is the guard ready?

it comes when you least expect it, right up the spine and into the broken neck, burrowing and burrowing and finding the right way to twist your tongue from behind. ( oh my god, oh my god, am i going to die? )

[colourxguard-blog]

:3c

[shitakiri-blog]

“ - take another step, and I’m actually going to put my firearms training to use! You see this hand? It’s specially constructed to negate more recoil than the human skeleton can take, so if I start emptying this clip in your direction I’m not going to need to stop until it’s gone. Put your hands up, slowly, and tell me your name.”

[colourxguard-blog]

Shit, shit, shit, oh God please don’t kill him here, of all places -

“Th-they’re up! I’m up - I mean, I’m stopped! There! Hands up! My name’s - my name’s Jiro, okay?! Jiro, Jiro Adachi! I’m only sixteen, man, what’d I do?!”

[guxnshi-deactivated20160221]

[ he stares at the package, his control going to not reach out and grab it from the other immediately. instead, he waits, seeming cautious of getting anywhere near enough to jiro in order to take the gum. the past is in the past, but wounds still sting when you have enough time to think them over. ]

No, no one. Anyone who comes by and finds me doesn’t stay for long. I try to get them to stay longer, but it doesn’t work. I’m not good company, I guess. I don’t care. I was used to it before, too.

[ now he’s just standing there, staring at him and trying to gauge what might happen. he’ll leave, he’s sure, soon enough and it’ll be a while before anyone else comes. enough people have disappeared in the area, no one likes to stay for long. except kazuko morimoto. ]

Yeah, I’m not one for physical anything. I prefer to work out alone. Don’t worry, the past is in the past. Forgive and forget, and all that. Hah, it’s been lonely, like I said. I don’t really see anyone I recognize a lot, I stay here. No one comes looking for me, so I don’t see why I should leave. Not like anyone would be looking for me, yeah?

[colourxguard-blog]

[ Hand still out. Now it’s getting awkward. ]

Hey, uh – you can stay here, for a bit, if you want, I guess. I mean, I’ve got nowhere to go, I don’t think anyone does, but, like. I’m passing between person to person too. Fixing something is the first step to being better, right? Does that make sense?

[ He brings it back, tucking his hand into his lap and resting there. The bag he carries leans against him, and he can feel the distended curve of whatever rests at the near bottom – unloaded gun, the last bit of tape for repair, firm against him. Things are too slow, but clear all the same. Clear, in how he understands what he says, skipping on the heels of every last word, but comprehensive. He hasn’t gone nonverbal yet. ]

What I mean is, we could – you know, not be awful to each other for a bit. There’s no music anymore, just a curb and whatever building is unoccupied, still standing, and doesn’t sway when the wind gets bad. You know of any good places nearby? Food, water, low gang activity? If you’ve got any of that, you’re doing better than most people out here, man. Better than me, even, and I’m the one with gum. Luxuries don’t always outbid necessities. 

I’ve been talking to one of the survivors from Hope’s Peak. She knows a couple of people. I don’t know any of them myself, but -- she knows them. Two are Foundation. We could try to hit them up.

[bloodyvomit]

I wouldn’t imagine it’s so shocking anymore. I’d share half if I had some. (Alright, I’ll oblige! Careful you don’t turn to stone.)

Adachi, baby, I don’t con people. Not anymore, anyway. I make my prices clear and I get what I’m owed. I’m very flexible, really! Running a hospital out of a hole is time-consuming, resource-intensive hard work. I have to eat too, you know, and I’ve taken more cuts in that department than is good for me. I’ve minimized costs everywhere I can, but sometimes people say they can’t pay, and then I have to take my dues some other way. And liars know liars. Pinkie promise I won’t take from you though, unless you come to me with a bleeding gut and nothing to use as sutures.

You can even stay a while if you’d like. There’s room.

[colourxguard-blog]

You know me, I’d be down for a barter system kind of world, but commerce is normal, so I guess normalcy is – good. I guess it’s a good thing I came back, huh? Another mouth, another set of hands, someone that can pick through whatever’s left in a storeroom to share. I’m sure it’d be reasonable, not like people need those caches if they’ve been missing for three months. Speaking of, I’ll be heading out. Later. I need to check on a thing or two while the map’s still pinned up in my head.

