Change in the Currents

[ROSEMARY NERISSA MARINO]

After a long day of violin practice and lessons, there was no better way to unwind in Rosemary's opinion than to wander aimlessly around the International Aquarium in the Ikebukuro District. There was something about the soft blue glow from the tanks and relatively empty halls that calmed Rosemary's senses and soothed her nerves. Rosemary had headed straight to the aquarium from school so she was still dressed in her darker school uniform. She had never been incredibly fond of dark colors, so she was not a huge fan of the dark maroon and green, but it was something she put up with. She would much rather have been dressed in a nice dress with lace or pearls or small little feminine details. Although the curriculum at Infinity College was particularly demanding, she knew she wouldn't trade it for anything. There was no better education around and they specialized in students with special talents, filling the halls with unique individuals from all over the world.

Despite the amount of stress from her school workload, Rosemary wished she could say that that was the source of her need for relaxation. There had been a significant lack of sleep in her life lately and it had absolutely nothing to do with books, studies, or boys. No, it had everything to do with the intense feeling of foreboding that had been undeniably present for at least a month. Something was wrong. Something was changing. She could feel it in the air. Even her paintings had been reflecting the bad feeling lately, since they were filled with scenes of disaster and darkness. While Rosemary hated painting such scenes, it was the only way to remove the images from her head and there was no way she was willing to keep them locked away inside.

She reached our and slid her fingers across the lit glass, staring at the angelfish darting to and fro inside. Rosemary would have given anything at this point to be in that water with the fishes, letting the currents take her wherever they pulled. Ever since she was a child, Rosemary had possessed a strange attraction to water. She had always kept about five different glasses of drinking water in her room, getting her in trouble frequently with her mother for stealing glasses from the kitchen. She had since grown out of that habit, but her fondness for water and aquatic animals had never disappeared. Hypnotized by the slow, gentle current, she barely noticed someone else's entrance into the otherwise empty room.

POSTTAGGEDFOR:: open!
AUTHORSNOTES:: oh god this is the first time i've written in at least a year...

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TEMPLATE CREATED BY YOUR SWEET DEMISE of CAUTION 2 THE WIND

[SHIZUKA MURAKAMI]

[/i]"

It was amazing how such a small statement could spoil what had been a perfectly good week. Shizuka hadn't bothered to listen to the rest of the message as it played out on the machine, frowning as her finger hovered above the delete button in momentary hesitation before descending. 'Message deleted.' The fifth one in a month. For a man who had been so intent on avoiding her the majority of her life, he was certainly intent on hearing from her now.

It likely had something to do with her grandfather's passing, she noted bitterly. He'd given her space after she had ignored his calls following the funeral (which he hadn't bothered to attend) - and then there had been weeks of this. The girl sighed, picking up her phone and leaving it off the hook in hopes of deterring any other messages. She had to get out of the shrine. It was starting to feel like the place was stifling her more than any ghost father ever could. Given that it was her one and only sanctuary, it was more than slightly upsetting to realise she couldn't find a way to relax there.

The chill outside contrasted the hours she'd spent in front of the fire earlier. Though she had expected it, given that she had bothered to change out of her robes and into a plain shirt and pair of jeans, the cold still bit at any piece of exposed flesh like a hungry dog who'd found a steak. She shivered, wrapping her arms about herself as she left her home without any place in mind. She would let her feet and legs do the travelling whilst her brain did the pondering. It had become a trend as of late, the hour-long walks every Thursday. Ever since the time her father's aide had bothered to come rapping at her door, she'd found that any excuse to leave would suffice.

This one was called 'exercise'.

The blue and weightless world she found herself in when she bothered to rejoin the real world left Shizuka some combination of absolutely baffled, and uneasy. She had never cared for water. Years had passed without the young girl learning to swim, and the sheer size of some of the things that lurked below a dark, untelling surface had always made her feel small by comparison. There was nothing quite like the ocean to make your world seem tiny. The fish here seemed serene compared to the sharks, whales and various octopi she always seemed to think of when imagining the world below, however. A clownfish swirled past a piece of coral in its tank before disappearing into the blue. It would have been beautiful, were she not so certain that the actual thing, out there in the ocean, was horrifying.

Down the dim corridor, illuminated by the light of a tank she appeared to be touching, was another young woman. The brunette frowned, noting that she couldn't even find a moment alone in a place she disliked. But there was a sort of serenity to her that piqued Shizuka's interest almost immediately. A familiarity that she couldn't deny, bringing her inches closer before she realised her feet were doing that thing where they moved her against her will. Again.

This had to be insane. She was certain she didn't know the older woman - she'd remember having met her. So then... why was she so familiar? She frowned, choosing the next tank over to stand and investigate further. She'd simply peruse the... 'Leafy Seadragon' exhibit, and keep an eye on the other woman out of the corner of her eye.

