2013-10-12 - Poster infractions and the Blue Hearts

Poster infractions and the Blue Hearts
Summary: Jay Dawson has not gone through the proper channels to raise posters on Ohtori grounds. Yakuza princess Sakuyo Izumi plays guitar when she should be going to class, and shares memories of her mother.
Who: Alexandra Noblesse, Eri Shimanouchi, Hayate Yagami, Jay Dawson, and Sakuyo Izumi
Where: Ohtori Academy courtyard and garden
OOC - IC Date: 10/12/2013 - 10/03/2013

There is music wafting between classes in the courtyard of Ohtori Academy this afternoon. Sakuyo has classes herself, of course, but that hasn't stopped her from sitting herself down at the base of a high, shaped rose bush, strumming on an acoustic guitar and singing. She has stopped and started over a couple times when playing the wrong chord or falling out of the melody, or to scare off passing students making fun of the 'busker' or gawking at "Izumi-hime," the mob princess, just enjoying the outdoor air and playing a song she likes. Her voice is unpracticed and rough, and her accent is prominent on the English.

"Take me out tonight

Because I want to see people and I want to see life

Drivin' in your car, oh, please don't drop me home

Because it's not my home, it's their home and I'm welcome no more.

And if a double-decker bus

Kurashes into us

To die by your side is such a heabenly way to die

And if a ten-ton truck

Kills the both of us

To die by your side, well, the pleasure, the priv'ledge is mine..."

And then there's Hayate, who passes by for reasons of her own. She stops when she hears the music, turning her wheelchair towards the girl and listening from a distance. After the song is done, Hayate claps a few times for Sakuyo. "You play well." She says softly, though probably loud enough for a girl good at music to overhear. And of course, the clapping draws attention to her.

Jay Dawson is here on an errand. You see, last period, a fellow student--one Rei Fushigiyo--asked him to help put up flyers during a break between classes, and assured him she'd tell the teacher he was off on an official school errand.

Or more accurately, Rei shoved the flyers at him while shouting orders, and didn't even look at him. Jay didn't argue, because Rei is kind of scary when she gets like that.

This explains what a young American guy in a Juuban uniform is doing taping posters to anything that isn't fast enough to get out of the way. Each has a big, colorful header for 'AMERICAN PURORESU CLUB', the dates and times of meetings, the location, and a really big picture of John Cena delivering a huricanrana to some other dude. He is in the process of taping a poster to the wall when he catches sight of someone actually playing a guitar--it wasn't someone's speakers after all. "Hello!" he says, approaching Sakuyo fearlessly. "Would you like a flyer?"

"Take me out tonight

Take me anywhere, I don't care I don't care I don't care

And in the darkened undapass

I thought oh God my chance has come at last

But then a strange fear gripped me an' I just couldn't ask

There is a light an' it never goes out

There is a light an' it never goes out

There is a light an' it never goes out

There is light an' it never go... shit."

Sakuyo stops playing abruptly after stumbling on the lyrics at the end. Time to start over - or at least, if not for a few witnesses who approach her after this attempt. She glances at the young kid in the wheelchair - oh, Jesus, a kid in a wheelchair, poor girl - and looks down at her guitar. "I'm still workin' on it," she says, in a thick Kansai dialect that Jay might have difficulty interpreting. "Fucked up the lines a few times. But thanks, kid. You like the Smiths?"

She glances at Jay, and takes a flyer out of his hands. She gives it a serious look - American Puroresu Club, some muscled guy doing a double leg lock. She crumples the poster up and tosses it behind her without a word.

Meanwhile, Hayate has no issues with that Kansai dialect at all. She slips into her own a bit deeper, "I don't know them, but I liked your singing." She answers, and to be fair, she's nine years old, she probably doesn't have much exposure to that kind of music. "It doesn't matter if you made a few mistakes, I liked it."

Suddenly there's a loud shout across this side of campus, "What kind of thoughtless jerk would do this to the trees?!"

Eri storms from tree to tree ripping down each flyer in turn. She doesn't toss them though, instead keeping them all in an orderly stack in her arms. She's wearing the standard middle schooler uniform with only a green windbreaker added which matches atrociously. She's so obviously upset that she doesn't even notice she's entered... the Sakuyo zone.

