2018-07-29 - It's Not My Problem
| Title: It's Not My Problem | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Anthy Himemiya chances upon Kasagami Araki during Golden Week. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Ohtori Academy | |
| OOC - IC Date: Sunday July 29, 2018 - Sat May 2, 2015 | |
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
It's a lonely day for those unfortunate enough to have few other places to live than at Ohtori Academy. With the Estate all but condemned, Kasagami Araki has been too proud to live at her Uncle's and...well, too proud to permanently live with her girlfriend. And so, Ohtori it is. Still, it's given her time to think, reflect, and most importantly?
Train. One hard duel against Nanoha has only increased the young woman's resolve to sharpen her sword skills. And so with a wooden sword over her shoulder, she's garbed in the traditional outfit of any proper samurai, though in blacks and reds. Her coat, of course, is upon her shoulders as she makes a brisk walk past white columns and almost painting-like series of smaller flower gardens to the path leading to the dojo.
All isn't well, however. Half way to the dojo itself, Kasagami's side begins to burn. She recognizes the signs of a flareup, but there's little time as phantom pains, misfiring and long-scorched nerves play havoc with the girl's body.
It's less a scream, and more a yelp as though she were a kicked puppy. Her leg goes limp from the pure shock of sudden pain. With a heavy thud, the pack she was carrying with her essentials goes skittering out of her reach. Clutching at her body, teeth grinding audibly, she can't help a pained sob.
She tries to reach for the bag, where a bottle of pills lay. They just haven't been working as well as they used to, despite the doctor increasing the dosage. No mundane medical miracle could hold a candle to the real thing. She twists in the dirt, good side flush with pain that has her eye seeing black spots.
<Pose Tracker> Anthy Himemiya [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Golden Week, what a glorious time to be a student! With classes out, no one is required to hang out around campus; with classes out, students are liberated from their uniforms to express themselves sartorially. Tokyo's streets bustle with unleashed schoolchildren of all ages and stripes, clad in whatever they find most comfortable, or fun, or rebelliously daring.
Anthy Himemiya avails herself of none of these freedoms. They are for others; they are not for her.
She follows a carefully curated Ohtori Academy path in her carefully curated Ohtori Academy uniform, the very picture of primness. She even has a school satchel clasped before her, and it flaps lightly against bare brown knees as she goes. Chu-Chu rides her shoulder, clad in a Chu-Chu-sized lavender keikogi with a sprig of bamboo for his Chu-Chu-scale shinai.
Ever since the last duel she has stuck close by the side of one Utena Tenjou. If anything, they've seemed more inseparable than they were before Anthy's tenure as Rose Bride to Kasagami Araki. Perhaps it is rare chance that finds the purple-haired girl without her pink-crowned counterpart today. Surely it isn't that Anthy mysteriously intuited precisely when and where she might come across a once-ascendant duelist now brought low by agony... among other things.
A yelp sounds from ahead, its source yet hidden beyond a curve in the path bordered by blue-blooming hydrangeas. Then two thuds, then a sob. Tap-tap-tap go her Ohtori-issued loafers as Anthy rounds the bend, her pace smooth and undisturbed.
She walks past the fallen and crumpled bag to stop before its fallen and crumpled owner. Her voice is as soft and pretty as the rest of her. "Oh, Araki-san...! Did you trip on something? These paths can be tricky, you have to watch your step here."
The path is of course clean and smooth, as pristine as the rest of campus, completely lacking in rough edges or uneven seams that might catch an unwary foot. "Is that why you're on your way to the dojo, to practice at your balance?" There's a suggestion of extreme and embarrassing clumsiness in how Anthy assumes out loud that this perfectly smooth path could have foiled the extremely physically capable Kasagami Araki.
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
There's something to be said about the power of human pride. This might be a good lesson in that. Just as Anthy walks past the bag, and offers that pretty, soft voice to the Duelist?
Another, less physical and far more emotional lance of pain strikes her in the heart. It's one part absolute loathing of the girl before her that she's rarely disguised and always felt, and one part /need/. After all, the girl so effortlessly cured her near-daily suffering, and by proxy restored sight to a damaged eye. Like an alcoholic reaching for a mostly empty bottle of gin, her hand inexorably reaches for Anthy.
An object to be obtained for her miracle, and a walking, speaking bottle of pills to ease the suffering the world thrust upon a little girl.
But it's a gesture that's only there for a second, as she balls her hand into a fist, and starts to drag herself a little closer to the fallen bag.
Then her other hand tries weakly to shove Anthy away from her. "You...don't insult me, you know exactly..." Starts the young woman, and then she outright snarls. She drags herself closer on pride and sense of self worth alone. Even as it rubs her fingers raw in her gloves, and gets her clothes dirty. Another lance of suffering, and she falls still.
It's enough to bring tears to her eyes. That bag feels a football's length away, from her perspective. Kasagami has a remarkable pain tolerance, but there's only so much a high school girl can take. She hates every second of it. Her fingertips graze the bag, but it's /just/ out of reach. Even Anthy could nudge that bag just close enough.
