2018-03-21 - Family Matters
| Title: Family Matters | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Kasagami pries into Mikoto's family life, and reveals some painful feelings of her own. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Ohtori Academy - Garden | |
| OOC - IC Date: 2018-03-21 - 2015-04-04 | |
.******************** Yamanote High City - Ohtori Academy *********************. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Garden +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Ohtori's grounds rarely miss a chance to include flowers, particularly roses and poppies, whether they be in planters, decorating terraces, or engraved into the stone walls. Nowhere is this theme more evident than in the courtyard garden, an open-air enclosure surrounded by the pillars of nearby walkways, permitting those traversing the facility to enjoy a bit of natural beauty on their way to class. The courtyard features a French formal garden, with nature kept in strict manicured order, man's dominion over nature turning shrubs and blooms into paint for the gardener's brush. A great glass jewel of a greenhouse dominates the courtyard, with the same lacelike white-painted cast iron that decorates the walkways supporting its cloudy antique glass panels. In contrast to without, the garden within the greenhouse is rampant and lush. Order is maintained with a subtler hand, and everywhere the flowers and trees are permitted to spill a bit, nature's cornucopia lovely in its excess. Exotic, oddly-shaped blooms that would wither outside the glass cage flourish within the winterless warmth, and small quantities of tropical citrus fruits are produced, most destined to be gifts for valued visitors.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Spring break is a time for escape from school, to visit family, to venture out with friends! Who, but for the most dedicated students, would remain here at such a time? Surely not! The world of Tokyo is there for all girls to explore!
But...
There are people who don't have families here. And there are people whose friends are all working, on one thing or another. There are people who are bound to the land of Fuuka, still searching for something precious.
And there are people who already view school as more of a guideline than a rulebook in the first place, the gravitas of spring break's freedom lost to them.
So we come to Mikoto Minagi, walking through the flower beds. Her head is down, as if she's watching the roses - but it's focused on something in front of her. "Uh-huh, uh-huh," she says, to no one in particular. "I'm glad Fuku's meeting girls already, but you can't sing at our window any more, okay? Mai's getting really tired."
From behind the rosebushes comes an indignant meow.
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Kasagami Araki, by now, occasionally needs to get away from her Estate. It gets way too lonely there, and the presence of a purple haired sheath-slash-doll full of thorns is a lovely reason to find a place that's nice and quiet. Cue Ohtori Academy on spring break. Just enough becoated admirers that she can campaign lightly and enjoy the adulation that's come with being the One Engaged without the Rose Bride's presence.
This was accomplished by keeping the lights on in her Dad's old woodworking shed, closing the curtains, locking and barricading the door, and playing a mixtape ranging from Metallica to the Dubliners at maximum volume. She even had the good grace to work a bit on her project before sneaking out when she was sure Anthy wasn't around.
~A few minutes ago, at the Student Council Room~
Even Kasagami isn't perfect. She's retreated up to this high perch to enjoy some solitude and a little game. She's alone, which is just perfect. SWIPT goes the nine-iron as she tees off upon the empty Ohtori campus. Even without a henshin, this young woman is strong. And this high up? Ohtori is a good green, if you have no sense of decency and a blatant disregard for teachers. She's StuCo. She is above them as far as she's concerned.
Swipt! Right into a fountain. Swipt! Smash. Hole in one, that hole being the front window of the Guidance Councilor's car in one of the parking lots. Swipt! A particular green hedge that looks vaguely like Saionji's face from this distance.
"Alright, time to avoid the sand trap! THIS IS THE LONG DRIVE OF A KING! MAY THIS BACKSWING CRACK THE WORLD'S SHELL!"
"FOR WORLD REVOLUTION!"
SWIPT. Through sheer force of Student Council jerkery, that golf ball goes flying in this perfect arc. Tiny and swift, it barely leaves a shadow as it cruises directly for Mikoto Minagi's forehead.
Cue an opera monocular. "...Woops!"
