Arrival

[*mai]

"Shin-san!" Mai exclaimed, entering the inn with a bright smile on her painted lips. "I am so very glad to see you once more. My friend and I here need a place to spend the night..." With a very secretive smile she leaned very close until she was almost nose-to-nose with the man. "I'm sure Shin-san will be able to do that, hm?"

He sighed, a tiny bit flustered by her proximity. "Whatever, Mai-san. You owe me big time..." he winked to show his intentions.

She laughed lightly. "A debt I'm sure will be easily paid."

He handed her the keys. "The usual room, Mai-san. Just ring and anything will be provided for you."

She bowed to show her gratitude. "I am so thankful, Shin-san!" She turned to Iris, her smile fading away. "Shall we?"

[*Iris Nyte]

Iris watched the exchange with the man apparently called Shin and Mai. Mai apparently had some type of relationship with this man in the past, for she got the usual room.

When Mai spoke to her, Iris smiled a close-mouthed smile and joked, "We shall," laughing a spooky, tinkeling laugh.

[*mai]

"I can see what you're thinking, you know," Mai whispered once they were up the stairs. "Shin and I are strictly professional..." She gave another tiny, secret-filled smile. "Actually, he's about the cloest thing to a 'boyfriend' I've ever had. But it's all part of the business, you see." Mai -- somehow adjusting the kimono so she could insert the key into the door -- unlocked the door and pushed her way in. She set her kimono down on the bed and then stretched. "Such an exhausting day," she whispered, sitting down on the bed.

[*Iris Nyte]

Iris smiled, "Actually, I wasn't really thinking anything of the sort. Maybe you'd been good friends with him? I really don't remember much about the culture of Japan, honestly, namely Geisha. But now that you've told me..." Iris smiled once more.

Iris undid the tight, black lace jacket she wore over her long dress, revealing bare shoulders and a large and noticable cresent-shaped moon scar on her left shoulder blade. She pulled her black hair over across her right shoulder and sat lithly on the futon unoccupied by Mai.

"Indeed. The longest day since I got her, especially since I just arrived here today," she laughed slightly at her own joke.

[*mai]

Mai smiled slightly. "Oh, yes." She peered at Iris' skin. "You do have such lovely skin, you know." She smoothed the rumpled fabric of the skirt of her kimono, falling into a silence. "It frightens me," she whispered suddenly, "to think that I owe such a monster a debt."

[*Iris Nyte]

Iris looked at her skin, "You call it lovely, but really... it's a curse. Think about what I am. I can't go to Heaven, only to hell or spend the rest of eternity on Earth, if I'm lucky," she reached to her scar and rubbed it over slowly and carefully, letting the horrible memories of her first years as a Vampirismlilac overwhelm her.

Coming out of her revere, she spoke again to Mai.

"Right. Tell me about this man that you know."

[*mai]

Mai bit her bottom lip, thinking. "What...would you like to know?"

[*Iris Nyte]

Iris looked worridly at her friend. "You seem so afraid of him. Why? Tell me everything you know. This could be a matter between life and death, Mai. Trust me."

[*mai]

Mai wrung her hands in her lap, and continued to bite her lip. "His name is Ostego," she began. "And I'm terrified of him because he seems to have an obsession with turning me into a vampire and keeping me as his little pet."

[*Iris Nyte]

Iris froze. "Ostego?" Something about that name made her shudder deeply; it just sounded so creepy and sinister.

"If this Ostego wants to turn you into a vampire so much, then why hasn't he already? Clearly, you've me him before, so why didn't he change you right then and there?

"It just doesn't quite fit together, Mai."

[*mai]

Mai shook her head. "I am just as confused as you are, Iris-san. I just was 'in the wrong place at the wrong time', so they say. I stumbled on him...feeding..." she shuddered at the memory of the poor girl crumpled on the ground, the blood on his face. "And he..." she took in a shaky breath, "...he said some very disturbing things to me, Iris-san. He read me a 'poem', but it turns out it was a spell so that he always knows where I am. The note I showed you earlier means that he will never stop until he gets what he wants from me, and even I am not sure what he wants."

[*Iris Nyte]

Iris couldn't help but start smiling and giggling. "Perhaps he just wants in your kimono, Mai, dear. I'd guard it dearly."

[*mai]

Mai's face promptly went red. "Oh...oh no... You don't really think...?" Against her better will she started to laugh too; because the mere thought of such a sinister man just going after her for sex was laughable.

[*Iris Nyte]

Iris laughed uncontrollably at Mai's red face. "No, dear! Of course I was just having a laugh!"

[*mai]

"That's the relief," she sighed, her grim look coming back onto her face. "After all, what he wants is a sort of marriage between us. It might actually be true.." Mai dropped her head into her hands and began to cry silently in response to her fear and her loss.