Jay hangs back a moment as Sakuyo reads the flyer, glancing sidelong at Hayate. He's seen other people in wheelchairs before, so the existence of one isn't as big a shock as it could be, but... she doesn't seem to have anything indicating a broken leg. Huh.

And then Sakuyo crumples up the flyer. "H--hey!" Jay cries, bending down to retrieve the crumpled paper. He tries to flatten it back out, but no matter how much he fusses with it, it still has crease lines. "Someone else paid for these! Do you want to get me in trouble with her?"

At the shout, Jay then tenses up, glancing back over his shoulder. He gulps.

It's been a bit of a long day for Alexandra Noblesse. She'd been hosting a group study session that, as per usual, largely devolved into a gaggle of girls asking questions about Touga Kiryuu. It takes a bit of inner strength not to tan their hides and kick them out of the library, but that's not how proper ladies behave, so she managed to mostly concentrate on helping people with their studies. She's not sure the event worked out particularly enjoyably for the two Juuban girls she'd invited, but, well, she tried. Even if she put a friendly foot forward, Ohtori is Ohtori, after all.

The young student treasurer glides along the campus with an elegant stride, wearing a slight, warm smile that looks genuine, but is simply well-rehearsed. And so it is that she comes across... a rather large number of posters for the American Puroresu Club. Plastered everywhere. Her smile takes a hit. "..." The French girl just stares at the first poster she sees for a moment, and then looks around, trying to determine what an acceptable amount and location for these posters would be. John Cena. Huh.

"...Non, non. Cela ne va pas..." (...No, no. This will not do...)

It's really not her job, even as a student council member, to go around tearing down posters. She leaves that to Eri. However, she'd be remiss if she didn't find the villain responsible for violating Ohtori's carefully maintained decorum and instruct him to take most of the posters down and keep them in the appropriate places. She expects that the conversation will go well. .oO( What do you expect me to do, just go tear down all the posters I put up? ) She tries to follow the trail ... and it leads her... towards the garden.

...

...

"...Non, Monsieur Bond, je vous attends pour mourir." Uh oh.

Sakuyo climbs up off the ground, taking a step back to pick up the crumpled poster along with her guitar. She steps a little closer to Hayate, smirking a little at hearing her own dialect returned to her. "I used to listen to American bands through electronics storefront windows, with my mom," she says gently to Hayate. "You know Linda Linda?" By the Blue Hearts, a Japanese punk band. A favorite. She probably doesn't, Sakuyo figures. She'll offer to teach it to her.

Sakuyo glances aside, as trouble brews. "Heads up," she says to Jay and Eri both, tossing the crumpled poster Eri's way. "One more." That should keep him busy. Poor guy.

While Hayate notices the trouble brewing, it's not her trouble, she'll stay out of it if she can. There's a brief, faint frown at the mention of a mom, but it doesn't last more than a fraction of a second. "I don't think I do, maybe? I don't really listen to a lot of music." She's more of a reader, and libraries are quiet places. Hospitals of course, don't lend themselves to musical appreciation either. "What's it like?"

A bead of sweat trickles down Jay's forehead, and he clutches the posters to his chest like they're contraband. "There's no 'no posters allowed' sign or anything," he says. Sakuyo's accent is thoroughly confounding him, but there's no mistaking her intent.

He turns to Eri, and manages a weak little smile. "Hi?" he says.

The familiar voice of Sakuyo causes her to freeze in her tracks, "I-Izumi-senp..." She gets cut off from being startled by a piece of paper sailing at her and hitting her in the head. While it doesn't hurt, it causes her to drop the sheaf of papers that she'd been collecting.

You are then all treated to the sight of Eri running after the papers as the wind carries them away further just out of her reach. She looks even more upset though now leaning more on the /feels like she's going to cry side./

Until Jay addresses her in the midst of his excuses to Sakuyo. You know how anime protagonists can do the giant head with the flames of wrath thing? Well Eri can't so that, but she wishes she could right about now as she looks up at Jay stating very tersely, "Hello. My name is Eri Shimanouchi, might I have the pleasure of your acquaintance?" After all, it would be unseemly to murder someone without first knowing their name, she thinks.