Babe, I’d be staying even if there wasn’t any room. I’d have to share a bed with you! Stuck lying next to me isn’t the worst thing to happen to you in the end of the world, I’d hope!

[bloodyvomit]

Oh, that’s a relief. It’s good to see you, then! I think everyone’s at least a little malnourished, though sometimes if you look under the shelves in convenience stores you’ll find the last bag of chips or a Twinkie. (I’ll show you my face on the condition that you don’t judge me. It’s become very difficult to find makeup in my tone, you see.)

I’ve grown tired of drifting. I’ve been huddled up here for a while now, I don’t know how long. It’s filthy and there’s probably rats, but that’s just how I like it. I even decorated a little. Wouldn’t have it any other way, you know? Sure, I’m not the cleanest doctor in the world, maybe what I ask for is a little steep for some, but I provide quality service with what I’ve got. Conning, the very idea.

It’s been calm, though I suspect one of those factions will come sweeping through for supplies sometime soon and I’ll have to move. That will be annoying, but I’d rather not run in with either of them. You understand.

[colourxguard-blog]

I’d kill for that! Or is saying that in bad taste these days? Maybe, just maybe. But I don’t think anyone cares. You probably don’t, never did. ( I’ve seen you at nine in the morning. I can handle a bit of dirt and no foundation. )

That’s good. I think somewhere to come back to means something, even if it’s just a hovel. How hard could it be to burn out a ratking, honestly? Just get a lighter, a stick maybe. It’d be smart to not be rash, Valentine! I remember hearing a few things, if it wasn’t you who said it, it was the poor sap who lost whatever it is they had when they stayed the night. You’re like, a black widow who steals. It’ll be funny until you do it to me. So, yes, conning. I love what you’ve done with the place.

It’d be smart to play safe. I don’t know what it’s like outside. I don’t know if anyone’s pushing, or if it’s a deadlock stalemate. I’d rather be inside. You’re here. The iron door is just a benefit.

[aikyogen-blog]

Aiding and abetting! He told me the long of it but I know the signs in the short, know my mother’s hand at clever work same as I’d see my own stitching for the faults and nothing else. Daddy never would have let them put the knife in him, bone and teeth before he did, and Kamakkun never reached half so high as his piggy throat at his best. A one in cold blood and a second with her hands laid over him to see justice done, by the old ways and the new no matter which boot kicked the lock in. Lawman’s a stickler to the code but anything written has its ways around, anything penned down has room to work. A good and fair grip on the sword for the most, and I’ve a position to sight that as has never been come back from before. The light in him when it’s only left for his deed and the dead to wave away! Call it symmetry if I give it the credit, church and state. I know where my vote’s going. 

Never met anyone so built for this place; as if all the time before was nothing at all. You’ll remember him! Fukui, the fire investigator, and all the lies made golden now in the light. Yukimura got the badge and the gun but she’s pushing no law at all, something ugly driving her like I’ve not seen in months and mouthfuls. Not a worth of a second appealing to her, and I’ve only the smallest bits of the story as it makes sense. Saw her in the first aftermath - her girlfriend, remember, the fake one? - and it all hollowed her clean out but she’s walking now and moving and there’s something living in her new and toothy where there was nothing left but the eyes to have seen what she did as it was ripped out. 

Sakaki! Trade on a trade, get your facebook out right now and show me where you’re set at. I’ll even drop the cadence to gossip on it - easier to keep the character up and speak in nothing but tongues for the morons sitting way back, but I’ll slip backstage I’m so curious to hear.

– !

The little one, the dancer girl? Oh, oh, you’re wiping my bank clean clear out. I cross paths with the older, the reporter. Yachan’s been looking for her little sister on so long now! You’ll have heard that one too, the blood and the bodies and the pattern to them nobody’s quite hit on. But I know, I know, my name on the line for why nobody carting ash home on their hair each night hit that end. Where did you see her? Mm - no, don’t tell me, I’ll push you her way and let you make good credit with the broker herself.

Nobody dead for me as worth taking note of, not since the first. Thought there was something coming up better and bright but it was the same boring rote, the ugly lies, shucking me out of my robes every time I touched the doorframe and asking why I got nothing done while they were a budy two off in the endlands scavenging for scraps and the return to a world that I hated ever so until it ended for me! I’ve walked with the dead enough while I’m punched in and my pencils are in my hands to seek it out when my time’s up. You?

