Chapter 3: The Barber's Family
The door to a dark room had just been unlocked, opening softly with the creaking door hinges being the only life. Until Miss Scarlet steps in softly.. while Sakuya is left to gawk softly at the room's aging. The wall paper had mostly been torn, the furniture gone... the only things left were a stove in the corner, and a baby's crib, covered with a blanket. Very carefully, Sakuya moved to this crib, and gently lifted up the blanket... only to find the remains of a teddy bear on the bedding, torn to shreds.
That's when Miss Scarlet pulls a lose floorboard out, and reaches down for a box... pulling it up. She lifts it up, and sets it on the floor, Sakuya glancing over to look at the box... and then her. She almost looks surprised.
"I hid them, when she came for your daughter." She smiles softly, putting the floorboard back. "He didn't bother looking for them. I did."
Sakuya moves to the box.. just about dropping herself down onto her knees to reach for it. Her hands shake... as she softly unlocks the simple little device that holds it closed... and opens it. Inside were knives. Lots... and lots of knifes. All of the same design. Some with blue grips, others with red and purple...
Miss Scarlet seems to back away a bit. "...Silver...?"
Sakuya looks to her... and smiles. "Yes. .. Silver..." As she says that, she gently reaches in, and pulls one out. Just at that time, the clouds give way to the afternoon sun, a large window letting the light shine in. She lifts the knife up... "These... These are my friends. I shined them, cleaned them, sharpened them... everyday. Look at the hard work... see how it shines in the sun...?" She smiles some... "That's my perfection... I cared for them like family..."
The ex-barber pulls the knife to her ear softly... "Locked away, all these years... just like me. Heh... And now, I've come home." She starts to block out Miss Scarlet, just in her own world as she dangerously digs her hands into the box, pulling out five knifes into each hand. She grins softly to herself... muttering a few things to herself...
"...Ah... Sa~ku~ya...? You can stay in this room, you know...." She seems distant, the meat pie maker almost wanting to interrupt... "I.. I always liked you, you know... Sakuya... Uh...I'm one of your friends too, right?" Ignored, she glances as Sakuya starts to softly put the knives back into the box, leaving out a special red one with a purple grip. "S...Sakuya...?" Miss Scarlet taps her shoulder a few times. "You're listening to me, right? Sakuya?" Miss Scarlet pokes her a few more times on the shoulder, and Sakuya's head softly turns, glancing to the vampire. Her eyes then close as she looks to the front of her again. "...Please... leave me...Just for a bit."
With a small frown, Miss Scarlet gets up... and gently moves out of the room, softly shutting the door behind her. She looks through the window a little before she gives a tiny flap of her wings, then moves to quietly walk down to her own shop.
Sakuya softly starts to stand as she raises the knife into the air, giving a large grin as the sun shines brightly, just inside that room. And she holds the knife to it. "See... See what we haven't seen in so long..." She smiles, moving her other arm to cover her eyes from the sun... then she pulls the knife to her face. And smiles at it. "...Together again. At last. But you're only part of my family..."
"Stupid.... Stupid maps..." Marisa walks around aimlessly in the rich part of London, giving a few growls to herself. Her map is turned over, flipped over, and even flipped in ways one can't even imagine. "You think they would just give you directions from where you are to where you wanna go, ze!" Marisa starts to look around, up and up further, back down and down at her feet, left, right, left, right, around and below. That's when she happens to glance over at this one very rich looking house. Already, the Witch's thought start to race... "Oh... well... maybe... while I'm here..." She grins softly, only to put her attention to a window. There, she sees... a girl. Dressed in a what appeared to be some kind of flowing pink outfit, looking at a bird in a cage right next to the window.
The girl was currently reading a book, a half-asleep look occupying her face as she flips page from page. She gives a soft sigh as she moves to look outside of her window, only to see the black dressed woman looking right at her. She stares for a few moments at the girl, until Marisa finally gives a biiiig grin and gives a huge waving arm at the girl in greeting. The book reader only seems to smile a little bit, before her attention is caught by something in the room. And she stands up and walks out of sight.
