2014-05-25 - Ice Cream In January Is Totally Logical
| Title: Ice Cream In January Is Totally Logical | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Mai's had a rough day. Fortunately, she has a friend who will bring ice cream to any rooftop in the city. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Mitakihara General Hospital | |
| OOC - IC Date: 18 January 2014 - 5/25/2014 | |
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
- Earlier:
- TXT from MAI to MAMORU: Wow. Seeing that in person...might want to meet up with you for coffee later, need to gush.
- Tonight:
- TXT from MAI to Mamoru: Have you got a minute? At the hospital, rooftop gardens, could use someone to talk to.
- Now:
It's quiet, at last. The sun's set, and the night's growing gradually colder - but it's not yet too bad, and Mai has her scarf and coat. The doctors are somewhere below, checking Takumi, muttering about keeping him for observation... It's fairly normal, all things considered. Mai should used to it. Just...
Finally, she's getting the chance to let thoughts sink in. She had the presence of mind to send a couple of texts - one in gratitude, and one out of an impulsive desire for someone to talk to. She's done her share of listening, it's fair to turn things around once in a while, right?
Or does that fall under something nice for herself?
Mai takes out her phone again, looking at the glowing screen, and wondering if she should send a retraction...but the reply glows there. And she still hasn't responded to it.
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
- Earlier:
- TXT from MAMORU to MAI: Down for that. LMK when.
- Tonight:
- @};-,--`--~MAMOCHAN: hey mai is at the hospital and it sounds like she had a shitty day, I think Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask should come bring her ice cream and someone to talk to. tell me if you're up for it, we'll be in the roof gardens there
- TXT from MAMORU to MAI: Have. I'll bring ice cream. A mutual friend might show up at some point.
- Now:
He moves fast when he wants to get across town in a hurry, and we're not talking motorcycle parkour. No, just henshin superjump parkour.
Dress shoes tap down lightly on the rooftop's path surface; that and the customary rustle and whisper of settling silk herald Tuxedo Mask's arrival. He's wearing the hat. Why is he wearing the hat? Well he takes it off as he comes over, and removes a foil-lined refrigerator bag from it before disappearing the hat somewhere in his cape.
"Mocha," he says, and it must be the overcast night, because he's not so devastatingly handsome; he looks tired and the lenses of his mask are harder to see his eyes through.
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
- Tonight:
Usagi is sprawled in an overstuffed armchair, dead asleep.
Her phone beeps. It doesn't wake her. There's no chance of hearing it over the sound of Makoto washing dishes in the kitchen.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
There's a quiet whisper of silk - too quiet, perhaps, as Mai doesn't even look up from the phone. She's about to start keying in a 'never mind' when the voice makes her look up in surprise. It isn't quite exhaustion on her end so much as a general weariness, but that weariness is emblazoned on her face more clearly than on a mask.
Still, she brightens at the revelation of tonight's flavor - a small smile, perhaps, but an earnest one. "Thanks. It's been...a day, certainly." She's laid claim to one of the benches - so much as that matters, with no one else on the roof - and slides over to make room. While she does take a quick look at the cut of the tuxedo, it's as much for enjoyment as anything - if she notices anything bothering him, she doesn't voice it.
Something to break the ice. Something to say before getting into heavier topics. There is one thing that makes a smirk alight on her face. "So, I hear you aren't the originator of the whole 'rooftop ice cream' thing. For shame, Tuxedo Mask, for shame - not letting on that you were copying?"
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Tuxedo Kamen takes a seat on the bench where Mai indicates, and the next time she looks up at him, he's just Mamoru, wearing his motorcycle jacket over whatever he's wearing under it, scarf wrapped around his neck and mouth, nose red from the cold already.
His glasses are doing, apparently, the same duty as his mask: whatever light sources there are manage to hit them just right to mostly obscure his eyes. He looks up at Mai as he's stuffing his gloved hands in his jacket pockets, and he looks righteously indignant.
"Copying from whom? I originated it for me, I'm sure plenty of other people have done it before me. It's not a young world."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Mai has already laid claim to the ice cream. Well, taken possession - not yet opened or savaged. She doesn't have gloves, though, and winds up laying the still-cold carton on the bench between her and Mamoru. As she rubs her hands together to warm them up, her smirk brightens into a proper smile. "Well, if Sailor Moon's to believed - and I can't imagine why she wouldn't be - she was doing it first. Can you really sit there and tell me you two came up with the idea completely independently?"