Her hand convulces, and she looks to Anthy as she pants, eye raw with suffering.
"Please..." Her voice is low, and quiet, choked with a low sob.
<Pose Tracker> Anthy Himemiya [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed. <SoundTracker> It's Not My Problem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMojvHJuyZ8
It seems the girl is in some modicum of pain. How absolutely quaint. The Rose Bride's head tilts as she peers down at the wracked and wretched body of Kasagami Araki, and white reflections slide across her glasses.
She wonders how it compares to the piercing of a thousand bloodletting blades. There is nothing fair about this comparison. Anthy Himemiya is utterly unconcerned with fairness, and is wholly preoccupied with her own personal world of pain.
The girl who was her Engaged reaches and Anthy stands there, unmoved. Kasagami clenches her fist, pushes an agony-weak hand against a sock-clad ankle and Anthy stands there, unmoving.
"Do you need something?"
Anthy bends at the waist to lean over Kasagami, and Chu-Chu hops down to the ground with a dramatic little flip. He stations himself firmly between the fallen duelist and the standing Bride, his sprig-shinai clasped before him in both paws.
Eyes wide behind owl-round glasses lenses, satchel-clutching hands on her knees, she says, "But... we are no longer Engaged, Araki-san. I fear it's just not proper for you to be asking me for things any more."
Chu-Chu chimes in with a firm and forceful "Chu."
Neither of them so much as glance toward the bag that Kasagami strains toward.
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Fingers reach, and they fall short. Fire is a constant, and she almost misses her own words. Anthy doesn't move, and she may as well be a wall before the Duelist and her need. Teeth grit, and she eyes the valiant, flipping form of Chu-chu!
Somehow this makes her want to strangle the annoying little monkey even more than usual. Two fingers clench, and she makes almost as if to flick away the tiny little creature. There's the sound of flexing muscle. And then she gasps, as another spike of pain hits her. She lays ther for a moment, panting.
After several large breaths, she eyes Anthy with an absolute glare. Hatred fills her look for a second. "...Right. It isn't." She admits, sucking in another breath. Fingers roughly pull her close to that fallen bag.
She falls still for a good minute. She's within reach, but pain and exhaustion has hammered into her. She rolls onto her back, and eyes Anthy with steel.
"By all means, hate me and draw out my pain. Maybe I deserve it. But don't forget I will become a King, and Utena will be my Prince!" Offers Kassie in something that's just slightly below a shout.
Then with with a howl of pain, she shoves herself over, and lunges for the bag.
She flops like a half-dead fish. "Do you enjoy people' suffering...Anthy Himemiya?" She mutters quietly.
<Pose Tracker> Anthy Himemiya [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Charcoal-squiggle eyes glint, and thick little eyebrows make an angry V over them. Chu-Chu raises his bamboo swordling. He is ready for whatever Kasagami is about to deal out! When the threat doesn't materialize he chuffs out a breath, but doesn't drop his stance.
Anthy does finally move: two dainty steps back and to the side, clear of the crawling Kasagami. Either she's making way or she just doesn't want dirty samurai garb dragging stains across her shoes. Her monkeymouse guardian moves with her, ever between the two.
"I won't forget," she replies, light and agreeable, like she's been told something to memorize for an upcoming math test. If this is anything like the way Anthy Himemiya approaches test preparation... Well. Her grades are /terrible/.
"We should be going. I want to have dinner warm and ready for Utena-sama, and the steaks are marinating..." There is unfiltered, bright enthusiasm in Anthy's voice, an eagerness to prepare a meal for her Engaged that Kasagami certainly never experienced during her own tenure. She reaches down and offers Chu-Chu a slender arm, which he scampers up, reclaiming his post on her shoulder.
To the muttered comment, there is simply the same smile she's been wearing this whole time, and no answer at all.
As they walk away the girl chatters to her best friend, in continued bright conversational tones. "Oh, you should visit the other clubs, Chu-Chu. I know it's Golden Week, but Kendo is always that empty, these days... You can do better." They never glance back.
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
There's some small part of Kasagami, the part that's still very much a child still grasping for family and those to care for her, that hopes that this girl she herself never cared for and showed all contempt for would offer her a hand up in this situation.
Karma is cruel, and Anthy crueler so.
"I...will become...a King!" Mutters out Kasagami.
Her vision swims once again, and even as Anthy is walking away, she crawls right towards the bag. Her fingertips tug the pill bottle with an effort that makes her howl.
A number of pills that are ill advisable chase down her throat. And then she glares at the retreating form of Anthy.
Anthy is so eager. A sharp, quick slice of jealousy stabs into her heart, only to retreat into bitterness. Shouldn't servants adore their Kings?
"I pity Utena-chan." Starts Kassie. As the opiods start to work their way through her system, one good eye screams at Anthy's back.
"A serpent-eyed girl like you shouldn't be anywhere near her!" Hisses Kassie, before going limp and shuddering.