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
There are rustles, as golf balls land, growing nearer and nearer. The first, she could dismiss as a sudden breeze. The second, a bird. But the third, rustling a hedge -
No, something is coming. An enemy?!
A golf ball is a tiny thing, in the scheme of the world. But Mikoto doesn't have to depend on her sight - she can hear it, whistling towards her. Sharp ears calculate its arc, and she dives, rolling a few feet away.
(There is a yowl, and an orange shadow darting away, as her mysterious companion is scared off by her sudden movement.)
Mikoto rises in one fluid motion, reaching around herself to draw Miroku from the bag which everyone insists, perhaps out of denial, is there to hold golf clubs. Eyes cast this way and that as she scans the garden for the enemy who has attacked her.
Instead, she finds... a golf ball, which has lodged itself in the earth.
"... ball?" Mikoto frowns, looking up to try and figure out where it came from.
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Truly it is the enemy. For Kassie has made a bogey. She's glad Miki isn't here, he'd probably try to add the mistake to her permanent record. PGA Tour is not this young woman's calling.
~Now~
Whistling as she briskly walks, Kasagami Araki spins that nine iron around in one hand like she's some kind of circus announcer playing to the crowd. She passes a few students.
"Ganbatte, Kasagami-san! You can beat Touga-san!"
"That Guidance Councilor gave me detention for the wrong shoes! Long live the longcoat brigade! Fito!"
"A...A...Araki-san, I...please accept my love!"
A confident laugh, and a power pose. A dramatic flutter of her coat and a majestic, perfectly gloved finger pointing down, and then a spin in the air and a single headpad encouraging love elsewhere. And then she descends upon a certain young Shepherd.
"Now where could it have go...oh. Hey! Mikoto-chan, is that you? Fancy finding you out here. I'm a bit surprised. Don't you dare tell me someone as athletic, talented, and cute as you doesn't have anywhere to go home to?" Her tone is half flirtatious, one fourth complimenting her Shepherd Family, and one fourth actually worried that Mikoto is without anyone she can consider family. The complicated web of an arrogant, loving, burnt heart that is Kasagami Araki.
"Oh! By the way, have you seen any golf balls around here? This is Student Council Business! It's an investigation!"
She taps that nine iron openly against her shoulder.
"Seriously. What are you doing out on campus during spring break?" Her tone lightens a little, and her smile is genuine.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"Ball..." Mikoto crouches down, examining it. Sniff, sniff. Smells like normal, boring plastic. She pokes it with the flat of Miroku, and all it does is sink a little further into the earth. She picks it up, and licks it. It doesn't taste like magic, just dirt.
On a rich campus like Ohtori, golf isn't unknown to her. But - but most students don't play golf in the garden.
Looking back and forth, suspicious, Mikoto determines that it was likely to be student error, and not a threat. Mindful of Mai's warnings about getting them in even more trouble with the Disciplinary Committee, she sheathes Miroku, though she keeps a hand on its strap even after it is returned to her shoulder.
That's how Kasagami finds her. Mikoto blinks at the compliments, tilting her head. "Ohtori is home now," she says, cheerfully. "I live with Mai! Over there!" She points at the dorms - the part where the scholarship students live, no doubt.
"But Mai's working, so I'm here now. Was with friend, but he ran away." She doesn't mention that her friend is a cat. It should be obvious. She's covered in orange cat hair, after all.
Mikoto shakes her head, going quiet for a moment. "Still got stuff to do here," she says. "I gotta find my Lord Brother. Um - but did find this," she segues into Kasagami's question about golf balls, pulling the MISSING BALL from her pocket. "This golf ball?"
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Smiiiile. She eyes that 'golf bag' with a knowing look, and a wink. This might even add some credibility to Mikoto. After all, surely Mikoto is just Kasagami's long-suffering caddy. Maybe that will be the rumor on spring break.