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"Why not? It's as likely as anything else," says Mamoru mildly, taking his hands from his pockets to take off his gloves -- already warmed -- to hand them to Mai. "We kept meeting by chance even before we got to know each other."
That is the most phenomenally glossed-over non-statement in the history of glossed-over non-statements, and Mamoru only looks wry. "So if it's Sailor Moon I'm supposedly copying, that actually is a perfectly rational extrapolation."
Let her talk when she's ready to. That's only ever how it works.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Mai flashes a grin. "You two even get indignant the same way, it's great. Though hey, I won't fault you for wanting to copy her - she's pretty great." The offer of gloves manages to surprise her, though - her gaze flickers down to where they're held out, then back up to Mamoru's glasses-adorned face. "Are you sure? I don't want you getting cold hands on my account."
Before giving him a chance to answer, though, Mai turns to face the empty, frost-coated flowerbeds. "...yeah. Sailor Moon's amazing. I'd heard you gushing, and I saw her in action a few times, but earlier today...she's really a hero. I get what you see in her." There's a smile on her face, but it's not quite as bright as the one wielded in her earlier teasing.
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"Yeah, I'm not the one eating ice cream, I'm just keeping my hands in my pockets," Mamoru says with a laugh, doing so in fact as well as word. He gives Mai a small smile, and for a second his eyes are fully visible behind the so-reflective lenses.
He's silent for a moment, then says softly, "She's not what you wanted to talk about up here."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"Well, since your outfit actually has pockets..." Mai finally takes the proffered gloves, slipping them on, and taking a moment to relish in their warmth. If she'd really wanted to ward off the cold, there was always her Element, but after today...
Mai lets out a sigh - it's just cold enough for her breath to fog in the air like a puff of smoke. "It was after we parted ways. Takumi had an...episode. Collapsed in the middle of campus. Just...different from usual. Magical." She pulls the lid off of the ice cream container, and holds the mocha ice cream in her lap. "There was an ice labyrinth, and when I got to the middle of it..."
...she really isn't hungry, after all. The pint she sets to one side before wrapping her arms around her midsection. "...I saw him sitting up, looking fine. Except that he was controlling the ice, and ranting about how much he hated the situation he's in."
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"Oh, Mai--"
He's always startled when his hand decides it has the reflex to reach out and touch, he'd trained himself out of it so long ago. And he's already hurt Mai that way once. He can quell it.
Mamoru's arm only shifts slightly, hand not coming out of its pocket. But everything he'd say by putting an arm around her, or a hand on her shoulder even-- it's in his voice.
He takes his glasses off, hangs them over his shirt under his jacket, then jams his hand back in its pocket.
"He's all right now, though, isn't he? He'll be okay. Hang in there," he says gently, half leaned forward, looking at Mai. "If you need to say it all to get it out, I'm here. I can get not being able to let go after something's over. And-- talking helps you, doesn't it."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
There's the slightest sound of fabric creaking as Mai's fingers dig into her coat. She looks back to Mamoru, whose glasses are gone, who's leaning in close... There are people more deserving of that comfort. But...it really does help to talk, doesn't it. "I'll...try not to be too long about it."
Mai's gaze flickers back down to the bench. "...it wasn't him. Not...it was some kind of monster, that had taken his pent-up feelings and run with them. Angry. Angry at the world, and I couldn't get it to just be angry at me instead. But even with everything, I couldn't bring myself to attack, to even help everyone who'd shown up fighting."
Mai's gaze returns to meet Mamoru's, burning with guilt. "Until a friend of mine who'd followed me in saved me from that. She turned out to have magic too, charged in, broke the disguise. Saved me." Her hands tighten against her coat again. "So then it was just a giant monster with Takumi's voice, screaming all the things I'd hoped he wasn't thinking about. Like fearing that he'd die without ever getting the chance to...do anything."
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
He could tell her about the DD Girls. He could tell her there are all kinds of monsters that can steal faces and some memories. He could tell her there are monsters made of memories.
All these things he's aware of, that are related, he'll tell her about later. Not now.
