An Attempt at Motivation (open)

[Raisa ana'Marianna]

Raisa was gaining more freedom than she'd ever had; Never once since she'd been here what she been allowed to leave her cell. Now she was allowed as far as the library, though her wings were still tied together by a thick chain that prevented them from fully extended and allowing her flight. Still, it was a start. But did Micah know how much freedom she'd gained? Surely he couldn't, or he would have put a stop to it.

So now here she was, free from her cell at last, and finding she was bored enough to want to go back to it. Everything seemed so... monotonous. So purposeless. She thought maybe she'd find a nice novel and snuggle into an armchair for the afternoon and let her imagination free her from all the locks and chains the prison kept her in, but even that failed. Instead, she found herself wondering why she even bothered to continue her pointless life. It wasn't to say that she wanted to die, not by any means. She simply wondered why she was doing what she was, what her motivation was, and if she should be doing something else instead. It had to be something else, her existence now wasn't achieving anything. But what could that other something be?

Her research had started on the archaic volumes the library held on demons, wondering if there was anything she could do to make herself useful to the outside world and possibly get out of this hell hole, though again her attention had waned. While daydreaming herself into her own story world, she'd absentmindedly drawn a sparrow twirling across the page. She knew she was part hawk demon, but sparrows always seemed so much more lovely to her than her own kind. Raisa sighed when she saw the drawing on the sheet that was supposed to contain notes; yet another failed attempt at doing something of meaning.

[Akemi 'Ai' Yoshida]

Akemi was standing in the back corner of the library, her reading had completely shut her off from the rest of the 'world'. At least the world that she hadn't been physically shut off from. She wasn't exactly sure how long she had been reading, and then rereading the book she held in her hands. A Japanese mythology book. One that she might have read back in high school, when she lived in Japan. She couldn't remember exactly and closed the book. The library was quiet, a soothing quiet to most, but Akemi liked to hear people, to know people were around. With that thought pushing her, she moved about the library looking for someone else.

When she was about to give up and just go put the book back up and return to wandering the halls like normal, she saw a woman. The woman had wings, but they weren't stretched out like they should. 'I wonder...' Akemi didn't have to wonder too long, because a glint of metal told her the woman was chained, at least her wings were. Akemi wasn't one to talk to people, so without even thinking about it she pulled a chair out of one of the desks and sat down. She opened the mythology book she had been carrying and began to reread it again, this time making sure she didn't leave reality too much.

[Raisa ana'Marianna]

Raisa's cat ears picked up the newcomer's movements before her human ones did, and a black furred ear swiveled in their direction. They were close, approaching. Her tail twitched impatiently, angry with herself for not noticing sooner. Still, Raisa made no movement to look up at the passerby, though froze imperceptibly when the person sat across the table.

Her nose pricked with the smell of tainted blood. Demon. Like her. But... strange in a way that she wasn't sure of. Not that is was any of her business to know about others who were different - everyone was different here - but she liked to know with whom she shared company. A security measure, if nothing else.

After a few moments, her birdish curiosity outweighed her cat-like instincts of non-chalence and her eyes flicked up. A woman of average stature and appearance, nothing visibly abnormal. She'd probably been hard to label as a non-human... a specialty case that was likely the work of her brother. Somehow, that made her unfairly judge the girl more harshly. Raisa returned to her drawing, meticulously etching out the feathers of the wings. "You know, demons are bad company to keep," she said blandly, "Especially if you are one yourself. Any particular reason you chose to risk this disastrous seating arrangement?"

[Akemi 'Ai' Yoshida]

Akemi looked up slowly, she looked at the woman. She hadn't sensed anything wrong, but of course she wasn't like some of the people here that had almost a sixth sense to tell when someone was dangerous. She looked back down at her book and flipped the page blindly. "I wouldn't know," She said simply, a soft edge to her voice, "I don't consider myself anything of a threat, especially to demons," She finished in the same almost monotonousness voice she had began. She keep her eyes on the book and flipped the pages, as if by instinct until she came to the page on succubi. She looked at the picture of the woman that was turning into a hideous demon and shivered slightly.

'Am I really something like that?' She wondered as she reread the passage she had read so many times before. 'A demon that pretends to be a human,' Those words always stuck in her head, 'But I am a human.' She thought to herself as she quickly flipped the page to something else. Akumas. The evil spirits. She pretended to read the words on the page as she waited to see if the person, the demon, would respond.