It is, perhaps, exceedingly fortunate for Jay that Eri has reached him first. As Alexandra Noblesse finally rounds the corner to see the scene at hand, her eyes lid, and a few thoughts go through her head. An American putting up the posters seems all-too-fitting. Eri has a crumpled poster and several torn ones at her feet, which can't mean good things for the American she was shouting at. About? At. And then there's one of the school's resident yakuza girls, speaking with the young wheelchair-bound Hayate Yagami, which actually doesn't seem to be a problem. Alexandra takes it all in stride, takes a breath, and then begins striding, nearly floating confidently through the garden.

"Izumi-san." She says the name as more of an acknowledgement than a greeting. The student treasurer is practically required to express disdain of the school's mob princesses, but Alexandra doesn't DO rude. Period. Besides, it's not Sakuyo that Alexandra came here for.

On that note, the white-haired French girl looks to Jay, and a thought just gets beamed into her head, seemingly from out of nowhere. "...I beg your pardon. I assume you're here at the behest of Fushigiyo-san?" She knows he didn't come here of his own volition?

... Oh thank God. Maybe she won't kill him.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Sakuyo says with a sigh. "C'mon," she gestures to Hayate to wheel herself along, as Sakuyo bends to start picking up the posters that Eri dropped in her panic. "My mother loved the Blue Hearts," she continues as she picks them up, and from the bittersweet affection in Sakuyo's voice, it should be clear to Hayate (and anyone eavesdropping) that Sakuyo is cherishing something that she's lost. "Linda Linda was her favorite song. The words are easy, so once you get the hang of it, you've got to sing along, okay? Doesn't matter if you're not good at it. You hear Linda Linda, you have to sing."

"Noburesse," Sakuyo returns the acknowledgement, not bothering with an honorific. That cold, huh. She's not so cold when she hands the gathered posters over to Eri. "Wasn't aiming for your head," she says, which is as close as she's able to get to 'I'm sorry.'

Jay's lips tighten into a line as Eri scrambles to retrieve the papers. "My name is Jay Dawson," he says. "I was just here to put these up for someone--"

And then, a newcomer arrives! "I am," Jay says, turning to Alexandra. "She told me to come put these up at Ohtori and Infinity, and she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. I'm sorry if I messed up your garden, I just thought it'd get attention since a lot of people come here. You aren't mad, are you?"

It's clear from the way Hayate nonverbally reacts to Sakuyo that she understands the concept of losing your mother, perhaps a bit too well. She follows the older girl, though she remains a bit quiet for now. She nods, "I'll try." There's a bit of strength in that little sentence, the strength of someone who understands far too well why this song would be so important to Sakuyo. She doesn't elaborate further, and prepares to learn the lyrics.

Eri seems more than a little surprised when Hayate and Sakuyo join her. For the time being all the ire that might have been directed Jay's way just.. deflates out of her.

She states very quietly to Sakuyo, "It's... alright, no harm done." And then after a moments thought states, "Thank you very much.. by the way." To Sakuyo it might be unclear what she's thanking her on, precisely.

As for Jay? He's here at the behest of someone else which fortunately for him, spares him a good measure of her wrath, "I was." She takes a deep breath, "I'm not so much anymore. Just.. this garden is important to me." She hands the stack back over to him.

She gives Alexandra a furtive look, suddenly uncomfortable about her presence given the context of the library study session. She still nods politely to her regardless, stating, "I'm glad to see you again Noblesse-san." Sans death laser of course.

The lack of honorific in Sakuyo's address doesn't seem to bother Alexandra. If it does, she certainly shows no sign of it. However, she speaks quietly under her breath. "That language around a third grader..." It's not really quiet enough that noone can hear, which is probably the point. Whatever anyone else thinks of Sakuyo Izumi, the student treasurer is not afraid of getting on her bad side. As long as she doesn't have to be rude to do so.