[colourxguard-blog]

They sound like tough nuts to crack! Is it a deadlock? Are they just, you know, running after each other? Cat and mouse, but the mouse has a couple of aces up their sleeve? I’d pay to see that. I’m going to need to see the book before the movie, maybe – there’s a lot I don’t know about these guys. I’ll sit in the shadows! I’m not good at that, but I could try. Maybe. Yukimura sounds awesome, I hope she wins. What was that about a dog? Like, a real dog? Because that sounds so weird. Please don’t tell me it’s a real dog, just a, I dunno, sharp knife or something.

-- Okay! You’re cheating! That’s not fair! Three days into second trimester, and a study date stopped involving second period bio and was just a shared lunch. You’re such a cheater, oh my god, next time I’m going to be that guy and keep my end of the bargain on lockdown. But that’s all you’re getting! I’m not about to become your gossip crockpot that you can pass around the friends I’ve met once and then lost to a riot.

Like Tsuhinde. You knew her? Or her sister? She had a sister? Was she a prodigy too, or…? I’m not playing gossip cards anymore. She was so nice, though. Aika-chan. She broke a lot of things but she’s really nice. I hope she’s still okay. I’d hate to see everything get to her. I heard something about a hotel, but no names – she was in the area, though, so I worry. Like everyone got corralled. They did that up north. Sob story already unlocked, and we’ve only just started talking.

I’ve only lost family. Taro’s in Europe, I think. Mom and dad left me with the church when our neighbourhood got hit, and I can only believe my lil bro is with them. The church was… you heard about it? I’ve heard that the other side hosts massive killings with order. I don’t – wanna talk about it, but a lot of my friends are gone. They took over the church’s band. There wasn’t much order to it, nothing procedural. Too much like a hostage crisis. Then I got roped in with a martyr who never died, found my not-ex-but-what-the-hell-happened-when-we-all-died, met you. You’re pretty cool. And you talk like a poet and it’s so cool and I’d let you read anything because I think you’re the type who adds in her own comments when she read something really fucking stupid. Are you?

[bloodyvomit]

My, my! Adachi Jiro! Do my eyes deceive me? Has the rot finally worked its way into my occipital? I can’t tell anymore, things are fuzzy and these blasted goggles don’t let me see quite right, penalty for having a nice tint to hide the eyes, I suppose. You’re the nicest dream I’ve had in a while, go on and sit. I’m sure if I punched you, my hand would shatter into a million pieces, and then what would I do with myself?

No need for apologies, anyway. I had my own agenda and all of it involved– we’ll get to that later. How are you?

[colourxguard-blog]

Haha—yeah, maybe, don’t punch me, you probably will break your hand. I’m not as thick anymore, though! I’m blaming bad diets and sleeping around lots of broken glass. I – promise I’m not a dream. I’m very real. And I’m pretty sure you’re real, too. ( Take those goggles off. You look like an idiot with them on. How will I tell you my story if you’ve got those on your head? )

It’s been alright. Went north for a bit, because the street pressure sent me up there. Foundation versus despair forces are up north, and it was awful to be stuck there. Got out alive, though. Most of my time has been pushed from outpost to outpost, I guess. What about you? Stayed in this hovel, or am I just lucky to find you? How are you conning people these days?

[guxnshi-deactivated20160221]

…Yeah, we did. Well- maybe not that, but you were in one of my classes. I recognize you. Adachi Jiro. Gym? I remember you outrunning me a few times.

Mmm. I can sit for a few minutes. Hours. I don’t really have anything or anyone to go back to. It’s lonely, boring. No one visits or stays long. I’ll have some gum, though. Why not?

[he steps closer, his voice staying neutral and he holds out a dirty hand- presumably for the gum he was offered. he trusts him enough to not poison him, at least] 

[colourxguard-blog]

[ His hands are up before he speaks, stiff package turning over in his hands to show four remaining tablets. There’s trust where there shouldn’t be, but it’s a simple shade. ]

Boring, yeah. Lonely. You don’t have anyone to walk with? I mean, I’m not in much of a place to say otherwise, but.

[ Maybe it’s bait, maybe there’s someone around the corner behind him ready to jump. He doesn’t know. Morimoto walks like a broken ankle. ]

--Gym! Gym sounds about right. You sat out a lot. I. Think I yelled at you for that. Sorry. I’m too into sports. So. Uh. How’s it been, being dead? For me, it’s been decent, if I stay away from Nagoya, but I haven’t been there in months, so nobody’s after me. Mhm.

