S E I J I
He doesn't expect her to move after him so quickly. Seiji flinches as fingers close around his arm, and turns back to face her with wide eyes. For a moment he's caught there in confusion, mild fear, but then she explains in that terse voice and he sees: she's worried. His heart still beats too fast, but he feels himself calm. Nonetheless, he takes a step back once she releases him. "A creature?" he asks. He hadn't exactly meant to go tearing off all on his own, anyway, but he's grateful for the warning. "Sorry," he adds at last, with a sheepish bob of his head.
Seiji follows her out the door, aware now that she's paid for his meal and saved him from what she perceived to be certain death. He allows himself to wonder vaguely why, though doing so feels ungrateful.
The cold punches him right in the chest the moment they step outside, and Seiji wraps his arms about himself with a sharp intake of breath. He doesn't say anything about it, though. He has no desire to beg more off this stranger, so he follows her through the crumbling ruins, his breath fogging before his face, until they can both see the black spire jutting up toward the sky.
Seiji realizes now he had glimpsed it before, but hardly paid it a second thought. He had been disoriented when he first found this place, and spent much of his time in the warmth of walls since then. "Ah," he hears himself say, his voice just slightly distorted by the onset of shivers. He has never been very adept at handling cold. "Who built it?" he asks. "What did you see — when you visited there?" He means as a bird, though he hardly believed her when she told him of her magic earlier. He can't play skeptical forever, not in the face of so much evidence. Of these strange and terrible things.
He doesn't expect her to move after him so quickly. Seiji flinches as fingers close around his arm, and turns back to face her with wide eyes. For a moment he's caught there in confusion, mild fear, but then she explains in that terse voice and he sees: she's worried. His heart still beats too fast, but he feels himself calm. Nonetheless, he takes a step back once she releases him. "A creature?" he asks. He hadn't exactly meant to go tearing off all on his own, anyway, but he's grateful for the warning. "Sorry," he adds at last, with a sheepish bob of his head.
Seiji follows her out the door, aware now that she's paid for his meal and saved him from what she perceived to be certain death. He allows himself to wonder vaguely why, though doing so feels ungrateful.
The cold punches him right in the chest the moment they step outside, and Seiji wraps his arms about himself with a sharp intake of breath. He doesn't say anything about it, though. He has no desire to beg more off this stranger, so he follows her through the crumbling ruins, his breath fogging before his face, until they can both see the black spire jutting up toward the sky.
Seiji realizes now he had glimpsed it before, but hardly paid it a second thought. He had been disoriented when he first found this place, and spent much of his time in the warmth of walls since then. "Ah," he hears himself say, his voice just slightly distorted by the onset of shivers. He has never been very adept at handling cold. "Who built it?" he asks. "What did you see — when you visited there?" He means as a bird, though he hardly believed her when she told him of her magic earlier. He can't play skeptical forever, not in the face of so much evidence. Of these strange and terrible things.
The rain is full
of ghosts tonight
of ghosts tonight
