2017-07-11 - Winter Blossoms
| Title: Winter Blossoms | |
|---|---|
| Summary: After the AoAka gala, an injured Vice President keeps in business. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: A house deep in Tama | |
| OOC - IC Date: July 11, 2017 - February 2, 2015 | |
The afternoon sunlight falls through open windows, wood all around. Wooden floors, wooden walls, wooden ceiling stand as if smelling of old building practices and fragrant timber. But the truth is that this place mostly smells of tea.
There is an empty teacup on a table as Shizuru Fujino rises from a kneeling position, pulling her phone from her sleeve without looking at it. She looks out the window, into the wintry forest beyond, and without glass panes she does not see her reflection.
She sees it in her phone, though; sees the bruising covering most of her face, radiating angrily as she turns her head to see the other side. Her lips are about as bad off. The screen shines rather nicely; it's useful for that, she thinks dully, before she starts tapping the screen and then puts it up to her ear. Shizuru finds her sandals along the way, wearing a winter kimono against the chill, casual, and steps down. Deep blue, with with dead-for-the-season branches in pattern.
This month, that tree will not flower. Shizuru does not bother putting on a real, human expression at first as she waits--and hears the click of a phone call being connected. Despite this, she sounds pleasant. It does not reach her eyes. "Yes, I'm aware that I'm absent today," Shizuru says, pretending it is not unpleasant by implication. "I won't answer why if you ask." A pause as sound comes from her phone. "If our arrangement is a problem for you I am certainly willing to release you from your obligation. No? I thought not." More noise and chatter.
Shizuru steps onto the stone walkway and looks up to the sky, her brown hair ruffled by a breeze. "Then tell me what you've heard. Leave out no detail."
-=-=-
Seated demurely on the steps, the brown-haired young woman looks down at her ring, diamond sparkle in the sun brilliant in her vision. It's truly a lovely piece. There's more chatter on the phone. "Yes, I understand. My engagement is no longer a secret, and there are already questions as to my absence. So long as they stay questions, that's fine."
"No, no misdirection." Shizuru listens further and adds, "You've done very well. I'm proud of you. Please, enjoy your afternoon. I believe you had reservations this evening..."
-=-=-
Shizuru lifts her phone to her ear after another call, standing on the wood floor by the railing as she listens for the right voice. The sounds from her phone go on.
"My," the vice president remarks, "Is that how you greet your fiancee? I'm terribly hurt."
Shizuru Fujino leans against the railing, right over her bruise, and does not move.