[colourxguard-blog]

So, am I allowed to give you a “Sorry for disappearing for more than three months into the apocalypse’s horizon” card, or do I need to get punched first? Because I totally get it if you need to punch me. Like, that was a real dick move, and you’re talking to me here! So you can punch me before I give you the card, if you need to. You can even punch my face.

-- Surprise? 

[aikyogen-blog]

Not my secret to split, that one - he’s good, though, he’s good, we have an understanding. Old world rules, old world names, his storie’s folded up tighter than you’ve ever seen a bone broken and swallowed down. Knife in the back. Better keep your weaknesses nonexistent or wear them bright on your sleeve! Ha, ha. Sherrif’s a better lot. Foundation got their marks on all our heads in one way or another, Yukimura wearing their label down in the dirgerun streets like an attack dog. She’s hunting him out, doesn’t see he’s already dead. The law’s got nose to the ground hunting after Yachan or the Sherrif, depends on the blade or the match dealt out in. Their clean suits don’t come on me and mine, any direction, any way. There’s nothing to eat at the police station but his own brass verdict, hung me by the neck and watched me walk it off. Special dispensation.

Other than that? Other than that, other than what, I’ve a mind to not never it and ask anyway. Backstreet doctor, right, isn’t he? Fever takes the lions but I remember bits, I remember bits. Valentine. Mouth like a kiss already taken and hands like euthanasia, kindness mistaken for slyness, oh. He’s cute. Are you two – ?

Seen Miyazaki. Seen the dead girl. The Sherrif and his ugly dog (and there’s a one you don’t want to get left in the rooms alone with, not under the sky at all - only the sherrif comes out of back alleys with him, been lifting my skirt and licking my lips and watching him recoil of it but I don’t think two can ride that lie without cluing him in), Sukitan and the dancer’s sister, Yukimura holding the court of miracles and that’s not a reach I’m ever touching on. She reeks. You can smell it off of her, off of them, buttoned up bodybagged tight over the rot and I’ve more fear in her gaze than I ever felt around Anda. Kamako - little brother, you never saw him, gunning to get into the course the year after it fell apart - sits high in one of the safe zones, the rebuilt cities. He killed our parents. Passed the test. The music maker stands around here, down our end of the way. The art thief too. Got the looks of him as could be my brother but he’s nothing as - talks the most roundabout nonsense you ever held your ears down and forced them to listen in.

[colourxguard-blog]

Okay, I – hold on, killed your folks? That’s – that’s either a kid on the run or someone acting out during the riots. Please tell me it was after everything went to shit. I’ll sleep better at night pretending the kid went full despair and isn’t the type the Sheriff would take down. ( I’m. Kind of excited to meet him? I hope he doesn’t arrest me. That’d be annoying. )

Back to the top. Okay. I don’t know most of those names, but I guess that isn’t a surprise. Too many people have just been “seen them, shut up” for me, y’know? I’ve kept to myself, but it’s because I don’t know who the hell is a ticking time bomb or not. Nobody came out of that school alright, no matter what colours they’re wearing – the ones with pins are just more obvious about it. Yukimura’s – hunting the Sheriff, so he’s not Foundation. God damn, I’m going to need a diagram drawn eventually! Ha, aha – uh, and, so, he’s- no, both of them are good guys, as long as I stay out of the way, I take it. Right. Sounds like a plan. If you introduce us, I’m standing to your left.

If you’re not going to tell me a guy’s surname, I’m not gonna tell you what’s ‘other than that’, I tell you what! I think it’s fair, especially when you’re good at picking that out. I don’t know what we are, if only because you tend to put a damper on your relationship status when you don’t see each other for three odd months. It’s like I went under! I’ll have to ask, haha. But, uh. Yep, mhm.

Moving on! I’ll brag later when it’s Facebook confirmed.

Man. Half of the names are ones I remember, y’know? Some of them were my friends, some just classmates. Like, I remember I fucking hated Morimoto’s guts. I probably still do and I’ll just remember that next time we see each other. He was such a dick. But, I knew him. I knew Ries, and I knew Yukana – he’s not doing well, last time I saw him, if the seven dead meant anything, haha, uh, - and Tsuhinde Aika. She was so nice. Broke some expensive equipment when I showed it to her, but she helped cover the cost. I dunno what it is about a bunch of rubble that brings out the nostalgia, huh!