Besides, the problem right now isn't 'she can't attack the face of a loved one'. It's--
--Mamoru thinks silently for a moment, looking down at the path in front of them. What he does say is, "It'll be better if he remembers what happened, I think, actually. In the long run. Because I half suspect that knowing some part of himself had articulated what he was worried about, what was eating at him, and that you heard-- maybe the two of you can finally talk. Can really talk. And understand each other better, and manage what you can to change things for the better."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"...where do I even begin? Takumi...doesn't know anything about any of this. The real him - the one who actually had collapsed, the one now under observation downstairs - he was unconscious for the whole thing. All he said when he came to was 'thanks for everything'." Mai finally releases her coat, puts her hands in her lap. "And I've never told him about my powers. He was unconscious when the Orphan appeared looming over him. Even though I..."
...realization flashes across Mai's face. That's why she released Kagutsuchi - the reason she'd forgotten in the fear of what happened next. It's a moment or two before she can recollect herself, and finish the thought about Takumi. "I...don't want to worry him. With what the creature said in his name, with the monster attacking him, with my getting involved in these battles...I don't want to add to his stress in any way if I can avoid it."
Mai lets out another smoke-like sigh. "...that's all I can do to protect him. Try to deal with these problems quietly, so he won't worry." She considers saying more...but honestly the ice cream does look good, and so she goes for a couple of spoonfuls.
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"He thanked you, Mai-chan. I'm just saying if he remembers on his own, don't be afraid of it, it'll work out. I'm not saying to tell him. I mean, if it was just some youma that acted on what you were afraid of--"
Mamoru's realized what sort of territory he's stepping into with what sort of voice, and he trails off, then shakes his head. He hunches his shoulders over a little more, hands in fists in his pockets, and looks out over the darkened rooftop gardens.
"I'm sorry, Mai," he finally says, letting out a sigh himself. "Never rains but it pours, huh?"
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Mai's jaw sets, briefly, as Mamoru begins to tread into that territory - but she relaxes again at his earnest sympathy. "Today started off well. I got to see Sailor Moon in person - heroic entrance, a justice speech that made the monster flinch back, and that holy light of hers is...awe-inspiring. Someone to look up to." She smiles in remembrance, thinking back to the fun conversation that followed - and slowly, her face falls. "I think I just pushed my luck. Tried for too many good things at once."
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"Hey," Mamoru says, brow furrowing slightly, looking mock-suspicious for a moment. "I'm pretty sure you can't fool me into thinking that's the way it works," he elaborates, then is sort of smiling wryly at Mai. He leans over to nudge her with his elbow, hands still in his pockets. "Good and bad things happen regardless of what you do. If something really bad happens, you can't blame the good things on it. You're not being punished. Think of the good things as your reward for dealing with the rest."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Mai rocks back from the elbowing - and nudges Mamoru with her elbow right back. "Just a run of bad luck. I swear, fully half the times I've tried indulging myself with anything, there's some sort of monster attack - and the rest of the time, something goes down within the day. I was kidding, honestly." She smiles, and stays quiet on the subject of punishment.
Mai takes in a deep breath, then lets it out. "Thanks for being a helpful ear, at least - you're right, I kind of just needed to talk about what went down. I think I saw your 'friend' with the otter - did you ever talk with her, by the way?" She snags another spoonful of the ice cream - even as cold as it is out, it is tasty. "Oh, and thanks for the ice cream, even if something's off about it." She outright grins. "Doesn't taste as good when it isn't stolen."
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"Haven't had a chance to track either of them down yet," says Mamoru after a moment, slouching comfortably into the parkbench.
And then he looks slyly over at Mai. "If it isn't one thing, it's an otter."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Mai's spirits have been rekindled, and she huffs in mock-indignation - though still grinning. "Putting it off, are you?" And then he gives her that look, and utters a truly terrible pun. She actually winces in pain - and then punches him in the arm. Not terribly hard, just enough to make the point.
"That was horrible. Weirdly appropriate, but horrible. And you - if you think you can just put off talking to her, you-" She pauses, and grimaces in disgust. "Argh, I nearly uttered your own pun right back at you. And that would just encourage you to do it more, wouldn't it?"
The worst part is, she's having trouble thinking of any puns she can use in retaliation. Frustration burns on her face, and finally she turns away with a huff. Well, a huff and a smile she can't really hide.
