2022-10-07 - Ohtori's Most Eligible Bachelor
| Title: Ohtori's Most Eligible Bachelor | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Studying requires caffeine. Studying also requires a table. And two people haven't seen each other in a while. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Starbooks Coffee | |
| OOC - IC Date: 2022-10-07 - January 17th, 2016 (ish) | |
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
For how Kozue carried herself in the past... catching a glimpse of her you'd expect her to be chatting up a boy in a suggestive pose, or doing something to show off the glamorous life of a model.
Things you don't expect? Seeing her at Starbooks studying in the Infinity Middle School uniform. She's got a table to herself, one of those half open booth half chair numbers, as she sits on the booth side, eyes scanning her history notes.
She's got a Venti Latte too, which she picks up every now and then for a sip.
There's noone on the other side of her with the chairs. People either doubt their perceptions with a 'Nah couldn't be' or they do ask to join her and get waved off dismissively.
It's so normal, that it's eerie.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
It has been a very long week, and shows no signs of improving any time soon.
The downfall of Mai's mental state can, this month, be summed up simply. The end of high school approaches, and Mai should at least consider pursuing higher education. University entrance is a competitive field, and good grades are necessary. Magical girls rarely have time to study, so a lot of cramming is needed. And caffeine can substitute for sleep in a crisis.
Unfortunately Mai's supply of coffee at home has run out. Or been confiscated by well-meaning friends. Hard to be sure, she's been studying history instead of mathematics.
She's fiiiine.
Still, to get a...few more hours of useful studying in, she needs coffee. Which brings her, Ohtori uniform and all, to Starbooks - ordering a venti black, wincing at the price but paying it anyway, and looking for a table to sit at. Most of them are occupied, but-
Mai blinks. Stares a second, blinks a few times, starts to rub at her eyes but remembers she's holding a coffee cup in that hand, and ultimately opts to step forward. Hesitant, perhaps, but...she's a few stolen hours past caution anyway.
"Long time no see. Is this seat taken?"
Mai Tokiha, alive and unaccompanied, approaches.
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"I'm bu-"
Kozue actually looks up as she recognizes the voice, squints at Mai, then tells her.
"Sure, go ahead and take a load off."
Kozue puts a hand on her chin, inspecting Mai for a moment, then...
"You look like hell." She tells her, bluntly. "Overtime shifts or entrance exams?"
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Mai actually laughs at the blunt critique, setting her coffee on the table before pulling out the chair.
(It is, relatively speaking, the good stuff - and a sight better than what Mai usually drinks.)
"Both. But mostly the latter, the shift work is..." She wiggles a hand, frustration writ on her face. "...intermittent these days. Though with exams, that's a blessing."
She sits, setting down her handbag on the floor, and takes a sip from her drink. "You look...better. Than the last time I remember us talking, that is."
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Kozue just smiles a touch as Mai laughs, and listens to the brief explanation of her woes. "... Intermittent? Don't tell me you got blacklisted or something from steady work? /In Tokyo/?" Kozue asks with an air of incredulity.
'You look...better'
"Are you really that surprised? I'm modeling after all."
In the end it's a light joke though, as she knows what she means.
"It really doesn't get much worse from the last time we talked, so you're setting a pretty low bar."
Kozue could ask if Mai's reconciled with her brother, but she's pretty sure she knows the answer to that. And asking would open her up to questions about Sayaka, so she doesn't.
"You having to deal with much in the way of 'extracurricular nonsense' lately?"
That's probably her way of saying 'HiME business'. It's one thing she hasn't kept up on much. In part because thinking about the loss of Cassandra hurts. Still, she feels she should know.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Mai just shakes her head, chuckling - smiling at the joke, even as she takes another sip of coffee. Only after everything does the smile begin to fade - the beauty of studying is it kept her from thinking about any of the hard questions.
"Given how much things went to hell over the past year...I will set that bar low and just call a day good if I don't wake up alone again." She hesitates, thinking over her words, and just lets the phrasing lie. "But yeah, intermittent - getting permission from the school for one proper part-time job was enough challenge, and that one had some unkind words when I forgot to call in sick. It's...I'll start properly looking after graduation."
She takes another drink of coffee. The thought alone is tiring.
"But I've been steering clear of most of the nonsense. Just...plans. Plans for the future, and recovering from stormy nights." She looks down at her coffee, frowns, and pops the lid off entirely to make it easier to drink.
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
There's a stab of 'something' on Kozue's face as Mai mentions she calls a day good if she doesn't wake up alone again. Just a subtle drawing back from it.
However, she doesn't remark otherwise, instead there's just this indelicate snort as Mai mentions they had unkind words when she forgot to call in sick, "Yeah, because calling in to work should be someone's highest priority when they're so sick they can barely string two thoughts together.
It's odd that Kozue, who's probably never had a regular job as some blue collar worker sympathizes with Mai's position, though perhaps she just has a higher amount of self awareness than the average Ohtori student.
"Plans huh?"
There's this moment when Kozue is giving Mai this long look, knowing she can barely afford things as is, between Takumi and tuition - if she doesn't get a 'scholarship' then the only chance she's got is some predatory loans.
"What kind of plans?"
Kozue asks with curiosity, prying just lightly. Perhaps trying to see if it'll come out from Mai naturally.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Mai laughs without mirth at the quip, but the coffee beckons. And yet.
Coffee doesn't actually fix anything. She picked up that much in health class. It doesn't energize the body or remove the need for sleep - it just keeps the brain from feeling tired for a little while. The black drink doesn't really solve problems, it just...patches over the issues and lets them build up.
She takes a swig. No wonder she's drawn to it.