Kasagami still sighs. Mikoto has the kind of obliviousness she'd expect out of a much younger student, yet she can't help but like the young woman. A glance back. Kasagami's social status is more due to Student Council membership. Even a joke position as it is. Yet as the One Engaged, she has solid respect now at least among your average student. Still, even before her windfall she was no slouch in the money department. Would she look down on the scholarship students?
Yes, but only as a show to keep up appearances. The social strata is codified even for those rebelious. There's nothing personal behind it. And furthermore, Mikoto is a Shepherd. Someone who falls into a group that she considers honest-to-God family.
"Yup. That's the piece of evidence! Good job, Miko-chan! I'll take that. Now then, your Favorite Student Council Disciplinary Executive suddenly finds herself free."
Yoink. She pockets that golf ball. Then tries to throw an arm around the much shorter Mikoto. After a second, it might end in an awkward elbow to the girl's shoulder.
But a friendly one. "That is good timing, though. Mikoto. We share a bond." A serious look. Her voice drops.
"I am out of blood relatives that are real family. The rest hate me, or are sharks that want to feast on the family estate. You Shepherds and the people I love...are my real family. So then. I'd like to get to know you more. What was your family like? And who's this Lord Brother of yours?"
Her brow narrows, and suddenly the Disciplinary Executive is eyeing the girl.
"Too bad whoever entered your scholarship information was fired. And deserved it. No clue who from, no clue where you were born. Seriously, they'd better be at the South Pole right now!" Snarls Kassie. For all that she edges on delinquency, being careless isn't something she can abide by.
Pause. "Family helps family. Ask me to help you, and I will, Mikoto."
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
It would be a better rumour than the one where she is an experiment on the part of the science students, or the one where she's actually a youkai poorly blending in as a person, or the one where she's a time traveller and that's why her grasp of social situations is so bad and she doesn't use a phone.
People say a lot of things about Mikoto. Mikoto tries not to listen. Especially when they're making fun of her for not having money, or for not understanding the rules, or for not wearing her uniform right. But she's been at Ohtori a long time. She knows some of what people say about her.
She knows, but she doesn't let it show.
Mikoto beams as she hands the ball over to Kasagami, offered in a flat palm. She helped! She doesn't protest Kasagami throwing an arm around her, though she does shift around a bit so she's able to reach between Miroku's case and her neck.
"Huh?" Mikoto blinks at Kasagami, owlishly, as the other girl's voice drops. She frowns, as she hears her say her family isn't reliable, and nods fiercely as she tells her she is family. But - when Kasagami asks about her family, Mikoto looks lost, for a moment.
"I, um..."
As she hesitates, Kasagami talks about how her records are faulty, how whoever did them was fired. It's a plain relief - shown clearly on her face - when the Student Council member tells her she wants to help.
"I'll... try think." Is it really so hard, just to talk about her family? The way Mikoto pauses, frowning in thought, it must be.
Mikoto bites her lip, worrying at it with her teeth. It hurts, to think about. But if Kasagami is family, if Kasagami loves her, she has to try. She must love Kasagami too, right? "I don't... remember my Lord Brother too good. Bigger than me. And - braver, stronger. And," her voice grows quiet, "he loved me. My Lord Brother was... so nice, Kasagami. Nicer than everyone else."
"My Lord Brother," she hesitates, "left the shrine, left the mountain. He was the last to leave, but -" Mikoto sways, slightly, as a memory assaults the back of her head and is quickly suppressed. "... he came to Fuuka. So I have come. I have come, but I can't..."
How strange. Are those tears, in her eyes? They must be, the way her voice wavers.
"I was made for him, Kasagami," Mikoto whispers, grief clear in her voice, "but I can't find him. I can't - remember his face."
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
For all her flirtations and thoughts of Mikoto as the insanely strong warrior amongst them, this side hits an altogether different chord in Kasagami's chest. Normally she'd follow up with doubling down on the oblivious types. She has a little black book of a particularly secretive nature in the vaguely heteronormative world that is Ohtori Academi. She might grate against that particular bend with a reckless disregard for herself, but with no response?