"M..Money! A...Any money will do! Please, anything for a miserable homeless woman!" Marisa looks off to the side, to see a long haired red-head in rags, with her hands out. She appeared to be walking to her. Marisa frowns some, only to reach into her pockets and pull out a few simple coins she 'found' earlier, handing them into that open hand. The homeless woman gasps, and almost greedily covers her other hand over it. "T-Thank you, miss, thank you!"
"Hold on a sec, ze!" Marisa catches her attention, looking at the house. "Who's place is this?"
"This place... Oh, this is Judge Yamaxanadu's manor."
"And the girl that is with her...?"
The homeless woman gasps a little. "T...That's Patchouli... her pretty little girl. Keeps her nice and snug inside, all locked up." The woman grabs onto Marisa's arm, shaking it. "Best not be thinking of anything daring! Else there's a good spell card in it for you... Or... any other person with mischief on their minds." She lets go suddenly, and quickly makes her way.
"..." Marisa blinks, and moves to scratch the back of her head softly. "...That was weird, ze." She glances at the window once more... Then the door. "...Well, maybe before taking off... I can steal this girl~. I've never stolen a real person before..." She smiles, and crosses her arms behind her head, arching a little. "...I can give it a shot!"
That's when the door of the manor opens up softly... and out steps the 'Great' Judge Yamaxanadu. She gives the witch a soft smile, and beckons her. "Come, come in!"
Marisa blinks... and shrugs. "...Oh this'll be /too/ easy..." She walks in, and follows the Judge.
"You're looking for Hyde Park, you said?" Yamaxanadu starts, taking the witch to a large study room, books abound with a large desk in the center of the room.
"That's right, ze! This stupid map just doesn't help, and since we can't /fly/ here, it makes it even harder to find it." She smirks. "It's embarrassing for a magician not to know where she is."
"... A magician...?" The judge goes on, looking over her books. "...Ahhh... yes... a magician... one should know all the spells, hmmm? Perfected in all areas of magic... would you say you're practiced?"
"Hell yeah! Everything, ze!"
"...Necromancy..." Her hands start to caress the spines of books... "Pyromancy...Teleportation. Levitation, telepathy... everything you could need to know..." That's when another person joins the room, the Judge's subordinate, Komachi. She smirks softly, crossing her arms and leaning on the door.
"Every spell book you could ever dream of... doing to a stolen girl." She looks to Marisa, who blinks at the... rather blunt use of grammar, just as the judge pulls out a book. "Would you like to see...?"
"...What are you trying to get at, ze?"
The judge pushes the book back in... and starts to walk forwards, right at the witch. "...You gandered at my Patchouli, yes, MISS, YOU GANDERED AT HER!"
"C-Calm down, ze! This is some kinda misunderstanding!"
"Oh there is no misunderstanding here, witch..." The judge grabs Marisa, and slams her right up against a wall, eye to eye with her. "...If I ever see you on these streets, you will wish you were being /caved/." She lets go of the girl, as Komachi steps in, and drags Marisa off, tugging her by the ear.
Just as they get outside, Komachi throws her out, and onto the street, the witch tripping on her way out and landing flat on her face. "Hyde park is down that street, to the left, and then you take a right!" Komachi grins as she lifts her hand up, numerous pink orbs flowing out and slamming into the witch. Marisa balls up a little, blood peeking out from her mouth. Her eyes only go wide just as Komachi stabs the wooden end of her scythe right into Marisa's spine, coughing up blood onto the pavement as she's rolled over onto her back. Komachi only then smirks, and places the end of that scythe right against her forehead. "...And think, next time, I won't be using Danmaku against you. Next time, it'll be my scythe, to your neck." She smiles, and moves back into the house, closing the door as she leaves.
Marisa gets up after a while, coughing a bit more and cleaning her mouth up with her arm a little, staggering up onto her feet as she leans against a wall. She grits her teeth... only to turn it into a grin as she looks at the door. "...Patchouli, eh? Well... Just for that... I /am/ going to steal her. Even if I have to Master Spark your manor, ze!" Marisa grins even more as she gets up, glancing at one of the windows again... before she conjures up the strength to head out.