Mia and Skyline Post-Awakening

Characters: Mia, Elara

Location: Sanctuary

Date: Immediately post Mia's Awakening

In the wake of the Awakening, what is a young girl wracked with Life and Death to do? The ghoul is restless, and hungry. She wants to leave. If she doesn't go soon, she mightn't go at all, trapped in the not-sleep which sometimes yanked her down, until someone would wake her from it with the promise of dead flesh.

But she waits, crouched by the entrance, claws gently combing through her dog's fur. The golden retriever is seated patiently, panting cheerfully as his tail smacks the floor. Neither of them had the sense that you were *encouraged* to keep looking at them; both dog and girl were just innately *wrong.*

"What had you so excited about that moth, huh, Max?" the girl asks the dog. "That was something weird as fuck."

The dog just wags its tail harder.

Under Mia's fresh Sight, everything around the girl gleams. The dog, primarily, is the most golden one; the creature has the most of her attention. But the girl is still paying attention to *everything* nearby, flaring up at any movement. *What* she's seeing is... not within the bounds of the Sight to determine.

Mia decides to move in slowly. She's hoping to keep the conversation quick, what with Levi waiting patiently up in her room. She walks into view at a leisurely pace, waving with her right while she holds something close to her heart in her left, black fabric peeking out from between her fingers. "Skyline?" she asks quietly, turning her fancy new Sight off belatedly. Twin suns are replaced by green irises.

The girl looks up. She waves; there's something *very* wrong with her skin, and those are definitely, definitely claws. "Yeah, I'm called that on that site," she agrees. In complete contrast to her vaguely Japanese appearance - and also her highly *undead* seeming - her accent is pure brummy. "You're Mia. Hey."

Mia points at herself. "That's me! Ah! May I pet your dog? She crouches, getting more on the ghoul and undog's level. There's still a good deal of distance between them.

There is something horribly, horribly wrong about the dog, even though it... definitely, definitely looks like a normal - if large - golden retriever. It perks up hopefully, ears flicking.

The girl snorts, taking her hands off the hound. "Yeah, sure."

The dog immediately bounds over excitedly.

Mia frantically pockets the thing that had been in her hand as she bursts into a smile. "Hello! Hello there! Hewwo puppy!" She provides the retriever expert scritches, shuffling about in her crouch to stop him from jumping on top of her. They could stand to be deeper scratches, but it seems she's afraid she'll pull off undead skin or something.

The dog is incredibly affectionate, licking her face, hands, shirt - everything it can reach, bounding around her. The dog's fur feels like normal fur; the dog feels quite *alive* in fact.

The girl smiles, watching them both, just a little.

"Aww! Suchagoodboy! Suchagoodboy! Who's a good boy? You are! You are!" Mia looks to Skyline with a grin on her face. "What's his name? And what's yours, for that matter?"

"He's Max," the girl says. Looking closer at his collar, Mia can see the name written on a little tag. "I'm Elara."

"Hewwwoo Max! Hewwo hewwo hewwo!" Mia enthusiastically returns to petting the dog. Then she coughs, and looks back to Elara. "It's nice to meet you Elara. Thank you for coming today."

The dog is clearly delighted by the affection, tail wagging like mad.

Elara shrugs. "Thought it'd be worth coming along. You did invite me, right?" She gets to her feet, standing up. "So, uh. You... wanted to give me a gift? For some reason?"

Mia slowly stands up, petting the dog all the while, then puts a hand out to keep him a little away from her. Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out the cloth. Something glows from within, which she presents to Elara. "This shard of glass was baking in the NYC sun when I passed it on the street. I experimented with it to try and make a hallow, and it worked, I think. There's a bit of sunlight in here, hence the wrapping. I got a book from an ex-necromancer, it mentioned that ghouls don't often like the sun."

Elara extends a hand, cautious, palm out. She doesn't try to take it; the claws seem really long and sharp, right now. Ghouls can sometimes pass for human; right now Elara definitely *can't.* "I don't think I ever really liked it. Brightness. But it can come in handy, at times." She pauses. "And... why d'you want to give it to me?"

"You offered me help in a time of need. I didn't take you up on it, but... I think that was really good of you, and that you deserved to have some clear gain from trying to do good. And going to the effort of coming all this way? Bringing over this delightful dog- hel*lo* little guy, hello- that was pretty great of you to. I'd like to live in a world where good things come to good people, and here's my little way of trying to make the world more like that." She places the shard in the palm of Elara's claws, gently. "Thank you again."

Elara closes her hand over it, pulling it closer to her. She's looking at Mia like she doesn't make any *sense.* "You're weird," Elara eventually decides. "But... alright, I guess. Uh. Happy Awakening? Hope the shoes come in handy."

The dog is licking Mia's feet and legs cheerfully.

Mia smiles, and its a smaller, less audacious thing than she can usually muster. "I'm sure they will. See you around, I'm glad we got off on the right... *foot!"* She points at those very same yellow shoes and grins. Then she starts petting Max again while maintaining eye contact and not breaking her smile.

Elara scoffs, shaking her head. "Puns," she says, but she sounds amused. "Not too likely, but... I guess I could maybe come up here again, if I scrape out a free day. Not for long. We're busy folks. But if you do want to see Max again, I guess its good for him to have more friends."

Max shoves himself happily up into the scritches.

Mia returns to more fully petting Max. "He certainly deserves them! Yes he does! Yes you do!" There's a brief pause as she is content to simply pet the dog, but eventually she withdraws. "Safe travels, both of you. And I do look forward to seeing you again. Hope business booms in a good way, or dries up if its unpleasant."

Elara makes a noise of utter disgust. "Maybe if I'm *really* lucky the fuckers I spy on will spontaneously drop dead and no longer exist. But I doubt I'll ever be that lucky." The ghoul whistles, and the dog immediately comes back to her, tail wagging cheerfully. "Have a good one, Mia. Thanks for inviting me, I guess." She raises a hand and waves, and then heads off towards the exit.

Mia waves the pair off, not particularly bothered by Elara's outburst. She heads back inside not long after, eager to experiment with Levi and the gifts gathered.