Watching Eri's reaction, to make sure she doesn't kill the young man (at least not yet), Alexandra clears her throat quietly, waiting for the right moment to speak, which will be once Eri and Jay are done spouting exposition and being nervous - not necessarily in that order. When that happens, she blinks slowly, and then speaks in a softer voice than she was intending to use.

"Please tell the honorable Fushigiyo-san..." They've never met. "... that she may only place posters for her club in the properly allocated spaces." The white-haired girl lets her eyes close. "...Also, she will be held directly responsible for anything she instructs her subordinates to do." Subordinates is a strong word...

"Now..." Her blue eyes slip open, bright and piercing. "...You may proceed to help take down all the posters you have placed, and breathe easy, knowing that you are doing the right thing." ...It sounds a little like she's saying he wouldn't be able to breathe so easy otherwise.

Jay bows to Alexandra like she is the Empress. When he rises, he does so reluctantly, and he doesn't meet her eyes. "All right," he says. "I'll go gather them up. Eri-san, I'm sorry for messing up your garden, and if she sends me out again, I'll only place them in the proper spots."

With that, he gives Eri a bow of her own, and hurries off to start cleaning. But not, mind, before pulling out his cellphone and making a few quick posts...

Sakuyo waves Eri's quiet thanks off wordlessly. They're square; she doesn't need thanks. Having done that, she returns to her place by the rose bush, though this time she remains standing and lifts her guitar once again. She strums for a little while, stops, and then resumes strumming. She croons:

"I want to be beautiful

Just like a gutter rat

I want a beauty that won't

Show up in photographs."

There is a brief pause, and then she begins dragging her hand across the guitar rapidly, trying to emulate the chords of an electric guitar, and bobbing her shoulders as she enters the chorus loudly. As she progresses, she begins to hop in the air along to the beat, gesturing briefly for Hayate to get into the music as well, however she feels like.

"Linda, Linda!

Linda, Linda, Linda-a!

Linda, Linda!

Linda, Linda, Linda

If someday you and I

Should get the chance to meet

On that day, please teach me

The meaning of love!

Kinder than anyone

Just like a gutter rat

Warmer than anything

Like a gutter rat!

Linda, Linda!

Linda, Linda, Linda-a!

Linda, Linda!

Linda, Linda, Linda-a-aa!"

Jay's sudden politeness as an American throws her off guard, "All is forgiven. Thank you for that.." She even bows slightly to him.

She inches closer to Alexandra at this point and states, "Thank you as well, Noblesse-san." She lowers her voice even moreso than the errant comment in the library, "I suppose we should discuss the other matter.. another time."

But then Sakuyo starts to sing, and given her explanation to Hayate which she overheard earlier she quiets down, giving her her full attention.

Hayate listens to the song, trying to memorize the lyrics. When the song is done, Hayate asks softly, "I think I got them, can you start over so I can try to sing along?" Of course, it likely won't go right the first time. She really seems to be trying hard, possibly more than most girls her age would in this kind of situation. No, definitely more.

Alexandra smiles at Jay as he leaves to go pick up the posters. Well, he responded exactly as he should. She shall have to congratulate him on his life choices when he returns - because people really need to be congratulated on that kind of thing by other people they don't know!

Eri's comment causes her eyes to lid again, and Alexandra tilts her head to one side slowly, but doesn't say anything more, but instead turns to listen to Sakuyo's performance. She purses her lips together for a moment after it is finished, and then offers some mild but polite applause. "Encore, s'il vous plaît." (Again, if you please.)

Sakuyo catches the look in Hayate's eyes, and she trails off in the middle of her first performance. "Sure, sure," she says, beginning the opening strum again. "Yer a sweet kid, you know that? You can just sing along with the Linda Linda, you don't have to get the whole song." The kid is really giving it more than Sakuyo asked for, and she can't help but smile at it. She glances at Alexandra, and nods neutrally.

"I want to be beautiful

Just like a gutter rat..."

Sakuyo sings her way through the song once again, recalling the same energy she brought to the first try. She gestures upward for the listeners to follow her lead - or clap along, or anything, given Hayate's situation - and to sing along to the chorus.

"If someday you and I

Should get the chance to meet

On that day, please teach me

The meaning of love!