"Planning...I don't know. The plan...the plan was always to have me go off to America for a while, whenever we finally..." She looks down. "...finally heard about a donor. And we wait, and we wait, and suddenly I'm not looking into high schools any more. So maybe I need to look into universities after all, and that's just..."
Irritating. Strange. Terrifying.
Mai waves off actually answering what the concept is to her, just that it doesn't sit well.
"...I don't know. And that's the truth, I don't know where I'm going. So I'm studying to see if university becomes an option, and failing that I guess I try to find a job that'll forgive me for getting k-"
She cuts herself off, scowls, and takes another swig of coffee. It should probably be savoured, but that's not happening.
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Kozue takes a sip of coffee, then she leans back and watches Mai tiredly explain her situation. Even independent of entrance exams, she's obviously worn out. It's plain to anyone from the outside in, just listening to how she talks.
"Hmm."
Kozue's fingers play on the edge of her coffee. "Honestly? It sounds like you're trying to have it all, and because of that you're able to enjoy none of it. You're stretched too thin. If you were focused just wholly on your brother's situation, you'd just try to marry rich right?"
Kozue gives her a wry look, "That'd take care of that right away. And at Ohtori that'd be easy enough /for you/."
She props her hand back up on her cheek, "But you want something for yourself after all, even if you're so frazzled that you can't figure out what something is."
There's a pause, and...
"You're like someone I knew once, not making choices, just running up against walls."
The worst part about that evaluation is? It's clear she's not trying to be mean. She's telling it like it is, but that carries a certain kind of cruelty unto itself doesn't it?
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Mai, worn out enough to start just chugging hot coffee, hears Kozue's first suggestion and chokes on that unhelpful brew.
She splutters - undignified - and flushes brightly at Kozue's wry expression. How is it that someone so much younger can sound so - so worldly?!
And yet. And yet she's right and wrong all at once, and it's the truths that burn. Truths and hot coffee, admittedly.
"Th-" Mai's first attempt at a retort breaks into a cough into her elbow. Once she settles that down, she re-lids her coffee forcefully, and stares Kozue in the face. "...okay. First of all, thank you for the suggestion, I hate it with every fiber of my being."
Mai clenches a hand whose finger never held a ring. "The thought crossed...no. Not that. And - you're not wrong. I...yearn for the day I can stop burning the candle at both ends."
What she wants to do - not the petty everyday, what her dream is - it's in the shadow of past sins, and she can't see it. But...
"...What happened to them? Your fr- the person you knew?"
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"It wasn't a suggestion."
Kozue says with a mischievous twinkle in her blue eyes. It was more an assessment of her situation. "You're just exhausted."
Drawing herself back up off her hand, she picks back up her coffee, and takes a sip.
However, Mai then asks. And Kozue stops drinking the coffee, and puts it down. There's something like an audible sigh, she was trying to avoid this. However, she's still always on her mind to some degree.
"She died."
Kozue puts it succinctly. Sayaka started making choices. They were mistakes. She died.
Had she kept herself in the fugue of not making choices and bludgeoning herself against walls...
... she would have died anyway.
Which was the correct path?
... There wasn't one.
In the end both paths would lead to her leaving her side.
"There's no point to me telling you that. It's not some cautionary tale."
There's a slight shrug of her slim shoulders, and...
"It just is."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
It's true. Mai is a little exhausted. Usually she can catch up by letting grades slip, but...that window has closed.
Kozue answers. Mai pales, and the ghost of a curse escapes on her breath. Died, and died in a way that miracle reunions...didn't fix.
In the end, though...there are inevitabilities in this world, and one of them is...
"It just is," Mai repeats. Solemn, not flippant, not questioning. She just nods, even if there was no point to hearing it.
A moment of silence. Mai doesn't reach out - maybe it's familiarity, maybe it's how the grief is worn - but that gesture isn't meant for here. Instead, after another moment of studying Kozue in silence, Mai lets out a breath.
"Damn. I'm sorry for your loss." There are words unsaid as she shuts her mouth, questions she could ask about the how and the when and the who - but it's loss and grief and that's an old friend she doesn't talk to as much as she should. Instead-
"...if you ever want to talk. About...whatever. I'll sit down to listen, if you want." She hesitates, then slips in a little bit of levity. "I can do that much for someone who isn't family."
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
On her best days Kozue doubts that perception that Sayaka is dead. Where did those chocolates come from? She never had them before. It's such a dumb thing to pin hopes on someone's status on though, some uneaten Valentine's chocolates in a waterlogged box.
Yet, she does.
On her worst days... well...
For a while, she doesn't say anything, but then she cracks the smallest smile at the end, "Maybe I'll take you up on that someday."
Before she repeats... "Some day."
It's hard enough for her to even talk about it with Mami, and the two have shared grief.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Some day.
"Ten...twelve years..." It's a quiet murmur, under Mai's breath - and she shakes her head. Grief isn't so easy to just...accept. That much she knows all too well.
"Some day. There's no rush." Words spoken quietly, but solemnly.
Mai's hand is on her coffee cup. She doesn't reach for it again - what little it can do is already done, and when she gets home she might just crash. But before that - if only to atone for bringing dark days into the mood -
"...so. Should I go?" It comes out smaller than she intended, but Mai finds a bit of fire, dredged from the depths to warm the conversation. "Or do you want to hear about how Ohtori dating prospects have gotten even worse since you left?"
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"Do you want to go?" Is Kozue's answer, once she finally processes what Mai has to say. "You don't have to. I'm just studying."
A beat.
"I'm listening. Nothing would surprise me, up to and including that Chu-Chu is now Ohtori's most eligible bachelor."