It sounded like a plan.[/ul]

((Hope you don't mind that I just popped into this one! If you need me to change anything, just let me know. <3))[/size]

[ROSEMARY NERISSA MARINO]

It took Rosemary a good couple minutes before she even realized that she wasn't alone in the room anymore. It also took her another couple minutes to realize that the other person wasn't a sappy couple, but a lone girl who seemed quite out of place in the aquarium. She was inspecting a seadragon exhibit, but it was fairly obvious that her mind was elsewhere by the expression on her face. Rosemary quirked her eyebrow in the direction of the girl, finding it odd that someone could seem so much like a fish out of water in such a beautifully calming place. Then again, Rosemary knew she'd feel just as odd if she was placed in a situation completely out of her element. Not everyone had such an affinity to water as she did.

There was something odd about the other girl, though, something that threw Rosemary off. Most people she saw on the street never even really registered, but there was something about this other girl that made Rosemary feel like there was something off. She couldn't be quite sure if her feeling was good or bad, especially since she had been having such horrible dreams and premonitions lately. However, she still found herself walking towards the mysterious girl without really thinking about it until she was staring at the seadragon exhibit right next to the stranger. She hadn't really given a thought to how odd it might be that she was choosing to stand right to someone she didn't know in an empty room.

"They're beautiful, aren't they? Most seahorses use their tails to hold on and stay in one place, but the seadragons are stronger swimmers." Rosemary turned her eyes at the other girl, studying her face for an indication of what this odd feeling would be, but finding nothing. "My name's Rosemary Marino, by the way. I go to Infinity College."

[SHIZUKA MURAKAMI]

[/color]" she agreed in relation to the seadragons, watching them float effortlessly in their tank for a moment longer. The very idea of it nearly gave her the chills. "I'm Shizuka Murakami - it is nice to meet you, Marino-san." Whether or not the name was Japanese, it went against her very nature not to include some sort of honourific. They were not friends or anything more than two people who had just met - she hadn't the right to call her anything else.

Though... if they had just met, why did this all feel so familiar? The water seemed to suit this girl the more she looked between the small beasts held captive inside, and the older girl. Shizuka blinked, trying to wipe away the feeling. "I've heard Infinity is a very nice school... I may go there next year." A safe topic. She could handle a conversation like this. She could almost hear her grandfather playfully chastising her for holing up in her room again when she could have been out making friends. Almost.[/ul][/size]

[ROSEMARY NERISSA MARINO]

It was painfully obvious to Rosemary that this other girl, Murakami-san, was full uncomfortable in this situation. She couldn't pin down what exactly was making the girl go through so much unease since it could be anything from feeling a bit nauseous to her surroundings, but she figured it would be rather safe to assume that Shizuka was uncomfortable around Rosemary. It wasn't completely uncommon. After all, Rosemary had a tendency to build up a wall between herself and other people that was extremely rare to break down. As a result of this, other people had told her that she had a rather intimidating gaze with glaring eyes, although it was something Rosemary rarely thought about.

Rosemary's eyebrow quirked up immediately after hearing about Shizuka's interest in Infinity College. As Rosemary's visions of disaster began increasing in number, so did the strange occurrences around Infinity College. Students had gone missing, sick, or found dead although the school faculty kept assuring both their students and worried parents that they were taking precautions. "It's an incredible school. There's no doubt about that. I wouldn't get set on a university right now, though. You're still young so you should explore your options first."

Rosemary wasn't quite sure what would happen to her if she said anything bad about her school, but she didn't want to risk anything. The faculty and administration seemed extremely strict and off-putting and who knew if there would be repercussions. However, she instinctively wanted to protect Shizuka from becoming one of those missing students.

"I'm sorry, it must be odd to be having a conversation with a stranger. I hope I'm not imposing, Murakami-san," Rosemary said, although there was a part of her that hoped the other girl wouldn't tell her to go away. There was something odd about her, but not odd in the normally ominous way.

[SHIZUKA MURAKAMI]

[/i] herself with her school's name. Shizuka frowned slightly, but otherwise simply filed the information away for later. "Saint Catherine's requires its girls to pick their choice of secondary education earlier than most schools," she supplied, shrugging. It wasn't a lie, and though she was usually rather adverse to admitting that she went there, it didn't seem to matter anymore.

She blinked, staring awkwardly at this other girl as though she hadn't expected someone to be so frank about invading her personal space. Part of her wanted to say that it was difficult for her, and that yes, perhaps some distance between them was best. That it was just too odd. The other part was the same that had said this girl looked familiar, begging the miko to stay at least a little bit longer. As though, if she lingered, things might be different. "You aren't," she supplied against her better judgement, though her gaze flickered back to the seadragons for a moment in between the words. "I'm sorry if I'm making this unpleasant for you. I'm just not used to being approached. I'll understand if you want to leave."[/ul][/size]