Even without love, even without fire

I'll still never let you go

Even when all I have left

Is this tremendous strength!

Linda, Linda!

Linda, Linda, Linda-a!

Linda, Linda!

Linda, Linda, Linda-a-aa!

Linda, Linda! Linda, Linda! Linda, Linda, Linda-a-aa!

Linda, Linda! Linda, Linda! Linda, Linda, Linda-a-aa!

Ohh ohh!!"

Eri hates to admit it but she's so tone deaf that she attracts cats when she sings in the shower, how the cats even get into the Shimanouchi home is a mystery for another time. For now she ignores the head tilt from Alexandra.

But despite how bad she is, she starts to sing too, and not out of fear, but because its important to her. She needs no other reason to do it. And while she hasn't lost family.. she felt the numbing heart wrenching pain of what might as well have been that loss. And so, she follows along too, with just the Linda Linda and the few words she picked up. Her terrible English accent makes it even more terrible but.. she tries. Whether that's to her credit or not is up to debate, but Alexandra's eardrums might be experiencing some sharp pains at the moment.

Hayate sings along as well as she can, which is okay. She's got a good memory and sharp senses, but she forgot part of the lyrics, humming along where she's forgotten the words. It's not great singing, but it's acceptable. She smiles as she sings along, and when they're done, she asks a quiet question, "Do you miss your mother a lot?"

When Sakuyo starts over again, Hayate and Eri are not the only ones that join in the singing. Alexandra, the distant, proper, unrelatable student council member, lifts her voice just a bit as well, and doesn't even wince at Eri's singing!

Anyone who's heard the treasurer sing before, which is probably many of her classmates and upper classmen, knows that she has a soft, beautiful singing voice that is far too perfect, like everything else she lets people see of her school persona. To most people, it's rather nice - but here, it would be wholly inappropriate. This is not exactly a traditionally soothing and gentle song, and such vocals would probably ruin the mood at least a little.

Which is why it likely comes as something of a relief and/or surprise, when the white-haired girl's voice comes out with a hint of a rasp behind it, harmonized with Sakuyo in that off-the-cuff, imperfect way that only someone who has heard the album version of the song in question would probably know to do. And when the song reaches the chorus and takes off, she /almost/ puts the amount of energy into it that Sakuyo does. She's pretty close to doing it the way she's supposed to... but as an under-current to Sakuyo's voice that only makes the mob princess sound better, without calling much attention to itself.

Of course, the fact that Alexandra Noblesse is singing a Japanese Punk song, and doing it properly is... noteworthy enough. One can easily imagine the massive amount of Cease and Desist orders Youtube and NicoNico would get within the first five seconds of someone putting up a video of this. Which is probably why Alexandra glances around after the song winds down, getting ready to snatch and crush any cell phones in the area that look like they're recording.

Crush? Accidentally completely destroy.

Yes.

That.

Thankfully, Jay has finished texting and twittering and has since put his phone away. He does turn to listen to the song, smiling a little.

Sakuyo doesn't care how people sing along. It just matters that they sing along. As a matter of fact, she gets into the song so much that she barely registers how perfectly the student councillor manages to supplement her performance. But everyone has followed along with her request, and the song...

"Shit," Sakuyo says when she's done, and the last note is resonating from her guitar. She raises a hand to her eye and rubs. "I got something in my eye."

She shakes her head a little bit when she's done, sighing and calming down a bit. "Yeah," she says quietly, in response to Hayate's question. "Yeah, I do." It seems like that's as much as she's willing to say on the subject. She's not mad; everyone has treated her well here, and she's thankful. She just... can't express it.

There's a nod of acknowledgement from Hayate, though she doesn't offer any physical attempts of comforting Sakuyo. Perhaps she assumes Sakuyo doesn't want it, perhaps there's some other reason. Instead she just says, "I know what that's like." She says it in a very quiet voice, it sounds a bit pained, and she forces herself to smile again after a moment, her Kansai dialect very obviously there when she starts speaking again,

"You're a really good singer, I don't know what you want to do with your future, but you shouldn't stop singing." She is looking at Sakuyo here, because she's certain Alexandra already knows. "Oh, and I'm Yagami Hayate. I transferred to Ohtori recently."

