2022-10-16 - Stuck On This Road
| Title: Stuck On This Road | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Mai bumps into Natsuki at a roadside ramen stand, and the two get caught up on what kinds of messes they are. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Taiyou Ramen Stand | |
| OOC - IC Date: 2022-10-16 - January 19th, 2016 | |
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Natsuki had been craving ramen. She wouldn't say it's her favorite food or anything, but it was hot, filled her up and convenient. Normally she go just get some instant at the store, but today she felt like treating herself to a ramen stand.
The stand here wasn't a super populated spot and was small. Less of a chance of her being spotted and also made it easy to keep an eye out for anyone trying to spy on her without her being aware. Currently, there was only the cook and no one else. It was a perfect time to go.
She ordered one special and tried to resist her mouth watering when she was presented with the steaming hot bowl. She gave her thanks, broke apart her chopsticks (thrilled she got them to tear apart evenly) and began to dig in. She had to blow on it, and almost burned her tongue on the first bite, but it tasted so good. Nothing could beat this meal right now.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
It has been, as days go, not too terrible a one. School today was a little wearying; trying to cut back on coffee was, if not even ranked among Mai's top ten bad decisions, still not a great idea this week.
But when one finds pens pulling themselves apart from one's hand jitters, it's time to cut back on the old black elixir.
Still, just because she's a little tired doesn't mean Mai doesn't have responsibilities. And one of those is...food. Groceries, to be precise. More groceries than she'd hoped to need today, which in turn meant a little hunting for bargains. Her grocery bag might be a little heavy, and the number of eggs balanced on it means that she's really looking for less-trodden routes back home.
Maybe it's a wrong turn, but...she's a little tired, and at least a snack on the way home won't blow her budget...if it's a small one. And if it's nothing like her lunch.
The hanging drape is brushed aside, and a girl in an Ohtori uniform carefully sets down her shopping before taking a seat. "...green tea, please. And a few vegetable gyoza." A moment, while the shopkeeper sets to getting that ready, and Mai glances over, blinking a few times.
"...I'm not interrupting some secret meeting, am I, Kuga?"
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Natsuki heard the footsteps behind her. Her body got ready to run if need be as she turned, but relaxed when she spotted Mai. Her friend didn't seem to notice she had sat next to her until after she had order.
Natsuki cracked a smile. "Naw, you're good. In fact," she look to the chef "but her order on my bill and double that order of gyoza."
Natsuki rarely treated anyone. Shizaru a few times sure but she usually insisted on treating Natsuki. Mikoto was a different story. She never hesitated when Natsuki offered to pay for food. Mai, however, could be a bit more stubborn about it. Natsuki understood, she couldn't deny she was the same way, but she still felt the need to try sometimes. Someone had to right?
She looked to Mai as she ate another mouthful. "Did you want some of my ramen? I got plenty."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Someone has to. But ah, such an arduous battle it might be.
"Kuga, I couldn't possibly take food out of your bowl. I'm sure you must be starving after...stake-outs, I guess? Mikoto comes home ravenous a lot." She grins, and tries to wave off the offer. "But seriously, are you sure about offering to pay? I'm pretty sure that between the two of us, I'm the one who's gainfully employed."
...which is actually true this week. Part-time work makes it hard to always make that kind of a defense against the sinister schemes of generosity.
The tea, at least, arrives quickly, and Mai takes a sniff - before letting out a yawn. "...I miss coffee. I know it's bad for me, but I just can't comprehend how someone like that functions on a drink like this..."
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Natsuki waved a hand. "It's fine," she said. "Trust me, I got plenty to cover us."
And she did. She wouldn't say she was over flowing, but her grandfather sent her enough to keep food on her table and the clothes on her back. He also occisonally send her extra and would encourage her to do something 'fun' with it.
'The mission is important,' he would say, 'but you are still a girl with a life ahead of her. I know your mother would wish for you to have some normal like any girl your age would have'.
Natuski didn't know if treating her friend would count as the 'fun' he suggested, but she didn't think he would object either.
"I feel you on the lack of coffee," she said. "Shizaru keeps telling me to cut back too, but it's also the best thing to shake off the effect of lack of sleep."
The order came and Natsuki took a gyoza, knowing Mai wouldn't start eating until she ate one herself.
"So, how are you? I know I've had my head deep in my research for the last few weeks." She frowned. "I've heard..a lot of things been going on, but not the exact details." She placed a hand on Mai's shoulder. "Have you been okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Why, oh why, do delinquent bikers seem to know Mai so well? Mai does, indeed, wait until Natsuki's taken one of the double-order before she separates her own chopsticks. They don't quite split cleanly, and she glares balefully at that one extra bit of wood on one side.
"...shakes it off for a while. But I got so deep into studying I think I had more caffeine than blood, my closest friends might have stolen my supply, and I kind of decided I needed a break." There might also be health impacts, but it's not like she's going to start caring about those now.
"...you should probably take breaks every so often. Blood pressure and all that." Except to warn other people off of coffee. Hypocrisy rings strong.
The first gyoza is always the tastiest, and Mai takes a moment to just relish the flavour she can't quite match at home. A sigh of satisfaction, and she closes her eyes. "...but yeah, there's been a lot. Had a tea-date with an old enemy, had to pick up more eggs because Mikoto knows one way to help with breakfast, and...well, the whole thing with that Sanbu village that was in the news."
She turns her head to Natsuki and opens one eye a crack, murmuring more quietly so that the cook wouldn't hear even if he was listening. "...the village had a problem with Wraiths. These...grief-creatures. Be careful around them if you see them, Natsuki, because they got in my head something awful."
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Natsuki nodded as she silently listen to Mai. She took another bite, but narrowed her eyes as she heard Mai mentioned the witches.