It’s, well, it’s new. Names you knew, with the faces, just appearing and disappearing. But now it’s nothing different to lose people for a few days. Nothing surprising to see someone you had homeroom with—dead. You lost anyone? Anyone meaningful, or just You Know Who stabbing you in the back and kicking themselves around over and over and over and over until it just gets embarrassing?

( Whoops. )

[shoujoromance]

[aikyogen-blog]

Ha! Six parts gasolene to one part water, if he could have smelled it on me through the just decision I would have had body in waves to hand over, to bury down and weep for a myth and turn into the thing they wanted both best of mine. You should see it! I walk past and get nothing high, get half-dreams of admission that’s all facts and none guilt; a step to go over before we can put the camera back where it yearns to be and shove my sticky needle fingers into the backlight and oh, oh, oh, do not get me started and do not get me finished on the cult and what that was, the mantle I had to cut off every time I stepped through the door of the lean-to and pushed myself through shattered windows we never made the effort to repair. 

They burned for me and they burned me and I see the shadows of the legacy I was willing to leave every time I move too fast - they wouldn’t have done it but he did, read the books and heeded no warning. The prophet walks and I see them turn their face away every time they are reminded.

I had two boys to kill on one another and I gave them trust that wasn’t earned to see where it went. There’s just the story. There’s just the performance - nothing else! Kill it out if you find it and kill it dead. Burn yourself alive. Nine out of ten, and I give my vote that way. I’ll take you to the Sherrif, shake his hand and confess your crimes and let a hand above yourself put your feet where they will next. I have - for these, my brother did his part but the cities rebuild and it’s his turn. Yasuki helps me, sometimes. You’ll like him. He’s old, moves skittish. People like us, you know. Enough of the others. Tell me about your banker doctor, tell me about your moneychanger, tell me everything.

[colourxguard-blog]

What a mess.

Okay, but – I hear you. No more. Uh, ‘Sherriff’, and Yasuki. Right. I don’t recognize that name - Yasuki, I mean. A lot of the people I’ve been meeting up with are from the old school. I guess it’s natural to sit around the ground zero, even if it’s just a graveyard now. Inside and out. Like, Morimoto – saw him. Uh. Literally saw Miyazaki, the one who went to our school, but I didn’t want to yell out to her. We never really talked. But what I mean is, was Yasuki ever at the school? First name, surname? Wouldn’t be the first person I met with a surname for a first name if what I’m thinking is right. I don’t think I wanna meet this Sherriff. I’m more of a “let the law be” type of guy. I’ve been hearing about a vigilante running around, and I don’t want to be mistaken for him if I end up meeting this ‘Sherriff’ fella. Kinda sounds like he’s with the Foundation.

Wait – okay, my turn. Ries. I knew him from the old school too. The only reason I passed second year bio. I don’t know where he ran off to when the riots started, but we met up a while back. He knows water sources, where to get medical stuff. He can set bones and that’s pretty much what people go to him for when it’s not actual illnesses. I… think? He still charges them? We haven’t seen each other much. I’d assume he does. Other than that – no, better not. Nevermind.

I haven’t kept to many people besides him. Morimoto, Miyazaki, anyone else is from Aimachi’s old grounds. I don’t want to head back that way, though. Nagoya’s been a hub for Despair forces for months. I don’t want to even risk heading back to find people who aren’t wearing bear pins. Anyone else besides Yasuki and, uh, ‘Sherriff’? And your brother. I had two brothers. I don’t know where they are anymore. Taro went to England for something before the riots started, and his plane was grounded. I don’t even think he got back before they took Haneda Airport. Saburo’s with mom and dad, hopefully.

[aikyogen-blog]

They got the screaming righteous all in them, helped me rub the filth into my sores - two burnings and I’m going solid, I ate the stories that came out of your dead lands like violets and knew you’d be coming my way before the days ran full out. All roads lead in to here. Lost birds, flocking home. Two burnings. I picked the scars open from the first, ankle to hip and let the flies have it, let the fluttering pities break me clean free every time they pulled me through the shining glass and filled me fit with antibiotics and clean dressings. Would have let them vomit clean into the cracks of my skin and hoped it hit the bone. Fever took me clean into the second fire, into the Sherrif’s grip, into the will of the angels himself and my brother pulled me out and hid me away.