One of the first questions on every Puella Magi's mind when meeting another is /What did you wish for?/ Eri didn't ask that question normally. While she was blunt, that was too personal for her to think of asking others.

But it does dawn on her this much. Sakuyo got her wish, but her mother is dead. There may not be correlation to that she realizes but it still hits her hard. /Wish rat./ /Kyubey fucked you./.

She pales all of a sudden, feeling very ill. Mumbling something along the lines of, "I am truly sorry for your loss..." in the most sincere way possible she starts walking away as fast as is seemly.

For better or worse, Alexandra doesn't seem to have anything to add to Hayate's words. There's a strange look in her eye, though. It's hard to read. She just stays quiet for a moment, slipping her hands behind her and waiting in silence. If Jay comes back, or Eri wants to speak with her on her way out, she will definitely engage them, but... for now she seems to be without anything to say. She also does not appear to be going anywhere, though her expression changes to something more sympathetic as she watches Eri stride away, and doesn't change back when she turns her gaze back to Sakuyo and Hayate.

"Yeah," Sakuyo says to Hayate, turning her head at the same time to watch Eri scutter off, with a frown. She really scared that girl - and she really is getting soft. "I don't think a lot about the future. I dunno, singin' is just something I do for fun. But thanks, Yagami-chan. Yer a good kid," she repeats, putting a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "I'm Sakuyo Izumi, grade 9. I live in the dorms here. You can talk to me if you have any trouble. Okay? Anything."

Sakuyo glances across to Alexandra now, looking still distant, but a little less cold. She says nothing, just a visual question, wondering what Alexandra is planning to do.

"Thanks, Izumi-san." Hayate smiles, clearly a bit forced, but it's starting to become more genuine again. "I will. I own a place not too far away from school, so I don't live in the dorms. I'm grade 3." Yes, she said she owns a place. She pushes herself towards the path again, "Thank you for sharing this song, I like it." The sadness is leaving her again, so whatever pain she has, it's likely not too recent, her smile stops having that forced aspect. "I don't think a lot about the future either."

What is Alexandra planning? Nothing. She's waiting for Jay Dawson to return, so she may thank him for his prompt removal of the posters that he put up. It doesn't matter if the mood is sad, if she wants to cry a little, or if she wants find a way to make happy those who have lost a loved one. She's waiting, because that's what she does, she does her job, and she does it politely, perfectly, and without fail or error. So long as she can keep doing that...

This would be the part where she says something sympathetic or insightful, and lets the other two girls know that they can come to her if they have any difficulties, any worries, or any fears. The part where she interjects herself, an outsider, into their lives in the hopes of making them better, or at least providing a shoulder to cry on. The part where she, just maybe, behaves like someone who could one day become a friend. This would be that part.

...

...

Nothing.

Sakuyo expects no condolences, and receives none. Everything is as it should be. "Right," she says, leaving it ambiguous who she's addressing. "Were you going somewhere, Yagami-chan?" She puts a hand on the grip of Hayate's wheelchair, offering to wheel her somewhere if she was going. Nothing else to do. Except 'go to class,' as if Sakuyo was going to do that. Pfft.

"I was going to class." Hayate answers, she doesn't really make any movements to suggest she objects to being pushed around in that particular way, at least, not right now. She's taking a good look towards Sakuyo, trying to get a better feel for the older girl, but she doesn't ask any more questions. Instead, she just smiles.

"Class it is," Sakuyo says, proceeding to begin wheeling Hayate out of the courtyard for the main building. "Where d'you have class?" The warmth she's showing Hayate is unusual for her; as she encounters other students on the way, she remains distant, carrying herself with a dignity that suggests being above them; and the other students, in turn, tend to give her a wide berth. And she certainly doesn't seem to have any respect for the rules - not only is she not following the official dress code, she's not even following the unofficial, socially expected "dress code," with her cheap knockoff Harajuku fashion. But Hayate is a sweet girl, and while her language is rough, she remains quietly affectionate to her.