"I heard about those things, Wraiths," she whispered back. "They sound nasty."
Natuski had to admit she wouldn't be sure how she would react if one got near her. Would she run? Would she be scared? She like to think she could shake it off, but Natsuki wasn't so sure. Sometimes she didn't feel like she knew herself as well as she ought to at times.
"How did you managed to defeat?" she asked. "Or did you end up needing a rescue to get out of it?"
She knew there were certain magical girls to take care of those creatures, but Mai was a powerful HIME. Natsuki would like to assume a HIME could fight it, but she wasn't certain.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
"...rescue." It's a quiet admission, but an earnest one. "If I hadn't had help, hadn't had-"
She cuts herself off, and takes a deep breath. "A bunch of us went down to that village to track down some missing people. Most of them were able to shrug off the worst of the...feelings there. But me?" A bitter laugh. "It wasn't a good place for me. It might have been the worst possible place for me, personally. Something I couldn't just try to out-burn."
She takes up the cup of tea, and takes a cautious sip. From the expression on her face, it's...not her favourite drink ever.
"Talk to one of the Puella Magi if you really need to know more. I'm not saying what they used to face was any better, but I do not envy them having to hunt those things all the time. Even if Sanbu was supposedly a...special circumstance." She sighs, takes a swig of tea-
-and from the expression on her face, very nearly has to choke it down. "...I don't think I can handle giving up coffee, Kuga."
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Natsuki couldn't say much. She could only imagine how much it hurt Mai's pride at having to be rescue. She did take a note to question one of the Puella Magi about it, but that was for later.
Natsuki suddenly noticed how tired Mai look. She knew this kind. It wasn't the kind form just working too hard or studying too much or even playing video games for three nights in a row.
It was feeling your whole world was resting on your shoulders unless you found or did the right thing or nothing would have made it worth it. Nothing would have made all of the pain worth it.
Natsuki had seen this exhaustion in the rearview mirror of her bike late at night wondering if it would ever stop and what she would do if or when she stopped, if she ever.
It suddenly dawned on Natsuki it might not have just been coffee Mai was referring to.
"It's hard to give anything up really." She set down her chopsticks in thought. "I mean, it all just becomes a habit after awhile, second nature you know? It's like trying to get a cat to not clean it's paws or a dog to not bark at an intruder. It's hard to break that."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
The worst part - the truly soul-crushing part of Natsuki's analysis is, however weary might Mai look, however ruined by the ravages of life she might be-
This is her after a few days of trying to recover.
Even so, she jolts at Natsuki's words, as if they're an ice-cold knife to her kidney. Mai turns, slowly, to her paranoid friend, and balks a little at the philosophical insight. Just a bit. Okay, maybe more than a bit.
"...yeah. That was kind of the problem I had." A moment, while she considers those words. "No. That's basically my whole problem, isn't it? But..."
She waves at her cup, which does not contain coffee. "It's hard to give some things up. It's impossible to give some things up, because they're..."
She sighs. "...that's a bit too heavy, Kuga. Don't make me turn those words around on you, because you challenge the queen of hypocrisy at your own peril." She does snag another couple of gyoza, this time without so much as an ounce of remorse.
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Natsuki twitched at the words, but she knew Mai wasn't wrong.
"Yeah, can't deny I'm not guilty of it too." She shut her eyes in thought. "There are things I know Shizaru would like me to give up, but I can't. I know the road I'm own, and I just can't steer off of it."
She sighed and went for another bite of her food. "I honestly don't know what the answer here is, do you?"
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Mai takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly, and goes for a much slower sip of the tea. It's not terrible - it's not exactly a masterful brew, and the quality doesn't match that of the shop she was at yesterday, but as long as she's not expecting it to be coffee it's...drinkable.
"We're getting close to finishing high school." A pause. "Well, I am, at least, I don't know what your attendance records are like. Closer and closer to being 'adults'. I'd have hoped we'd have more figured out by now, but my biggest ambitions are...the same thing I've been doing for a decade."
It's a cold January day and yet that thought seems to give her more of a chill. "...I need to try to change. I know that. Even if it wasn't real, I was told I shouldn't follow the same terrible example. But I can't just...step away from responsibility either. I can't walk away from what I need to do."
But maybe, one day, somewhere...
"...ask me in three years, Kuga. Because then Takumi will be as much of an 'adult' as we're supposed to become, and maybe then I can finally walk off this path."
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
"Three years," Natsuki muttered.
She didn't knew where she would be by then. She had never cared about graduation, but what if she hadn't learned the truth of her mother's death by then? Could she just keep on going. Her grandfather wasn't going to be alive forever either. She did always worry a bit when he mentioned he was getting over a cold. She lost her mother so suddenly, and the possibility she wake up one morning to find he was gone too rose with each year.
But what else could she do? Natsuki would never feel complete until she knew the truth. If she didn't she would spend the rest of her life with the question nagging at the back of her mind.
Natsuki raised her chopsticks to Mai. "I guess here's to steering ahead and avoiding all off roads for as long as we can."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Mai salutes with her own chopsticks. "It's a dismal road we're on but I guess we're stuck with it."
She pins another gyoza between her chopsticks, but pauses with it above the dipping sauce. "That...does bring a question to mind, Kuga. Where...did you learn to drive that motorcycle, exactly? You did get actual lessons, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Natsuki smirked. "I do have a license if that's what you're wondering," she said ate another bite. "And in case your wondering my grandfather taught me. He apparently was quite the wild man back in his day."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
"A license? You let the government know you exist? Will wonders never cease." With a grin, Mai bites into her snack.
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Natsuki shrugged. "Never said it was an official license."