That was my sadness. That was the weight. Would have died for the shadow of the love I saw ready to hatch in there but it didn’t, not even the phoenix way, and they left their hands down by their sides. Ha! They dug berries out of the front gardens of dead families and called it a new world, hid tucked up safe in the keycards and worlds opened to their hand and stayed in the squalor with their squirrel friends. 

[colourxguard-blog]

I’m – wow, like. That shit is just terrible. I’m sorry. They don’t – your, uh, marks, they don’t hurt anymore, right? How long ago was it? It had to be a few months, right? I heard the sob story, but it never sat right, even when they told me they couldn’t do anything about it. Even if they couldn’t, I was like, alright, but where’s the body? It never sat right, and – shit, I’m so sorry. I mean, I’d offer to take you to Ries, he could probably find you something, like a cream or whatever, but I think it’s too late for any damage control. And he actually asks for money, which I think is just a waste of what you could get out of people, but it’s a weird little business that works, so, whatever! Will you be alright? They look like they hurt, but you’re stomaching it well. Reminds me of all the times I sprained my ankle mid-show - ha!

I can’t – get over it, I mean, I kinda get it? It’s almost like I’m not surprised, but there’s still that sense of betrayal. You’re not feeling that, are you? If you are, show me how you’re keeping a secret, because everything feels like it shouldn’t be upset but it is and frankly it’s getting on my nerves. I’m not surprised but I’m still let down. You feel me? Oh my God, don’t get me started on the third wheeling, or I think we’ll both be here for the next burning. Third time’s the charm, make it a hat trick, ee-tee-see, am I right?

[colourxguard-blog]

- That’s kind of when I gave up, you feel? I was kind of tired of staying as Boy B, no matter what I was being told. Sounds like you got the shit end of the stick more, though! I think. More of a sports guy. I didn’t read a lot. You sure you went in for costume work? Sounds like you’d write great poetry.

And can you believe they said they knew what I was going through? Sounds like someone’s feelings were hurt in the Get Sad With Me Relay and called it a foul. What’ve you got into since then, though? I only ever remember, uh, standing next to you, when we had to exist near each other because of it all. Sometimes in the maudlin shit, I could hear your name, but I never caught it in the tail end. You didn’t lose it, right?

[colourxguard-blog]

Oh- shit, I actually recognize you, you’re Morimoto Kazuko, right? Didn’t we have - something with Hasegawa-sensei? No, wait, it’ll come to me. Eventually.

So, right, right, hey there. Nice to, see you, even after all of that - you know. Sit with me for a bit? I haven’t seen anyone unarmed approach me for a good three days. I think this is some gang’s territory. I. I have- found gum. Want some.

[colourxguard-blog]

[colourxguard-blog]

                     ( we’re young and reckless and we’ll take this way too far, )

                           despair days oc, jiro adachi, colour guard, nail biter.                              no sexual nsfw, despair era only, any writing style.                                                   written by mani.

                             ( leaving you breathless or with a nasty scar. )

                                               | home ask bio ooc |

[bloodyvomit]

[ he takes a small pity on him. he looks like he’s been on his feet without rest for as long as the world has been rotted, and only thinly tethered to the ground as far as liveliness goes. he’s looking for something, someone, and hasn’t stopped. dogged? is that the word? ries doesn’t remember, he’s not thinking about it. he’s been watching the stranger from his hiding places for a while. he can turn this in his favor, can’t he? ]

Excuse me? Are you missing something?

[colourxguard-blog]

( The sabre hurts his hand and he knows its because he keeps -- clenching it, keeps holding it tight enough until his bones rub against it and his nails reach the gloves that haven't been washed in God knows how long, sweat thick in the fabric and heavy in his knuckles. His eyes are on the voice and its source before his body turns and he's quick and on edge because they can be anywhere, they need to be somewhere, but it's not here, not with this rotting carcass. )

I'm looking for someone, they went -- missing since last, night, ( out of breath, edge, on edge. He hasn't spoken anything less than a yell for quite some time, and his throat is coarse and rushed. ) and -- you wouldn't happen to have seen a short girl, have you? Woven hair? Carries something like -- this? Shorter, though. Like her. I miss her. I miss her and I can't find her.