her teeth. The manga itself was pretty good. Better than she expected, even.

Comments

Third floor.

[tohko_amano]

As usual, Tohko was keeping up with her librarian duties and reading to the side when no one was looking. As she moved through the shelves, she saw Kyoko, reading what looked like a comic book. Not one to just pass by a friend, Tohko walked up to her.

"Good morning, Kyoko! Have you finished the books I lent you yet?"

[prayed]

Kyoko stopped, lowering the manga slightly as she saw Tohko. There was a brief moment of confusion before she smiled. She was pretty sure this girl used to be older, but well, this place was always doing weird things to people. At least this one was harmless.

"Yeah. I was gonna bring 'em back, but it looks like the tower did it for me." Although of course, the books Kyoko had in mind were different from the ones Tohko did. "They were pretty good, y'know. Well, better than I expected 'em to be, anyway."

[tohko_amano]

And Tohko just grinned at that.

"You see? Books aren't useless or something to be hated! I'll be you cried at the end of The Little Prince as he gave his final gift to the Aviator, and there's no way you found Oba Yozo's plight unsympathetic or thought Margarita was a boring character! So, will you start liking books again?"

[prayed]

"Kinda hard to start it up 'again' when I never liked them to begin with. It's not like I'm gonna start gushing over them or whatever, y'know." Kyoko waved her hand dismissively. She was smirking, though, and it was clear that she wasn't that bothered by it all. "But, it passes the time, so I guess they're not so bad every once in awhile."

[tohko_amano]

At that, Tohko sighed and scratched her head.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to start gushing over them, but why didn't you like them? However..it is good to hear that your opinion of them has improved a little bit!"

[prayed]

"It's not exactly that I didn't like them, y'know." She rolled her shoulders. She had grown up with biblical tales and stories where love and courage won out; things that she loved even after being trapped in this place for ten years. "I never had time for that sorta thing when I was younger, y'know."

21

[redbranch]

Hey, kid.

[Lancer looks over at her chocolate cake.]

Sweet tooth got the better of ya today?

[He's not very worried, though. Kyoko is another person he can trust to eat at the restaurant and get away unscathed.]

Re: 21

[prayed]

Yo.

[She holds a hand up in greeting, grinning.]

A person can only live off of carrots for so long, y'know. It wouldn't kill the admins to offer a little variety.

Re: 21

[redbranch]

Good point. After all this time, you think they'd learn what people like and don't like.

[prayed]

Right? If they're gonna keep holding the lot of us hostage under the guise of world destruction, they might as well give us a few decent meals, free of charge.

[Though they've proven that they don't really need to do that, but details.]

[redbranch]

Maybe they're just lazy. There's a few things that they can probably spare the effort for, but won't.

Floor 3!

[carabina]

Oh, I wasn't expecting to find you here.

[ There was something that bothered Mami. You see, Mami thought that since she died, she never aged during her stay in the tower. However, it was apparent that Kyoko and the others didn't age that much - or even at all - in the last ten years. It was something that really bothered her. ]

It looks like you've been well..

[prayed]

[To be fair, Kyoko herself was as dead as a doornail herself, though that's not really something she brings up just for the sake of it. She folds the top corner of the page she's on before shutting it. She grins at Mami.]

Heh. What kinda Puella Magi would I be if I couldn't handle something like this? [Her confidence is one thing that hasn't faded with time.] So, how about it? You been holding up alright?

[carabina]

[ Mami simply let's out a soft laugh, nodding her head slightly. ] Still the same I see. That's great, though. I wouldn't want you any other way.

I've been holding up fine. I've ran into a few monsters yesterday, but they were easy kills so it was really no worries.

[prayed]

That's 'cause everything around here's so weak. There's no way they could stand up to someone like you! [She places the book down, locking her hands in front of her and stretching her arms out, as though putting forth some great effort.] Heck, I can't even break a sweat. Everything around here's so easy to kill that it's kinda boring.

[She's smiling, though, and it's obvious that she's not as bothered by it as her complaints might imply.]

Restaurant

[clumsyjesus]

Oh hey, Kyoko! I didn't expect to see you in here! What's that you've got there? [Hey, Kyoko! Here's one of your BFFs. Except in reality you barely know each other but DETAILS.]

Is that cake you've got there? It looks delicious!

Re: Restaurant

[prayed]

Yo, Colette! It's chocolate cheesecake. It's pretty expensive, but it's way better than what they got downstairs.

[Not that she's a picky eater, but hey, gotta spice it up sometimes. Kyoko spares her plate a glance. She's only taken a couple bites so far, so.]

Want some? I can cut it in half, y'know.

Re: Restaurant

[clumsyjesus]

Oh, are you sure about that? I mean, it's your cake and I can always get myself some!

Re: Restaurant

[prayed]

Sure. We're friends, aren't we? Besides, I'd feel bad if somebody wound up losing an arm or something just 'cause I wouldn't share with 'em.

[She doesn't want anyone else taking the same risks she does, really.]

Re: Restaurant

[clumsyjesus]

Oh, of course we are!

What did you give up, though? [Please don't say it was a toe or anything like that! D:]

Floor Thirteen

[warriorscribe]

This floor was so quiet...when it didn't look like it had been hit by a typhoon. Seeing someone taking the hushed surroundings to prayer drew Enoch to her, and he sat nearby, bowing his head silently and taking in the sense of serenity he felt when near someone else in prayer.

[prayed]

The silence that the cathedral seemed to inflict prevented Kyoko from noticing Enoch until he drew close, but perhaps that was just as well. She offered him nothing more than a glance before returning to her commune with God. It would end soon enough, however, leaving her free to shift back onto the pew next to Enoch.

"Fancy meeting you here. I didn't think anyone actually came down here." Or at least, not anybody who planned to do more than satisfy their curiosity (or just cause destruction,) anyway. Perhaps it shouldn't have surprised her, after a decade of knowing him, yet somehow it did. Kyoko smiled, though, certainly not displeased by the company. One hand rested on her lap, holding the black ribbon that she often wore and the hairpin that would normally be concealed by it. She would fix it in a minute.

[warriorscribe]

"It's a strange floor." Enoch raised his head, opening his eyes. "It has an air of austerity... Is that why you chose it to pray?"

Naturally, a modern cathedral meant little to Enoch. But not knowing what it was for didn't mean he couldn't feel the air it had.

[prayed]

"Yeah. It sorta reminds me of my old man's church, y'know."

/problems with not knowing what he learned last conversation <_<

[warriorscribe]

It was a good thing the translation system was kind to him, "church" aliased right to what he would recognize as "temple".

"Ah, you...come from a family of priests?"