Kassie lets up with the social pressure. At least when it comes to the Shepherds being her true Family? She's desperate enough inside to honestly believe that. There's no deception on her part here.
Whistle. "He sounds wonderful. Honestly? I am jealous. Your Lord Brother reminds me of my Mother. Ah, that's not meant as an insult. He sounds wonderful. Well, basically my Mom taught me everything I know about being a swordswoman! Heh. Maybe she and your Lord Brother would have made a real entertaining fight, right? Who could say who would win, with the strongest woman and man in the world, right?" She offers soothingly. The golf club is tossed away, caught by a passing Longcoat Kassie Brigade member.
A thumbs up, and then Kasagami gently ushers the young woman to the less traveled hills and gardens of Ohtori. For privacy. Suddenly, there's a lone table, with two chairs. Tea is set out, two cups, and twin sandwhiches. Subs, in fact, with ridiculous amounts of cheese and meat.
Kassie kicks out a chair, then offers Mikoto one by doing the same to the opposite. "Hey. First of all, a warrior should fight for what they believe in. If it's 'find your Lord Brother', okay. But just make sure that you really want that. If your heart isn't burning with ambition, then no matter what, you'll fail! Make sure that whatever you do, that it is done with excellence and absolute desire!" Her voice rises now, and Kasagami's look is intense. The Crimson Rose Duelist's gaze is imploring. The Would-Be King flutters with dark red roses, body growing hot as she attempts to offer her own pure raging desire to Mikoto in turn!
And then she sees grief. She pauses, her dramatics quit, and then she walks over. Food forgotten, she offers a hug from behind for the girl as her cape flutters. Even an ant could shrug her offer.
"Mikoto. You're strong and determined. How about we search together? If my Mom and Dad were alive today, even with the scarrs and burns on my face, they'd recognize me. I've gotten older too, but that wouldn't matter. Family calls to family. Who cares if you do not know his face, Miko-chan?"
She pulls away. And then offers a single hand up. A wink, confident, proud.
"Now don't dare make your Lord Brother sad by crying! Get up! Feel like a round of golf? Besides. You're strong. How about you train me with that absurd style of yours? I may be Student Council, but as a swordswoman, I want to get even stronger!" Grin. A hard swat on the back!
And then she's trying to devour that sub like no one's business!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Mikoto blinks. Kasagami has someone, too. Her mother. "Sounds nice," Mikoto nods, offering a tenuous smile despite her grief.
Of course, if the two of them were really to fight, Mikoto would have to defend her brother. But Kasagami said she was out of blood relatives who cared. If her mother cared, that must mean -
Sadness from a different source crosses over Mikoto's face, now. "Oh..."
She's easily ushered, and when she lays eyes on the food, her stomach growls. She takes the proffered chair, and tears into one of the subs. It seems that she's not only skilled at making enemies disappear, but food, too. She wolfs down the sandwich as she listens to Kasagami, swallowing heavily at the end.
"... because heart isn't burning, I can't find him?" Mikoto shakes her head. "No, of course I wanna find him! Grandfather - Grandfather said -" - here a veil falls over Mikoto's eyes, and she blinks heavily, closing them as she shakes her head again. "... I..."
There's the feeling of a presence behind her, a light touch of a hug from behind. Mikoto leans into it, pressing her face against Kasagami's arm. "Kasagami... helps me? Helps me find him?" As the other girl pulls away, Mikoto turns to look at her.
She takes in a steadying breath. "... Kasagami's right. I won't cry. I'm tough." She's just been searching for so long, perhaps she forgot herself. With Kasagami offering so much help, she can't possibly deny her own request. "I can try teach, but I've only learned before."
She takes Kasagami's hand, blinking at her wink. If she's charmable, it seems like it would be much harder than this.
"Um," Mikoto says, raising a hand with single finger upraised, her curious clueless nature restored. "How do you... golf?"
Truly a scandalous question for someone who clearly carries golfclubs around! A worthy challenge for the King!
